News

News What types of companies are sponsoring esports teams? By Jared Wynne League of Legends Riot Games investigates executive over problematic George Floyd post By Steven Rondina News What is the player count in Valorant, and how many are playing? By Olivia Richman

League of Legends

Riot Games plans on big penalties for AFK players in solo queue William Davis Riot Games is planning on giving harsher punishment to AFK players, the developer revealed in a recent update on fighting against game-ruining behavior. Back in May, Riot shared its plan to stop the game-ruining behavior in solo queue. After a month of research and the deploying of some small fixes to solo queue, Riot is starting to reconsider its penalty system. “Our penalties for AFKing rely too much on queue …

League of Legends

Akali and ADC Senna just got big buffs in League’s latest patch William Davis League of Legends patch 10.12 has arrived with new elements on the map, buffs for Volibear, and new high noon skins. High Noon Senna, High Noon Irelia, and Hextech Nocturne will be available on June 18. High Noon Senna is the first skin line the Redeemer shares with her husband, Lucian. The reworked Volibear arrived at the Summoner’s Rift with patch 10.11 and has been underperforming ever since. Volibear’s win …

Counter-Strike

shox is now officially the most clutch player in CSGO history Steven Rondina It didn’t take long for Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth to lose his spot as the most credentialed clutch players in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive history after taking an indefinite hiatus from the game.  According to HLTV, Richard “shox” Papillon has stepped ahead of the four-time major winner on the list of most clutch victories in CSGO. As of this writing, the French player has 660 clutch victories to his name compared to …

Counter-Strike

Snappi may join fourth team in a month with move to c0ntact Steven Rondina For the fourth time in the last month, Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer seems to have found himself a new home. According to a report from HLTV, the Danish player is set to be transferred to c0ntact Gaming. If the deal is signed, it would end a month of his being bounced between competing organizations. This follows the player announcing that he now has split from Astralis: Was an honor to play …

League of Legends 100 Thieves Ssumday, CodySun, Ryoma talk challenges, goals for summer By Olivia Richman News C9 Zven: “The only other team that’s somewhat good is Team Liquid.” By Olivia Richman League of Legends CLG Ruin on LCS struggles: “My main problem was communication” By Olivia Richman

League of Legends

igNar promises FlyQuest won’t be “easy win” for Cloud9 in summer Olivia Richman Going into the LCS Spring Split, not many League of Legends fans had high hopes for FlyQuest. It didn’t take long for analysts and viewers alike to see just how wrong their predictions were.  FlyQuest ended up tied for second with Evil Geniuses and 100 Thieves at the end of the split before making a run through playoffs behind eventual champion Cloud9. But that wasn’t enough for Dong-geun “igNar” Lee. …

League of Legends

Sneaky thinks latest marksmen and ADC buffs make no difference William Davis Former Cloud9 AD carry Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi is not completely sold on the latest buffs for marksmen that came through with LoL patch 10.11. Streamer and cosplay extraordinaire Sneaky had some thoughts about the buffs in patch 10.11 and whether or not these changes would make a big difference for marksmen. Solo queue players have been complaining about the state of marksmen since the offseason when Riot Games changed the …

League of Legends

Riot Games’ $11 million to support underrepresented gaming communities William Davis Riot Games has pledged to donate $1 million to fight against inequality and racism in North America, president Dylan Jadeja announced. The Riot Games Social Impact Fund will make initial contributions to The Innocence Project and the American Civil Liberties Union. The Innocence Project works in favor of the wrongly convicted individuals by providing DNA testing and working of reforms for the criminal justice system. The ACLU protects the rights …

News

Sage nerfed, new game mode launched in Valorant patch 1.01 gabhernandez Valorant update 1.01 has arrived, and though the changelist is small it’s still an important one. The most exciting change is the launch of new game mode Spike Rush. Alongside this, new orb types have been added to play.  Three new orbs have been added for the Spike Rush game mode.  Health Orbs grant instant, teamwide health regeneration. The effect lasts for 20 seconds and gives 12 HP per second.  …

Overwatch Hero Pools removed from competitive mode, changed in OWL gabhernandez News Overwatch community manager Molly Fender wrote in a forum post that Hero Pools will be removed indefinitely from competitive play. Hero Pools were initially created as a way to help unglue a stagnant meta from developing in between patches. Instead of being an extended ban for certain heroes, Hero Pools looks to keep the meta fluid by cycling certain heroes out of play for short lengths of time. Though this …

LCS broadcast loses Ovilee ahead of 2020 LCS Summer Split William Davis News The LCS broadcast just lost a key member of its team. Hostess and interviewer Ovilee May has revealed that she won’t part of the LCS broadcast in the upcoming 2020 LCS Summer split. May, who’s represented by United Talent, shared the announcement through her personal YouTube channel. May didn’t detail the exact circumstances of the departure from the broadcast, but clarified that she will continue to work with the LCS …

