E-SPORTS E-SPORTS ARTICLES

Royal Never Give Up has been one of the elite teams in China for the past two years. This is one of the newer League of Legends teams in the world, but don’t let that lead you to believe that this team will be a pushover on the international stage.... 

No team had a bigger turnaround than Longzhu Gaming did between the Spring Split and the Summer Split. Longzhu was talked about as a potential playoff team before the start of the Spring Split, but looked disjointed and was routinely smashed by the best teams in Korea. They finished in seventh place and looked closer to a team set to be relegated than a potential champion. In fact, some analysts were calling on this team to be relegated in Summer Split after they switched out their top laner, jungler, and mid laner prior to the start of the season.... 

We’re just about to set to kick off the 2017 League of Legends World Championships in earnest. After watching some of the best teams in the world battle it out in the play-in group stage, we will now see the top eight teams battle it out in best of five knockout rounds to determine who will make it to the final sixteen. While the three big favorites all held up their end of the bargain and waltzed through the Group Stage, LMS participant Hong Kong Attitude stumbled against Fenehrbahce and subsequently ended up as the second seed in their group.... 

For the first time ever, the League of Legends World Championships will be truly global. Although the five major regions have dominated proceedings in the past, Worlds has now moved to a Champions League style format where the smaller regions will at least have a representative in the early stages of the tournament. This weekend 12 teams will vie for four spots in the Group Stage where the superpowers from across the globe lie in wait. Although there is one team from a major region in each group that is supposed to dominate the proceedings, every region now has a chance to make it to the biggest stage in League of Legends.... 

DreamHack Malmo was just two weeks ago, but we already have another major CS:GO tournament that’s about to kick off. ESL One: New York is one of the biggest tournaments in North America and there will be eight teams vying for a $250,000 prize pool. This isn’t a tournament with any scrubs as some of the best teams in the world will be competing and everyone has a shot to win. The crowd will be hungry for one of the two North American teams to win, but that will be difficult with all the elite European teams taking part.At BookMaker Sportsbook, our team of writers breaks down every betting matchup on the wagering board. eSports are exploding in popularity and we at BookMaker have you covered for all of your betting needs. From League of Legends to CS:GO, BookMaker has all of the eSports betting lines you can hope for. Open an account and get in on the action today!... 

With their dominating run through the Summer Split Playoffs, Misfits are joining G2 at the League of Legends World Championships in China later this month. That leaves just one more spot for a European team available. Four teams will battle it out in a gauntlet style format to determine who will join their comrades in China and who will be left at home trying to figure out what went wrong. Fnatic are the big favorites on the strength of their recent play and because they are the last team up in the gauntlet, but can someone else beat them out for the last spot instead?... 

Team SoloMid is looking to make history. No team has won three straight North American championships since the creation of the LCS format and they are vying to be the first. They have been unequivocally the best team in North America since Summer 2016 and dominated at Rift Rivals against their European competition too. Standing in their way are Immortals, a team that went just 8-10 in spring, but turned it on in the summer and finished just behind TSM with a 14-4 record. Both of these sides have already punched their ticket to the World Championship in China. There, TSM will be looking to get out of the Group Stage for the first time since 2014, while Immortals will be making their first trip to Worlds after crashing out in Qualifiers against Cloud9 last year.... 

The kings of Europe are still alive. G2 was pushed to the brink by Splyce in the quarterfinals last week, but managed to pull out the win after a gutty performance in Game 5. In the other quarterfinals series, Misfits stunned Unicorns of Love 3-0 and sent the runners-up of Spring Split crashing out of the playoffs. Misfits was an underdog in the series but quickly looked like the better team thanks to a dominant mid-lane and a better understanding of the current meta. They are massive underdogs once again, but this time they are facing the team that was the best team in Summer Split.... 

The EU LCS Summer Split Quarterfinals are upon us and the defending champions are in danger of losing their crown. G2 have been the kings of Europe for the last three seasons, but limped through this regular season split. The team’s failures in international play seemed to have had a lingering effect as they had some chemistry issues during the Summer Split and finished with an 8-5 record. Now, they will have to win three straight series in order to win their fourth straight domestic title and continue to call themselves the kings of Europe.At BookMaker Sportsbook, our team of writers breaks down every betting matchup on the wagering board. eSports are exploding in popularity and we at BookMaker have you covered for all of your betting needs. From League of Legends to CS:GO, BookMaker has all of the eSports betting lines you can hope for. Open an account and get in on the action today!... 

