What’s on this week? – Off to Taipei – May 14th – 20th

‘What’s on this week?’is ESI’s weekly feature letting you know just what’s going on in the wonderful world of esports in the next seven days. Each week, ESI picks a selection of events and provides a brief overview of what’s going down, where it’s taking place and how you can watch it.

This week we start our adventure in Vietnam as the 2019 MSI wraps up with four teams left to battle it out in two Semifinals and a Grand Final. Then we check in with the CWL 2019 as we approach the final weeks of the split, who will come out on top? Finally, we throw it over to SMITE as we check in with the Pro League and see if Dignitas can keep its 100% record.

2019 Mid-Season Invitational – Knockout Stage

Credit – Riot Games

MSI 2019 heads into the knockout stage this week with Invictus Gaming, G2 Esports, SKT T1 and as of writing any of the remaining sides could still make the fourth spot. The top four sides will head into the Semifinals Bo5, with group winners Invictus Gaming selecting its opponent from the teams in third and fourth with second place taking on the other side not selected by Invictus Gaming.

So far at MSI, we’ve seen Invictus Gaming take a 9-1 record only falling to SKT in the final game. G2 of Europe also had a solid show, despite two shock defeats to Vietnam’s local team Phong Vu Buffalo. SKT T1 started with a shock loss to G2

Going into the Semifinals all games will move to Bo5, each of the two Semifinals will take place on the 17th and 18th with the Grand Final being played on the 19th, giving the winner of the first Semifinal a slight advantage in that they can take an extra day to prepare for the Grand Final. The Grand Final winners will also take home the largest share of the  $250,000 (£190,00)  base prize pool.

*Final prize pool will include sales of multiple in-game items within League of Legends.

Stream: Riot Games – Location:   – Date: 14/5 – 19/5  – Sponsors: MasterCard, Alienware, Secretlab – Organiser: Riot Games – Prize pool: $250,000* (£190,000)

CWL 2019 Pro League – Week Seven

We head back to Call of Duty this week to check in on the Pro League. As of publishing, we’ve had two games of week seven already as UYU beat FaZe 3-0 followed by Gen.G getting reverse swept by OpTic as they fell 3-2. The rest of the week will see Division A teams do battle, right now Gen.G and OpTic top the group so the result of that match was important. The two sides still have another three games to play each this week with only three more weeks of games left for Division A sides, every win counts.

Midnight Esports, Luminosity Gaming, Team Reciprocity and Evil Geniuses are the other sides that will take to the stage this week. All games played in a Bo5 series, the top four after the 12 weeks will advance, while the bottom four will drop into a play-in bracket.

Stream: CallofDuty – Location: Columbus, USA – Date: 14/5 – 17/5  – Sponsors: ASUS, Scuf Gaming, ASTRO Gaming Mtn Dew AMP – Organiser: MLG, Treyarch, Activision – Prize pool: $710,000 (£530,000)

SMITE Pro League 2019 – Week seven

2019 World Champions – Splyce

SMITE Pro League 2019 heads into week seven. Dignitas and eUnited remain the only unbeaten teams, with Dignitas having played one more game than eUnited, with the former having a double-header of games in week seven. Nine teams take to the Battleground of the Gods – Dignitas, eUnited, Luminosity Gaming, Pittsburgh Knights, SK Gaming, Spacestation Gaming, Splyce, Team RivaL and Trifecta.

The League will take place over 13 weeks; matches will be played on Thursday & Friday with each played on Bo5. Each team will play each other twice during the 13 weeks before the Allstar Invitational and Mid Season Invitational. The season all plays into the SMITE World Championship 2020 later this year.

Stream: SmiteGame – Location: Hi-Rez Studio, USA  – Date: 16/5 – 17/5 – Sponsors: N/A – Organiser: Hi-Rez Studios – Prize pool: TBD

That’s a wrap on this week’s picks, be sure to check back next week for another edition of the What’s on this week.

We want to feature at least one smaller event each week on the ESI weekly picks. If you want an event included in What’s on this week in a future edition, send an email to [email protected].

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