‘Italian Stallion’ Reynor galloped to StarCraft II victory on Sunday night at Gamers8: The Land of Heroes, the biggest gaming and esports festival worldwide, and declared his comeback triumph in the final as “the biggest win of my career”.
Down 1-0 to South Korean gamer Cure in the second match of the best of seven final at Boulevard Riyadh City, Reynor held firm then went on to produce a devastating display to claim silverware.
His performance in the debut StarCraft II tournament at Gamers8, which is organized by the Saudi Esports Federation, saw Reynor earn the $150,000 lion’s share of the $500,000 prize pool.
Reynor’s win was all the more remarkable considering the 21-year-old was the youngest of the 16 competitors in the epic four-day tournament, which featured eight qualifiers from South Korea and eight from the rest of the world. All qualified from this year’s Gamers Without Borders, the world’s largest charitable esports event, which is also organized by the Saudi Esports Federation.
Reynor said of his Gamers8 success: “It’s the biggest win of my career. It feels amazing. I won the World Championship during COVID, but it was online and it’s not as impactful if you’re at home compared to the stage. This is the biggest win of my career.”
On going behind in the final, Reynor said: “Usually I lose game one, so I’m no stranger to it. I think if I lose the first game, I become more clutch.”
The Basilisk player, who is sponsored by Red Bull, praised Gamers8 as “amazing”, adding “StarCraft needs this”. Reynor commented: “The tournament was very well organized; we had no issues at all. It’s a massive tournament and amazing for the StarCraft scene. Every player that I talked with loved the tournament. It was really amazing. Everything was really smooth, and we’ve been treated so well. The venue is amazing, and the stage is one of the best stages I’ve ever played at. I just loved it.”
In the first semi-final, Reynor defeated French national Clem 3-0. The second, an all-Korean affair, saw Cure get the better of Solar 3-1.
StarCraft gaming for the Italian – who revealed he trained eight hours a day for a month-and-a-half prior to Gamers8 starting – runs in the blood. His father is also a player of the popular strategy and skill game.
Reynor said: “I’m sure he’s over the moon. He’s a big StarCraft fan, we actually started playing together and I grew up with this game. It’s kind of my life right now. More than half my life I’ve been playing this game and I’ve shared every tournament with my parents and my family. I know he’s very proud of me. I’m very excited to go back home and see his expression and what he says. My mom is a big fan too – she always cries when I win!”
Table of Contents
StarCraft II recap
Organized by the Saudi Esports Federation, the highly anticipated tournament marked StarCraft’s introduction at Gamers8. The third and final installment of this sensational trilogy saga, StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void is a science fiction real-time strategy game developed and presented by Blizzard Entertainment. Released in 2015, it follows on from StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (2010) and StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm (2013) – and has remained a mainstay among the most popular video games in the world for almost a decade.
Gamers8: The Land of Heroes recap
Gamers8: The Land of Heroes has a prize pool of $45 million – triple that of Gamers8 last year. The biggest gaming and esports festival worldwide runs for eight weeks throughout July and August at Boulevard Riyadh City and consists of 16 elite esports tournaments from 13 top titles. These are complemented by live concerts from top global, regional, and local artists, as well as more than 1,000 activities and attractions for all the family.
The festival concludes with the Next World Forum, a gaming and esports forum held at the Four Seasons Hotel Riyadh at Kingdom Center on August 30-31, that brings together sector leaders and experts from around the world.
Further details, including ticket sales, are available on the event website.
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