North America Can't Bust The Move

With the Spring Finals in the books the teams from North America are looking to regroup and take on the challenge of the summer season in the Arena World Championship. The first North American Cup would set the tone.

Method Orange Falter Early and Regroup

Method Orange were the top seed in North America at the Spring Finals but the road to the top was cut short in the first round where they dropped to Reformed and XRB. Coming into the summer, Method had a lot of work to do to retain their crown in NA, and got off to a poor start, falling to Super Rejects 3-1 in the upper bracket of the double-elimination tournament. Method then went on a lower bracket run beating everyone to get to the final versus The Move, a run that included overcoming Super Rejects.

The Rejects Can’t Keep the Spring Finals Level

The Rejects, now known as Noble were the most improved team at the Spring Finals and finished with the silver medal. Coming back to North America, the question was whether the Spring Finals were a fluke, and Noble did nothing to disprove that theory. With a first round loss to Method Orange followed by an elimination at the hands of Super Rejects, Noble have a lot of work to do to recapture the form they showed at the Spring Finals. Noble came in with a variety of compositions including a slower RMP as well as some more aggressive cleave compositions. This is in stark contrast to the RMP that the then-The Rejects used during most of the Spring Finals.

Sneakier Snakes are Still Sneakily good

The Sneakier Snakes were one of the bottom teams at the Spring Finals, going two-and-out just like Method Orange. Now playing in the summer season as Kaska’s Angels, they wanted to show they had what it takes to stay at the top of North America, with their only losses coming at the hands of The Move and Method Orange. Losing 3-0 to both might not be inspiring but Kaska’s Angels are looking to stay in the top four with that third-place finish and quietly hang around the top of North America.

The Move Back With a Vengeance

The Move did not make the Spring Finals, finishing eight points below Sneakier Snakes for a disappointing 5th place. Coming back from that disappointment, The Move showed a dominant performance in the first North American AWC Cup of the summer season. With a 3-0 win over Plot Twist, Super Frogs, and Kaska’s Angels, The Move ended up facing Method Orange in the grand final. In an incredibly tight game that included taking a nail-biting series to Game 7 in the Blade’s Edge Arena, The Move took the series 4-3 and secured their first win of the AWC as they look to tighten up the rankings with an eye towards BlizzCon.

Whether The Move can sustain this level of play will be up in the air for the next two weeks with the AWC moving back to Europe for the second European cup. Method Black and Reformed will be looking to stay on top of those regional standings and supercharging the debate over which team is the world’s best.