There s still over two weeks to go until Dota 2 s flagship tournament The International 2016, but its prize pot has now surpassed last year s record-breaking total a whopping $18,580,479, at the time of writing making it the most lucrative esports competition in history.
Since the tournament s inception in 2011, Valve has provided $1.6 million of its own cash to the prize fund, however recent years have seen this augmented by a range of crowdfunded proceeds. A quarter of Battle Pass sales (passes that grant owners access to an exclusive haul of features and rewards throughout the Dota summer season) go into the pot, for example, while previous years saw the same share being shaved from sales of the ever-popular Dota 2 Electronic Annual The Compendium.
As a reward for beating last year s $18,429,613 record, Battle Pass owners will receive three treasure chests which include a range of in-game items.
According to dota2.prizetrac.kr, funding ran for 101 days in 2015. With just 70 days of Battle Pass sales gone this year, expect the grand total to rise further still. Here s a graph that compares the last few tournaments:
The International 2016 kicks off on August 13 in Seattle s Key Arena.
This might not be the busiest weekend in the esports calendar, but there's still enough to keep you occupied until Monday rolls around including CS:GO finals in China, the ongoing spectacle of the North American League of Legends scene, and StarLadder's Dota debut in Los Angeles. If you're into Hearthstone or enjoyed the HomeStory StarCraft series, you'll definitely want to be tuning in to SeatStory Cup V.
League of Legends: NA Championship Series
LoL's regular season play steps it up to cover for what is otherwise a quiet weekend. You can catch top-tier play in North America starting at 21:00 CEST/12:00 PDT on both Saturday and Sunday, with four best-of-threes being played on each day. You can find more information on the matchups, schedule and livestream on lolesports.com.
Dota 2: StarLadder i-League StarSeries
The first StarSeries LAN in the USA takes place in Los Angeles this weekend with $300,000 on the line. This is a good chance to see a slate of top Dota 2 teams play ahead of the International in a couple of weeks. Play is ongoing today, and continues on Saturday starting at 09:30 PDT/18:30 CEST. The action starts on Sunday at 14:00 PDT/23:00 CEST with the grand final beginning at 17:00 PDT (or 02:00 CEST the following day in Europe). Find the livestream here.
Hearthstone: SeatStory Cup V
There are a number of top players taking part in SeatStory Cup V this weekend. It's the Hearthstone version of the legendary HomeStory series: a serious competition in relaxed surroundings, giving you a chance to see pro players in a different light. Play begins every day at 14:00 CEST/05:00PDT and you can find the livestream here.
CSGO: Pro Gamer League 2016 Summer
This weekend is a little short on CS:GO, but you can still catch the finals of PGL 2016 in Wuhan on Sunday. The roster is primarily composed of Chinese teams with a handful of almost-top-tier western squads. The finals begin at 05:20 CEST on Sunday, which is 20:20 on Saturday night in the USA. Sadly there's no English stream for this event, but you can find the Chinese one on each match's HLTV.org page. Here's the final.
Summer is the absolute best time for esports, if you can keep that damned sun glare off your screen long enough to enjoy the games. If you re not out chasing balls in the park, or virtual animals on your mobile device, then you have made the correct choice as there s a plethora of competitive gaming at the highest level all weekend.Dota, StarCraft, Hearthstone and even Street Fighter V (especially Street Fighter V) have some huge tournaments, so you may want to adjust your curtains accordingly. Here s the best pro gaming to watch this weekend.
