Author: Nik Ranger

Qualification for the FACEIT London Major is Heating Up as All Minor Teams Have Been Decided With the conclusion of the European closed qualifier on July 1st, all of the Minor teams for the FACEIT London 2018 Major have been decided. The first ever CS:GO Major to be hosted by FACEIT will begin with the New Challengers stage in September of 2018 but the 16 slots need to be filled before that can happen. The eight teams that finished in 8th – 16th at the ELEAGUE Boston Major automatically get half of those slots but the other eight will be decided by the various Minor competitions which will take place throughout July. There will be two spots up for grabs from each region (Americas, Asia, CIS, Europe) and the conclusion of the online EU closed qualifier on July 1st finally confirmed all 32 teams that still have a chance of making it to London. With Europe being widely considered as the most competitive region, just making it to the Minor LAN is often seen as a daunting prospect and well respected teams like Heroic and AGO have already lost their chance to appear at the Major. Most of the big names, like OpTic Gaming, NiP, or the former Team Envy roster (playing under the tag “LeftOver”), did make it through, though, and will now get the chance to face off at the European Minor from July 19th – 22nd. GGWP @AGOesports! WE FINISH THE GAME WITH THE SCORE 2:1 AND WE ARE QUALIFIED TO THE @FACEIT MAJOR 2018 – EUROPE MINOR! Cache: 16:12 Overpass: 9:16 Train: 16:7#GONINJAS #CSGO pic.twitter.com/MqNPP8hoZp— NiP :flag-se: @ #ESLOne :flag-de: (@NiPGaming) July 1, 2018 Just qualified for the Minor! Was a really tough one, GG’s to every team.LeftOut stickers incoming?! — ScreaM (@nV_ScreaM_) July 1, 2018 The Minor Championships will kick off on July 7th at Twickenham Stadium, London, beginning with the Americas Minor and ending with Europe. The four Minor events will consist of the following teams: Americas Minor: July 7th – 11th compLexity Gaming – NRG Esports – Team Dignitas – eUnited – Rogue – Swole Patrol – Não Tem Como – Furia eSports – CIS Minor: July 10th – 13th HellRaisers – Team Spirit – pro100 – AVANGAR – Nemiga Gaming – PLINK-TECH – Monolith Gaming – forZe – Asia Minor: July 16th – 20th Renegades – TyLoo – Signature Gaming – 5Power Gaming – SZ Absolute – Uniquestars – Tainted Minds – VG.FlashGaming – Europe Minor: July 19th – 22nd OpTic Gaming – Team Kinguin – ENCE eSports – Ninjas in Pyjamas – Red Reserve – Sprout – LeftOut – 3DMAX –

Pusha T disses Drake’s 100 Thieves after CSGO loss at ESL One Cologne Wikimedia / 100 ThievesIn an unexpected crossover, rapper Pusha T has congratulated CS:GO team Chaos EC after their upset victory against Nadeshot’s 100 Thieves, in what appears to a sly dig at his long-time foe, Drake. Drake and Pusha T have a fierce and documented rivalry, which came to a head in 2018 when they traded diss tracks, and Pusha T came out on top with his ruthless ‘Story of Adidon’ track. For years, the two rappers have been trading insults, thinly-veiled threats and subliminal disses, and the latest appears to have come in a surprise shot at Nadeshot’s 100 Thieves. With Drake a co-owner and major investor in 100 Thieves, their loss to Chaos at ESL One Cologne provided Push some ammunition to take another pop at the Canadian superstar. A late qualifier to the Cologne event, Chaos were not expected to go especially far, but so far have impressed, first beating Furia 2-0, followed by their 2-1 scalp of 100 Thieves. 100T’s majority ANZ roster are playing in the North American division as the event is being held online, so regions are determined by the players physical location. After their win, Pusha tweeted “Headshots to keep the bracket pure. GG fellas,” tagging the Chaos players. 🔫Headshots to keep the bracket pure. GG fellas! @chaosec @leaf_cs @Xeppaaa @JonjiJlc @vanitycsgo @JoshNissan 🐍 https://t.co/imD72vnZP6 — King Push (@PUSHA_T) August 21, 2020 He finished it off with a snake emoji, which could simply refer to Chaos’s logo, but might also be another sly dig. Although Pusha T has been involved in some gaming campaigns in the past, notably with Adidas and Call of Duty, it was a surprise to see him paying attention to the matches at ESL One Cologne. His tweet later made it to the Hip Hop Heads subreddit, where Hip Hop fans were equally as surprised. “Pusha T sending shots at Drake through CSGO pros is not something I expected,” said one commenter. Drake doesn’t necessarily have day-to-day involvement in 100 Thieves, but was a key figure in their rounds of funding, along with Scooter Braun. Former Call of Duty pro Nadeshot is the founder and CEO, and the figurehead for the organization, and has spoken about how significant Drake’s involvement was. Pusha T himself isn’t invested in any esports teams, but if a major rival to 100T was to crop up, he might be interested.

Pronax to lead CSGO in GODSENT’s new esports venture GODSENT / Twitter: @GODpronaxThe Swedish Counter-Strike organization founded by Markus “pronax” Wallsten is back, and expanding in a big way after being acquired by Swedish esports organization The Final Tribe. GODSENT is back, and it’s addition through acquisition as they announced on September 5 that Swedish crowd equity funded esports organization The Final Tribe acquired the CSGO organization founded by pronax. Final Tribe has acquired all assets, and all of its esports divisions will go forward with the black and yellow brand Final Tribe’s League of Legends and Dota 2 teams will now play under the GODSENT banner, as will their Hearthstone player Elias ‘Bozzzton’ Sibelius. TFT released their previous CS:GO roster and will start a new initiative with pronax back and spearheading the division. In their official release presentation, the organization expressed the utmost confidence in the Swedish legend: Godsent CS:GO under Pronax’ leadership will have the makings of a contemporary tier one lineup, and will be able to challenge the absolute best in the world. The new Godsent will be a beacon of hope for Swedish esports fans and aims to change the course of esports history. In that same release they acknowledged how much further ahead other Nordic countries like Denmark and Finland are when it comes to CS:GO, and addressed the shortcomings of pronax’ previous campaign. It was an early rise and an abrupt fall for the previous iteration of GODSENT under pronax, who made headlines after acquiring the legendary Fnatic trio of Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell, Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist, Freddy ‘KRIMZ’ Johansson. But the Swedish swap experiment failed, all three would return to Fnatic within half a year, and the organization would cease operations in 2018. After Fnatic failed to qualify for the major for the first time, and Ninjas in Pyjamas were thrashed in the Legends stage of Berlin, Swedish Counter-Strike is at an all-time low, a huge dropoff from just years ago when these two teams were considered the cream of the crop. GODSENT have put the responsibility on one of those former great players, pronax, to restore the scene to its formal glory. They even hinted that he iss considering the coaching role for himself. GODSENT already is at a great starting point with their other titles, as their new Dota 2 roster was one series away from qualifying for the past International in Shanghai through the EU qualifier tournament. The organization is very confident in this roster, and said that they expect their team to play in front of the home crowd next year, when the International 2020 comes to Stockholm, Sweden. Their new LoL team just won the Nordic Summer Championship this past August, and have qualified for European Masters.

Professional CS:GO Players Tested for Performance-Enhancing Drugs at the ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals ESLProfessional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players were tested for performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) at the ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals. The EPL finals, which began on May 15th and concluded on May 20th in Dallas, Texas, featured an impressive $750,000 prize pool and some of the best CS:GO teams on Earth. However, one aspect of some ESL competitions that rarely receives much attention is the fact that ESL is one of very few tournament organizers to enforce random drugs tests for competitors. ESL originally announced that they were introducing an anti-doping policy back in 2015 but the community rarely hears or sees any evidence of this being enforced. Read More: FaZe Clan’s rain Stays True to His Word With Hilarious Forfeit Following ESL Pro League Grand Final – However, a number of professional players seem to have been tested following Group Stage matches at the Pro League Finals, including Astralis’ Nicolai ‘device’ Reedtz and Mousesports’ Miikka ‘suNny’ Kemppi. Following his team’s loss to FaZe Clan, and a personally poor performance of 21-43 across the series, suNny took to Twitter to joke that it was “kinda funny” to get drug tested given the circumstances. Device also confirmed that he was being drug tested following Astralis’ 2-0 victory over SK Gaming in Group B. The Danish star seemed fairly confident in a Snapchat post after the match so fans shouldn’t be too concerned about the results!

Professional CS:GO Players Praise ESL After Another Successful IEM Sydney Event DreamHack / Adela SznajderFaZe Clan’s Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen and Fnatic’s Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell have praised ESL heavily after yet another successful installment of the popular IEM Sydney event. As one of the biggest and best tournament organizers in all of esports, ESL often receives heavy criticism from the various communities who expect near perfection from them and their events. You only need to look at the reactions to their recent broadcasting deal with Facebook, or their handling of the Mythic players that tried to stream a recent ESL qualifier match, to see that they’re not always in everyone’s good books. However, few could deny that their recent Intel Extreme Masters tournaments for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive have been nothing short of brilliant and the $250,000 IEM Sydney was no exception to that rule. Boasting what is arguably the best crowd and atmosphere of any esports tournament this year, IEM Sydney also featured some truly memorable matches as the likes of FaZe Clan, Astralis, Renegades, TyLoo and more all produced some moments of magic. FaZe Clan would eventually go on to win the tournament with a 3-0 series score over Astralis and the team’s in-game leader, Karrigan, was quick to praise ESL’s running and organization of the event. Long travel ahead, but I wanna thank @ESLCS for making so great events time after time. I love the no booth setup because of their sound system on stage. Time after time they prove they are the best in the scene to host events! Cya in Dallas — FaZe karrigan (@karriganCSGO) May 7, 2018 Karrigan was clearly particularly pleased with their stage and sound setup which doesn’t use the standard soundproof booth system that many now organizers now opt for. That wasn’t the only thing that ESL did right in the opinion of the players though, as JW pointed out that their practice rooms were a “BIG improvement” and noted how important that factor can be for top teams that often travel from event to event with very few breaks. Pracc rooms was Also a BIG improvement this event, it really makes a huge difference when you travel so much imo! — Jesper Wecksell (@jwCSGO) May 7, 2018 FaZe Clan’s victory over Astralis showed that the super team isn’t dead just yet despite struggling a great deal during their earl group stage matches. Fnatic also proved that they should still be in the conversation as potential tournament winners with a 5th – 6th place finish and strong showings even in their losses.

Pro player roasts ENCE after only dying once against them StarLadderAfter a startling upset over top five team ENCE to kick off BLAST Pro Series Moscow, forZe player Bogdan ‘xsepower’ Chernikov made a crack at the Finnish team’s expense following his near-perfect game. This is not the start to the new era that ENCE wanted. In their first map with Mikka ‘suNny’ Kemppi instead of Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen, the all-Finnish squad faced off against ForZe, who qualified for BLAST Moscow after getting to skip the play-in match against AVANGAR after Team Vitality with withdrew from the event. In an unexpected twist, ForZe not only beat ENCE on Inferno, but thrashed them 16-4. ENCE didn’t pick up a single CT round in the second half, and none of their players cracked 10 kills across 20 rounds. One of ForZe’s players, xsepower, also did not crack 10 kills, but amazingly only died once during the entire map. Noted CS:GO twitter user DonHaci posted the scoreboard online, and xsepower replied with a reasonable explanation for his eight kill/one death scoreline. It’s quite embarrassing to lose a map so badly, but it’s more embarassing to lose a map that badly while one of your opponents contributes the bare minimum. But the good news for xsepower is that his teammate’s contributed far beyond the bare minimum. All of the ForZe players had at least twice as many kills as deaths, with Almaz ‘almazer’ Assadulin leading the way with a 26-11 scoreline. Unfortunately xsepower was one death away from the undying game, which isn’t as rare an accomplishment as you might think. Kirill “ANGE1” Karasiow went 26-0 against Spanish team Anima in the first year of his five year tenure with HellRaisers. Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg went 16-0 against PangaFett a month prior, during the golden age of Ninjas in Pyjamas in 2014. NiP also won that map on Train 16-0. ForZe was nearly in the New Legends stage of the StarLadder Berlin major after two victories over Grayhound and FURIA, but were unable to overcome G2 Esports or DreamEaters to advance to the next stage. They are not scared of superior competition however, with a victories over ENCE and AVANGAR, who were each grand finalists in the last two majors. ForZe’s IGL Andrey ‘Jerry’ Assadulin admitted he was surprised by ENCE’s “direct” style of calling plays. For ENCE, it’s been a no good, very bad start to the BLAST Moscow event, and their era with suNny, as they tied their second map of the day against Na’Vi as well.

Pro CSGO team accused of “insider trading” after buying their own stickers ahead of bankruptcy Copenhagen FlamesCopenhagen Flames’ CSGO team has been accused of “insider trading” after buying their team’s very own in-game stickers just before the organization announced its bankruptcy. CSGO stickers are no joke. They may seem quite trivial to the broader game, but CSGO’s own economy is absolutely massive, trading millions of dollars in skins every single day. Anybody who knows the stories of the Katowice 2014 IBuyPower and Titan Holo stickers knows that all too well, as certain in-game cosmetics have sold for six-figure sums in the past. Increasing the price of some skins, is the fact various orgs are no longer around. Teams that were once in the game, collapsed, and their stickers for making a major rose in price as the years went on. Many skin traders and players learned that if an org folds, or exits the scene, it’s a pretty good investment to buy their stickers in hopes of the price going up in the future. And it seems, a few Copenhagen Flames players realized just that as well. Copenhagen Flames announced they filed for bankruptcy on May 2. The home for young Danish players, who made their way to two separate majors and a playoff run, is shutting its doors amid the esports winter. And after much discussion in the CSGO community, skin trader Dennis Davis, pointed out that a few CPH Flames players were mass buying their team’s sticker just before the bankruptcy announcement went out. In a tweet from skin trader Satsdart on April 30, he talked about how he was getting a lot of orders from Buff, a skin trading website, by CPH Flames players, which he found amusing. Specifically in the screenshots, we can see players Asger “farlig” Jensen, Thomas “TMB” Bundsbæk, and Rasmus “raalz” Steensborg. It eventually became clear to Statsdart why they were buying up the stickers en masse. He would go on to reply to Dennis Davis’ tweet with a video showing his massive trade history with the three players, all consisting of CPH Flames team stickers. Naturally, many CSGO fans and skin traders called it “insider trading”, as they seemingly knew of the bankruptcy news before the general public, and began stocking up on cosmetic items before the value would increase. Anomaly, YouTuber and skin trader, commented, “ain’t no way, insider trading.” And OhnePixel commented a very short, “sus.” However, there are no rules or guidelines in Steam that disallows “insider trading” like this, which means the three players are completely allowed to do so under Valve’s authority.

Pro CS:GO players baffled by WESG World Finals group draw WESGA large number of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pros have been left confused by the seeding and group draw for the upcoming WESG 2018 World Finals, where some groups look more stacked than others. The event, which will take place in Chongqing, China, from March 11-17, will feature 32 teams from across the globe – representing 28 different nations, all competing for the top prize of $500,000 from a prize pool of $890,000. Swedish team Ninjas in Pyjamas accepted the final invite spot on February 25, meaning that the line-up was set and the group draw happen. However, the draw lacked any seeding of teams that could fairly balance out the groups. The resulting draw left some players completely confused as they widely complained about the result – with some groups like Group E are lopsided with talent Europe, while others like Group D and H have been made up of relatively lower-tier teams from Asia. RunTime.gg’s Denis ‘Seized’ Kostin tweeted: “Always an interesting draw by WESG. Group E is pretty stacked I guess,” referring to the fact the group has been made up entirely of talented European teams. always interesting draw by WESG, group E pretty stacked i guess :joyful: cya in China in 2 weeks pic.twitter.com/O69pTmoqZh— Denis Kostin (@seizedwf) February 25, 2019 Former OpTic Gaming star Oscar ‘Mixwell’ Canellas will lead his Movistar Riders squad into the seemingly ultra difficult Group E. “Trying to find any logic…” tweeted the Spaniard, with a thinking face emoji attached. His confusion was matched by former teammate Aleksi ‘Allu’ Jalli whose ENCE squad have also been drawn in Group E. Trying to find any logic … :thinking_face: pic.twitter.com/tLyBRKZOis — Oscar Cañellas (@Mixwell) February 25, 2019 While he will not be competing at the event, FaZe Clan star Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer responded to Allu’s own confusion with an initial tweet of “LOL,” before following that up with “@WESGcom get your shit together.” Former Cloud9 in-game leader-turned analyst Sean ‘SeanG@res’ Gares posted that he had been confused after seeing the groups at first, but realized it was ‘normal’ after spotting that they were from a WESG event. “These groups… what the f..” *sees it’s WESG* Oh nvm all is normal pic.twitter.com/Lyl0jOXSOH— Sean Gares (@seangares) February 25, 2019 Gares’ fellow analyst Jason ‘Moses’ O’Toole was also not shocked by the draw, adding: “The only thing surprising about the groups announced for WESG is that people are surprised the group draw is a joke.” The only thing surprising about the groups announced for WESG is that people are surprised the group draw is a joke — Jason O’Toole (@OnFireMoses) February 25, 2019 The tournament, which is part of a large event that spans multiple games, kicks off on March 11 and will run until March 17. Defending champions Fnatic will look to retain their crown against a stacked field following their disappointing showing at the IEM Katowice Major.

Power outage interrupts IEM Rio CSGO Major match Adela Sznajder/ESL Gaming via ESPATA power outage at Riocentro has delayed the IEM Rio Major’s Legends Stage match between MOUZ and ENCE. ENCE were leading 5-1 on the second map of the best-of-three series when several lights went out at Riocentro, the venue of the first two stages of the Major. The tournament’s official stream and the match feed provided to broadcast partners were suddenly interrupted, leaving viewers at home confused as to what had happened inside the arena. Although the broadcast computers and the network were down, “most of the lights and screens” at the arena were still on, according to Brazilian reporter Roque Marques. ESL said that “a local district wide outage” was responsible for the temporary loss of power. After almost an hour, ESL was able to restore power and get the stream up and running once again, with the match resuming shortly afterward. This is the first of three matches that will take place on November 8, the final day of the Legends Stage. The other two will pit NAVI against BIG, and Team Liquid against Spirit. After a day’s break, the Major will resume on November 10 with the Champions Stage, live from the Jeunesse Arena. Follow our coverage of the IEM Rio Major with our tournament hub.

Potential Team SoloMid CSGO return plans leaked during stream During a Twitch stream, a teammate of prolific North American AWPer Matthew ‘WARDELL’ Yu was unaware that he was streaming, and let slip a bit of information regarding a potential return to Counter-Strike for the Bay Area-based TSM. When you’re playing with streamers, it’s safe to assume that they are always broadcasting, especially when it comes to sensitive information. During a January 3rd stream, former Ghost Gaming AWPer WARDELL was waiting for another match to start during the Mythic Cup qualifier. He was playing with fellow former Ghost player Yassine ‘Subroza’ and former eUnited player Anthony ‘Vanity’ Malaspina. They were also joined by Team Liquid star Jake ‘Stewie’ Yip. While sitting in a voice chat room, another player was discussing who they were scrimmaging against in the coming week, and mentioned Riot Squad, eUnited, and strangely enough, TSM. A couple of other players in the call realized what was going on, and one quickly pointed out to the player that “there are streamers here,” indicating that what he was saying was being broadcasted live. “Oh for real?” he replied, followed by a series of groans and hisses from the group. WARDELL tilted his head when the discussion about TSM began, indicating that something was mentioned that should not have been. The player who revealed the info seemed to be talking to an ATK player when he said “they just beat you,” so it’s likely, but not yet confirmed, that he was talking about the WARDELL/Subroza/Vanity trio as a major part of the new potential TSM roster. Earlier in that stream, that trio along with Stewie from Team Liquid beat the ATK roster, who is rumored to be joining the Cloud 9 organization according to reports. If the leak regarding TSM is true, it would mark the organization’s return to the CSGO scene after nearly three years. Their previous North American roster departed the organization in January 2017 following an incident involving captain Sean Gares, owner Andy ‘Reginald’ Dinh, and the Professional Esports Association. .@TSMReginald has told me that TSM is going to replace me due to my connection to the #playersrights letter.https://t.co/Lee3QzDos7 — Sean Gares (@seangares) December 23, 2016 Gares was removed from TSM after signing his name to an open letter from various CSGO players, addressing the shortcomings of what the PEA had agreed to promise to its players. The rest of the team roster also signed the letter, and departed a month later after the organization’s decision to remove Gares. Prior to that, the team had acquired the Danish Team Dignitas roster at the beginning of 2015, and fielded them throughout that whole year. That roster would leave, and form the player-run organization and CSGO juggernaut known today as Astralis. All of this is speculation based on one player’s on-stream mishap, so the information could easily change. As soon as more information regarding the potential TSM return to CSGO becomes available, check it out first here on Dexerto.

Popular caster Moses joins Team Liquid CSGO as head coach Team LiquidShortly after the departure of head coach Eric ‘adreN’ Hoag, Team Liquid announced that longtime caster Jason ‘Moses’ O’Toole would be stepping up to lead the org’s CSGO squad going forward. Moses has been one of Counter-Strike’s most recognizable personalities since he became heavily involved in the Global Offensive casting scene starting in 2015. Just turn on any random major CSGO event from 2015 on and there’s a good chance he’ll pop up somewhere. The veteran player and caster is a very interesting pick up as the new head coach for Team Liquid. If the North American org was looking for someone who knows their CSGO, then they really couldn’t have done any better. The fan-favorite caster has been involved in the game in one way or another for over 20 years at this point and, by his own admission, has “lived and breathed Counter-Strike” for the last five years. But, like every other coach and player in top-level CS:GO, the goal remains the same – to raise a trophy at a live major as the undisputed champions. Our journey towards reclaiming first place begins today. Welcome, @MosesGG pic.twitter.com/PwBGkSJo1S — Team Liquid (@TeamLiquid) August 9, 2020 “You’ve been a player, you’ve been a commentator, what can you do when you’re leading a team?” the caster now-turned coach said in his reveal video. “That’s the challenge that inspired me to take this on.” As for Liquid’s prospects under the banner of a new head coach, Moses seems confident the storied org can once again return to its winning ways and be a force to be reckoned with once live CSGO majors return. “We have an era of online Counter-Strike right now where everything’s kind of uncertain. Everyone’s talking about how the practice is inefficient, and the competition isn’t quite there, isn’t at the top level, so it’s hard to improve and it’s hard for a team to find its groove,” he explained. “The short term goal has to be as getting this team as prepared as possible for when events return. Use this online time wisely.” For reaching heights NA’s never seen before. For being an exceptional coach. And a wonderful teammate. From the bottom of our hearts: Thank you, @adreN_Hoag pic.twitter.com/rtQaLCyxuo — Team Liquid (@TeamLiquid) August 9, 2020 The arrival of Moses comes after the departure of former Liquid head coach adreN, who had been leading the team since late 2018 and was at the helm when they were the top North American team in ESL Pro League Season 11. It’s been a big weekend for Team Liquid that all seemed to happen very fast, even so, it’s safe to say the team is entering a whole new era with their fans, and those who enjoy CSGO in general, eager to see what Moses can do as head coach.

