Welcome back to another edition of the Esports Report! A lot has happened in the month of June for competitive gaming including the crowning of Call of Duty’s new World Champion, Valorant’s busy month with Masters and qualifications to the Overwatch World Cup. We have a lot to cover!

The Call of Duty Championship Goes to New York

In mid-June, the conclusion of the Call of Duty League came to a head with the Call of Duty Championship Weekend. Eight teams from the Call of Duty League who collected the most points throughout the season were invited to compete in a double elimination bracket. The invited teams, from top seed to bottom seed, included: Atlanta Faze, OpTic Texas, New York Subliners, Toronto Ultra, Los Angeles Thieves, Minnesota Rokkr, Boston Breach and the Seattle Surge.

As the top seed, the Atlanta Faze were the favorites to win the tournament, however in the second round they ran into a brick wall in the form of Toronto Ultra, who sent Atlanta after a 3 – 1 match. The Subliners emerged as the other dominant team in the upper bracket defeating Minnesota and Texas, but they too would be defeated by Toronto in a 3 – 0 sweep. Atlanta rebounded in the lower bracket by defeating the scrapy Boston Breach and bottom seed Seattle Surge, who upset the tournament by eliminating better teams. In the lower bracket finals, Atlanta faced off against New York fresh from their defeat against Toronto. However, it would be New York to claim the victory after a 3 – 1 match. The grand finals became a rematch between Toronto and New York, but this time it would be New York who would sweep Toronto. The grand finals is the only match that is a best of nine games, with the Subliners sweeping the Ultra 5 – 0. The New York Subliners would take home the $1,000,000 grand prize with KiSMET earning the MVP award.

FNATIC Continues their Reign as Valorant’s Kings in Tokyo

After the conclusion of the VCT league play, the top teams from each of the three VCT along with representatives from the Chinese FGC league were invited to Tokyo for the VCT Masters tournament. The Masters is the last LAN before the World Championship and acts as a primer event showcasing the best of the best teams from the VCT. Twelve teams were invited. From Europe, Fnatic, Team Liquid, FUT Esports and Natus Vincere. From the Americas, LOUD, NRG and Evil Geniuses. From the Pacific, Paper Rex, DRX and T1. Finally representing China in their first international event in Valorant is Attacking Soul Esports and Edward Gaming. VCT Masters was a two-phase tournament starting with a group stage and ending with a double elimination bracket. As the top seeds, Fnatic, Team Liquid, LOUD and Paper Rex got to skip the group stage.

In the group stage, eight teams were divided up into two groups of four: Group A and Group B. The goal is to win two matches to proceed, two defeats would mean a ticket home. In Group A, NRG emerged as the top team, being the first team to claim two wins by ways of defeating Natus Vincere and T1. Edward Gaming would be the other team to survive Group A, losing their opening match against T1, Edward Gaming earned a rematch after defeating Natus Vincere, but this time getting the win with a 2 – 0 victory. In Group B, Evil Geniuses advance to the bracket stage without a single map loss in their two match wins. Korea’s DRX would be the other team to survive Group B having to fight past Turkey’s FUT Esports in the Decider Match. After the group stage, the Americas region is the only region to have three teams qualify for the bracket.

In the bracket stage, the top seed from the Americas, LOUD, was eliminated quickly after two straight losses against Evil Geniuses and Edward Gaming. A definite let down for the Americas region. Americas hopes for a LAN victory were transferred to Evil Geniuses who made it to the Grand Final defeating the likes of LOUD, Team Liquid and Paper Rex. FNATIC meanwhile paved their path to the finals through the upper bracket defeating NRG, Paper Rex and Evil Geniuses. After defeating Paper Rex, Evil Geniuses booked a rematch against FNATIC. However, in the best of five grand finale, the result didn’t improve for the North American team. FNATIC would go on to sweep Evil Geniuses 3 – 0 and claim the first-place prize of $350,000. FNATIC’s reign as the best team in Valorant was established back in March when they defeated the defending World Champions LOUD. Victory in Tokyo extends their reign over international play to a total of 113 days.

Teams for the 2023 Overwatch World Cup Have Been Finalized

After a four-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Overwatch World Cup is set to return. In June the regional qualifiers took place in the three server regions: the Americas, Europe and Asia. Nations were invited to participated based on player numbers; the nations with the highest player populations got invited to the qualifiers. Back in May, six nations that were classified as on the cusp were placed in a Wild Card playoff, all of whom were European nations. Four nations, Denmark, Portugal, Finland and Iceland, qualified to the European qualifiers.

For the European qualifiers, sixteen nations were divided into two groups of eight. In Group A, the United Kingdom emerged as the dominant team. Led by three OWL veterans, the United Kingdom won six of seven matches to earn the top spot in Group A. The UK would be joined by Spain and France. In Group B, dark horse Saudi Arabia, which comprises mostly of players who play for the same Contenders league team, went undefeated in the group. They would be joined by wildcard team Finland, who continue to turn heads with a unknown roster led by Sauna from the Florida Mayhem.

In the Americas, twelve nations were split into two groups of six. The United States led the way in Group A. Retired OWL player and former commentator, super, captain a team of OWL players to five straight wins. Canada and Mexico also qualified from Group A. In Group B, under dog Colombia came out on top also with an undefeated record. Brazil would finish in second place. Both nations rostered players without much competitive experience.

