League of Legends: how Riot killed the Challenger Series

A setup for failure

In 2016 Summer, Cloud9 decided to invest in their Challenger team. Instead of running a collection of high-elo players they had scooped from soloQ, the org stuck some of the original legends they still had on retainer (after upgrading their squad the last year) into the squad.

Thus, we got to see most of the original C9 – including An “Balls” Van Le, Hai “Hai” Du Lam and Daerek “LemonNation” Hart – tear through the rest of the Challenger Series, eventually barging back into the League of Legends LCS after a 3-0 over NRG. It was goofy, it defied logic, and it was a treat to watch. In my opinion, this was the height of the League of Legends Challenger Series.

And we only got to watch the second game of each series.

See, even this early, Riot had begun restricting the potential of this scene. Despite truly amazing moments in the Relegation Tournament (incidentally, half of which was composed of Challenger teams), Riot elected to show only half the games in the Regular Season.

And if ever there was a narrative that Riot could have spun into hype for the Challenger Series, the 2016 Summer split would have been it.

We had a team studded with washed-up pros, the former #1 Korean soloQ player, and a talented ADC, smashing through the competition, challenged only by a Team Liquid Academy headlined by Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett, one of the most controversial players to ever step on the Rift.

For what it’s worth, the C9 Challenger team defined the narrative of that Challenger series, and Riot did their grudging part by providing commentary and coverage — at least during half the games. And it was one hell of a split to watch.