This past weekend, the top four collegiate teams in the U.S. and Canada went head-to-head in the North American Collegiate Championship Semifinals, with the top two teams facing off in the Finals. In the aftermath of the battle, the Blue Caster Minions from the University of Washington emerged victorious, crushing games 2 and 3 of the best-of-three Finals series against Sergio’s Dream from San Jose State University.

SEMIFINALS

As the favorites coming in to the semifinals, the Queen Gypsies steamrolled the Blue Caster Minions in game 1 of the best-of-three series, snowballing off a failed level 1 invade before forcing the Blue Caster Minions to surrender with the score at 8-30. Not to be counted out, the Blue Caster Minions showed their true power by gutting out game 2 and riding that momentum into game 3. Jungler Kevnn channeled his top performance, and AD Carry Alliance and midlaner evertan—who gave a taste of his terrifying Zed mechanics—carried the team to victory in the final two games to cement their place in the Finals.

For round 2 of the Semifinals, Sergio’s Dream faced off against favorites UBeast. The best-of-three series promised to be a close one, but instead Sergio’s Dream dominated with a sweeping 2-0 victory. Support FengShen and jungler Loc Tran were the star players, with the latter displaying his signature hyper-aggressive jungling that suffocated the enemy and robbed them of almost every red buff in game 2. Toplaner Jakiro merits an extra special mention for his Teemo plays, especially his impressive double kill following the enemy’s top lane gank.

FINALS

With their flawless semifinals series and top-ranking 5v5 Challenger team, the odds of victory stacked in Sergio’s Dream’s favor. To their downfall, the Blue Caster Minions allowed Sergio’s Dream to lock Kassadin, enemy midlaner ArcZSlash’s choice champion, a critical mistake that cost the Blue Caster Minions game 1.

Dusting themselves off from their loss, the Blue Caster Minions brought their best to games 2 and 3. At the helm of one of his favorite champions, support Haramer’s performance as Blitzcrank was instrumental to the team’s success in both games: Haramer set up countless plays for AD Carry Alliance and maximized the Great Steam Golem’s potential well into the late game. After underperforming in game 1, toplaner i KeNNy u traded his tanky Mundo for the playmaking toplaners he’s more accustomed to, even landing a Kha’zix triple kill that enabled his team to close out game 2. Midlaner evertan brought Zed back in full force, ruthlessly shredding through Sergio’s Dream countless times before pulling off a clutch juke to escape a 1v4 in mid lane and set his team up to flank the enemy.

With unyielding perseverance and amazing coordination, the Blue Caster Minions stormed their way to victory, taking home the well-deserved title of 2014 North American Collegiate Champions!