News

News Forsen faces more Twitch drama as classic emotes removed By Olivia Richman League of Legends Rekkles, G2 Esports take down MAD Lions in LEC 2021 opener By William Davis Counter-Strike Twistzz in talks with FaZe Clan after leaving Team Liquid By Fariha Bhatti

League of Legends

CaptainFlowers announces move to freelance before LCS broadcast William Davis One of the most popular LCS casters Clayton “CaptainFlowers” Raines recently announced that he will be a freelancer in 2021.  CaptainFlowers will be a freelancer this year but will still be on the LCS broadcast every week like fans are used to. Moving to freelance means that CaptainFlowers will now be able to do other things on the side without being tied to a contract with Riot Games. According to …

Fortnite

Predator enters Fortnite Island in patch 15.20 update Fariha Bhatti Epic Games has finally revealed the newest addition to Fortnite’s bounty hunter theme in the shape of a supervillain. Chapter 2 Season 5 Battle Pass brings the sinister Predator as part of the game’s Zero Point arc. The villian from the 1987 classic movie Predator has finally made its way to Fortnite’s Zero Point arc, all set to wreak havoc. The creature enters Fortnite as something players have never seen …

League of Legends

Riot teases changes to URF to adjust to LoL’s new item system William Davis When URF returns in 2021, it will be optimized with League of Legends’ new item system in mind.  It was recently teased by lead game mode designer Reina “Reinboom” Sweet that there will be quite a few changes made to URF that will “embrace the preseason item rework.” The main goal is to let players better engage with the item system in URF without falling into traps that can have …

Dota 2

GabeN talks moving The International, CSGO majors to New Zealand Steven Rondina Gabe Newell has essentially moved to New Zealand, and he might be taking his games’ biggest tournaments with him. Speaking with 1 News, the Valve Software CEO discussed the possibility of hosting major Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive events in New Zealand. Though he stopped short of saying local fans should start clearing their calendars, he acknowledged that there is a strong possibility of it happening next year. “Is …

Counter-Strike GODSENT confirms signing TACO, felps for new Brazilian lineup By Fariha Bhatti News Cloud9 Blue signs young CSGO pro leaf to its Valorant roster By Olivia Richman News koosta officially leaves CSGO to join Gen.G Valorant team By Nina Forneloza

News

Twitch bans Ryan Haywood after talk of his return to streaming Olivia Richman After shunned ex-Rooster Teeth employee Ryan Haywood announced a possible return to streaming, Twitch has permanently blocked him from the platform.  The news was first shared by esports insider Rod “Slasher” Bresleau. He tweeted that Haywood was “indefinitely suspended/permanently banned” from Twitch. The company itself offered no comment on the subject, but it seems the streaming platform may have been listening to the backlash it received after not banning his …

News

Valorant pro Hiko complains about “trash” ranked system Fariha Bhatti Riot Games’ Episode 2 tweaks to Valorant;s ranked game mode has ruffled a few feathers as stressed out players complain about the “trash” ranking system.  Valorant’s new update introduced major changes to the game in the form of a ranked system that overhauled how players stack up against each other. While most players lauded the developer’s effort to make the shooter more competitive, professional players have their reservations.  In a …

News

Jake returns to OWL to rejoin former team Houston Outlaws Nina Forneloza Former pro Overwatch player Jake “Jake” Lyon is returning to the Houston Outlaws after a year of casting for the Overwatch League, the Outlaws have announced. To much fanfare, Jake has announced his return to his old team after a year spent casting alongside Andrew “ZP” Rush. Jake was a beloved player in the early days of the OWL and was well known for both his Junkrat plays and lively …

News

Overwatch 2 may be coming later than fans expect amid delays Nina Forneloza Famous Overwatch streamer Metro has dropped a rumor that Overwatch 2 is experiencing more delays and won’t be releasing anywhere near the February BlizzConline date.  Overwatch 2, the sequel to Game of the Year winner Overwatch, has been long-awaited after its 2019 announcement date. Developers teased a PvE mode with mission-style chapters where players can learn more about the lore of Overwatch. They also announced early in 2020 that there …

This is how to fix the Valorant version mismatch error Nina Forneloza News Valorant has been experiencing a number of errors lately, but some players have encountered the mismatch error most frequently. It can be a real pain to deal with, but solving the issue is possible, and this is how. Fixing the issue is actually simple. Players need to close out of the game and restart the client. This will prompt players to download the latest version of the game, and that …

