M80, Lynn Vision, and Sharks have punched their tickets to BLAST Open Porto after claiming victory in their regional qualifying tournaments. The three squads will compete alongside Inner Circle, who took the European qualifier crown, for a share of the massive $1.1 million prize pool.
The event represents one of the final major competitions before the Singapore Major invite cutoff date of November 2, making these spots particularly valuable for the participating teams. A total of 16 teams will battle it out in Porto, including 12 top-ranked VRS sides.
Among the notable teams that fell short were TYLOO and paiN, both of whom reached the grand finals in their regions but couldn't seal the deal. M80 emerged as the only pre-tournament favorite to actually capture first place in their qualifier.
Individual performances were stellar across the board. In South America, Sharks' João "koala" Pfeffer, recognized as a top-15 Prospect, dominated with an impressive 1.23 rating to lead his team to victory. Meanwhile, Lynn Vision's Lizhi "Starry" Ye posted an exceptional 1.43 rating, while M80's Fritz "slaxz-" Dietrich wasn't far behind with a 1.38 rating, both topping their respective qualifier leaderboards.
