In the week following Christmas we saw two matches that brought all 10 players playing in them to the edge. The controversial, yet enjoyed by many, rule in “The Champions” that the last game in a Best of 5 set is blind pick was used in both occasions and what games it allowed us to see.

In the first quarterfinal Azubu Frost played against CJ Entus . Many believed this would be an easy win for Frost and they started pretty confidently taking the first two games without breaking a sweat. Did they start sweating though when they managed to lose the next two games and it all came down to the last blind pick mode map. In it CJ put all their hopes into the Zed + Kha’zix assassin combo that almost took down fnatic at IEM Cologne. It worked pretty well for them until the very very late game where Frost’s choice of bruisers – Shen and Rengar, proved to be superior. The Azubu team advanced to the semi-finals but CJ definitely put one hell of a fight before going down and should not be underestimated once the next season of “The Champions” starts.

Frost’s “brother” team Azubu Blaze played two days later and had a similar, yet pretty different experience in their match. They were the ones that lost the first two games against LG-Incredible Miracle and had to quickly find their A game for the next maps. Luckily for them they managed to do that, maybe thanks to their massive experience as well, and getting the set to the 5th game, they secured their spot in the semi-finals, where for a second season in a row they will be playing against Frost. The latter reigned supreme in the summer, but maybe Blaze will surprise them this time?

In the week following New Year’s Eve we had yet another two interesting matches. Yoon 'MaKNooN' Ha-woon and his NaJin Sword didn’t need 5 games to prove that they are the better team compared to MVP White. In fact they only needed 3 and all of them were pretty one-sided. Not only MaKNooN, but Kim 'SSONG' Sung-soo and Kim 'PraY' Jong-in played fantastically as well and didn’t give any chance to MVP’s team. Probably the most exciting thing of the series was MaKNooN’s diving goggles and his countless dives in the enemy fountain, some of which didn’t even result in his death because he was quick enough to jump out of it in time.

The last match of the quarter-finals was a “brothers” fight between KT Rolster A and KT Rolster B. There weren’t any warm feelings expressed between the two parties though and they went head on into the battle. KT Rolster B quickly won the first two games, but their brethren managed to take one back. Sadly that wasn’t enough and they couldn’t get to a 5th game, giving away the win in the 4th map. Following these results, KT Rolster B will face NaJin Sword in the second semifinal. Sword lost this match-up 0-2 in the group stage, but now they have another shot at their opponents and you can bet they will use it well.

For the semifinals we have yet another new rule for this tournament. The teams will be playing two sets of Best of 5 and if they end up taking one each, they will play a Best of 1 deciding game!

Semifinals Schedule:



The semifinals will definitely be matches for the books, so you better don’t miss them out!