Recap of the Fall Invitational
With the last regional of the Fall Split behind us, let's look at the regional that was filled with upsets and the rise of a team that looks like a serious contender and a new mainstay in the top 8 of the region.
Day 1 of the invitational, i.e. the swiss round resulted in a familiar top 2 with James Cheese and Gaimin Gladiators making it in with a 3-0 score, this also confirmed James Cheese's spot for the Fall major in Rotterdam. Third place and down is where we see a bunch of unexpected results. UHUH had finished in 3rd place going into the playoffs, a significant improvement compared to their previous finishes in 8th place in the swiss rounds of previous regionals, finishing 3-1 with a loss to James Cheese. Detonator finished 4th, showing a consistent performance in the swiss round, relative to their performances in the last two regionals. They dropped a series to Tough Love in their 3-1 finish in the swiss bracket. Nimmt55 managed to finish 5th place in the swiss round, making them a consistent mainstay in the top 8 throughout the split, with their only loss being to Gaimin Gladiators making their score 3-1 going into the playoffs. The last three teams to qualify for the playoffs were familiar with one new team making it in. GracesBlazes Refine who had gotten close in the previous regionals, finally made it, in the last regional of the split with a score of 3-2, they lost to UHUH and Detonator on their way to the playoffs. Having been top 2 the in the swiss round of the last two regionals Tough Love had a very strong start to the swiss round, with them going up 2-0, but back-to-back losses to Gaimin Gladiators and UHUH resulted in them going down to the last wire against Vainshoes finishing their run as the 7th place going into the playoffs. God Speed as well had a surprising end to the swiss bracket considering that in the previous regionals they had consistently finished in the top 4 on day 1 of the main events. This time they finished in 8th place, losing two series to James Cheese and Nimmt55, but at the end clutching it up against Cobweb City to end their run with a 3-2 score.
Day 2 of the invitational was fairly eventful as well, starting off with James Cheese getting a 4-1 victory over God Speed, who due to their performance in the swiss had to face such a tough opponent in the first round. Although the scoreline might not convey it, God Speed had looked very capable of handling the reigning champions as the series went on. This was followed by the most surprising result of the whole tournament, in which Nimmt55 got a massive 4-0 win over Detonator to knock them out in the quarter-finals of the playoffs. Although Detonator was not playing with their full roster, with their coach Nunki subbing in for Mikan, Nimmt55 was still not the favorite going into this matchup, however, they managed to take advantage of Detonator's situation, and come out with a win. Next, we saw Tough Love take on Gaimin Gladiators, which was supposed to be a close-fought series, but unfortunately for Gaimin Gladiators, Tough Love had managed to find their form on the day of the playoffs and took the series with a comfortable 4-1. For the final quarterfinal matchup, we witnessed UHUH against a new challenger in the form of GracesBlazes Refine which ended in the former taking the win handily in a 4-1 fashion. GracesBlazes Refine put up a good fight, but UHUH just seemed to shut down everything that they were throwing at them.
Moving onto the semifinals, the first matchup was James Cheese versus Nimmt55 which was fairly one-sided. The former took the series win with a 4-0 series score and swiftly moved on to the finals. Tough Love however had an opponent that they had lost to in the swiss round, so going into the matchup against UHUH there were doubts about their ability to close out this series. Nevertheless, they managed to shut down UHUH in a convincing manner with a 4-1 series score. In the finals, it was James Cheese against Tough Love; in a way, it was ironic that in the APAC region, in a lobby of 6 players there was only a singular Asian player. Tough Love having managed to beat teams of very high caliber on their way to the finals, fell short against the Goliath that is James Cheese. The latter won the series with a scoreline of 4-1, making it their third regional win of the Fall Split.
APAC at the Fall Major and the upcoming split
Being the APAC representative for the Fall Major, I would like to congratulate James Cheese on their success in the region and wish them luck with the major. I do believe they will be able to give a good account of themselves and the region.
Looking into the upcoming winter split, teams are already getting better in their attempt to challenge James Cheese, so complacency will not be an option. It'll be interesting to watch the new teams and how they will match up against the reigning champions of the region especially after they manage to get LAN experience. Viewers of the region will undoubtedly find the next split entertaining.
Comments
Post a Comment