EVO Chamionship SeriesProbably the biggest event this weekend is a fighting game tournament. Well, more like nine fighting game tournaments at the Mecca of fighting game tournaments. EVO returns to Las Vegas this weekend for some truly monstrously sized pools of Street Fighter V and Mortal Kombat XL. More than 5,000 SFV entrants will be fighting their way to a top 8 showdown in the Mandalay Bay Events Center on Sunday, in the game s first EVO appearance. Catch that top 8 on the CapcomFighters Twitch from 7pm Sunday PDT / 3am Monday BST.DreamHack Valencia StarCraft IIMost of Europe s finest Terran, Protoss, and Zerg players are locked in an all out brawl until Saturday evening at DreamHack s Valencia Open. Those still in with a chance include France s surprise WCS contender David Lilbow Moschetto, and Norway s Jens Snute Asgaard. There s 1,000 WCS circuit points for top place which is nothing to sniff at in the new tournament format as well as $16,000, with a total of $29,000 on the podium. You can watch all the matches on the DreamHack SC2 Twitch and the Grand Finals begin Saturday from 7:30pm BST / 11:30am PDT.DreamHack Valencia Hearthstone Grand PrixAlso in Valencia this weekend are Europe s hottest Hearthstone players at the Grand Prix. Orange and Pavel obviously are in attendance, along with newer star BoarControl and cadre of other Brits including GreenSheep, Cipher, and Ness. Amazingly only one (Cipher) has survived through to the top 16, and there are a few new faces to spot among the others. You can see all of the remaining matches until Saturday s finals on the DreamHack Hearthstone stream, and the round-of-8, semis and grand finals begin at 12:15pm BST / 4:15am PDT.The Summit 5Dota s bi-annual LAN in a house tournament returns this week to put many of the best teams on the international circuit into one house with all the production values you could ask for. This year, defending champs of December s Summit Evil Geniuses are nowhere to be seen, though Manila Major winners OG will be fending off several others as the hot favourites. The real draw is the out-of-game activities, including special roaming camera reporter for The Summit 5, Barry the dog. Come for the high-class Dota, stay for the memes. All broadcast on BeyondTheSummit s Twitch channel, with Loser s Round 2 matches beginning Saturday form 10am PDT / 6pm BST, and the grand finals on Sunday 1:30pm PDT / 9:30pm BST (after the loser s final at 10am/6pm).
Following the recent conclusion of the Nanyang Championships Season Two, Dota 2 s patch 6.88b has now been rolled out bringing with it changes to heroes, and the introduction of the much-anticipated Legion Commander Battle Pass quest line. A new comic, following the exploits of the Commander's Bronze Legion, has also been launched for free the last page of which appears to tease the games s next hero. Full details on patch 6.88b's tweaks and tinkerings can be found over here.
Battle Pass owners can also get their hands on the Legacy of the Fallen Legion Legion Commander Prestige item and Quest Path. The slight catch is you ll need to be at level 225 or higher, however players who complete the quest line will also bag an alternate style unlock for the Prestige item. Doing so means playing a lot of Legion Commander games, however, so queue with friends unless you want to be the most unpopular person in solo queue.
Lastly, the Bronze Legion-oriented comic, named Tip of the Spear, has a bunch of easter eggs for fans to find. The first is right at the beginning, when a young Tresdin encounters her predecessor. This former Legion Commander looks suspiciously like the hero's DotA 1 incarnation. The biggest tease is at the end, however, when green fire in the distance suggests the arrival of Abyssal Underlord (formerly Pit Lord), a hero that fans have been awaiting for more than a year.
That cliffhanger ending sets up the events described in Legion's in-game flavour text, which you can also find here. Furthermore, completing the new quest line reveals that Legion Commander has a new nemesis: Vrogros the Underlord. It seems likely that Valve will tease the hero further at the International.
The Underlord's release would mark a milestone for Dota 2, as he's the last hero missing from the original DotA 1 roster. With his inclusion the game is functionally 'complete': what comes next is anybody's guess. Probably hats.
It's an understandably quiet weekend as multiple scenes enter their off seasons in preparation for major summer tournaments. Even so, there's plenty to watch: Dota 2, StarCraft, two different types of League ('Rocket' and 'of Legends'). Cap it off with some awesome charity speedruns and it'll be Monday before you know it.
Dota 2: Global Grand Masters
It might seem like small fry compared to the multi-million dollar International (only a month away!) but a number of top-tier teams will play in Global Grand Masters this weekend. Play starts at 16:00 CEST/07:00 PDT on Saturday and Sunday and continues through to Monday if you still need your Dota fix. Here's the livestream.
League of Legends: NA Championship Series
The NCA LCS continues with two days of play across Saturday and Sunday starting at 21:00 CEST/12:00 PDT. As ever, you'll want to check LoLesports.com for schedule, team and livestream information.
Rocket League: Qualifier 2 Group Stage
The second week of Rocket League qualifiers continues across both NA and EU this weekend. You'll want to check out the official Rocket League esports site for the key details and keep an eye on Twitch.tv for the main stream as well as individual player perspectives.
StarCraft II: Proleague 2016 Round 3
Team SCII featuring some of the best players in Korea. Play starts at 11:00 CEST (02:00 PDT) on both Saturday and Sunday, and you can find the English language livestream here. There are plenty of champions among the team rosters, including 2015 global champ sOs on Jin Air Green Wings.
