This week’s hottest eSports news and highlights for League of Legends, CS:GO, and Dota 2. Expect spoilers!
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eSports Weekly 05/09/16
Mid-Season Invitational
The Group Stage of the second annual Mid-Season Invitational has come to a close. Analysts agree that this has been the closest international tournament in League of Legends history. Some notable storylines include:
- G2 Esports' Vacation Fiasco: The G2 Esports management decided that their players needed a well-deserved break so, instead of practicing like other teams, the team went home to their families. Unfortunately, the team performed terribly, losing all but two games. European fans are particularly upset because they lost their first pool seed for Worlds. Read G2's statement here.
- SKT's Stumble: Despite being hailed the undisputed champion of the tournament, SKT looked shaky and uncoordinated as they dropped four different games to RNG, Flash Wolves, and CLG. However, they seemed to fix their issues with a revenge win against CLG and RNG. Because SKT is particularly strong in a best of series, many reserve their hopes for SKT despite their stumbles this week.
- The Rise of NA: No analyst saw this coming. Despite many doubts, CLG surprised all with a second place standing after groups. CLG defeated every team at least once and almost all of their games were close. Nevertheless, none continue to deny their strong teamwork and coordination. In particular, Stixxay has been given much praise for his great performance throughout the tournament.
- Flash Wolves, the Korean Killers: The LMS team has shown that they deserve the first pool slot at worlds with their aggressive style. While they lost both of their games to RNG and CLG, LMS has been the only team to beat SKT on both occasions. In particular, their midlaner Maple has been a bright spot on the team.
- The Dominance of RNG: Many had their reservations about the LPL team as well. In the wake of such disappointing performance from LPL teams at Worlds 2015 and IEM Katowice, most did not expect RNG to perform. However, RNG demonstrated that they are a world class team. In particular, Mata showed that his fame as the best support in the world was not misplaced with his fantastic engages.
Here are the final standings:
- Royal Never Give Up (8-2)
- Counter Logic Gaming (7-3)
- Flash Wolves (6-4)
- SKTelecom T1 (6-4)
- G2 Esports
- SuperMassive eSports
Next weekend the play-offs begin with RNG (the first seed) vs SKT (the fourth seed) and CLG (the second seed) vs Flash Wolves (the third seed). The winner of each side of the bracket will face each other in the finals on Sunday. With how close all of the group stage matches have been, the champion of this tournament could really be anyone - making this the most unpredictable, exciting tournament in the history of League of Legends.
To see the full schedule and match-ups, visit the LoL eSports MSI hub.
The R(iot)ed Wedding
A controversial Competitive Ruling has been given to the Renegades, Team Dragon Knights, and Team Impulse, banning them from the NA LCS and giving their owners 10 days to sell their team. While Riot explained their accusations, owners such as Monte Cristo have denied such claims. This is the first time such widespread and drastic bans have been given in the LCS and its implications are massive.
Kikis sacrificing Perks as Poppy
Huge Aurelion Sol Q
Huhi's Huge Aurelion Sol Q - League of Legends
CLG vs SKT Final Team Fight
Mid-Season Invitational - CLG Vs. SKT - Final Team Fight
Xmithie Dragon Steal
Mid-Season Invitational - CLG Vs. RNG - Xmithie Dragon Steal
CLG vs RNG Final Team Fight
CLG vs RNG | Craziest Teamfight of MSI
Faker with a cheeky Lulu Recall
Faker with a cheeky Lulu recall
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
ESL Pro League Season 3 Finals Approaching
The group stages for the ESL Pro League Season 3 have ended in both Europe and North America.
The top four teams from EU and NA will compete in a Group Stage and a Playoff Round.
The participating teams are:
- Ninjas in Pyjamas (EU #1)
- Astralis (EU #2)
- Fnatic (EU #3)
- G2 Esports (EU #4)
- Luminosity Gaming (NA #1)
- Cloud9 (NA #2)
- OpTic Gaming (NA #3)
- Team Liquid (NA #4)
The games begin on May 11th with OpTic vs Astralis and LG vs G2 from Group A. In Group B, Fnatic vs C9 and NiP vs Liquid face off.
Esports Championship Series Season 1
The eSports Championship Series, organized by FACEIT and Twitch, boasts an aggregate $3.5 million prize pool. The tournament features two leagues: European and North American, with ten teams in each league. The League is formatted with a round robin in best of threes.
Here are the results for this week:
North America:
Europe:
So far, Luminosity is dominating the NA league with a perfect 9-0 run. Europe also has an undefeated team in Astralis with FaZe Clan close behind them.
Luminosity win DreamHack Open Austin
In dominating form the Brazilian team, Luminosity Gaming, added another championship to their trophy case with a 2-0 sweep over Tempo Storm. They went undefeated in the Group Stage and swept Team Liquid and Tempo storm to win $50,000.
Summit walks through fire on map point 1v0
Summit1g kills himself to molly on map point 1v0
Elige 1v5 Pistol Ace
Elige 1v5 pistol ace
Justin Blind Ace
Justin blind ace
Hiko Ace
Dota 2
The Manila Major Qualifiers
The Manila Major Qualifiers have ended and the top teams from the Americas, China, Europe, and Southeast Asian were given the opportunity to join the 12 invited teams in the Manila Major in June.
Here are the winners:
- Digital Chaos (Americas Qualifier)
- Newbee (China Qualifier)
- Team Empire (Europe Qualifier)
- Mineski (Southeast Asia Qualifier)
The Manila Major takes place at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila Philippines. It boasts a $3,000,000 prize pool and twelve invited teams and four qualifying teams.
These are the invited teams:
- Team Secret
- Team Liquid
- Evil Geniuses
- MVP
- Wings Gaming
- Vici Gaming
- Fnatic
- OG
- Complexity
- Alliance
- Natus Vincere
- LGD
EPICENTER
EPICENTER is a new tournament organized by Epic Esports Events. Taking place in Crocus City Hall, Moscow, Russia, 8 top teams fight for a $500,000 prize pool. The event takes place from May 9th to 15th and features the following teams:
- Alliance
- Evil Geniuses
- OG
- Team Liquid
- Team Secret
- Virtus.pro
The four wildcard teams play each other for 2 remaining spots in the group stage to join the six invited teams. These are the four wildcard teams:
- compLexity Gaming
- No Diggity
- Newbee
- Fnatic
Related:
James Hwang
My first MMOs included Ragnarok Online, Gunbound, Diablo II, and World of Warcraft. Nowadays, my wife (also a writer on MMOs) and I play League of Legends and any other MMOs we can get our hands on. I also love following eSports and attending eSports events.