In the world of competitive gaming, there can be a huge difference between the haves and the have-nots. There have only been three teams that have won North American LCS championships: Team SoloMid, Counter Logic Gaming, and Cloud9. Unsurprisingly, those teams are three of the four biggest favorites to win the Summer Split this year. Six of the nine previous finals have had Cloud9 square off against TSM, with Cloud9 winning the first two finals and TSM winning the last four, including the two most recent NA titles. TSM is looking to become the first team in North American history to three-peat.At BookMaker Sportsbook, our team of writers breaks down every betting matchup on the wagering board. eSports are exploding in popularity and we at BookMaker have you covered for all of your betting needs. From League of Legends to CS:GO, BookMaker has all of the eSports betting lines you can hope for. Open an account and get in on the action today!... 

The most lucrative tournament in all of eSports is set to begin in earnest at Key Arena next week. Last year’s version of The International had a prize pool that cracked $20 million with first place paying out over $9 million. This year’s tournament should end up with a total payout of over $25 million with first place receiving over $10 million. A Chinese team has won this tournament in three of its six years of its existence, but the wins have only come in even number years. Will a Chinese team be able to break this trend or will a North American or European squad raise the Aegis of Champions?... 

Heading into the last week of the LCK Summer Split, there are three teams with a chance to win the regular season and earn the automatic bid into the Summer Split final. Two of the three are names you’d expect. Samsung Galaxy and KT Rolster have both looked fantastic this split with Samsung sitting at 12-4 and Rolster at 12-3. The team leading the pack isn’t the team you think it would be though. Longzhu Gaming are 13-3 and top of the table with two games to play on the docket. SK Telecom T1 couldn’t win a match on Patch 7.13 and ended up losing four matches to fall from first to fourth in the span of two weeks. Longzhu took full advantage and came out of nowhere to seize control, but holding onto it is another story.At BookMaker Sportsbook, our team of writers breaks down every betting matchup on the wagering board. eSports are exploding in popularity and we at BookMaker have you covered for all of your betting needs. From League of Legends to CS:GO, BookMaker has all of the eSports betting lines you can hope for. Open an account and get in on the action today!... 

North America is no longer the laughing stock of the major regions. After very disappointing performances at both Worlds and the Mid-Season Invitational, Rift Rivals announced that North America was decisively better than Europe. Even lightweight Phoenix1 that sits at 3-9 in the North American Summer Split standings was better than the best teams in Europe, sweeping both G2 and Unicorns of Love. However, the amazing part of is that the three North American teams that went to Rift Rivals are a combined 18-18 in domestic play this split. This region is getting stronger by the week.At BookMaker Sportsbook, our team of writers breaks down every betting matchup on the wagering board. eSports are exploding in popularity and we at BookMaker have you covered for all of your betting needs. From League of Legends to CS:GO, BookMaker has all of the eSports betting lines you can hope for. Open an account and get in on the action today!... 

Although no one is claiming that Korea doesn’t have the best League of Legends teams in the world, shockwaves went around the world after China ended up emerging victorious at Rift Rivals Red. China went just 2-6 in the Group Stage against Taiwan and South Korea, but battled back with a 3-2 win over Taiwan in the Semifinals before winning 3-1 in the Finals. Team WE was the primary catalyst behind the eventual victory, but this format still leaves a lot to be desired.At BookMaker Sportsbook, our team of writers breaks down every betting matchup on the wagering board. eSports are exploding in popularity and we at BookMaker have you covered for all of your betting needs. From League of Legends to CS:GO, BookMaker has all of the eSports betting lines you can hope for. Open an account and get in on the action today!... 

The best League of Legends teams in the world are about to square off to determine which region is supreme. There’s little doubt that the best League of Legends in the world is played in Korea, but China and Taiwan have something to say about that. The best four teams from these three regions will face off to determine who is the best at Rift Rivals Red in Taiwan. Will the heavily favored Koreans trounce the field like everyone expects? Or will either Taiwan or China pull off a massive upset that will send shockwaves through the League of Legends landscape?... 

With the first of the two Telecom Wars this split now in the book, it’s time to survey the landscape of LCK Korea. SK Telecom T1’s win over KT Rolster showed that the three-time world champions are still the favorites, but their grip on the top spot might be slipping. SKT was outplayed by KT for the first 25 minutes in all three games, but rallied to win off of mistakes from KT and superior late-game team fighting. At the other end of the table, three teams are in danger of relegation with each having just one win five weeks into the season.... 

Summer is officially here and the action is heating up across the Rift. Three teams are tied atop the table at 5-1 and two of those will be squaring off in the first match of the week. The bottom of the table will see some action too as two teams that look destined to be relegated square off. Each team in North America will play two games thanks to North America’s action-packed schedule. This will be the penultimate week before the top teams head to Rift Rivals and there’s plenty at stake.At BookMaker Sportsbook, our team of writers breaks down every betting matchup on the wagering board. eSports are exploding in popularity and we at BookMaker have you covered for all of your betting needs. From League of Legends to CS:GO, BookMaker has all of the eSports betting lines you can hope for. Open an account and get in on the action today!... 

