SoaR win MDL North America and qualify for Pro League
The grand final of the North American division of the Mountain Dew League was to be decided between Rise Nation and SoaR. The winner of the best of three would qualify for the ESL Pro League Season 7 while the loser would play relegation against Ghost, Rogue, and GX.
Rise kicked off their pick of Mirage with a quick lead on the Terrorist side. With Andy "vSa" Xu, the Rise Nation side picked up five rounds before SoaR answered back. Will "dazzLe" Loafman also picked up some multi-kills to keep his team's control of the half, creating an 10-2 scoreline. Jack "xCeeD" Holiman and Logan "Voltage" Long helped to give SoaR a chance by the end of the half, finishing with a 5-10 score.
The fully American side started off the second half of Mirage with an essential pistol round victory, which led to xCeeD powering SoaR to tie up the game. Off of a big quadruple kill by Ryan "Snakes" Amann, SoaR took the lead on their T side and had the momentum going into the final stages of Mirage. Winning seemingly every clutch situation, quickly advancing to map point.
Rise Nation stayed alive however, and secured overtime on their own map pick. The first half of the overtime went 2-1 to SoaR, and the Matthew "mCe" Elmore-led squad picked up Mirage 19-16.
Brandon "Ace" Winn picked up four kills on the first round of Inferno leading to Rise taking the first three. SoaR won the first gun round however, with xCeeD continuing his form from the first map. Snakes then pulled off an incredible quadruple clutch in the following round, leading to a string of SoaR round wins. vSa kept Rise Nation in the game however, and eventually the majority Canadian squad took the lead from the T side, resulting in a 9-6 half.
Unlike map one, Rise took the second pistol round, and put themselves in prime position to take Inferno. Despite dropping round two, Rise kept control and established economic dominance in the second half. With vSa and moose at the helm, they acquired 15 rounds, and then closed out the second map 16-7.
The beginning of the decider map Train was very back and forth, with Ace and Kaleb "moose" Jayne powering Rise Nation to an eventual lead on the Counter-Terrorist side. SoaR only managed a small rally near the end of the half, managing five rounds to Rise's ten.
Rise Nation acquired the final pistol round of the series, but for the third time in a row, the first round winner was reset in the second. mCe led his team by example, and began the comeback for SoaR. After a huge streak of rounds, the SoaR side took the lead, but Rise immediately answered back and kept the game tied. Michael "Grim" Wince helped bring his team to match point, and SoaR indeed closed the final map out 16-12 and the series 2-1.
Rise NationSoaR| Rise Nation |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Brandon 'Ace' Winn |
64 - 47 | +17 | 76.4 | 72.1% | 1.19 |
 Kaleb 'moose' Jayne |
67 - 52 | +15 | 82.3 | 74.4% | 1.17 |
| Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey |
52 - 64 | -12 | 78.4 | 75.6% | 1.12 |
| Andy 'vSa' Xu |
63 - 59 | +4 | 72.6 | 72.1% | 1.06 |
| Will 'dazzLe' Loafman |
63 - 64 | -1 | 78.4 | 69.8% | 1.06 |
| SoaR |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan 'Snakes' Amann |
68 - 58 | +10 | 82.3 | 68.6% | 1.14 |
| Michael 'Grim' Wince |
58 - 67 | -9 | 75.9 | 65.1% | 0.97 |
| Jack 'xCeeD' Holiman |
52 - 65 | -13 | 68.2 | 72.1% | 0.97 |
| Matthew 'mCe' Elmore |
56 - 62 | -6 | 79.3 | 65.1% | 0.97 |
| Logan 'Voltage' Long |
51 - 57 | -6 | 61.3 | 64.0% | 0.89 |
WIth this result SoaR have qualified for Season 7 of the ESL Pro League, which begins February 13th. Rise Nation will now play in the relegation tournament against Rogue, Ghost, and GX to try and secure one of two more spots in EPL Season 7. Rise Nation and SoaR, who have been placed in groups A and B respectively, will begin their Global Challenge campaign tomorrow.
