News

League of Legends Team Liquid secures NA LCS Summer Playoffs slot By Steven Rondina Dota 2 Virtus.pro’s Dota 2 Roster is sticking together through 2019 By gabhernandez League of Legends Misfits bench MikyX in favor of Jesiz By Steven Rondina

League of Legends

Rekkles returns to Fnatic starting lineup Steven Rondina Fnatic’s hero has returned, as Martin “Rekkles” Larsson will return to the squad’s starting lineup this week. Following Fnatic’s EU LCS Spring Championship and subsequent Mid Season Invitational appearance, the League of Legends meta went through some dramatic changes. Mage bot lanes were an increasingly viable strategy, and Rekkles’ individual game impact suffered when taken off of his signature marksmen picks. Rekkles opted to take a step back from the …

Counter-Strike

Fans aren’t happy with new Virtus.pro uniforms Steven Rondina Virtus Pro is going to look very different heading into events like The International 2018 and the FACEIT Major: London, but not because of any roster moves. The Russian organization revealed a new jersey and logo, ditching its traditional black and orange colors in favor of a new green and purple look. Check it out: Initial reactions from fans were resoundingly negative, with many saying they missed the previous color …

League of Legends

Zikz Leaves CLG Steven Rondina For the first time in five years, Tony “Zikz” Gray will not be coaching for Counter Logic Gaming, as the most decorated League of Legends coach in NA LCS history is parting ways with his team. Zikz joined CLG in 2013 as a remote analyst before moving up the chain and eventually become head coach of the team. Under Zikz’s leadership, CLG won its second NA LCS championship in the …

League of Legends

Golden Guardians make sweeping staff changes Steven Rondina Golden Guardians has replaced the entirety of their NA LCS coaching staff. Golden Guardians Academy head coach Daniel “Mango” Morissette will be assuming all head coaching duties for the team. Under interim spring head coach Tyler Perron, Golden Guardians looked to be a team hitting its stride. Sitting at 5-3 after four weeks of play is a massive improvement from a  tenth-place effort in the spring split. But the Golden …

League of Legends Inero joins Golden Guardians as consultant By William Davis News Seagull retires from OWL, returns to streaming By gabhernandez News New esports stadium coming to Canada By gabhernandez

Counter-Strike

The Imperial take home surprise DreamHack trophy Jared Wynne DreamHack’s latest summer event saw an unexpected winner as The Imperial took home first place.   The Imperial managed a 2-0 win over OpTic Gaming in the grand final to take home their $50,000 cut of the prize pool.   The participants list consisted of six invited teams along with qualifiers The Imperial and North America’s compLexity.   Group A saw The Imperial and North wiping out AGO Esports and …

News

Dynasty won’t allow Spitfire fan meeting in Seoul gabhernandez London Spitfire General Manager Susie Kim has announced that the Seoul Dynasty would not approve a fan meeting in Seoul for the Spitfire, whose players are all from South Korea. The backlash was instantaneous, with some fans criticising her transparency and the team’s lack of planning for a London meetup. Kim indicated that the team was working on a fan meetup in London for October, but that the team had …

League of Legends

Clutch Gaming part with Head Coach William Davis Clutch Gaming is parting ways with head coach David Lim, the organization has announced through a press release. Clutch Gaming finished the Spring Split in fourth place, but failed to find similar success in the summer. The changes in the meta didn’t favor AD Carry Apollo “Apollo” Price, the player widely considered the key to the team’s success. According to the press release, assistant coach Anand “Curry” Agarwal was appointed …

Dota 2

Valve addresses complaints with TI Battle Pass gabhernandez Amidst rampant complaints from players, Valve has fixed the item drop rates for Immortal Treasures in this year’s Battle Pass. The anticipated Immortal Treasure III from The International Battle Pass was released on July 31.  The Immortal items did not disappoint the community, as excited fans were quick to open their shiny new treasure chests. High leveled Battle Pass owners were saddened when they were not rewarded the ultra-rare items …

Boston Uprising to hold open tryouts William Davis News Overwatch League team Boston Uprising is holding tryouts for aspiring players looking to join a professional team, the organization announced through Twitter. With the inaugural season of the Overwatch League coming to a close, the London Spitfire came out on top at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Now, teams are getting ready for next year’s second season, and that means bringing in fresh blood. It is expected that teams will …

Expansion slots announced for OWL season 2 Fariha Bhatti News The first expansion slots for Overwatch League Season 2 have been sold, with teams in Guangzhou and Atlanta officially joining the roster. A Paris team is also said to be in the final stages of a deal with Blizzard, potentially bringing three new teams to the competition for the next season. The Atlanta group was the first to finalise a deal, with rights for the expansion being sold to Georgia’s …

