ENUK editor Dom Sacco shares his views on this week’s EU Challenger Series Qualifiers (CSQs).
After UK org MnM lost again, we can’t take the pain and are instead focusing on Wind and Rain (WAR) in this article, who have UK coach Alex “Kazehaya” Hirst and Danish coach Johan “Lee Joo Ho” Olsen with them. We asked the coaches how they went on this run.
UPDATE (May 26th): After they beat Millenium today, WAR are the first team to progress to the Challenger Series Qualifier playoffs.
Original article (May 25th): It’s fair to say that WAR were not expected to stomp the CSQs. They have instead been seen playing with real ‘gust’-o.
The team, formerly known as Polite and Mature qualified for the CSQs via Ragnarok (check out our video interview with their coach Kazehaya for more info on that story).
While Kazehaya said before the CSQs that he believed the squad ‘could upset some teams’, they also made some last minute changes to their own roster to avoid a cloudy outlook.
They replaced Ploxy and Kakan with mid-laner ScarletRedHands and jungler Xani.
“Overall I feel like our drafting has been great, and our macro has been on point too. We are looking towards the 5-0 dream right now.”
ScarletRedHands is also playing for Radix Esports, who recently qualified for the UK Masters. He’s been described by Radix as a ‘really strong 1v1 player’ and a ‘level 2 first blood god’. And he’s been on form so far.
You know what they say: Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning, ScarletRedHands at night, Wind and Rain’s delight.
Check out our video interview with Radix and their ‘free money’ top-laner Kirito.
WAR have beaten Reign and MnM Gaming, and also caused a bit of a downpour upset when they beat Kasing’s team Red Bulls.
They are 3-0 and sit top of group A. You can see the full standings on Reddit here.
Video highlights: Wind and Rain cause the pain
Here’s some highlights from the three wins they’ve picked up so far:
Analysis from WAR’s coaches: How they stormed the CSQs so far
We asked coaches Alex “Kazehaya” Hirst and Johan “Lee Joo Ho” Olsen for their thoughts.
On the Red Bulls match, Johan said: “Well, it was all about the factor that we had everything to win, and they had everything to lose. Coming into the Pick and Ban you have a lot of thoughts and ideas going which you more or less cook down to one final plan.
“For us it was about switching up our playstyle, and and playing a more ‘protect the carry’ composition. The Kassadin pick worked out great, as an assassin bait, and to out split the enemy midlaner.
“And by the way SRH is a great midlaner, we knew he was gonna outperform the enemy midlaner under right circumstances. The plan was set, and the team just had to execute it, which they did to perfection. In the end, we just wanted the victory more than Redbulls, which I think is one of the reasons we got this one in the bag.
“In terms of sidelanes. On botside Quixeth and Darkside are some of the most synchronized and mechanically gifted botlanes I’ve coached. And when they have a clear plan, and the drive to win, God knows who will stop them.
“Dan Dan on toplane doing what we refer to “doing DanDan Stuff” going huge on the Camille. And last but not least Xani in the jungle, having an impact in 15 kills out of 19 tells the story about how big his impact was.”
Kazehaya added: “Overall I believe that coming into this to begin with, teams were underestimating us and that was one of our greatest weapons. But we have been able to run these 1-3-1 and 1-4 comps to great success because we have superior macro to a lot of them teams in the tournament.
“Overall I feel like our drafting has been great, and our macro has been on point too.
“We are looking towards the 5-0 dream right now after to coming into the tournament power ranked as the worst team other than the EUNE team.
“We are really going to fight to make sure that we can succeed at getting into Challenger Series.”
Whatever the weather
There have been plenty of weather-based puns and tweets around Wind and Rain’s performances so far. Here’s a selection, along with some other general tweets:
JUST TRY AND STOP THE STORM OF WIND AND RAIN, NO UMBRELLA CAN HELP YOU IN THIS STORM!
— Kazehaya (@Coach_Kazehaya) May 25, 2017
@redbullslol Looks like the storm came and conquered!
— Kazehaya (@Coach_Kazehaya) May 24, 2017
GG Wind and Rain, they were the better team today. We’ll make sure it won’t happen again 😛
— Raymond Tsang (@kasinglol) May 24, 2017
Red bull posted on facebook today was nice weather. Both wind and rain is very very nice weather :))
— xani (@xani_lol) May 24, 2017
been coaching this team from 2nd divison Spain to 2-0 in Challenger Series Qualifiers, so proud of all my players today!!!
— Kazehaya (@Coach_Kazehaya) May 24, 2017
FFASDFASDF HOLY SHIIIT
2-0 ON CSQ LETS FUCKING GO
— DarkSide (@LoLDarkSide) May 24, 2017
Key to beating @redbullslol : Use their own medicine against them ? pic.twitter.com/bNsk2quT5B
— August Nyheim (@Quixeth) May 24, 2017
We are now 3-0 in the group in CSQ well played boys!@xani_lol@LoLDarkSide@Quixeth@DanDanDoubleD@ScarletRedHands
let go 5-0 boys!!!— Kazehaya (@Coach_Kazehaya) May 25, 2017
We do not get beaten easily we have got here winning many games with the odds stacked against us and we are prepared to do the same again!
— Kazehaya (@Coach_Kazehaya) May 24, 2017
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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.