Speedruns: Games Done Quick
Not quite esports and not 100% this weekend, but you should be watching Games Done Quick anyway. It's a week-long multi-game speedrun marathon supporting M decins Sans Fronti res, and it starts on Sunday at 18:30 CEST/09:30 PDT. You can find the full schedule here and the livestream here.
There's lots of competitive gaming to watch this weekend, from top-tier Hearthstone and Street Fighter V to the Dota 2 scene's frantic scramble to make it to this year's International. Skilled players will win thousands of dollars over the next two days: an impressive sum in and of itself if you're American, getting more impressive with every minute that passes if you're British.
Hearthstone: Americas Spring Championship
Starting at 09:00 PDT/18:00 CEST on both Saturday and Sunday, this is a showcase of top talent in the American Hearthstone scene. There's $80,000 on the line, as well as a spot at the Global Finals at BlizzCon. Here's the stream.
Dota 2: The International 2016 Regional Qualifiers
Qualification for the remaining spots at The International begins tomorrow. Play begins at 18:00 PDT on Friday night/03:00 CEST in SEA and at 01:00 PDT/10:00 CEST in Europe. As Europe wraps up, expect play to begin in North America followed by China. It's a packed schedule, so check out GosuGamer's match page for the latest info and stream links.
CSGO: Esports Championship Series
FaceIt's Esports Championship Series concludes this weekend with a dramatic faceoff between the world's best teams in London. You can find the livestream and schedule information on the official site. Up-to-date schedule information is missing at the moment, but expect play throughout the day on British time (CEST-1).
League of Legends: NA Championship Series
Another weekend of play in the NA LCS. Games run today and continue throughout the weekend, starting at 12:00 PDT/21:00 CEST each day and continuing for four-five hours. As ever, the best resource for further information and livestreams is lolesports.com.
Overwatch: OG Invitational
One of the biggest events in NA Overwatch so far, the OG Invitational has a $25,000 prize pool and showcases the region's best teams. Play begins at 10:00 PDT/19:00 CEST and you'll find the livestream right here.
Rocket League: Qualifier 2 Group Stage
After a few weeks of open qualifiers, the pool narrows. NA is playing on Saturday starting at 12:00 PDT/21:00 CEST and Europe plays on Sunday from 09:00 PDT/18:00 CEST. Here's the livestream.
Street Fighter V: CEO 2016
One of the liveliest events in the Street Fighter V calendar, Andi sung the praises of CEO in his column this week. It's a premier event, so expect a very high standard of play. You can find the extensive schedule here and the action will be streamed on Twitch.
In August, sixteen teams will compete for what is likely to be the biggest prize pool in the history of competitive gaming. While the majority of these teams will fight for their spot through a series of regional qualifiers, six of the best have now received their direct invite and, for the first time, the returning champions aren't among them.
OG, Team Liquid, Newbee, LGD Gaming, MVP Phoenix and Natus Vincere are the official invitees, with 2015 winners Evil Geniuses conspicuous by their absence. They've been relegated to the open qualifier, along with Team Secret, due to an eleventh-hour roster switch that fell outside of Valve's fixed transfer window. Breaking the rules means that they've got the longest possible road ahead of them in order to defend their title.
The spread of invitees demonstrates how dynamic and competitive the international Dota 2 scene is, particularly compared to other esports. OG is an independent squad that is less than a year old, handily earning their spot with two separate Major victories and another first-place finish at ESL One over the weekend. The new Team Liquid follow hot on their heels with a run of high-profile second place finishes and a win at Epicenter. Theirs is a similar story to OG a new team with veteran experience at its heart.
Newbee are one of two prior International champions to be invited, but this is a very different squad to the one that rolled over the competition at TI4. The new Newbee showcases some of the best talent in the Chinese scene, and they enjoyed an extraordinary undefeated run earlier in the year that was only curtailed when they encountered OG a team that has proved to be their foil more than once.
The new Na'Vi are the other former champions to get an invite to TI6, although only two members of that winning 2011 lineup remain Dendi and Artstyle (and Artstyle was absent for the bulk of the team's most famous performances.) Na'Vi have emerged from a few long years of scene-wide roster instability as the surprise hope of CIS Dota, placing consistently well at LAN more so than some of their better-regarded rivals.
Korea's MVP Phoenix and China's LGD are more questionable inclusions, but this reddit thread offers some sensible explanations. LGD's invite follows a recent trend of Valve inviting the top four from any official LAN to the next official LAN. MVP Phoenix, like Na'Vi, have a consistently strong record on LAN, which seems to factor heavily into Valve's selection process.
