OK, so I told Lone I wasn’t going to write about this, but after watching the Starcraft II WCS Europe Round of 16, Group A competition today, I had to share, because the series between HasuObs and Grubby was FRAKKING GORGEOUS. Easily my favorite series of the day, the competition was so intense that it ran nearly double what a standard matchup would have, even going so far as to push back the start of the WCS America broadcast later in the day. Each of these matches is a constant back and forth between two absolute masters bringing everything they had to bear.

The final game of the day between Grubby and MvP, which starts at 28:10, was also incredible, though far shorter. Grubby lost the first game of the series, and often seemed to be right on the verge of losing to MvP’s incredibly aggressive style, but managed to overcome and pull off the wins needed to advance to the round of eight. It’s worth it to stick around to the end to see Grubby’s reaction to his win.

The day ended with German underdog HasuObs taking down former WCS EU champion, and favorite to win, MvP to win the day. MvP then fell in the lower bracket to The Netherlands’ Grubby. Both Grubby and HasuObs will move on to compete with the other winners of the round of 16 groups to play in the days to come.

This day of competition sums up so much of why I love eSports. If this is what it’s like at the round of 16, I can only imagine what the subsequent rounds will be like. The skill and passion displayed by the competitors today was so much fun to watch, and it’s games and players like these that are why eSports will continue to grow.