A brief lull descends over the esports scene this weekend in the calm before next week s storm. The LoL Worlds finals, Dota 2 Frankfurt Major, BlizzCon and CS:GO s last Major of the year at DreamHack Cluj-Napoca all loom close on the horizon, so it seems only right to get some respite before then. Despite there being no trophies to hand out this weekend, there are still plenty of top flight games to tune into as both the CS:GO ESL ESEA Pro League and Dota DreamLeague seasons continue their early group round robin stages. And let s not forget the penultimate stage of Worlds as the European road trip to the Summoner s Cup draws to a close.

Here are the biggest esports fixtures of the weekend.

League of Legends Worlds 2015 Semifinals

Having shed all but four teams from their tour around Europe, the Riot banterbus rolls into Brussels this weekend for the semifinals. It s a very EU affair, too, as Origen and Fnatic have made it through the gauntlet on opposite sides of the bracket, meaning a home continent derby finals is still on the cards. For that to happen, however, Origen would have to best SKT Telecom T1 who have been on striking form this season. And Fnatic will need to send home KOO Tigers, who staged a surprise coup against their Korean rivals KT Rolster who swiped the second seed spot from them in the playoffs. The quarters at Wembley were a bit of a whitewash, with three of four matches resulting in one-sided sweeps, but the talent seems closer in these matchups. Find out when Origen face SKT on Saturday at 07:30 PDT/15:30 BST, and KOO take on Fnatic Sunday at the earlier time of 05:30 PDT/12:30 GMT (watch out for that British daylight savings change, folks). You can catch it all on the official Riot Games Twitch or Azubu.

Counter-Strike: ESL ESEA Pro League Season 2

In the interim before Cluj-Napoca, you can catch HellRaisers, Titan, Ninjas in Pyjamas, TSM, Virtus.pro and EnVyUs in some regular season matches. This weekend s specific matchups in the round robin pit all of the North American teams against one another over the course of two days. Starting from 15:00 PDT/23:00 BST until 20:00 PDT/03:00 GMT on Saturday night Cloud9, CLG, Team Liquid, EnemyGG and Coastless will face off against one another before repeating the matchups again on the Sunday. The rest of the European action takes course earlier each day, from 08:00 PDT/16:00 BST on the Saturday and 08:00 PDT/15:00 GMT on the Sunday. You can catch those on ESL s Twitch channel. 

Dota 2: DreamLeague Season 4

Another run-of-the-mill round robin bracket continues this weekend to determine who will get a crack at the $150,000 prize pool at November s DreamHack Winter finals. Though the Frankfurt Major is around the same time, many of the invited and qualified teams are competing which has led to some clenchworthy finishes in recent games. Don t be surprised to see scenes reminiscent of Alliance battling back against megacreeps to defeat NiP during the Major qualifiers. Matches begin at 04:30 PDT/12:30 BST on Saturday with 4CL versus Monkey Freedom Fighters and finish at 12:00 PDT/20:00 BST with MFF facing off against NiP. Catch the action on the DreamLeague Twitch channel.

Dota 2: The Summit 4 American Qualifiers

Sunday s Dota fix comes in the form of The Summit 4 s American qualifiers, also Saturday s, if you want to catch the winner s bracket final of ROOT Gaming play Digital Chaos at 14:00 PDT/22:00 BST (which, of course, you do). Sunday s matches represent the final chances in the loser s bracket (14:00 PDT/21:00 BST) for Cloud9 and whoever survives today s game between paiN Gaming and Elite Wolves. And after that, at 17:00 PDT/midnight GMT, Wizards & Priests will take on the victor s of today s compLexity versus Team Archon showdown. You can catch all of those games on Beyond The Summit.

PC Gamer Pro is dedicated to esports and competitive gaming. Check back every day for exciting, fun and informative articles about League of Legends, Dota 2, Hearthstone, CS:GO and more. GL HF!

In the second part of our four-part DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca preview, we take a look at four more hopefuls who are not favored, but unlike the earlier bunch, could realistically all make it to the playoffs. Here comes the next tier of competition at the $250,000 major.