Politician helps CSGO team secure visas for IEM Rio Major Bad News EaglesThe Kosovar Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Hajrulla Çeku, helped local CSGO team Bad News Eagles get their visas to compete at the IEM Rio Major. On October 28, Bad News Eagles player Sener ‘SENER1’ Mahmuti, publically thanked the minister on Twitter for helping his team secure visas to compete at the Rio Major. A Kosovar squad, Bad News Eagles qualified for the Major by placing sixth in the IEM Road to Rio 2022 European RMR A event. Bad News Eagles will travel to Brazil in the coming days to compete in the CSGO Major and represent their country. In response to SENER1’s tweet, Çeku wished the team luck at the event. “Best of luck to Bad News Eagles boys. Nothing can prevent our talented youth from realizing their potential,” the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport said. The squad has been on the rise since early 2022, when it was formed as a free-agent team after they were dropped by their previous organization, Team BLINK. Bad New Eagles then qualified for PGL Major Antwerp and reached the Legends Stage. The team hoped to sign with an esports organization after their success but decided to continue as Bad News Eagles, with famous on-air talent James Banks joining as team manager. Bad News Eagles continue their 2022 run The Kosovar team built on their PGL Antwerp run over the summer with top finishes in a few European tournaments, including Elisa Invitational Spring 2022 and Tipsport Cup Prague 2022. At the RMR event, Bad News Eagles qualified for the Challengers Stage with wins over Eternal Fire, Astralis and forZe. The first stage of the Rio Major starts on October 31 with Bad News Eagles facing off against Brazilian squad 00 Nation in their first match of the Challengers Stage.

Police called to DreamHack Summer after OpTic CS:GO coach’s medicine raises suspicions DreamHack / UnsplashSwedish police were called to DreamHack Summer after painkillers carried by CS:GO coach Casper ‘Ruggah’ Due raised alarm among officials at the event. Ruggah was entering the event on Monday, June 17, when he was stopped by security who found a number of painkillers on his person. The OpTic coach tweeted that he had been stopped while trying to enter the event in Elmia, Sweden, and provided fans with a running commentary on Twitter as to what was happening to him. The Dane explained that when entering the event for his team’s matches, he was stopped by security at the main entrance. It was then decided that the authorities would have to be called in to deal with the situation, with Ruggah forced to wait for their arrival. According to his tweets, the former pro player was made to wait for over an hour for the police to arrive, tweeting that it seemed likely that he would miss OpTic’s first match of the day. The Dane stated that the confusion arose due to him carrying ibuprofen and paracetamol from American pharmacy CVS, with the unfamiliar packaging raising suspicion. DreamHack’s Robin Nymann later issued an apology to Ruggah for the inconvenience, saying: “As esports continued to grow, so has our security. At DreamHack, we have a strict policy against drugs, and the situation with [Ruggah] shows how seriously we take security at our events.” “Our security reacted to his regular, allowed painkillers due to the packaging they were kept in. Once law enforcement has been contacted, it’s in their hands, not ours. We do apologise for the inconvenience but we ultimately see this as a good thing from our security, but will work on a better process for players and team staff to avoid something like this in the future.” 1/3 As esport has continued to grow, so has our security. At @DreamHack we have a strict policy against drugs, and the situation with @casdueh just goes to show how seriously we take the security at our events. Our security reacted to — Robin Nymann (@robinnymann) June 17, 2019 3/3 We do apologise for the inconvenience but ultimately see this as a good thing from security, but will work on a better process for players and team staff to avoid something like this in the future. Thanks for understanding! — Robin Nymann (@robinnymann) June 17, 2019 The situation didn’t appear to have a detrimental effect on the OpTic CS:GO team, who were able to take down Tricked in the semifinals of DreamHack Summer, progressing to the tournament’s grand finals.

Pokimane loses her mind over lucky CSGO unboxing for favorite skin Twitch: Pokimane / ValveImane ‘Pokimane’ Anys was just about to give up on her search for a specific skin during a recent CSGO unboxing, until Gaben seemingly heard her pleas during the “scam” and turned her fortunes around. Pokimane was celebrating her six-year anniversary as a Twitch partner on March 8, using the occasion to play some variety games with her chat, as well as have a crack at opening some CS:GO cases. Targeting the recently released Shattered Web collection, she had her eyes on one skin and one skin only — the Tec-9 Decimator. However, as roll-after-roll yielded nothing, she was slowly losing hope on finding her favorite skin. “I am an investigative journalist, I am showcasing a CS:GO Shattered Web scam,” she said. “This specific case type is a scam. As you can see, only blues, and a couple of purples, but they’re PP-Bizon’s and one of these [the AUG Arctic Wolf].” “I’m never buying a Shattered Web case ever again because y’all know this is the only skin I want,” she said while pointing at the Tec-9 Decimator. “Is it going to give me that skin? No.” However, she was soon eating her words as her luck came true. She managed to pull her Tec-9 Decimator that she was so desperate for, and she could hardly believe it, losing her mind along with her chat. “Gaben’s watching me, he’s watching,” she said with pure happiness in her voice. “I just said that [I’d never get it], that’s what so insane. This is the only gun that I wanted from this because it’s my colors. Instant equip. I love it, so worth it — Shattered Web? Not a scam.” On top of getting the skin though, she also got it with StatTrak — which increases the value of the skin exponentially — and in what seemed to be Factory New condition. She had around a 0.1% chance of getting the skin out of the case in any condition with StatTrak, so getting it looking so suave was incredibly lucky. While the skin might only be worth $51 with StatTrak and in Factory New — hardly making her money back trying to roll it — the sentimental value it holds for Pokimane is priceless. It’s the one skin she wanted, and she got it just as her hopes were looking dire. After she rolled her Tec-9, she also managed to pick up the rare MAC-10 Stalker, and although it was in Battle-Scarred condition, her amazing finish to her Shattered Web case opening made up for the heavy losses in the first few cases. She did end up opening a bunch of other cases from other collections, but nothing could top her dear Tec-9 Decimator, and Pokimane admitted she couldn’t have capped off her partner anniversary any better.

Pokimane left speechless after huge CSGO mistake costs her team the win Twitch: Pokimane / Valve CorporationTwitch star Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys was left stunned when a major mistake in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive cost her team a victory. The misstep left her without words as her teammates quickly fell apart. Pokimane is not only the top female streamer on Twitch, she is also an absolute media juggernaut with millions of subscribers across her YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. The Moroccan-Canadian personality has recently been grinding it out in CSGO. However during her March 15 broadcast, things went horribly wrong fast when a mistake left her unprepared for the final round. The Twitch streamer appeared to be rushed when buying her equipment leading into the final round and said “I don’t know what the f**k I just accidentally threw out, but I’m going to roll with it!” Her chat began to spam “Buy armor!” as they caught her mistake, but she missed their messages. Right as she was about to engage with the enemy team, she exclaimed, “I didn’t buy armor! I have the bomb, and NO ARMOR!” Things quickly fell apart from there. As she rounded the corner, she walked into fire from a molotov, which caused her to instantly die. Realizing her screw-up, she put her heads in her hands and was speechless. Her team swiftly lost as the whole team fell apart into pieces. The loss wasn’t entirely her fault, as it seemed her team had an issue with communication. However former CSGO pro m0E_tv was not having it, and swiftly exited the match in frustration with his brother Lieth Assad. Poki tuned into his broadcast as she and her teammates tried to convince him to come back. “I’m so f**king mad. Like I’m so annoyed with Lieth. He just makes everything worse,” he vented. The Twitch star decided to try to cheer him up by donating 10 subs to him, but he replied jokingly. “No, Pokimane, don’t do that. Block me on all communications, I’m done playing forever!” Of course the whole thing wasn’t serious, and getting heated in the moment in a game is understandable. Despite the misstep by Pokimane, it appeared her whole team was having trouble. If nothing else, the clip is a good example of how quickly a match of CSGO can go up in flames, and a reminder to buy armor during the most pivotal moments.

Five players to watch at IEM Katowice 2021 playoffs DreamHack / ESL24 teams have now been whittled down to six at IEM Katowice 2021. With CIS teams dominating the premier CS:GO event, who should you keep your eyes on as playoffs kick off? We’ve got the five players you should pay attention to. The pointy end of IEM Katowice 2021 is now upon us. 24 teams arrived, but only six have made it to the playoffs in the Spodek. The tournament has been dominated by the CIS teams, with Na’Vi, Spirit, Gambit, and Virtus.pro making it to the finals. However, European legends Astralis as well as NA hopefuls Team Liquid will be looking to create their own storylines in the historic event. With 30 of the best Counter-Strike players set to take stage on February 26 to duke it out, we’ve highlighted the top five you need to keep your eyes on. You can also put your money where your mouth is with the freeroll on Thrive. Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Vastyliev — Natus Vincere (ThriveFantasy Prop: 75.5 total kills + deaths: Over = 100 points, Under = 100 points) He may not have received HLTV’s Best Player of 2020 Award, but s1mple has simply been the best recently. In the last three months, he’s posted an average rating of 1.37 (#1 globally) — a simply mind-boggling number, and one that shows how consistently excellent he is for Na’Vi. Read More: IEM Katowice 2021 hub – S1mple is now looking to wrap up back-to-back IEM Katowice wins after his triumph last year, and his form is certainly on par for it. The Ukrainian sniper is down for 75.5 total kills and deaths on Thrive for his quarterfinal against Gambit, and there’s almost every guarantee he’d be pushing over that — no matter if the series is over in two or three maps. Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz — Astralis (ThriveFantasy Prop: 88.5 total kills + deaths: Over = 110 points, Under = 90 points) Astralis may not be at their dominant best, but dev1ce is certainly carrying his weight. He’s only posted one below-average map at IEM Katowice — Dust 2 against Spirit, when they got rinsed 16-1. The Danish sniper has his eye in, and will be a big part behind, Astralis’ push for yet another title. You best hope he shoots straight if you pick him up on Thrive too. At 88.5 total kills and deaths for his game against Virtus.pro, taking overs for 110 points could be a big boon. It’d have to go to three maps — or at least some overtimes — but that just means more time to watch dev1ce go at it against Jame, and that’s a battle you won’t want to miss. Abay ‘Hobbit’ Khasenov — Gambit (ThriveFantasy Prop: 73.5 total deaths: Over = 110 points, Under = 90 points) Remember when Hobbit won a Major? Well, it’s looking like he’s wound back the clock on this Gambit roster to that 2018 form. Hobbit has put up heroic efforts for the Russians against mousesports and Evil Geniuses, and played a crucial role in their demolition of G2. However, if you pick up Hobbit on Thrive, you’ll need to potentially bet on his downfall. With the Kazakhstan native’s line at 44.5 deaths, you’d need to hope the series runs to three against Na’Vi. The last two times these teams faced off Na’Vi won 2-0, but Gambit look on fire, and Hobbit is a big part of that engine. Timur ‘buster’ Tulepov — Virtus.pro (ThriveFantasy Prop: 45.5 total kills: Over = 115 points, Under = 85 points) Everyone talks about ‘Jame time’, but Virtus.pro have evolved beyond that to a battle-hardened phalanx looking to pierce into the Top 5 of CS:GO again. Buster has been a crucial component, being cool and calm in the clutch numerous times at Katowice so far. His ability to find kills when it really counts has made him one of the highest impact players in the event, even if he doesn’t get all the accolades. Sizing him up on Thrive with his 44.5 kills line, it might be a risky gambit to push for overs for 115 points. He has only hit that once across seven series in Katowice, versus Vitality (45). However, Virtus.pro have only played two maps at most every series. If it goes to three, it’s easy pickings. Denis ‘electronic’ Sharipov — Natus Vincere (ThriveFantasy Prop: 6.5 total assists: Over = 95 points, Under = 105 points) We spoke about s1mple at the top, so it’d be remiss to forget his right-hand man electronic. The Russian rifler has shone at IEM Katowice, putting up big performances against both Virtus.pro and Liquid. Despite losing against the NA outfit, he was sharp at both enabling his team, and picking up the frags for himself. He doesn’t get all the resources funneled into him like s1mple, so doing what electronic does is a thankless job. On Thrive, he’s odds on for a line of 6.5 assists for their series against Gambit. He’s easily hit this across all series, totaling 41 assists across three games and seven maps so far. If he can keep those numbers up, he will definitely help push Na’Vi over the line for their second Katowice title in as many years. Terms and Conditions of the Thrive Fantasy service apply, for a full list of Terms and Conditions, please visit: https://www.thrivefantasy.com/.

CSGO Players spent over $100 million on cases last month ValveCS:GO players spent a staggering $100 million plus on cases in March 2023, reaching a new all-time record of cases opened in one month. The Counter-Strike series has received a shot of adrenaline over the past few weeks thanks to the reveal of Counter-Strike 2 on March 22, 2023. Since Valve’s official announcement, fans broke the all-time player record on CS:GO in preparation for CS2’s release sometime this summer. Now, the CS:GO community has broken another record — this time relating to the number of cases players have opened in one month and the revenue Valve generated from this. CSGO players opened an absurd amount of cases in March 2023 According to info gathered from csgocasetracker.com, the CS:GO playerbase collectively opened an estimated 39.5 million cases during March 2023. When taking into account the relative cost of opening cases, this means that fans spent over $100 million on cosmetics in just one month. This is a big jump the previous record high achieved on February 2023, at 27.7 million cases opened. Each case requires a key, costing $2.50, to open. On top of that, the cases themselves cost money too, ranging from $0.70 to over $60. Valve only takes 15% of case price though, through fees. The news comes off the back of reports that Valve makes an average of $54 million a month on CS:GO cases, as reported by YouTuber and skin trader Anomaly last month. Even before the news of CS2’s summer release, CS:GO players would crack cases in the hopes of getting extremely rare and expensive weapons and knife cosmetics. However, the steep rise in cases opened is undoubtedly related to CS2’s reveal — especially after Valve confirmed that players could “bring their entire CS:GO inventory” with them when they moved over to the new game. As more and more players are permitted to join CS2’s ongoing test beta, the hype surrounding the game seems like it’s only going to grow. As such, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a new case-opening record set for April 2023.

PGL unveils CSGO Major rosters with some surprising names LiquidPGL has released the full team rosters for its upcoming Stockholm Major, with big names like Jarosław ‘pashaBiceps’ Jarząbkowski and Egor ‘flamie’ Vasilyev making surprise appearances. PGL Major Stockholm, the first Counter-Strike Major in over two years, is only a few days away, and the tournament organizers have now revealed the complete rosters submitted by the 24 attending teams. The list includes some surprising names, most notably pashaBiceps as the substitute for Team Liquid. The Polish veteran, 33, became a streamer for the North American organization in August 2020, bringing an end to a long career that produced a Major title with Virtus.pro, from ESL Major Series One Katowice in 2014. Without surprise, G2 Esports and ENCE have listed benched players Kenny ‘kennyS’ Schrub and Aleksi ‘allu’ Jalli as substitutes for the event. But there are also cases of players subbing for teams they are not tied to: Egor ‘flamie’ Vasilyev, who recently left NAVI, will be Entropiq’s backup player, while DBL Poney player Alexandre ‘bodyy’ Pianaro is part of Vitality’s roster. Dexerto revealed on October 21 that players who test positive for Covid-19 may be disqualified from the event. PGL explained that every team had to submit a substitute player who can replace a player in case of a positive test, citing the need to protect the “integrity of the Major”. PGL Major rosters: Legends teams Challengers teams Contenders teams

PGL to host $2m CSGO Major in Stockholm PGL EsportsIn a shocking turn of events, PGL have announced that the first CSGO Major in two years will be hosted in Stockholm, Sweden. CSGO is renowned for having some of the most popular esports tournaments that the sector sees each year, with events like DreamHack and Blast being pretty much household names for anyone following esports. However due to current global affairs any talks of a CSGO Major, now an elusive championship in the CS sphere, were thwarted last year. So, it’s come as a welcome surprise to fans everywhere that PGL have announced another Major tournament, making the 2021 iteration the first one in two years. PGL announce Stockholm Major On January 14, PGL announced that they will finally be hosting a new Major tournament at the Ericsson Globe, the site of the 2014 DreamHack Invitational and 2018 DreamHack Masters Stockholm. Taking place from October 23 to November 7, the competition hosts an astounding $2 million prize pool. It also becomes the first ever Major tournament to be streamed in 4K, something that fans everywhere will be delighted to hear. Importantly, PGL and Valve have confirmed that the Major will only go ahead if “all safety conditions to hold live competitive events are met by that time.” 📢 PGL TO HOST THE FIRST CS:GO MAJOR AFTER A TWO-YEAR BREAK 📰 Read more -> https://t.co/V7nBgesXnf#PGLMAJOR pic.twitter.com/qexpQgeTRo — PGL (@pglesports) January 14, 2021 This is the perfect news for CS:GO fans, who have seen recurrent issues with competitive CS over the past year. With ESL: Rio being postponed and eventually cancelled, this new chapter in CS history promises to be bigger and better than ever before. The last Major tournament the CS:GO community got to enjoy was the StarLadder Berlin Major in August 2019, which saw Astralis lift the trophy after a victory over surprise finalists AVANGAR. The competitive landscape has changed quite a lot since then, so it will be interesting to see which teams come out on top when LAN Majors roll around once more. So, keep your eyes on Dexerto’s CS coverage, as we’ll be bringing you all of the important news you need to stay informed about this awesome announcement.

PGL to host first CSGO Major of 2022 in Antwerp PGLPGL has announced that it will host the upcoming CS:GO Major in the Belgian city of Antwerp in May. The event will take place from May 9-22, culminating with the playoffs in the Antwerps Sportpaleis, a multipurpose hall with a capacity of 18,000 people. This will be the third CS:GO Major in PGL’s history, after the Romanian tournament organizer hosted a Major in the Polish city of Kraków in 2017 and one in the Swedish capital of Stockholm last year. According to PGL, Belgium’s central location in Europe makes it an ideal choice for an event of this magnitude that aims to be a celebration of the game. “We are glad to have the opportunity to bring back the fans and players together for another CS:GO Major,” PGL CEO Silviu Stroie said in a statement. “Belgium has an impressive Counter-Strike fanbase, and many legendary players were born in this country. We are ready to offer an incredible experience for the fans inside the arena and the passionate viewers at home.” PGL Major Antwerp will have $1 million on the line – half of the prize money offered at the Stockholm Major. Because of the cancellation of Majors in 2020 amid the global health crisis, Valve bumped the prize pool for the 2021 event, which smashed CS:GO’s peak viewership record with over 2.7 million concurrent viewers during the grand final between NAVI and G2 Esports. In the coming weeks, PGL will announce more details about the RMR events, which will determine the 24 teams attending the Major. The Romanian tournament organizer will continue to monitor the evolution of the status of regulations and travel restrictions and will make any necessary adjustments to their plans “to ensure the safety of everyone involved in this tournament.” A January 25 Dexerto report revealed that ESL is looking to host the second Major of 2022 in Rio de Janeiro. The event is scheduled to take place between October 31 and November 13.

PGL Major to feature on-site talent for playoffs after CSGO community backlash Jonatan Svensson Glad / PGLPGL will fly the Major broadcast team out to Stockholm for the event’s knockout stages following community backlash, the company’s CEO, Silviu Stroie, has announced. On October 4, PGL unveiled the English language broadcast team for its upcoming CS:GO Major, with Dexerto’s Editor-at-Large, Richard Lewis, included on the star-studded list as host. Community response to the announcement was positive, but then it came to light that the broadcast team would be operating remotely from PGL’s studios in Romania for the entirety of the event. With the playoffs being held in front of a live crowd inside Stockholm’s Avicii Arena, the decision to keep talent in a separate location left many dumbfounded. It also sparked fears that the quality of the broadcast would be severely impacted. Major with on-site talent PGL CEO Silviu Stroie has now revealed on Twitter that the company have backtracked on their decision to keep talent remote after listening to the community: “Your voices have been heard.” Your voices have been heard. The PGL CSGO Major Stockholm 2021 talent team will be with you inside Avicii Arena.— Silviu Stroie (@ssilviu) October 8, 2021 The broadcast team will be at the Avicii Arena for the playoff stages of the event, between November 4-7. By then, the competition will have been whittled down to the last eight teams following the Challengers and the Legends stages, which will be held without an audience. Tickets for the showpiece event, the first Counter-Strike Major in over two years because of the global health crisis, went on sale on September 22.

PGL Major Stockholm closer to reality after Sweden relaxes restrictions for players PGLThe city of Stockholm is a step closer to hosting the first Counter-Strike Major since 2019 after Swedish authorities decided to relax travel restrictions for esports players. According to a report from Swedish outlet Expressen, all esports athletes will be allowed to enter Sweden, regardless of their country of origin, provided that they produce a negative test. “We want esports players to be treated the same way as other elite athletes,” Mikael Damberg, Sweden’s Ministry of Interior, told Swedish news agency TT. Sweden hopes that the decision to treat the players as an exception will help convince PGL, the company in charge of running the Major, that Stockholm is still a viable host city for the showpiece event. In July, PGL announced that it was in discussions with two other European countries about moving the Major if Sweden did not relax its restrictions. Just days before PGL issued its statement, Stockholm mayor Anna König Jerlmyr had pleaded with Swedish authorities to grant exceptions to esports stars. Earlier that month, Stockholm had lost the hosting rights to Dota 2’s premier tournament, The International 10, to Bucharest due to the country’s refusal to classify the competition as an elite sporting event. The final hurdle to hosting the Major in Stockholm, Expressen adds, is related to the number of spectators allowed inside the Avicii Arena. Sweden’s restrictions in July allowed for only 300 spectators inside the arena — a number that is deemed too low by PGL for an event of this magnitude. Moment of rejoice A final decision on the capacity at the Avicii Arena for the Major is expected by September 15, but the feeling in Sweden is that a breakthrough has been made. “We f**ing did it,” NIP CEO Hicham Chahine wrote on Twitter. “Esports athletes are now to go under the same travel exemptions as other sports in Sweden. “Everyone will now be allowed entry for the Major.” We F*** did it. Esports athletes are now to go under the same travel exemptions as other sports in Sweden. Amazing work by @a_fa9 and the @NIP team, together with the different federations! Everyone will now be allowed entry for the major. #GONINJAShttps://t.co/5KaYQycdus — NIP Hicham (@ChahineHicham) August 19, 2021 PGL Major Stockholm is slated to take place from October 23 to November 7. It will be the first Counter-Strike Major in over two years after the global health crisis upended the global esports calendar.

PGL Major Stockholm 2021 smashes CSGO viewership record João Ferreira/DexertoThe 2021 PGL Major set several new records for highest-viewed CSGO events, racking up the numbers as people tuned in to the first LAN with fans in what felt like forever. It wasn’t even the last day of the tournament, and the PGL Major 2021 smashed the records of the other top 5 events, all Majors as well. On November 5, during the NAVI vs Vitality quarterfinal match there was a peak viewer count of 1.35 million, with over 500,000 watching on Russian language streams. 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 2.5M+ Peak Viewers on 2nd map @natusvincere vs @G2esports, #PGLMajor Grand Finals.https://t.co/7JfiRnadGg@pglesports @CSGO— Esports Charts 🇺🇦 (@EsportsCharts) November 7, 2021 That would just be the appetizer though, as on the day of the Grand Final it seemed like every esports fan was tuning in, with a final peak viewership of 2,748,850. This absolutely demolishes the previous record, which was held by the ELEAGUE Major 2017 with 1,331,781 viewers at one time. The top most-viewed CSGO events following PGL Major Stockholm 2021 are listed below: PGL Major 2021 — 2,748,850 – ELEAGUE Major 2017 — 1,331,781 – ELEAGUE Major 2018 — 1,329,096 – IEM Katowice 2019 — 1,205,103 – FACEIT Major London — 1,084,946 – The record-breaking quarterfinals matches set up a penultimate day that also drew millions of viewers in. But the Grand Final of NAVI vs G2 was literally a must-watch match that shattered every existing Major CSGO viewership record. Be sure to catch up on all the results at the PGL 2021 major with our official hub.

