Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Anti-doping official talks esports and what players are using
Steven Rondina
Anti-doping officials don’t view adderall as much of a problem these days, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a drug problem in esports. Michele Verroken of Sporting Integrity spoke with Reuters about some of her recent work with the Esports Integrity Coalition. According to Verroken, there has been a cultural shift in esports away from adderall, but towards other substances. “The trend is to say ‘yes, we thought that Adderall …
News
Virtus.pro finds replacement for TOAO in new player Vegi
Steven Rondina
Virtus.pro has found a new fifth man for its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster. The organization announced that it has officially signed Arek “Vegi” Nawojski to the team. He replaces Mateusz “TOAO” Zawistowski, who was deactivated in March after just three months. Vegi is a fresh face on a veteran Virtus.pro team. The player first popped up in professional CS:GO in 2017 competing in various European regional events. He found a …
News
Star athletes Neymar and Gabriel Jesus face off in CS:GO showmatch
Steven Rondina
Brazilian soccer star Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior is a massive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fan and a pretty solid player, too. He recently demonstrated that in a showmatch where he led a team to victory over a squad helmed by Manchester City forward Gabriel Jesus. The game was set up by Brazilian CS:GO team Furia, with the winner having an opportunity to play against the pros after. The game was …
Counter-Strike
Lazarus, CLG Red, Singularity off to hot starts in Winners League
Steven Rondina
Winners League Season 2 is moving full steam ahead and delivering exactly the kind of action that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fans are looking for. Whether it’s world class squads putting on a show or two evenly matched teams combining for a double-overtime nailbiter, Winners League delivered both this week. Fans got to see one of Swole Patrol’s first games under the Lazarus Esports umbrella, Counter Logic Gaming Red took the …
Counter-Strike
Astralis shocked by three losses to end run at BLAST Pro Series Miami
Steven Rondina
Astralis losing any game comes as something of a surprise, but Astralis losing three games in one day is a shocker. That is exactly what happened in the second day of play at the BLAST Pro Series: Miami. Despite opening the event with victories over Cloud9 and Natus Vincere, Astralis went 0-3 on day two. The Danes opened the day in ugly fashion opposite MiBR. After trading the first five …
News
Cloud9 debut new roster with two losses at BLAST Pro Series Miami
Steven Rondina
Cloud9 has a new roster and new apparel, but it has achieved the same results. Debuting its fresh black and white jerseys and a lineup that includes René “cajunb” Borg and Daniel “vice” Kim, Cloud9 started its new era at the BLAST Pro Series: Miami. While the ideal way to kick things off would have been with a few victories, Cloud9 instead ate a pair of tough losses. Though Cloud9 …
Counter-Strike
BLAST Pro Series Global Final details revealed before Miami event
Steven Rondina
RFRSH is looking to establish the BLAST Pro Series as one of the biggest circuits in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and is throwing down a lot of money in order to make that happen. The organizer revealed the plans for the rest of its 2019 season in a press release. It also gave some details on the BLAST Pro Series: Global Final 2019, the event which will crown the series’ first …
Counter-Strike
FURIA Esports explains why the team refused ESL Pro League invite
Olivia Richman
Fans are conflicted on FURIA Esports’ choice to turn down an invite to ESL Pro League Season 9. Despite the invite to one of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s largest tournaments, FURIA has chosen to instead play at the DreamHack Open in Rio de Janeiro. “We work in this way: We make commitments, we fulfill it. Regardless of the profit or loss that this can generate. Great companies, people, and relationships are …
Cache map creator FMPONE gives fans update on map revisions
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Cache is no longer part of the professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map pool, but that hasn’t slowed down its creator. Map designer FMPONE has been working on a retooled version of the popular map for over a year and judging from social media, he has made serious headway. In a recent tweet, FMPONE showed off his progress in revising the map. Both bombsites, mid, highway, truck, and the area around …
CompLexity Gaming brings back n0thing for ESL Pro League
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
Season 9 of the American ESL Pro League begins today, and for many Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams it has been a rocky road to get here. Just one day before the competition was to begin, compLexity Gaming announced that Jordan “n0thing” Gilbert will be standing in for Ricky “Rickeh” Mulholland due to visa issues for the Australian. For now, Rickeh is stuck in Canada. “n0thing lives out in the west coast …
This botched musical performance at a CS:GO event causes cringe
