The best pro gaming to watch this weekend

It's a quiet weekend overall as many pro scenes enter a lull following a long month of dramatic Spring championships. That doesn't mean that you've got nothing to watch, however: on the contrary, there's no better way to cap off a week of Overwatch than with the game's first competitive LAN. If that's not your speed, the Capcom Pro Tour is hitting no less than three cities over the next two days, and there's still Dota 2 and Smite to be watched. Enjoy!


Dota 2: The Summit 5 Qualifiers


Playoffs are still a few months away, but this weekend will see a handful of matches played in the European and South East Asian qualifiers. There are games at 11:00 BST/03:00 PDT and at 16:00 BST/08:00 PDT on Saturday that'll be streamed on the Beyond the Summit Twitch account. Afterwards, you can also catch Virtus.pro and Danish Bears in the StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 2 qualifiers at 19:00 BST/11:00 PDT (livestream here.)


Overwatch: TaKeOver LAN


The first Overwatch LAN is being hosted by TaKeTV, better known for StarCraft's HomeStory Cup. It's a relatively small and chilled-out event with a modest $5,000 prize pool. This is a chance to get a sense of the developing Overwatch pro scene in Europe. Play began today and continues starting at 11:00 BST/03:00 PDT on both Saturday and Sunday. Here's the livestream.


Smite: Spring Split Week 9


As the Smite scene regroups after the recent drama you can expect that, at the very least, the rest of the week's games will last longer than a minute and a half. You can find top-tier play in Europe and North America starting at 18:00 BST/10:00 PDT on both Saturday and Sunday. As ever, you can watch the games on HiRezTV.


Street Fighter V: Combo Breaker and FFM-Rumble


There are several stops on the Capcom Pro Tour this weekend, including Combo Breaker in Chicago, FFM-Rumble in Frankfurt, and Japonawa in Tijuana. This means you're rather spoiled for choice when it comes to competitive fighting games, but Capcom promise a 'surprise' at Combo Breaker that might well prove to be a reveal of the next DLC character for SFV. If you're unsure which one to watch, then Combo Breaker is recommended for that reason. Find the schedule and stream information right here.

Chris Thursten

Joining in 2011, Chris made his start with PC Gamer turning beautiful trees into magazines, first as a writer and later as deputy editor. Once PCG's reluctant MMO champion , his discovery of Dota 2 in 2012 led him to much darker, stranger places. In 2015, Chris became the editor of PC Gamer Pro, overseeing our online coverage of competitive gaming and esports. He left in 2017, and can be now found making games and recording the Crate & Crowbar podcast.