Thunder Earn First Valanth’s League Win

Team Norse Thunder’s League of Legends roster are celebrating recording back-to-back wins for the first time after beating RedFox Esports and Garlic Bread Mafia in recent days.

After starting out in their debut Valanth’s League split with two defeats, Thunder squared up against RedFox Esports in a best of three friendly scrim after a roster reshuffle on Wednesday evening, then faced Garlic Bread Mafia in the VAL 24-hours later. 

The friendly scrim saw RedFox Esports field diamond and platinum ranked players against Thunder’s roster, but it was Thunder who dominated to earn a very well-deserved 2-0 win. 

With a friendly win under their belts, the roster’s attention soon turned again to the VAL. Thunder’s third-week opponents, Garlic Bread Mafia, had opened up their campaign with two wins, both with a 2-0 match score. Thunder’s fortunes were at the opposite end of the scale - two 2-0 defeats. 

However, the form book was completely thrown out of the window and Thunder won the match with a 2-1 score line. Game one of the best of three saw Thunder select Aatrox, Sejuani, Cassiopeia, Miss Fortune, and Braum while Garlic Bread Mafia drafted Fiora, Nocturne, Swain, Twitch, and Renata as their team composition. 

The game was a somewhat edge of your seat contest for periods, but Thunder earned victory with a KDA score line of 30/21/72 to 21/30/29 and a 6k gold difference. Winning game one had put Thunder to within touching distance of winning their first VAL match since forming, but it wasn’t meant to be in game two as they struggled to gain a foothold. 

Thunder selected Fiora, Trundle, Fizz, Miss Fortune, and Karma as their team composition while Garlic Bread Mafia opted for Darius, Mordekaiser, Viktor, Kai’Sa, and Braum. A near 6k gold difference for Garlic Bread Mafia and a KDA score line of 25/12/26 to 12/25/21 in ther favour won them the game. 

Going into the third and final game of the match, both teams knew a win would give them the match win. Garlic Bread Mafia drafted Kled, Mordekaiser, Corki, Kai’Sa, and Amumu as their team composition, while Thunder went for Renekton, Sejuani, Viktor, Ashe, and Braum.  

A gritty, determined performance, sprinkled with a bit of luck here and there, lead Thunder to victory with the KDA scores sat at 37/20/81 to 20/37/35 in Thunder’s favour. There was also a near 10k gold difference between the two teams by the end of the game.  

Speaking about the match, Team Norse Thunder’s Dave Scotford said: “This was a good couple of days - we’ve turned the page on the start we made to the split and now we’ve got something to build on. We’re off the mark and that feels great.”

Meanwhile, Xepher, the League of Legends Team Manager, speaking about the win said: "[It was] absolutely fantastic to see! We're starting to put all the pieces together now and now that we've got that first win we can definitely start looking at getting more. [I’m] really proud of the boys."