Renegades and Liquid have both earned spots at StarSeries i-League Season 4 after finishing top two in the North American qualifier.
Eight invited teams competed in a single-elimination bracket for the chance to secure a spot at the upcoming StarSeries event, in Kiev, where $300,000 will be up for grabs.
The opening round of the qualifier went according to script as all the favourites managed to go through, even though Liquid and NRG were made to sweat to fend off the threat of Complexity and Rise Nation, respectively.
NAF topped the scoreboard for Renegades against NRG
The first semi-final, featuring Liquid and Luminosity was a complete one-sided affair as the North Americans ran out comfortable 2-0 winners while dropping just five rounds throughout the series.
StarSeries i-League Season 4 North America QualifierBest of 3 LiquidMatchpage 2 0 3rd February 2018 Luminosity 16Train 2 16Mirage 3
Liquid
K - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
Russel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenTwistzz
37 - 13
+24
100.0
1.77
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE
39 - 17
+22
95.0
1.62
Josh 'jdm64' Marzanojdm64
33 - 17
+16
92.5
1.61
Lucas 'steel' Lopessteel
28 - 18
+10
88.8
1.32
Nick 'nitr0' Cannellanitr0
27 - 20
+7
79.0
1.18
Luminosity
K - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedeschelo
20 - 32
-12
59.3
0.70
Gabriel 'NEKIZ' SchenatoNEKIZ
20 - 32
-12
64.5
0.66
Gustavo 'yel' Knittelyel
20 - 33
-13
58.4
0.66
Gustavo 'SHOOWTiME' GonçalvesSHOOWTiME
16 - 31
-15
55.7
0.50
Vinicios 'PKL' CoelhoPKL
9 - 37
-28
46.0
0.25
The other match was not quite as straightforward, at least not the first map, as Renegades picked up a close 16-14 victory on Cache after overturning a 12-3 halftime deficit thanks to a great display from Keith "NAF" Markovic, who put in a team-leading 1.53 Rating. The Canadian player continued his dominant showing on the second map, Inferno, helping the Australian side to cruise to a comprehensive 16-2 victory.
StarSeries i-League Season 4 North America QualifierBest of 3 RenegadesMatchpage 2 0 3rd February 2018 NRG 16Cache 14 16Inferno 2
Renegades
K - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF
46 - 22
+24
99.2
1.59
Karlo 'USTILO' PivacUSTILO
40 - 28
+12
92.9
1.38
Noah 'Nifty' FrancisNifty
35 - 26
+9
71.5
1.24
Aaron 'AZR' WardAZR
33 - 29
+4
85.3
1.21
Justin 'jks' Savagejks
38 - 28
+10
77.8
1.20
NRG
K - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
Ethan 'Ethan' ArnoldEthan
30 - 39
-9
82.9
1.01
Jacob 'FugLy' MedinaFugLy
30 - 37
-7
80.4
0.96
Vincent 'Brehze' CayonteBrehze
31 - 38
-7
65.6
0.82
Damian 'daps' Steeledaps
23 - 39
-16
56.2
0.69
Tsvetelin 'CeRq' DimitrovCeRq
18 - 39
-21
40.3
0.60
The StarSeries i-League Season 4 event will run from February 17-25 at the Kiev Cybersport Arena. Sixteen teams, ten invited plus six qualified, will take part in this competition, which will begin with a best-of-three Swiss stage.
The final team list for the Ukrainian event looks as follows: