Whatever esports title you're a fan of, there's a lot to get excited about...
The field of eSports is forever changing. Every year we see new investments, new teams and new leagues created while old ones are put to rest.
So to make things easy, we’ve put together a list of five events we recommend you keep your eye on in 2017.
2017 League of Legends World Championship
The World Championships are pretty much League of Legends’ answer to Dota’s TI. It’s LoL’s biggest event of the year, and showcases the very best talent from across the world.
This year it will be held in China, and will be particularly interesting; it features some notable changes to the format. Rather than only 16 teams playing, 2017 will see 24 teams facing off. However, the format has also been expanded to include a play-in stage prior to the groups stage.
Interestingly, all three Korean seeds will completely bypass the play-in stage, automatically qualifying for the group stage. It just goes to show how dominant Korea is in international LoL. With SKT, the reigning champions, still looking practically unbeatable, cracking the Korean hegemony will be tough.
Still, the Worlds 2017 format allows for a more diverse array of teams from more countries than ever before; as ever in eSports, anything could happen.
The International 2017 (Dota 2)
The International is Dota 2’s flagship eSports event, and pretty much the biggest eSports tournament in the world. This year’s iteration, TI7, will be held in Seattle in early August.
There’s no doubt we’ll all have to pick up our jaws again when the prize pool is announced; last year, it was over $20 million.
As usual, 16 of the biggest teams in the game will be there. However, unlike LoL’s Worlds, it’s hard to say who might win. No team has ever won TI twice.
At last year’s event, Wings Gaming killed it, and took home a cool $9.1 million. But, on their current form, a repeat of that success doesn’t seem so likely.
Undoubtedly, teams such as OG, Newbee and EG will be singled out as potential winners, but it remains to be seen how roster changes will affect the state of play.
ESL One Cologne 2017 (Counter Strike: Global Offensive)
This year’s rendition of ESL One Cologne will take place from 7th – 9th July, with the closed qualifiers starting on the 20th May for NA and 21st for EU.
The LAN finals will be held yet again in the spectacular Lanxess-Arena in Germany, and will play host to 16 teams battling for the $250,000 prize pool.
Although the event will be one of the most anticipated this year, the timing casts a shadow on the tournament, as there’ll be just one week between Cologne and this year’s Major.
We’ve already seen Astralis release their spot because of scheduling; will we be seeing more teams forced to pull out at the last minute due to preparation for the Major?
So far, five invited teams have confirmed their place at the tournament; SK Gaming, FaZe Clan, Virtus.Pro, Na’Vi and Fnatic.
2017 PGL Kraków Major Championship Series (CS:GO)
Next up is the eleventh CS:GO Major, taking place at the impressive TAURON Arena in Kraków, Poland, with a prize pool of $1,000,000.
Running from 16th – 23th July, the event will feature the top eight ‘Legends’ of the ELEAGUE Major: SK Gaming, Astralis, Fnatic, North, FaZe Clan, Virtus.Pro, Gambit Esports and Na’Vi, who’ll be crossing guns with eight ‘challengers’.
This will be PGL’s first CS:GO Major event, having only played host to smaller tournaments. That said, they’re no stranger to the Majors, having hosted the Dota 2 Boston Major.
No doubt, giving PGL the Major must have come as a blow to ESL, but so far we’ve seen some solid endorsements from the likes of Sadokist on what to expect from this year’s organisers.
Enthusiasm is further induced by the fact that this event marks the first time in Majors history that all matches will be streamed live in 1080p/60fps – including the ones from the minors and the qualifiers.
So… high definition death and glory from now on, we hope.
BlizzCon 2017 (Multiple games)
BlizzCon is a bit of a black sheep on this list; it’s more of a convention than a specific major tournament. But it’s one hell of an event, in an epic celebration that brings the eSports pros and community to life.
As well as being incredibly fun, there’s a great mix of Blizzard’s best loved eSports on show: Overwatch; Hearthstone; Starcraft II; Heroes of the Storm. For eSports fans, it’s a veritable feast of competition and pro talent.
Taking place from 3rd – 4th November, BlizzCon is also a great event in other ways. There are usually celebrity guests – in the past there has been Hodor from Game of Thrones, Metallica, Foo Fighters and even Ozzy Osbourne.
There are also often important eSports announcements, like last year’s creation of the official Overwatch eSports league.
BlizzCon is set to be pretty colourful, ending this year in eSports on a fun and relaxed note.
