OCE Regional Event 3 Day 1 Highlights: Rising Stars Hold On

The final event of OCE’s winter split certainly wasn’t void of drama and excitement. Some top teams excelled, others stumbled, and a few rising lineups finally clinched their top 8 berth. Here are our highlights from the first day of play:

Renegades And Ground Zero Dominate

The two best teams in OCE in fall, it may not have exactly stayed the same in winter, but today’s group stage results showed pure dominance.

For the Renegades, they went 9-0 in a group filled with teams eager for a break through, with their offence looking dangerous throughout. With the results of group C and D, Renegades are now just a series win away from clinching their spot in LA.

As for Ground Zero, they did all they could to give themselves a shot at LA. In a group filled with 2 top 10 teams on our power ranking, they were prolific and clean in their dominance, going 9-1 on the day to secure top 6, as they now have to pray for losses from both Pioneers and Dire Wolves to give themselves a chance.

The 17-0

In group C, Eclipse and The CEOs spent the majority of the day struggling against the clearly superior Bliss and Pioneers, leaving a last round matchup determining who would slot into playoffs.

After Eclipse’s offence help them dominate games 1 and 2, including a sharp angle from Lerky, CEOs bit back with some pristine defence to level the series.

But after falling to a 3-0 deficit in game 5 with around a minute on the clock, something unheralded happened. The CEOs' three players all exited the game, and lobby, leaving Eclipse in a 3v0, where clearly elated by the top 12 berth, they showed no mercy, netting 17 goals total in what has to be a bizarre looking scoreline for those unaware.

Pioneers And Wolves Stunned In Groups

It's official now: OCE is deep. Both Dire Wolves and Pioneers came into the event needing a high ranking finish to clinch their spot in LA, but R!OT and Bliss today had other plans. After Dire Wolves were able to comfortably dismiss Bandits, it seemed that they were going to finish off the group of death, yet R!OT had other plans, sweeping Dire Wolves to send them into the lower bracket, needing to now run the gauntlet to make the major.

For the newly signed Pioneers, it was a similar story. Played out a smart win against Eclipse, smashed The CEOs, and were overall looking good, before being dismantled by Bliss, who combined strong team plays with brilliant consistency to take the win 3-2, sending the Pioneers to the lower bracket as well.

Although both Pioneers and Dire Wolves had comfortable round 1 playoffs wins today, they'll need to keep winning to keep their chances alive, and could have a looming lower bracket semi finals matchup to determine who goes to LA, and who stays home.

For R!OT and Bliss, although they may be out of major contention, they proved that they're truly forces to be reckoned with. Don't be surprised if we see them competing for LAN in spring, and they've now got a free swing at OCE's best tomorrow in the upper bracket semi finals.

Top 8 Debutants

Two more teams have found their way into the top 8 this regional. First off is The Kibbles, with a roster of Ghost, Mock and Viiexn, who truly appeared to be having a good time out their on the field. Although dismantled by the high level teams, they were clutch and precise when it mattered most, taking game 5 victories against both Antic and 1620 Kings to book their ticket to top 8, where they'll play the Pioneers in an opportunity to play spoiler to their run to LA.

The second of the teams is Big Goose, who after back to back 9th-12th's and a rough closed qualifier, have found the break through. Appeared all but dead against a peaking Trident, trailing 2-0 in the series, but somehow found the energy to win it in a classic, surviving a nerve wracking 6:42 overtime in game 3, before winning two tight, defensive games to close out the series, with an overtime finish to game 5. Sour, Tobee and Schoompernator's willingness to stick together and tough it out has now paid dividends, and they've got the huge opportunity of upsetting the wolfpack in tomorrow's lower bracket round 2 matchup.