News

Dota 2 The International 2020 Battle Pass “coming early next week” says Valve By Steven Rondina Counter-Strike MIBR Cup will see MIBR’s players coach playoff teams By M Alzamora News Charting the growth of the global gaming marketplace By Jared Wynne

League of Legends

Listen to Tarzaned claim he boosted IWillDominate to Challenger Olivia Richman On a recent stream, League of Legends streamer Julian “Tarzaned” Farokhian claimed he boosted fellow streamer Christian “IWillDominate” Rivera’s account to Challenger.  After an ongoing fued between the two Twitch streamers, Tarzaned decided to up the ante and expose IWillDominate with claims that he boosted the Team Liquid content creator’s account.  “You call yourself a Challenger player and you never actually got Challenger on your own. I actually had to …

News

The best Valorant agent tier list for competitive and ranked Olivia Richman Valorant recently got a major balance patch that shook up the new first-person shooter’s meta thanks to agent buffs and nerfs and some significant map changes. While it’s still too early to tell what changes it will have on team compositions over time, there’s no denying that Valorant is currently a game that heavily favors a defensive playstyle. And some agents are better equipped for that than others. Riot’s Valorant …

League of Legends

T1 and FPX set to open the League of Legends Mid-Season Cup William Davis The full schedule for days one and two of the Mid-Season Cup has been revealed, and the competition will kick off with a match between FunPlus Phoenix and T1. The LCK spring champion and the currently reigning World Champion are in charge of opening the highly anticipated Mid-Season Cup. On May 28 at 2 AM CST, T1 and FunPlus Phoenix are taking the stage. DAMWON Gaming and Top Esports round …

Dota 2

Wild NiP vs. OG match kicks off OGA Dota PIT Online EU playoffs Steven Rondina The 2020 OGA Dota PIT Online league European and CIS division’s playoffs are now set.  The group stage has wrapped up, with eight teams advancing and two being eliminated. With the seeding finalized, the opening matchups have been revealed, and there’s a lot to be excited for. Here are the matchups set for the first round of the playoffs: Upper bracket: Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. OG Upper bracket: Team Secret …

News Man disguises himself as a woman in all-female CSGO tournament By Olivia Richman News Sweet Anita argues against banning voice chat amid Twitch drama By Olivia Richman Dota 2 Match fixing in Dota 2 reminds us of long-running problem in esports By Steven Rondina

News

More than 1,600 new cheaters were just banned from Valorant Olivia Richman Love it or hate it, Vanguard is doing its job of catching cheaters in new first-person shooter Valorant. Riot’s anti-cheat data engineer Philip Koskinas recently took to Twitter to celebrate that over 1,600 more cheaters have been kicked off the Valorant closed beta. “1,600 Valorant accounts just went missing and we’re still geeked up off the ban juice,” Koskinas said. 1600 VALORANT accounts just went missing and we’re still geeked …

Dota 2

Evil Geniuses unveils another new logo after fans decry 2019 rebrand Steven Rondina Evil Geniuses has a new look. Again.  The enduring organization has unveiled a new logo that stands as a modernized take on its classic “EG” crest. The letters are a bit easier to decipher than the original, with an extra flair that conjures up the image of a hurricane. Today dawns a new era—one with a nod to our legacy and a bold eye to the future.Welcome to the new …

League of Legends

Perkz opens up on role swap with Caps, says G2 was trolling too much Olivia Richman G2 Esports veteran Luka “Perkz” Perkovic recently spoke on his upcoming move back to the bottom lane. Perkz recently opened up to Korizon about the controversial role swap, stating that Rasmus “Caps” Winther didn’t enjoy playing bot lane as much as he did.  “The reason he wanted to play bot lane in the first place is because he thought I was unhappy,” Perkz admitted.  For that reason, Perkz stated that …

Counter-Strike

MIBR drops meyern, adds trk ahead of DreamHack Masters Spring Steven Rondina MIBR is back to being an all-Brazilian team once again. The Immortals Gaming Club-owned team has added Alencar “trk” Rossato to its roster. In adding him, MIBR benched Argentinian player Ignacio “meyern” Meyer after five months. Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo bid meyern farewell on Twitter. “Thank you little brother for all of your dedication and work with us. This rookie has many, many years of Counter-Strike in front of him and …

Valve quietly releases censored Steam China client to alpha M Alzamora News Users haven’t heard much about a Chinese version of Valve’s Steam client since it was announced in 2018, but an alpha version of Steam China has now appeared. A recent update to the Steam Client revealed Valve not only still working on the long-awaited Steam China client, but that the client itself has officially moved into an alpha stage. While there are no official Steam China servers online, the client …

