Wow. Just wow. It finally happened and in an epic way with DWG being handed their first loss of the LCKSpring2021season as they fell to Gen.G this past week. With everyone shook, let’s dive into a little discussion over this colossal event – DWG Lose to Gen.G!
So, it all started with a Map 1 win for Gen.G, followed by a bounce back from DWG to win the second Map. With everything on the line, they dived into the third map.
To note, viewership was at an all-time high too, with a peak viewership of 285,858 online through Twitch.
It was in map 3 that Gen.G really turned up the heat with “Ruler” and “Bdd” really taking advantage of a poor game from “BeryL” from Damwon Gaming.
By the end of the series, the entire LCK community was shook – DWG lose to Gen.G after a stunning 12 win streak.
How Significant is This Win for Gen.G?
Gen.G needed this victory. Besides a massive morale boost, they are now tied with Hanwha for second place. Accordingly, do remember that seeding is essential for the upcoming Playoff event. Indeed, with Week 9 ending and Week 10 coming up, there’s no time for losers.
Credits: Gamepedia
And no, I doubt DWG Kia are too worried. Yes, a loss is unfortunate but it’s essentially meaningless. However, the fact remains that now they look mortal – will they win when it matters? Does Gen.G have their number?
This upcoming weekend we’ll be witnessing some of the best North American League of Legends we’ve seen yet in this 2021 season. This is because this weekend, the Mid-Season Showdown is going to take place. Here’s your full tournament guide of the event:
The Mid-Season Showdown could be considered as an updated version of the Spring Split playoffs. The difference being is that in previous seasons, the regular season record would persist through both Spring and Summer Splits. However, the Mid-Season Showdown is it’s own LCS title.
How to qualify for the main event
All of the teams that are participating in the Mid-Season invitational have qualified due to their spot in the LCS Spring Split. The teams that placed 6th or above got an invite to the event. Teams have gotten their seeding via their placement in the season leaderboard.
Prize distribution
A total of $200,000 will be given out to participants that place 4th or above. Alongside the money, the winning team will receive a free spot at the Mid-Season Invitational in Reykjavik, Iceland between the 6th-23rd of May. This is how the prize money will be distributed:
1st – $100,000
2nd – $50,000
3rd – $25,000
4th – $25,000
Tournament Format
The Mid-Season Showdown is set in a Double Elimination bracket. Here, the top 4 teams of the regular split are placed in the upper bracket, whereas the 5th and 6th placing teams are put in the lower bracket already. This means that the Double elimination will only apply to those who place 4th or above. Here’s a detailed video explaining how the format will work:
Teams Participating at the Mid-Season Showdown
TSM
Team Liquid
100 Thieves
Cloud9
Dignitas
Evil Geniuses
Schedule list
The event is set to start on the 20th of March and will keep on going till the 12th of April. Here’s a quick run down of the first few matches:
Semifinals – March 20, 2021
21:00 CET – TSM vs Team Liquid
Semifinals – March 21, 2021
21:00 CET – Cloud9 vs 100 Thieves
Losers Round 1 – March 27, 2021
21:00 CET – Evil Geniuses vs Cloud9/100 Thieves
Losers Round 1 – March 28, 2021
21:00 CET – Dignitas vs TSM/Team Liquid
Credits: Riot Games
Streaming platform list
The Mid-Season Showdown will stream on the official LCS twitch channel here. It will also stream on the LoL Esports Youtube channel for all those that prefer that as their platform. As a bonus for non-english speakers, the event will stream in French and Polish.
Watch the Mid-Season Showdown stream on esportsguide.com
You can also watch the Mid-Season Showdown live stream via our very own website. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.
With all of the teams participating having solid performances in the past few weeks, it’s definitely going to be challenging to figure out which one will come out on top. One thing to point out is that it was Team Liquid that won the LCS Lock-in 2021, the initial tournament at the beginning of the season. Despite this, Cloud9 have sky-rocketed in the leaderboards and are currently 13-5 in the group stage. Even TSM with a new lineup have shown promise in their performance. Based on the seeding, we would have to go with Cloud9 or Team Liquid as our main predictions to win it all.
