“They’re not going to win”

These were the words ADC and co-captain of Avant Garde, Robbie “Robdigidy De Jong” said to me while staring straight into my eyes after Avant took the first game in a best of 5 series against reigning champions Team Pandamonium. It is a moment I still recall with shivers down my spine.

The Split 2 finals was an exhibition in pure domination by Avant, something that was commonplace to hear 12 months ago when the old Avant Garde roster owned the league, didn’t drop a game and booked themselves a ticket to the SMITE World Championship. After the squad left the organisation, Avant was on the hunt for a new SMITE squad and they picked up the Get Sauced roster, a team composed of most of last year’s Integral Nation as well as a member from Syf and Dire Wolves.

The team struggled through Split 1 and Split 2, narrowly avoiding relegations in both splits and just barely qualifying for the finals in Split 2. However, it was the roster changes made during Split 2 that really turned this squad from 5 players, into a team. The first of these was probably the hardest to make, as Tommy “Tomahawk” De Jong, as his name would suggest, is Robdigidy’s brother. Stepping into his spot was former Tainted Minds player Alex “Gruff” Brown, returning to the support role after spending two splits as an ADC.

Later in the split, Avant picked up another former Tainted Minds member, Cody “iDivine” Davies and dropped long time mid laner and captain Lachlan “Maus” Caulfield. iDivine only played two sets after a return from a stint in competitive Overwatch and there was definitely noticeable rust in his mid play. There was none of this during the finals. By the beginning of the final week of competition, Avant had won 6 of their 18 games, were 1 game behind 4th placed Alpha Sydney who they played in the final week, and staring relegations in the face. However, this was the start of the turning of Avant’s luck as Alpha Sydney’s mid laner Nick “Swifty” Thomason was banned for the final week of play due to his conduct. Avant swept Alpha Sydney 2 – 0 and secured themselves a spot in the finals, bringing their regular season score to a disappointing 8 – 12.

The bright spot for Avant Garde throughout this period was Joshua “ElChuckles” Bruce, the Dire Wolves’ former jungler turned Avant solo laner and consistently rated one of the top players in the league. Consistently winning lane and dominating teams fights, ElChuckles was the star of an Avant roster that just couldn’t seem to get it together. Nick “LiquidRenegade” Howlett, the jungler for Avant Garde as well as the rest of the team suffered through periods of inconsistent play, bad positioning and slow rotations. Just like iDivine’s rust, there was none of this at the finals.

Two days rewrote Avant Garde’s story from this split. Two days, 5 games, 0 losses and $13,000. Taking down top seeded Legacy eSports and reigning champions Team Pandamonium, Avant find themselves on top of the OCE scene. Will it be a position they can hold onto next split, or will this LAN experience be enough for other teams to take their crown? I for one, cannot wait to see. For now though, Avant Garde are your Split 2 SMITE Oceania Pro League champions, and no one can ever take that away from them.

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