Providence, RI – This past weekend, GUNNAR Optiks attended the MLG National Championships in Providence, Rhode Island. With $100,000 on the line for Halo Reach, $100,000 for COD, $50,000 for StarCraft II, and $15,000 for League of Legends, players from around the world flocked to the smallest state in the union, crowding the Rhode Island Convention Center, navigating their way through swarms of Irish dancers (It turns out the Irish Dance Teachers Association of New England were hosting a convention upstairs). The pro circuit was underway. In the competition that followed, legendary pros and unproven rookies went head to head. For Halo Reach, team Instict went back to spartan basics, defeating the Warriors in games of King of the Hill, Capture the Flag and Team Slayer. In COD, Quantic Next proved their survival skills as underdogs, climbing from seventh seed to defeat the best of Quantic Leverage, Quantic Fear, eon Optic Gaming, and Eon Envyby to win the finals. In single player action, 16 year-old Lee “Leenock” Dong Nyung claimed the $50,000 USD cash prize for Starcraft II, upsetting the likes of MVP, MC, iNcontroL, and ultimately took down Johan “Naniwa” Lucchesi in the finals. Check out his interview. And for League of Legends, team Solomid took home the win in comeback fashion.

The event proved to be a great opportunity for GUNNAR fans to hang out in the MLG merchandise booth, where word quickly got around about a special scavenger hunt and tournament. Offering gamers the chance to compete in a special free-for-all MW3 tournament, the G-squad hid GUNNAR cases with special invitations throughout the venue. Eight lucky winners that found the cases were given the chance to compete for a copy of Modern Warfare 3: Hardened Edition and Call of Duty: MW3: Gaming Eyewear. In the end, Ronnie Kingsboro was able to pull out the win. These cool new glasses are now available in our GUNNAR shop and your local Best Buy retail locations.

During the event, professional eSports franchise, Team EG took the time to meet with GUNNAR representatives Nate and Bryan to try on new GUNNAR styles and make sure that they were up to date and equipped with all the latest in eyewear technology, including the MLG Phantom Neptunes, MLG Phantom Onyx, Snow, and Mercury, MLG Legends, SteelSeries Scopes and recently released, SteelSeries Desmos. With all the styles at their disposal, Bryce “Machine” Bates is currently wearing the Halogen, Chris “HuK” Loranger is trying out the PPK Heat, Nick “Axslav” Ranish is sporting the Paralex Onyx, Jacob “LZGamer” Winstead has been known to wear both the SteelSeries Scopes and the PPK Onyx, Cong “Strifecro” Shu loves the  SteelSeries Scopes and has also ordered a new Halogen prescription pair, Lee “PuMa” Ho Joon is wearing the Paralex Onyx, Greg “IdrA” Fields is also rocking a new Paralex Onyx prescription pair, and as always, GUNNAR ambassador and long time evangelist, Geoff “iNcontroL” Robinson spends a lot of his time wearing the SteelSeries Scopes, Desmos, and of course the PPK Onyx.

Our most touching story was our little buddy, Austin, from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Austin, accompanied by his parents and older sister, came to the event to play some COD Black Ops with Professional football player Steven Ridley, hang out with our good friend Hastr0 of team Envyus, and of course to check out his new pair of GUNNARS. Equipped with his brand new PPK Lime GUNNARS, Austin will be prepared to take you on in his favorite game, COD MW3.

Event Links

For more recaps, news, and notes from MLG, check out the following articles over on MLG:

• MLG Providence Boosts Rhode Island Economy to the Tune of $1 Million
• Going out with a Bang: MLG Providence StarCraft 2 Recap
• State of the Game, Post Providence
• Congratulations to Instinct, 2011 Halo: Reach National Champions!

GUNNAR would like to congratulate all the winners, attendees, and hosts for a great weekend.

And now Thanksgiving has arrived. Happy Turkey Day everyone!