League of Legends
First up are Lausanne eSports, the esports division of the Swiss football club FC Lausanne-Sport, versus mYinsanity in the grand finals of League of Legends. Both teams have proven their worth during the preliminary online tournaments, by each winning one of the two. Earning the spot they are now in over more than 20 other teams that have made that same attempt.
Lausanne eSports, the line-up that has been dominating the Swiss scene for quite a while, qualified for the Grand finals by winning the first preliminary online tournament. Not dropping a single game all the way to the finals, where they lost one map to their opponent before securing a sound 2:1 victory – the same opponent as today.
mYinsanity, the powerhouse team from Bern, lost to Lausanne eSports in the finals of the first preliminary online tournament. In the second attempt they made sure that they would get a shot at revenge. Winning the second preliminary online tournament without dropping a single map – not even in the final. Today is their chance to pay back Lausanne eSports for the previous defeat.
But today would not be the day that mYinsanity would be granted vengence. Much more the contrary was the case. In a grand final that was overshadowed by a delayed start, technical difficulties with the hardware, and even a power outage at the venue, Lausanne eSports drove the knife even deeper into the self-esteem of mYinsanity’s players. Lausanne had no intention of dropping another map to that team. Too strong were their picks. Too well-executed their strategy. And simply flawless their team play. In a sweeping 3:0 victory they have proven once more, that they are without a doubt the strongest team in Switzerland at the moment, and well deserve to participate in the IeSF’s World Championships in Korea, again…. again. For GoldenGod it will be the second, for Lagily, Pride and WildJoshy, even the third world championship participation in a row.
Counter-Strike
The second grand final of the day was anticipated with equal excitement. The opponents: “Berzerk” and “Villains”. Just like both the League of Legends teams, they have also earned their spots by each winning an online preliminary tournament, where more than 20 teams participated.
Team Berzerk has a promising mix of up and coming talents of the Swiss scene and with Manuel “SolEk” Zeindler, one of the most successful Swiss Counter-Strike players ever. They made sure that every single CS:GO player in Switzerland would take notice of them. Not in a flawless, but yet impressive manner they finished first place in the first of the two preliminary online tournaments.
Villains is an old line-up with a new name, that has only recently split from their original mother organisation SILENTGAMING to go their own way. A team that has been playing together for what seems forever. While they had a rough time during the first online preliminary tournament, they won the second one, without dropping single map throughout the tournament. Not even in the final, where they were matched up against a CS:GO team of their old organisation.
Once more everyone was expecting a best-of-5 series in the grand final of the qualifier which would be as close as match can be. But Berzerk wouldn’t give an inch away to Villains. Winning both their picks, as well as the map pick of Villains, team Berzerk landed a sweeping 3:0 victory. And as close as some of the rounds seemed to be, as clear was each of the map results. Maybe it was simply not a good day for Villains. Maybe they were too nervous. Or, maybe it was just as simple as them being no match for Berzerk, who are now looking forward to a well deserved world championship participation in November in Busan, Korea.
Photo by Nhat-Ha D. Photography, http://www.nhat-ha.com/
