The best pro gaming to watch this weekend

There's a run of great finals and season climaxes to catch this weekend, from CS:GO to StarCraft II, LoL and all the fighting games you could want. You'll have to wait if you're after some Dota 2, however: the International starts next week, making this a quiet weekend of training and contemplation for the world's best Dota teams.

CSGO: ELEAGUE Season 1 Finals

While the bulk of the ELEAGUE Season 1 playoffs will be over by the time you read this, you've still got the grand final itself to look forward to tomorrow. Starting at 13:00 PDT/16:00 EDT/22:00 CEST, months of competition will come to an end in a clash of some of the best CSGO teams in the world. You can watch on Twitch and find loads more information on the official ELEAGUE site

League of Legends: NA Championship Series

The final weekend of the NCA LCS season is underway. Play continues both Saturday and Sunday beginning at 12:00 PDT/21:00 CEST. If you're reading this on Friday, however, be sure to check out Immortals vs. TSM at 15:00 PDT/midnight CEST: both teams have an incredible 15-1 record in the split so far, so this'll be a clash you won't want to miss. As ever, you can find more information and the livestream at LoLesports.

StarCraft II: IEM Season XI Shanghai

The first event of Intel Extreme Masters Season XI pulls together a lineup of international StarCraft II talent. Games have been underway for a couple of days, but you've still got time to catch the quarter and semifinals on Saturday starting at 07:15 CEST/22:15 PDT on Friday night. The final two players will face off on Sunday for the lion's share of $50,000 along with the KeSPA Proleague Final. The final day broadcast begins at 03:00 CEST/18:00 PDT on Saturday night. Watch via the official stream.

Capcom Pro Tour: Defend The North 2016

New York hosts the Capcom Pro Tour this weekend, so expect another packed schedule of Street Fighter V, Guilty Gear Xrd, Skullgirls, Mortal Kombat, Hearthstone, and more besides. You can find the full schedule here. The SFV top 32 is due to begin at noon local time, which is 09:00 PDT/18:00 CEST. Keep an eye on the event's Twitter feed for stream details: it's sponsored by Twitch, so you'd expect there to be one. If there's no official coverage, it looks like TeamSp00ky is planning on picking up the slack.

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.

Latest in Games
Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer still - woman in the front seat of a car, looking out the back window while holding a wad of cash
The specter of a GTA 6 delay haunts the games industry: 'Some companies are going to tank' if they guess wrong, says analyst
Fragpunk
Somebody finally figured out casual Counter-Strike
Image for
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide’s getting a new roguelite wave defense mode that sounds a whole lot like a souped-up take on Killing Floor
Battle Brothers
Nearly 2 years after its last update, the excellent Battle Brothers gets 'a bucket load of fixes' and free new content
Western outlaws with masks and guns
'Players don't explore': former Grand Theft Auto 6 and Red Dead Online designer lays out the perils of 'open world fatigue'
Person battling bizarre four-eyed monster with stylish UI elements surrounding them
Persona and Metaphor: ReFantazio's UI designer is open to accessibility options for players who find the stylish menus overstimulating: 'That is something we understand we'll need to work on and provide in the future'
Latest in Features
Fragpunk
Somebody finally figured out casual Counter-Strike
Dean Hall at GDC 2025.
Outer space inspired DayZ's Dean Hall to become a modder and game developer, and now he's making a Kerbal successor called Kitten Space Agency
Fallout 76 ghoul screenshots
Getting to level 50 in Fallout 76 to become a ghoul actually isn't as daunting as it seems, which is why I created a new character
A man turns away from an open window while monsters gather in the dark
Look Outside is a survival horror RPG where you absolutely should not look outside
Image of Yasuke striking an enemy in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Assassin's Creed Shadows has convinced me that Ubisoft will never make a good RPG
Inzoi
Inzoi's attempt to do everything has left it a shallow imitation of The Sims, and I'm not sure it understands what makes those games so special in the first place