Extremum are out of IEM Fall North America, downed by Evil Geniuses in the 5th place playoff. The loss means the end of their qualification attempts for the Stockholm Major, meaning Oceania’s hopes and dreams rest with Renegades and Chris “dexter” Nong at Mousesports.
With 1880 RMR points entering the final RMR tournament, there were many scenarios where Extremum wouldn’t even need a points finish to qualify for late October’s Major.
But after losses to paiN Gaming and Team Liquid in the group stage, and a stupendous triple tiebreaker in Group B, Extremum would need to beat EG in the best-of-three playoff to book their tickets to Sweden.
EG had other ideas, snatching away Extremum’s pick of Nuke in dominating fashion. The boys struggled to put together a T side, with only Joakim “jkaem” Myrbostad (19-19, 82 ADR, 1.07 HLTV rating) putting numbers on the board in a 16-5 loss.
Extremum started better on Mirage at 5-1 but EG changed up their offensive strategy and bounced back to lead at the half 9-6.
But a monstrous 10-3 T side led chiefly by jkaem (27-16, 100 ADR, 1.54 HLTV rating) and Hansel “BnTeT” Ferdinand (29-19, 99 ADR, 1.54 HLTV rating) forced the third map of Inferno.
Neither team could be split on Inferno in the opening half, but EG took over on CT with the pistol and opening gun round win. With EG’s economy now strong following all five alive in the anti-eco, Extremum would need multiple back-to-back round wins.
They couldn’t manage one.
Despite jkaem’s best efforts (22-18, 95 ADR, 1.20 HLTV rating), EG would go eight straight to claim Inferno 16-7 and thus, the final North American spot at the Stockholm Major.
The loss ends Aaron “AZR” Ward’s streak of four subsequent Major appearances, and, combined with Complexity’s Justin “jks” Savage elimination in the IEM Fall Europe RMR event, means that no members of the Renegades line-up that finished top four at the StarLadder Berlin Major will be present in Stockholm.
It’ll be back to the drawing board for Extremum, who were relying on qualification and a solid performance in Stockholm to set themselves up for a stronger 2022.
Extremum’s approach to competition has before been questioned, with minimal tournament participation over the previous months — the team competed in just one tournament at Spring Sweet Spring 3 since the end of the player break.
With LAN tournaments back on the menu in a post-COVID climate in 2022, it is likely that we see sweeping roster changes following the Stockholm Major for many teams, Extremum very much included.
Instead though, it’s the reborn Renegades squad that will fly the flag for the Oceania region following their successful IEM Fall OCE qualification. The team touched down in Sweden this week to boot camp and prepare for the Challenger stage.
Not to be forgotten, Aussie Chris “dexter” Nong will captain Mousesports at his third career Major, and first with the European line-up.
Mousesports fell short of a points finish at IEM Fall Europe, but their win at Flashpoint 3 earned them enough points to qualify for the Major as a Challenger team.
Mousesports and Renegades could go head-to-head at the Stockholm Major Challenger Stage, beginning October 26. Stay tuned for more coverage of our OCE representatives as they set out to make history.