Weekly esports guide (22 February - 1 March): 2021 DPC set to wrap up first season
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This year's Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) is set to conclude its first season this week for all of its regional leagues except China, with most of the 18 teams heading to the upcoming ONE Esports Singapore Major to be determined soon.
Do note that the status of some events may have changed after publishing because of the coronavirus.
2021 Dota Pro Circuit Season 1
Date: 18 January - 14 March
Venue: Online
After its 2020 season was cancelled by the coronavirus pandemic, the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) will finally be returning in 2021 with a new regional league system. Under the new system, the DPC will be split into six regional leagues in North America, South America, Europe, the CIS, China, and Southeast Asia, with each league having 16 participating teams split equally in an Upper and Lower Division.
Aside from introducing the regional league system, the new DPC format will also split the circuit into two seasons, with each concluding with a Major event featuring the best teams from each region, all leading up to The International 10 in August.
The DPC is set to begin on 18 January, with the regional leagues for North America, South America, Europe, CIS, and Southeast Asia running until 28 February. Meanwhile, the Chinese regional league will run until 14 March as it will be having a break in the middle of the season to accommodate the Chinese New Year on 12 February.
The first season of this year’s DPC is now in its fifth week of competition, for a recap of all the action in week four, you can check out our recap here.
ONE Esports Singapore Major
Date: 27 March - 4 April
Venue: Singapore
Singapore will be playing host to the first Major event of the 2021 DPC, the ONE Esports Singapore Major, from 27 March to 4 April. The tournament will have a US$500,000 prize pool and is the first of the two Majors in this year’s DPC leading up to the International 10 (TI10) in August.
The Singapore Major will feature the 18 best teams from the six regional leagues of the DPC in Europe, China, Southeast Asia, CIS, North America, and South America. The top two teams from each regional league will be directly invited to the event, with the top team of each league getting directly seeded into the playoffs while the second-placed team will start in the group stage.
The Major will also have a wildcard stage featuring six teams. The wildcard teams will be comprised of the third and fourth-placed teams in the European and Chinese regional leagues as well as the third-placed teams from the Southeast Asian and CIS leagues.
The Singapore Major was originally planned to be the last Major of the 2020 DPC, but it was cancelled along with the rest of the circuit by the coronavirus pandemic last March.
EPIC League Season 3
Date: 2 - 21 March
Venue: Online
EPIC League will be returning for a third season with a US$100,000 prize pool spread across two divisions, with each division each featuring eight teams from Europe and the CIS. Since the tournament will be held in the interim period between the conclusion of the first season of the DPC and start of the Singapore Major, its list of participating teams will likely be comprised mostly of non-Major teams from the European and CIS regional leagues.
EPIC League Season 3 will begin with a Swiss format group stage from 2 - 13 March where all sixteen participating teams will face off to determine which teams will go to the upper and lower divisions. The top eight teams from the group stage will advance to the upper division, which has a US$85,000 prize pool, while the bottom eight teams will be seeded to the lower division, which has a US$15,000 prize pool.
Competition in the upper division will follow a double-elimination playoff format, with all matches being a best-of-three except for the grand finals, which will be a full best-of-five series. The lower division largely follows that of the upper division, except that all matches including the grand finals will be a best-of-three.
Valorant Champions Tour SEA Stage 1 Challengers 2
Date: 19 - 28 February
Venue: Online
Valorant’s global esports circuit for this year kicks off with the 2021 Valorant Champions Tour. The circuit is split into three series; Challengers, Masters, and Champions. The first series, Challengers, will be regional competitions that will determine qualification into the next series, Masters, which will then determine qualification into the the highest level of competition among all three series, Champions.
There will be three Challengers and Masters series stages throughout the year. The first will be from February to March, the second from April to June, and the third from July to September. The Valorant Champions series will then crown the game’s first world champion in December.
For Southeast Asia, the Challengers series will have competitions for Malaysia and Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan, with each event featuring eight teams fighting for a spot in the first Masters event of the region as well as the next stage of the Challengers series.
All events for the second stage of the series in Southeast Asia will take place from 26 - 28 February except for the Philippines, which took place earlier on 19 - 21 February.
Bren Esports became the first team to qualify for the Valorant SEA Masters tournament after winning the Challengers 2 event for the Philippines.
Valorant Challengers 2 Malaysia and Singapore will have a SG$3,315 (or over US$2,500), with the top four teams advancing to Challengers 3.
Valorant Challengers 2 Thailand will have a TH฿90,000 (or just over US$3,000) prize pool, with the champion advancing into SEA Masters while the second to third-placed teams advance to Challengers 3.
Valorant Challengers 2 Indonesia will have a IDR79,000,000 (or just over US$5,680) prize pool, with the champion advancing into SEA Masters while the second to fourth-placed teams advance to Challengers 3.
Valorant Challengers 2 Hong Kong and Taiwan will have a US$5,000 prize pool, with the top three teams advancing to Challengers 3 where a spot in the SEA Masters is at stake.
LPL Spring 2021
Date: 9 January - 18 April
Venue: Shanghai, China
League of Legends (LoL) esports is on again, as the game’s competitive circuit in China has already kicked off the Spring split of its 2021 season. LPL Spring 2021 begins with its single round robin group stage, from 9 January to 28 March, to determine the seeding for its 17 participating teams in the playoffs, which is set for 1-18 April.
LPL Spring 2021 will have a CN¥4,200,000 (around US$650,000) prize pool, with the winner of the split taking the lion’s share of CN¥2,000,000 (over US$300,000) as well as a spot in this year’s Mid Season Invitational.
