LoL events to watch this weekend

It’s a BIG weekend for LoL Esports.

Table of Contents

• South Korea – LoL Champions Korea (LCK) Finals: SKT T1 vs Griffin
• Europe – LoL European Championship (LEC) Playoffs: Fnatic vs Origen
• North America – LoL Championship Series (LCS) Finals: Team Liquid vs TSM
• China – LoL Pro League (LPL) Semi-finals: FPX vs JDG and IG vs TOP
• Southeast Asia – LoL SEA Tour (LST) Ph. National Minor: LYB vs TNC and SWG vs AA

This weekend is a huge one for Esports. With championships on the line along with major tournaments starting up across different games, the Esports world is hyped up.

For League of Legends (LoL), it’s championship weekend. With most regions completing the regular season and the preliminary rounds of playoffs, all that’s left to do is to crown the champion. Still wondering what to do this weekend? Here are some of the Esports events and games you can look forward to.

South Korea – LoL Champions Korea (LCK) Finals:
SKT T1 vs Griffin

Throughout the regular season, SKT and Griffin have proved that they are the top two teams in Korea. Despite this, there’s a lot of differences between the two teams. For instance, SKT’s superteam roster consists of highly-experienced players while Griffin’s rookie lineup consists of young players, hungry for their first title.

This finals series looks to be explosive with featured matchups across the board such as the best player of all time, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyuk facing against the red-hot rookie, Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon in the mid lane. As an avid follower of the LCK myself, I’m extremely excited for what this finals has in store. You can check out our in-depth look into the 2019 spring LCK finals matchup here.

The LCK finals kicks off on April 13, 5 p.m. Korean Standard Time or 4 p.m. Philippine Standard Time. You can stream it live at LCK Global’s Facebook page here or at the LCK Twitch channel here.

Europe – LoL European Championship (LEC) Playoffs: Fnatic vs Origen

It’s been four years since these two teams last met in the LEC playoffs (it was still called EU LCS at the time), but the rivalry is still as vibrant as ever. These two teams traded games throughout the regular season, with Fnatic having a late-season surge to clinch 3rd and Origen having enough wins to take 2nd.

Be sure to pay attention to the bot lane matchup with one of the best AD carries in LEC history, Martin “Rekkles” Larson and his support Zdravets Iliev “Hylissang” Galabov going up against rookie AD carry Patrik “Patrik” Jírů and veteran support Alfonso Aguirre “Mithy” Rodríguez. Rekkles and Mithy are also the only two players remaining from the 2015 EU LCS Summer final which makes bot the lane to watch.

Awaiting the victor of this match in the finals is G2 Esports (G2). During the offseason, the organization built together a European superteam with the two best mid laners in the region, Rasmus “Caps” Winther and Luka “Perkz” Perković, joining forces. With this lineup and after placing first in the regular season, G2’s eyes are on the prize with the only acceptable result being a win on championship Sunday.

The LEC playoffs second round between Fnatic and Origen will take place on April 13, 11 p.m. Philippine Stamdard Time while the finals match between the victor of the previous series and G2 will be on April 14, 11 p.m. Philippine Standard Time. To watch, check out the LEC Twitch channel here.

North America – LoL Championship Series (LCS) Finals: Team Liquid vs TSM

What better way to start off the first LCS (since EU LCS rebranded to LEC) than with the two most accomplished NA teams in history going against each other. Team Liquid (TL) and TSM are both fighting not only for the LCS trophy, but for a chance to cement themselves as the most dominant organization in the league’s history.

TL has dominated the league since 2018 until 2019 spring, coming into the finals as 1st seed in the regular season with a 3-0 victory over Fly Quest in the semis. TSM has the most LCS trophies of any organization, but are looking for redemption following a catastrophic 2018. They enter the finals as the 3rd seed in the regular season with an impressive reverse sweep (3-2) of Cloud 9 in the semis.

Aside from organizational pride, two of North America’s best players are fighting it out for the title of best NA player of all time: TSM’s mid-laner Soren “Bjergsen” Bjreg and TL’s AD Carry Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng. These two players are tied for the most LCS trophies and, despite having different positions, are the people to watch in the finals.

Championship Sunday, between these two teams, starts at April 14, 4 a.m. Manila time. As with the LEC, you can check out the LCS Twitch channel here to stream the games.

China – LoL Pro League (LPL) Semi-finals:
FPX vs JDG and IG vs TOP

Meanwhile, the LPL playoffs are in full swing with the semi-final round happening this weekend with Fun Plus Phoenix (FPX) going up against JD Gaming (JDG) and defending world champions, Invictus Gaming (IG) facing Topsports Gaming (TOP).

Between the two semi-finals, FPX vs JDG was definitely the more unexpected matchup. JDG came in last seed into the playoffs and went on a miraculous playoff run, defeating traditional Chinese powerhouses team WE 3-1, and defending MSI and LPL champions RNG 3-2.

However, FPX will be their toughest challenge yet with the team placing 1st in the regular season. Be sure to look at FPX mid-laner and one of the best mids in China, Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang and former world champion and bot-laner of JDG, Gu “Imp” Seung-bin.

On the other hand, IG and TOP will be a clash of Chinese juggernauts. The two teams share an identical match score in the regular season, with IG barely securing 2nd due to their better game score. Looking to assert themselves domestically after their world championship win, IG is hungry for their first LPL trophy while TOP look to stun IG with their lesser-known players and book a trip to the finals. Don’t forget to watch out for the showdown between one of the best top laners in the world from IG, Kang “TheShy” Seong-lok and TOP’s rookie top laner, Bai “369” Jia Hao.

JDG and FPX square off at April 13, 5 p.m. Manila Time while the next semi-final between IG and TOP will happen the next day, April 14, 5 p.m. Manila Time. You can watch the games live on the LPL twitch channel here.

Southeast Asia – LoL SEA Tour (LST) Ph. National Minor:
LYB vs TNC and SWG vs AA

For those interested in the local LoL esports scene, the LST Philippine National Minor takes place this weekend, with a slot to represent the Philippines in the LST main event on the line. Following a playoffs format, the semi-finals kick off with Team Liyab (LYB) squaring up against TNC pro team (TNC) and SteelWolves Gaia (SWG) versus ArkAngel Esports (AA).

The first semi-final between LYB and TNC is a match between two teams that have historically dominated the Philippine Scene. With LYB (formerly Mineski, MSK) making national headlines for being backed by major companies and with TNC looking to translate their success in the Dota 2 world to LoL, this semi-finals is shaping up to be an exciting one.

SWG and AA, conversely, are two of the lesser-known teams in the region that have had varied success over the previous years. Both of these teams are yet to win a local title, so reaching the final or even winning the national minor and representing the Philippines at the LST would mean a lot for the two organizations.

The National Minor semi-finals and finals will take place in succession starting off with LYB vs TNC at April 13, 5 p.m. Local time. You can watch the games on the FunPlus Esports youtube channel here.

There’s a lot going on in the LoL esports world this weekend, so get your popcorn and drinks ready as we kick off an exciting Esports holiday!

For the latest LoL Esports updates, check out the official page here. In addition to watching on Twitch, you can catch all the games from all the regions at the LoL Esports Youtube channel here.