Singularity and CLG Red advance to WESG Grand Finals
The WESG USA Regional Finals have come to an end, seeing CLG Red from the female tournament and Singularity from the co-ed tournament advance to the WESG 2018 Grand Finals.
The day began with CLG Red facing Star Spangled Fraggers on Dust2, Train, and Mirage. Only the first two maps would be needed as CLG Red took a 2-0 victory over the Dignitas fe mix, picking up their opponent's map 16-11 before narrowly edging out the series 16-14 on Train.
A star performance by Emmalee "EMUHLEET" Garrido wasn't enough for the Fraggers to hold out on Dust2 — although they initially took a 6-3 lead over CLG Red, they were unable to continue frontrunning as a team effort from Diane "di^" Tran and co. kept their side in the running. Bouncing back with a second half pistol win, CLG Red took the lead 12-7 before the Star Spangled Fraggers fought back with four rounds of their own.
Despite EMUHLEET putting up 113 ADR and ending the first map with a 1.69 rating, CLG Red prevailed towards the latter portion of the match to claw back the lead, edging out the first map 16-11.
CLG Red continued their reign as Train kicked off, working their way up to a 9-3 lead on the T side of Train. The Fraggers clawed back at the end of the half to give themselves a fighting chance with a 9-6 scoreline, but CLG Red further extended their lead with a pistol round victory in the second half. Once the Star Spangled Fraggers stabilized their economy they managed to even the score at 11-11, but once again CLG Red pulled ahead to put themselves in touching distance of a series win at 14-11.
A last ditch effort by the Star Spangled Fraggers saw them push up to 14 rounds themselves, but CLG Red prevailed in the end after a round restart due to technical issues to close out the second map 16-14.
Some sour milk could be caught on stream after the end of the series:
Shortly after CLG Red's victory, Singularity took to the stage to go up against Swole Patrol on Cache, Nuke, and Train. With Swole effectively fielding two stand-ins in Leonardo "Laski" Arroyo and Austin "Cooper-" Abadir, the road to victory would be tough as Singularity had proved that they were nothing to be trifled with by putting up solid results throughout the MDL season.
Swole Patrol's pick of Cache was up first, and Singularity immediately took control with a 6-1 lead on their T side. They were unable to hold the lead for long however, as the muscle men from Swole Patrol went on an eight-round streak to win the half 9-6, giving them a solid chance to take a map lead going into the second half.
Unfortunately for Swole Patrol, it wasn't to be — the second pistol round went the way of Singularity, who reclaimed the lead by taking nine of the ensuing ten rounds as Victor "food" Wong fragged out. Swole Patrol edged out one final round as they pushed for a win on their map pick, but Singularity brought the map to a swift close with a 16-11 victory.
A similar start on Nuke saw Singularity claim a 7-2 lead on their T side, but once again Swole fought back and gave up only one of the six rounds to reduce the deficit at the half to 8-7 in Singularity's favor.
Once again Singularity took the second half pistol round for themselves, but Swole Patrol managed to fight back early on on their own T side this time around. With Ryan "freakazoid" Abadir leading the charge, Swole Patrol crushed Singularity's economy twice to cruise to a 16-12 finish, taking the series to Train.
Again it was food who stepped up to the plate on Train for Singularity, absolutely crushing Swole Patrol's offense to take a dominant 12-3 first half lead. Although Swole Patrol fought back to bring the scoreline to a narrow 13-11 margin, Singularity were able to snag the final trio of rounds to take the victory for themselves, nabbing $20,000 and a spot at the WESG Grand Finals.
The final standings for the co-ed WESG USA Regional Finals looks as follows:
1. Singularity — $20,000, WESG Grand Finals
2. Swole Patrol — $10,000
3-4. Vireo.pro — $4,000
3-4. Spacestation — $4,000
While the standings for the WESG USA Female Regional Finals are:
1. CLG Red — $20,000, WESG Grand Finals
2. Star Spangled Fraggers — $10,000
3-4. Old School — $4,000
3-4. Nemesis fe — $4,000