eSports Weekly 02/22/16

This week’s hottest eSports news and highlights for League of Legends, CS:GO, and Dota 2. Expect spoilers!

Contents (Click to Jump to Section) League of Legends NA LCS EU LCS LCK LPL Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Dota 2

League of Legends 

• NA LCS: Cloud9, Echo Fox, and CLG all have great weeks with playoffs approaching.
• EU LCS: Vitality is the only team to go 2-0 with a big win against H2k.
• LCK: SKT T1 fails with two losses.
• LPL: QG wins both games to look like the best team in the league.

NA LCS Recap and Standings

In week 6 of the NA LCS, Immortals, Cloud9, Echo Fox, and CLG went 2-0 as teams strive to get the highest seeds for playoffs. Cloud9's victories are especially significant as they beat two rivals contending for 2nd place.

Here are results of week 6:

Day 1:

Next week, the matches to watch are IMT vs CLG on Saturday and C9 vs CLG on Sunday. This week will be an important test for Echo Fox, TSM, and CLG. Echo Fox has made a surge in the standings to contend for a play-off spot. However, they only have played lower teams. TSM also needs to do well this week to rebound from their 0-2 week. Lastly, CLG has the hardest week possible playing the undefeated IMT and the other 2nd place team, C9.

EU LCS Recap and Standings

1. Elements vs Origen (0-1)
2. ROCCAT vs Splyce (1-0)
3. Unicorns of Love vs Giants (1-0)
4. Fnatic vs G2 Esports (1-0)
5. Team Vitality vs H2k (1-0)

Day 2:

1. Giants vs Elements (1-0)
2. Team Vitality vs Unicorns of Love (1-0)
3. Origen vs H2k (0-1)
4. Splyce vs Fnatic (1-0)
5. ROCCAT vs G2 Esports (0-1)

The game to watch is Team Vitality vs H2k on Day 1. Despite being the longest game of the split, the game is full of tense macro play with FORG1VEN, the most mechanical ADC in the west, on Kog'Maw and Vitality with a Bard and Zilian composition to catch him out. Despite the razor-thin close standings, this game gives reason to believe that these are the two best teams in the league.

1. G2 Esports (9W-3L) 1. Team Vitality (9W-3L) 1. H2k (9W-3L) 4. Unicorns of Love (8W-4L) 5. Fnatic (7W-5L) 6. Origen (6W-6L) 7. Elements (4W-8L) 7. Splyce (4W-8L) 9. Giants (2W-10L) 9. ROCCAT (2W-10L)

Week 7 lacks any games between the top four teams making H2k vs Fnatic on Day 1 and Origen vs G2 Esports on Day 2. Fnatic and Origen have not been performing well, with embarrassing plays this last week. If they can somehow win the World's Semifinalists may redeem themselves.

LCK Recap and Standings

1. KT Rolster vs Jin Air Green Wings (1-2)
2. Samsung Galaxy vs CJ ENTUS (2-1)

Day 2:

1. SKTelecom T1 vs Longzhu Gaming (0-2)
2. e-mFire vs Afreeca Freecs (0-2)

Day 3:

1. KT Rolster vs CJ ENTUS (2-1)
2. Jin Air Green Wings vs ROX Tigers (0-2)

Day 4:

1. SKTelecom T1 vs Afreeca Freecs (1-2)
2. SBENU SONICBOOM vs Samsung Galaxy (0-2)

The series to watch is KT Rolster vs Jin Air Green Wings. Watch game 2 to see a Rammus top and Rumble jungle team composition in action.

Here are the standings after six weeks of play:

1. ROX Tigers (8W-0L) 2. Jin Air Green Wings (6W-3L) 2. Samsung Galaxy (6W-3L) 4. Longzhu Gaming (5W-3L) 4. KT Rolster (5W-3L) 6. SKTelecom T1 (5W-4L) 7. CJ ENTUS (3W-5L) 8. Afreeca Freecs (3W-6L) 9. e-mFire (1W-7L) 10. SBENU SONICBOOM (0W-8L)

Week 7 Preview

Week 7 is a short week with only three matches. The series to watch will be Longzhu Gaming vs KT Rolster on Wednesday. With both of these teams tied at fourth place, this series will help establish who actually belongs in the top three rather than a middle-tier team.

LPL Recap and Standings

Here are the standings after four weeks of play:

Group A

1. Qiao Gu Reapers (7W-0L) 2. Team World Elite (4W-2L) 2. Snake Esports (3W-2L) 4. Energy Pace Maker (2W-4L) 5. Master3 (2W-5L) 6. LGD Gaming (1W-6L)

Group B

1. Royal Never Give Up (5W-2L) 2. Invictus Gaming (4W-2L) 2. Edward Gaming (4W-2L) 4. OMG (3W-4L) 4. Vici Gaming (3W-4L) 6. Hyper Youth Gaming (0W-6L)

Week 5 Preview

Next week, the battle of the two first place teams will take place with Qiao Gu Reapers vs Royal Never Give Up. QG are the favorites with their undefeated standing this split.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

ESL Pro League Season 3 Week 2

The second week is still ongoing with Fnatic, Astralis, and Team EnVyUs being the top teams in Europe and OpTic Gaming, Luminosity Gaming, and Renegades being the top teams in North America. The remaining matches for this week have been postponed due to the release of Operation Wildfire.

The Barcelona CS:GO Invitational

The Barcelona CS:GO Invitational was a Premier Offline Tournament organized by ESL that took place from February 19-21 featuring eight different teams. The unique tournament sees each team start with three lives and each game they loses costs a life. The tournament ends when only one team with lives remains. An interesting aspect of this style of tournament is that teams are awarded €1,000 for each victory and the winner receives €1,000 for each remaining life. The participants were Astralis, Team EnVyUs, Fnatic, G2 Esports, Team Dignitas, Vexed Gaming, gBots eSports Club, and x6tence. Over the course of three days teams battled each other until Team EnVyUs, gBots, and x6tence were knocked out. In dominating fashion, Fnatic then won four games straight to be the Barcelona CS:GO Invitational champions with two lives to spare.

Dota 2

Evil Geniuses win Captains Draft 3.0 by defeating Vega Squadron 3-1

The reigning TI5 champions have become the champions of yet another tournament with a 3-1 victory over their fellow CIS team, Vega Squadron. Captain's Draft's unique format involves each team having one captain that is responsible for the drafting phase. A random pool of 27 heroes is chosen and captains ban three heroes each. This led to a unique draft from Evil Geniuses that included off-meta picks like Axe, Beastmaster, Phoenix, and Omniknight from Universe. Evil Geniuses has been in the Grand Finals for the last four tournaments they were in.

Sources:

The Score Esports

• Evil Geniuses defeat Vega Squadron 3-1, win Captain's Draft 3.0

GosuGamers

• GosuGamer's ESL Pro League Season 3 Coverage