After years of playing second fiddle at the top of the Korean hierarchy,
Dplus Esports
Dplus Esports
Korea
Rank #2
Wenty
Yang Geon-mo (양건모)
Lakia
Kim Jong-min (김종민)
Estrella
Park Gun (박건)
exy
Park Geun-cheol (박근철)
Esperanza
Jeong Jin-cheol (정진철)
allow
Park Sang-wook (박상욱)
finally got their first-ever Challengers trophy after a grueling lower bracket run. Meanwhile, Japan found a new successor in
FENNEL
FENNEL
Japan
Rank #5
CLZ
JoXJo
Cho Byung-yeon (조병연)
SyouTa
Xdll
Yuto Mizomori
hiroronn
Hiroki Yanai
as they beat the favorites,
Crazy Raccoon
Crazy Raccoon
Japan
Rank #4
popogachi
Souta Morita
Meiy
Ibuki Seki
Medusa
An Min-cheol
makiba
Miyamoto Akatsuki
neth
Yusuke Matsuda
.
World Cyber Games Challengers League Korea: Split 1
The Regular season group stage saw two weeks of round-robin matches between each of the eight teams.
World Game Star
World Game Star
Inactive
Corine
Sungbin
JD
apeX
Seung
Sogate
Park Jong-seong (박종성)
finished bottom with a 1-6 record, while
CNJ esports
CNJ esports
Korea
Rank #10
Only1
AcMe
Rain
Seo Hong-seung (서홍승)
barely made it out with a 2-5 record, just by head-to-head differential against
OP.GG SPORTS
OP.GG SPORTS
Inactive
M1nu
Rap1d
B1ngSu
SeolHo
ExiA
Jung Yeong-woo (정영우)
, who also went 2-5.
Gwangju Shadow
Gwangju Shadow
Korea
Rank #6
UdoTan
Go Kyung-won (고경원)
empty
yoman
Banger
stew
Wolverine
Cho Hyun-tae (조현태)
and Dplus took the higher seeds with their respective 6-1 and 5-2 records, while
Maru Gaming
Maru Gaming
Korea
Rank #5
Hermes
Ahn Byeong-wook (안병욱)
Felix
Park Hyeon-ho (박현호)
BeYN
Kang Ha-bin (강하빈)
,
Nongshim RedForce
Nongshim RedForce
Korea
Rank #9
Jeong Hi
Lee Jeong-ha (이정하)
Moves
Park Jun-seo (박준서)
Cloudy
Gu Min-jae (구민재)
pr0xy
Lee Do-kyeong (이도경)
margaret
Kim Ji-woo (김지우)
, and
Rio Company
Rio Company
Inactive
SungJin
Ko Sung-jin (고성진)
Sunday
Kim Min-soo (김민수)
SeliG
Um Hyun-sung (엄현성)
LuZ
Lim Ui-jun (임의준)
JinboongE
Kim Jin-won (김진원)
filled the rest with 4-3, 3-4, and 5-2 records, respectively.
Dplus' first game in the playoffs began by getting knocked down to the lower bracket by Rio Company. Unfazed, Dplus went to the lower finals, where they came out on top against Maru Gaming in a five-map series. Rio Company met Dplus again in the finals. However, the latter got their revenge.
Rio's pick of Lotus did not go their way, as Dplus demolished them 13-3, with a 10-1 attack half. Icebox was a little closer, but Dplus took it in the end. The final map Lotus was the last step to Dplus' domination as they became WCGCL Korea: Split 1 Champions.
Challengers League: Japan Split 1
Like Korea, VCL Japan held two weeks of non-stop round-robin action in the group stage.
REJECT
REJECT
Inactive
ЯIA
Flax
BRIAN
went winless, one of eight teams across all Challengers leagues to do so, and
Crest Gaming Zst
Crest Gaming Zst
Japan
Rank #8
Tenzou
kobra
Ha Su-hyun
sakurai
GON
marin
was the second in the bottom two with their 1-6 record. In contrast to REJECT, Crazy Raccoon dropped zero games, while
SCARZ
SCARZ
Japan
Rank #1
Allen
TORANECO
Jusei Saito
Jemkin
Maksim Batorov
Kr1stal
Savva Fedorov
Yoshiii
completed the top two with a 6-1 record.
IGZIST
IGZIST
Japan
Rank #7
oitaN
Masayuki Takahashi
RIPablo
Shuma Ikeda
,
NORTHEPTION
NORTHEPTION
Japan
Rank #6
BlackWiz
Kohei Mikami
TenTen
Derialy
Daichi Doi
Moothie
Yoo Seung-Woo (유승우)
wai
,
Sengoku Gaming
Sengoku Gaming
Japan
Rank #9
Fisker
Hideki Sasaki
Npoint
NOBITA
Misaya
gatorada
Hideki Nishida
, and FENNEL round out the top six, with the latter three teams having 4-3 records.
Crazy Raccoon directly advanced to the grand finals after their semifinal victory over SCARZ, who awaited one of the other four teams in the lower bracket finals. Whereas in the lower bracket, FENNEL's road to the grand finals was long and arduous as they played in all five maps in every match, beating NORTHEPTION, Sengoku, and SCARZ one by one.
Having played in front of a live crowd the day before against SCARZ, FENNEL had the momentum given Crazy Raccoon were playing after a month. FENNEL started down with four rounds in the first half in their map pick of Ascent but managed to pull through with a 13-11 comeback. Crazy Raccoon didn't find luck in their Fracture pick as they lost 13-6, winning zero attack halves. FENNEL wrapped up the finals and got their first franchise top finish with a 13-9 win on Split, the same map where they lost 17-15 the day before to SCARZ.
With the conclusion of Challengers Split 1, Dplus and Rio Company of Korea, and FENNEL and Crazy Raccoon of Japan are in good shape to represent their respective region in Ascension. However, it is not guaranteed that the winners of Split 1 will run it back in the second split, given the sole winner will represent their region in Ascension.
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