The New York Challenger Rumble is upon us today as we prepare to watch six of the best teams from North America, Europe, and Asia/Pacific face off for their share of a US$200,000 prize pool and the right to face Na’Vi and Hellraisers in the Champion Rumble! The matches for the first international World of Tanks event on US soil has already begun on wgl.gg/watch! You can also watch live at the Altman Building in New York City, New York.
The NYC Rumble kicks off on November 19th. Keep an eye out for more details coming soon! #WGLNA pic.twitter.com/gUZSFCHrJN
— WGLNA (@WGLNA) November 2, 2016
MEET THE TEAMS
Each of the six total teams participating in the Rumble today achieved either first or second place at their regional finals which earned them a place in this international event. From North America, the two regional powerhouse teams Apex and Eclipse will be ready to prove their worth on the international stage. Apex won the North American finals after a close overtime win vs Eclipse in the finals and they will be looking to show the world what they can do in their first international event. Eclipse will be looking to improve upon their last Grand Finals appearance where they were stopped in the quarter finals.
DING and Kazna Kru will be the representatives from Europe for this event. DING will be looking to expand their amazing undefeated season and playoffs on the international stage with new opponents. They may be the favorite to win the entire competition but as we know, anything can happen on the live international stage. Kazna Kru will be looking to rely on their experience in several international events to lead them out of a tough group with Apex and El Gaming.
From the Asia/Pacific region, El Gaming and B-Gaming have traveled to the Rumble. El Gaming also had an undefeated season, but we will see if they can continue their win streak vs the powerhouse teams participating in the Rumble. They have done it before with a second place win at the Grand Finals 2015. B-Gaming is relatively unknown on the international stage but they will be using this to their advantage as they try and fight their way into the Champion Rumble.
Learn about the teams in the @wargaming_net League NYC Challenger Rumble.
More info: https://t.co/xRbfML0jIq@worldoftanks pic.twitter.com/RhamLJXOqo
— ESL WoT (@ESLWoT) November 12, 2016
MEET THE CASTERS
RYAN “ECTAR” MURPHY
Before casting, Ryan worked in the games industry, first for Blizzard in 2008. Ectar then worked as a popular community manager for Wargaming Europe where he covered World of Tanks. While he is a newer caster, he does have prior experience as an analyst for the WGLEU finals and both an analyst and caster for the Grand Finals 2016, the biggest World of Tanks esports event. Last season, he joined as the play-by-play caster for Wargaming.net League Europe and continues to excel when the big plays happen.
JAMES “ROCKSTAR” GRIEVE
Rockstar started as the captain for a North American Silver League team called Danger Close. During his stead as a player, Rockstar also got his start as a caster by covering many of the popular clan league events that were hosted by the North America office and the Pacific Rumble qualifiers. After leaving Danger Close, he became a caster for the 2016 WGLNA season where he uses his calling and strategic knowledge to explain the complex strategies during matches.
JORDY “DAKILLZOR VERSMESSE
Before casting for Wargaming.net League Europe, Dakillzor or otherwise known as Daki, was a Gold Leauge player for the World of Tanks League Europe before changing over to North America to play with the High Woltage Caballers. He quickly became a key playmaker on the team and regularly had the highest damage numbers on the team and was voted Most Valuable Player. For the last season of the Wargaming.net League, Jordy left behind his career as a player to become a caster for WGLEU, where he uses his experience as a player to relay his expertise to the veiwers.
JORDAN “ELFISHGUY” MAYS
An Australian making the long journey into New York for this Rumble, Jordan has been a popular caster for the Pacific area. Jordan casts not only for the Wargaming.net League Asia-Pacfic, but for other games in the Austrailia-New Zealand region. He also casts for other games such as CG:GO and Crossfire. With his valuable casting experience that span several games, Jordan is consistently an asset to the WGLAPAC casting team.
Tigers and DarkGodZim of @eClipse_WGLNA talk about the Challenger Rumble #WGLNA #NYCRumblehttps://t.co/JqsxTtCzxn pic.twitter.com/Txm1Key4Ki
— WGLNA (@WGLNA) November 8, 2016
WATCH… AND PARTICIPATE
The matches are live now on wgl.gg/watch! You can also watch live at the Altman Building in New York City, the doors are already open.
There will be live coverage using on the WGLNA Twitter and Facebook. So if you can’t attend, make sure you keep an eye on the highlights there or if you are watching post your thoughts on the matches using the #NYCRumble hashtag.
Also, watch the Rumble using the wgl.gg/watch site and check out the right sidebar where we will be offering some prizes to those people who complete the challenges such as watching for a certain length of time or participating in the polls.
