eSports Weekly 10/31/16

2016 League of Legends World Championship

The biggest international tournament for the biggest eSport has finally finished: the 2016 League of Legends World Championship. With over $5 million on the line and eternal glory, six different regions and sixteen teams came together across the United States to duke it out.

The first event was the Group Stage which finished in the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, CA from September 29 - October 2 and October 6-9. The Quarterfinals was in The Chicago Theater in Chicago, IL from October 13-16. The Semifinals took place in iconic Madison Square Garden in New York, NY.

Finally, the Finals just finished this last Saturday at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, CA.

The biggest eSports event of the year was between SK Telecom T1 versus Samsung Galaxy. SKT was the first defending champion to reach the finals and looked poised to take a historic third title. Samsung Galaxy returned to the finals after their 2014 victory with a completely different roster. SSG was definitely the underdog as they have rookies and were only in the tournament because of a incredible gauntlet run in the LCK.

In the first game, SKT and SSG duked it out with SSG stalling the game out with Crown's signature Victor pick. Nevertheless, SKT was able to capitalize on a crucial moment and take the first game. With this game in the bag, SKT proceeded to dominate the second game with such decisiveness that many turned off their Twitch streams reg Samsung to their fate. When game 3 came along, SKT continued to dominate with a gigantic gold lead until a crucial baron play that gave SSG a miraculous comeback win.

With the momentum in their favor, Samsung dominated the fourth game with an excellent Kennen play from CuVee and a mediocre jungle performance by Blank. In order to save the day, Bengi was subbed back in for the fifth and final game. This was the first time a League of Legends World Championship Finals match went the full five games. The first thirty minutes were back and forth and the teams were dead even. The tension was palpable as a single mistake could cost the entire game, the entire series, and even the team's entire year. This mistake came from Ruler who was caught out in the mid lane which allowed SKT to take the baron and snowball a lead to victory.

With this 3-2 victory, SKT creates a nearly insurmountable legacy of three World Championships in four years and has won $2,028,000 USD (40%) of the $5,070,000 prize pool.

Overwatch APEX is Overwatch's first major tournament in Korea. With about $178,000 USD on the line, 16 teams from around the world will be competing from October 7th to December 3rd. The format involves a Round Robin where all matches are best-of-five with the top two teams advancing to the Playoffs. The Playoffs have best-of-five Quarterfinals and Semifinals and a best-of-seven Final.