Hauntzer, Closer, FBI talk Damonte and the LCS teams they’re targeting Olivia Richman League of Legends Golden Guardians finished sixtth in the Spring Split, falling short in the playoffs. But with a new roster and a new focus, the Golden Guardians squad is looking forward to a more successful Summer Split. WIN.gg chatted with Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell, Can “Closer” Çelik, and Victor “FBI” Huang about their goals for the LCS Summer Split and which teams they’re looking forward to beating.  How has practice been?  Hauntzer: Scrimming’s …

Ex-MVP PK star xeta announces retirement from CSGO, move to Valorant Jared Wynne Counter-Strike Seon-ho “xeta” Son, one of South Korea’s best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players, has announced his retirement from the game.  Xeta joins an increasing number of CSGO professionals that are making the switch to Valorant. He announced the news in a post on Twitter: “I’m officially moving to Valorant, thanks for all of your support and cheers…Thanks to this experience I have nothing but good memories of people in Counter-Strike…I will …

Valve threatening FaZe, MIBR players for conflicts of interest M Alzamora Counter-Strike Valve has cited a number of different Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro players and staff for potential conflicts of interest surrounding the upcoming ESL One Rio Major, including players on MIBR, FaZe Clan, and DIGNITAS. Seven individuals, including Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo,  Epitacio “TACO” de Melo, Marcelo “coldzera” David, MIBR manager Ricardo “dead” Sinigaglia, Evil Geniuses coach Wilton “zews” Prado, Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund, and Immortals’ general manager Tomi “lurppis” Kovanen were warned …

Skadoodle wins Twitch Rivals Valorant tournament with T1 Jared Wynne News Former Cloud9 player Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham is the latest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive star to make the jump to Valorant, joining T1’s newly formed roster. The recently retired AWPer will be joining former IBUYPOWER teammates, as well as some fresh faces: Braxton “brax” Pierce Keven “AZK” Larivière Victor “food” Wong Austin “crashies” Roberts Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham On Twitter, Skadoodle announced that he was excited to compete again and thanked T1 for …

Dignitas V1per: “I like the idea of a 10-man roster.” Olivia Richman League of Legends It’s not too common for LCS teams to have a 10-man roster, but Dignitas is giving it a shot for the Summer Split.  After a mediocre showing in the Spring Split, Dignitas is looking to have a bigger impact in the summer with a spot at the World Championship on the line. WIN.gg spoke with Omran “V1per” Shoura about his new team and their approach to the upcoming season.  How …

EG Svenskeren: “There’s no downside to having Huni on the roster.” Olivia Richman League of Legends The LCS Summer Split is beginning June 20 and Evil Geniuses’ Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen already has his eyes on the 2020 World Championship.  WIN.gg spoke with the jungler about the new roster, what it means for the Summer Split, and what changes the team has made after falling to Cloud9 in the finals last season.  EG came in second last season in the LCS. How do you plan on taking …

OG announces release of OG Seed due to conflict of interest concerns Steven Rondina Dota 2 OG is pulling back on its plans to operate multiple Dota 2 teams.  The organization has announced the release of the OG Seed roster. The squad including Zakari William Lee “Zfreek” Freedman and Omar Mohammad “Madara” Dabachachis is set to compete without a sponsor in the immediate future. “As the new calendar started shaping into regional tournaments, we saw that having two rosters competing in the same tournament created a …

Everything you need to know about crosshair placement in CSGO M Alzamora Counter-Strike If there’s one thing that advanced players could tell themselves when they first started playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, it might be to focus on better crosshair placement. That’s all fine and good to say to a player when they’re first starting out, but it’s a vague statement to make in a game where there is so much more to learn. Some beginners don’t even know what good crosshair placement means, …

Did Valve just reveal the secrets behind Juggernaut’s face? Steven Rondina Dota 2 What does Juggernaut’s face look like?  Dota 2 fans have asked themselves this exact question on many occasions, as the iconic hero’s mask is central to his character. While Valve doesn’t seem all that interested in actually answering that question, but the publisher has always been keen to keep fans intrigued with Dota 2’s dizziest swordsman. This has come up on a few occasions in the past, but The International …

Faker sends heartfelt message to Uzi after retirement announcement Olivia Richman League of Legends Few were shocked when Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao retired from League of Legends last week due to his ongoing health problems. That doesn’t mean people weren’t saddened by the news, though.  Uzi first reported serious injuries last year, revealing in an interview that he had terrible arm pain that kept him from scrimming with his Royal Never Give Up teammates. He then became a free agent, leading many to wonder if the …

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