What’s on this week? Ft LEC Playoffs

n‘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.

We start the week off with CS:GO as the StarLadder Berlin Major gets into its second week,  then we head to the LEC as the playoffs commence before heading to Athens, Greece for the finals. Lastly, we take a look at the latest Method event as it brings the World First treatment to Classic World of Warcraft.

LEC Summer Split Playoffs

The LEC heads into its penultimate week before the grand final. This week, things start with Rogue vs. Schalke 04 before heading into the big one, G2 Esports vs. Fnatic. The winner of the former will then play the loser of the latter before one of those teams gets a final shot at the crown next week.

Over the course of the split, 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: 30th–31st 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)

StarLadder Berlin Major – New Legends Stage

The second week of the StarLadder Berlin Major sees the remaining teams head into the New Legends Stage, joining the top dogs. The initial matches are best-of-one with elimination and advancement matches utilising a best-of-three format. The top eight teams will then advance to next week’s Champions Stage with the bottom eight squads going home.

The 16 teams at the event, in ranking order, are Astralis, Team Liquid, ENCE, Natus Vincere, FaZe Clan, Team Vitality, MIBR, Renegades, NRG Esports, Ninjas in Pyjamas, North, mousesports, G2 Esports, AVANGAR, CR4ZY and DreamEaters. The StarLadder Berlin Major will take place over the next two weeks with a $1 million prize pool on the line.

You can read our ESI Gambling Report on StarLadder Major here.

Stream: StarLadder_CS  
Location: Berlin, Germany
Date: 28th August–1st September
Sponsors: Secretlab, GG.BET, ZOWIE, Strafe Esports, OMEN by HP, HONOR
Organiser: StarLadder
Prize pool: €200,000 (£179,855.76)

Method & WSOE’s Classic Race to World First

Method is back with another World First race, though this time we head back 15 years ago to where it all began. The Classic Race to World First has been announced, taking place in Las Vegas with a host of streamers and talent all leveling to level 60. Once they achieve that milestone, the real race can begin as groups try to claim the first kill (again) of Ragnaros, the end boss of Molton Core, and Onyxia, the only boss of her own self-titled raid Onyxia’s Lair.

The event will run 24/7 until all of the above are met, with expecting to take around 11 days in total to complete both raids. We certainly won’t expect the intense boss fights from BFA, but with so many people wanting to finally take down two of WoW’s most legendary end boss, the event is sure to be worth the hype.

Stream: Method
Location: Las Vegas, USA
Date: 26th August
Organiser: WSOE

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].

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