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Written by Justin Robey
on February 07, 2019

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, the month of February is shaping up to be a great month for lovers—of esports, that is! (I couldn’t resist that line!)

Okay, on to the business at hand.  While had a great start to the esports season in January, February is the month when the esports world really goes into high gear.  Here’s what’s in store this February:  We’ve got the beginning of Overwatch Season 2, followed by the kickoff of all the League of Legends Spring splits, and then there’s IEM Katowice heating up Poland for all those CS:GO lovers out there.  With so many awesome things taking place this month, the folks at Continuant Esports want to bring you esports-loving fans up to speed on what to watch, and when, during the month of February.

Overwatch Season 2

Overwatch Season 2 is coming and Continuant Esports is more than ready.  There is so much to look forward to with the kickoff this season. 

First, we have the addition of eight new teams joining the fray this year.  These teams will represent Vancouver; Toronto; Paris; Washington, D.C.; and Atlanta; and we will also see teams from three Chinese cities: Hangzhou, Chengdu and Guangzhou.  These eight new teams will join the 12 pre-existing teams, bringing the total to a whopping 20 OWL teams.  Not only do we know where the teams will reside, but by the end of 2018, we were able to get a look at all the new team names and logos which you can check out below.

New Overwatch Teams

Overwatch League In Trouble?

Secondly, we’ll be asking the question, “What is to become of the fabled Overwatch League?”  On top of all the hype around the new teams, we also had quite a bit of controversy surrounding the existing teams.  Not only did Dallas Maverick owner Mark Cuban declare that the Overwatch League to be dead, but we also watched as Houston Outlaws owners dealt with some big financial woes.  And then there’s the changing of the guard at Blizzard Entertainment, as its long-time president, Mike Morhaim, stepped down. 

With the inaugural season behind us, all eyes are on this league to see if it will be around for the long haul, or if, Mark Cuban’s pronouncement will turn out to be like Mark Twain’s famed cable to the US press after they mistakenly reported his death: “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

With investments by some teams/organizations pushing upwards of $50 million, there are some very expensive bets being made that the league is here to stay.  This season is going to be a real indicator of whether those bets are going to pay off at all.

Finally, this month we will start to see the Overwatch League spread its wings outside of its home studio in Burbank, California, for the first time.  Sure, we saw the finals in New York and the World Cup at Blizzcon, but Overwatch League has made a bet on regionality, and we are going to see that tested with regular season games.  Not all the locations have been announced yet, but we do know at least one game will be in Dallas, at the home of the Dallas Fuel.  The year 2019 will be the last year where games, are, for the most part, centrally located at the Blizzard Studios in California. 

Starting in 2020, each team will have home and away games at locations within their own regions.  Some of those locations have already been announced, such as the LA Gladiators hosting players in the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, for example. 

Valentine’s Day promises to be a big day for the Overwatch League, kicking off the season with a bang on February 14 when the reigning World Champions, The London Spitfire, take on their second-place rivals, the Philadelphia Fusion, to start the season right. (This was last years’ Would Championship Finals, remember!)  So, grab your sweetheart, some chocolates, and a 65” OLED TV with Twitch and watch all the action at twitch.tv/overwatchleague.

The Spring Split and all things League of Legends

The League of Legends world is heating up this February as well with the regular season kickoff and qualifications for the Spring Split for the NALCS, LEC, LCK, and the LPL.   The last week in January saw the qualifications kickoff in LA for the North American LCS season as the North American World Champion darlings, Cloud 9, took on the North American LCS Champions, Team Liquid, on January 26 with a 1-0 victory for Liquid over Cloud 9. Does the fact that Cloud 9 lost to Team Liquid foreshadow how this season is going to go?  We’re not so sure. If anything, last season taught us that even when the LCS crowns a champion, it can all change when it comes to the Mid-Season Invitational and the World Championships later in the year. 

We now have nine weeks of competition ahead of us as the Spring Split qualifiers continue through the end of March and the finals blast off in the month of April. This is going to be an interesting time to watch League of Legends because this will be the first time we have seen the European Franchises play in official competitions since the league’s inception late last year.  So, League of Legends fans rejoice, pick a region, and watch your favorite League of Legends teams duke it out all over the world!  All the action for all the regions will be spread all over Twitch, but if you want to catch the NALCS action, you should tune into twitch.tv/riot for all the best in League of Legends Play. 

IEM Katowice  

A 13 year-old legacy, Intel Extreme Master Katowice has been a major mainstay for the CS:GO esports scene for over a decade.  With a one million-dollar prize pool on the line, you can expect the best of the best to descend on the 11,500 seat Spodek arena ready to compete.  Legends like Astralis, Team Liquid, Navi, and Faze Clan are set to fly to Poland and kick off the Legends round of the competition on February 20.  A total of 24 teams will battle it out on maps—such as Nuke, Mirage, and Inferno— for their chance at eight championship spots and an opportunity to take to the main stage at Spodek arena.

 

Then on February 28, the main event begins!  What has been one of the biggest and most viewed yearly majors, IEM Katowice, lights up as 11,500 people pack the Spodek arena for four days of championships culminating on March 3, where the IEM Katowice champion is crowned. Astralis has been unbeatable over the past year, and expectations are high that they may do it again here, close to home and their home crowd.  

Regardless of the final outcome, I expect some amazing games, and Intel puts on some of the best esports events of the year.  If you are a CS:GO fan, this is definitely one you won’t want to miss.  You will be able to catch the all the action live at twitch.tv/esl_csgo  

What a packed February

Whew!  To say that the month February is packed with excitement and love of esports is an understatement.  These are just a few of the things to catch in February, and the year is just beginning. 

Did you feel there were some events we should have covered and didn’t?  Were we missing your favorite event?  Then tell me so I can catch it next time.  You can always find me on twitter @robeyonekenobi, and I am always open for feedback.  However, in the meantime why don’t you open the fancy bottle of wine your got for Valentine’s day, crack out those expensive chocolates you got from your sweetheart, and tune into your favorite esports channels, because I can’t think of a better way to spend a night in February! 😊

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