News

Counter-Strike CSGO nears all-time player record as Valve pushes monetization By M Alzamora League of Legends League of Legends Season 10 changes, plans detailed by Riot By gabhernandez Dota 2 Nigma eliminate Gambit Esports, advance in WePlay! Bukovel Minor By Steven Rondina

Dota 2

Royal Never Give Up take spot in WePlay! Bukovel Minor grand finals Steven Rondina Royal Never Give Up has reached the grand finals of the WePlay! Bukovel Minor. The Chinese team has looked incredible throughout the event and haven’t slowed down in the playoffs. RNG started its day with a win over Nigma, but have now earned a spot in the grand finals with a win over Geek Fam. Game one started in uncharacteristically sloppy fashion for Royal Never Give Up. The laning phase …

League of Legends

2020 LCK Spring Split start date, full list of teams revealed William Davis The 2020 LCK Spring Split will start on February 5, approximately two weeks later than in previous years. The schedule is based on the Lunar New Year celebration, which occurs on January 25 in 2020. Following the holidays, the teams will have a little while to regroup before the beginning of the season. Like previous years, the LCK is following a double round-robin format through the regular season. The regular …

Fortnite

Allied Esports to open esports venue in Mall of Georgia in 2020 Olivia Richman An esports venue is coming to the Mall of Georgia.  Located in Gwinnett County, Georgia, this mall is the first location to house Allied Esports and Simon Property Group’s joint esports venue. Esports fans in the area can expect a retail store in the first half of 2020, although no dates were included with the press release.  In the second half of the year, the 13,000 square foot facility will …

League of Legends

Showmatch between MAD Lions and Team Tyler1 is called off Syed Mujtaba Naqvi The showmatch between LEC team MAD Lions and Team Tyler1 from Twitch Rivals won’t be happening. And even if it were to somehow come through, there will be no broadcast of the game. Just two days ago, MAD Lions challenged League of Legends streamer and Team Tyler1 member Christian “IWDominate” Rivera on a match in response to him teasing the team’s Twitter follower count. IWDominate answered that he’d gladly play …

Counter-Strike Cloud9 to attend WINNERS League Season 3 Playoffs By M Alzamora News Houston Outlwas forced to move out of Woodlands training facility By William Davis League of Legends LoL Warriors cinematic continues on lore of the Lux comic series By William Davis

League of Legends

FunPlus Phoenix decide on 2019 Worlds champion skins Syed Mujtaba Naqvi The 2019 World Champion FunPlus Phoenix have made a definitive decision on champions that will be wearing the team’s colors with new skins. FPX mid laner Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang shared during a live stream which five FPX skins League of Legends players will be able to buy in the stores this spring. World Champion skins are coming for Gangplank, Lee Sin, Malphite, Vayne, and Thresh. FPX is the seventh champion to …

Dota 2

Nigma beat Fighting PandaS, make WePlay! Bukovel Minor playoffs Steven Rondina Nigma weren’t in peak form in the WePlay! Bukovel Minor group stage, but they were still good enough to lock up a spot in the playoffs. The ex-Team Liquid squad finished the group stage with a 2-1 record. After dropping their first game at the event to Fighting PandaS, Nigma rebounded with a win over Furia Esports. They advanced to the next stage of the event by taking a 2-1 …

Counter-Strike

Cloud9 takes IEM Katowice spot over MiBR in stacked NA qualifier M Alzamora The North American closed qualifiers were hotly contested, but Cloud9’s fresh roster prevailed. 2020’s iteration of IEM Katowice came with a new set of rules for qualifiers, as well as a reduction in the number of slots assigned regions. This year, North America has a single slot. The change forced teams that would have normally attended together fight over the single opportunity to compete in Poland. Some of the top …

League of Legends

Riot Games Korea CEO Park Jun-kyu passes away William Davis Riot Games Korea CEO Park Jun-kyu passed away on January 9 after battling with liver cancer for almost a year. Riot Games Korea announced that its CEO passed away on January 9. Park Jun-kyu had been battling with liver cancer for the greater part of 2019 while working for Riot Games through one of the busiest years for the developer. Park Jun-kyu joined Riot Games in 2014 from CJ E&M, …

LCS tickets for sale, fans unhappy with Spring Pass pricing William Davis League of Legends The tickets for the 2020 LCS Spring season are up for sale now. After releasing the full schedule for the 2020 LCS Spring, Riot Games is officially selling the tickets for next season. The LCS was by some metrics the third most popular major professional sports league in the United States in 2019 and is expecting to attract even more fans in 2020. Tickets are available online, and the price range …

