Today, February 18th, begins the second season of the Spain Nationals. After x6tence were crowned on the first campaign, the teams will face once again in a double round-robin league to know who will be the eight teams that will participate at the LAN competition.
Spain Nationals S1 - x6tence Wins The Brick
As we explained to you in October, the team led by Wesker won the first season against a Movistar Riders roster full of new faces. Back then, the Aliens were the most solid team in Spain. Apart from winning the national tournament, x6tence were the best Spanish team in the Challenger League S10 qualifiers, were they got one map away -- in two different qualifiers -- from being promoted to the European second tier.
Despite the Aliens' success, the team was dissolved some weeks after winning the brick. The captain, Wesker, joined Movistar Riders alongside Billordo, while Kuriboh and Juk4 -- now known as P4ko -- signed for Team Heretics. The remaining player of the team, Wispy, stayed away from the scene for some weeks until he joined Cream Esports.
These were not the only changes in the competition. Almost all the rosters have had changes, both in terms of players and organizations; however, the skill level of the league remains high.
The venue was full for the Grand Finals. Photo: Kirill Bashkirov - Ubisoft.
Spain Nationals S2 Qualifiers - Four new teams, only two organizations
After the end of the regular phase, both Efficiency Team and Ramboot Club were excluded from the LAN phase -- as they finished in 9th and 10th place respectively -- which also meant that both rosters would have to fight in the promotion matches to earn back their Spain Nationals spot. However, both organizations decided to leave the competition. To these two, two spots more have to be added to the equation, as x6tence and Team Wizards also left the tournament. After all these changes, four places were to be given in the qualifiers.
These finished in the hands of Damon, UNNAMED, EC4 Gaming and Flamengo Stars, all being interesting rosters. Nevertheless, only Damon and UNNAMED have been acquired by an organization, AION e-Sports and Electrify Esports respectively. This means that the Spain Nationals S2 will kick off with only eight organizations out of ten rosters. Although this could mean that these teams aren’t as prepared as the others, this can lead to confusion: Electrify Esports, who signed today for this organization, got one of the sixteen spots to play the Challenger League S11 closed qualifier.
Spain Nationals S2 - The Format
The format used for this season will be the same as the one used previously: there will be eighteen game-days with five best-of-one matches, so the league will be a double-round-robin format. After all the games are played, the best eight teams of the competition will qualify to the LAN Finals.
The Teams:
These are the rosters that will compete in the Spain Nationals’ second season:
Team Heretics (chOi, sakke, baroz, P4ko, Kuriboh. Noel as their coach):
After Team Heretics’ disaster during the previous season, where they fell down against the eventual champions of x6tence by 7-0 on Consulate and 7-2 on Bank, the team decided to change all the faces of the team and signed five of the best players in the country.
The most known player is baroz, as he played for Ninjas in Pyjamas in Tokoname as the Brazilian roster lost two members -- Kamikaze and Julio -- as they had problems with their visas. Alongside p0lo, another Spanish player, baroz couldn’t help NiP and lost to Team Reciprocity by 2-0; however, baroz finished as the most rated player of the team, with a 1.01 and a 67% KOST.
Ninjas in Pyjamas' stats in Tokoname.
The next member to join the club is chOi, who was playing for Movistar Riders prior to this move. The Spaniard won the ESL Masters two years ago against Giants Gaming -- in one of the longest games in the history of this game, as they finished 3-2 -- and was also finalist in the last Spain Nationals.
Joining these two players we have P4ko -- most known as Juk4 -- and Kuriboh. Both players were key in x6tence success in the last Spain Nationals edition. Sakke completes the roster, coming from Giants Gaming, a team that was kicked out of the competition after losing at the semifinals against Movistar Riders, as they were demolished in Consulate (1-7).
Juk4 -- now known as P4ko -- was named the MVP of the LAN Finals. Photo: Kirill Bashkirov - Ubisoft.
We must highlight the fact that this team already has shown its potential in Europe, as they got a spot to play the Challenger League closed qualifier. It’s been almost two years since we’ve seen an Spanish team play in the European Challenger League.
Giants Gaming (vASS1LYY, Theroxz, Iluzjonist, Jwey, Curr3nSy. Drid as their coach):
The Spanish organization also presents “giant” changes to its roster as only one of the five players, vASSILYY, was in last seasons’ team. He will be led by a previous Giants player, DriD, who stepped down as a player to coach the roster. This team has experimented a big change that has been coming since Giants acquired the LFO roster (Looking For Org, ex-LeStream Esports before the signing and now known as Rogue) just before the Raleigh Six Major, a movement that limited the squad to a national level, as they wouldn’t be able to take part in the Challenger League qualifiers. However, the recent move to Rogue obligated Giants to sign another Pro League team, this time from outside Europe, as they signed the ex-Aerowolf roster: as they are from the SEA region, the Spanish team has the capacity to play in any European qualifier.
The roster that will play in the new Spain Nationals edition is build by three ex-members of Team Heretics, Curr3nsY, jwey and Iluzjonist, the ex-member of Team Queso, Theroxz, and the previously mentioned vASSILYY, led by the ex-Giants Gaming captain, Drid.
Movistar Riders (Wesker, Foskito, Scythe, D4rk1, Billordo. Tellorista as their coach):
The new Riders’ roster it’s a weird combination made out by two champions of the previous season, Wesker and Billordo, and the two remaining members of the previous Movistar Riders roster, D4rki and Foskito, specially known as they turned eighteen some weeks before the LAN Finals. The last name of the roster is Scyther, ex-Team Queso member.
