It’s the annual day of jokes and pranks, and companies all around the world engage in an escalating arms race for the best joke they can pull off.
Of course, the esports world is no exception, so here are some of the best from the industry.
League of Legends: Cats VS Dogs
The millennia-old feud between cats and dogs to determine which is the better species has reached the Summoner’s Rift. For its prank this year, League of Legends (LoL) has released hilarious cat and dog-themed skins and icons for a number of its champions — with its own trailer to boot.
(Even if it’s April Fools, don’t kid yourselves. You know dogs are the best.)
Aside from the Cats VS Dogs gimmick, LoL developer Riot Games also released a list of alleged balance changes that will be coming in the game’s next major update.
Some of the changes include Lee Sin the Blind Monk taking 40% more damage from enemies he can’t see, and the notorious feast-or-famine champion Yasuo dealing 10% more damage for every kill he gets, while 10% less every time he dies, among others. Riven remains unchanged though, because we all know that she is perfectly balanced.
The Overwatch League gets a new team
The Overwatch League teams Seoul Dynasty and Chengdu Hunters have announced a merger, rebranding to the league’s next powerhouse franchise: the Seoul x Chengdu Endangered.
As should be obvious, the joke plays on the fact that both Seoul and Chengdu have mascots that are considered as endangered animals — specifically a tiger and a panda, respectively. Finally, a criminally-underrepresented part of the world community gets represented in esports.
Animal endangerment is not a joke though, so let’s hope that this awareness of the plight of both our animal friends and Mother Nature goes beyond this year’s April Fools Day.
Top esports organizations rebrand: Genuises Esports Club and Carbon-12
All esports organizations strive for improvement, not just in their competitive performance but in their branding as well. Thus, top esports organizations Evil Geniuses (EG) and Cloud9 (C9) have rebranded to better, chuckle-worthy parodies of themselves for this year.
A spelling error in the EG team banner during The International 2018 inspired them to reflect on their identity as an organization. Thus, the Genuises Esports Club was born.
Meanwhile, C9 has rebranded to Carbon-12, we assume because that isotope is the standard from which the atomic masses of all nuclides are measured.
The organization also announced an innovative esports merchandise line: confectionery. However, it appears that things didn’t go quite as planned.
Unfortunately, C-12 couldn’t commit to the joke long enough so they’re back to being boring ol’ C9.
eSports => esports
Longtime host and “esports” advocate Paul “RedEye” Chaloner has announced that his long war on the spelling of the word esports is now over, following “discussions with Oxford English Dictionary folk.”
The previously-accepted spelling, esports, has now been dropped in favor of “eSports.” We expect that the more proper and definite term, electronic sports, will get its due next year.
compLexity signs their first Farming Simulator pro player
CompLexity Gaming jokingly announced that they have signed their first Farming Simulator professional player, the aptly-named ‘CornDaddy,’ complete with announcement video and detailed press release. The organization even parodied their own ColFamilia hashtag by welcoming CornDaddy to their ColFARMilia.
Farming Simulator esports isn’t a joke though.
The best eSports merch drop of all time
There is no better way to get people to buy your merch than to have them watch a promotional masterpiece that blends modern gaming memes with the glory days of MLG montage videos.
You can buy the merch in the video for real too, hurry while there’s still time!
This right here is the sole reason why we ranked Team Liquid as the best esports organization in the world.
