After the first day of the IEM Fall North America closed qualifier, Bad News Bears, paiN, TeamOne, and GODSENT have all advanced to the main event after winning their initial matches. As a result of six teams moving on from the eight team closed qualifier, the simple double-elimination bracket only consists of six games, four of which took place on Saturday.

The remaining two matches, which constitute the lower bracket, are set to take place on Sunday, where the winners of ATK vs. RBG and Triumph vs. Strife will secure the final two spots at IEM Fall NA.

In the first set of matches, Bad News Bears took on South African side ATK, who made it through the second open qualifier. On the first map of Nuke, loan player Paytyn “⁠junior⁠” Johnson completely dominated, with 35 kills and a 2.02 rating, pushing Alan “⁠Shakezullah⁠” Hardeman‘s side to a 16-10 win. Inferno was much of the same, as a strong T-side allowed the American team to push their way into IEM Fall.

Bad News Bears still have a chance to qualify for the Major

paiN won their series in a similar fashion, putting up strong Terrorist sides and taking both maps of Inferno and Nuke without too much resistance. Wesley “⁠hardzao⁠” Lopes paved the way for the Brazilian side over the best-of-three, posting a 1.59 rating on Inferno.

Like both previous matches, Nuke was featured in the face off between GODSENT and Strife. The Brazilian project, who were recently reported to be signing Alan “⁠AlaNDieg0R⁠” Riveros as an analyst, took large leads early on in both maps. Strife had trouble stringing many rounds together, and ultimately fell to the power duo of João “⁠felps⁠” Vasconcellos and Epitacio “⁠TACO⁠” de Melo.

The first map between TeamOne and Triumph was more interesting than the score might show, as the longest-standing member of Triumph, Brendan “⁠Bwills⁠” Williams, put up a huge performance despite his team’s loss. The American secured 26 frags, 115 ADR, and a 1.59 rating.

Over the whole series though, it was Mario “⁠malbsMd⁠” Samayoa who stepped up big time for the Brazilian side, allowing them to take both maps without dropping more than 10 rounds each.

The main event of IEM Fall North America is set to begin on October 5, and will be played online. The twelve teams will be split into two groups of six which feed into a four team playoff bracket. Pursuant to Valve’s rules, the event will award RMR points to the top five teams of the tournament.

Here is the current team list for IEM Fall NA:

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Source: https://www.hltv.org/news/32403/bad-news-bears-pain-teamone-godsent-qualify-for-iem-fall-na