Riot Squad have claimed the final spot at MSI MGA 2019 following a 2-1 victory over Lazarus in the grand final (9-16 Overpass, 16-12 Vertigo, 16-11 Inferno). The MSI MGA North America closed qualifier saw eight teams duke it out through a single-elimination best-of-three bracket for a shot at one spot at the event's $60,000 LAN finals in New York next month. Lazarus battled their way past Peeker's Advantage and New Identity in two one-sided series to kick off the day, with only one map from each matchup reaching double digits. Meanwhile, Riot Squad narrowly edged out a series victory over ATK before crushing Joshua "steel" Nissan's nambla mix, earning themselves a spot in the grand finals against Lazarus. A stellar performance by Jordan "Zellsis" Montemurro on Overpass helped Lazarus to an 11-4 half on their opponent's pick, with the team quickly closing out the map 16-9 as Zellsis put up 34 frags to his name. Riot Squad were able to reply on Vertigo as they rallied back from a 6-9 deficit at the half, dropping just three rounds following the side swap to tie up the series with a 16-12 map victory. Inferno was fittingly the series decider, with Lazarus taking three uncontested rounds to kick off the map. Five rounds in reply from Riot Squad saw Austin "crashies" Roberts and company steal away the lead, although Lazarus were able to immediately tie up the scoreline with two rounds of their own. A stellar individual performance by Gage "Infinite" Green was not enough for Lazarus to regain the lead however, and it was Riot Squad who took their first halftime lead of the series at 9-6 as they swapped to the CT-side. crashies took control of the proceedings for his side as he helped his team put up a solid defense, winning six rounds straight to immediately grant Riot Squad match point. Lazarus made an attempt to fight back from the brink of defeat as they added five rounds to their tally, but the map was too far gone as crashies and co. closed out the series with a 16-11 scoreline. Riot Squad's victory grants them the final spot at the $60,000 MSI MGA 2019 Finals, with the event set to play out from September 28-29 in New York. The four teams that will be participating are as follows:Riot Squad
Matchpage 2 1 11th August 2019
Lazarus 9Overpass 16 16Vertigo 12 16Inferno 11
Riot Squad
K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 Austin 'crashies' Robertscrashies
74 - 52 +22 90.9 1.35 Jonathan 'Jonji' CareyJonji
60 - 56 +4 87.1 1.14 Peter 'ptr' Gurneyptr
64 - 55 +9 72.7 1.09 Mitch 'mitch' Semagomitch
53 - 53 0 83.5 1.08 Pujan 'FNS' MehtaFNS
35 - 50 -15 56.2 0.85 Lazarus
K - D +/- ADR Rating 2.0 Gage 'Infinite' GreenInfinite
60 - 57 +3 83.6 1.12 Jordan 'Zellsis' MontemurroZellsis
59 - 60 -1 86.3 1.09 Jaccob 'yay' Whiteakeryay
61 - 57 +4 73.3 1.02 Yassine 'Subroza' TaoufikSubroza
44 - 59 -15 60.8 0.85 Braxton 'swag' Pierceswag
42 - 54 -12 64.1 0.84 ViCi
ex-Epsilon
Gambit Youngsters
Riot Squad
ATK #59
Roberto 'blackpoisoN' Dall'Occo
Dominic 'Domsterr' Sampaio
Rhys 'Fadey' Armstrong
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou
Ian 'motm' Hardy
Lazarus #51
Braxton 'swag' Pierce
Jaccob 'yay' Whiteaker
Yassine 'Subroza' Taoufik
Jordan 'Zellsis' Montemurro
Gage 'Infinite' Green
ex-Epsilon #43
Joey 'CRUC1AL' Steusel
Kia 'Surreal' Man
Rasmus 'kreaz' Johansson
Teodor 'SPELLAN' Nikolov
Helvijs 'broky' Saukants
Jordan 'Zellsis' Montemurro
Age: 21 Team: Lazarus Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 480 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.68
New Identity #54
Sebastian 'seb' Bucki
Skyler 'Relyks' Weaver
Collin 'wrath' McSweegan
Will 'dazzLe' Loafman
Michael 'dapr' Gulino
nambla
Joshua 'steel' Nissan
Age: 29 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 406 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.70
Peeker's Advantage #100
Daniel 'roca' Gustaferri
Stephen 'reltuC' Cutler
Taylor 'Drone' Johnson
Andy 'vSa' Xu
Chad 'Oderus' Miller
Gage 'Infinite' Green
Age: 21 Team: Lazarus Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 359 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.66
ViCi #71
Zhuo 'advent' Liang
WeiJie 'zhokiNg' Zhong
ZhiHong 'aumaN' Liu
Andrew 'kaze' Khong
Tao 'Franke19' Deng
Austin 'crashies' Roberts
Age: 21 Team: Riot Squad Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 200 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.69
Gambit Youngsters #48
Timofey 'interz' Yakushin
Anton 'supra' Tšernobai
Sergey 'Ax1Le' Rykhtorov
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov
Vladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov
Riot Squad #69
Pujan 'FNS' Mehta
Peter 'ptr' Gurney
Mitch 'mitch' Semago
Jonathan 'Jonji' Carey
Austin 'crashies' Roberts