News

Counter-Strike Astralis shut out Cloud9 with second ever 16-0 major score By Steven Rondina Fortnite Driftboarding comes to Fornite with patch 7.40 By Olivia Richman Counter-Strike Cloud9 demolish revamped MiBR in Katowice By Steven Rondina

Counter-Strike

Team Liquid and Natus Vincere get off to quick starts in Katowice Steven Rondina Natus Vincere and Team Liquid are off to a strong start in Katowice. The veteran teams both took clean wins to start their runs in the New Legends Stage, besting G2 Esports and Avangar, respectively. But while both managed to advance to 1-0, they reached that point in very different ways. Na’Vi entered Katowice with a number of questions about the CIS team’s status. Despite being heavily credentialed and retaining …

News

Hasbro to produce new line of Overwatch figures gabhernandez Collectors are rejoicing after an announcement from Hasbro that they are teaming up with Blizzard to release new Overwatch action figures. The popular shooter is getting figures featuring nine of the game’s characters, including Lucio, Sombra, Tracer, Reinhardt, Anna, Soldier 76, Pharah, Mercy, and Blackwatch Reaper. The figures will have posable appendages and stand six inches tall. All the props you’d expect from each character will also be included. Pricing …

League of Legends

Controversy surrounds all-female pro League team Olivia Richman League of Legends Continental League team RoX banned five support champions in the draft phase against all-female opponents Vaevictis Esports, a sexist joke that drew attention to how problematic the team was to begin with. Even though Vaevictis seemed amused by the joke while on stage, an ensuing Reddit thread about RoX’s stunt was locked due to “an overwhelming amount of sexist comments.” Before the lockdown, a Reddit user noted …

Counter-Strike

Death threat meme gets Windigo CEO banned from Twitter Olivia Richman Windigo Gaming’s CEO’s Twitter account was suspended after he responded to a former player with a “death threat” meme. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player Teodor “SPELLAN” Nikolov stated in a Twitlonger that Windigo didn’t pay him his salary for eight months while he was benched. He also accused the esports organization of not sending him prize pool money he’d won while a part of the team. SPELLAN mentioned that CEO Maksym …

Fortnite Ninja to launch new line of toys By Olivia Richman News Latest Overwatch patch makes Paris live, changes damage orders By Fariha Bhatti Dota 2 Sumail out, CCnC in for Evil Geniuses in Macau By gabhernandez

Counter-Strike

ESL extends streaming rights deal with Facebook William Davis Esports tournament organizer ESL is extending its content streaming deal with Facebook through 2019. Fans around the world will be able to tune in to Facebook in order to watch the Intel Extreme Masters, ESL One, and CS:GO Pro League on Facebook’s gaming platform. The distribution began on January 16 with the regional qualifiers for the IEM Katowice CS:GO minors. At that time, ESL announced an exclusive deal with Facebook …

Dota 2

Nerfs to Io, Lich, and Keeper of the Light arrive with Dota 7.21b gabhernandez Valve has released a new Dota 2 patch bringing some interesting tweaks to popular heroes. While the 7.21 patch brought in a new ranking system and its own hero changes, 7.21b provides small tweaks to bring further balance to the game. Several nerfs and buffs have been delivered to different heroes in the current meta. The patch also delivered an increase in experience points from denied creeps, boosted from 25% …

News

Activision-Blizzard to bring franchising to Call of Duty esports Steven Rondina The competitive Call of Duty scene will soon look very different. During its Q4 2018 earnings conference call, Activision-Blizzard confirmed plans to roll out a franchised league for the Call of Duty series of games. The announcement confirmed enduring rumors about a change to the competitive Call of Duty landscape. As it stands, the current Call of Duty World League requires teams to compete for a spot at a series …

League of Legends

TSM ends the undefeated dream for Team Liquid William Davis Team Liquid is no longer undefeated. The defending champions went down to Team SoloMid after having amassed a perfect 7-0 record. TSM broke that record and finished week four with two victories. TSM showed a dominant performance against a Team Liquid that found itself without answers. Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham left his passive jungling style behind, pressuring Jake “Xmithie” Puchero out of his own jungle. In the top lane, Sergen “Broken …

Cloud9 survive, advance to New Legends Stage at Katowice Major Steven Rondina Counter-Strike Cloud9 is moving forward in the 2019 Katowice Major. Facing Winstrike Team in the final match of the New Challengers Stage, the fan favorite organization avoided elimination with a 2-0 victory. This advances the team’s record in the group to 3-2, which qualifies them for a spot in the Legends Stage. The opening showdown on Nuke hinged on either teams’ use of the AUG. Though the map has always been …

