Last weekend saw the Intel League of Legends Invitational play host to the best teams from across the United Kingdom and Ireland. The winner walked away with the biggest share of the €5,000 prize pot, and qualification into Riot’s 4 Nations event this December. Held during the MCM Comic Con, it was characterized by great games, an awesome crowd and an unsuspected winner, as against the odds, Perilous Rift took home the crown, and the spoils, after 3 days of intense play.
To see the full tournament brackets, click here.
The Underdogs Who Surprised All Who Doubted
The Intel Invitational also played host to the first full university team, the Nottingham Bears. Much doubted by their peers, the side put in a strong performance throughout the tournament, eventually falling short to Team Infused, but securing themselves a fourth place finish and a small chunk of the event’s prize pool.
Much to everyone’s surprise, the side suffered no one sided losses throughout the weekend, even against eventual runners up Mistakes Were Made, they held their own, proving that University esports has it’s place within the upper echelons of regionalized esports.
From First To Last - The Team That Threw It All Away
One team stood out from the crowd before the tournament’s commencement, FM-Esports. Pegged for the first seed months prior to the event, they were the first team to be invited directly into the tournament, holding onto an almost undefeated record at the time. When news that the former LCS duo of Matt “Impaler” Taylor and Raymond “kaSing” Tsang would be joining their ranks just weeks before the tournament, it seemed like an easy tournament victory for the side - but it wasn’t to be.
Despite their, or possibly because of their new found experience, the team appeared over confident during their match-ups against fourth seed Mistakes Were Made and third seed Team Infused, consistently overreaching at several critical intervals, which inevitably resulted in their early elimination.
The Champions Few Predicted
Perilous Rift on the other hand cruised through the tournament silently, never drawing attention to their positive progression through the brackets. Dispatching their first opponent with relative ease, they advanced onwards to face the very side that they would once again face the next day in the Grand Final; Mistakes Were Made. Here it became clear that although relatively unknown, they had come to play, as they took down the favorites in 2 close but decisive matches. The victory put them into the Grand Finals, while Mistakes Were Made was forced replay Team Infused in the losers bracket.
With Team Infused falling once again, the the grand final were a re-match of the Winners Finals: crowd favourites and previous MCM Invitational victors Mistakes Were Made versus the silent assassins of Perilous Rift. The start of the series defined the tone of the match up, a one for one trade, which in turn ended up tying the series. Yet Perilous Rift weren't in the mood for allowing comebacks and quickly wrapped up the second match in the series to take home the crown, securing their first major offline victory as a team.
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