The first day of the round of 16 is over, with three teams emerging victorious while the rest head home. Each match was a best of one, and there were no major upsets to speak of as the experienced teams of the North American Challenger League all triumphed over their talented opponents.
In the first game, Curse Academy took on the Pink Pwnies. Curse Academy started strong, picking off Smoah’s Ziggs with a flash-hook from Tsatsulow’s Thresh. From there, it was all Curse Academy, who secured their advantage by wiping the Pwnies despite being down a man in a play a dragon, which saw OneBadBrad’s Olaf escape by the skin of his teeth after crushing down Krazyness on Lucian and Tsatsulow picking up a triple kill. OneBadBrad’s Olaf and and Rhux on Elise when un-killed as Curse Academy flexed their muscles, taking the victory in convincing fashion.
Not to be outdone by their challenger series counterpart, the ex-Gold Gaming Los Angeles team, now under the title “The Walking Zed”, took on Mexico’s Lyon Gaming with an unusual draft including Bischu on Ziggs and Kor Kez jungling Dr. Mundo. Despite falling behind early and allowing Lyon mid-laner Uri to gain a large advantage on his Lissandra, a smart mid-lane push combined with clutch fears from NydusHerMan’s Fiddlesticks and massive damage out of Bischu’s Ziggs turned the game into TWZ’s favor, as they secured victory in less than 30 minutes.
The last game of the night saw VVV Gaming take on Team Green Forest, where smart lane swaps out of VVV made up for their top laner GetSnuggled’s error as he forgot to buy at the start of the game. VVV’s marksman player Tails on Graves carved out a massive farm advantage going up 1v1 against Bacon on Graggas while Team Green Forest failed to shut down CheesdBeluga on Kassadin despite their early pressure, leading to teamfights which were all in VVV’s favor. The game was over in just over half an hour as VVV swiftly put the game out of reach for TGF.
In addition, the Team of Denial.East won their watch when their opponents, Sirens A Team, forfeited. This places The Walking Zed and Curse Academy in Group A, while Denial and VVV take their place in Group B.
The rest of the qualifier games will be played tomorrow, with group stage action starting on the 23rd of November.
|
Group A |
|---|
 Curse Academy |
 The Walking Zed (ex-GG.LA) |
| TBD |
| TBD |
|
Group B |
|---|
 Denial.East |
 VVV Gaming |
| TBD |
| TBD |
