Razer NeXT Crossfire Leg 2 Finals To Be Set This Weekend!
From 127 teams that participated in the qualifier round of the second leg of the Razer NeXT Crossfire Tournament, only four squads remain in the race. Once again, the top two teams of the Southern Conference will be pitted against the top two squads from the Northern Conference.
Here are the matchups for the finals:
Pacific.Macta versus HASleftxSPM
This time around, HASleftxSPM faces Pacific.Wara’s sister team in the form of Pacific.Macta. Who will prevail?
While everyone knows the history of Pacific.Macta at this point, HASleftXSPM (formerly Spammers) is actually one of Cebu’s finest teams and had a stellar run in tournaments in the past. Back in 2012, they participated in the national finals of the World Cyber Games (WCG), where they were only beaten by MsiEVO-GT in the grand finals, thus denying them the chance represent the country at the WCG.
This is the first time that these teams face each other in this tournament. In the last leg, the former Spammers squad actually brought their series against Pacific.Wara to 2-1 before bowing out of the tournament.
Will Pacific.Macta show their prowess in this matchup? Or will HASleftXSPM step up and bring the fight to Philippines’ top seeded team?
HL.Decapitatorz versus Pacific.Wara
The North against The South: Who is going strong?
HL.Decapitatorz (former Decapitators) actually gained the right to represent the province in the National Finals of the Crossfire Stars in the Cebu leg of the tournament, beating the province’s other big-name teams such as HASleftXSPM and WattzKing (former NxA). On the other hand, Pacific.Wara are as grizzled and battle-hardened as they can get, with a very good string of wins dating back to 2009.
This is another matchup where both teams will fight each other for the first time in this tournament.
Will HL.Decapitatorz give the Manila-based team a run for their money? Or will Pacific.Wara show that experience and grit still count?
What are the maps for this Final?
The first map, Mexico, is a Global Risk (GR)-dominated site as both bombsites are pretty hard to get through due to easily defensible setups. However, once Black List (BL) takes control of a site, the game quickly turns into their favor as they can have very strong afterplant positions.
As for the second map, Sub Base is a fast-paced map which contains many opportunities for both teams to quickly rotate across the map, thus giving a sense of uncertainty for every round played on this place. This is favored slightly by the GR side due to the fact that they already start inside the B bombsite, thus allowing them to focus on getting control of A instead.
Finally, Ankara is well-known for its “three-way” system that allows GR to do any defensive setups that they want earlier in the round, thus allowing them to do aggressive plays early on. On the other side of the coin, BL can get map control early on through controlling the middle, thus allowing for splitting maneuvers later in the round. Thus, one can expect teams go for plays in order to control the middle portion of the map so that they can have an easier time rotating across the map.
Will the South be able to get a team or two to the finals and write another chapter in this tournament? Or will the two Pacific teams make it an all-Northern final for the second time around?
Mark your calendars as the Conference and Wave Finals commence on Saturday, May 23!
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