What to watch this weekend in esports

April 8, 2021

by Brian Bencomo

Don’t know what to watch this weekend? We’ve got you covered. Here’s a rundown of some of the most intriguing games and tournaments happening this weekend.

VALORANT

Eight teams are competing this weekend in NA’s VCT Stage 2 Challengers 1 closed qualifier. 100 Thieves, XSET, Immortals and Team Envy are among the competitors. Shockingly, Stage 1 Masters finalists Sentinels and FaZe Clan failed to qualify. Instead, Built by Gamers, Andbox, Cloud9 Blue (winners of Nerd Street’s March Monthly VALORANT tournament) and Version1 round out the field of eight. The top four teams will qualify for the Challengers Finals, while the other four teams will automatically qualify for the Challengers 2 closed qualifier.

Streams on twitch.tv/nerdstgamers

Thursday: Starts at 3 p.m. ET
Friday: Starts at 3 p.m. ET
Saturday: Starts at 3 p.m. ET
Sunday: Starts at 3 p.m. ET

League of Legends

LCS

Three teams remain alive in the Mid-Season Showdown. Team Liquid will face TSM in the lower bracket final Saturday, and the winner will face Cloud9 on Sunday. The winner of the Mid-Season Showdown will represent NA at the Mid-Season Invitational, an international LAN tournament set to take place in Iceland next month. Also of note, the teams will be competing on LAN (though without fans) at the Greek Theatre, an open-air concert venue in Los Angeles. It will be the first LCS LAN competition since last March.

Streams on twitch.tv/lcs

Saturday: Starts at 4 p.m. ET
Sunday: Starts at 4 p.m. ET

LEC

Just like in NA, EU is down to three teams vying to represent the region at the Mid-Season Invitational. Rogue will face G2 on Saturday to determine who will face MAD Lions on Sunday in the LEC Spring Playoffs grand final. G2 will be looking for a rematch with MAD Lions, who beat them last weekend to reach their first-ever grand final. Competition will take place in the LEC studio in Berlin (without an audience). These playoffs mark the players’ return to LAN for the first time since last spring.

Streams on twitch.tv/lec

Saturday: Starts at 11 a.m. ET
Sunday: Starts at 11 a.m. ET

Call of Duty

The Call of Duty League’s Major II began Wednesday and concludes Sunday. The one-loss Atlanta FaZe are, of course, the top seed, but the No. 2 seed is the surprising Minnesota ROKKR, who are undefeated since making a roster change. On Friday, they will face the winner of Thursday’s Dallas Empire vs. New York Subliners matchup. Atlanta, winners of Major I are the team to beat, with Minnesota, Dallas and New York as well as OpTic Chicago and Toronto Ultra in the mix for next-best teams.

Streams on: youtube.com/CODLeague

Thursday: Starts at 3 p.m. ET
Friday: Starts at 3 p.m. ET
Saturday: Starts at 3 p.m. ET
Sunday: Starts at 3 p.m. ET

Rocket League

The second regional event for North America in RLCS Season X takes place this weekend. The winner will receive $30,000 and 451 circuit points. Rogue come in as the winners of the past two regional events. The Kansas City Pioneers surprised many by coming in second to Rogue. Perennial finalists NRG and Team Envy will be looking to bounce back from disappointing showings at the last regional.

Streams on: https://www.twitch.tv/rocketleague

Thursday: Starts at 6 p.m. ET
Friday: Starts at 1 p.m. ET
Saturday: Starts at 1 p.m. ET
Sunday: Starts at 1 p.m. ET

Counter-Strike

ESL Pro League 13 wraps up this weekend. On Thursday, Heroic face Ninjas in Pyjamas and Astralis take on Gambit Esports to determine the first two semifinalists. The other quarterfinal teams are FURIA and Complexity. The grand finals winner will receive $175,000, 2800 circuit points and a spot at the BLAST Premier Global Final.

Streams on: https://www.twitch.tv/esl_csgo