MSI Cup: Thunder Finish Strong in Clash Event
Team Norse Thunder's League of Legends players were back in action on Sunday night in day two of the MSI Cup with the org's flagship roster and community roster both taking part.
Thunder's flagship roster were placed in tier two of the event - the second highest available - and faced off against 3 Guys Toast in the first round. The opposition selected Sona, Ezreal, Jarvan VI, Ornn, and Viktor as their team to take into battle, while Thunder opted for a team composition of Braum, Swain, Jinx, Corki, and Trundle.
A bruising encounter saw 3 Guys Toast take victory inside half an hour with a kill scoreline of 22-6 in their favour while they took nine turrets compared to Thunder's two. The defeat dropped the team into the consolation bracket, but the next two games gave them an opportunity to complete a comeback and win out the day.
The second round paired Thunder against Oliver's Team - made up of a mix of platinum, gold, and silver ranked players. Both teams knew that the victor would be playing in the 5th-6th playoff in the following game, so there was a lot to play for! Heading into battle, Oliver's Team chose Lux, Irelia, Yummi, Vayne, and Volibear as their champions, while Thunder picked Morgana, Wukong, Miss Fortune, Anivia, and Hecarim.
While the opposition applied pressure early in the game, a much more assured performance from Thunder compared to the previous match carried them to a well-deserved victory. By the end of the game, Thunder had amassed a 10k gold lead and double the number of kills with the scoreline sat at 28-14.
The victory took Thunder into the final match with the opportunity to clinch 5th, and Eksdedede were drawn as the final opposition for the day. The strongest team that Thunder had faced in the competition so far, Eksdedede's roster was made up of high gold, diamond, and platinum ranked players.
Eksdedede chose to lock in a team composition of Kassadin, Karma, Aatrox, Volibear, and Ezreal, while Thunder opted for Janna, Irelia, Vayne, Lucian, and Sejuani. An absolute edge of your seat thriller ensued, with both teams swinging blows that would have been enough to win other games, but it was Thunder that ultimately won out.
Meanwhile, Team Norse Thunder's community roster won their opening match before slipping to defeat in their second, only to claim victory in their final match of the day to claim 4th place in tier three of the competition. The community roster's efforts followed on from the academy roster competing in day one of the tournament 24 hours earlier - where they secured a 5th place finish having won two of their three matches.
Speaking about Thunder's performance in the MSI Cup, Team Norse Thunder's Dave Scotford said: "I think that was a great weekend for us! All three of our League of Legends rosters went into battle over the two days and everyone came away having won two games and lost just one. 6-3 isn't a bad record to have over a weekend - and you have to remember that the rosters are still super new and still bedding in together too.
"It's a really exciting weekend to be honest - though a little hectic - but Clash is one of my favourite things in the calendar. We have good memories of the competition - it means something to the org. I think it's pretty fair to say that all the teams showed the potential they have, so hopefully we can put that on display next weekend on days three and four and hopefully we can get our hands on another trophy."