Major League Gaming’s Summer Season started this weekend with their first event, the Starcraft 2 Summer Arena. This event took place in MLG’s headquarters in New York, where 32 of the worlds best Starcraft 2 players battled over a $26,400 prize pool as well as a chance to compete in the Summer Championship latter this summer. Many of the worlds best players attended this event including fan favorites such as Stephano, Sase, and Alicia, as well as many up and coming players.
The event was very exciting, and filled with many intense matches, however none were as intense as the final match between Taeja and Alicia. The top-seeded Alicia was definitely the expected victor, yet Taeja was able to defeat him 4 games to 2, winning the event for himself and his team, Team Liquid. As victor, Taeja was rewarded with $10,000. Alicia earned $6,000 for second place. Finishing in third and fourth place were First and Oz, who both received $2,900. Stephano and Losira finished in fifth and sixth, earning $1,400 each and the seventh and eighth place finishers, Alive and Hero both earned $900. Finishing from ninth to sixteenth were Ganzi, Violet, Ryung, Daisy, Puma, Rain, Goody, and Revival who did not win any money, but all earned the chance to compete in the Summer Championship along with the rest of the top sixteen finishers.
Obviously, this event brought some amazing Starcraft action for fans to watch. In previous Arena’s, MLG has charged fans to watch the streams. However, This was the first Arena that MLG provided a free stream, so fans could experience the action with out having to pay. This is was made possible by MLGs sponsor, Full Sail University. This sort of sponsorship is great for competitive Starcraft as well as eSports in general, as it not only provides existing fans with free content to watch, but also gives new potential eSports fans a way to experience the exciting world of eSports.
This exciting event was just the beginning of what promises to be an amazing Summer Season for MLG. The next scheduled event is the League of Legends Summer Arena, taking place from August 3-5, followed by Soul Caliber V and Mortal Kombat Fighter Arena, taken place August 10. These all lead up to the Summer Championship which will take place from August 24-26 and feature all of these games. So whether you are a Starcraft, League of Legends, Soul Caliber V, Mortal Kombat, fan, or a fan of all of the above, there is much more exciting action in the near future for MLGs Summer Season.
