NA Challenger Series Quarterfinals Preview
Riot·7/12/2014, 12:24:12 AM·0 votes·997 views
From Reigning CS champions to unheard of prodigies, we’ve got it all this split of the North American Challenger Series! Two weeks of the top 8 challenger teams competing for the much coveted circuit points that grant them a golden ticket into the Season 5 LCS Spring Split.
Team Coast vs. Denial Esports NA
When: Saturday, July 12th at 4:00 PM PST
Coast is back with their championship roster this split and they’re out for blood! Still sporting the same veteran roster that destroyed LolPro 2-0 in last split's finals, they’re on track to take first place again this split unless Denial Esports has something to do about it.
The premier players of Coast are easily their mid laner (Goldenglue) and their bottom lane (Sheep and Mash) who have an astounding mechanics combined with deep champion pools and LCS experience. Goldenglue was formerly a sub for Team Dignitas where he was initially Scarra’s replacement and did very well compared to even the top tier counterparts in TSM and Cloud9. Mash has always been a stellar AD Carry as old as League of Legends itself - he has constantly been a top contending player on various teams but hasn’t quite caught the break he deserves with any team. With the other members playing a more supportive role compared to their hard carries, Coast looks primed and ready to take out Denial this week.
Not to be outshined, Denial Esports has a broad mix of veterans in Nubbypoohbear, Ionz, and Evaniskus combined with the relatively new faces on the team. They absolutely decimated Nintendudex and Daydreamin’s new team earlier in the month when they unintentionally underestimated Nubbypoohbear’s Kassadin. Word to the wise (and their opponents), never ever give Nubby Kassadin unless you like getting steamrolled.
Denial is a top tier team, and likely could give Team Coast a good run for their money; however, in the past with teams involving Nubby and Ionz their communication and synergy suffers greatly alongside consistency. If they can iron out the kinks in their communication before Saturday they could easily advance further in the competition, but that’s a risky gamble.
Team 8 vs. Zenith Esports
When:Sunday, July 13th at 4:00 PM PST
Team 8 has been a staple in the NA CS, both for being major disappointments and insanely overpowering teams. Back in Spring CS1, they were the only challenger team to take a game off LMQ who are currently tied for first place in the NA LCS. They definitely have the potential to rock the competition, but they play to the beat of their own drum. This leads either to overwhelmingly aggressive games where they stomp in 20 minutes or games where they lose to cheese in the Ro20 before NA CS really even begins.
The Team 8 curse hasn’t reared it’s ugly head yet this split, but it’s always looming right around the corner. Team 8 has the potential to get into LCS fairly easily, with Scarra stating that Slooshi is the best mid laner he has seen in the challenger scene hands down and CaliTrollz being highly regarded as one of the best carry top laner in NA. After missing their shot last split due to arriving late to the competition, they’ve since destroyed at Lonestar Clash and decimated the early stages of the split. They’ll need to really buckle down now and pull out all the stops to get their golden ticket to the LCS.
Zenith Esports has had a rough bout to get to where they are in the Ro8. A product of circumstance, they’ve made it into the Ro8 after beating AKA due to connection issues. We haven’t actually seen all that much of Zenith in play due to the surrounding issues, but from what we have seen they need to work on their Pick/Ban phase and early game immensely if they hope to stand up to the tidal wave that is Team 8.
When: Saturday, July 12th at 4:00 PM PST
Coast is back with their championship roster this split and they’re out for blood! Still sporting the same veteran roster that destroyed LolPro 2-0 in last split's finals, they’re on track to take first place again this split unless Denial Esports has something to do about it.
The premier players of Coast are easily their mid laner (Goldenglue) and their bottom lane (Sheep and Mash) who have an astounding mechanics combined with deep champion pools and LCS experience. Goldenglue was formerly a sub for Team Dignitas where he was initially Scarra’s replacement and did very well compared to even the top tier counterparts in TSM and Cloud9. Mash has always been a stellar AD Carry as old as League of Legends itself - he has constantly been a top contending player on various teams but hasn’t quite caught the break he deserves with any team. With the other members playing a more supportive role compared to their hard carries, Coast looks primed and ready to take out Denial this week.
Not to be outshined, Denial Esports has a broad mix of veterans in Nubbypoohbear, Ionz, and Evaniskus combined with the relatively new faces on the team. They absolutely decimated Nintendudex and Daydreamin’s new team earlier in the month when they unintentionally underestimated Nubbypoohbear’s Kassadin. Word to the wise (and their opponents), never ever give Nubby Kassadin unless you like getting steamrolled.
Denial is a top tier team, and likely could give Team Coast a good run for their money; however, in the past with teams involving Nubby and Ionz their communication and synergy suffers greatly alongside consistency. If they can iron out the kinks in their communication before Saturday they could easily advance further in the competition, but that’s a risky gamble.
Team 8 vs. Zenith Esports
When:Sunday, July 13th at 4:00 PM PST
Team 8 has been a staple in the NA CS, both for being major disappointments and insanely overpowering teams. Back in Spring CS1, they were the only challenger team to take a game off LMQ who are currently tied for first place in the NA LCS. They definitely have the potential to rock the competition, but they play to the beat of their own drum. This leads either to overwhelmingly aggressive games where they stomp in 20 minutes or games where they lose to cheese in the Ro20 before NA CS really even begins.
The Team 8 curse hasn’t reared it’s ugly head yet this split, but it’s always looming right around the corner. Team 8 has the potential to get into LCS fairly easily, with Scarra stating that Slooshi is the best mid laner he has seen in the challenger scene hands down and CaliTrollz being highly regarded as one of the best carry top laner in NA. After missing their shot last split due to arriving late to the competition, they’ve since destroyed at Lonestar Clash and decimated the early stages of the split. They’ll need to really buckle down now and pull out all the stops to get their golden ticket to the LCS.
Zenith Esports has had a rough bout to get to where they are in the Ro8. A product of circumstance, they’ve made it into the Ro8 after beating AKA due to connection issues. We haven’t actually seen all that much of Zenith in play due to the surrounding issues, but from what we have seen they need to work on their Pick/Ban phase and early game immensely if they hope to stand up to the tidal wave that is Team 8.
