IEM Katowice 2016 Aftermovie

Bringing eSports To Television

It’s with great pleasure that we’ve announced that Portugal’s national television channel, RTP, will be covering esports from now on. The channel will be broadcasting our league (LPLOL) on their online IPTV platform, and will have a 20 minute magazine program that will have a summary of each week’s activity in esports. Another historical step for esports in Portugal! For now, they’ll start today with the opening of our league!

Video announcement: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Frtparena%2Fvideos%2F1087111057996589%2F&show_text=0&width=560

For more information visit arena.rtp.pt!

IEM Season X World Championship

Last week I had the privilege of being invited to ESL’s IPC in Katowice, and after all work was done, I ended up enjoying the Intel Extreme Masters Season X World Championship live, which featured tournaments for StarCraft 2, League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and a huge expo area full of fun stuff to do, with a few other smaller tournaments for other games, including Heroes of the Storm and Rainbow Six Siege, amongst others. I’ve been to big esports events in the past, but the vision of the Spodek Arena completely full, it was just unbelievable. I have to agree with Carmac, there is something special about that event. In all three games, the crowd was absolutely amazing.

The Spodek Arena before the StarCraft finals.

Now, as a StarCraft 2 fan, the StarCraft event was the one I payed most attention to. With Life temporarily out of the scene, I ended up cheering for both Snute and Polt, two of my favourite players of all time, and I had the pleasure of watching them get all the way to the finals, and play an amazing series. Nerchio, the local hero, also had an incredible run, but fell to the soon to be champion, Polt.

Polt & Snute, the two top performers of the day!

Right after the StarCraft 2 finals, it was time for the CS:GO finals. Fnatic would play against Luminosity Gaming and got their chance of revenge, as LG had defeated them on the group stage. It was Sweden Vs. Brazil on the Spodek, and it was beyond full just to watch it. There were no more seats available, no stairs available, even entries were clogged. The atmosphere was just epic. Every frag, clutch or big play, and the whole arena would tremble with the crowd’s reaction. Absolutely unbelievable.

Finally, the last day was a day of League of Legends. SKT T1 easily won against TSM and moved to face Fnatic in the finals, after the European team won against Royal Never Give Up by the minimum margin. The match was promising, with Korea’s best facing against one of the best foreign teams, but the world champions made quick work of Fnatic and closed the series 3-0.

Without surprises, SKT won the League of Legends tournament.

On another stage, Dignitas took the Heroes of the Storm trophy home. The expo area had a lot to offer to visitors, with stands from almost every major brand in esports and a lot of activities to do.

Overall, an epic week for me, with the chance of working with the some of the greatest people in esports, and to enjoy one of the best events this industry has to offer!

Changes to LPLOL 2016

With the start of the year, a new edition of the Portuguese League of League of Legends (LPLOL) is being prepared. The lessons from last year’s experience haven’t been forgotten and as such, it’s time to do some changes in our competition.

Reduction to eight teams

One of the biggest issues of last year was that not all teams had the same stability in order to participate on a long run competition. Proof of that was that while we started with 10 teams, we ended with only a solid 8 teams.

Also, on complaint was the length of the league, which was considered too long for our teams. With two less teams, it’s a reduction from 18 rounds to 14. One less month. Talking of rounds…

Format: two splits into grand finals

We decided to emulate the LCS system just for Portugal, meaning that instead of a 14 round championship, will have two splits of 7 rounds. At the end of each round, we’ll have a split playoff for the best four teams. This will give the teams short competitions, and will allow relegations from one split to another.

At the end of the split, we’ll reward points that will rank the teams. The highest points will lead the best teams to the grand finals. This will also make possible to have three live events during the whole season: one for each split playoff, and one for the grand finals.

Power ranking

Speaking of points, we’ll be running a separate circuit for the community. One of the biggest complaints about the LPLOL was that we forgot about the amateur community. Since one of our ideas is to increase the scene activity and to give opportunity for new talent to arise, we’ll be creating a serious of online cups open for all teams, except those in the league. Code name “Power Ranking”, while we don’t think of something better, we’ll be the perfect opportunity for anyone who wants to play to join in. They’ll have small rewards and direct access to relegations.

Team branding

With the increased opportunity to run more teams, we’ve decided to allow multigaming teams to brand the second team with their clan tag and clothing.

Access & relegations

Just as the first season, access to LPLOL will be open to all and free. We’ll be running two qualifier tournaments to get the top three teams that will play in a relegation tournament with the 7th and 8th placed teams in the previous year. On the second split, qualifier tournaments will only move the top two teams into the relegations, as the “Power Rankings” will move two teams on their own.

