Swole Patrol were crowned champions late last night at North American semi-pro LAN Fragadelphia 12.
The top competition was thin at the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania event because of the ongoing August player break, but that didn’t stop rising teams on the left side of the pond from fighting it out at NA’s largest “local” offline event.
With new pickups Braxton “swag” Pierce and Omar “MarkE” Jimenez, Swole Patrol breezed their way through the bracket and lost only one map the entire weekend, which was in overtime on Inferno to Gorilla Gang. It seemed that Swole Patrol’s only real competition was ownage—a lineup composed of players from eUnited and Team Dignitas.
The grand finals was between Swole Patrol and ownage, and it was a swift 3-0 sweep from Ryan “freakazoid” Abadir and company. After dominating the winners’ bracket and beating Gorilla Gang prior, the veteran roster were given a 1-0 advantage over the mixed NA squad. Swole Patrol then finished out the tournament with two strong showings on Overpass (16-9) and Mirage (16-5).
Other notable teams attending the event that didn’t go as far as Swole Patrol include Mythic, Team One, Hooked Esports, Vision Gaming, and Resolute (spearheaded by Sam “s0m” Oh).
Team Dignitas Female and CLG Red were also at the tournament, but they didn’t make it as far as other seasoned semi-pros. Dignitas Female were somewhat close to the losers’ finals, but they were taken down by Resolute. CLG Red, on the other hand, didn’t even make it past the group stage.
Overall, Swole Patrol is a promising lineup in the NA region, especially with the core Abadir brothers and swag headlining the team. The only things hindering them from proving themselves in the region is the difficulty of surviving rigorous online qualifiers for international events.
