[hkes_show_google_ad] After an intense three days of competition, the final four teams heading to the Intel Extreme Masters Season XI World Championship in Katowice are locked in. Fnatic, Natus Vincere and Heroic from Europe have qualified alongside Immortals from North America. During the European Closed Qualifier, Fnatic and Na’Vi dominated their brackets. As invited teams, both received a seed into the second round of play to start. Na’Vi had a clean run of 2-0 victories to qualify, playing on Mirage and Nuke in both of their sets. Fnatic’s grasp of CT on Overpass proved successful against mousesports, and they moved on with a 2-1 victory. Against G2 Esports, Fnatic began with a dominating T side performance on Train and ended the series 2-0 to qualify alongside Na’Vi. G2 were sent to the lower bracket to face Heroic, the victims of Na’Vi’s qualifying set. Heroic were the only team in the top four of the Closed Qualifiers to have earned their spot through the first Open Qualifier instead of attending via invite. Heroic took a quick 10-5 lead on Cache and swept the map 16-8. The second map choice was Overpass, and while G2 had yet to encounter it this tournament, Heroic had already shown CT dominance against mousesports. In an incredibly close final round, Heroic took the map 16-13. With a 2-0 victory over G2, Heroic qualified for IEM Katowice as the final team from Europe. In North America, only four teams competed for slot at IEM Katowice: invited teams Immortals and Team Liquid, and Open Qualifier teams Counter Logic Gaming and Misfits. Though TL showed strength on CT side against Misfits in the first round, Immortals proved they were the superior CT team after knocking CLG down a bracket. Though they took a close win on the set’s first map, Cobblestone, TL was taken down by Immortals with a dominating 16-2 score in the final two rounds of their set. The lower bracket saw Misfits eliminate CLG with a close 2-0 series. Misfits then faced TL and, with two more strong CT showings, TL knocked Misfits out of the tournament. The Finals between Immortals and TL saw the teams return to Cobblestone. Immortals looked like a different team heading into the map, dominating on CT 12-3 and picking up a devastating 16-4 win. The second map, Cache, saw life return to TL but their efforts were in vain. With a superior CT performance, Immortals took the series 2-0 and earned their spot at IEM Katowice. The teams heading to Katowice for the IEM XI World Championship are as follows:

• Invite — Astralis
• Invite — Cloud9
• Invite — FaZe Clan
• Invite — Ninjas in Pyjamas
• Invite — North
• Invite — OpTic Gaming
• Invite — SK Gaming
• Invite — Virtus.pro
• EU Qualifier — Fnatic
• EU Qualifier — Natus Vincere
• EU Qualifier — Heroic
• NA Qualifier — Immortals

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