What to look out for in the Esports World Cup Open Qualifier

The Esports World Cup is the next big tournament in the pipeline, but there’s still a few spots left up for grabs in the open qualifier.

This is a, quite frankly, ridiculous undertaking from EWC having the qualifier on LAN, with 64 teams in a double elimination group stage being played simultaneously. Do you know how absolutely impossible that will be to pull off?

If there’s zero to little tech delays today, then the only explanation will be divine intervention.

There’s also then a single elimination playoff with a round of 32 all the way to quarter-finals, with the top four then qualifying. Simple enough.

Big names include BC.Game, Liquid, fnatic, BIG, HEROIC, 100 Thieves and then teams like OG, NRG and Dendele. There’s loads of teams you know of, and plenty you’ve never heard of before.

There’s some serious “hey, remember him?” players at this event; amanek, fejtZ, CacaNito… s1mple. It’s a veritable who’s who of tier two of years gone by, mixed in with some genuine big names. The team to watch, as they will be at most events they enter this year, is BC.Game, fresh off the back of an eventful rostermania.

Their opening game is against Basement Boys, which is whatever, but a win would likely place them against 1win, who look like they were designed in a lab to be an upset team in a qualifier. Ax1Le, fame, nafany, BELCHONOKK and Artfr0st. That’s a must watch game.

100 Thieves and Eternal Fire could face off if they both win their games, which would be a pretty fun one and absolutely worth watching amid the paucity of Counter-Strike. If you don’t know who is on Eternal Fire, genuinely, go and find out. Very fun team.

Liquid could end up facing an old friend in stanislaw if Metizport get past Prestige, in what is absolutely a must-win-every-game tournament for Liquid. Failure to qualify here would be a disaster of unmitigated proportion.

Fluxo likely lie in wait if BIG get off to a winning start, and fnatic could set up a game against Iberian Soul with a victory.

The opening round of games is largely uninteresting, but could set up some super spicy clashes - and the prospect of Liquid losing their opening game is tantalising, no matter how unlikely.

You can follow the event here.