Volamel
2016-12-07 05:50:30
The week of the 28th of November through the 5th of December could be the most earth shattering week in the history of esports. The disorienting flash of roster swaps and upsets, esports entered a bizarro-world this past week. Let us take a walk through the lethargic past few days, starting with Eleague Season 2 semi-finals.
SK Gaming, the Brazilian line-up, is one of the most dominant teams in modern CS:GO. On the back of winning the “Esports Player of the Year” for 2016, they were poised to win the second season of Eleague on TBS. Losing a brawl of a first map on “Overpass” in their semi-final match versus Astralis, SK went to the home field for a guaranteed win.
The map “Train” was the biggest spoke in their wheelhouse. They literally did not lose on this map. Appalling as it might sound, they took their first loss in 17 games to a team that was on the come up, Astralis. That Friday would house another crazy up, but on a different battlefield.
Train heist successful, Team Astralis wins.
Image courtesy of HLTV.org
Capcom Cup was the culmination of a whole season’s worth of work. Every top player would be there and everyone gunning for one person: Lee “Infiltration” Seon-woo from Korea. The number one ranked player in Street Fighter 5 was untouchable. His intelligence was something of nightmare to opponents and a spectacle to watch. He would soon find himself in the loser's bracket in round one.
Let that sink in: the number one seeded player, losers bracket, day one. The cherry on top, the creme dela creme -- he then would be ousted from the tournament in round 1 of the loser’s bracket. Shocking the world, and leaving the tournament stunned.
Day two of Capcom Cup left us with eight combatants in the arena -- two of them Americans in a world where players from the east, specifically from Japan, tend to dominate. Du "NuckleDu" Dang and Ricki Ortiz would face off in the grand finals for the title of Capcom Cup 2016 winner.
A complete North American final in Street Fighter 5, is something that can be only described as rare.
NuckleDu, advancing to the finals through the winner’s bracket.
Ricki Ortiz, fell out of the winners bracket courtesy of NuckleDu.
They both met, center stage.
No matter the victor, this was a completely amazing tournament filled with upset after upset. As the cheers poured into the arena, only one of the players emerged from the lion’s den: NuckleDu walked away with the gold. For the next upset, we travel east to South Korea.
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The Overwatch APEX League came to a climax on Saturday where Team Envyus faced off against Afreeca Freecs Blue in the grand final. The story come in the form of a cliche. The “Cinderella Story” is something that is tossed around time and time again, but in this case, Team Envyus is the epitome of this cliche.
After coming back from some odd roster issues, they found their “prince charming”; Pongphop "Mickie" Rattanasangohod showcased some incredible play. Helping to lead the team to a swift 4-0 in the finals, capturing the hearts of fans, and perhaps solidifying a solid roster for Team Envyus moving forward. Winning a major tournament with a stand-in or substitute is an incredible feat and only adds to the week’s disorientation.
Team Envyus after a big win.
Image courtesy of OGN
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Returning to CounterStrike, our next story returns to Eleague for the grand finals where the ” upset kings” Team Astralis faced off against the “green wall” Team Optic. North America was riding the coattails of Team Optic into the set, as the Counter Strike scene is a bit lacking. Coming into the set, many people had this match very hard to call, but had Team Astralis edging Optic out. Again, taking a note from Capcom Cup’s book, a barn burner of a grand final left only one team standing. Team Optic took a convincing set to clutch the finals. The world left in awe as North America takes another CounterStrike major. Is NA on the mend? Time will tell.
For a complete change of pace, we travel to Saint Louis for UGC’s Open Series. The tournament featured an amazing pool of players for both Smash 4 and Super Smash Bros. Melee. But there was a few moments that captivated stream viewers and players alike. First we look at Smash 4.
For a year consecutively, Luminosity Gaming’s, Yuta “Abadango” Kawamura has come second to the tyrant of Smash 4. Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios has consistently towered over the Smash 4 scene with few to rival him for the majority of his career.. The two seem to always find their way deep into the winner’s brackets of many tournaments.
Yet, Abadango could never find the slightest glimmer of hope in defeating ZeRo, until Sunday. Abadango not only took his first game off of the champ, but took him to game 5 in an incredibly close grand finals. Unfortunately, ZeRo proved too much for our Japanese underdog. Fostering an intense rivalry, Abadango finally proved to himself that titans can bleed. To quote EE, a leading Smash 4 commentator, “You can keep your soul, but your ass belongs to ZeRo!”
To the Smash 4’s older sibling, Super Smash Bros. Melee, we look at one of the old guard’s tournament run as a potential return of a king.
November 21, 2001 a date that would go down in esports history. Super Smash Bros. Melee is released on the Nintendo Gamecube. Years later, it would be one of the quickest growing, grassroots esports.
One of the oldest players left standing from the original pantheon of great players, Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman, just had one of his best tournaments in recent memory.
St. Louis, Missouri housed the Ultimate Gaming Championships’ (UGC) inaugural Melee tournament. Mew2King did not end up winning, but his losers run is legendary. Taking the names of 7 world class players out, he reached grand finals versus number 1 seed “Armada”. In a “smashing” set, Mew2King resets the bracket and does end up falling, but still boasts one of the best losers runs of all time.
(Writer's Note: I had this idea throughout the week, the thought of a week of pure upsets and shocking sets is something that has to be pushed more in esports. With the recent Overwatch news, I felt it was too good to pass up. Forgive me if this section seems short.)
The 3 way player trade.
Image credit to Rogue, Luminosity, and Misfits
Breaking news hit the 5th of December for the Overwatch scene. Three of Europe's biggest names in Overwatch all had a swap meet of players and the scene is left scratching their heads wondering, “why?”.
Coming off of a win at DreamHack Winter 2016, the Danish team at Misfits looked to be ascending into a world class team. As a team, they come out of this with a brand new line-up only retaining two of the previous members: Sebastian “Zebbosai” Olsson, known for some impressive Widowmaker play, and Andreas “Nevix” Karlsson.
Team Rogue seemed to be the first colossal team in Overwatch’s bright future. After an upset in South Korea, this trade seems like a scramble to maintain dominance over the scene. They acquire Terrence “SoOn” Tarlier, the Tracer god, to their already stacked line-up.
And the last but not least of the three teams is Luminosity Gaming. Not having the same success as their brothers-in-arms, they have yet to place well in any of the majors. They acquire Mikaël “Hidan” Da Silva and Jonathan “Kryw” Nobre. Rounding out their roster, hopefully we can see more from Luminosity in the future.
These roster swaps could be a result of the localization of the Overwatch League, where having a common language in the team could help promote each of the 3 teams moving forward. Also having more players from their home country could improve marketing to the “home crowd”.
Follow the author on Twitter for more at @Volamel.
