The Perfect MLG Weekend: Or the stories we all crave for

Every big eSports event begins with this: hype.

We get hyped for the prize money, we get hyped for the teams and players, we get hyped for the sheer essence of competition which puts a name against another and which awards, first and foremost, the victory. Being the North American mastodont that it is, MLG is no different as it vigorously paces towards its Fall Championship with its eight teams and $30,000 in the pocket.

We’ve all lived since the last season and many a thing changed in professional League. At Summer Arena, the Americans were first tested against Koreans, and they lost. Summer Championship was tarnished by a boyish display of dodgery and contumacy. And last month, at the Season 2 World Championship, the westerners were again paired with the Asians and their unexplainable proficiency in RTS games to be smacked down once again. Lessons were learned and promises were made by everybody and to everybody. Now, MLG Fall comes to collect the tolls.

In a timely fashion we might add, arriving sharply to rekindle community’s interest in eSports, something that was, very naturally, having a rest after the world finals. It’s a day to get excited about everything mentioned above but, most of all, get hyped about the stories.

Stories which, should they happen, compose the perfect MLG weekend, the one we know that you know that you want (or at least the one we want but let’s pretend for a second that those desires are applicable to our readers as well) .

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In a sick and twisted way, CLG.eu were one of the highlights of the World Championship and not entirely because they were the other foreign team to make it the farthest. CLG.eu “charmed” the crowd by playing their trademark late-game oriented style which, ironically, ended up in a tandem with dramatical disconnects marking the unfortunate end of not one or two games, an hour-long cat-and-mouse fest included.

In the eve of MLG Fall, even die-hard CLG.eu supporters are praying for quicker games. Cheering for ward kills was fun (though my joy might have been a product of the delirious haze instilled by being awake during the marvelously scheduled CET broadcast hours) but I can’t imagine laughing at the same joke twice.

Here’s to CLG.eu winning their games before the 30th minute. Or before Sandy makes its way to goddamn Dallas, following the European squad like some biblical plague, destroying MLG satellite property in the process.

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Competing with SK Gaming in the “Most roster changes” category, CLG never stop to surprise the community, their constant role swaps dazing even their most dedicated fans. The biggest props from this: Chauster gets to be the first LoL professional to have played every single role imaginable.

Realistically, there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that CLG Prime can make something happen a week after benching who is considered to be the best top laner in North America, getting a whole new player, forcing a support into the jungle and having their previous jungler relearning top lane. Still, if this weird machine clicks and does manage to not go 0-4 (or gets carried by Bigfatlp alone), it will become one of the best stories in the entire tournament for certain.

The alternative is CLG end up playing purple only, do go 0-4, Hotshot benches himself and makes reddit explode in thunderous applauds and “bout time”-s. Come to think of it, there seems to be no bad ending to this story.

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Throughout the entire Season 2, TSM have made one thing clear - they don’t need to play NА teams to prove themselves any more. Every American LAN belonged to them and after the S2WC slip up, they are back to owning the scene, snatching two back-to-back Solomid Series.

In fact, it’s exactly that slip-up they need to wash out. Their teamwork is flawless enough to make short work of the foreign competition, it’s those tower-pushing strategies they need to fight off. This is also a personal test for Dyrus, who always says that the next time he lanes against a Korean it’ll be different but it never is.

TSM failed in both departments at Summer Arena and S2WC and doing this for the third time won’t be much of a story.

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Everybody loves a Cinderella story and with TD paired with Blaze in the round one, we might be up for an exciting first chapter. Also, it’s just boring when things go according to plan.

What are the chances of this happening, though? Frankly, a bit low. Team Dynamic are coming in with a last minute substitute in middle and although they've placed high in premier tournaments more often than not, as a rule they are always behind America’s bannermen. Fortunately, low prospects only make it more interesting and a top four with this team pool might sound the trumpets loud enough to announce there's a new dog in town.

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Let’s put it out on the table: if you like the stale meta of every other offline event you are a bitter disappointment and you hate professional League. This is not about Ezreal only; we’re talking about the irrevocable Karthus/Orianna battles in middle, the permabanning of Alistar and Shen and the world where every support is inferior to Sona and Leona.

As it’s very likely that Fall Championship will be played on the perennial patch, the odds for a dynamic meta are diminutive but here’s hoping for at least one max range Ashe arrow stun, some manic Singed plays, a brief appearance of the League of Draven, Anivia supports, roaming promote Sorakas and just everything else that brings on a smile on viewer’s face during the lobby phase.

Furthermore, I really don’t want to copy-paste another identical statistics table.

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Unfortunately, with zero circuit points on the line, it’s very likely that a potential face off between the two be degraded to a simple ARAM or, god forbid, a proper game.

And that, my friends, is likely to not be the highlight of the tournament.

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Ultimately, this is how it should - no, must! - end. Foreigners versus Koreans has been a thing in StarCraft for a long time and it’s still the most vigorously consumed story in the scene. With League of Legends catching up to this paradigm and with S2WC still fresh and reminding the world which is the “superior gaming race”, there’s the feeling that this is just the right way that Fall Championship should end. West must go against East, power levels must be reevaluated, the invulnerability myth about the latter must be busted (or confirmed) and same goes for the former and the “here to only make show” label that was recently imposed upon them.

Whoever loses... we win. It's the essential final stroke that'll complete the vista worthy of Claude Monet's canvas.


This list is author's personal preference only, feel free to tell him how wrong he is by posting your own.
The author also had to Google Claud Monet.