Dreamhack Summer esports calendar

Dreamhack Summer is one of the biggest hubs for esports every year. Nerds flock to Jönköping by the thousands to watch pros compete in eight different titles. Three of those eight are Blizzard titles. Stock up on snacks and clear your schedule because this is the most esports action in one weekend we’ll have to talk about until BlizzCon.

StarCraft

• WCS Jönköping Saturday 6 a.m. CDT, Sunday 5 a.m. CDT, and Monday 6 a.m. CDT, streamed to StarCraft on Twitch.

WCS Jönköping is a huge deal for the StarCraft 2 scene in the West. In the East, I’m not sure it’s so much as a blip on their radar. In any case, the breakdown of invited players by preferred race is a bit unnerving — only Neeb stands to defend the Protoss, while the Zerg proliferate. This will certainly change a bit as we see players begin to qualify through the open signup bracket, however.

Hearthstone

• Dreamhack Grand Prix Saturday 4 a.m. CDT, Sunday 5 a.m. CDT, and Monday 7 a.m. CDT, streamed to Dreamhack HS on Twitch.
• Hearthstone Global Games Thursday 8 p.m. CDT, streamed to PlayHearthstone on Twitch.

The Dreamhack Grand Prix is one of the most prestigious Hearthstone tournaments there is. The people at Dreamhack even put together a handy survival guide, just in case you’re not totally familiar with the 200+ entrants this year. Lothar, Firebat, Lorinda, and Dan Gaskin are going to hold down the desk.

Meanwhile, the first group stage concludes this week in the Hearthstone Global Games. After this we’re going to another group stage, before a lengthy playoff bracket.

Heroes of the Storm

• Mid-Season Brawl Saturday and Sunday 3 a.m. CDT, Monday 8:30 a.m. CDT, streamed to BlizzHeroes on Twitch.

The group stages of the Mid-Season Brawl were a grueling slog, even to watch. After five straight days of competition, eight teams are now moving on to the playoffs, hoping to be crowned the winner. All the teams from North America begin in the lower half of the phoenix bracket. Dignitas eked out a surprise stomp over L5 to claim a spot in the upper bracket in a tiebreaker, while Tempo Storm bumped off Soul Torturers in one, last winner-take-all bloodbath. Nomia, the sweetheart team from Australia, also made it through to the playoffs.

The teams for the All-Stars East vs. West show-matches going on next weekend were announced. West has two supports and no tank, so even though I’ll be rooting for them, I’m not sure their chances are so hot.

Back home, the roster swaps continued. Yoda left Roll 20 for Superstars while Goku joined Roll 20 — they essentially changed places. Faye was dismissed from Superstars, replaced by erho.

Overwatch

• Overwatch Contenders Group Stage EU Saturday at noon CDT, NA Sunday at 3 p.m. CDT streamed to Overwatch Contenders on Twitch.

The Overwatch esports team put the Groups in Stages when they released additional info about the Contenders group stage taking place this weekend. Watch for some waves in Group A, where Dafran is serving out a short ban. Selfless was looking pretty good in quals, so we’ll see how they do without one of their best players.

The Open Division for Overwatch was announced this week. If you reached Master rank or higher in last season’s Competitive mode in the Americas, Eastern Europe, or Western Europe, you can sign up to compete now.