The WoW Arena World Championship rolled on this weekend with the second European Cup looking to test the region’s best. With Method Black on top, the plan was to continue their strong play and solidify their spot heading into the final stage of the season. What’s that about the best-laid plans?
Method Black Falter at the Final Hurdle
Method Black won the first European Cup and maintained the momentum this weekend with a 3-0 sweep of Tempo Storm in the third round punctuating the European number one’s work. A semifinal versus Ascendant seemed a mere formality as Method notched a 3-1 rout against the RMP of Ascendant. Method Black advanced to the cup final looking to take out Ascendant once more but came up short in the rematch, falling in seven games to Ascendant.
Tempo Storm Continuing a Solid Season.
Tempo Storm wrapped up the second cup with another solid finish. Following a disappointing fourth-place finish in the first European Cup, Tempo Storm did one better, taking home the bronze medal. Considering the difficulty of their bracket, Tempo Storm may be happy with a third-place finish. An early loss to Method Black followed by a run past XRB, who are still struggling, got Tempo all the way to the final four. A loss to Ascendant in the lower bracket finals was marked by a constant change in composition for Tempo Storm who could not seem to find an answer to the RMP. Overall the summer season has been good to Tempo Storm and with BlizzCon coming into view they will hope to continue finishing on the podium.
Reformed Disappoint, Fall Early
Reformed had an excellent run in the first European Cup but ended up falling into major trouble this weekend in the second cup. A two-and-out is not what Reformed had in mind following their silver medal two weeks ago. It’s possible Reformed are looking past these cup events with their spot in BlizzCon already locked in. While they may not need to show all their cards, Reformed will be hoping they can return to the blistering form that saw them challenge Method Black and keep Europe on its toes.
Ascendant Ascend
Ascendant came off a disappointing Europe Cup #1, losing to Skill Capped Red(SCR) and Reformed. That disappointment will quickly be gone as Ascendant ascended right to the upper echelons of Europe this week. A convincing roll to the semifinals, including wins over SCR and XRB, saw Ascendant squaring off against Method Black. A 3-1 loss there ended up being a temporary setback as Ascendant bounced back versus a surging Tempo Storm. What followed was an extremely tight seven-game series featuring two of the best RMP teams in the world. Ascendant put all doubts to rest to come out on top and take top honors in the second European Cup.
With Method Black momentarily derailed, the AWC heads back to North America this weekend to see if The Move and Method Orange can stay on top. It will be interesting to see if North America will pick up the RMP from Ascendant and Method Black. Tune in next weekend at 10 AM PDT to watch the second AWC North American Cup.