The top three Challenger teams in Europe took on the bottom three teams from the EU LCS, fighting to snatch away a coveted LCS spot. Yet when the dust had cleared, not a single EU LCS team was taken down by their opponent. Looking at the games, however, can prove an interesting exercise in showing what it takes to break into the LCS: rotations, versatility, and grace under pressure.
Millenium vs Ninjas in Pyjamas
If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of watching the MIL vs NiP games, you definitely should. Just make sure you have five hours to spare. This series, above all of the others, showed exactly how important it is for a team to react well under pressure. Millenium didn't just lose Game 1. They got dominated, with a 22k gold and seven tower deficit in a game that barely went past 30 minutes. It's hard to handle a crushing defeat like that in a best-of-five, and Millenium looked like they were about to crack under the pressure.
In Game 2, NiP's dominance continued, and they pushed in every inner turret by the 35 minute mark, with a 10k gold lead. Twenty minutes later, at the
55 minute mark, NiP had expanded their lead to 20k gold. And from there, NiP seemed incapable of closing the game out. They pushed again and again, taking Dragon after Dragon and Baron after Baron. And then,
60 minutes into the game, Millenium caught NiP out of position, picking up one kill and following it up with a Baron. If you're thinking that a 60-minute comeback sounds like a lot of pressure, don't worry. The game remained even for another 10 or so minutes, before Millenium took Baron, dove mid, and pushed in for the win at the
72-minute mark.
It's hard to think of a better example of reacting well to pressure than holding on in a losing game for over 20 minutes without making a mistake, then punishing your opponents' mistakes and pushing for the win. Millenium then turned around and picked up Game 3 with the same late-game composition, and looked like they had the series in the bag.
And then NiP banned Ziggs, Nocturne, and Ryze, three champions that had been crucial to Millenium's success in the last two games. This is where Millenium really showed their mettle, swapping champions around and outplaying NiP. They would lose Game 4 due to a positioning error by Creaton in the late game, but they came out strong in Game 5, securing their spot in the LCS.
Supa Hot Crew vs Cloud 9 Eclipse
SHC vs C9E was a straightforward series. In each game, SHC was able to take an advantage early on due to positioning errors and strong picks. Migxa was very decisive about initiating as Leona, allowing him to make strong plays in every game. SHC abused the strength of their jungler every game, and every time C9E made a play, SHC was there to make a counter-play. In each game, the gold leads simply grew and grew as SHC pulled further and further ahead.
Copenhagen Wolves vs Denial eSports
This matchup showed the strength of rotations in pro level, from the very beginning. Denial eSports tried to pull a fancy lane swap rotation, running Twitch top, Jax/Thresh bot, and holding vs the 4-man push bot. Unfortunately, YoungBuck simply teleported top, and Copenhagen Wolves were able to put a ton of early damage on the tower, which would eventually be the first tower to fall. While DNL was able to make plays in each game, they ultimately had no answer for the extreme area-of-effect (AoE) boosting potential YoungBuck's Vladimir brought to the Copenhagen Wolves' side, as even when they did seem to get advantage, Copenhagen Wolves dominated in team-fights.
Recap
At the end of the day, each LCS team defended their spot. Millenium looks stronger going into next season with the addition of KottenX, Supa Hot Crew looked revitalized in their games, and Copenhagen Wolves showed off innovative team compositions and quick thinking. Hopefully, they can continue to grow and bring strong performances to next split.
Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman is a League of Legends mathcrafter turned esports journalist who spends his spare time staring at mountains of League of Legends data. Follow him @GentlemanGustaf on Twitter.
Related Articles
OP
Denial vs 
