News

League of Legends Riot Games reportedly pulling back support from OPL region By Olivia Richman Counter-Strike OG Esports looks set to announce CSGO roster with Aleksib, NBK By M Alzamora News Smash pro ZeRo announces move to Facebook Gaming, fans not happy By Olivia Richman

Counter-Strike

The complete viewer’s guide for CS Summit 5 M Alzamora CS Summit 5 is approaching quickly and there’s a lot to look forward to for Counter-Strike fans. Hosted by Beyond the Summit, CS Summit is a spinoff of BTS’s popular set of Dota 2 tournaments. It’s unlike any other tournament in the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive circuit. Talent and players mingle and eat lunch in the background while games are casted by players from a comfortable couch. The relaxed atmosphere is …

League of Legends

Lira, Thal, and Sangyoon join new Korean team Seorabeol Gaming William Davis Popular Korean streamer Lee Sang-ho has decided to start a new League of Legends with top laner Park “Thal” Kwon-hyuk, jungler Nam “Lira” Tae-yoo, and bot laner Gwon “Sangyoon” Sang-yun. Three pro players and one streamer gathered to discuss League of Legends and a new organization was born: Seorabeol Gaming. The team already has recruited three members in former Hanwha Life Esports players Sangyoon and Thal and former Dignitas player …

League of Legends

KT Rolster Aiming admits to relationship with underage fan Jared Wynne KT Rolster’s bottom laner Kim “Aiming” Ha-ram has issued an apology after it surfaced that he was in an intimate relationship with a fan who was a minor. The information came out after Aiming decided to put an end to the relationship so that he could focus on the upcoming season. Aiming confirmed that instead of having a conversation regarding the decision, he cut off communications completely without an explanation. …

League of Legends

Contractz leaves Golden Guardians, joins 100 Thieves Academy William Davis 100 Thieves is adding an experienced jungler to 100 Thieves Academy, with the organization recently announced the signing of jungler Juan “Contractz” Arturo García who was transferred from Golden Guardians. The move comes after Golden Guardians confirmed Turkish player Can “Closer” Çelik as part of the starting roster for 2020. Contractz is joining top laner Aaron “FakeGod” Lee, mid laner Max “Soligo” Soong, and bottom lane duo Jacob “Prismal” Feinstein …

League of Legends Patch 9.24 is coming with a number of ARAM balance updates By Syed Mujtaba Naqvi League of Legends Evil Geniuses adds Irean as head coach of new LCS team By William Davis Counter-Strike North send Valde to unnamed team, clues point to new OG CSGO team By M Alzamora

Dota 2

Dota 2 update 7.23b brings even more changes to Outlanders Update gabhernandez More significant changes have arrived for The Outlanders Update. Dota 2 version 7.23b has arrived and it largely targets items, both old and new. The introduction of Neutral Items has seen teams shift their focus to the jungle in hopes of getting quickly kitted and that game-changing mechanic has already been hit with two significant shake ups within a week of release. In 7.23b, Neutral Items now start to drop …

Counter-Strike

ESL Pro League S10 Finals will feature CSGO’s best teams M Alzamora Everything is in place for the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals to be an absolute showdown. ESL Pro League’s Season 10 Finals start December 3, and there’s more Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to unpack here then fans have seen in a while. The ECS S8 finals were a great primer, but the ESL Pro League Finals are literally double the size. Sixteen teams will duke it out in Odense over …

League of Legends

GBM says he is owed money by Galatasary for unpaid salary Olivia Richman Turkish Championship League team Galatasaray is being accused of not paying player salaries again.  Mid laner Lee “GBM” Chang-seok revealed yesterday that Galatasaray has not only refused to pay him for the past three months, but haven’t been responding to his requests for payment. According to GBM, his former organization had told him he’d be paid the first week of October, but the date was continuously pushed back.  When December …

Counter-Strike

Stewie2K is first NA CSGO player to reach $1 million in prizes Steven Rondina Jacky “Stewie2K” Yip has joined Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s illustrious millionaires club. Courtesy of his team’s performance in the ECS Season 8 Finals, the Team Liquid player jumped over the $1 million mark for career earnings in tournaments. He is the first North American player to achieve this and the only player from outside the current lineup of Astralis to do so. Though the number doesn’t accurately represent how much Stewie2K …

LoL is the most watched game on Twitch of 2019, Fortnite second Syed Mujtaba Naqvi League of Legends League of Legends is the most-watched Twitch game of the year, taking the spot from last year’s top game Fortnite, and pushing it down to second place. With the 2019 World Championship, the game broke its own viewership records, making it the most-watched League event in the game’s history. Not only does League have the highest total viewership through 2019, it also has the highest average viewership and the highest …

