The 16-team field for IEM Beijing was completed on September 4 when HEROIC and B8 came through the event's last closed qualifier, HLTV reported. The tournament is scheduled for November 2-8 with a $1.25 million prize pool.
B8 lost only one map across four matches in the qualifier and beat Nuclear TigeRES 2-0 in the upper-bracket final, sending the Russian side into the lower-bracket final. HEROIC, who had been dropped into the lower bracket by Eternal Fire earlier in the event, won that match 2-0 behind a 1.38-rated performance from Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin, leaving Nuclear TigeRES without a spot at the tournament.
Earlier on September 4, TYLOO secured a place at the event in their home country without playing the qualifier's grand final, after FlyQuest were forced to forfeit.
Unfortunately, our grand final match will not be played. The physical connection between Australia and Singapore is damaged resulting in ping that is unplayable (200ms+). The venue has multiple redundant ISP's, but this issue is affecting all traffic from Australia to Asia.
FlyQuest said there was no way to reschedule because TYLOO were due at FISSURE the following day. It was the second forfeit TYLOO benefited from in the qualifier: they had already advanced through the upper-bracket final when Rare Atom pulled out over a scheduling conflict with the FPG 3 qualifier. Before those two walkovers, TYLOO beat Kaleido and DEPO in the opening rounds. Their qualification settled 14 of the 16 places, with the remaining two decided in the closed qualifier played online in Europe.
PGL Masters Bucharest closed qualifiers
PGL Masters Bucharest returns from October 24-31 with $1,250,000 in prize money. PGL announced the main-event invites earlier, with every top squad confirming attendance except Falcons, and on September 3 revealed the teams invited to the closed qualifiers.
The open qualifiers run from September 3-6, with four spots up for grabs in the European, South American and North American closed qualifiers and two in each of the Asian and Oceanic qualifiers. The closed qualifiers follow on September 9-12 in Europe and the Americas, while the Asian and Oceanic regional closed qualifiers run on September 9-10 and conclude with a final APAC closed qualifier on September 13.
Among the invited closed-qualifier teams PGL named were:
- Oceania: FlyQuest and LFO 8, joined by two open-qualifier teams
- East Asia: TYLOO and 5star, joined by two open-qualifier teams
- West Asia: DEPO and Legion, joined by two open-qualifier teams
One team from each of the four closed qualifiers for Europe, North America, South America and APAC earns a berth for the tournament in Romania.