Throughout this weekend, the best eight teams from Brazil's Esports World Cup 2024 Open Qualifier will play for the region's four spots to compete in the main event, which will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from July 31 to August 4.
On Thursday, Team Bliss became the first team to qualify for the Esports World Cup 2024 after defeating Antic Esports in Oceania's Closed Qualifier grand final. Now, it's Brazil's turn.
The first round of the bracket saw four BO3 matches between eight of Brazil's ten top-flight teams, with Keyd Stars and MIBR being the two organizations that missed out on the final bracket.
Keep on reading to find out more about what happened in the Upper Bracket quarter-finals:
Results
Here are the results for the first match day of Brazil's Esports World Cup 2024 Closed Qualifiers:
- Fluxo 2-0 Team Liquid
- FaZe Clan 2-0 Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Black Dragons 2-1 FURIA Esports
- w7m esports 2-1 E1 Sports
Fluxo 2-0 Team Liquid
The day's first upset was a Fluxo 2-0 win against Team Liquid. Although Fluxo joined Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege competitive scene in March 2024, both sides had already met three times before Friday's clash — with the Blue Cavalry taking the victory in all of them.
However, there's always a first time. Only six days after the team's defeat against the BLAST R6 Major Manchester semi-finalists in the open qualifiers, Fluxo redeemed themselves with wins on Clubhouse and Oregon to push the blue roster down the Lower Bracket.
FaZe Clan 2-0 Ninjas in Pyjamas
FaZe Clan defeated Ninjas in Pyjamas after two heated overtimes on Skyscraper and Chalet. The shinobis, who had beaten the Six Invitational 2024 grand finalists in the open qualifiers, conceded their first defeat since the signings of Diogo "Fntzy" Lima and Gabriel "Hatez" Kobuszewski.
The match between both sides had an interesting background, as Arthur "TchubZ" Figueira clashed with his former analyst at Team oNe, the now-FaZe Clan coach Rafael "RafadeLL" de Oliveira.
Black Dragons 2-1 FURIA Esports
Surprisingly, Fluxo's win wasn't the only thrilling result of the night as Black Dragons defeated the Six Invitational 2024 champions FURIA Esports by 2-1. The series began with a maximum overtime victory for Black Dragons, which was followed by a 7-3 win for the Panthers on Oregon. Eventually, the two-time BLAST R6 Major winners were defeated after a 2-7 defeat on Clubhouse.
With Black Dragons' 2-1 win against FURIA Esports, the team has proven that the roster can still compete against the region's powerhouses following the sale of Roberto "Loira" Camargo to G2 Esports. After three weeks of training with Victor "Hornetao" Lopes, the Brazilians are one win away from qualifying for the Esports World Cup 2024.
w7m esports 2-1 E1 Sports
In what's already a regional derby for both squads, w7m esports defeated E1 Sports. The series saw two of the three maps going to overtime, with E1 Sports winning the first one on Skyscraper. Eventually, the Bulls completed the comeback after victories on Border and Oregon.
Curiously enough, both sides had met in the open qualifiers, with the three maps of the series going to overtime. This means that combining their last two clashes, five of the six maps went to overtime.
What's to come?
Following yesterday's matches, these are the games that will be played later today:
Upper Bracket
- Fluxo vs. FaZe Clan
- Black Dragons vs. w7m esports
Lower Bracket
- Team Liquid vs. Ninjas in Pyjamas
- FURIA Esports vs. E1 Sports
The winners of the Upper Bracket games will automatically qualify for the Esports World Cup as Brazil's Top 2 seeds. Meanwhile, the winners of the Lower Bracket will play against one of the losers of the Upper Bracket for the region's final two spots to compete in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.