Heroic, Team Liquid and Space Soldiers qualify for ESL One: Cologne 2017 LAN finals
After the conclusion of the European and North American closed qualifier, three teams emerged victorious, securing placements at the LAN finals of ESL One: Cologne 2017. Heroic were the first to land a spot after taking the route of least resistance through the winners' bracket all the while not dropping a single map. Next were Team Liquid who only dropped a single map to Misfits over the course of their two match-ups. Finally the Turkish team of Space Soldiers secured the second European slot after advancing all the way from the round of 12 to the semi-finals, and much like Heroic performing flawlessly, without the loss of a single map to the opposition.
Heroic bench Valdemar "valde" Bjørn Vangså
In what proved to be a shock of a move Heroic's Coach, Henrik "FeTiSh" Christensen announced on Twitter that he had decided to bench one of the best performing players on the roster, Valdemar "valde" Bjørn Vangså. In the very same post the team's coach outlined that fellow Dane, Casper "cadiaN" Møller will be standing in for the team for the duration of the ESL One: Cologne 2017 closed qualifier, and as pointed out in the first headline, successfully so, as the team secured a placement at the LAN finals after a flawless performance
Cloud9 final team to receive direct invite to DreamHack Summer 2017
North American representatives Cloud9 were the final team to receive a direct invite to the LAN finals of the event held in Jönköping, Sweden. This means that there are two teams left to determine as participants, both via a European and North American qualifier. Once said teams are known, the eight participants will clash at the Elmia Convetion Centre for a $100,000 prize pool.
PGL European Minor Championship finalists determined
Following the conclusion of the closed qualifier for the PGL EU Minor, all eight participants of the LAN finals have been determined. The closed qualifier saw a best-of-one Swiss group stage, upon the conclusion of which the aforementioned eight teams were known. A total of sixteen teams were up for the task, with the likes of Ninjas in Pyjamas, Heroic, North Academy and Epsilon Esports failing to qualify. The finalists are now preparing for their trip to Bucharest, Romania where they will face off at the PGL Studios for $50,000, as well as three spots at the main qualifier for the PGL Major Kraków 2017.
PGL CIS Minor Championship finalists determined
All eight participants for the CIS Minor Championship LAN finals were also determined after the conclusion of the tournament's closed qualifier. A broad variety of teams made it to the offline portion of the event, to be held at the GamerStadium Club in Moscow, Russia. Amongst the teams are the likes of the Daniil "Zeus" Teslenko's PRO100, Abay "h0bbit" Khasenov's previous team, Tengri, and the Russian football club representatives, Spartak. The aforementioned teams joined by five additional rosters will clash on June 8th-11th in a bid to secure the lion's share of $50,000, in addition to the sought-after main qualifier placement.
Pyth no longer part of Ninjas in Pyjamas
The Swedish Counter-Strike player has opted not to extend his contract upon it's expiration on Friday, May 19th, announcing on Twitter that he is no longer part of the organisation as per an agreement. Jacob "pyth" Mourujärvi was part of NiP's starting roster ever since his signing in December of 2015. Over the course of his stay he was instrumental in helping the team secure titles, most notably their first place finish at Intel Extreme Masters XI - Oakland. The future of the 23 year-old player is currently uncertain, it is definitely worth stating that retirement was not something outlined by the player.
