Rise Nation edge past GX
The Group A winners match for the inaugural Dust2.us MASTERS tournament would see Rise Nation facing off against GX after they defeated Tempo Storm SE 16-11 and ex-Naventic 16-6, respectively. Rise Nation started on the CT side and opened it up by getting a 5v2 advantage on the pistol round. GX would follow up with 3 kills of their own, but were traded in 1v1 fights to give up the defuse. Rise Nation would win the next 3 rounds as they shut down the full rifle-buy by GX and the anti-eco that came after.
In the next round, Rise Nation would get an early 5v3 advantage, but the terrorists responded back to the CT aggression and GX would find their first round. After their first win, GX would string together multiple rounds and find a streak of their own, bringing the score to 8-4 favoring the terrorist side. Rise Nation would respond back by getting 3 rounds of their own to close out the first half.
The second half saw GX winning the pistol round and the two subsequent anti-ecos. Rise Nation would reply back with two of their own before GX claimed another round to maintain their lead at 12-9. They were looking to win another round, however they were shut down by Kaleb "moose" Jayne who came out with a 1v2 clutch and four kills to win the round for his team, breaking the economy of the defending side. This allowed Rise Nation to pick up an additional two rounds to tie the score at 12-12. After trading rounds back and forth, Rise Nation found themselves on map point, however, a 2v1 retake from GX as well as a perfect hold in the following round forced out overtime.
Overtime saw GX take the first round on the terrorist side, however, Rise Nation would steal the next two rounds to lead the half. Their defense held in the second half, where Jonathan "Jonji" Carey would close out the game with a 4k.
Rise NationGX| Rise Nation |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Will 'dazzLe' Loafman |
30 - 21 | +9 | 92.0 | 80.0% | 1.35 |
 Kaleb 'moose' Jayne |
29 - 21 | +8 | 86.7 | 82.9% | 1.34 |
| Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
26 - 27 | -1 | 85.7 | 68.6% | 1.13 |
| Andy 'vSa' Xu |
21 - 22 | -1 | 69.5 | 77.1% | 1.07 |
| Brandon 'Ace' Winn |
15 - 18 | -3 | 45.8 | 74.3% | 0.80 |
| GX |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael 'dapr' Gulino |
25 - 21 | +4 | 74.5 | 68.6% | 1.13 |
| Braxton 'swag' Pierce |
23 - 20 | +3 | 71.9 | 71.4% | 1.07 |
| Keven 'AZK' Lariviere |
26 - 27 | -1 | 68.0 | 62.9% | 0.88 |
| Shawn 'witmer' Taylor |
21 - 26 | -5 | 59.5 | 65.7% | 0.85 |
| Matt 'Pollo' Wilson |
14 - 29 | -15 | 76.1 | 62.9% | 0.75 |
With this victory, Rise Nation have qualified for the playoffs at Dust2.us MASTERS. GX will now face the winner of the match between ex-Naventic and Tempo Storm SE.
