Take a break from E3 and watch these Esports highlights!
E3 week. The biggest week in the gaming calendar. If you need a break from the amazing new announcements (Dead or Alive! Trials! Doom!), then you should take a look at these Esports Highlights from the Aussie and Kiwi esports scene! Last week was a Gfinity-fest, in celebration of the league’s launch. This week we’ve got a bit of that, but some other stuff too!
Be sure to head over and check out the rest of the esports hub! Remember you can email tips to me [email protected] or you can just click to send me an email. If you want, you can tweet suggestions at me as well, my twitter is down the bottom of this article.
Street Fighter V – Gfinity Australia Elite Series Week 2
There was another derby this week in the Gfinity Elite Series, as Melbourne Order faced off with Melbourne Avant — and it went down to the wire. With Avant winning the Counter-Strike and Order winning the Rocket League, the Street Fighter V competition was where it was decided. A best of 7 showdown, it went all the way to game 7 where RumoursofGhosts faced off against ROF in a Birdie mirror match. They traded rounds, so even that was as close as possible. Rumours won in the end though — watch the clip below.
League of Legends – OPL Split 2 Week 1
The OPL is back! Mammoth Esports made their mark early with a dominating victory over the Bombers. The Chiefs were too strong for Legacy, who are still adjusting to the departure of long time player Sybol. Tectonic — who snagged Sybol, incidentally, were not able to get up over Avant — though they came pretty close. The marquee match saw the Dire Wolves take on ORDER, and it was a barnstormer as both teams traded games. In the clip we’re watching below, the Dire Wolves pull off a beautiful bait to lure ORDER off Baron. They inevitably win this game, thanks largely to the momentum this play gives them.
Rocket League – RLCS S5 Worlds
The RLCS Season 5 Worlds took place over the weekend, giving London something to cheer about! In particular, the London crowd seemed keen to cheer for The Chiefs, who headed over as the top ranked Aussie team, and Tainted Minds, who qualified alongside them. Tainted Minds were knocked out early in a heart breaker, but the Chiefs powered through a couple of tough opponents — Evil Geniuses fell before them, and so too did Team EnVyUs. Sadly they couldn’t defeat Cloud9, nor could they beat eventual champions Team Dignitas. Watch them put on a gorgeous display against EnVyUs below though.
Counter-Strike — Zotac Cup Masters APAC Regional Finals
The Zotac Cup Masters Apac Regional Finals saw Order’s CSGO squad travel to Taipei to compete against some of the best teams from around Asia and the Pacific. The seeding was a little weird — MVP PK and ORDER both wound up in the same bracket, which shouldn’t have happened as they are far-and-away the two best teams present.
This might seem a little weird to complain about, but bracketing is actually a pretty important part of long-term growth for teams. The ability to compete on LAN against the best teams is vital for competitive growth — it’s why events like IEM Sydney are so valuable for the local scene — and simply scrimming them outside of competition isn’t nearly as good. It’s also better for spectators, who want to see the two best teams face off in the finals.
Hopefully Adam Silver takes this into consideration for the NBA Finals next year.
I digress, check out this clip of Liazz from ORDER balling out to secure a round against MVP PK — even if they would eventually lose in a very close third map.
Before we wrap up — this entrance from CJCJ at the Rocket League was legendary, and he auctioned off the car for charity as well, which is an epic effort.