Carpe flashes Widowmaker skills in Fusion victory Olivia Richman News Philadelphia Fusion may have defeated Atlanta Reign 3-2, but the team’s biggest moment was on a map they didn’t even win. After losing the first point on control map Nepal, Fusion decided to break away from the standard GOATS composition and bring out Jae-hyeok “Carpe” Lee’s signature Widowmaker. Both teams came out of the spawn with double snipers, but it soon became clear who the dominate sharpshooter was as Carpe …

Cloud9 manage methodical victory over Rush and Echo Fox William Davis League of Legends Cloud9 took a dominant victory over a hesitant Echo Fox to claim second place in the LCS standings. Cloud9 started week four on a high note in defeating Echo Fox. The World Championship semifinalist showed a methodical game against an Echo Fox roster that has at times struggled.. The star of the match was young support Tristan “Zeyzal” Stidam on Alistar. Zeyzal had a strong presence in the map with …

Respawn promises daily future updates for Apex Legends Fariha Bhatti Apex Legends Respawn has shared a detailed account of the studio’s future plans regarding newly released battle royale game Apex Legends. The information was given via on Reddit by community manager Jay “Jayfresh” Frechette, and highlighted how Respawn intends to communicate with its Apex playerbase. As part of the studio’s attempts at frequent communication, Jayfresh stated in the post that he would personally be updating Reddit with information about the game on …

Twitch reverses controversial ban on Overwatch streamer Olivia Richman News Popular Overwatch streamer Fareeha Andersen is already back on Twitch after causing some controversy that the streaming service labeled as “hate speech.” Twitch had initially banned Fareeha’s account for 30 days after she called South American Overwatch players “shit” during a February 7 stream. After a public outcry and an ensuing apology by Fareeha, Twitch lessened the length of the ban, allowing her back on the platform after just seven …

Triple ultimate combo extends NYXL winning streak Olivia Richman News The New York Excelsior are delivering on their promise to fans by winning their second game of Season 2, defeating expansion team Washington Justice 3-1. The NYXL are starting the second Overwatch League season out strong, with two consecutive wins over the Justice and Boston Uprising. This comes after a heartbreaking semifinal elimination in Season 1 that left the team in tears. Despite a great start to its first season, …

Ninjas in Pyjamas eliminate Vici Gaming, move to New Legends Stage Steven Rondina Counter-Strike Ninjas in Pyjamas is staying alive at the 2019 Katowice Major. The Swedish squad survived an elimination series opposite China’s Vici Gaming in the final round of the New Challengers Stage. Vici did not know how to handle NiP on Train. Despite the popularity of the AUG skewing the map in favor of the CT side in Katowice, NiP’s rushes to the A bombsite got the better of Vici and …

Allu leaves Katowice Major to tend to family matters in Finland Steven Rondina News Aleksi “allu” Jalli is taking a break from the 2019 Katowice Major to tend to something even more important. The ENCE sniper announced on Twitter that he was headed home to Finland because his girlfriend was about to give birth. “I’m going home for a couple of days because my first born child is about to come to the world,” Allu said. “It’s been tough after hearing my girlfriends water …

Atlanta Reign fans upset over poor quality replica jerseys Fariha Bhatti News Fans of Overwatch League team Atlanta Reign were left disappointed this month after buying merchandise from the newly opened Fanatics store. The jersey were hard to read if players had purchased named variants of the design in support of particular players. This was due to the coloring of text not matching that of the official uniform. The multi-year deal with Fanatics was first announced in December 2018 and seemed to …

Guard’s Sombra not enough to break Spitfire’s winless start Olivia Richman News The London Spitfire had a secret weapon going into their second match of the season, but it wasn’t enough to beat expansion team Paris Eternal. After Spitfire couldn’t manage even one percent on control map Illios, the Season 1 champions brought out Overwatch League newcomer Hee-dong “Guard” Lee. London knew they had to break away from the GOATS meta if they wanted to keep up with Paris Eternal, and Sombra …

Cloud9 come back from 1-16 start to fend off Furia and advance Steven Rondina Counter-Strike Cloud9 stayed alive in the 2019 Katowice Major, but it wasn’t easy. Cloud9 narrowly defeated Furia in a three-game series to prolong the team’s tournament run. The match opened on Mirage in embarrassing fashion for Cloud9. Throughout the first half, the squad struggled with a lack of coordination and weapon accuracy. This resulted in botches and misplays that Furia took advantage of, culminating in a 16-1 loss for Cloud9. While …

Surefour makes Overwatch League history with Symmetra William Davis News We’ve now officially seen it all in the Overwatch League. The Los Angeles Gladiators’ Lane “Surefour” Roberts pulled out Symmetra and became the first player to ever deal damage with the hero. Several times players have trolled the crowd by selecting Symmetra in the spawn room, then immediately switching to other, more viable heroes when it’s time for the fighting to start. But Surefour stuck with the hero and put …

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