There’s no doubt which domestic league is the best in the world. South Korea is where the best League of Legends teams and players make their hay. The three big favorites to win Worlds all hail from Korea and are unsurprisingly atop the standings most of the way through the third week of action. With the week coming to a close, it’s important to take a look at some of the stories that have come out of Korea or developed in general.At BookMaker Sportsbook, our team of writers breaks down every betting matchup on the wagering board. eSports are exploding in popularity and we at BookMaker have you covered for all of your betting needs. From League of Legends to CS:GO, BookMaker has all of the eSports betting lines you can hope for. Open an account and get in on the action today!... 

The first week of action in North America sent everyone into a tizzy. The two teams that were easily the best during the Spring Split went a combined 1-3 with the lone win being when one, Team SoloMid, beat the other, Cloud9. That was the first of nine weeks of Summer Split action, but highlighted that some of the changes certain teams made in the break may have paid off. On the other hand, teams like FlyQuest and Phoenix1 were left searching for answers.... 

The whirlwind that is the League of Legends season has picked up again. It feels like we just finished the Mid-Season Invitational and we have already started domestic play. South Korea was the first to kick off the action with their season starting on Tuesday. The first set of games already gave us plenty of surprises and has shaken up preconceived notions heading into the season. With that said, let’s take a look at some of the things to watch for in the LCK Summer Split.At BookMaker Sportsbook, our team of writers breaks down every betting matchup on the wagering board. eSports are exploding in popularity and we at BookMaker have you covered for all of your betting needs. From League of Legends to CS:GO, BookMaker has all of the eSports betting lines you can hope for. Open an account and get in on the action today!... 

Three weeks of action in Brazil gave us a lot of great League of Legends play. The Koreans once again proved that they have the best teams in the world, but the gap between them and the rest of the world might finally be narrowing. G2 finally showed that they were a team to be reckoned with on the international stage and Gigabyte Marines gave hope to small teams everywhere. Only Flash Wolves and Team SoloMid can say that they had disappointing results but it’s better to have those now than at Worlds.... 

Saturday’s semifinal between G2 and Team WE won’t get the publicity that Friday’s main event will, but this should be a much more competitive fight. For G2, it’s another chance for redemption as the European champs have long struggled on the international stage, but put forth a decent enough performance to make it to the semifinals this time around. For Team WE, it’s a chance to show that China is still the second-best region in the world despite the talent exodus that occurred in the offseason.At BookMaker Sportsbook, our team of writers breaks down every betting matchup on the wagering board. eSports are exploding in popularity and we at BookMaker have you covered for all of your betting needs. From League of Legends to CS:GO, BookMaker has all of the eSports betting lines you can hope for. Open an account and get in on the action today!... 

Through two days of the group stage of MSI, what we knew coming into the tournament is clear, SK Telecom T1 is the best team in the world. SKT is the only team with a winning record, in addition to being the only undefeated team, and has only had a few small hiccups in their dominant run over the competition. They have shown they can play a hyper aggressive style kill-first style, build for a long game, or play their traditional controlled slow grind that smothers opponents. The main question seems to be who will end up as No. 2 at MSI and Day 3’s Group Stage games will help determine that.At BookMaker Sportsbook, our team of writers breaks down every betting matchup on the wagering board. eSports are exploding in popularity and we at BookMaker have you covered for all of your betting needs. From League of Legends to CS:GO, BookMaker has all of the eSports betting lines you can hope for. Open an account and get in on the action today!... 

Next Wednesday, the Mid-Season Invitational will begin in earnest with the group stage round-robin kicking off. Regional champions from the five major regions, and one international wildcard, will meet up to determine which team is the best in the world in Sao Paulo. SK Telecom T1 are massive favorites, but the team that has been their arch-nemesis on the international stage are looming as a major threat. The winner of this year’s MSI will take home at least $400,000 and bragging rights for their region.At BookMaker Sportsbook, our team of writers breaks down every betting matchup on the wagering board. eSports are exploding in popularity and we at BookMaker have you covered for all of your betting needs. From League of Legends to CS:GO, BookMaker has all of the eSports betting lines you can hope for. Open an account and get in on the action today!... 

Last weekend, four of the five major regions crowned their champions for Spring 2017. Favorites carried the day across the board with every top seed and betting favorite emerging victorious, but some performances were more dominant than others. Each one of the winners earned a coveted spot to the Mid-Season Invitational where they will square off with 12 other teams for at least a million-dollar prize pool in Brazil. Defending champions SK Telecom T1 will be a massive favorite to defend their title, but other regions play different styles that may throw SKT for a loop....