Weekly esports guide (14 - 21 August): ESL One Fall: Bootcamp kicks off
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ESL One Fall 2021: Bootcamp Edition will be the last major international Dota 2 tournament to be hosted before The International 10 and it will feature 12 teams competing for a cut of a US$400,000 prize pool from 21 to 29 August.
Do note that the status of some events may have changed after publishing because of the coronavirus.
The International 10
Date: 7 - 17 October
Venue: Bucharest, Romania
The International 10 (TI10) finally makes its return this year after it was cancelled last year by the coronavirus pandemic. The latest iteration of Dota 2's annual marquee tournament features the best teams from the DPC competing for the lion's share of a US$40 million prize pool, the largest in the history of esports.
TI10 was originally planned to be held this August in the Avicii Arena, formerly known as the Ericsson Globe, in Stockholm, Sweden. However, TI10 was forced to move to a different venue in Europe after the Swedish government refused to give the tournament official recognition.
TI10 will now be held in the Arena Nationala in Bucharest, Romania but has been postponed to October. The tournament will start with a Group Stage from 7 to 10 October followed by a one-day break before the Main Event kicks off from 12 to 17 October.
After the conclusion of the second Major of the 2021 DPC, the teams who garnered the most amount of DPC points were given direct invites to TI10. The 12 teams that have been directly invited to the tournament include Evil Geniuses, PSG.LGD, Virtus.pro, Quincy Crew, Invictus Gaming, T1, Vici Gaming, Team Secret, Team Aster, Alliance, Beastcoast, and Thunder Predator.
Meanwhile, OG, Elephant, Fnatic, Team Spirit, Undying, and SG Esports won the qualifiers of those respective regions to round out the list of competing teams in TI10.
ESL One Fall 2021: Bootcamp Edition
Date: 21 - 29 August
Venue: Online
ESL One Fall 2021: Bootcamp Edition will be the last major international Dota 2 tournament to be hosted before TI10, featuring 12 teams competing for a cut of the US$400,000 prize pool from 21 to 29 August.
The 12 teams competing in the tournament notably include eight teams competing in TI10: PSG.LGD, Virtus.pro, T1, Alliance, Team Spirit, Beastcoast, Thunder Predator, and SG Esports. The field is then rounded out by Tundra Esports, Team Liquid, Team Empire, and Creepwave.
The single round-robin group stage, scheduled from 21 to 24 August, will split the teams into two groups of six teams each. Four teams from each group will advance to the playoffs, with the top two seeds getting seeded to the upper bracket while the third and fourth-placed teams starting from the lower bracket. Meanwhile, the bottom two teams from each group will be eliminated early.
The playoffs will run from 26 to 29 August and will follow a double-elimination format with best-of-three matches except for the grand finals, which will be a full best-of-five series.
M3 World Championship
Date: December 2021
Venue: TBD
The M3 World Championship, the third iteration of the annual Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) world championship tournament, will be hosted this December. While MLBB developer Moonton Games has yet to reveal more details on M3, including the tournament's venue and schedule, it has confirmed that the tournament will be held offline.
M3 will be the third major MLBB tournament to be hosted this year after its previous iteration, the M2 World Championship, and 2021 MLBB Southeast Asia Cup (MSC). M2, held in Singapore back in January, was notably the first offline esports event to be hosted in Southeast Asia since the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
MPL Philippines Season 8
Date: TBD
Venue: Online
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) developer Moonton Games will be implementing a franchise league system in the MLBB Professional League (MPL) Philippines for its eighth season, which will begin in mid-August. The eight initial franchise teams for the league include Blacklist International, Bren Esports, ECHO, ONIC PH, Smart Omega, Nexplay EVOS, RSG PH, and TNC Pro Team.
MPL PH Season 8 features a total prize pool of US$150,000 and will kick off with its regular season from 13 August to 3 October, with the eight initial franchise teams competing to be among the six teams advancing to the playoffs in late October.
The regular season will follow a double round-robin format, with matches being broadcasted on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday every week. Meanwhile, the double-elimination playoffs will see all qualified teams start in the upper bracket with the Top 2 teams from the regular season earning direct seeds to the upper bracket semi-finals.
MPL Philippines Season 8 was originally slated to begin on 13 August and end some time in October. However, the league's start date was postponed after the Philippines' capital of Metro Manila, where the league is being hosted, went into lockdown.
2021 League of Legends World Championship
Date: November
Venue: Shenzhen, China
The 2021 League of Legends (LoL) World Championship, more commonly referred to as Worlds, will be hosted in Shenzen, China from 6 November. Worlds 2021 will be held in Shenzen's Universiade Sports Centre, a state-of-the-art arena with a seating capacity of over 60,000 that is also the home of the Chinese Super League football club Shenzen F.C.
More information about the tournament is set to be released soon.
2021 Pacific Championship Series Summer Split
Date: 9 July - TBD
Venue: Online
The 2021 Pacific Championship Series (PCS), the official LoL esports league for Southeast Asia, continues with its Summer Split, which will kick off on 9 July and will feature a US$80,000 prize pool.
