What a weekend! As the cars began to return to the garage after an amazing qualifying weekend, we reflect on the amazing performances by six fortunate teams who have qualified for the LPL (Lets Play Live) Oceania Championship League Play.
Going into Day one, the Chiefs didn’t disappoint with an outstanding and dominant performance aided by the returning verteran, Drippay. Challenged by The Chads in the Upper Quarterfinals, the Chiefs were at risk of being reverse swept and knocked down to the lower bracket. Fortunately, they were able to hold on and take that momentum to sweep Attack of the Invisible Ninjas in the qualifying match.
On the other side of the bracket, Dunk Driving was heading in only one direction, which was straight to League Play. The team showed strong performances sweeping Lerkys Psychotherapy Club (3-0) and producing a similar result in the qualifying match against Mindfreak (3-1). Turning to League Play, Dunk Driving will be coming with a chip on their shoulder to ensure that they are known as a top four OCE team.
After a dominating performance by Dunk Driving and the Chiefs, the lower bracket on day one was riddled with nail-biters. After being knocked down by the Chiefs, Attack of the Invisible Ninjas withheld a strong UniMelb Love Letters team, to move into the lower final against The Chads. Proving to be too strong, the Ninjas swept The Chads in a convincing (3-0) performance.
Rushing into day two, Lerkys Psychotherapy Club’s dream of making it to League Play came true. They showed great chemistry with upsets over Fury Australia, Mightbe Plonk and The Chads. Turning to League Play, this squad will be the darkhorse, looking to challenge the likes of Dunk Driving and Mindfreak for that top four spot.
Mindfreak went about their business on day two with sweeps amost all day. Showing their dominance, they easily qualified with performances against Wrath ESC (2-0), Boosted (3-0) and Our Heads Hurt Too (3-1). If they continue to show consistency, Mindfreak will be a tough team to beat during league play and could provide us with some entertaining competition against the region’s top teams.
Moving into the lower bracket, the remaining teams fighting for that final spot in League Play, saw fairytales come true and dreams shattered. However, none more than UniMelb Love Letters, who are to be highly commended on their performance across both days. They were reversed swept by The Chads in the final qualifying match in a game five OVERTIME?! After experiencing technical difficulties in game three, the Love Letters were unable to bounce back whilst on match point, losing the final series (2-3).
The Chads, rewarded with first seed following their performance on day one, were surprisingly knocked to the lower bracket by Lerkys Psychotherapy Club. Battling hard in the lower bracket against Yawn Gang and Our Heads Hurt Too in tight series, they finally faced the aforementioned UniMelb Love Letters and the rest is history.
With the open qualifiers now out the way, OCE now moves on to league play!
Be sure to catch all the action from League Play over at Let's Play Live, starting on the 29th of September.