With how wide the esports world is, it’s tough to pin down every marquee matchup and bit of esports news each week. Sometimes, those moments go beyond the competitive sphere and dip into streaming, general gaming and the business world, too. Esports is bigger than just the games we watch every day and the big thing you should take away from each week could pass you by if you’re not careful.
That’s where we come in. Every week, Upcomer’s staff comes together to select the five biggest W’s of the last week, whether they be a player’s performance, a new game release or something else. The goal: to get you caught up on esports news this week and get you ready for everything that comes next.
Here are our Five W’s for the week of June 7 to 13.
Shanghai Dragons win the June Joust
The Shanghai Dragons shut down the Dallas Fuel in the Overwatch League June Joust tournament finals this weekend in a barn burner of a series. It was a rematch of the May Melee finals (where the Fuel triumphed previously) as well as a clash between two styles: the Wrecking Ball composition developed by the Dragons and the Winston-based one that served as the Fuel’s bread and butter.
The Fuel had even swept the Dragons quite handily in the semifinals earlier in the week. The prevailing opinion was that they would be able to pull off a repeat performance in the finals — something that seemed to hold true in the first two maps, which the Fuel won without so much as breaking a sweat. But the Dragons inexplicably managed to adapt to their opponents’ playstyle while the series went on, and eventually pulled the series back from a 1-3 deficit to claim their first title of 2021 and a spot on our five W’s.
— Bonnie Qu
Guilty Gear Strive starts off strong
After launching on June 11, Guilty Gear Strive has reached 20,204 average players on Steam (with a peak of over 30,000). That’s a huge number for a smaller fighting game, especially when compared to the numbers of other major fighting franchises on PC. While it is riding the high off its launch, it has already surpassed the peak of Mortal Kombat 11 (27,301) and Street Fighter V (13,807).
We don’t know how Strive is doing on PS5, but these numbers alone are already promising. Guilty Gear has a cult following and has never really seen the wild success that other franchises in the genre have. The addition of an open beta and other changes with this entry may change that. Big names in the FGC, like William “Leffen” Hjelte have already started holding tournaments, with Dominique “SonicFox” McLean won.
Results of LEVO 20:@sonicfox takes it in GAME 7 RESET LAST HIT
INSANE SETSign up now for next week's EU PC LEVO: https://t.co/whrik9SzLW
Our next major for NA + EU tournament will be on July 3rd:https://t.co/pnme6Bt8yz pic.twitter.com/tDH5UcbxPi— TSM Leffen (@TSM_Leffen) June 13, 2021
— Aron Garst
Atlanta FaZe continue to steamroll CDL
After winning the Stage 3 Major, Atlanta FaZe look poised to take home another title after going undefeated in the Stage 4 groups. The only other team to go undefeated in groups was Toronto Ultra during Stage 3. Atlanta FaZe now add themselves to that list as they continue to dominate the Call of Duty League.
All four members of FaZe continue to look in tournament-winning shape halfway through the Cold War season. There have only been four teams so far that have been able to stop Atlanta FaZe at all, but none have had much luck in Stage 4. With the Stage 4 Major taking place on LAN, Atlanta FaZe could become unstoppable and continue their streak through the tournament.
— Danny Appleford
The new OG era continues at IEM Summer
OG formed around Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen following his departure from ENCE after their underdog run at IEM Katowice 2019. Then the team didn’t win a single tournament for the next two years. As a result, the organization signed Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen and Shahar “flameZ” Shushan to launch the team’s new era. Then, in 2021, they finally won their first event: Spring Sweet Spring. But most recently, they placed second at IEM Summer, one of the biggest tournament of the season.
The team lacked firepower, which is previously why they were unable to beat top teams. However, with their recent acquisitions, OG steamrolled top teams NIP, Virtus Pro and Vitality on their way to the grand final. With Aleksib’s great calls, the two new players’ ability to frag and Mateusz “mantuu” Wilczewski’s solid AWPing, they looked unstoppable. Although they lost in the grand finals to a dominant looking Gambit, OG proved that they are a true top team in Counter-Strike and deserving of a spot in our five W’s.
— Zain Merchant
Abbedagge Leads 100T to 5-1 start in the Summer Split
100 Thieves are looking like the hottest team in the League of Legends Championship Series after ending Week 2 of the 2021 Summer Split riding the high of a five-game win streak. Rising European star Felix “Abbedagge” Braun has been a transformative addition to this team, and it’s clear that their eyes are set on something much more than a top five finish.
100T may have finally found their X-factor with Abbedagge. Since the start of the team’s LCS journey, their mid lane situation has been a revolving door of talent development experiments and risks. After the benching situation between Tanner “Damonte” Damonte and Tommy “Ryoma” Le in Spring 2021, where the team finished fourth, it was clear that they needed a long-term investment to fix the issue.
Two weeks into the split, Abbedagge is turning heads on mages and assassins alike. For context, Abbedagge has only died once over the course of 100T’s last five games, including two back-to-back perfect games on Akali.
100T head into Week 3 tied for second place with TSM FTX behind Cloud9. After their recent surge, and TSM’s miserable 1-2 finish in Week 2, they’re looking like the strongest top three team by a wide margin. For that, Abbedagge deserves recognition in our five W’s.
— Nick Ray