Tyler1 Championship Series is back with a $50,000 prize Olivia Richman League of Legends The third annual Tyler1 Championship Series is coming soon.  Popular streamer Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp often makes headlines for his wild behavior and antics. But now the controversial League of Legends personality is garnering attention for his upcoming Championship Series. It’s bigger than ever this year, with a $50,000 prize up for grabs for first place.  The tournament begins on December 14 at 8 am PST. This will be when the …

Alissa Violet dishes on FaZe Banks cheating, shows receipts Olivia Richman News FaZe Clan executive Richard “Banks” Bengtson’s social life has often made headlines in the esports community for his crazy antics and his dramatic relationship with Instagram model Alissa Violet.  Recently, Violet has taken to Twitter to reveal details of their relationship that were once private to the public, and fans’ reactions are mixed. The couple had split up for undisclosed reasons in July. Many speculated what had led to their …

GiantWaffle breaks Twitch record for most hours streamed in a month Olivia Richman News After streaming for 19 hours per day every day for the entire month of November, Twitch streamer Andrew “GiantWaffle” Bodine has broken the record for most hours streamed in a single month.  GiantWaffle ended November with almost 573 hours of streaming time, breaking Jackson “JayBigs” Bigsby’s previous record. JayBigs ended August with 569 hours streamed. During his month-long effort, GiantWaffle boasted 3 million hours watched and gained 10,000 subscribers.  When …

As FACEIT bans Agents in pug games, Valve could intervene M Alzamora News According to a tweet from FACEIT partnerships manager Cem Mollaoğlu, the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive server provider has disabled Operation Shattered Web agents from their servers entirely. FACEIT joins ESEA in banning the in-game Agent models from all of its servers, including solo queue and pickup games. The decision follows FACEIT’s November 21 announcement that they would prohibit the use of the new models in the ECS Season 8 Finals that Astralis …

We determine who is really the best CSGO player in the world M Alzamora Counter-Strike “Who is the best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player in the world?” Fans ask the question in forums and among friends every year. In today’s CSGO landscape, many would immediately answer with Natus Vincere’s Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev, but it turns out that the true answer might be a little more complicated. The problem lies in that fans only remember the flashy plays, like s1mple’s famous flying no-scope double kill during MLG …

BLAST Global Finals part of problematic Middle East esports push Steven Rondina Counter-Strike In December, RFRSH Entertainment is bringing one of the year’s biggest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments, the BLAST Pro Series Global Finals, to the Kingdom of Bahrain. It’s an unfamiliar location for many esports fans, but the Bahraini government sees a promising future in esports. Cities and countries around the world have been interested in competitive gaming for reasons including economic windfalls, long-term investments, and potential tourism. Bahrain isn’t interested because …

Astralis once again defeat Team Liquid, win ECS Season 8 Finals M Alzamora Counter-Strike Astralis defeated Team Liquid 2-1 to take home the ECS Season 8 trophy and some momentum heading into the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals. Everyone got what they wanted out of the ECS Season 8 grand finals as Astralis and Team Liquid showcased fantastic Counter-Strike every round. The grand final between the two teams kicked off the first of three high-profile tournaments in a matchup that might be hard to …

Trainwrecks reveals why he turned down $1.2 million streaming deal Olivia Richman News Streamer Tyler “Trainwreckstv” Niknam’s contract with Twitch forced him to turn down a shocking $1.2 million streaming deal from another platform.  On an episode of Trainwrecks’ Scuffed podcast last week, the streamer discussed Twitch’s exclusivity policy with guests Andy Milonakis, Rod “Slasher” Breslau, and PayMoneyWubby. He decided to reveal his own experience with Twitch’s contracts, admitting he was recently unable to take a deal from a nameless Chinese company because …

Astralis Group planning to go public, aiming for $22 million IPO M Alzamora Counter-Strike The Astralis Group has announced its plans to take the company public. The Astralis Group, which owns League of Legends team Origen, FIFA’s Future FC, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s Astralis, revealed plans to take the company public just months after its split from RFRSH Entertainment. The move marks the first time that an organization intimately involved in the management and ownership of esports teams has gone public.  Astralis is currently the …

League of Legends voice packs may be coming in the future Syed Mujtaba Naqvi League of Legends Riot Games might be considering adding a voice pack feature to League of Legends. League of Legends product manager Ken Adams asked players over Twitter what they might envision for voice packs of their favorite champions in League, sparking an uptick in discussion on the topic. Most responders shared they would love to have champion announcer packs that only they can hear, which Ken commented “would be pretty cool”. He did, …

Cloud9 confirms Blaber as team’s starting jungler for 2020 William Davis League of Legends Cloud9 has completed its roster for 2020 with Robert “Blaber” Huang on the starting roster. After months of speculation, C9 has officially announced Blaber as the starting jungler for the upcoming season. Blaber joined C9 Academy back in 2017 as a substitute jungler. His talent earned him a starting spot with C9 Academy and occasional appearances with the main roster in the LCS. Blaber is considered one of the most …

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