Be sure to keep yourself updated with www.esportsguide.com for all your esports news!
In terms of schedule, we have the first four games listed below for the CET region:
Friday 26th March – 18:00 – Fnatic vs SK Gaming
Saturday 27th March – 17:00 – G2 Esports vs Schalke 04
Sunday 28th March – 17:00 – Rogue vs MAD Lions
Streams should be available on the respective Twitch page, while you can also gain access to any juicy details at our very own esportsguide portal.
In terms of predictions, it’s rather straight forward – the top 4 teams have a likely chance to win with a team such as G2 Esports leading the charge as the favourite.
LDL suspended due to potential match fixing – Why?
The main reason for the suspension is not known yet. However we can expect that the recent drama from former FPX jungler Bo has something to do with it. In the original situation, Bo admitted to persuasion into match-fixing, back in the LDL of Summer 2020. Apart from that, the pandemic situation in China hasn’t been doing too well either. Despite not revealing what the cause of the suspension might be, the current health situation globally could have definitely had an impact on the league.
When is it going to be back?
With the LDL being indefinitely suspended from the 17th of March, we have no clue when the league will resume. However, as this investigation progresses, we’re sure that we’ll be getting more updates and notifications about what’s going to happen.
It’s definitely good news out of Riot Games and all their staff over at the LPL that they’re investigating this match fixing issue. Match fixing has been a huge problem within the esports scene as of late, and making sure that everyone involved is disciplined is key to try and reduce it as much as possible.
Hopefully this goes out as a message that Riot wants what’s best for the competitive integrity of their esport.
Indeed, it’s been a couple of weeks since we checked up on the LCK. Yet, not much has changed with regards to the standings. Accordingly, with a few weeks left, here’s an LCKSpring2021Week7recap for you to enjoy! Note that there are only a couple of weeks left until the season’s through.
LCK Spring 2021 Week 7 Standings
Without further delay, here’s how the teams currently stack up:
And now, as we’ve been doing for other recaps, we’ll be diving into some key matches which shaped up the leaderboard this past week:
Gen.G vs Liiv SANDBOX (0-2) – it honestly must be so frustrating to be a Gen.G fan. With a potential guaranteed 2nd place finish, they manage to lose to the literal bottom team. Like that, they remain within arm’s reach of a hungry DRX
DWG KIA vs Afreeca Freecs (2-0) – while AF try to break Top 6, Damwon continue on their incredible 10 win streak to establish their dominance further
T1 vs KT Rolster (2-0) – a fight for the middle of the pack, T1 have given themselves a 2 win cushion to guarantee a top 6 position while KT Rolster remain in the danger zone
With the remaining two weeks, we don’t know what to expect. Regardless, the action continues with Week 8 starting on 11th March.
In our last recap for the LCS, we had ourselves a tie between Cloud9 and 100 Thieves. Since then, some major matches have taken place and the leaderboard has shifted accordingly. Bearing this in mind, read on for our very own LCSSpring2021Week4Recap!
And those are your standings. Let’s dive into some key matches which really had a big effect on this week:
Team Liquid vs TSM (0-1) – a matchup which determined the middle of the leaderboard especially with Team Liquid on the rise – they get shut down by TSM who’s now tied for second.
Cloud9 vs Evil Geniuses (1-0) – a key victory for Cloud0, it further helped them build their lead after an earlier win against Golden Guardians – their biggest win is yet to come
Cloud9 vs 100 Thieves (1-0) – this has been the game of the season so far – for all the marbles. Both teams contesting for the lead, with Cloud9 coming out on top. Just like that, we have an established leader.
Team Liquid vs Immortals (1-0) – another essential matchup, thanks to a win over Immortals, they help guarantee themselves a top 6 finish at this point in time.
What’s left for the LCS? We’ve got two more weeks of exciting gameplay in which the leaderboard could shift.
The main reason for Pobelter’s return is because of his recent performance with the Academy team. As Tafo, General Manager for CLG’s League team says, “Pobelter has done a really good job, hitting every goal, and everything that we’ve asked of him in the academy.”
