MLG Providence was held his past weekend with tournaments for both League of Legends and StarCraft II. While one tournament was significantly larger than the other, both were excellent events with great stories. With the event complete and the 2011 MLG season now at a close, we’re here to provide a recap of what went down in the PC scene for the weekend’s biggest eSports event.
League of Legends
The League of Legends tournament was a smaller with just four teams competing. Epik Gaming came in with the top ranking, placing them as the favorite for the tournament. They proved why as they trounced Team Dignitas in a 2-0 matchup in the first round. Also competing in the first round were both Team SoloMid and RFLX Gaming.
Team Solomid has long been considered one of the best League of Legends teams in the world. However, the group of gamers haven’t ranked at the top of any major tournaments in a while. Counter Logic Gaming, Team Dignitas, and SK Gaming had been stealing the spotlight with recent major tournament wins. However, they managed to knock RFLX out of the tournament, also with a 2-0 victory.
Then they went on to face EpiK Gaming in round two, but Epik pulled out the victory in a 2-1 match. That knocked Team Solomid down into the losers bracket, where they went on to face off against Team Dignitas who had just finished off RFLX, knocking them out of the tournament. That gave Dignitas a chance to defeat Solomid for a chance at a rematch against Epik in the grand final, but it was not meant to be. Dignitas fell.
That led to the championship match. Epik gained the advantage due to their previous defeat of Solomid and only needed two wins while Solomid needed three to secure victory. Once more, the two friendly teams (a member of each literally being brothers) were pitted against each other. However, despite Epik’s previous wins against Solomid and being the favorites of the tournament, Team Solomid came back to show just why they are considered one of the best teams in League of Legends. They crushed Epik with three win streak to take the title of MLG 2011 Grand Champions.
StarCraft II
StarCraft II tournaments have been very good about being both highly entertaining and very surprising. MLG has been no exception to that, with past tournaments showing some very surprising results, highlighting just how competitive the StarCraft II competitive scene is. When MLG Providence began, there was no doubt that many amazing stories, surprising upsets, and hard-fought triumphs were awaiting viewers and players alike. It did not disappoint.
This truly was a tournament unlike what anyone would expected. On Friday, November 18th, the SC2 Global Invitational kicked off the event with a separate tournament. Some of the biggest names in StarCraft 2 were present and accounted for as they went head to head in the small, mini-tournament. In the end, it came down to NesTea, considered one of the best, if not the best, Zerg player in the world and NaNiwa. If you’re a fan of StarCraft II eSports, that second name might have been a little surprising to see. While certainly no weak player, NesTea was the clear favorite. However,to get into the grand final match, NaNiwa took down NesTea’s teammate, Mvp. With very convincing wins, NaNiwa shut down two of the top Korean players in the world to take the Global Invitational.
When the main tournament began, we were treated to a mix of both expected and very unexpected results. Mvp, considered by many to be the best Terran player in the world, showed off his skills by taking out both Rain and Bomber early on. However, he found himself knocked out of the winner’s bracket by MC. While an unfortunate turn of events for Mvp, he shrugged it off and began taking out his competition in the losers bracket, eliminating HerO first.
On his way to meet Mvp was HayprO. Although some have considered him the weakest player on Team Liquid, at MLG Providence, he showed the haters just why he proudly displays Liquid before his tag. While he was knocked out of the winner’s bracket by the largely unknown Leenock, he began to cut his way through the losers bracket with style. Illusion fell, SeleCT fell, KiWiKaKi couldn’t best him, and even the mighty NesTea lost 1-2 against him. This amazing run pitted him in a battle against Mvp, and while he managed to get one win in, the Korean Terran proved to be too much.
That gave Mvp a chance for revenge. MC had just been knocked down into the losers bracket by DongRaeGu, who had an excellent run of his own after knocking Leenock, KiWiKaKi, and MMA into the losers bracket earlier. This match went into an Extended Series, best of 7, because of MC’s earlier win against Mvp. Although this put the Terran player at a disadvantage against the Protoss President, it ultimately didn’t matter. Mvp trounced MC, taking the victories he needed to move on.
While all of this was happening, two other players were working their way through a series of difficult matches. Both of them were taking on extremely talented opponents, and both of them were winning games left and right. The Swedish player, NaNiwa, was one of them. With a later start in the tournament thanks to his high ranking, his first match was a rematch against NesTea, which gave the Zerg a chance for much desired revenge. He didn’t get it. NaNiwa then moved onto face Evil Geniuses’ HuK. A fan favorite, HuK is considered to be one of the best Protoss players in the world, but even he could not stand against this new, dominating NaNiwa. Even NaNiwa’s teammate, DongRaeGu, could not best him in the quarterfinals.
As surprising as NaNiwa’s victories had been, that was nothing compared to a young, 16-year-old, Korean Zerg player named Leenock. MLG Providence was the first time he had ever played outside of Korea and he had joined the tournament through the open bracket. He performed so well that he earned his place in the Championship Bracket and a chance for the $50,000 grand prize. While he was knocked into the losers bracket by DongRaeGu, that didn’t stop him. In the losers bracket, he went up against BoxeR, against Slush, against even MMA. None of them were able to best him. IdrA was next, and IdrA was knocked out of the tournament after a 2-0 victory by Leenock. Next, he faced HuK, but after several unfortunate errors by the fan favorite Protoss, such as cancelling warpgate tech just before it finished, HuK was knocked out of the tournament. In the next match he faced off against Mvp, who had just come off of his victory over MC. Leenock proved that there was, in fact, a Zerg alive who could beat him. Then, in the quarterfinals, Leenock faced off against DongRaeGu, and in a close extended series match, even he fell.
That brought us to the finals. NaNiwa against Leenock. Protoss against Zerg. Foreigner and Korean. It started looking very good for NaNiwa in the first match as he managed to shut Leenock down. However, Leenock came back and managed to score a win in the second game, and then the third. Had NaNiwa won the best of three, he would have been given the championship trophy. However, because Leenock had come up from the losers bracket, this was not enough. Instead, the game went into an extended series, with Leenock ahead 2-1 at the onset.
After being able to see NaNiwa play earlier in the tournament, going up against him a few times, and some lucky early scouts, Leenock must have figured out the Swedish player’s weakness. Although his mechanics were very solid and his micro was incredibly good, NaNiwa had a flaw. In every single match, he went for a forge fast expand. From there, he would almost always do an all-in off of two bases. This gave him a lot of power in mid and late game, but it left him very weak in the early game. Leenock exploited that weakness and punished the Protoss player for it. In the best of seven, Leenock shut down NaNiwa in every game with the Protoss failing to adapt his strategy.
When it was all said and done, the 16-year old kid from Korea that nearly no one people had even heard of before, that had never competed overseas before Providence, was all that remained. The $50,000 grand prize was his, along with the hearts and minds of thousands of new fans.