NAVI win CSGO PGL Major Stockholm 2021 João Ferreira/Dexerto This article has been brought to you by Dexerto in partnership with DJ Esports. The first CS:GO Major in two years is finally here. PGL Major Stockholm 2021 marks a return to the best of Counter-Strike with 24 teams across the world fighting it out for a $2 million prize pool. NAVI dominates G2 to take PGL 2021 Grand Final 2-0. – NAVI and G2 go head to head in the title decider. – $2 million is up for grabs, with $1 million for the outright winner – Since Astralis was crowned four-time champions at the Berlin Major 2019, a lot has changed in Counter-Strike. New dynasties have risen and fallen, and the global order is shifting. Now, all of that will be put to the test at PGL Major Stockholm 2021. The world’s best squads have descended on Sweden — almost 10 years on from when the country held CS:GO first’s major in 2013 — to fight it out for a $1 million grand prize, and $2 million purse overall. JUMP TO SECTION PGL Major Stockholm 2021 recap The PGL Major Stockholm 2021 will definitely be one to remember, especially if you’re a die hard NAVI fan. S1mple and the gang were in top form throughout the tournament from start to finish. After going 3-0 in the Legends stage, NAVI didn’t drop a single map during the playoffs, winning 2-0 against Vitality, Heroic, and finally G2 in the Grand Finals. Read More: How to use DJ Esports – Not only has s1mple and the rest of NAVI solidified themselves as one of the best squads to ever play CSGO, they’ve managed to have a year most teams can only dream about in the process. PGL Major Stockholm final placements PGL Major Stockholm 2021 Schedule & results Champions Stage: November 4 — 7 Day 1: November 4 Day 2: November 5 Day 3: November 6 Day 4: November 7 Legends Stage: October 30 — November 2 Day 1: October 30 Day 2: October 31 Day 3: November 1 Day 4: November 2 * Indicates an advancement or elimination match, which was played in a Bo3 format Challengers Stage: October 26 — 29 Day 4: October 29 Day 3: October 28 Day 2: October 27 Day 1: October 26 * Indicates an advancement or elimination match, which was played in a Bo3 format PGL Major Stockholm 2021: Format PGL Major Stockholm 2021 will follow the same three-tier format previous majors have implemented. Teams will be divided between Legends, Challengers, and Contenders stages depending on how they perform in their regional qualifiers. The tournament will then progress from the lower Challengers stage, all the way to Champions. Legends Teams will get a free pass to the Legends stage, while Challengers and Contenders teams will start from square one. The Challengers and the Legends stages will feature a Swiss format, with three victories sending teams through to the next stage and three defeats sending them home. The elimination and the advanced matches will be played in a best-of-three format, while the remaining matches will be single-map affairs. The top 8 in Legends will progress to the Champions stage, where one final single-elimination bracket awaits them. The games will start October 26, running until November 7. PGL Major Stockholm 2021: All qualified teams You can find the list of teams who have qualified for the Major via the regional qualifiers below.

PGL Major quarterfinal preview: Predictions & players to watch João Ferreira/DexertoAfter over a week of thrills and upsets in the Challengers and Legends stages of PGL Major Stockholm, only eight teams remain in contention for the title. We’ve set out what you need to know about the upcoming clashes. As the Major enters the playoff rounds, it’s going to be a radical change of scenery as teams will once again play in front of a crowd after two stages held behind closed doors. For some teams, this will be a return to normalcy after over a year of almost exclusive online action. But for the less experienced sides, this will be their first time performing before a large audience, and nerves will be tested. Read on as we break down every quarterfinal encounter and identify the players to watch in this round. Be sure to check out our full PGL Major Stockholm hub for all the results from the tournament so far. Heroic v Virtus.pro – November 4 The playoffs will kick off with a thrilling clash that could turn out to be the most keenly-contested series of this round. Heroic scraped through the Challengers Stage with a 3-2 record and then shifted into a higher gear, losing only one game in the Legends Stage, a 16-11 loss to world No.1 NAVI. The qualification for the Champions Stage is a huge boost for the Danish team after they were plagued by outside-the-server issues. But they didn’t have the toughest route to the playoffs – beating a struggling Vitality, an out-of-sorts Astralis, and an inexperienced Copenhagen Flames – and they are now walking into a series against a whole new beast. That’s not to say that Virtus.pro have been world-class material. The CIS team were earmarked as a potential dark horse winner for this Major, but they have shown in Stockholm that there are plenty of wrinkles in their game. Virtus.pro have ridden their luck on occasion in this tournament, showing resilience and determination in dire situations. They came back from 14-7 down on the final map against Spirit, 15-12 down on the decider map against MOUZ and 13-8 down on the second map against FaZe. VP’s superior LAN experience could be the determining factor in the series, but there’s no denying that they have not been the dominant team that many expected. Heroic will be looking to capitalize on the many flaws in Virtus.pro’s game following the last-minute addition of Evgeny ‘FL1T’ Lebedev, a player brought in by the organization to replace Sanjar ‘SANJI’ Kuliev. Players to watch: Martin ‘stavn’ Lund has been a joy to watch in Stockholm, averaging a team-high 1.26 HLTV rating as he has operated on a level above the rest of the Heroic squad. However, many viewers will have their eyes on the Mareks ‘YEKINDAR’ Gaļinskis, who boasts a 1.40 Impact rating at the Major. The electric Latvian star will hold the key to unlocking the potential within the CIS giants. Dexerto Prediction: 2-1 Virtus.pro DJ Esports odds: Heroic 1.509 to Virtus.pro 2.454 G2 v NIP – November 4 There’s no doubt that the Avicii Arena will erupt with passion when hometown favorites NIP step onto the stage. They are the only Swedish representation left in the tournament after Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer and his FaZe team were eliminated in the last round of the Legends Stage. The Ninjas should thank their stars for reaching the playoffs as they were on the brink of missing out on the last-eight stage after being pushed to their limits by the combative Copenhagen Flames. In the end, NIP pulled through, but worrying signs remain. They were not a match against NAVI and Gambit, and had to be bailed out by in-game leader Hampus ‘hampus’ Poser, the team’s best performer in the Legends Stage. Meanwhile, G2 showed why talk of the team’s “LAN buff” is accurate as they went 3-0 in the last-16 stage, though it must be pointed out that none of the teams they beat – Copenhagen Flames, FaZe and Entropiq – are in the playoffs, which shows that they have had a relatively easy route so far. Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač believes that every team bar NAVI is beatable, a statement that will be put to the test in this thrilling match. G2 have momentum after three convincing wins and go into this match as the heavy favorites, despite NIP’s home factor. Players to watch: NiKo and Nemanja ‘huNter-‘ Kovač have been G2’s best performers in Stockholm, but it will be interesting to see how François ‘AmaNEk’ Delaunay will fare with the AWP as he will go up against Mr. Consistency, Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz. On the side of NIP, Fredrik ‘REZ’ Sterner will need to step up for his team to have a chance to reach the semi-finals. He has a tendency to blow hot and cold, and he was nothing short of underwhelming in the Legends Stage. Are we going to see a different version in the playoffs? Dexerto Prediction: 2-0 G2 DJ Esports odds: NIP 1.861 to G2 1.876 Gambit v FURIA – November 5 Gambit and FURIA lock horns in a match between two 3-1 teams, but that’s where the similarities end. They played vastly different levels of opponents in the Legends Stage, with the Brazilians not facing a single team that has made it to the playoffs. Heading into the Major, expectations for FURIA were low. They have struggled to remain relevant since losing Henrique ‘HEN1’ Teles, handing out appearances to academy players after briefly experimenting with an international roster featuring North American AWPer Paytyn ‘junior’ Johnson. Most of the weight of the team has been left on the shoulders of Kaike ‘KSCERATO’ Cerato and Yuri ‘yuurih’ Santos, who carried the team to the playoffs in Stockholm. Getting to the stage is an achievement in itself for FURIA, but it’s impossible not to feel that this is where their journey will end. Gambit, one of the best teams of 2021, showed class and composure in their 3-1 run in the Legends Stage. Now that they have reached the playoffs and a weight has been lifted (at least according to Vladislav ‘nafany’ Gorshkov), they will be relatively stress-free for the remainder of the tournament, ready to play to their full potential. Despite their lack of stage experience, Gambit should fancy their chances heading into this series. They are expected to make their individual superiority tell and should already have an eye on a semi-final clash against CIS rival NAVI. Players to watch: Expect Dmitry ‘sh1ro’ Sokolov to tear through FURIA in the series and exploit the Brazilians’ lack of a world-class AWPer. His right-hand man at the Major has been in-game leader Vladislav ‘nafany’ Gorshkov, who has had the highest Impact rating on the team (1.35) and is joint third overall for opening kills per round (0.18). Dexerto Prediction: 2-0 Gambit DJ Esports odds: Gambit 1.239 to FURIA 3.794 NAVI v Vitality – November 5 Counter-Strike fans are salivating at the prospect of another mouth-watering clash between Aleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev and Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut, even though this will be a match between two sides in distinct moments of form. NAVI coasted through the Legends Stage with such poise and perfection that it’s hard to see anyone taking a map off them, let alone beating them. They have been firing on all cylinders as they look to claim their first Major crown and cement their status as the undisputed No.1 team in the world after already winning IEM Cologne and the Intel Grand Slam title. Vitality had shown signs of recovery before the Major, but they looked disjointed in the Legends Stage and barely made it into the playoffs. With his team against the ropes, ZywOo stepped up massively in the elimination matches and showed his best form, aided by veterans Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire and Richard ‘shox’ Papillon. That paints a bleak picture for Vitality against the red-hot NAVI. The French team’s youngsters, Jayson ‘Kyojin’ Nguyen Van and Kévin ‘misutaaa’ Rabier, have underperformed in Stockholm, and pressure will only get higher once they step onto the stage and experience first hand the noise and the roar of the crowd. ZywOo may have found his mojo at just the right time, but he will need help from his teammates to contain NAVI. However, it’s simply hard to see anyone up to the task, which could leave the two-time player of the year alone against the world once again. Players to watch: The battle between s1mple and ZywOo dominates the headlines, but there is one other player who could be a major factor in the series: Valeriy ‘B1T’ Vakhovskiy. The 18-year-old Ukrainian has been an instrumental piece in NAVI’s set-up this year and heads into the playoffs in the form of his life. He is first for tournament rating (1.44 HLTV rating) and headshots per round (0.60), and only YEKINDAR comes ahead of him for opening kills per round (0.19). Dexerto Prediction: 2-0 NAVI DJ Esports odds: NAVI 1.241 to Vitality 3.778 Odds correct at the time of writing.

PGL Major players face disqualification if they return a positive test Jonatan Svensson Glad / PGLPGL has communicated to the teams participating at the Stockholm Major that anyone that returns a positive COVID-19 test could be disqualified from the event. As PGL Major Stockholm draws near, the Romanian company have begun to lift the veil on the tournament rules and the safety protocols in light of the global health crisis. In the official tournament rulebook sent out to teams, which Dexerto had access to, it is stated that players, coaches, and members are advised to wear masks “at all times while being around other people.” PGL have also recommended that everyone follows Sweden’s health protocols. In case a team member shows symptoms and returns a positive test result, they “may not be able to continue playing in the tournament and may be disqualified”. And while there are no restrictions on what team members can do in their free time, they “may be subjected to penalties and/or disqualification if the person(s) is deemed to have endangered the tournament by putting others at risk.” Players concerned Dexerto knows that a number of teams have expressed concern about the event’s protocols. In their opinion, a player who tests positive should be isolated but still be allowed to play from his hotel room, for example, at least during the early stages of the event. However, it seems unlikely that PGL will change their policy due to broadcast-related reasons. Each team can register five players, one coach, and a substitute player. PGL has told Dexerto that if a player tests positive, the substitute can be brought in to play in his stead. “We can’t put in danger the integrity of the Major,” PGL said. “That’s why we asked every team to have a substitute if one player tests positive. “We want our position to be consistent, and that’s why every positive player will have to be substituted by the reserve player.” At IEM Cologne, the first international CS:GO LAN event since the global health crisis began, players could be quarantined and still be allowed to play from their hotel rooms if necessary. Heroic’s players were placed under quarantine for approximately 48 hours after one of their members returned a positive test. Just hours before their opening match, they were given permission to exit quarantine after producing a negative test. According to ESL, the positive test “was not a false positive, but likely traces from a previous infection earlier this year.” The Team Spirit duo of Boris ‘magixx’ Vorobiev and Abdul ‘degster’ Gasanov also spent over a week under quarantine after it was revealed that a passenger on their flight to Germany had tested positive. But while IEM Cologne was played entirely in a hotel without a live audience, the Major will see the playoff matches held at the Avicii Arena in front of a large crowd, which presents many practical and logistical challenges. PGL Major Stockholm comes less than two weeks after the end of The International 10, which was co-organized by Valve and PGL in Bucharest. The event was held without a live audience due to the “continued rise” of cases in Romania.

PGL Major Antwerp quarterfinal preview: Predictions & players to watch Luc Bouchon & João Ferreira/PGLWith the first two stages of PGL Major Antwerp in the rearview mirror, only eight teams remain in contention. We’ve set out what you need to know about the upcoming quarter-final clashes to begin the playoffs. PGL Major Antwerp will resume on May 19 with the single-elimination playoffs, which will be held in front of a crowd at Antwerps Sportpaleis. The tournament is down to its final eight teams, with a number of favorites, including reigning Major champions NAVI, still in contention, along with some newcomers. For ENCE, Team Spirit and Copenhagen Flames, this will be their first time down this path, and the pressure will only intensify once they step onto the stage and are greeted by the crowd. For FaZe, too, there’s also a sense of urgency – they are the No.1 team in the world and the favorites to go all the way in Antwerp. Will they finally break their Major duck and overcome the demons of their 2018 Boston heartbreak? As the playoffs near, fans are salivating at the prospect of a final between FaZe and NAVI, the two best teams in the world, who are on opposite ends of the bracket. Read on as we break down every quarterfinal encounter and highlight the players to watch in this round. Be sure to check out our full PGL Major Antwerp hub for all the results from the tournament so far. NIP vs FaZe – May 19 The playoff stage will kick off with a mouth-watering series between two top-10 teams that made it through the Legends Stage with a 3-1 record. NIP have had to make it work without Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz, who remains sidelined due to mental health issues, with his return date still a mystery. The AWP has fallen into the hands of Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen, a jack-of-all-trades sort of player, and while his numbers haven’t been exactly elite, he has been able to hold his own and make a solid contribution – which came as a relief to NIP’s fans after he had struggled in this role during his ill-fated Cloud9 stint. The Swedish team showed world-class form in their bouts with Vitality and FURIA, but their struggles in the two maps that they lost to NAVI showed that they are probably still some way short of being able to go toe-to-toe with the cream of the crop. Their upcoming match-up against No.1-ranked FaZe could see them experience the same issues. FaZe traveled to Antwerp as the red-hot favorites after winning the last two big LAN events, IEM Katowice and ESL Pro League Season 15 in convincing fashion. Going forward, that weight of expectation will become even greater as they seek their first Major crown. The question is how they will deal with that pressure, especially in-game leader Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen, who came close to winning ELEAGUE Major Boston in 2018 with FaZe before the team collapsed in the dying moments of the title decider against Cloud9. In Antwerp, FaZe haven’t been exactly the dominant team many expected them to be. They got off on the wrong foot, losing 16-8 to ENCE, before hammering Bad News Eagles and Cloud9 in best-of-one games. They also struggled initially against Copenhagen Flames but ended the series in full control, with Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken suggesting that they’re hitting “a good stride” heading into the playoffs. Players to watch: Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard was a key performer for FaZe during the Legends Stage, averaging a team-high 1.20 HLTV rating and 1.37 Impact (the fifth-highest overall). Critics have suggested that he is the weakest link in this star-studded FaZe squad, but the Norwegian continues to prove time and time again that he remains a key cog. On the side of NIP, a lot rides on the shoulders of Fredrik ‘REZ’ Sterner, who has one of the highest ceilings in the scene but only rarely taps into his potential. The blockbuster signing of Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin from Fnatic has alleviated some of the pressure on REZ, but he will need to be at his absolute best for the team to have the firepower to match FaZe. Dexerto Prediction: 2-0 FaZe Spirit vs FURIA – May 19 Almost every Major, it seems like there’s a CIS team ready to defy the odds and prove everyone wrong. In Antwerp, that honor belongs to Team Spirit, who went through the first two stages of the Major almost unscathed, losing just one game (an overtime brawl with G2 Esports in the Challengers Stage) en route to the playoffs. Each player on this team has allegedly put in over 100 hours into the game over the past two weeks, which speaks volumes to their commitment to the cause, and they’re seeing the results of their work in the server. The Russian team, who have an average age of just 20.7 years old – the lowest of all teams at the Major – went 3-0 in the Legends Stage, to the surprise of everyone. Critics will say that they were not properly tested in the progression series, but the fact that the three teams that they beat (FURIA, Heroic and Copenhagen Flames) are in the playoffs should settle the debate about their merits. FURIA went into the Major with genuine dark-horse potential but had a rocky road to the playoffs, only making it through the Legends Stage in the final round after a three-map thriller against G2 Esports. The Brazilian team solved one of their glaring weaknesses when they picked up AWPer Rafael ‘saffee’ Costa from paiN Gaming at the start of the year but they are yet to prove that they can challenge for the biggest honors. FURIA have more to offer than Spirit in terms of stage experience, but if they start out slowly, they will have a hard time picking up the pace. In a recent interview, Kaike ‘KSCERATO’ Cerato suggested that his team tend to struggle against opponents from other regions, and a rematch against the red-hot CIS side could spell the end of the road for them in Antwerp. Players to watch: It will be quite interesting to watch the AWP battle between Abdul ‘degster’ Gasanov and saffee, but Robert ‘Patsi’ Isyanov is the player that could really set the tone for this match. The 18-year-old had the highest impact in the Legends Stage (1.50) and will be looking to wreak more havoc against the Brazilians after putting up a 1.26 HLTV rating in the best-of-one game on May 14. Dexerto Prediction: 2-1 Spirit ENCE vs Copenhagen Flames – May 20 This could turn out to be the final hurrah of Copenhagen Flames as the team’s players are entertaining individual offers, which will likely bring an end to one of the best feel-good stories in the CS:GO scene in recent memory. The Danish team has already gone one better than at the Stockholm Major, when they were knocking on the doors of the playoffs before losing to NIP in the final round of the Legends Stage. They still left it late to book a playoff spot, though, only getting it right on the third attempt following defeats to Spirit and FaZe. Copenhagen Flames head into this match without any sort of pressure against an ENCE team currently ranked third in the world rankings and riding a wave of confidence. It has been an amazing start to the year for ENCE, a team filled with hungry players who have never reached this level before. For four of their players, this will be their first time playing in front of a crowd. The best-of-one Legends Stage game between these two teams, where Copenhagen Flames ran out 16-8 winners, should be enough to prove that the outcome of the series is not a foregone conclusion and that there’s some upset potential here. However, ENCE should have the upper hand in this best-of-three series that could serve as a rousing send-off for the vibrant Copenhagen Flames team. Players to watch: Lotan ‘Spinx’ Giladi and Paweł ‘dycha’ Dycha have been in amazing form this year, and they were joint-second in the Legends Stage for HLTV rating, going at 1.28. With Fredrik ‘roeJ’ Jørgensen blowing hot and cold in the previous stage, many viewers will have their eyes on Rasmus ‘Zyphon’ Nordfoss, who put up a series high 1.54 rating against Imperial. Will he be able to carry that form into the playoffs? Dexerto Prediction: 2-1 ENCE NAVI vs Heroic – May 20 One month later, NAVI and Heroic meet again. On April 18, the two teams locked horns in the RMR tournament, with the Danes walking away with a 2-1 victory to end a six-match losing stream on LAN against the CIS heavyweights. Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller has made no secret about the importance of this moment, but the stakes will be much, much higher now. In a recent interview with Dexerto, the charismatic Heroic leader admitted that the team tends to lose a bit of their edge in high-pressure moments as communication gets “stressed” – and it will certainly be put to the test against a NAVI team looking to defend their Stockholm crown. NAVI made it through the Legends Stage without losing a match, but it wasn’t as clean as the record might suggest: they edged past G2 in overtime and dropped a map to NIP in a series where they dominated the other two maps. The war in Ukraine has raised questions about the future of this roster, with NAVI expected to make a decision sometime in the summer. This is not a NAVI team without cracks, as their recent results have shown, but they have a more loaded roster in terms of firepower and have the psychological edge over a Heroic side that has shown a tendency to come up short in key moments. Players to watch: Martin ‘stavn’ Lund has shown in Antwerp why he is one of the best players in the world, averaging an impressive 1.22 HLTV rating in the Legends Stage as Heroic went 3-2 after some really close games. (His closest teammate, cadiaN, put up a 1.09 rating.) With Denis ‘electroNic’ Sharipov looking a bit off-form, NAVI fans will hope that Valeriy ‘B1T’ Vakhovskiy will stay sharp after he topped the leaderboards in multiple categories in the previous stage, including HLTV rating (1.43), damage per round (98.3) and kills per round (0.92) Dexerto Prediction: 2-1 NAVI

PGL Major Antwerp breaks 2 million viewer mark in FaZe vs NAVI final PGLThe Grand Final of the 2022 PGL Major Antwerp drew more than 2 million viewers to the stream, making it the most-watched CSGO event of the year so far. CSGO’s PGL Antwerp Major 2022 was definitely one for the history books. Karrigan, rain, and the rest of FaZe left NAVI no breathing room as they took home the trophy and the $500,000 grand prize with a 2-0 win. Not only was it extremely entertaining to watch, but the match also ended up making the PGL Major the most-viewed CSGO event of 2022 so far, with over 2 million people tuning in from around the world to catch the action. PGL Major Antwerp 2022 draws over 2 million viewers 2M Peak Viewers on #PGLMajorAntwerp. @natusvincere vs @FaZeClan is the most popular match of the event. English peak – 1M viewers. Languages & Platforms statistics of #CSGO Major:https://t.co/KdlA4o3Xwu pic.twitter.com/gzvMZZiDUc — Esports Charts 🇺🇦 (@EsportsCharts) May 22, 2022 According to Esports Charts, the final tally for viewers of the 2022 PGL Major came in at a peak of 2,048,282 viewers from around the world watching the Grand Final across various streams. This not only makes it the most-viewed event of 2022, but also the second-highest of all time, behind the 2.7 million that watched the 2021 PGL Major in Stockholm. The last two PGL Majors have absolutely demolished the previous record, which was held by the ELEAGUE Major 2017 with 1,331,781 viewers at one time. The top most-viewed CSGO events following PGL Major Stockholm 2021 are listed below: PGL Major Stockholm 2021 — 2,748,850 – PGL Major Antwerp 2022 — 2,048,282 – ELEAGUE Major 2017 — 1,331,781 – ELEAGUE Major 2018 — 1,329,096 – IEM Katowice 2019 — 1,205,103 – The Grand Final of NAVI vs FaZe was literally a must-watch match that came very close to breaking every existing Major CSGO viewership record, but just couldn’t quite get there. Be sure to catch up on all the results at the PGL 2021 major with our official hub.

