The North American Challenger Series kicked off its playoffs in order to determine which two teams would advance to the promotion tournament. Four teams took part, with the winners from each series moving for a shot at joining the NA LCS.
Gold Coin United 3-0 Tempo Storm
The first semifinal playoff took place between the second and third seeds from the regular season. Gold Coin United came into the series as the favorites, despite a slow start to the North American Challenger Series in their inaugural season, but the team picked up their level and made it to the second place spot.
The first game in the series was a complete stomp by Gold Coin United and put them on the front foot for the series. Lucas “Santorin” Larsen started the game strongly on Rengar and got his lanes snowballing. The biggest benefactor of the jungle presence was Kim “FeniX” Jae-hun, as he was able to get massively ahead of his lane opponent. By the end of the game, GCU won with a 20k gold lead and almost had a perfect game were it not for the one dragon and one kill by Tempo Storm.
The second match was unlike the first and was a highly-contested affair. The teams were trading the lead, but as the game reached the 30 minute point, Tempo Storm had a solid lead and was in a position to win the match. GCU slowly fought their way back into the game and took the big neutral objectives to equalize the gold difference. After a massive comeback, Gold Coin United won an almost hour long game.
The third game was more like the first one of the series, as Gold Coin United controlled the game on path to a game and series victory. GCU took neutral objectives and that was the main factor in their victory, as it gave the team a great advantage over Tempo Storm.
GCU’s dragon control was fantastic throughout the series. They had good luck with the dragon spawns and capitalized on these drakes in order to gain an advantage that Tempo Storm did not have. Santorin was a major factor in taking those dragons and played fantastic throughout the series.
eUnited 3-0 Big Gods Jackals
eUnited came into the series as the most dominant NA CS team in the league by far. Big Gods Jackals had some great performances in the league, but also some very poor ones, as the team’s play was fairly inconsistent throughout the regular season.
The first game started slowly, with neither team taking a significant lead over the other. Once eUnited began to gain steam and take kills on the map, they went full speed ahead and left Big in the dust. The game was not close as it reached 20 minutes and eUnited took a quick sub-30 minute victory.
eUnited played much the same in the second match. Big Gods Jackals did gain an advantage early but was not able to capitalize on that lead or grow it. eUnited came back into the game and yet again gained a strong lead over Big, despite Isaac “Pekin Woof” Marconis trying his best to carry his team. This game lasted a bit longer than the first but it was the same result.
Big Gods Jackals best game came in the third match. Again, the game started off slowly, with both teams keeping even. Big tried their hardest to match the level that eUnited had but eventually they were outclassed. After a tight 25 minutes, eUnited burst open their lead and the game in a teamfight win that led to the series-winning push.
Big Gods Jackals put up more of a fight than some people may have expected, but eUnited was too strong at the end of the day. Erberk “Gilius” Demir played great in the jungle to give his lanes the lead, but it was Hampus “Fox” Myhre who really took those leads to the next level and truly carried his team to victory.
Both Gold Coin United and eUnited move on to the promotion tournament but will play a final best-of-five taking place on March 15 in order to determine the seeding and which NA LCS squads the NA CS teams will face.
Which team will win the finals and make it out in first place? Tweet us your thoughts @GAMURScom
