The Wrap Up: NA Contenders Finals

This year’s Season 3 NA Contenders Finals saw two dominant Academy clubs square off in epic nail-biting battles for North American dominance. In the end, Atlanta Academy fell 2-4, and the reigning champs punched their third straight title, firmly establishing themselves as the club to beat if any team seeks to hoist the title in the future.

The first four maps were absolute insanity. Each side looked impressive and Atlanta held a one map lead heading into Busan. Here, round 1 was decidedly won by Philly, but round 2 was much closer. Despite Gator’s unreal 180 Earth Shatter, the point was ultimately (pun intended) taken by Fusion University. Both teams were tied at 2-2. Honestly, it would be the last time Atlanta felt competitive through the remainder of the match.

Fusion U cruised to victory on the final two maps (Hollywood and Dorado) with first point holds on each map. Fusion U’s play was undeniably smooth after Busan, the only blemish being a questionable Symmetra pick on Hollywood attack, which almost resulted in a draw. In the end it worked out for them, so GG’s, but I’m sure some Philly fans were feeling the heat!

Despite the end results, Atlanta certainly had their chances. Hanamura is the first map to come to mind. With a fantastic second point hold Atlanta forced an overtime with nearly 2 minutes in their pocket, needing only one tick to take the map. However, Simon “snillo” Ekström, the two-way player for Fusion, had different plans. He jumped on Ashe and went to town. Atlanta responded with a Dive comp, but failed to dive snillo effectively. Consequently, Dustin “Dogman” Bowerman on the slow, ball-slinging, Tibetan hovercraft couldn't make his way to the point without getting picked off. Eventually he made the switch to Moira, but it was too late. Atlanta wouldn't be able to get the tick they needed to secure the map. Draw.

Even with Atlanta Academy falling to Fusion University in the end, this is a team that people should be excited about. They live and die by the aggression of their front line, but with the amount of progress they were able to make from last season, the team formerly known as Last Night's Leftovers is impressive. The talent is absolutely there, and given a little more time to develop on an individual and team level, they should remain a top tier Contenders team that no one will look forward to facing, not even Fusion University. The future is very bright! Give them time. Let them continue to grind. They’ll show us all how good they really can be! Well played, says I. Well played.