I think I’ve mentioned it before on the blog but an acquaintance of mine is trying to drag me back into playing League. He’s an ADC and he’s looking for a regular support main to keep him dying. So not only have I been scrambling to learn new champions (I’m not very good at Bard or Soraka but I picked up Sona and Thresh surprisingly quickly) but I’ve been watching the World Championship to pick up a thing or two.
One of the more interesting storylines from Worlds, besides the Western teams doing surprisingly well, especially Cloud 9, is how diverse champion selection has been through the first four days of group stage matches. In the 2014 Worlds, only 58 champions were contested during the whole event. In one week, the teams have contested 59 champions and we could see more champions introduced to counter other team comps as the month progresses.
But what lessons are there to be learned from picks and bans from the first week of Worlds?
Ahead of today’s start of the 2015 League of Legends World Championships, Riot released a six-part documentary series looking behind the scenes at six professional players including SK Telecom mid Faker, TSM mid Bjergsen, paiN Gaming ADC brTT, Origen mid xPeke, Flash Wolves support SwordArt and OMG ADC Uzi.
https://youtu.be/WDMNiH-vOrY?list=PLPZ7h6L6LC7WyTh4u17cXEll-JdL-tpbC
Just in time for the 2015 League of Legends World Championship, it’s time for the return of the eSports Weekend Calendar. Usually, it runs on Thursdays at the end of the day but because the Worlds start on Thursday afternoon (Central European Time) in Paris. I’ll be paying as much attention to this as I can because I have some acquaintances trying to drag me back into league. He’s an ADC who is looking for some help. I’m working on my healers so I’m playing a lot of Soraka and Sona because if you need a new ADC, it usually someone to keep you out of trouble. His loss. My Morgana is pretty good.
There is more happening in the world of eSports besides the Worlds. ESL is holding their latest ESL One Dota 2 tournament at the Madison Square Garden Theatre. Just for the spectacle of eSports at MSG, I think this might be the highlight of the weekend. And then fans can go upstairs and watch the WWE on Saturday night. Meanwhile, in Korea, GSL wraps up this weekend with their Season 3 Grand Final. It’s also the last stop on StarCraft’s road to BlizzCon so the field will be set on Sunday.
I don’t know about you but I was glued to Heroes of the Dorm last weekend. While I’m a fan of the shorter (15 to 25 minute) matches, it would seem that they work for TV even better. Unless broadcasters and publishers would compromise on split-screen ads or live reads or big ad banners during matches, HOTS may dominate the TV eSports scene in North America just through sheer sponsor-friendliness. That and because the matches were awesome.
I think I’ve mentioned it before but I had a provisional offer to be a League of Legends caster for a friend of a friend but that fell through when the organizers weren’t actually willing to put any money into their league (no money for prize pool, graphics, music or casters made it a failed venture before it launched). I think it worked out for the best because I’d much rather get in on the ground floor with HOTS eSports than League even if it’s at its peak. How does one become a MOBA caster anyway?
Anyway, there isn’t much HOTS this weekend. League has the LCK Spring Grand Final. Elsewhere, CS:GO and Hearthstone have some big championships being decided this weekend. More Dota 2 leagues work through the group stages. And Gfinity has some big names competing for a $10,000 prize pool and 1,800 WCS points at their Spring Masters II.
It’s a really busy weekend in the world of eSports. There are tournaments and leagues that are taking place and wrapping up all over the world. You name it and there’s a tournament this weekend. I think this might actually be the biggest weekend calendar that we’ve ever done.
Let’s go through the Cole’s Notes version of the calendar. DreamHack Bucharest has the Dota 2 StarSeries XII playoffs, PGL’s CS:GO Championship Series final four and tournaments for Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone. We have the LPL spring finals this weekend. Round 2 of the 2015 SC2 Proleague sees CJ Entus and Jin Air Green Wings do battle in the final. And Heroes of the Dorm wraps up Sunday night on ESPN3 and ESPN2. Yes, Blizzard got their first major Heroes of the Storm tournament on US cable television which is actually a massive deal.
Hello eSports Weekend Calendar. How we missed you.
This weekend in the world of eSports, there are big games for people interested in League of Legends and CS:GO. ESEA League S18 comes to a close this weekend with a $100,000 prize pool on the line. Meanwhile, both EU and NA LCS seasons will come to an end with spring finals this weekend. If you’re looking for Dota 2 or StarCraft action, there is some but they’re in the qualifiers and group stages of their events so there’s a ways to go before money is handed out.
I hope you’ve blocked off your weekend to watch some eSports. ESL is having their big IEM season finale event in Katowice this weekend. The highlight is probably the IEM World Championship of StarCraft II which sees the best in the world battle it out for ESL’s version of the world championship and a $68,000 payday. The folks at ESL have also pulled in some top talent for their League of Legends, CS:GO and Hearthstone tournaments.
There aren’t a lot of big matches in this week’s eSports Weekend Calendar. There is the finals of the Heroes of the Storm Big League on Saturday with the semifinals on Friday. Apart from that, it’s group stage action for the big League and Dota 2 leagues. Meanwhile, in SC2 action, GSL wraps up its Season 1 quarterfinals this weekend.
When we usually have four eSports in the eSports Weekend Calendar, the fourth one is usually CS:GO. This time, the fourth eSport is Heroes of the Storm. I’ve been playing it for the last week or so and I absolutely love it so I’m hoping it succeeds as an eSport. A lot of players over on the subreddit don’t share my optimism which is odd considering that I’m seldom an optimistic guy.
Anyway, besides the MOBA HOTS, there’s the RTS HOTS in action this weekend as GSL wraps up its Round of 16 and WCS finishes the Round of 32 in StarCraft II. There’s also a full slate of League of Legends and Dota 2 action as well.
It looks like the three Asian leagues (LCK, LPL and LMS) all have this week off from competition so League fans will only have NA and EU LCS to watch this weekend. Granted, that’s not a bad thing for people on this side of the world where the other championships are on in the middle of the night. To make up for it, there’s lots of Dota on this weekend. There’s the MLG Pro League and Major All Stars tournament this weekend for you to watch. And SC2 fans have WCS Round of 32 this weekend from Cologne. If I’m not busy working on reviews or columns, I’ll be watching that.
et geekera 