Luminosity

Brazil  boltz, coldzera, FalleN, fer, steel

The Brazilians had a solid showing at ESL One Cologne, scoring their second consecutive top eight finish at a major. In the group stage they bested Kinguin, and after multiple overtimes, FlipSid3, before ultimately being knocked out of the event by fnatic in the quarter-finals. Luminosity has a strategic approach to the game, and that combined with the fact Europeans don t see them play too often and them now getting quality practice in North America helps their game tremendously.

In the right group Luminosity could have a very good shot at advancing—think having the likes of Gamers2 or Titan in theirs—but unfortunately a lot of it will come down to luck. What they do have going for them is the legend-seed, due to their top eight finish in Germany. FalleN s troops will be hoping for another top eight finish, one that would definitely solidify them as a top eight team in the world despite being fairly inactive as a team outside of the majors.

mousesports

Europe  chrisJ, denis, gob b, nex, NiKo

I d been saying for months that NiKo would replace either Spiidi or denis in mousesports after the major, and that their ceiling would, as a result of getting the highly skilled Bosnian rifler onboard, increase. However, so far it seems that the fragging load has simply moved towards NiKo, while nex has seemed to struggle individually after the change. Obviously some spots and roles had to be shuffled around, but if mouz want to compete for a playoff spot, they need nex to get back to the level of play he showcased during the late spring and throughout the summer.

chrisJ has finally started playing like a top level AWPer should, more consistently. He has a very explosive playing style that can win rounds for mousesports at any point—not unlike NiKo s, though the latter is far more consistent. If nex can step up his game and gob b comes into Cluj-Napoca sleeves filled with new tricks, I would not be at all surprised to see mousesports continue through to the playoffs. However, at this point based on what we have seen, it is more likely that they will once again fall short. And if they do, I m not sure this team can continue as it is.

Cloud9 

USA  fREAKAZOiD, n0thing, sg@res, shroud, Skadoodle

Every North American s favorite team has officially started struggling badly right after the incredible streak of top two finishes in July ended. Following second place finishes at ESL ESEA Pro League Season 1 Finals, ESWC and FACEIT Stage 2 Finals, they first went out in the semi-finals at the CEVO Professional Season 7 Finals, then crashed out in groups at ESL One Cologne against what should have been an inferior Kinguin team, and then went out in last place at the ESL ESEA Dubai Invitational. In other words, the magic, if there was any, is far removed from this team.

Skadoodle is the team s star and will always put up the necessary numbers for Cloud9 to have a chance. The issue, therefore, lies elsewhere. Shroud is still incredibly inconsistent and until he figures out how to show up more often, must be considered one of the most overrated players by today s fans. Sure, in Cologne in July he had an incredible showing, especially in the grand final versus fnatic, but it s been nearly four months since then. Sg@res will have to make all the right calls, while fREAKAZOiD and n0thing will need to put up impact rounds. There are a lot of question marks here, which is why I do not expect Cloud9 to advance from its group.

dignitas 

Denmark — aizy, Kjaerbye, MSL, Pimp, schneider

Dignitas looked promising throughout the summer with Nico on the roster, though there were probably a grand total of zero people who expected that to last, even if the final blow was not his choice this time around. On paper schneider seems like a strong pickup, a former fnatic player who has won the first major ever held for the game. However, it is unclear how effectively he can communicate with the rest of the team due to only speaking Swedish, and this team actually seemed to be quite reliant on their tactics. Besides, Pimp moving to an AWPer role has not worked out whatsoever.

There is potential here for sure. Kjaerbye will someday put it all together—remember he is still incredibly young at just 17 years old—and he can become a fourth wheel if this roster sticks together. They have four capable fraggers as it is, and MSL has proven to be a decent leader in this situation. This team will figure all their issues out sometime in the next twelve months, most likely, and start competing for semi-final spots. In the past they would have become a farm team—someone the top tier teams poach players from—but stronger contracts have changed all that. Expect dignitas to go out in the groups, but not without a fight.

You can reach @lurppis_ on Twitter.

Update: After this article was written, dignitas removed schneider and added tenzki as a stand-in.

PC Gamer Pro is a new channel dedicated to esports and competitive gaming. Check back every day for exciting, fun and informative articles about League of Legends, Dota 2, Hearthstone, CS:GO and more. GL HF!

