Day 36 of the Esports World Cup saw trophies lifted in Call of Duty: MW3, EA Sports FC 24, and StarCraft II!

The most anticipated match of the entire Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III event kicked off Championship Sunday, as OpTic Gaming took on Atlanta FaZe for the first time since May. OpTic Gaming started with a complete blowout on map 1, taking Karachi Hardpoint with a scoreline of 250-92. Atlanta FaZe fought back immediately, winning the Highrise Search and Destroy 6-1, before running with this momentum to close out the series 3-1.

As for the other Semi-Final, things weren’t so competitive, as 100 Thieves destroyed the Vancouver Surge with an impressive 3-0 showing. The only close map was Karachi Control, which was tied at a 2-2 scoreline coming into the final round. However, Vancouver couldn’t hold out on Defense to extend the series.

This set up a Grand Final between 100 Thieves and Atlanta FaZe, which was a much closer affair than everyone had initially expected. Both teams traded blows on the opening two maps, with 100 Thieves grabbing Highrise control to go up 2-1. FaZe would quickly win Karachi Hardpoint in dominant fashion, before streaking together the next two maps to win the Grand Finals 4-2.

Atlanta FaZe would lift the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III trophy, avenging their lacklustre performance at CDL Champs, while also earning themselves a cool $600,000. Cellium would be named the MVP of the event, racking up another $50,000 for himself!

The playoffs and grand final were both played in EA Sports FC 245 yesterday, with all Quarter-Final matches being business as usual. None of the games were particularly close, as reflected in the scorelines:

Arguably the most thrilling EA Sports FC 24 match from yesterday involved jafonso and PHzin, who met in the Semi-Finals. The match ended 7-6 in favour of jafonso, with the other Semi-Final, Young vs AbuMakkah, ending 7-2 to Young.

This created a Grand Final between Young and jafonso: The two players that finished at the very top of Group A. Many expected a tense match, but jafonso came out swinging to open the scoring after just 3 minutes 35 seconds (According to the in-game time), with another coming 7 minutes later. Young would bring one back, however, jafonso would respond with two more, making it 4-1 at half-time.

In the second half, it’s clear that jafonso was playing to protect his lead as Young chased the game. Of course, with Young playing heavily offensive, spaces would open at the back, which would allow jafonso in yet again to extend his lead to 5-1. Young would pull one back, but the final goal would be scored by the EA Sports FC 24 Esports World Cup Champion, jafonso, ending the match 6-2.

An emotional jafonso would lift the trophy, claiming $300,000 from the $1,000,000 prize pool. This also means that Luna Galaxy would receive 1,000 Club Championship Points, solidifying them well within the top 20 organisations at the 2024 EWC.

StarCraft II was just as eventful as the other two game titles, with both of the Semi-Finals being incredibly one-sided. They both ended 4-0, as Serral dismantled Dark and Clem breezed past herO.

This set up the Grand Final that many would have wanted, contested between two of the best players to ever grace the game. Clem started strong, winning Maps 1 and 2, with everything Serral tried being immediately shut down. This trend would continue on Maps 3, 4, and 5, as Clem was crowned the StarCraft II Champion after not dropping a single map on Sunday.

Clem was awarded $400,000 for his incredible efforts and will be immortalised in the history of Esports as his name is added to the first-ever EWC totem. In addition to this, Team Liquid would pick up another 1,000 Club Championship Points, establishing themselves as the clear second-place club behind Team Falcons.

There will now be two days of downtime in the Esports World Cup, until the final week of action gets underway on Wednesday the 21st of August, featuring Tekken 8 and PUBG PC.