So what is Team of The Week?

 

Team of the week is a new weekly feature that will bring an in-depth post giving you detailed information and fun facts about some of the games you love in eSports. Every week we will post 1 of these articles. It could be on League of Legends, Defence of the Ancients 2 or CounterStrike: Global Offense. 

So for our first Team of the Week we present to you a league of legends team which is none other than:

 

 

 Moscow5.BenQ is a League of Legends team which has been dominant in the top of the European scene for quite some time. The team has been known for its extreme team work and their long standing stability which puts most teams to shame. The Russian team was previously known as Team Empire and was recruited into the Moscow 5 organization on December 16th, 2011.

 Moscow5.BenQ Roster:

  

	Alex "Alex Ich" Ichetovkin	AP Mid
	Daniel "Diamondprox" Reshetnikov	Jungle
	Eugene "Genja" Andryushin	AD Carry
	Edward "GoSu Pepper" Abgarian	Support
	Eugene "Darien" Mazaev	Solo Top

 

 Moscow5.BenQ has made a huge presence in many big tournaments, and below you will find a re-cap of their journey through Season 2.

 

IEM Season VI - Global Challenge Kiev.

At IEM's Global Challenge Kiev there was a strong sense of presence from several teams at the event that was the first major stand in which  Moscow5.BenQ showed their true strength versus the likes of TSM, Dignitas, SK-Gaming, Sypher, Team Lotus, Curse Gaming, and Against All Authority. 

The tournament had a prize pot of $32,000, it was ran from 2012-01-19 till 2012-01-22 and held in  Ukraine. 

The Groups/Playoffs were as followed:

 

Groups

 

	Group A		Group B
1.	TSM	3-0	Moscow 5	3-0
2.	SK-Gaming	2-1	dignitas	2-1
3.	Curse	1-2	aAa	1-2
4.	White Lotus	0-3	Sypher	0-3

 

Brackets

 

Moscow 5	2
vs		Moscow 5	2
SK-Gaming	0			Winner
		vs		Moscow 5
TSM	2
vs		TSM	0
dignitas	0

 

As seen from the picture  Moscow5.BenQ had a strong run through the tournament and had only one team manage to take a map off them throughout the play-offs. After IEM - Global Challenge Kiev, the next major event for  Moscow5.BenQ to make their presence in was none other than the: 

 

IEM Season VI - World Championship

 

After a strong perfomance at IEM - Global Challenge Kiev  Moscow5.BenQ went on take take part in the IEM Season IV - World Championships where they once again came up against extremely strong competition. Although this time a few other big teams came out of the wood works to show their skill against some of the best European, North American teams, and an Asian team. The 4 North American teams to have qualified were: Team SoloMid, Dignitas, Curse Gaming and CLG Prime.  The European teams this time round to make an appearance were: Fnatic, SK-Gaming, Sypher, Millenium, Moscow5, Against All Authority, Team ALTERNATE, and last but not least we have the team that qualified from Asia: EHOME.

So with a very strong roster of teams,  Moscow5.BenQ surely had their work cut out for them. With a prize pot of $100,000, the tournament was no joke. Every team put in their best to try and become the winners claiming the $50,000 first prize and 400 circuit points. 

The event itself was ran between 2012-03-06 and 2012-03-10 and was hosted in  Germany.

The Groups/Playoffs for the tournament were as followed: 

 

Groups

 

	Group A		Group B
1.	dignitas	4-1	Moscow 5	5-0
2.	CLG Prime	4-1	SK-Gaming	4-1
3.	aAa	3-2	Curse Gaming	2-3
4.	aTn	2-3	Team SoloMid	2-3
5.	Fnatic	2-3	Sypher	1-4
6.	Millenium	0-5	EHOME	1-4

 

Bracket

 

		Moscow5	2
Curse	0	vs		Moscow5	2
vs		CLG Prime	0
CLG Prime	2			vs		Moscow5
		dignitas	2
SK-Gaming	0	vs		dignitas	0
vs		aAa	0
aAa	2

 

As seen  Moscow5.BenQ took a strong, clean run through the tournament without dropping a map, showing just how good their invidual skill and team work is even under pressure. With the sheer amount of training and effort they put in they took home the $50,000 and scored themselves yet another 400 Circuit Points within the Season.

Next up from the premier tournaments is:

 

 

DreamHack Summer 2012

DreamHack summer was a tournament that made a huge inpact on eSports within the League of Legends scene and showed one of the biggest upsets so far. There was once again strong competition with the likes of teams such as: Absolute Legends, Mebdi's Minions, Fnatic, Curse Gaming, Millenium, and PAH. 

The tournament was hosted from 2012-06-16 until 2012-06-19 was held in  Sweden, and had a $40,000 prize pool up for grabs.

With strong competition and a serious prize pot as motivation, all teams as usual put in their best efforts to claim the position of first and show off their team work and true strengths. This tournament got a lot of extra recognition after  Moscow5.BenQ suffered from a 2 - 0 defeat in the finals which was the first time they lost a best of 3 set in a major/premier event.

