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For an esports competition that ran for just seven weeks, the Gfinity Elite Series had more than its fair share of twists and surprises.
While Melbourne Order winning all three titles may lead you to believe the result was a foregone conclusion – anyone who watched the competition can tell you it was anything but.
We’ve looked back on the season that was, and compiled the five biggest boilovers Season 1, 2018 threw our way.
Melbourne Order’s second string line-up had been made to work for come-from-behind victory against Brisbane the week before, but they claim into this clash with their crosstown rivals as slight favourites.
While Avant taking the point in the end wasn’t a massive upset in itself, the fact they rallied from a substantial early deficit was. After being plagued by communication and decision-making errors in a loss to Perth the previous week, Avant rallied in the second half with – bar the semi-final – their best play of the season, claiming a memorable 16-13 win.
Captain MoeyCQ spoke to The Roar after that match, lauding the mental fortitude of his younger teammates in a gruelling, but thrilling win.
The last day of the Street Fighter regular season looked to be opening with a bit of a fizzer. Melbourne Avant, undefeated and looking to wrap up a top finish in the tournament, came up against a Sydney Roar who hadn’t won a single match – coming close on just one occasion.
Avant’s tendency to go the full seven rounds was tipped to finish, with the Melbourne side expected make light work of their opponents in a potential 4-0 sweep.
Instead, the Roar played out of their skins and stunned their highly-fancied rivals. Heading into a seventh and final round, Sydney’s DaleNVRFails completed the monumental upset by inflicting RumoursofGhosts with just his second round loss of the entire campaign.
The 4-3 result proved that, on their day, anyone can beat anyone.
That Street Fighter result wasn’t the only plot twist Week 5 had to offer.
Earlier that weekend, Perth Ground Zero were on their way to the CS:GO finals after two wins to begin the season offset a tough stretch that saw them go down to the frontrunners in the Chiefs and Order.
All they had to do was get past a Deceptors team that hadn’t won a match all season.
But it was Brisbane who came out of the gates as if they were the ones with it all to play for. They got out to a massive first half lead – ahead 8-1 at one point – to have the crowd in disbelief. They’d come close before and faltered – so many didn’t really believe it was happening at the time – but they overcame a difficult second half to post a memorable 16-12 victory.
To add to the ignominy of being the only team to lose to the Deceptors all season, Perth missed the playoffs as a result, surrendering their spot in the postseason to the Sydney Roar.
The first Sydney derby of the Elite Series – a Chiefs-Roar encounter in CS:GO – brought with it a surprisingly large crowd to the arena in Moore Park.
It was a surprising crowd because the match had been billed as a potential bloodbath but, what was even more surprising was that it was a bloodbath indeed.
In the underdogs’ favour.
The Sydney Roar going gangbusters to rack up an incredible 11 rounds in a row before the Chiefs could get a grip on things will long be used by Gfinity as an example of just how even this competition can be.
A newly-created team of free agent professionals and fresh-faced draftees were absolutely wiping the floor with Australia’s most renowned esports organisation.
The 16-2 result was the most lopsided score seen all season, and changed the air of expectation heading into every single match of the tournament afterwards.
Senegal-France 2002. Slovakia-Italy 2010. South Korea-Germany 2018.
While obviously nowhere near on the same level as the aforementioned famous fixtures, they hopefully put into context just how unexpected this result was in the Rocket League playoffs.
The Chiefs’ Rocket League team had barely dropped a round – let alone a match – all season. Their top line-up had competed in the world championships overseas less than a month prior.
The last game they’d lost in an Oceanic tournament was in September – they’d never failed to win an Oceanic tournament in their history.
And yet, the all-conquering, seemingly untouchable Sydney Chiefs found themselves humbled, 4-2, by a Melbourne Avant team that consisted entirely of draftees and had lost more games than they’d won over the regular season.
Not even the most parochial of parents or partners would have genuinely believed Avant were a chance of winning it. But they did.
That result epitomised exactly what the Elite Series and Challenger Series is about – giving ordinary gamers the chance to compete against Australia’s very best. It was easily the most surprising and impactful upset of the season.
Note: Gfinity Australia is a joint venture with HT&E Events. The Roar is published by Conversant Media, which is owned by HT&E.