NA Challenger Series 2 Quarterfinal Part 1 Recap
We’ve had exciting games so far in the NA CS, but nothing comes close to the action packed matchups we saw this weekend. The current kings, LMQ, faced off with the newest threat, Team 8, in some of the most explosive matchups we’ve seen in both Series. Not to be outdone, LolPro and vVv Gaming also showed up in full force and pulled out clutch plays and epic strategies of their own against each other.
Games of the Week
If there was ever any doubt about Team 8’s strength, they were completely vanquished with the first game. Not only did Team 8 absolutely dominate LMQ, they turned their own strategies against them and made them look like chumps. Expert objective controls, stellar rotations, and aggressive engages forced LMQ to backpedal and be on the defensive from level one onwards. If it weren’t for the adaptive play style of LMQ, Team 8 would have run away with the set early on. If Team 8 can tighten the screws on their objective control, which was lacking even though the game was amazing, they could easily dominate the NA Challenger scene in the next Series. Definitely keep an eye on Team 8 next time around, they look extremely promising!
In total contrast to Day 1’s bloodbath, most of the play in the first game of Day 2 revolved around escaping and avoiding engages. The game was dead even at twenty minutes after a super slow early game, but that completely changed when objectives popped up. vVv Gaming developed a brutally large lead purely from LolPro overextending on objective fights and used it to siege up and destroy most of LolPro’s base. Not outdone so easily, LolPro bided their time and eventually unleashed their engage and scaling potential in a massive ace during the prolonged siege. After being down the entire game, LolPro finally found their groove and both Heaventime and Hauntzer unleashed hell upon vVv. The Shyvana ragon form combined with Pantheon’s man drop utterly decimated the backline of vVv. Eventually, LolPro outscaled vVv and rushed vVv’s Nexus for the win.
Overachiever of the Week
Guess8 - If you ever need a reminder of how strong Vi can be in the right hands, look no further than Guess8. Whenever LMQ felt like being aggressive and getting a pick, he was there to punch his way through and picked up multiple double kills across the map. He was everywhere, and there was no stopping him once he got ahead.
Surprise of the Week
Team 8 - Even though they lost to LMQ, they single-handedly exposed the cracks in LMQs seemingly flawless play and had LCS level strategies. If it weren’t for the adaptivity of LMQ, they would have easily taken the set in a 2-0 sweep. Keep an eye on Team 8 in the next Series, even though they won’t be advancing to the Promotion Tournament they’re easily one of the top Challenger teams at the moment.
Disappointment of the Week
LolPro - LolPro is a late game team, no doubt about that. But they’re a disappointment because their early game is atrocious. Every game of the night, vVv Gaming had gained a considerable lead by the 20-minute mark purely due to poor communication on LolPro’s side. Poor laning and throwing themselves at bad engages are among the many problems that need to be fixed by the next Series, or they risk not advancing again.
Be sure to catch the last two matches of the Quarterfinals coming to you on March 13. Full details can be found via the Lolesports Schedule Page
