Esports

Overwatch Pro Blasts Enemy Team Into Oblivion With Moira

Seoul Dynasty’s Ryu Je-hong is one of the best flex and support players in the world, and he showed that much and more in last night’s Overwatch League match against the Houston Outlaws. Moira, the newest addition to Overwatch, hasn’t been making too much of a splash in the competitive scene. But on a control…

Sneaky Defuse Almost Works At Call of Duty Tournament

Blazt was the last man alive for Ground Zero during its match against Luminosity at the Call of Duty World League Dallas stop. But while his opponent passed over him once, unnoticed among the dead around the bomb site, a double-check quickly led to a Luminosity win. There’s been some debate over what caused Octane…

Marvel vs. Capcom Tournament With Special Rules Lets Pro Mess With Opponent’s Controls

This weekend’s Battle For The Stones allowed players who had won past Marvel vs.Capcom: Infinite tournaments to activate “infinity gems.” In the case of Justin Wong, this meant the right to change his opponent’s controls before a game. Justin had gained the Reality Stone by beating its bearer one set earlier in the tournament. Pit…

The Weekend In Esports: Capcom Cup 

2017 continues to wind down but not before some of the year’s biggest tournaments play out in full. This weekend features the annual culmination of endless Street Fighter tournaments with Capcom Cup 2017 as well as lots of action in the world of competitive Call of Duty and Counter-Strike. Below you’ll find where and when…

This Weekend’s Marvel vs. Capcom Trophy Is A Light-Up Infinity Gauntlet

Most trophies take the shape of a cup, goblet, or maybe the side of a mountain. For this weekend’s Battle For The Stones, Capcom has opted for a giant replica of Thanos’ gauntlet, complete with light-up infinity stones. The game (Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite, as we are reminded by the commentators’ backdrop) is all about…

Major Call Of Duty Tournament Delayed Twice After Separate Bomb Threats [Updating]

The Call of Duty World League Dallas tournament was put on hold twice this weekend due to two separate bomb threats, one on the opening day of the event and the second on finals day Sunday. Update [12/10, 5:10 p.m. ET]: Sunday, matches were put on hold as officials on-site evacuated the building. According to…

Faker Plays With His Prey Before Eating It

Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok is recuperating from his heartbreaking loss at this year’s world championships by crushing lesser opponents. After tepidly accepting the 2017 Game Award for Best Esports Player, he faced off against poor Álvaro “VVvert” Miguel Martins in a one-on-one League of Legends All-Star match. League is normally a five-on-five game. One-on-one is played…

Snake Eyez Stands By Street Fighter‘s Massive Bear Hug Man

Darryl “Snake Eyez” Lewis is one of the best Street Fighter players in the country. But he barely cracked the top-64 at last month’s North American Regional Finals Last Chance Qualifier, and he’s only ranked 20th on the Pro Tour headed into this weekend’s Capcom Cup. Why is the 2017 CEO champion going to have…

What It’s Like To Watch Overwatch At A Bar

Yesterday marked the official beginning of Overwatch League, Blizzard’s official multi-million dollar pro Overwatch proving ground. To celebrate the occasion, a San Francisco bar called Brewcade played a couple preseason matches on a big screen. Self-described Deadspin “doofus” Patrick Redford and I ventured there to see how the experience stacked up against watching The Big…

Twitch Man Plays Super Mario World Theme With His Nose, Says He Has Perfect Pitch

Jason Yang is a musician and composer who live streams on Twitch, taking song requests to play on his violin, keyboard, and nose. Pulling up a Super Mario World video, Yang nose-whistles the game’s overworld theme. You can compare Yang’s version to the original Super Nintendo classic While that clip gained traction, what happened immediately…

After A Decade Away, 31-Year-Old Tekken Pro Is Back On Top

Ten years ago, Byeong-mun “Qudans” Son was one of the strongest Tekken Tag Tournament and Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection players on the planet. But professional esports was different then, and in 2007, Qudans largely stepped away from competition as he pursued an education and satisfied South Korea’s requirement of mandatory military service. It wasn’t until…

Riot’s Whiny Esports Ad Gets The Response It Deserves

Desus Nice and The Kid Mero just tackled esports on their comedy talk show, thanks to Riot’s latest masturbatory advertisement showcasing League of Legends pro players. Riot’s video, which juxtaposes clips of notable esports haters like Colin Cowherd with emotional esports moments like Faker crying, argues that people should take esports seriously. Mero doesn’t buy…

Marvel vs. Capcom Pulls Attention From Ugly Characters With Ugly Select Screen

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite showed up to today’s release party with a lopsided character select screen. Infinite’s latest update bolstered the playable cast to include Winter Soldier, Black Widow, and Venom earlier today. They join previous fighters Black Panther, Sigma, and Monster Hunter to comprise the game’s first roster expansion. Those familiar with the two…

DotEmu and Smash.gg have partnered to organize a $10,000 competitive circuit for Windjammers, the intense disc-throwing arcade game that received a PlayStation 4 port last summer. Flying Power League’s first stop is Northeast Championship in Pennsylvania later this month.

The Newest Smash Teen Is Dominating With Luigi

The Super Smash Bros. For Wii U scene is dominated by a few familiar names like ZeRo, MkLeo, and Salem. Not on that list: Matt “Elegant” Fitzpatrick. But after this weekend’s 2GG Championship, where he made a run from the last chance qualifiers to the very top, Elegant might be one to keep an eye…

Philly’s Overwatch League Team Has Pulled Out Of The Entire Preseason

The Philadelphia Fusion, the Comcast-owned Overwatch League team, just pulled out of their pre-season matches, citing “player logistics issues.” The Fusion had been scheduled to play the debut match of the OWL pre-season against the Florida Mayhem tomorrow. Blizzard has announced that the San Francisco Shock will be replacing the Fusion in tomorrow’s match. You’d…

Battlerite Is A True MOBA, And Thank God

Games like League of Legends and Dota, because they cover a lot of ground, are loosely termed Multiplayer Online Battle Arena games. But Battlerite, which left early access in November, is one of the few games to actually meet the technical definition of MOBA, and that’s what makes it such a compelling alternative to the…

Overwatch Gets Separate Currency For League Skins

The moment Blizzard announced team-specific Overwatch skins as part of its effort to make the game more watchable, it was pretty much inevitable that they’d become available to the game’s skin-starved general populace as well. You won’t be unlocking them the normal way, though. In a video released today, OWL commissioner Nate Nanzer explained that…

StarCraft Pro Wins With His Foot, Naps Mid-Match, Thinks He’s The Shit (Update)

Lim “Larva” Hong Gyu proved last night that he can win a StarCraft: Remastered match with his foot. During the finals of the Zotac Cup Masters Showmatch, Larva made quick work of his opponent’s base, and in the game’s final moments, he lifted his bare left foot onto the keyboard to tap in a few…

The Smash 4 Championship Final Was Extremely Satisfying

The fight between Leonardo “MkLeo” Lopez Perez and Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios in the 2GG Championship final was some of the highest-level Smash 4 I’ve ever seen, with incredibly clean play and perceptive reads and adaptions. This weekend’s 2GG Championship was created to be a capstone tournament for the Super Smash Bros. For Wii U scene.…