Weekly esports guide (1 - 8 March): Riot to host back-to-back tournaments in Iceland
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This week, Riot Games announced that they will be hosting two back-to-back tournaments in Reykjavík, Iceland: the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational and the Valorant Champions Tour Masters Reykjavík. Both events will be held in the Laugardalshöll indoor sporting arena in May.
Do note that the status of some events may have changed after publishing because of the coronavirus.
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.
All of the DPC's regional leagues except for China have concluded their regular seasons and determined their representatives in the Major.
Europe will be represented by Team Secret, Alliance, Team Nigma, and Team Liquid.
Southeast Asia will be represented by Fnatic, Neon Esports, and T1.
The CIS will be represented by Virtus.pro, Natus Vincere, and AS Monaco Gambit.
North America will be represented by Evil Geniuses and Quincy Crew.
South America will be represented by Beastcoast and Thunder Predator.
Unfortunately, the Singapore Major will be played without fans in attendance due to safety reasons.
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.
League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational 2021
Date: 6 - 23 May
Venue: Reykjavík, Iceland
The League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) returns for its sixth edition after it was cancelled last year by the coronavirus pandemic. This year's MSI will be the first of two back-to-back tournaments hosted by Riot Games in the Laugardalshöll indoor sporting arena in Reykjavík, Iceland.
As with previous iterations of the event, the MSI will gather the top teams from the 12 LoL esports regional leagues across the world. The MSI will kick off on 6 May and will crown a new MSI champion in the grand finals on 23 May.
VCT Masters Reykjavík
Date: 24 - 30 May
Venue: Reykjavík, Iceland
Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Masters Reykjavík will be the first Valorant esports event to feature live international competition, as it will gather 10 of the best Valorant teams from around the world to fight for a spot at the Valorant Champions tournament in December.
VCT Masters Reykjavík will be the second of two back-to-back tournaments hosted by Riot Games in the Laugardalshöll indoor sporting arena in Reykjavík, Iceland, kicking off a day after the conclusion of LoL MSI 2021. The tournament itself will conclude on 30 May.
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.
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.
#worldconnected series 2021
Date: 26 March - 11 April
Venue: TBD
The Global Esports Federation will be staging the second edition of the #worldconnected series 2021 (#wcs21) this year, starting with a number of community-based competitions from March 26, 2021 until 11 April. The Federation will also be hosting the Global Esports convention on April 9, 2021.
