The redemption qualifiers seeded a mix of popular, “underdog” and up-and-coming players to the $25,000 grand finals in June.
Half of the players for the ESL Legendary Series grand conclusion are known. Last week, Andrey “Reynad” Yanyuk’s victory at the fourth match day wrapped up the first batch of players and Tempo Storm joined a line-up that consisted of heavy-hitters Adrian “Lifecoach” Koy and Aleksandr “Kolento” Malsh, alongside lesser known player Santiago “Kabi” Rodriguez.
Starting last Thursday, the so-called “Redemption qualifiers” gave all other match day participants that didn’t go home with a win another chance at a grand final seed. A total of 25 players, amid them popular names like Janne “Savjz” Mikkonen, Jeffrey “Trump” Shih, Cong “StrifeCro” Shu, Jason “Amaz” Chan and more were split into four brackets, each seeding the winner forward.
The redemption qualifiers were held in four consecutive days, with Mayor Trump taking the first one in a tough battle against Liquid’s bannerman Savjz. The second week, a much bigger upset happened as underdog Leadpaint drilled through StrifeCro and Keaton “Chakki” Gil to take the spot, leaving fans of Dignitas and Cloud 9 baffled by his surprising run.
Taiwan had the potential of back-to-back wins in cups #3 and #4, but only succeeded in the former. HouseCup #2 finalist Sheng Yuan “Roger” Luo prevailed over Austin “SilentStorm” Li, despite top notch play from the inaugural Legendary Series champion in the previous matches. In cup #4, Wei Lin “Tom60229” Chen also fought long and hard but ultimately lost to SeatStory Cup III runner-up Sebastian “Ostkaka” Engwall.
ESL will run just one more qualifier, a “Last Chance Open” before it completes the 16-player line-up for the Burbank grand finals. The closing event is coming June 5-8.
ESL Legendary Series grand finals (8/16):
From Legendary Series:
Lifecoach
Kolento
Kabi
Reynad
From Redemption Qualifier:
Trump
Roger
Leadpaint
Ostkaka
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