“What’s on this week?” is ESI’s weekly feature letting you know just what’s going on in the wonderful world of esports in the next seven days. Each week, ESI picks a selection of events and provides a brief overview of what’s going down, where it’s taking place and how you can watch it.
This week we head to Leicester, England as the finals of the European Masters Spring Split comes to an end as teams’ from Germany, France, Spain and UK & Ireland remain. Then we head into the World of Warcraft esports as the Mythic Dungeon International heads into cup 3 ahead of the upcoming LAN event. Finally, we return to the SMITE Pro League as they head into week 5.
2019 European Masters Spring – Grand Finals
Whilst top-tier League of Legends has ended, it’s time we look to the next generation of pro players as we look to the European Masters Spring. With day one of the games already in the bag, some of Europe’s top academy and semi-pro teams take to the stage. As we head into the finals week, just Misfits premier, MAD Lions E.C, Fnatic Rising and SK Gaming Prime remain, with only one side, MAD Lions, not being an LEC academy side.
The Semifinals will take place on April 27th, with Misfits taking on MAD Lions followed by Fnatic Rising taking on SK Gaming, finals will be played in Bo5. Whilst it’s hard to predict a winner, MAD Lions will be looking to perform, as the only non-LEC Academy side and a 100% win rate in the stage, the team is full of confidence. Fnatic had also been an early favourite, they’re surprised match loss to Ventus Esports was unexpected, but the team will hope it was merely a blip, especially as the remaining two games in the series went smoothly.
Stream: ESL_LoL – Location: Leicester, UK – Date: 27/4 – 28/4 – Sponsors: – Organiser: Riot Games & ESL – Prize pool: £130,000
Mythic Dungeon International 2019 – Cup 3
The Mythic Dungeon International heads into its third western cup and final this week, with some of the top sides all but set to secure their spot at LAN. Method EU leads the pack with 280 points after taking first place at both previous cups, Method NA takes the second spot with Abrakeydabra and Fourty K locking out the top four places heading into cup 3.
Heading into the final cup, only Team Puolukka (currently joint on points with Fourty K) look set to break into the LAN spots, however, a good run from one of the other sides and teams in the top 4 taking it easy could see some changes to the third & fourth spot as we head to LAN.
Stream: Warcraft – Location: Online – Date: 27/4 -28/4 – Sponsors: N/A – Organiser: Blizzard – Prize pool: $12,000 (£9,000)
SMITE Pro League 2019 – Week four
SMITE Pro League 2019 heads into week five, last years winners Splyce had a poor first week of their titles defence last week as they dropped the series v RivaL 3-1. For this season, 10 teams take to the Battleground of the Gods – Dignitas, eUnited, Luminosity Gaming, Pittsburgh Knights, Renegades, SK Gaming, Spacestation Gaming, Splyce, Team RivaL and Trifecta.
The League will take place over 13 weeks, matches will be played on Thursday & Friday with each played on Bo5. Each team will play each other twice during the 13 weeks before the Allstar Invitational and Mid Season Invitational. The season all plays into the SMITE World Championship 2020 later this year.
Stream: SmiteGame – Location: Hi-Rez Studio, USA – Date: 25/4 – 26/4 – Sponsors: N/A – Organiser: Hi-Rez Studios – Prize pool: TBD
That’s a wrap on this week’s picks, be sure to check back next week for another edition of the ESI weekly picks.
We want to feature at least one smaller event each week on the ESI weekly picks. If you want an event included in a future edition, send an email to [email protected].