{"en_GB":"Preview of the closed qualifiers to The Kiev Major 2017","ru":""}

On March 10 we will be able to watch the game of 60 teams, which are united by one thing - the desire to receive the sacred slot at the LAN-finals.

Global information:

On March 10, 2017, teams, which haven’t received direct invites from Valve to the spring Major, will fight for trips to the LAN-finals. 6 regions - South and North America, Europe and CIS, China and Southeastern Asia will face each other in the battle for 8 trips. There are 10 teams-participants in each of qualifications and the allocation of invites can be seen in the table below:

The system of running the competition:

This year closed qualifiers will be carried in two stages - initially, teams will play in a group in a round-robin system, all matches will be best-of-one. 4 best teams will get to the playoffs, where they will be allocated in a double-elimination bracket, all matches will be best-of-three. The team to hold the 1st place will come to the LAN-finals (in China and Southeast Asia 1st and 2nd places will get to the LAN-finals). All matches will be carried online.

The list of participants from the European region:

This year the European qualification looks weak enough, there are three teams-favorites in the group: Team Secret, B)ears and Cloud9. NiP and The Alliance seem to be weaker, however, they can surprise too. Other rosters are obvious outsiders and their maximum is to annoy favorites.

The list of participants from the CIS region:

Probably, the most peer qualification to The Kiev Major among all regions. The team Virtus.Pro could be called favorite but they have started showing middling results. It is impossible to say which of teams will win the qualifiers, particularly in consideration of the fact that only one slot has been given to the CIS region. The underdog of the qualification is Natus Vincere, which started training about a month ago. It is also worth to look at the team Effect - it has won some tier2-tournaments and is ready to compete with other participants.

The list of participants from the Chinese region:

There can be a very interesting qualification in the Chinese region because lots of teams pretend to two trips to the LAN-finals. In our opinion, IG.Vitality and Vici Gaming have the biggest chances of getting to the next stage. Also, it isn’t worth to write Invictus Gaming and LGD.FY off.

The list of participants from the Asian region:

The organizers of the competition have given two invitational tickets to the LAN-finals for Southeast Asia and, if there are no surprises, Team Faceless and TNC Pro Team will come to Kiev. Also, Execration and Geek Fam have good chances to receive the quota but other teams seem to be obvious outsides of the qualification.

The list of participants from the North American region:

After the division of North and South Americas, the number of teams at the qualifications has become smaller and the level of teams leaves much to be desired, Only one slot has been given to North America, Team NP and Team Onyx will fight for it. Team NiP has better chances of the achievement of the quota because of its experience but Team Onyx can surprise, furthermore, its roster isn’t less star.

The list of participants from the South American region:

Only two teams have been invited to these qualifiers and other 8 teams will come from the open qualifiers. According to the level of playing of teams, SG e-sports and Midas CLub Elite will fight for the slot to The Kiev Major, however, the Brazilians from SG e-sports should come to Kiev. The team has taken part in WESG 2016, where has not been the sharpest pencil in the box but the received experience will play into the hands of the roster.