Challenge Accepted: Challenger Series Summer Split primer

Riot·6/19/2015, 7:45:18 PM·0 votes·14,423 views

This Spring, we saw Team Dragon Knight (TDK), Enemy Esports, and Origen emerge from the Challenger scene and join the LCS. This split, former LCS fan favorites, rookies, and CS veterans have assembled to compete in the Challenger Series. With the Qualifiers wrapped, it’s time for the next group of Challenger teams to take one step closer to the LCS.

What’s the format?

CS Summer Split will follow the same format as Spring Split with the regular season taking place over five weeks. During the regular season, each team will play a Best of 1 match on Tuesday with another Best of 1 against the same team again on Wednesday. The CS Playoffs are a two-round single-elimination tournament among the top four teams, seeded based on their standings from the regular season. Playoff matches take place over two weeks with Best of 3s and the finals as a Best of 5 series.

Who’s competing?

EU CS Summer Split:

Denial eSports
Team Dignitas EU
Ex Nihilo
Gamers2
Overclockers UK
Mousesports

MYM and Copenhagen Wolves Academy decided not to claim their prequalified spots in Challenger Series. NA CS Summer Split:

Team Coast
Cloud9 Tempest
Imagine (formerly Magnetic)
Renegades (formerly Misfits)
Vortex (formerly Final Five)
Winterfox

Fusion could not field a roster so they are not eligible for the Challenger Series.

What’s on the line?

The ultimate goal of Challenger players is to become a part of the LCS. After Playoffs, the 1st place team automatically qualifies for the next LCS split (just as Origen and Enemy Esports did in Spring). The 2nd and 3rd place CS teams also have a shot at joining the LCS by battling the 8th and 9th place LCS teams in the Promotion Tournament. The losing teams of the Promotion Tournament will be part of the following CS split, as will the 10th place LCS team. Challenger Teams will also fight for a Prize Pool and the lower seeded teams will receive opportunities to return to the 2016 Challenger Series.

How do I catch the action?

We have a dedicated Challenger Series broadcast on Wednesdays where you can watch recaps from the Tuesday matchups and live matches on Wednesdays with commentary from Pulse, Stress, Zirene, and Phreak. If you don’t want to wait until Wednesday to see the results from Tuesday, we’ll have them immediately after the match and gameplay VODs will be available within 48 hours after the game on Lolesports.

When does it all start?

The Challenger Series broadcast starts at 9:00am PDT/18:00 CEST on Wednesday, June 24 with the following EU CS matchups:

Gamers2 vs. Overclockers UK
Denial eSports vs. Team Dignitas EU
Ex Nihilo vs. Mousesports

After a quick break for PTL, CS returns at 6:00pm PST/3:00 CEST with the NA matches of:

Team Coast vs. Winterfox
Imagine vs. Vortex
Cloud9 Tempest vs. Renegades

Catch up on the Qualifiers and get to know the Challenger teams over on our spoiler-free VODs page. Tune-in to all the Challenger regular season action on Wednesdays right here at Lolesports.