The LCS: Professional Gaming, Upsets, and More (Draft)

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Team Fnatic preparing for their second LCS match. Photo by Riot Gaming.

BERLIN, Germany. The EU League Championship Series Team Elements was defeated resolutely by Fnatic, in what some would describe as an unbelievable upset on Jan. 22. This comes despite 73% of fans selecting Elements as the favorite to win, in addition to Elements players Henrik “Froggen” Hansen and Martin “Rekkles” Larsson being considered amongst the greatest players in the world.

The LCS is equivalent to the “regular season” of Professional League Of Legends or LoL – the most popular online multiplayer game in the world, and increasingly so. The LCS takes place with separate conferences in both the EU and North America.

The players of Fnatic themselves seemed astonished. Pierre “Steeelback” Medjaldi triumphantly proclaimed “GG Elements! I am so happy to win this first game!” Sweetening their victory, the player “Steeelback” was in fact Fnatic’s replacement for “Rekkles”, who departed the team last season in order to join Elements’ much stronger roster.

Elements’ defeat iconically became the first of an astounding sequence of upsets in the first week of LCS. With many longstanding powerhouses being bested by newcomers almost completely across the board. Including losses by teams such as Cloud 9 and Team Solomid, both long respected as the very best in North America.

After his team unexpectedly finished 2-0 the first week, the coach of Fnatic, Luis “Deilor” Sevilla gleefully tweeted “We did it boys!! Hope this perfect start is followed by a perfect season. We will continue working for it!” To his delight, Fnatic stands as one of only two remaining undefeated teams in all of LCS, following the now completed second week of LCS.

The emerging popularity of the game has drawn significant attention worldwide, according to Riot Gaming the previous world championship game drew an impressive 37 million viewers. That’s nearly double the viewers of the previous World Series, and almost a third of those who watched this years’ Superbowl.

The success of League of Legends in the realm of professional gaming and athletics has prompted the beginnings of a collegiate level as well. Within Ohio State the groups BuckeyeLan and The Esports Initiative both work to host and promote LoL related events, which grow ever more popular. A local esports organizer for such events voiced his hope to see the scene grow to rival other more traditional sports. He speculated the likelihood that in the near future OSU will join several other major universities in creating an official school team.

Notably two schools, Robert Morris University and The University of Pikeville, KY now offer scholarships to LoL players as participants in a varsity athletic program.

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