September 27, 2013 by Charlie Eisenhood in Preview with 4 comments
After a brutal year with just one bid to the Club Championships, the Mid-Atlantic is back to two bids thanks to Philadelphia Termite’s Entourage sneaking in at #16 in the final USA Ultimate rankings.
The heavy favorite is the other Philly team, AMP, who took the lone bid last year and has been one of the top teams in the country this season. AMP opened their season with a title at the Philly Invite, beating Ames Chad Larson Experience in the finals and taking down other powerhouses like Slow White and The Ghosts along the way.
They went on to an undefeated Chesapeake Open win, but they only took the finals over Termite’s by one point. They would beat them by four at ECC in Seattle, where their only loss came to Boston Wild Card in the semis.
AMP, who has never been ranked outside of the top four in the Ultiworld Power Rankings, has benefited from the disintegration of Southpaw, the city’s elite Men’s team, picking up players including Nick Purifico and Nick Hirannet.
The team heads into Regionals looking for another tournament title as they set themselves up for a top seed at the Club Championships in pursuit of a bid to Worlds.
In their way are a handful of teams capable of beating them on a good day. Termite’s Entourage has shown they can play tight. Washington DC Ambiguous Grey, the one seed at Regionals last year, didn’t play great during the regular season, but is always a threat at Regionals. DC’s Ant Madness will also be in the hunt for one of the two bids.
Termite’s, who has also absorbed some Southpaw talent, is the appropriate two seed and is the favorite for the second bid. But they have yet to face Ambiguous Grey or Ant Madness this season.
Regardless of the seedings and records, there are a lot of evenly matched teams eying that second bid to Nationals. It should be a wild weekend on the Atlantic Coast.
