Welcome to Esports Heaven Weekly -- a new series aiming to bring our viewers weekly updates from games across different genres. From fun, lighthearted and generic updates to dramas and controversies -- we’ve got you covered. Without further ado, let's begin! DOTA 2 Let’s start off with news that is a little bit more than a week old yet the most impacting one -- The International 2020 is now officially The International 2021 (http://blog.dota2.com/2020/04/the-international-2/). Yes folks, due to the unfortunate COVID-19 epidemic, TI10 has been postponed to 2021, however, Battle Pass lovers will get the chance to purchase the Battle Pass soon as Valve has announced their intention on releasing it early. Long story short, every DPC LAN event has been cancelled whilst TI10 has been postponed with DPC season for the fall being restructured. Matchfixing is the cardinal sin in any esports or sports event and there’s simply no escape. If caught, the punishment can be very severe. TI4 Champions, NewBee, were caught amidst a scandalous match-fixing episode and were subsequently banned for life from Imba TV, MDL and CDA (Chinese Dota 2 Professional Association). All players from the active roster are banned from participating in tournaments in association with the aforementioned event organizers. An official communication from Valve is yet to come on NewBee’s future in DPC events. Meanwhile, NewBee has refuted the allegations and will file an appeal against the ban.(https://www.vpesports.com/dota2/news/newbee-expelled-from-the-chinese-dota2-professional-association-all-players-lifetime-banned-from-imba-and-cda-events-for-match-fixing) Content exclusivity has been a matter of debate for a long time in Dota 2 owing to Valve’s free streaming policy wherein anyone can stream any sponsored tournament from DotaTV -- provided they follow a certain set of rules. It just so happens that popular streamers restream tournaments on their Twitch account that get a good chunk of viewers ranging anywhere between 8,000 to 10,000 each, at any given point of time. Conflict arising from Valve’s policy revolving around content streaming in contrast to tournament organizers helplessness when it comes to selling exclusivity of their events -- Kyle came up with an interesting blog that conveys the possible hurdles that TO’s face (https://medium.com/@keepingitKyle/a-morons-take-on-content-exclusivity-d98866c67c5). On the fun side of things, a Reddit user has applied for a job at Valve, just so that he can keep Dota 2 news up to date. Bravo. (https://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/glnbzv/ok_so_i_am_applying_to_valve_job_so_i_can_keep/) Team Secret kept their dominant streak alive by winning Gamers Without Borders 2020 -- a charity tournament -- and winning $750,000 in process. They have decided to evenly split their winnings between two charity organizations (https://twitter.com/teamsecret/status/1262111480729808898?s=20).   VALORANT This week had a lot in store for Valorant news, but these were the highlights. According to anti-cheat engineer Phillip Koskinas, Valorant has banned more than 10,000 cheaters. This isn’t the first time a game like Valorant  has faced cheaters. However, Vanguard, Riot’s anti-cheat system, has done a good job by disabling cheats before the game is launched. Phillip Koskinas highlighted, “Even though this is just closed beta, we’ve promised that we’re going to be heavily committed to anti-cheat. This ban wave is only the beginning. We’re going to ensure the highest standard of competitive integrity in Valorant.” Dafran, a former Competitive Overwatch player, received a lifetime ban from SolaryTV Valorant tournaments. He recently retired from Overwatch and started competing in Valorant for Prodigy. Due to a misunderstanding, Dafran began openly criticizing his rival team as well as the organizers. His impulsive behavior led to SolaryTV taking a stance and banning him from the tournament by citing that it was because of ‘the insults targeted at HyP_OW, his team, and our organization.” (https://twitter.com/SolaryTV/status/1261709486546395139/photo/1) Valorant’s 0.50 patch went live, and it introduced a number of tweaks to weapons and characters. Here are some of the main changes made as a result of the patch: - All rifles' single-tap and burst fire mode made "more efficient" - Ability changes to Sage, Cypher, Omen, Viper, Brimstone, and Phoenix - Lowered cap on banked credits to 9,000 - Map changes (https://beta.playvalorant.com/en-us/news/game-updates/valorant-patch-notes-0-50/) As an additional note, the official launch date is slated sooner than any of us could have anticipated: June 2nd, 2020. See you all in a couple of weeks! Overwatch After roughly 15 weeks of play, the Overwatch League now finds itself in a monumental position. In a response to losing the Mid-Season Invitational tournament set to take place during Week 13, the Overwatch League has developed a monthly tournament structure that they’ll be experimenting with at the end of this month. Lovingly dubbed the “May Melee” all 20 Overwatch League teams, 7 in Asia and 13 in North America will battle for not only a cash prize but added wins to their regular-season record. The tournament will also feature the removal of the Hero Pool system for the duration of the event. (https://twitter.com/overwatchleague/status/1262835417583419393) One team that surprisingly lies on the fringe now with regards to the May Melee is the Hangzhou Spark. In a recent video posted by the team, the Spark have announced that they