EU CS Semifinal Recap
Riot·6/14/2014, 2:20:09 AM·1 votes·1,245 views
The European Challenger Series Semifinals had a little extra zest this season since the two winners would compete live in Wembley Arena in the finals. Knowing that, the four semifinal teams delivered two series that went to three games. Ninjas in Pyjamas broke in their new roster with a 2-1 victory over Gamers2 and H2K had to come from behind in the final match to beat Lublin Shore 2-1. The victorious teams will not only get to compete for a huge crowd in England, but they have also clinched an automatic berth in the European Challenger Series 2 series.
You almost cannot make a better first impression than Exileh did for the Ninjas in Pyjamas. Through all three games against Gamers2, he only died one time. The single death put his KDA at 31 for the tournament. He showed instant synergy with jungler Tinh “k0u” Tri Lam to drive his team to a victory. It wasn’t just on a single champion that he was a force for NiP’s good. He performed on Twisted Fate, LeBlanc and Orianna, three champions that have very different playstyles. Exileh has set the bar very high going forward, but if he emulates the performance he had against Gamers2, this team will continue to be a force in Challenger.
Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu
The two H2K wins were heavily influenced by Odoamne’s Kayle play. While he didn’t post individual statistics as sterling as Exileh, he had just as big of an impact. Odoamne decided to employ the Runaan’s Hurricane Kayle build that is excellent for sustained damage, and stacking up Kayle’s Holy Fervor passive in both games. The build turned Kayle into a damage turret that completely wrecked Lublin Shore in large team fights. On top of Odoamne’s team fight prowess, he had multiple Interventions that saved himself or his teammates in various situations. Kayle is certainly ban-worthy for Ninjas in Pyjamas during the EU CS finals next week
Games of the Week
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs Gamers2 Game 1 Game 1 of this series was extremely important because Ninjas in Pyjamas was debuting two new starters in middle laner Fabian “Exileh” Schubert and Erih “Voidle” Sommerman on support. The two players were very impressive with Exileh posting a 2/0/5 KDA on Twisted Fate while Voidle’s Braum had a 0/0/9 KDA. The most important part of their performance goes beyond stats, though. The Ninjas in Pyjamas are known for playing a plodding, drawn out style. It is very low risk/low reward concept that wants to force a death by 1000 cuts. The two new members changed that in a single twenty-seven minute game. The slow style was gone in favor of unbridled aggression, and ironclad tempo control. The new Ninjas were in Gamers2’s face from the moment the game loaded, and didn’t let up at all throughout. It was one of the most impressive, and unforeseen, changes that a team has ever undergone in such a short span. They did stutter maintaining the style in game 2, but it came back with a vengeance in game 3 to earn NiP a spot in the finals. H2K Gaming vs Lublin Shore Game 3 Game 3 of the H2K/Lublin Shore series was the best of the EU CS so far. The hour long contest featured back and forth action where one of the combatants would grab advantage, but then lose it by the minute. Lublin Shore scored early kills, but H2K’s siege composition let them score objectives to keep it close. After H2K ripped off a pair of impressive teamfight wins, they found themselves in the driver’s seat. H2K managed to knock down the Lublin Shore middle inhibitor, and the super minions got one of their Nexus turrets. Unfortunately, Lublin Shore had been scaling throughout their defense, and turned the game on its head again by taking a Baron and setting up camp on the H2K side of the map. At one point, Lublin Shore opened up a 10k+ gold lead, but that was not enough for them to clinch the win. A final teamfight was an ace for H2K thanks to the consistent damage from top laner Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu’s Kayle and the heroic initiation of Alin “AoD” Baltat’s Morgana into the middle of Lublin Shore. The five man Soul Shackles scattered LBS, and that gave H2K all they needed to win. Extreme death timers let H2K rush up the middle lane and finish the game before Lublin Shore could stop them.Top Performers of the Week
Fabian “Exileh” Schubert
You almost cannot make a better first impression than Exileh did for the Ninjas in Pyjamas. Through all three games against Gamers2, he only died one time. The single death put his KDA at 31 for the tournament. He showed instant synergy with jungler Tinh “k0u” Tri Lam to drive his team to a victory. It wasn’t just on a single champion that he was a force for NiP’s good. He performed on Twisted Fate, LeBlanc and Orianna, three champions that have very different playstyles. Exileh has set the bar very high going forward, but if he emulates the performance he had against Gamers2, this team will continue to be a force in Challenger.
Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu
The two H2K wins were heavily influenced by Odoamne’s Kayle play. While he didn’t post individual statistics as sterling as Exileh, he had just as big of an impact. Odoamne decided to employ the Runaan’s Hurricane Kayle build that is excellent for sustained damage, and stacking up Kayle’s Holy Fervor passive in both games. The build turned Kayle into a damage turret that completely wrecked Lublin Shore in large team fights. On top of Odoamne’s team fight prowess, he had multiple Interventions that saved himself or his teammates in various situations. Kayle is certainly ban-worthy for Ninjas in Pyjamas during the EU CS finals next week