PGL Major Antwerp EU RMR B: NIP make Legends, Astralis qualify João Ferreira for PGLThe qualifying process for the first CS:GO Major of 2022, PGL Major Antwerp, is in full swing. Catch up on the American and European Regional Major Ranking (RMR) tournaments in this hub, where you will find a full recap of results and qualified teams. NIP earn Legend status win over ENCE – Astralis break HEET hearts to secure Major berth – Entropiq & ASG sent home – With the grueling online qualifiers in the rearview mirror, it’s time to move to a LAN setting to determine the 24 representatives at PGL Major Antwerp. PGL has opened its Bucharest studio to teams from Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific for a series Regional Major Ranking (RMR) events – the final leg of the qualifying process. Below is a complete rundown of the European and American RMRs, including results, schedule and participating teams. Contents Stream – Format – Europe RMR B – Europe RMR A – American RMR – PGL Major Antwerp RMRs: stream The entire RMR cycle will be streamed live on PGL’s main and secondary Twitch channels, which we have embedded below for your convenience. Viewers can also tune in to PGL’s YouTube channel, where they can find VODs of every match, as well as tournament highlights. PGL Major Antwerp RMRs: format The American and the European RMR events will feature a Swiss format, with teams paired based on their tournament record. Due to the number of teams in attendance and Major spots on the line, the European RMR has been split into two tournaments, A and B, each with 16 teams. The advancement and elimination matches will be played in a best-of-three format, while the remaining games will be single-map affairs. A team that loses three matches is automatically eliminated.

FaZe wins PGL CSGO Major Antwerp 2022: Recap & full results Stefan Petrescu/PGLThe first CS:GO Major of 2022, the PGL Major Antwerp, is officially in the books. Twenty-four teams from all over the world competed for $1 million in prize money and the title of Major champions, but in the end FaZe would be the ones to raise the trophy. Here’s what you need to know. FaZe takes down NAVI 2-0 in Grand Final set on May 22 – NAVI unable to take a map against Karrigan’s FaZe in Grand Finals – FaZe rain capped off epic performance with 30 kills on Nuke to wrap up Grand Final – The CS:GO circuit is jam-packed with high-quality tournaments, but the Majors still stand above the rest. The 17th iteration of the prestigious Valve-sponsored event was PGL, the same company that organized the 2021 Stockholm Major. This time, the Major took us to Antwerp. The event featured 24 of the world’s best teams, who qualified via Regional Major Ranking (RMR) tournaments. No team was guaranteed a spot in Antwerp, not even NAVI, as the best team of 2021 and the reigning Major champions. We’ve got everything you need to know about how the PGL Major Antwerp played out right here, including the schedule, the full results, and how FaZe pulled off the win. JUMP TO SECTION Recap – Format – Schedule and results – Qualified teams – Final standings – PGL CSGO Major Antwerp 2022: Recap The Major started out with 24 of the world’s top teams, but the table had been whittled down to just eight by the start of the Champions Stage on May 19. Champs FaZe faced their toughest challenge of the playoffs against Ninjas in Pyjamas, escaping with a 2-1 win. NAVI also faced a challenge in the opening round, sliding by Heroic with a score of 2-1 as well. Both teams flew through the Semis with 2-0 sweeps. FaZe had no problem against Team Spirit, and NAVI easily handled the upstart ENCE side. This would set the stage for a FaZe and NAVI Grand Final that would be the biggest CSGO match of 2022 so far. For FaZe fans, the Final definitely didn’t disappoint. Despite being the defending champs NAVI were completely unable to deal with performances by karrigan, rain, and the rest of the new-look FaZe side. After the dust settled, it was FaZe and FaZe alone standing atop the PGL Antwerp Major mountain. Not only did they sweep the Grand Final 2-0, they did so against the one and only s1mple-led NAVI. Winning a major is one thing, but doing so while sweeping one of the best teams in the world is another level entirely. PGL CSGO Major Antwerp 2022: format and location PGL Major Antwerp was divided into three stages: Challengers, Legends, and Champions. The first two were played behind closed doors in a studio environment, while Champions was held at the 18,000-seater Antwerps Sportpaleis in front of a live audience. This was the first-ever CS:GO Major hosted in Belgium. According to PGL, the country’s central location in Europe ticked every box of what it wanted when it set out to find “one of the most approachable destinations” for the event. The event ran as follows: Challengers Stage: May 9-12 – Legends Stage: May 14-17 – Champions Stage: May 19-22 – PGL CSGO Major Antwerp 2022: schedule & results PGL Major Antwerp Champions Stage Day 1: May 19 Day 2: May 20 Day 3: May 21 Day 4: May 22 PGL Major Antwerp Legends Stage Day 1: May 14 Day 2: May 15 Day 3: May 16 Day 5: May 17 PGL Major Antwerp New Challengers Stage Day 1: May 9 Day 2: May 10 Day 3: May 11 Day 4: May 12 PGL CSGO Major Antwerp 2022: final standings Teams qualified for PGL CSGO Major Antwerp 2022 Valve merged some of the regions, creating three RMR events that determined the 24 teams attending the Major: Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. The number of slots allocated to each region was determined by how they performed at the previous Major. The RMR tournaments were hosted by PGL at the company’s studio in Bucharest from April 11-24. Due to its size, the 32-team Europe RMR was divided into two tournaments. Below you can see all teams that qualified for the Major. Challengers Stage: Legends Stage:

PGL hints at imminent Stockholm Major confirmation PGLPGL has all but confirmed that it will host the 2021 Counter-Strike Major in Stockholm. An announcement on the matter is due on September 17. The Romanian company revealed on September 16 that it is on the brink of making an announcement about the Counter-Strike Major, which is slated to start on October 23. PGL followed it up with a tweet containing nothing but the Swedish flag, to the delight of many who have been eagerly awaiting news about the event. Ninjas in Pyjamas, who have been working with PGL and Swedish authorities to bring the Major to Stockholm, reacted to the news with an all-caps tweet that read, ‘It’s happening’. Hurdles cleared Stockholm was announced as the host city of the Major in January 2021. The news was met with excitement in the Counter-Strike scene, given Sweden’s long tradition in the game, and marked the return of Majors to the Nordic country after a seven-year absence. But in July, PGL expressed concern about Sweden’s response to the global health crisis, namely the country’s tight travel restrictions and the limits to the size of gatherings. It also revealed that it was in talks with two other European countries about moving the event if their conditions weren’t met. Swedish authorities cleared the first obstacle on August 19, when it was announced that esports players would be able to enter Sweden, regardless of their country of origin, as long as that they delivered a negative test. And on September 7, the Swedish government revealed that all restrictions on public and private gatherings would be lifted on September 29, making it possible for a large number of people to watch the action inside the Avicii Arena, where the playoff matches will be held. PGL Major Stockholm will be the first Counter-Strike Major in over two years because of the global health situation. It will take place from October 23 through to November 7, with 24 teams vying for their share of a $2 million prize pool.

PGL CSGO Major hits over 1 million concurrent viewers João Ferreira/DexertoPGL Major Stockholm is already one of the top five CS:GO events in terms of peak viewership and we’re just one day into the playoffs. Over one million people tuned in to watch the opening playoff match of PGL Major Stockholm between Heroic and Virtus.pro, according to statistics website Esports Charts. Counter-Strike fans were treated to an amazing first match from the Avicii Arena as Heroic edged past Virtus.pro in a close three-map series to book the first spot in the semi-final stage. ⚡⚡⚡ 1M+ Peak Viewers on @heroicgg vs @virtuspro, #PGLMajor. @pglesportsMore stats of event:https://t.co/7JfiRnadGg pic.twitter.com/2vxzJfPA1S — Esports Charts 🇺🇦 (@EsportsCharts) November 4, 2021 PGL Major Stockholm is now ranked fifth for highest peak viewership in CS:GO, taking the place of IEM Katowice 2020 – the only non-Major event on the list. Big names still left to play It’s quite an understatement to say CS:GO fans were excited for the return of in-person events with a crowd after over a year of almost exclusive online action. As the tournament progresses, more and more people are expected to tune in to watch the games. At the four Majors ranked ahead of PGL Stockholm, the peak viewership was reached during the grand finals. NAVI and NIP, the two most popular teams of the Major so far, have yet to play at the Avicii Arena. The CIS giants, who are currently ranked first in the world, will step onto the stage on November 5 to take on Vitality in a much-anticipated clash between the two best players in the world, Aleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev and Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut. Below you can find the CS:GO tournaments with the highest peak viewership: ELEAGUE Major 2017 – 1,331,781 – ELEAGUE Major 2018 – 1,329,096 – IEM Katowice 2019 – 1,205,103 – FACEIT Major London – 1,084,946 – PGL Major Stockholm – 1,010,611 –

PGL criticized for allowing CSGO smoke bug at Antwerp Major after G2 clip goes viral Joao Ferreira for PGL / PGLTournament organizers PGL have been criticized by the CS:GO community following their decision to allow smokes at the ongoing Antwerp Major, despite a game-breaking bug emerging with the tactical projectiles. CS:GO fans have been tuning into the PGL Antwerp Major, which kicked off back on May 9 (Challengers Stage) and concludes on May 22 when a winner will take home their $500,000 share of the prize pool. We’ve seen some incredible matches but, as has become frustratingly common in the CS:GO esports space, we’ve seen some bugs and exploits detract from the tournament spectacle. The latest controversy relates to an egregious smoke bug, which allows players fully immersed in smoke to see out of it and gun enemies who are none the wiser. Occurring in a G2 vs Imperial match, the glitch quickly went viral on Twitter as fans sought to draw attention to the problem. However, rather surprisingly, PGL confirmed they will not ban smokes and will continue to use the latest client version of CS:GO. A statement read: “We are using the latest client version of CS:GO, and we will allow the smoke going forward.” Responses were very critical of the organizers, with pro player Karrigan joking that he’s going “find all lineups on all maps”. On a similar note, FaZe Clan player Broky asked: “what are you smoking?” However, players were quick to discuss the problem and, as of the publication of this article, the Counter-Strike Professional Players’ Association (CSPPA) announced that it has been GA’d by the attending teams. Their comment read: “All teams at the Major have agreed to not use the smoke exploit.” Regardless, many remained disappointed with PGL’s decision, asking why a simple adjustment was not authorised to take the bug out of the game at a root level. With plenty of storylines still to be written, keep tuned to Dexerto for all the latest from Antwerp.

PGL confirm 2021 Counter-Strike Major in Stockholm Jonatan Svensson Glad / PGLPGL has officially confirmed that the 2021 Counter-Strike Major will be held in Stockholm. The event is due to run from October 26 to November 7. Romanian-based tournament organizer PGL has confirmed that they will be hosting the 2021 Counter-Strike Major in Stockholm between October 26 and November 7. They had previously hinted at the announcement, tweeting a Swedish flag on September 16. 🌟The wait is over! 🎟️The tickets for PGL MAJOR STOCKHOLM 2021 🇸🇪 will go on sale on September 22 – 10:00 AM CET 🎫Tickets: https://t.co/XcM0XLNCKo🗞️Read more about the Major: https://t.co/kEybKAQELb#PGLMAJOR — PGL (@pglesports) September 17, 2021 CS:GO returns to Sweden PGL’s announcement marks the first time since 2014 that Sweden will host a Counter-Strike Major. It is also the first Counter-Strike Major since 2019, as restrictions related to the ongoing global health crisis begin to be lifted. Stockholm was announced as the next Major host in January 2021. However, doubt was cast over the plans in July after PGL expressed concern over Sweden’s travel restrictions. The company indicated that they were speaking with two other European nations in case Stockholm remained a non-viable option. Read More: NAVI release flamie after six years – However, the Swedish government announced on September 7 that all restrictions relating to private and public gatherings would be lifted on September 29. This followed a policy change on August 19 that allowed esports athletes to enter the country as long as they had proof of a negative test. 24 teams will attend the event in Stockholm, all vying for a share of a $2 million prize pool. The prize pool is the biggest in the history of CS:GO, double the previous record mark. Read More: LEGIJA to step into coaching role with BIG – PGL Major Stockholm will begin on October 26 and conclude on November 7. The playoffs, held between November 4 and November 7, will be hosted at the iconic Avicii Arena. PGL has announced that tickets will go on sale for the event on September 22.

PGL CEO promises to raise the bar in Antwerp after Stockholm Major feedback João Ferreira/DexertoPGL CEO Silviu Stroie spoke to Dexerto about the lessons learned from the Stockholm CS:GO Major and how the company will be upping its game for the Antwerp event. Four months on from PGL Major Stockholm, Stroie and his team are still processing the feedback from the event. The message is clear: We listen. In many ways, that Major was a resounding success. PGL proved, to the surprise of many, that it is possible to run an in-person event of this scale in a bubble. The tournament also broke all CS:GO viewership records, and there was no shortage of epic and dramatic moments that will forever live in the esport’s folklore. But at the same time, the event was marred by technical issues, caster drama, and some controversial decisions — including the lack of women’s representation on the broadcast, having talent work remotely, and allowing some teams to play New Legends Stage matches from their rooms — that were only corrected following community pressure. Richard Lewis and Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields, both of whom were part of the Major’s on-air team, dedicated a two-hour episode of ‘By The Numbers’ to dissect what went wrong at the event. According to them, the broadcast team, mostly made up of veterans, held everything together; less experienced talent would have crumbled under the pressure. “If we had let some of the problems behind the scenes get us down and make our job sh**er, it would have been one of the worst Majors ever held,” Thorin said. “It would have been top 3 worst Majors.” With high-quality matches and compelling storylines, PGL Major Stockholm satiated the appetites of the CS:GO community after two years of mostly online action. But if fans weren’t so hungry for in-person competitions to return, there’s little doubt that the Major would be looked upon in a different light. The bar will be set much higher for the next Major, which PGL will also run, this time in the Belgian city of Antwerp. And Stroie says that his company has learned its lesson. “I respect everybody, especially the talent that worked at our event,” he tells Dexerto. “We are listening to the feedback coming from them and from the community. “We are working on improving all those areas with one simple goal, which is to have the best possible product [in Antwerp].” PGL’s Counter-Strike history Antwerp 2022 will be the third CS:GO Major run by PGL after Krakow 2017 and Stockholm 2021. The Bucharest-based company has a long history of organizing Counter-Strike events dating back to the days of 1.6, when its Romanian championships, which ran for over 30 seasons, often attracted “hundreds and hundreds” of teams, Stroie recalls. Read more: Astralis sign Farlig to CSGO team – PGL took a major leap in 2015 with its CS:GO Championship Series (CCS), a European league sponsored by Twitch. Albeit successful, it ran for only two seasons. By the end of that year, the CS:GO landscape was changing dramatically: in 2016, ESL more than doubled the prize money of its Pro League, while FACEIT made a splash with its headline-grabbing $3.5 million Esports Championship Series (ECS), and ELEAGUE entered the fray, bringing CS:GO action to North American television. “A lot more money was now involved,” Silviu explained. “At the end of the day, PGL is a very simple company. We don’t have investors or anything. We need to make things carefully and properly.” PGL made the decision to diversify its trade and became more and more involved in other esports titles, from Dota 2 to Hearthstone and FIFA, though it still helped other companies, like BLAST, to run CS:GO tournaments. Since 2016, PGL’s name has almost disappeared from the CS:GO event calendar. Still, as Antwerp prepares to host the 17th Major in CS:GO history, only one company has more Majors in its portfolio than PGL (ESL with six). The Romanian company is also only the second tournament organizer that will be running back-to-back Majors after ESL, which did it in 2014 and 2015. At a first glance, it might seem strange that a company that has mostly taken a backseat in the CS:GO scene remains a prime candidate to run the biggest event in the game, backed by developer Valve. This can be attributed to two factors. Firstly, PGL enjoys a long and healthy relationship with Valve and has been involved in every The International — Dota2’s flagship tournament — since 2016 (it also helped to run the open qualifiers in 2015). Secondly, the pool of tournament organizers capable of (and interested in) running a CS:GO Major is very small these days. It doesn’t help that the only company able — to some extent — to challenge ESL’s near-monopoly, BLAST, has shown little interest in hosting a Major, regardless of how much prestige would come from it. “”BLAST are not pitching for a Major, that’s why they don’t have a Major””@SPUNJ on why BLAST hasn’t got a Major yet despite delivering great events. 🎧 https://t.co/Z0sS7zEsDw 📺 https://t.co/AowaYzh0nW pic.twitter.com/i9lQFhpmga— HLTV Confirmed (@HLTVconfirmed) December 10, 2021 However, Stroie laughs off the suggestion that running a CS:GO Major is a money pit. “I think that, if you do it properly, you can have a really nice turnover,” he says. “It all depends on how you look at things and how you do it.” He adds that, in a “very crazy utopic world” with Majors every week, PGL would gladly organize them all. Not just out of a passion for the game, but also because this is the only way to run a high-caliber event in CS:GO without having to spend “tens of millions of dollars to attract teams” or wrestle with other tournament organizers to make space in the calendar. “Everything is so compact right now,” he explains. “It’s crazy to start a new league or to run a new offline event. There is no space for that. “You’ve seen this whole thing with the open qualifiers for the RMR. We are trying to run open qualifiers in a way that won’t interfere with other tournaments. But every single day, there are events all over the planet. “Somewhere, someone is going to get impacted by it. We are trying to adjust the best we can, but there is no perfect solution.” When things go wrong As Stroie delves into some of the bigger issues that plagued the Stockholm Major, he explains how the global health crisis, travel restrictions, and the protracted affair regarding the choice of the host city for the event affected PGL’s planning. With only weeks left until the Major started, doubts remained about where, and under which conditions, the event would be held as PGL remained in a bordering-on-interminable dispute with Swedish authorities. Alternative locations were considered, and an action plan suited to these modern times was devised. The priority was clear: to get the event on in whatever shape or form possible. “In mid-September, Sweden approved everything, changed the law and so on,” Stroie says. “But before that, we had to make a lot of decisions. “We were like, ‘Hey, this is a pandemic. We have no idea how long this is going to last, if it’s going to be one year, two years, five years.’ And we realized that running offline events the way we were used to was not possible anymore. We need to be able to do it remotely for the most part. “We planned the entire summer to have the production and the whole on-air talent inside our studio, while the players would be in whatever venue we ended up with.” After the community went up in arms about the decision to keep talent remote, PGL made a U-turn and announced that the on-air team would be flown to Sweden before the playoffs. That created a new problem: there was no room for them in the setup designed for the event. “We realized very late that we had made a mistake and we tried to adjust,” Stroie says. “And we did whatever was possible at that point.” Any tournament organizer worth their salt knows that putting out all sorts of fires is a vital part of the job. Something that has been done a certain way for years suddenly and unexpectedly might not work anymore, forcing you to find new solutions on the fly – all the while having to deal with the added pressure of dealing with thousands of angry and mocking viewers pointing out your every mistake. The criticism was fierce as audio issues became a constant theme during the Stockholm Major, spawning the meme about PGL having hired a deaf audio engineer to work at the event. Hi guys, I’m the audio guy at PGL Major. I wanted to express how honored I am to be the first deaf audio engineer at a CS:GO tournament in history. Thank you PGL for this amazing opportunity, and I’ll try my best! — Marko ‘kressy’ Đorđević (@kressy) November 4, 2021 These problems stretched well into the playoffs, affecting talent, viewers at home, and spectators in the arena. “Pretty much everything in broadcast is digital,” he says. “For audio, everything works on Dante, which is a network protocol. And because of whatever network issues we had and the way we structured the whole thing, we had various audio issues throughout most of the event. We were able to fix most of those only when we decided to scrap everything and just go the old way, analog. It’s something that… Sure, we messed up. “We are doing hundreds of events, this is what we’re doing daily, but this time around it just didn’t work out for us. It was definitely our fault.” Improvements for Antwerp As Swedish legend and Stockholm Major trophy bearer Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund stepped onto the Avicii Arena stage and took the microphone from host Freya Spiers, he said to the crowd before him: “I want to hear a little bit more.” At that moment, without knowing, GeT_RiGhT was speaking for thousands of viewers at home, annoyed at how poor a job PGL was doing in terms of capturing the atmosphere inside the arena. The sound issues went on for the entire first day of the playoffs, taking away from the experience of having an in-person event with a crowd. The reality is that the show only rarely delivered on the premise of being a celebration of the game after over two years without a Major. It felt more like your run-of-the-mill pre-pandemic LAN than a historical Major that was supposed to be epic — a view further accentuated only weeks later when BLAST hosted an event in Copenhagen that, crowd aside, hit all the right notes, making everyone wonder what the Major could have been. Stroie is aware that the community sentiment around the Stockholm Major is greatly divided. That’s why PGL is channeling a lot of its focus to make sure that Antwerp will be an improvement on all fronts. One aspect that will make PGL’s life easier is that the company is handling the entire Major cycle, from the open qualifiers through to the Major. This is a departure from Stockholm 2021, where PGL ran only the main event, while a host of other companies were in charge of regional qualifiers. “Since we are running the RMR process, we are going to have 14 days of broadcast in our studio,” Stroie says. “This will help us make sure we are not going to see any more errors. “Frankly, I think this is the right way to do it. At the end of the day, when you run a Major, you need to be in charge from start to end.” With the RMRs taking place on PGL’s home turf, the company will be doing “countless tests” to prevent the sort of unexpected issues that disrupted the Stockholm Major. But there’s only so much that more testing can do. PGL will be working with an “ultra-specialized company” for the RMRs and the Major, and has purchased “a lot of new dedicated equipment, especially for casters and analysts”, as well as more high-end computers to build an eight-team tournament setup that they hope will minimize delays: while two matches are taking place, four teams are getting ready to play. There is a common perception in the CS:GO scene that PGL bit off more than they could chew when they committed to hosting The International 10 and the Stockholm Major — two tournaments in two different countries and with a gap of fewer than ten days between them. Stroie insists that’s not the case — “we’re running events back-to-back all the time, sometimes even multiple events at the same time” —, but he vows to allocate the company’s “entire resources” for the Antwerp Major. External people will also be brought in to make sure that everything will run smoothly. Another point of criticism was the lack of content around teams and players during the Stockholm Major. As the Swedish event began, everyone felt the importance of the moment after 18 incredibly challenging months in which CS:GO had lost players, sponsors, and organizations to Valorant, in addition to making headlines for a number of scandals. Stroie assures that there will be an increased focus on storytelling in Antwerp, citing health concerns for the lack of the content in Stockholm, where safety was PGL’s priority — which meant making compromises. “We wanted to offer the teams the safest possible environment instead of dragging them around every single day to do this or that,” he explains. “We were okay with sacrificing our product in order to improve the happiness of the players. “For the RMRs and the Major, we will have practice rooms that are sensibly bigger than the ones in Stockholm. That is going to allow us to create more content. “I don’t know if you talked to the players, but they were all extremely happy, especially with the computers and the hospitality. We spent most of our resources on that, on getting the best PCs on the planet, the best monitors, and on providing the best possible conditions for the players.” Reflecting on Stockholm Major & looking ahead Despite the plethora of issues that cropped up during the Major and put PGL under fire, Stroie still looks back at the event with immense pride, especially when the viewership figures are brought up. The record set in Stockholm of over 2.7 million concurrent viewers — “a gigantic number” in his view — will be hard to break. PGL CSGO MAJOR STOCKHOLM 2021 – The biggest viewership in CSGO history. We’ve broken all possible records. The first big esport event with a large audience in the last two years. THIS IS PGL !!! pic.twitter.com/lrkUXKUqmP — Silviu Stroie (@ssilviu) November 7, 2021 “It for sure put PGL in the esports history books,” he says. “First of all, there’s a giant difference between the Stockholm Major and every other Counter-Strike event. “And second, because our event is the only one in the top 10 esports events that was run by an independent company, not by the publisher itself. All the other events are publisher-owned tournaments. The Stockholm Major was run by a third party, which is something that makes me extremely proud.” The Antwerp Major is fast approaching, the countdown well and truly underway following the start of the open qualifiers on February 22. While Stockholm 2021 was a throwback Major, Antwerp 2022 will have a different feel to it, starting with the broadcast. “We have a giant list of people that we are looking at right now,” Stroie says, adding that PGL’s views regarding the on-air team are “pretty close” to those from Richard Lewis and Thorin, two of the most vocal and prominent critics of the Swedish Major. Stroie says that, just like six months ago, PGL’s main priority is to get the tournament on regardless of whatever “crazy things” might happen, such as a new variant of the virus or stricter travel restrictions. With the lessons learned from Stockholm and an action plan laid out months in advance, a sense of optimism that the Antwerp Major will be a much better experience all around is discernible in his words. “We are not perfect,” Stroie says. “We are far from perfect, but we know that we can do a really good job. We have done that so many times, in so many different games. “We are always trying to decide what’s best for the show. Every single time, we are changing the theme of the event and how we want it to be run. And we are looking at what the community is expecting, what it wants.”

