Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
MLG Summer Championship Wrap-Up
This past weekend was interesting for eSports fans. Raleigh was full of scandal, disqualification, nearly undefeated victories, back and forth championship matchups, and hundreds of hours of eSports goodness.
*Spoilers Ahead*
StarCraft II
Though StarCraft II player Leenock took first place in the MLG tournament, walking away with a cool $25,000, his accomplishment was dwarfed by the Canadian player Scarlett. Scarlett proved herself to be one of the best North American StarCraft II players by taking first place nearly undefeated (only losing one game to TheOgnis) in the World Championship Series North American Finals that were also held at MLG’s Summer Championship. Not only does this mean she won $40,000 in prize money, but she also will be able to go to Shanghai in November to compete in Blizzard’s World Championship Series Tournament which will see representatives from numerous countries competing to be crowned the StarCraft II World Champion.
Mortal Kombat and Soul Calibur V
Mortal Kombat suffered from an upset in the championship game when favorite to win CDjr lost 2-4 to OBS_EMP_REO in a great Kung Lao vs Kabal matchup. Soul Calibur V came down to a mirror matchup between Ramon TSF and Xephukai with both playing Pyrrha, with Xephukai barely pulling out the victory. Xephukai and REO walked away with $6,000 each.
League of Legends
There were some fantastic games played by the League of Legends teams at MLG Raleigh event, but these were largely overshadowed by a game fixing scandal that came to light during the championship games and resulted in MLG disqualifying both Curse and Dignitas and splitting the first and second place prize pools between third through sixth place. Riot Games decided to deny both teams points toward placement in the Season 2 League of Legends Circuit.
Many conflicting accounts of events have been espoused by the different sides involved, making it difficult to determine what actually happened. What is clear is that Curse and Dignitas conferred before the championship and decided to play an All Random All Mid (ARAM) game. After that, accounts begin to contradict. MLG claims that Dignitas and Curse colluded to split the prize money and throw the match. Curse apologized for planning the ARAM, but denied planning to split the prize. Dignitas admitted that some of the allegations were valid, but not which ones. Riot also released a statement clarifying that they did not strip the circuit points because of the ARAM game, but because of the alleged collusion between the two teams.
For those of you interested in belatedly watching the MLG Summer Championship, you can watch all of the action here.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
