The Ninjas Pull Off The Upset Once Again
Another week, another upset! With Novus Aevi returning to the top of South America, it was Oceania's turn to ramp up the upsets as Attack of the Invisible Ninja took home their first Regional title.
With this week's Round-the-World Recap, let's take a look at how it all went down.
The Ninjas sneak into pole position
Well, well, well, look who's done it again. Over a year after defying the odds to reach the RLCS Season 8 World Championship under Canberra Havoc, the recently-released Attack of the Invisible Ninja pulled off another miracle run, taking home Oceania's third Winter Regional with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Dire Wolves. It was a tense swiss stage for the underdog side, as Daniel "Walcott" Hawkeswood, Blake "SPYDOGE" Evans, and Maclean "Le Duck" Rees scraped through to the playoffs despite losing to both Cringe Society and reigning champions Ground Zero Gaming. In the playoffs, they took down fellow upset victors of the Fall Major Mindfreak before coming up against Ground Zero once again.
Spectacular plays from star player Luke "Amphis" Riddell led the region's top side to a 3-0 lead before the ninjas mounted an improbable, unbelievable, and unpredictable comeback to secure an elusive best-of-7 reverse sweep and reach their first regional final of the season. Their opponents would be Dire Wolves, themselves hot off an upset over Cringe Society. However, AotIN were simply too much. A straightforward 4-1 victory ensured a historic title for the trio just one day after officially leaving Canberra Havoc.
Masterful Ground Zero back in control
This morning's RLO Masters saw, shockingly enough, a quick return to the status quo down under. After winning a tense game-five overtime against the ninjas, it was smooth sailing through the playoffs for Oceania's best team. Renegades and Cringe Society both fell before Dire Wolves lost their second 4-1 grand final in under a week.
Novus Aevi start a new age?
It seems like the former Ellevens Esports side wanted to make it absolutely clear what their new name intended as they took home both of South America's events this week. First up were two wins over title rivals True Neutral, including yet ANOTHER close grand final, this one being decided by a one-goal seventh game, in the Prime Series. PDHM Gaming continued to challenge the top two sides well but ultimately fell down in third place. Novus Aevi then went one better as they lost just two games, both to Euphoria, on their way to a quick Midweek Mayhem victory in True Neutral's absence. Having overtaken True Neutral in the Prime Series leaderboard, the Brazillian titans are finally moving into a position to challenge True Neutral's dominant top spot heading into the second Winter Grand Series.
That's it for this week, don't forget to stay tuned to GGRecon for more RLCS X content. We'll see you next week, after another week of RLO Masters and the final Prime Series event of the South American Winter Split.
Image via ZeeboDesigns