The weekend approaches, but while the masses get time away from the office, the esports professionals get down to business. Here’s what to look out for this weekend.
Heroes of the Dorm Grand Finals – HoTS
Heroes of the Dorm reaches it’s climax this weekend, as the four top teams clash at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. Lousiana State University will meet the University of Kentucky in one semi-final, while the University of Arlington, Texas will face the University of Irvine, California in the other.
The winning team will receive their college tuition paid off by Blizzard, with up to $75,000 per player per year on offer. Arlington also head into the final four as the only undefeated team, boasting a 12-0 series record, but perhaps even more impressively, a 24-0 game record. The team hasn’t even come under threat of losing a series, and they won’t be looking to stop here.
Heroes of the Dorm will be streaming live to Facebook on Saturday, starting at 9PM BST.
APEX Season 2 Final (Overwatch)
Season two of Overwatch OGN APEX will come to a close this weekend, as tournament favourites Lunatic-Hai look to claim the trophy over surprise finalists, RunAway. The premier South Korean Overwatch league has seen 16 teams whittled down to just two.
The North American and European sides in the tournament failed to make an impact, and in the end there was really only one surprise. RunAway managed to topple Lunatic-Hai in the second group stage, and then took down LW Blue in the semi’s. The team had not been on anyone’s radar heading into the contest, and now have the chance to win it all.
And remember to catch all the action on GINX Esports TV on Saturday morning!
StarLadder StarSeries Season 3 Finals (CS:GO)
At the time of publication, there are still three playoff spots up for grabs in the StarSeries Counter-Strike tournament in Kiev. As the swiss stage of the tournament heads into the final stages, it’s do-or-die for many top tier lineups, and no matter what, some of them will be heading home empty handed.
G2 Esports have come out swinging in their offline debut after the French roster shuffle, completely dominating in their three victories over Ninjas in Pyjamas, Hellraisers, and SK Gaming. Na’Vi join the French side with a 3-0 scoreline, a little surprising after just dropping their long time coach, Starix.
North and hellraisers secured their spot in the playoffs with 2-1 scorelines, both causing upsets against the likes of Astralis and FaZe Clan. Astralis vs SK was one of the most intense winners matches of the tournament, with Astralis eventually claiming victory and securing their spot in the playoffs.
Perhaps most surprising is the failure of Virtus Pro and Gambit Gaming. Both sides dropped out of the tournament with just one win under their belt. Virtus Pro took down MVP Project but then only managed to take nine rounds in total against Ninjas in Pyjamas, SK Gaming, and Fnatic. Gambit Gaming dropped to Counter Logic Gaming on Cobblestone, often considered the team’s best map.
European LCS Promotion Tournament – League of Legends
Just the one game in this week’s League of Legends League Championship Series promotion tournament in Europe. Last night we saw Fnatic Academy take an early advantage by defeating Giants, tonight we find out if the Misfits academy lineup can do the same and drop Origen.
It’s fairly difficult to tell who the favourite is for this game, though some may swing in favour of Misfits Academy after they caused a stir by defeating Schalke 04 3-1 in the challenger series playoffs. Origen on the other hand have had an extremely difficult split. If they fall to defeat against Misfits Academy, we’d be guaranteed to see an LCS drop out, as Origen would meet Giants in the elimination match.
LCS Playoffs – League of Legends
At the other end of the table, the LCS playoffs, featuring some of the best squads on offer in 2017. In Europe, Misfits go up against Splyce, while Fnatic look to continue their late season resurgance against a strong looking H2K Gaming. G2 Esports and Unicorns of Love await the victors in the semi-finals.
Flyquest take on Counter Logic Gaming in what would have been a major mismatch earlier on in the season. Flyquest initially looked to be a contender for a top two spot, before their late split capitulation saw them drop down the table, while CLG managed to go from skirting the playoffs into a comfortable fourth place. Dignitas take on Phoenix1 on the other side of the bracket after making a late split comeback of their own. TSM and Cloud9 secured byes into the semifinals with their top of the table finishes.
Misfits vs Splyce will kick off the affair on Saturday night at 4PM BST.
GSL Super League – Starcraft 2
Stacraft 2 action again this weekend as the GSL Super League continues into the quarter-final stage. Some marquee matchups should catch you eyes here, as we see GuMiho vs herO, ByuL vs Dark, aLive vs Hush, and Solar vs Maru.
Perhaps the biggest surprise so far has been GuMiho taking down reigning GSL champion Stats 3-1 in the opening match of the tournament, though Innovation also fell to aLive.
Overwatch PIT Championship – Overwatch
The European Overwatch PIT Championship heads into the playoff stages this weekend, while the North American league reaches its second group stage.
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs Team Singularity Ninjas, Movistar Riders vs Vivi’s Adventure, Eunited vs Team Dignitas, and what could be a new rivalry, Misfits vs Laser Kittenz makes up the European matches on offer in the quarter-finals.
Misfits vs Laser Kittenz actually takes place on Monday, but it might very well the match to watch as Zaprey faces his old team, as well as CEO of Laser Kittenz Alicus facing the organization where he used to be the GM.
In North America, two more rounds of matches are left to decide which group B teams will head through into the playoffs. Team Liquid and Rogue both remain undefeated, Luminosity sit on two wins, Tempo Storm and FaZe Clan on one, and You Guys Get Paid have thus fair failed to pick up a win.