The Recap: EU Challenger Series Playoffs
Riot·4/13/2014, 7:24:39 PM·0 votes·290 views
The European Challenger Playoff semifinals and finals took place while the EU LCS had a week off to gear up for their own playoffs. Four teams fought for three positions in the EU LCS Spring Promotion Tournament, and three, Cloud 9 Eclipse, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Denial eSports, earned the right to compete for a spot in the European LCS. On top of that, Cloud 9 Eclipse sent a clear message to the relegated LCS teams that they're to be feared by overcoming Ninjas in Pyjamas in the finals of the inaugural EU Challenger Series Playoff.
While Denial eSports did not make it to the finals of the EU Challenger Playoffs, it was not for lack of trying on Woolite's part. Woolite's Twitch against Cloud 9 Eclipse was solid, though the aggression Woolite chose to play with failed him several times. He made up for it in the 3rd/4th place game against Reason Gaming. Woolite diversified away from Twitch and frequently amassed the most gold for Denial. It was Woolite that scored a game deciding quadra kill against Reason Gaming in game one that Denial eventually rode to their 3rd place finish in the tournament.
Andrei "Odoamne" Pascu & Fabian "Febiven" Diepstraten
The two solo lanes for Cloud 9 Eclipse were a devastating punch for C9E throughout their run to the EU Challenger Series Playoff crown. Both players displayed a deep champion pool for their respective roles, and their proficiency helped to keep opponents off balance. Odoamne's Jax was a terror in two games against NiP, and Febiven's Ahri was crucial to the marathon win in game 1 in the finals with a 10/2/5 KDA. Once the team finds out their opponent in the Spring Relegation, it will fall heavily on Odoamne's and Febiven's shoulders as to whether the squad realizes their LCS dreams.
Games of the week
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs Cloud 9 Eclipse Game 1 Cloud 9 Eclipse eventually won game one against Ninjas in Pyjamas, but not before there were numerous momentum swings and wild fights. Twisted Fate made a return to the midlane for NiP's NukeDuck and he used Destiny to open up an advantage for NiP early. C9E countered with rotations and neutral objectives to negate that advantage and open up a gold lead of their own. The double AP nightmare of Ryze and Ahri finally gave Cloud 9 an insurmountable lead, and NiP saw their Nexus explode after fifty-two minutes. While the remainder of the series turned out to be stomps, the first game of the series turned out to be the most entertaining of the entire EU CS weekend. Denial eSports vs Cloud 9 Eclipse Game 2 Game two of the Denial eSports/Cloud 9 semifinal series showcased composition scaling, and that kills still have value, even when they aren't always translated into objectives. Coming into the second game, Cloud 9 was riding high. They'd scored a convincing win, and just needed one more to advance to the finals. The game started auspiciously for Cloud 9 when they seized an early objective advantage, but Denial battled back by netting numerous kills and scaling toward the end game. Behind a monstrous late game Ryze and a fed Twitch, Denial tied up the series by scaling beyond what Cloud 9 Eclipse could handle.Players of the week
Pawel "Woolite" Pruski
While Denial eSports did not make it to the finals of the EU Challenger Playoffs, it was not for lack of trying on Woolite's part. Woolite's Twitch against Cloud 9 Eclipse was solid, though the aggression Woolite chose to play with failed him several times. He made up for it in the 3rd/4th place game against Reason Gaming. Woolite diversified away from Twitch and frequently amassed the most gold for Denial. It was Woolite that scored a game deciding quadra kill against Reason Gaming in game one that Denial eventually rode to their 3rd place finish in the tournament.
Andrei "Odoamne" Pascu & Fabian "Febiven" Diepstraten
The two solo lanes for Cloud 9 Eclipse were a devastating punch for C9E throughout their run to the EU Challenger Series Playoff crown. Both players displayed a deep champion pool for their respective roles, and their proficiency helped to keep opponents off balance. Odoamne's Jax was a terror in two games against NiP, and Febiven's Ahri was crucial to the marathon win in game 1 in the finals with a 10/2/5 KDA. Once the team finds out their opponent in the Spring Relegation, it will fall heavily on Odoamne's and Febiven's shoulders as to whether the squad realizes their LCS dreams.
