News

League of Legends Golden Guardians has a chance vs Team Liquid in LCS playoffs By William Davis Apex Legends Rampart abilities revealed in new Apex Legends trailer By Olivia Richman League of Legends iG decline continues as team knocked out of LPL playoffs By William Davis

Dota 2

OG’s MidOne brings back carry Io in Omega League match vs NiP Steven Rondina Anathan “ana” Pham isn’t playing pro Dota 2 these days, but his spirit lives on with his former team. OG is competing in Omega League’s Europe Immortal division and won its second group stage match against Ninjas in Pyjamas. Both games featured OG carry player Yeik “MidOne” Nai Zheng playing carry Io, a unique take on what is traditionally a hard support hero.  ana showed the power of core Io …

News

Valorant players mad as footstep audio gives defenders advantage Olivia Richman Valorant players are once again asking Riot to fix the game’s footstep audio.  Since Valorant’s release, developers have been improving the FPS game’s sound visualization. This includes changing weapon sound effects and the agents’ sound cues. One thing that still needs some audio improvement are enemy footsteps. This has been a complaint since the game’s beta. Former Valorant streamer Daniel “Dafran” Francesca showed his followers how noisy opponents are when …

News

Hexagrams discusses “mental break” that occurred live on OWL Olivia Richman Overwatch League fans noticed something off about caster Robert “Hexagrams” Kirkbride during the August 15 Overwatch League broadcast.  The APAC region broadcast schedule included Seoul Dynasty vs. New York Excelsior, and Shanghai Dragons vs. London Spitfire. Throughout the two matches, Hex’s actions and words started to raise some red flags with viewers. Some speculated that he was drunk or high as he continued to spout negative remarks and go on …

Fortnite

Epic Games CEO reveals why they are suing Apple and Google Olivia Richman Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney discussed his company’s lawsuit with Apple and Google.  Google and Apple removed Fortnite from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store when Epic Games gave players the option to pay for their V-Bucks directly through the app instead of through the stores. Mobile players were offered the choice to purchase 1,000 V-Bucks directly from Epic for $7.99 or pay $9.99 for the same amount …

League of Legends Is KT Rolster heating up in the fight for LCK playoff spots? By William Davis Apex Legends Dr Disrespect hints at big things ahead, rants on Apex Legends By Olivia Richman Counter-Strike 100 Thieves coach ImAPet thinks CSGO badly needs new maps By M Alzamora

League of Legends

The rise, fall, and potential rise again of Unicorns of love Jared Wynne Unicorns of Love was the ultimate meta breaker, and in more ways than one. From their name and uniform to their play style and identity, everything the team did flew in the face of League of Legends conventions.  They didn’t have to go to Worlds or win titles to earn devotion from fans, they just had to be themselves. It’s worth looking back at the original roster that rose from …

League of Legends

Varus and Sett have fallen hard in solo queue with patch 10.16 William Davis The recent League of Legends patch 10.16 has had a big impact on the game’s meta, resulting in some former top-tier picks falling drmatically in priority.  The meta has shifted the most in the bottom lane, where several new marksmen and even utility mages are now posting the highest solo queue win rates. We are seeing both Caitlyn and Ashe having a big impact in the bot lane, while the …

Counter-Strike

This programmer is trolling CSGO cheaters in hilarious ways M Alzamora Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s cheating problem has driven vigilante programmers into baiting hackers with fake cheats, often to hilarious effect. With CSGO’s serious increase in VAC bans, fans know there’s been some real work done by Valve to combat the game’s cheating problem. But the first-person shooter’s cheating issue has turned into a community issue. It isn’t just Valve who’s doing the work anymore, as a few programmers have taken it …

News

Overwatch League 2020 Grand Finals, All-Star event date announced gabhernandez Fans have long been waiting for a definite start date for the 2020 Overwatch League Grand Finals. Now, they finally have an answer. The 2020 Overwatch League Grand Finals will be held over the course of three days. From October 8 to 10, two teams from each region will compete in a double-elimination bracket to determine the season’s champion. This year will see two different All-Star games as well. The …

Blizzard looks to kill double shield meta with nerfs to Orisa, Sigma gabhernandez News Overwatch has received new patch notes and the most notable of the bunch were nerfs to Brigitte and Sigma. Orisa and Sigma’s ability to spam shields and block massive amounts of damage has dominated the competitive meta, which has been coined the “double shield meta.”  While Orisa also took a hit, Sigma received a nerf to his shield that dropped his barrier’s health from 900 to 700 while also decreasing …

