Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Na’Vi stunned by Syman Gaming in ESL One Road to Rio CIS
Steven Rondina
A couple of months ago, Natus Vincere looked ready to completely take over the global Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene after their victory at IEM Katowice 2020. In the ESL Road to Rio, they aren’t looking nearly as strong. Natus Vincere now finds itself with a 2-2 record in the CIS region’s group stage. That second loss came after a shock defeat at the hands of Syman Gaming. NAVI TOP1 kek …
Counter-Strike
Former NiP player Pyth is latest CSGO pro to switch to Valorant
Jared Wynne
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro Jacob “pyth” Mourujärvi has announced his retirement from the game, and confirmed plans to pursue a career in Valorant. In a TwitLonger post, pyth stated that Valorant has reinvigorated his competitive spirit. He also reflected on the impact Counter-Strike has had on his life and paid homage to his former Ninjas in Pyjamas teammates. Pyth thus joins an ever-growing list of former CS players that have …
Counter-Strike
New data shows how effective CT aggression on Vertigo can really be
M Alzamora
When players think about map movement in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, bunnyhops and difficult jumps are usually the things that come to mind. But after looking at this animated illustration of Vertigo’s rush timings, players should see that there’s a lot more to just moving around a complex map than they’d previously thought. The gif visualizes player movement from ESL’s Road to Rio matches up until this point, animating them and …
Counter-Strike
North loses points as coach stands in for kjaerbye in Road to Rio EU
M Alzamora
North is officially the first team to lose qualification points under Valve’s new rules surrounding its Regional Major Ranking tournaments for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. RMT’s are a new addition to the CSGO calendar this year, introduced when Counter-Strike’s 16th Major, ESL One Rio, was postponed until November. North is the first team to officially be on the hook for the announced point penalty introduced by Valve in a recent blog …
Counter-Strike
Natus Vincere versus Pro100: Road to Rio EU Betting Analysis
M Alzamora
Tomorrow’s CIS showdown between Natus Vincere and Pro100 has all the markings of regional beatdown. After all, a team ranked in the top five should theoretically defeat a team ranked 42nd, no matter the circumstances. The thing is, Na`Vi really, doesn’t seem to like to play online. After one of the most dominant yet short-lived runs in recent memory that saw Na`Vi steamroll every team in their path at IEM …
Counter-Strike
ESL One Cologne goes on without audience, IEM Melbourne cancelled
M Alzamora
Both ESL One Cologne and IEM Melbourne have been effectively canceled according to a tweet from tournament organizer ESL. According to the accompanying blog post, tickets for both events will be honored at the events’ new dates in 2021. The cancellations are a result of both Germany and Australia’s ban on gatherings of large crowds. Germany recently ruled that large groups of people are a public health concern, banning them …
Counter-Strike
Does the new CSGO patch mean Chlorine is coming to competitive?
M Alzamora
CSGO’s latest patch shows that Valve is continuing its work on the flagship shooter by introducing specific kill feed notices for penetration, blinded, and no-scope kills, as well as a specific icon for kills made through smokes. The patch also does some cleaning up, including adjustments to the G3SG1’s textures, changing the way attackers hold any stolen AUGs they happen to find, and introducing the ability for players to buy …
Counter-Strike
5 CSGO pros hit with corruption charges over match fixing scandal
Olivia Richman
The first match-fixing case in Australian esports has led to some serious consequences. Five men between 20 and 27 years old are facing charges that carry maximum penalties of up to 10 years in jail. The charges stem from allegations of winning $30,000 by betting on fixed Counter-Strike: Global Offensive matches last March. In August, the Victorian police issued a statement on the matter, noting that a betting agency had tipped …
Explaining why a higher DPI is better for first-person shooters
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
It turns out that top of the line mice have DPI options that go all the way into the thousands for a reason. For years, gamers have copied their siblings, friends, and pro players as a starting point for customizing their own mouse settings, but it turns out that many gamers may have have been playing with one hand almost tied behind their back. A vast majority of players are …
Windigo receives WESG 2018 prize money after a year of waiting
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
After a year of back and forth, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team Windigo has finally received its prize from the WESG 2018 Finals. Windigo’s founder and owner, Artur Yermolayev, told HLTV that the team’s share of the $500,000 prize pool had been wired to the players. He also told the CSGO site that he was happy the matter had finally been settled. This is a long-time coming for Windigo, who was …
Top Korean CSGO team MVP PK shuts down to focus on Valorant
