This week’s hottest eSports news and highlights for League of Legends, CS:GO, Dota 2, and Overwatch. Expect spoilers! Brackets from TeamLiquid.
| Contents (Click to Jump to Section) |
eSports Weekly 08/15/16
NA LCS Recap and Standings
The NA LCS Summer Playoffs have begun! The first Quarterfinals was between Cloud9 and Team EnVyUs. Cloud9 was able to handily defeat Team EnVyUs 3-1 with C9's Jensen setting the NA LCS Playoffs record for most kills in a single game. The second Quarterfinals was between Counter Logic Gaming and Team Liquid. True to history, CLG beat Liquid 3-1 denying Liquid another chance to make it to the Finals.
Semifinals Preview
The Semifinals are where things truly get interesting. The first one is between the dominant TSM vs the lowest available seed, Counter Logic Gaming. This matchup is always a joy to watch not only because this is a classic rivalry but it is also a rematch of last split's Finals. The other half of the Semifinals is Immortals vs Cloud9. This matchup does favor Immortals but truly anything can happen in this series.
EU LCS Recap and Standings
The EU LCS also had their Summer Playoffs begin this week. Unlike the NA LCS, the EU LCS encountered some difficulties. The first match went well with Unicorns of Love taking the series 3-1 over Giants. The other half of the Quarterfinals was more anticipated with a classic H2k vs Fnatic series. However, the match was delayed and eventually canceled and pushed back to later this week.
Semifinals Preview
Despite not knowing the results for half of the Quarterfinals, Unicorns of Love is the lowest seed and will definitely face G2 Esports in the Semifinals. The winner between H2k and Fnatic this Tuesday will determine who will face Splyce in the other half of the Semifinals.
LCK Recap and Standings
The LCK Summer Playoffs is organized in a gauntlet format where the 4th and 5th seeds play for the chance to go against the 3rd seed which decides who plays against the 2nd seed to qualify to play against the 1st seed in the finals.
The first series was a best-of-three with Samsung Galaxy vs Afreeca Freecs. Samsung Galaxy swept Afreeca 2-0.
In the next round, Samsung advanced to play KT Rolster in a best-of-five. KT Rolster was able to sweep Samsung Galaxy 3-0 to advance to play against SKTelecom T1.
This best-of-five series between SKTelecom T1 and KT Rolster is a familiar one as the rivalry between the two telecommunication companies go beyond a single game. SKTelecom usually comes out ahead and this was no different with a 2-0 start to the series. However, KT Rolster was able to reverse sweep SKT to take the series 2-3 and exact some sweet revenge.
With this upset, KT faces ROX Tigers in the Finals this Saturday. Because of the results of the Spring Split, the results of this Finals not only affects these two teams but SKT's qualifications for Worlds this year.
LPL Recap and Standings
In the LPL, the playoffs are divided into two brackets depending on the groups. Each bracket is set up like a gauntlet similar to how it's done in the LCK. Despite some exciting matches, the results were not surprising. Group A ended with a close series between Team World Elite and Edward Gaming with Edward Gaming taking the series 3-2. Bracket B ended in a similar way except that IMAY was able to advance all the way to the Semifinals only to lose to the favorites, Royal Never Give Up, 3-2.
The upcoming Finals will be a classic match-up between Edward Gaming and Royal Never Give Up.
KT Arrow: The Korean Sniper
Stixxay with the Scripts
LPL Twitch Doublekill
Cloud9 vs Team Envy Ace in 9 Minutes
Imp's INSANE Teamfighting and Multitasking on Sivir
SKT vs KT Fly's Cass Ult Reaction
StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 2
The StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 2 is a tournament organized by SLTV that involves a NA, EU, and CN qualifier. With the prize pool of $300,000, the main tournament takes place from September 7-11.
These are the current participants:
- Astralis
- Fnatic
- G2 Esports
- Team Liquid
- Natus Vincere
- Ninjas in Pyjamas
- Virtus.pro
- TyLoo (China #1-2)
- Vg.CyberZen (China #1-2)
- MVP Project (China #3)
The rest of the participants will be decided through qualifiers which are happening right now. Three can qualify from Europe and two can qualify from North America.
Hiko with another 1v5
Hiko with another 1v5
The sixth annual tournament The International has finally finished. The International 2016 was the biggest tournament of the year and was hosted in the KeyArena in Seattle, Washington. With an enormous $20,770,460 prize pool, sixteen teams played in a double elimination format until the best team was left to win over $9 million dollars.
Main Event
The main event involved the sixteen teams in a double-elimination bracket. Here are the results:
Some of the key storylines were OG's quick and unexpected elimination and the clear three contenders of the championship in Wings Gaming, Evil Geniuses, and Digital Chaos. Despite the valiant efforts of the two NA teams, Wings Gaming won every single series leading to the Grand Finals and won that too in a convincing 3-1 series against Digital Chaos. With this victory Wings Gaming comes home from Seattle with over an unbelievable $9,139,002 USD prize. Digital Chaos, in second place, took $3,427,126 USD and Evil Geniuses, in third, won $2,180,898 USD.
Zai with a sick juke
Unbreathable 3.3 Million Dollar Fight
UNBREATHABLE 3.3 MILLION DOLLAR FIGHT DC vs EG TI6 Dota 2
Zai vs kpii POVs
Zai vs. kpii POVs [EG vs. Newbee TI6 2016]
![Zai vs. kpii POVs [EG vs. Newbee TI6 2016]](https://mmos.mystagingwebsite.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-youtube-lyte/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FMY0ta7RA7zU%2F0.jpg)
Classic Jimmy Plays
w33 Epic Sunstrike and Tornado Cleanup
iceice Insane Elder Titan Stomp
Fear steals the Aegis!
Overwatch
The Overwatch Open
ELEAGUE and FACEIT partnered together to organize the biggest Overwatch tournament in history. Taking place at Turner Studios' ELEAGUE arena in Atlanta, competitors will be playing for a massive $300,000 USD prize pool. Notably, the Grand Finals will also be broadcast live on TBS.
The tournament starts with a European and North American phase, until the playoffs which will occur from August 26-28.
The fourth and final qualifiers have finished with Luminosity taking the spot in Europe. In North America, compLexity Gaming was able to edge out Team Liquid and NRG eSports to get qualified.
Despite not directly qualifying, the top twelve other teams will be able to qualify for the regional finals as well. The most notable teams are NRG eSports and Team Liquid from NA and Ninjas in Pyjamas for EU.
AZK as Lebron James
Seagull vs the World
Sick Genji Play by Bringos Shadez
Liquipedia Bracket Images used under CC-BY-SA
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.