Back on the starting roster for LCS. 36 games left in the season, time to get some wins
Pobelter started the season with CLG, finishing in 9th/10th during the LCSLock-in tournament. He was then switched with academy mid-laner “rjs” to see what a rookie can do in the big leagues. Unfortunately their results didn’t go as expected, and are currently sitting in last place with a 1-8 scoreline at the time of writing.
Credits: LoL Esports Flickr
What’s next?
Now with Broxah finally available to play with the team, it’s only up from here for CLG. With Pobelter’s experience and leadership, alongside the skill that Broxah brings with him, CLG is in for a good ride. We hope that they improve their current performance and can’t wait to see how they perform in the coming weeks of LCS!
After concluding our recap for the LCS, we can shift our focus to the LEC. Indeed, here, a similar stacking of the competition is present. Accordingly, the last time we checked up on the LEC, both G2 Esports and Rogue were on top and that seems to still be the case. Read on for a quick LECSpring2021Week5Recapbelow!
Take a look at the standings yourself, and we’ll highlight some key matches for you which shaped up the standings.
These key matches played a massive part in forming the current leaderboard. Who knew Team Vitality would defeat Fnatic like that?
Three weeks are left until the end of the LEC Spring 2021 season. I expect battles at both the top and bottom of the leaderboard as everyone fights for seeds.
Another week has passed and we’re ready to dive back into the LCS. Accordingly, the LCSSpring2021 is continuing to shape up. So far, we’ve had our fair share of storylines – with 4 teams vying for dominance. This narrative has continued to develop as outlined by this LCS Spring 2021 Week 3 Recap!
The last time we checked up on the league, 100 Thieves and Cloud9 were tied at first with teams chasing them down. Let’s take a look once again at the standings to see how things have developed.
Just like that, Cloud9 has managed to claim a marginal advantage heading into Week 4. So what happened? Here are some of the key matches from this week which shaped up the leaderboard in a radical manner:
TSM vs 100Thieves (1-0): this win came out of nowhere, questioning the uncontested lead of 100Thieves up to that point in time – TSM had other plans on their mind
Team Liquid vs Evil Geniuses (0-1): a mid-standing standoff, Evil Geniuses managed to thwart Team Liquid and now both teams stand in the middle of the competition, trying to crack the top 4
Our #LCS Twitter Play of the Week for week three of the Spring Split was a PENTA from @WildTurtle 🐢!
Golden Guardians vs 100 Thieves (0-1): an incredible upset, Golden Guardians catch 100Thieves on a downward spiral and make them pay for it in this astonishing outcome
Team Liquid vs Cloud9 (1-0): another shocker, Cloud9 was also contested by none other than Team Liquid – it seems that Team Liquid is doing it’s best to climb back into the standings
Overall, our two current leaders suffered losses this past week. Indeed, as a reminder, there are 6 weeks of competition in total.
Starting on February 26th, we’re entering the latter half of the season and we simply don’t know what to expect. Will Cloud9 and 100 Thieves come back from the losses?
As mentioned in the report, the Schalke 04 club has been suffering for quite some time now. Currently positioned in 18th with just 9 points after 22 played matches. This got them into a very tricky situation financially, meaning that their only option is to gain money from selling their spot in the LEC.
Credits: LoL Esports Flickr
Selling their spot wouldn’t be too bad in all honesty. FC Schalke 04 entered the League of Legends scene with approximately 8 million at the time of investment. And now, if they get to sell their spot, it might equal to a 20 million euro sale.
FC Schalke 04 definitely impacted the European League of Legends scene when they entered. Here are some of their best reuslts:
2nd at EU LCS Summer 2018 – 9th September 2018 – $58,075
3rd in LEC Summer 2019 – 7th September 2019 – $33,081
1st/2nd at EU CS Summer 2017 – $15,428
If they drop out, who will replace?
Some potential organisations that might interest themselves in the LEC are many. But the obvious option here is for Team BDS to be the one to get into the LEC. The organisation had an extremely successful 2020, and is continuing its domination here in 2021.
It will be very interesting to see how it all folds down in the end, so be sure to notify yourselves with all the important esports news here on www.esportsguide.com!
