I know I can't be the only one who follows the Esports scene at all. My focus is admittedly League of Legends, and, as it's growing, I'm starting to follow Teamfight Tactics as well. I suspect that once it's out of beta, it's going to become a really interesting strategy game, and it's already pulled a lot of the biggest names from Hearthstone over.
So we have the last week of LCS regular season coming up this weekend, as well as EVO starting in two days, and we're only weeks away from the Dota 2 International. Where are people looking, what's interesting to you, and what's happening out in other games that those of us who tend to be focused in one or two might be missing?
Personally, I'm watching to see if TSM is going to fail to make it into playoffs in League this summer. That would be such a drastic dropoff for the org, and the implications for Worlds are huge. I'm a perpetual CLG fan, and I'm loving how the org has come up strong lately, and am hoping they manage to squeak into worlds yet again despite their disastrous spring performance.
I sometimes check in with the Rocket League tournaments, but really it's just for self-improvement. I couldn't tell you details about teams, players, etc etc.
I still have a really hard time watching other people play video games.
@Selira Don't forget about MtG getting in on it with Arena!
I haven't followed Blizz as much but I've often loved watching Mythic dungeon stuff and their arena PVP stuff too.
@Auspice For me, the self-improvement is what got me into it - I had just started League, and knew what role I wanted to play, but I wanted to see what the very best people in the world were doing. I started looking around and found out about this guy named Doublelift, and, well.
There we go.
I'd never felt any kind of connection the traditional sports because I never played much traditional sports, never had the drive to improve, but suddenly I understood what being a fan meant and how it all spun out. Seeing someone play the game at the highest levels, doing things I could never imagine, has been wonderful - and then seeing those strategies trickle back down to the regular players and the game as a whole improving and the skill level rising was amazing.
@Zobi: You're right, Arena is a pretty huge thing that they've tapped into, and WotC is smart trying to play into the tournament element right away. Magic is interesting in that it comes with an already preestablished base of extremely skilled players, and so it's launching right away with the very best competition.
@Selira I tried watching some of the top Destiny 2 players when I was really into it. I found the ones that played the same sort of build I did and would watch them in PVP.
It just didn't capture me, unfortunately. 
I got more benefit from talking to clanmates and reading reddit.
LCS fan here. I've watched League of Legends from the start, which means I'm a long-suffering fan of North American teams even while we're consistently dumpstered by every other region. God I hope TSM can get it together before playoffs. Missing worlds last year was terrible, and it feels like they're imploding again - even Bjergsen isn't playing great, and that's pretty worrying when he's been the only consistent performer on the team for years.
I watch Overwatch League occasionally. That's about it.
I used to watch a lot of NA LCS but have kind of stopped recently. (Competitive League of Legends in OCE isn't very ... good.) Sometimes I also watched a bit of the LCK when I was REALLY into it, but these days I only really try to watch Worlds. Sometimes MSI. Very occasionally the NA LCS finals, depending on who's playing. I'm a Doublelift fan too but also was generally more interested in C9, the original C9!
I also watched a bit of CS:GO and even started playing the game a bit just to understand what I was watching more. These days I don't play either and I find whem I'm not playing League, my interest in watching it also wanes.
If you like League but haven't given Dota a shot, try to catch some of the International games August 20-25 (this year they're hosting it in China, so VOD might be easier). They can get pretty wild with how deep the game is, with the hero balance strong enough that there's usually only a handful of the 110~ not picked during the tournament. The competition is healthy, too; in nine years there hasn't been a single repeat champion, and not for lack of qualifying.
It's also looking like the prize pool will be $32+ million.
The Dota International is a good introduction to the game, because they have a dedicated stream for new players.
And the International is pretty much the only thing I watch. I've never really been into watching sports, meatspace or otherwise, and it's only recently that I've recognized it can be fun as a social thing.
Ugh, I don't really watch pros and stuff because I don't have the time or the patience, but I do play League. I mean, i'm not very good at it, but whatever.
Don't get me started on my dumpsterfire of a promo yesterday.
"Excuse the hell out of you. He's a bag of dicks. I'm a carefully curated box of cocks." -- to @GirlCalledBlu upon being misrepresented.
@Selira said in The Esports thread:
Personally, I'm watching to see if TSM is going to fail to make it into playoffs in League this summer.
I've literally been a fan since before the season 1 worlds at Dreamhack, never missed a single game, and I'm about the saddest I've ever been.
@Apos said in The Esports thread:
@Selira said in The Esports thread:
Personally, I'm watching to see if TSM is going to fail to make it into playoffs in League this summer.
I've literally been a fan since before the season 1 worlds at Dreamhack, never missed a single game, and I'm about the saddest I've ever been.
I understand your pain. I really do. I came in during S4 Worlds, so the year after that was 2015, and I got to see CLG go on their crazy run until the stomp at MSG.
Not a single member of the team exists from that first victory anymore, and it wasn't that long ago at all that people were treating CLG as a joke, and their standings validated that.
I fully believe TSM will be able to bounce back. NA got a lot tougher, and they will figure a way back into it after their recent flubs. They better, because I don't want this rivalry becoming one-sided the other way now.
(okay, I kind of do)
@Selira I'm going to be salty af if TSM doesn't make playoffs and the 3 teams going to worlds all have former TSM members, lol.
EvE Online tournament. Never before have spreadsheets been so dramatic and meme-y.
@Apos While they still had Pobelter, and thus 3/5 of the MSG team, I was casually referring to TL last year as CLG.Horse. Regi has made some really baffling roster moves lately.
@Coin said in The Esports thread:
Don't get me started on my dumpsterfire of a promo yesterday.
One of two significant reasons I play dota. I hate promos.
@Selira said in The Esports thread:
@Apos While they still had Pobelter, and thus 3/5 of the MSG team, I was casually referring to TL last year as CLG.Horse. Regi has made some really baffling roster moves lately.
My suspicion is that NA has always placed a silly amount of value on scrim results, and been inclined to bench people that underperform in scrims or have weak communication in those. This has led to NA as a region having some mind bogglingly dumb strategies, like during the ardent censer meta, I ran the numbers and NA lost like 21 out of 23 games where they let the other team draft janna, or prioritized drafting ryze (who had an incredibly high bar for execution in that meta). I think TSM is probably the worst team about this, in putting super high emphasis on watching how things perform in the looser scrim environment and then trying to put it on stage, where teams just play more conservatively and crisper.
I love watching Esports, esp. LoL. TSM has been real up and down. I would love to see CLG win it all up this split, tbh. I used to a fan of certain teams, but they've almost all made decisions that made me lose that enthusiasm, so now I tend to watch more to cheer on players versus teams. The team that has more players I like, I hope wins. (Also, I am sort of excited Jatt is back. )
I am super sad about the racist in Echo Fox meaning they're selling their spot in the LCS. Rick Fox and his enthusiasm for the game and always going to the matches to cheer on the team was charming.
I read the title of this in my inner spanish accent. Damn you all.
