News

News With f0rest gone, Ninjas in Pyjamas is ready to break out again By M Alzamora Dota 2 Somnus takes home MVP award and Mercedes-Benz car By Nina Forneloza Counter-Strike CSGO tournaments want MR12 to come back, but would it work? By M Alzamora

Dota 2

Valve announces the final end date for the TI10 Battle Pass Steven Rondina The TI10 Battle Pass will be going away long before The International 10 arrives. Valve has announced the shipment of a new update to Dota 2 designed to begin fixing issues related to the game’s struggling game coordinator, which has seen Dota 2 matchmaking slowed or even paused for players across the world in recent days. Alongside that news, Valve let the ending date for the TI10 Battle Pass slip. …

Counter-Strike

New CSGO Steam Community features leak, include animated stickers Steven Rondina Valve seems to be planning a big update to the Steam Community functionality, and it’s likely to delight Counter-Strike: Global Offensive fans. Data miner Pavel Djundik unearthed some files added to Steam that suggest some new features will be added soon. The first is new animated stickers for Steam Chat, while the second is a new avatar framing system. Animated chat stickers are exactly what they sound like. Steam chat …

League of Legends

Riot is building a “good behavior island” to deal with toxicity Olivia Richman Riot Games appears to be attempting to patent a “good behavior island” for League of Legends players based on activity at the US Patent and Trademark Office.  According to the patent submitted by Riot, the game developer is looking to reward positive players with improved matchmaking. This is a different take on Dota 2’s “low priorty queue,” often called Prison Island, which essentially quarantines toxic players together away from the …

League of Legends

Riot to make LoL Eternals more accessible as free drops, rewards Olivia Richman Riot has made Eternals more accessible by making them free drops in event missions and while climbing the ranked ladder.  Eternals are defined as champion-specific stat-trackers that “capture, celebrate, and flex your moments of glory in and out of game.” With Eternals, players can track their per-game personal bests, rack up lifetime milestones for certain achievements, and show off their favorite champions’ accomplishments.  Eternals were previously only available by purchasing …

Dota 2 Dota 2 servers down three days in a row, Valve has no answers By Nina Forneloza News As LCS and LEC get underway, DraftBuff gives new motivation to fans with fantasy offering By Jared Wynne League of Legends TSM vs. FlyQuest: 2020 LCS Summer Split betting analysis By William Davis

Dota 2

Dota 2 rocked by game coordinator issues during TI10 Battle Pass Steven Rondina Playing Dota 2 is seeming harder than it ever has been these days. This isn’t because of any sort of shift to the meta or increase in toxicity in what is already the most toxic player base in online gaming. No, it’s harder than ever because Valve just can’t seem to keep the game coordinator steadily operational. For the third time this week, players reported mass issues with the Dota …

Dota 2

Nigma and Vikin.gg just used double jungling to hide lanes Steven Rondina Team Nigma and Vikin.gg are playing Dota 2 on a whole new level, and not necessarily in a good way. While one might think that playing at a new level refers to crafty counters, well-executed rotations, or creative use of trees, the two European squads went in a very different direction. Fishing for a favorable matchup for their cores in the side lanes, both teams opted to run a double-jungle …

Counter-Strike

FaZe Clan win after Bymas hits smoothest floor bang of 2020 M Alzamora In today’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, players and fans see wall bang kills all the time. But a wall bang kill on Nuke from FaZe Clan’s Aurimas “⁠Bymas⁠” Pipiras during BLAST Premier’s upper-bracket semifinal should have FaZe fans feeling very excited. In FaZe’s first map against Team Vitality for a BLAST Premier grand final spot, Bymas made a huge play that showcased both his aim and his game sense. Up 6-3 …

League of Legends

Riot addresses criticism of LCS broadcasts, promises improvements Olivia Richman The League of Legends community has been noticing a lot of issues with LCS broadcasts this year, and Riot has finally responded to growing criticism.  Working, broadcasting, and streaming remotely has been a challenge in 2020, but Riot seems to understand that they can definitely be doing better after complaints began to add up during the 2020 LCS Spring Split. In a recent press release, Riot explained that they were …

OG team comms hint at struggles after loss to Ninjas in Pyjamas Steven Rondina Counter-Strike There might be a few issues within the lineup of OG’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive division. BLAST released a short clip of the team’s in-game comms during their lower bracket showdown with Ninjas in Pyjamas. OG coach Casper “ruggah” Due can be heard during the clip trying to rally his team while imploring them to tighten up their sloppy teamwork. “It’s really important for me to stress now, we need to …