This is probably one of the two best teams in the country alongside Team Heretics, as four out of the five members of the team played in the previous Spain Nationals Grand Final -- Wesker and Billordo with x6tence, D4rki and Foskito under the Riders’ colors. The first two won the brick while the other two did very good especially considering that this was their first LAN appearance.
Although people expect a good tournament by the Riders’ roster, the truth is that their year has begun in the worst way possible, as they couldn’t qualify to play the Challenger League closed qualifier, which means that they will have to wait over six months to try their luck in the next qualifier.
Wizards Esports Club (Flama, Uve, W_Mike, GroLazZ, GhostCXV. Brycer as coach and Silence as their mental coach):
One of the only rosters that hasn’t presented changes at all. The team previously represented by Arctic Gaming -- and known as Always Droning before signing for Wizards -- got to play in the previous LAN Finals as they improved their results in the last weeks of the regular phase. This positive strike helped them to qualify for the stage games, even though they were knocked out of the tournament during the group stage. However, they have shown great potential and some people expect them to do great in this second season.
The roster is the same as last season, where they finished as the sixth best team of the regular phase. After playing in the Challenger League open qualifiers, the team was acquired by Team Wizards and later on they signed Brycer as their new coach and analyst.
Cream Esports (Basily, ScRpN, EscrivaZ, Wispy, Naarko. Tommy as their coach):
After performing one of the worst first legs that somebody can think about of, the Cream Esports roster began the second leg with very good feet thanks to their signings. The new point of view that Bytommy, ex-Giants Gaming coach, brought with him was key in the performance of the team during those last nine matches. Although the roster improved massively, they were knocked out of the LAN Finals during the group stages, even though the team put on a great fight against some of the best teams, specially against the old Team Heretics.
The team has two new faces: Wispy, who comes from x6tence, and Naarko. These two will complete the roster alongside Basily, ScRpN and EscrivaZ.
Wygers (Reina, LioN, xP4TTO, Yoorpu, Oode):
Built by four players that participated in the previous edition of the Spain Nationals, Wygers is one of the newest rosters in the competition and has been recently acquired by the White Tigers organization. Reina and xP4TTO come from Team Queso and couldn’t survive to the group stages. Yoorpu, ex-Team Heretics member and LioN, ex-Giants Gaming player, will join the first two. Oode completes the roster.
Flamengo Stars (RoBiNN, Couto, Kermit, almeida, Thunder. sxrq2k as their coach):
One of the most interesting rosters of the championship. The team of Flamengo Stars -- one of the three rosters without organization -- has three Brazilian members, which makes them the most international roster in the tournament. The spanish-brazilian team finished fourth in the qualifiers, which was enough but, at the same time, was the lowest seeded team in the tournament, which means that they are one of the favourites to not make it to the LAN phase. However, it would be a mistake to underrate their game.
AION e-Sports (Dhubbleidd, DSGabilanED, Galthan, Batfat, BlackToastMan. Papiolti as their coach):
The first of the two promoted rosters that have been acquired by an organisation. The team followed the script and finished in first place of the qualifiers. The roster is built by known faces in the Spanish scene: batfat (ex-Team Heretics), Dhubbleidd (Cream Esports) or Galthan (Efficiency Team). DSGabilanED and BlackToastMan complete the team.
Electrify Esports (javixu, Jot4, Welshyy, JU4MP4, aLex):
After finishing in second place during the qualifiers, UNNAMED -- now known as Electrify Esports -- got their ticket to play in the second edition of the Spain Nationals. The roster is formed by five ex-players of the first season: javixu and Jot4 from Team Wizards, Welshyy from Movistar Riders, JU4MP4 from Efficiency Team and aLex from Ramboot Club.
We must highlight that, against all the odds, this roster qualified to play the Challenger League closed qualifiers, being the only Spanish team alongside Team Heretics.
Team SinOrg (TH3AL3XD, Hulik, Deivid, Cristiano, Rulo, Nubaii. Al0kaka as their coach):
Being represented by EC4 Gaming during the qualifier matches, the roster is currently known as Team SinOrg -- Team WithoutOrg -- and, as the name says, they aren’t represented by an organization nowadays. The team finished in third place after the qualifiers and, as the team is entirely new, their main objective is avoiding the relegation zone and playing in the LAN Finals.
The Talent:
This time, the talent will be shorter. However, the big names remain untouched. These are:
- Alejandro “Álex Polo” Polo.
- Ignacio “Adonai” Ballesteros.
- Marc “Ross” Rosés.
- José “Naigal” Luís Rodríguez.
- Daniel “SuperBoks” Rodríguez.
First week games:
The first game of the league will start tonight at 19:00 CET, and it will feature two of the four promoted teams: Flamengo Stars against AION e-Sports. The next game of the day will be between Movistar Riders and UNNAMED, which is probably the clash of the week. Giants Gaming and Cream Esports will close the first day of competition.
The action will continue on Thursday as Wygers faces Team SinOrg. Team Heretics and Team Wizards will feature in the last match of the week.
These are the five matches that will be played this week.
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All the games will be broadcasted on Twitch, today at 19:00 CET and Thursday at the same time. Make sure to not miss any of the action! Also, keep visiting SiegeGG for more information about the Spain Nationals and all the competitive scene. The Invitational has finished but this has just started!