Casters announced for The International 2018 Steven Rondina Dota 2 Dota 2 fans now know who they’ll be listening to at The International. The full lineup of on-air talent for TI8 was announced Tuesday, with Wykrhm Reddy breaking the news on Twitter. Though there are few surprises on the list, there are a handful of notable changes from TI7. The lineup of casters and content creators, for the most part, is just what fans would expect. Familiar voices like Chan …

Dota 2 gets final patch before The International gabhernandez Dota 2 Valve has released a few final tweaks before the biggest esports event of the year. The culmination of DOTA Summit 9 paved the way for some small but significant changes in Dota 2 gameplay. The 7.19 patch is expected to bring more balance prior to The International 2018. In 7.19, daily bonus heroes will feel more fair as the provided Enchanted Mango count has been reduced to one. A small …

Cloud9 opens summer split with perfect week Steven Rondina League of Legends Cloud9 finally has something to smile about, securing its first unbeaten week in Week 6 of the 2018 NA LSC Summer Split. Up until this week, Cloud9 has looked completely lost. A revolving door of a roster has seemingly done nothing to fix the team’s in-game indecision that has marred its results since the beginning of the split. Cloud9 sat in last place early on, looking like the worst team …

DJ Khaled falls flat at OWL grand finals gabhernandez News DJ Khaled struggled to hype up the crowd at the Overwatch League Grand Finals in Brooklyn. Blizzard hired the high-profile musical artist to entertain the crowd for the last day of the finals. Fan reactions leading up to the performance were mixed. The producer made his way onto the stage to a loud reaction. He played some of his most popular songs, but his multiple attempts to cut the music …

Pobelter Scores 1000th Kill in LCS career Steven Rondina League of Legends Team Liquid Mid Laner Eugene “Pobelter” Park has secured the thousandth kill of his NA LCS career. The kill came 26 minutes into Team Liquid shutting the door on Clutch Gaming, as Pobelter’s Orianna eliminated Chae “Piglet” Gwang-jin’s Ezreal. Pobelter’s thousandth kill was his first of the game, as Team Liquid characteristically won the early game through the bot lane. The “Notorious POB’s” achievement was almost an afterthought in another …

Clutch Gaming make big roster moves in bid for playoffs Steven Rondina League of Legends Clutch Gaming will be making some big substitutions this week. Jungler Nam “LirA” Tae-yoo, AD carry Apollo “Apollo” Price, and support Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent will not be on the starting roster. Clutch Gaming Academy jungler Galen “Moon” Holgate will be debuting on the main roster alongside academy bot lane duo Chae “Piglet” Gwang-Jin and Philippe “Vulcan” Laflamme. This is the first time Clutch Gaming has adjusted its roster in its …

New Steam Chat features go live gabhernandez News Valve has flipped the switch to release new features for Steam chat. The new Steam chat boasts a flexible friends list with a drag and drop functionality. Friends are automatically grouped by game and party, and favorite buddies can be pinned on top for easier communication. The new Steam chat is also multimedia friendly. When words just aren’t enough, users can send GIFs and images. Valve also embedded support for …

Counter Logic Gaming partner with Pepsi Steven Rondina News Counter Logic Gaming has a new sponsor, and it’s a big one. PepsiCo has signed a deal with Madison Square Garden that will secure partnerships for CLG, as well as other applicable properties under the MSG brand. The deal will start September 1, and from that date PepsiCo will sponsor MSG and all of its properties. PepsiCo’s Mountain Dew brand recently launched the Game Fuel League, a European Rocket League …

MiSeRy to coach Pain Gaming for TI8 gabhernandez Dota 2 Pain Gaming is bringing on a new coach in their quest for the Aegis of Champions. Rasmus “MISERY” Filipsen has been enlisted as the coach of Pain Gaming for their approaching run at The International. The move reunites him with former Digital Chaos teammate Aliwi “w33” Omar. Pain Gaming announced MISERY’s addition to the team on Twitter. The video highlighted MISERY’s notable achievements in the Dota 2 scene. These include …

Echo Fox Acquires Smoothie from Cloud9 Amidst Roster Changes Steven Rondina League of Legends Echo Fox made a massive summer splash Tuesday, acquiring the contract of Andy “Smoothie” Ta from Cloud9. The move was originally reported by The Shotcaller, and stands to give Echo Fox some much needed stability at the support position. Starting alongside Smoothie in the bottom lane will be Echo Fox Academy ADC Carry Lawrence “Lost” Hui. A highly touted player with experience in the Oceanic Pro League under his belt, …

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