News

News San Francisco Shock set new attacking speed record on Numbani By Fariha Bhatti News Cloud9 parts ways with trial player Zellsis after Katowice Major By Olivia Richman Counter-Strike Vega Squadron offers up entire Counter-Strike roster for trade By Steven Rondina

News

NYXL first OWL team to secure spot in stage one playoffs Olivia Richman New York Excelsior are the first Overwatch League team to secure a spot in Season 2’s stage one playoffs. Overwatch League’s official Twitter confirmed the NYXL’s achievement after the team defeated Seoul Dynasty 3-1. League fans echoed a broad sentiment in response: No one is surprised. The NYXL have dominated Season 2 with a 6-0 record thus far. The team is currently number one in the OWL standings. “It’s all …

Dota 2

New hero Mars has arrived in Dota 2 Steven Rondina After months of waiting, mysterious Dota 2 hero Mars has arrived. Though the new addition comes later than its original release window, the character has dropped in Dota 2 after a prolonged silence on its status from Valve. Mars is a strength-based melee character that will likely be used in the carry position, though he also has the tools to function as a bulky initiator. He owns a unique set …

League of Legends

Riot Games hires first chief diversity officer Olivia Richman After multiple former Riot Games employees opened up about sexist behavior at the company, sexual harassment, and discrimination against female employees, Riot has hired its first chief diversity officer. According to Riot, Angela Roseboro will oversee all company activity relating to diversity and inclusion. This includes leading the recruitment team in hiring diverse talent and working with Chief People Officer Emily Winkle on integrating diversity and inclusion into the company’s …

Counter-Strike

GeT_RiGhT is the new all-time kill leader in CS:GO Olivia Richman Ninjas in Pyjamas’ Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund is the all-time kill leader in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Across all competitions, GeT_RiGhT has racked up 29,132 competitive kills. The Swedish star has surpassed previous kill leader Jaroslaw “paszaBiceps” Jarzabkwoski. Even though the Swedish team was eliminated from the IEK Katowice Major in a quarterfinals matchup with eventual champion Astralis, GeT_RiGhT still had enough tournament time to break the prestigious record. “Tough loss in …

Counter-Strike Dupreeh opens up on father’s death after major victory By Steven Rondina Dota 2 Dota Auto Chess patch introduces new heroes, deals with hackers By Olivia Richman League of Legends Fans vote on new Tristana skin in League of Legends By William Davis

News

Latest Overwatch update brings further change to Baptiste, Symmetra Jared Wynne The Overwatch development team has released a further update to the PTR, making changes to new hero Baptiste. This is the second balance update to the PTR build in less than a week, showing that developers are rapidly changing the way their newest hero works. The update arrived on PTR on March 2 and also included a changes to Symmetra.   Baptiste’s ultimate has a brand new look after players …

League of Legends

Twitch Prime subscribers now receive free League of Legends skins Olivia Richman Twitch knows that gamers love nothing more than some free loot. League of Legends players are now eligible for a new free loot capsule if they’re also a Twitch Prime subscriber with linked accounts. The “Summoner’s Crown Capsule” contains a random permanent skin, ward skin, and summoner icon. This promotion is available until April 3. This League of Legends promotion is imilar to one Twitch had in December, which offered …

Fortnite

$500,000 Fortnite tournament hit by dramatic glitches Steven Rondina ESL One Katowice’s Fortnite event did not go smoothly. Taking place just days after the launch of the season eight update, the $500,000 tournament in Poland was mired by a variety of bugs introduced by the pirate-themed patch. During competition, several players encountered strange issues, with some losing out on valuable points as a result. The most egregious example of this was seen live when Team Heretics player Marcos “MarkiLokuras” Barragan …

League of Legends

FunPlus Phoenix tops LPL after beating world champ Invictus Gaming William Davis FunPlus Phoenix has continued to dominate the LPL with a decisive victory against current world champion Invictus Gaming. FPX consolidated its place as the number one team in the Chinese LPL with a reverse sweep against IG. FPX is one of the biggest surprises of the 2019 season to date and is looking like a strong contender for the LPL spring title. The LPL is a region known for constant …

TSM pushes through late game to best Echo Fox William Davis League of Legends Team SoloMid continued to climb in the LCS standings with a victory over Echo Fox. Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik had yet another outstanding performance that contributed to TSM’s victory. Making his debut in the LCS, jungler James “Panda” Ding made sure Echo Fox had a stable early game. Every time TSM’s Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham tried to get aggressive, Panda was ready to respond. At the same time, he was able …

Astralis demolish ENCE to become Katowice Major champions Steven Rondina Counter-Strike Astralis are the 2019 Katowice Major champions. Facing ENCE in the grand finals of the year’s first Counter-Strike: Global Offensive major, the consensus favorite lived up to the hype with a dominant 2-0 victory. The win gave the team its latest in a long string of victories and a third CS:GO major title. ENCE was positioned for early success as it opened the series on the team’s best map, Train. …

