News

News Our tier list for the best Overwatch Arcade game modes By Olivia Richman Dota 2 All of the best and worst in Dota 2 in 2019 By Steven Rondina League of Legends Doublelift and N0tail argue skill in League of Legends vs Dota 2 By Steven Rondina

League of Legends

Uzi injuries may force retirement as RNG battles at Demacia Cup William Davis The future of Royal Never Give Up and its biggest star AD carry Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao is uncertain, as according to different sources the player might not be able to play in 2020. Uzi might miss the LPL 2020 Spring Split and possibly the rest of the year. According to former RNG jungler Liu “Mlxg” Shi-Yu, the results of Uzi’s last medical examination are not as hopeful as the team …

News

Overwatch team disqualified from Breakable Barriers for cheating Olivia Richman An Overwatch team was disqualified from the Overwatch League’s Path to Pro Breakable Barriers tournament over the weekend after one of their players was caught cheating.  The Open Division competition’s second weekend was held on December 21 and 22. The teams competing for the cash prize were mostly comprised of Overwtch contenders players and other well-known pros looking to have some fun. But one player from Minions on the Flank …

Counter-Strike

EG ImAPet says BnTeT’s visa issues would’ve taken “a year” to fix M Alzamora While Gen.G has officially completed its first Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster with the addition of Hansel “BnTeT” Ferdinand, there’s one more hurdle to clear. The move confirmed a month’s worth of rumors that Gen.G was targeting Chinese CSGO organization TYLOO’s BnTeT for its fifth and final roster spot on its first CSGO roster. The organization officially announced the move on December 22 and made the announcement welcoming BnTeT in a tweet …

League of Legends

KeSPA Cup 2019 gets English broadcast after community backlash Syed Mujtaba Naqvi KeSPA Cup 2019 will have an English broadcast after all, LCK caster Max “Atlus” Anderson announced. Just a few days ago, League of Legends fans were disappointed to hear KeSpa Cup 2019, a Korean tournament where the LCK 2020 rosters perform for the first time ahead of the regular season, wouldn’t have an English broadcast. But with the power of the community and the support from Korean teams T1 and Gen.G, …

League of Legends Goku, Pikachu, other anime characters share voices with LoL champs By Syed Mujtaba Naqvi League of Legends Esports Life Tycoon is a surprisingly accurate esports sim By Olivia Richman News Top talents revealed for Dota 2’s WePlay! Bukovel Minor By Steven Rondina

Counter-Strike

Syrson leaves Sprout, likely to join all-German BIG roster M Alzamora Florian “syrsoN” Rische is no longer affiliated with the Sprout organization or its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster. The organization announced the news on December 22.  “Goodbye, syrsoN. He has proven himself as an exceptional talent and it was a pleasure having him,” the organization said on Twitter. “We thank you Rische, for the energy and effort you put in the team. Even though we are sure your journey isn’t over yet, …

Fortnite

Fortnite star Ninja announces launch date for Time In Adidas shoes Olivia Richman Looking for some kicks to match your Ninja headband? You’re in luck. On December 31, Adidas is launching a line of sneakers in collaboration with Fortnite phenomenon Tyler “Ninja” Blevins.  The old school design sports Ninja’s signature blue and gold color scheme, although in a far more understated way this time around. Ninja’s logo is on the inside of the left shoe, while the right side shoe says “Time In” …

News

Study tracks differences between pro and casual FPS players Olivia Richman A recent study of sorts shows how differently a professional FPS player takes in a map when compared to a casual player.  Nikkei recently posted an article that showed how Japan’s best Call of Duty: Modern Warfare player looked at a map versus an amateur player. Equipped with glasses with infrared sensors and cameras, both players’ eye movements were tracked with a red dot. When one of the gamers focused …

Counter-Strike

Vitality win EPICENTER 2019, defeat Mousesports in finals M Alzamora The EPICENTER 2019 grand final between Team Vitality and mousesports was close as can be but in the end, the French side came out on top to win their first tournament since June. The veto went predictably, with Inferno, Mirage, and Nuke ending up as the series’ maps. Vitality chose Inferno, a smart counterpick considering mousesports has a mediocre 63% win percentage on the map. In turn, mousesports played to their own …

Sprout eyes AWPer Oskar as syrsoN replacement, report says M Alzamora Counter-Strike German esports organization Sprout is reportedly in talks with ex-mousesports AWPer Tomáš “oskar” Šťastný to join their CSGO roster. The AWPer most recently competed for HellRaisers before being benched in September. He officially split from the organization and became a free agent in October. Per DBLTAP’s Jarek Lewis, oskar is being looked at to potentially fill the AWP role that might be opened up by the departure of Florian “syrsoN” Rische. SyrsoN …

