News

League of Legends Team Liquid coach Dodo: “I’m not faulting Doublelift at this point.” By Olivia Richman Counter-Strike Half-Life: Alyx content for CSGO likely includes pins and patches By M Alzamora News Overwatch League returns this weekend, reveals match schedule By Steven Rondina

League of Legends

The 2020 LPL Spring Split is back, but is this the right approach? Olivia Richman After a long delay, China’s League of Legends Pro League returned.  The threat of the coronavirus had the LPL postponed at the start of the Spring Split, leaving many to wonder if they would ever catch up to the LEC and LCS. The 17 teams, including 2019 World Champion FunPlus Phoenix, had all attempted to travel back home after the announcement and it seemed like the LPL probably wouldn’t begin any …

Dota 2

TNC Predator’s Armel joins 10,000 MMR club with Arteezy, w33, and more Nina Forneloza TNC Predator mid laner Armel Paul “Armel” Tabios has joined the 10,000 MMR club. The ultimate goal of every professional Dota 2 player, aside from claiming The International title, is reaching a five-figure MMR. The Filipino player is the latest to do so, joining a number of Dota 2 elites in the process. Armel is regarded as one of the best mid laners in southeast Asia. The player was only 18 …

League of Legends

TF Blade accuses Riot Korea of being racist after KR server ban Olivia Richman It seemed like only yesterday that Team Liquid streamer Ashkan “TF Blade” Homayouni reached Masters on Korea’s League of Legends servers. Now, after that silent celebration, TF Blade is calling Riot Korea “racist” for banning him.  TF Blade has been playing solo queue on Korea’s servers for a while now, hoping to reach the elusive top rank. This was part of a bigger journey to become number one on every server …

Counter-Strike

Steam hits 20M players as CSGO, Rainbow Six have record days M Alzamora Steam has had a record day today, posting the highest number of users logged in at over 20 million people. It’s been a record day for the platform and for developer Valve. A new record  number of players for Valve’s premier first-person shooter, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, certainly helped Steam hit the milestone.  The competitive FPS also set a record for most concurrent players of all time on Saturday morning, breaking …

Dota 2 Epicenter Major canceled due to coronavirus, could TI10 be next? By Steven Rondina News CSGO hits another new record with well over one million players By M Alzamora Counter-Strike Match predictions for Dignitas versus Orgless in Flashpoint S1 By M Alzamora

League of Legends

Roster moves that defined the 2020 Spring Split in League of Legends Olivia Richman During the preseason, League of Legends fans expect roster moves, trades, and whole new rosters to form. It’s a time when rookies are promoted from academy teams and players travel overseas to find a new frontier. But even once the Spring Split begins, League of Legends teams across the world continue to make drastic changes, with some more successful than others.  Here’s a closer look at some of the 2020 …

Counter-Strike

EPL will have NA and EU Champions and new groups in Season 11 M Alzamora For the first time in history, ESL Pro League will have two league champions for Season 11. ESL has announced ESL Pro League has split into four groups in order to limit travel for participating Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams, meaning that both Europe and North America will have its own grand finals and respective champions. EPL has been split into four regional groups, according to an update posted to the …

Dota 2

Sccc, LaNm may face coronavirus isolation after return to China Steven Rondina StarLadder ImbaTV Dota 2 Minor Season 3 had some unintended consequences for its victor, Team Aster. According to a statement posted on Weibo by Guo Zhili, team manager of Aster sister squad Team Sirius, Aster’s star carry Song “Sccc” Chun and substitute coach Zhang “LaNm” Zhicheng are potentially facing multiple weeks in isolation. The team remains in Kyiv, Ukraine following its win at the event due to the cancellation of …

League of Legends

LCS Spring Split suspended preemptively due to coronavirus William Davis The LCS is suspending all operations until further notice, LCS Commissioner Chris Greely confirmed through Twitter. The LCS is following the steps of the LEC and postponing all activities for the foreseeable future, including the Academy games. The decision came after a deep evaluation of the situation and conversation with the team owners. All parties involved agreed to hit pause on the season and adapt to the changing circumstances concerning …

Overwatch patch 2.84 brings new skins, return of Archives missions Olivia Richman News Archives are back in Overwatch’s 2.84 patch. Overwatch players won’t be shocked to discover that Archives did not come with any new game modes or campaigns, but Blizzard has some new twists on old Challenge Missions to spice up your weekend, including Molten Cores and Close Quarters. Molten Cores sees eliminated opponents erupt into molten lava, a la Torbjorn’s ultimate. In Close Quarters, enemies are only vulnerable when you’re up …

