This week we look at the NA v EU hype match taking place in League of Legends as the top 3 sides from each region face off in the 2019 Rift Rivals. Then we head to Russia for some Dota 2 Major action which is already well underway. Lastly, we check in with week eleven of the CoD Pro League as we see a number of top sides playing multiple games in the same week as they look to grab top spots.
Rift Rivals 2019
It’s that time again, Rift Rivals 2019. The best three sides from North America (Cloud9, Team Liquid and TSM) face off against the top three sides in Europe (G2, Fnatic and Origen) to be crowned the best region in the west (Though G2 probably already did that at MSI). Whilst the event is a nice little ‘mid-season’ mess about, fans certainly take it seriously. We’d hazard a guess that NA fans have a lot riding on this event, especially with Fnatic and G2 going into the event in such fine form.
The format of the event will see each EU and NA team play each other once in a Bo1 series with the group stage impacting the ‘Relay Race’. Round two, the ‘Relay Race’ will see the winning region from groups pick their preferred opponent, with the final two games being a blind pick to determine the winning region. The action gets underway starting the 27th of June with preceding ending on June 29th.
Stream: Riot Games – Location: Riot Games LCS Studio, USA – Date: 27/6 – 29/6 – Sponsors: N/A – Organiser: Riot Games – Prize pool: Regional Pride
EPICENTER Major
It’s Dota time, whilst we include a lot of League of Legends in these weekly lists (write what you know etc) we can’t ignore Dota 2, especially not when a Major is going down. Taking place in Moscow all week and ending on June 30th, teams will battle it out for their share of the $1m prize pool and 15,000 Pro Circuit Points.
We join the action in the Playoff stage, with all games being played in a Bo3 (remaining Round 1 lower bracket games are Bo1) with the Grand Final being played in a Bo5. The remain teams left at the Major are Team Liquid, Vici Gaming, TNC Predator, Royal Never Give Up (from upper bracket) PSG.LGD, Forward Gaming, Team Secret, Evil Geniuses, OG, Alliance, Infamous, Virtus.Pro, Gambit Esports and Ninjas in Pyjamas. As this article goes live, the final Upper Bracket Round 1 series between TNC and RNG is about to start, so make sure to head over and check it out.
Stream: Epicenter – Location: Moscow, Russia – Date: 25/6 – 30/6 – Sponsors: Ray Gaming, eatwithfun, HyperPC, SAP – Organiser: Epic Esports Events – Prize pool: $1m
CWL 2019 Pro League – Week Eleven
We head back to Call of Duty this week to check in on the Pro League. As of publishing, we’ve had two days of games already as Units (former Denial Esports team) beat UYU 3-1 while Luminosity beat Enigma6 Group by the same scoreline. The early hours of Tuesday morning also saw FaZe beat Splyce 3-2 whilst Evil Geniuses took down 100 Thieves 3-2, in the shock of the night.
The rest of week eleven will consist of the above teams taking each other on with two series per night. 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: 25/6 – 28/6 – Sponsors: ASUS, Scuf Gaming, ASTRO Gaming Mtn Dew AMP – Organiser: MLG, Treyarch, Activision – Prize pool: $710,000 (£530,000)