Both Brazilian teams qualified from Group A to head into the playoffs of the Americas Minor.
Luminosity Gaming squeaked past 
NRG esports in their group stage game to claim a spot in the playoffs. Despite a 2-0 score line overall, The Brazilians narrowly won 16-14 on both Cobblestone and Train. A +17 K/D ratio from Gustavo 'yeL' Knittel made the difference, and dragged his team over the finishing line.
Things looked good for Luminosity from the start when they picked up seven rounds on the unfavoured CT side of Cobblestone, despite losing the pistol and first three rounds. But, after losing the second half pistol round, the Brazilians had to battle right down to the 30th round to secure victory on map one.
Again, Luminosity lost a pistol round, this time on the T side of Train. They lost the first gun round too, but loss bonus and bomb plants gave them a solid buy in the fifth round and they were finally able to get on the board at 4-1. From there, the first half was all about the Brazilians. They rattled off eight wins from the remaining 10 rounds and took a 9-6 lead into the easier CT side. The game looked to be going their way after they finally won a pistol round, but apparently Luminosity is not a team that likes to do things easily. After going up 13-6, they conceded round after round, struggling to close things out and once again waiting until the very last round of the map to finally secure their win. Fittingly, it took a 1v2 ninja defuse in the smoke to put the game to bed.
In the first round of the playoffs they will face their fellow countrymen, Immortals. Hen1 and co took a fast route into the playoffs, needing just two games to qualify thanks to the GSL format. One of their wins was 16-5 stomping of Luminosity, which bodes well for a potential rematch, should it occur later in the tournament.
The event continues later today, with Cloud9 and Counter Logic Gaming making their appearances. Cloud 9 should favourites in their opening game as they will face paiN Gaming but CLG are left with a more difficult opposition in the shape of Misfits. Seang@res’ team defeated CLG last time the two met in the qualifier for this event. They famously had a deep run at Dreamhack Tours last month and will fancy their chances of doing well at this event if they can re-capture that form.
Image courtesy of Play.ESEA
