Middle-East Regional Qualifier - A Tale of Demise
The Middle-East regional qualifiers took place over the weekend of 27-28th September at Exile Gaming Cafe in Dubai, UAE. 8 teams from around the region attended the event with last year’s eXTREMESLAND Middle-East champions, NASR Esports the only invited team in attendance.
As part of the on-going efforts to include more countries from last year, the regional qualifier saw the addition of Turkey to the foray. Turkey is a nation that traditionally does not take part in Middle-East qualifiers, and as such, the nation is known to produce some top level teams that can contend with the European Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams.
NASR Esports, last year’s champions from the region, received a direct invite to the event, with seven teams determined by individual country qualifiers that spanned the months of August and September.
Coming into the finals, it was unclear to many who would actually qualify. Although NASR Esports were crowd favorites, the team had recently undergone a line-up shuffle. Other teams such as Turkey’s Demise and newly formed Yalla Esports were unproven in this region, and as such, the two spots available to Shanghai were in serious contention.
Group A
Teams: Yalla Esports, Darkside, NASR Esports, EZ5
The hometown favorites NASR Esports were up first. In what seemed like an easy group for the UAE team, it was no surprise they took the first map verus mix-team Darkside, 16-6. Yalla Esports were up next, and after securing their first game 16-13, they were to face NASR in the winners game. Darkside rebounded and eliminated EZ5, and were ready to face the loser of NASR versus Yalla Esports. To everyone’s surprise, Yalla Esports got off to an incredible start on Inferno, and on their T-side, they dominated NASR Esports 12-3. With little room to breath, NASR Esports mounted an impressive six round win streak, however, it was finally Yalla Esports who emerged victorious, and alas the first major upset of the tournament was revealed.
NASR Esports were to face-off against Darkside once again. However, on Dust2 they showed too much respect to Darkside, a team that on paper should’ve lost the game easily. Almost losing the map in regulation, the match went into overtime. A series of mis-communication and lack of preparation was evident, and NASR eventually fell to the UAE mix-squad of Darkside, 19-17.
Group B
Teams: Demise, Divine Vendetta, Fraggerz, Portal Esports Blue
With the excitement in Group A a hard thing to beat, Group B matches looked like they would be more predictable. As everyone expected, Demise, the team from Turkey, started off strong against Pakistan’s Portal Esports Blue, cruising to a comfortable 16-2 victory. The remaining teams, a combination of mixed squads from across the region, fought their way through and saw Divine Vendetta emerge as the second team to beat. After Portal Esports were eliminated by Fraggerz, the team from Jordan were to take on the UAE qualifier team, Fraggerz in a re-match. Unfortunately, Fraggerz were unable to live up to the standards of their fellow countrymen, NASR Esports, and after losing a few crucial rounds in the late game, fell to Divine Vendetta 16-13.
Playoff and Final Results
The final teams were Yalla Esports, Demise, Divine Vendetta and Darkside. The semi-finals proved to be the most exciting part of the two day event, with Yalla Esports and Divine Vendetta playing a full 30-rounds. Yalla Esports were the better team today, however, and emerged victorious over the Jordanians, winning both maps 16-14.
Demise were here to prove they deserved the added country slot, and deserve they did. An interesting pick on Vertigo saw them win the first game 16-10 over Darkside, the team that upset NASR Esports. Dust2 was next, and although Darkside showed some skillful play, it was Demise’s experience which brought them to the finish line.
The final match was more of a formality than anything else, both Yalla Esports and Demise had already secured their qualification to Shanghai. In true Demise fashion, the Turkish squad displayed a solid showing, a class above the rest, and took out the UAE based Yalla Esports 16-6 and 16-8, winning the series 2-0 and solidifying their number one position in the regional finals.
It’s a shame we won’t be seeing NASR Esports featured in the grand finals, but if anything, it shows the level of play in the Middle-East has evolved, and the three-time national champions of eXTREMESLAND Middle-East will have to watch from afar as Yalla Esports and Demise represent their region at this years event.
The final results for the Middle East Regional Qualifiers are as follows:
1st - 🇹🇷 Demise
2nd - 🇱🇧 Yalla Esports
3rd-4th - 🇯🇴 Divine Vendetta
3rd-4th - 🇰🇼 Darkside
5th-6th - 🇦🇪 NASR Esports
5th-6th - 🇦🇪 Fraggerz
7th-8th - 🇵🇰 Portal Esports Blue