Injustice 2 esports sportsmanship offset by Overwatch esports drama
There are good deeds. Then there are truly special deeds.
There are times when you come across someone doing deeds for someone else, but this week saw a leading Injustice 2 esports player do something truly special. On-the-other-hand, Toronto-based esports team for Overwatch pulls out due to branding issues, and we wrap up the Rocket League Championship with Cloud9 taking the trophy home.
Good guy SonicFox
Dominique "SonicFox" McLean won the largest Injustice 2 tournament this year, but even though the headline is of the incredibly talented player taking the title once again, it was his donation of $10,000 of the $100,000 earnings from the prize pool to his opponent, Curtis "Rewind" McCall.
As reported by Kotaku, during the post-finale interview, McLean decided to bring up McCall's father, who was diagnosed with stage three cancer. To offer some form of support, McLean said he would donate $10,000 of his winnings to McCall's family, stating he doesn't participate solely for the money.
Now that is true sportsmanship.
Toronto Esports pulls out of Overwatch
Toronto Esports announced the organization will be pulling out of Overwatch after Blizzard informed the company it would have to re-brand to continue competing. The reason behind the request is down to Toronto Defiant having exclusive rights to the Toronto name within Blizzard Overwatch leagues and tournaments.
In the announcement, Toronto Esports stated "good riddance" on leaving the Overwatch League, which was met with some degree of criticism.
We have been informed by Blizzard that we will be forced to remove “Toronto” from our brand in only 6 weeks. Mid Contenders season 3. The reason cited: @TorontoDefiant have purchased “exclusive naming rights”. We will be leaving Overwatch effective immediately. Good riddance.We have been informed by Blizzard that we will be forced to remove “Toronto” from our brand in only 6 weeks. Mid Contenders season 3. The reason cited: @TorontoDefiant have purchased “exclusive naming rights”. We will be leaving Overwatch effective immediately. Good riddance.— TO (@TOesports) November 13, 2018November 13, 2018
It may have been a better route for the organization to rebrand in an attempt to maintain a position and not lose its identity, all whilst protesting against Blizzard's decision. Would be interesting if the Premier League did the same to Manchester United and Manchester City football clubs, both based in Manchester, UK.
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Cloud9 takes home RLCS trophy
This year has had some of the best Rocket League gameplay we've seen so far and thousands of viewers tuned into the Rocket League Championship final between Cloud9 and Dignitas. Mariano "SquishyMuffinz" Arruda, Jesus "Gimmick" Parra, and Kyle "Torment" Storer scored countless stunners and performed some insane mid-air acrobatics as they took down Dignitas.
Incredible performance on both fronts. Cloud9 took home $200,000 in prize money.
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- World of Warcraft Arena World Championship Finals - October 29, watch on Twitch.
Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.