In the first part of this four-part preview for the next Counter-Strike: Global Offensive major, DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca held from October 28 to November 1 in Romania, we take a look at the four participants who are the least likely to be competing for the $100,000 first place prize on the fifth and final day of the tournament.

In the time leading up to the event we ll cover the other 12 teams competing for the title, but now, let s take a look at the first four teams, in no particular order, who will be traveling to Romania for the next $250,000 major. These are all great teams, but they ll be dark horses at Cluj-Napoca.

Vexed

Poland — Furlan, GruBy, Hyper, peet, rallen

Locals expected these guys to do well at ESL One Cologne after they took down the days old Titan line-up at the qualifier, but naturally the Poles were quickly eliminated by stronger competition—namely fnatic and CLG. At this event s qualifier, GruBy s team lost to HellRaisers in the opening round, but bounced back with a win over Skyred, and the same HellRaisers squad, to book them their second consecutive major event appearance.

Now that they have already been to a major, this team must be hungrier than before. It is likely they will not be happy with going out 0-2 this time around, yet it s most likely that will still be their destiny. However, they took down Titan and HellRaisers before, both clear upsets versus teams not many thought they stood a chance against. They could once again score an upset at DreamHack, and even if they do not progress from the groups, as is expected, it can still be a positive learning experience.

FlipSid3

Ukraine — B1ade, bondik, DavCost, markeloff, WorldEdit

FlipSid3 have continued playing well since s1mple s departure in July—in fact, I would bet that not many people that are unaffiliated with the team expected them to continue putting in good results. The Ukrainian team was already low on individual skill and high on tactics and teamplay, so losing one of the world s most skilled players and your most skilled player certainly did not help. Yet here they are, markeloff heading to yet another major, and again hoping to be the cinderella story of the event.

FlipSid3 will most likely finish either third of fourth in their group. They possess enough potential to even make it through to the playoffs if placed in a favorable group that breaks out just the right way, but realistically the depth in teams is probably too much for this team in Cluj-Napoca. In a sense, they remain gatekeepers newcomers in Europe must get through to break into the top sixteen of the world—a ranking that does not sound like much, but entitles you to a healthy salary, and a chance for glory at all the majors.

CLG

USA — jdm646, FNS, hazed, reltuC, tarik

CLG have shown promise here and there, though to this day their greatest achievement was probably the upset win over fnatic on de_mirage at ESL ESEA Pro League Season 1 Finals in early July. The fact is this team simply lacks the ability to close games out, and that has a lot to do with individual skill. While the duo of jdm64 and tarik have shown they are capable of putting up numbers and competing with the best of them, the rest of the team just does not show up often enough.

For some reason FNS gave up the calling duties months ago to reltuC, but he has not picked up on fragging one bit since then. Meanwhile reltuC has never been an impact player, and while hazed has the occasional good game, he is not going to put them over the top in a best-of-three series versus an elite team. This team could do with some coaching, but more than anything, they need consistent star level play from tarik, and one other player to step up to the plate. I don t expect that to happen, so they will probably go out in the groups, once again having been close to advancing.

Team Liquid

USA — adreN, EliGE, FugLy, Hiko, nitr0

EliGE has finally started stepping up his game, and Hiko is a real asset to any team in the world. Even nitr0 has the occasional good game. When looking from afar it seems that this team should have plenty of potential, yet we all know from over three years of CS:GO that adreN has never made any team go anywhere since switching over from Counter-Strike: Source. He hasn t been much of a player in this version of the game, but as one of the few in-game leaders in North America, still continues on one of the region s best teams.

In my mind, what Liquid must going against them is how happy they looked after qualifying for the major—it s one of those cases where you could tell from their players faces, if you were watching, that this was it. There was no hunger left in their faces, aside from Hiko s. They will get bounced early on if they don t luck out, and next time they will want more. This team will gradually improve and may ultimately become a real contender for the top spot in North America, but for the time being they will have to be content with just getting to take in the atmosphere at the major.

