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!
General News
Barca’s Pique names project ‘eFootball.pro’
Barcelona player and known esports enthusiast Gerard Pique has revealed the name of his latest project: eFootball.pro.
In a radio interview in Spain, Pique said he initially wanted to invest in an esports organization or tournament organizer, but decided to head his own project.
He also made the announcement in Twitter, where he has 14 million followers, and asked for applicants to work with him in his venture.
Indian tycoon to invest $10M in local esports scene
Rajdip Gupta, who founded Indian telcom giant Route Mobile, revealed plans to help spur India back into the esports world by establishing Cobx Gaming, a multi-sport, multi-tier league that can one day represent the country in international competitions.
According to reports, Cobx Gaming will start with a small competition with a $15,000 prize pool but will host international tourneys with prize pools amounting to as much as $300,000.
The Indian esports scene was heavily criticized in 2012 after the Indian Gaming Carnival horror, where poor playing conditions led to delays and eventual cancellation of events.
SK Gaming, Renegades join WESA
The World E-Sports Association announced that it has welcomed SK Gaming and Renegades into its fold.
“We’re thrileed that SK Gaming and Renegades have elected to add their eSports brands to the growing collection of leading teams that comprise WESA,” said Ken Hershman, WESA executive chairman and commissioner.
WESA has now 10 groups under its umbrella, with nine esports organizations and tournament organizer ESL.
Ligagame to build eSports arena
Ligagame eSports, Indonesia’s leading event organizer and streaming giant, is in the middle of constructing the country’s biggest esports arena in the capital Jakarta, Indonesia, according to an interview with the Esports Observer.
The Arena, according to the interview, will be in a 20,000 sq/m complex, and will be complete with parking spaces, restaurant and café spots.
It will also be near to three prominent private universities, whose students comprise most of Indonesia’s esports audience.
Vainglory Spring Season 2017 Live Championship
The top teams collide in London’s iconic O2 Arena in the Vainglory 8 Spring Season 2017 Live Championship.
Six teams from each of the NA and EU region will battle it out from May 19 to 21, starting with an intra-region qualification then an inter-region battle before the knockouts and the championship round.
Representing EU are G2, Cyclone, SK Gaming, Secret and Fnatic, while NA will be bannered by SoloMid, Gankstars, Hammers, Cloud9 and Immortals.
Dota 2
TI7 details announced
Rejoice! As Valve has confirmed it will go through with The International 2017 and announced key details of the event.
According to the blog, TI7 will be held at the same KeyArena stadium in Seattle, USA from August 7 to 12.
There were doubts whether Valve had enough time to organize TI7 with the country’s ongoing legal battle about travel bans which could impede visa applications for international players.
OG, IG standout in DAC group stages
Team OG and Invictus Gaming dominated their groups respectively in the on-going Dota 2 Asia Championships 2017 in Shanghai, China.
OG were unbeaten in five series (4 wins, 1 draw) to lead Group A with 13 out of the possible 15 points, while IG had three wins and two draws to top Group B with 11 points.
Defending champion Evil Geniuses struggled in the group stages and can only earn 5 points in five series in Group B, while TI6 champion Wings Gaming finished the group stages with seven points.
League of Legends
TSM, C9 top seeds in NA LCS Playoffs
Team Solo Mid and Cloud9 are now waiting in the semi-final of the 2017 NA LCS Spring Split Playoffs after finishing the regular season as first and second seeds, respectively.
TSM won 15 of 18 series, with 31 wins in 47 games, to finish as leaders, while C9 ended the elimination round at 14-4 (31-13). Both teams received a bye to the semis because of the seeding.
Phoenix, who finished 3rd at 11-7 (26-15), will face sixth-place Team Dignitas who ended the season 9-9 (22-22), while fourth-place Counter Logic Gaming will play fifth-seed FlyQuest, who also had 9 wins in 18 series (22-21).
Spring Split Update
Samsung Galaxy pulled off a big upset in Week 9 of the 2017 LCK Spring Split as it defeated leader SKT T1 2-0 in a combined 62 minutes of game time. World champion SKT still leads the Korean league 15-2, while SSG is now two series ahead of KT Rolster for the second seed with just one game remaining for each side.
In the EU LCS, G2 Esports beat Giants 2-0 to extend its unbeaten season to 12-0 and lead Group A. Unicorns of Love leads Group B with a 10-2 standing, following its 2-1 win over Splyce.
Royal Never Give Up and Team WE kept its lead in its respective groups in the 2017 LPL Spring Split, with RNG beating LGD in its last game and WE downing OMG in the other group. RNG at 10-2 is set to secure Group A, while WE at 9-2 can still be caught by Edward Gaming.
Counter Strike: Global Offensive
jasonR to stand in for OpTic
Jason “jasonR” Ruchelski will be OpTic Gaming’s temporary player and in-game leader following the exit of Spencer “Hiko” Martin, according to a team announcement in Twitter.
jasonR is the latest of stand-ins that OpTic has hired, as the team also signed Ryan “fREAKAZOiD” Abadir as a temporary player.
OpTic has not seen roster stability since its former captain Peter “Stanislaw” Jarguz left the team to join Team Liquid last February.
Rogue signs academy team
Rogue followed the trend set by Fnatic and GODSENT and has signed an academy team of its own.
The young organization, which was established just August of last year, signed the five-man roster named Playing Ducks as its junior team, with the players of the former Unity team remaining as Rogue’s flagship side.
“I’m super excited about this project,” said Rogue’s CS:GO manager Hapmus Johansson. “I’m happy with the roster we’ve managed to accumulate with big talents on the roster.”