Finally in the Asia Pacific region, twelve teams were divided into two groups of six. Group A was won by gaming powerhouse South Korea. With a roster filled with the best players from the OWL, South Korea went undefeated in five matches and went without a single map loss. They would be joined by Japan, whose roster comprised entirely of the Contenders team VARREL, and Hong Kong. Group B was also won by an undefeated nation in Australia. Led by Punk from the Vancouver Titans and several members from Ground Zero Gaming, Australia only dropped a single map in their five wins. The last team to qualify for the Overwatch World Cup would be Thailand, who edged out favorites India and New Zealand. The fifteen nations that qualified will be joined by China in a LAN tournament to be hosted in Anaheim in late October.

Heroic Stands at the Top of the BLAST Premier

Apart of the BLAST series of tournaments for CS:GO, the BLAST Premier Spring Final is the conclusion of the spring split of the CS:GO competitive year. The tournament was a LAN that was hosted in Washington DC. The tournament featured eight teams, six from the Spring Leagues and two from last chance qualifiers from Europe and the Americas. Team Vitality entered the tournament as the favorites due to their victory at the Paris major. Natus Vincere due to visa issues had to withdraw from the tournament and were replaced by Complexity. The tournament’s format included a double elimination group stage and a single elimination playoff bracket.

Germany’s G2 Esports and Denmark’s Heroic finished at the top of the two groups getting their two wins right away. Team Vitality was on the brink of elimination after a defeat to Brazil’s Imperial Esports but overcame the shock with a win over Cloud 9. Last minute addition Complexity also survived the group stage with a win against Astralis. Continuing from their rebound win, Team Vitality would go on to fight through the playoff stage getting wins against Faze Clan and G2 Esports. Heroic, with their first place finish in their group got a ticket to the semifinals and only had to defeat one team to get to the finals and that team was Imperial Esports. In the grand finals, Heroic would defeat the Major champions 2 – 1. On top of the $200,000 grand prize, Heroic walked away with a direct invitation to the BLAST Premier World Final that will take place in December.

Street Fighter 6 and Other Fighters Headline at CEO 2023

The annual fighting game tournament, Community Effort Orlando, also known as CEO, returned this past June. It took place in Daytona Beach, Florida and featured all of the major fighting game titles including Street Fighter 6, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Tekken 7 and King of Fighters XV. CEO also hosted smaller, community run tournaments for older and more niche titles like Pokken and Skull Girls. Most large-scale fighting game tournaments such as these have a pools stage and then a bracket stage because these events often have thousands of players flock to the location to participate.

In the Street Fighter tournament, MenaRD, a Blanka main player representing Bandits from the Dominican Republic took home first place. JeonDDing from South Korea won Tekken 7, Mexico’s Wero Asamiya won King of Fighters and Eddventure finished first in Guilty Gear. Plup from Red Bull Esports took home first place in the singles and doubles tournament for Super Smash Bros Melee. Team Liquid had two players in the Ultimate finals with Dabuz and Riddles, but it would be Rosalina main Dabuz who would take home first place.

Faze Comes Out on Top at HCS Arlington

Hosted by Optic Gaming, HCS Arlington was an open Halo Infinite tournament that took place in Arlington, Texas. A total of 96 teams signed up for the open bracket where four teams get to join the invited teams. The four teams that qualified included: Status Quo, Cloud 9, Complexity Gaming and Ascending Baseline. Four groups of four made up the second phase of the tournament, where the last place team in each group will be eliminated. All four of the first-place teams finished with an undefeated record in group play; Faze Clan, Spacestation Gaming, Optic Gaming and Cloud 9. Ascending Baseline, Natus Vincere, Six Karma and Bittersweet were eliminated in group play.

In the bracket stage Faze Clan ripped and teared their way to the grand finals through the upper bracket. Defeating Complexity Gaming, Cloud 9 and Spacestation Gaming to get there. The other finalist would be Spacestation Gaming. Defeating Sentinels and hosts Optic Gaming before their defeat against Faze, Spacestation defeated Quadrant, a team that started in the lower bracket, to get a rematch against Faze. However, Spacestation wouldn’t get revenge, instead they got swept in the grand finals 4 – 0. Faze Clan with their first-place finish receive $100,000 and a direct invite to the SSG Global Invitational along with the rest of the top eight finishers.

Upcoming Events and Tournaments in July

• League of Legends: League Play – throughout the month
• Valorant: VCT Ascension – ending July 16^th
• Valorant: VCT China Qualifiers – July 3^rd to July 16^th
• Valorant: VCT Last Chance Qualifiers – July 15^th to July 23^rd
• CSGO: BLAST Premier Fall Groups – July 13^th to July 23^rd
• CSGO: IEM Cologne – July 26^th to August 6^th
• DOTA 2: Bali Major – ending July 9^th
• DOTA 2: Riyadh Masters – July 17^th to July 30^th
• Rocket League: RLCS Boston Major – July 6^th to July 9^th
• Apex Legends: ALGS Split 2 Playoffs – July 13^th to July 16^th
• Rainbow 6: Gamers8 – July 13^th to July 16^th
• Overwatch: OWL Summer Stage – starts July 13^th
• PUBG: PGS Phase 2 Qualifiers – ending July 9^th