Without a doubt, the last week of the VG8 was easily one of the best ways to end a season from most competitive scenes I have seen in quite some time. Both EU and NA had teams teetering on the edge to make it into VG8 Worlds and then the group draw for said tournament. The matches were close, but it all came down to what happened in the semi-finals that dictated the teams going to the biggest VG8 international tournament of the year that will be hosted in Singapore.

C9 vs Rogue. VOD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVf2RuppDo0

Rogue’s Loss in Quarters Ruined Their Hopes

Everything came down to the wire for Rogue this weekend. They were in first place and prime to make it to VG8 Worlds so long as they managed a series victory over Cloud9. While this might have only been the Quarterfinals, this surely didn’t feel like it. Three games of back and forth action where it all hung on a knife’s edge on who would take it. Game 1 was a 28 minute game where it all came down to the macro plays from C9 to clinch it. Despite the kills being heavily in C9’s odds, it always seemed like one good fight could have made it a Rogue victory.

Game 2 was a similar macro-oriented game, but it wasn’t a single fight that won the game for Rogue. As they battled valiantly with C9, they were going back and forth on who would win the game. But C9 made a fatal mistake to give the game over to Rogue. With an open Crystal, they wanted to gain control of the map by securing the Krakken, but only played into the hands of Rogue, who were setting up the play to backdoor and end the game.

The pressure was mounting for Rogue as they needed to win this third match to grab themselves the second seed for VG8 Worlds from the team that had already picked up the first seed from NA, C9. This was an excellent show of both teams respect for the other as well as the sheer skill of the players. At the 22 minute mark, C9 managed to grab the Krakken, but Rogue managed to find a great engage out C9. PONtheOriginal’s Krul landed a boomerang From Hell’s Heart onto iLoveJoseph that made it seem to be the fight for Rogue. However, gabevizzle was playing out of his mind all series long and proved that not only FlashX can play Churnwalker. His kiting allowed for Oldskool to snipe kill after kill on Kestrel all the while the Krakken marched into the Rogue base to finish off the series.

Tribe vs TSM. VOD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UagXWDOubKo

Why C9, TSM, and Tribe to VG8 Worlds?

After all is said and done, the games this week were the deciding factor for 4 of the teams that are flying out to Singapore for a shot at the title of best on the Fold. Like mentioned before, C9 were already locked into a slot due to their amazing performance from the entire year. After winning a second Unified Championship, it was guaranteed that they would make it as the number one seed. After that, it was anyone’s game. Tribe had a slump at the beginning of the Autumn Split, TSM were up and down and Rogue was on a high-note. But only one spot was open for the grabs for the second seed for NA.

In the end, it came down to which team made it to the finals out of these teams. With Rogue losing in the Quarters, their hopes were shot down instantly. TSM and Tribe had to duke it out for the chance to get the spot, but after another amazing series for the week, TSM took it over Tribe to officially grab the slot.

Then the word came in about the second international wildcard spot and who would claim it. This was a spot opened up after C9 managed to dominate the year with two split wins, having SEMC acknowledge that they deserved a spot regardless of how Autumn went for them. Many wondered if it was going to be for Rogue after they came back in this Fall to prove that they are a top team. Unfortunately for them, the decision was for Tribe to take it based off of the entire season, not just one split. Tribe has been a top performing team all year long, and many were happy to see such a great team get the honor of the Wildcard spot.