News

League of Legends Suning vs. G2 Esports: betting analysis at Worlds 2020 By William Davis League of Legends Hashinshin says he was investigated by FBI, claims innocence By Olivia Richman News Common mistakes Valorant players make, and how to fix them By Olivia Richman

League of Legends

These are the best performing players in Worlds 2020’s groups William Davis All teams at the 2020 League of Legends World Championship main event have played its first three games. But which players have been the most dominant so far? The first round-robin of the Worlds group stage has been concluded and teams are now entering the final days where all four groups will be settled. Some players have come out of the first games with a lot of confidence, while some …

League of Legends

Riot kills Pantheon support, nerfs new champion Samira again William Davis While the 2020 World Championship is booming in Shanghai, Riot Games still has to keep the game fresh and exciting. Lead gameplay designer Mark “Scuffy” Yetter recently presented a look at the upcoming patch 10.21 and what it has in store for players. 10.21 Patch Preview with changes. Not 100% locked down but almost finalized. pic.twitter.com/5GkNJE36jW — Mark Yetter (@MarkYetter) October 6, 2020 The patch will not affect the 2020 …

Counter-Strike

This Counter-Strike mod is the true origin behind Among Us M Alzamora A mod based on Counter-Strike was the original Among Us, even if it has been largely fogotten since. Murder mysteries aren’t new, but their appearance in popular games and streaming is. With Twitch streamers lying and scheming their way out of certain doom, the newly popularized game Among Us has found new life through the streaming community. But despite the game’s reputation as being unique, there was one CS mod …

Counter-Strike

Cloud9 confirms floppy’s CSGO signing was worth big money M Alzamora Cloud9 has almost finished its roster with the addition of Ricky “floppy” Kemery in a deal C9’s general manager Henry Greer said was worth more than $430,000. Floppy is the only player that has survived a Cloud9 rebuild that started when the team announced that it would release the organization’s current roster after a mere eight months. The South African esports team ATK agreed to a roster transfer with Cloud9 …

News Valorant Episode 1 Act III will introduce new agent By Olivia Richman League of Legends Riot Games shuts down the Oceanic Pro League By William Davis News Valorant Act 3 will include new winter-themed map Icebox By Fariha Bhatti

News

Blizzard closing down French office despite strong profits Steven Rondina In what is becoming a regular story in the video game industry news cycle, Activision Blizzard has followed up strong earnings reports with layoffs. This time, Bloomberg is reporting that the publisher behind Call of Duty and Overwatch is shutting down its Versailles office in France. The office employed approximately 400. The departments most impacted by this latest round of layoffs are customer service, marketing, and localization.  Activision Blizzard previously …

News

All the key points and features in Valorant’s new map Icebox Olivia Richman After weeks of teasing, Valorant finally introduced a new map called Icebox.  Icebox will be coming to Valorant when Act III begins next week. The snow-covered map features a giant battleship on one side of the map, pulled into a dockyard with large shipping containers. There’s a big building with multiple floors on the other side of the map, complete with ropes that appear to act like ziplines. Parts of …

Counter-Strike

mousesports releases Rejin after admission to CSGO cheating M Alzamora mousesports announced that it has released head coach Allan “⁠Rejin⁠” Petersen after his involvement in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s coaching exploit scandal. Rejin was one of 37 coaches who received punishments handed down by the Esports Integrity Coalition after it investigated reports that CSGO coaches had exploited a flaw in CSGO’s spectator code. The exploit gave coaches free reign over a CSGO server by allowing them to spectate any spot on …

League of Legends

What is ability haste in League of Legends and how does it work? William Davis As part of the 2021 preseason item overhaul, Riot is getting rid of the cooldown reduction (CDR) stat and replacing it with the new ability haste.  Riot’s goal for Season 11 is to enable greater flexibility in how players cast their abilities more often and to give clearer build options. To avoid unnecessary confusion, Riot has chosen to rename cooldown reduction to ability haste.  The rework has still left people …

TSM is still without wins at Worlds 2020 and it may stay that way William Davis League of Legends LGD Gaming sent Team SoloMid to the bottom of group C after beating them at the 2020 League of Legends World Championship.  TSM needed a win against LGD after losing its first two games at Worlds. Going down 0-3 in groups is almost impossible to come back from, so TSM had to showcase their absolute best play. Unfortunately for TSM, LGD was not an easy opponent after they beat Fnatic …

Fnatic hands Gen.G first loss at Worlds 2020, exploits weaknesses William Davis League of Legends Fnatic handed Gen.G its first loss at the 2020 League of Legends World Championship group stage after an impressive team effort.  Gen.G has been succeeding with its controlled late game play style so far at Worlds. But against Fnatic, they tried something new. Instead of a team fight oriented composition, Gen.G went for the Nidalee in the jungle and Renekton on top. The duo is known to be very strong …

