SMITE World Championship Round Up .

Over the last week MMOGames has been covering the 2015 SMITE World Championship Series (SWC). The event was absolutely insane. From the new reveals down to the caliber of the match qualities, SWC has bordered on unbelievable. Now that the World Championship has come to a close, we take a moment to reflect on the highlights and incredible moments from the inaugural SWC.

One thing that surprised me was the turnout for the event. Even on day one the Cobb Energy Centre was packed to the brim. Almost all of the seats were full and the hallways were littered with people. It quickly began to sink in, this was a big deal, SMITE has arrived and is a legitimate eSport. The excitement was rampant throughout the building. Eager fans and media were ready to see if the SWC would live up to the hype that surrounded it. From the beginning of the opening ceremony, there was little doubt in my mind that we were in for something special.

During the course of the event, they had a special room set up which they dubbed “The Hall of the Gods”. The huge room featured a giant screen to allow for easy viewing of the matches. The center of the room was set up with nice comfortable couches and big TVs so eager players could try out the Xbox One version of the game. My personal favorite part of The Hall of the Gods was the 25 or so computers they had set up for playing the PC version of the game. At first, I was wondering why anyone would be interested in playing something they could easily enjoy at home. I was surprised to find it was a different and engaging experience.

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Having had limited time with the game, it was nice to have players around me who could give advice and tips on how to better my own personal performance. The atmosphere was laid back and it made for a couple very enjoyable sessions. At one point I even had the opportunity to get some tips and tricks from Hi-Rez project manager Gavin Bigelow. Who was more than willing to help me learn how to play Scylla for the first time.

While the Hall of the Gods was a wonderful touch, we were there to see one thing- the matches. Going in to day one, everybody was curious to see how the first stage of the SWC would play out. For the most part the rounds went as expected. The top seeded American team, Cog Red, made quick work of Chinese team DID (Doge is Dog). Match two proceeded in a very similar fashion with Europe’s Top seed destroying the Latin American team We love Bacon.

The first real surprise of the tournament came in the third match. Europe’s second seed, Titan versus China’s top seeded Team OMG. In the early and mid game OMG dominated the field, quickly controlling the jungle and wracking up some kills. Titan showed quickly that it wasn’t over and their picks and bans paid off in the end. Titan had the late game composition and eventually worked off the gold and experience differential to win the game.

Titan is the king of late game comebacks. When working through the challenger cup, they got in by the skin of their teeth and thus were not taken very seriously going in to the SWC. Even though Titan won the match, everyone was talking about OMGs performance, making an effort to note that China was playing better than expected, considering the game is still currently in closed Beta for that region.

For the most part, the rest of day one held very few surprises and went almost exactly as predicted. With one notable exception. The 7^th match of the day, SK Gaming versus Cog Red. The American team was expected to obliterate SK gaming, but that was not the case. The game started out in slight favor of Cog Red as they managed to get first blood. For most of the match the game was neck and neck. Both teams were delivering a first class performance and a prime example showing the “tug of war” aspects of the MOBA genre. In the end, Cog Red over extended themselves allowing SK Gaming to pull ahead and secure the match.

With day one complete, and going mostly as expected, the audience was curious what surprises day two would hold. The general consensus was that we would have a good feel on the what the outcome of the event would be by the end of day 2.

The quarter finals went almost exactly as predicted. In the first match between Titan and We Love Bacon. The European underdog showed exactly why they won the challenger cup. Making quick breakfast of We Love Bacon and burning them to a crisp.

The second of the two quarter finals pitted OMG against Cog Red. The North American team executed their plan in an utterly flawless manner. Cog Red devastated their opponent in a 2-0 clean sweep. DeGarz’ who played Thor both matches dominated as the teams Carry. Even though OMG put on a great performance for China, the country shows they have a long way to come if they want to be a serious contender in next years championship.

The Semi Finals are where things start to get really intense. The following two matches were a battle of the continents. Forcing the two European teams and the two American teams to face off in a battle of wits. No matter what, the final would be an American team dukeing it out against a European team. Now all we had to find out was who would make it through the proceeding bloodbath.

Europe was up first. A match between the underdog Titan and the well established SK gaming. The statistical favorite being SK. Both of these teams scrimmage almost exclusively against each other. In the end this turned out to be a huge advantage for Titan. The underdog greatly out picked SK and shred their opponent to pieces. The crowd was completely shocked by the outcome and Titan quickly became the story of the event.

The next match was a Cog on Cog series. With the young but fierce Cog Red facing off against the older and more experienced Cog Prime. Again, in similar fashion, these teams scrimmage almost exclusively against each other. This time experience won out over youthful exuberance. Cog Red did manage to snag one game away from prime bringing the series to a 2-1 final.

Day two was officially over and the anticipation over the final was huge. Would it be the newly established Titan or the fan favorites Cog Prime? One things for sure, we were all restless to find out. The final day of the tournament was packed. Somehow they managed to fit even more people in the the Cobb Energy Centere, all of whom where patiently waiting for the final.

The air was thick and the mood was tense as the two teams headed to the stage. The Fans roared out in support of Cog Prime, the clear fan favorites for the championship round. This match would be a best of five scenario and promised to be one of the most exciting games in eSports history.Match one and two quickly went to Cog Prime. It was a sad sight to see and many, including Cog Prime themselves thought it would be a quick 3-0 sweep. It was almost saddening to see, the crowd looked disappointed and everyone was really hoping for a more interesting match up.

It wasn’t over yet though. Titan had a pocket strategy that Cog Prime was not prepared to deal with. Support player Kanyelife drafted in Ares for game three. Previously, Ares had been considered unplayable in professional meta. Fans and commentators alike where surprised by the pick, but it turns out it was the right one. Kanyelife delivered an absolutely flawless performance, ensuring the match would go to game 4.

The 4^th match proceeded in a very similar fashion to third. Kanye life managing to get Ares again. The picks and bans for Titan allowed them to easily control the jungle and laning of the game. Cog Red seemed besides themselves as they lost yet another game, moving this to a five game series.

Game 5 went quite a bit different. Cog Prime quickly banned Ares, disrupting Titan’s overall game plan. A huge mistake was made on Titans part, Cog Prime managed to pick Ayo Kung, who had been banned for most of the tournament and for good reason. Andinster showed the crowd the power of Ayo Kung as him and MLCSt3alth led their team to a quick victory. The crowd went insane as Cog Prime was crowned the first ever winner of the Smite World Championship Series.

The event was way better than expected. The final, which was looking to be a snoozefest quickly turned in to one of the most intense matches ever played in the eSports world. All the teams involved performed really well and it will be interesting to see how the meta in Season 2 plays out.

MMOGames has tons of additional content on SMITE and the SWC. Including more detailed analysis of the three days, an Xbox preview and much more. All of our other fascinating content can be found here.