EU CS Quarterfinals Recap Part 1
Riot·5/31/2014, 12:32:38 AM·1 votes·1,611 views
The first two quarterfinal series of the European Challenger Series 1 were both decidedly one-sided. The two veteran-ladensquads, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Gamers2, showed their experience by sweeping Unicorns of Love and Shantao Macht Wau out of the Challenger Series. The Ninjas in Pyjamas in particular made a statement by showcasing a rarely seen ability to swap solo laners with no falloff.
The trend of players not suffering a death continues in the form of Nukeduck, the Ninjas in Pyjamas middle laner. He got through the entire Unicorns of Love series with a pair of goose eggs in the deaths column. It wasn't for lack of battling, either. Nukeduck had a 7/0/5 game on Yasuo, and followed that with a 6/0/17 game on Nidalee.
Games of the week
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs Unicorns of Love Game 1 The first quarterfinal game of the week underscored a unique strategic flexibility that the Ninjas in Pyjamas have over most teams they face. Top laner Aleksei "Alex Ich" Ichetovkin is able to swap down into the middle lane if his chosen champion has a better matchup than middle laner Erlend "Nukeduck" Holm's. Furthermore, the swaps that NiP can pull off with practically no loss make champion select a nightmare for the opposition. Interchangeable laners make counter-picking an order of magnitude harder since a counter can be fixed by a NiP rotation. That philosophy was on display in this game as Nukeduck took Yasuo into the top lane to battle Vizicsacsi's Shyvana while Alex Ich stared down PowerOfEvil's Ziggs. The result: both solo lanes were able to gain a lead in the laning phase due to more favorable matchups, and snowball that advantage into a victory. Gamers2 vs Shantao Macht Wau Game 2 The final quarterfinal game of the week was a clinic in forcing small mistakes from an opponent, and turning them into an enormous advantage. Shantao Macht Wau was behind from the moment minions spawned until the end of the game even though they got the lanes they wanted. It culminated in an eighteen minute Baron for Gamers2, and a siege at level 11. While the game went on for some minutes due to the stopping power of avenuee's Syndra, after that, it was simply delaying the inevitable. The win secured a sweep for Gamers2, and set them speeding toward a matchup against the Ninjas in Pyjamas in the EU CS semifinals.Top Performers of the Week
Saler "Yuuki60" Florent & Hugo "Dioud" Padioleau The Gamers2 bottom lane has been in the statistical stratosphere thus far in the EU Challenger Series. Through four games, neither of them have died, and that resulted in a combined KDA of 96. They only managed a 45 KDA in the series against Shantao Macht Wau. For reference, the highest KDA in either LCS is Dignitas's Danny "Shiphtur" Le at 21.5. Erlend "Nukeduck" Holm
The trend of players not suffering a death continues in the form of Nukeduck, the Ninjas in Pyjamas middle laner. He got through the entire Unicorns of Love series with a pair of goose eggs in the deaths column. It wasn't for lack of battling, either. Nukeduck had a 7/0/5 game on Yasuo, and followed that with a 6/0/17 game on Nidalee.