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Team MVP, the organization behind Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad MVP PK, is withdrawing from the tactical shooter. The Korean brand announced that it will instead focus its efforts on Riot Games’ new title, Valorant. The news was first reported by Fomos. MVP has been a constant presence in Asia’s competitive CSGO scene since 2015, with the formation of the MVP Project Team. MVP formed a second team, MVP PK, in …
ESL Road to Rio EU: Fnatic versus Vitality betting analysis
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Despite being the number-one ranked team in the world, Fnatic sits just inside the playoff picture for ESL’s Road to Rio. Right below them in the number four spot of group A is Team Vitality, tied in the standings with Fnatic at 4-2 but with a -8 round differential holding them below the Swedes in the standings. This matchup is incredibly important in terms of standings going into CSGO’s Summer …
Red Bull Flick combines competitive Wingman with custom CSGO maps
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Redd Bull has partnered with FACEIT to host a new Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competition offering $22,000 in prize money. The tournament introduces a new game mode that Counter-Strike players have never seen before, a mix between King of the Hill and CSGO’s Wingman, requiring teams of two players to capture and hold an area on the map for a specific amount of time. The tournament is being held on the …
Some ESL Road to Rio teams are choosing to play without agent skins
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
In ESL’s Road to Rio matchup between FURIA and Team Envy, both teams came to an agreement not to use Valve’s recently introduced agent skins, but an admin’s comments might have previewed Valve’s desire to have them used anyway. When FURIA and Team Envy paused their Road to Rio qualification match so members of the teams could turn off their agent skins, an admin was quick to tell them that …
CSGO pro gets banned for live stream sniping during ESL event
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Stream sniping isn’t just a problem in battle royale titles. It also happens in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, even during live professional tournaments. Tournament organizer ESL and the Esports Integrity Coalition have issued a ban of Team VAC’s Emil “emilshe1n” Mamedov. The decision stems from emilshe1n apparently utilizing the official broadcast of a match between VAC and nerdRage during the ESL Premiership Spring 2020 competition in order to learn information on …
FaZe Clan versus Mousesports: ESL Road to Rio Betting Analysis
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Only a year ago, this would have been an easy game to call. Mousesports would have been coming off an April where they started off as the 45th best team in the world. Finn “Karrigan” Andersen had just joined, and a showdown between FaZe and mouz would’ve been an easy slaughter for FaZe. Today, however, is a much different story. Mousesports has turned into a contender and a dangerous team …
Hunden retires, moves to new coaching role at Heroic
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen has announced that he has retired from professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive as a player, and will transition into a coaching role with Heroic. The vetrab player spent the his last months of active playing with the newly-formed MAD Lions squad before being replaced as the team’s in-game leader by Asger “AcilioN” Larsen. HUNDEN took his removal from the team he had helped lead to FLASHPOINT 1, asking …
ESL and DreamHack sign massive streaming deal with Twitch
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
In a departure from its typical stance on multi-year deals, streaming platform Twitch has entered into a three-year partnership with ESL and sister company DreamHack to become the sole provider of the companies’ English-language esports broadcasts. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed at the time of the announcement. This marks the second time ESL has sold the english streaming rights to its events since 2018, first doing …
Figuring out when CSGO’s next operation is coming
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s ninth event, Operation Shattered Web, landed with a bang last November and was a major factor that helped catapult CSGO to its first million-player day. Shattered Web was Counter-Strike’s first battle pass, and where there’s one season pass, more tend to follow. CSGO’s internal configurations refer to a seasonal pass, and Shattered Web’s mission files are structured to make it easy for Valve to create one over …
Orgless disbands, yay blames CSGO leagues and Valorant
M Alzamora
Counter-Strike
North American Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team Orgless has announced that they will cease competing in Valve’s first-person shooter. The team was currently involved in ESL’s Road to Rio competition to determine the new attendees at November’s CSGO Major. ESL made the announcement in a tweet from their official Twitter account. Team “Orgless” have decided to not compete in the rest of the #ESLOne Road to Rio and have disbanded.As #ESLOne …
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.