Peacemaker says Complexity’s CSGO team was “falling apart” around him Adela Sznajder/DreamHackBrazilian CS:GO coach Luis ‘peacemaker’ Tadeu reflected on his ill-fated stint with Complexity and spoke about his future in an interview with Dexerto. It didn’t take long for peacemaker to realize the size of the task facing him on Complexity. The Brazilian coach took charge of the ‘Juggernaut’ on July 23, inheriting a team in flux that had just brought in Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen to replace William ‘RUSH’ Wierzba. Please welcome @peacemaker as the new head coach for #COLCS Excited to follow your leadership 🤝#WeAreCOL pic.twitter.com/F9tFG1QTUa — Complexity ✭ (@Complexity) July 23, 2021 As the end of the player break neared and teams wrapped up preparations for the new season, es3tag declared his desire to win silverware in his new home. But just days later, Complexity were rocked by the news that star player Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke would miss several weeks of action after fracturing his wrist in a freak accident at an airport. The loss of k0nfig, who was averaging a 1.13 HLTV rating in 2021, only exacerbated the existing problems within the team. In October, weeks after failing to qualify for PGL Major Stockholm, Complexity parted ways with Benjamin ‘blameF’ Bremer, k0nfig and Valentin ‘poizon’ Vasilev, while putting Justin ‘jks’ Savage and es3tag up for sale. It was officially the end of the ambitious ‘Juggernaut’ project. “I think that the perception that the team was falling apart is real, it really was falling apart,” peacemaker told Dexerto. “Before I joined, the team had several problems, things that were outside their control, like injuries, players being temporarily out of the roster, etc. It was no different at the end of the year. “It is important to mention that k0nfig’s situation was a blow for us. We had our plans mapped out, he was a very important player for the team, playing a very important role, and the team really suffered from the loss of a player like him, a star player. We also had some problems with poizon that, out of respect for him, I won’t go into. “Because of contractual reasons, the tournament calendar and our tournament commitments, it was not possible for us to add a player on a permanent basis just before the Major, when no team wants to lose a player or change their roster. “It goes far beyond what the community wants in a CS team. There are many factors that make many of our wishes impossible and that are simply beyond our control.” Peacemaker explained that when he joined Complexity, a cloud of uncertainty was already hanging over the team. With k0nfig, blameF and poizon all entering the final months of their contracts, there was no telling what the squad would like in 2022. “That haunted the team in a way but we were not shaken,” he said. “We focused on performing and on the things we had to improve, but we knew that this situation would come up before the end of the year. “We all believed in the project. That’s why we brought in es3tag, and our plan was to keep that team until the end of the year and assess things based on performance.” Descent into chaos Despite all the difficulties and challenges, peacemaker’s Complexity did enjoy some success at first. They reached the first round of the playoffs in ESL Pro League 14, losing out to eventual runners-up Vitality, and were two rounds away from qualifying for the BLAST Premier Fall Final. IEM Fall, held in Stockholm, was a completely different story. Complexity were sent packing in the group stage with just one victory from five matches, even losing games to Sinners (Complexity were 1.40 favorites to win) and Movistar Riders (1.36 favorites). As the Major dream came to an end, the team hit a downward spiral that they couldn’t escape. Again, peacemaker stressed, context is important to explain the team’s disintegration. “At IEM Fall, we were very confident, but in that tournament some things happened, there were some internal problems,” he said. “After that, I felt that we were trying to fight for survival and trying to end the year on a positive note and in a more pleasant atmosphere because we imagined that we would not be sticking together for 2022. “In the last two tournaments, we had a really big performance drop. We even made a change for IEM Winter and we withdrew from DreamHack at the end of the year because we knew there was no mood for us to stick together as a team. “I really respect how the players conducted themselves during this period of uncertainty.” Complexity’s bursts of quality under such difficult circumstances, albeit brief, help explain why peacemaker believes there are positives to take from his time at the helm of the ‘Juggernaut’. “It’s obvious that my assessment cannot be positive, but the story would have been much different if we had managed to close out a few games and secured the spot at the BLAST Final, which was in our hands,” he said. “The community and the people in the scene need to look at the big picture before passing judgment on what I do. In my opinion, given all the things that we went through, I think that it was not all negative. It’s just a shame that we did not qualify for some tournaments down to details.” ‘Troublemaker’ comments As he watched the ‘Juggernaut’ fall apart, peacemaker readied himself for the inevitable abuse and ridicule that would come his way. In recent years, he has been held responsible for his teams’ failures more than he has for their successes. An often-repeated claim in the scene is that he generates hostility and eventually ruins the teams that he coaches despite several of his former players and colleagues coming out in his defense. Been watching a lot of stuff about @peacemaker on twitter today, and I would just like to say he’s a hard-working coach, who will put his heart and soul into any project. All the hate is severely unjustified.. — Patrick Hansen (@es3tag) December 2, 2021 To this day, the ‘troublemaker’ moniker is still stuck to him like glue. “The criticism from the community, I take a lot of that with me, and I try to improve every day,” he said. “A lot of what people say isn’t true. As I recently tweeted, a lot of people want to spread negativity and hate on social media. I try to filter all that out and not let it affect me. “I joined a team that had recurring problems, and a coach is not a miracle worker. The coach is there to help, and it’s a long-term job. In traditional sports, for example in football, it takes months, sometimes even years, for a coach’s work to yield results. “I feel that esports are still far away from that, also because CS:GO coaches are still being treated differently. Only a few coaches have full support from the organization and the team, and are given time to work. “That makes me upset, but it has nothing to do with the Complexity organization or anyone on the team. It’s just that the project ended up dying before I could really do my job and perhaps help the players a lot more. That makes me a bit frustrated because I really liked the players and I wanted things to work out, but I completely understand what happened, and I wish everyone the best of luck.” Peacemaker knows all too well the perception he is fighting, so he stressed that he didn’t make any radical changes during his time with the team and that he worked in tandem with CEO Jason Lake and General Manager Graham Pitt. “I didn’t have the power to make decisions,” he said. “Graham, Jason and I made decisions together, but the organization always had the final word. “My job was to get to know the players and how they worked, and not make drastic changes. I 100 percent believed in the way blameF worked. I was more much more focused on the individual side of things, on getting to know the players and helping with preparation, than on changing drastically the way that we played or getting in conflict with the players or blameF specifically. “If you look at the way that we played, some things did change, and we had some good results initially, but because of certain problems, our performance levels kept dropping. We tried to patch things up, but some things were outside of our control.” Future and a dream Peacemaker was released by Complexity on December 1, almost a month after the North American organization announced that their two remaining players, es3tag and jks, were on the market. Thank you @peacemaker for all the hard work you’ve put in over the last few months. We wish you the best moving forward. #WeAreCOL pic.twitter.com/cwRj0CHOcN — Complexity ✭ (@Complexity) December 1, 2021 During that time, he held talks with the management over the direction in which the team should head. In the end, the two parties were no longer on the same page, with Complexity reportedly lining up a move for Copenhagen Flames’ squad, the surprise package of PGL Major Stockholm. “Complexity is assembling another team, and we were no longer aligned,” peacemaker explained. “That’s why what happened happened. I wish them lots of success and I have an excellent relationship with everyone. I really respect Jason, who treated me very well from the start.” In late November, reports from The Enemy and Dexerto suggested that peacemaker is the red-hot favorite to take charge of the ‘Last Dance’, a moniker given to a new Brazilian team in the making headlined by two-time Major champions Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo, Fernando ‘fer’ Alvarenga and Lincoln ‘fnx’ Lau. Questioned about his involvement in the project, peacemaker did little to hide that he would jump at the chance to coach such a team. “I will continue coaching, this is what I love,” he said. “I have gained a lot of knowledge in the last few years and I still hope to pass that on. “One of the things that I dream about is to coach a Brazilian team. I haven’t done that since 2016, and since then I have been trying to find the best version of myself. Helping a Brazilian team to reach the top is one of my goals. “I haven’t had a lot of talks about the Last Dance yet, I was still under contract with Complexity. Now, I will sit down and evaluate my options. “But I’m dreaming, and I think that Brazilians can start dreaming, too.”

PashaBiceps puzzled after Siri interrupts stream with hilarious request Legendary Counter-Strike: Global Offensive professional Jarosław ‘pashaBiceps’ Jarząbkowski was left stunned when his iPhone’s Siri tried to strike up a conversation with him. Former Virtus.Pro star pashaBiceps may not have yet been able to translate his CS:GO legend status into Twitch stardom like Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek, but that hasn’t dissuaded him from booting up the livestream and entertaining his fans. Unlike his former fellow pro, pasha can usually just be found playing the game that made him an esports legend for a thousands of viewers. They tune into watch his entertaining antics, as well as his crisp aim, but sometimes that all gets interrupted when his iPhone decides it wants to make a name for itself and appear on stream. The former CS:GO Major winner has always been one of the top personalities in the scene. The technological mishap happened during Pasha’s July 26 stream when he was chatting with viewers during a break in one of his Faceit Pro League matches. Speaking aloud, the former Virtus.Pro star asked “He serious or he like trolling?” while waiting for one player to return and start the game after the other players had gone through a prolonged pause. Despite not actively trying to provoke Siri, the Polish rifler quickly got a response from his phone’s voice assistant, which misheard what he had said, thinking he had asked about fallic drawings. “Ok, I found this on the web for what is a penis-like drawing?’ Check it out,” replied the voice, leaving Pasha stunned. “What? Siri?” he asked, still with a shocked look upon his face. “I don’t get it – why Siri want to talk to Papa? Hmm, my phone was locked.” Thankfully for the former CS:GO Major winner, he was able to shake off the bizarre moment and switch right on to focus on his FPL game. Yet, it might just put him off buying an Amazon Echo or Google Home, as he probably won’t want anymore surprise conversations with technology moving forward.

CS:GO: PashaBiceps explains his tearful breakdown on stage at IEM Katowice IEMFormer Virtus.Pro star and fan favorite, Jaroslaw ‘PashaBiceps’ Jarzabkowski has explained his emotions while carrying the trophy to the stage. After the legendary Virtus.Pro roster split leaving only Pasha and NEO on the roster, many CS:GO fans were left wondering what was next for PashaBiceps and after a set of poor results, Virtus.Pro parted ways with the Polish powerhouse on February 13. PashaBiceps is one of the staple names in Counter-Strike, and after competing for 15 years he has decided to retire but has made it clear that he will continue to stream since the announcement. To commence the final Champions Stage of the IEM Katowice Major, PashaBiceps had been chosen as the trophy-bearer and had the honor of bringing the trophy out in front of his home crowd in the Spodek Arena. Read More: DeKay CS:GO Major Mailbag, Part 3: Will MLG return and thoughts on new ScreaM and Ex6TenZ lineup – After a tribute to Pasha’s long career, he walked out on stage, filled with emotion, and took a moment to share the venue with his fans before placing the trophy on the podium. In his first Twitch stream home, Pasha opened up and shared the story from his point of view. After driving to Katowice with his wife he explained that he couldn’t stay on the stage after delivering the trophy “I just run away because I started crying.” telling his viewers that he didn’t want to hide his emotions from them. Pasha went on to say that when he was on his way home, he had to ask his wife to drive as he wasn’t able to at the time. He described the day as one filled with “a lot of emotion” and “heartbreaking”. Who knows what might be next for PashaBiceps, he has made it clear that he still wants to stream on Twitch to interact with his following. However, many are wondering if he will follow the same path as other former professionals and make some appearances as on-air talent.

CSGO: PashaBiceps calls out AGO after unsuccessful tryouts 123RF / PICSELPolish Counter-Strike legend Jarosław ‘pashaBiceps’ Jarząbkowski missed out on the AGO squad after a series of trials and shared the incredibly unexpected way the team let him know about it. PashaBiceps is one of the most experienced Counter-Strike players in the world, having played competitively since 2004. He’s most known for his time in Virtus.pro from 2014-2018, where his team was able to consistently battle it out with the best. In February 2019 he officially left Virtus.pro and began to look for a new challenge, joining AGO on trial in August. This trial was publicized by AGO via twitter and everything seemed to be going well for the Polish veteran as he advanced to the final stages. However, when the full roster was announced on September 16 he was nowhere to be seen and released a statement about it shortly after. “I was going on vacation relaxed. Practically everything was worked out, my wife was mentally ready for me to go back to playing and having less free time. My flight to Warsaw was in one hour and the photo session was tomorrow, then I got a message from @krzysius11 saying that everything’s falling apart. Test promo by Papi” wrote pashaBiceps. Wyjeżdżalem na wakacje ze spokojną głową. Praktycznie wszystko dograne, Żonkę psychicznie powoli nastawiałem że papi wraca do gry i tego czasu będzie znowu mało. Za 1 h samolot do Warszawy, sesja zdjęciowa jutro i dostaje info od @krzysius11 że zaczyna się sypać. TestyPromoByPapi — paszaBiceps (@paszaBiceps) September 16, 2019 The Pole claimed that everything was sorted out and ready to go, but then he was off the team at the last minute, just a day before the photo session for the team. Some fans suggest that pasha was also hinting that he believes he was there just to promote their tryouts with his “test promo by papi” message, however, neither party has commented further on the matter. Being dropped likely took pasha by surprise as he was loving life at the AGO training camp, claiming he felt “something beautiful again, competition, cooperation, and great enjoyment” after just a few days of practicing with the team. He even made a few happy tweets during the tryouts, saying simple things like “it was a fun day”, however, his outlook seems to have changed. Now that he is teamless again, the Polish veteran’s future is unknown, however, he will appear at the Omen Challenge on September 20 alongside top players like Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev and Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard to compete in some 1v1 matches.

Overwatch and CS:GO community crossover gives Valve’s shooter a new twist A reimagining of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive combines the game with dynamic elements seen in Overwatch, making some players wish the crossover were real. Even after 20 years, Valve’s shooter has a legion of fans, many of who take their artistic talents to create incredible homages ranging from designs that introduce new skin types to epic frag compilations and more. But one fan couldn’t help but bring some more life into CS:GO by introducing it to some elements seen in Blizzard’s FPS, including game announcers, kill streak indicators, a character select, while also adding fun things that would never make it into the actual game. YouTuber ‘K1nex’ stitched together a match “featuring” some of the scene’s biggest pro players, while also mixing in Overwatch-specific traits like Ultimates. Looking at the CT character select screen, players would be able to choose from one of the many law enforcement factions in CS:GO. Read more: Stuchiu: Top 10 CSGO Players from Oct-Dec – This would be an interesting addition for Valve to consider, seeing as the game now has an array of different skins for players to choose from since the Operation Shattered Web release. Early in the show match, an AWPer seems to activate a version of Widowmaker’s Infra-Sight Ultimate ability, essentially giving the player wall hacks for a short time. Later on, a CT grabs an ace at the B site of Train, resulting in the player’s icon on the lower-left portion of the screen to turn “on fire.” The change would be small, but a streak icon in CS:GO is a fresh prospect to mull over unless it starts to be too distracting for players in the server. Other notable additions come in the form of the rank indicator bordering the player’s character portrait, a post-game accolades screen, the clean redesign for displaying a match’s score, as well as how a player’s inventory is displayed. A lot of the things that work in Overwatch might not translate so well on CS:GO’s format, but the YouTuber’s vision makes for an incredible crossover of concepts found throughout the two titles.

Leaked CSGO code suggests Overpass remake in the works ValveValve released a new CSGO patch, but although it’s small, it contains subtle references in the code that suggest a potential Overpass remake could be in the works. CSGO maps are the pride and joy of the community. Everyone has their favorites, and not all of them are perfect. But for the most part, they’re all carefully calculated to be balanced and competitive. Overpass isn’t a classic like Dust II. It released in the 2013 Winter Offensive update, along with Cobblestone. It’s also not as well-rounded as Mirage or Inferno. However, it’s still considered to be one of the better maps. It pits players against each other on a canal overpass and the area around it in Berlin, Germany. The Counter-Terrorists need to protect a military shipment on the overpass. At the same time, the Terrorists need to either attack the shipment head-on or destroy the overpass by bombing a pillar below. Now, it looks like the popular map is going to get a remake. Valve just released a new patch, and a Reddit user named EVAD3 pointed out there’s “a healthy amount of references” to an Overpass remake in the code. Read More: ESL Pro League Season 13 – He shared two screenshots to support his claims. The first one references everything from bricks, ceilings, and concrete, to fences, floors, and walls. The second goes a step further and includes the actual models themselves. Keep in mind, though, that nothing is confirmed until Valve makes the news official. However, the signs are promising, and the evidence is there. If an Overpass remake does come to fruition, it’s probably still a while away. But CSGO players are always eager to jump into new maps, as well as remakes of old favorites; it helps keep the game fresh.

Over $2 million in CSGO skins stolen from hacked Steam account ValveOne of the most valuable Steam inventories of all time has reportedly been hacked, with over $2 million in ultra-rare CSGO skins being stolen or transferred. Players, and even those that have never played Counter-Strike in their lives alike know CSGO skins are worth some serious money. With these in-game items literally being worth tens of thousands of dollars in some cases, they are without a doubt the most valuable video game skins ever. However, with such value on the line, there are plenty of people out there looking to make a quick buck. Now, it’s been reported that one of the most valuable Steam inventories ever has been hacked, with over $2 million in skins being sold or transferred already. $2,000,000+ in CS:GO skins have been hacked and stolen (some items getting moved/sold as we speak) this is the most expensive inventory all-time, containing the most legendary items in CS:GO history (7x souvenir dragon lores, no-star karambit, #1 blue gems) @CSGO @Steam pic.twitter.com/d80miZorNh — ohnePixel (@ohnePixel) June 21, 2022 $2 million in CSGO skins stolen from Steam On June 21 CSGO skin expert ohnePixel tweeted about the heist of notorious skin collector HFB, listing such ultra-rare items as Souvenir Dragon Lore AWP skins along with no-star and #1 Blue Gem Karambit skins as well. For some reference, the #1 Blue Gem Karambit is estimated to cost more than €1.2 million (or $1.26 million), and is considered one of the holy of holies when it comes to CSGO skins. “This is the most expensive inventory all-time, containing the most legendary items in CS:GO history,” ohnePixel explained. “half(?) of the items got quicksold and are gone, other half(?) sent to the hacker’s steam account and are sitting on a trade hold.” How the hacker got access to the account’s items was subject to much debate, as Steam has a 7 day market cooldown when users login from a new device or change their password. This. If somebody knows your steam username, there is a way in which they can send money to your account, open a steam support ticket, and claim that is their account. Support will give them access, as it seems that making a small random payment to your account is enough proof. — quY (@quyy112) June 21, 2022 Shortly after Pixel’s initial tweet, a Twitter user named @quyy112 explained how the hackers most likely gained access without having to go through the waiting period. “If somebody knows your steam username, there is a way in which they can send money to your account, open a steam support ticket, and claim that is their account,” they explained. “Support will give them access, as it seems that making a small random payment to your account is enough proof.” Later on, another CSGO skin expert named zipeL provided more info, explaining HFB hadn’t logged into the account in three years, and that he had a mobile authenticator active, but his email and password were changed. Furthermore, it seems that the items which were sold from HFB’s accounts were disappearing from their new owners, which zipeL suggested could be the result of a Steam error. This seemed to be confirmed when the trades seemed to be getting reverted. According to zipeL’s thread everyone who acquired one of HFB’s skins had them taken away, except one user who moved a Dragon Lore to a storage unit. While we don’t know what caused the hack exactly, zipeL added “it could be a sign of a major internal fuckup within steam that led to the hack being a possibility.” 5/? HOLY SHIT, they actually are reverting the trades. I wonder what will happen to the people that purchased the things. Just a big L? We have never seen this before. “”Csgo support undid one or more of your actions”” pic.twitter.com/oi2bIC0xrc — zipeL🇩🇰 (@zipelCS) June 21, 2022 This could lead to Valve taking a serious look at how they handle account security, if they haven’t already. Hopefully HFB is able to recoup their losses, or at least get the half that are still waiting to be traded back. We’ll update this story if and when we receive more information.

Outsiders CSGO stickers jump in price after Virtus.pro ban lift Michał Konkol//ESL Gaming via ESPATThe price of Outsiders’ CS:GO stickers in Steam’s community market has skyrocketed after it was announced that the team will play again as Virtus.pro in all competitions. On March 22, ESL and BLAST officially lifted their bans on Virtus.pro, allowing the Russian organization to be represented again in all events organized by the two companies. This came after a year in which Virtus.pro’s CS:GO team had to compete as Outsiders, a neutral name without any reference to the organization or its sponsors. The team attended the two CS:GO Majors that were held in 2022, finishing 12th-14th at PGL Major Antwerp before winning IEM Rio in stunning fashion. With this change in policy, it is very likely that Outsiders’ name and logo will never be seen at CS:GO Majors again – and the price of the team’s stickers immediately went up as a result. The paper version of Outsiders’ Antwerp sticker, for example, is currently being traded for $0.40 at the time of writing, a 263% increase since the start of the day. The same version of the team’s IEM Rio Major sticker has surged 300% today to $0.36. On Twitter and the CSGOmarketforum subreddit, many have disclosed their gains from trading Outsiders stickers. “I just sold 500 outsiders Antwerp papers for a 1300% profit, and my account got Community banned,” one Reddit user wrote. “I just cashed out 2000% profit on the 200 Rio glitters I bought at $.11,” another user wrote. Virtus.pro has the fourth-most appearances at CS:GO Majors at 13. (Only NAVI, Fnatic and NIP have more.) The Russian organization has one Major title to its name, from EMS One Katowice 2014.

