OCE Regional Event 3 Championship Sunday: Return Of Ground Zero

Renegades Outlast Rivals

With Ground Zero angry after missing out on qualification, they came out looking hungry for their first win of the split, with an Amphis led offence, including a big double tap to take the lead in game 2, GZ took the early upper hand in the series 2-0.

But Renegades have been by far the better of the pair in Winter, and showed why in the following games. Their passing was exquisite, positioning perfect, and they found a way to nullify GZ’s dangerous attacking presence, with the series ending up tied at 3-3.

Down a goal early in game 7, it was CJCJ who rose to the occasion on Champions Field, nailing two experienced bottom left finishes to take the lead, and series from Ground Zero, 4-3, to secure another grand final finish.

Pioneers Feast On Bliss

After an impressive start to the event, knocking Dire Wolves out of contention for LA following a win in groups over the Pioneers, the Pioneers got their chance for revenge today in a lower bracket semi final rematch, with the kids taking the chance with both hands.

Recently qualified for LA, KCP came out of the blocks firing, and didn’t look back. Their play style was suffocating, allowing Bliss minimal opportunities to score, and their creative offence including physical off ball bumps and a perfect redirect from Scrub securing the series in a dominant sweep.

Bliss may be the rising team of the split, but there’s still a lot of group to cover if they’re to truly contend with the best in the region.

Ground Zero Batter Young Rivals

Pioneers stole Ground Zero of their spot in LA, taking them down twice in the lower bracket and snatching the 2nd spot in the region. Yet even with qualification done and dusted, GZ still looked hungry, and they looked ready to extract some revenge.

After a Bananahead solo play gifted KCP the 1-0 lead in game 1, Ground Zero really turned the screws on their younger rivals, proving that even if they took their ticket to LA, they’re not to be forgotten just yet.

Ground Zero followed by playing a near perfect 4 games of Rocket League, not conceding a single further goal for the series to absolutely suck the life out of the Pioneers, taking the matchup in a 4-0 sweep to send themselves to grands for the first time in the split.

GZ Finish With A Bang

Three series’s for the day between the pair, and three game 7s, with Ground Zero and Renegades putting on a show. Even with being out of the LA major, Ground Zero had a lot of pride and worlds points riding on the series, with Torsos leading the charge with some impressive offence.

Despite Renegades’ best efforts to close the series out in the first set, with a pristine defensive game in game 5 followed by a quadruple goal game by Kamii in game 6, they couldn’t finish it in the 7th. At zero seconds, CJCJ had the chance to finish it, but his shot dropped just short, giving Ground Zero all the space they needed to crack grands wide open, with Amphis‘ backboard pass to Express, who boomed it home, sending us to a second set.

With both teams clearly exhausted from the long split, either team looked primed to break at any second, yet the final set of the regional was still certainly an entertaining one. The two teams both traded blows, with the lead in the series and each game constantly changing hands, as Kamii and Amphis dominated the offence for their respective teams with some perfectly placed finishes.

And with the series tied at 3-3, going into a big game 7 to end the split, something bizarre happened. The Gades seemed out of sorts in the final game of the series, and with Torsos dominating the offence with a decisive hat trick, RNG seemingly decided to throw in the towel, as both CJCJ and Fever ended the game standing up.

It’s good to see the players still able to enjoy themselves, even at the highest level, and GZ’s relief was clear after the win, as they look strong heading into the Spring split, searching for revenge on the region that stole their crown.