News

League of Legends lolvvv’s new Clash tool is the latest weapon in League of Legends’ Clash events By Jared Wynne League of Legends Tyler1 reaches Challenger rank using only jungle champions By Olivia Richman News As esports booms in 2020, Canada dominates the industry with advancements on all levels By Jared Wynne

Counter-Strike

Xyp9x officially breaks from CSGO, Astralis adds Heroic’s Snappi Steven Rondina Another one of Astralis’ stars is set to take a break from competitive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The Danish organization confirmed previous reports that Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth is set to step away for the game for an indefinite period of time. In his stead, the team will add Heroic’s Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer. This follows months of roster shuffles and uncertainty at Astralis despite the team enjoying years sustained of success. Xyp9x …

News

Schedule revealed for Twitch Rivals Valorant, the game’s biggest event Olivia Richman Valorant’s closed beta servers may have shut down today, but the action is still continuing.  Riot’s new first-person shooter is launching June 2, but fans don’t have to wait until then to see more Valorant gameplay from their favorite pros and content creators. Earlier today, Valorant announced that they were “teaming with competitive FPS creators” to hold a global Twitch Rivals tournament. There will be a $200,000 prize pool split …

League of Legends

LoL patch 10.11 buffs all ADCs to bring power back to the bot lane William Davis League of Legends patch 10.11 is live, and it brings the new Volibear, a skin line from out of this world, and major changes for the game’s marksmen. On the cosmetic side, patch 10.11 added Astronaut Poppy, Astronaut Gnar, and Astronaut Bard to the shop. Additionally, the update added new chromas for Astronautilus and Astronaut Teemo. The new and improved Volibear is finally available on the game. It includes a …

League of Legends

Huni to sign with Evil Geniuses after being dropped by Dignitas William Davis Evil Geniuses has acquired top laner Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon ahead of the 2020 LCS Summer Split, ESPN’s Jacob Wolf reported on Wednesday. The formerly second-highest paid player in the LCS found a new home. After being dropped by Dignitas back on April, Huni will join Evil Geniuses for the next split. The terms and conditions will be different from the $2.3 million contract that Huni previously signed with Dignitas. According …

League of Legends Spica promoted to starting jungler for TSM as Dignitas adds V1per By William Davis Counter-Strike Latest CSGO update adds new stickers based on Warhammer 40K By M Alzamora Fortnite Fortnite’s rarest skin, Recon Expert, back in shop for limited time By Olivia Richman

Counter-Strike

Is Astralis eyeing NiP, Heroic players after alleged Xyp9x departure? Olivia Richman Multiple sources close to Astralis have allegedly confirmed that Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth has left the organization for the time being.  In a report by Jarek Dekay Lewis, it’s rumored that coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen has taken his place in recent practices. Meanwhile, Astralis has reached out to Ninjas in Pyjamas about acquiring Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson and inquired about Patrick “es3tag” Hansen on Heroic. So far, Dekay’s report states that no …

Dota 2

Dota 2 caster harassed by players using TI10 Battle Pass’ guilds Steven Rondina The guild system in Dota 2 is a fun addition to the game, bringing with it a new twist on the daily hero challenge system and new ways to find party members. It also brings with it new moderation issues that Valve may not ever properly address. Dota 2 caster Michelle “Moxxi” Song took to Twitter to discuss a negative experience she had stemming from the new guild system.  During …

League of Legends

Dardoch joins Dignitas, gets another chance at LCS redemption William Davis Former Team SoloMid jungler Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett has joined Dignitas ahead of the 2020 LCS Summer Split. After weeks of speculation and controversy, Dardoch has found a new home at Dignitas. It’s not the first time that Dignitas picks up a jungler dropped by TSM, as the team previously signed both Jonathan “Grig” Armao and Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham. Dardoch joins mid laner Henrik “Froggen” Hansen, ADC Johnson “Johnsun” Nguyen, and …

Dota 2

The best way to play the new Sideshop in the TI10 Battle Pass Steven Rondina One of the most surprising additions to Dota 2 in this year’s battle pass, and one of the most poorly explained, is the new Sideshop mini-game. Sideshop might look familiar for those who played Dota Auto Chess or the various knockoffs it inspired, such as Dota Underlords or Teamfight Tactics, but it’s going to be a mystery to everyone else. Even for those who actually play auto-battlers, there’s no real …

BlizzCon 2020 canceled as plans for new online event are teased Steven Rondina News BlizzCon 2020 is officially cancelled. Blizzard released a blog post confirming what has long felt inevitable, stating that the convention themed around the publisher’s popular game franchises will not go forward in the way fans have been hoping.   “We’ve also talked about different paths we could take, and how each one could be complicated by fluctuations in national and local health guidelines in the months ahead. Ultimately, after considering …