Roster sign in and substitutes

Last year it became evident that seven player lineups were insufficient. Players aren’t near the professional status and some of them could actually quit and hurt teams that were counting on them, ending up using a spot for nothing. This time, we’ll be requiring seven players minimum, but up to ten players spots. Technically, any team can have a substitute for each position.

Foreign Players

One topic of big discussion, foreign players are now allowed on LPLOL, so long as they are currently residing in Portugal. Portuguese players on foreign ground are also eligible to play. Meaning it’s one of the two options: Portuguese players, or players living in Portugal. Simple.

Player transfers

The player lock was one of the best aspects of last year. Many of our teams were only able to survive the league because of this. Also, it allowed smart managers to capitalize on their assets.

While the lock is here to stay, the transfer system will be updated. Teams will now have three different transfer options to use:

• Free agent sign in: teams can sign in two players anytime during the split, as long as they are free agents;
• Team transfers: teams can transfer up to three players from other teams during the summer break;
• Loans: teams can loan players to teams not participating in the league, and are able to recall them whenever they want, but cancelling the loan for the future;

Default penalty

Finally, defaults are something that hurt the league way too much. It’s bad for the competition (free points in a system where a team can lose points easily), bad for the show (viewers are hoping for a game and end up without one) and bad for the staff (people clear their agendas to work and the game is cancelled). This way, we’ve decided to punish defaults heavily, by cutting 15% of the prize pool. At the third default, the team is out of the league.

That’s it for now. We might be adding a few changes before the league starts, but the most important are already in place. Time to run a full league now and to think again at the end. You can follow the league at www.lplol.pt!

Portuguese League of League of Legends G2A 2015

Early this month, the Portuguese League of League of Legends G2A, or LPLOL G2A, came to an end in front of an audience of over 700 people at Comic Con Portugal. It was the biggest esports audience I’ve ever watched in Portugal, and to take part in it and to make it possible to happen was something absolutely fantastic.

Stage with our two hosts and the audience showing on the screen.

The grand finals featured the top four teams out of the 10 that participated in the whole league. The teams faced each other in a best-of-three sorted out by the gauntlet format. The third place would face the four, and the winner would move on to face the second place which would then face the first place of the regular championship.

So, the day started with a match between Electronik Generation Pro Mindset (EG) and Grow Up Gaming – uPro (UP). While UP seemed more motivated in securing the victory, the better picks by their opponents sealed the first game rather easily. The second round was much more challenging, with UP taking the advantage, but a bad mistake costed them an important team fight, and consequently, the game, making the winners and moving them to the next round.

The following match would set up EG against their rivals White Dragons (WD). These teams had met previously twice, offline in the stage of the Lisbon Games Week, where EG took the victory, and online at one of the last rounds of the LPLOL G2A championship stage, where WD were victorious. With a rise in confidence on EG from their previous win, and the seek of revenge on WD, it seemed we had quite a match in our hands. And what a match it was! The 2-0 score doesn’t exactly translate the up and down, back and forward that these matches were, so close that any team could have taken the lead. However, it seemed that EG had a better plan for these games and they did secure the victory, moving on to the finals.

There, the 1st placed K1ck eSports Club (K1ck) were waiting for them, as the only undefeated team in the 18 rounds of the LPLOL G2A. Noticeably tired, the EG team sat once again on stage, and fought valiantly against the defending champions. But to no avail. K1ck eSports Club were indeed a superior team, and that was shown in every game, as they completely outclassed their opponents, crowning themselves the first national champions in League of Legends in Portugal.

K1ck eSports Club as the first national League of Legends champions!

It’s interesting to note that this was the first long range championship to take place in Portugal, for professional and semi-professional teams. There are other Portuguese esports events, with top quality and far better production, such as the E-University League and the ISMAI Legends that I’ve already written about in this blog, as well as the CS:GO cups organized by Alientech, but this was the first one that actually worked as a league and for teams dedicated to esports. Teams had a lengthy regulation, were demanded to have players locked, had special periods for transferring players, had to pay to transfer players between teams and had to abide by our rules and by Riot Games’ rules, as any player that would get suspended by Riot would immediately get banned by our league as well. On an amateur esports scenario such as Portugal’s, this wasn’t easy to run, but still, we made it through, despite our ups and downs, and made a little history of our own.

Of course, this couldn’t be possible without the help of the teams and players that participated in this league for almost a full year, and of course, without the help of the fantastic team that worked in the LPLOL G2A for so long. More than 35 people worked hard on this project, including myself, and on that weekend we made history. These, and the others that do not appear on this photo but deserve their own credit, were an awesome team to work with, and I couldn’t be more proud of our work! I hope I get the pleasure of working with all of them next year. Till then!

With a team like this, nothing is impossible!

