This article is part of our Call of Duty Recap series.
MLG Las Vegas saw the "rise" of a new champion as Rise Nation squared off in an upper bracket final rematch against Cloud9 on Sunday. While the series was close, Rise Nation was ultimately able to prevail, securing a 3-2 win in the grand final. The win netted the Rise roster a cool $40,000 and the first tournament win for the organization in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Let's take a look at how the action unfolded.
Rising to the occasion
Rise Nation handled business in their upper bracket grand final match against Cloud9, in what would inevitably become a precursor to their overall grand final battle. Despite dropping the initial Round 1 Hardpoint in a back-and-forth battle, Rise Nation put together convincing wins in the next two rounds, most notably sweeping Cloud9 in Round 2 Search and Destroy. In what would be a theme throughout Day 3 of the competition, Brice "Faccento" Faccento was on fire for Rise Nation, recording a 35/20 KD (kills/deaths) between the two rounds. Perhaps shockingly given Cloud9's propensity to push a series to Game 5, Rise Nation managed to put away the resilient team in Round 4 Hardpoint thanks to yet another heroic performance from Faccento, who finished the series with an otherworldly 1.45 KD ratio.
Rise Nation's win bumped Cloud9 down to the lower bracket where they had the unenviable task of facing FaZe Clan. FaZe had won two matches earlier in the day, notably knocking OpTic Gaming out of the tournament, and appeared poised to do the same to Cloud9 as they immediately jumped out to a 1-0 series lead by virtue of winning the opening Hardpoint. As they had done throughout MLG Las Vegas, Cloud9 rallied, earning two round wins of their own thanks to a stellar performance from Adam "Assault" Garcia, the other hero from Sunday's action.
As has been the case all weekend, however, Cloud9 couldn't close it out once they had jumped ahead in the series, as FaZe Clan was able to win their second consecutive Hardpoint to push the series to a deciding fifth game. This time it was Andres "Lacefield" Lacefield who made a resounding impact for Cloud9, tallying an 11/6 KD line to put away FaZe Clan for good. That win set up a rematch with Rise Nation in the grand finals, with Cloud9 having to win two best-of-five series to claim first place by virtue of coming from the lower bracket.
Five is the magic number
Facing Cloud9 for the second time in as many series, Rise Nation appeared to have their counterparts' number early on, scorching ahead to a 2-0 series lead. Yet again Faccento was the hero, as the former Team eLevate slayer was fully streaked out by the time either team had scored 100 points in Round 1 Hardpoint, and finished the first round with a stunning 37/22 KD to go along with over two minutes in the hardpoint.
Staring down at elimination, Cloud9 responded in earnest, earning a critical win in Round 3 Uplink. Despite a relatively close score in the round, Cloud9 held a massive edge in slaying, as nearly every member of the team recorded 25-plus kills compared to Rise Nation's two players. Cloud9 doubled down on the momentum, earning a relatively convincing Round 4 Hardpoint victory. Assault and Lacefield were a nuisance once more, repeatedly picking up critical kills that would spawn the Rise slayers out of position. The duo finished with a combined KD of 56/34 - a remarkable figure given that the combination of Tyler "Felony" Johnson, Daniel "Loony" Loza and Faccento recorded just 51 kills in Round 4.
That set the stage for yet another climactic Game 5 battle, Cloud9's seventh such series of the tournament. Perhaps it was due to fatigue or just the weight of the moment, but whatever the case may have been, Cloud9 could not capitalize on their previous momentum. A six-kill streak by Felony to start the first two rounds effectively ended the Round 5 Search and Destroy before it even began, as Cloud9 was forced to consider the impending killstreaks for the rest of the match. A handful of critical 2-vs-4 kills by Rise Nation solidified the impending win, as Rise finally closed out Cloud9 with a convincing 6-1 win in Search and Destroy. Unsurprisingly, Faccento was awarded MLG Las Vegas MVP upon the conclusion of the series.
While the season -- and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare -- has just begun, Rise Nation has made an early impression on the competitive scene, and certainly appears to have struck gold with their new lineup. With the next MLG event not for a couple of months, teams will have plenty of opportunities to practice and hone their skills for MLG Atlanta, which takes place Feb. 10-12.
