League Of Legends Playoffs Feature Heavily This Week In Esports Betting

Ian John Ian John

Published: Aug 20, 2016 - Last Updated: Apr 8, 2024

[toc]After month of top quality competition, culminating in the finals taking place at the 17,000 capacity KeyArena in Seattle, the richest prize in esports history has been won.

Take a bow Wings Gaming from China who are now $9,139,002 better off after their stunning victory in The International 2016.

The competition was a stunning success especially for the eight qualified teams, four of whom were placed in the top four of the event with the wild card teams and six invited teams not getting a sniff at the top prizes.

The action began in Seattle with the Wild Card round which saw four Dota 2 teams competing to earn one of two spots available in qualifying. EHOME and Escape Gaming earned those spots, eliminating compLexity Gaming and Execration in the process.

With the 16 teams for the Group Stages now decided the competition that followed was arguably one of the most evenly contested esports events in history.

In Group A, early favourites for the title OG finished atop of the standings with the only undefeated record in the group earning 11 points.  Evil Geniuses, Wings Gaming and Alliance claimed the crucial top four spots and a place in the Winners Bracket, narrowly edging out TNC Gaming, Natus Vincere and LGD Gaming, while Escape Gaming were bottom having failed to win a game in the competition.

Group B was equally tight with EHOME and Digital Chaos coming through the group stage unbeaten. Newbee finished third with MVP Phoenix earning the fourth and final spot in the Winners bracket despite not winning a single game (drawing six, losing one) during the phase.

They finished just one point ahead of Fnatic, Team Secret and Team Liquid and two ahead of bottom team in Group B, Vici Gaming Reborn.

With the competitors in both the upper and lower brackets now decided, it was time for the Main Event and this is where shock results started to happen with somewhat surprising frequency.

Favourites for the event OG were defeated 2-1 in the opening round of the Upper Bracket by MVP Phoenix and then when they dropped into the Lower Bracket, saw their chances of progress ended in a surprising 2-0 defeat to TNC Gaming. Alliance and Newbee also faltered at the first round and when dropped into the Lower Bracket also suffered defeat in their first game, eliminating all three highly fancied teams from the tournament.

It was clear at this point that any of the remaining teams could win the competition but it was Wings Gaming who came through the upper bracket, defeating Digital Chaos 2-1, MVP Phoenix 2-0 and Evil Geniuses 2-0 to reach the best of five Grand Final.

In the lower bracket, the team that lost to Wings Gaming in the first round of the Upper Bracket, Digital Chaos, showed the value of the bracket system in esports. Despite that defeat and dropping into the lower bracket, Digital Chaos defeated LGD Gaming (2-0), TNC Gaming (2-1), EHOME (2-0), Fnatic (2-0) and Evil Geniuses (2-1) to claim the second Grand Final spot.

With over $12 million up for grabs for the two finalists, this was going to be a massive battle but in the end, Wings Gaming emerged victorious with a 3-1 victory in the final to claim the top prize leaving Digital Chaos with a price of over $3.1m for finishing second.

It was Wings Gaming first Dota Major, and they are the third team to win a Major this season (OG won the Frankfurt and Manila Major, with Team Secret winning the Shanghai Major).

The International 2016 brought to an end the Dota Major Championships season for 2015/2016, however the series will be back later in the year for the start of the Dota Major Championship 2016-2017 season, with the Fall Major kicking things off in an as yet undecided location.

League of Legends Summer Playoffs offer plenty of high quality esports betting

The Dota 2 Major season may be over, but things are hotting up in the world of League of Legends as the summer season continues with the Summer Playoffs taking place in the different league competitions taking place around the globe. Worlds is also on the horizon (we have a rundown of ticket and venue locations here).

[show-table name=cta-alphadraft region=US] [show-table name=cta-bet365 region=ROW]

There are a number of big matches coming up over the next few days involving teams in the North American, European, Chinese and Korean qualifying sections:

These matches are all crucial semi final matches in the competitions with a place in the final up for grabs, with the two losing semi finalists also taking place in a third place match to decide who earns the bigger prize for finishing third.

This is a key event for League of Legends teams as these tournament results, when combined with the performances of the teams during the earlier Spring Split events and in the forthcoming Regional Qualifiers, will decide which of the teams go forward to compete at the huge 2016 World Championship event.

You can enjoy betting on all these semi finals, plus the third place match and final at Bet365 Esports on its esports betting site.

CS:GO ESL Pro League Season 4 League Stage underway

If you are looking for a tournament that is going to provide plenty of high quality CS live gambling opportunities over the coming weeks, then you need to look no further than the European and ESL Pro League CSGONorth American CS:GO ESL Pro League events taking place at this very moment.

Over the next few weeks, many of the very best CS:GO teams from Europe and North America will compete in a Round Robin League format in Best of Two matches.

Teams earn three points for winning their game 2-0, a point if they draw their match 1-1 or zero points if they lose their game 2-0.

The action started on the 17th August with the opening games in both Europe and North America and the competition will be played through until a conclusion on the 13th October 2016, when the overall winner will be declared at the end of the Finals tournament, which will take place at the Ginasio do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The teams competing in each section are as follows:

Europe:

North America:

Matches are played each week until all the league fixtures have been completed at the end of Week 9, after which the teams that have qualified for the big Finals event in Brazil will be known.

Of course, this means that for the next nine weeks, you should have an outstanding choice of betting options available at Bet365 Sports and other esports betting providers to check out.

Ian John
Ian John

Since: August 10, 2015

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Ian is a regular contributor to EsportsBets. Ian is well-versed in the world of esports betting and casino gaming and has written extensively on the online gambling industry. Ian brings fresh insight into all facets of gaming.

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