Last week, the U.S. Nationals kicked off with the first qualifier for the Eastern and Western conference. A total of 40 teams fought it out for a coveted spot at the Stage 1 conference finals.
The Eastern Qualifier
The Eastern conference qualifier began with heavy Pro League presence in the bracket, with Noble eSports, mousesports and Obey Alliance all signing up to participate. With all three teams close to each other in Pro League standings at 4th, 6th and 7th place, competition looked fierce. On the top side of the Eastern qualifier bracket, Noble fought their way through to the finals, taking down some well known amateur teams like Renascence and Elephant Gang. In the lower side of the Eastern qualifier bracket, Obey and mouz would find each other facing off in the quarterfinals. With both teams back to back in the Pro League standings at 6th and 7th, this match was set to be a close fight. Obey was looking to make a statement however and would take the match 6-2 over mouz. Obey continued their momentum by beating TASK Esports to face off against Noble.
In this best of three series between Obey and Noble on Border, both teams started out with an even back and forth, going 2-2 until round five. The action would take a turn however with Bosco from Obey dropping out of play due to a power outage, and Obey’s coach Snake_Nade having to step in for the remainder of the series. Soon after, Noble would close out the map 6-3 and move the series onto Coastline. Coastline proved to be equally as close but just as Noble found themselves on the brink of a reverse sweep, Heavy made an amazing comeback play for Noble in a 3v1 retake as Pulse. With the play from Heavy securing overtime, Noble would use this momentum to take the series, as well as their spot in the Stage 1 Eastern conference finals.
The Western Qualifier
The Western conference qualifier was filled with new teams and fresh blood, with only one Pro League roster making an appearance: Spacestation Gaming. That appearance was short lived however, with the breakout name of Disrupt Gaming shutting down Spacestation’s run early on in a big upset for the bracket. This Disrupt line-up, previously known as BitterSweet, are not to be confused with the young upset stars seen at DreamHack Austin, Disrupt Academy. With multiple members currently under 18, Disrupt Academy unfortunately cannot compete in the U.S. Nationals just yet. On the other side of the bracket, Motiv8 Gaming secured their spot in the quarterfinals and show that while they may have lost their Pro League spot last season, they are still a force to be reckoned with.
Moving into the finals, Disrupt was looking to follow their academy team’s example from DreamHack Austin and take the win over Motiv8 Gaming. The first game on Coastline saw Disrupt shut down Motiv8’s attack, not struggling with the Lion pick that was left unusually open in the ban phase, and taking the win 6-1. Motiv8 found themselves in a worrying position on Border, down four rounds again with the score at 1-5. Motiv8 would mount one last valiant effort and almost claw themselves into overtime, however Disrupt would find the final round needed to end the series and secure a spot at the Stage 1 Western conference finals.
With the first week of the U.S. Nationals now complete, two teams have emerged victorious in their respective Stage 1 Conference finals: Noble eSports for the Eastern conference, and Disrupt Gaming for the Western conference. While Spacestation Gaming was knocked out by surprise stars Disrupt Gaming, there’s no doubt that we’ll be seeing them again in week two of the Stage 1 Western conference qualifiers. In the Eastern conference qualifier, two Pro League teams, mousesports and Obey Alliance, were unable to secure an Eastern conference finals spot. With Obey Alliance having won over mousesports this week, a potential chance at revenge is available for mouz in the Eastern conference qualifier next week. Be sure to tune into the action Friday, July 27 to catch the second and final half of the Stage 1 qualifiers, live on the official Rainbow Six Twitch channel.
