While most viewers were watching the long pause at the IEM World Championship, the European Challenger teams took to the rift to fight for playoff spots. But, after this day of action, the playoff picture is not much clearer, as four teams remained tied in the middle of the table, while one reigns supreme. The two academy teams, Misfits and Fnatic, battled first, while PSG took on Kinguin in the middle of the day, which left Schalke and Millenium to close out the night.
(1-1-2) Fnatic Academy 1-1 Misfits Academy (1-2-1)
In his return to the EU CS, Maurice “Amazing” Stückenschneider grabbed first blood for his team while Fnatic played to take down turrets in the early game. They took a strong lead over Misfits from a strong advantage in the top lane. After a Baron take, Fnatic increased their pressure applied onto Misfits, but still struggled to crack open the base 30 minutes into the game.
Misfits was set to take the Baron when it re-spawned, but Mateusz “Kikis” Szkudlarek had a successful split-push that led to two inhibitor turrets, an inhibitor, and both nexus turrets falling, so Misfits was forced off the Baron. Fnatic finished a dominant game 37 minutes in, despite being stalled for a while.
The party was held in the top lane in game two, as both teams focused their early game attention there, resulting in multiple kills for both teams over many fights. The teams went into a base race 19 minutes into the game, with both teams taking an inhibitor to open up the map.
The game became extremely chaotic, if it was not already before, and the teams traded kills and objectives. Misfits eventually took a long and hectic game to give a point to both teams.
(1-1-2) Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 Team Kinguin (1-1-2)
The first game started slow, but PSG exploded in the 10th minute to grab three quick kills and objectives. Team Kinguin was able to get a few kills and objectives, but PSG played a clean game to take the first win quickly and put themselves ahead in the series.
New top laner Matti “WhiteKnight” Sormunen kicked off the second game with a great play to take first blood in the top lane. PSG took the lead, similar to the first game, but faltered in the mid-game and this allowed Team Kinguin to find advantages to bring the gold near even. Kinguin continued to put up a fight, but PSG eventually won the game to take their first win in the EU CS.
(4-0-0) FC Schalke 04 2-0 Millenium (1-1-2)
Though they dropped first blood to Millenium, Schalke recovered to take five unanswered kills while trading turrets. Schalke went on to take 11 more kills without losing a single member and wrapped up this game in the 32nd minute with close to a 19k gold lead, continuing their dominance in the EU CS.
In the second match, Millenium took first blood again, but this time, they grew their lead over Schalke to take a strong early lead. They kept pushing Schalke onto their back foot, but could not take an inhibitor turret. Due to their inability to finish off the game, Millenium started to lose fights and their lead.
Schalke fought their way back into the game to take occasional gold leads, but they never dropped too far behind Millenium. Both sides won teamfights, but Schalke won the important fight at the end of the game to give them enough time to take the nexus because of the long death timers. Schalke stays undefeated in the league, with only Misfits Academy standing in the way of a perfect season.
Who will rise above the rest in the final week of competition? Tweet us your thoughts @GAMURScom
