News

Counter-Strike Steam sets new player records for the second week in a row By M Alzamora Counter-Strike Great first knives for players looking to enter CSGO’s skin game By M Alzamora League of Legends Here’s how to find the best jungle paths in League of Legends By William Davis

League of Legends

LPL team Rogue Warriors fined more than $400,000 over match fixing William Davis LPL organization Rogue Warriors is being punished with a $400,000 fine for covering up a match-fixing incident. The LPL Discipline Committee is not going easy on Rogue Warriors, the committee issued a warning with a three million RMB fine, equivalent to $423,687.50 USD. The punishment comes after an investigation into the allegations against former jungler Wang “WeiYan” Xiang for match fixing. According to several reports, WeiYan had agreed to an …

Dota 2

Four Evil Geniuses players have now reached 10K MMR in Dota 2 Steven Rondina There’s a debate to be had about who the best Dota 2 team in the world is. OG has possibly the most talented lineup, Team Secret looked dominant at the last major, but TNC Predator stands atop the Dota Pro Circuit standings. Evil Geniuses can also enter into that conversation on the merit that they likely have the highest combined MMR of any Dota 2 team in the world today. …

League of Legends

Dodo on Liquid LCS struggles: “We just have to go back to the start” Olivia Richman Team Liquid probably lost its chance to compete in the 2020 LCS Spring Split playoffs with their defeat at the hands of FlyQuest. Though the team hasn’t been mathematically eliminated, a number of upsets will need to occur in order for Liquid to make the cut. This is not something coach Kang “Dodo” Jun-hyeok likes to dwell on, but it’s hard to stay positive at this point. Despite this, he told WIN.gg that he …

News

Twitch implements harsher punishment for banned users, locks down chat Olivia Richman Twitch has long been blasted for not seeming to care about their content creators but now, the platform has given streamers more control over their channels.  “Your well-being is important. We are taking steps to improve that, starting with your peace of mind. Blocking users now removes them from your Followers list. Channel banning users will remove them from your Chat list so you don’t have to see them anymore,” …

News Here’s who to play in Valorant, based on Overwatch and Apex mains By Olivia Richman News More changes hit OWL S3 online matches just before play begins By gabhernandez Dota 2 SumaiL returns to 10K MMR club after slipping down rankings By Nina Forneloza

Counter-Strike

Valve’s patience and Perfect World’s marketing fuel CSGO records M Alzamora On March 22, CSGO reached another milestone on its way up the charts, totaling 1,102,067 players in-game and breaking its previous record set just earlier that day by almost 15 thousand. So why is this happening now? Eight full years after release, CSGO hit the million concurrent player mark for the first time on March 14. The first-person shooter has continued to gain players since. Even more exciting for Valve …

Counter-Strike

CSGO’s Nvidia commit fix confirms CSGO moving to Source 2 engine M Alzamora After Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s beta branch went live with a fix for the stuttering that has plagued Nvidia users for several weeks, Valve pushed the update to CSOG’s live branch. When released, we thought Half-Life Alyx’s commemorative pins looked better than anything we’d seen before graphically. Looks like our eyes weren’t playing tricks on us. It turns out that the pins, stickers, and patches CSGO released alongside Alyx’s debut this …

League of Legends

How to play Nautilus in the mid lane just like FPX Doinb William Davis In 2019, League of Legends players around the world were introduced to one particularly strange champion pick: Nautilus in the mid lane. It was first played in the LPL by FunPlus Phoenix’s mid laner and resident mad genius Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang, who then pulled it out at the World Championship. Doinb played three games on Nautilus in the semifinals against Invictus Gaming. He played the pick one more time in …

Counter-Strike

Banned CSGO player Jamppi files lawsuit against Valve M Alzamora One of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s youngest players is fighting back against Valve over the company’s decision to ban him from the game’s Major tournaments. Finnish AWPer Elias “Jamppi” Olkkonen is suing Valve for undisclosed damages in a Finnish court over due to a VAC ban the company says can be connected to Jamppi. In December, Jamppi was on the shortlist of young players set to join Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen, Nathan …

Valorant’s Vanguard anti-cheat might ban your PC if you cheat Steven Rondina League of Legends Riot Games is taking a number of different measures to deal with cheaters in its upcoming title, Valorant. Foremost among these efforts is the creation of a new anti-cheat engine named Vanguard. While Vanguard will largely work like any other anti-cheat engine, Riot is committed to having it quickly and effectively shut down cheaters through any means necessary. This includes not just banning a player’s account from playing, but temporarily …

Chinese Dota fans just got a special real-life Dota 2 battle pass Steven Rondina Dota 2 Dota 2 fans in Europe and North America have been calling for an early release to The International 2020 Battle Pass for a while now. With many locked up at home due to the spread of COVID-19, players want some sort of clear progression and reward system that doesn’t exist in Dota 2 outside the battle pass. Unfortunately, given the fact that The International 2020 is in limbo and Valve …

