eSports at EGX 2015 Preview

The biggest gaming event in the UK is about to invade the NEC in Birmingham for the first time and the larger space means that eSports are finally heading to the event in a major way. Across the four day event multiple eSports tournaments will be held, including the headline $100,000 Counter Strike Global Offensive tournament hosted by Gfinity. With so much going on it will inevitably be difficult to keep up with everything, especially if you are wandering the show floor, so below is almost everything you need to know about eSports at EGX, including the teams to look out for.

Gfinity are leading the charge with eSports at EGX this year hosting not one but two major tournaments featuring world class players. The bigger of the two events is the $100,000 Gfinity Champion of Champions CS:GO tournament that features the top four teams from Gfinity’s events earlier in the year. Fnatic, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team EnvyUs and Virtus Pro are all taking part and are all currently the top 5 CS:GO teams in the world according to the Gosu Gamers rankings so the level of competition will be incredibly high and hopefully very close.

Gfinity at EGX

Fnatic undoubtedly go in as favourites having won ESL One Cologne last month, taking the $100,000 first prize that the event offers. Since then they have lost a few games that many would expect them to win but even in defeat they have looked incredibly strong as they have done for most of the year. Having won both Majors and a whole host of other events including the Gfinity Spring Masters 2 this year it is hard to look past what many consider to be the best team in the world by some way.

However hot on their heels are both Virtus Pro and Team EnVyUs. Virtus Pro actually defeated Fnatic on route to winning the ESL ESEA Dubai Invitational just a few weeks ago dominating them on both Train and Cache but haven’t played since. They are certainly on a good run of form, having placed joint third in Cologne and a good performance at EGX could easily see them walk away with first place. A Fnatic vs Virtus Pro final would be incredibly entertaining.

Hoping to stop that final from happening is EnVyUs who are coming off the back of an undefeated run at DreamHack London, not even dropping a map on route to taking first place. While the calibre of teams may not have been quite as high at DreamHack they sure did look impressive with kennyS and Happy both making some incredible plays to win crucial rounds. If they carry that form into EGX they can certainly go all the way.

Somewhat lagging at the back of the pack, despite still being one of the top teams in the world, are Ninjas in Pyjamas. The squad that just a few months ago looked near unbeatable and were almost considered on a par with Fnatic have had a troublesome few months with inconsistent results. Some events they have looked as strong as ever whereas others they have struggled against weaker opponents. NiP certainly have a chance at EGX but they all need to turn up and play at the top of their game in order for that to happen.

The Gfinity booth at EGX 2014

Before the CS:GO event takes place Gfinity are hosting a $10,000 StarCraft II tournament on the Thursday and Friday. Top level talent such as WCS Season 3 winner Libow and the best independent player in the world MyuNgSik are taking part in a field that features more than a few European players. The players taking part range from the best in the world through to some smaller names that sit outside of the top 100 players in the WCS rankings. Libow and MyuNgSik are perhaps the two favourites with MarineLorD and Patience being outside choices. Seeing any of the other players taking the first place would be a surprise in most people’s books.

As with any Gfinity event they have secured an incredible talent line-up to host the event and cast the games. For the StarCraft event Thomas ‘Khaldor’ Kilian and John ‘Jorosar’ Sargent will be looking over the action along with former pro player Samayan “BlinG” Kay and current StarCraft players Dario “TLO” Wünsch and Antoine “Dayshi” Stievenart. While on the CS:GO side of things one of the biggest Dota 2 casters in the world Toby “Tobiwan” Dawson will be showing off his Counter Strike knowledge along with Henry ‘HenryG’ Greer, Karam ‘Kyanite’ Kabbara and Matt ‘Chewwy’ Smith with Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields set to be on the analyst’s desk.

If you are attending EGX you will also have the chance to meet the players and casters as well as watch all the games live. If you aren’t lucky enough to be attending in person you can watch both the StarCraft and CS:GO events below, with the StarCraft taking place on Thursday and Friday and the CS:GO action taking place on Saturday and Sunday.

Gfinity certainly have the largest eSports presence at EGX but other companies are also getting involved. epic.LAN are hosting a Dota 2 tournament that features some of the UK’s best Dota 2 talent, the final of which will be played on Sunday. Prior to that the booth will offer those in attendance a chance to put their Dota skills to the test and get involved with some live Q&A sessions across the four day event (a full schedule is available here. Due to the nature of UK Dota (constant roster shuffles) it is difficult to call who will emerge victorious but what we can be sure of is that the event will certainly be entertaining as UK Dota never fails to provide in that area.

Ninjas in Pyjamas play at the Gfinity Arena

You can watch the finals of the Dota tournament below on Sunday from 10am, with other broadcasts set to take place across the weekend.

Elsewhere there is a ranking event for the Capcom Pro Tour that will see Europe’s best Street Fighter players battle it out for a share of the £3000 prize pool taking place on the Sunday in the fight zone while Namco Bandai and ESL are hosting open Project Cars tournaments with tons of prizes to be won.