Four teams secured spots at CIS Minor by topping their groups in the closed qualifier.
The sixteen-team qualifier for the CIS Minor kicked off May 16th with four groups of four teams. The GSL format meant two teams from each group would secure a spot at the LAN finals of the CIS Minor. After two-days of Eastern European Counter-Strike action, half of CIS Minor spots are now taken by the best teams from each group.
Group A saw a chain of surprising events as at first Hala Ares beat K29 but then they were disqualified as a result of fielding a VAC-banned player. Team Spirit bested teamasd and K29 to secure the first place. In Group B the newly-formed Spartak defeated spray'n'pray and Vega Squadron and became the second team to advance to CIS Minor.
The Spirit organisation enjoyed further success as their academy team topped Group C ahead of Evolution, Quantum Bellator Fire and Elements Pro Gaming. Unfortunately for them, they have to either sell off one of their teams or forfeit one spot at CIS Minor due to Valve's restriction of one roster per organisation. The Central Asian mixture of Tengri joined the list of group winners by claiming victory against pro100 and LOG in Group D.
With these result, the first four teams for CIS Minor are:
Spirit | Spartak | Spirit Academy | Tengri |
TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD |
Remainig four spots will be taken by the winners of following matchups:
K29 vs. teamasd
Vega Squadron vs. NOVA
Evolution vs. Quantum Bellator Fire
pro100 vs. LOG
Image courtesy of PGL