The Groups/Brackets for the playoffs are as followed:  

 

Groups

 

	Group A		Group B
1.	Curse.eu	3-0	CLG.eu	3-0
2.	Fnatic	2-1	Moscow5.BenQ	2-1
3.	PAH	1-2	AbsoluteLegends	1-2
4.	Millenium	0-3	Mebdi's Minions	0-3

 

Brackets

 

Curse	2
vs		Moscow 5	2
Moscow5	0			Winner
		vs		CLG.eu
Fnatic	0
vs		CLG.eu	0
CLG.eu	2

With  CLG.eu taking first and  Moscow5.BenQ taking second, it was surely one the most interesting tournaments to follow. But this wasnt a set back for  Moscow5.BenQ as they got straight back on the horse and pushed themselves further to prepare for the next premier tournament which was:

 

European Challenger Circuit: Poland

With the previous tournament ending in a major upset and  Moscow5.BenQ losing 2 for 0 versus  CLG.eu, there was definately a hope when both these teams were announce for ECC that it could be a potential rematch in the finals.

With $40,000 and 400 Circuit points up for grab both teams put on amazing performances and once again ended up versus each other in the finals. After the strong defeat of  Moscow5.BenQ by  CLG.eu it was clear that Moscow5 wanted to prove once again that they were the best. 

So in the finals of ECC  Moscow5.BenQ took their game to a whole new level and beat  CLG.eu 2 for 0.

The tournament was hosted in  Poland and here is a small recap of the tournament: 

 

Groups 

 

	Group A		Group B
1.	Curse.eu	2-1	CLG.eu	3-0
2.	SK-Gaming	2-1	Moscow5.BenQ	2-1
3.	Team Acer.pl	1-2	Elohell	1-2
4.	MeetYourMakers	1-2	OceloteWorld	0-3

 

Brackets

 

Moscow5	2
vs		Moscow 5	2
Curse.eu	0			Winner
		vs		Moscow 5
CLG.eu	2
vs		CLG.eu	0
SK-Gaming	0

 

So with  Moscow 5.BenQ taking the win it was the team's third win in the Season 2 Circuit Tournaments giving them yet another 400 circuit points. With the win and the points they gained it guaranteed them the highest seeding in the Season 2 Regional Finals.

Which leads us to our next tournament to view:

 

GamesCom: Season 2 Regional Finals.

With  Moscow 5.BenQ taking the highest seed for the Season 2 Regional Finals they seemed to be in the strongest position to take the best part of the $150,000 prize pot and a place in the Season 2 World championships.

Taking 8 of the best teams in Europe this tournament was definately one that would make a stand in eSports history and show us some top tier and extremely entertaining games to watch. 

Teams such as Fnatic, Curse, Team ALTERNATE, Elohell, CLG.eu, SK-Gaming, Acer.pl and, Moscow5 left no shortage of high tier games. 

So lets took a look at an overview of the Tournament and how  Moscow 5.BenQ progressed:

 

Playoffs

 

Moscow 5
vs	Moscow 5
Elohell
	vs	Moscow 5
Curse.eu
vs	Fnatic
Fnatic
	vs	vs	Moscow 5
SK-Gaming
vs	SK-Gaming
Acer.pl
	vs	SK-Gaming
aTn
vs	Counter Logic Gaming
Counter Logic Gaming

 

With  Moscow 5 taking first and going home with $40,000 and a place in the season 2 World Championship Finals they were well on their way to becoming the best team in the world which leaves us with the final step in the Season 2 World Championships.

 

Season 2: World Championship Finals.

 

With Season 2 at it's final legs and the best teams gathered from around the world it went into a tense competition with the 12 best teams in League of Legends. So lets take a look at how the group stages/playoffs went. Also 4 Regional Winners were given a BYE straight into the play off. 

 

Groups and Regional BYE's

 

	Group A		Group B		Regional BYE's
1.	Azubu Frost	3-0	Naijin Sword	3-0	Moscow5.BenQ
2.	Invictus Gaming	2-1	CLG.eu	2-1	Taipei Assassins
3.	CLG Prime	1-2	Saigon Jokers	1-2	Team SoloMid
4.	SK-Gaming	0-3	Team Dignitas	0-3	World Elite

 

Playoffs 

 

M5.BenQ
vs	M5.BenQ
Invictus Gaming
	vs	Taipei Assassins
Taipei Assassins
vs	Taipei Assassins
Naijin Sword
	vs	vs	Taipei Assassins
Team SoloMid
vs	Azubu Frost
Azubu Frost
	vs	Azubu Frost
World Elite
vs	CLG.eu
CLG.eu

 

So after a strong run through Season 2,  M5.BenQ beat  Invictus Gaming which put them into the semi finals of the World Championships. After a strong first Game  M5.BenQ went 1 for 0 up versus  Taipei Assassins, only for  Taipei Assassins  to turn around and show just how strong they are by beating the World Championship Favourites 2 for 1. However  M5.BenQ  showed that even in a loss they were still one of the strongest teams in the world and by far the best team in Europe. But Season 2 wasn't the only big thing for  M5.BenQ during the time lapse of Season 2. They also participated in several other big events and took some very nice positions.