The Weekend In Esports: Overwatch Finals, PUBG Invitational, And More – Info Computing

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 $1 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 tonight at 7:00pm EST, followed by game two on Saturday, July 28 at 4:00pm and game three, if necessary, at 6:00pm. The event will be streamed on Twitch as well as broadcast tonight at 7:00pm on ESPN. Meanwhile, there’ll be a rebroadcast of Saturday’s proceedings on ABC at 3:00pm on Sunday. You can also catch it all in the feed embedded below.

PUBG Invitational

The 2018 PUBG Global Invitational, featuring a $2 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 morning July 28 at 9:00am EST and goes through noon, resuming on Sunday July 29 for the same block of time with an awards ceremony beginning at 12:15pm. 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 lots 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 5:00pm and runs through the night with duos being played on custom servers. That’ll be followed by a second event on Saturday, July 28 at 1:00pm. 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 $6,500. 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 Saturday, July 28, at 5:00pm EST with Team SoloMid vs. Cloud9 and on Sunday July 29 at 3:00pm with Team SoloMid vs. FlyQuest. Of particular note will be FlyQuest vs. Echo Fox at 7:00pm Saturday 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 $1 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 2:00pm EST on Saturday July 28, followed by Natus Vincere vs. Team Liquid at 5:00pm. The winners will then meet in the grand finals at 2:00pm on Sunday, July 29. All of it can be streamed on Twitch.

Kumite in Texas

Street Fighter V 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 3:00pm EST and goes through the rest of the weekend with finals for each of the major games beginning Sunday July 29 at 11:30am. SFV will have finals starting at 7:00pm, while Dragon Ball FighterZ will close out the tournament at 9:30pm. 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 3:00pm EST across every game, with the top 64 getting underway on Saturday July 28 starting at 7:00pm. Top 8 for Smash 64 will take place on Sunday July 29 at 11:00am, followed by Wii U and Project M top 8 both at 2:00pm, followed finally by Melee at 5:00pm.