NoA was considered a world class team. Regardless of their performance at the CPL this time around, NoA, as the 2nd seed, could have been considered the one of the top teams in the world. Although Rival was near the top of the American scene, coming into this match as the 15th seed of the tournament, Rival proved many wrong in defeating NoA. Simply put, this match showed that the North American teams definitely had the skill and teamwork to compete against world class teams.

However, this match may have contributed to NoA's roster shakeups. Losing to TAU and Rival (both widely accepted as the underdogs of their matches), NoA was clearly faced with a problematic future after their results at this tournament. Let's take a look at the rounds that influenced this classic match, and see what may have caused NoA's future roster changes.


Rosters

NoA

Michael "Method" So
Griffin "shaGuar" Benger
Ola "elemeNt" Moum
Hallvar "knoxville" Dehli
Lars "Naikon" Olaisen

Rival

Jonny "Ph33r" Schwan
Mark "masternook" Torrez
Corey "hanes" Hanes
Derek "exodus" Heidenger
Michael "medias" Kim



NoA's Path

Upper Bracket, Round 1 Bye (NoA was seeded second at the event)
Upper Bracket, Round 2 NoA [11:13] TAU de_inferno
Lower Bracket, Round 2 NoA [13:00] Evolution de_nuke
Lower Bracket, Round 3 NoA [13:11] GameWyze de_cpl_mill
Lower Bracket, Round 4 NoA [13:08] TAG de_cbble
Lower Bracket, Round 5 NoA [19:15] 4kings de_train
Lower Bracket, Round 6 NoA [16:19] Rival de_dust2

NoA is knocked out of the tournament by the underdogs of the match, Rival. You can find the demo for this match, by clicking here.


Rival's Path

Upper Bracket, Round 1 Rival [13:01] Prescription Death de_dust2
Upper Bracket, Round 2 Rival [13:01] PuntoCL de_inferno
Upper Bracket, Round 3 Rival [13:04] TAU de_nuke
Upper Bracket, QuarterFinals Rival [07:13] Death is Eternal de_train
Lower Bracket, Round 6 Rival [19:16] NoA de_dust2
Lower Bracket, QuarterFinals Rival [13:03] Mousesports de_cpl_mill
Lower Bracket, SemiFinals Rival [13:09] The Titans de_nuke
Lower Bracket, Finals Rival [13:08] DSky de_dust2
Consolation Finals Rival [19:22] SK.swe de_cpl_mill

Rival goes on to place 3rd, after losing to SK.swe in a match that many consider to be one of the best matches in the history of Counter-Strike. You can download the demo of that match by clicking here.