This Weekend in Esports: What to Watch from April 6-8

Welcome to This Weekend in Esports, a brief overview of what to watch in the world of competitive gaming for the coming weekend.

For this weekend, League of Legends concludes its Spring season, while the Overwatch League kicks off Stage 3.

League of Legends - Spring Finals

Game: League of Legends
When: April 7-8
Where to watch: Twitch.tv/RiotGames

The NA LCS is down to two teams. After Echo Fox and Clutch Gaming determine third place on Saturday, it'll be Team Liquid and 100 Thieves facing off in the Finals.

However, real-life tragedy has taken over for one of the key players in this weekend's Finals matchup. Team Liquid's Yiliang "Doublelift" Peng took to Twitter on Sunday following his team's semifinal win.

"This weekend I received some terrible news," Doublelift said via TwitLonger. "My older brother attacked both of my parents with a knife. As a result of this attack, my mom passed away and my dad was seriously hurt and is now recovering in hospital.

"I'm still processing this news and joining up with my dad and little brother to make sure they're ok and the proper arrangements are being made. I'll likely be quiet on social media while I work through this. I hope you all understand and support me as you always have in the past."

In the face of these tragic events, Doublelift is still planning to play on Sunday and was seen traveling with Team Liquid over the past few days. Whether he'll be able to focus remains to be seen, but Doublelift's mental state will be one of the key storylines of Sunday's Finals matchup.

Overwatch League - Stage 3

Game: Overwatch
When: April 6-7
Where to watch: Twitch.tv/OverwatchLeague

Stage 3 for the Overwatch League is underway and the week has already been an eventful one. The biggest shocker involved the new-look Los Angeles Valiant coming out like a house of fire and crushing the Seoul Dynasty 4-0 on Wednesday.

The rest of the weekend looks just as exciting, with the Dynasty looking to rebound on Friday against a San Francisco Shock team that looked fierce against the Los Angeles Gladiators. And wouldn't you know it? The weekend's set to end with the first-place New York Excelsior facing off against the London Spitfire once again, continuing what's been the most compelling rivalry of the Overwatch League to date.

Noods Noods Noods: Oakland Edition

Game: Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
When: April 7
Where to watch: Twitch.tv/ESASmash

The best of both Super Smash Bros. worlds come together again this weekend. Noods Noods Noods is particularly noteworthy because it'll act as the soft opening for the new Esports Arena in Oakland. This is the third Esports Arena opening, with the Las Vegas venue opening just a few weeks ago.

The Smash 4 community continues to battle it out to fill the vacuum left by the retired Gonzalo "ZeRo" Barrios, with Leonardo "MkLeo" Perez and Jason "ANTi" Bates favored to go far in this tournament. Meanwhile, the Melee side sees Juan "Hungrybox" DeBiedma heavily favored... or is he? Genesis 5 winner Justin "Plup" McGrath will be in attendance, as well, and he'll look to continue proving that his win was no fluke. Many of the other Melee players on the cusp of breaking through to the next level, like Zachary "SFAT" Cordoni, DaJuan "Shroomed" Jefferson McDaniel, and Justin "Wizzrobe" Hallett will also be present and looking to make their own statement.

A lot is on the line in the Melee tournament, not just in terms of money, but also in terms of notoriety, as the voting for the next Smash Summit is about to open up soon.

So what will you be watching this weekend? Join the conversation and let us know in the comments.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?