Monster Gaming Weekly

The series started off well for TL, with the team solidly out-drafting and outplaying C9 in Game 1. Xmithie and the team tracked Svenskeren’s movements and countered C9 on every play. They blew Svenskeren’s flash, turned around a gank in the mid lane a little later, and snowballed the game from there. It looked like Finals might be another sweep.

In Game 2, Cloud 9 hit the gas early on and never let go. This time, they got ahead off a play around the mid lane and killed Xmithie after taking his flash. From there, they established priority in both solo lanes and used it to pressure Team Liquid’s botlane.

Cloud 9 kept the momentum going into Game 3, but Team Liquid started to match them. The early game was bloody but even. Each team made plays on the other and kept within about one thousand gold of each other. Cloud 9 won a fight around the Drake to even the game out and then a fight around Rift Herald to swing the game in their favor.

With a 2-1 lead, it looked like C9’s series to win. Cloud9 even tweeted that “Jensen is finally giving us a #LCS title” and EU team Rogue wrote an early congratulations to Cloud9, albeit, in meme form. But it takes a lot more than tweets to win a series.

In Game 4, Cloud9 got off to another strong start, snowballing Licorice’s Poppy and putting Impact behind two deaths. However, Jensen gradually built a strong lead on his Leblanc while Team Liquid also funneled resources into Doublelift’s Ezreal. The result was a strong poke comp that took over the game by suffocating C9’s mid game and poking them down as big objectives spawned.

Team Liquid’s upward trend didn’t stop and they outright stomped Game 5. They took the lead and scarcely surrendered it, walking in a controlled win and securing their fourth LCS title in a row. Jensen won the series MVP for his deathless performance on Akali in Game 5. NA showed its strength in the finals and Doublelift got the competition he was seeking. He summed it up well in the post-series interview. “They were worthy opponents.” This makes Team Liquid the first team in North America to ever win four back to back LCS championships, cementing their legacy in the region as being the best team of all time in NA.

SmashCon

Smash players didn’t have much time to rest after EVO as another S-tier tournament was right around the corner. Super Smash Con, a full on convention dedicated to all things Super Smash Brothers hosted tournaments with over 3,500 combined entrants. It was a big day for Ultimate and Melee both, with Ultimate clocking in at over 2,700 entrants and Melee at over 850.

Though Melee didn’t have nearly as many entrants, the event drew in most of the top players in the game. That would make it one of the most competitive Melee tournaments of the year! This year’s Smashcon was filled with upsets and some of the biggest came from Team Liquid.

In fact, Team Liquid’s ChuDat had one of the most notable runs in the tournament. ChuDat got sent to the Loser’s Bracket early, getting upset himself by Polish, an up and comer who also beat the likes of KJH and Nintendude. ChuDat was going to have an upset define his tournament, but it wouldn’t be this one. He’d tear through the Loser’s Bracket, beating top competitors like Mike Haze and other surprise bracket threats like PudgyPanda - a fellow Ice Climbers player who beat Team Liquid’s ChillinDude as well as Axe. 

The defining moment of ChuDat’s run wouldn’t be beating PudgyPanda, but finishing what PudgyPanda started. ChuDat eliminated Axe in a tense 3-2 set where he forced Axe to go Marth and Falco. This upset was massive - ChuDat, the 28th ranked player in the world taking out Axe, the 3rd ranked player! The win got ChuDat to 9th place too, well above his 17th seed. It was also some well-timed revenge against Axe, who lead the push to ban wobbling. 

Crunch quietly outperformed his seed too. He had one of his best tournaments in recent memory, beating Jakenshaken, 43rd ranked player on the PGR, and almost eliminating n0ne. Their set went 3-2 on a day when n0ne was in top form and made 5th place. For his phenomenal play, Crunch placed 59 spots above his seed, going out at 25th.

One thing would be consistent - Hungrybox getting into Grand Finals. Hungrybox played mostly as expected, beating top players like S2J, Zain, and Lucky. Though both Lucky and Zain nearly took Hungrybox out, no one would prove a match for him except Leffen. It had been a while since Hbox had faced a Fox of Leffen’s caliber and this time, Leffen would be too much for him. Leffen would 3-0 Hbox twice. With this fresh loss, one of Smash’s greatest rivalries will likely rekindle, with Hbox coming back with adaptations of his own.

On the Ulitmate end, Team Liquid had rougher luck as Dabuz’s Smash Con curse continues. Dabuz placed 33rd in Smashcon 2017 and 2018 and 49th this year, suffering upsets from the hands of two of the biggest bracket dark horses - Riddles and Raffi-X. Still, he got 1st place in Smash 4 singles and with Smash Con behind him, so is its curse.

Shine

August was one busy month for Smash. EVO, Smash Con, and Shine - that’s 3 big tournaments in 4 weeks. Ultimate’s biggest names and top players came to all three of August’s tournaments too. That made Shine 2019 pretty important. This would be the last chance for players to prove themselves in a while.

Team Liquid’s Dabuz was no exception. After a rough break at Smash Con and nerfs to his old main, Olimar, Dabuz had more to prove than usual, and prove himself he did. His first big challenge came in the form of yeti, Minnesota’s best player, ranked 34th on the PGR. After beating yeti in a close 3-2 set, Dabuz got revenge on LeoN, a hidden boss Bowser that upset him and Marss at Defend the North. 

Dabuz battled his way into the Winner’s side of Top 8, where he faced Samsora. It was a battle of the princesses as Dabuz brought out Rosalina to face Samsora’s Peach. Dabuz would keep it close the entire set, bringing Samsora down to last stock, last hit situations but Samsora would take the set in the end. In Loser’s side Dabuz faced Nairo’s Palutena. Nairo would just squeak by Dabuz in a 3-2 set that was one of the closest in the tournament. Though Dabuz couldn’t find his big win, he placed 5th and the razor thin margins in his losses showed that he is still a threat to be reckoned with.

On the Melee side, things went even better for Team Liquid. Hungrybox tore through the tournament, beating S2J, Swedish Delight, and lloD on his way to a first place finish. This year’s Shine lacked Mang0, Zain, Wizzrobe, Plup, and Axe. That meant the biggest threat Hungrybox faced was iBDW, an upcoming Fox ranked 10th in the world, and the player that eliminated him in Summit. Hunbrybox got his revenge with a clean 3-1.

It wasn’t just Hungrybox that made it far. This time, ChuDat went on a run no one saw coming. He showed up to the tournament in vintage form, demonstrating unique techniques and handoffs in bracket. His solo climber - SoPo - looked deadlier than ever and let him take stocks without the wobble. In his run, he beat Captain Smuckers, Moky, Fiction, and Swedish Delight. 

It was no easy task, since Swedish Delight is one of the game’s strongest Sheiks and even has a Peach ready to counter the Ice Climbers. Moky and Fiction are two highly ranked Fox mains and Moky already had a great tournament, eliminating Leffen just earlier. ChuDat’s hardest task would be beating iBDW and he’d fall just short, going 3-2 and placing 4th in the tournament.

Shine had one last surprise, and it was Armada’s return to Melee, this time as a commentator. Armada signed on with Vish to commentate the top 8 of the tournament and capped things off with a wholesome interview with Hbox. The two titans of the game talked about how much they pushed one another to play their absolute best.