PAX sure was an intense weekend for eSports – you had the DOTA2 International Finals, the Red Bull LAN and the League of Legends regionals all on the same weekend. It was hard to know what to watch – but the most exciting of these tournaments had to be the League of Legends tourney which had some extremely tense moments and dramatic finishes.
Day four of the tournament kicked off with a grudge match between Counter Logic Gaming and Curse Gaming. The players of Curse were mostly old CLG players, so the tactics were familiar between the two teams. Indeed, the energy was high in the match as these Curse players were out to prove that CLG made a mistake in letting them go. The stakes couldn't have been higher either – the winner of the match not only secured themselves a 3rd place finish, qualifying them for the World Championships, they also would secure themselves a guaranteed salary in the Season 3 Championship Series from Riot.
CLG's unorthodox double teleport strategy allowed for greater map control in game one, throwing Curse against the ropes. Curse knew they had to give it their all, and you could sense their despiration in some of their pushes. However, CLG's superior farming won out and they managed to secure a win after a grueling 45 minute game.
With third place decided, it all came down to the finals between fan favorites Team Solo Mid and Dignitas – despite Dignitas' best efforts, TSM came to win today. With superior coordination in game one, TSM was able to escape team fights with literally slivers of health left, dominating top and mid lanes. This domination led to the tournaments earliest Baron kill at 22 minutes in. Dignitas thought to counter that in game two with their tournament life on the line, switching back to an earlier poke style team composition that had served them well in the semifinals. However, TSM switched gears and went completely on the offensive, steamrolling Dignitas and winning the entire tournament!
Final Results and Winnings
1) Team Solo Mid: $40,000. World Championship Seeded past Group stages. Season 3 Qualified for Salary
2) Dignitas: $30,000, Season 3 Qualified
3) Counter Logic Gaming Prime $25,000, Season 3 Qualified
4) Curse $15,000
5) Team Legion $10,000
6)Team Dynamic $10,000
7) Monomaniac Ferus $10,000
8) TSM Evo $10,000
Congrats to all the participants, and a big thank you to RIot for putting on a wonderful tournament!
Dustin Steiner is GameZone's eSports Correspondent! Follow him on Twitter @VGHC_Deitis and check out Video Gaming Hard Corps, where he is a local tournament organizer for the S. FL. Fighting Game Community.
