[E-Sports Trend] Corona 19 that never seems to end

VCT Masters is publishing a series of corners where you can see the important news that happened in the esports industry last week. It introduces various information and stories such as domestic and overseas e-sports industry news as well as domestic e-sports related events and policies, issues that have heated up the fan community, and news from each game team. In addition, we will inform you about the schedule of domestic and overseas e-sports competitions scheduled for this week.

■ Domestic and international e-sports news

◎ Apex Legends Global Series suffers from COVID-19 -The global series, the international stage of Apex Legends, was shaken by Corona 19 even before it started. Players from teams that have been confirmed to participate have tested positive for COVID-19. In particular, in the case of the Japanese team FENNEL, two out of three people tested positive for coronavirus, and the coach, who was scheduled to be put in urgently as a replacement player, also tested positive right before the start of the tournament. As a result, some teams are urgently recruiting North American pro gamers, but even this is difficult for teams who cannot communicate in English.

◎ Vietnam mercenary, LCK CL first debut, first foreigner -Tyrong, a member of the 2nd team of Freddie Brion, participated in the LCK CL match. This is the first case of LCK and furthermore, Korean e-sports. Game teams in various e-sports events around the world are actively using foreign mercenaries rather than their own players, but Korea did not feel the need for mercenaries. But recently, some game teams have improved their perception of foreign mercenaries, especially mercenaries from Southeast Asia.

◎ LCK Summer Final, first in Gangwon-do -The LCK Summer Split Final will be held at Gangneung Arena on August 28th. On the 27th, the day before the finals, various side events will be held near the final venue. Gangneung Arena is the place where figure skating and short track events were held during the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. With this, the LCK final will be held in a non-metropolitan area for the first time in about four years, and it is the first time in Gangwon-do.

◎ Video games and esports hitting Spain -KOTRA released a report titled [Video game that has established itself as Spain's 'national sport'] on the 4th. To summarize, video games have established themselves as a play culture enjoyed by half of the population in Spain, and accordingly, the scale of online game events in Spain is growing day by day. In particular, Gamergy, the largest online game event in Spain, attracted a total of 60,000 visitors and continued to thrive, and League of Legends, Valorant, and TFT competitions were also held.

■ This week's esports schedule

11th (Mon): LCK Challengers, LPL 12th (Tuesday): LCK Challengers, LPL 13th (Wednesday): LCK, LPL 14th (Thursday): LCK Challengers, LCK, LPL 15th (Fri): LCK Challengers, LCK, LPL 16th (Sat): LEC, LCK, LPL 17th (Sunday): LEC, LCS, LCK, LPL

12th (Tue): VCT Masters 14th (Thu): VCT Masters 15th (Fri): VCT Masters 16th (Sat): VCT Masters 17th (Sun): VCT Masters

13th (Wednesday): eK League Open Division 15th (Fri): eK League Championship group stage 16th (Sat) : eK League Championship group stage 17th (Sun): eK League Open Division

15th (Fri): PMPS Season 3 16th (Sat): PMPS Season 3

11th (Mon) : GSL Code S Season 2 14th (Thu): GSL Code S Season 2

17th (Sun): ERL Summer

■ Esports Source

◎ LCK teams to hold a fan meeting due to concerns about the re-spread of Corona 19

-As the number of corona19 confirmed cases in Korea recently increased again, LCK game teams expressed concern about the fan meeting they had after the game. Most of the game teams are making changes, such as temporarily suspending fan meetings or changing the format. In the case of Kia Damwon and Hanwha Life Esports, fan meetings were stopped altogether, and T1 and Gen.G decided not to hold fan meetings during the 1R period. In addition, Live Sandbox, DRX, and Nongshim Red Force changed the way they held fan meetings, such as limited fan meetings.

◎ Gen.G general manager Lee Ji-hoon apologizes to Damwon Kia for scrim leak -Gen.G's bottom laner 'Ruler' Jae-Hyeok Park made the mistake of leaking the results of DAMWON's Kia and Gen.G's scrim. Gen.G general manager Lee Ji-hoon immediately apologized for this through SNS. At this time, it was revealed that Damwon Kia jungler 'Canyon' Geon-Bu Kim practiced the Belves jungle.

◎ T1 squad receives LCK Spring Split championship ring -T1 announced on SNS on the 5th that it had received the LCK Spring Split Championship Ring made by Tiffany & Co. Jungler 'Owner' Hyun-Jun Moon won the final MVP and received a 'Bracelet'. The winning ring T1 received is engraved with the initials of the players' names.