LCK Spring 2021
Date: 13 January - 28 March
Venue: Seoul, South Korea
LoL’s competitive circuit in South Korea is the game’s second major esports league to kick off this year. The LCK’s Spring Split will run from 13 January to 28 March, starting with a double round robin group stage to determine the six out of the league’s 10 participating teams will make it to the playoffs.
LCK Spring 2021 will have a KR₩4,000,000,000 (over US$3,600,000) prize pool, with the winner of the split taking the lion’s share of KR₩2,000,000 (over US$180,000) as well as a spot in this year’s Mid Season Invitational.
LEC Spring 2021
Date: 22 January - 14 March
Venue: Berlin, Germany
LoL’s competitive circuit in Europe is the game’s third major esports league to commence its 2021 season. The LEC’s Spring Split will begin on 22 January and will run until 14 March. The competition will begin with a double round robin group stage to determine the six teams out of the 10 in the league will make it to the playoffs.
LEC Spring 2021 will have a EU€200,000 (over US$240,000) prize pool, with the winner of the split taking the lion’s share of EU€80,000 (over US$96,000) as well as a spot in this year’s Mid Season Invitational.
LCS Spring 2021
Date: 5 February - 11 April
Venue: Los Angeles, USA
Following Team Liquid’s win at the league’s inaugural lock-in tournament at the end of January, the LCS will now be commencing its Spring Split for the 2021 season. LCS Spring 2021 is set to run from 5 February to 11 April, with the double round robin group stage determining the six teams of the league’s 10 participants will advance to the Midseason Showdown playoffs.
LCS Spring 2021 will have a US$200,000 prize pool, with the winner of the split taking the lion’s share of US$100,000 as well as a spot in this year’s Mid Season Invitational.
PCS Spring 2021
Date: 19 February - TBD
Venue: Online
The Pacific Championship Series (PCS), LoL’s competitive circuit for Southeast Asia, will be kicking off its second season on 19 February after its initial start date of 5 February was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic last month.
The PCS is also welcoming three new teams for its Spring Split this year, Impunity Esports from Singapore and Beyond Gaming from Taipei as well as BOOM Esports from Indonesia. The three teams from the inaugural PCS season were missing from the current lineup are ahq Esports Club, Nova Esports and Resurgence (now known as RSG).
The 2021 PCS Spring Split will begin with a double round robin group stage from 19 February to 20 March, with the playoffs schedule still to be determined. Details on the league’s prize pool has also not yet been released.
VCS Spring 2021
Date: 22 January - 18 February
Venue: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
LoL’s competitive circuit in Vietnam has now also commenced its 2021 season. The VCS’ Spring Split will begin on 22 January and will run until 18 February. The competition will begin with a double round robin group stage to determine the four teams out of the eight in the league will make it to the playoffs.
While the prize pool of the VCS Spring 2021 has not yet been revealed, the top team in the league is expected to take the lion’s share of it as well as a spot in this year’s Mid Season Invitational.
League of Legends: Wild Rift 2021 SEA Icon Series: Preseason
Date: 26 February - 28 March
Venue: Online
The competitive circuit for League of Legends: Wild Rift, the official LoL mobile port, will kick off in Southeast Asia with the Wild Rift Southeast Asia Icon Series: Preseason, a five weekend-long regional tournament. The tournament will kick off on 26 February, and features three-day long weekend tournaments in the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.
Vietnam will kick things off from 26-28 February, Malaysia will follow from 6-7 March, then Taiwan from 11-14 March, Thailand from 13-14 March, the Philippines from 20-21 March, Indonesia from 19-21 March, and finally Singapore from 26-28 March.
After the preseason tournament, the Wild Rift Southeast Asia Icon Series: Summer season will kick off. It will be an eight week-long competition where any team may join to compete to be the best in their region and advance onto pan-regional tournaments to compete to be the first Wild Rift regional champions.
PUBG Global Invitational.S
Date: 5 February - 28 March
Venue: Incheon, South Korea
The PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) will be holding its longest esports festival to date in the eight-week long PUBG Global Invitational.S (PGI.S) presented by eGG Network. The tournament will be held from 5 February to 28 March in various locations, though its main venue will be in Studio Paradise in Incheon, South Korea.
32 teams from Europe, North America, Latin America, China, Southeast Asia, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan will be competing for a US$3.5 million prize pool.
ELEVATE Programme *SCAPE
Date: Starting in February
Registration: scape.sg/elevate
*SCAPE is running its ELEVATE mentorship for another year, where 70 youths in Singapore can expect to be mentored by industry experts through a 4 weeks intensive online programme.
The programme options include community events management, with mentors from the esports events industry, and the entertainment mentorship, which sees Singapore casters helping to groom the next generation.
2021 Free Fire World Series April Edition
Date: 24 April - 1 May
Venue: TBD
The Free Fire World Series (FFWS) is the largest esports tournaments for Free Fire, Garena's popular mobile battle royale, and will make its return this year with two editions in April and in November. This year's FFWS will be bigger in terms of scale and production, now featuring a total of 22 teams from 13 different regions competing for a cut of an expanded prize pool of US$2,000,000, the largest in the history of Free Fire esports.
The April edition of the 2021 FFWS will kick off with a Play-ins event on April 24 and will conclude with the Finals on May 1. More details on the April edition of the FFWS, including participating regions and format, will be announced soon. More information on the November edition will also be revealed later this year.
