The Pipsqueak+4 team decided not to delay the matter and blew the OQ Enjoyers dry with a score of 2:0 in the decisive battle of the first open qualifiers for ESL One Birmingham 2026 for Western Europe. The meeting, let’s say, was held in the Bo3 format, and the guys from Pipsqueak actually dominated, securing a slot in the closed stage. At the same time, Dmitry “Fishman” stack Polishchuk, by the way, still retains a slim chance of success if she can make a comeback through the second open qualifiers.
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Analysis of Pipsqueak and Fishman team selections
The Pipsqueak+4 roaster is currently being run by Lasha “Nande” Narsia and Philip “Copy” Büechler are a powerful team that, together with Nikita “Palantimos” Grinkevich, Marsel ”Ekki” Holovenko and Alim “aik” Bespayev, showed a very clean Pillbox. OQ Enjoyers came out against them, where, in addition to Fishman, WoE, Stojkov, CodeX and Kyzko played, but, to be honest, they could not catch on to at least one card.
However, it is worth considering that this is only the beginning of the path to a huge jackpot of $ 1,000,000, which will be played in Birmingham at the end of March.
The format of the closed qualification for ESL One Birmingham 2026
The ESL One Birmingham 2026 lan final itself will take place in England from March 22 to March 29, where 16 top teams will probably fight for the title. By the way, the closed qualifiers will start on January 19 and will last only two days — during this time, eight teams will have to compete for only two tickets to the main stage.
Unexpectedly, the favorites in other regions were also quickly determined — the Inner Circle has already made its way from Eastern Europe to the closed stage. The current selections in Western Europe are generally online from January 12th to 13th, and so far Pipsqueak+4 looks like one of the most charged squads in the region. In fact, Fishman and the company now need to get together as much as possible, otherwise the main tournament of the spring will be held without their participation — it will be a shame, of course.
