The Recap: NA Challenger Series 2 Semifinals

With finals just around the corner, the top teams are finally locked into their positions for the only remaining chance at circuit points before the relegation tournament. Most teams have already secured their playoff positions, but the fourth place team will be facing off with compLexity.Red next week for one last shot at their LCS dreams. Be sure to catch up on all the action you may have missed this weekend in preparation for the epic conclusion of the NA CS.

Noteworthy of the Week

XiaoWeiXiao’s Nidalee Nidalee is a terror to deal with in any game. Give Nidalee to XiaoWeiXiao and couple it with LMQ’s historic lane dominance and you don’t stand a chance. Landing nearly every spear while roaming across the map and stealing buffs, he completely controlled the game with a commanding performance. Challenger teams, if you’re reading, ban Nidalee against LMQ or you will get destroyed. Cloud 9 Tempest's Adaptability Going up against Curse Academy's sometimes wacky team compositions and strategies is no easy task, but Cloud 9 Tempest adapted and came out swinging. Keeping CA on their heels, C9T remained one step ahead of the trend setters and thwarted most attempts to catch them off guard (barring the second game where C9T was wholly caught off guard). If C9T can keep up their strong pick/ban phase and subsequent strategic decisions they might be able to topple the current king, LMQ, next week.

Overachiever of the Week

Cloud 9 Tempest's Altec Finishing with zero deaths and 100% kill participation in any game is a feat, but carrying it throughout multiple games in the current Challenger Series is flat out legendary. Unfortunately Altec lost the streak in the 2nd game of the night (where they were utterly stomped), but it's still incredibly impressive that he got that far. Impeccable positioning and incredible mechanical skills make Altec one of the top players in the tournament.

Surprise of the Week

Cloud 9 Tempest and Curse Academy's Teamfights Both teams are well known for their strong mid and late game brawls, so when the two titans collided it was spectacular. Fight after fight switched the tide of the mid game and eventually led to a three game slugfest. Every time one champion was out of position, they were toast. Both teams adapted and evolved from game to game to secure the coveted mid game snowball, with Cloud 9 Tempest coming out on top in the end

Disappointment of the Week

vVv Gaming After an impressive showing week one against LolPro, everyone honestly expected more out of vVv Gaming. Their strong early game was subverted by LMQ so handily that they didn’t even have a shot and were stomped out of existence in just two games. vVv is by no means a weak team, they just need to work out some kinks (such as Tails having four times the KDA of the entire rest of his team combined) and they’ll be riding near the top of next split’s NA CS. Be sure to check out the finals of the NA CS coming at you on Saturday, March 29th and Sunday, March 30th. For a full detailed schedule and statistics be sure to check out the Lolesports Challenger Page.

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