Well this post was very late, but it's better late than never! Challenges North America 2018 started on May 26, 2018 and ended on August 16, 2018 as the tournament format was doing each round each week, albeit there was some delays. After a lot of struggles, delays, and scheduling conflicts, we were able to make it to the end. The event was quickly organized and we were happy to be able to gather quite a couple of known names from the past to participate which was a fine turnout in the end. Below will be some information about the event, thoughts, final remarks, and shout-outs!

 
The Run Down
  • xero and I started talking about the possibility of this event only around late April/early May and only had time to organize it just about 1-2 weeks prior to the start.

  • We weren't expecting that many people to enter, we predicted the usual amount of maybe 8-16 players but we got to overall start off with 34 players in the beginning(some dropped out).

  • The viewer turnout wasn't as great as it was for Challenges Europe 2016 due to the schedulings and the unexpected streaming of the event, but there was indeed multiple VODs which you can find below.

  • There was quite a number of unexpected outcomes and results for this tournament which included some old-names participating and some matchups not going as some players predicted.

  • The most picked map was cpm22 while cpm15 got a decently good pick rate considering some more old-school players participated.

  • We had some interesting participants that came from Quake Live, Reflex, and Team Fortress 2.

  • A player known as chalq, coming from a Counter-Strike background, and some experience in Overwatch and Reflex, entered the tournament and was able to take out some of NA's strong players.

  • daler, deth, entik, gellehsak, venim, and Zeb were among the few old-timers that have been in the community for a long time who had participated and got to play some games during the event.

  • With only a short time to practice and play, Zeb performed quite well with it being the first tournament he has played in the last 2 years and was able to prevail all the way to the top 3.

  • Just like Vo0 in Challenges Europe 2016, gellehsak didn't drop a single map in this tournament.
 
Final Standings (Top 8)
icon_cup_gold 1. gellehsak -- 50 CAD
icon_cup_silver 2. chalq -- 30 CAD
icon_cup_bronze 3. Zeb -- 20 CAD
4. xero
5-6. (Tied) forest
5-6. (Tied) venim
7-8. (Tied) GNiK
7-8. (Tied) lone

icon_challonge Challonge Bracket
 
VODs
The VODs are generally scattered about between three Twitch channels. You can find all available VODs here on PlusForward.
  • The VODs for the Grand Final be found here.

Shout Outs:
  • To all the viewers who witnessed the games!
  • To all the players that participated!
  • To all the people that continue to play more promode!
  • The ProMode Team for their continued work and effort into Challenge ProMode Arena.
  • xero -- For his donation of 100 CAD and helping to make this event possible.
  • noctis -- For this amazing site to be able to document all the news posts, event post, matches, and VODs.
  • ArcticRevrus, Cixxywuffie, kumo, venim, vixterra, and xero -- For having available NA servers to play on.

A final thank you to everyone who supported, participated in, and watched this event. Thank you! Be sure to be on the lookout for more CPMA news!