Michael "ixmike88" Ghannam and crew in TeamTeam upset the North American region by snatching up the sole spot for the Bucharest Minor.
As per the standard format for the Bucharest Minor only four teams were set to compete for the one, highly coveted spot for the main event. compLexity Gaming and TeamTeam were directly invited while Test123 and Anime11Esports assumed their place through the open qualifiers.
compLexity Gaming had a few roster changes recently but was still considered a real contender for the slot. Test123 had a troubling month after the team had taken the first place and slot for the South American region for the upcoming Major in China and then were disqualified for 'bending the rules'. One of these two teams were sure to take their place in Romania.
The two favorites had to face off against each other right off the bat, with Test123 taking the upper road and knocking compLexity to the lower brackets. Meanwhile, TeamTeam prevailed over Anime11Esports to go head to head against Test123. In a surprising turn of events, the underdog team swept through Test123 2:0 to advance to the finals.
Dropping to the lower bracket, Test123 once again had to face compLexity and again were able to outlast their opponents, this time 2:1. Heading into the finals for a rematch, TeamTeam once again overpowered Test123 in the three-game series to take the Bucharest Minor spot for North America.
TeamTeam roster:
Samuel "Sammyboy" Anderson
Eric "Ryoya" Dong
Braxton "Brax" Paulson
Jason "Newsham" Newsham
Michael "ixmike88" Ghannam
The Bucharest Minor will take place between January 9-13th 2019 at the PGL Studios studios in Bucharest, Romania.
Bucharest Minor Prize pool:
Total: $300,000
- 1st – $125,000 +120 DPC
- 2nd – $70,000 +100 DPC
- 3rd – $35,000 +90 DPC
- 4th – $25,000 + 70 DPC
- 5/6th – $15,000 +40 DPC
- 7/8th – $7,500 +20 DPC