Team Liquid vs Team Secret Omega League betting analysis Steven Rondina Dota 2 Team Secret and Team Liquid have faced off many times over the last few months, but they’re set to do so once again with much more money on the line this time around.  The Omega League is making the same old European and CIS Dota 2 league new once again by attaching a $500,000 prize pool to it. Liquid and Secret have played against each another seven times in the …

There are some big changes coming to Valorant’s ranking system Olivia Richman News Valorant’s competitive mode has been a source of frustration for amateur and pro players alike due to the first-person shooter’s controversial ranking system.  Valorant game director Joe Ziegler addressed the negative feedback developers have been receiving about the ranking system. Ziegler revealed that the development team is “analyzing the ranking system top to bottom” to look for ways to improve competitive play.  Hey everyone, on the design side we are …

Collector’s Cache 2 arrives in The International 10 Battle Pass Steven Rondina News The International 10 Battle Pass is already set to smash 2019’s prize pool record, but Valve is still wanting to persuade players and fans to spend even more money. A second Collector’s Cache has arrived in the TI10 Battle Pass, bringing with it another wave of high-quality and limited edition skins. There are a total of 17 skins available in the cache, with 14 common skins and three rares. Many …

shroud reveals why he chose Twitch over YouTube and Facebook Olivia Richman News Popular streamer and former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro Michael “shroud” Grzesiek recently returned to Twitch after Microsoft’s Mixer streaming platform was shut down.  Many of shroud’s fans were perplexed by the choice, given that the popular streamer had been so adamant about his decision to leave Twitch before. He had even predicted that Mixer would surpass Twitch one day since he beleived that the since-failed platform offered better opportunities for …

The 2020 Summer LCS All-Pro teams are heavy on Cloud9, Liquid William Davis League of Legends The 2020 LCS Summer Split has entered its playoffs stage, which means that the all-pro teams have been announced.  The all-pro teams are based on voting done by LCS players and coaches, including the LCS broadcast team and third-party media. Every participant had to vote for his/her choices of the first, second, and third all-pro team.  Once again, the first all-pro team is dominated by players from Cloud9 who have …

nitr0 signs with 100 Thieves as leader of new Valorant team M Alzamora News Nick “nitr0” Cannella and 100 Thieves announced that the former Team Liquid in-game leader had joined the organization’s Valorant roster. The move comes several days after nitr0’s surprise announcement that he was stepping away from his longtime home. While nitr0 made mention of staying in the esports scene when he left TL, the most obvious move would have been to join another Counter-Strike organization, much like Finn “karrigan” Andersen had …

CSGO’s next operation should steal Valorant’s Spike Rush M Alzamora Counter-Strike While Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s recent Shattered Web operation didn’t come bundled with any limited-time game modes, the shooter’s next operation should copy Valorant game mode Spike Rush wholesale. CSGO is a notoriously difficult game to get into and learn for new players. The game’s tutorial is lacking, and the difference between Counter-Strike’s casual game mode and its competitive mode are too many to list. While there aren’t any item builds …

These are the best champions to play in LoL patch 10.16 William Davis League of Legends With the recent release of League of Legends patch 10.16, a shift in the meta is starting to form. But which champions are currently the best to play as a result?  We will be looking at the best champions to pick up in the current patch according to the patch changes and early solo queue stats from platinum rank and up. Patch 10.16 Highlights!Read the full patch notes ???? https://t.co/tI98dpO3OV …

T1 is dominating the LCK after replacing Faker with Clozer William Davis League of Legends The recent addition of young talented mid laner Lee “Clozer” Ju-hyeon to the T1 starting LCK roster came as a shock to many. T1 fans were not happy when they heard that the most successful player in League of Legends history, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, had to take up a spot on the bench. But things have been going well for the team since the move.  Clozer was subbed in for …

TSM to lower bracket in LCS playoffs after Golden Guardians upset William Davis League of Legends Golden Guardians just pulled off the upset of the season and is making Team SoloMid play the loser’s bracket in the 2020 LCS Summer playoffs. TSM’s playoffs run is not going as well as was expected. In the first round of playoffs, Golden Guardians destroyed TSM for a clean 3-0 sweep. Golden Guardians is advancing through the upper bracket and TSM is getting a second chance against Dignitas. After today’s …

FunPlus Phoenix knocked out of 2020 LPL playoffs by Victory Five William Davis League of Legends Current World Champion FunPlus Phoenix has been eliminated from the 2020 LPL Summer playoffs in the first round. In its first playoffs appearance, Victory Five achieved the seemingly impossible and knocked FunPlus Phoenix immediately out of playoffs. The best-of-five series finished after four games that looked one-sided for the most part. V5 picked up games one and two without much difficulty. At match point, it was time for top laner …

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