Back in the LEC, G2 won the Summer season before moving on to the World Championship. They advanced to the Worlds play-offs, racing past DAMWON Gaming and SKT to reach the Grand Final. Though FunPlus Phoenix took home the Worlds title, G2 Esports had a formidable year. PerkZ was a massive part of G2’s legendary run, in which they stood just one series away from a never-before-done grand slam. He fit into the AD carry role nicely, holding his own against the game’s b
Coverage is bad because esports are hard to watch, not the other way around. It all stems from an inability to produce universal coverage. Too much diversity or segmented viewership may not seem like an issue on the surface, but it is. Maybe you’re simply saying “well, no one is asking you to watch every esport,” and that’s fair. Maybe communities are fine existing in their own worlds—far out of the reach of other gaming communities. But it does create a barrier for the industry to break into mainstream entertainm
To get a feel for the different types of decks, check out the three pre-made decks gifted to you following the tutorial. Here we see all of the familiar archetypes that are common to CCGs, including elements that relate to buffing characters in a deck or held in hand, zoo strategies of overwhelming the board with units, with Spiders in the premade deck’s case, or of mixing up units with spe
San Francisco Shock star Jay “sinatraa” Won took over the _ Overwatch _ League in 2019. Remaining consistent through meta and rule changes, the 19-year-old damage player earned his spot on everyone’s _ Overwatch _ radar. The San Francisco Shock reached the Grand Final of each Overwatch League stage in Season 2, and won stage 2 over the Vancouver Titans. Once in the postseason play-offs, the Shock suffered an unexpected early loss to Atlanta Reign. Led by sinatraa, the team went on an incredible lower bracket run to the Grand Final. Their dominance continued in the Final, where Shock came out victorious with a 4-0 scoreline. Along with the _ Overwatch _ League, sinatraa aided Team USA in a victory at the _ Overwatch _ World Cup. Sinatraa was named the MVP of both the _ Overwatch _ League and the _ Overwatch _ World Cup. The standards the 19-year-old set this year will live on in _ Overwatch _ ’s esports hist
_ Tekken _ phenom Arslan “Arslan Ash” Siddique skyrocketed to the top of the fighting game scene in 2019. Though he competed in very few professional events the year prior, Arslan Ash cemented his name in FGC history in 2019. The 24-year-old kicked off the year at Evolution Championship Series Japan, where a lower bracket run ended in a Grand Final victory over Alexandre “AK” Laverez. He next won the TGU x SEA Thailand Major over two-time EVO champion Jae-Min “Knee” Bae. The _ Tekken 7 _ star then doubled up on his EVO Japan title, defeating Knee once again to take home the EVO Las Vegas title. He became the first player to win EVO Japan and Las Vegas in the same y
Spells come with one of three different tags, Slow, Fast, and Burst. These can be used at different times and the opponent will either have a chance to react, or not. Slow spells can be cast outside of combat, but the opponent has time to respond with a spell of their own which can counter the spell you have cast either by cancelling it, or adding conditions that waste its eff
It’s unclear whether universal control over games that operate under the catch-all domain of esports will ever exist. Escalating conflict between streaming platforms that compete for viewer attention certainly isn’t helping the case for unified growth. It’s also worth questioning whether universal control is even needed. Larger titles seem to be doing just fine supporting their own leagues. A 16-year-old just took home $3 million at the first-ever _ Fortnite _ World Cup, after
These points sum up the basic components of the game, and the rest will come with actually playing it. If you’re lucky enough to get into the beta, spam games against the AI opponents to gain easy experience which in turn will unlock an initial bounty of cards to expand your collect
At its core, the game is based on the League of Legends universe, and players can expect see familiar characters and abilities. The basics, like mana, units, and spells will look familiar to anyone who plays a game like Magic: The Gathering or MOBA map guide Hearthstone , but from there it’s a whole new world to expl
Though OG didn’t find consistent Dota 2 success throughout 2019, one player among their ranks powered them to victory at the biggest tournament of the year. Then-19-year-old Anathan “ana” Pham returned to OG in March after an extended hiatus. With ana back on the roster, OG began their climb back to peak form. They qualified for the MDL Disneyland Paris Major, and placed 5-6th at the main event. They then competed in ESL One Birmingham and the EPICENTER Major, placing 7-8th at both tournaments. The International 2019 arrived, and OG immediately exerted their dominance over their group stage opponents. To much surprise, ana played Io, traditionally a support hero, in the carry position. With that out-of-the-box pick, OG were able to top the group stage and secure a play-offs upper bracket berth. OG then took down Evil Geniuses, PSG.LGD, and Team Liquid to become the first team to ever win The International tw