FlyQuest needs upset at Worlds 2020 to advance from groups William Davis League of Legends FlyQuest lost its second game at the 2020 League of Legends World Championship group stage after falling short against DragonX. The loss to DRX makes it difficult for FlyQuest to advance from the group, with only three games left to play. It seems likely that the LCS underdogs will have to make an upset against either Top Esports or DRX to have a chance at securing a top-two seed in …

Suning and G2 in first, Team Liquid has a chance to advance in Worlds 2020 William Davis League of Legends Suning tied for first place with G2 Esports after a dominant victory over Machi Esports in the 2020 World Championship. Things are getting interesting in group A at Worlds. Suning and G2 are currently tied in the first place with two victories and one defeat. Team Liquid is tied with Machi with one win and two losses. Group A is looking closer than ever ahead of the second half of round …

Team Liquid breaks G2 Esports undefeated record in Worlds 2020 William Davis League of Legends Team Liquid broke G2 Esports’ perfect record in the 2020 World Championship, but it’s too soon for North American fans to celebrate. Team Liquid secured its first victory in the main event against no other than G2. The North American squad is finally showing signs of life after two defeats against Machi Esports and Suning. While the victory comes when the team needed it the most, it’s too early to …

Dota 2 pros discuss facing death threats for losing games Steven Rondina Dota 2 Being a pro Dota 2 player is difficult, but so-called fans don’t always make it easier. Ninjas in Pyjamas offlaner Jonáš “SabeRLight-” Volek took to Twitter to vent his frustration with an interaction he had on social media. The direct message from an individual with an apparent burner account invites SabeRLight- and his family to “please die.”  While this could have been chalked up as a strange occurrence with one …

Riot plans competitive matchmaking changes for Valorant Act 3 Fariha Bhatti News Riot’s tactical shooter Valorant will soon be getting some significant updates to its competitive matchmaking. The changes will be implemented in Act 3, which begins on October 27. Riot announced upcoming changes in competitive mode in the new episode of developer diaries. Game director Joe Ziegler and systems design lead David Cole talked about the issues in matchmaking and discussed future updates that fans should expect from Act 3.  Matchmaking …

Xyp9x returns to Astralis practices, return date announced Fariha Bhatti Counter-Strike Clutch minister Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth will be returning to the active roster of Astralis after a four-month hiatus. The 25-year old has already begun practicing to rejoin the competitive scene soon. Xyp9x and team took to Twitter to announce their delight over the comeback of the star player. Despite dusting off is mouse and keyboard, Astralis’ roster for DreamHack Open Fall 2020 has already been registered and Xyp9x will not …

North America has no sponsored Dota 2 teams after CR4ZY release Steven Rondina Dota 2 Desperate times are calling for desperate measures when it comes to esports organization CR4ZY. The European brand has announced the release of its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 rosters. CR4ZY says this stems from a downturn in business. “CR4ZY has terminated the contracts with all of its esports teams on the 30th of September in order to prepare for the upcoming year. Although this feels like a loss, we …

NRG signs ImAPet and daps, s0m signing uncertain M Alzamora Counter-Strike It’s been confirmed that NRG Esports was actually pursuing ex-Gen.G in-game leader Damien “daps” Steele and 100 Thieves head coach Chet “ImAPet” Singh. NRG announced two members of its debut Valorant roster in a tweet from the organization’s official Twitter account. The move confirms reports that the organization was interested in the CSGO veterans. Those rumors also linked Gen.G’s Sam “s0m” Oh to the organization’s plans, but neither s0m nor …

CS 1.6 creator Minh Le creates new company with Astralis owner M Alzamora Counter-Strike Update 10/10/20: Minh Le clarified his postion with SCATTERSHOT Ltd. in a quote provided to WIN.gg. “I once discussed the opportunity to work as a technical adviser for a new FPS esports shooter with Nikolaj [Nyholm]. However, it was a misconception that I thought I could do it while still maintaining my position at Pearl Abyss. The bottom line is that I’ve been working at Pearl Abyss and will continue …

CSGO legend pashaBiceps may be returning to CSGO pro scene Olivia Richman Counter-Strike Jaroslaw “pashaBiceps” Jarzabkowski might be returning to the pro Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene.  The CSGO legend is rumored to be joining Team Liquid’s new academy roster, as was first reported by PolishLeaks. pashaBiceps joined Team Liquid as a streamer in August.  We’re getting a buff ????????????Please welcome our new friend @paszaBicepshttps://t.co/E1Qp9diMUs pic.twitter.com/WU5SpOBiRY — Team Liquid (@TeamLiquid) August 5, 2020 This wouldn’t be out of the question for Team Liquid. They’ve …

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