Thunder Battle in Unite Worlds Action
Team Norse Thunder's new look Pokemon Unite roster were in World Championship qualifying action this morning as they battled against teams from across Europe.
The double-elimination tournament saw more than 50 teams from around the continent coming together to fight it out for a place in the monthly finals - from where they can then earn a place at the game's premier event in London later this year. The competitive field saw some of the biggest names in the scene taking part, with Zephyr Esports, Random Gaming, and Yerman Burger Flippers all represented.
Round one saw Team Norse Thunder go up against Dark Phoenix - a team seeded highly in the draw. However, Thunder dominated game one and forced an early surrender after claiming most of the game's objectives against a freeze lane composition.
Game two saw the opposition change their style into a more attacking focused team composition, and it paid off as they claimed game two. Game three would see its winner take the match, and Dark Phoenix went ahead and completed the reverse sweep with a clean performance to earn the 2-1 victory.
Round two of the competition granted Thunder a bye round, so the team sailed into round three knowing that a loss would knock them out of the competition, but a win would put them deeper into a qualifying campaign than any Thunder roster had ever gone before.
Round three saw Thunder drawn up against Reds Gaming - a professional esports team based in Spain. The Spanish outfit put on a very strong display to claim a deserved 2-0 victory, but Thunder pushed them every step of the way.
Representing Team Norse Thunder in the tournament was Tiny (Captain), Karys, Tano, Lans, and Tunak, with Tano and Tunak both making their debut for the team.
Speaking about the team's efforts in the latest World Championship qualifying tournament, Team Norse Thunder's Dave Scotford said: "We showed today just how much stronger we are as a team than last time out - everyone was making plays and contributing to trying to move us forward. The team has been working hard and it was the right kind of atmosphere today too.
"Genuinely, the first game today was the best we've ever played and the fact they've delivered that after two weeks together as a group is brilliant and it shows promise. We pushed some teams really hard today and I think but for a couple of objectives not going out way, we'd have added a couple more wins to our record."