2017 was a landmark year for eSports worldwide. From multiple viewership records being broken, including a mind-blowing 80+ million viewers during the League of Legends World Championships, to hundreds of millions of dollars being invested into eSports in the form of franchises and sponsorship deals. Thankfully, 2018 promises to be an even more incredible year of championships, reverse-sweeps, and rivalries. And it all begins in just 2 weeks.

We’re gonna need a bigger monitor

2018 is poised to be the biggest year eSports has ever had. With the Overwatch League entering its inaugural season on January 10th, DOTA 2 adopting a new tournament structure, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive promising more and bigger events, and the juggernaut of eSports competitions, the League Championship Series, returning as a franchised league entering its 6th season, eSports fans have more headshots to watch for than ever before. Weekends, starting on January 10th, will host 100s of the most highly competitive matches around the world across all of the aforementioned eSports disciplines.

This can be a lot to take in all at once, so here is a breakdown of the upcoming events that will kick off the greatest year in eSports history.

One important reminder: A rising tide lifts all boats. If you are a fan of eSports, I urge you to watch as many different games/leagues as you can. What is good for the Overwatch League is also good for the LCS, CS:GO Majors, etc. This year should be a celebration of all eSports, not a competition for the “best” one.

Overwatch League

Overwatch was a game created to become an eSport since its inception. Top players differentiated themselves starting in the closed beta and have been playing in tournaments ever since. Blizzard, the creator of Overwatch, promised a sustainable professional ecosystem for Overwatch players, and in 2018 Blizzard is finally able to deliver on that promise.

After raising close to $250 million in franchising fees from its inaugural participants, Blizzard kicked off the Overwatch League with preseason show matches in late December 2017. I can admit that I have been skeptical of Overwatch as a spectator sport for some time, but after watching the preseason games I have been converted into a believer. The games felt intense and captivating and I cannot wait for the regular season to kick off on January 10th.

The teams participating in the inaugural league are a mix of endemic organizations and new high-profiles owners. Blitz eSports has an excellent breakdown of team owners and cities, which I highly recommend reading to get an even better picture of the teams competing for glory this season.

Blizzard has organized its competitive season into 4 ‘stages’ lasting 5 weeks, each ending with a small playoff, ultimately culminating in a 2 week postseason championship between top competitors, followed by an All-Star weekend. This will bring the full season from January 10th to August 12th.

During the regular season, 3 matches will be played Wednesday thru Saturday at the times detailed in the table below, and will be broadcast on the official overwatch Twitch Channel:

Day Match Times Wednesday 7 PM, 9 PM, 11 PM Thursday 5 PM, 7 PM, 9 PM Friday 7 PM, 9 PM, 11 PM Saturday 2 PM, 4 PM, 6 PM (Note: All times listed are EST)

League Championship Series

While Starcraft may have been the first eSport to have a real following, League of Legends is the father of modern eSports. League of Legends has taken its championships from a meager crowd at Dreamhack to a multi-million dollar production, selling out arenas around the world for both regional and global bouts. 2017 saw League of Legends viewership decline during the regular season but surge in respect to international competition. In order to address the declining Western viewership during the regular season, both the North American and European branches of the LCS have chosen to return to a Best-of-1 Double Round Robin format for the Spring and Summer Splits in 2018. This reduces the oversaturation of League of Legends matches that fatigued many viewers, including myself.

The 6th LCS seasons will start in North America and Europe during the weekend of January 19th, and the offseason leading up to this date has arguably been nothing if not chaotic. Riot Games, the creators of League of Legends, announced their plans to franchise the League Championship Series in the Fall of 2017 after increased pressure from team owners. (I wrote a blog post about the situation leading up to this decision if you are interested in learning more about why Riot decided to go with franchising). During the process of selecting teams to partner with for the forseeable future of the LCS, Riot eliminated long-standing members of the League of Legends professional scene including Dignitas and Immortals. In lieu of these departures, franchises from the Golden State Warriors, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Houston Rockets were welcomed into the league, alongside Optic Gaming. In the aftermath of franchise selection, no team rosters remained the same in North America or Europe. Esports Observer has a great writeup about the current teams in the North American LCS, and I would encourage everyone to check it out when they get a chance.

The change from Best-of-3 to Best-of-1 matches, combined with the new teams entering the North American LCS in its inaugural franchise season, will breathe fresh air into the stale Western professional League of Legends scene and should bring back many fans that dropped off in the past few seasons.

The First week of matches will start on January 19th for the EU LCS and January 20th for the NA LCS, played at the times detailed below. These matches can be viewed on the official Riot Games Twitch channel.

Day Match Times Region Friday 12 PM – 4 PM Europe Saturday 12 PM – 4 PM Europe Saturday 5 PM – 9 PM North America Sunday 5 PM – 9 PM North America (Note: All times listed are EST)

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is one of the most exciting eSports to watch in the world. Its simplicity in design and match structure allow even those unfamiliar with the game to get excited about intense matches. Unlike Overwatch and League of Legends, the professional Counter-Strike scenes operates around a series of “Major” and “Minor” tournaments sponsored by the games’ publisher, Valve. With the exception of the ESL Pro League, which operates in Europe and North America, Tier 1 Counter-Strike events typically last about 2 weeks and cram dozens of high-stakes matches into just one or two weekends.

Due to this structure, the schedule for Counter-Strike events is slightly less specific than the regularly-occurring matches of the Overwatch League and LCS. This being said, the first Major-class tournament of the 2018 CS:GO competitive season, the Boston Major, runs from January 12th thru January 28th, with the high-stakes elimination stage happening during the weekend of, you guessed it, January 19th. You will be able to watch this event at the official ELEAGUE Twitch Channel.

This tournament, presented by ELEAGUE, brings together the 24 best teams in the world and promises to be an incredible event. It will serve as a phenomenal entry to the world of competitive CS:GO for newcomers and a highlight of the new year for veteran fans.

After the Boston Major is completed, new and old fans alike can see many of these teams compete every week starting February 13th in the ESL Pro League. This legendary series, entering its 7th season, is where many rivalries are created and timeless stories are born. The schedule for this league will be released soon, so stay tuned for more updates!

Looking forward to the New Year

If League of Legends, Counterstrike, and Overwatch were not enough reasons to cancel everything you had planned for January 19th, DOTA 2, Call of Duty, and Hearthstone also have major events that same weekend.

I have never been more excited for something to start as I am for this new year of eSports. I hope you will join in and be a part of the world-sweeping phenomenon that is eSports this year. I will be updating this blog (hopefully) weekly with news and updates, so be sure to check back in often, and enjoy every game that you can this year!

Thanks for reading!