“I just had a moment. I can’t believe we’re in a cinema watching League of Legends.”

That’s what my friend had to say as we sat waiting for game one of the League of Legends’ Oceanic Pro League Final to start. Two teams, Chiefs and Legacy, were about to battle it out at Luna Park in Sydney for a little bit of Oceanic Esports history and there we were, in a cinema in West Melbourne, waiting for the show.

We’d picked up our showbags and our collectors cups and rifled through them for the goodies inside. We inflated our clappers and waited. We didn’t have to wait long as the voice of Julian ‘Pastrytime’ Carr welcomed us to what was to be the biggest Esports final in Oceanic history. The analyst desk was overlooking Sydney Harbour with the Bridge in the background.

I was struck with pride.

Aussie Esports has come so far. I remember the first major final at PAX 2013, before Riot Games had affirmed their commitment to Oceania as a region. There were something like 500 viewers at PAX and maybe another 2000 online. Luna Park alone held 6000 people, plus whatever the Twitch viewer count was. Local Esports has grown so much and this was the proof.

I was soon drawn out of my reverie as picks and bans started for game one. The Chiefs draft was strong, but Legacy outscaled them in the late game. Legacy had found success in the past with this strategy, drawing games out for long enough that one good teamfight would secure them the game. It had won them two previous best-of series against the Chiefs in fact, and had secured them last year’s winter final. The Chiefs knew this. They were ready. They took immediate map control and worked to their comps strong points. They made picks all over the map. Their vision was strong and their damage was high. The Chiefs took game one in a little over 30 minutes.

Legacy were determined their composition would work, drafting a similar team for game two. The Chiefs adapted. They used the draft to transition into a poke comp with power in all lanes. Legacy looked to have found their footing early, using their mid laner and marksman to great effect. The Chiefs would not be denied so soon. One mid game team fight right as the Chiefs hit their power spike sealed the fate of Legacy for game two. The combination of Swip3rR’s split pushing Fizz with the raw damage of Swiffer’s Jayce proved far too much for Legacy’s scaling comp. Chiefs took the victory at 35 minutes.

Legacy were reeling. Carbon was angry. Minkywhale looked downtrodden after two rough games. This was their last life. It was now or never. They had to take a risk. It was time to take the fight to the Chiefs. Legacy picked a mid game spiking team comp, focused around the Varus of their mid-laner ChuChuZ. Carbon took it upon himself to win the game, picking a playmaking jungler. It was the Chiefs’ turn to pick a heavy scaling composition, a “Jugger-Lucian” comp focused on protecting their Marksman Raydere. Carbon ganked the mid lane early and just narrowly missed first blood. The player cam flashed to him and he was angry. Yelling. Spookz, the jungler for Chiefs, arrived mid with his trademark impeccable timing. He forced ChuChuZ to use his valuable escape spells. This made Carbon even angrier. He returned to mid, bringing Minky with him. They secured first blood for ChuChuZ and Legacy never looked back. Their map movement and playmaking gave them advantage after advantage. Minky was an unbreakable shield. Legacy took the fight to the Chiefs and came away victors in game three after just 27 minutes.

The air in the cinema was thick. People were thrilled. Legacy had finally switched on and we had a proper final on our hands. Everybody expected Chiefs to win but deep down everybody was pumped for Legacy. Could the underdogs do it?

The draft for game four started. Legacy looked fierce. Chiefs looked rattled, but determined. Bans proceeded. Legacy decided to target the Chiefs’ mid-laner, but in doing so let one champion through. EGym’s champion. He is known as the Ali-god for a reason, and when Alistair escaped the ban phase he was an easy first pick for the Chiefs. Spookz picked a jungler to match Carbons aggression and shifted his focus to the mid-lane. Here he teamed up with Swiffer to step on the Viktor of ChuChuZ again and again and again. The Chiefs were ahead but not by much. The game hung in the balance. They needed an advantage. They found Egym. The perfect engage from him and three members of Legacy were deleted in an instant. Chiefs took the bull by the horns and never looked back. It was their show now, their lead was almost unassailable. It took one more huge engage on the back of EGym’s Alistair and a gigantic ultimate from Swiffer to seal the deal. Chiefs charged into the base of Legacy and ended the game and the series. Chiefs won 3-1.

They were ecstatic as they hoisted the Oceanic Pro League trophy into the air. It was a return to dominance for the Chiefs, taking down their bane and taking home the OPL trophy. It was vindication for EGym, formerly of Legacy himself, that he’d made the right move. The Chiefs lost just one game in the entirety of OPL Split 2 and it was game three of the finals, finishing the split 29-1. Legacy gave it everything they had but it wasn’t their day. This day, this split heck even this year belonged to the Chiefs. Their redemption was complete.

Meanwhile, in a West Melbourne cinema, I sat reflecting on how far we’d come. People slowly filed out of the cinema, smiling, laughing and joking after watching the biggest event in local esport history. Previously Esports in the region were small affairs only really accessible to their own communities. Sure, you may known that Australia had a strong Counter Strike or Starcraft presence but you’d probably never seen an event let alone attended one. That’s changed though now and it’s hard to thank anyone but Riot Games for bringing it to the mainstream. So thanks to Benji and Mirko for pushing our little region hard. Thanks to Atlus, Spawn, Rusty and Pastrytime for adding flavour, depth and terrible puns. Thanks to all of those at Riot who made it possible, and thanks to the viewers who watched it and made it all worthwhile.

I love Esports, and it looks like they’re here to stay.