Out of OG, mantuu can start playing CSGO like himself again Adela Sznajder/ESL Gaming via ESPATMateusz ‘mantuu’ Wilczewski spoke with Dexerto about his departure from OG’s CS:GO squad and how he wants to play to his strengths in his next team. As mantuu laid in his hotel bed in Dubai and watched his OG team compete on the other side of the globe, all smiles, with Abdul ‘degster’ Gasanov shining as a stand-in, he could practically see the writing on the wall. “Well, it was nice knowing you all,” mantuu joked on Twitter on July 15 after OG beat NAVI in the group stage of the BLAST Premier Spring Final, in Lisbon. The team’s infectious joie de vivre — epitomized by the constant hand-slapping jokes that were even picked up on the broadcast — contrasted with mantuu’s gloom as he was stuck in quarantine in a strange country after returning a positive test during his team’s Middle East trip for a three-day tournament called Global Esports Tour Dubai. OG went on to reach the semi-finals of the BLAST event before losing to NAVI in a close three-map affair. It was the team’s best result at a big event, and mantuu could sense that his spot was under threat. “I was half joking,” he tells Dexerto about his tweet. “I had a talk with some friends and I told them that if I were OG, maybe I would take the risk and replace me.” mantuu compares the situation he found himself in with that of Swedish AWPer Tim ‘nawwk’ Jonasson, who was powerless to prevent NIP from signing Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz in May 2021 and took the decision with grace. “Even though I was not at fault here, I was always performing very decently, I thought they would take the risk because maybe degster would take them to the next level.” The signing of degster is a swing-for-the-fences move by OG, their most audacious CS:GO deal since entering the scene in 2019. Up until this point, the famed Dota 2 organization had barely made waves in the transfer market, mostly plucking talent from tier-two teams or signing benched players from other organizations. The move is an even bigger surprise considering the recent comments from former and current team players. In explaining his decision to seek a future elsewhere, Valdemar ‘valde’ Bjørn Vangså stated that OG wanted to focus on developing talent. Only last month, nexa said that recruits Maciej ‘F1KU’ Miklas and Adam ‘NEOFRAG’ Zouhar were the best available options “for the price we could afford”. Yet here OG were emptying their coffers of approximately $300,000 to land one of the most sought-after players in the game, one whose stock was at an all-time high after helping Team Spirit to the semi-finals of PGL Major Antwerp. “It was weird for me,” mantuu acknowledges. “We didn’t have a discussion about the situation. It wasn’t like, ‘Maybe in order to improve and get to the next level, we should change you up this way. Let’s try and risk going this way’. “There was never a talk. It was basically, ‘Boom, degster is better. Boom, he goes in’. And I’m out. I would at least think that the problems would be addressed and then I would switch up because if there was a problem within the team or anything, I would switch up.” Shifting away from his natural role mantuu was the last remaining member of OG’s original CS:GO lineup, assembled in November 2019. The Polish AWPer describes the opportunity to prove himself at the highest level as “the best thing ever” after years grinding the tier-two scene in Europe with teams like PANTHERS and ALTERNATE aTTaX. But he struggled to find his identity in OG as he was forced to change his playing style to adapt to the asks of the coaching staff and his in-game leaders, Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen and Nemanja ‘nexa’ Isaković. Initially a hyper-aggressive AWPer who always went for peeks on both sides, mantuu over time morphed into a supportive player, which led to some frustration. “The first time I played with OG, I was this aggressive AWPer making plays, but it slowly transitioned into, let’s say, Aleksi’s system, where it was like, ‘Don’t do this, don’t die,’” he explains. “The coach or the IGL, even with nexa, would tell me to play the passive AWPer. ‘Get the kills and don’t die, help teammates with utility’. With the addition of nexa, I specifically had a role on the T side where I could not make plays. Other riflers were the playmakers.” When asked for an assessment of his displays for OG, mantuu says that he performed “really well” in the context of the team’s system. “I think I did a great job in playing the passive AWPer, a person the team can rely on and that supports the team with executions,” he notes. But at the same time, he can’t help but feel that he should have put his foot down and asked for a bigger role in the team. “I remember having a lot of games where we were losing and I was in the background, looking at my teammates dying when we’re executing,” he says. “And I’m like, ‘I want to help but I don’t know how’. I’m on the T side, I can’t go for peeks or anything. I’m just throwing utility from flashes and nades while my teammates are going in. And then we’re just losing the round. “I always wanted to find a way in the system where we could balance the passiveness and aggressiveness, where I could be more comfortable and confident going into the T sides. Where I could go for peeks, have a lot of impact and push my team into winning those hard games.” Looking back and knowing what happened, mantuu says that “maybe it would have been much, much better” if he had stuck to his guns instead of playing a style that didn’t really suit him. He sees the irony in his situation: degster was signed to fill the sort of playmaking role that he always wanted for himself. “After two and a half years of constantly getting close and not winning, I didn’t care about myself a lot,” he says. “I only cared about winning. I would have done whatever it took to win, going aggressively and seeing if this style worked. We never had the opportunity to test if this style even worked again for me, which it had two years ago, when I joined OG. “After the player break I wanted to fix some things in myself, I wanted to adapt to nexa’s playing style and the team’s aggressive playing style. But then I got the news.” mantuu’s future After over two years of curbing his natural instincts, mantuu knows that it will take some time to regain the confidence in his ability to play an aggressive style again. But he notes that he is not a one-dimensional player and that he can add provide multiple layers to a team. “If I know on certain maps, let’s say Inferno T side or Overpass T side, where sometimes the AWP isn’t useful, I can go with the AK, either entry-fragging or [being] the third person in,” he says. “I’m really super versatile when it comes to everything, and it’s kind of my playing style, where I want to do what I feel will win the round. My biggest advantage is doing what I want, going for the peeks, and using the gun I want to play with on the map.” With five months left on his contract, mantuu is keeping his options open. He doesn’t rule out the possibility of playing for a North American team, though he notes that this is something he would need to evaluate carefully, citing the personal struggles that Richard ‘shox’ Papillon endured during his Team Liquid tenure as a concern. His time on OG was a great learning experience, though sometimes things went off track. mantuu recalls that the team had to deal with a number of issues, from Issa ‘ISSAA’ Murad’s internet connection problems at the beginning of the global health crisis to the threat of Nikolaj ‘niko’ Kristensen being banned for his role in Nicolai ‘HUNDEN’ Petersen’s cheating bug case, to deep internal issues within the squad. All that helps explain why OG never managed to affirm themselves as an elite team despite oftentimes breaking into the top 10 in the world rankings. “We got so close so many times, even though it was only to qualify for a Major or win an online tournament,” he says. “We got a lot of second places. IEM New York, Flashpoint, IEM Summer… “We couldn’t push through.” There are two things mantuu wants to cross off his list in his next challenge. He wants to qualify for a Major and win a tier-one LAN trophy. His time with OG may have ended on a sour note, but there is no doubt in his mind that he can go toe-to-toe with the best AWPers in the game. “I believe that, If I’m confident and happy with my playing style in the team, if the team is confident in me, if we have a lot of practice together, I have the skill to take on the best AWPers,” mantuu says. “Even with the passive playing style back with Aleksib, when we were playing IEM Summer I was performing exceptionally well with the resources I had. I feel like with more variation between passiveness and aggressiveness, depending on the maps and the situations, I can take myself to the next level, win these games for my team and compete against these best AWPers in the world.”

CS:GO: oskar and suNny respond to Mousesports exit Twitter: SunnyCSGOLong-time Mousesports pair Tomas ‘oskar’ Stastny and Miikka ‘suNny’ Kemppi have opened up about their exits from the team’s starting line-up as they search for new opportunities elsewhere. The pair departed from the Mouz active roster on March 14 after Counter-Strike: Global Offensive ream – including the in-demand Danish in-game leader, Finn ‘Karrigan’ Andersen. After having some time to compose their thoughts, the long serving members of the Mouz squad revealed their feelings about departing the team. Sunny utilized TwitLonger to make his feelings known about his benching. He revealed that there is interest in him from other teams – which has already been previously reported – but he added that he will be taking his time before making a commitment. The Finnish star fragger also explained that there is no “bad blood” between him and his now-former teammates – before thanking them all for their time together and the success they were able to have. Oskar posted his parting comments on Twitter as he is now a free agent and able to negotiate with any team moving forward. “GG. I would like to thank all the people supporting me during my time in mouz,” he said.” Read More: March 13 CS:GO update finally nerfs AUG and makes major changes to round loss bonuses – Patch Notes – He added: “We achieved what we could and were capable of. We tried to reach more but were not successful. Thanks [to] all [my] teammates who were a part of the success we had. With love, your free agent.” GG. I would like to thank all the people supporting me during my time in mouz. We achieved what we could and were capable of, we tried to reach more but went not successfully. Thanks all teammates who were part of the success we did. With love your free agent. pic.twitter.com/CBzNRzKSUP — Tomáš Šťastný (@CSGOoskar) March 14, 2019 Mousesports’ new-look roster will be in action against Fnatic in the second week of the European portion of ECS Season 7. Despite not being a team for all that long, Mouz will be expected to make a push for the weekly tournament finals, which if they claimed success in, would see them claim a spot at the LAN Finals in London in June.

H3CZ, tarik and former OpTic CS:GO stars on “oversaturated” Counter-Strike scene Eavesdrop PodcastMembers of the “original” OpTic Gaming CS:GO roster have explained why the competitive scene is “oversaturated”, and how it is potentially damaging CS:GO’s competitive landscape. Will ‘RUSH’ Wierzba, Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik, Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic and Damian ‘daps’ Steele appeared on Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez’ Eavesdrop Podcast on June 10. RUSH was not on the original OpTic roster, but features in the podcast regardless. They discussed many aspects of competitive Counter-Strike, including the potential of franchising and the likelihood of Valve incorporating crowdfunding into the competitive scene, in a similar manner to DOTA2. However, a key topic of discussion was the “unhealthy” and “oversaturated” nature of the scene at present. The discussion was brought about by H3CZ, who, talking about their famous ELEAGUE victory, stated: “[We were] only able to enjoy our trophy for one week, that’s not healthy – it can’t be healthy.” He went on to suggest that more successful teams, like Astralis, will benefit from the high frequency of tournaments, but the less dominant teams and the wider professional scene may suffer because of it. “That’s a problem for sure,” RUSH quickly agreed. “No-one really cares about these tournaments, except for the majors, I feel like. Majors are what matters most. These random DreamHacks and stuff like that, I like going to them, but I feel like, to the fans, it doesn’t matter that much.” On a similar note, tarik argued that certain games lose their appeal, because they occur so frequently due to the high volume of tournaments. “There is prestigious events out there,” he started. “But it does get old, seeing like Liquid vs Cloud 9 or Fnatic vs FaZe, like you see it all the time.” However, he did say that the smaller tournaments can be used to build confidence. (Timestamp: 5:00) Daps was more hesitant to agree, saying that he felt the major tournaments have “fallen down a little bit in scale, compared to other tournaments because every tournament is big.” He suggested that an increase in prize-money and ensuring all the major teams attend could stop people losing interest. Astralis, one of the most successful rosters of all time, are an example of a team who have recently skipped tournaments, for varying reasons. NAF was the final member to give his opinion, stating that the high frequency of tournament can exacerbate roster issues. “C9’s been going through roster problems,” he said. “There’s no time to fix [them].” RUSH, who currently plays for Cloud9, agreed, saying that, before Miami, they had 4 days to prepare with the new roster. However, he did say that as a professional player it is “hard to say no” and skip events, particularly with the draw of prize money. While CS:GO certainly has one of the largest esports fan bases, there is clearly concern that interest could be lost due to the high frequency of tournaments and the “over-saturated” nature of competition.

OpTic India disqualified from eXTREMESLAND CS:GO event after player is caught with hacks *Update – Roster released* OpTic IndiaOpTic India’s Nikhil ‘forsaken’ Kumawat has allegedly been caught cheating at the eXTREMESLAND 2018 Asia Finals, resulting in the team being expelled from the event. OpTic India were playing against Revolution in the Group C elimination match of the $100,000 tournament when the game was inexplicably paused. CSGO2ASIA Tweeted out a picture of OpTic’s playing area surrounded by what were presumably admins, saying: “Something’s seriously off during the OptiC India vs Revolution game. We’re not sure what it is but stay tuned for updates.” Something’s seriously off during the OptiC India vs Revolution game. We’re not sure what it is but stay tuned for updates… :grimacing: #eXTREMESLAND2018 pic.twitter.com/ZcDxagLOAh — CSGO2ASIA (@CSGO2ASIA) October 19, 2018 In a follow-up Tweet, the Asian CS:GO news source revealed that the match had been paused for over 20 minutes due to a “serious issue,” that they were waiting for confirmation on. Shortly after, another Twitter post revealed that OpTic India had been dismissed from the event after cheats had been found on forsaken’s PC: “It has been confirmed by eXTREMESLAND Officials that OpTic India player ‘foresaken’ has been caught with hacks on his PC. The team has been dismissed from the tournament immediately and the player will be sent home on the next flight.” It has been confirmed by Extremesland Officials that @OpTicIndia player ‘foresaken’ has been caught with hacks on his PC. The team has been dismissed from the tournament immediately and the player will be sent home on the next flight. No further statements from OptiC at this time — CSGO2ASIA (@CSGO2ASIA) October 19, 2018 While details are still fairly scarce, reports from CSGO2ASIA state that “suspicious activity” was flagged by the B5 anti-cheat platform being used at the event, prompting an admin to investigate. After a brief exchange with the admin, forsaken reportedly closed CS:GO and then quickly closed/deleted a program that had been running in the background; forcing a more thorough investigation that through up an executable file that would no longer open and simply printed “an error message that Windows needed to be updated in order for it to run.” A clip of forsaken attempting to “refuse the referee’s” attempts to check his PC has also been shared by liuxinwei0102 on Twitter forsaken was trying to refuse the referee’s check #eXTREMESLAND2018 via Weibo@alex卞正伟 pic.twitter.com/gC5yn005n5— 辛味。 (@liuxinwei0102) October 19, 2018 However, the observations made by the admins, and the flag from the anti-cheat, were deemed substantial enough for the event organizers to make a decision. A suspicious clip of forsaken in action against Revolution has also been shared online: Upon further investigation, it looks like forsaken has been VAC banned previously. The player is listed in liquidpedia’s Counter-Strike wiki as being ‘previously banned’ from ESL competition for ‘owning a VAC banned account’, as shown in the screenshot below. At the time of his original ban at the hands of ESL, forsaken claimed to have “sold the [VAC banned] account some time ago,” but was still unable to play in ESL competition. A new report from HLTV claims that forsaken has been released from the OpTic India lineup with immediate effect and that the other players on the team had no knowledge of his cheats. “The player caught with hacks has been released from the organisation, we do not tolerate anything like this,” Jesal Parekh, OpTic Gaming’s International Development Director, told HLTV. “”An official statement will be released soon by the organization, but I want to make it very clear that the other four players had no knowledge of this and would never have agreed to even play if there was even the slightest hint of it.” OpTic’s Indian CS:GO team was first announced in June as part of holding company Infinite Esports and Entertainment’s attempt to expand the OpTic brand into international markets. OpTic Brasil, OpTic Mexico and OpTic Southeast Asia were all part of this same initiative. With the recent shakeup within the Infinite ecosystem, which included a number of high ranking employees losing their jobs, it will be interesting to see how the latest knock is dealt with. Another suspicious clip from 2017 has been circulating since news of OpTic’s disqualification broke: *Update* The OpTic India roster has been released by the North American organization following the scandal.

OpTic Gaming Player k0nfig Apparently Told to Kill Himself and His Family For Comments About FaZe Clan’s GuardiaN @TheNorthIsHere / ELEAGUEOpTic Gaming star Kristian “konfig” Wienecke has claimed that he received death threats and was told to ‘kill his family’, after he jokingly made comments about FaZe Clan player Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovačs. k0nfig made the comments during and after FaZe Clan’s semi-final match against Astralis at the ESL Pro League Season 7 finals, which FaZe lost 2-0. GuardiaN had a particularly bad individual performance, at one point having zero frags to fifteen deaths. He finished the map 5-20, and overall was 12-36 over both maps, as Astralis effectively shut down the usually prolific AWPer. During the match, k0nfig jokingly tweeted about GuardiaN’s poor performance, which some fans reacted to negatively. And not only fans, as Natus Vincere star player Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev even told GuardiaN what roughly translates to: “Do not pay attention to this bot” k0nfig later tweeted, explaining that not only did some fans take his light hearted comments too seriously, they also made death threats and told him to kill his family. He explains that his comments were not intended as ‘taking shots’ at the FaZe player, but genuinely commenting on his ’embracing’ of the score. I didn’t try to fire shots at @guardiancsgo ?????? What the hell. I was happy that he embraced the score he had and still had fun. That is amazing. — Kristian Wienecke (@k0nfigCS) May 20, 2018 Getting tweets and msgs on private fb from people telling me to kill myself and kill my family is indicating that people misunderstood it — Kristian Wienecke (@k0nfigCS) May 20, 2018 GuardiaN himself seemed to have got the joke, and told k0nfig that there was no bad blood, and that when people do not understand they resort to insults. Dont worry, people are sometimes stupid and instead of trying to understand, they insult — Ladislav Kovács (@guardiancsgo) May 20, 2018 There is of course somewhat of a rivalry between OpTic Gaming and FaZe Clan in the history of the two organizations, but it is surprising to hear that so many were this vitriolic in response to k0nfig’s comments. However, as even s1mple believed he was mocking GuardiaN, it is easy to see how some fans may have interpreted the Tweets to be directed negatively, rather than jovially as k0nfig claims.

OpTic Gaming, North and Heroic make changes to their CS:GO rosters as Danish shuffle begins DreamHack | Jennika Ojala | Adela SznajderThe Danish CS:GO shuffle that numerous community members predicted has begun, with OpTic Gaming, North and Heroic all seeing changes. Astralis are currently on top of the world after winning the FACEIT London Major in dominant fashion, but all of the Danish teams underneath them seem to be making, or considering, changes. Mathias ‘MSL’ Lauridsen, who took North to victory at DreamHack Stockholm less than a month ago, is the first casualty of the shuffle – the in-game leader has been benched and replaced by Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller, who impressed during his time in North America as part of Rogue. That’s not all, though, as North have also decided to call Nicklas ‘gade’ Gade back to the starting roster, bringing his seven month loan period with OpTic Gaming to an end. Welcome home, @caspercadiaN and @gadeCS_! Read more: https://t.co/B2ygrWsiSl#HearTheRoar pic.twitter.com/UBp9FJBJwF — North (@TheNorthIsHere) September 27, 2018 The return of gade also means that Nikolaj ‘niko’ Kristensen time with the organization has come to an end. The 20-year-old spent just one month with the organization on loan from Heroic but was a key component in their DreamHack Stockholm win. As Heroic were still playing with Daniel ‘mertz’ Mertz, who they have loaned out from North, it was originally believed that niko would simply be returning to the team as a substitute. However, the young Dane joined an entirely different ESEA roster: OpTic Gaming’s. The loss of gade meant that OpTic were a team of four, so niko would be an obvious choice to replace him, even if it is just on a loan basis. Now, OpTic Gaming and Heroic have confirmed that niko has been transferred to OpTic’s starting roster and Heroic, in turn, have signed mertz on a full-time basis from North. We’ve agreed to transfer @OfficialnikoCS to @OpTicGaming. Thank you for your work with us, @OfficialnikoCS! Good luck to you and your new teammates at the #GreenWall :right-facing_fist::skin-tone-2::left-facing_fist::skin-tone-2:#BeHeroic pic.twitter.com/i9pP0bztPk — Heroic (@heroicgg) September 28, 2018 After the changes, the official CS:GO rosters for North, OpTic Gaming and Heroic are as follows: North: Markus ‘Kjaerbye’ Kjærbye – Valdemar ‘valde’ Bjørn Vangså – Philip ‘aizy’ Aistrup – Nicklas ‘gade’ Gade – Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller – OpTic Gaming: Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke – René ‘cajunb’ Borg – Jakob ‘JUGi’ Hansen – Marco ‘Snappi Pfeiffer – Nikolaj ‘niko’ Kristensen – Heroic: Andreas ‘MODDII’ Fridh – Adam ‘friberg’ Friberg – Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen – Asger ‘AcilioN’ Larsen – Daniel ‘mertz’ Mertz –

OpTic Gaming Expands Into India With Surprising New Project In a move that nobody saw coming, OpTic Gaming has decided to expand into the ever growing Indian esports scene with a new CS:GO roster. OpTic Gaming is one of the biggest esports organizations on Earth and the people behind the name are constantly looking for ways to expand their reach into new markets. Usually this would be achieved by acquiring a roster in an esports title that they weren’t previously involved with, but that will not be the case this time around as they will be opening a second team in CS:GO, a title that they have been involved in since 2016. The big difference lies in the fact that this new team will be an all-Indian roster, totally separate from their Danish roster which competes in the top leagues, which will be chosen via open tryouts in May. Little is known about the new project other than the fact that it is in partnership with AFK Gaming and SoStronk. According to the press release from AFK Gaming, OpTic India will be an official part of the OpTic organization, get “competitive salaries”, and have “access to OpTic Gaming’s international resources, including coaches and analysts”. Nick ‘ashes’ Ridgeway, OpTic Gaming’s Gears of War Coach and Player Support Coordinator for Infinite Esports and Entertainment, gave the following statement on the news: “We are very excited to be working alongside the excellent teams at AFK Gaming and SoStronk for our expansion into India. At OpTic Gaming, we are passionate about growing and supporting exciting new regions, so India was a natural next step due to the support of so many Indian fans in both India and around the globe” Tryouts for OpTic India will run from May 7th with hopeful players first undergoing an open evaluation phase which will include a number of “psychometric and theoretical tests in addition to role-based and in-game analysis”. Players that make it through that stage will then move on to the closed evaluation phase which will feature more “practical” tests and matches. All of these will be watched closely by OpTic Gaming and SoStronk staff. The final stage will be organized at LXG, Bangalore on 12th and 13th May and overseen by Ali Saba, OpTic Gaming’s Scouting Director, along with Prashant ‘Aequitas’ Prabhakar and the SoStronk team. The move may come as a surprise to some but the Indian esports scene is growing by the day and is largely untapped in terms of its potential. If OpTic India is a success in terms of talent acquisition and profit, this could be a move that other large organizations look to make instead of the typical “Academy” rosters that we have seen in the past. More information about the selection process can be found at sostronk.com/optic.

OpTic Gaming’s CS:GO team announces plans for future following Immortals buyout DreamHackCounter-Strike: Global Offensive squad are looking for a new name to play under as the effects of the Greenwall’s buyout is starting to take shape around the esports landscape. The aftermath of OpTic Gaming’s parent company Infinite Esports and Entertainment buyout by the Immortals Gaming Club (IGC) has left the CS:GO troop with a grim outlook since the new ownership took hold of the legendary name. In their press release on June 12, IGC were transparent in letting the community know that the Greenwall’s current CS:GO team would eventually be divested since they own and will invest in major Brazilian contenders MiBR. In a June 24 tweet, OpTic’s CS:GO head coach Casper ‘ruggah’ Due sent out a beacon for anyone who can help now that the top-20 team is looking for a new banner to wave. “Due to our situation in OpTic Gaming, the CS:GO team is searching for a new home,” ruggah said. “Any interested parties can contact me and I will facilitate communication with the administration. If you have any questions please reach out and I’ll do my best to answer.” The news comes as a bitter reminder for many fans of the wheels moving behind the scenes as the 18th ranked team in the world are facing a strange circumstance that will have to be sorted soon. In a follow-up tweet ruggah explained that he and his team will represent OpTic a few more times in upcoming tournaments, and offered a bit more intrigue for any potential buyers: “On a side note, we still hold a spot in ECS and ESL Pro League, and confirmed our participation at DreamHack Masters Malmö by winning DH Open Summer.” Due to our situation in @OpTicGaming the CS:GO team is searching for a new home. Any interested parties can contact me and I will facilitate communication with the administration. If you have any questions please reach out and I’ll do my best to answer. — Casper Due (@casdueh) June 24, 2019 Who can pick up OpTic’s CS:GO squad? Ruggah’s message is one that will surely attract the eyes of many top esports teams that currently don’t have a CS:GO squad like 100 Thieves, Team SoloMid and more. Even Dignitas would be a great suitor seeing as the longtime esports brand is starting to make plays in the space once again with their reentry in the League of Legends Championship Series. OpTic’s CS:GO squad has a great mix of veterans and emerging talent which will hopefully go noticed by a suitable org in the near future.

