Image via Ubisoft/Joao F.
The APAC South Open Qualifiers are here. There’s a spot at the Six Invitational 2022 on the line, and all the teams in the open portion will be trying to get the sole spot at SI that’s up for grabs.
This article will be updated as results come in.
Here’s the biggest and most important results from the APAC North Open Qualifier:
Round of 64
- GUTS Gaming 7-4 SIRIUS Gaming
Though given somewhat of pause by domestic rivals SIRIUS Gaming, GUTS Gaming are cleanly through in the first round.
- Northeption 7-2 Team V
As mysterious as the character from the movie, Team V is a lot less impactful, falling in a quick 7-2 to Japan League's Team Northeption.
- Talon Esports 7-3 SFF-A
Without a first round bye, Talon had to play in the Round of 64, but found little issue against SFF-A, taking seven rounds in a row after being 0-3 on Chalet defence.
Round of 32
- Senogku Gaming 7-1 YAMAZAKI Gaming
One of the favourites to qualify for APAC North in the relegations, Sengoku Gaming had no troubles in their first game, winning 7-1 against YAMAZAKI after a first-round bye.
- DONUTS USG 7-1 SHS
Setting up a date with Sengoku right afterwards were DONUTS USG, who had just beat CYCLOPS athlete gaming for the Japan Championship 2021 last month. They matched Sengoku with a 7-1 win in the Round of 32 and will play their domestic rivals next round.
- GUTS Gaming 7-2 AORUS
GUTS kept their campaign going with a 7-2 win over AORUS on Clubhouse, completed in comfortable fashion.
- StarRise 7-4 Northeption
Koreans once again proved their Rainbow Six superiority over the Japanese, this time with a 7-4 win for StarRise over Northeption.
- Crest Gaming 7-4 Zepto
Mirroring their score were Crest Gaming, who took down Zepto by the same margin to try and take StarRise on in the Round of 16 and avenge Northeption's loss.
- Talon Esports 7-1 PythonSerenityGaming
Talon continued as expected, with another dominating win, this time over PSG -- with the identically initialled football club being their LoL team's partners.
Round of 16
- T1 7-3 Team Viper
Regional rivals Team Viper were brushed aside by T1 on Villa, as the APAC North team continued on a strong tail-end of Stage 3, becoming the first team to progress to the quater-finals.
- DONUTS USG 7-1 Sengoku Gaming
The Japan Championship victors continued their march towards the ultimate win, taking down Sengoku Gaming with laughable ease in a 7-1.
- GUTS 7-5 ENTERFORCE.36
APAC North team GUTS Gaming, however, struggled against ENTERFORCE.36, almost conceding overtime. A 12-round Villa was just enough for the win, however.
- Crest Gaming 7-1 StarRise
One of Korean tier-two's best, StarRise, finally fell, stopped by the Japan League's Crest Gaming.
- Talon Esports 7-1 CTG
Talon had the least surprising result of all, as they kept matching expectations with a 7-1 Round of 16 win to progress to the quater-finals.
Quarter-finals
- Talon Esports 7-2 Solanimus
Talon Esports' run so far was extremely quiet, and arguably very easy. The Korean APAC North squad got yet another such opponent, who they dispatched with an easy 7-2.
- T1 7-2 grooVjam
Similar to Talon, T1 also continued a strong Open Qualifier campaign, making it to the BO3 semi-finals with a 7-2 loss against regional rivals grooVjam.
- GUTS Gaming 7-3 DONUTS USG
Japan's sole APAC North team in the qualifier, GUTS, kept its march on, taking care of DONUTS USG on Coastline a lot easier than it did ENTERFORCE.
- Crest Gaming 7-2 Epsilon
Crest, meanwhile, became the last remaining non-APAC North team in the qualifier, taking down fellow non-league team Epsilon 7-2.
Semi-finals
- Talon Esports 2-0 Crest Gaming
Having avoided strong opposition so far, many may have wondered about Talon's true strength up until the semi-final. But even the Japan League side Crest were unable to stop the Koreans' inexorable advance, crashing 3-7 on both Villa and Chalet.
Talon thus found themselves within one BO3 of progressing to the APAC Closed Qualifier, but had to finally face fellow APAC North opposition as their final hurdle.
- GUTS Gaming 2-0 T1
After recovering from a 2-5 on the first map to win 7-5, it seemed like a win for GUTS Gaming was inevitable. The Japanese completed a 2-0 sweep of T1 with a Kafe scoreline of 7-3, and set themselves up for a clash against Talon for the final APAC Closed Qualifier spot.
Grand final
- Talon Esports 2-1 GUTS Gaming
Even though Talon Esports had not faced a single APAC North team thus far, they did not face too many difficulties when they took on GUTS.
Having traded 7-5 scorelines on Coastline and Oregon, the final map was a bloodbath in the Koreans' favour. Villa went their way 7-1, and the series win meant that they progressed to January's SI 2022 APAC Closed Qualifier alongisde Knights, CYCLOPS athlete gaming, and Team APR.