The Arena World Championship 2019 series was decided on the last day of Blizzcon. Method Black has won the Grand Finals championship by defeating the very tough Wildcard Gaming in the final round.
Arena World Championship is a World of Warcraft esport series where rosters face off against each other in PvP matches. These are 3v3 Arena matches, and after a year of intense battles, eight teams qualified for the Grand Finals
Tournament bracket:
Matches were played to determine which teams would be playing the upper bracket, and which teams would be playing the lower bracket.
The upper bracket is for teams that win their series, and the lower is for teams that lose. If a team lost a series in the upperbracket, they would fall into the lower bracket. If a team lost in the lower bracket, they were out of the tournament.
The top two teams, Method Black and Wildcard Gaming, had a long road to the final series.
Method Black defeated Team Medicine 3 – 1, and The Gosu Crew 3 – 1, in the first two rounds of upper bracket play.
Wildcard Gaming defeated Unitas White 3 – 0, and Cloud9 3 – 2, in the first two rounds of upper bracket play.
Method Black and Wildcard Gaming faced off in the Upper Bracket Final, where Method Black won 3 – 1. As per the bracket rules, Wildcard Gaming fell to the lower bracket.
In the Lower Bracket Final, Wildcard Gaming rematched Cloud9 and won 3 – 1.
This set up a rematch with Method Black vs Wildcard Gaming in the Grand Final, and Method Black won again, this time taking 4 – 3 in a best of 7 series.
Here is how the 330,000 USD prize pool was allocated:
First place: Method Black – $132,000
Second place: Wildcard Gaming – $66,000
Third place: Cloud9 – $49,500
Fourth place: The Gosu Crew – $33,000
Fifth and Sixth place: Unitas Blue – $16,500
Fifth and Sixth place: Aztech – $16,500
Seventh and Eighth place: Unitas White – $8,250
Seventh and Eighth place: Team Medicine – $8,250
There was controversy behind how much was up for grabs in the Arena World Championship Grand Finals. Blizzard organized a crowdfunding campaign for the prize pool, and World of Warcraft fans could buy in-game items to support the esport. A portion of each sale was sent into the prize pool for this event; however, click here to read about the conflict.
The Mythic Dungeon International Grand Finals played out during Blizzcon as well. Teams fought their way through mythic dungeons as fast as they could while racing against their opponents, and in the end, Method EU won the championship.
