The inaugural season of the Overwatch League comes to a close this weekend. It’s been a long, winding, and at times downright weird road to the finals which now see two underdog teams face off for cash and glory.
I was not a believer. I enjoy Overwatch but am not among its biggest fans, and I thought Blizzard’s attempt to will a competitive scene into existence was doomed to fail.
Clearly, I was wrong. Or at least premature in my predictions. The OWL’s first season has been a success, especially for the unlikely teams which now find themselves a best-of-three series away from being crowned champions, the Philadelphia Fusion and London Spitfire.
The weekend’s esports schedule is also battle royale heavy, with big tournaments in both PUBG and Fortnite.
Below you’ll find when and where to watch all of the major gaming competitions taking place this weekend.
Overwatch League Championship
Both OWL finalists have had inconsistent seasons but performed well under the recent DPS-heavy meta, making it anybody’s guess who will come out on top and take home the $US1 million ($1.3 million) first-place prize. Maybe the Fusion will channel the Eagles and go on to bring home New York’s most outer borough its second trophy of the year. Or maybe they’ll come apart at the seams like the Sixers.
Philadelphia Fusion vs. London Spitfire begins this morning at 9:00AM AEST, followed by game two on Sunday, July 29 at 6:00AM and game three, if necessary, at 8:00AM. The event will be streamed on Twitch. You can also catch it all in the feed embedded below.
PUBG Invitational
The 2018 PUBG Global Invitational, featuring a $US2 million ($2.7 million) prize pool, kicked off on Wednesday in Berlin with the third-person perspective part of the tournament.
The first-person portion begins on Saturday night July 28 at 11:00PM AEST and goes through to 2:00AM AEST the next day, resuming on the night of Sunday July 29 for the same block of time with an awards ceremony beginning at 3:15AM AEST on Monday. The entire invitational is being streamed on Twitch with rebroadcasts during the off hours.
Fortnite Summer Skirmish
Epic Games’ foray into esports has had its ups as well as a lot of downs — poor server connections, cheating scandals — so in addition to the talent on display this weekend it’ll be interesting to see if the studio has ironed out some of the kinks in its Summer Skirmish series.
The latest event begins today at 7:00AM AEST and runs through the day with duos being played on custom servers. That’ll be followed by a second event on Sunday, July 29 at 3:00AM AEST.
The first team to earn 13 points will be crowned the winner, while the team that has the most points across the entire weekend will earn an extra $US6500 ($8797). It’ll all be streamed here.
League of Legends Championship Series
The 2018 summer split is currently led by four teams: Echo Fox, FlyQuest, Team Liquid and 100 Thieves, with everyone else not far behind.
Matches start on Sunday, July 29, at 7:00AM AEST with Team SoloMid vs. Cloud9 and on Monday July 30 at 5:00AM AEST with Team SoloMid vs. FlyQuest. Of particular note will be FlyQuest vs. Echo Fox at 9:00AM AEST Sunday in which both teams will have the opportunity to knock the other out of the top four.
All of the matches will be streamed on Twitch.
Counter-Strike ELEAGUE Premier
The $US1 million ($1.3 million) tournament concludes in Atlanta this weekend at the ELEAGUE Arena where the remaining teams Astralis, Mousesports, Natus Vincere and Team Liquid will face one another in a single-elimination bracket featuring best-of-three series.
Denmark’s Astralis will be looking to improve on their dismal performance at the previous ELEAGUE Major at the start of the year, while European rivals Natus Vincere won’t have FaZe Clan to stand in their way after the latter failed to survive this past week’s group stage.
The first semifinal between Group A winners Astralis and Mousesports will take place at 4:00AM AEST on Sunday July 29, followed by Natus Vincere vs. Team Liquid at 7:00AM AEST. The winners will then meet in the grand finals at 4:00AM AEST on Monday, July 30.
All of it can be streamed on Twitch.
Kumite in Texas
Street Fighter 5 and almost every other fighting game you can think of will have players facing off in the Lone Star state this weekend for the last major event before Evo 2018.
There’s a helpful schedule for the event available here, but action begins today at 5:00AM AEST and goes through the rest of the weekend with finals for each of the major games beginning Monday July 30 at 1:30AM AEST. SF5 will have finals starting at 9:00AM AEST, while Dragon Ball FighterZ will close out the tournament at 11:30AM AEST.
Everything will be streamed on Twitch at PandaxGaming.
Low Tier 6
Top players in Smash Bros. Melee, Wii U, 64 and Project M, meanwhile, will be battling at a separate event.
Pools start today at 5:00AM AEST across every game, with the top 64 getting underway on Sunday July 29 starting at 9:00AM AEST. Top 8 for Smash 64 will take place on Monday July 30 at 1:00AM AEST, followed by Wii U and Project M top 8 both at 4:00AM AEST, followed finally by Melee at 7:00AM AEST.
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