Mazaalai qualify for Asia Minor

The first team to qualify for the Asia Minor is Mazaalai, who defeated TIGER 2-0 in the East Asia Closed Qualifier upper-bracket final.

Teams from Japan, Korea, and Mongolia were in competition in the East Asia Closed Qualifier, with eight teams fighting for two spots through a double-elimination bracket. Two Mongolian sides reached the upper-bracket final, which decided the first team to qualify for the Asia Minor.

Machinegun was a standout player for Mazaalai, alongside Zilkenberg

TIGER (formerly known as AUGUST, overcame ikarus (forfeit win) and D13 (2-0), while Mazaalai took down Updraft (2-0) and Ignis (2-0), setting up an all-Mongolian upper-bracket final.

Erdenetsogt "⁠erkaSt⁠" Gantulga's team started their opponents' map pick well, grabbing an 8-1 lead on the CT side of Mirage before Mazaalai found some form to end the half just five rounds behind, 10-5. With the second pistol going their way, TIGER went up 12-5 and it seemed like just a formality before they would close it out. However, they struggled to breach the defenses of Mazaalai, who kept them at 14 round, eventually equalizing the score thanks to Enkhtaivan "⁠Machinegun⁠" Lkhagva's 1v2 clutch. Despite Gan-Erdene "⁠dobu⁠" Batbold's 32 frags in regulation, Mazaalai forced overtime and eventually claimed the win on Mirage, 19-17.

Irmuun "⁠PRISM⁠" Tuul and Machinegun were leading the fragging for Mazaalai as they kicked off the CT side of Nuke dominantly, going 9-3 up. Bold "⁠ncl⁠" Batsuh's triple got TIGER their fourth of the half, but their opponents ended it on a high and, with Machinegun's triple in the pistol after the switch, went on to close the map swiftly, 16-4.

Asia Minor East Asia Closed Qualifier - ESL One Rio 2020Best of 3 TIGERMatchpage 0 2 5th March 2020 Mazaalai 17Mirage 19 4Nuke 16

TIGER	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Gan-Erdene 'dobu' Batbolddobu	40 - 43	-3	81.7	1.07
Bat-Enkh 'kabal' Batbayarkabal	38 - 42	-4	79.8	1.01
Yesuntumur 'nin9' Gantulganin9	36 - 39	-3	68.8	0.89
Bold 'ncl' Batsuhncl	26 - 39	-13	49.1	0.72
Erdenetsogt 'erkaSt' GantulgaerkaSt	25 - 43	-18	56.9	0.66

Mazaalai	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Enkhtaivan 'Machinegun' LkhagvaMachinegun	40 - 33	+7	94.0	1.30
Temuulen 'Zilkenberg' BattulgaZilkenberg	44 - 34	+10	90.9	1.29
Irmuun 'PRISM' TuulPRISM	40 - 32	+8	75.6	1.18
Uuganbayar 'NEUZ' Nyam-OtgonNEUZ	46 - 35	+11	74.3	1.13
Tsog 'Tsogoo' MashbatTsogoo	36 - 31	+5	70.7	1.07

One more team from the East Asia Closed Qualifier will earn a spot at the Asia Minor, with TIGER, MVP PK and D13 in competition for it.

The Asia Minor team list looks as follows:

Mazaalai
Oceania
Greater China
Southeast Asia East Asia
Oceania
Greater China
Middle East AUGUST Irmuun 'PRISM' Tuul Age: 23 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.92 Maps played: 53 KPR: 0.62 DPR: 0.70 Erdenetsogt 'erkaSt' Gantulga Age: 24 Team: TIGER Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 682 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.66 Bold 'ncl' Batsuh Age: 25 Team: TIGER Rating 1.0: 0.94 Maps played: 398 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.66 Updraft #204 Yusuke 'Norisen' ShimaKazuki 'EROC' NakataniAkira 'Marin' KatoTakuya 'bazooka' MatuokaMasahiro 'aum101' Morisaki Mazaalai Temuulen 'Zilkenberg' BattulgaTsog 'Tsogoo' MashbatEnkhtaivan 'Machinegun' LkhagvaIrmuun 'PRISM' TuulUuganbayar 'NEUZ' Nyam-Otgon MVP PK Min-Soo 'glow' KimGu-Taek 'stax' KimSang-Min 'Rb' GooNak-Yeon 'Ch2ese' KimSeung-won 'k1Ng' Lee D13 #170 Munkhtamir 'tamir' GanbaatarShinebold 'sKINEE' NerguiBoldbaatar 'rate' TengisTengis 'sk0R' BatjargalTuvshintugs 'Annihilation' Nyamdorj ikarus #231 Inpyo 'mystic' LeeRyu-Hyuk 'Denny' GyuYang-Jun 'inter' MoJae-Woo 'autist' LeeYe-Hoon 'CsGoSnex' Lee Gan-Erdene 'dobu' Batbold Age: 20 Team: TIGER Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 547 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.68 TIGER Gan-Erdene 'dobu' BatboldBold 'ncl' BatsuhBat-Enkh 'kabal' BatbayarErdenetsogt 'erkaSt' GantulgaYesuntumur 'nin9' Gantulga Ignis #152 Shibasaki 'poem' YumekiShuma 'RIPablo Escobar' IkedaIshikawa 'hornet' YukiYusuke 'neth' MatsudaMasayuki 'oitaN' Takahashi Enkhtaivan 'Machinegun' Lkhagva Age: 30 Team: Mazaalai Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 381 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.70