DreamHack will return to LAN in North America in 2022.
Extra Salt have topped the North American closed qualifier for ESL Challenger Anaheim 2022 after defeating paiN 2-1 in the grand final. Facing only Brazilian opposition, Extra Salt swept the four-team qualifier without dropping a series, only losing a single map to paiN in the final match.
Extra Salt are the third team to confirm a spot at the first ESL Challenger event, which is a rebranding of DreamHack Open, a series that is finally returning to LAN in 2022. 9z and ORDER already booked their spots via the South America and Oceania qualifiers, respectively, while a fourth team will be determined on Monday following the conclusion of the Europe qualifier.
Despite an early lead on the CT side of Nuke, Extra Salt faltered against the T side of paiN and only secured an 8-7 lead at halftime. The North American side were unable to replicate the success of the Brazilians' offense after the side swap, and ultimately conceded the first map 13-16.
Extra Salt's pick of Overpass was a completely different story however, as Johnny "JT" Theodosiou called an impressive offensive half, leading 10-5. Despite a huge under-performance from star Josh "oSee" Ohm, the North American side pulled through in the second half with the help of a strong defense from Ricky "floppy" Kemery and Edgar "MarKE" Maldonado.
Vertigo was quite back and forth, seeing paiN scrappily secure six rounds on their T side. Extra Salt were able to easily secure a 15-8 lead and looked to finish out the series, but the Brazilian side weren't out and grinded their way back to 15-15 and secured overtime. Despite the choke in regulation, Extra Salt snuck by in OT, rallying back to secure the third map 19-17 despite a monstrous performance Rafael "saffee" Costa.
ESL Challenger Anaheim 2022 North America Closed QualifierBest of 3
Extra Salt
Matchpage 2 1 13th December 2021 
paiN 13Nuke 16 16Overpass 10 19Vertigo 17 | Extra Salt | K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Justin 'FaNg' CoakleyFaNg | 76 - 63 | +13 | 82.5 | 1.21 |
 Edgar 'MarKE' MaldonadoMarKE | 66 - 55 | +11 | 75.2 | 1.15 |
 Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouJT | 61 - 64 | -3 | 77.1 | 1.11 |
 Ricky 'floppy' Kemeryfloppy | 57 - 55 | +2 | 72.3 | 0.98 |
| Josh 'oSee' OhmoSee | 51 - 60 | -9 | 68.1 | 0.93 |
| paiN | K - D | +/- | ADR | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rafael 'saffee' Costasaffee | 80 - 59 | +21 | 81.9 | 1.19 |
| Gabriel 'NEKIZ' SchenatoNEKIZ | 67 - 68 | -1 | 86.0 | 1.07 |
| Rodrigo 'biguzera' Bittencourtbiguzera | 59 - 63 | -4 | 71.0 | 1.01 |
| Wesley 'hardzao' Lopeshardzao | 51 - 59 | -8 | 59.9 | 0.88 |
| Vinicios 'PKL' CoelhoPKL | 39 - 62 | -23 | 59.4 | 0.80 |
Here is the current team list for ESL Challenger Anaheim:
Extra Salt
ORDER
InviteInvite
9z
Europe QualifierInviteInvite
Josh 'oSee' Ohm 
Age: 22 Team: Extra Salt Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 1014 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.63 Extra Salt #23 Edgar 'MarKE' MaldonadoJohnny 'JT' TheodosiouRicky 'floppy' KemeryJosh 'oSee' OhmJustin 'FaNg' Coakley 
Rafael 'saffee' Costa 
Age: 26 Team: paiN Rating 1.0: 1.24 Maps played: 304 KPR: 0.83 DPR: 0.60 
9z #47 Bruno 'BIT' Fukuda Lima
Maximiliano 'max' GonzalezFranco 'dgt' Garcia
Martin 'rox' MolinaSantino 'try' Rigal Ricky 'floppy' Kemery 
Age: 21 Team: Extra Salt Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 731 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.66 
ORDER #69 Ricardo 'Rickeh' MulhollandKarlo 'USTILO' PivacJireh 'J1rah' YouakimMatthew 'Valiance' HartrickDeclan 'Vexite' Portelli paiN #32 Vinicios 'PKL' CoelhoGabriel 'NEKIZ' SchenatoWesley 'hardzao' LopesRodrigo 'biguzera' BittencourtRafael 'saffee' Costa Edgar 'MarKE' Maldonado 
Age: 23 Team: Extra Salt Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 918 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.65 Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou 
Age: 22 Team: Extra Salt Rating 1.0: 0.96 Maps played: 979 KPR: 0.64 DPR: 0.67