The first week has passed in the European qualifiers for Starladder XI and Hellraisers have taken an early lead ahead of Power Rangers and Secret Team as they compete for the four available places for the LAN playoffs.
The fifteenth game of the qualifiers has just finished and it pushes Hellraisers to the top of the group after taking three points from four games. Power Rangers, Secret Team and Goomba Gaming complete the top four, but the main talking point of the week will be an unexpected first loss for Secret Team.
Matches Completed: 15/120
Teams Confirmed: TBD
Teams Eliminated: TBD
Secret Team's second game of the qualifiers came against Kazakhstan based xGame.kz, who had lost their opening two matches sit over a hundred places below their opponent in the team rankings. xGame.kz were able to dismantle Secret Team in just over 54 minutes, with a stand out performance from Ernar "Mantis" Urazbaev involved in 35 of his teams 39 kills. xGame.kz will be hoping to continue their form going into their upcoming four games next week.
Elsewhere in the qualifiers, Cloud 9 and Natus Vincere both got off to winning starts, but many of the top teams have yet to begin their qualifying campaigns. Team Tinker, Alliance, Virtus Pro, Team Empire, VP Polar and 4 Anchors have yet to participate. So let's take a look at the qualifiers over the next week.
Over the next seven days Team Empire and Virtus Pro will begin their qualifying campaigns, Natus Vincere and Secret Team will be in action and Hellraisers face the difficult task of staying top of the group with only one game scheduled. All eyes will be on Secret Team as they have the chance to stretch ahead of the competition with four scheduled games including some stiff competition.
Here are some of the highlights of the upcoming week:
Virtus Pro face a baptism of fire in their first match of the qualifiers against Secret Team. They last played each other on November 12th in the DC Captains Draft Invitational in which Virtus Pro came out victorious. They'll be hoping to repeat their success in this matchup but their form has slightly dipped over the last few days.
Natus Vincere could head towards the top end of the group standings with three wins over the next week and their biggest challenge out of the two will be German team Goomba Gaming. Currently fourth in the group and the busiest team next week with five matches scheduled, Goomba Gaming will be trying to remain in the top half but Natus Vincere might be too much for them in this match.
In their final game of the week, Secret Team match up against the currently unbeaten Power Rangers. Their last three encounters have been victories for European powerhouse Secret Team, but if their match against xGame.kz is anything to go by this could go either way.
The European group stage will continue until December 24th, where the top four will progress into the Starladder XI playoffs in Kiev, Ukraine beginning on January 15th to compete against the winners from the American, Chinese and South East Asian sections.
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