T1 and Gen.G push for 2019 KeSPA Cup English broadcast to return William Davis League of Legends Gen.G and T1 have offered to cover the expenses of the 2019 KeSPA Cup English broadcast. LCK on-air talent, Max “Atlus” Anderson shared on Twitter that the Korea Esports Association decided to cut off the English broadcast and had barred them from restreaming the event. League of Legends fans were quick to react to the news, venting frustration over being denied access to the last competitive event of the year. …

Riot reveals first batch of PCS teams for inaugural season William Davis News Riot Games has revealed nine of the teams that will take part in the inaugural season of the Pacific Championship Series. Earlier this year, Riot Games shared its plans to merge the LMS and the LST to create a new league known as the PCS. The LMS was home to eight teams from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao. The LST brought together teams from the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and other …

Vici Gaming win ONE Esports, look like early TI10 favorites Steven Rondina Dota 2 Vici Gaming are the champions of ONE Esports’ inaugural event. The Chinese squad took first place at the ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitational Singapore, defeating Evil Geniuses 3-0 in the grand finals. The victory gives Vici Gaming the $200,000 top prize and their fourth prominent live tournament victory of 2019. Game one revolved around Vici Gaming carry Zhang “Eurus” Chengjun. Playing safelane Magnus, he reared back and farmed …

EPICENTER to host fourth major of 2019-2020 Dota Pro Circuit season Steven Rondina Dota 2 Dota 2 fans finally know where each of the five majors will take place during the 2019-2020 season. EPICENTER has announced it will be hosting the second EPICENTER Major in May 2020. The event will be the fourth major of the season and will be held in Moscow, with the finals taking place live at the CSKA Arena from May 8 to 10. The news was revealed by EPICENTER during …

Vitality, mousesports favorites for EPICENTER grand finals M Alzamora Counter-Strike Tomorrow in Moscow, Team Vitality and Heroic will go head to head. This is followed by mousesports taking on Evil Geniuses. Both matches will determine the contestants in the EPICENTER 2019 grand finals. The matchups are intriguing on their own merits. Team Vitality hasn’t played in a tournament since November’s IEM Beijing, placing fourth. In theory, that sounds like a decent result. In reality, beating out TYLOO, ViCi Gaming, and ENCE …

Germany to introduce new esports visa in spring 2020 Syed Mujtaba Naqvi News Germany is taking big steps to make itself an even greater esports destination. The country is introducing a new esports-focused visa that will allow players and tournament organizers to streamline the process of arranging competitions in the country. Esport-Bund Deutschland shared that the German Federal Government and the States approved the decision of bringing the esports visa to the country on December 21st. The new visa comes after the approval of …

Brehze’s visa issues at EPICENTER shows CSGO schedule problems M Alzamora Counter-Strike Visa issues are nothing new for professional esports, standing as a constant irritation for tournament organizers and organizations alike as they try and keep up with the hectic, global competitive schedule.  But in the span of just two weeks, irritation has given way to absurdity as CSGO has seen major competitors forced to use stand-ins for large tournaments. Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte of Evil Geniuses was forced to miss two matches …

These are the highest esports earnings in Fortnite in 2019 Olivia Richman Fortnite No esport is growing faster than Fortnite. The Fortnite World Cup not only had a $30 million prize pool, but wooed the mainstream media in a way no other game has. The public has become fascinated by the game as older demographics finally start to wake up to the fact that video games aren’t just a fun hobby, but something that takes legitimate skill and can make talented players real money. And …

Vici Gaming faces Gambit Esports for spot in ONE Esports finals Steven Rondina Dota 2 Vici Gaming is looking like it might be the team to beat at the ONE Esports Dota 2 World Pro Invitational Singapore. The Chinese squad has advanced to the lower bracket finals thanks to a pair of victories over Team Secret and Alliance in the event’s lower bracket. This sets them up with a guaranteed top-three finish at the tournament and a match with Gambit Esports in the lower bracket …

Everything you need to best manage your betting bankroll Syed Mujtaba Naqvi News Many esports fans have been reluctant to get into betting due to the fear of losing money. Although there are risks to betting, they can be minimized with proper betting bankroll management. In fact, if financials are properly managed, betting is not only fun, it can even become profitable for skilled and attentive bettors. Betting isn’t simply about picking the team with better odds. It’s a game of its own, …

CSGO update changes operation cards, adds Agent sleeves M Alzamora Counter-Strike Today’s CSGO update made a few changes to the Operation Shattered Web mission cards, as well as changing some of the operator’s first-person sleeves. First, the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team focused on Jungle for this week’s patch, making some optimizations and fixing some bugs around the Danger Zone map. Luckily, they also found and fixed an area of the map where players could fall through, meaning that Jungle is a …

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