OpTic Gaming CS:GO star replaces cadiaN on North following another IGL change StarLadderDanish CS:GO pro Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller has announced his exit from North, after seven months with the team, and is replaced by former OpTic player Jakob ‘JUGi’ Hansen. cadiaN made the announcement in a TwitLonger on May 2, stating that although his time with North “wasn’t a fairytale”, it “wasn’t the opposite either”. He closes by stating he is open to team offers, and will put in more team into the game to improve his game, as an underwhelming stint with North comes to an end. Shortly after cadiaN’s post, it was announced that fellow Dane JUGi would take his spot on the lineup, leaving OpTic Gaming after over a year. It’s yet another AWP change for North, after cadiaN replaced Mathias ‘MSL’ Lauridsen on the lineup in September 2018. The move also sees Valdemar ‘valde’ Bjørn Vangså move to the in-game leader role for North, a duty previously performed by cadiaN. “”I feel that the time has come for me to take on extra responsibilities within the team.”” Today we promote @Officialvalde as team captain and welcome @JUGiOfficial as new AWP’er. This also means that we bid farewell to @caspercadiaN.#HearTheRoar pic.twitter.com/q7bSWJVDTQ — North (@TheNorthIsHere) May 2, 2019 CadiaN wrote in his post that is had “been a learning full experience to play for North” but that “[T]here were many things hindering us in reaching the goals we were aiming at.” Valde, now taking the position of in-game leader, shared his thoughts on the move in a YouTube video, explaining how he believes his leadership could be what the team needs. Team coach, Torbjørn “mithR” Nyborg, said that Valde is “natural born leader”, which is why the team “looked inwards in order to rethink our approach to the game.” MithR also highlighted JUGi’s previous experience teaming with Valde with Heroic, which should allow him to transition into the team more smoothly. Next up for North will be the closed qualifier for ESL One Cologne , where JUGi could face off against his old organization.

OpTic Gaming CS:GO announce two new players as part of roster overhaul StarLadderNorth American esports organization OpTic Gaming have made some major roster changes to their CounterStrike: Global Offensive professional roster. On March 28, OpTic Gaming announced that they had signed Mathias ‘MSL’ Lauridsen and Nikolaj ‘niko’ Kristensen to their pro CS:GO team. As part of this roster overhaul, OpTic also revealed that they had parted ways with Rene ‘cajunb’ Borg, who will take on an inactive status for the time being. This, of course, leaves OpTic with six active players on their roster, as they already had Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke, Marco ‘Snappi’ Pfeiffer, Jackob ‘JUGi’ Hansen, and Ismail ‘refrezh’ Ali. We are pleased to announce the addition of Mathias “”@MSLcsgo”” Lauridsen and Nikolaj “”@OfficialnikoCS”” Kristensen to our CSGO roster.#GREENWALL pic.twitter.com/oQ0vOKjhVx — OpTic Gaming™ (@OpTicGaming) March 28, 2019 Both of OpTic’s two new players join from Rogue and boast years of impressive competitive experience on their respective resumes. Nico, of course, rejoins OpTic after having just recently left the org to join Rogue on January 31, and is now back with the team he had placed second with at the c_summit3 major tournament last November. As for MSL, the seven year veteran has numerous accolades and achievements to his name, including first place finishes in three premier tournaments and seven majors. It was a relatively short turnaround for him at Rogue, where he spent just six months, after having played for North for just under two years prior. OpTic will certainly hope that the addition of these two stars will help bolster their team going forward after what’s been a pretty up-and-down period for them over the past few months. After a disappointing 7-8th place finish at the Europe Minor Championship in Katowice 2019 the team put in several positive performances that yielded good tournament results. The placed 1st-2nd placing at the second stage of the IEM XIV Sydney: European Open Qualifier, top four in the WePlay! Lock and Load minor, and 5-8th in the World Electronic Sports Games major. Unfortunately, their string of positive results ended with a lowly dud at the Dreamhack Masters Dallas 2019: European Open Qualifier, where they ended up placing dead last at 33rd-64th. The word on the street, however, is that OpTic are not done with their roster overhaul. As of now, their roster consists of six active players, which means that one will likely have to be dropped sooner rather than later. According to rumors, OpTic may end up parting ways with not just one but two players – Snappi and JUGi – and will end up recruiting another player to round off their roster moving forward. Many had speculated that k0nfig would also end up being dropped as part of this overhaul, although all indications now are that he will remain on board with this new roster. As for Rogue, the loss of the two prominent players does put a cloud over their future in CS:GO esports, as their roster now just has one active player – Spencer ‘Hiko’ Martin. Fans will just have to wait and see what tricks the org has up their sleeve when it comes to recruiting essentially a whole roster for future tournaments and events.

OpTic CS:GO star k0nfig accused of having VAC ban on alt account DreamHackAllegations that Danish CS:GO pro and OpTic Gaming player Kristian ‘k0nfig‘ Wienecke previously had an alt account VAC banned have resurfaced, after a hacker gained access to his FACEIT profile. The accusations came following k0nfig’s FACEIT account being hacked on May 15, with the hacker themselves posting messages on Discord about the Danish star’s previous allegations of a VAC banned account. Dust2 reported on these allegations in 2017, in which it is stated “one of the Danish players at one of the top 5 Danish teams […] some information has emerged about a VAC ban within the last 2 years. It’s pretty serious.” The Danish player in question turned out to be k0nfig, and it was claimed that an account of his was VAC banned in 2014, and that Valve knew: “There is something about an account that belongs to k0nfig, which has the ban […] this is only a rumor so far, it is reported that Valve is aware of it, but has chosen to ignore it.” On May 15, 2019, the hacker who gained access to k0nfig’s FACEIT account claims that they used the same email and password to login into the VAC banned account in question, which previously used names such as “kR1ST1AN” and “k0nfig”. The post, which was made on subreddit r/VACSucks, also includes a video of the hacker using k0nfig’s passwords to log in, as further evidence. At the time of writing, k0nfig has not addressed the accusations, however did Tweet “There’s so many idiots on this planet” after as the accusations surfaced, although it’s unclear what this was in reference to. There’s so many idiots on this planet. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: — Kristian Wienecke (@k0nfigCS) May 15, 2019 Valve’s precedent on previous account VAC bans is fairly clear. Brazilian player VSM was banned from the CS:GO major circuit indefinitely due to a VAC ban on an account he had in 2013, when he was only 13 years old.

OpTic CSGO roster completely disbands amid organizational confusion DreamHack / OpTicAfter a downward slide in team performance and little to no indication from the organization regarding future plans, the OpTic Gaming Counter-Strike roster has made the decision to disband and go their separate ways, as announced by the players on their individual Twitter accounts. When Immortals Gaming Club purchased Infinite Esports back in June of this year, it meant a change in direction for the iconic OpTic Gaming organization. OpTic’s LCS team will be rebranded to Immortals in 2020. The Houston Outlaws are operated as a distinct entity from the other Overwatch team, LA Valiant. And the iconic OpTic name will remain in CoD as a Los Angeles franchise. That left the OpTic CS:GO roster, at the time owned by the same company who owned the MiBR team and brand. Immortals announced at the time of the acquisition that they would divest in the OpTic CS:GO team, and since then were working to find the roster a proper home. But the OpTic roster are now saying that enough is enough, and Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke announced on Twitter that the roster was disbanding and that the players are seeking new opportunities as individuals. “We have chosen to disband the OpTic lineup because there is no future in OpTic,” k0nfig wrote. “I’m ready to be sold individually. I strongly feel like this is the best choice.” I’m honestly sad that the situation ended like this. I really love playing with @MSL and @OfficialnikoCS but there is no future because their contract is far longer than mine and OpTic wouldnt let us buy any players/give them contracts. It has all been a waiting game. — Kristian Wienecke (@k0nfigCS) October 11, 2019 K0nfig expressed regret that the situation has unfolded the way it has, and heaped praise on both Mathias ‘MSL’ Lauridsen and Nikolaj ‘niko’ Kristensen, but regrettably he says there is “no future” with them “because their contract is far longer than mine and OpTic wouldn’t let us buy any players/give them contracts.” Just before k0nfig made his announcement, MSL posted on Twitter that he was voluntarily benching himself and looking to move forward from OpTic. I have decided to bench myself. When I joined Optic, the plan was to build a strong team and buy out strong players, but because of optic getting sold, that changed and we have constantly been in a position where we couldn’t build a proper team. 1/2 — Mathias Lauridsen (@MSLcsgo) October 11, 2019 K0nfig is referring to players René ‘TeSeS’ Madsen and René ‘cajunb’ Borg when he mentions OpTic not handing out contracts. Both players have played under the OpTic banner in recent months, but not under full-time contracts. TeSeS announced on Twitter that he too is seeking new opportunities, and North announced that they have signed cajunb all on the same day. “”I can show the guys how we can approach things”” Today we welcome @cajunbCS. He brings a lot of experience, discipline and ideas to the team. Welcome home, René! :blue_heart:#HearTheRoar pic.twitter.com/kUUViwDC30 — North (@TheNorthIsHere) October 11, 2019 A day prior to the disbanding, October 10, k0nfig went on Twitter and expressed his frustrations with the situation. “What do you expect honestly? We haven’t had a days pracc or anything. We are in a fucked situation all the fucking time…I hope that we can get some closure on this contract situation in the near future because this isn’t helping us perform. It’s always in the back of our heads.” All four now-disbanded OpTic players k0nfig, MSL, TeSeS, and niko are now seeking opportunities with new organizations.

OpTic CS:GO claim DreamHack Summer 2019 victory as future hangs in the balance Adela Sznajder for DreamHackThe OpTic Gaming CS:GO team claimed victory at DreamHack Summer as the future of the squad remains uncertain amid the organization’s purchase by Immortals. The DreamHack trophy comes at a turbulent time both for the OpTic Gaming organization and their CS:GO squad, with OpTic parent company Infinite Esports and Entertainment having recently been acquired by Immortals Gaming Club. Due to Immortals Gaming Club already owning Made in Brazil, upon their acquisition of Infinite they announced that they would be looking to find a new home for the OpTic CS:GO team to avoid breaking the conflict of interest rules in place for various tournaments and leagues. As a result, the OpTic squad’s success at DreamHack Summer could prove significant to their future, as what happens next for the squad could very well depend on how enticing they are as a prospect for other organizations to pick up. It’s also very possible that this might actually have been the team’s last outing under the OpTic banner. They’re not due to compete at any of the premier events on the calendar prior to the August player break, after which will be the StarLadder Berlin Major. By winning DreamHack Summer, the OpTic squad did qualify for DreamHack Masters Malmo, which takes place October 1-8, but by then the team could very well be playing under a new name. If so, Mathias ‘MSL’ Lauridsen was at least able to deliver a win for the Green Wall during his tenure as the team’s in-game leader, with OpTic only dropping a single map on their way to a convincing victory. DreamHack Summer Final Placements:

OpTic CS:GO announce new member ahead of EU Minor for Katowice Major 2019 ELEAGUEOpTic Gaming have announced a change to their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive lineup ahead of the EU Minor in Katowice, Poland. After first being reported by RealSport on Sunday, December 30, OpTic has now confirmed the replacement of Nikolaj ‘niko’ Kristensen ahead of the upcoming IEM Katowice Major roster lock. Ismail ‘refrezh’ Ali was announced as niko’s replacement as the organization attempt to secure qualification to the IEM Katowice Major, which kicks off Wednesday, February 13th. Please welcome Ismail “”@RefrezhCS”” Ali to our #OpTicCSGO squad on a 2 year contract. #GREENWALL pic.twitter.com/jYzPyAmQrT — OpTic Gaming™ (@OpTicGaming) December 31, 2018 While niko began playing with OpTic back in September, he was never officially announced as a member of their CS:GO lineup, with rumors suggesting that that the Dane had failed to agree personal terms with the organization. Ali, meanwhile, represented Danish organization Fragsters throughout most of 2018, winning the European Minor Championship Open Qualifier with the organization back in October. After Fragster’s 7-8th finish at the DreamHack Open Atlanta event, refrezh went on to fill in for Cloud9 at the BLAST Pro Series event in Lisbon, replacing Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim who missed the event due to health issues. OpTic Gaming are making the change following a strong end to 2018, securing qualification to the ESL Pro League and the European Minor which kicks off on January 16. The move comes just days before the official roster lock for the tournament, which comes into effect on Tuesday, January 1. OpTic Gaming CS:GO lineup Ismail ‘refrezh’ Ali – Kristian ‘K0nfig’ Wienecke – Marco ‘Snappi’ Pfeiffer – Rene ‘cajunb’ Borg – Jakob ‘JUGi’ Hansen –

Why Valve’s response to CS:GO media rights controversy is so depressing – Opinion by Richard Lewis StarLadderRichard, scrap that draft of the article you’d nearly finished. Try and forget the bridge-burning rant you went on during your podcast. So here it goes, right from the gut and on little sleep… This may not be the right take or the best take but it’s my first one and they usually tend to be roughly where I stand on an issue, barring new information changing the picture. Anyway, almost four weeks after it should have been made, Valve finally issued a statement about the media rights controversy at the StarLadder Berlin Major, during which Twitch streamers were banned for broadcasting the CS:GO tournament on their channels. Not much of one mind you, and one that actually raises more questions. It’s so quintessentially Valve. The statement reads: “Throughout the year, tournament operators use their events to build relationships with sponsors and media partners. When it’s time for the Majors, we think it’s important that they don’t disrupt those existing relationships. For this reason, the Major tournament operator has always been the only party that has had a license to broadcast the Major. “However, we do expect our Major partners to be as inclusive as possible. Major tournament operators are expected to work with streamers in order to provide viewers with access to valuable alternative content and underserved languages, whether through official streams or otherwise”. If you missed why we’ve been waiting for this, here’s everything you need to know in abridged form. During the CS:GO Major, which is hosted by a tournament organizer of Valve’s choosing, the matches are simultaneously shown in the game client viewable with spectator tools via something called GOTV. This has created some friction because the company hosting the Major is told that they have exclusive rights to broadcast the game, but it has been Valve’s position in the past that in-game client footage belongs to them and can be streamed/broadcast by anyone. Read More: Stuchiu’s Standpoint: The s1mple Question – To muddy the waters further, when ESL signed an exclusivity deal with Facebook in January 2018 for the ESL One CS:GO and Dota 2 tournaments – something the community loathed for a variety of reasons – they issued Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notices (DMCAs) to force popular streamers engaged in English-speaking broadcasts of the matches shown via the Dota in-game client to cease such streams. Valve swiftly released a statement saying, “This one is very simple: No one besides Valve is allowed to send DMCA notices for games streamed off of DotaTV that aren’t using the broadcasters’ unique content. “We designed the DotaTV guidelines to be flexible in order to allow for up and coming casters, or community figures like BSJ or Bulldog that occasionally watch tournament games on their channel, to be able to stream off of DotaTV. It is not to allow commercial organizations like BTS to compete with the primary stream.” So, same company, same rules for their other games, right? Turns out, wrong… At the Berlin Major in August 2019, StarLadder aggressively issued DMCA takedowns towards multiple people broadcasting the CS:GO Major matches from the GOTV client, something no tournament organizer has done before. In the DMCAs they state, under penalty of perjury, that they own the copyright to what is being shown on the stream. They tried it with me and I told them plainly I’d lawyer up and fight it because I don’t believe that is true at all. I still don’t even after Valve’s statement made just an hour before I sat down to start typing this. I do so with a nasty taste in my mouth and a twinge in my brainstem that is telling me that the CS:GO community just got given absolute confirmation that it really doesn’t matter as much as Dota 2 despite the higher esports viewership figures. You can use this paragraph for future claims of bias but I make no bones about saying it anyway… Out of all the video games developers I write about in my line of work Valve are not just unquestionably the most reasonable but they are also generally the most down to earth. As down to earth as a billion-dollar company can be. Valve have never been embroiled in incidents like at Riot Games, where ex-employees have described the company as a cult, and their executives have allegedly harassed women and farted in their employee’s faces. While Activision Blizzard employs seemingly nefarious tactics to maximize profits, simultaneously destroying beloved games titles in the process, Valve have struck as close to a middle ground as I think you can get between profits and fan service. I’ve never seen a Valve executive publicly say that content creators, streamers and professional players should kiss their feet for creating the game that gave them all a living. They simply aren’t high on their own hubris like the other two big players. Also, as someone who hates hyperbolic fandoms as much as he does games developers with god complexes, I’ve been someone who has always made a point of trying to correct the community when they start to peddle myths as fact. Like the people who say that Valve don’t care about cheaters despite the huge strides made in machine learning to turn VAC into a better, automated anti-cheat, something they prioritised when making the game free-to-play. Or trying to explain to people that Valve’s corporate structure means people work on the projects they want to, sharing resources by the process of making the best business argument for having them. The Counter-Strike development team has always been made up of a small hardcore group of devs who love the game. Not that fake bullshit ‘we love the game because it makes us money’ executives say. No, actual genuine love of the game and the scene because they’ve generally been around it as long as most of us have. This though, coming so late, long after good people in the scene got bullied and treated like shit by one of Valve’s business partners, has realigned my perceptions on where the CS scene is situated on the company priority list. Then I look back at some of the decisions I have previously defended and realise that not only was I played for a fool, I actually didn’t serve the community I’ve given 15 years of my life over to in doing so. The discrepancy in match-fixing punishments, the lack of new content, the quiet shelving of features that celebrated CS:GO’s great competitors, the lack of in-game acknowledgement of broadcast talent, the quiet and uncredited utilization of ideas given over by community figureheads, the difference in basic matchmaking features, the lack of any engagement from company executives, the now completely different approach to community-created content, the lack of allowing CS:GO fans the ability to crowdfund… I get it. For once the community histrionics were accurate and I can say in all earnestness I feel like an idiot for arguing with them. Let me explain why I believe the right to stream alternative broadcasts from GOTV is important for the community. First and foremost, if the Major truly is a celebration of Counter-Strike (this is less true now than it has been for years) then Valve should want it showcased to as many people as possible. As someone who appears on lots of political/debate podcasts, as well as has a group of people in my own community who do not follow esports, I can say that during my alternative community broadcast I saw multiple people say that they were watching simply because they liked my work. These people would not have watched the main broadcast, nor would my stream ever gain significant numbers enough to be a legitimate threat to the viewership of the tournament organizer. As I’ve always said, if people would rather watch a man in his 30s broadcasting from his office over your official broadcast with a studio, top tier talent, on-site interviews and features… Well, you fucked up, not me. If your product is good then alternative streams shouldn’t eat into your viewership. Who knows how many people watching along with me went and downloaded the game and started their journey from Silver shithouse to Global skins-freak? And if that applies to me, then it definitely applies to people with bigger platforms. And yeah, we get a little something along the way too… For total transparency, my 120+ hours of broadcast made me about $10,000, less than I would have made working the event, or doing on-site coverage of the event, and for longer hours too. During the stream, I follow Valve’s stipulation and don’t reference my sponsors or use any logos on my overlay. I don’t do it for the money. It is to offer an experience to the community, something nice for new and old fans. I do it because I love the game and always have. I do it because I will watch every game anyway so why not bring my friends on air and try and share what we love about the game with others. I am also somewhat confused as to what “exclusive” means in the context of how it is used. The Major was shown on Steam TV as well as the in-game client. It’s not clear what this does to sponsor agreements and things like Twitch ad deliverables because there is no transparency around such deals. The argument for shutting down ‘rival’ broadcasts are about the value of broadcast rights but then you have to ask: does some Finnish streamer with 400 people watching a game with him pose a financial threat to your million dollar broadcast? If he does, again, the fuck up is really at your end. Easily fixed of course – unlike Dota every other CS:GO tournament apart from the two Majors a year are not shown in the game client. Just make that the case for the Majors too and this all goes away in an instance. Obviously the point of having it shown via GOTV is so it can be showcased to as many people as possible. My mindset on this issue is: a rising tide raises all ships. Partner up with these alternative streams, share metrics, maybe even sponsors… There’s untapped potential here in co-streaming events, something Twitch are certainly starting to realise and is being engaged in by clients such as the NFL. Growing the game collectively has to be a priority over turning a profit for one event in a year-long calendar because doing so leads to sustained financial success for all involved parties. You may lose money on a Major but you have a whole year without GOTV being an alternative for your events. The people crying about the value of broadcasting rights are talking like every tournament can be shown this way. We also know community streams are also important for the development of talent that may very well one day go on to be the unofficial voice of the game. Community casters have very few opportunities to commentate on any official match, let alone the ones involving the biggest teams in the world. Having a publicly available GOTV relay allows these new voices the opportunity to hone their craft and maybe one day get the opportunity to be at one of these events for real. Speaking as a fan, new voices and new approaches to commentary keep the game vibrant and exciting and it is something we must allow to flourish. What’s strange is that Valve acknowledged that in their statement about Dota, so what a wonderful ‘fuck you’ it is to be told that they don’t care so much about finding the next Anders Blume or Jason O’Toole, but they’ll go to war with one of the biggest names in the space to ensure we find the next Owen Davies. Still, maybe that’s something to do with using great moments like the “CEEEEEEEEEEEEEEB” call to sell in-game items. Let’s not get into money talk. Let’s instead look at the things completely omitted from this two-paragraph statement. The first and most important is the claim that tournament organizers own the demo files. This seems like a massive overreach to me and wasn’t addressed at all. This has been claimed multiple times by other parties such as ESL/ESEA as well as StarLadder. It was this “rule” that basically made Warowl too afraid to even create YouTube content because he would need to use demo footage to do it. Keep in mind that Warowl not just represents one of the biggest CS YouTubers we have but also one of the most principled. No skins sites or case openings on his videos, which certainly can’t be said for the official business partners Valve handed the loaded gun to with their statement. His situation is even more convoluted because even though StarLadder effectively said to him ‘we will ignore the demo rule for you and won’t DMCA your YouTube,’ they obviously can do a DMCA at any time. This basically empowers them and other tournament organizers to attack content creators they have disagreements with, maybe even use it as a weapon when it comes to accepting lower rates, or discouraging them from speaking out about delayed pay, or even just to silence criticism. So if, for example, Sean Gares makes a series of YouTube videos on the Major using demo files from an ESL-hosted tournament, then demands a higher rate from ESL to be on the desk, they could decide to insinuate they would DMCA his YouTube in order to make him accept less money. ‘Oh Richard, you are so crazy and negative,’ says the average esports fan. Sadly guys, shit like this goes on all the time. Tournament organizers make so little money from the big events these days they squeeze talent like a boa constrictor, the pressure to take less money and do more being a regular occurrence. Hell, even if you get the rate you agree, do you think you’re getting it in 30 days? Oh you beautiful, naive children… sometimes I could kiss you but only if it was before I put you on a train to boarding school. You are so, so pure… But yes, so unbelievably dumb. What about a stream that watches the demos from matches as soon as they have finished, essentially operating the same broadcast a livestream would, but with an hour delay? If people are willing to watch that and not watch live would a DMCA stand? Apparently so, according to the weird gibberish we’ve been fed in regards to the holy rights of the tournament organizer when it comes to a major. With all this in mind, it seems, to me at least, DMCA filings are not an appropriate avenue to remedy the issue. If a tournament organizer makes such a claim for a restreamed broadcast it is fine because the broadcast is their copyright. Making a DMCA claim for something shown via the in-game client doesn’t seem to be the right way to handle it because in doing so they are claiming that they own the copyright for the game. They don’t. I personally think the DMCA takedowns issued by ESL and StarLadder are not only disgraceful but potentially legally unsound, which definitely becomes an issue when people’s livelihoods are on the line. Guess we’ll find out next Major and what a joy that will be. There’s a lot that is going on beneath something that seems straightforward. The platforms that host the offending content have safe harbor privileges that essentially agree that they are immune to any penalties and legal responsibility provided they conform to the DMCA takedown request when issued. This is why DMCAs are issued under penalty of perjury and must include details of the offending material and how you are the copyright holder. For what it’s worth, the ones I saw contained no such information. DMCAs takedowns on almost every platform are permanent and cumulative, usually working on a ‘three strikes and you are permanently banned’ rule. These being thrown around incorrectly represents not just irresponsible negligence because people’s livelihoods are on the line it is also against the law. Someone really needs to clarify how tournament organizers can make a copyright claim for GOTV but not DotaTV. The legal explanation should not be as simple as ‘because Valve say so’. 600Also absent from the statement was StarLadder literally gouging streamers financially to be ‘allowed’ to stream GOTV. Yes, that is right, for the price of a few thousand dollars you too could be made an official partner and StarLadder wouldn’t DMCA you… If this kind of sounds like the scam that affects YouTubers where malicious parties try and extort money by making malicious DMCA claims, that’s because it kind of is. I have never heard of anyone having to pay to stream GOTV before and by ignoring this Valve have opened up the sewer gates for a deluge of shit. Where does that money go? What does an official broadcasting license look like? What protections and rights do you get for your purchase? Are you entitled to your money back if they decide to pull the plug on your alternative broadcast? Questions no one can or will answer because no one has a fucking clue what the answers are. Finally, I’m at the point now where I think we’d all benefit from some clarification on why alternative streams for Dota and CS:GO are considered so vastly different. Maybe even an answer of broader scope than that would be appropriate; why are the esports scenes wholly treated in different fashions? It’s something I and the community at large do not understand. There are glaring contradictions in this statement that do not hold up to any scrutiny at all. Valve say: “Throughout the year, tournament operators use their events to build relationships with sponsors and media partners. When it’s time for the Majors, we think it’s important that they don’t disrupt those existing relationships.” OK. This was of zero concern when ESL’s Facebook streaming deal was basically killed by the ruling they made in regards to Dota. If a TO fucks with the one esports title Valve have treated with delicate consideration, they can be out of pocket for millions. Want to fuck with CS:GO talent and personalities? Have at it, they’ll back you. I personally couldn’t give a fuck if a tournament organizer wants to try and bully me. They’ll be the ones crying ‘uncle’ when I expose the next time they fuck someone over. It’s all in the game. However, I also know that guys like fl0m and Warowl don’t deserve to be hung out to dry and that is mostly who I am pissed off for. No one genuinely trying to grow and support our game does. It doesn’t just apply to the big names, but I happen to know those guys so forgive me for using them as examples. Whoever you are, the stress this situation put them under is unforgivable and, as is always the case with Valve, was completely avoidable if someone could have just paid a little bit of attention to what was going on in the event. Like everything negative that has affected CS:GO we get a reaction from Valve, rather than a proactive plan. I suppose I can at least be grateful that they are nailing down the problems exclusivity leagues would have brought. Ah yes, the annual attempt of a company to monopolize the scene… How many are we on now? Oh, but it is too late to go down memory lane and this is about the community anyway. Now at least it’s clear where we all stand, and while it’s not particularly pleasant to look down at what is collecting around my shoes, it is more pleasant than looking up just in time for the next slap in the face. The views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the authors’ and are not necessarily shared by Dexerto.

