As the Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare competitive season nears its conclusion, we head into the final event of the year, the MLG World Championships.
Over the past week, the groups for the $250,000 tournament have been drawn and released by MLG, and our content team will be attempting to predict the results of the group stages, continuing today with Group C.
Widely regarded as the “Group of Death”, Group C contains four teams who are all equally talented and experienced in their own right. As a result, Group C is a tough pool to predict, as each team has the potential to defeat each other. Let’s take a look at the teams.
Denial eSports
| Slasher | Huke| Temp | Classic |
Throughout the year, Denial eSports have often been regarded as one of the best teams in the game. Over the past few events, the Wolfpack have placed second at UMG DC and third at UMG Dallas.
However, an unsatisfactory sixth place performance at the MLG Season 3 Playoff Finals saw team captain and longest serving member Chris "Replays" Crowder leave Denial for Team Orbit, whilst Nicholas "Classic" DiCostanzo joined from Team eLevate. Although this roster is newly formed, this will be the final event for this team due to the 18+ restriction for Black Ops III, leaving Huke and Temp unable to compete in the Call of Duty World League next year.
In what many have dubbed the “Group of Death”, Denial will need to perform to the best of their abilities, if they wish to automatically progress into the Winners Bracket.
However, despite the stiff opposition in the forms of Epsilon eSports, Rise Nation and foreign wildcards Millenium, Denial should come out of Group C with the #1 seed, thanks to their experience, talent and knowledge of their opponents.
Most Valuable Player Prediction: Slasher
Epsilon eSports
| Remy | Nagafen| Parasite | Aqua |
Epsilon are heading into the MLG World Championships on a run of good form. A phenomenal third place finish at the MLG Season 3 Playoff Finals saw Epsilon defeat FaZe, Denial and eLevate.
However, despite this impressive placement, Epsilon decided to part ways with Matthew "Royalty" Faithfull and acquire Ulysses "AquA" Silva from Team EnVyUs. While this move was met with shock and controversy, Epsilon have now recreated 3/4 of the infamous Team Revenge, who finished second at the 2015 Call of Duty World Championship.
Can they make it out of the group?
With such a strong performance a matter of weeks ago, Epsilon will be confident in their ability to qualify for the Winners Bracket. A new roster change always holds the potential to hinder a team, however, Remington "Remy" Ihringer, Jared "Nagafen" Harrell and Aqua have all previously proven themselves under tR.
Epsilon eSports possess the potential to cause some serious upsets at the MLG World Championships and are the community’s dark horse for a reason.
Most Valuable Player Prediction: Nagafen
Rise Nation
| Whea7s | Burns| Aches | Chino |
Rise Nation have been a consistent mid-table team throughout the duration of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, however, they will be looking to end the year on a high. Their recent acquisition of Patrick "ACHES" Price from TCM Gaming in place of Bryan "Apathy" Zhelyazkov who left for Team Kaliber only epitomises the teams desire to deliver a strong performance at the second biggest event of the year.
In order for Rise to automatically qualify for the Winners Bracket they will need to defeat either Epsilon or Denial, which is no easy feat. But this is CoD eSports and we all know that anything can happen.
Arguably, the most important fixture for Rise Nation would be against European organisation Millenium. They simply cannot afford to become complacent and drop a result in this fixture, and with Aches facing off against former teammate, Tom "Moose" Handley, I’m sure he will make sure his team are on top of their game.
Most Valuable Player Prediction: Burnsoff
Millenium
| Reedy| Rated| Gotaga | Moose |
We have seen several Anglo-French teams in past CoD titles but this Millenium roster may be one of the best.
Jordan "Reedy" Reed and Rhys "Rated" Price have spent a large amount of their career playing under the same organisations, and therefore they have quickly grown into one of the most iconic duos within Europe. Alongside them, we have the “French Monster”, Corentin "Gotaga" Houssein, and together these three players have witnessed success, winning the Gfinity EU Pro League and placing second at Dreamhack London.
Qualifying for the Winners Bracket will be a massive challenge for Millenium, however, the addition of Tom "Moose" Handley may just give them the edge they need. Fresh from the US, he can give his fellow Europeans vital information regarding the play style of the Americans.
However, Moose has been a bit hit-and-miss throughout the Advanced Warfare season and a good performance from him will be key for Millenium’s success at the MLG World Championships.
Most Valuable Player Prediction: Moose
Predictions (Excluding Team From Open Bracket)
1st Denial 3-0
2nd Epsilon eSports 2-1
3rd Rise Nation 1-2
4th Millenium 0-3
It’s hard to look past anything but Denial eSports topping Group C. Currently, they are one of the best and most consistent teams in AW and I expect them to win all three games. Will it be comfortable? Probably not, but their resilience and composure will be enough to secure the top seed from Group C.
As for second seed, it’s a lot closer than anticipated. Epsilon looked good at the S3 finals and have made a roster change. Rise have also made a change and picked up one of the most successful players of all time, while Millenium certainly have the potential to cause a major upset.
Personally, I’ve opted for Epsilon as my second seed in Group C, due to the sheer amount of team chemistry and experience these players have together as Team Revenge.
I’m a big fan of European Call of Duty and would love to see Millenium make it out of their group but realistically, I just can’t see it happening. They will be lucky to win a map against strong US opponents, let alone a series.
Do you agree with my predictions? Let us know the comments below!
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