G2 Esports vs FC Schalke 04: 2020 LEC Summer betting analysis William Davis League of Legends G2 Esports and FC Schalke 04 are meeting in Week 2 of the 2020 LEC Summer Split. This is not the usual one-sided match where G2 is expected to destroy the competition in 25 minutes. Somehow, Schalke always finds a way to get a few punches in and annoy G2. In the spring, a winless Schalke squad managed to get a victory against first-place G2, and there’s a chance it …

Jamppi sued the wrong Valve company after being banned Olivia Richman Counter-Strike After being banned from all major Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments, 18-year-old pro player Elias “Jamppi” Olkkonen is suing Valve. But not the Valve you’re thinking of.  When Jamppi was banned from Valve-sponsored touraments due to a recorded VAC ban, Jamppi decided to sue the developer for the earnings he missed out on due to the punishment, about €268,092. Due to Finland’s Tort Act of 1974, which states that “courts can …

B8 vs. Team Nigma BEYOND Epic Europe and CIS betting analysis Nina Forneloza Dota 2 Beyond Epic offers fans another regional league for their favorite teams from the Europe and CIS region. The tournament boasts 12 teams vying for their share of the $200,000 prize pool. B8 replaced Natus Vincere in BEYOND Epic, with the latter withdrawing in order to get more practice time. While B8 likely needs practice time of its own after completely overhauling its roster, the team jumped at the opportunity to …

G2 Esports Invitational Valorant event features Ex6tenZ, mixwell Steven Rondina News G2 Esports is the latest esports organization to run a Valorant tournament. The organization known for its top League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squads is set to host the G2 Esports Invitational. The event is set to feature eight teams led by a number of established esports competitors.  The action will take play out in a fairly standard system. Things start off with a group stage involving two …

T1 extends contract with Teddy ahead of franchising in LCK William Davis League of Legends T1 is getting ready for franchising in the LCK and has extended a key player’s contract through 2022. ADC extraordinaire Park “Teddy” Jin-seong has signed a two-year contract extension with T1. The deal comes just in time for the start of the 2020 LCK Summer Split where T1 is fighting for its fourth consecutive LCK title. “I wanted to sign Teddy because he’s the best ADC in the world. He’s …

MIBR versus FURIA round restart ignites CSGO controversy M Alzamora Counter-Strike With FURIA and MIBR duking it out for the title of top Brazilian CSGO team at the BLAST Premier Spring Finals, a technical issue during the matchup had each team fighting in a battle outside the server. Pegged as the match that would determine the best South American CSGO team today, the series had massive viewership. More than 100,000 people tuned in to Brazilian CSGO streamer and former Counter-Strike pro …

Team Secret wins 5th tournament in a row at BLAST Bounty Hunt Nina Forneloza Dota 2 Fans witnessed another incredible feat from Team Secret. Team Secret has won its fifth consecutive championship title. The team walked away from BLAST Bounty Hunt with the trophy and $50,067 in prize money. Goodnight from us at #BLASTDota! ????We hope you enjoyed the show! Think @teamsecret are on the WANTED list of many teams right now ???????? Here are your FINAL BLAST Bounty Hunt Prize pool standings; pic.twitter.com/8M7oGQzj2e — BLAST …

Ninjas in Pyjamas vs Alliance BEYOND Epic odds, betting analysis Steven Rondina Dota 2 BEYOND Epic is set for an all-Swedish showdown. Or at least, mostly Swedish. Ninjas in Pyjamas is set to take on Alliance in a group stage showdown on June 18. The two teams are in very different places relative to where they’ve been prior to some of their recent showdowns, as Alliance will be looking to stay alive in the event after falling into an early hole while NiP will …

The Fortnite player count continues to grow in 2020 Olivia Richman Fortnite Ever since Fortnite was released in July 2017, the game’s immense playerbase has only continued to increase.  With colorful animation, fun cosmetics, and an addictive battle royale mode, Fortnite has become one of the most popular video games in recent years thanks to its constant presence in mainstream media. The push to make Fortnite mainstream has been successful due to such personalities as streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins. The blue-haired Fortnite …

Valorant Ignition Series announced by Riot, events coming soon Olivia Richman News Riot has hinted that Valorant had big esports plans ahead of it, and it looks like that is coming to fruition with the Valorant Ignition Series. The global tournament series is the publisher’s first step towards building up the tactical first-person shooter’s esports scene, which has already drawn in a lot of big names from Overwatch, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and beyond without any official details being made public. While there …

MonteCristo announced as new commissioner of FLASHPOINT M Alzamora Counter-Strike Christopher “MonteCristo” Mykles will serve as the commissioner of FLASHPOINT as well as the young tournament’s vice president of brand, according to an official press release from the organization. MonteCristo has spent more than 15 years in esports and has always had an interest in creating content for esports fans. With this experience, MonteCristo will serve as FLASHPOINT’s vice president of brand and will be a major figure in charge …

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