Author: G7R

League of Legends players and fans are getting their wish fulfilled: A third international tournament will be officially added to the calendar for 2025. The news comes via a Riot Games dev update on June 11, with the League esports calendar set to look drastically different following the 2024 World Championship and heading into next year. Regional play will kick off earlier in the year, culminating in an event currently penciled for March. This tournament isn’t expected to be as grand as the likes of Worlds, but it fills out the calendar year a little more and gives another opportunity…

The long-hinted merger for American League of Legends has come at last, with Riot Games today confirming the LCS, CBLOL, and LLA competitions will soon be consolidated into a new dual-conference Americas League. The league will be split into two conferences—North America and South America—with the LCS and CBLOL teams taking part in each separately—not too dissimilar to how the leagues are split currently. The LLA, however, will lose its classification as a tiered region in the ecosystem and will be given a slot in each of the Americas conferences. A team from the LLA will join the LCS. Photo…

Riot Games is overhauling the League of Legends esports ecosystem starting in 2025. The changes include a unified split schedule for all regions and reducing the number of teams within tier-one leagues.  Starting next season, League esports will begin its competitive year with the Winter Split, then move to an unnamed third international event, the Spring Split, the Mid-Season Invitational, and then the Summer Split and World Championship. CBLOL and LLA’s dedicated fan bases could help the spiraling viewership of the LCS. Photo via Riot Games Riot also unveiled a first look at the new regional structures coming to League…

Day one of Pokémon TCG at NAIC 2024 has been jaw-dropping, with nearly 50 percent of the total decks at the event being one of three archetypes. Lugia VSTAR, Raging Bolt/Ogerpon ex Teal Mask, and Gardevoir ex dominate the metagame in a drastic shift from EUIC. After the release of Twilight Masquerade, Charizard ex decks have completely fallen from the top lists for Pokémon TCG. New meta. Image via The Pokémon Company Outside of the big three, which are being used by nearly 400 players in the Masters Division, the next best deck is Lost Zone Box. Surprisingly falling down…

Wolfe Glick is one of the most accomplished Pokémon players in VGC history and so of course fans are curious about his North America International Championships team. Pokémon teams can change pretty drastically between events and formats depending on the metagame, so you may be wondering what the 2016 world champion brought to NAIC, one of the biggest events of the season. The international event used the Regulation G ruleset—Scarlet and Violet’s first single-restricted format—meaning Glick’s team has one restricted Legendary slot along with his other five ‘mons. Glick has proven to be a strong teambuilder and already won two…

Top Scarlet and Violet VGC players are seeing success with a unique Gen I Pokémon at the North America International Championships (NAIC) based on stats from day two. As NAIC continues this weekend, we’re seeing a lot of the same dominant Pokémon—Incineroar, Urshifu, Calyrex, Miraidon, and their friends. In fact, there’s only one major difference when comparing the usage stats between day one and day two. If you look at the last slot of the top 12 Pokémon on day two, Ditto just made the cut at 12.2 percent usage. VGC caster Rosemary Kelley confirmed a total of 10 players…

There are only two months left until the 2024 Esports Awards begin, but the face of the broadcast has decided to resign after clashing views on the company’s direction over the last year. Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez has announced that he will resign from the Esports Awards panel and won’t host the event moving forward. The popular shoutcaster and commentator has been the face of the Esports Awards since he became its host, but now, he is stepping away for a handful of reasons. Hey everyone,I’m going to get straight to the point: I won’t be hosting the Esports Awards moving…

The Pokémon North America International Championship (NAIC) has been full of surprises so far, with off-meta picks thriving. Online Esports spoke to 2023 EUIC champ Paul Chua to discuss the weirdest Pokémon he’s encountered at the event and why this is a good sign moving forward in the competitive scene. Online Esports is at NAIC with travel provided by The Pokémon Company to speak with top VGC players like Paul Chua about all the oddball ‘mons in the current Regulation G format. We saw the EUIC champ make a stream appearance during his Swiss round 12 match against Shiliang Tang.…

With more than half of the year zoomed by, the European League of Legends community is ready for the red-hot action that they’ll enjoy during the 2024 LEC Summer Split. In classic fashion, Europe’s 10 best League teams will collide over four action-packed weeks to decide which eight teams will move forward into the playoffs. Shortly after, the postseason will feature an exciting double-elimination bracket to give a second chance to those who fall early while also giving a straight shot at the Finals for the best-performing squads—along with a place at the 2024 World Championship. There have been plenty…

The 2024 LCS Summer Split is finally upon us, and with it, comes some of the most important matches of the year for the best League of Legends teams in North America. There have also been roster changes made that could shift the balance of power within the region, and the representatives at this year’s League World Championship. With top squads powering up for the new split to middling rosters looking to break into the upper echelon of the league, there were a few major roster swaps that you’ll need to keep an eye on. Here are all of the…