After the play-in round last weekend, the action took off this week with the top 16 teams in North America. This weekend we saw matches from Parts A & C of the bracket. On Saturday there was only one series, as Playfull Thangs has disbanded their team, which allowed Rampage Gods to move on to the next round of competition. As the main portion of the Summer Open kicks off, all matches will be played on Update 3.6; however, the newest hero Silvernail was globally banned for this week’s matches.

Play-in Round

The first exposure fans had to the VPL Summer Open was the play-in round on August 4th & 5th. In North America there were three BO3 series played between teams vying for spots in the top 16. With new faces and familiar names, all three series of the weekend were swept 2-0. Two long time Vainglory organizations, LiberationX and Witch Doctor, were able to claim spots in the top 16. They were joined by newcomers Toxic Peace and will face the top three teams in North America over the following two weeks. Although they may have succeeded this week, all three teams have a tough task laid out for them to come.

Note: The play-in round was played on Update 3.5.

Day 1

With the withdrawal of Playfull Thangs from VPL, there was only one series played on Saturday. This series pitted the powerhouse of Tribe Gaming against Toxic Peace. Tribe’s roster saw Xelciar step in as a sub for Oldskool in the middle lane. The first match started off slowly for both teams. As the minutes ticked by, Tribe picked up speed, cracking the base of Toxic Peace by 14 minutes, and took the game after a clean ace at 15½ minutes.

In the second game, Tribe got off to a faster start, playing much more aggressive in the early game. The highlight of the match occured when MaxGreen on Grumpjaw swallowed C4bb4ge and proceeded to teleport to base where he was killed. The second game finished much like the first with Tribe making an early push and taking the series 2-0.

Day 2

Sunday kicked off with the series in Part C of the VPL bracket. In the first game, after surrendering first blood to Lemon Squeezy, Hammers captured a very early Ghostwing. From here, Hammers stayed in control of the game, taking another Ghostwing just before 12 minutes and Blackclaw at the 14-minute mark. On the back end of this push, Hammers cracked the base of Lemon Sqeezy on the way to taking game one in 19½ minutes. Of note in this game was the veteran MICSHE playing Samuel. During this game, he racked up an amazing score line of 11/1/11 with a 73% kill participation in the match.

In the second game, Hammers seemed to pick up speed, playing exceptionally well on their way to take the series in a very fast 14-minute match.

After holding the desk down for an extended period of time, Munchables informed viewers that Minigunners had to forfeit their matchup due to player availability. This allowed Team Feroxx to advance to face Hammers Esports in the next round.

Although there were two series that were forfeited this weekend, viewers were still treated to intense matches. Look forward to two veteran Vainglory teams, Tribe Gaming and Hammers Esports, advancing onto the next round of the Summer Open. Week 3 action for NA begins at 12PM PDT on Saturday. Catch the stream live on Vainglory’s official Twitch channel! If you were unable to watch any of the matches from this past weekend, check out the VODs.