The race for the 2018 Dota 2 International is heating up.
Thanks to today’s win over Team Liquid at the Bucharest Major, Virtus.Pro is the first team to punch a ticket to The International. At 6297, the team’s Pro Circuit point total is high enough that it could essentially do nothing until the big dance this year and still receive an invite.
Meanwhile, a few other teams remain in the hunt. Last year’s victors Team Liquid are still looking strong, Team Secret is both winning games and cutting straight-fire mixtapes, and the Chinese scene is strong as ever. Vici Gaming J Thunder has been a breakout hit of the tournament, and I’m really excited to see what they bring to the table in tomorrow’s grand finals against VP. The margin between the top teams in Dota 2 is razor-thin right now, and it’s made for some really exciting games.
With that, let’s run down this weekend’s action:
Dota 2
If you haven’t been watching, you’ll only be able to catch the grand finals of the Bucharest Major live tomorrow morning, starting at 8 a.m. EST. But no worries! All the matches are in PGL’s Twitch archives, and I highly recommend going back and watching them.
Overwatch League
Games keep rolling along in the Overwatch League, as today’s matches start at 4:00 p.m. EST with a bout between the London Spitfire and Los Angeles Gladiators. Catch the action over at the Overwatch League Twitch channel.
League of Legends
The North American and European League Championship Series head into week 8 today, with the spring playoff picture coming into view for a few teams. Matches are already underway for the EU, while North America starts at around 4:00 p.m. EST with head-of-the-pack Echo Fox defending its spot against third-place Clutch Gaming. Check those out on the Riot Games Twitch channel.
Smash Bros.
Canada’s “largest gaming expo” will feature some Smash action, where players fresh off the hype of a Switch announcement will have to return to their Wii U’s and wait patiently. Still, the list of names in attendance ensure this will be solid: Hungrybox, Plup, Mew2King, Tweek, Larry Lurr, Mistake, and more. Melee action will be streaming on one channel, with Smash 4 on the other, and you can find a full schedule for the event here.
Magic: The Gathering
Our new Kotaku weekend editor Cameron Kunzelman informed me that there’s some magic happening. Specifically, Magic. It’s in Madrid, it’s the Grand Prix, and some cards are getting laid on the table. Tap some lands over at the Magic: The Gathering Twitch channel.
StarCraft: Brood War
Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that there’s some Brood War going down this weekend. Season 5 of the Afreeca Starleague kicks off group A matches Sunday at 2 a.m. EST. It’s streaming to Afreeca, a Korean broadcast platform not too dissimilar to Twitch, but if I find an English stream or a host for the VODs, I’ll update this post with it. Long live Brood War.
Did we miss anything? Any locals you want to give a shoutout to? Got some Dota takes? Drop ‘em below in the comments!
Compete is Deadspin and Kotaku’s joint site dedicated to competitive gaming.