‘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’re all about MOBA titles. With Phase 2 of SMITE Pro League kicking off this week, we head to America for our first pick. After that, we check in with the LEC as things start to get spicy at the time after Excel Esports finally grabbed a 2-0 week as they look to keep the playoff dream alive. Sticking with the UK, we then catch up with the UKLC and see who’s been claiming Tower Championships since we last covered the league.
SMITE Pro League 2019 Phase 2 Week 1
SMITE Pro League returns this week as Phase 2 gets underway. Hot off the heels of the Mid-Season Invitational, which saw Renegades take the title after beating World Champions Splyce 3-0 in the grand finals. Phase 2 will feature the following sides: Dignitas, eUnited, Luminosity Gaming, Pittsburgh Knights, SK Gaming, Renegades, Spacestation Gaming, Splyce, Team RivaL, and Trifecta.
Over the next 12 weeks, teams will face off on each Thursday and Friday with two sets of matches on each day. All games are played in a best-of-five series with spots at the SMITE World Championship on the line. All matches will be streamed on SMITE’s Mixer channel.
Stream: SmiteGame
Location: Hi-Rez Studios, Alpharetta, Georgia, USA
Date: 1st–2nd August
Organiser: Hi-Rez Studios
LEC Summer Split Week 7
We head back to the LEC this week as G2 Esports keep pace at the top with an 11-1 record. Fnatic continue to have inconsistent results as they go 1-1 again, a result that saw Splyce join them in second place. One bit of good news at the bottom of the table, for UK fans at least, saw Excel Esports pick up its first 2-0 week and sent them up to joined ninth keeping its playoffs dreams alive.
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. The top three sides from the playoffs will then go to Worlds as European representatives.
Stream: Riot Games
Location: Berlin, Germany
Date: 2nd–3rd August
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)
UK League Championship Week 5
When the European League of Legends scene adopting franchising for 2019 and beyond, it created a lot of excitement for regional leagues across Europe. One of the standouts was the United Kingdom’s very own league. 2018 saw LVP take over from ESL UK as the organiser of the UK LoL scene and 2019 saw the start of UKLC, featuring familiar faces from UK’s past.
The UKLC is made up of MnM Gaming, Barrage Esports, Enclave Gaming, Diabolus, Excel UK, NVision Esports, DarkSpawn Esports, Phelan Gaming and Fnatic Rising. The competition features a ‘tower’ system, which sees the previous week’s winner taking the form as the ‘end boss’ of the following week. The fourth week saw Fnatic Rising become the tower champion, putting them just one point behind Excel UK. Going into Week 5, Fnatic and Excel look miles ahead of the teams belo, with nine points separating second and third place.
Stream: LVPUK
Location: Online
Date: 31st July – 1st August
Organisers: Riot Games & LVP
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 david@esportsinsider.com.
ESI London 2019 – Find out more
