Yesterday, the playoff bracket for the North American and European Challenger Series was finalized with 4 teams from each region qualifying. In North America, Enemy eSports, Team Dragon Knights, Team Fusion, & Final Five clinched their spot in the semi-finals and will be facing off next Tuesday and Wednesday, March 31st and April 1st. Likewise, their peers in Europe were finalized, with Origen, LowAndLions White, Gamers2, & Dignitas EU being locked in for the bracket. 

With excitement in the air, Dignitas EU was met with some unfortunate news. Top laner, Martin “Wunderwear” Hansen & mid laner, Chres “Sencux” Laursen were deemed ineligible for the playoffs due to age requirement restrictions for LCS qualifiers. The official Riot Games competitive ruling that restricts the two 16 year olds from playing in the playoffs is:

“A CS player must have lived 17 full years (by or before the start of the next LCS split) and may not have any current disciplinary suspension from the LCS that would prevent him/her from playing in the first game of the season. All CS players must have lived 16 full years to compete at any time during the Challenger Series. During the Challenger Series playoffs, all players must be potentially LCS eligible to compete in the next LCS split.” - Riot Games Challenger Series 2015 Rulebook

Today, however, it has been reported that Dignitas EU has decided to concede their spot in the playoffs and forfeit their matches versus Origen in the semi-finals, sources close to the organization tell Esports Heaven. The team initially tried to get former support player Niklas “Zytan” Lakeniemi and team manager Frederik “Phake” Knudsen to fill in for the two starters, sources say, but due to conflict between Zytan and the team/organization, the team decided to go ahead and forfeit the matches.

Esports Heaven will keep you up-to-date with the situation as more news unfolds.

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