Dota 2 hits 1 million concurrent players for first time since 2017 Steven Rondina Dota 2 Dota 2 is trending upwards. According to Steampowered.com, the popular MOBA peaked at over 1 million concurrent players on March 2. This is the first time the game’s concurrent player count has hit seven figures since February 2017. Dota 2 has enjoyed a serious upswing in popularity in recent months. After hitting its all-time peak in 2016, the game’s player base has trended steadily downwards for years despite occasional spikes …

Leak reveals possible new Apex Legends hero Octane Olivia Richman Apex Legends Fans are buzzing over the possible leak of a new Apex Legends hero. An anonymous source confided in Daily Esports that the leaked photo of potential hero Octane was real. They even provided a clearer illustration of the possible addition to the game. The controversy began when someone took to Reddit to share a screenshot of hero Octane, taken fron the screen of a friend who was working on the …

Astralis advance to Katowice final with win over MiBR Steven Rondina News Astralis is headed to the finals of the 2019 Katowice Major, just as predicted. Facing MiBR in the playoff semifinals, tournament favorite Astralis posted a convincing 2-0 victory. That seals for the team a spot in the grand finals of the event. MiBR initially had the look of being a legitimate threat to Astralis on its map pick, Overpass. Though Astralis got out to a hot start courtesy of Emil …

KheZu and Vega Squadron disband after rocky results Steven Rondina News Vega Squadron once again finds itself without a Dota 2 team. Following a string of failed qualifier attempts and poor results in tournaments, the European team is disbanding. The news was announced by Petu “Peksu” Vaatainen on Twitter. Initially a stack of European journeymen that competed as Team Lithium, the team was signed to Vega Squadron in November following the release of its previous CIS team led by Semion “CemaTheSlayer” …

Fortnite Season 8 Battle Pass has new skins, nixes drop points Olivia Richman News Fortnite’s Season 8 Battle Pass is full of changes and new additions, including over 100 pirate-themed cosmetics that unlock as players level up. Unlocking the Season 8 Battle Pass by completing last season’s Overtime Challenges results in the unlocking of two brand new outfits: Blackheart and Hybrid. Other notable skins include Sidewinder and Master Key. Every new skin in this season’s battle pass comes with unlockable style options that become …

G2 remain atop LEC after scrappy win over Rogue William Davis League of Legends G2 Esports found a win against Rogue, but it was a bigger fight than fans expected. The battle in the 2019 LEC Spring Split continues, this time featuring the first and last-place in the standing. The match showed a new side of G2 and mid laner Rasmus “Caps” Winther. As expected, Rek’Sai was a priority pick for G2. The jungle champion received some significant buffs in Patch 9.4 that made …

ENCE head to Katowice Major final with upset over Natus Vincere Steven Rondina Counter-Strike ENCE are headed to the grand finals of the 2019 Katowice Major. The Finnish underdogs posted another big upset in the Champions Stage with a dramatic win over Natus Vincere. The victory makes them the first team to lock up a spot in the grand finals of the tournament. The series kicked off on Train and in awkward fashion for Na’Vi. An opening ace for Ioann “Edward” Sukhariev set up …

Lucio-Oh’s bring Overwatch to breakfast with free loot boxes Olivia Richman News Overwatch hero Lucio has his own cereal. Lucio-Oh’s feature yellow and green cereal loops in the color of Lucio’s original skin. The cereal’s flavor is “Sonic Vanilla,” according to the box, which can only be assumed to be vanilla with the sound cranked up. While Kellog’s had a limited release of the cereal in December, it was first introduced at BlizzCon a month earlier. Attendees were given free boxes. More …

Astralis advance to Katowice Major semifinals over NiP Steven Rondina News If there were any doubts about Astralis at the 2019 Katowice Major, the Danish team quashed them with a dominant semifinals performance. Astralis rocked Ninjas in Pyjamas in the Champions Stage quarterfinals. Though the series was not without drama, it still ended in a convincing 2-0 sweep for Astralis. The match opened with Astralis in complete control. Emil “Magisk” Reif led Astralis to a 15-0 first half on Mirage, immediately …

Fusions back on OWL stage for Boston Uprising Olivia Richman News Boston Uprising’s Cameron “Fusions” Bosworth was on stage for the Uprising victory against Seoul Dynasty, following a competitive ruling that had previously barred Fusions from the remainder of stage one. The 3-1 victory was especially satisfying for Fusions after he had to watch his team’s defeat to Shangai Dragons last weekend. Fusions was benched because of the Overwatch League’s ruling on two-way contracted players, prohibiting such players from participating in more …

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