Day 4 of the regional is over and we just had the most exciting day of RLCS in a very long time. These last 2 days had everything, upsets, comebacks and a whole lot of surprises. In this article I will talk about the teams that surprised us the most both positive or negative and the amazing grand finals that NA gave us.

 

Top 3 Winners

My first winner from this regional is Ghost Gaming. This team failed to perform during the fall split and everyone doubted if they will be able to hang out with the top teams in NA, and they really proved many of us wrong. After beating 72pc, they had to face the almighty NRG, and they managed to beat them by playing out of their minds and winning in game 5. Next round they faced Alpine, a team that had consistently been in the top 8 of NA, and they passed over them with a convincing 3-1 victory. Next series was against Envy, the team that ended up taking it all, and they lost in game 7 during an almost 4 minutes OT. Lastly, NRG ended up sweeping them in a series in which JSTN completely dominated.

Before the split started, most people thought that this team could be maybe a top 12 team in NA, so having a top 6 finish while beating NRG once and taking Envy to game 7 is something this team should be proud of. It was a fantastic performance from Lionblaze, Freshness and the new added Mectos.

 

My second winner is Rogue. Replacing Kronovi was a movement that many saw coming and it left us with a question, how will this young and inexperienced team perform under high pressure moments? And I have to say, they performed great. Last split they found themselves unable to qualify for playoffs twice, and in the other 2 they didn’t pass the first round. In this first Winter regional they already managed to get a top 3 finish while beating a team like G2 that they have always struggled to beat. 

Taroco is the perfect player to combine with First and Turo since they both like to go for many solo plays and leave 2 players behind, and has shown to be comfortable with this playstyle.

 

And finally, if there is a real winner in this regional is undoubtedly the Pittsburgh Knights. They took down KCP, Alpine, Space Station and finally G2. These are all teams that are in the top 8 in NA and SSG was considered before the regional to be maybe the best team in the world. Last regional their best position was a top 8, in this one they finished in the top 4. They also proved that they can perform under pressure by beating SSG in a game 5 and G2 in game 7 where they made almost impossible saves during the last seconds of the game. Sosa has been a great acquisition for this team and they have quickly developed the chemistry between them. So for me, they are the real winners of this last 2 weeks.

 

Honorable mentions are Version 1, that defeated 2 top 5 teams in SSG and KCP, and also the Soniqs that played a great series against The Peeps and beat them in 4 games.

 

Top 3 losers

The first loser team from this regional is The Peeps. A team that during last split had 2 top 4 finishes and then 2 top 8 finishes, losing 2 of the 3 series they played is something really disappointing. And the only series they won was against iz im dreaming, and even there they showed difficulties to win, beating them in 2 games by a differential of just 1 goal. Also, since Rogue had a great regional, they are now in the 7 place overall just trailing by 20 points to The Peeps. And let’s remember that only the top 6 get to go to worlds, so The Peeps can’t afford having another bad regional like this one.

 

The second loser team is G2. As I said in my previous articles, this team is its own enemy, and they demonstrated that during Sunday. During their whole series against PK, we saw a G2 that was connecting their passing plays but their shooting was terrible, hitting the post in multiple occasions and overall just missing shots they should hit to win this type of games. And as always, their high-pressure game style made them give away some free goals to the Knights. And if a team that is struggling to score is giving away free goals then they just don’t have a chance in winning. Also, PK had some almost impossible saves in vey clutch moments that in the end made them win against G2. I consider them to lose in this split simply because they are a top 4 team and everything outside of that is a failure.

 

And lastly, the real loser of this split is undoubtedly Space Station Gaming. They entered this regional as the best team in the world or a top 2 fighting with BDS, and they really disappointed. They started by losing against Version 1 during a game 5. Then they defeat 72pc 3-0 to advance to the next round. During their series against XSET, all of the games went to OT. This is a team that SSG should beat easily so having 4 overtimes was an indicator that something was wrong, and it really was. They got revere swept by PK and in those last 3 games they went scoreless. They are still in the third position of the qualifier with a comfortable lead, but they have to step it up so they can avoid a do or die situation entering the Spring Split, because there are teams that are rising and all of the teams that want to go to world will have to perform every time they are playing.

 

Finally let’s talk about the grand finals. We just was the best grand finals series during this RLCS X. Both teams played great and this series had everything. Comebacks, multiples OTs, and amazing goals. Both teams just seemed to be playing perfect. But in the end, only one team could win and this time it was Envy. They had a perfect tournament, not dropping a single series and demonstrating they are one of the best teams in the world. On the other side, NRG had an incredible lower bracket run. After a rough day 3 in which they could manage to win a series with more than a 1 goal differential, they came into championship Sunday and absolutely dominated. They swept Ghost Gaming, the team that dropped them to lowers and almost do a perfect sweep against PK. Then they faced Rogue, a team that played a fantastic regional up to that point, and they went over them winning the series in 6 games. Finally, their run ended in a game 7 against Envy.

 

These are my thoughts from this regional, it was the most entertaining one to watch until today and I hope we have more days like Sunday.

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