GAMECOM Nv’s star player Andrew “mOOnGLaDe” Pender is heading back to the USA once again, competing in the MLG Spring Championship this weekend (28th - 30th June) in Anaheim, CA.
Having proven to the world he is capable of going head-to-head with the best, GLaDe will be looking to turn heads and crack skulls this weekend as he showcases his fearsome Zerg repertoire.
Last November, Pender produced some exciting games at MLG Dallas in a blistering performance, cruising through the open bracket and steamrolling HuK and then MC in dominant fashion to secure a place in the Group Stages. Once there, he defeated MajOr and Revival, before losing to viOLet and was eventually eliminated by Daisy. Undeterred, he returned home and began training in earnest for the next opportunity.
Epic Split Map Daybreak
It soon presented itself with the announcement of WCS America. GLaDe qualified for the Premier league and fought through the initial Ro32 group stage, eventually advancing with back-to-back victories against Maker and Illusion. In the Ro16, he showed his performance was no fluke, narrowly falling 2-1 to Axiom’s CranK before decimating Apocalypse and TheStC, securing a coveted Ro8 placing (where he fell to a terrifying Ryung in world-class form).
The deciding game for a Ro8 spot in WCS AM!
Pender is travelling to Anaheim well-rested and says he feels confident he will be able to make waves at the tournament because fewer Koreans will be in attendance.
“I'm feeling pretty confident … though there are still a lot of good players attending so i'm [going] to be very cautious,” he said.
“I'm always happy when i don't have to play mirror matches (weird coming from a Zerg dominant region i know), but i mostly want to test myself against the strong Terrans of the tournament, as i feel it's still my best match-up."
“I'm looking forward to seeing all the NA players and personalities again, they're all great people and a lot of fun to hang out with," he said.
As an aside, a lesser known fact about Pender is that he loves to keep fit and healthy while living the eSports rockstar lifestyle.
“I'm a big fan of fitness and feel a more balanced lifestyle is important while being a pro-gamer, which i think is different to a lot of other players mentalities,” he said.
GameCom Nv’s Manager, Derek “Dox” Reball, says “I look forward to another weekend of waking up and staying up to crazy hours so I can watch him pulling off some world-class upsets!”
can do so at the Dr Pepper Booth from 2:30 - 3:30PM on Friday.
Special thanks go out to Plantronics GAMECOM for making the trip possible (international flights aren't cheap!), and partners FragLabs and Horize for their support in providing laptops and opportunities to train on the road.
Please join us in wishing our Aussie terror the best, and make sure you tune into MLG’s coverage of the event and support him this weekend! If you want to follow mOOnGLaDe or his team, visit these links!
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