Following a three and a half months marathon which started in March, the Nvidia Pro/Am tournament is finally over.
And it wasn’t as most people probably expected. The double elimination bracket was essentially a battle between grizzled veterans and the survivors from the grueling amateur division and ultimately, the former lost. Players like Thijs “ThijsNL” Molendijk, Jeffrey “Trump” Shih, Cong “StrifeCro” Shu and Sebastian “Forsen” Fors were eliminated as early as the first two rounds of the losers bracket.
As the tournament progressed, more and more known names fell out and the only recognizable name that reached far was Tempo Storm captain Andrey “Reynad” Yanyuk. The American has been doing more than well lately, finishing top four in the ESL Legendary Season 2 finals and took another fourth place finish here as well, losing to the eventual champion, Russian underdog Viktor Stay.
Viktor himself fell to the losers bracket after a brutal 0-3 loss to Taiwanese household name Kwo-Ping “Pinpingho” Ho. He then had to go through Dima “Rdu” Radu, “Fiskekaken” from Norway, avenge himself against Pinpingho, beat Reynad, slay LowLandLions’ Maarten “Liveon” Buurman and then win two series against Taiwanese player “Blackspace” to win the trophy.
ViktorStay is thus rewarded with $10,000 and 100 HWC points, a prize comparable to those given at major offline events like HouseCup and ESL Legendary series. These are his first points on the way to the World Championship but he’ll now be contesting players like Kolento, Maverick, Ostkaka, Orange and Lifecoach on the top of the EU standings.
