League of Legends: Remembering the Trials of Team Coast

The second peak

See, Coast had dropped a single game against Curse Academy in the second round of previous tournament. And this pesky black spot on their record must have driven them crazy, because they didn’t make that mistake again during the second tournament.

2-0 over Denial, 2-0 over T8, and then they were facing off against their old rivals of Curse Academy in the finals. Both teams had already locked in their Challenger playoffs spots, and winning here would give them a bye into the semi-finals of that tournament, and a great chance to finally – finally – scramble for the LCS.

Looking to correct for the mistake of the last series, Coast took down Curse 2-0, advancing into the Semis of the Playoffs with the best-possible score of 21 points between both splits.

It’s important to take a moment, to pause and ponder life’s trials and tribulations.

Though the rules of the Challenger Series would change in the coming years, take a note of how difficult it is for any team – especially one which once challenged for the very first League of Legends Champion title – to break back into the pro league.

First, you have to perform well in two separate Challenger Series tournaments – an early elimination from one of which could seal your chances of ever vying for that coveted LCS spot. Then, if you manage to perform in the top half of these events, you will play in the playoffs tournament, now facing off against the heightened competition of the better-half of these teams.

Then, if you manage to finish in the top 3 of this tournament, you lock in the chance to play against one of the lowest-ranked LCS teams in a Bo5. If you somehow manage to defeat this team, you will take their spot, only to vie with the rest of the LCS-level squads. Too many losses at this point will send you back to Challenger, and doomed to repeat this whole process over.

In other words, it is much easier to do badly than to succeed.

The first two peaks had already been reached, now came playoffs. Coast had the benefit of a bye through the first round, facing off against T8 in the semis. The extra week off must have played havoc on the squad, though, and they were rudely knocked into a third-place contention after a swift 0-2 series against a team they had dominated in the prior tournament.

Here, at the crossroads of their destiny, at their last possible chance to break back into the pro leagues, Coast faced LoLPro, a team they had also dominated in their last set. But now, with these heightened stakes, it seemed just possible that the Coast Cinderella Story was coming to an end.

But it wasn’t to be. Rallying in their final Challenger set, Coast took down their rivals in a decisive 3-1, punching their ticket a the third-place contender for the LCS.