North American teams fared well over the weekend at the inaugural Vainglory Unified Western Live Championship, as Cloud9 defeated fellow NA team Gank Stars at the o2 Arena in London. Cloud9’s players (Gabevizzle, Oldskool, and iLoveJoseph) looked solid throughout the weekend, bouncing a dangerous Team SoloMid team from the semifinals with a 3-1 win.
Gank Stars came into the tournament with the fourth seed, and fielding a roster of veteran players with their eyes on the grand prize. The team of R3cKeD, IraqiZorro, and XenoTek took out challengers Tempo Storm early on, and went on to dump the number one seeded European team, G2 Esports, out of the tournament on the second day of competition.
Photo courtesy of ESL UK.
Despite the consistent play from Gank Stars throughout the tournament, a meeting with second seeded Cloud9 in the finals didn’t go well. C9 drafted well, punishing meta picks as Baptiste shut down GS’ Koshka. The team played at a higher level: showing great mechanics and expert level team synergy, dropping just two games throughout the entire tournament, and proving that that C9 is currently the best North American team on the scene.
Final Placements
1st – Cloud9
2nd – Gank Stars
3rd/4th – Team SoloMid / G2 Esports
5th – 8th – SK Gaming / Team Secret / Immortals / Fnatic
9th – 12th – Mousesports / Cyclone / Hammers / Tempo Storm
Photo courtesy of ESL/Vainglory Esports.