The 2021 PCS Summer Split will continue with the same ten teams from the Spring split, namely Alpha Esports, Berjaya Dragons, Beyond Gaming, BOOM Esports, Hong Kong Attitude, Impunity, Taipei J Team, Liyab Esports, Machi Esports, and PSG Talon.
The 2021 PCS Summer Split will also follow the format from its Spring Split, starting with a double round-robin group stage. The ten teams will be fighting to be among the eight making it to the playoffs, which will follow a double elimination format.
The finalists of the 2021 PCS Summer Split will qualify for the 2021 LoL World Championship while the champion will claim the grand prize of US$30,000.
VCT Southeast Asia Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs
Date: 12 - 22 August
Venue: Online
The 2021 VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT) Southeast Asia Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs is kicking off on 12 August, with 16 of the best VALORANT teams in the region competing to earn two spots in next month's VCT Stage 3 Masters tournament in Berlin, Germany.
The list of teams in the SEA Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs are as follows:
Philippines: Bren Esports, Galaxy Racer, Oasis Gaming
Thailand: X10 Esports, FULL SENSE, Sharper Esports
Indonesia: ONIC Esports, Alter Ego, BOOM Esports
Vietnam: Team Big BAAM, CERBERUS Esports, EGO
Malaysia and Singapore: UwU, Paper Rex
Hong Kong and Taiwan: CBT Gaming, Five Ace Esports
The SEA Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs will take place from 12 to 22 August, starting with a single round-robin group stage from 12 to 15 August. The 16 teams will be split into groups of four teams each, with the top two teams of each group advancing to the playoffs while the bottom two are eliminated early.
A three-day break will follow the conclusion of the group stage before the playoffs kick off from 19 to 22 August. The playoffs will follow a double-elimination format featuring best-of-three matches, with all qualified teams starting in the upper bracket.
The finalists of the SEA Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs will earn the coveted spots in Masters Berlin and compete in the best-of-five grand finals for the grand prize of US$25,000.
VCT Masters Berlin
Date: 9 - 19 September
Venue: Berlin, Germany
The Stage 3 Masters tournament of the VCT will be held in Berlin, Germany from 9 to 19 September. While Masters Reykjavík featured just 10 participating teams, the field for Masters Berlin will be expanded to include 16 squads.
The winning team of Masters Berlin will notably be receiving a direct seed to the VALORANT Champions tournament in December, where VALORANT's first-ever world champions will be crowned.
2021 ONE Esports MPL Invitational
Date: November
Venue: TBD
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) developer Moonton has once again partnered with ONE Esports, the Singapore-based esports venture of sports media company ONE Championship, to host this year's MLBB Professional League Invitational (MPLI) in the "final quarter of 2021".
The 2021 ONE Esports MPLI will feature the best teams from the regional MLBB Professional Leagues (MPL) across Southeast Asia in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Myanmar competing for their share of the US$100,000 prize pool. More details about the 2021 MPLI including whether the event will be hosted live or online, as it was last year, have yet to be revealed.
Wild Rift SEA Championship
Date: 14 September - 3 October
Venue: Online
The Wild Rift SEA Championship features 21 of the best teams from the Wild Rift SEA Icon Series: Fall Season across eight regions in Southeast Asia, including Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
The Wild Rift SEA Championship features a US$200,000 prize pool and is split into three stages: the Play-ins, Group Stages, and Main Event. The Play-ins will run from 14 to 19 September, followed by the Group Stages from 23 to 26 September, and with the Main Event scheduled from 30 September to 3 October.
Additionally, the Wild Rift SEA Championship also provides an opportunity for Australian and New Zealander teams to participate through the Oceanic Qualifiers.
VCT Game Changers SEA
Date: June - October
Venue: Online
Watch live: https://yhoo.it/FSLxYahoo
The FSL VALORANT Circuit has been added to Riot Games' VALORANT Champions Tour, and is now the VCT Game Changers Southeast Asia Series.
The series will have four stages - the FSL Open, a monthly open group stage tournament, from which eight teams will advance to the Playoffs. The playoff teams will then compete in a best-of-3 double elimination format, that will culminate in a best-of-5 format. Teams will earn points for the FSL Open Leaderboard, with the top three teams qualifying for FSL Elite.
The next stage is the FSL Open Overtime in September, where teams that finished 4th to 19th on the leaderboard will compete for three qualifying spots to FSL Elite. This is followed by the FSL Wildcard, which is open to teams who have not qualified for the FSL Elite, or teams new to the circuit. The top two teams will earn a spot for FSL Elite.
Finally, the FSL Elite, which is currently scheduled for October, will see the eight teams that have qualified play for a prize pool of US$25,000, and the top team earning the first VCT Game Changers Southeast Asia Champion crown.
