Jinsoo becomes the first Auto Chess Invitational champion

Jin Soo “Jinsoo” Park took home $450,000 for his first-place finish at the 2019 Auto Chess Invitational.

The 2019 Auto Chess Invitational was a three-day tournament held in Shanghai, China. The tournament boasted a prize pool of $1 million USD, a massive figure for what was the first major international tournament for the game.

A total of 32 hopefuls from different regions around the world came together to compete for their share of the million-dollar prize pool.

Chinese players were heavily represented with nine Auto Chess players, followed by the Asia Pacific region with six competitors.

After six crucial games played in the grand finals, points were tallied to see who made it to the top. Jinsoo narrowly beat Jia Chuan “Arch Devil” Tian by one singnle point, making Jinsoo the first-ever Auto Chess Invitational Grand Champion. 

Jinsoo has a total of 37 points after the final. This was due in large part to his key first-place finishes in games three and four. Chinese player Arch Devil finished strong with a first-place finish in the final game, bringing the point tally down to the wire. But this strong showing was not enough to beat the top Korean player, as despite Jinsoo’s early exit in the last game, he managed to gather enough points to top the rankings.

Auto Chess and auto battlers make waves in esports

Auto Chess heavily relies on flexibility, calculation, and a little bit of luck. Players get to experiment with different strategies based on their rolls.

When developer Drodo Studio first released Auto Chess within the Dota 2 client, fans knew that it was the birth of another wave of a unique competitive game mode. The player base skyrocketed and non-Dota 2 fans started installing the Dota 2 client solely to play Auto Chess.

Now Auto Chess has its standalone version. It was released on mobile but will soon be available publicly on PC as well. As of now, the PC Closed Beta Test is still ongoing for players who have received activation codes.

Drodo Studio is looking to foster Auto Chess’ esports scene and this huge tournament is just a start. They’re not without competition, however. Valve has launched their own entry in the market with Dota Underlords, while Riot Games has produced its own version in the form of Teamfight Tactics.