The brand new Proving Grounds tournament is kicking off tomorrow (March 30, 2021). It’s going to be a long, intense competition, with 16 teams from Academy and the amateur circuit battling through a double-elimination bracket to try to reach the Finals at the end of April and claim the tongue-in-cheek title of “Academy World Champions.” It may not be a marquee international event, but winning Proving Grounds is a great way for these players to take a step forward in their careers!
If you haven’t had time to keep up with all of the Academy and amateur action so far this year — and I don’t blame you; there’s been a lot — then here’s your quick overview of the teams competing in the event, by alphabetical order, and one or two key players from each team to keep your eyes on.
Tournament Favourites
If you want to just get a TL;DR, here’s the cheat sheet.
The three favourites to win the tournament are 100 Thieves Academy, Cloud9 Academy, and Team Liquid Academy.
Kenvi, Jojopyun, Tenacity, 5fire, Shiro, and Prismal are the top NA prospects in the event (in my opinion). Continue reading Proving Grounds Primer – Players and Teams to Watch
There haven’t been many good-news stories for CLG Academy this split, but Katsurii did his best to change the narrative on his team during the Nerd Street Power Play. The Oceanic Bot laner has played a ton of Kai’sa this year. He was able to pick the champion in 8 of his 13 games during the tournament, and he punished his opponents for letting him be so comfortable, putting up good KP and damage output.