The WHO recommends these video games for people in isolation Olivia Richman News The coronavirus has disrupted a lot of esports tournaments and events, but it’s still had a positive impact on the esports and gaming industry as a whole. Streamers are seeing more views than ever before and games are getting downloaded and played at record-breaking rates. Now, some video games are also being labeled as good for gamers’ health while stuck inside during lockdown.  The World Health Organization tweeted some advice …

PSG.LGD, Adroit, Thunder Predator win WeSave! regional finals Nina Forneloza Dota 2 PSG.LGD dominated China’s top team Vici Gaming in the regional finals of WeSave! Charity Play. PSG.LGD’s newest roster debuted at WeSave! Charity Play and the team instantly showed its chemistry. After some underwhelming tournament results and several roster shakeups, the team looks poised to make a big comeback. The Chinese team ended the tournament without dropping a single game. PSG.LGD stomped Invictus Gaming in the semifinals and proceeded to end …

Riot reveals new Valorant support agent, Sage, and her abilities Olivia Richman News Riot has revealed a new Valorant agent and her abilities.  Sage, who appears to be the fourth of 12 agents, is a support-style agent that “creates safety for herself and her team wherever she goes.” She has the ability to resurrect allies and protect them from attacks.  Developers also shared her abilities, some of which might sound familiar for players of other hero shooters. The first is Slow Orb. Sage …

China has a CSGO store that puts the rest of the world to shame M Alzamora Counter-Strike Valve’s traditionally hands-off approach to its games means that it can be really hard for fans to get their hands on good merchandise, especially for Valve’s sometimes underappreciated first-person shooter, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. If you live in China, though, you’re in luck. CSGO’s Chinese publisher Perfect World has nailed the game’s aesthetic with their merchandise. There is a little overlap between the Valve-outsourced store available elsewhere and Perfect World’s cohesive …

FalleN asks fans to stay home as president calls virus a “trick” M Alzamora Counter-Strike Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo asked fans to stay inside last night after Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro called the rapid spread of the coronavirus a “trick” and a “fantasy.” FalleN pleaded with his Brazilian fans, telling them that they risked infecting others if they didn’t stay inside. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro addressed his nation on the evening of March 24, saying that he “wouldn’t feel anything” if he caught the virus while …

Riot Games donates huge amount to coronavirus relief in LA Olivia Richman News Riot Games and its co-founders have donated $1.5 million to aid coronavirus relief efforts. During a press conference on Tuesday, Los Angeles’ mayor Eric Garcetti announced that the game developer donated $500,000 to local foundations, while co-founders Brandon Beck and Marc Merill will donate $500,000 each. Of that impressive total, $400,000 will go to the Los Angeles Food Bank, an organization that Riot has held fundraisers for in the past. …

Chaos releases Dota 2 roster due to coronavirus event closures Steven Rondina Dota 2 Unemployment is skyrocketing due to the impact of the coronavirus, and esports isn’t immune from the trend.  Chaos Esports Club announced the release of its Dota 2 team, specifically citing the coronavirus as the cause for the move. Chaos’ roster competed with the following five players: Yawar “YawaR” Hassan Quinn “CCnC” Callahan Arif “MSS” Anwar Malthe “Biver” Winther Avery “SVG” Silverman “Regrettably we must make significant changes to our business …

Overwatch League returns this weekend with a packed schedule William Davis News The Overwatch League is coming back on March 28 with a packed schedule. The Overwatch League is ready to resume activities after a prolonged hiatus. Earlier this year, the Overwatch League was forced to cancel homestands in China and South Korea. As the coronavirus spread to the rest of the world, Blizzard decided to transition into an online format and cancel all scheduled homestands. The show must go on, so …

Fallen is really establishing himself as Godfather of Counter-Strike M Alzamora Counter-Strike Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo is known as Brazil’s “Godfather of Counter-Strike,” and for good reason. He’s spent the past 16 years growing the scene in Brazil, and he’s recently made it even easier for Brazilian fans to get involved in competitive esports. FalleN revealed the revamped Fallen.gg, offering Brazilian esports fans the opportunity to purchase gear from well-known brands like Razer and HyperX. This can help South American gamers find peripherals …

ESL One LA Major, ESL One Birmingham coming back as online leagues Nina Forneloza Dota 2 ESL has announced major changes in the upcoming ESL One Los Angeles Major 2020. Several tournaments were postponed and canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak and ESL One Los Angeles 2020 was among that lot. The tournament was supposed to take place on March 15 but ESL postponed the event indefinitely after the US government imposed a travel ban on Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With no end in sight …

WIN.gg gathers news and guides from around the world covering every point of the modern gaming industry in all of its many forms.