News

Counter-Strike Fnatic clutch in multiple overtimes to beat 100 Thieves at IEM By Steven Rondina Counter-Strike swag announces retirement from CSGO, looks towards Riot’s Project A By Olivia Richman Dota 2 Valve announces cities can apply to host The International 2021 By Olivia Richman

League of Legends

TFT: Galaxies will add Star Guardians, keep Blademasters and Sorcerers William Davis Riot Games has revealed new information about set 3, Teamfight Tactics: Galaxies. TFT: Galaxies is taking the game to new heights. The third set is coming out next month and Riot gave fans a sneak peak at the new traits that are coming to the game. Mecha fans and Star Guardians enthusiasts will be quite pleased with what’s to come. Longtime League of Legends fans all know and love the …

Dota 2

Dota Underlords Season 1 arrives with battle pass, balance tweaks Nina Forneloza Dota Underlords Season 1 has arrived, with Valve celebrating the occasion with a launch party featuring prominent Dota 2 personalities including Henrik “AdmiralBulldog” Ahnberg, Jorien “Sheever” van der Heijden, and Jake “SirActionSlacks” Kanner. Valve released an entertaining trailer to commemorate the game exiting its early access phase. The lore behind Dota Underlords was detailed, with the game revolving around a battle to decide the next ruler of White Spire. The …

Counter-Strike

All IEM Katowice tickets cancelled amid coronavirus concerns M Alzamora The permit for Intel ExtremeMasters and ESL to hold a “mass event” for the IEM XIV World Championship has been revoked by the Polish government just a day before the event was to start its playoff matchups. According to ESL, officials cited health and safety concerns over what would be a large, international gathering. Though it was not explicitly stated by ESL, this likely stems from the global outbreak of the …

Counter-Strike

Flashpoint announces global LAN qualifiers, dates, and teams M Alzamora Flashpoint released the group draws for its Global LAN qualifiers yesterday, but declined to provide an official press release. Instead, the league confirmed a report published by HLTV. The North American league’s closed qualifiers, named the Global LAN Qualifiers, will feature two groups of four teams that won their spots in the open qualifiers earlier this month. In total, two out of the eight teams will join Flashpoint’s ten franchised …

League of Legends Riot Games removes region select, transitions to global accounts By William Davis News Chillindude talks casting at DreamHack, rivalries, future of Melee By Olivia Richman Counter-Strike Aleksib’s revenge complete as OG passes ENCE in world rankings By M Alzamora

Fortnite

Study reveals which Twitch streamers earn the most money from subs Olivia Richman With Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and Mike “shroud” Grzesiek both on Mixer, other popular streamers have taken over Twitch. One study by Little Loans showed just how much money the top Twitch streamers are earning from their subscribers. While streamers also earn money from sponsors, deals, and advertisements, their subscriber count is often their largest source of income. Subscribers pay streamers monthly for a variety of exclusive perks, and often just to …

Dota 2

Dota 2 pros argue on huge DPC changes after The international 2020 Steven Rondina Valve has confirmed previous reports of a transition from the Dota Pro Circuit to a series of regional leagues. The response thus far from pro players and others in the community has been largely negative. A number of notable figures within the pro Dota 2 community have taken to social media to vent their frustrations over the game’s heavily altered pro scene. Their gripes are wide-ranging, with complaints regarding the likely …

Counter-Strike

CSGO patch changes Danger Zone meta, updates Trust Factor M Alzamora In a followup to Monday’s big patch, Valve has released another update for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive last night that made some small changes that could have a big impact. Valve made changes to Danger Zone and CSGO’s matchmaking trust factor while adding in two new options for reporting players and the buy menu. There was only one gameplay change in Tuesday’s patch. Valve has added the chance for late-game paradrops …

League of Legends

T1 beats Griffin, takes first place in the 2020 LCK Spring Split William Davis T1 is dominating the 2020 LCK Spring season, with the latest example of this coming in Week 4 with a clean victory over Griffin. T1 faced serious questions about its future during the offseason, as the team lost two of its star players and its longtime coach. Making matters worse, the new version of the team underwhelmed in its debut effort at the 2019 KeSPA Cup. That had analysts pointing …

Snapfire and Slardar hit with big nerfs in Dota 2 update 7.24 Steven Rondina Dota 2 It took Valve longer than usual, but Dota 2 version 7.24b has arrived. The qualifiers for Dota Pro Circuit Majors are often followed by relatively hefty balance updates, but when one didn’t come in the days after the ESL One LA Major qualifiers, fans wondered if Valve was gearing up to give 7.24a a long run on live servers. That apparently isn’t the case, given the arrival of 7.24b. While …