Team Liquid vs. TSM: 2021 LCS Lock In betting analysis William Davis League of Legends Team Liquid and Team SoloMid are meeting on January 22 for their first battle of the year. The teams are currently tied in the 2021 LCS Lock In tournament, and a victory here could mean first place in the group. Team Liquid and TSM have developed a rivalry in the LCS. TSM used to be top team in the region until Team Liquid rolled in and claimed four consecutive titles. …

G2 Esports vs. MAD Lions: 2021 LEC Spring betting analysis William Davis News The 2021 LEC season is finally here and will be starting with a banger between defending champions G2 Esports and the wild cards from MAD Lions.  What was a competitive and exciting matchup last year will be opening the 2021 LEC season. G2 made one of the biggest moves in the offseason by sending Luka “Perkz” Perković to Cloud9 in the LCS, followed up by signing Martin “Rekkles” Larsson from …

Astralis still tops CSGO team rankings, Gambit breaks through M Alzamora Counter-Strike While most professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams took time to relax over the game’s winter player break, Gambit continued to showcase dominant performances as it played through the holidays. The top half of this week’s CSGO rankings haven’t changed all that much since the conclusion of the IEM Global Challenge last December, but Gambit’s continued presence on the list in the number four spot is something that fans shouldn’t ignore. …

Gen.G suspends Ryujehong following sexist comments on Twitch Fariha Bhatti News Popular Twitch streamer and former Overwatch professional player Jehong “Ryujehong” Ryu has been suspended from Gen. G’s “team-related activities” after making sexist comments on his live stream. Ryujehong has a long account in Overwatch esports where he played as a professional support for three years. After spending two years in Seoul Dynasty, the Overwatch veteran was signed by Gen.G as its content creator in January. However, his recent Twitch episode …

Vici Gaming remains atop Dota 2 player rankings, but zai climbs Steven Rondina Dota 2 The 2021 Dota Pro Circuit season is here and the effects of this new competitive format is now being felt. In the rankings, one thing that’s being felt is the depth of the Chinese region. After months of Team Secret dominance over the top five, China has almost completely taken over. Four of the top five players come from China and that number could increase further. Here are where things …

Evil Geniuses, Fnatic look to climb back into top 10 Dota 2 teams Steven Rondina Dota 2 The 2021 Dota Pro Circuit is officially underway and with that, it’s a good time to take a look at where top teams stand heading into the season. There hasn’t been too much action since the last installment of the rankings, but top teams that were forced through the qualifiers saw their stocks rise slightly. Most of the standings should look familiar, but the makings of a major shift are …

s1mple tops ZywOo in CSGO player rankings, Astralis climbing back M Alzamora Counter-Strike As Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut compete in the BLAST Global Finals, the two also went head to head in WIN.gg’s biweekly player rankings. s1mple starts off the year in the number one spot, narrowly beating out the Vitality AWPer in the first set of player rankings for the new year. Over the past three months, both players are nearly tied in rounds played and total kills, and …

LCS teams jump into top 10 in 1st LoL team rankings of Season 11 William Davis League of Legends A slew of offseason roster swaps has resulted in a very different top 10 League of Legends team rankings. It’s a new season and teams from all around the world are gearing up to battle in their respective leagues and make a run for the 2021 World Championship. To keep track of the best teams in the world and how they’re projected to perform, here is the first iteration of …

New DPC may still see top teams and players live in poverty Steven Rondina Dota 2 The new Dota Pro Circuit is here and, in theory, it’s much better than the one that was in place before it. But in practice, many of the previous issues still linger on unsolved. The transition to regional leagues is meant to offer more teams the opportunity to make a serious run as professionals in Dota 2, and the median prize pool winnings will likely jump by a significant margin …

ShowMaker tops first LoL player rankings of 2021 William Davis League of Legends It’s a new year for League of Legends and the professional season is already up and running. Here is the first LoL player ranking of 2021.  After a long offseason break, the LoL rankings are back. Fans have seen a lot of roster changes in the offseason and it’s now finally time to see which organizations managed to make the best decisions. Many players will return to Summoner’s Rift after …

What is CSGO’s player count in 2021? Is it growing or dying? M Alzamora Counter-Strike Counter-Strike: Global Offensive grew massively in 2020, and despite the game being eight years old it shows no signs of slowing down in 2021. In January 2020, CSGO suddenly jumped from an average daily player count of 650,000 to over 800,000. It was a big moment for Valve’s first-person shooter. After years of lagging behind Dota 2, CSGO was finally in the spotlight. Over the next several months, CSGO would …

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