OCE Championship Sunday Full Recap

What a crazy day! Almost nothing could be predicted today in OCE RLCS, with some teams throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the matches, whilst others were caught napping on the job. When all was done and dusted, however, OCE crowned a new champion.

Dire Wolves VS Renegades

Especially with GroundZero out of action, the Renegades were considered by just about everyone as the best in OCE. With that label, the Dire Wolves shouldn't have been even an issue, but any assumptions like that were quickly thrown out the window.

To go with predictions of Renegades as #1, many also held Fever as the best individual player, but he well and truly met his match in this series. Misty seemed to be mirroring Fever's peak play, getting some incredible shots on net to put Renegades under relentless pressure from the get go. When paired with some solid finishing from Fiberr, and Renegades having seemingly focused too much on shooting, with their defence falling off a cliff, the Dire Wolves locked in a 4-1 comfortable win, embarrassing the former champs with a 6-1 game 5 where Renegades seemed completely powerless to stop the wolfpack, including Misty's incredible flip reset finish.

Forkidden VS Team Bliss

The kids yesterday talked a big game about this matchup, and early on, looked to be living up their standards, eating Bliss alive in game 1. It may have been the Bananahead show early on, but Bliss quickly regathered themselves, whilst Forkidden appeared to have had too much caffeine, making some critical game to throw away games 2 and 3, conceding a 2-1 lead to Bliss, whose physical play helped set up some crucial goals.

But the Kids weren't to be outdone, with a Superlachie snipe securing game 4, before the pressure just became too much for Bliss, overwhelming them as they fell 4-2 in the series, a solid result, but heavily outpaced by the fearless kids.

Forkidden VS Renegades

The seasoned veterans vs the new kids on the block. A tale as old as time in OCE, however this time, the kids finally seemed to prevail. Early in the series, a combination of perfect positioning from Bananahead to secure a game 1 hat trick, and uncharacteristic whiffs from the Renegades, help Forkidden cruise to a 2-0 lead.

A tactical timeout, and CJCJ finding his shooting poise again, helped the Renegades to secure 1 game, but that was all they would have for the series. The kids bit back with an incredible display of mechanics in game 4, before showing their clutch ability with a Bananahead prejump off a perfect Scrub pass securing a 4-1 demolition. The Renegades were dismantled today, and if they want to have any chance at making the winter major, they're going to need to step up big time.

Forkidden VS Dire Wolves

Riding the wave of beating OCE #1,2 and 3 seeds, the kids continued the chaos plays against the wolfpack, producing some risky challenges that were perfectly pulled off, including a Scrub pinch to lock in game 1.

The Dire Wolves called time out, and they didn't just respond, they sent the kids a message, a message of war. Misty's shooting was absolutely relentless and Walcott's positioning was near perfect, creating a dominant 7-2 game 3 win.

Although the kids still led, they began to panic and back off the play at times, with a painful own goal from Bananahead, who was split down the middle, granting the Dire Wolves game 4 for a 2-2 tied series. Misty had arguably been player of the series, but it was Fiberr who saved the day for the wolves, making an unbelievable goal line save to clinch game 4 and a bottom corner rocket, with just 3 seconds to go, to lock in game 5, before Misty put the nail in the coffin in game 6.

A great series of action, where Dire Wolves were forced to drop the slow play and respond with their own pace, proving they're a force to be reckoned with and earning a well deserved regional victory.