The next part of this four-part series will feature four more teams that I expect to head out early from DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca. After that, we ll get to the eight teams who will have the best shot at a spot in the semi-finals and ultimately, the next major title.

You can reach @lurppis_ on Twitter.

PC Gamer Pro is a new channel dedicated to esports and competitive gaming. Check back every day for exciting, fun and informative articles about League of Legends, Dota 2, Hearthstone, CS:GO and more. GL HF!

CS:GO's deathmatch maps don't get a ton of love. They're generally thought of as arcadey warm-ups for its traditional, team-based modes. But modder Zool Smith has been experimenting with an interesting Quake-themed free-for-all map for CS:GO. With lava waterfalls as a backdrop, F4ST Castle lays out jump pads, item and health pickups alongside accelerated movement that enables easy bunnyhopping and makes players more elusive. Does the AWP make a decent railgun replacement? You be the judge.

CS:GO's lack of a rocket launcher may leave you missing true arena style-weapons in this context, but it's neat to see someone tinkering with this sort of crossover. F4ST Castle isn't yet up on Steam Workshop, but you can admire Zool's other projects in the meanwhile, which include a first-person take on Mario in Garry's Mod, new particle effects for TF2, and turning TF2's go-kart minigame into Mario Kart.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is an ultra-competitive first-person shooter, but who said it couldn't be a clothing line too? One fashion label has decided it can be and, in partnership with Valve, is taking votes on the best designs. As the image above suggests, if all goes to plan you'll soon be able to wear jackets brandished with your favourite weapon skin. 

Who wants this, though? Plenty of people apparently: according to Betabrand the above jacket has racked up over 11,000 votes. And it doesn't stop at jackets. Blouses, short sleeve shirts, athletic tees and chicken dresses are also available, and they're all surprisingly tasteful too. Much better than the boxshot-on-a-cheap-black-shirt fare we're used to around these parts, but then, I'm no authority on fashion so you can be the judge. 

Check out some more options below:

Grenades are one of CS:GO's most unique elements. On the one hand, they're secondary equipment in a game that's very much about aim, angles, and scoring headshots. On the other hand, they're the closest thing to a hard counter in countless situations—knowing how to angle a flashbang or smoke off the wall can save your team from destruction in CS:GO's popular competitive mode.

Last week we featured 10 useful grenade throws on the maps Dust2, Mirage, and Cache. Knowing that all of these angles and arcs are a lot to take in at once, this week we complete that series with some recommended 'nade tosses on three more well-treaded CS maps: Nuke, Cobblestone, and Inferno.

de_nuke

Situation: Smoking off big garage as Terrorists

Situation: Flashing bombsite A from the roof overlooking Terrorist spawn

Situation: From lobby, flashing B ramp as Terrorists to initiate a push

de_inferno

Situation: Smoking off CT spawn in order to attack bombsite B

Situation: Defending B and banana as CT, deciding where to smoke

Situation: As a Terrorist, checking baby room (aka 'dark') near mid for a camping CT

de_cobblestone

Situation: As CT, smoking off B main from CT spawn

Situation: Dropping through skyfall as Terrorists to take bombsite B

Situation: Smoking off highway to initiate a B main push as the terrorists

PC Gamer Pro is a new channel dedicated to esports and competitive gaming. Check back every day for exciting, fun and informative articles about League of Legends, Dota 2, Hearthstone, CS:GO and more. GL HF!

This weekend is all about warm-ups. League of Legends ongoing group stages heat up in Paris; Blizzcon gets its latest pair of Hearthstone competitors; the Dota 2 Frankfurt Major begins its massive international qualifier process; the Smite Pro League rumbles on. Fancy something different? Try the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive World Championships 2015, a rare example of a competition featuring national teams rather than established orgs.

League of Legends: LCS Worlds Group Stages

This has been arguably the most dramatic group stage in the history of the League of Legends World Championship. The action continues this weekend, with matches between Team SoloMid, Origen, KT Rolster, LGD Gaming, Invictus Gaming, ahq e-Sports Club, Fnatic, and Cloud 9. Games run from approximately 10:00 BST/02:00 PDT on Saturday and from 08:00 BST/00:00 PDT on Sunday. Find a full schedule right here, and follow the action on the official livestream. Need to catch up on the teams? Check out our massive group stage preview.

