Esports Arena is a curated weekly roundup of the biggest stories in the world of online competitive gaming.
After a wild weekend of action, Japanese Tekken 7 player Yuta “Chikurin” Take was crowned the 2019 Tekken World Tour champion, defeating Lim “Ulsan” Soo-hoon in the final match. Take cruised to the Grand Finals on the winners’ side of the bracket playing as character Geese Howard and stifling major challenges from Shoji “Double” Takakubo and Jae-Min “Knee” Bae in the process.
Developer and publisher Bandai Namco also confirmed the 2020 Tekken World Tour will begin in April 2020 and run through December. The company’s general manger, Katsuhiro Harada, also revealed the full slate of Tekken 7’s next season of downloadable content, which includes three characters, a new stage and the ability to see specific frame data during training.
Related Stories
One more major competitive fighting game tournament, the Capcom Cup in Street Fighter V, remains for 2019 and will be held this weekend in Los Angeles.
Elsewhere, the Call of Duty League’s Chicago Huntsmen have named their head coach for the inaugural season, appointing former Enigma6 coach Troy “Sender” Michaels to the position. The team announced Michaels’ role in a 10-minute “Meet the Coach” video posted to the team’s social media pages, where he revealed that he also signed with Los Angeles before deciding that the Chicago position was “a better opportunity.”
Michaels will be in charge of coaching the team’s starting lineup, which includes Seth “Scump” Abner, Dylan “Envoy” Hannon, Peirce “Gunless” Hillman, Matthew “FormaL” Piper and Alec “Arcitys” Sanderson. Chicago will begin its season against OpTic Gaming LA during the league’s opening weekend Jan. 26 in Minnesota.
Here’s what else is happening in the world of esports.
High School Esports League Sets Playoff Schedule, Opens Registration
The High School Esports League has announced the playoff schedule for its HSEL Fall Majors. Students from high school esports teams across the U.S. will compete for $30,000 in scholarships in multiple games, including NBA 2K20, Overwatch and Rocket League, with all matches to be streamed on the Varsity Network’s Twitch stream. Registration has also opened for the HSEL Winter Open that begins Jan. 20. The full schedule of the HSEL Fall Majors can be found here, with the first semifinal competition slated to begin Saturday, Dec. 14.
The Elder Scrolls: Legends No Longer Receiving Updates
Competitive card game The Elder Scrolls: Legends’ time is over, as Bethesda announced the game will no longer receive updates. The statement from the team said that while the “previous roadmap indicated we would be releasing one more set this year,” the company has instead decided to put “any new content development or releases on hold for the foreseeable future.” The game will still be playable in its current state, but there will be no more updates or official Elder Scrolls: Legend competitions.
Coaching Shake-Up in League of Legends
Jin Air Green Wings League of Legends coach Kim “Moment” Ji-hwan has signed on to become a coach for LoL World Championship semifinalist T1. The organization announced the move via Twitter. Ji-hwan will join Kim Jeong-soo and Lim “Comet” Hye-sung in replacing longtime T1 head coach Kim “KkOma” Jeong-gyun. Ji-hwan’s signing to T1 came as a surprise to the LoL community, as the Jin Air Green Wins won only one match for the entirety of 2019, including a 0-18 performance in the League of Legends Champions Korea league.
