Here are the top events to watch this weekend in esports

May 6, 2021

by Brian Bencomo

Don’t know what to watch this weekend? We’ve got you covered. Here’s a rundown of some of the most intriguing games and tournaments happening this weekend.

League of Legends

Mid-Season Invitational (MSI)

The Mid-Season Invitational returns this year after getting canceled last year due to COVID. Eleven of the best League of Legends teams in the world will be competing in Iceland this month, including reigning world champion DWG KIA from South Korea, Royal Never Give Up from China, MAD Lions from Europe and Cloud9 from North America. C9 is in the same group as DWG KIA, so those matchups will be ones to watch. The group stage begins Thursday and ends Tuesday and features six games per day starting at 9 a.m.

Streams on twitch.tv/riotgames

Thursday: Starts at 9 a.m. ET
Friday: Starts at 9 a.m. ET
Saturday: Starts at 9 a.m. ET
Sunday: Starts at 9 a.m. ET

Call of Duty

Stage 3 of the Call of Duty League wraps up this weekend. The most interesting matchups are in Group B where the top four teams all have only one loss. Two of those one-loss teams are the New York Subliners and OpTic Chicago, and they face off Thursday. OpTic will also take on the Atlanta FaZe on Sunday in what could be a battle for first place in the group.

The most intriguing one-loss team in the group, however, is the Los Angeles Thieves who just signed Cuyler “Huke” Garland after he was benched by the defending champion Dallas Empire. It’s a significant addition for Thieves heading into Major III next week. He’ll make his debut with Thieves against the Subliners on Saturday.

Streams on: youtube.com/CODLeague

Thursday: Starts at 3 p.m. ET
Friday: Starts at 3 p.m. ET
Saturday: Starts at 3 p.m. ET
Sunday: Starts at 3 p.m. ET

Overwatch

OWL’s May Melee Tournament Weekend takes place this weekend. The top two teams from the East Region (Shanghai Dragons and Chengdu Hunters) will face the top two from the West (Dallas Fuel and Florida Mayhem). They won’t face off on LAN, but to bridge the divide between East and West, the Fuel and Mayhem will be competing from Hawaii in order to minimize ping when facing the Asia-based teams. While the Dragons and Mayhem were both highly regarded entering the season, the Fuel and Hunters are somewhat surprising participants in the first Tournament Weekend of the OWL 2021 season.

Streams on: https://www.youtube.com/overwatchleague

Thursday: Starts at 10 p.m. ET
Friday: Starts at 9 p.m. ET
Saturday: Starts at 9 p.m. ET

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Six teams remain in contention for the DreamHack Masters Spring title. No team has won more than one S-tier tournament so far this year, and Astralis have yet to capture any major titles. Gambit, Heroic and Na’Vi are all looking for a second major title. Astralis is also in contention as well as G2 Esports and FURIA Esports. The teams are competing for a share of the $250,000 prize pool and ESL Pro Tour points.

Streams on https://www.twitch.tv/esl_csgo