The League of Legends International Wild Card All-Stars tournament took place in Melbourne over the weekend with the CIS team (that’s the Commonwealth of Independent States i.e. Russia and Friends) securing the tournament victory, despite not winning the final 5v5 event.
The CIS team lost to Turkey in the best of 5 finals of the 5v5 team series 1-3 but had still amassed enough points elsewhere to clutch the tournament and earn themselves a place at the International All-Stars event later this year. The 5v5 wasn’t the only mode where points could be earned though, with a 1v1 mode and a player voted game mode called ‘Ultimate Bravery’ offering points as well. Performance in all three game modes would be required to clinch victory at this years Wild Card All-Stars.
The Mid-Laner for CIS Mykhailo ‘Kira’ Harmash managed to take out first place in the 1v1 tournament while no players from Turkey made it into the top 8, shutting them out of contention for points. This was what sealed the deal for the CIS team, with an unassailable 10 point lead handing them the tournament victory over Turkey before the “real” final had even started.
While ultimately it wasn’t ideal that the whole tournament was decided before the final was played the final itself still had some exciting games. Turkey styled hard on CIS for most of the best of 5 before CIS finally rallied and took game 3 of the series. It mattered little though as Turkey returned with another crushing victory in game 4, winning them the series.
The Oceanic region had a rough time at the event, only winning one 5v5 game across the 4 days. They had marginally more luck in the 1v1 tournament with both Tim ‘Carbon’ Wendel and Aaron ‘ChuChuZ’ Bland making it as far as the quarterfinal.
The CIS team will now head to the All-Star Event in Los Angeles where they’ll face stiff competition from the rest of the world’s best. “In Los Angeles, I hope I will win the 1v1 tournament and hope we will not lose to all teams and that we will win some 5v5 games,” said Kira. He’ll be in for a rough time going up against the likes of Faker, Bjergsen and Rookie.
The All-Star Event will be held at the NA LCS studio in Los Angeles and runs from 11-14 December 2015.
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