After Rise Nation’s dominating victory in CWL Atlanta, they’ve been having a hard time finding the tempo in their games. In CWL Birmingham, they finished 3rd. In the finals of Stage 1, they finished 7th. It took two times for them to get shut out of first for the team to decide that a roster change was necessary. TJHaly, Gunless and Loony all decided to make the switch from Methodz to Team Envy’s SlasheR and it made all the difference.
Rise Nation’s tough start
In the pool play section of the tournament, Rise Nation was tenderized. They only managed to secure a win over Tainted Minds. This landed them in fourth place and would force them to make a run through the loser’s bracket.
In the loser’s bracket run, Rise Nation was unstoppable. They took out Heretics, compLexity, Team Envy(SlasheR’s old team), Luminosity(CWL Birmingham champions), Ghost Gaming, Echo Fox and eUnited. This was an outstanding series of games to watch and it landed them a spot right in front of the unstoppable Evil Geniuses who had just beaten eUnited for their spot in the Grand Finals.
Rise Nation recently made the switch for SlasheR in favor of their old player Methodz. Many players on Twitter speculated that SlasheR was easily one of the best in the business at the moment, and Rise Nation decided to heed that call. Though the start of the series was tough to watch, it was fun, however, to see TJHaly and his squad start to heat up and find their momentum.
Evil Geniuses Vs. Rise Nation
Evil Geniuses started off the series with a lot of bite. They ripped into Rise Nation in the opening match of Hardpoint at Saint Marie Du Monte and won by over 100 points.
.@EvilGeniuses strike first! They win the opening Hardpoint 250-144 and go up early against @TheRiseNation!https://t.co/NKHQSgV6Gh #CWLPS4 pic.twitter.com/crhEk4RBoG
— Call of Duty esports (@CODWorldLeague) April 23, 2018
However, Rise Nation was not to be sat down so easily. The next series of games was all Rise Nation. On London Docks, playing Search and Destroy, EG started out strong, pulling an early 5-2 lead. Rise Nation shut that down quickly, clutching the win out at 6-5. Flak Tower Capture the Flag was another game that was just barely in favor of Rise Nation. They only managed to secure the win by one point. With the newfound momentum, Rise overtook EG on Valkyrie Hardpoint 250-176, which reset the bracket and forced the second best-of-five series.
It’s @TheRiseNation with the 5-2 S&D comeback this time! They bring it back and tie the Grand Final vs @EvilGeniuses at 1-1! https://t.co/NKHQSgV6Gh #CWLPS4 pic.twitter.com/2wEwiIPNhw
— Call of Duty esports (@CODWorldLeague) April 23, 2018
The rest of the series was a shut out in favor of Rise. They won the first Hardpoint on Ardennes Forest by 85 points. The next S&D on Valkyrie was an absolutely dominating victory for Rise-EG only won a single round. And to finish off the series, Rise Nation obliterated EG on Flak Tower CTF with a commanding victory of 7-0; this was on the map that, not an hour before, Rise had barely won by just one point. Now, they were walking out with an obvious victory.
Peirce “Gunless” Hillman named ASTRO Gaming MVP
This isn’t the first time that Gunless has walked away from a CWL tournament having been named MVP. In 2017 in CWL Atlanta, he was named MVP when he played with eUnited and defeated OpTic Gaming in the Grand Finals.
Taking the @ASTROGaming #CWLPS4 Seattle MVP: @i2Gunless! 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/i0vEXSwQqj
— Call of Duty esports (@CODWorldLeague) April 23, 2018
This is the second Victory for Rise Nation in the course of two months. With one of the most dominating and successful rosters in the league, it’s exciting to see what they will accomplish next. Stage 2 will, hopefully, turn out more successful than their ending in Stage 1.
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Featured Image Courtesy of @CODWorldLeague Twitter