The Ting Warcraft 3 Invitational is ramping up to herald a new age classic RTS eSports. World champions will once again face each other on the hallowed maps of this legendary eSport .
Warcraft 3's Legacy
It's hard to underestimate the impact that Warcraft 3 has had on gaming. It paved the way for the massive popularity of World of Warcraft while also sowing the seeds of the MOBA genre with Hero centric gameplay. At its height, Warcraft 3 was a premiere eSport that operated in an era before Twitch, before YouTube and before crowd funded tournaments.
Now, 14 years after it's release, Warcraft 3 is still finding a way to remain relevant. If you follow Yoan "ToD" Merlo on Twitter then you already felt rumblings of something great happening:
ToD is former professional Warcraft 3 champion and a legendary Human player. It was this tweet that got the momentum rolling. Now, the crowdfunded tournament hosted by Ting and Matcherino is only 1 month away and has already reached $3,350.09 of its $9,000 goal. Even Blizzard eSports Kim Phan (who used to be a Warcraft 3 commentator) has supported the tournament in the form of a $500 contribution.
What you need to know
The tournament is quickly becoming a who's who of Warcraft 3 and anyone who has never seen the game played at a competitive level should take notice. Warcraft 3 is unlike any other RTS and the micro and macro skills needed to succeed are on a different level than what modern gamers are used to.
As the tournament meets more of it's stretch goals, more famous players will attend. The current player list is as follows:
If you don't recognize these names, take my word for it: this is a star-studded line-up of new school and old school players alike.
Where and when to watch
STREAMS
- English: twitch.tv/esl_wc3
- French: twitch.tv/ogamingtv
- German: twitch.tv/back2warcraft
SCHEDULE
Matches start at 6 pm CET.
September:
- Friday 30th Group A (bo3)
October:
- Saturday 1st Group B (bo3)
- Friday 7th Group C (bo3)
- Saturday 8th Group D (bo3)
- Friday 14th Ro16 Day1 (bo5)
- Saturday 15th Ro16 Day2 (bo5)
- Friday 21th Quarter Finals (bo5)
- Saturday 22nd Semis + finals (bo7)
A revival
Although Warcraft 3 is more than a decade old, it wouldn't be the first eSport to make a comeback thanks to a grassroots tournament. Fans of Super Smash Brothers Melee will remember the "Revival of Melee", a tournament featuring all of the smash greats during a time when the game was at it's absolute lowest popularity. The result was some of the most epic matches in Melee's history and a tournament that almost single-handedly reignited the spark of an eSport that wasn't quite finished yet.
To think of Melee as unpopular is hard to imagine in today's eSports atmosphere and that is all because of the perseverance of the Melee community. What ToD has started with this invitational has similar shades of potential greatness.
