This Weekend in Esports: What to Watch from 10/20-10/22

The video game landscape is covered in competitive gaming. Shacknews would like to offer an overview of what to watch for this coming weekend. And this weekend... it's Tetris, baby!

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Welcome to This Weekend in Esports, a brief overview of what to watch in the world of competitive gaming for the coming weekend.

This weekend marks a big weekend in esports, so big that it's hard to keep this entry to just its usual handful. So let's not waste any time and jump right in.

World Championships 2017 - Quarterfinals

Game: League of Legends
When: October 20-22, Full schedule
Where to watch: Twitch.tv/RiotGames

The great North American hope is all but dead for Worlds. Both Immortals and Team SoloMid crashed down to Earth in the group stages. Cloud9 managed to make it in, but not before it was obliterated by perennial League powerhouse SK telecom T1.

Cloud9 will look to stay alive by facing Team WE on Sunday.

Prior to that, Fnatic will look to continue its hot streak, taking on Royal Never Give Up. Nearly left for dead at the start of the group stages, Fnatic bounced back in a big way and now looks to punch its ticket into the semifinals.


Halo Championship Series - Fall 2017 Finals

Game: Halo 5: Guardians
When: October 20-22, 11:30AM PT
Where to watch: Twitch.tv/Halo

There's excitement in the air for Halo, fresh off 343 Industries announcing its plans for the 2018 HCS season. But the 2017 season is rolling on, with the Halo Championship Series stopping at DreamHack Denver for the Fall 2017 Finals.

Team EnVyUs rides in with all the momentum in the world, riding a 7-0 undefeated streak in the regular season. They're coming off a big win at HCS Daytona and also won last year's Fall Finals. A $200K prize pool is on the line, with the winning team set to split $70K.

But the competition this year will be fierce. Splyce is still fresh off its Summer 2017 Finals victory at DreamHack Atlanta. Meanwhile, Halo powerhouse OpTic Gaming will look to conquer its demons, having only losses to Team Envy and Splyce on their resumes in recent months. Outside of those losses, OpTic remains the most feared team in the HCS and they'll look to fix up those blemishes on their record this weekend.


H1Z1 Invitational 2017

Game: H1Z1: King of the Kill
When: October 21-22, 2:00PM PT
Where to watch: Twitch.tv/H1Z1KotK

This weekend is TwitchCon and Daybreak Games is celebrating by returning with one of the event's most popular esports tournaments. The H1Z1 Invitation will bring out some of the top content creators and broadcasters from across both the H1Z1 spectrum, as well as Twitch as a whole. The fun begins with the All-Stars tournament, which will feature noteworthy Twitch streamers like Summit1G, Nadeshot, SeaNanners, and Shacknews Chatty community favorite DrDisRespect. They'll compete for a $200K prize pool on Saturday afternoon.

On Sunday, the top players in the H1Z1 esports world will do battle for a $250K prize pool. Look for inboxes and radek to defend their championships against 73 other competitors, as they look to survive against the world's zombies, the elements, and each other.


2017 Classic Tetris World Championship

Game: Tetris (NES)
When: October 22, 2PM PT
Where to watch: Twitch.tv/ClassicTetris

It's that time of year, where the best players in the Tetris world come together to prove their retro dominance. The eighth annual Classic Tetris World Championship is set to take place at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, where competitors from around the globe compete in the classic NES version of Tetris, competing in one-on-one battles to determine the ultimate Tetris player and who will walk home with the $1,000 grand prize.

The CTWC is always an intense and entertaining competition. This year, six-time winner and current defending world champion Jonas Neubauer will be ready to put on another show. His competition will include 2014 champion Harry Hong, as well as European champion Jani Herlevi and Japanese Tetris Grand Master Koryan.

Chris Tang and James Chen (yes, that James Chen) will be on the call this coming Sunday.


That's a small sample of what to watch for in the world of esports this weekend. What will you be watching? Join the conversation and let us know in the comments.

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

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