2018 was good to esports. From investment to production, there were plenty of laughs, tears and love, both on and off stage. 2019 promises to be equally fantastic. Joe Grech, Social Media Manager here at Socios.com, took a look at what made last year so amazing.
1- Astralis Grand Slam Win
1- Astralis Grand Slam Win
Astralis (CS:GO) win the Intel Grand Slam by winning 4 Intel/ESL events over the span of 10 tournaments. The winning team was awarded with $1,000,000 prize money.
2- Prime Minister of Denmark speech on esports: “You are truly sportsmen following your dreams”
Danish Prime Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, opened the major international Counter-Strike tournament BLAST Pro Series with a moving and positive speech. It was fantastic to see a big political figure endorsing esports and its athletes.
3- ChrisJ Ace vs Team Liquid at ESL One NY:
ChrisJ, a rather strong AWP player stuck behind triple box and manages to ace Team Liquid taking Mousesports to match point.
4- Skadoodle reaction to Cloud 9 winning the Major:
The most popular team in North America, Cloud 9 managed to beat FaZe Clan in the finals of the Boston Major. Majors are the most prestigious CS:GO events & they have never previously won a major.
5- First non-Korean to win StarCraft Global Finals:
Koreans have always dominated the StarCraft scene, but this was the first time a non-Korean, Joona “Serral” Sotala from Finland, had won the world championships.
6- Insane Widowmaker 4K in Overwatch League
Extremely good positioning by pine, a player for New York Excelsior, on widowmaker. He manages to get behind the enemies and hits some insane quick flicks.
7- Team OG winning moment at Dota 2: The International
No one expected OG to make it so far in The International because new addition Topson had never played at an LAN event before. They managed to win out 3–2 (best of 5), taking home a share of $25,532,177.
8- Sheevers cancer story
A highly emotional story about Sheever, a Dota 2 host/caster and her battle with cancer. She’s an incredibly strong person and role model within the Dota community.
9- Thijs wins a car worth €175,000 (takes the cash prize instead)
Thijs, one of the worlds best-known Hearthstone players, wins the China vs Europe Hearthstone battle with the option to take home an Aston Martin worth €175,000. Not keen on the wheels, he decided to take the cash prize instead.
10- OMG surprise everyone and win the FPP PGI Global Invitational 2018
OMG came into the tournament as an unknown force, however, they managed to take home the trophy at PGI Global Invitational, one of the biggest PUBG tournaments of 2018.
