What does the honest trailer for the last surviving game in a near-dead drama look like? Even the folks on Reddit are willing to admit that the Honest Trailer for StarCraft II is both funny and sad because it’s true. Watch as the trailer takes you from the campaign to the multiplayer dominated by David Kim to the competitive scene that is even farther beyond your skills. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, it’ll become a part of you.
After five years, the story of StarCraft II comes to a conclusion in its second expansion. In the great tradition of the franchise that first launched in 1998, StarCraft II played out in three parts, each focusing on one of StarCraft’s three races. The third and final part of SC2, Legacy of the Void, not only focuses on the Protoss as they try to take back their homeworld but also includes an epilogue to wrap up the series’ story.
It’s a quiet weekend in the world of eSports. There isn’t a lot happening outside of group stages in team leagues but you can certainly find some of that happening if you do some digging. Dota 2 takes the lion’s share of the attention with the conclusion of the first Dota 2 major, The Frankfurt Major. Friday sees the tournament go from five to three teams and Saturday sees the Lower Bracket Final and Grand Final to crown the first Dota 2 major champion.
Blizzard has a little eSports action themselves. BaseTradeTV is hosting a one-day SC2 TVT tournament on Saturday. Over in Hearthstone, the Collegiate Hearthstone Championship wraps up on Sunday.
If you’re a fan of StarCraft, you didn’t have to wait long after the release of LOTV for the first major tournament in the new expansion. This weekend sees eight top Korean players including WCS semi-finalist Rogue and superstars like Zest, Bomber and Parting in TotalBiscuit’s ShoutCraft Invitational II.
The two big MOBAs also have big events this weekend. Dota 2 is holding the first of three majors starting this weekend with the group stages of the Frankfurt Major. It’s the first stop on the road to The International 2016. Whether it means more to the winner than a $1.1 million payday remains to be seen. In Korea, some of the top Korean League of Legends teams are in the final stages of the KESPA Cup with the semifinals and final this weekend.
While the rest of the world is fanboying out over Fallout 4 or Rise of the Tomb Raider, my plans for the evening involve taking back Aiur in StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void. And it wouldn’t be the launch of a new SC2 expansion without a new song from Viva La Dirt League. The group has made numerous StarCraft themed song parodies over the years and have put together another epic based on Years & Years’ Shine for Legacy of the Void.
Last weekend was the final stop on the road to BlizzCon. This weekend, the world of eSports has its eyes on Anaheim as Hearthstone, StarCraft and Heroes of the Storm have their World Championship finals at BlizzCon. There are some other regional events and qualifiers in other games happening but all the big money is at BlizzCon.
This is a big weekend in the world of eSports for two reasons.
The big reason is the 2015 League of Legends World Championship wraps up on Saturday with the Grand Final between SK Telecom and Koo Tigers. Worlds is one of the most watched sporting events in the world and two of Korea’s best going should be a pretty intense matchup even if we expect Faker and MaRin to cement their status as two of the best in the world.
On the other side of the world, the Road to BlizzCon nears its conclusion. Two rounds of 16 will take place at ESL’s studio in Burbank ahead of next weekend’s tournaments at BlizzCon. On Friday and Saturday, Hearthstone’s World Championship group stages will wrap up to set the stage for the playoffs in Anaheim. Sunday is all about StarCraft’s WCS Global Finals round of 16 where we’ll be watching to see how far the lone foreigner, French Protoss Lilbow, can go.
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.
Did you know that today marks the fifth anniversary of the launch of StarCraft II? On July 27, 2010, Blizzard released StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the much-anticipated sequel to 1998’s award-winning RTS and eSports dynamo StarCraft.
To mark the occasion, the team at SC2HL put together this retrospective of the best moments of competitive SC2.
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.
et geekera 