The VCT Game Changers SEA Playoffs will be live on FSL Twitch, FSL FPS Facebook (for English), FSL TH Twitch (for Thai), and FSL YouTube (for Bahasa Indonesia), as well as on Yahoo.
Upcoming dates for VCT Game Changers SEA series:
FSL Open V:
Registration: 6 - 15 July
Open Group: 19 - 21 July
Playoffs: 29 July - 1 August
FSL Open VI:
Registration: 3 - 12 August
Open Group: 16 - 18 August
Playoffs: 26-29 August
FSL Open Overtime:
2 - 5 September
FSL Wildcard:
Registration: 9 - 19 September
Group Stage: 25 - 26 September
Playoffs: 1-3 October
FSL Elite:
23, 24, 30, 31 October
Call of Duty: Mobile World Championship 2021
Date: December
Venue: TBD
This year's Call of Duty Mobile World Championship features the best Call of Duty Mobile teams from all across the world compete for their cut of the US$2 million prize pool.
Garena will be facilitating the tournament's qualifiers for Southeast Asia, which will start on 8 July and will take place until October. The qualifier is split into four stages: Solo Play, Team Play, local championships, and the Garena Region Playoffs.
The first stage, Solo Play, will take place from 8 to 24 July and will see individual players compete to earn points to advance to the next stage of the qualifier. Players that were able to earn the required amount of points from the Solo Play stage will advance to the Team Play stage from 29 July to 8 August, where the eligible players form teams of five or six to become one of the eight teams in their country to advance to the next stage.
The third stage of the qualifier in August will be local championship tournaments for the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, as well as a combined region for Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. The top two teams from each championship tournament will then advance to the final stage of the qualifier.
The Garena Region Playoffs will be the final stage of the qualifier and will take place from September to October. The top two teams from the local championship tournaments will be competing to become the representative for Southeast Asia in the World Championship 2021.
FIFAe Nations Cup 2021
Date: 20 - 22 August
Venue: Copenhagen, Denmark
This year's FIFAe Nations Cup, the pinnacle of 2v2 national FIFA esports, will be held from 20 to 22 August in Copenhagen, Denmark. The best FIFA players from 24 countries all across the world will be competing for their cut of the US$400,000 prize pool, in addition to the US$100,000 already distributed throughout the qualification process.
Aside from reigning champions France and host country Denmark, the 22 other participating countries in the 2021 FIFAe Nations Cup include England, Germany, Portugal, Finland, Sweden, Romania, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel, Mexico, the United States, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay.
E1 Championship Season 2
Date: 25 August - 27 October
Venue: Online
E1 Championship, the premier simulator racing championship for Malaysia and Southeast Asia, returns for a second season from 25 August to 27 October and with a US$15,000 prize pool.
The list of confirmed teams competing in the event include Singapore's Flash Axle Sports — notably the reigning champions of E1 and Blackwolf Racing, Malaysia's Stratos Motorsports, the Philippines' GT Radial Eurasia Motorsports, South Korea's SafeHouse, Macau's BlackArts Racing, and Brunei's i1Racing.
All rounds of E1 Championship Season 2 will be broadcasted live on eGG Network’s channel across eight countries and on its Facebook page on Wednesdays at 9pm.
Pokémon Asia Players Cup 2021
Date: 28 August - 11 September
Venue: Online
Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield players from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand will battle against other players from across Asia for a spot in the Pokémon Global Exhibition in October and the 2022 Pokémon World Championships.
Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand will each determine their representatives in a set of qualifiers from 28 to 29 August as well as 4 to 5 September.
The Grand Finale is happening on 11 September where the top 8 players from each region will battle to be crowned the best Pokémon trainer in Asia.
Malaysia Esports League 2021 National League
Date: 14 August - 1 September
Venue: Online
ESI announced the champions of Malaysia Esports League 2021 (MEL21) State Leagues and the start of MEL21 National League (Nationals). As part of KBS’s National Esports Blueprint and through the Esports Integrated (ESI) initiative, the inaugural MEL21 State Leagues were held from 10 July till 8 August 2021 and MEL21 Nationals will be held from 14 August till 1 September 2021.
The Malaysia Esports League 2021 (MEL21) is moving to its next stage with the National League, where 288 players from 64 teams representing their home states as they compete in four categories from 14 August to 1 September. The league's four categories include Dota 2, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Mobile, and EA Sports FIFA21 and will each have a prize pool of RM20,000 (or over US$4,700).
University e-League Malaysia
Date: 4 July - 12 September
Venue: Online
Esports Business Network and Prime Sports International have partnered to launch the inaugural University e-League (UEL) for Malaysia. The UEL will be a nationwide collegiate esports league to be held from 4 July to 12 September, featuring over 300 university esports teams competing across four game titles for a combined prize pool of RM20,000 (or over US$4,800).
The UEL will be broadcasted online and will include competitions for Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, League of Legends, League of Legends: Wild Rift, and VALORANT. Students from both private and public universities across Malaysia who are interested in participating can register starting 14 June.
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