Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Latest Steam scam likely a hoax as “Secret Club” makes mysterious appearance
M Alzamora
“Fivetowns,” “Seventowns,” “Vote for my Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team…” All players have heard these before. Steam has no shortage of scams trying to steal players’ passwords, games, and items from unsuspecting their inventories. But thankfully, the platform’s latest viral threat probably isn’t real at all. With that out of the way, the strange videos do seem to be trying to let players in on a secret. When it comes to …
Counter-Strike
flusha announces new CSGO roster featuring suNny and sergej
Fariha Bhatti
Former Fnatic member Robin “flusha” Rönnquist has revealed a star-studded lineup for his next Counter-Strike: Global Offensive project three months after stepping down from his previous team. The cat is finally out of the bag as CSGO professional player flusha has officially announced his new team’s roster. The international roster will feature some of the brightest stars in CSGO who’ll play under a mystery organization that is soon to be revealed. …
Counter-Strike
Vitality to bench rpk after Blast Premier Showdown, add Kyojin
William Davis
Cédric “RpK” Guipouy will be benched after the Blast Premier Showdown by Vitality, which is set to replace him with young rookie Jason “Kyojin” Nguyen. The announcement follows a series of disappointing results as the French team has failed to return to title-winning form since the start of 2021. The legendary player, who spent the past three years playing for Vitality, will take time to reevaluate his options. He initially …
Counter-Strike
CadiaN wraps up ESL Pro League with a memorable clutch against Gambit
Fariha Bhatti
ESL Pro League Season 13 finally culminates with Heroic coming out as the winners. The Danish in-game leader Casper “cadiaN” Møller capped off the series in a historic clutch that has blown away the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fans. In a seven-hour-long series of five maps, Heroic’s performance remained top-notch. The Danes won their map picks and finally thrashed Gambit on the final map Mirage. Everyone had expected a brutal battle between the …
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
Hints of CSGO Source 2 beta hidden in new Dota 2 update
M Alzamora
Valve added nearly all of CSGO’s shaders and entities to Dota 2 today with the MOBA’s massive Dawnbreaker Update. Danger Zone is shaping up to be one of the first parts of CSGO to make the jump to Source 2, judging from the Dota 2 patch. 10 minutes after Dota 2 fans met the game’s new hero, Valve pushed another update to the game that changed the signing on its …
Counter-Strike
OG announces flameZ as new fifth member of its CSGO roster
William Davis
OG has announced Shahar “flameZ” Shushan as the fifth and final member of its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster, as the Israeli joins from Team Endpoint. flameZ will fill the gap left by Issa “ISSAA” Murad’s departure last month. flameZ is considered as one of the rising talents in CSGO, with the 17-year-old making a name for himself at Team Endpoint over the past few months. With flameZ in the lineup, …
Counter-Strike
This sneaky flashbang lineup on Mirage will blind everyone
Fariha Bhatti
Slick aim may help you bag kills in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but winning a round is a tall order without utility. You may use tactical smokes and molotovs to keep enemies away in a post-plant situation, but this new flashbang lineup can win you a game at a low cost. A newly discovered flashbang lineup for Mirage’s A site can make a huge difference in post-plant situations. If you’ve planted …
This CSGO practice grenade config will up your game on every map
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
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 …
Cache creator FMPONE has just released a Source 2 tutorial
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
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 …
Beyond the Summit to hold first CSGO RMR event of 2021
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
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 …
Astralis vs Gambit Esports: ESL Pro League betting analysis
William Davis
Counter-Strike
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 …
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.
