Much of this week’s bytes is devoted to the glitz, glamor and gaming that was BlizzCon 2017 this past weekend in Anaheim, California. More than 30,000 people gathered meet the people who created their favorite Blizzard games and cheer on top esports competitors during the two day convention.
StarCraft II World Championship Series Global Finals
Winner: Rogue
With two championship titles already under his belt in 2017, Rogue arrived on the global stage at BlizzCon as a favorite to win the whole tournament. Once he got warmed up in the grand final against SoO, he showed the world he definitely deserves the title of WCS Global Champion with a 4–2 series win.
Heroes of the Storm Global Championship Finals
Winning team: MVP Black
MVP Black and Fnatic met in the final match of the HGC Finals after both teams moved past the semis with 3–0 wins. When the dust settled, it was MVP Black standing tall over the Swedish powerhouse with a 3–1 victory after a barnburner of a finale. MVP Black’s unwavering determination and dedication to their craft was enough to secure them their first trophy at BlizzCon.
World of Warcraft Arena World Championship
Winning team: ABC
The European streak continues as ABC sweeps Panda Global in the most decisive championship match in the history of the tournament. Working against a hostile crowd, ABC triumphed behind the Arcane Mage play of Alex ‘Alec’ Sheldrick to bring the WoW Arena trophy to Europe for the fourth straight year.
Overwatch World Cup
Winning nation: South Korea
South Korea was always expected to be the “final boss” at BlizzCon—and runner-up Canada fought valiantly in taking a single map—but in the end the story finished as expected. Ryujehong and company’s sudden vulnerability didn’t make a difference as South Korea goes two-for-two in Overwatch World Cup Championships.
Hearthstone Inn-vitational
Winning team: Grimestreet Grifters
After two days of frenetic and varied play among the 12 community personalities, the Grimestreet Grifters—comprised of Andrey ‘Reynad’ Yanyuk, Hakjun ‘Kranich’ Baek, and Pathra Cadness—emerged victorious. The best-of-11 finals saw the format of each game drawn from a sealed envelope, and players were individually eliminated from the stage until the Grifters claimed the trophy 6–5 over the Chillblade Crusaders.
Blizzard also made some big announcements for its games at BlizzCon, including news that the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty campaign will be free to play starting November 14th. News of Overwatch League also continues to dominate the Blizz and Activision worlds, as the inaugural season begins on January 10th, 2018 and will feature 12 city-based franchise teams.
Summoners War World Arena Championship
In non-BlizzCon news, the Summoners War World Arena Championship is happening November 25th at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Summoners War is a mobile MMO strategy game in which players summon monsters to fight against each other in turn-based combat.
The 16 competitors in the world championship will play for the largest share of the $50,000 prize pool. The players hail from nine cities around the globe, having won regional and online qualifying tournaments to make it this far in the competition.
Players:
- Tomato
- Mr. Pro
- ShallotX
- Z E R O
- 02love0
- Barion
- Psy!
- Tiger
- ChuffIes
- Kabzon
- Thánh-Đỏ5*
- UT-play
- Ojiipen
- Skit
- ZDoL
- iGenus
The Summoners War World Arena Championship is free to attend, and we’re told there will be free swag available! You can pick up a ticket at the Summoner’s War website.
You can watch all the action from home starting November 25th by checking out the tournament on Twitch.
