Brawlhalla at DreamHack San Diego 2023: The Champion’s Power

The difference between offline and online fighting esports tournaments is technical and emotional. The participants should adapt to that no-lag feeling to effectively land combos and avoid hits. Also, they should be able to catch the waves of emotional excitement and handle the pressure of playing in front of a crowd. 

For the viewers, the difference is mainly emotional. You certainly feel the hype even through streams. 

The return to open LANs was absolutely great for Brawlhalla. It demonstrated how tangible the emotional and technical difference is. That happened at DreamHack San Diego. And even now, when the event is over, we can feel the awesomeness of offline competition — through the VODs and results.

Brawlhalla at DreamHack San Diego 2023 | Stream, Top 8

Impala broke the ice in his esports career at BCX 2022 — yep, becoming the World Champion is quite a boost for any player. In 2023, the guy demonstrated pretty good results at online Championships, but he didn't reach Top 3 to get a spot at Winter or Spring Royals. Seeing Impala playing offline proved that he got the title for a good reason.

In the Semi-Final, Impala confidently defeated yüz, one of the best South American players. And then, he won over Sandstorm with the same confidence — in the Winners Final

To proceed to the Grand Final and face Impala again, Sandstorm had to win the Elimination Final vs Kyna.

The lower brackets also had some really good matches. Luna, the Winter Royale King, defeated megD but then lost to Lores, a rather young player from South America. In the Semi-Final, Lores almost clutched after 0:2, but Kyna did not let that happen.

Brawlhalla at DreamHack San Diego 2023 | Stream, Grand Final

For Sandstorm, the Grand Final started with a disastrous game on Tezca — Kaya of Impala just destroyed the Mexican wrestler. But then, Sandstorm switched to Mordex, and suddenly, Impala got some serious issues.

Sandstorm still lost game 2, but then he brought the fight to the very last stock. In the situation when every good hit could seal the deal, Impala was a little bit better and won the match.

Impala is the Brawlhalla Champion of DreamHack San Diego 2023. Congratulations!

After this victory, we reached out to Impala and asked a few questions — please, check out our interview with the Champion.

Brawlhalla Legends at DreamHack San Diego 2023

7. Boomie

7. megD

5. yüz

5. luna

4. lores

3. Kyna

2. Sandstorm

Tezca

1. Impala

Brawlhalla had two tournaments at DreamHack San Diego — the second one was a 2v2 team competition. And only one player from the Singles section was present there, megD.

The next significant Brawlhalla esports event is Spring Royale. It’s an Invitational, and Top 3/2 players from North America, Europe, and South America got their spots after the Spring Championship.