News

Counter-Strike Breaking down the week 8 challenges for CSGO Operation Shattered Web By M Alzamora Counter-Strike MICHU leaves VP, DickStacy possibly out of Renegades By M Alzamora League of Legends Swifte withdraws from Twitch Rivals, unhappy with team draft By Syed Mujtaba Naqvi

Counter-Strike

IEM Katowice 2020 invites include Astralis, Team Liquid, NiP Steven Rondina The direct invitations to IEM Katowice 2020 have been sent out, fleshing out much of the competitive field for the event. 10 teams have been penned into a spot at the tournament. There are few surprises to be had, as the invitees to IEM Katowice likely stand as the top-10 ranking for most Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pundits: Fnatic Astralis mousesports 100 Thieves Evil Geniuses Ninjas in Pyjamas Team Liquid Virtus.pro …

League of Legends

Big balance changes coming to League of Legends with Patch 10.1 Syed Mujtaba Naqvi League of Legends is just a few days away from Season 10 and one night before the first patch of the year. Patch 10.1 is coming with four nerfs, more than 10 buffs, as well as changes to support items and Omnistone. These changes will help shape the meta of the upcoming season. The biggest update is coming to Sylas, and although Riot considers it a buff, it’s more of …

League of Legends

Sylas’ gameplay may completely change with new Patch 10.1 Syed Mujtaba Naqvi Though patch 10.1 is bringing balance updates to a large number of champions, Sylas is in the spotlight. The first patch of the season has a major overhaul ready for the champion. Sylas has been struggling to find his place under the sun. Developed as a mid laner, he’s almost never picked for that role. When he is, players are struggling to get wins. Riot Games recognized this issue and …

Dota 2

Dota 2 update 7.23f changes heroes ahead of WePlay! Bukovel Minor Steven Rondina The WePlay! Bukovel Minor is just a few days away, but that didn’t stop Valve from dropping a new balance update on players. Dota 2 patch 7.23f is here, bringing changes to several powerful heroes that have found success in high MMR play over recent weeks. Notably, this is the first update to 7.23 that doesn’t change either neutral items or outposts, suggesting that Valve is finally satisfied with the …

Counter-Strike CSGO bots can now use utility for a perfect Mirage execute strat By M Alzamora Counter-Strike North socials disappear before fresh rebranding announced By M Alzamora News DoA leaving OWL casting desk, ZP joining JAKE as caster for 2020 By Olivia Richman

Dota 2

Garter retires from Dota 2 to start LoL career, talks Dota 2 vs. LoL gabhernandez A Dota 2 veteran has left the professional scene due to the lack of support for tier-two teams and the game’s inconsistent MMR system. With a career dating back to Dota 2’s inception, Ylli “garter” Ramadani has decided to leave and pursue League of Legends instead. In a TwitLonger post, he pointed out several flaws in the current pro scene. Dota 2 enthusiasts have been crying foul on Valve’s unstable …

League of Legends

Six tips for climbing out of Bronze rank in League of Legends William Davis League of Legends Season 10 will officially start on January 10 and players are asking themselves the same question: How can I rank up? This guide includes six tips that will help you improve as a League of Legends player once the ranked season starts. It won’t be easy and nothing is guaranteed, so buckle up and get ready for another season of play. It sounds like a bit of …

League of Legends

A quick guide to playing AP Shaco like a League of Legends pro Syed Mujtaba Naqvi Changes introduced with patch 9.21 made Shaco spike in popularity. The patch didn’t just buff him, it also changed his abilities in a way that opens the jester towards strong new AP builds. Though there have been nerfs to those abilities since, Shaco remains to be a strong pick. With his standard jungle build revolving around attack damage, AP Shaco found a new place to shine. Players recognized the outplay …

Counter-Strike

These are five of the best CSGO players from 2019 Jared Wynne 2019 was a very competitive year for the top Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players. Some of the best teams and players emerged during the course of the year, and some have become even better than they were in 2018.  Here we will discuss some of the top CSGO players of the year and consider who may have been the best overall. While all of these players depend on their teammates to …

CSGO’s best practice config guide with brand new commands M Alzamora Counter-Strike In order to get better at Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, players need three things. The patience to identify their weaknesses, the time to invest into turning them into strengths, and a practice config file. This small list of commands, also called a .cfg file, is a basic text file that enables some pretty neat features in CSGO. When activated through the console, all of the commands activate at once to change …

Pita out, THREAT in as NiP head coach as f0rest rumored to leave M Alzamora Counter-Strike Faruk “pita” Pita said goodbye to Ninjas in Pyjamas on Twitter as the organization announced it has added Björn “THREAT” Pers as the new head coach of its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team. Days after announcing North’s Jonas “calc” Gundersen as its new COO and unveiling a new headquarters, the Ninjas in Pyjamas organization has made another major change. The organization revealed the departure of longtime CSGO head coach pita in a tweet on its …

