MnM defeated TCA 3-1 in the i58 League of Legends final to take first place and £4,000 in winnings.
Caster Derry “Dezachu” Holt looks back on the UK tournament, plus we get comment from MnM, TCA and more, and video highlights from caster Dowsey.
The teams
There were 14 teams:
- Ascension
- Digital Warfare
- exceL eSports
- Team Paria
- Perilous Void
- Jaghut Ice
- CHOKE Gaming
- Vibrant Gaming
- 9men
- TCA eSports
- Vendettta Nation
- MnM
- Harambae’s Revenge
- Nyx out for Harambe
On paper you would say that MnM and TCA were probably the favourites, plus you’d expect exceL and Choke to do well too. Those four teams actually ended up finishing in that order.
The standings
The final brackets were as follows (via Battlefy):
Analysis – by Dezachu
We asked caster Derry “Dezachu” Holt for his analysis. He told eSports News UK: “The undeniable highlight for me was TCA coming back from a 9k deficit vs xL to win their game in the group stages. As we now know, they went all the way to the finals and that was where I felt they demonstrated their capability to really grab a game by the horns and push for victory.
“In terms of the standard of play, I think all the casters came into this tournament expecting a really good scrap; Renegades Banditos are out of the scene, so it was a great opportunity for the likes of Choke, xL and TCA to shine.”
Dezachu added: “The group stages went really well and everything was as expected – then day two happened. Teams started making dozens of silly errors in a game: overextending without vision, going for a fight they knew they were unlikely to win, sloppy decision making etc. And everything culminated in a bit of a clown fiesta to be honest.
“The undeniable highlight for me was TCA coming back from a 9k deficit vs xL to win their game in the group stages. They demonstrated their capability to really grab a game by the horns and push for victory.”
“Choke looked like the favourites to win but tilted once they got into brackets, xL had godlike vision control but failed to capitalise on the opportunities that vision presented, and TCA had to fight tooth and nail to win their bracket games. They cleaned it up in their second game against xL in the Lower Bracket Finals but it wasn’t enough to take MnM’s crown in the final.
“That being said, they should be really proud of both their performance and taking a game off of MnM who had previously only dropped one game to Choke in the groups.”
Play highlights – by Dowsey
Smiley takes a quadra kill for MnM against TCA in the finals (casting/video by Dowsey):
“I’m still speechless. I am happy that the team collectively won their first i-series. We are positive going into the Premiership but know that we have to work hard for the step after if we win.”
Kalvin Chung, MnM owner
MVP: Deadly (TCA)
Dezachu said: “It has to be TCA’s Deadly getting a Pentakill on his birthday (after having the first one stolen from him by his top laner)!
“It’d be easy to give it someone from MnM, but I think I’d give MVP to Deadly.”
How the top 4 performed
Choke Gaming – 4th
“I really don’t know what happened here,” Dezachu said. “Toaster was on fire in the group stages but something must have happened between the end of groups and the start of the brackets to really unsettle the team. Lack of sleep, a team dispute – only they know, but they looked like serious contenders to begin with only to fall at the second hurdle. Standout player: Toaster123, as expected, with some recognition-worthy performances from Plex.”
exceL eSports – 3rd
“Really pleasing to watch in a number of games and I can’t stress enough how great their vision control has been. Furndog (coach) has clearly put a lot of focus on that. However it wasn’t enough – they threw away leads several times during the tournament when they could have sensibly pressed their advantages. Too many dives and over-aggressive plays boys!
“Zhandia impressed me with his relatively diverse champ pool (LeBlanc on day 1 was great to watch) and mechanical skills, but I’d have to give the ‘Dezachu standout player award’ to Nutri. He disappeared from League to play Overwatch for a while but was invited to join xL as a support once he retired from that. He had fantastic performances on Janna, Soraka and Nami throughout and it was great to see him and Jovial performing well together.”
TCA eSports – 2nd
“I think at the start of the tournament I perceived them as the ‘weaker’ of these top 4 teams – how quickly that has changed. They 2-0’d exceL in the Lower Bracket Finals and did so in convincing fashion in game 2. Even in the finals vs MnM they impressed – J3T’s Graves was godlike two games in a row, outclassing Phurion by a wide margin in the first game. It was disappointing to see him abandon the gun-toting outlaw in favour of Rek’Sai in game 3 but something had to change for them to have a chance of winning.
“Deadly was incredibly impressive – at just 17 years of age I think we still have more to see from him and I await the ESL Prem with eager eyes. Their weak link early on was arguably Alkoo but he showed up a lot later on in the tournament with stellar performances on Gnar, Rumble and Shen.
“I expect these boys to get better with time and can’t wait to see what they pull out at i59 in December. Stand out player: Deadly. So young, so good, so much more to come. Happy birthday again man.”
“As much as winning the entire tournament would be a great achievement, we’re still very happy with placing second. We ended fifth during Insomnia57, and we’re satisfied with the second place this time.”
TCA
MnM – 1st
“Favourites alongside Choke coming into the tournament, I think most of us were expecting them to be in the finals, if not to take the whole tournament. Surprisingly, Smiley and Hadow lost lane a few times through over-aggression and silly mistakes, but nothing that really threatened their tournament performance – and nothing that stopped them showing up when it mattered.
“The ever-aggressive plays from Rifty, Phurion out-jungling the competition 80% of the time and Lukezy (Luke-ez-ee for those wondering!) being a god in the mid-lane pretty much secured them the tournament once they turned the heat up. However, with the limelight firmly fixed on the boys off the back of their win and Smiley recently playing with Edward in the LCL (Russian league), whether they’ve outgrown the UK scene is another thing entirely. Keep your eyes peeled.
“The standout player for me was Lukezy. Even on slow-scaling champs like Vlad he was consistently a threat and had some fantastic games where his team could have lost their respective matchups and he’d still have pulled them through. Well played to all the boys though and a tournament win well deserved.”
Team Reaction & Comment
Kalvin Chung, owner of MnM, told eSports News UK: “I’m still speechless. I am happy that the team collectively won their first i-series. We are positive going into the Premiership but know that we have to work hard for the step after if we win.”
Excel Esports head coach Ryan “Barnetto” Barnett said on Twitter:
Thank you to everyone at i58, from players, casters, admins, management. I think our placement reflected our play, but we’re looking to 1/2
— Ryan Barnett (@xL_Barnetto) August 29, 2016
improve as much as we physically can in the coming weeks over esl. GG to @MnMGamingUK for being deserved winners! 2/2
— Ryan Barnett (@xL_Barnetto) August 29, 2016
TCA added in a match report/statement on their website: “As much as winning the entire tournament would be a great achievement, we’re still very happy with placing second. We ended fifth during Insomnia57, and we’re satisfied with the second place this time.
“There’s still a lot to work on, and we hope to do even better in the upcoming ESL UK Premiership.”
Top players stats
We checked out the i58 LoL Battlefy page for some stats from the double elimination bracket:
Top Player KDA
Top Team KDA
Wards, gold & CS
Congrats to MnM!
Enjoy your winnings (and that trophy)…
That #i58 @MultiplayEsport League of Legends trophy… #UKeSports pic.twitter.com/Adivi5uwbm
— Dominic Sacco (@Dom_Sacco) August 29, 2016
MnM teammates also celebrated by trying to distract Hadow during the winner interview…
Thanks to: Casters Dezachu & Dowsey
Twitch stream: Multiplay_lol
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
