League of Legends is as much about teams and players as it is about tournaments and 2012 was strong in this department, very strong indeed. Here, we take a look at the five nominees for “Most memorable tournament”.
Season 2 World ChampionshipWhen talking about 2012 tournaments, it is difficult to disregard the crown jewel of Riot Games: the grand conclusion of Season 2 with the record-breaking $2,000,000 prize pool.
To fans’ luck, the event offered even more than it initially suggested, although we are quite sure that at some point the organizers did have enough of unexpected tidbits. Ultimately, S2WC had everything. Drama, cheating and monetary fines. Twelve of the very best teams in the entire world. Good – no, great! – games and matches that went on for hours and hours. Favorites falling and underdogs winning. It had unmatched level of swag which not even the excitement of the grand final itself could surpass.
S2WC might not have been what Riot imagined but it only made it more memorable, if anything.
IPL 5Next on the line is IPL 5 whose line-up screamed “S2WC: The Sequel”. Sixteen teams went to Las Vegas to participate in arguably the best produced LoL tournament to date.
Being scheduled for the end of the year helped IPL 5 even more as even more stories were brought on board. The world champions would try to defend their title while fighting against the rest of Asia’s elite. A shift there was in the “Who’s best in North America” ranking as CLG and Curse left previous NA overlords TSM behind. CLG Europe and World Elite played what is largely considered to be the best series in professional League of Legends.
Truly, one could not wish for a better ending of the 2012 premier season.
The Champions SummerAlthough lacking the glitter and the gold of the aforementioned tournaments, The Champions Summer was unique in its own way. It followed the story of one foreign team thrown into the lions’ den for the amusement of the Korean fans and everyone who held to the “Koreans own white dudes” maxim, one so familiar to the followers of one other game.
The timing of The Champions Summer played a crucial role as it came shortly after Blaze’s first international appearance at MLG Spring which heated up the discussion of can Koreans be stopped if one of the best teams in the world at that point stood no chance.
CLG.eu took to heart to prove that Easterners are not unbeatable and went on to pummel to the ground IM, MVP, World Elite and Najin Sword dropping just a single set in those. A grand finals against Azubu Frost was the most appropriate end to Europeans’ story and despite it was the Koreans who took it all home, CLG’s impeccable run through the event and the immaculate two-win opening in the closing series earns The Champions Summer a place among the nominees.
IEM World ChampionshipIn March, the sixth season of the IEM circuit came to an end in Hannover as IEM WC kicked off under one particular theme: The Russians against everybody else. Alex_Ich and the boys had already proven themselves in Kiev (with Diamondprox even taking home the MVP award of the event) but with the prize and player pools now amplified it was a whole other test.
Nowadays, seeing M5 going undefeated in a tournament would not qualify as something spectacular or deserving GosuAwards and thankfully, IEM Worlds was not all that and Hannover treated fans well, giving them the best of professional League at that point. Remember Voyboy’s Lee Sin terror, the famous “Please beat the Russians” quote, Diamondz’s Shyvana and chapter two in the “See hero, kill hero” opus.
MLG DallasBetween S2WC and IPL 5 there was MLG Fall, the closing event for the North American eSports mastodon.
In its essence, Dallas retold the story of Spring Arena, just magnified. After all, MLG could not bypass the opportunity to delve into that “Asians vs Westerners” deal that everybody was talking about and pitted Blaze and Sword against five NA and one EU team to see if they can replicate the results from other tournaments.
And they did but there was more to MLG Dallas. The tournament ended up having a healthy mix of great games, old rivalries and continued traditions with just enough of each to put it in this category. It witnessed the dramatic encounter between Blaze and Dignitas with one of the most insane late-game scenarios in history; the face-off between CLG NA and
Honestly, why wouldn’t MLG Dallas be here?
