Cloud9 and Unknown.xiu are going to Frankfurt
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After several days of well-contested Dota in the American regional qualifiers, Cloud9 and unknown.xiu have emerged as victorious, qualifying for the upcoming Frankfurt Major.
The American regional qualifier began with 10 teams competing for the chance to play against the best teams in the world in the first-ever Major in Frankfurt from the 16th to the 21st of November. In the groups were teams of varying experience levels, but all of the teams showed that they could compete on a professional level, with numerous upsets during the course of the qualifier.
The group stages showed that American Dota is definitely alive and well, with all of the teams demonstrating their strength. However, when the dust settled, only four teams advanced to the playoffs –Elite Wolves, unknown.xiu, Cloud9, and Digitial Chaos.
The first round of playoffs saw two very hard-fought series, with unknown edging out Elite Wolves and Cloud9 managing to defeat Digital Chaos. This meant that unknown and Cloud9 advanced to the winners bracket finals, where they would face off for the first guaranteed spot in Frankfurt.
In the end, Cloud9 exerted their dominance over unknown, taking the series 2-0 on the back of stellar performances from Braxton 'Brax' Paulson and Danger7-Ritsu in both games. Danger7-Ritsu did not die once in the entire series, and was top of the net worth charts in both games. As a result, Cloud9 guaranteed their presence at the Frankfurt Major.
Meanwhile, Digital Chaos had managed to defeat Elite Wolves, meaning they were set to face unknown.xiu for the second spot in Frankfurt. In game one of the lower bracket final, Digital Chaos came out strong. They set up a strong splitpush between Tyler 'TC' Cook’s Phantom Lancer, Yawar 'YawaR' Hassan’s Queen of Pain, and Sam 'Bulba' Sosale’s Beastmaster. However, unknown.xiu came back into the game through having greater physical damage in team-fights through Alonso 'Minoz-Kotaro' Lion’s Templar Assassin and Juan 'Atuun-Kohina' Ochoa’s Huskar. Despite the constant pressure on their structures, unknown.xiu managed to best Digital Chaos in several fights, and take the first game.
In the second game, Digital Chaos started strong, with three early kills. However, YawaR’s laning stage as Queen of Pain began poorly, whiffing two consecutive Sonic Waves while trying to kill Minoz-Kotaro’s Templar Assassin. Despite this, TC managed to find good farm on his Luna, taking several towers and racking up gold. The game then moved to a sloppy midgame from Digital Chaos, who were caught out repeatedly. Both teams then became more cautious, farming where they could and only engaging where necessary. When these engagements happened, Unknown.xiu came out ahead. This lead to them amassing a significant gold lead, and as the fights continued to break out, Unknown managed to quickly blow up the Digital Chaos's lineup. In the end, Digital Chaos put up a good fight, but Unknown.xiu were the team to come out victorious in the end.
The American qualifier has now concluded, with Cloud9 and Unknown.xiu qualifying fo Frankfurt and Unknown.xiu becoming the first team from South America to make it to a major Valve event. Only time will tell how far they can go, but the qualifiers from the Americas have shown that they have the skill to stand up with the best in the world. Frankfurt is happening soon – keep an eye on GosuGamers for the latest updates.
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