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Many esports events have included musical numbers as part of the live experience. Sometimes they go very well, like when violinist Lindsey Stirling opened the main event of Dota 2’s The International 2016. Sometimes they can go very, very wrong, like at the Charleroi Esports 2019 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament. The duo of Belgian Eurodance singer Marisa and DJ Charley were meant to perform a number that included their recently …
Draken dropped from Ninjas in Pyjamas as Dennis returns
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Dennis “dennis” Edman has returned from his hiatus from competitive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Ninjas in Pyjamas announced the Swede’s return to its active roster on Twitter. It also confirmed the release of stand-in player William “draken” Sundin, who joined the team as a substitute to fill in for Dennis during his absence. Dennis has been a key member of Ninjas in Pyjamas during the team’s recent upswing. An 11-year veteran …
Former EnVyUs players form core of new Team LDLC CS:GO roster
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Team LDLC is back in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive business. Just a week removed from the release of its roster, the enduring French organization has brought in a new squad of players. LDLC revealed in a series of tweets that its new lineup consists of Engin “MAJ3R” Kupeli, Christophe “SIXER” Xia, Alexandre “xms” Forté, and Vincent “Happy” Cervoni Schopenhauer. Filling in the final spot on a trial basis is Rodolphe …
Natus Vincere win StarSeries season 7 with sweep of Fnatic
Steven Rondina
News
Natus Vincere are the champions of StarSeries & i-League Season 7. The Ukrainian team smashed its way into the grand finals and faced off with Fnatic. There, Natus Vincere scored an emphatic but hardfought 3-0 victory to seal up the first-place prize of $250,000. The first map was essentially the Denis “electronic” Sharipov show. He carried Na’Vi to a 5-1 lead to start the game with a some solid gunslinging …
Fnatic set to face Natus Vincere in StarSeries Season 7 final
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Just two teams remain at StarSeries & i-League Season 7. In the grand finals of the Shanghai event, tournament favorite Natus Vincere will take on a surging Fnatic in a best-of-five series. The winner will receive the $250,000 top prize. Natus Vincere’s presence in the grand finals comes as a surprise to few. The Ukrainian squad was held up as one of the world’s best throughout 2018, routinely placing top-four in …
New Swole Patrol roster finds a sponsor in Lazarus Esports
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
One of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s most recognizable North American teams is no longer without an organization. North American staple Swole Patrol is now Lazarus Esports. The entirety of the team has transferred to the Canadian organization, which returns to men’s Counter-Strike for the first time since 2017. Originally founded in 2011, Swole Patrol has existed in many different forms over the years. In 2018 it became a proper team with …
Renegades angry with interfering fan during win over NiP
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Renegades’ debut in the StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 7 playoffs was successful, but it didn’t come without controversy. Playing opposite Ninjas in Pyjamas, Renegades AWPer Sean “Gratisfaction” Kaiwai was seen flipping off the crowd following a key clutch round for his team. The reason? A fan of Ninjas in Pyjamas was shouting his location out in an attempt to help the Swedes. The incident has been clipped on Twitch. …
Shroud shows off X-rays from elbow surgery, discusses procedure
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
Michael “shroud” Grzesiek has been through a whole lot over the last few weeks. That was plain to see on the popular streamer’s latest broadcast, as he showed off x-rays featuring his surgically repaired elbow. Though he has been open about the severity of the injury, this shines a whole new light on just much work needed to be done to fix him up. The x-rays show off a lengthy …
Latest CS:GO update brings big changes to Vertigo, Abbey
Steven Rondina
Counter-Strike
When people claimed that the latest addition to the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map pool wasn’t fit for high-level play, they were right. That’s what Valve seems to think, as Vertigo received another set of tweaks in the latest update to the game. This is the fourth set of adjustments to the map since March 19. For the most part, the tweaks to the skyscraper-themed map were minor fixes including remedying …
The meaning behind EZ4ENCE, a CSGO meme song gone viral
Olivia Richman
Counter-Strike
It’s hard to forget the moment Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team ENCE proudly stepped onto the IEM Katowice stage for the finals with “EZ4ENCE” blaring behind them. The song by The Verkkars even made it onto Finland’s Top 50 music chart in March. The title of the song is actually inspired by a popular CS:GO meme. EZ4ENCE is what fans like to say on Twitch during matches, basically meaning that it’s …
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.
