League of Legends news » Five Teams Ascend to Pro from the LCS EU Qualifier
Five teams punched their tickets to the League of Legends Championship Series this past weekend at the European Qualifier, held in Warsaw, Poland. A boisterous crowd turned out to cheer on a group of teams that put on a fantastic show. Fan favorites narrowly avoided being knocked out early, while others faced astonishing defeats at the hands of underdogs.
The first day of the tournament saw Millenium and DragonBorns advancing in convincing style. Though many anticipated Team LoL Pro (formerly Curse.EU) to advance easily, they quickly fell 0-2 and were the first team eliminated. Recent roster changes may have contributed to this loss, as the team replaced three players in January. DragonBorns' advancement was also a shock, as their relatively-inexperienced roster edged out Team Acer's stable lineup.
GIANTS! Gaming pulled off an impressive 2-0 start to move on to the second day, defeating both Team ALTERNATE and fan-favorites Team Fnatic. A recently founded team with no major tournament wins to their name, the Spanish GIANTS! put the Season 1 World Champions on the ropes, forcing Fnatic to face ALTERNATE in a dramatic win-or-go home match. With their Season 3 hopes on the line, Fnatic deftly defeated their opponents to advance to the second day of competition.
Victory was within reach for the eight remaining teams on Day 2, as winning a single series would reward them with a professional contract and a spot in Season 3. Although Millenium finished at the top of their group on Day 1, they swiftly fell in two straight games to the Copenhagen Wolves. TheTess, the AD Carry for the Wolves, demonstrated exceptional play as both Ezreal and Caitlyn.
DragonBorns' unorthodox champion picks were popular with the Polish crowd, but they faltered when they went up versus aAa. While Shushei's choice of mid lane Vi was rewarded with first blood, aAa's constant pushing power eventually proved too much for the fan favorites, who fell in three games.
With Fnatic, Copenhagen Wolves, GIANTS! Gaming and aAa all qualifying from Day 2, only one spot remained amongst the four defeated teams on what has become known as "Last Chance Sunday." Day 3 started off with Millenium against MeetYourMakers and DragonBorns versus Mousesports.
After a convincing first game win, Dragonborn's Spontexx survived an epic three person towerdive to pick up a triple kill on Olaf. Finishing the game with a staggering twelve kills and no deaths, Dragonborns cruised to the final match-up of the day in dominant style. A similarly impressive score occurred for MeetYourMakers in their match against Millenium. MYM Maklar's Miss Fortune finished the game with an astounding 14/1/14 score, putting them one game away from a spot in the EU LCS.
As DragonBorns and MYM progressed to the final showdown of the day, the pressure on both teams was palpable. DragonBorns surprisingly grabbed a 4-1 kill lead in the opening minutes of the game when their team stumbled into MYM's jungle. DragonBorns came close to losing their lead during the mid-game, but ultimately rallied to win the game. Just one game away from their pro dream, DragonBorns showed no mercy in the next game and swiftly earned their ticket to the LCS.
With the end of the event, all eight teams from Europe and North America are now set for Season 3. With the LCS on the horizon, new hopefuls and veteran teams alike will clash on the road to the World Championship. Tune in on February 7th to the free HD stream to catch the explosive start of the Season 3 League of Legends Championship Series.
To see the Day 1 and Day 2 Recaps, click here:
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