Esports Vainglory8

Vainglory 8 Spring Breakdown: NA / EU Split 1 Week 3

North America and Europe finished the second week of play in the 2017 Spring Season and head into week 3 of Vainglory 8! Last week saw major upsets and shocking picks. Need to catch up on last week’s action? Want a preview of games and things to watch for? Then read on for this week’s NA / EU Vainglory 8 update from Broken Myth!

Europe – What To Watch

Lemon and Lime, Last Cobras, and Fluffy Chickens. What do these names have in common? All three placed in the VGL Challenger Series to have a chance at joining the European Vainglory 8. This week marks the final chance for teams to get out of the bottom three ranked teams and avoid the Challenger Battles.

Mousesports, the weakest performers thus far, unfortunately has no way to avoid fate having earned zero points this split. Rising Lotus, able to take out top seed Cyclone 2-0 last week, could see themselves safe for another split if they pull out another upset against SK Gaming.

FNATIC, currently tied with Rising Lotus for points, take on Denial eSports this week. FNATIC has taken down some of the top teams thus far. Unless Denial pulls a surprise upset, their hopes at escaping the challenger battles are over. If both teams win, things are spiced up further with a potential tie breaker match as well! The lower half of the bracket this week has the potential for the most shakeups. Keep a close eye out!

However, this doesn’t mean the upper half lacks excitement. Team Secret and G2 eSports meet this week for their first time this season of the European Vainglory 8. G2 eSports have been in the finals for the past two weeks, but Team Secret needs this win to avoid potentially slipping down into the bottom three. There will be no team more determined to take down G2 this split than Team Secret on Saturday. Watch this match closely!

Heroes To Watch For

Skaarf back in the lane? Rona to join him? Crystal Power SAW on the return? All of these picks show that Europe is looking for potential ways to surprise opposing Carries each week. The previous popularity of Carry Joule spread by Europe has been on the decline as of late. Kestrel looks to be the current replacement as the third most picked Carry in Europe currently with many of those picks occuring last week.

While Samuel remains the undisputed most popular Jungle pick in Europe, the next most popular picks have surprises. Lance and Krul are the third and fourth most popular picks respectively. Most haven’t considered Lance as a flexible pick, but Europe might be looking to start a new trend.

For Captains, Ardan has surpassed both Phinn and Fortress picks combined. Ardan is currently tied with Lyra for the most popular Captain pick. Her fellow healer Adagio has dropped in popularity slightly, resting at the number 4 most popular spot residing just under Lance. We also saw the first Captain Krul in Vainglory 8 play this entire season. It even won the game for SK Gaming!

North America – What To Watch

With Echo Fox and Misfits coming up against top ranked Hammers eSports and TSM respectively, we are likely to see both of these scoreless teams in the Challenger Battles next week barring any major upsets. However, there is still a spark of excitement for Rogue vs Immortals.

Both teams haven’t made it deep into the bracket during previous weeks, so each have a lot to prove in this match as the loser will most certainly be sent to the Challenger Battles. Both teams placed evenly in the VIS Pro Winter Split 2, and are likely to be close in skill. This one is bound to be action-packed, don’t miss it!

Last time Cloud9 faced off against GankStars they were able to bring home a solid 2-0 victory. This week they come face to face right at the beginning of the bracket. iLoveJoseph seemed to prioritize both Petal and Fortress last week as picks. XenoTek has proven to be deadly when given in-your-face heroes such as Alpha, Blackfeather and Koshka. Watch for their very different playstyles to clash in the Jungle as these players could very well be the playmakers to bring their teams over the top.

Heroes To Watch For

North America had some unusual picks this week as well, showing us Crystal Power SAW as Carry twice, Skaarf in the Jungle and a Grumpjaw as Captain. While Captain Grumpjaw has shown itself to be more popular in East Asia, it has revealed poor performances in North America including another loss this week.

With her ever increasing win rate, it may come as no surprise that Koshka was the most banned hero last week. What may come as more of a surprise was that Flicker was the third most banned hero. Have some scrimmages behind the scenes shown the Vainglory 8 players that Flicker is a new force to be reckoned with in the meta? Could it solely be from strong synergy with Adagio? Watch to see if he remains a popular ban this week.


Be sure to catch the action this weekend at Vainglory’s Twitch. Matches for NA & EU begin at 9 AM PDT and a full schedule is available in this post. Which match are you most excited to see? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll see you next week for another NA & EU Vainglory 8 Update!

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