Tainted Minds, NASR to DHM Marseille Asian closed qualifier

Tainted Minds and NASR have won the ANZ and GCC open qualifiers respectively for DreamHack Masters Marseille, and have secured their slots to the Asian closed qualifier, taking place online on March 6-8.

Hosted by Indian-based organizers SoStronk, the Oceanic qualifier featured twenty teams, while the GCC qualifier gathered up thirteen teams following two days of notice. 

The single-elimination format was utilized for the two qualifiers held on February 24-26, with all matches being best-of-ones, except for the BO3 semi-finals and grand final that followed.

yam's Tainted Minds will take part in the closed qualifier as Oceania's rep

Tainted Minds destroyed their opponents in the first two rounds of the bracket, before struggling against the new Dark Sided roster in the semi-finals, which went 2-1 in Yaman "⁠yam⁠" Ergenekon's favour at the end. They faced Corvidae in the grand final, who managed to upset Chiefs in the semis. It was a complete 2-0 stomp from Joshua "⁠INS⁠" Potter's side, who performed on the night, dropping a 1.68 rating across two maps. 

DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018 Oceania Open QualifierBest of 3 Tainted MindsMatchpage 2 0 26th February 2018 Corvidae 16Inferno 5 16Cache 2

Tainted Minds	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Joshua 'INS' PotterINS	40 - 17	+23	113.8	1.68
Yaman 'yam' Ergenekonyam	36 - 20	+16	88.7	1.46
Chris 'ofnu' Hanleyofnu	37 - 18	+19	91.2	1.44
Ryan 'zewsy' Palmerzewsy	34 - 22	+12	88.5	1.38
Connor 'chuch' Morganchuch	26 - 19	+7	78.4	1.19

Corvidae	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Daniel 'rbz' Urbanirbz	23 - 34	-11	68.0	0.73
Anthony 'Ar3syK' ChristouAr3syK	21 - 34	-13	63.2	0.71
Jordan 'krudeN' HillkrudeN	22 - 36	-14	62.8	0.65
Iyengaran 'IyeN' RajuIyeN	15 - 35	-20	47.5	0.53
Daniel 'DANZ' WhitfieldDANZ	15 - 35	-20	57.6	0.52

In the GCC qualifier, NASR shut down their enemies with single-digit scorelines, during their road to the grand final. The Kuwait roster FATE MENA stood in their way, who was the victor of the other side of the bracket. Fayez "⁠cheK⁠" Saif led his team to victory on the starting map, winning 16-11 on Inferno. NASR just barely pulled off the reverse sweep, following a hard-fought victory in overtime on the deciding map, and their newest recruit Yousif "⁠h1x⁠" Abdelsattar standing out for the team overall in the series.

DreamHack Masters Marseille 2018 GCC Open QualifierBest of 3 NASRMatchpage 2 1 26th February 2018 FATE MENA 6Inferno 16 16Train 10 19Overpass 16

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The team list for the Asian closed stage can be found below, with the remaining four slots being finalized by March 3:

TYLOO	BOOT-d[S]
Tainted Minds	NASR
SEA + South Asia	SEA + South Asia
East Asia	China

NASR #202 Obaid 'breAker' Al-MuhairiAbdulaziz 'Nami' Al-HammadiKhalid 'KarriBob' Al-JunaibiMohammed 'k1tkat' Al-NuaimiYousif 'h1x' Abdelsattar Corvidae #108 Anthony 'Ar3syK' ChristouDaniel 'rbz' UrbaniDaniel 'DANZ' WhitfieldJordan 'krudeN' HillIyengaran 'IyeN' Raju Joshua 'INS' Potter Age: 19 Team: Tainted Minds Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 308 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.67 Chiefs #65 Tyler 'tucks' ReillyPeter 'pecks' NguyenLiam 'malta' SchembriMatthew 'Texta' O'RourkeEuan 'sterling' Moore Fayez 'cheK' Saif Age: 21 Team: RvN Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 54 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.68 BOOT-d[S] #96 Nevin 'splashske' AwBenedict 'Benkai' TanBenjamin 'moxie' KouAnthony 'ImpressioN' LimKumaresan 'Tommy' Ramani Yousif 'h1x' Abdelsattar Age: 22 Team: NASR Rating 1.0: 1.00 Maps played: 10 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.65 FATE MENA #158 Fayez 'cheK' SaifSaleh 'shanx' AleneziFahad 'vRss' AlajmiAbdul-Aziz 'JustnatioN' SalemMalhan 'WeZ' Albusayyes Yaman 'yam' Ergenekon Age: 29 Team: Tainted Minds Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 360 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.65 Dark Sided #118 James 'James' QuinnAlec 'Noisia' GulabovskiGeorgio 'sK' PoumpoulidisAndrew 'YDNA' AdamsCooper 'void' Farrell TYLOO #22 Ke 'captainMo' LiuHui 'DD' WuHansel 'BnTeT' FerdinandHaoWen 'somebody' XuKevin 'xccurate' Susanto Tainted Minds #67 Yaman 'yam' ErgenekonRyan 'zewsy' PalmerChris 'ofnu' HanleyConnor 'chuch' MorganJoshua 'INS' Potter