Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Heroic defeat Gambit Esports in ESL Pro League 13 grand final
William Davis
In a five-map thriller, Heroic edged out a victory against Gambit Esports in the grand finals of ESL Pro League Season 13, with Casper “cadiaN” Moller pushing his team across the finish line with a stellar performance. The series really went the distance, taking almost eight hours. The action kicked off on Heroic’s pick of Inferno, but it was Gambit Esports that looked better in the first half of the …
Counter-Strike
These 2 Overpass lineups let CTs lock up the B bombsite from A
Fariha Bhatti
The unique map design of Overpass makes it a bit tricky to play on the Counter-Terrorists side. Learning these two lineups may help you win rounds on defense. While Overpass is a relatively CT-sided map, defending a site can be a nuisance if you don’t know your way around utility. Molotovs are crucial for blocking off narrow entryways on both the A and B sites, since Terrorists can easily catch …
Counter-Strike
FPX player zehN accidentally reveals roster information
William Davis
FunPlus Phoenix player Jesse “zehN” Linjala has accidentally revealed information about his team’s transfer activity after discussing contract negotiations with a Finnish streamer. According to zehN, FunPlus Phoenix is actively recruiting an in-game leader. The organization is currently negotiating a contract with Chris “chrisJ” De Jong. The Dutchman played for the team at the start of the year, but his loan from mousesports was not made permanent. FPX replaced chrisJ …
Counter-Strike
Gambit vs Heroic ESL Pro League Season 13 betting predictions
M Alzamora
Heroic and Gambit are set to face off against one another in Sunday’s ESL Pro League Season 13 grand finals. After a burst of success earlier this year, Heroic is back in full force, surprising just about everyone with how it’s made its way to the ESL Pro League Season 13 finals. Trouncing FURIA in the semifinals with a 20-3 T side across two maps, Heroic made it look easy …
Counter-Strike
This CSGO practice grenade config will up your game on every map
M Alzamora
This premade CSGO grenade config will have players landing pinpoint smokes in no time. One of the best parts of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is how much control the game gives to its players in how they practice. CSGO’s Steam workshop has everything from aim maps to full training maps designed to help players improve, and when it comes to finding new smokes and flashes, the classic grenade practice config is …
Counter-Strike
Cache creator FMPONE has just released a Source 2 tutorial
M Alzamora
While Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players are tearing up the competition on Cache, FMPONE has been hard at work creating maps in Valve’s Source 2 engine. Even though his latest project is for Half-Life Alyx, the mapper has decided to share what he’s learned about the engine via YouTube. It isn’t every day that fans get a free lesson in Source 2, and it’s even rarer that they have a chance …
Counter-Strike
Beyond the Summit to hold first CSGO RMR event of 2021
M Alzamora
Beyond the Summit will host Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s first regional ranking tournament of 2021, according to tweets from both BTS and the official CSGO Twitter account. The event is scheduled to take place starting on May 14, with a champion being crowned on May 30. It will feature open qualifiers for teams that want to compete. It’s also likely that any RMR points from last season will carry over to …
Counter-Strike
Astralis vs Gambit Esports: ESL Pro League betting analysis
William Davis
Gambit Esports and Astralis will face off this Friday, and only one of them will stay in contentions for the title at ESL Pro League Season 13. Astralis and Gambit have only met once before. In the quarterfinals of DreamHack Masters Europe 2020, Astralis secured a comfortable 2-0 victory over the young CIS squad. Since that loss, Gambit has experienced a meteoric rise in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene. The …
Heroic’s sjuush catapults to No. 2 in CSGO Player rankings
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
There’s something to be said for a young player impressing on a big stage, and that’s what Heroic’s Rasmus “sjuush” Beck has done this month. Amongst the usual pro players on this week’s top 10 CSGO players is an unlikely name, but it’s one that deserves attention thanks to his special performances. sjuush shot to number two this week thanks to some impressive performances on Train, Vertigo, and Mirage. It’s …
Astralis and Gambit are almost tied atop CSGO team rankings
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Astralis holds this week’s top CSGO ranking ahead of the Pro League finals, but Gambit might use an old Astralis trick to grab the top spot. It’s been a rollercoaster week for CSGO, and ESL Pro League has been a window into how the game’s top teams are doing in the first half of 2021. This week’s group D delivered, with teams looking rusty early in contests that went all …
Cloud9 and HenryG part ways after failed CSGO roster
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Cloud9 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive general manager Henry “HenryG” Greer have officially parted ways. HenryG is officially out as Cloud9’s CSGO general manager after less than a year spent in the role. The former caster joined Cloud9 in October 2020, instantly making waves in the competitive CSGO community by being the first general manager to publicly release the details of his players’ contracts. Both HenryG and C9 made the announcement …
The five most shocking roster moves in CSGO history
William Davis
Counter-Strike
These are the five most shocking roster moves that have happened in the history of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. CSGO’s pro scene is in a state of constant transformation. Teams are always looking to add the missing piece that could bring them greater success. This leads to many shocking roster moves that might not make sense at first glance. These are the five roster moves that left the fans wondering why …
This is how you can still get your Operation Broken Fang coin
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
There’s only so much time left for players to get the stars they need before Operation Broken Fang ends. Here’s how to quickly finish up the operation’s missions. After nearly five months, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players are about to say goodbye to Operation Broken Fang. Players only have so much time to finish up its remaining missions, spend their stars, and grab the battle pass’ prized golden coin. But with …
FalleN is upset at his fans calling s1mple a baiter
William Davis
Counter-Strike
During a late night stream, Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo defended Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev when the former’s viewers called the Ukrainian superstar a baiter. The exchange happened when FalleN was analyzing a clip of s1mple playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in the FACEIT Pro League. s1mple was playing on Dust 2 and instructed his teammates to take A-long. While they distracted the defense, he rushed through mid and caught the opponents off guard. …
Will Operation Broken Fang’s case and skins be discontinued?
