Ah, video game tournaments. A wonderful place to showcase your skills and compete for glory, money, and bragging rights. Video game tournaments have been happening for decades now, and while they’ve grown in numbers, these competitions will always bring forth this one emotion: rage.
Rage in multiplayer games is pretty commonplace when playing online, but the salt and anger that comes forth during a tournament is a different beast. You can chalk it up to all that hard work and prep not panning out for the competitor, and they’re just finding a way to blow off steam, but when you do this in a public setting (or even on stream) it can make for an awkward, cringey, and off-putting experience. Having said that, it doesn’t mean people don’t want to see it, which is why we’ve got you covered with five spicy and noteworthy tournament rages. Check them out!
1. KiraFlax in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Smash tournaments are known for their levels of salt (seriously, there are entire compilations of salt in Smash tournaments) but one of the more noteworthy players who’s showcased his rage is KiraFlax. Kira is a top Pit player across multiple Smash games, and has shown he can compete. However, that drive that got him to where he is today also fuels his temperment, which leads to many notable rage moments – with this one, after Loser’s Finals of a tournament, being perhaps the most famous of all.
2. Kaus – Madden ‘18
Let’s face it, we all rage like this when we play Madden in the comfort of our own home. The patches, RNG, and other flawed mechanics make the game’s inconsistency prime fodder for creating rage. Unfortunately, for Kaus, his rage was caught on stream to be broadcast for the masses on the internet. The game just continues to get worse and worse for him, resulting in bigger and better outbursts. The game really is that gosh darn bad, bro!
3. Dustin – Street Fighter IV
Traditional fighters might be the most rage-inducing games ever made – going all the way back to arcade cabinets and having to wait in line only to have your ego busted up, getting messed up in a fighting game can feel oppressive, and make you feel especially helpless. Once you’re in that state, all you can do is hold it in or lash out – and Dustin, after switching characters in a futile attempt to turn the match around, chose the latter.
4. Celex – World of Warcraft
“Always a bridesmaid, never a bride” is an unacceptable approach in the gaming world. This is no more apparent than with Celex, a WoW player who was competing in the Grand Finals of a large tournament in Montreal. 1st place is within reach, but of course, only one of the two teams in Grand Finals can come out the winner, and based off Celex’s reaction…well, I think you can figure out how he placed.
5. Tfue – Fortnite
While Fortnite providing online tournaments may seem like a good idea (imagine competing for tens of thousands of dollars in the comfort of your own home,) that doesn’t make gamer rage any less likely. Tfue got eliminated from a sizeable tournament by a player utilizing the new jetpack mechanic in Fortnite. Even though he calls his own demise before it happens, that doesn’t make the salt any less potent.
If you have any other tournament rage moments, or can think of one that should’ve been on the list, let us know in the comments below!
