Klim Sani4 Will Join Team Spirit At Birmingham After Stealing Virtus.Pro’s Slot

The Eastern European Qualifiers for ESL One Birmingham 2024 have ended, with an expected team and an underdog claiming the two available slots. Virtus.Pro will surprisingly miss the million-dollar tournament. 

Eight Eastern European teams battled it out in the Closed Qualifier for ESL One Birmingham 2024, with only two invitations up for grabs. Most fans thought it would be an easy qualification for the likes of Team Spirit and Virtus.Pro, which were two teams that finished within the top eight at The International 12. However, a huge upset occurred.

The TI Winners Look To Claim Another Title

Team Spirit decided to take a well-deserved break after solidifying themselves as one of the two greatest teams in Dota history. They just returned a few weeks ago to play some Qualifiers. The TI winners didn’t look as sharp, probably because they were really rusty.

In the first Qualifiers match, Team Spirit faced their “academy” roster, Yellow Submarine, a young lineup organized by their manager Korb3n. The favorites easily took the first map but lost a few touches and dropped the second. Yellow Submarine had no business taking a map in this series, so Team Spirit quickly focused up and easily took the third.

The next match for Spirit was against Natus Vincere, a team on the rise. With Yatoro and the crew looking shaky, Na’Vi had a real shot at pulling off an upset. The first map was a super close 64-minute game saved by Larl and Miposhka ratting the throne. Team Spirit found the first map too close for comfort, so they locked in and quickly took the second to win 2-0.

Team Spirit then met Virtus.Pro in the Upper Bracket Final. Since two slots are available, the winner of this match will receive the first invitation. Virtus.Pro’s Carry player Kiritych played an excellent first map on Faceless Void to put the Bears 1-0 up in the series. However, Spirit quickly showed that the loss was a fluke and completed the reverse sweep to qualify for ESL One Birmingham.

The first team to qualify to #ESLOne Birmingham via the Closed Qualifiers is @team__spirit; congrats! 👏

They’ll be joined by another EEU team tomorrow! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/JqcgGwDeMr

— ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) January 27, 2024

Lower Bracket Upset

The loss against Team Spirit meant Virtus.Pro dropped to the Lower Bracket Final, where they would play the winner of Klim Sani4 and Yellow Submarine for the second spot at Birmingham. Klim Sani4, an unsponsored roster with promising players, disposed of Team Spirit’s academy roster to meet Virtus.Pro in the Bo3 qualification match.

Coming into this matchup, Virtus.Pro were 5:1 favorites against Klim Sani4. The odds weren’t lying, as Virtus.Pro had firm control over the first map. However, some slip-ups from Kiritych allowed Klim Sani4 a way back into the game, which was converted into a comeback. 

The Bears find themselves 0-1 down, staring at elimination. However, they kept calm and took the second map to keep the series level. 

Thankfully, the series didn’t have an anticlimactic ending, as the decisive map lasted 63 minutes. Though it was quite a passive game, the close team fights did not disappoint. Eventually, Klim Sani4 pulled off the upset to qualify for their first LAN tournament since the roster’s formation after eliminating Virtus.Pro

We have our second EEU team for #ESLOne Birmingham! Congrats to Klim Sani4 for making it through the EEU Closed Qualifiers! 👏 pic.twitter.com/ZlkgoEGywE

— ESL Dota2 (@ESLDota2) January 28, 2024

ESL One Birmingham will be the first S-Tier tournament for the majority of the Klim Sani4 roster, which will surely be a fantastic experience for the boys. This victory also means there will be a high chance the roster gets signed by an esports organization.

Header: ESL