League of Legends Games to Watch 1/14

With a new season upon us I share with you this week's most interesting games in the major regions of League of Legends. You can catch all these games on ESTNN TV, watch.lolesports.com or any of their respective Twitch channels. (All times are approximate times and are displayed in the Eastern Time zone. If you need help converting for your time feel free to use this time converter).

January 14

4 AM ET IG vs Topsports Gaming:
The current world champions, Invictus gaming, already started the year with a trophy from the Demacia Cup. They look to kick start the regular season with a bang against Demacia cup finalist Topsports Gaming. This will be a fascinating battle as both teams have already faced-off and will be looking to break the 3-3 game record they have against each other and see who can get into winning ways in the LPL.

January 16

3 AM ET SKT vs Jin Air:
The SKT ‘dream team’ had a somewhat lackluster Kespa cup performance falling against the recently promoted DAMWON gaming. With a couple of weeks to work on synergy as well as fix mistakes around the map, we are excited to see what SKT has in store against Jin Air Green Wings. Also notable that we will see Teddy versus his old team and show what he is really made of. Will SKT change their trajectory from last season and demonstrate they are back to fight for all their old titles?

6 AM ET Gen G. vs DAMWON Gaming:
The second game of the day seems to be a promising one as we can judge these two teams a bit more clearly after impressive showings in the Kespa Cup. With both teams falling to Griffin 0-3 we can finally see what they are made of when they play against each other as both Gen G. and DAMWON defeated KT and SKT respectively. We will get to witness how these teams stand and see if either team can make a definitive argument that they deserve to be the second best LCK team to start of the season.

January 18

6 AM ET SKT vs Afreeca Freecs:
SKT face-off against a more formidable opponent in their second game of the season as they play against slightly revamped Afreeca Freecs who signed rookie star Ucal to bolster their mid lane presence. Sadly, Afreeca had a very disappointing Kespa cup performance and are looking to show they are good enough to compete against the rest of the LCK opposition. This does seem like a big Faker vs Ucal rematch with both sporting new teammates all around them. SKT will try to prove that they have improved and will be looking to fight for the title. While Afreeca looks to prove that they deserved to be in the same conversation as the other top teams of the region.

12 PM ET SK gaming vs FNATIC:
As already talked about a bit by the great Ibrizlol this marks the very first match by the newly rebranded LEC (formerly EU LCS) and will definitely be a nice welcome for the western LoL fans that aren’t able to watch the LPL and LCK games. This is also when we will get to see Worlds finalists FNATIC take the stage for the first time since Worlds with their new addition Nemesis replacing Caps after he decided to test new waters in the G2 dynasty. This also is a new life for SK gaming that once was a household name before their relegation back in Season 5. Will the kings of Europe show up strong or will SK show there might be a new contender?

2 PM ET Schalke 04 vs Team Vitality:
Schalke 04 and Team Vitality went up against each other in the semi-finals of the 2018 summer finals, sadly the victory over Vitality wasn’t enough for Schalke to get a spot in Worlds. Vitality however did and had an amazing showing even though they were just short of knocking out RNG in the group stage. Both teams have made some changes and look to show they have what it takes to make it to the biggest stage in League and will probably have an action-packed game to start the new season.

4 PM ET Origen vs G2 Esports:
What time does Origen play? Origen is a favorite to many that follow the charismatic xPeke and even though we haven’t seen the team in the European big stage for a while, they have been acquired by Astralis and look to make a big splash even bringing back Mithy to the team. As for G2, they have become the true villains and they look to unleash a big shake-up after the acquisition of Caps from FNATIC. Perkz also looks to establish a new lane kingdom in the bot lane and hopes to demonstrate he is one of the best ADC’s in the LEC.

January 19

3 AM ET DAMWON Gaming vs KT Rolster:
Scrim gods, DAMWON gaming, look to take out their second Telecom representative when they play against KT. KT had a disappointing end of 2018 flaming out of a closely contested quarterfinal against IG. Adding BDD, one of the best mid laners of 2018, will show if that helps KT maintain their national dominance that they showcased from Summer onward. This should be a strongly contested game with hopefully a lot of action mixed in.

6 AM ET Jin Air vs Griffin:
This might be the most one-sided games we have but even when that is the case Griffin finds a way to make it as entertaining as possible. If the Kespa Cup is any indication of how the teams will perform we can safely say that Griffin is in a tier of its own. They were unbeatable throughout the tournament while defeating some tough opposition. It seems that this year the team is trying to prove that they deserve to not just go to worlds but win as well.

11 AM ET G2 Esports vs Schalke 04:
Flying back to day 2 of the LEC we see a rematch of the Regional Qualifier Final where G2 dismantled a resurging Schalke. Even though the teams have changed, there seems to be a growing rivalry between them and they will look to provide an interesting match overall. Upset and IgNar will look to bring down the new bot lane for G2 and show that role-swapping is not that as easy as it may look.

3 PM ET Origen vs FNATIC:
An old rivalry is truly reborn. Now even though this is somewhat said about FNATIC’s first match of the new season, there is something on the line when xPeke’s baby (recently acquired by Astralis) look to take down the Kings. Before last year’s amazing run of the western team in worlds, Origen and FNATIC where the two teams that had made it the farthest in recent memory (both making the semifinals in 2015 Worlds). They are looking to go even further and cement their foot as favorites in the LEC.

Hope you’re able to catch some of these games and more! Any games you think we missed in the first week of professional play for the Major Regions? Let us know via Twitter or join our brand new Discord.