Final Standings of the Portuguese League of League of Legends G2A 2015

1. K1ck eSports Club
2. eGen Pro Mindset
3. White Dragons
4. Grow Up Gaming – uPro
5. Soulset
6. Reset
7. Heav7n Sev7n
8. Why eSports
9. Soraka Som Sistema
10. Ascension eSports

Matches of the grand finals.

If you wish to know more about the LPLOL G2A, you can check out our website at www.lplol.pt, Facebook & Twitter!

League of Legends World Championship 2015

This year’s edition of one of the most iconic esports events, the 2015 League of Legends World Championship, toured through 4 European capitals, and came to an end last week. Now, while I feel that the event didn’t exceed its expectations, just as the previous years did, it was still the epic festival that everyone was expecting it to be.

Group Stage

Main stage for the group phase of the LoL 2015 Worlds. Source: lolesports.com

The group stage started in Paris at Dock Pullman and lasted two weeks. It featured the 16 best League of Legends teams in the world. From Korea came SK Telecom T1, KT Rolster and Koo Tigers. From China, LGD Gaming, Edward Gaming and Invictus Gaming. From Europe, Fnatic, H2k-Gaming and Origen. For North America, Counter Logic Gaming, Team SoloMid and Cloud 9. From Taiwan, Ahq eSports Club and yoe Flash Wolves. From Brazil, paiN Gaming. And last but not least, Bangkok Titans from Taiwan.

The predictions for this fase of the tournament seem pretty straight forward, but many surprises occurred. Yoe Flash Wolves were the first, as they came out on top of group A and sent CLG home sooner. I personally believed that yFW would at least make it out of their group, but even I wouldn’t risk to put them on top. Group B presented another surprise with another Taiwanese team reigning chaos. Ahq eSports Club brought down the mighty Fnatic and managed an impressive start. And in the end they made it through, alongside Fnatic, leaving Cloud 9 and Invictus Gaming out of the equation. On Group C no surprises at all,  with the Korean and Chinese teams managing out, SKT untouched and EG dropping only two maps to the Koreans. Group D gave no surprises for me again, KT Rolster proved strong as expected and Origen who were on a good shape managed out as well. Many however, would put LGD or TSM on the playoffs as well, and those might have been very surprised.

The whole action of the group stage was dividing in four days, in two weeks. By the time of the break, everything seemed perfect for me, with my four favourite teams leading the four groups: yFW, C9, SKT and Origen. Too bad that in the end, the group stage ended like this:

LoL 2015 Worls Group Stage. Source: Gamepedia

Quarter Finals

LoL 2015 Worlds London Quarter Finals. Source: lolesports.com

The quarter finals took place at the SSE Arena in Wembley, London, and brought a few surprises as well. Starting with the fight between yoe Flash Wolves and Origen, where the Wolves actually looked like they could take on the former Fnatic players’ new squad. However, Origen soon recovered and plowed through them. No surprise in the SKT T1 victory, but some shock on the Fnatic win, as almost no one would predict a 3-0 victory. Finally, the best for last, the major astonishment for the quarter finals was the defeat of KT Rolster by 3-1 against their countrymen, KOO Tigers.

Semi Finals

LoL 2015 Worlds Brussels Semi Finals. Source: lolesports.com

The semifinals were hosted in Brussels, at the Brussels Expo, and placed the four remaining teams in a different stage, with the teams facing each other at the center of the arena, which was divided by red and blue. The European teams faced the Koreans, and with no big surprise, they both fell. SKT proved dominant against an Origen team that tried its best. More disappointing however, was the defeat of Fnatic, who were incapable of taking one single map.

Grand Finals

LoL 2015 Worlds Grand Finals. Source: lolesports.com

And at last, the grand finals took place at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin. Besides the awesome spectacle that Riot Games had put for the fans, the only curious moment was when Koo Tigers manage to score a round against SKT, the only one they dropped in the entire tournament. Besides that, SKT provided with the quality performance everyone expected them to, taking a 3-1 victory, wrapping up the tournament and claiming the trophy of world champions once again (for those who didn’t know, SKT were world champions in 2013.

In summay, the playoffs results were as follows.

LoL 2015 Worls Playoffs. Source: Gamepedia

Statistics

Finally, I would love to commentate and provide some statistics regarding this event, but there are no official data yet. One non official source however, states that there were 1 million concurrent viewers on Twitch alone. I’ll edit and finish this post once the official numbers are out.

For more information about the 2015 League of Legends World Championship, check out lolesport.com and Gamepedia.

EUL & Ismai Legends 2015

In the past weekends, two of the mist iconic League of Legends competitions in Portugal returned to action at the same stage of last year: the ISMAI. This time, Ismai Legends went first and received the highschools for the LoL tournament, while the E-University League went last and brought an extra Hearthstone tournament.

