Redbull presents the Starcraft II Xel’Naga tournament. The Xel’Naga isa unique tournament in that it pairs pro Starcraft II players, accustom to playing one v one, with an amateur chosen via online drawing in a team format. There is also an audience participation element that can swing a game in favor of one team or the other. The home audience watching online and the live audience at PAX are given a chance to vote every few minutes on whether or not to help or hinder one of the competing teams. The Xel’Naga is a tournament unlike any other, skill and daring will only get you so far, the affection of a fickle audience is a necessary component of victory.
Day One: Hosts Mike “Husky” Lamond and Sean Day[9] Plott make their introductions and give an overview of what the Xel’Naga is. Each day of the three day tournament has its own theme, and day one is fire. The fire theme offers unique voting options: Treasure Banelings offer an economic boost to which ever team can collect while “Moving Minerals” takes all the precious ore resources and relocates them to the center of the map.Audience determined nuke strikes can flatten a player’s base or decimate a carefully crafted army. Invincible demons are on offer to fight for one side or the other. If you prefer your audience controlled chaos perhaps a hell gate or two that spawn autonomous demons who fight for no one would be more to your liking. Or, how about random nuke strikes? Raining nukes at random for a full two and a half minutes sure does shake up a Starcraft match.
Match One: Team Illusion headed by pro player… Illusion, takes on Team WhiteRa headed by pro player… WhiteRa. They were very creative with the team names. Game one was won by Team WhiteRa, while game two was mostly handed to Team Illusion forcing a third game. Game three clocked in 50 minutes! About as long as games one and two combine. Game three was a see-saw battle. The air was thick with falling nukes as the audience teased and toyed with the players. In the end Team Illusion came out on top, taking the match 2-1.
Match Two: Team Machine headed by pro player Machine was up against Team NonY lead by pro player NonY. Game one saw a pair of early Banelings who’s wealth boost lead to some quick unit build up and an early large skirmish. A nuclear rain was the deciding factor, Team Machine was the victim of fate and Team NonY pulled out the win. NonY demonstrated some great heads up play and on the fly defense. In the end the audience once again forced a third game. Game three featured the best climax of the night. In an effort to even things out Day9 dropped a bunch of nukes all over NonY. In an amazing feat NonY maneuvered a rather sizable army in some close quarters dodging every nuclear blast and going on to win the game and match shortly there after.