At the 2018 CWL Anaheim Open, Rise Nation won it all, claiming $80,000 in prize money and once again proving again that they are the best team in the world. They beat out a resilient Red Reserve team, bouncing back from the first best of 5 series loss and clinching a 3-1 victory in the second. Adding on to that, Peirce “Gunless” Hillman won the ASTRO Gaming MVP, having all tournament long demonstrated why he’s one of the best in the game.
Rise started out 3-1 in pool play, dropping a series to Team Kaliber, but they still finished first in their group, storming their way into the championship winners bracket. They then dominated their way to the winners bracket finals, sweeping both Splyce and UNILAD.
It was in the winners bracket finals that they met their match in Red Reserve, with the series going to a nerve-wracking game five. Rise was able to come on top though, advancing to the grand finals where they would rematch against Red Reserve and as mentioned above, emerge champions.
Other Things to Note:
Fan-favorites OpTic Gaming had a disappointing tournament. Though they started out strong, going undefeated in pool play, they were eventually knocked to the losers bracket by Luminosity and eliminated in a heartbreaking Game 5 Round 11 loss to UNILAD.
Left: Matthew "Formal" Piper Right: Ian "Crimsix" Porter
Photo Credit: Dexerto
The OpTic v. Luminosity match up was particularly hyped, as it pitted former OpTic teammate Matthew “Formal” Piper against current OpTic players Seth “Scump” Abner and Ian “Crimsix” Porter. Not only that, OpTic had previously dominated Luminosity in a CWL Pro League match, making Luminosity’s win over OpTic in CWL Anaheim a particularly sweet one.