Highlander Nations Cup #6 Grand Final: Poland vs. Russia

July 12, 2019

Banner by UnitedKingdom soda| Written by CeeJaey

It is time!

32 Days after the first game of the 6th Highlander Nations Cup, we’re on the horizon of the final and facing the prospect of crowning a brand new champion. We’ve seen it all – reverse sweeps, parachute bombs, trickstabs & a multitude of shock results.

The first team to ever win two Nations Cups; Sweden Sweden? Not even participating. The defending champions UnitedStates United States of America? Didn’t make it out of the groups. Top seeded sides England England, Denmark Denmark & France France? Couldn’t even win a map in the playoffs. This has been one of the most chaotic, surprising and down-right exciting Nations Cups in memory, and tonight we have two countries battling for the honor of winning the title for the first time in their history.

So how did we get here?

Russia

In Group C, Russia Russia had the privilege of being a top seeded team. A history that includes legends such as Russia ShaDowBurn & Russia m0rg, this new generation lineup of Russians featured 7 out of the 9 starting players from the Premiership side Russia kiti s bakenbardami. Led by Russia Pahan, they looked to improve on their previous best result – a 3rd place finish in 2015.

Their path out of the groups included Finland Finland & Hungary Hungary – two countries who reached the playoffs two years ago. Regardless, the beasts from the East stormed to the top with maximum points and without dropping a round. A default win against Estonia Estonia and a bye in the second round left a bit of a gap in playtime, but they were the only top seed to win their Quarter-Final, a tense affair against Israel Israel. The big challenge came in the Semi-Final – against 2012 Champions Germany Germany. Losing their map choice of Product 3-2, Russia had to come back from a round down on both Gullywash & Badwater to win the tie, booking their place in the final.

Poland

Over in Group A is where Poland Poland kicked off their campaign. In the past Poland have had some good runs in the competition – the likes of European Steve! and Poland phromelo widely regarded as two of the best to have played their classes, helping them to their best finish of the Quarter-Finals in 2014. Five years later, Poland STiNGHAN managed his nation further than ever before.

Their first match resulted in a loss to the USA – however, they did pick up 2 points in their encounter on Upward. 6-0 wins against both Greece Greece and Lithuania meant they took the top spot, and resigned the NA side to a group stage exit. The playoffs has not been easy riding either – first up was 2015 runners- up Ukraine Ukraine, who were dispatched in two maps. Up against England England in the Quarter-Final, one of the competition’s favourites, Poland Poland upset the odds to win both Steel and Upward 2-1 to setup a Semi-Final with Finland Finland, who beat Denmark Denmark– another top seed. Poland made short work of the Finns to reach the final without dropping a single map in the playoffs stage.

This is for all the marbles!

For the first time since 2014, we will have a brand new winner of the Nations Cup. For the first time ever, it will be a country from Eastern Europe. Will Russia Russia show everyone why they were considered one of the top seeds? Or will Poland Poland’s Cinderalla story continue in the final?

Catch all the action on KritzKast casted by Spain CeeJaey & European jakeowaty on Friday, July 12th at 21:00 CEST!