Riot announces start of the League of Legends Season 10 in 2020 Syed Mujtaba Naqvi League of Legends A new 10th season of League of Legends is just a few days away from its start. Riot Games announced the start of the 2020 season through Twitter, getting players excited about a new shot at the ranked ladder and new features that the developer has in store for this year. The season will officially be starting on January 10, two days after the first patch of the year goes …

EG captain Fly’s support Viper pick takes over pro Dota 2 games Steven Rondina Dota 2 Alongside Tinker and Invoker, Viper has long been used as a mid lane hero. Viper was also almost exclusively used in low ELO games. His incredibly high early game damage and punishing Corrosive Skin passive was enough to fluster inexperienced players and dominate in the mid game. He didn’t necessarily hold up once the opponents started finishing items like Black King Bar and Pipe of Insight, but ideally the game …

WWE superstar Cesaro climbs League of Legends’ ranked ladder Olivia Richman League of Legends WWE pro wrestler Cesaro is looking to put the hurt on League of Legends players, but not in the ring. In Summoner’s Rift.  Cesaro recently climbed up to Silver 3 in ranked League of Legends, something he proudly announced on Twitter last week.  “#TheClimb2020 started out quite well. Let’s hope I can keep the momentum,” Cesaro tweeted.  Cesaro went on to note that former Echo Fox owner Rick Fox was …

Cloud9 signs ATK roster ahead of DreamHack Leipzig, WINNERS League M Alzamora Counter-Strike Cloud9 officially announced the signing of ATK’s CSGO roster in a post on the organization’s website. The ATK roster joins Cloud9 after an impressive showing at the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals where the team defeated both North and G2 Esports in best-of-threes before falling to eventual tournament winner mousesports in the third round of the lower bracket. The full ATK roster has made the switch, including head coach Tiaan …

Afreeca Freecs wins 2019 KeSPA Cup, sets sights on LCK Spring Split William Davis League of Legends Afreeca Freecs is the KeSPA Cup 2019 champion! The team completed its KeSPA Cup run with a decisive, 3-0 victory over Sandbox Gaming in the grand finals. Ahead of the tournament, Afreeca was never discussed as a possible contender for the title. The organization had a quiet off-season compared to other teams in the LCK that made major free agent signings. Afreeca took a different approach by keeping a solid …

IEM Katowice Major was the most-watched CSGO event of 2019 Olivia Richman Counter-Strike Amassing over 1.2 million peak viewers, the IEM Katowice Major 2019 was the highest viewed Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event of 2019.  IEM Katowice’s peak viewership of 1,205,103 shot it far ahead of the other big CSGO events last year, including the StarLadder Berlin Major which reached a peak of 837,748 viewers. Viewership declines even more for non-Major events, with ESL One Cologne 2019 reaching 506,375 peak views.  IEM Katowice was …

zappis retires from Overwatch League to pursue streaming, school Olivia Richman News After four years in the professional Overwatch scene, Florida Mayhem flex tank Joonas “zappis” Alakurtti is retiring from competitive play.  In a TwitLonger post, zappis opened up about his decision. He cited a lack of motivation as his main reason for leaving the competitive Overwatch scene, stating that he feels he can not give the game 100% anymore.  “Some of you may know that I finished my Bachelor’s degree in law …

Dignitas reuniting GeT_RiGhT, f0rest, and other NiP legends M Alzamora Counter-Strike Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg is reportedly set to depart Ninjas in Pyjamas to rejoin three previous teammates on Dignitas. According to French news site 1pv.fr, the player’s rumored move to Dignitas has been finalized. F0rest is the final player remaining with Ninjas in Pyjamas from its legendary 2014 roster that also included Richard “Xizt” Landström, Adam “friberg” Friberg, and Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund. 1pv goes on to state that f0rest himself decided to part …

Ninja rages over Fornite lightsabers, demands Epic remove them Olivia Richman Fortnite Fortnite streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins is joining fans in demanding Epic Games vault lightsabers early.  During a recent livestream, Ninja ran into a lightsaber-wielding opponent who easily outmaneuvered the famous Mixer streamer thanks to the limited time weapon’s teleportation glitch. Upon being eliminated in the end game, Ninja lost his patience.  “Bro, what the fuck. He’s not even on me!” Ninja yelled.  Ninja’s duo partner, Mason “Symfunhy” Lanier, added that he …

Quick guide to Dota 2 warding in the early, mid, and late game Steven Rondina Dota 2 Wards win wars in Dota 2. Dota 2 is a game of information and the team that has more of it is going to win the vast majority of the time. Because of that, knowing when and where to place wards is an incredibly valuable tool for players at all levels. It requires quite a bit of game sense to know the best locations for wards as the game progresses …

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