Photo courtesy of Epicenter
NoPangolier and Virtus.pro will represent the CIS region at the upcoming Chongqing Major in January 2019.
The Chongqing Major is only just over a month away and the teams that will compete are starting to filter in. The first two teams to claim a spot were Fnatic and TNC for SEA.
The CIS region was next in line to determine their representatives for the event and the playoffs proved to be a thrilling display of the region's re-budding competitive scene.
Unsurprisingly, Virtus.pro had gone through the group stage undefeated and dominant. Many felt it was a 'no brainer' that the CIS powerhouse would seize a spot at the main event - and of course, they were right. What wasn't expected however was that Virtus.pro wasn't the first team to claim their spot. Instead, it was newly formed and unsponsored stack, NoPangolier, that stepped up to the plate and snatched the slot.
NoPangolier Roster:
Aybek "Naive-" Tokaev
Aleksandr "Ceyler" Popov
Semion "CemaTheSlayer" Krivulya
Bakyt "Zayac" Emilzhanov
Andrey "Ghostik" Kadyk
Virtus.pro's only win in the three-game series against NoPangolier was flanked by two heavily one-sided games in favor of the new stack. The second match was a mere 21 minutes bloodbath with NoPangolier destroying VP 28:8.
Not to be easily ruffled or shut down, Virtus.pro came back in the lower bracket finals with a convincing 2:0 sweep over Gambit Esports to claim the second slot for the region.
Virtus.pro Roster :
Roman "Ramzes666" Kushnarev
Vladimir "No[o]ne" Minenko
Pavel "9pasha" Khvastunov
Vladimir "rodjER" Nikogosyan
Alexei "Solo" Berezin
China, Europe, and NA Chongqing Major closed qualifiers are only gearing up to start today, November 28th through the 30th.
StarLadder and ImbaTV will be hosting the second Major of the DPC 2018-2019 season in Chongqing, China. The Chongqing Major will be held from the 19th to the 27th of January 2019 with sixteen of the world's best teams competing for the largest slice of the $1,000,000 and 15,000 DPC points.
