We start the week off by focusing on our main event: BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles. The event, which takes place over the weekend, will see some of the best teams in CS:GO face offe, including the Intel Grand Slam victors Team Liquid.
Then we head to familiar ground with the LEC — after Europe’s dominance at Rift Rivals, the domestic competition returns from a week-long break. Lastly, we head to Vietnam for the finals of the Arena of Valor World Cup. Three nations remain in the event, with Chinese Taipei, Thailand, and Vietnam all withstanding the rest of the competition.
BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles 2019
We start the week off with the event in the CS:GO calendar: BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles. Starting on July 13th and running until July 15th, LA will play host to six top CS:GO sides as they battle it out for their share of the $250,000 (£200,000) prize pool. With Team Liquid attending the event after cementing their very own era, it’s hard to see any other team coming out on top over the North American roster.
The event will also welcome Cloud9, FaZe Clan, MIBR, NRG Esports, and Renegades. Group stage matches will be played in a single round-robin with best-of-ones, with the playoffs and finals utilising best-of-threes. After last weekend’s exciting ESL One event in Cologne, CS:GO fans are being spoilt for events as of late. Team Liquid certainly goes into the tournament with a target on their back.
Stream: BLAST Pro Series
Location: Los Angeles, USA
Date: 13-15th July
Sponsors: Betway, OMEN by HP, Twitch
Organiser: RFRSH Entertainment
Prize pool: $250,000 (£200,000)
LEC Summer Split Week Four
Back from a win at Rift Rivals: NA vs EU, the LEC returns for its fourth week. At things stand, Fnatic sits at the top of the standings with a perfect 6-0 record, whilst Spring Split and MSI winners G2 Esports are close behind on 5-1. The other EU side at Rift Rivals, Origen, have a 3-3 record but are coming into week four off of the back of some solid games against the LCS sides. With fixtures against Rogue and Excel ahead of them, Origen will be feeling confident.
Over the course of the split, the LEC sees 10 teams battle it out in a double round-robin best-of-one format with the top six teams advancing to the playoffs.
Stream: Riot Games
Location: Berlin, Germany
Date: 12-13th July
Sponsors: Kia, Alienware, DXRacer, Foot Locker, Logitech G, Shell, Warner Music, Tchibo, Beko, Red Bull, GoDaddy
Organiser: Riot Games
Prize pool: €200,000 (£179,855.76)
Arena of Valor World Cup 2019
This week will see the culmination of the Arena of Valor World Cup. As of writing, it’s at the semifinals stage with Vietnam due to take on the Thailand Wildcard and Chinese Taipei set to play the Vietnam Wildcard. Both semifinals will be played on July 13th with the final being played on July 14th live from Da Nang, Vietnam.
The format thus far has been Bo2, but now Bo7s will be played now it’s moving into the final stages of the tournament. The event features a $500,000 (£400,000) prize pool with the winning team taking home $200,000 (£160,000) of that. With two wildcard teams’ left in the event, we could see a big shock on the cards; Thailand Wildcard is certainly the team in position to produce an upset after beating the main Thailand squad in the quarterfinals.
Stream: AOV
Location: Da Nang, Vietnam
Date: 13-14th July
Organiser: Tencent
Prize pool: $500,000 (£400,000)
That’s a wrap on this week’s picks, be sure to check back next week for another edition of the ‘What’s on this week?’
We want to feature at least one smaller event each week on the ESI weekly picks. If you want an event included in What’s on this week? in a future edition, send an email to [email protected].