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Biggest Stories

SKT Takes Home the MSI Title

South Korea has continued to show the world why their region dominates esports. Team SK Telecom T1 won the Mid-Season Invitational for League of Legends this weekend and it comes as no surprise. Led by a player who has been compared to the Michael Jordan of esports, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, Team SKT made easy work of the American team, Counter Logic Gaming.

In their defense, CLG surprised many by making it that far into the tournament. Even so, the fairy tale for Counter Logic Gaming came to an abrupt ending. In the best of five, CLG never looked comfortable and their lineup and tactics succumbed to SKT during the mid-game stages of each match

This win is especially noteworthy as it’s the third major title for Team SKT. No other team has that many prestigious trophies in their case and they hope to continue the incredible results heading into the World Championships later this year.

The Ban Hammer Hits the LoL Scene Hard

Drama recently hit the LoL pro circuit in regards to some sketchy dealings from multiple organizations that Riot deemed detrimental to players and league.

Team Dragon Knights, Team Renegades and Team Impulse, all must be sold by a May 18th deadline. The owners from each team will receive an indefinite ownership ban from Riot.

Some of the infractions include not paying their players, signing players already under contract, falsifying contracts and a myriad of accusations. While the players were not punished, many have spoken out in defense of management, muddling an already complicated affair.

For more information, you can read Riot’s statement here.

World Esports Association Founded

ESL has announced that it’s rallied together some big name organizations to form an association that will help curb esports scene’s wild west antics.

Eight organizations have been in talks with ESL for over a year to try and unify an approach for tournament prerequisites, player representation and revenue sharing. It is certainly a step in the right direction for many reasons. Reflected in the recent Riot punishments, organizations are often left unaccountable for mistreatment of players, something that ESL hopes will never happen under the WESA.

Perhaps one of the most interesting milestones is the “Player Council”. Elected by their peers, this council will make sure that players best interests are at hand when it comes to transfers, tournament rules and league policies.

The first tournament to be played with these regulations will be ESL’s CS:GO Pro League. Let’s hope that the amount of teams involved grows and that ESL can keep their interests separated.

West Ham United Signs FIFA Player

If you’ve never heard of West Ham United, they are a top-tier football (soccer) team from England.

How does this connect to esports? Well, West Ham United decided to sign a FIFA video game player; Sean “Dragonn” Allen to it’s club.

It’s an interesting move and one that may become a trend if the esport scene continues to grow. The amount of money currently in esports is nothing to scoff at and if other sports franchises see an opportunity to sign a talented Madden, FIFA or other sports game player, they probably will.

Heroes of the Storm Ranked System Gets Makeover

Blizzard has decided to go back to the drawing board in terms of their competitive matchmaking system. Adopting a similar system to the one that is in place for StarCraft 2, Blizzard will soon launch a tiered league system. Leagues will be split into Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, and Grandmaster. Grandmaster will only hold the top 500 players in each region, so if you’re planning on reaching that rank, be sure to free up your schedule.

The new season will be start on June 18th and will supposedly last between 8-12 weeks. Upon completion of a season, Blizzard promises goodies for ranking up — such as gold, portraits and mounts.

Stream Highlights

Watch SKT Complete the Sweep

If you missed out on the historical win for SKT this past weekend, we’ve got you covered with this VOD from the final match. Sit back and enjoy the clinic that SKT put on display for the world.