2015 Hearthstone Americas Championship

Hot on the heels of last week's European Road to Blizzcon, the best Hearthstone players in the Americas head to San Francisco to compete for a prize pool of $25,000 and one of two spots at the World Championship at Blizzcon. Play is scheduled to occur all day on Pacific time, and you can follow it all on the official stream.

Dota 2: The Frankfurt Major 2015 Regional Qualifiers

The first Dota 2 Major will find its final set of teams this weekend as all four regional qualifiers happen at once. This includes teams that qualified through the open qualifiers, which have been running all week. There are big names mixed in with the newcomers - Invictus Gaming in China, Na'Vi, Alliance and Ninjas in Pyjamas in Europe, Fnatic and MVP Phoenix in South East Asia. It'll be difficult to follow the entire thing, so I recommend picking a region and sticking with it. Play starts on Saturday at the following times:

• USA: 18:00 BST/10:00 PDT.
• South East Asia: 03:00 BST/19:00 PDT (Friday night in the USA.)
• Europe: 11:00 BST/03:00 PDT.

In China, the games start on Sunday at 03:00 BST/19:00 PDT (Friday night in the USA.)

Games can be spectated in the client, or check the official site for Stream info.

Counter-Strike: The World Championships 2015

They may well have called this 'Technically The World Championships 2015'. TWC is one of the few esports events to involve national teams rather than sponsored squads. As such, it's a bit of a novelty: a chance to see the USA face off against Singapore, Kyrgyzstan, Sweden and so on. Most players are drawn from multiple esports orgs, with a bunch of free agents in the mix to round things out. The winner takes home $50,000. The group stages are happening right now, with the main bracket to be played over the course of the weekend. Scheduling info isn't currently available that far ahead on the official site, but you can watch the stream here when the time comes.

Smite: SPL Fall Split Week 8

Smite's Super Regional draws closer as the Fall Split marches on. Play starts at 18:00 BST/10:00 PDT on both Saturday and Sunday, and all of the games will be streamed on the official Smite Twitch and available afterwards on YouTube. Look out for Cloud9 vs. COG on Sunday. C9 is made up of the players who won the first Smite World Championship under the COG Gaming label earlier in the year: they face off against the team brought in to replace them.

PC Gamer Pro is dedicated to esports and competitive gaming. Check back every day for exciting, fun and informative articles about League of Legends, Dota 2, Hearthstone, CS:GO and more. GL HF!

In CS:GO, a good grenade is a key that turns a lock. Flashbangs open doors, blinding opponents so that your team can make entry to an area of the map. Grenades also close doors, blocking off a lane with smoke or fire to discourage movement.

Part of becoming a better CS:GO player means mastering individual techniques that will help you survive the game's most common situations. For this week, we're concerned with everyday plays on Dust2, Mirage, and Cache, three of the most-played maps in the rotation. If you play CS:GO even a few dozen hours, you'll have hundreds of opportunities to execute these plays, and knowing the right 'nade for the right situation can be the difference between death and  your best round ever. 

Naturally, you'll make most of these grenade throws as the Terrorists, the attacking team in CS:GO s defusal maps. Terrorists necessarily have to change the state of the game in order to win.

de_dust2

Situation: Moving into Long A from Terrorist spawn

Situation: As the CTs, blocking an early A rush without running all the way to long A

Situation: From CT spawn, crossing mid to avoid getting AWPed

Situation: Rushing into B as the Terrorists from tunnel

de_mirage

Situation: Gaining control of mid as the Terrorists

Situation: Entering A from ramp as the Terrorists

Situation: Attacking B from apartments as the Terrorists, smoking off bench

de_cache

Situation: Attacking A as the Terrorists, blocking off truck and a portion of mid

Situation: Attacking A as the Terrorists, blocking off truck and a portion of mid

Situation: Flashing or molotoving bombsite A ('quad') from squeaky door as the Terrorists

PC Gamer Pro is a new channel dedicated to esports and competitive gaming. Check back every day for exciting, fun and informative articles about League of Legends, Dota 2, Hearthstone, CS:GO and more. GL HF!