Teams without a direct invite will have to compete through four sets of regional qualifiers, with the majority of each region's best teams being invited to these instead: see the official site for the full list. Each regional qualifier has two open spots which will be filled through a run of open qualifiers taking place later this week. You can find more details about these here. It's well worth taking part particularly if you're in Europe or the Americas, where you've got a greater-than-zero chance of facing Team Secret or EG. And getting stomped by them.
There's loads happening all over the world of esports this weekend, so let's get right to it. From Hearthstone in Asia to Heroes of the Storm, CS:GO, Smite and more in Sweden and Overwatch and League in North America, there should be high-quality play to watch wherever you are.
Hearthstone: Spring Championships Asia-Pacific
Hearthstone's next regional championship concludes tomorrow, with games beginning at 09:00 PDT/18:00 CEST. This will determine which of the best players in the Asia-Pacific region will represent Hearthstone at the World Championship in November. You'll find the livestream at http://www.twitch.tv/playhearthstone.
Heroes of the Storm: Summer Global Championship
The world's best Heroes of the Storm players clash in Sweden with a $150,000 grand prize to fight for. Group play has been going on for a while, but continues on Saturday and Sunday starting at 03:00 PDT/12:00 CEST. Find the livestream at http://twitch.tv/blizzheroes.
Dota 2: ESL One Frankfurt 2016
Group play began today for this, one of the last premier Dota 2 events before the International in August. You can catch games starting at 01:30 PDT/10:30 CEST on Saturday and Sunday, and you'll find the livestream at http://www.twitch.tv/esl_dota2.
CSGO: DreamHack Summer 2016
The cream of the CSGO scene returns to Sweden for the next three days. Group play begins on Saturday at 06:00 PDT/15:00 CEST on Saturday, and continues at 03:00 PDT/12:00 CEST on Sunday and 01:30 PDT/10:30 CEST on Monday. Find the livestream at dreamhack.tv.
Overwatch: ONOG Operation Breakout
$15,000 on the line for the best Overwatch players in North America. Games begin at 17:00 PDT/01:00 CEST on Saturday night (Sunday morning in Europe) and you'll find the livestream at https://www.twitch.tv/onenationofgamers.
Rocket League: Open Qualifier 2, Week 2
Rocket Leagues latest round of open qualifiers takes place in NA and EU over the weekend. As with last week, these won't be officially streamed. Keep an eye on Twitch, however, to see if any players choose to stream their matches. You can find out more at https://www.rocketleagueesports.com/.
League of Legends: NA LCS
Another week of drama in the North American League of Legends scene. There's a full day of play on Saturday starting at 12:00 PDT/21:00 CEST with a slightly shorter day to follow on Sunday. Find more details and the livestream at www.lolesports.com.
Smite: Masters at Dreamhack Summer 2016
This is the climax of Smite's spring split, a $450,000+ tournament featuring the world's best players. You won't find higher-profile Smite than this outside of Worlds in January. Play begins at 02:30 PDT/11:30 CEST on Saturday and continues at 08:30 PDT/17:30 CEST on Sunday, with the finals taking place on Monday. Find the livestream at http://www.twitch.tv/smitegame.
The Dota 2 scene has had a hell of a weekend. The game's third Valve-sponsored $3m Major tournament came to an end in Manila on Sunday with a historic grand final between OG and Team Liquid relatively new rosters that have taken the international scene by storm in the last nine months. OG's victory makes them the first team in Dota 2's history to win two Valve events: an extraordinary first year record that only stands to improve at The International in August.
Meanwhile, the world's longest game of musical chairs continues between International 2015 winner Evil Geniuses and their foil, the would-be Dota supergroup Secret. EG's star offlaner Universe he of the $6m Echo Slam left the NA team in March to join Secret, his role being filled in on EG by their former coach, Bulba. With me so far? Well, mid-way through Manila after both EG and Secret turned in sub-par performances Secret announced that Universe had 'abandoned' them to return to EG, and that his role on Secret would be filled... by Bulba. Again.
Then, EG created a website explaining the entire transfer drama through an extended Frozen metaphor. Also, talented Swedish support player Zai formerly of Secret is now joining EG, replacing Aui_2000. This is the second time in the last year that Aui_2000 has been kicked out of EG.
It's a roster drama with more contrived betrayals than Game of Thrones, and while you try to untangle it consider this: both of the Manila Major finalists were teams that have stuck together even when tournaments haven't gone their way.