Ninja rages against Fortnite Chapter 2 meta, bashes unvaulted guns Olivia Richman Fortnite Fortnite streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins was quick to compliment Epic Games on their battle royal’s long-awaited Chapter 2.  But after only a few days, Ninja seems to have some strong negative opinions about the game’s emerging meta. Weapons like the Minigun and Rapid Fire SMG were unvaulted for Chapter 2 and while some players were excited, it seems that Ninja isn’t a big fan of the new playstyle that’s formed …

High school esports are expanding more than ever with new deal Olivia Richman League of Legends Following in North America’s footsteps, European high schools are starting to see more and more esports programs.  The British Esports Association and the North American Scholastic Esports Federation revealed a partnership today that has a focus on changing perception of esports in high schools. Currently, many schools consider esports a program, not a sport. The BEA and NASEF aim to change that with a structured competitive environment.  The two associations …

MSI 2020 postponed due to growing concern over coronavirus Olivia Richman League of Legends The League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational is the latest esports event to be delayed due to the coronavirus.  In a statement on Twitter, Riot’s global head of esports, John Needham, addressed the virus’ ongoing threat to travelers.  “As countries around the world respond to the coronavirus, we’ve had to adjust our plans and delay announcing the timing and location of MSI 2020,” Needham told League of Legends fans. “While we …

Valve announces Dota 2 Regional Leagues to start after TI10 M Alzamora Dota 2 Valve announced “Regional Leagues” earlier this evening in an effort to bring structure to an often hectic Dota 2 schedule and provide more consistency to competing teams. According to the announcement, Valve will institute the leagues after the conclusion of the tenth edition of The International in 2020. Valve explained the change in the blog post announcing the Regional Leagues. “We believe the consistency and regularity of the league throughout …

Kyle tears up Nigma for “disrespectful” game in WePlay! Tug of War Jared Wynne Dota 2 Caster, analyst, and former Dota 2 pro Kyle “melonzz” Freedman called out Nigma for its “disrespectful” game against Aggressive Mode. Nigma faced Ilya “Lil” Ilyuk’s Aggressive Mode in a lower bracket series at WePlay! Tug of War: Mad Moon. The elimination series saw Nigma veer away from its usual serious gameplay into full-on meme territory. Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi’s team scored a quick win in game one thanks to Aliwi …

Ashe’s Mardis Gras Challenge launches with new skin and rewards gabhernandez News The previously leaked Ashe’s Mardi Gras Challenge is now live on Overwatch servers.  The event starts on February 25 and ends March 9. Players can earn unique Mardi Gras-inspired rewards through participation. There are two player icons, seven sprays, and an epic Mardi Gras Ashe skin available to earn as rewards for playing matches during the event. Players must win three games to unlock two player icons, win six games …

CSGO files leak official team and player patches, autograph sprays M Alzamora Counter-Strike Depending on who you talk to, the big news from Monday night’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive patch was either the crosshair generator or the new Panorama buy menu. But there were two other big additions that slid by in the chaos. The surprise patch came ten days after Valve released an update that tidied up the developer’s shooter internally. While no new content was added, Valve had clearly taken the time …

Overwatch adding Triple Damage queue through new Experimental Card gabhernandez News A new Developer Update discussed some incoming changes to Overwatch. Ahead of the March 7 launch of Hero Pools, the Experimental Card feature was announced. Blizzard exec Jeff Kaplan explained that the Experimental Card is going to be a place where the developers can test possible future patches and features they are thinking of adding to the game. The first new mode to drop is Triple Damage role queue. The …

CSGO patch introduces patch customization, new crosshair generator M Alzamora Counter-Strike Today’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive patch introduced three changes to Valve’s first-person shooter including customizable agent patches, a crosshair editor, and a brand new buy menu. CSGO has been getting a ton of attention recently and today’s patch introduced some new cosmetic items for fans to drop their money on. The patch introduced patches to the game. These patches feature all nine operation icons and several other graphics beloved by the …

Riot Games accused of collusion around sexual discrimination trial Olivia Richman League of Legends Two state agencies have accused Riot Games of collusion amidst an ongoing sexual misconduct trial.  After the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing declared that Riot Games may owe $400 million to women who endured sexual harassment and lower wages, a new legal council has taken over the class action lawsuit against the game developer. In January, the DFEH stated that 1,000 women working at Riot Games, past and present, …

Joe Marsh sheds new light on Fusion Arena status in Philadelphia gabhernandez News Fans in Philadelphia have been wondering about the status of the city’s proposed esports arena, which is set to be constructed by January 2021, less than a year away. The Fusion Arena is planned to open in 2021 ahead of the fourth Overwatch League season. It is being built next to the Xfinity Live! location in Philadelphia, but fans are curious as to why there hasn’t been any sign of …

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