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Operations hold a special place in the hearts of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players, but what happens to the exclusive cases once they end? CSGO features some of the best weapon skins out of any game, especially when it comes to its operations. The limited-time events have expanded the selection of skins ever since Operation Payback, adding new features and missions as well. So do players need to scramble in order …
Broken Fang hints point to Mirage finally getting a map update
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Broken Fang is almost over and seems to have left hints about Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s next chapter out in plain sight. CSGO knows easter eggs. From the game’s many QR codes to the Portal cameo on Blacksite, Valve seems to enjoy it. So while Operation Broken Fang wasn’t a big surprise, developers still had some hints in store for players. Valve wasn’t shy about putting both Mirage and Ancient in …
The complete Nvidia guide to getting better FPS in Valorant
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Getting the most out of Valorant means wringing out as many frames per second as possible, and these four quick tips can help players do just that. Valorant isn’t a demanding game on players’ graphics cards, but these settings will help increase FPS, especially on a low-end PC. But even if players have a monster machine, there’s no reason not to boost it even further with these simple options. Our …
NiKo shows off smoke lineup that shuts down AWPers on Inferno
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Tired of dying to AWPers camping B-site coffins on Inferno? Nikola “NiKo” Kovač has the perfect recipe to tackle the issue. Inferno’s B site becomes a lion’s den if the enemy team has a skilled AWPer watching banana. Opening the area becomes almost impossible without proper utility and sacrificing at least one teammate. The narrow entryway doesn’t give the T side many options and provides the AWPer with an advantage …
All of the correct Dust 2 callouts in CSGO
William Davis
Counter-Strike
Learning the correct callouts in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is vital if you want to improve in the game. One of the best things about CSGO is the depth of the tactical aspect of the game. You can always learn new things and improve. If you want to get better on Dust 2, then this guide is just what you need. Here are all the different callouts on the map, as …
How to avoid CSGO scam Seven Town and protect your Steam account
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Here’s what players need to know about Seven Town, the classic CSGO scam that’s once again making the rounds on the Steam platform. Seven Town is the latest scam to hit Steam users, with reports of accounts being stolen appearing on Reddit, the Steam forums, and Twitter. The scam is a new twist on an old formula, and it’s being used to phish account passwords, steal accounts, and empty the …
Counter-Strike has long been among the biggest titles in esports and competitive gaming, even going back to esports’ deepest roots from decades past. What’s more, the game continues going strong today, with developer and publisher Valve releasing the latest iteration of the franchise in 2023. The newest version, Counter-Strike 2, has not been without its issues. But its popularity continues the enduring prominence of the Counter-Strike series, signaling that the venerated franchise is likely here to stay for many years yet to come.
But how did the franchise come be to so prominent in the esports space, and role does CS2 have to play in the industry moving forward?
Counter-Strike has roots in the beginnings of esports
Counter-Strike was unquestionably one of the biggest drivers of what we would today consider to be early professional esports movement. It was far from alone, and it wasn’t the most advanced. That likely was StarCraft: Brood War, a real-time strategy game from famed developer Blizzard that caught on in South Korea and led to a professional scene in the country well ahead of any examples of esports industry elsewhere in the world.
But outside of Korea, Counter-Strike quickly became the driving force behind competitive gaming and esports. First released in 1999 as a modification for popular first-person shooter Half-Life, the game was easy to pick up and play for many gamers. Half-Life was borderline ubiquitous software for gamers with a PC, and adding a mod to it was as simple as downloading and applying said mod. So it was that Counter-Strike began to catch fire and spread across the world.
As it spread, so too did its competitive play. Early competitions often centered around online play, most prominently including the Cyberathlete Amateur League (CAL) in North America and the Clanbase Eurocup in Europe. But live, in-person tournaments, similar to those enjoyed by StarCraft players and fans in Korea, were also rising in prominence.
Within just a few years, there were a number of major annual tournaments being held for the original version of Counter-Strike. Notable international tournament organizers included the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) in the United States, the Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) in France, and the World Cyber Games (WCG) in Korea. This was in addition to many other regional tournaments through which teams could test their mettle and battle over smaller prizes.
But even at bigger tournaments, prizes weren’t what they are today, and in general there was far less money available to professional Counter-Strike players than there is in today’s thriving esports industry which sees many players and teams playing at the full-time pro level. That’s a far cry from a time when perhaps a small handful of players were able to make a true living through playing CS alone, and even them, it was often a modest one.
Counter-Strike 2 at the fore of a bigger esports scene than ever before
Counter-Strike 2 was released to a far different esports space than that which the original Counter-Strike occupied. But what exactly is it that has changed the scene so much, besides the accrual of years?
Esports betting is at the top of the list. The sports betting industry is growing and expanding around the world each and every year, and esports has absolutely been a part of that. As esports betting continues to grow and thrive, it brings its benefits to the games that are being bet on. And Counter-Strike 2 is at the top of that list.
These benefits have arrived through a myriad of means. Fan interest in tournaments has gone up and become more consistent with betting markets available for each and every game played, which further incentivizes tournament organizers and their sponsoring partners. But those partners are also now more likely to work with the pro teams and players themselves. Betting operators are among the most common and most generous sponsors in the pro CS2 space, showing how esports betting’s rise has contributed to Counter-Strike’s continued prominence in esports and competitive gaming as a whole.
