eSportshas grown massively over the years. It has become a massive part of gaming as a whole, and the industry has gotten a lot more mainstream attention. And no doubt it’ll continue to grow. This decade has given us plenty to watch and enjoy, from great plays to underdog stories - and providing fans plenty to cheer about.
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With the industry growing (especially with more and more games turning into eSports,) so has the talent, and each year we’ve been given better and better stories. With that, looking back over the past decade in eSports, here are the top 10 biggest moments.
10Twitch Changes Esports
It may seem strange having this on this list, but withoutTwitch, we wouldn’t know eSports as it is today. Thanks to Twitch, broadcasters have a platform to showcase their eSports to a mass audience live. Twitch has become an enormous platform for streamers, eSports personalities, and the like.
Without Twitch, we would not have seen eSports grow at the rate it has. Now with more platforms coming into the fray, it only means more places to find eSports content. Thanks to this streaming service, eSports has accumulated more fans than ever before.
9Cloud9 Winning NA’s First Major CS: GO Tournament
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past ten years, you would know how close Cloud9, a North American team, has gotten to a major win inCounter-Strike: Global Offensive. From the summer, Cloud9 has had plenty of heartbreaking losses in key events North American CS: GO tournaments, they’ve always just fallen short.
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However, that all changed at the Boston Major in 2018 when Cloud9 finally broke the curse. Seeing off European powerhouses FaZe Clan 22-19 in overtime, to finally win the grand finals with a score of 2-1.
8R6 Esports Looks At Challenging The Top Esports
Rainbow Six Siegehas started to become one of the biggest eSports after slowly gathering more attention. A few years ago, people wouldn’t have seen many speak about the game, but over the past two years,Ubisofthas put plenty of investments into the eSport.
From G2 Esports winning back to back Six Invitationals to Canadian returning to the top, there is a lot to look forward to forR6fans. If this decade builds on the back of the already placed foundations, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the scene get a lot more attention.
7Taipei Assassins Win Worlds
A huge shock for everyone was the historic run of Taipei Assassins in 2019. No one was ready for the League Master Series team to come in with their style or even get very far into the tournament. China and Korea were ready to start their dominance ofLeague of Legends, but plenty of their teams fell out of the competition.
The Taipei Assassins saw off Moscow 5 who was widely regarded as one of the best teams at the time and Azubu Frost, the favorites for the tournament, to lift the first Summoners Cup.
6The Rising Prize Pool Of The International
The International quickly became the most significant event on theDota 2calendar. Since it was introduced in 2011, it brought a lot of attention with its staggering prize pools. In 2014 the prize pool went above $10 million, and since then, it has continued to rise. With more coverage and more interest, it has now grown to close to $35 million.
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Valveis clearly intent on holding the crown of the biggest prize pool in eSports with this, and afterFortnitechallenged it last year, Valve will no doubt raise the prize pool again.
5A 16-Year-Old Wins Fortnite World Cup
Fortnitehas gathered a lot of attention in mainstream media since it’s release. With over $3 million up for grabs in duo and solo events at the Fortnite World Cup. The most substantial talking point was Bugha winning the solo’s event - a 16-year-old winning in eSports isn’t too impressive as plenty has done it before him.
However, mainstream media went crazy for it, which in turn brought more attention to the eSports industry. With him winning it in a solo event as well, it shocked the world that one kid could win this much money.
4The Rise And Fall Of SKT
South Korean Telecom or STK has been a staple ofLeague of Legendsall throughout the decade. They have been the team to beat for so long, building a dynasty over the past ten years. Winning three world titles over four years and being the most successful domestic team in Korea. They had a grip on the world ofLoLeSports that looked like it’ll never be released.
Until the Korean Exodus, plenty of Korean talent went to China for big money, and even some went to America to earn a little bit more. Due to this, KoreanLoLstagnated, and this affected SKT as they started to drop off form and even missing out on worlds in 2018.
3The Gap Be Damned
InLeague of Legends, there is the gap; the gap is the level of talent between the western and eastern teams. For years North American and European Union teams were miles behind those of China and Korea. However, over the past few years, that gap has closed to the point people are saying that the gap no longer exists.
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This was proven at MSI 2019 when for the first time since Worlds Season 1, it was an all-western final. G2 faced off against Team Liquid after seeing off Invictus Gaming and SKT in the semi-finals.
2OG’s Historic Run At TI 2018
OG were massive outsiders for The International 2018, as they were the underdogs of the entire TI competition. After having to rebuild a new team, mere weeks before the tournament starts, after they split the season before. OG just managed to scrape together wins to get through to the upper brackets.
They then had to overcome former champions Evil Geniuses and the high flying PSG.LGD twice. And yet they managed to pull off the miracle run and win 3-2 in the finals to lift up the well deserved the Aegis of Champions.
1The Arslan Ash Wonder Story
The biggest story of last year was a newTekkenchampion being crowned at Evolution Champion Series, otherwise known as EVO. Arslan Ash, a PakistaniTekkenplayer, had visa issues, had to take five flights over two and a half days to attend the event. He couldn’t exchange his currency and arrived at the event 15 minutes before his first game. He then went on to win the whole event and put PakistaniTekkenon the world stage in an incredible story.
If you haven’t seen his run, it’s highly recommended to go back and check it out as it was insane. Ash overcame some of the bestTekkenplayers in the world.
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