The top teams in the US will be converging in New York to vie for the opportunity to represent American in China for WCG’s Grand Finals, along with a share of the $100,000 prize pool.
In an event that is set to start at 1pm, fans will be in for exciting and intriguing matches taking place at the Jacob K. Javits Center, during the New York Anime Festival.
With compLexity competing in both CS and FIFA, and with staff at the venue, stay locked on compLexitygaming.com for plenty of on-site coverage of compLexity and of the WCG USA National Finals.
compLexity.cs comes into the WCG USA National Finals as one of the favorites to come away as the top team in the US. They’ve been running neck and neck with EG for some time now, coming out on the losing end in the ESEA Grand Finals, before opting to skip GameGune Mexico and accumulate more days off from school to compete in events later this year.
That rivalry was renewed as coL.cs recently defeated EG in CEVO-P’s Season 11 Grand Finals, and will look to take that momentum to New York and represent America in China as the top team. With the status they’ve gained and the performances they’ve put together, it would be disappointing to come away with anything less than a win at this event.
Another ESEA-M team, Dynamic holds a roster that contain players that have had their time at the upper levels of CS, albeit without incredibly huge impacts.Their current ESEA-M season sees them with a 8-3 record, losing to other WCG USA competitors Frag Dominant and Paragon. Paul “pauLy” John will be ringing from ESEA-I Italian Dream for Dynamic, where they will look to gain some needed experience together. While they might be able to make some matches close, don’t expect an upset.
Evil Geniuses, like compLexity, is considered a strong favorite to take this event. Carrying a highly skilled team, EG has had good success this year, winning ESEA-I, GameGune Mexico, and finishing second in CEVO-P. Their records and results have been consistent, and one would expect no less than a first place at these WCG USA Nationals.
The one aspect that may hold EG back from grabbing the title at this event, however, is that Tomi “lurppis” Kovanen is unable to play based on his nationalityBeing the team’s strat caller, it is certainly going to take some of the team’s overall ability away. One interesting twist is the rumor that EG is attempting to look into the legality of “coaching,” where Kovanen might be able to still call strats for the team.
For the team formerly known as j1n, Excello has had seemingly mixed results online. For the currect ESEA-I season, they have a 5-3 record; whereas for CEVO, their season was mixed going 8-12, before suffering a poor showing in the playoffs. Excello isn’t considered to have a strong showing given their roster, especially with the ever-scrutinized Alex “hazard” Martins. For this team to have any sort of chance, they need to all be on the same page, and pull out some incredible performances. Time will tell if they put in the preparation for this event to make a difference.
This team was marred with a poor CEVO-P season in which the team had a regular season record of 6-12, before placing 5-6 in CEVO-P’s playoffs. Frag Dominant holds a lot of older talent in their roster for this event, including the ringers that the team is competing with. Sean “sgares” Gares will be filling in for Kris “kris” Romillo, and Charlie “cbz” Pyo will be in for Chris “happa” Mcdonald. While this collection of individual skill can hold some promise, the lack of teamwork and in-depth strategy could prove to be too much to handle as they face more complete teams.
Immortal 7 is a collection of skilled players from not only different eras, but from different team backgrounds as well. This team has a solid 12-0 record in CEVO-M, and contain some very experienced players in their roster. With Chris “truls” Navratil from ESEA-I team Ruins filling in, i7 will be looking to make some noise against some of the upper echelon of teams.
Kevin “aZn” Wang and Dan “mehLer” Mehler will head up this team, where many eyes will be on their performances along with solid role players in Liridon “quas” Aremaj, and Liridon “quas” Aremaj.
Infamy is filled with some players you may know, and others you may not. Currently in ESEA-I, not much is made about this team despite their 6-3 record, yet the teams that came out on top of those losses are fairly expected; with one to EG, one to Loaded, and an overtime loss to Turmoil. This team is questionable in having the ability to upset one of the favorites, and should be expected to finish in the middle of the pack for this event.
Loaded is tightly run ship that doesn’t sit in much of the limelight in North America. Led by steno, they’ve had some decent success in both online leagues, standing with a 4-3 record in ESEA-I, with their losses coming against EG, compLexity, and Area51. In CEVO-P, they took a good run in the playoffs before finishing third overall in their lower bracket final loss to compLexity.
Loaded is often overlooked when thinking about the very top of the American scene, but they have a lot of solid pieces in their roster that make them a threat to any of the teams here. The biggest issue they face is raising the level of their skill and teamwork to match some of the other teams at this event to really make a push.
The last of the ESEA-M teams in attendance, Paragon has some rough online records. In CEVO-M, they had a 6-10 record, and in ESEA-M, they currently have a slightly better 7-3 record. Made up of some players that you may recognize, they will be in for a rough event and will be hard pressed to provide an upset against the other competition at this event.
Oft-considered the best team outside of compLexity and EG, they were able to travel to Mexico for GameGune and put in a hard fight before coming away in third. While they had a mixed season for CEVO, eventually coming in fourth during the playoffs, they have a solid 8-1 record in ESEA-I this season and look to keep on trucking.
This is a team filled with players that can elevate their game, and that have been through a lot together. Overall, Turmoil carries probably the best chance to overtake one EG and coL in an effort to secure a trip to China.