At the beginning of September, MSI announced their Master Gaming Arena 2016 Championship. The $75,000 global tournament featured regional online qualifiers for Europe, North America, and Asia, with the three winners of those qualifiers meeting in London for the title. To spice things up even further, MSI planned to invite one of their sponsored teams in addition to the three qualified sides.
The four teams playing in the Grand Finals of MSI MGA 2016 Championships are:
- Rise Nation
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- KongDoo Panthera
- Fnatic
The three teams were finalised last week as the Asian qualifier came to a climax, and MSI recently announced that Fnatic would be the side joining them in London for the Grand Finals. This comes shortly after news that Fnatic have parted ways with dominant dps player iddqd and have opened trials for the replacement. They have just over a month to recover from the roster shift if they want to take the $40,000 first place prize from MSI MGA.
The North American side that earned the right to join them by toiling through the qualifiers were, surprisingly, Rise Nation. All of the top teams had an easy road through the open qualifier, and the eight team single-elimination main qualifier saw Rise Nation smash through Tempo Storm and the trial Cloud9 side, before overcoming Liquid 2-1 in the final. FaZe and compLexity were other notable top teams involved, but they met each other in the first round and then Liquid beat FaZe to make the final. Overall it was a strong showing from a developing NA side, showing the potential for upsets.
After the run in the MSI qualifiers, Rise Nation also qualified for Carbon Masters but lost 1-2 in the first round to Kingdom eSports, a similar record to their recent performance in the Alienware Monthly Melee October #2 which saw them bow out to FaZe 1-2 after beating Denial.
Ninjas in Pyjamas were the side to qualify through the European arm. The European open qualifier maddeningly saw them up against Misfits, who they beat 2-1 to deny them entry into the main qualifier. In the single-elimination main qualifier, they beat Besatt, Dignitas, and then melty without dropping a map to win. They are currently on a thirteen match winning streak since the Overwatch Open, coming top of these qualifiers, the DreamHack European qualifiers, and the King of Nordic cup, beating Misfits in each one.
KongDoo Panthera were the team to make it out of the Asian qualifiers. The Asian open qualifier saw Luxury Watch Blue fall to KongDoo Uncia, the winner’s sister team, and a few other top teams notably absent. The eight team single-elimination bracket saw both KongDoo sides beat their first round opponents and then face each other, where Panthera won 2-1. They then took a 2-0 victory over DetonatioN to win, catapulting the star-studded roster into the London finals against new intercontinental competition.
The finals will be another interesting look at how the regions stack up, as Fnatic, NiP, and Rise Nation were not invited to APAC Premier or OGN APEX Season 1. The MSI MGA 2016 Championship Grand Finals will take place in London on December 7-8th, 18:00 - 23:00 GMT.
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