Two weeks since the qualifiers for each region began, they end. We now know all 24 teamswho are going to Antwerp and have a chance at glory, a fat paycheck, and the title of Major Winner!
Starting with the teams that'll enter at the Contenders level, we have Liquid, 9z, IHC, Renegades, Outsiders, Spirit, Complexity & Eternal Fire. Next up, the Challengers; composed of ENCE, G2, MIBR, Vitalityh, Imperial, Bad News Eaglers, Astralis & forZe. Then lastly, the Legends, the teams who qualified with the most flying colours, those are BIG, Heroic, Copenhagen Flames, Cloud9*, FaZe, NAVI, FURIA & NiP.
Here's a graphical representation of who qualified for which starting position in the Major!
For these teams, the battle is far from won. Whilst their names are solidified as teams that have qualified for the Major, each of the teams will be eager for more. The qualifiers were hard-fought, with very few teams having an easy experience from start to finish. Vitality's 'apEX' went as far to state that "This was the hardest major qualifier I ever played", and this is from a player who has qualified for 6 Major's previously, including both of the Major's in 2017, and the two most recent events, the Berlin 2019 Major, and the Stockholm 2021 Major. Along with Vitality, another former powerhouse that struggled was Astralis, who also went 3-2 in the group stages. For Copenhagen Flames, Players (now Cloud9), Heroic, BIG, MIBR & FURIA, they were the ones who got through qualifiers 3-0, with no losses in the group stages.
The Major Challengers stage will start in 2 weeks' time, on May 9th. In the meantime, we have BLAST Premier Spring Showdown which starts on April 27th, and runs until May 1st, giving some of the teams now qualified for the Major, including Astralis & Copenhagen Flames, plus Heroic & NIP some vital matches, possibly against each other, to learn some tactics from should they come into each other at the Major.
* Cloud9 has bought the team previously operated by Gambit, which competed in the qualifiers as 'Players'.
