Every week, we are choosing key esports events that we believe should not be missed.

Here’s a rundown of important esports events that’s about to happen during the fourth week of March.

Counter Strike: Global Offensive – HCG Masters Season 1

HCG Masters Season 1 is an online European tournament organized by Hardcore Gaming. This tournament takes place from February 09 to April 3, 2022 featuring 28 teams competing over a total prize pool of €180,000 EUR.

Playoffs will begin on April 1st and will follow a format of:

Single-Elimination bracket
All matches are Bo3

League of Legends – LCK, LEC, CBLOL, LCS Spring 2022 Playoffs

LCK 2022 Spring Playoffs

As these three spring leagues draw to a close, their playoffs are just around the corner.

Here’s a look at the format, prize pool, dates and schedules of the upcoming finals.

The LCK 2022 Spring Playoffs are the first playoffs of Korea's professional League of Legends league under partnership. Six teams compete for the LCK title and MSI qualification. Playoffs will run from 23 of March to 2nd of April.

Format

Prize Pool

₩ 375,000,000 South Korean Won (around $310,000) will be spread among the teams.

LCK 2022 Spring Finals to be held at KINTEX in April, will have live audience:

On Saturday, April 2, the LCK Spring Finals will be held at the KINTEX. For the first time in three years, Korean League of Legends fans will be able to witness their home league's finals in person, with live audiences now welcome at the iconic Goyang exhibition centre.

The championship fight will take place at the KINTEX's second theatre, which has a capacity of 7,000 people. It will be the first time since late 2019 that an LCK final will be played in front of a live audience.

LEC 2022 Spring Playoffs

Schedule for Round 1 of Playoffs:

Friday, 25th of March, 18:00@Rogue VS @MisfitsggLoL

Saturday, 26th of March, 17:00@FNATIC VS @G2esports

Sunday, 27th of March, 17:00@EXCEL VS @TeamVitality
— LEC (@LEC) March 6, 2022

The LEC's regular season in 2022 The Spring Split has come to an end, with Rogue maintaining their first position throughout the eight weeks. Following the conclusion of the regular season, the top six clubs in the LEC will compete in the Spring Playoffs, which will begin on March 25 and last until early April. Today, Riot Games provided fans a sneak peek at the forthcoming bouts.

The LEC officially released the bracket for the Spring Playoffs following the final match of the regular season, in which Rogue, Fnatic, G2 Esports, Misfits, Excel Esports, and Team Vitality will compete for the title of Spring champions. Teams are separated into an upper and lower bracket, like in past incarnations of the playoffs, with the top four teams receiving significant rewards.

Patch 12.5b will be used during the playoffs of the 2022 LEC Spring Split

Format

Double Elimination
All matches are Bo5
Winner qualifies for Mid-Season Invitational 2022

Prize Pool

€200,000 EUR (around $219,838)

CBLOL Split 1 2022

Format

10 teams participate
Double Round Robin
Matches are best of one
Top six teams advance to Playoffs

Top four teams play in the winners bracket
5th and 6th play in the losers bracket

Ties are broken by the following methods:

Head-to-head record during regular season
Wins in the second half of the split
Shortest combined game time (for the team's wins)
If still tied, a tiebreaker game will be played

Prize Pool

R$ 70,000 Brazilian Reais (around $79,879) will be spread among the teams

LCS 2022 Spring

LCS playoff dates will still be determined with the league being only one week away from the conclusion of its Group Stage.

Format

Group Stage - February 5th - March 27th, 2022
Double Round Robin
Each team plays 18 matches.
All matches are Bo1
1st to 6th place will play the Playoffs
1st to 4th place are seeded into Semifinals
5h and 6th place are seeded into Losers' Round 1
Mid-Season Showdown - TBA
Double Elimination
All matches are Bo5
Winner qualifies for Mid-Season Invitational 2022

Prize Pool: $200,000

Rainbow Six: North American League begins

The APAC leagues and South American leagues which pave the way to Copa Elite Six have already started (Brasileirão 2022 - Stage 1, Campeonato Mexicano 2022 - Stage 1, Campeonato Mexicano 2022 Season)

This week sees the beginning of Rainbow Six: Siege’s NAL.

Format, Regular Season: March 29th - April 27th, 2022

The North American League will have 9 playdays over 5 weeks of competition, with 2 playdays per week, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, except for the final week, which will have only one playday on Wednesday.
Single round-robin league format
All matches are Bo1
Scoring system: default win gives 3 points, win in overtime gives 2 points and defeat in overtime gives 1 point
Click here for tiebreaker rules
Quarantined Operators

Azami

Prize Pool: First four teams will have a seed for Six May Major 2022 and a prize of $15,000, $7,000, $6,000-$6,000 respectively and the top 4 will earn additional SI points in the Six Major.

VALORANT Champions Tour 2022: EMEA Challengers Promotion

Part of the Valorant Champions Tour, Riot's official 2021 tournament circuit. The eight winning teams from the VALORANT Regional Leagues will meet up with the bottom placed teams from the VCT Regular Season Groups. The top two teams will be promoted to VCT.

Format

Play-In: VRL teams in 2 groups of four teams in a GSL format.
All matches are Bo3
Promotion Stage: 6 teams in a double-elimination bracket
The two VCT teams receive a bye in the first round
All matches (excl. Lower Bracket final) are Bo3
Lower Bracket final is Bo5
Grand Final will not be played

Prize Pool: Challengers 2 seed for the 1st and 2nd place teams

Call of Duty - Call of Duty League 2022: Stage 2 Major

CDL Major 2 will begin on March 31 to April 3, and be hosted by Minnesota RØKKR.

Format

Double-Elimination bracket
Teams are seeded by Stage 2's placement:
Group 1st - 8th: Winners Round 1
Group 9th - 12th: Losers Round 1
All matches (excl. Grand Finals) are Bo5
Grand Final is Bo9

Teams will compete for CDL points for the post-season CDL Championship.

We’ve summed up the important esports events for the next week. Make sure to come back and check out the upcoming events on the next Saturday.

All esports news

Important esports events of April week 2

Important esports events of April – Week 1