Monstars dunk on WARDELL's AWP Academy to win Player Omega NCS Minor
Monstars have emerged victorious from the latest National Championship Series Minor that took place this past weekend at Player Omega in Pomona, California.
The $5,000 event saw a total of 14 teams take part, with Monstars securing a first-round bye in the group stage. The team featured only one player from their MDL roster in the form of Dylan "RIKO" Sabin-Arnce, with Ethan "ReckMONSTER" Serrano reprising his role from Fragadelphia alongside Gorilla Gang teammate Aleksandar "ALEKSANDAR" Hinojosa, Michael "Swisher" Schmid making a return, and Josh "shinobi" Abastado filling in for Shawn "witmer" Taylor.
Monstars were not the only team with notable names in attendance however, with Matthew "WARDELL" Yu heading up his AWP Academy alongside Phong "bee" Nguyen. Benita "bENITA" Novshadian and Yan "pRDTR" Davtian also made an appearance under the BALD tag, achieving a playoffs berth after initially dropping their opening match in the group stage.
Both Monstars and WARDELL's crew had little trouble in earning their spots in playoffs, soundly defeating their group stage opponents in their winners matchups to advance. The eight-team playoff bracket saw Monstars make short work of Ho-kago Tea Time in their quarterfinal matchup, earning themselves a spot in the top four.
Former Dust2.us Western Pro League hub members Erik "KP" Lytle and Theodor "in0X" Bjornsson achieved a semifinal placement as a part of SoCal Stars, but Swisher and company proved too strong a force to overcome as a 2-0 victory put the team into the grand finals. On the opposite side of the bracket, WARDELL's side made short work of bENITA's crew in their quarterfinal match before giving LAZII GOONS a chance to rest with a 2-0 victory, setting up a clash against Monstars in the grand final.
With neither team having dropped a map on the road to the final matchup, the stage seemed set for a close bout between the two sides. That was not at all the case however, as Monstars demolished WARDELL's AWP Academy with a 16-5 win on Mirage before notching a 16-7 victory on Inferno to take first place.
The final standings for the top four teams from the Player Omega NCS Minor are:
Monstars (RIKO, Swisher, ReckMONSTER, shinobi, ALEKSANDAR) - $3,000- WARDELL's AWP Academy (WARDELL, bee, tusick, papirick, kshot) - $1,500
- SoCal Stars (KP, in0X, envy, violent, GMAN) - $500
- LAZII GOONS (1koala, inst1nctive, phean, rusteez, edge)
Monstars, WARDELL, and a handful of other players who attended the tournament will likely make appearances at Fragadelphia 14 in December, with the event returning to its roots in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the NCS Grand Finals.
