Get rdy: Competitive guide for May 18-24th

18.05.2026

A new week is upon us and that means events and competitive matches will be gearing up or winding down. With this season's packed schedule it is easy to miss something, so we've compiled a weekly planning guide to keep track of what is going on.

League of Legends

LCS

In the LCS, C9 concluded the Regular Season of the LCS 2026 Spring with a perfect 7-0 score, dropping just four games in the past six weeks. This week the Playoffs kick off, with the a trip to the Mid Season Invitational and the EWC on the line: The winner receiving an invite to both and the runner up as spot at MSI.

LEC

After a week’s break, the LEC playoffs begin in earnest this coming weekend with the Upper Bracket competition taking the headline spot. Karmine Corp will face G2 Esports, one of just two teams to hand them a loss this season, while top-of-the-table Team Vitality matchup against Movistar KOI, with the latter only reaching this upper bracket spot thanks to match difference.

LCK

The LCK will enter its penultimate week of the first stage of their season, before locking in spots for their Road to MSI mid-season tourney. While Hanwha Life Esports sit at the top of the table, Gen.G, T1 and KT Rolster are ht n their heels, while the likes of FEARX, BRION, and Dplus desperately trying to secure a spot in the MSI qualification competition.

LPL

China’s LPL wrapped up its seven-week Regular Season yesterday and now enters its “Knights Rivals” portion, where lower tier “Group Nirvana” teams have a chance to unseat top tier “Group Ascend” line-ups from their Knockout Stage spot. The LPL features one of the most unique formats across the world of competitive LoL, and the merits of the system will be on show later this week.

EWC

And across the globe, qualifiers for the EWC continue, but with continued surprising results. With KT Rolster and HLE on the verge of elimination, and fifth-place LCS squad Sentinels securing the NA invite as the likes undefeated LCS Regular Season C9 crash out early, obvious questions are being raised about the team’s relative enthusiasm for the EWC. Will a change of venue to Paris shift their attitude in the coming weeks?

To see the full calendar of LoL events, head over to our Global Event Horizon section.

Counter-Strike 2

IEM Atlanta

Team Vitality have entered a tournament and not won it. Someone mark the time and date, pronto.

Alarm bells were ringing when they lost a series to BetBoom, who showed some of the potential they've hidden dormant for... well, probably years at this point, but they were working overtime when NAVI dumped Vitality out of the quarter-finals.

NAVI, as you might imagine, went on to win IEM Atlanta, but that bit hardly matters.

PGL Astana

On the other side of the world, half a day earlier, Spirit took home the PGL Astana trophy as donk put up one of the craziest tournaments of all time.

He was once again majestic in the third map of the grand final to seal the deal, with Spirit 3-0'ing karrigan's Falcons, who seemed to be powered by fairy dust more than anything else - and as we all know, fairy loses out to the cold, hard steel of Team Spirit.

There is a small break in the competitive action, with things resuming on the 27th with Stake Ranked Episode 2.

To see the full calendar of CS2 events, head over to our Global Event Horizon section.

Dota 2

DreamLeague Season 29

DreamLeague Season 29 kicked off on Wednesday, May 13th featuring 16 teams competing for a $1,000,000 prize pool and 28,300 EPT points. The group stage should have finished on Sunday, but today there will be tie-breakers before heading into the playoff stage.

The four elminated teams have already bid farewell, but the EPT race is still quite tight.

Read Ex-HEROIC among the teams eliminated from DreamLeague Season 29 as EWC hopes hang in the balance

DreamLeague Season 29 is the final stop on the ESL Pro Tour so these points remain critical in the race toward the Esports World Cup 2026, where 13 teams will qualify through the standings. As of now only four spots remain open.

Regional Affairs

Local and regional fans have some treats on the menu this week.

Europe

Russian Esports Student League 2026 began yesterday with eight collegiate teams fighting for $17,180 USD prize. The event will continue through tomorrow, May 19th.

China

The Immortal Cup 2 is a DOTA2 tournament featuring retired professional players who were once active in the Chinese region, as well as current pro players taking a break from competition. Four teams featuring ten players will compete through June 7th for the largest slice of the $117,476 USD prize.