have applied for a 2 week break from competitive play as their Chinese main tank, Guxue, has to renew his visa and will be unable to play due to a mandatory quarantine once he returns to China. This timelines directly collides with the May Melee and has left many to speculate if the Spark may opt-out of the event. (https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/overwatch/t/overwatch-retail-patch-notes-%E2%80%93-may-19-2020/500828) Patch 1.48 hit the live servers today and includes an improved communication wheel and many balance changes. Moira’s Biotic Orb has been heavily targeted by the community and now it is within Blizzard’s crosshairs. The damage radius and projectile duration on Biotic Orb have been reduced, while the projectile speed saw a sizable increase. Another quiet benefactor of patch 1.48 was Zenyatta who saw his Discord Orb return to 30% damage amplification, up from 25%. (https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/overwatch/t/overwatch-retail-patch-notes-%E2%80%93-may-19-2020/500828) An OGN produced showmatch between two legends of the game has fans stirring. The former RunAway roster will take on Lunatic-Hai in a rematch of the OGN APEX Season 2 finals. Rosters are still being finalized, but the event is set to take place at the end of this month. (http://m.fomos.kr/esports/news_view?lurl=%2Fesports%2Fnews_list%3Fnews_cate_id%3D1&entry_id=88855&time=1589849681) League of Legends The LCS and LEC are both on break, as both leagues will return in early June. Although this would normally mean a slow week for news in the competitive scene, we can always count on drama from the LCS. In the universe of Twitch and Youtube, former Cloud9 ADC Sneaky has been having problems with current LCS players Santorin and IgNar being toxic in his games. I use the term ‘toxic’ loosely, as the video actually revealed Santorin only said “4fun”, talking about the region of NA. Later, several players and coaches on social media sided with Santorin and IgNar, with S04 top laner Odoamne telling people to “get over it, snowflakes”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR-xAKZNYg4 https://mobile.twitter.com/OdoamneLoL/status/1261422344200830976 While the western scene is moving at a slow pace competitively, the Korean LCK scene has announced the first western head coach for an LCK team. YamatoCannon, former Vitality coach, will be coaching Sandbox Gaming. There are many concerns that a western person can truly integrate themselves into a Korean team, no less being the coach and also set team culture. Here’s to Yamato for giving it a go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1g-KVIeb94 There wouldn’t be an off-season without a role discussing why they feel underpowered. ADC has been the recently debated topic for receiving buffs, and it looks like we’ll be getting them soon in patch 10.11. Riot Scruffy has revealed that they will be looking to buff several zeal items to increase the buyer’s movement speed. The original discussion surrounding ADC seemed to be on the basis of the lack of agency of the role. A Rioter even allowed us insight into the mindset of balance and the exchange of agency and reliability, especially in regards to ADC and the reliability of the AA. Let’s see if kiting will rectify the lack of agency to some degree. https://twitter.com/MarkYetter/status/1262851265077194752 https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/go3udt/a_rioters_personal_stance_on_the_state_of/ ____________ Closing thoughts It's been an interesting time period, and one where we've been able to reflect on things we can be grateful for in the moment as well as things we took for granted in the past. Mainstream outlets jump at the chance to talk about how esports have taken charge in lieu of regular sports being inaccessible. Unfortunately, esports veterans understand that the heart of our industry lies in live events, with the best e-athletes in the world playing in 0 ping environments, pressure in front of a live audience playing a key role in performance. https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/esports/2020/03/17/esports-streamers-coronavirus-sports-canceled/ If you ask me, we can capitalize on this best by learning and respecting the pasts of which we built our foundation upon. We can gaze into the annals of esports history now to provide greater context to the live esports events we long for upon their return, with greater appreciation in tow. Speaking of esports history, what a coincidence that I have just the right thing for a jumpstart, and it just so happens to be a personal plug! https://www.esportsheaven.com/features/honor-history-behind-the-most-instrumental-esport-of-all-time-now-is-the-best-time-to-do-it/ Lastly, totally involving another plug because I can’t help myself, we’ve endured a lot of drama in place of exciting moments within the actual esports gameplay. Whether it be the TSM drama with Doublelift and Leena or the riff-raff or the economics of the Overwatch League, things sure have been “spicy”, as the kids would say. But part of being a member within a community is the ability to share ideas freely and critique ideas of others freely (and hopefully, fairly).  Not the case in most of esports’ largest forums, Reddit. Do take a look at this very important piece Izento wrote on how suppression of discussion is being handled. https://www.esportsheaven.com/news/breaking-crowd-control-a-reddit-feature-that-forces-the-direction-of-conversation-on-r-leagueoflegends/ That’s all for now, see you next week!