Rise won a huge series against 100 Thieves in the upper bracket final of the NA LCQ, putting them in the grand finals and one series win away from VCT Champions.
On Breeze, 100T started on attack and found great success playing back and patiently, letting Rise play ultra aggressively in mid and getting early picks. Hiko delivered a classic clutch in the eighth round, managing a 1v3 on an A site post-plant all on his own, and an Empress-powered Reyna 3K from Asuna in the last round gave 100T 7-5 lead at half-time.
Despite 100T taking second half pistol, Rise fought their way back in with some great lurks from supamen and sprays from neptune. Both nitr0 and Shanks delivered some terrific Jett plays to win their respective teams pivotal rounds, tying the score at 11-11. Rise took the A site and won a 2v3 despite Skye and Reyna ultimates from Ethan and Asuna to take a 12-11 lead. They went right back to A, prompting a 5v5 retake try from 100T that completely fell apart, as Rise stole away 100T’s pick of Breeze 13-11.
After losing the pistol on Ascent, Rise went with a risky force in the second round, but couldn’t break into the A site with 100T duelist duo nitr0 and Asuna watching. Undeterred, they forced up Sheriffs and half armor and somehow got onto the scoreboard, but lost the next round to a Hiko 3K on the Guardian. 100T continued to produce rounds, taking an 8-4 lead into their attack side.
A second pistol round went the way of 100T, leading to a 10-5 lead before the first full buy round. That round went the way of Rise by shutting down a 100T A Link push, followed by a flawless hold of the A site. Rise reduced the lead to 10-9 before both sides traded huge gun rounds, but more proficiency on the attacking A split allowed 100T to scrape by on Ascent, 13-10.
The series turned to Haven, with 100T taking an early lead after the first gun round with nitr0 and Ethan leading in frags. 100T’s patient playstyle consistently took them to any site they chose, and their post plant proficiency/entry frag prowess saw them win rounds early. However, some great playmaking from the likes of Shanks (Jett) and neptune (Phoenix) brought it back for Rise, trailing only 7-5 at the half after trailing 7-2.
Rise continued their spree of rounds into their attack side, tying it 7-7 before their bonus went back the way of 100T. Ethan’s tremendous triple delivered 100T the first gun round of the second half, bringing his kill total to 18 after only 16 rounds. Asuna provided a triple of his own the next round, preventing a last second spike plant from supamen in the process, but neptune tripled himself to keep Rise alive 10-10. Tied 11-11, Rise busted into A despite an 100T stack to go onto match point, then completely faked out 100T to get an easy A plant and hold off the retake to claim the map 13-11 and the series 2-1.
With the win, Rise moves on to the grand finals of the NA LCQ on Sunday; a best-of-five that will decide which team joins Sentinels, Team Envy, and the international field at Champions.
