Rise vs Soar Gaming

ESEA MDL Season 26 North American Finals,

Welcome to the one match event of the ESEA MDL Season 26 North American Finals. Both Rise Nation and Soar Gaming have fought exceptionally hard against their other North American counter parts to become the finalists to play for a spot in the ESL Pro League Season 7. Needless to say, their will be no holding back, as a spot in ESL pro League is MASSIVE for newer and younger teams such as these two. In the finals of ESEA Season 26 North America, Rise Nation topped Soar 2-0. But regardless of who won, both 1st and 2nd place finishing teams got a spot to compete for the ESL Pro League.

Rise Nation:

Rise Nation is one of those teams that came to take names. Winning nearly all of the recent North American qualifiers and smaller online league events, such as ESEA and CEVO. Their most recent victory in an Event was at the Dust2.us Masters, where they overcame teams like GX, Rogue, Tempo Storm and in the finals topped out over Soar Gaming. Rise Nation is here to play.

Recent maps choices have led to much success for Rise and because of this their pool is in the green. Going from most played to least played we start with "Inferno" sitting at a record of 14-3. "Mirage" follows with 11-2. A surprising map choice of "Nuke" is 3rd with 6 wins to 3 loses. "Train" at 5-1, "Cobblestone" at 3-2, and finally their only negative map "Overpass" at 2-3. "Cache" however is their permanent ban and is not played.

Soar Gaming:

Soar Gaming is another of of the North American teams that always seems to end up in top 4 finishes wherever they go. They have a very solid core team that builds around their star player; Michael 'Grim' Wince. Who in recent form has a 1.21 rating over all maps. Which is insane. However, though they have much firepower, Soar have not been able to take home any event that Rise Nation is also apart of.

Maps for Soar are very diverse and they don't particularly stay on the same few maps like Rise Does. Going in order from most to least played; "Mirage" is at the top with a record of 6-5, following up is "Inferno" at 6-4, then comes "Nuke" with a record of 8-2. "Cache" sits at 6-1, "Cobblestone" at 4-2, "Train" at 3-2, and finally "Overpass" at 1-1. Surprisingly playing a lot of "Nuke" which is very uncommon in this current meta.

Map Pick/Ban:

This is a best of three so both teams will be banning one and picking one and the decider will be randomly selected from the remaining 3 maps. "Cache" is the perma ban for Rise so that's gone. And in the past Soar has tried removing a lot of different maps against Rise but none seemed to work in their favor. I would say this time they go straight up and ban out "Inferno". Even though it is one of Soar's better maps, they have to do something to try and offset Rise. Picks will be "Mirage" and "Nuke". I'm awaiting the "Nuke"game already. The decider will likely be random, but I would like to see a matchup on "Train".

Final Thoughts:

Both of these teams have fought and grinded incredibly hard to get here today. Unfortunately only one can be allowed into Season 7 of the ESL Pro League and I feel based on past performances and how hungry Rise Nation is to be one of the best teams their is, my prediction is for Rise Nation to come out on top over Soar Gaming. I would like to see this go to 3 games, but the last two encounters of these teams have ended in a 2-0 for Rise. Good Luck on your bets everyone!