The 2021 League of Legends World Championship is taking place in Reykjavík, Iceland. The competition features T1, MAD Lions, FunPlus Phoenix, Cloud9 and other top teams. The event was originally designated to take place in China, but was moved to Iceland in late August due to the Delta Variant of the COVID-19 coronavirus taking hold in the country. Between Faker's return, Japan's DetonatioN FocusMe making a historic run, Western teams with the potential to upset the esport's balance, and more, there are storylines aplenty in the biggest competition in the world's biggest esport.

It's been a tough 18 months for the Super Smash Bros. community. With bad online multiplayer for Ultimate and only unofficial options for Melee, it's arguable that no one esport scene's had a more difficult time during the coronavirus pandemic. Following up from our previous episode where Imad spoke with Riptide's Josh 'Jaaahsh' Marcotte, Imad visited Low Tide City in Round Rock, Texas, to see how the event managed coronavirus protocols and spoke with tournament organizer Rob 'Oracle' Dickerson.

The Overwatch League Grand finals took place this past weekend in Honolulu, Hawaii. There was some handwringing and consternation regarding keeping the event in Hawaii considering reports from the New York Times that the state was facing oxygen and ICU bed shortages. Either way, the Overwatch League moved forward with its Grand Finals plans, pitting Shanghai Dragons and Atlanta Reign against one another. This week, Imad is joined by Teddy Amenabar of The Washington Post to talk about the OWL Grand Finals' significance for the esport's competitive landscape, COVID-era esports as a whole, and Overwatch itself with Overwatch 2 looming on the horizon.

Riptide marked the Smash community's return to in-person tournaments, the lifeblood of the FGC and its adjacent games moreso than any other esport, since February of 2020. The event had relatively strict COVID measures in place for the in-person event: every attendee needed to show proof of at least one dose of the COVID vaccine or a negative test. This week, Imad is joined by "Jaaahsh" Marcotte, the tournament organizer for Riptide and the director of logistics at Panda Global, to talk about everything from fake COVID vaccine cards, legal parameters, community trust, and other lessons learned from organizing the first big in-person Smash event in 18 months.

In a conclusion to the Apple v. Epic Games lawsuit initially filed over a year ago, a California court ruled that Apple must permanently allow developers to include third-party in-app purchase methods, such as links to their own websites, on iOS apps. While the court didn't rule that Apple broke federal monopoly or antitrust law, it did rule that it practiced "anti-competitive behavior" under California law. Epic Games has also since filed an appeal to a higher court, meaning that this legal battle might not be over just yet. This week, Imad is joined by Adi Robertson, senior reporter at The Verge, to break down what exactly the ruling does and doesn't mean for both parties, and who (if anyone) "won" in what they initially set out to do.

As part of a "national rejuvination," China's government passed laws that limit children under 18 to just one hour of gaming per day on weekends and holidays. This week, Imad is joined by Dr. Hugh Davies, a post-doctoral fellow at RMIT Universiry in Melbourne, Australia and expert on video games in the Asia Pacific region, to break down the legislation's origins, implementation, and possible loopholes for a country whose esports industry has made it into one of its most formidable powers.

Last Monday, the Esports Integrity Commission recently put out an update on Counter-Strike's matchfixing. While criticism has been lobbed at the ESIC for taking too long to conduct investigations, the problems facing the commission aren't as simple as they seem. Mikhail Klimentov, editor for the Washington Post's gaming and esports vertical, Launcher, joined the podcast to break down what exactly the limitations that the ESIC has to operate under are. Additionally, due to fallout from the California DFEH's lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, the company has decided to rename one of Overwatch's most iconic characters, McCree, given that his namesake, former developer Jesse McCree, was ousted from the company after his involvement in the "Cosby Suite" was unearthed. Freelance reporter Joseph "Volamel" Franco joined the show to talk about the community's reaction to the announcement, as well as what it could mean for ActiBlizz going forward.

On Aug. 19, subscription service OnlyFans said it would ban sexually explicit content, which made the site famous, from its website starting in October due to backlash from credit card companies and bankers. Some of the site's most subscribed creators are also famous streamers on Twitch, another site that's struggled with defining 'sexually' explicit. Tia Mann, who goes by 'Roleplayers' on Twitch and 'TheSpiderQueen' on OnlyFans, joined the pod to discuss what the move means for these Twitch streamers and their revenues.

The Overwatch League is currently discussing delaying its upcoming season into late 2022 or early 2023. This comes after an Overwatch leaker Metro suggested that the game's sequel might be pushed into 2023. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, certain revenue streams have been cut off for teams. Activision Blizzard has already allowed teams to defer annual franchise payments, according to a September report in the Washington Post. Underpinning all of this is the lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which has accused the company of rampant sexual abuse and unequal pay for female employees. Already, brands like T-Mobile and Kellogg have pulled out of the Overwatch League. State Farm is reassessing its partnership, according to the Post. This week, Imad is joined by Dot Esports investigative lead Jacob Wolf, who broke the story for Dot along with Liz Richardson.