News

League of Legends Riot says smurfing in League of Legends “ruins the game,” to be fixed By Olivia Richman Dota 2 Gambit Esports, Alliance favorites for StarLadder Minor Season 3 By gabhernandez League of Legends Pobelter is returning to the LCS in the mid lane for CLG By Olivia Richman

News

Ex-Green Bay Packer Ahman Green transitions to esports coaching Olivia Richman Wisconsin’s Lakeland University made a surprising hire for its esports coach position. The school added former Green Bay Packers halfback Ahman Green to serve as head coach of its esports division. “The tournaments and competition have always been there,” Green told ESPN about esports’ growth. “In the last decade, big business has learned enough about esports to understand how to make money in different ways and with that interest, the …

League of Legends

TFT patch 10.4 reimagines Glacial units, nerfs Crystal and Poison William Davis Teamfight Tactics patch 10.4 hits some of the traits that got too strong after patch 10.3, while also buffing a handful of champions and reworking the Glacial trait. Rather than attacking the specific units, Patch 10.4 nerfs some of Predators’ stronger traits, including Poison and Crystal, with increased mana costs and an altered damage threshhold. While that’s a hard hit, the buff given to Kog’Maw in TFT patch 10.3 is …

League of Legends

LoL Patch 10.4 nerfs Sona and Soraka, expands jungle champion pool William Davis It’s time for patch 10.4! As we reported before, patch 10.4 hits primarily the champions that are wreaking havoc in the top lane, Sona and Soraka. It also targets the powerful Aphelios and buffs some of the favorites in pro play. On top of that, patch 10.4 increases the jungle champion pool. Patch 10.4 is hitting the live server one day later than usual, it will be released on February …

Dota 2

Match fixing allegations hit StarLadder Dota 2 Minor qualifiers Steven Rondina Match fixing scandals have been a bane of esports’ existence, and Dota 2 hasn’t been immune to this. The latest example is an eruption of controversy around a series between Newbee and Avengerls. Facing off in a series in the Chinese qualifiers to the StarLadder Season 3 Minor, a number of fans and pro players are crying foul about Avengerls’s performances during their 2-1 series loss. They are honing in …

League of Legends CBLOL studio destroyed, league postponed until end of February By Syed Mujtaba Naqvi Counter-Strike Europe’s ESL Rio closed Minor qualifier will be a bloodbath By M Alzamora League of Legends G2 jungler Jankos admits that he’s not far from retirement By Syed Mujtaba Naqvi

League of Legends

Faker becomes part owner of T1 with new three-year contract William Davis Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok extended his contract with T1 through 2022 and is now a part owner of the global organization. Every offseason the community waits for the day that Faker announces where is he playing next. Year after year, the decision is the same, to stay with T1. Now, the organization has guaranteed that Faker is not going anywhere, likely for the rest of his life. Faker is the face …

Dota 2

WePlay! Tug of War: Mad Moon features 8 top Dota 2 teams gabhernandez The WePlay! Bukovel Minor was a big event for WePlay! and the company is following up with Tug of War: Mad Moon. The event is set to include a number of top teams facing off for their slice of the $300,000 prize pool: Nigma Virtus.pro Aggressive Mode B8 Ninjas in Pyjamas Infamous Team Secret Gambit Esports WePlay! Tug of War: Mad Moon is not attached to the Dota Pro Circuit …

League of Legends

Riot’s Latin America League reveals its bold new rebrand for 2020 Olivia Richman Riot’s Latin America League has a new brand identity.  Also known as the Liga Latinoamérica, the brand refresh is meant to celebrate the recent merging of the Northern and Southern Latin American leagues with their audiences. A press release described the redesign as a way to “bridge the divide by building a passionate, united new community.”  Taking inspiration from grafitti and streetwear, the new brand was formed by branding agency …

Counter-Strike

Astralis and 12 other teams become part owners of ESL Pro League M Alzamora Astralis and twelve other top Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams announced this morning that they have become majority stakeholders in the ESL Pro League. In an official press release, Astralis revealed that it and the twelve other teams had signed an agreement with ESL just under a month before the start of the league on March 16. The move is a major move in the Counter-Strike ecosystem, as ESL now holds …

Build to TI10 kicks off with Collector’s Cache, merch Call to Arms gabhernandez Dota 2 The countdown to The International 2020 in Stockholm, Sweden has officially begun. Valve has announced The International 2020 Call to Arms for the TI10 Collector’s Cache and merchandise.  Notably, Valve did not tip its hand regarding the theme of TI10. Last year’s Call to Arms hinted at an overgrown, enchanted jungle theme which was eventually realized with the Wrath of the Mo’Rokai game mode and Jungle Expedition portion of the …

