While APEX is going on in Korea, the rest of the North America region competes to join the ranks of the top teams. Rogue, FaZe Clan, Hammers, Rise Nation, compLexity Gaming, Luminosity Gaming, Renegades, and Immortals took part in the Alienware Monthly Melee for February. Here’s a recap of the event, who took the title, and who fell short.
- Rogue 6-0
- Hammers Esports 5-3
- Immortals 4-2
- compLexity Gaming 3-3
- Rise Nation 2-3
- FaZe Clan 1-4
- Renegades 1-3
- Luminosity Gaming 0-4
Group A
Group A featured Rogue, FaZe Clan, Hammers Esports, and Renegades. The group was thought of as strong due to the similar strength of all four teams and their impressive recent performances, mainly because both Renegades and Hammers were undefeated in the Overwatch Carbon Series.
Rogue went on to dominate the group and take all three series they played without dropping a single map. The rest of the group went on to be even, as the other three teams tied with a 1-2 series record. The order of the teams was decided by the map score, while FaZe had the advantage, Hammers took third, and Renegades took last.
Group B
The second group featured three teams that played at the Overwatch Winter Premiere Finals; Immortals, compLexity Gaming and Luminosity Gaming, with Rise Nation rounding out the group. Immortals dominated their group like Rogue dominated Group A, and did not drop a single map.
On the reverse side, Luminosity failed to win a single map and had a disappointing performance. Rise Nation was able to beat both Luminosity and compLexity to take second, leaving coL in third.
Winners Bracket
Rogue played Rise Nation in the first series of the winners bracket. Rogue continued their winning streak and did not drop a map in the best-of-three series. Immortals played FaZe Clan, and this series was much closer than the other one. Immortals managed to get the advantage in the three game series to move on and face Rogue in the winners final.
Immortals came in with a perceived advantage due to their recent performances in tournaments and Rogue’s relative period of inactivity in large events, but Rogue showed their strength yet again against a top side. In a sweep, Rogue took down Immortals and cruised to the grand finals with a one map advantage against whoever they were destined to face.
Losers Bracket
Hammers took on Luminosity in the first round of the losers bracket and Renegades played compLexity. Luminosity failed to win a single game and went down 2-0 to Hammers, bowing out of the tournament as the worst team.
Though compLexity had a poor showing at the Carbon Series last week, they brought in two different subs to compete with them at the Monthly Melee. The new subs fit in well with the roster, as the squad knocked Renegades out of the tournament by defeating them 2-1.
FaZe fell down to play Hammers in the second round of the losers bracket, and compLexity fought Rise Nation. FaZe lost another three game series 2-1, while compLexity overpowered Rise Nation by the same score. Both teams that finished in third place in their respective groups moved on to the third round of the losers bracket.
compLexity’s substitute synergy was no match for Hammers in the third round of the losers bracket. Compared to recent results, this result was easy to predict, as compLexity has shown to be weaker than Hammers.
Immortals came into the losers final with a huge disadvantage because Jay “sinatraa“ Won had to sub in for Athen “Aythen“ Zhu due to personal reasons, leaving the team with odd roles to distribute among the six remaining members. Hammers took the first two maps, but Immortals dominated on Hanamura to give the fans hope before falling on Watchpoint: Gibraltar. Hammers moved on to the grand finals against Rogue, while Immortals exited the tournament.
Grand Final
Rogue had a one map advantage heading into the finals since they came from the winners bracket. Nepal was the first map played and Rogue took the first three points to completely shut out Hammers, putting themselves one win away from the win.
Hammers came back on Dorado, with multiple game-saving pushes in the latter stages of the game to win the map. Despite the brief moment of hope for Hammers, Rogue came back to win Lijiang Tower 3-1 and take the tournament. Rogue did all of this even though they recently brought in new player Nicolas “NiCO“ Moret and did not have much experience with him.
Where do you think Rogue sits in the Overwatch competitive scene? Tweet us your thoughts @GAMURScom.
