This season of the league began almost two months ago with an initial best-of-1 map round-robin league with the top four teams then making it into a best-of-three map knockout playoff stage to find the two finalists which will play at LAN in the Vodafone Theater, Milan.
The venue of the LAN Finals, the Vodafone Theatre, via their website
The Teams
At the end of the online season Mkers, EnD Gaming, Cyberground Gaming and Outplayed made it to the playoffs with the second and fourth-seeded teams - EnD and Outplayed - making it through to the eventual finals.
EnD Gaming - Torok, Alation, sNakj, Hunter, Peak and Boroz (their coach)
EnD Gaming will be coming into this tournament as the most experienced team in Italy and so likely favourites to take the title. The core of this roster played in Pro League way back during Seasons 1 and 2 and has since played in the last three straight seasons of the Challenger League and was crowned the two-times reigning Italian Champions over the last year. Since the last Italia Championships Finals, however, the roster has dropped one of the original members of EnD, Fratelli, and picked up sNakj, a player which has moved between two of the top teams in Italy - EnD and iDomina - a number of times.
In the lead up to this event, we spoke to Torok, the team captain of EnD Gaming about his team's upcoming games and the season so far; this is what he had to say.
Q: Third consecutive final for you and so the chance to win three titles in a row, how do you feel in facing this challenge, anxiety because everyone expects your victory or security because now you are used to these situations?
Q: You will face Outplayed, a strong team with experienced players, such as eLTunisianoX or namea, do you believe they can put you in trouble, and if so, how?
Outplayed - Namea, waNted, freddo, Sloppy, eLTunisianoX and mazzeK (their manager)
Following last season of the ESL Italia, three members of the Outplayed roster left the team to form Mkers, an extremely promising roster which topped the league this season. This meant many people were very surprised when a newly formed Outplayed roster managed to defeat Mkers in the playoffs in an extremely close three map game to make the grand finals.
This new Outplayed roster, however, does include a number of recognisable names; both Sloppy and waNted have played alongside EnD Gaming in international tournaments, namea previously played with the core of Team Empire back when they were known as Edenity and eLTunisianoX played in Pro League throughout Year 1 on a number of teams alongside pannari, Shatte, z1ronic, Renuilz and Secretly which shows this roster has what it takes to cause a real upset in this tournament. We spoke to Sloppy about his team and his history with EnD Gaming.
Q: First of all you and Cyberground Gaming are the only teams in this League that communicate in English, do you think that this factor has affected your season?
Q: You were a member of EnD for a while but then you came back to Outplayed, do you think this factor could affect the upcoming Finals? This factor could be the turning point for your possible victory, how do you feel in knowing that you are essential in this particular match?
The Broadcast
You can watch this matchup on the esl_it Twitch account from 3:30PM cast by the Italian casters of Edoardo “Eddie” Cianciosi and Giulio “JhonsonTV” Gungui or, alternatively, cast in English by Harry "Demo" Dempster and Stijn "Hap" Hapers on the esl_r6s Twitch channel.
We spoke to the Italian language caster and ex-XBOX pro player, Eddie, in the leadup to the event to ask him about the growth of the Italian R6 scene and his predictions for the finals.
Q: This is the third season of the Italian National Championships; in your opinion what has it improved and in what way can it still be improved?
Q: How do you see the Italian scene compared to the international one? Let's remember that Italy does not have a representation in Pro League since the second season of the first year; from your perspective, of a former pro player, what do you think Italian teams must do to reach a professional level?
Q: Outplayed against EnD, it is mandatory to ask you who do you think will be the Champion of the ESL Italia Winter Championship 2018?
For those who live locally, there is still a chance to attend with free admission to all visitors, however, you do still need to register here!
Keep up to date with the tournament and future seasons of the ESL Italia right here at SiegeGG!