Cloud9 destroys EG, still undefeated in the 2020 LCS Spring Split William Davis League of Legends   Cloud9 closed Week 4 in the 2020 LCS Spring season with a convincing victory over Evil Geniuses, and the team remains undefeated. C9 just crossed another name on its list. The team earned its eighth consecutive victory of the season and is getting closer to the perfect split. The match against Evil Geniuses was a one-sided affair that finished one second before the 30-minute mark. So far in the …

Activision Blizzard begins push behind new Call of Duty league Jared Wynne News There may not be another video game franchise that has dominated the past decade more than Call of Duty. Even at a time when gamers have access to a huge variety of experiences, from shooters and MOBAs to slots from online casino site operators, CoD managed to secure 10 of the top 20 spaces in the list of best-selling video games recently published by NPD and has generated billions of …

DragonX in controversy after leaking scrim results versus Griffin William Davis League of Legends DragonX issued a formal apology after accidentally leaking its scrim against Griffin. On Monday, DragonX posted an apology on Twitter. According to the statement, the team accidentally streamed a scrim against Griffin on YouTube. The team clarified that this is their preferred method for reviews. The scrims are unlisted on YouTube and can only be accessed by the people in the organization that have the link. The scrim against Griffin …

As OWL cancels China games, Fusion sweep Philadelphia homestand gabhernandez News The Philadelphia Fusion hosted week two of the Overwatch League’s matches amid cancelled match dates in China due to the recent coronavirus outbreak.  Local fans were eager to see what their team had in store for them for live experiences, meet and greets, and of course, the matches themselves. The matches were hosted at the Metropolitan Philadelphia, just outside of the heart of the city. The old building was renovated …

Full list of teams revealed for ESL One Los Angeles Dota 2 major gabhernandez Dota 2 The list of participating teams at ESL One Los Angeles is already star-studded. The tournament will mark the LAN debut of the two-TI champs OG and its new roster. The regional qualifiers for ESL One Los Angeles are all done. Teams who survived the gruesome bloodbath are getting ready for a bigger battle. It’s already the middle of the Dota Pro Circuit season and pro teams are jostling for the …

HenryG calls Riot Games’ Project A “best game since CSGO” in alpha William Davis League of Legends The first details about Riot Games’ Project A have been revealed. During a ten-year celebration in October 2019, Riot Games showed a glimpse of Project A, the first FPS to be developed by the company. At the time, Riot Games only revealed that it was a character-based tactical shooter. The project was a work in progress and the release date was not announced at the time. A group of select …

Forg1ven leaves and Schalke 04 improves, so what went wrong? William Davis League of Legends FC Schalke 04 got its first victory in the LEC against no other than G2 Esports. The quick improvement by the team comes just days after bot laner Konstantinos-Napoleon “FORG1VEN” Tzortziou decided to step down from the main roster. 2020 has been rough for Schalke and its fans. The team is currently 1-7, stuck in ninth place. The only team worse than Schalke is the winless Team Vitality. Coming into …

How to play Revenant, Apex Legend’s newest legend Olivia Richman Apex Legends Revenant is Apex Legend’s newest legend, an assassin android with one of the most versatile kits in the entire battle royale game. He’s an interesting blend of stealth and aggression that appeals to a variety of players, from gamers looking to instigate a fight to those who want a way to bail when things seem unsafe. But how do you pick up such a unique legend? Let’s first take a …

Current LCS team standings after one month of the 2020 Spring Split Olivia Richman League of Legends The LCS Spring Split is almost halfway done and it’s starting to become clear which LCS teams are on top and which are underperforming. And a lot of the standings come as a surprise if we go by the preseason roster changes and predictions. Despite losing veteran Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi during a controversial preseason, Cloud9 look to be unstoppable in 2020. Yet to drop a game this season, it appears that their …

Cloud9, Gen.G headline NA ESL Rio Minor Closed Qualifiers M Alzamora Counter-Strike The ESL One Rio open qualifiers are finally finished after half a month of streams, matches, technical pauses, and timeouts. Thankfully, today was the final day. CSGO fans finally know which teams will compete for the limited slots available for Rio’s upcoming minors. The Americas have a grand total of eight slots allocated to the region, with six going to North American teams and two reserved for South America. The …

You can get a real advantage by customizing your viewmodel in CSGO M Alzamora Counter-Strike The internet is full of guides claiming that they have the “best viewmodel” for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. In reality, the best viewmodel settings for CSGO are entirely up to each individual player, even though there are some safe ideas that users should generally stick too. The worst thing a player can do is take someone else’s viewmodel settings wholesale. While players can move their viewmodel just about anywhere, that doesn’t …

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