Welcome to the Weekly Recap, where we gather the top stories that happened in the past week to help you catch up with the busy world of eSports!
Monkey King, Talent Trees arrive with Patch 7.00
Dota 2 released one of its biggest updates with Patch 7.00, titled “A New Journey”.
The new patch introduced a huge bevy of changes, including a new hero in Sun Wukong the Monkey King, new level-up mechanics with Talent Trees, inventories with backpacks, and relocated Roshan from the depths of the Dire’s grim forests to the top half of the river.
For the full lists of changes, read it here.
We also wrote what we think of the changes here and here! Enjoy reading!
OG wins 3rd Valve event at Boston Major
OG proved it needed no miracles as the squad lifted its third Eaglesong trophy after beating Ad Finem in the Boston Major finale at Wang Theatre.
The retooled squad, which won two of the three Majors played last season, dominated the group stages before rampaging on the new single elimination format in the main event, where it defeated Evil Geniuses in the semis before outclassing Ad Finem in the final.
OG took home $1 million from the $3 million prize pool, while Ad Finem pocketed $500,000, its largest winnings in its history. Semi-finalists EG and Digital Chaos won $250,000 each.
Twitch leaves EG and Alliance
Premier streaming platform Twitch has spun off Evil Geniuses and Alliance, which will now be player-owned groups.
“Both teams’ brands, player contracts, and futures are now in the hands of the players and player-selected management,” said Twitch COO Kevin Lin.
EG has announced that Peter “ppd” Dager, its Dota 2 veteran who is in hiatus from active-play, will be the new CEO of the group.
EU LCS moves to Bo3 group format
EU LCS will move from the double Round Robin Bo2 format to a Bo3 schedule in 2017, citing “lack of clear winners” in the two-game series as reason for the move.
This will be the new format of the two EU LCS Splits in 2017:
10 teams will be grouped into fives, and then teams will play a double Round Robin Bo3 with teams in their own group and a single Round Robin with teams in the other group.
The top three teams in each group will go to the playoffs, with the first seeds of each group getting an outright spot to the semis, and the second and third seeds fighting in a cross-group knockout game to see who will go through.
There will also be changes in the promotion/relegation phase.
SKT T1 sign midlaner Sky
Kim “Sky” Ha-neul has agreed to join 2016 world champion SK Telecom T1 and act as the backup for star midlaner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok.
Despite struggling with his former team CJ Entus, SKT still agreed to put Sky under its wings since the 18-year-old is one of the most well-known upcoming midlaners in LCK.
He only got 33 kills and 65 assists against 42 deaths in 17 games with CJ Entus, but that was primarily because he got focus-banned by opponents and had to step out of his comfort zone.
Reignover joins Team Liquid
Team Liquid has confirmed that Kim “Reignover” Yeu-jin will be on their starting roster for the 2017 League of Legends season.
The 21-year-old jungler spent the last year with the Immortals, which he helped win the 2016 NA LCS Spring Split.
“Reignover is a natural leader with immense talent and we’re excited to watch how our team develops heading into next season. With the help of our support staff, our team this season will be better equipped to rule the rift,” said the team in an announcement video.
Barclays Center to host ESL One through 2020
ESL One announced that the Barclays Center in New York will be the home of its flagship event in the next four years.
Starting from the September 2017 event up to the one in 2020, the Brooklyn stadium will host the ESL One New York for CS:GO.
“We are thrilled to make Barclays Center the home of ESL One for the next four years,” said ESL NA executive chairman Steven Roberts.
Astralis win 1st premier title
Astralis defeated OpTic gaming 2-0 at the ECS Season 2 Grand Finals to win their first ever premier tournament.
The Danish team, who lost to OpTic in the ELEAGUE Season 2 last week, finished the ECS regular season with a 13-5 record before sweeping their opponents in the finals with a 16-6 win on Overpass and 16-11 on Train.
Astralis pocketed $250,000 as champs, while OpTic took home $120,000.
TSM sign sgares, ShahZam
Team Solo Mid has confirmed that it signed Sean “sgares” Gares and Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan to its CS:GO rosters.
The pair will replace Kory “Semphis” Friesen and Pujan “FNS” Mehta, who got kicked out from the roster after team performances got “relatively stagnant” throughout the year.
The new TSM roster will have its debut at the Dreamhack Las Vegas NA Qualifiers.
Gods leaves NRG
Daniel “Gods” Graeser has become a free agent after announcing he has left the Overwatch team of NRG Esports.
Gods made the announcement in his Twitter account and also said that he is looking for a team.
Graeser was one of the members signed by NRG after the group signed Luminosity Gaming. He helped them place 5th-8th place at Overwatch Open, and 3rd-4th at the APAC Premier.
