Vainglory's First World Championship Has A Winner
Korea's Phoenix Armada is the first world champion of mobile MOBA Vainglory to take home the six-figure prize pool. They beat SoloMid, a North American team, 4-2 in a best-of-seven. The tournament took place at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California.
Phoenix Armada amassed a perfect Group Stage record — never dropping a game — before sweeping their quarterfinal opponent, popular Chinese team Hunters. From there, they bested an accomplished North American team in GankStars Sirius in the semifinals before taking on what many people thought would be their biggest challenge, Team SoloMid. The reigning North American champions could not stem the rising tide of Phoenix Armada, who took home the crown and the lionshare of the $120,000 prize pool.
Vainglory is no joke, and exemplifies the growing popularity of mobile titles in the eSports arena. If you want evidence, look to China, where 24 of the top 100 mobile titles are considered eSports, according to Newzoo. The market will inevitably grow. Whether or not mobile titles while eventually usurp their PC cousins remains an interesting question.
In other Vainglory news, the developers highlighted update 2.0 in a video you can watch below.