Dota Pro Circuit will return to Croatia for Dota PIT Minor 2020 Nina Forneloza Dota 2 Croatia will host the next Dota Pro Circuit minor tournament. One Game Agency will bring another event to Split, Croatia. The organizer has announced the AMD SAPPHIRE DOTA PIT Minor 2020, which will take place ahead of the 2020 Epicenter Major. The tournament will be the fourth minor event of the season and is important for any team aiming for a coveted direct invite to The International 2020. Eight teams from …

Overwatch League working on online schedule after homestand shutdowns Steven Rondina News Overwatch League’s pivot to a homestand format has been utterly disastrous due to the spread of the coronavirus. Now the league is looking to get things back on track by taking things online. Blizzard has announced that it is currently putting together a schedule that would see the OWL played out online over the coming months. This will allow the league to both catch up on the games that have …

LEC Spring Split suspended due to coronavirus fears William Davis League of Legends The LEC confirmed on Twitter that the 2020 LEC Spring Split has been suspended until further notice, effective immediately. The decision came after the LEC discovered that one staff member was exposed to the coronavirus. At this time, it’s a developing situation and the LEC is yet to confirm the status of the staff member. According to host Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere, no player or team was in direct contact with the affected …

Team Liquid closes esports HQ due to coronavirus outbreak Olivia Richman League of Legends Los Angeles-based esports organization Team Liquid has stated that its facilities will be closed for the next 30 days and remain closed until further notice. Neither organization staff nor members of Team Liquid’s pro teams will be allowed into the facility. Founder Steve Arhancet announced the decision on Twitter, stating that it was their way of prioritizing the health and safety of their staff and players. While their teams will still …

Early predictions for the first week of new Flashpoint CSGO league M Alzamora Counter-Strike With just two days to spare, Flashpoint secured its final two member teams ahead of the league’s opening games on Friday as we break down Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s first week of franchised play. Flashpoint got in under the wire, with organizations coming seemingly out of nowhere to take the two finals spots as FunPlus Phoenix picked up the entire Heroic roster. Group A contains two of FLASHPOINT’s founding member teams …

forZe and ESPADA are the early favorites at ESL Rio CIS Minor M Alzamora Counter-Strike This year, ESL One Rio’s CIS Minor qualifiers will feature two teams new to the Minor circuit alongside six that have been there multiple times before. WINNERS League Season 3 champions ESPADA will make their debut at the CIS Minor, competing alongside Hard Legion Esports, ForZe, Winstrike Team, Gambit Youngsters, Syman Gaming, Team Spirit, and Team Unique. Just like the other three Minor tournaments, the CIS Minor format has two …

Amouranth speaks on receiving a new three-day ban from Twitch Olivia Richman News Controversial and popular IRL streamer Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa has been banned from Twitch once again.  So far, Amouranth’s followers are not exactly sure why she’s been suspended from the streaming platform. That’s because the streamer herself is not quite sure.  “Hi everyone, I have been told that I’m being suspended for something that happened during a gym stream last week. I haven’t seen the vod yet… Waiting for them to …

Overwatch lead writer quits as Blizzard announces new COO Olivia Richman News There’s a lot of change happening at Blizzard.  Overwatch lead writer Michael Chu, who was responsible for most of the game’s lore and story, announced that he is leaving the company after 20 years. Most of the game’s fans and players knew about Chu through Twitter or Reddit, platforms where he wasn’t afraid to tell a hero’s story or discredit some ships.  “As I head out through the Blizzard doors …

Doublelift flames team and coaches in deleted Gafford interview Olivia Richman News “It’s now the day after Week 7 of the LCS. I’m joined by Doublelift for act two of a Doublelift interview. You reached out to me last night and requested a reshoot of this and maybe we can provide context on why.” That was Hotline League host Travis Gafford’s first statement on his March 11 interview with Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng, an interview that would soon cause a heated debate between …

EternaLEnVy’s Cloud9 goes winless in debut at Dota Summit 12 Steven Rondina Dota 2 Fans got their first taste of the new Cloud9 Dota 2 roster and that taste was pretty darn bad. The team made its debut at Dota Summit 12 in disastrous fashion, getting eliminated from the group stage. Worse yet, the team amassed a 0-10 record along the way. Dota Summit 12 started in ugly fashion for Cloud9. Jacky “EternaLEnVy” Mao started the event by facing one of his former teams, …

The LCK goes into hiatus with Gen.G at the top of the standings William Davis League of Legends Round one in the 2020 LCK Spring Split is over and the standings are looking exactly as expected. Earlier this week, the LCK announced that it would postpone the activities due to the coronavirus outbreak. With the first round of the season over, the LCK is going into a hiatus effective immediately. It remains unclear if Riot Games Korea is planning on transitioning into an online format like the LPL. …

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