Last week the Promotion/Relegation stage of NA Challengers concluded as four teams battled over two spots in the Mid Season Cup. Blinn Blinn Inactive surprised many as they were promoted into Challengers, while Dough Bros Dough Bros Inactive Precision Colin O'Neill riku Chris Piasecki Drone Taylor Johnson ZachaREEE Zachary Lombardo Ange Adam Milian managed to scrape by Thinking Men Thinking Men Inactive Pa1nt Amarri Peak VYX Ramiro Ortiz Reformed Jeffrey Lu LenX Andy Collins Lear Dayton Akau and Resonate Resonate Inactive nabil velis Joe Velis andrew Andrew Bautista contii Norman Yeung KHS to retain their slot in the league.
Now, the twelve Challengers teams are set to resume their quest towards Ascension by battling for circuit points in the Mid Season Cup. However, many rosters have opted to undergo changes ahead of the second Stage of competition.
The four highest seeds consisting of Moist x Shopify Moist x Shopify North America Rank #5 oderus Chad Miller , Oxygen Esports Oxygen Esports Inactive skuba Logan Jenkins mitch Mitch Semago Verno Andrew Maust Reduxx Yassin Aboulalazm dapr Michael Gulino , M80 M80 Inactive , and Turtle Troop Turtle Troop North America Rank #6 have all retained their rosters and used the break to practice and prepare for their matches. Out of the four, only MxS remain undefeated, finishing the regular season with a 5-0 record and securing a first seed heading into the Mid Season Cup.
QoR QoR North America Rank #31 , TSM TSM North America Rank #7 seven Johann Hernandez gMd Anthony Guimond , and SaD Esports SaD Esports North America Rank #11 dip Braden Dippel Dark3st furbsa Hunter Mcmillan scarn Matthew Labuda have also kept their rosters from Stage 1. All three organizations secured at least two wins in the regular season and look to make deep runs in hopes of netting vast amounts of circuit points.
The remaining teams from last Stage have all undergone changes and swapped out players. The former Together We Are Terrific Together We Are Terrific Inactive Paincakes Jake Hass mummAy Anthony DiPaolo neptune Jason Tran core of Paincakes , mummAy , and neptune were joined by YFP Gaming YFP Gaming North America Rank #9 jakee Jake Anderson bdog Brandon Sanders penny Erik Penny thief Brady Dever fiziq Lucas Blow 's Jonaaa6 and bones on a rebranded FLUFFY AIMERS FLUFFY AIMERS Inactive Paincakes Jake Hass Jonaaa6 Jonard Penaflor mummAy Anthony DiPaolo bones Ethan Le . Former Cloud9 Cloud9 North America Rank #8 Xeppaa Erick Bach Rossy Daniel Abedrabbo v1c Victor Truong moose Kaleb Jayne OXY Francis Hoang veteran shinobi has joined as a coach to assist with improving the squad.
In a surprising turn of events, YFP picked up Will and jakee , another Cloud9 alumni who until recently announced his retirement from competitive gaming. Will most notably competed with 100 Thieves 100 Thieves North America Rank #4 zander Alexander Dituri Cryocells Matthew Panganiban eeiu Daniel Vucenovic Boostio Kelden Pupello Asuna Peter Mazuryk in 2022, representing North America on the international stage.
Finally, Winthrop University Winthrop University North America Rank #18 Jerk Justin Milani infiltrator Nahsie Eishan Jaffer have picked up former world champion ScrewFace to lead the team through Challengers. The talent had bounced between Tier 2 teams prior to the commencement of Stage 1, but was unable to settle on any before joining Winthrop. Collegiate champion robot joins from Northwood University Northwood University North America Unranked dip Braden Dippel Dark3st benjii Benjamin Park Tyler Boat to round out the roster.
Only the top four teams of the Mid Season Cup will receive circuit points. The other eight must wait for Stage 2 and perform well above their standards to have a chance at making it to Ascension.
The round of 12 will commence today at 4 EST, and will conclude with the early exit of four teams. The eight teams playing today are as follows:
- FLUFFY AIMERS vs. Winthrop University - 4 PM EST
- QoR vs. The Glazers - 4 PM EST
- TSM vs. YFP Gaming - 7 PM EST
- SaD Esports vs. Blinn - 7 PM EST