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.
Halo World Championship 2017
The 12 best Halo teams in the world will take the stage this weekend to battle it out over a $1 million prize pool, alongside the title of ‘best in the world’.
The tournament takes place in California and kicks off tonight at 5PM GMT. Competing at the tournament is: Optic Gaming, Team EnvyUs, Team Liquid, Crowd Pleasers, Str8 Rippin, Luminosity Gaming, Splyce, FAB Games Esports, Supremacy, Team Immunity, London Conspiracy, and SoaR Gaming.
Most analysts see EnvyUs, Team Liquid, and Optic Gaming as the favourites to take the tournament, with Optic coming in looking to defend their title as the world champions. The tournament is live streaming on Twitch.tv/Halo, and will also be broadcast live on Twitter.
Starcraft 2 GSL Final
One of the oldest esports titles in the industry is still going strong, as the 2017 Starcraft 2 GSL tournament comes to a close, with the teamless Eo “soO” Yoon Su going up against Splyce’s Kim “Stats” Dae Yeob for $35,000 and 4,000 WCS points.
For an in-depth analysis of the final, check out our preview, with quotes from Stacraft caster Dan “Artosis” Stemkoski and Splyce owner Marty Strenczewilk.
Hearthstone HCT Winter Championship
The Hearthstone HCT Winter Championship Finals are already underway in the sunny Bahamas. Group A and Group B have already seen two competitors knocked out and two advancing to the playoff stages. The rest of the action takes place over the weekend though, with six playoff spots still up for grabs.
$250,000 is on the line along with 65 HCT points. This is one of the biggest Hearthstone events on the circuit, with organizations like Team Liquid, Luminosity Gaming, and Newbee fielding players. The U.K hope is Gosu Crew’s James “Greensheep” Luo, competing out of Group D.
The final week of NA LCS Regular Season (LoL)
The North American League Championship Series Spring Split regular season draws to a close this weekend, with league leaders TSM just one victory away from securing top spot and the best seeding heading into the playoffs. Cloud9 and Pheonix1 follow close behind, battling for second position and the final bye into the playoff semi finals.
At the bottom of the standings, Team EnvyUs, Team Liquid, and Echo Fox face the threat of relegation. Only one will claim eighth place and an automatic spot in the Summer Split, two will face off against Eunited and Gold Coin United in the promotion tournament. The match to watch here is Team EnvyUs vs Echo Fox, at (approx) 10PM GMT on Saturday evening. This best of three could be the decider in which team heads down and which stays up, so both will be giving it their all. Catch the action on Twitch and Youtube.
The penultimate week of EU LCS Regular Season (LoL)
While the North American LCS enters it’s final week, the European league is midway through it’s penultimate week of matches. At the time of writing, the top and bottom of both groups seems mostly decided. Origen and Giants Gaming look likely to be heading into the promotion tournament for next split, while G2 Esports remain undefeated and uncatchable at the top of group A.
The top of group B is a different story, with Unicorns of Love, H2K Gaming, and Splyce all fighting for the top spot. Unicorns of Love will face bottom dwellers Origen tonight, whilst H2K battle Vitality on Saturday afternoon. Elsewhere, Fnatic and Roccat continue to scrap for the final playoff spot in Group A. Roccat have a chance to close the gap this afternoon against Misfits, and Fnatic will surely be watching on before they meet Giants on Saturday Evening.
ECS Promotion Tournament (CS:GO)
Over to Counter-Strike, and the Faceit Esports Championship Series promotion tournament. No matter what happens, there will be at least one upset in Europe. Virtus Pro will go in as favourites against the Turkish Space Soldiers, though a spotty online record and the threat of Can “Xantares” Dortkades could prove deadly. The game of the day though is North vs Fnatic. One will not be making it into the ECS League, and defeat would be a major disappointment to both. North take on Fnatic on Sunday evening, while Virtus Pro and Space Soldiers actually meet on Monday night.
The action isn’t quite as intense in North America, though could still provide an upset. Complexity Gaming take on Bee’s Money Crew. Complexity will head in as the favourites, although they should be wary of their challengers. Bee’s Money Crew beat out teams like Misfits, Splyce, and Selfless Gaming to reach this stage. These promotion matches will be broadcast exclusively at Youtube.com/Faceit.
Overwatch PIT League
For the Overwatch fans out there that tuned into the Apex Season 2 Semi-Finals and are now on the hunt for some more competitive action, good news! The Overwatch PIT Championship Group A has already begun, and will continue to run throughout the weekend.
Eunited, GamersOrigin, Laser Kittenz, Ninjas in Pyjamas, ex-RoX, and ViVi’s Adventure will be facing off every day up until Monday. Brand new lineup Laser Kittenz already caused a stir with a win in their debut series over the Finnish Ninjas in Pyjamas. Tonight, they meet ex-RoX, while NiP go up against Eunited and GamersOrigin tackle ViVi’s Adventure.
The tournament starts at 5PM GMT every day.