Pokemon Unite Stole The Show At The Pokemon World Championship

thegamer.com:

MOBAs, or Team Battlers as The Pokemon Company would prefer we call them, are designed to be played in arenas. The spectator experience is simply unparalleled. The perspective and cadence make the games easy to follow, even for the uninitiated, and the energy of being there in person is intoxicating. Every big play or last-minute comeback is amplified by the roaring crowd; there’s no other genre that inspires as much edge-of-your seat, nail-biting tension. The MOBA is truly the pinnacle of esports, a fact that Pokemon Unite proved this past weekend at the Pokemon World Championship in London. The tournament was an auspicious debut for the newest addition to the annual event. And while it has a long way to go before it’s as popular as the legacy Pokemon games, the Unite Championship was undeniably the most exciting thing that happened at this year’s World Championship Series.

The $500k tournament played out over two days during the four-day event. Starting on Friday, 13 teams (16 qualified but three were unable to secure their visas) competed in a round-robin group stage. The top eight teams moved on to Day 2 and battled it out in a double elimination bracket, with North America’s BLVKHVND emerging at the end as the undefeated world champions.

I watched nearly every second of the tournament and was completely captivated by it. I’ve played Unite since Day 1, but watching the best teams in the world play in the arena is a totally different experience. Unite feels like it was designed to be watched just as much as it was to be played. There’s a subtle brilliance in the flow and tempo of each game that makes them easy to follow and enthralling to watch. The ten-minute matches are short enough to hold your attention because