The crimson sunset, the smell of the sea and that same “Krasnaya Polyana” should have appeared on my photos from Sochi. But the Open eSports University Games 2024, which took place in the huge Bolshoi Olympic venue, turned out to be much more interesting.
How pleasant it was to wake up and drive to the arena through the beautiful streets of Sirius and communicate with open-minded young players who have not yet become hardened by big e-sports. Some of them had already met each other in public, others met directly during the competition. It was really cool to see them all together discussing parallel matches and supporting potential opponents. However, the tournament was very emotional: every now and then you heard shouts in different languages during the matches and turned around at each one along with the guests.
The championships familiar to viewers from the CIS, which they see on broadcasts, are no different from what the Russian Computer Sports Federation created. A cool arena with day and night illumination, commentators and analysts already familiar to us, and exactly the same emotions from the fans.
Yes, we didn’t see RAMZES666 and dyrachyo, but I’m sure that those guys who played in Sochi will be able to take their places in the future. These are still the same players with high MMR who constantly grind PTS and sort out replays. I talked to several of them, and they really aspire to big eSports, and championships like this certainly help them boost.
There were also a lot of interesting things happening behind the scenes of the tournament: due to my black clothes and badge, I was constantly confused with the organizer and asked to turn on the PlayStation or update the broadcast in the viewing area. The organizers worked as hard as they could to make sure everything went smoothly. I watched the preparation of the stages, the setup of the equipment and the volunteers – this is a colossal job, thanks to which I personally did not have a single problem.
Arena of OKSI-2024
What about Dota 2?
Nine out of ten players rated the Russian team, and it really showed good results, but surprised with defeats from the Mongolian and Indian teams. She lost first in the group stage, after which she confidently moved up the standings, but India prevented her from reaching the upper bracket.
Russia started the midgame with an advantage of 10 thousand, which was helped by several won fights and the Bounty Hunter pick for lupsione, but the team began to make too many mistakes. India caught our players on them, madly pumping up their Morphling, which simply left no chance for anyone. The match ended with a score of 33:28. But India itself later lacked one victory to qualify for the playoffs.
Results of the match between Russia and India
Mongolia became kryptonite for Russia. Having lost to her at the beginning of the group stage, the team again met an opponent in the lower playoff bracket. This time the game was played in the best-of-3 format, which gave the fans a little hope.
On the second map, Mongolia’s advantage began to grow rapidly from the 12th minute, but the third was completely in the hands of Russia, but just one fight forced the Russians to lock themselves in the base, and in the end they still admitted defeat. Participants from Russia earned ₽125 thousand and took sixth place. An interview with the team captain can be read in the material.
Captain of the Russian national team asdekor_r during OKSI-2024
What did you do during breaks?
On the day of the finals, you could play virtual football, hockey, basketball, undergo psychophysiological testing… and still miss a lot of fun activities! It will take more than one hour to walk around all these sites from start to finish.
On October 25, Sochi did not please me with the sun, it was raining continuously, and the sea was not visible at all, but what was happening in the “Bolshoi” really made me smile: a crowd of Colombians dancing in Just Dance, unrealistically beautiful cosplayers Winter Wyvern, Windranger and Muerta , and the crowning moment of outrageous cuteness is an older couple who taught each other how to play Mortal Kombat.
Cosplay of Muerta and Windranger
Winter Wyvern cosplay
Zone VR
Quiz for players
Playstation area
But all good things come to an end sooner or later, Mongolia knocked out Kazakhstan and ended up in the grand final against Serbia. The very moment has come for which 16 teams from all over the world gathered in the warmest spot in Russia.
Do you want the grand final with the victory of Mongolia or my tears?
Even during the pre-match interview, MikSa` from Serbia made it clear that he was confident in his team’s victory.
I was rooting for Mongolia, I really liked their “troika” – Panda. After the tournament, he even received MVP, and his every appearance on the main screen caused a storm of emotions among the audience.
The first card went into the hands of Mongolia. Of course, not in vain: both teams showed unreal skill and that same valid “Dota” that we love so much. The second map was even more equal, the advantage in gold and kills kept changing from one team to another, but several solo moves from the Serbian Pangolier under Sonic Wave, and the Mongols had only one buyback left. The Serbs immediately realized this and broke the throne in a few minutes, and so the score became 1:1.
Decisive card. Mongolia without looking back runs to the enemy high ground to push the last barrack for the appearance of megacreeps, but then an exchange of players occurs, and the Serbian Spear of Mars flies into two of Mongolia’s participants. After this, several Arena of Blood from MikSa` under Dream Coil, and the opponent will completely lose his advantage.
The fairytale story of Mongolia going from underdogs through the lower bracket to victory, it would seem, could come true. But the Serbs were so intent on taking away ₽2 million from Russia that they did not leave their rivals a chance.
Victory of Serbia at OXY-2024
It’s quite an unusual practice for me that after a long trip there wasn’t a single bad memory left. Thinking that the spirit of Dota 2 can only be felt at championships like The International is a huge mistake; at the LAN with aspiring eSports players, the intensity of emotions is no worse. After the tournament, I, together with the Russian and Belarusian players, once again discussed the last event and what went wrong for them, the guys are also excited to take part in OKI-2024. The moment of parting was quite epic – the e-sportsmen were already tired after the championship, pouring rain and mutual hope to meet at other large-scale tournaments.
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Open eSports student games were held from October 22 to 25 at the Bolshoi Sports Palace in Sochi. Teams from 16 countries competed for a prize fund of ₽5 million. You can read more about the results in the report.
