Redline Shockwave and Nitro played in the ESL Go4RocketLeague NA Cup #20 on Sunday 12/13/2015. Beginning with Redline Nitro, let's recap the day for both teams.

Redline: Nitro

For their first game, Nitro played against South Puck Gargoyles in the RO256. The games were hard fought by both teams with each team winning every other game. After a tough 5 game series, Nitro was unable to overcome South Puck Gargoyles in the end. South Puck Gargoyles would go on to beat the #1 seed Gird Your Loins, as well as make it to the RO16. Nitro had just recently made a roster change and so the team was not quite playing up to the level we hope to see them at. While the team is not happy with this result, I am looking forward to seeing how far they can progress as they become more comfortable with each other on the pitch. The team can only go up from here and I very much expect them to do so.

Redline: Shockwave

Shockwave started the tournament ranked #5, resulting in a bye in the RO256. They would play against Team Airstrike in their first series in the RO128. Airstrike would put up a good fight, but Shockwave played phenomenally as a team - winning the series in three games. Shockwave's second opponent in the RO64 would be Electric Juan. Again, Shockwave started strong perfectly placing shots in the opponent's net and winning the series in three games. The third opponent of the day would be Team Sour Patch Kids in the RO32. Shockwave continued their strong play with a minor hiccup, dropping one game to Team Sour Patch Kids, but securing the win in four games.

Moving into the RO16, Shockwave would face Royal Letdowns. The team was riding high from having played so well together just a day after a disastrous few games in the Rocket League Pro League Open Qualifiers. Perhaps taking out their aggression from the previous day, Shockwave continued their run of phenomenal play, taking down Royal Letdowns in 3 games. From there, the team would face No Problem! in the quarter-finals. Having never made it into the quarter-finals in any ESL Go4Rocketleague Cup, the team was obviously and deservedly excited. However, they didn't let their nerves get the better of them and Shockwave was well prepared for the series against No problem only dropping one game during the series. Yet again they had achieved something they previously hadn't, making it into the semi-finals to face off against Failure to Launch. Feeling fantastic from their previous win, Shockwave continued their high level play against Failure to Launch with a fairly quck 3-0 in favor of Shockwave.

Finally, after many weeks, their hard work had paid off in spades. The team had made it to ESL Go4RocketLeague NA Cup finals. Now only one team stood between them and winning for the first time. But of course that team would be the #4 ranked team in NA, Nexus eSports. Shockwave was both excited and nervous to play against such a highly respected team and it showed in game 1. Both teams came out swinging, scoring back and forth the entire game. When the clock finally ran down to 0:00, the score was 4-4 and we were headed for overtime. Unfortunately, for Shockwave, overtime didn't last very long. The team went for an aggressive play but were punished for being out of position by a long goal from Nexus. Game 1: Nexus. Final score: 5-4. Shockwave shook off the first loss and came back strong in game 2 - scoring the first 2 goals. Nexus looked to rally for a moment scoring 1 back, but were quickly shut down when Shockwave scored another 2 goals before the clock would run out. Game 2: Shockwave. Final score 4-1. Shockwave had beaten Nexus in game 2 and looked to keep that momentum going with an early goal in game 3. However, Nexus would equalize that within seconds. Shockwave would score a few minutes later to pull ahead, but yet again Nexus would not allow the lead to last. The teams were trading blows evenly. In the last minute of the game, however, Shockwave would score 3 goals to win. Game 3: Shockwave. Final score: 5-2.

At this point in the series, Nexus' Lachinio would rally his team and at the same time give words of high praise to Shockwave's play. He calls to his team that: "The next couple matches are gonna be straight serious like we're playing Cosmic or Flipsid3." The rallying call would work wonders for Nexus, much to the dismay of Shockwave, as Nexus would take the next 3 games in commanding fashion. Final score of the series: 2-4. Winner: Nexus eSports.

Congratulations to Nexus eSports for winning the ESL Go4RocketLeague NA Cup #20. It was a pleasure to play against you. We hope to meet you in the finals again soon.

As for Shockwave, I couldn't be prouder of their level of play. After being dismissed as a no-name team by several prominent teams and players, we took 2 games off of Nexus as well as forced them to play us with their full strength as if they were "playing Cosmic or Flipsid3." We were able to play the #4 ranked team in North America even for a few games. Even in game 1, which we lost, I believe we should have won if not for a small mistake in rotations. All in all, I'm extremely proud of the Funny, Krouch, and Adepto for their play this weekend and I hope to see Redline eSports: Shockwave back in the finals very soon.

GLHF and thanks for reading.

Cam

Edited 12/16/2015 at 2:11am: I have to apologize to Nexus eSports for stating that their Rocket League team was ranked #7 in North America. That was incorrect. Nexus eSports is ranked #4 in North America. A fact that should be well known since Cloudfuel, Dirkened, and Gibbs work very hard to put out their power rankings every week. I had a small mental error and typed 7 instead of 4. I have edited the above article to reflect their actual ranking.