A New Contender Emerges In European Sideswipe

In the first few weeks of competitive Sideswipe, a few key names have reigned supreme in Europe. People like NKS, Delay, Artyruss, Ultimate25z, Galaxio and so on, have had a fairly firm grip over the top positions in both 1s and 2s.

However this week’s event, riddled with controversy as always, saw berth to a new champion team: ‘Djer.’.

Djer.’s lineup is comprised of Djerwanee and SawZen, who despite being solid players, have never placed top 4 in an event, with their previous week’s results in 2s both being outside top 32, and on different teams.

They sailed through groups without much trouble, taking down Mattymoomoo03’s ‘RocKenteers’ and ’Nemesis‘ in the process.

Yet heading into playoffs, the climb to the top seemed all the more steeper as they found themselves against GrindeUp, the team who had actually swept SawZen in the previous event. Facing a 0-2 deficit, it seemed to be a similar storyline this week, yet with their backs against the wall, ’Djer.’ rallied to produce an astonishing comeback to secure a top 4 berth.

The road from there would not get any easier either as they were pitted against NKS and Delay’s ‘TTW x TOG’ in the semis, two experienced, consistently performing competitors. Despite this, ’Djer.’ rode their wave of confidence and momentum, producing a 3-1 upset to lock in a grand finals appearance, their first ever.

Their opponents, Ultimate25z and Artyruss, are arguably the strongest team in Europe, and were the reigning champions from last week’s event, with numerous other victories and high placings under their belt.

Early on, the French duo just too strong for their less experienced opponents, putting on a defensive masterclass to concede just two goals in the first 3 games, bringing up a 3-0 lead for FC UltiRus and with the series in the palm of their hand.

Down 3-0, ‘Djer.’ seemed heavily demoralize, and even questioned whether to continue with the series, with Djerwanee afk for game 4’s first goal and all hope seemingly lost.

But the match was remade, and all of a sudden, hope had been breathed into the series, with a rare error in defensive causing ‘Djer.’ to strike back. With a game in the bag, they were suddenly hungry for more, producing another shutout in game 5, with FC UltiRus looking rattled in game 6 as some basic mistakes, that hadn’t been present throughout the run, seeped into their game, leaving the series tied at 3-3.

The final game was scrappy, with Djerwanee muscling an early goal in to start things off, while some fortunate 50s granted both teams a goal each, leaving the score at 2-1 to ‘Djer.’ and crowning them as EU 2v2 Series #2 champions, taking home $1000 USD.

Something has to be said for the mental fortitude to come back and reverse sweep not once, but twice, against some of the best in Europe, and I’m sure this will not be the last we see of SawZen and Djerwanee.