Esports Vainglory8

Vainglory8 Autumn Recap: NA Split 1 Week 1

This week saw Vainglory8 action return to the Fold! After Cloud9 won the Summer Unified Live Championship, they have been looking to continue their hot streak in the Autumn Season. We also saw several lineup changes: competition for the captain spot on TSM, the legendary IraqiZorro retiring, and Hollywood Hammers picking up Status and Chicken in the jungle and captain positions. The most notable change, however, was the ownership transfer from Immortals to Tribe Gaming of the 2nd place roster from the Summer Unified Live Championship. This season will be packed with great match-ups as the teams vie for their spot at Worlds, so let’s begin with what went down in week 1.

Day 1

Day one saw several teams get off to a hot start for the Autumn Season. Both TSM and Cloud9 were able to claim 2-0 victories over Tribe Gaming and Tempo Storm, respectively. After missing out on the Unified Championship, GankStars looked to rebound in the offline match of the day. Hollywood Hammers with their revamped lineup brought this to an abrupt halt with a clean 2-0 sweep of the series. The only series of the day to reach the third match was between Rouge and Nova Esports. Rouge was able to eventually claim victory, moving them to the second day of competition.

Day 2

The first series of the day pitted the previous reigning Vainglory8 team TSM against Hollywood Hammers. After TSM took victory in the first game, Hammers was able to rally, taking game two of the series. TSM claimed victory in the third game to bring them to the week 1 finals. The second semi-final of the day saw Cloud9 continue to show their dominance as they defeated Rogue 2-0. In the third place match, Hollywood Hammers was able to take down Rogue 2-1. The finals for week 1 pitted TSM and the Unified Live Championship winner against each other, with Cloud9 claiming a 2-0 victory.

Series of the Week: TSM vs. Cloud9 (Finals)

This particular series of the week has become a familiar one for many Vainglory fans. This week, however, the match-up seemed to have shifted. As the Cloud9 roster of gabevizzle, iLoveJoseph, and Oldskool start to gain more synergy, they seem to be pulling away from most of their previous competition. Although both matches were competitive, Cloud9 was able to take the series 2-0.

Picks and Bans

This week was the first Vainglory8 competition that has been played on patch 2.8, and with it came shakeups. Almost half of all heroes saw at least one ban, and only 7 had a pick/ban rate of 0%. Even with the expanded range of bans, Catherine still saw the most—being banned 9 times throughout this past weekend. Notable heroes that reaped a lot of action but did not perform well included: Baptiste, Glaive, Idris, and Skaarf; none of which had a win percentage above 33%. Some of the heroes that performed well included Reim, who held a win percentage of 75%, and is an excellent situational pick. As 2.8 is played more we will start to see the meta shift and change away from what was customary during the Summer Season.


As week 1 of the new season drew to a close, we saw Cloud9 remain dominant. Some teams have stepped up as they compete for the remaining NA spot at Worlds in Singapore. Be sure to catch the action on Vainglory’s Stream this weekend! Week 2 for North America kicks off on Saturday at 2PM PDT (5PM EDT) with TSM taking on Nova. Will Cloud9 maintain their spot on the throne, or does another team have the secret sauce to send them back to their drawing board?