LEC cancels 2020 Summer playoffs in Sweden, opens Berlin studio William Davis League of Legends The LEC has decided to cancel the 2020 LEC Summer Split finals event in Malmö, Sweden due to the ongoing global health situation. “We’ve made the difficult decision to cancel our plans to host the Summer Finals in Malmö, Sweden. We’re currently exploring other options for the event,” director of esports at Riot Alberto “Tiroless” Guerrero said. This is a last-minute change for the league that as recently as April …

TI10 Battle Pass already breaking records after one day Nina Forneloza Dota 2 The International 10 Battle Pass has broken the 24-hour sales record. Once again, the Dota 2 community proved its loyalty and passion for the game. The TI10 Battle Pass generated $32.6 million in 24 hours, and consequently bumped TI10’s prize pool to $8.1 million. First 24 Hours — TI9 shattered pretty much every record but somehow the Dota community manages to shatter even that crazy record with another new one. …

CSGO records sudden drop in players as Valorant beta goes live M Alzamora Counter-Strike Counter-Strike: Global Offensive recorded its first drop in players since October 2019, according to Steam tracking website SteamCharts. The drop in players lines up almost exactly with the release of Valorant, Riot Games’ debut entry into the first-person shooter genre and a direct competitor to CSGO. There isn’t necessarily a reason for CSGO fans to panic. Counter-Strike is still pulling in over one million active players per day nearly nine …

Valve cooperating with Chinese state controls for push into China M Alzamora Counter-Strike Fans of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 may be surprised to learn that their favorite game’s developer has been working with government forces in China to enable the country’s strict restrictions on its citizens. Valve Software, creator of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, and the popular Steam client, has been working with the People’s Republic of China since at least June 2019 in an ongoing effort to monetize the …

Yuumi is most banned champion in some regions, banned 73% in Europe Olivia Richman League of Legends It’s been just over a year since Yuumi was released in League of Legends.  Since May 2019, Yuumi has been a consistent favorite of supports in every region. Just a few months after her debut, League of Legends pros couldn’t stop ranting about Yuumi, with Matthew “Deftly” Chen calling her “fucking OP” and even questioning why Riot created her. Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent stated that she “never dies” and needs to …

Riot adds in-game sponsor banners to LoL’s Summoner’s Rift Olivia Richman League of Legends Riot Games has found a creative new way to show off its sponsors during the upcoming League of Legends Summer Splits in pro play.  Called “Summoner’s Rift arena branding,” in-game digital sponsor signs and banners will be placed throughout the popular MOBA’s map. With the upcoming season taking place completely online, there are fewer options for sponsors and brands without the benefit of the LCS Arena. Since most viewers will …

This new remastered Cache looks amazing in Unreal Engine 4 M Alzamora Counter-Strike An intrepid Reddit user has released a screenshot of Counter-Stike: Global Offensive as seen from inside Unreal Engine 4. With all the rumors of Source 2 floating around, the screenshot is bound to raises some eyebrows, especially as Valve has seen fit to update other games including Dota 2 and Half-Life: Alyx, ahead of their flagship first-person shooter’s presumed upgrade.   Porting CSGO Maps into other engines isn’t anything new. …

DragonX vs. Invictus Gaming: Mid-Season Cup betting analysis William Davis League of Legends DragonX and Invictus Gaming will play on day two of the Mid-Season Cup. These teams were once considered the best in the world and are now facing difficulties. It’s hard to believe it considering the good numbers the teams pulled up in spring. Choi “Doran” Hyeon-joon Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu Ryu “Keria” Min-seok DragonX intended to create a roster Deft so he could comfortably carry …

Alliance completes roster by adding Gambit Esports’ fng Jared Wynne Dota 2 After standing in Alliance for the past month, Belarusian support and Gambit Esports captain Artsiom “fng” Barshak has officially joined the Swedish team on a 2-month loan. Artsiom will be playing his usual hard support role for Alliance, but it still remains unclear if he will be taking over captaining duties from current in-game leader Gustav “s4” Magnusson. fng has been one of the CIS region’s most successful captains in …

The TI10 Battle Pass launch is delaying rewards, crashing servers Steven Rondina Dota 2 When The International 10 Battle Pass launched in Dota 2, fans of the game were stoked. Players have been calling for an early release for months now and even though it actually arrived behind schedule, it had enough cool new features to make it feel like it was worth the wait. Naturally, that had fans scrambling onto their Dota 2 client in order to purchase the battle pass. Though the …

T1 vs. FunPlus Phoenix: Mid-Season Cup betting analysis William Davis League of Legends LCK’s T1 and LPL’s FunPlus Phoenix are opening the 2020 Mid-Season Cup in a highly anticipated match. Fans around the world wanted these teams to meet in the 2019 World Championship, but fate and G2 Esports, wouldn’t allow it. Now, T1 and FPX are finally playing against each other in the first game of the tournament. Kim “GimGoon” Han-saem, Kim “Khan” Dong-ha Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang Lin “Lwx” …

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