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Recap: Rumble in the West

Wargaming is no stranger to the eSports scene, and because our European and North American servers are some of the most competitive out there, we decided to pit these two regions against each other; we called it Rumble in the West, a one-time event to determine once and for all who the top World of Tanks team is.

Both regions ran separate qualifiers to figure out the best two teams who would fly to Poland and represent their servers in an off-line final hosted at the Poznań Game Arena. Burn All Empires and The Cunninghams were the best in NA, and Schoolbus and Virtus.Pro were the two greats from the EU server.

What were they fighting for? Fame and glory of course! And a total prize pool of €50,000, with the winners taking the €25,000 grand prize—you could actually buy a tank for that. Not too shabby.

 

So what’re these teams like?

Burn All Empires are a team that’ve come into their own over the past few seasons, stepping up their game in a relatively short amount of time, and were perhaps considered the underdogs of the competition.

The Cunninghams are known in North America as a thinking man’s team: patient, focused, tactical—they emerged victorious in the qualifiers against S.I.M.P in one of the biggest upsets of the tournament.

Schoolbus had the greatest pedigree coming into the Rumble in the West Grand Final, after emerging as Wargaming.net League’s Season Four champions, beating out Virtus.Pro. They were hoping to continue their winning streak and keep the crown firmly on their heads.

Virtus.PRO took second place in the Wargaming.net League’s Season Four finals, coming behind champions Schoolbus, so were looking to make a real impression in the Grand Final and mend some of their wounded pride.

With the teams in place and the stage set, it was time to inject a little more spectacle into proceedings. We called on Joshua “Clutch” Gray to host the Rumble in the West Grand Final, a veteran of the World of Tanks scene. Alongside Clutch, we had Lauren “Pansy” Scott and Oliver “Laughter” Maxfield sitting in the commentators chair, providing in-depth analysis of all the skirmishes to our studio audience and for everyone joining the event online.

And because we knew not everyone could jump on a plane to Poland, we streamed all the Rumble in the West action live on Twitch straight from the venue so you didn’t miss a second of finals. That wasn’t all; Wargaming’s dedicated social media team were right with fans during the event with some great contests and prizes on our eSports channel.

Rumble in the West played out over the course of one action-packed day, totaling four intense matches. Schoolbus and Burn All Empires faced off in the first match, and first blood went to Schoolbus, taking victory 3:0.

Match 2 saw The Cunninghams face off against Virtus.Pro, with Virtus.Pro scoring first blood part II, winning 1:3.

So, with the final two teams decided, there was still the matter of 3rd place to carve out, and it saw the two US teams go head-to-head. The underdogs Burn All Empires and The Cunninghams jumped behind the wheel to duel it out, and the latter emerged clear winners, winning 0:3.

With an all EU final, Schoolbus and Virtus.Pro took to the stage to clash over who deserved to be crowned victor of Rumble in the West. And, like some had predicted, we had a repeat of the Season Four finals: Schoolbus won 4:3 in a tense match, proving why they’re the best out there. At least, for now… 

Now that the dust has settled on Rumble in the West, we were proud to have the pleasure of watching a bunch of fantastic teams compete for glory in the World of Tanks arena, and we salute everyone involved in making a thrilling tournament and all those who watched.