The top 10 unlucky moments in esports

In esports, what matters most is a high reaction time, analytical and strategic thinking, and an excellent understanding of the game. However, one crucial factor can overturn these skills — luck.

Indeed, even in esports, some games are decided by sheer luck or misfortune. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of the top 10 unluckiest moments in esports.

10. Minion Block kills Carzzy

The list of unlucky plays starts with League of Legends, specifically with a clip from the LEC, where teams Rogue and MAD Lions faced each other. After an unsuccessful engagement by MAD, ADC Carzzy attempted to flee the fight, but his champion got stuck between the enemy and friendly minions. Carzzy tried to fight his way free, but his efforts were in vain.

9. kennyS unlucky team kill

During the peak of his career, kennyS was considered arguably one of the best AWP players Counter-Strike has ever seen. His opponents often despaired of his fast reflexes and risky peeks. Even his teammates weren’t safe from the precise sniper.

In an exciting exchange of blows on Inferno, kennyS and his team G2 Esports were 2 rounds behind. Their opponent, x-kom AGO, only needed one more round to win the map. However, kennyS spotted an opponent and pulled the trigger just as teammate AmaNEk ran into him. The shot hit AmaNEk in the head and he fell dead, while the opponent for whom the bullet was intended barely survived the penetration. In the end, the round went to G2, but they still lost the map.

8. Rocket League Overtime Own Goal

The fact that a Rocket League game can go haywire should be common knowledge since the RLCS Season 5 finale. Sometimes, the focus is not on incredible freestyle goals or ingenious moves. In some cases, chaos reigns, as in this Best of 5 clip between Cloud9 and the Evil Geniuses. In overtime in game three, which was already the matchpoint game for Cloud9, the teams fought intense rallies at lofty heights when Cloud9’s gimmick put the ball behind them into their own goal instead of forward.

7. Dapr Viper Ult Struggle

Valorant is characterized above all by the different playable agents and their skills. These abilities can play an important role in both capturing and defending the bomb spots. Team Envy Marved’s Viper Ultimate at the VCT Challengers NA Playoffs had extremely unfortunate consequences for his opponent.

Sentinels Dapr tried to stop Marved, who was standing in the Viper Ultimate, from defusing the bomb, but Dapr’s ultimate made it impossible to see him through the green fog. In the time it took him to locate and eliminate Marved, the bomb was defused. The map and the best-of-three series went to Sentinels, who were later crowned champions.

6. ChrisJ vs dennis in the Palace Slalom

At the DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca in 2015, G2 Esports faced off mousesports on Mirage for advancement in Group B. The map went well for the German organization, in round 12 G2 were forced into an eco round. IGL dennis used this to push the unsuspecting ChrisJ into Palace. Dennis used the pillars in Palace to avoid ChrisJ’s AWP scope.

He did this so cleverly that ChrisJ only saw him when it was already too late. An unfortunate moment for ChrisJ, who had suspected the play, but who was doomed by the timing around the pillars every time. G2 Esports won both the map and the best-of-three series and thus survived the group phase, while mousesports had to pack their bags.

5. Tower shot over the map

Although League of Legends has existed for 13 years now, you can always find new, spectacular, but also extremely unfortunate plays, as in this clip from the semifinals of MSI 2018 between the Flash Wolves and KING-ZONE DragonX. When a fight broke out in the mid lane, Flash Wolves’ top laner Hanabi decided to teleport to the fight.

Unfortunately, he forgot that he was still under an enemy tower that was relentlessly firing at him. A final shot followed Hanabi after his teleport halfway across the map, which ultimately gave him the coup de grace. Flash Wolves were eliminated in this best-of-five, but Hanabi deserved the award for the worst play of the tournament.

4. Super Smash Melee Glitch

A glitch causes a stir in this clip from the classic fighting game Super Smash Bros. Melee. Players S2J and Plup faced off in the Pokemon Stadium arena. This is known for the glitch that caused players and their fighters to fall through the floor of the arena on a regular basis when switching to a fire version of the stage.

The clip shows Plup quickly falling through the map while the round went to his opponent. Nevertheless, Plup was able to win the best of 5. In fact, the round with the glitch shown was the only round that S2J was able to win.

3. Summit1G molotov

Number three on the list features a clip that all Counter-Strike enthusiasts should be familiar with. It is the legendary molotov from Summit1G, which he and we still remember in the form of 1G memes. In the Mappoint round for Splyce, Summit found himself in a 1v1 and threw a molotov before taking out the last opponent. Full of joy about the supposed victory, he turned to his teammates, but at the same time ran over his own molotov and burned up. The round and at the end the map were lost.

2. Kaiser dies against Jungle Camp

The MAD Lions League of Legends team sneaks into this list again, this time in a MSI 2021 match against PSG Talon. After a teamfight, MAD Lions’ supporter Kaiser narrowly escaped death. What happened next was hard to beat in terms of lack of luck. The ability of his champion Leona, who previously saved his life with a shield, becomes his undoing.

This triggered a wave of damage when it ran out, which in this clip attacked the raptors, neutral jungle monsters, in its vicinity and thus rushed towards it. Kaiser died as a result of this fight, but he was able to laugh about it. His team won the match in the end and was able to qualify for the playoffs.

1. Ropz fight with the chicken

Number one on the list of unluckiest plays goes to Ropz, who is haunted by the Counter-Strike scene’s mascot — a chicken. During the StarSeries i-League Season 4 match, a chicken blocked an inward-opening door through which Ropz attempted to escape from his pursuers.

He shot the door a few times in order to kill the chicken and escape through said door, but the chicken persisted and so Ropz was only able to take a detour where death awaited him at the end. This clip is proof once again that anything can happen in esports. Despite the unfortunate door blockade, mousesports were able to win the map. However, the map will still be remembered for this curious chain of unfortunate circumstances.