In May 1997, Dennis Fong, known by his gamertag ‘Thresh’, defeated Tom ‘Entropy’ Kimzey and took home gaming god John Carmack’s 1987 Ferrari 328 GTS Cabriolet as a prize. This was the first chronicled birth of eSports as we know it, at Red Annihilation, a Quake gaming competition. Over the years, eSports has grown at a steady pace, so much so you can watch eSports live on ESPN. With the recent improvements in spectator views and shoutcasters being able to commentate better, this is the best time to get into eSports viewing. Fortunately, eSports season is on and here are some of the biggest premier leagues to get you started:
Evolution Championship Series (Evo)
One of the singular greatest moments in eSports fighting game history is known as Evo Moment #37. Where Daigo ‘The Beast’ Umehara’s Ken executed an impossible 15 parries against Chun-Li’s super move, controlled by Justin Wong, with just one pixel of health left in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. These are the moments that make up Evo, one of the biggest fighting game tournaments out there. This year, the games players will be competing in include Street Fighter V, Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, Tekken 7, Super Smash Bros for Wii U, BlazBlue: Central Fiction, The King of Fighters XIV, and ARMS. Yes, ARMS; it would be interesting to see how players compete in Nintendo’s odd brawler featuring fighters with extendable arms. Evo is not just about fighting games, it’s also about the players and their personalities, grudges, defeats, comebacks and revenge.
Evo Finals 2018 has just been announced on August 3-5 in Las Vegas. You can catch it live on Evo’s official Twitch. You can also purchase tickets to go watch it live.
The International
Sporting the largest prize pool in eSports, The International is a DOTA 2 tournament that is hosted by Valve. The format is simple; two groups of teams duke it out against each other, until the top four teams make it into the upper brackets. The main event is held in Seattle’s KeyArena, where you watch sixteen teams battle it out. DOTA 2 is by no means an easy game to spectate, if you’re a ‘noob’. However, there is a newcomer stream, where commentators explain the game and what’s happening. You can watch The International on several Twitch streams.
ESL
Partnering up with all the major game publishers, Electronic Sports League (ESL) hosts several tournaments and leagues across several games, from Overwatch to Rocket League to Halo 5: Guardians, but its most popular are their DOTA 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments as part of the ESL Pro League and the ESL One. ESL One takes place across the world, held in arenas in several countries as teams fight for domination, usually working their way into Valve’s spotlight in The International. You can either watch ESL One tournaments in the cities they are going to be held in, or you can follow them on Twitch.
Overwatch League
Stage 2 of the popular, quirky, exclusive and superhit team-based shooter Overwatch is about to begin soon, with plays that will continue till June 16, followed by the Post-Season championship playoffs and the All-Star Weekend in August. That’s months of non-stop action, as teams duke it out amidst the usual drama of Blizzard, the developers, tinkering around with character stats. The league is comprised of two divisions, with teams like Boston Uprising, Los Angeles Gladiators, Seoul Dynasty and Shanghai Dragons facing off. Teams sport their own signature colours and outfits, which you can purchase in Overwatch to support and cheer your teams.
You can watch the Overwatch League live on the league page.
League of Legends (LOL) World Championship
LOL is no laughing matter, it is one of the biggest eSports Championships in the world. League of Legends is another popular Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA), like DOTA 2. The Championship has LOL teams compete against each other for the coveted Summoner’s Cup as well as a massive cash price. You can watch it on Twitch live and it usually happens around September every year.
ELEAGUE Major: Boston
Counter-Strike has been around since the 2000s and it’s only gotten better. If you love playing the Counter Terrorist vs Terrorist at your local cybercafe, then you’ll enjoy watching Boston Major — a premier Counter-Strike: Global Offensive-only eSport league — where multiple CS:GO clans duke it out in regional qualifiers to reach the final championship. You can watch the ELEAGUE Major on their official Twitch.
Leagues in India
Not to be left out, India also has its fair share of eSports. Just recently, U Cypher and MTV have partnered to bring DOTA 2, CS:GO and Tekken championships to the mainstream in the form of a premier league. Which makes sense, because India is in the forefront of most gaming revolutions, with a high number of gamers, especially Counter-Strike players. So let’s see if this IPL of eSports catches on here.Additionally, there is also a chapter of ESL Play in India, which is a part of the platform that is open to gamers of all skills. It has adequate ladders and tournaments for gamers who want to participate and even qualify for the ESL Open or ESL Pro.
