The best pro gaming to watch this weekend
This weekend is dominated by IEM Katowice, which started a few days ago and continues through Sunday. It's an exciting
event with a half-dozen different games being played competitively. Not to be outdone, however, the odyssey that is Dota
2's Shanghai Major also reaches its conclusion this weekend. And we've also got a newcomer on the scene, with card game
Hex: Shards of Fate hosting a high-stakes invitational tournament.
Dota 2: The Shanghai Major finals
The Shanghai Major has been an interesting tournament, to say the least. But amidst all the drama and memes, one thing has generally been agreed upon: There's some pretty great Dota being played in Shanghai right now. And the tournament finally comes to a conclusion this weekend, with the Lower Bracket wrapping up on Saturday, followed by the LB finals and the Grand Finals on Sunday. The stream starts at 10:00 BJT (02:00 GMT/18:00 PST the previous day) and runs for close to 12 hours. Then you can watch the finals on Sunday, which will begin at 10:30 BJT (02:30 GMT/18:30 PST the previous day). The schedule has been flexible, to say the least, but you can find hypothetical start times here.
Hex: Shards of Fate: Invitational finals
Hex: Shards of Fate is fairly new to the esports scene. A digital trading card game more similar to Magic: The Gathering than Hearthstone, it will be interesting to see how it presents itself in a tournament setting. Any way it goes, Hex is starting out big with a live invitational event at the Esports Arena in Anaheim, flaunting a massive $100,000 prizepool. The tournament starts tomorrow at 10:30 PST (18:30 GMT) and you can watch all the games on the official stream here.
League of Legends: IEM Katowice
League of Legends has one of the most imposing presences at this weekend's IEM. Saturday sees the entirety of Group B's games being played, with Group A shaking out earlier today. International tournaments like this are a unique opportunity in the LoL competitive world, which is otherwise quarantined into its respective regions. Group B begins tomorrow at 12:20 CET (11:20 GMT/03:20 PST), and the semi and grand finals kick off the next day at the same time. You can find the full schedule right here, and watch all the games on the official stream.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive: IEM Katowice grand finals
The CS:GO tournament has nearly wrapped up before the weekend even begins, but there's one more very important match to play: The grand finals. Tomorrow at 18:00 CET (17:00 GMT/09:00 PST) will be the last match of the event for Counter-Strike, which you can watch here.
StarCraft 2: IEM Katowice semis and finals
Similar to CS:GO, StarCraft 2 will also has mostly wrapped up by the start of the weekend. This Legacy of the Void tournament has seen the overwhelming success of Zerg players, with six of the top eight players using the race. While Polt on Terran has already progressed to the semifinals, the opposing side of the bracket is made entirely of Zerg, and he'll either be facing HuK on Protoss of Nerchio on Zerg in the next round. The semi and grand finals will begin tomorrow at 12:20 CET (11:20 GMT/03:20 PST) with the full schedule here, and you can watch right here.
Heroes of the Storm: IEM Katowice - Spring Regional
Heroes of the Storm is using IEM Katowice as the stage for its Spring Regional Tournament and, as a result, is probably the esport with the most games going on at once over the weekend. There will be two full days of matches being played, and nearly half the matches on Saturday will be happening off stage to make sure they have time to fit everything in. You can read up on the full schedule here, as it may be the best way to figure out what's happening in the off-stage games. Everything starts at 12:00 CET (11:00 GMT/03:00 PST) on both Saturday and Sunday, and you can watch the main stream here.
Hearthstone: IEM Katowice - ESL Legendary Series
Unlike the other games as IEM Katowice, Hearthstone decided to squish its entire tournament into a single day. That's most likely because this is a continuation of the ESL Legendary Series, which has been running for a while. What that means is they'll be starting at the top eight part of the bracket, and playing through until a champion is crowned. Games begin tomorrow at 12:00 CET (11:00 GMT/03:00 PST) and you can catch all the matches right here.
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