The MSI MGA Finals are closing in. Here's a look at what you can expect of the teams and the general information if you want to witness the event from the front row!
Recently MSI MGA announced their plans to join the Overwatch scene, kicking off with a tournament with the finals being held in London. There were 3 regional qualifiers from which 3 teams managed to get a spot to the LAN Finals: Rise Nation, Ninjas in Pyjamas and KongDoo Panthera. The LAN Finals take place in London next week (7th – 8th of December). Fnatic was directly invited to the LAN Finals.
Those teams will descend upon the Gfinity Arena to try and claim their part of the $75,000 prize pool and the MGA Championship trophy. The Grand Finals will be streamed live here. If you want to experience the exciting battle in person, tickets are still available here.
The talent pool for this event features some of the best known commentators and analyst of the scene. Soe “Soembie” Gschwind-Penski, Mitch “UberShouts” Leslie, Andrew “ZP” Rush, Josh “Sideshow” Wilkinson and Robert “Hexagrams” Kirkbride will provide you with entertaining and solid commentary.
North American champion Rise Nation
Formed in August this year, Rise Nation entered the competitive Overwatch scene shortly afterward, with most of the members former CS:GO players. In a slightly unexpected turn of evens, they won all their series against their opponents and knocked Team Liquid out in the American Regional Finals. With a third place finish in the Route 66 Cup, the team made a statement and will definitely be hard to beat while they’re working their way to the top.
European champion Ninjas in Pyjamas
The Finnish team Ninjas in Pyjamas showed incredible dominance against all their opponents. As a team they are capable of using every tactical option in their favour. The plays by Zappis on Mei made the crowd go wild during the European Regional Finals, and it will be a huge challenge for the other teams to break this strong defensive team.
Asian champion KongDoo Panthera
Again, Korea showed their world dominance in eSports. First they took down their sister team Uncia, which was a hard challenge while both teams are familiar with each other’s strategies and heroes. With excellent teamwork and awareness of all maps, KongDoo Panthera proves that the 2-2-2 formation is incredibly strong in the current meta. Next week we will see if their opponents are able to deal with the Korean dominance.
Invited team Fnatic
Fnatic is currently ranked top 6 in our Overwatch rankings. They were directly invited to the Grand Finals of the tournament as they are partnered with MSI. We all witnessed excellent plays from this team during the Overwatch Open in the U.S. and performed successfully in the American Regional Qualifiers of DreamHack Winter. Let’s see if Hafficool as substitute is able to replace the star player IDDQD in this tournament!
There is a lot to look forward to, a lot of surprises to expect at this tournament. The clashes of the different playstyles will certainly be something to look forward to. The teams will probably need to adapt their playstyle slightly in order to grab the trophy.
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