There isn’t much to say about these competitions from last year. The production level was great as always, with a few improvements, namely in overlays and animations, and of course, a dedicated Internet line to avoid DDoS problems of the past. EUL brought a bit more, with the first Tournament Realm used in Portugal and two guests from Riot Games. Oh, and did I mention an incredibly awesome cardboard built stage for Hearthstone? Yep, it had that too! We  even got to take Doomhammer back to our office.

The Hearthstone stage was all built with cardboard.

I was there for both weekends, as part of the organization and I ended up having a good time. The event had a lot of other animations, including LAN party, talks and some outdoor activities, so there was always something to do. The only bad side for me was that my favourite team didn’t renew the champion title for Ismai Legends. ES Henrique Medina lost in the finals 2-1, in a series so intense that I actually had to give some emotional support to a few players on stage. Still, always a pleasure to see this young team play.

Winners of Ismai Legends 2015.

With another great event over, I’ll be sure to come by next year!

LPLOL – Portuguese League of League of Legends

In 2014, I had the idea of running an esports championship in the following year. Inspired by the ISMAI Legends and the e-University League, and shocked in awe of watching a full crowd for a small League of Legends event at Comic Con, I decided to talk with my friends at League of Legends Portugal about running a full long run national League of Legends Championship.

Funny enough, they were already working on something similar, which meant we all got along really well! With just a few meetings and some long talks, the concept idea of the LPLOL was born!

Now, to run a full long term esports league, or championship, in Portugal, is quite a challenge. A few projects like this one have been launched in the past, but none ever made it to the end. The Portuguese esports scene is still very underdeveloped and keeping the players and teams motivated to play a full league is quite hard, especially for the teams that place in the last positions.

So, this means that this first edition will be mostly an experimental one. We’ll be running the league with 10 teams, through two 3-monthed spans, May-July and September-November, finishing with the playoffs with the top four teams. We’re aware the the number of teams may be a little bit too high and that the length is far too long for what the Portuguese teams are used to, but we’re willing to take the risk and use this first edition to experiment and learn from it.

Additionally, one of the most important points that a long run championship such as this one needs to contend with, is the instability and lack of regulation of an amateur esports scene such as this one. Without any ruling bodies, such as KeSPA, and with very few teams capable of supporting a stable structure, this league will need to address many different points, such as player transfers and player team locks, in its regulations.

Also, it’s hard to say what kind of prizes and rewards we’ll be able to give to the players. One great idea would be to remunerate all the players with small salaries, but that will probably be impossible at this point. However, we’re aiming to reward all players who manage to play the full extension of the championship.

Anyway, we’re heading into this fully motivated and prepared for a few bumps in the roads and lots of ups & downs. It will be a long, painful experience, but I trust it will also be a very gratifying one and that it will provide the insights necessary to run a fully professional championship in the near future!

For more information about the LPLOL, check the eSports Cloud, while the official website isn’t ready. It should be up soon, at www.lplol.pt.

League of Legends World Championship 2014

Last weekend, one of the greatest events in the world of esports took place, the League of Legends World Championship final, at the Sangam Stadium in South Korea.

Quite the view, huh?

Indifferent to any esports fan, the LoL Worlds Final 2014 elevated the bar for esports events once again. Right in the center of the eSports Mecca, just the aperture alone was epic once again, although I still prefer the one used in 2013, featuring a performance by Imagine Dragons, with their esports song title, Warriors.

Just as predicted, the asian teams proved superior once again, especially the Koreans, with Samsung’s teams proving their superiority, especially SS White, who managed an incredibly performance, dropping only two rounds in the whole competition.

LoL Worlds 2014 Final Standings

As for the rest of the event itself, it can be surely regarded as a huge success. Although the total viewership dropped just a little bit from last year’s numbers, probably due to the Korean timezone not being that friendly to the Westerners, the whole show was just splendid, and the production level sure did step up once again. Here are some numbers, retrieved from the OnGamers website:

• 27 million unique viewers;
• 11.2 million concurrent viewers;
• 179 million hours watched;
• 67 average minutes watched per fan;

You can find the full information regarding the League of Legends Worlds Final 2014 at Gamepedia!

League of Legends song or esports hymn?

Yesterday, Riot announced the song title for the 2014 League of Legends World Championship: Warriors, by Imagine Dragons.

The song features a very beautifully animated videoclip, with a short story of how players start as ordinary players and end up as legends playing in the world final stage. However, I think the best part of this song, is that it can be adapted, and adopted, by any esports game, becoming a superb theme for any competitive player to enjoy.