Contenders NA qualifiers conclude in spectacular fashion

Blizzard's $100,000 Contenders series got off to a flying start this weekend. North America led the charge whilst Europe's finest were locking horns at TaKeOver 2. Cloud9 had already been invited to the Group Stage, whilst EnVyUs and Rogue were already guaranteed a spot in Season One, but for everyone else the back-to-back Open Qualifiers were the only ticket to the biggest show in the west.

Final standings

Over 600 teams showed up to show out over the two separate single elimination brackets that ran on Saturday and Sunday. After all was said and done sixteen teams had successfully qualified to fill four as-yet-undrawn groups in the next stage.

Qualifier 1 - Saturday

Qualifier 2 - Sunday

Winners and losers

Enjoy a few select storylines from Saturday and Sunday on me...

A dish best served cold

By the time the cameras started rolling for Saturday's stream the scene was already awash with the news that NRG Esports (playing with Grego and YouMustHooey) had been knocked out in the Round of 32. And not just by anyone, but by FNRGFE - a cohort of Fnatic, NRG and Gale Force refugees. It was a result so steeped in history and bathed in context that surely even NRG fans could only nod in quiet appreciation at the sweet revenge exacted by enigma and clockwork on their former teammates.

Sunday's second roll of the dice for the browbeaten NRG squad would ultimately pit them against an EnVision side bolstered by ConnorJ's addition. Their defeat was a decisive one with eV full holding Route 66 before taking Nepal in three straight rounds to unleash a localized Twitter storm.

The bubble

Seagull and his legions of fans had been consistently outperforming the tournament stream on both days as he chronicled the trials and tribulations of "stream team" project, Kelvin and the Chipmunks, on Twitch. They would outperform the majority of the field too, only coming up short against Selfless in Saturday's Round of 16, but successfully making it to the last eight on Sunday.

However, only the top seven would qualify on Sunday on account of Cloud9's direct invite. The bottom four of the top eight battled it out in a Losers' Playoff and with their qualification lives on the line it would be Team Liquid who progressed over the Chipmunks.

New-look champions

It was a tale of two brackets for the new Korean-infused Immortals roster. Slain on Saturday by YIKES! in the Round of 16, before cruising to the Final on Sunday only to take down... Toronto Esports. You read that right, Toronto were one of the many surprise stories, taking out Liquid and a sleep-deprived, ping-addled Hammers en route to that final.

FaZe Clan's return to form may have come as a surprise to many, but they had already been kicking ass and taking names in scrims with their new roster before they stormed to the top spot on Saturday. One might argue that their path was easier than that of fellow finalists LG Evil - and neither of them had to face Selfless - but the 2-0 finale was certainly convincing.

No cigar

Evil Geniuses ran into a brick wall on Saturday, 2-0'd in their meeting with Kungarna in the Round of 16. Former NRG tank, milo, was standing in for Dcop who himself was ineligible to play whilst still residing in his native Mexico. A combination of being handicapped by the tournament rules and their decision to bench Goliath in favour of trialing Graceful meant that they too were NRG'd, falling on Sunday to eventual finalists, Toronto Esports, in the Round of 32. EG will reportedly be reverting to their standard roster for future events.

Finally, spare a thought and light a bacon-scented candle for Midnight Sucks, the team formerly known as Rise Nation, and the previously unknown quantity, TwistedSin, who both made it to the Round of 16 on Saturday and Sunday only to fall flat. Never lucky.

The action recommences in two weeks' time for North America on Sunday June 18th, but don't feel sad... the European master race is set to showcase how Overwatch should really be played this weekend June 10th-11th.