Welcome to the Weekly Recap, where we gather the top stories that happened in the past week to help you catch up with the busy world of eSports!
Dota 2
Post-Kiev Major Roster Shuffle
Former NiP captain syndereN has formed Cresendo in Europe, along with former Alliance supports Akke and EGM, and former Cloud 9 carry/midlaner Babyknight and former Fnatic stand-in Excalibur.
Elsewhere, CS:GO and LoL org Gambit has entered the Dota 2 scene and signed Thug Life’s roster, which consists of carry Daxak, midlaner Cooman, offlaner chshrct and supports Bignum and ALWAYSWANNAFLY.
In the NA scene, Planet Odd has picked up the Thunderbirds roster, which means that the group of Resolut1on, w33, MoonMeander, MiSeRy and Saksa are now again with an org.
EG comes back from LB, beats NewBee in Manila Masters final
Evil Geniuses outplayed NewBee 3-1 to avenge their upper bracket finals loss and win the Manila Masters grand finals at MOA Arena, in the Philippines.
The NA squad got kicked down to the lower bracket after a 0-2 loss to NewBee in the upper bracket last round, but EG came back from a 0-1 series deficit against NA rivals NP to set a revenge date with the Chinese giants.
In the finals, EG took a quick lead after a 29-minute Game 1 behind SumaiL’s Obsidian Destroyer and Arteezy’s fast-farming Drow Ranger, but kpii’s Naga Siren in Game 2 proved to be an excellent equalizer for the Chinese teams.
Game 3 was the quintessential see-saw game, with EG getting a 9k networth lead at the 21st minute but NewBee swung it back and erected a 13k gold advantage at the 49th minute. Arteezy’s Razor had 12 deaths but SumaiL’s Ember Spirit and Cr1t’s Warlock and his magic-immune Golems quickened EG’s GG push.
The last game was as close as the previous one, but Cr1t’s drafting of the Bristleback for Arteezy and another Ember Spirit for SumaiL saw them pull away in the late game, especially with Universe’s fantastic initiations using the Vacuum-Wall of Replica combo of his Dark Seer.
Dream League Main Tournament cast now complete
The stage is now set for four teams who survived the gruelling intra-division league play of the Dream League Season 7.
Planet Odd, made up of the former Thunderbirds roster, swept all their matches in the NA division to get the lone berth in the tournament LAN leg in Atlanta, beating out Team Freedom, complexity Gaming and SG e-sports.
EU, which had a bigger pool of teams, had three berths, which were snagged by Team Secret, Team Liquid and Vega Squadron.
Team Liquid is the favorite to come out on top in DL 7, following its championships at StarLadder Invitational 2 and StarLadder League 3.
League of Legends
NA LCS to start franchise system in 2018
The NA LCS will move from a relegation-promotion system to a franchise model in the spring split of the 2018 season, as stated in its website.
All teams currently playing in all levels of the NA LCS have to apply to join the league in the 2018 season, though the teams that are qualified but are not given franchises will be “compensated for the investment they’ve made to the league.”
In an interview by Yahoo ESports, Riot’s esports co-heads Jarred Kennedy and Whalen Rozelle claimed that the buy-in for franchisees are $10 million.
This reconstruction will be beneficial for both the players and the team, since it will guarantee the players’ salaries and will entitle them to a share on league profit.
Riot will also put up the initial fund for a Players Association, though its officials will be elected by the players themselves.
Also in the works is the Academy League, which will replace the Challenger Series. All teams with franchises are expected to create an academy team, which will be used for player development.
Samsung stuns SKT in LCK Summer opener
Samsung Galaxy pulled off the biggest upset of the 2017 LCk Summer Split yet after it beat Spring champion SKT T1 in the first telecomm war of the split.
Samsung went the safe route and targeted objectives more than kills in Game 1, steadily gaining the advantage in networth and not losing a teammate till the 22nd minute.
Game 2 was more lopsided, and with the confidence it gained in the opener Samsung got more aggressive and finished the game in less than 30 minutes. Samsung had a 15k lead in gold earned and was ahead 20-4 in kills.
Summer Split Standings update
Longzhu Gaming currently lead the LCK with a 2-0 standing after winning 4 of its first 5 matches.
In the EU LCS, Fnatic opened its season with a sweep of its series against Misfits to lead Group A, while H2k-Gaming defeated Splyce to lead Group B.
Other top LoL leagues are yet to begin their Summer Splits.
Counter Strike: Global Offensive
All-Turk Space Soldiers wins GeForce Cup
The all-Turk Space Soldiers is starting to make a name for itself in the EU CS:GO scene with a thunderous performance at the GeForce Cup 2017.
Beginning against the Imperial, the Space Soldiers dominated its first match 16-6 in Cache and 16-11 in Overpass.
Then it dispatched The Gatekeepers 16-7 in Cache and 16-9 in Mirage before totally outclassing Red Reserve in the final with the scores of 16-8 in Cobblestone and 16-1 in Mirage.
SS took home half of the $30,000 prize pool, while Red Reserves won $7,000 and the Gatekeepers and Team Kinguin pocketed $4000 apiece.
Overwatch
Rise Nation dropped its Overwatch roster, becoming the latest team to do so ahead of the supposed creation of a Blizzard-organized league.
In the team statement, Rise Nation stated it has no plans on creating a new roster and will “take a leave of absence” from the budding scene.
Rise is the fifth big team to drop its roster, following Splyce, complexity, Team SoloMid and Team Dignitas.
Rumor has it that Blizzard are preparing to organize a professional Overwatch League, so teams are apprehensive on making concrete investments before the game maker makes its plans clear.
