Torqued and Tempo Storm to IEM Oakland closed qualifier

The Brazilian side Tempo Storm and Joshua "steel" Nissan's Torqued have finished top two in the North American IEM Oakland 2017 open qualifier, earning a spot in the next stage.

A total of 58 teams from the region competed in the open qualifier for IEM Oakland 2017, with the matches all the way up to the semi-final being BO1. In that first part of the qualifier, Rogue, debuting with Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller, lost out to Tempo Storm, while Splyce and Complexity were surprised and eliminated by Gale Force and SoaR, respectively.

With the two best teams from the bracket moving on to the closed qualifier, the semi-final match was the deciding one for four teams: Tempo Storm, Rise Nation, Gale Force and Torqued.

steel's Torqued will move on to the IEM Oakland closed qualifier

Tempo Storm faced Rise Nation, who are bound to attend the ESEA S25 Global Challenge this weekend. The Brazilian side took control of the match early on, finishing the Terrorist side of Rise Nation's map pick, Inferno, 12-3 up. Will "⁠dazzLe⁠" Loafman's 32-kill display got his team back into the game in the second half, but Tempo Storm was able to close it out 16-13 in the end.

The start was similar on the second map, with Paulo "⁠land1n⁠" Felipe and co. starting Overpass with a 7-0 lead on the CT side. Jonathan "⁠Jonji⁠" Carey's team did put up a fight, taking the lead before the end of the half with eight consecutive rounds of their own, but were again completely blown out on the CT side. Tempo Storm closed out the second map 16-9 and overall, Lucas "⁠destiny⁠" Bullo had a great series, finishing with a 1.43 rating and 99.4 ADR.

IEM Oakland 2017 North America Open QualifierBest of 3 Tempo StormMatchpage 2 0 21st September 2017 Rise Nation 16Inferno 13 16Overpass 9

Tempo Storm	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Lucas 'destiny' Bullodestiny	48 - 35	+13	99.4	1.44
Alef 'tatazin' Pereiratatazin	37 - 29	+8	74.5	1.18
Paulo 'land1n' Felipeland1n	39 - 29	+10	69.6	1.16
Bruno 'shz' Martinellishz	38 - 34	+4	82.7	1.12
Denis 'dzt' Fischerdzt	33 - 39	-6	60.8	0.98

Rise Nation	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Will 'dazzLe' LoafmandazzLe	45 - 43	+2	96.8	1.18
Jonathan 'Jonji' CareyJonji	30 - 40	-10	74.8	0.94
Kaleb 'moose' Jaynemoose	35 - 43	-8	70.9	0.90
Brandon 'Ace' WinnAce	27 - 34	-7	48.9	0.86
Andy 'vSa' XuvSa	29 - 35	-6	57.6	0.83

The second match, between Gale Force and Torqued, started with Overpass. The Argentinian side played well on their map pick, finishing the CT half with a slight, 8-7 advantage, before taking over control of the game after the switch to win the map 16-8.

A back-and-forth affair on Inferno could've gone either way, but, despite Guillermo "⁠guishorro⁠" Areco's heroics (31 kills and a 1.56 rating), Torqued were the ones to take the second map, securing the last two rounds after Gale Force tied the score at 14-14. The decider, Train, was all about Joshua "⁠steel⁠" Nissan, who got the most first kills (5), opening up the rounds for his team to go 10-5 up as Terrorists, but also topped the scoreboard in terms of most kills and total damage. Torqued secured the third map 16-9, clinching a top two spot and a place in the closed qualifier.

IEM Oakland 2017 North America Open QualifierBest of 3 Gale ForceMatchpage 1 2 21st September 2017 Torqued 16Overpass 8 14Inferno 16 9Train 16

IEM Oakland 2017 North America Open QualifierBest of 3 Gale ForceMatchpage 1 2 21st September 2017 Torqued 16Overpass 8 14Inferno 16 9Train 16

Gale Force	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Guillermo 'guishorro' Arecoguishorro	59 - 55	+4	82.2	1.12
Edgar 'MarKE' MaldonadoMarKE	57 - 52	+5	76.8	1.10
Jonathan 'JonY BoY' MuñozJonY BoY	52 - 52	0	76.1	1.02
Tomás 'tomi' Guardiatomi	50 - 57	-7	68.6	0.91
Matias 'tutehen' Canaletutehen	35 - 57	-22	56.1	0.74

Torqued	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Joshua 'steel' Nissansteel	68 - 50	+18	87.4	1.31
Sam '4sh0t' Mariano4sh0t	51 - 52	-1	71.4	1.08
Trey 'tck' Martintck	57 - 51	+6	72.8	1.08
Armeen 'a2z' Toussia2z	55 - 53	+2	75.6	1.07
Neil 'montE' MontgomerymontE	40 - 47	-7	64.9	0.95

For now, only these two teams are confirmed for the IEM Oakland North America closed qualifier, with six more to be invited to play out the single-elimination BO3 bracket for a spot at the LAN:

Tempo Storm	Torqued	Invite slot	Invite slot
Invite slot	Invite slot	Invite slot	Invite slot

Guillermo 'guishorro' Areco Age: 24 Team: Gale Force Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 147 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.73 Gale Force #59 Guillermo 'guishorro' ArecoJonathan 'JonY BoY' MuñozMatias 'tutehen' CanaleEdgar 'MarKE' MaldonadoTomás 'tomi' Guardia Lucas 'destiny' Bullo Age: 20 Team: Tempo Storm Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 268 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.70 Rise Nation #40 Andy 'vSa' XuWill 'dazzLe' LoafmanJonathan 'Jonji' CareyKaleb 'moose' JayneBrandon 'Ace' Winn Splyce #53 Kory 'SEMPHIS' FriesenDaniel 'roca' GustaferriDavid 'DAVEY' StaffordTaylor 'Drone' JohnsonMitch 'mitch' Semago Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey Age: 18 Team: Rise Nation Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 166 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.71 SoaR #64 Matthew 'mCe' ElmoreJack 'xCeeD' HolimanLogan 'Voltage' LongRyan 'Snakes' AmannMichael 'Grim' Wince Complexity #34 Rory 'dephh' JacksonJaccob 'yay' WhiteakerPeter 'ptr' GurneyAlec 'Slemmy' WhiteBradley 'ANDROID' Fodor Rogue #79 Spencer 'Hiko' MartinCasper 'cadiaN' MøllerJosh 'shinobi' AbastadoDaniel 'vice' KimCollin 'wrath' McSweegan Joshua 'steel' Nissan Age: 27 Team: Torqued Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 124 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.68 Torqued Armeen 'a2z' ToussiJoshua 'steel' NissanTrey 'tck' MartinNeil 'montE' MontgomerySam '4sh0t' Mariano Will 'dazzLe' Loafman Age: 21 Team: Rise Nation Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 131 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.71 Tempo Storm #49 Lucas 'destiny' BulloPaulo 'land1n' FelipeDenis 'dzt' FischerAlef 'tatazin' PereiraBruno 'shz' Martinelli Casper 'cadiaN' Møller Age: 22 Team: Rogue Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 549 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.67 Paulo 'land1n' Felipe Age: 23 Team: Tempo Storm Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 182 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.60