Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Report says MIBR’s FalleN may be up to replace Twistzz for TL
Steven Rondina
Russell “Twistzz” Van Dulken is done with Team Liquid, and that has a lot of folks asking some big questions. Where will Twistzz end up? Will Twistzz take anyone with him? And who will take Twistzz’ spot on Team Liquid? The latter question might actually have an answer, as Rush B Media is reporting Team Liquid is looking to replace Twistzz with MIBR’s Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo. WIN.gg has not verified …
Counter-Strike
Twistzz announces departure from Team Liquid after IEM loss
M Alzamora
Team Liquid rifler Russel “Twistzz” van Dulken announced that he has played his last game with Liquid after the team’s loss to Astralis at the IEM Global Challenge. In an interview after Team Liquid’s loss to Astralis at 2020’s last Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament, twistzz shared that the grand final was his final game with Liquid. As the interview ended, Twistzz asked for another moment to make an announcement to …
Counter-Strike
TACO speaks out about MIBR, leaving Team Liquid, and more
M Alzamora
Brazilian CSGO player Epitácio “TACO” de Melo opened up about his experiences over the last two years of Competitive CSGO on Brazilian YouTube show and podcast Cortes do Flow earlier this week. While the show covered all of TACO’s CSGO career, the interview’s most interesting points came after TACO was asked about his stint with North American organization Team Liquid and his subsequent release and transfer to MIBR. The talk …
Counter-Strike
ZywOo adds another AWP clutch to his list of incredible plays
Fariha Bhatti
Vitality’s Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut is known for his incredible AWP plays, but his recent clutch against Astralis in the IEM Global Challenge 2020 may have been one of his best plays yet. Team Vitality failed to outclass Astralis in the final match of group stage but ZywOo’s extraordinary performance throughout the game turned heads. ZywOo seemed in a great shape from the outset. His excellent KD on Nuke and Dust …
All about shroud’s monster PC setup, from his mouse to monitor
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Michael “shroud” Grzesiek is bigger as a streamer than he ever was as a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro player, and his PC build and peripherals are probably better than what most pro players have at home today. After shroud’s time in professional CSGO with Cloud9, he returned to where the team noticed his talent in the first place. Back on Twitch after a short stint at Mixer, shroud’s streaming PC …
CSGO adds 2021 Service Medal, Valorant-style team buy feature
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s latest patch revealed some of Broken Fang’s upcoming missions and gave players a reason to save their bonus XP tokens when it added CSGO’s 2021 Service Medal. Players are about to get a whole host of new maps for CSGO’s new Retake mode and had the future of Operation Broken Fang outlined. But the most important part of the patch was what everyone who plays CSGO doesn’t …
HAVU signs Aerial, leaves ENCE with 4 players on CSGO roster
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
Finnish organization HAVU has completed a deal with ENCE to sign Jani “Aerial” Jussila to its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster. The 27-year old will move to his new home in January. Aerial’s move has been in the works for some time, as the transfer discussion between the two teams began when ENCE signed HAVU’s Eetu “sAw” Saha and Joonas “doto” Forss to its CSGO division. The deal has finally been …
Team Liquid vs NaVi IEM Global Challenge betting analysis
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
The IEM Global Challenge is already in full swing, but its matchup between Team Liquid and Natus Vincere in the tournament for first place in group B is going to be a shootout for teams bettors alike. Group B’s winner’s match between Na`Vi and Team Liquid is about as uncertain of a game as punters could ask for. At eight teams, there isn’t much wiggle room at IEM for teams …
Gambit and Virtus.pro rocket up the latest CSGO rankings
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Both Gambit and Virtus.pro have made major strides to end 2020. While the top half of WIN.gg’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s rankings have remained relatively stable over the past several weeks, the second half of our top ten has seen major changes as the holidays approach. Two teams in particular stick out as having improved the most since the last time our algorithm dug into each team’s statistacal performances. Both Gambit …
Magisk, gla1ve plummet as a new face arrives in CSGO rankings
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
While two Astralis players have enjoyed their time in the spotlight, Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander and Emil “Magisk” Reif took a hit this week in the CSGO player rankings while mousesports rifler David “frozen” Čerňanský moved nearly seven spots and broke out into the top 10. It looks like the honeymoon period is over for Astralis. The team is still one of the most powerful in the world, but gla1ve’s return …
autimatic considers Valorant as Gen.G CSGO roster is up for sale
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Gen.G’s veteran Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player Timothy “autimatic” Ta announced that he is considering making a move from CSGO to Valorant, according to tweets from his official Twitter account. The tweet followed comments made to RushBMedia from Gen.G that it was open to offers for autimatic, Kenneth “koosta” Suen, and Hansel “BnTeT” Ferdinand. In a Twitter thread from December 15, autimatic announced that Gen.G has allowed the him to seek …
allu speaks on ENCE struggles, dropping aleksib, and more
Fariha Bhatti
Counter-Strike
ENCE AWPer Aleksi “allu” Jalli has made some comments on the team’s roster changes that have brought ENCE back to the fore of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive community’s discussions. allu touched on the 2019 roster switches made in the team, which incited a response from both his teammates and members of the CSGO community. ENCE has been absent from top of the CSGO esports scene due to its poor performances …
Broken Fang’s mission and quest names leaked, full list here
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
CSGO files reveal Broken Fang has a laundry list of missions sitting inside its translation files, including the names of the Operation’s 16 missions. Alongside those names are potential objectives for players to complete. While most follow a formula where developers can change things like game modes, maps, and weapons, several are marked specifically for Broken Fang. At least one of them refers to Fang’s Guardians mission, meaning that there …
CSGO fans have to check out this visually stunning fan film
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive might be made in Source, but one fan film shows what CSGO might look like in 20 years. Created by Youtuber dysn, a CSGO fan film has users stunned with its depiction of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Set to the pulsing undertones of The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights,” with some added touches by sax players JK Sax, the five-minute video takes place in an alternate universe and follows a …
Operation Broken Fang end date leaked in hidden CSGO files
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Thanks to recent updates to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s code, players now know Operation Broken Fang’s end date. CSGO’s game files are pre-loaded with all the content for Broken Fang, including future missions and the stop date for the event. Broken Fang includes a premium queue, 50 ping commands for use in all game modes, and more skins than collectors can get their hands on. But CSGO’s operations have mainly stayed …
CSGO coach claims new bug lets you see opposing team’s pings
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
PACT coach Vincent ”vinS” Jozefiak tweeted that he could see his team’s opponent’s pings during a live match against Alternate aTTax. With Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s new operation came a huge update to the ability for players to communicate information in competitive games. CSGO’s ping system had previously been limited to Danger Zone, but Operation Broken Fang introduced it to other modes and expanded on it, adding 50 customizable commands that …
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.
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