Gambit Esports beats Fighting Pandas, goes to WePlay! Minor playoff Steven Rondina Dota 2 Gambit Esports has reached the playoffs of the WePlay! Bukovel Minor. The CIS squad picked up a key win over Fighting PandaS to advance into the playoffs of the event. This sets them up with a series against Geek Fam, and gives them good positioning as they look for a backdoor into the DreamLeague Season 13 major. The series opened in strange fashion. Gambit pinned its hopes on a late …

New Fortnite game mode Liferun will debut at PAX South with DrLupo Olivia Richman Fortnite Fortnite is getting a new custom game mode.  Epic Games is debuting “Liferun” at the PAX Arena at PAX South in San Antonio, January 18. That’s when fans will have the chance to join Overwatch League pros on “Liferun” missions during the PAX Pro-Am. From 2 to 6 PM CST, the Houston Outlaws roster, including Shan “Rawkus” Flaherty and Dante “Danteh” Cruz, will take part in the special debut.  Big …

KT Rolster restricts trainee applications to players younger than 20 Syed Mujtaba Naqvi League of Legends Korean League of Legends team KT Rolster has opened applications for new trainees and they are looking for young talent. Exclusively looking for young talent, mind you. KT put out a call for trainees between the ages of 16 and 20. That hard ceiling at just 20 years of age stunned and angered the community on multiple fronts. Many pro players are trying to break the stigma of older age bringing …

Report points to Smooya bringing AWP to Chaos Esports Club M Alzamora News Owen “Smooya” Butterfield is set to join Chaos Esports Club in the place of Gage “Infinite” Green. After Chaos EC benched Infinite on January 3, the roster found itself in need of a fifth ahead of the 2020 IEM Katowice Closed Qualifiers and the WINNERS League Season 3 playoffs. A report from RushB media says the organization is set to sign the British AWPer, but a close look says the …

Aphelios breaks record in Korea as the most-banned LoL champion William Davis League of Legends Aphelios has broken the record as the most-banned champion in Korean solo queue, with a 223% ban rate. Aphelios, The Weapon of the Faithful, was introduced with Patch 9.24, the final update of 2019. The champion promised to be different from any other champion prior and it lived up to those expectations. While Aphelios’ kit is different from the rest in the game, it was also too powerful. Because of …

Evil Geniuses adds Lebanese player Korean Kid to complete Academy team William Davis League of Legends Evil Geniuses Academy has completed its starting roster with the addition of Lebanese mid laner Ahmad “Korean kid” Charif. Evil Geniuses Academy went all the way to the Middle East to find a new mid laner. Korean Kid recently took part in Nexus Arabia 2019, the first League of Legends event of its kind in Saudi Arabia. The mid laner was part of EGZ eSports, which won one of the tournaments …

TFT Patch 10.1 adds new Lunar trait and items, nerfs Nocturne William Davis League of Legends The first Teamfight Tactic update of 2020 is here. Patch 10.1 adds new champions, new Little Legends, and new items. TFT is starting the year with some major changes that include a new trait with two new champions. This will be the second set of new units to be added to Set 2 Rise of the Elements, the first one being Soulbound with Senna and Lucian. TFT Patch 10.1 adds …

CSGO pro settings and sensitivity for s1mple, ZywOo, dev1ce, more M Alzamora Counter-Strike Below are some of the top professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players’ settings from major pros like Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz. CSGO players are free to copy them into their configuration file or autoexec, but there are some things they have to keep in mind. Just because pro players use a certain crosshair or viewmodel doesn’t mean that it’s the best version. Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski of Team Liquid, for example, uses …

League of Legends 2020 teaser shows new Volibear, Clash, more Syed Mujtaba Naqvi League of Legends Riot Games has shared a video teasing what’s coming in 2020 for League of Legends and beyond. From new champions and skins, a Teamfight Tactics update, and Riot’s new games, fans have a lot to be excited for this year. Head of League of Legends Joe “New001” Tung shared Riot will be updating players with details throughout the week, starting with explanations of where the developer is headed with limited …

Jeff Kaplan teases Baptiste nerf in Overwatch, leading to outrage Olivia Richman News One Reddit user’s prayers were answered when Jeff Kaplan responded to their pleas for a Baptiste nerf.  When they put forward the idea that Baptiste’s Immortality Field cooldown should start after it’s destroyed, the Overwatch lead designer responded. Blizzard’s popular executive said they have been “trying out some changes” to make Baptiste’s Immortality Field “less oppressive.”  It’s not clear what changes will come to the new support hero, but Baptiste’s …

Nigma upset by Fighting PandaS at WePlay! Bukovel Minor Steven Rondina Dota 2 Nigma underwhelmed in its live event debut. The team led by Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi played its first game in an offline setting since its split from Team Liquid in 2019 at the WePlay! Bukovel Minor. Despite being heavy favorites to win the event, they sustained an upset loss at the hands of Fighting PandaS to open their run at the tournament. Nigma went with a somewhat strange draft in …

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