Over the weekend, many professional League of Legends, StarCraft II and Call of Duty players convened in Anaheim, California to compete in Major League Gaming's Spring Championship. But one of the most riveting battles involved American pro Xpecíal's incredible, 40-minute play displaying some of the most impressive unit-control and micro-management I've seen.
For those of you who didn't have the opportunity to follow the whole MLG event, or to rewatch hours and hours of content from multiple streams, we put together more highlights below.
StarCraft II and League of Legends Championship winner spoilers ahead!!!!!
Although the current top Korean players—like Innovation, Flash or Soulkey—didn't participate, Championship Sunday had some pretty exciting matches and even some eSport drama.
A Surprising Winner
Swedish protoss player NaNiwa proved several times that he can win against top Koreans on foreign grounds, and even though PvZ (Protoss vs. Zerg) is not Brood War legend Jaedong's best matchup, NaNiwa's 2-0 against him still was a surprise. Here are the two games they played against each other.
Trash Talking In A Pre-Game Interview
The drama factor reached maximum level before the semi-finals, where NaNiwa fired some shots against one of the best Korean terrans, Polt. The drama starts at 5:24.
Starcraft II Grand Finals
After beating NaNiwa, Polt was about to face his former Korean teammate Hyun in a Best of 5 TvZ (Terran vs. Zerg) finals.
The first game definitely worth a watch, with ultralisks and battlecruisers firing up the late-game.
The fourth game turned out to be an exciting one, too, where both players made some surprising errors, which is something that's unusual at this level.
In the fifth game, Polt was able to take out Hyun's expansions rather quickly with precise drops, securing his first major championship in America.
League of Legends Grand Finals
The replays for the League of Legends Best of 3 finals between compLexity and FXOpen are also up. That's almost 3 hours of intense action featuring FXOpen's win in this year's MLG Spring.
The Other Must-See LoL Match Of The Weekend
Here's the replay between CLG and Team SoloMid, definitely worth a watch.
(Thanks, Spoony)
This Doesn't Usually Happen
The production team cut from gameplay to zoom into the shoutcasters at an awkward moment. You can see them standing in excitement, which isn't how we usually see them on display.
And the "Best sign of the weekend" trophy goes to this guy.
Did you watch the games over the weekend? Which one was your favorite?
top pic: empthebeast; sign: starcraftislife
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