When the brackets were released for the North American ESL Atlantic Showdown Final Qualifier last night, it caused a huge storm within the pro scene. The players alleged that they had not been told that qualifying in an earlier tournament got you a higher seed, nor that teams would be randomly seeded one to four in their group. The resulting bracket is a stacked mess, with almost every strong team in the top arm of the bracket. As sympathetic as I am, it will create some ridiculous fixtures and exciting storylines for viewers.

Before we get to the 16-team bracket itself, let’s recap how the teams got here in the qualifying tournaments starting nearly one month ago.

The Victorious

The first qualifier saw almost every top North American team involved, as EnVyUS and Cloud9 smashed through the competition with ease. Luminosity came up with a win against Fnatic(then called nubris) to send them through, while Northern Gaming qualified after beating TSM (then still playing for Gale Force). At this point, over three weeks ago, TSM had not undergone their swift ascension to become an elite team. Both Northern Gaming and Luminosity took the initiative and qualified as early as possible, securing themselves seeds 1-4 alongside nV and C9.

Both TSM and fnatic could not be stopped for long though. Their skill allowed them to brush off lower teams in the second qualifier, where they secured their spot with Liquid and Sea Algae. These four teams earned themselves the seeds of 5-8.

The skill disparity in North America widens after the top eight, opening the door for the gatekeeper teams of 1SHOT, Sodipop, Colorado Clutch, and Selfless in the third qualifier. These teams claimed seeds 9-12.

The final qualifier was a free-for-all, save for the appearance of Splyce who had waited to secure their roster before qualifying. For teams who met Splyce in their path, the road was over, but Team Delirium, The One Percent, and ohno managed to wriggle through. These four teams gained the seeds 13-16.

Upper Bracket for the North American Final 16 Qualifier

In order to go to Gamescom, teams must make it to either the Upper Bracket Final or the Lower Bracket Final of this double-elimination qualifier. With only Luminosity Gaming and Northern Gaming in the bottom arm of the bracket, one of these teams appears to have an easy road to Cologne. Whoever can come out the victor between the two should have their spot confirmed, bar any crazy upsets.

Meanwhile in the top arm of the bracket, the four best teams in North America must fight for three remaining spaces. EnVyUs seem likely to knock Fnatic into the lower bracket, but between Cloud9 and TSM it will be a closely fought contest to see who wins. Their prize for coming through alive? Taking on EnVyUs for a place at Gamescom. With the top arm of the upper bracket as stacked at possible, the lower bracket will be turned into a minefield.

ESL could have avoided this sudden calamity by communicating more effectively. If teams had been aware of the seeding process they would have raised concerns earlier, and fought tooth and nail for their early seeding. The biggest two problems with this format however are the month-long qualifying series and the random aspect. Minimising the qualifiers to a couple of weeks should be the aim in a fledgling scene, where patches are pushed thick and fast while teams frequently swap position. Playing out the qualifiers in full would also have eliminated the random aspect of seeding, though ESL could have used any subjective or algorithmic seeding as an improvement.

There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this qualifier, but the teams have already forgotten.

For them, the bracket of death requires their attention.