To cap things off, a surprise post-Manila balance update arrived this morning to upturn the pro metagame ahead of the International. Icefrog has turned Oprah this time you get a buff! And you! And you! And you!
Not you, Beastmaster. Nor Slardar, Phoenix, Lifestealer, Slark, Invoker, Bounty Hunter and a handful of others. But these are the oft-picked, oft-banned outliers in a patch defined by widespread buffs to almost everybody. Cooldowns are getting shorter, damage and stats are scaling better, and Hurricane Pike is quietly becoming Dota 2's most absurd item.
You can find the full patch notes here. Fans of Phantom Assassin the most-picked hero in Dota 2 pubs will be happy to note that she can now Phantom Strike magic immune targets. Could the game's most popular character now... actually... be viable in pro games? I guess we'll find out in the International open qualifiers.
Which Secret and EG will have to enter, because they changed their rosters after the cutoff. What a time to be alive.
The final weekend of Dota 2 s Manila Major looms for the remaining teams in Valve s $3m tournament. As MVP Phoenix, LGD Gaming and Team Liquid fight to stay alive in the lower bracket, OG take on Newbee for the first Grand Finals spot in the upper bracket. It s been a long road for all five teams since the group stages, and though they all started in the upper bracket, they ve had their fair share of ups and downs along the way. Here s the story so far, to get you ready to jump into tomorrow s deciders and the final showdown on Sunday.
MVP Phoenix didn t start out as a tournament favourite (coming through group D in second place behind LGD) but quickly gained traction with the home crowd. Their first match on the main stage saw them dump the analysts pick Team Liquid fresh off their runner-up placing in the same arena a month earlier at ESL One Manila into the lower bracket with a clean 2-0.
Liquid themselves are on a bit of a hot and cold streak. That ESL second place to a completely overlooked Wings team from China was a bit of a pride-denter, but victory at Epicenter weeks later showed their international strength. With teams like Evil Geniuses and Secret in complete disarray from frankly awful roster compositions, Liquid have seen their chance to claim the Best in the West title. That first day falter to MVP has only spurred them on as compLexity, Na`Vi and Fnatic have all fallen 2-0 to them in the lower bracket. They re not out of the woods yet, however, as they face the winner of MVP vs. LGD to continue.
LGD face MVP first thing in the morning and should hold the advantage over the South Korean side. The all-star Chinese team took a drama-free 2-0 over MVP in the group stages and have only lost a very close 2-1 series against Fnatic since then. Fellow countrymen Vici Gaming Reborn couldn t stop them either and, aside from upper bracket frontrunners Newbee, LGD are looking like the strongest East Asian side in the tournament.
Onto the upper bracket, where the final two undefeated teams in the playoff stages are Newbee and OG. Newbee are a remarkable case, having made it into the Majors through the China qualifiers after Kpii and Kaka joined in late March. This Saturday s winner s bracket final is a rematch between the two teams, as Newbee defeated OG 2-0 in their Group A match securing the top spot for the playoffs. Since the knockout tournament began, Newbee have sent American underdogs Digital Chaos and South-East Asian side Fnatic to the lower bracket where both have since perished. Perhaps the past few days have been a little too easy on Newbee and they ll be unprepared for OG after sitting on their laurels?
OG, by comparison, have had the rougher route through the upper bracket. First facing off against a resurgent Na`Vi followed by Liquid-slayers MVP Phoenix. Neither proved any trouble for OG, however, both succumbing to fast 2-0 sweeps. The final match against MVP saw zero casualties on OG s side in one of the most brutal displays of dominance ever seen in professional Dota. These are not qualifier teams, both direct invites with strong tournament placings in the past three months. It speaks to the skill of the team that mid player Miracle-, often hailed for his absurdly high solo MMR of 9000, has yet to die since playoffs began, at one point going 17/0/5 as Invoker against Na`VI.
Regardless of who makes it through the MVP-LGD-Liquid three-way at the bottom, OG is certainly looking like the team to beat at the top. Here are the matches to look out for and when to see them:MVP Phoenix vs. LGD Gaming (Lower Bracket) Saturday 10:00 PHT/03:00 BSTFriday 22:00 EDT/19:00 PDT
Newbee vs. OG (Upper Bracket) Saturday 13:20 PHT/06:20 BST/01:20 EDTFriday 22:20 PDT
Team Liquid vs. [MVP/LGD] (Lower Bracket)Saturday 16:40 PHT/09:40 BST/04:40 EDT/01:40 PDT
