eSports Clutch Plays of the Month: May 2016 Edition

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the first-ever installment of the eSports Clutch Plays of the Month, where we bring you a brief roundup of the wildest, most intense and most impressive moments in the world of competitive gaming. All genres are open for inclusion, from shooters to fighters, and from MOBAs to RPGs.

May was a relatively quiet time in the eSports world with many smaller tournaments setting the stage for massive events later on in the summer. Still, there were some big games to be found and some exciting moments to be had.

So what are the clutch plays of the month? Read on and find out. 

MinD_ContRoL Saves the Day at EPICENTER

Team Liquid is arguably the best team in Dota 2 today and it's because of their ability to make plays like this (starting at 4:24). 

While pushing onto OG's bottom barracks in the EPICENTER winner's bracket finals, Jesse "JeRax" Vainikka flies behind the wave as Phoenix and begins channeling Supernova. Naturally, OG immediately move to break the Phoenix egg, but Ivan "MinD_ContRoL" Borislavov's Dark Seer was there to avert disaster with a gorgeous four-man wall-vacuum combination. The perfectly timed play saved JeRax, dealt massive damage to the entire OG team and set them up to take the win.

From there, Liquid shut out OG to advance to the grand finals opposite TI4 champions Newbee. In a hard-fought best-of-five, they earned the top prize, and the $250,000 check that came with it.

Justin Wong Edges Out Ricki Ortiz in Intense Best-of-5 at Combo Breaker

Justin Wong is one of the most accomplished competitors in eSports history. He's been on the biggest stages and consistently delivered. He stays cool under pressure and always manages to play his own game, even when facing the most formidable of competition. That was on full display last week at Combo Breaker, when Justin Wong faced off with Evil Geniuses teammate Ricki Ortiz in a tense, technical best-of-five series in the Street Fighter V winner's bracket semifinals.

Nearly every round was a battle of inches, with big comebacks and nail-biting, mix-up-heavy exchanges. Unsurprisingly, the match came down to the final frame.

Ortiz got the early lead, pecking away at Wong with strong footsies and chip damage, but Wong would battle back by popping V-Trigger and pushing the pace. With each player working with one-third of his bar, Wong accurately predicted a fireball, jumped over it, landed a medium kick and executed a match-winning combo. That win sent him on to the winner's bracket finals, which he won over Peter "Flash Metroid" Susini.

SmithZz Stays Cool Under G2 eSports' Pressure

Want to see what a perfectly executed bait-and-switch looks like? Look no further than Luminosity vs. G2 at the ESL Pro League last week (starting at 0:39).

After throwing down a smoke grenade, G2's Edouard "SmithZz" Dubourdeaux goads Luminosity into chasing him before taking cover behind a truck. Just out of sight, Richard "shox" Papillon patiently waits with his sniper rifle.

Luminosity, hungry for the kill, charges after SmithZz until one of them gets picked off by shox. Their attention shifts downrange, allowing SmithZz to emerge, take down another and return to cover. This is repeated ad nauseam until the entire team is wiped out. Absolutely gorgeous teamwork and execution here.

Nisqy Redeems Himself at EUCS Summer Qualifiers

Over in the realm of League of Legends, Melty's Yasin "Nisqy" Dincer pulled off a gorgeous play in the EUCS Summer Qualifiers against Low Priority.

Pushing down mid-lane alongside the rest of his team, Nisqy (playing as Azir) managed to zip behind three members of LP and nail a three-man Emperor's Divide. LP was, appropriately, melted by MTY, who proceeded to continue their march and take out the inhibitor with no difficulty. The play was made all the more satisfying because, as highlighted by OPLOLReplay, Nisqy made an egregious botch on a gank attempt earlier in the game.

While Melty came out of the qualifiers with a soft 2-3 record, Nisqy managed to turn a lot of heads with this 21-minute redemption story.