Over the weekend, the top eight teams in the United States came together at the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas to duke it out for the title of Team USA. Missed the action? No problem, we’ve got you covered on everything that happened at the US Nationals Finals.
The games started off with Evil Geniuses narrowly avoiding a loss against OrgLess (ex-Noble esports) in a 2-1 win, followed by Elephant Gang falling 0-2 to a dominant-looking Cloud9. Rogue then took Team SiNister to the cleaners in a swift 2-0 before Rise Nation was swept aside 2-0 by Spacestation Gaming. As the venue emptied out, the stage was set for an even more thrilling set of games for the following day.
Day two was when the excitement at the event would climb to a fever pitch. In the Eastern Conference Final, Cloud9 gave the Evil Geniuses a stiff fight, but eventually fell 1-2 to the LAN veterans. Next up, Rogue took on Spacestation Gaming in a highly anticipated matchup and eventually came out on top by a razor thin margin -- despite a beautiful ThinkingNade ace very nearly sinking the Las Vegas based team. Now poised to go up against their longtime rivals, Rogue were hungry for revenge after losing countless times to their rivals in the finals, including the 2017 Six Invitational PC Grand Final. To raucous cheers from the home crowd, Rogue would eventually take the win 2-1 to claim their first-ever trophy as a team.
Of all the players, Ecl9pse had been one of the most consistent of the tournament, and it was no doubt an emotional moment for him and Slashug, as the pair had been part of the losing team at the 2017 Six Invitational. Their victory marked the end of this year's US Nationals, but far from the end of the league. The #R6USN will be back in 2019, and we look forward to bringing you more action next year.