Ninjas in Pyjamas drops IGL Lekr0, signs Hampus from GamerLegion Steven Rondina Counter-Strike After a rough start to 2020, Ninjas in Pyjamas is making a change to its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster. The organization has announced the signing of Hampus “hampus” Poser. He will take over in-game leadership duties from Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson, who has been benched from the lineup and placed on the transfer list. “The philosophy and ideologies I have around the future of esports performance, is something that I am …

As Astralis captain gla1ve steps back, new member JUGi stands in M Alzamora Counter-Strike Astralis announced that Jakob “JUGi” Hansen will replace Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander as the Astralis in-game leader spends what the team says will be several months away from competition. The release contains a statement from gla1ve in which the player cites stress surrounding competition and overall burnout as the reasons why he will take the next several months off. gla1ve goes on to say that he made the decision after consulting …

Valve reveals Artifact 2.0 closed beta details and invite system Steven Rondina Dota 2 Artifact publisher Valve has updated the game’s blog to give some details on the game’s closed beta. Long story short, it’s coming very soon.  According to the blog post, keys for the “Artifact 2.0” beta will be sent out next week. No specific date was given, but this is likely welcome news for fans that were left wondering when it would be time to duel. Unfortunately for fans that want …

Ex-Virtus.pro stars TaZ and Neo unveil new CSGO team Honoris M Alzamora Counter-Strike Filip “NEO” Kubski and Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas have announced their returns to competitive Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with Honoris, a brand new Counter-Strike team with the backing of Red Bull. The two had previously spent over ten years as teammates on the legendary Virtus.pro roster before TaZ found himself benched and subsequently released by the team in 2018. NEO stayed with Virtus.pro for a while longer, ultimately leaving the team in …

All the new legendary skins for the 2020 Overwatch Anniversary event Olivia Richman News Overwatch’s Anniversary event is celebrating the launch of the the competitive first-person shooter with weekly challenges running through May 19 to June 9.  Each week, players will need to win nine Quick Play or Arcade games to unlock a new legendary skin, most of which have been revealed on Overwatch’s official Twitter. Unlike previous events, there won’t be any additional game modes or any other content, most likely due to …

Team Secret looking scary with big Gamers Without Borders win Steven Rondina Dota 2 If Team Secret was having any kind of issues with the move from live Dota 2 events to online tournaments, those issues appear to have been resolved.  Clement “Puppey” Ivanov and company posted a very strong performance in the Gamers Without Borders 2020 Dota 2 tournament. The team ran through the competition and locked up first place, earning $750,000 to be donated towards charity. Team Secret took to Twitter and …

HellRaisers vs. Alliance OGA Dota Pit Online betting analysis Nina Forneloza Dota 2 For the first time ever, HellRaisers and Alliance will face off in Dota 2. OGA Dota Pit Online boasts top teams from the Europe and CIS regions. With $150,000 in prize money at stake, the upper bracket spots are highly coveted. On the last day of the group stage, HellRaisers will face Alliance in a high-stakes match. HellRaisers is still looking to carve out a spot while Alliance has been …

American Dad parodies Overwatch World Cup in recent episode Jared Wynne News Animated sitcom American Dad released an episode that hits home to many esport fans.  In the episode titled “Brave N00b World”, CIA agent Stan Smith is tasked with the assassination of a North Korean government official during the finals of the Overwatch World Cup. Smith, together with his team, then heads to Hong Kong undercover posing as “teenage gamers” in an attempt to reach the Grand Finals of the prestigious …

FunPlus Phoenix Tian knows how to quiet his haters in LoL solo queue William Davis League of Legends FunPlus Phoenix jungler Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang had the absolute best comeback when a player tried to flame him in solo queue. Tian is not your regular solo queue jungler, as Tian is a defending world champion and the 2019 World Championship finals MVP. So when a solo queue player attempted to flame him, Tian had the perfect comeback.  LPL players often play in the Korean server. Despite having their own …

G2 vs. North betting analysis, DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 M Alzamora Counter-Strike G2 Esports needs to quickly brush off the dust from the ESL Road to Rio event, because DreamHack Masters Spring is right around the corner. After an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Astralis during Europe’s first Road to Rio tournament, G2 gets a lucky draw at DreamHack Masters Spring. It will face off against North, a team that will play without one of their best veterans in Markus “Kjaerbye” …

Viper joins Hanwha Life Esports ahead of the 2020 LCK Summer Split William Davis League of Legends Bottom laner Park “Viper” Do-hyeon has officially joined Hanwha Life Esports ahead of the 2020 LCK Summer Split. Viper is reuniting with former teammate Son “Lehends” Si-woo under a new banner. Viper and Lehends were considered one of the strongest duos in the LCK between 2018 and 2019 while playing with Griffin. Now, the duo is getting ready to thrive with a new organization. 2020 hasn’t been an easy ride …

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