CSGO pros EliGE and NBK explain major issues with new player models The new CSGO operation Shattered Web released on October 18 and brought with it, among other things, unlockable custom player skins. But how impactful are these new character models going to be on the competitive scene? Operation Shattered Web brought a welcome breath of fresh air to Counter-Strike. After over two years, CSGO players were able to experience a brand new operation, and the newest one might be the largest and most drastic yet. The sought after weapon balance changes came with the new operation, in the form of a price increase to the Krieg, and price reductions and buffs to the Galil and the FAMAS. Along with these changes, there’s also new maps, weapon skins, cases, a battle pass system with all types of missions, and unlockable custom models. Unlockable custom player models? Yes, as players progress through the Battle Pass rewards system, they will unlock several new uniquely designed player models. These models are referred to as Shattered Web Agents, and separated into four tiers. The tiers are Distinguished Agents, Exceptional Agents, Superior Agents, and Master Agents. Players will earn one from each tier as they complete Operation missions and earn stars. They can also just buy stars outright from the Steam store. While model variety and the option to have players select their models have both been requested by the CSGO community for some time, the additions via Shattered Web may present some problems for competitive and pro players. Custom model problems? Pro players are already reporting issues with playing against certain models on specific maps, with regards to the problem of blending in. There are several instances where characters become hard, if not impossible to see. Reddit user Zacp635 posted a collage of images comparing the default CT to one of the new Seal CT characters holding common positions on Cache. In the majority of these comparisons, the new CT model is harder to spot, and significantly so on spots like Truck. Cache has also recently undergone a mostly green visual overhaul, which would allow several of the new CT character models that are green to have the advantage of camoflauge. ENCE marketing director and analyst Joona ‘natu’ Leppänen and Vitality’s Nathan ‘NBK-‘ Schmitt have said that it’s not just the coloration of the models, but the size and accessories too that affect the ability to crouch and hide in certain spots. Exactly what I was thinking about and what I saw too, definitely can make a difference and hide in corners where you couldn’t before — Nathan Schmitt (@NBK) November 20, 2019 Is there a solution? The problem hasn’t been addressed by Valve yet, but some professionals are already suggesting ideas on how to remedy this. Team Liquid’s star Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski suggested the use of a ‘minmodels’ command that would change the player models in-game to default for the player. EliGE explained on Twitter that this command is client-side, not server-side, meaning spectators would still get to view the unique skins, but they would appear as default to players using the command. for those that didn’t play then, minmodels wasn’t a server side command and it is client side for the person playing. it does not need to affect the stream / spectator experience whatsoever and I would prefer if we could use agents as well. just for the person playing’s option — Jonathan Jablonowski (@EliGE) November 19, 2019 In his most recent video about the new operation, CSGO YouTuber TheWarOwl suggested “disabling custom player models” at pro events. Some players suggested that custom models should only be viewable to teammates. Shawn ‘FMPONE’ Snelling, who designed and then re-designed the Cache map where the issue is particularly bad, called the custom models “game breaking” and “bad for gameplay,” saying they could only work if an option to disable them exists. FMPONE says that mappers use certain skins and colors to create clear contrast, and that gets eroded by the custom player models. Custom player models in CSGO is, unfortunately, game breaking. The only way this idea works is an option to disable it. Sorry. I know this isn’t what Valve wants to hear. The idea is bad for gameplay. Mappers pick certain skins (.kv file) because they want clear contrast https://t.co/zwf7Aia5dE — FMPONE (@FMPONE) November 21, 2019 Some fans even suggested Valve could be using custom player models based on pro teams in the future, and EliGE’s idea of the minmodels command would allow organizers to show those skins on stream while not affecting gameplay. Will custom models now be a part of pro team’s strategy? Will custom models fall off if pros don’t use them? It’s only been two days into the Operation so far, but CSGO as a whole may already be at a crossroads.

OpTic India player haiVaan reveals what he wanted to do after catching forsaken cheating Former OpTic India player Vishal ‘haiVaan’ Sharma has spoken publicly for the first time since his former teammate Nikhil ‘forsaken’ Kumawat was caught cheating at a CS:GO LAN event – and revealed what he wanted to do in the moments after the incident. Sharma recently made a post on the popular /r/GlobalOffensive subreddit, giving his thoughts on the situation, and providing an insight into how the incident unfolded from his point of view. HaiVaan and the rest of his OpTic India teammates were disqualified from the $100,000 eXTREMESLAND 2018 LAN event in Shanghai when admins at the event caught forsaken using cheats on his PC. The former OpTic India player again reiterated that neither he nor the rest of his teammates were aware of Kumawat’s cheating, saying that: “He was so hardworking inside and outside the game that he made us believe that he was clean, but now I feel that all those things he did was to gain our trust. He fooled his teammates,the organization and all the people who trusted him.” Because Sharma was sitting at the opposite side of the stage, he wasn’t aware of what was happening at forsaken’s computer as he was “thinking about the round,” and didn’t realize anything was going on until he saw a referee pushing Kumawat away from his PC. In the aftermath, haiVaan says they were unable to speak to forsaken, but states that he “was so furious that [he] wanted to bash him on stage,” but thought this would lead to more problems. As for the future, haiVaan intends to keep competing in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, with a goal of putting “India on the world map for CS:GO.” “I am motivated to compete at the highest level. The hunger in me to be the best has increased even more now and my dream is yet to be achieved,” stated Sharma.

Olofmeister set for FaZe CSGO return amid NiKo exit rumors DreamHack: Adela SznajderOlof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer is set to make a surprise return to the active FaZe CSGO lineup, right in time for the Blast Premier Fall 2020 amid rumors that Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač is headed to G2. [jwplayer 6XbfP9ah] According to a report from cybersport.pl, olof will replace teammate Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač at the event as the latter prepares for a move away from FaZe Clan. It is unclear whether olofmeister will remain a part of the squad after the conclusion of the BLAST tournament. This will be the first official match that the Swede has played since he announced that he was stepping away from the game in May of 2020. The rumors of NiKo’s departure from FaZe have gained traction since September, with reports from HLTV and 1pv claiming the Bosnian star has agreed to join G2 and replace François ‘AmaNEk’ Delaunay. NiKo’s cousin, Nemanja ‘huNter’ Kovač, is also a member of the G2 roster and pair have always been linked with a move to team up at some point. Rumors were further fueled by a tweet from the mother of FaZe player Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David, after his team’s victory at IEM New York Europe. The tweet asked NiKo to “rethink some decisions” – possibly referencing his move to G2. HLTV stated that the FaZe star and IGL was due to make his debut for the French-Balkan mix team during the Blast Premier Fall Series. Reddit user BuKYSK posted a screenshot of a practice server, which seemingly shows a FaZe team practicing with olofmeister instead of NiKo, hinting at his departure from the organization. Olofmeisterstepped down from the starting roster in May 2020, citing a need to recover from fatigue. The announcement came after a series of disappointing tournament runs for the star-studded roster and especially for olof. Assuming the move is confirmed, the match against BIG will be olof’s first professional match in six months. Despite claiming a victory at the European side of IEM New York, this iteration of FaZe has constantly failed to match the expectations set after the addition of coldzera. Since the departure of Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen, the international superteam has not fielded a dedicated IGL, with NiKo attempting to shoulder the burdens of being the captain and star player. With none of the current FaZe players or olof being natural in-game leaders, the leadership question will continue to be the most pressing issue for the team if NiKo departs. FaZe Clan BLAST Fall Primer 2020 roster Below is the reported FaZe Clan lineup for the BLAST event: Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard – Marcelo “’coldzera’ David – Latvia Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants – Markus ‘Kjaerbye’ Kjærbye – Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer – –

Olofmeister Officially Makes Return to FaZe Clan Roster Ahead of ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier ESLFaZe Clan’s Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer has officially made his return to the competitive roster following a lengthy time off, joining the team for the ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier. In April of 2018, olofmeister announced he was stepping down from the roster citing personal issues, but didn’t go into great detail, leaving a hole on the roster which FaZe had to fill. Firstly having Richard “Xist” Landström step in for the team’s ECS Season 5 matches, it initially looked like olofmeister would return in May, but his hiatus was extended. For the remainder of his time away, Norwegian player Jørgen “cromen” Robertson filled his spot and the team managed to be somewhat successful as cromen impressed. Reaching three straight semi-finals at firstly the ECS S5 Finals, followed by 1st place at ESL One Belo Horizonte, before another top four finish at the recent ESL One Cologne. cromen played well in all the tournaments, even with the star power surrounding him on the roster, but FaZe will be relieved to finally have olofmeister back to complete the team ahead of the many important tournaments to close out 2018. And FaZe fans will not have to wait long to see olof back in action, as the organization has confirmed he will return to the lineup for the ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier beginning July 21. To @cromencsgo, who joined our roster one month ago to stand-in & in that time helped us reach 3 straight Semi-Finals, including the at ESL One in Belo Horizonte: THANK YOU And to @olofmeister, our 3x Champion… SEE YOU AT ELEAGUE pic.twitter.com/QyZPRN8w0j — FaZe Clan (@FaZeClan) July 10, 2018 olofmeister had also taken a break from social media during his time away from competition, but posted on Twitter to assure fans he was ‘ready to roll. In all seriousness, thanks for all the kind words and esp a big thanks to the best teammates in the world > — Olof Kajbjer (@olofmeister) July 10, 2018 Groups for the ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier are yet to be announced, but only the top teams from around the world will be in attendance. FaZe Clan, Astralis, Team Liquid, MiBR, Na’Vi, Fnatic, Cloud9 and mousesports will be drawn into two groups of four, with the top two from each advancing to the playoffs to compete for the lion’s share of the $1 million prize pool.

Olofmeister leaves FaZe CSGO amid retirement rumors BLASTCounter-Strike legend Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer Gustafsson has departed FaZe Clan after nearly four years, but he hasn’t said if he’ll be retiring just yet. Back in late 2017, FaZe Clan stepped up their efforts to develop an international superteam capable of winning every CS:GO event in the hopes of capturing numerous major titles. That lineup has gone through a number of iterations through the years, and it hasn’t quite lived up to the potential that it first had – coming close to winning Majors, but never quite doing so. Amid all the changes, Olofmeister was rock solid for FaZe until May of 2020, when he stepped down on a temporary basis. He’s returned at times to fill FaZe’s fifth member void, but now he’s walking away from the team for good. Following a stellar personal showing at BLAST Premier Spring Groups, Olofmeister confirmed that his time with FaZe was coming to an end. Read More: $1 million IEM Katowice 2021 details – This came amid rumors that he would be retiring and replaced by Karrigan, but while the Danish in-game leader has returned to his former home, Olof hasn’t quite hung up his mouse and keyboard just yet. “Not the ending I wanted but we qualified and that was the most important! Time to take a step back and I’ll update you guys about my future,” he tweeted after the event. “Was a lot of fun playing and the future is looking really bright for the FaZe team, wish them nothing but the best as always! GGs!” Not the ending i wanted but we qualified and that was the most important! Time to take a step back and ill update you guys about my future. Was alot of fun playing and the future is looking really bright for the FaZe team, wish them nothing but the best as always! GGs! — olofmeister (@olofmeister) February 14, 2021 FaZe also sent their well wishes to the Swedish counter-strike legend, thanking him for his performances under their banner for all these years. A legend to the game of Counter-Strike and a legend in the story of FaZe Clan. For all you’ve done, we thank you olofmeister. A legend to the game of Counter Strike and a legend in the story of FaZe Clan. For all you’ve done, we thank you @olofmeister. 🐐#FaZeUp pic.twitter.com/rDOKecshcx — FaZe Clan (@FaZeClan) February 14, 2021 What Olof’s next move is, though, remains to be seen. He hasn’t retired, so he could find himself on another team, but streaming will likely be an option as well. As noted, Karrigan has filled the spot he left, and FaZe will be looking forward to another few years under his command. FaZe roster Coldzera – Twistzz – Rain – Broky – Karrigan –

OG must cut players after FaZe loss | Richard Lewis reacts at IEM Katowice OG Esports’ CSGO project hasn’t been fruitful, and Richard Lewis explains why it could be time to make changes to the roster – if the org is willing to pay for a much needed upgrade. The club made a move into CSGO back in 2019, forming a team consisting of Nathan Jordan ‘NBK-‘ Schmitt, Aleksi Antti Kaarlo ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen, Valdemar Bjørn ‘valde’ Vangså, Issa Sameer Issa ‘ISSAA’ Murad, and Mateusz ‘mantuu’ Wilczewski. At the time, and to an extent even now, this OG lineup could have come together to be a top contender in the hyper-competitive CSGO landscape. However, with a little over a year-and-a-half together, the squad hasn’t been able to string meaningful results on the big stages with a recent 13th-16th exit at IEM Katowice. Players like Valde and Aleksib are still great pieces to build around, but it’s clear that a lot hasn’t been going well in the OG camp. Astralis’ Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højslethpossibly and mousesports’ Robin ‘ropz’ Kool are possible grabs for teams that are looking to improve. But these players would significantly cost OG, even if they just go for one. If the team wants to alleviate their weaknesses, it would probably mean getting rid of one or two players and committing a large chunk of money for worthy replacements. We’ve already seen heavy hitters like FaZe Clan and Team Liquid make big changes to their lineup for the sake of improvement. OG would have to do something similar to get over their current slump.

OG Esports reportedly dropping NBK- from CSGO team Red BullOG Esports are reportedly dropping French veteran Nathan ‘NBK-’ Schmitt from their CSGO team. The move would be the org’s first roster change since entering the esport. NBK- is reportedly getting dropped from OG. – OG had early exits at BLAST Spring Groups & IEM Katowice. – This is OG’s first roster move since entering CSGO in late 2019. – OG Esports to kick NBK- After an exciting debut in the CSGO space, OG Esports are making a change to their lineup and it’s NBK- who is going to get cut, first reported by ViKarM. Within a year of OG’s existence in CSGO, the org managed to be a top 10 team but have struggled to make deep runs at events, let alone win some trophies. If they drop NBK-, then OG will be looking to make improvements in its formula, which could signal that the club is ready to make a play on a big signing. What’s next for OG Esports? With the reported roster move, OG Esports will be looking for a fifth well before the BLAST Premier: Spring Showdown 2021 that starts on April 13. Astralis, G2 Esports, Team Liquid, Team Vitality will join OG in the Showdown. Only two of the 16 teams will go through to the BLAST Spring Finals OG Esports reported CSGO roster

OG confirm CSGO entrance with roster featuring Aleksib and NBK OG, the organization best known for winning Dota 2‘s The International back-to-back in 2018 and 2019, have finally confirmed their move into Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, announcing their full starting roster on December 4. The news comes as little surprise to CS:GO fans – it has been one of the worst kept secrets in esports that an OG Counter-Strike team has been in the works since October. While exact details of the final five-man roster were uncertain, it seemed clear that the team would be spearheaded by Nathan ‘NBK-’ Schmitt and Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen. The two players, who had been benched on Vitality and ENCE respectively, had been looking to play together in an international roster since September, with Jarek ‘DeKay’ Lewis reporting that they were in talks with 100 Thieves at one point. In their December 4 announcement, OG confirmed that NBK- and Aleksib would indeed be involved in the project alongside former North star Valdemar ‘Valde’ Bjørn Vangså and ex-HellRaisers player Issa ‘ISSAA’ Mura, both of whom had been linked to OG in the original 1pv.fr report about the organisation’s potential CS project. While initial reports had rising Finnish star Elias ‘Jamppi’ Olkkonen on the team, the final man on the roster will in fact be Mateusz ‘mantuu’ Wilczewski. The Polish player, who currently lives in the United Kingdom, has been playing ALTERNATE aTTaX for the entirety of the 2019 season so far. Prior to rumors about mantuu’s involvement, DeKay reported on October 23 that OG had switched focus from Jampii to 21-year-old Bulgarian Valentin ‘poizon’ Vasilev – some sources claim that Jamppi’s potential connection with a VAC banned account was the reason that he was no longer in consideration, but this has not been confirmed. Poizon would eventually go on to join Complexity Gaming on November 6 and 1pv.fr reported that OG had set their sights on the relatively unproven mantuu on November 22. For veteran NBK-, this marks a totally new chapter in his playing career. Despite around a decade of professional Counter-Strike experience, the Frenchman has never played in an international lineup. The 25-year-old is comfortably the most experienced member of the team and has won two Valve sponsored CS:GO Majors at DreamHack Winter 2014 and DreamHack Cluj-Napoca 2015. Also taking his first steps into the world of international lineups is Aleksib, the former in-game leader of ENCE who helped take the Finnish team from popular underdogs to runners-up at the IEM Katowice 2019 Major and a top three team in the world. The CS:GO community was shocked in August of this year when Dexerto broke the news that ENCE were looking to replace the charismatic IGL after the StarLadder Berlin Major. Since his departure, ENCE have struggled to regain the form that made them a top team, and the 22-year-old’s stock has only risen during his three months on the bench. After a difficult year with North that eventually saw him taking stepping down from the team, Valde will be hoping to regain the form that saw him take 20th in HLTV’s best player of 2018 rankings. ISSAA finds himself in a similar position, having been inactive on the HellRaisers roster since September of 2018 after the team experienced international team struggled to hit the heights of 2018. With a lineup consisting of players from France, Finland, Denmark, Jordan, and Poland, OG will join the likes of FaZe and Mouseports as a truly international Counter-Strike roster looking to mix it up with the world’s best teams. The OG Counter-Strike roster consists of: Nathan ‘NBK‘ Schmitt – Aleksi ‘Aleksib‘ Virolainen – Valdemar ‘valde‘ Bjørn Vangså – Issa ‘ISSAA‘ Murad – Mateusz ‘mantuu‘ Wilczewski –

NRG Esports Wins IEM Shanghai In Dominant Fashion – Final Placements NRG Esports has won IEM Shanghai, defeating hometown favorites of TyLoo 2-0 in the Grand Final. As the only North American team at the Chinese event, NRG produced a near-perfect performance from start to finish, dropping just one map in the Group Stage. TyLoo had a more difficult run to the Grand Final, overcoming Virtus.Pro in a marathon semifinal match that saw a total of four overtimes. Unfortunately for the Chinese fans, this seemed to take some of the wind out of TyLoo’s sails by the time they faced off against Damian ‘daps’ Steele’s squad. A tight first half of map one, Overpass, saw TyLoo holding an 8-7 lead but NRG quickly took control after switching to the CT side, closing proceedings out with a 16-9 score as Vincent ‘Brehze’ Cayonte topped the scoreboard. Mirage was the Tsvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov show, though, as NRG’s Bulgarian import ran rampant with an impressive 29-6 score that saw his team cruise to a 16-2 score and win the $250,000 event with relative ease. Gambit Esports and Virtus.Pro took the 3rd – 4th spots after their losses in the semifinals. Piotr “morelz” Taterka played as a stand-in for VP at the event but the Polish team has now signed Michał ‘snatchie’ Rudzki as a permanent replacement for Janusz ‘Snax’ Pogorzelski. The final IEM Shanghai placements and winnings can be found below.

NRG Esports CEO Andy Miller explains why they exited CSGO StarLadderNRG Esports Co-CEO Andy Miller shocked the esports community with the decision to sell his CS:GO team to Evil Geniuses earlier this week. He explained the shock move to Dexerto in an interview at the Overwatch League Grand Finals media day. The team’s move shocked many because after so long, the CS:GO squad led by Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz advanced to rank top five on HLTV’s CSGO World Rankings. When asked about the decision on September 27, Miller replied that it mostly had to do with the instability of the economics in the CS:GO space, along with other investments the team made, most notably the Chicago Call of Duty slot. “The problem for us was not the team, it’s the Counter-Strike space,” Miller told Dexerto. “It’s a bit unstructured and extremely expensive now, and as you’re seeing with some of the rosterpalooza going on, and other folks that have verbally (in a grandiose way) said they’re going to enter the space but don’t have teams, salaries are getting jacked up. Honestly, I think it’s just bad business for an organization right now, unfortunately.” NRG has been busy on their own end, aside from selling the team, as their Overwatch League franchise has made the Grand Finals in their second year. That, alongside their commitments to picking up a brand new roster in Call of Duty, made it difficult to compete with these new entities entering Counter-Strike. These include teams like 100 Thieves, who are building from scratch, alongside existing organizations that are gutting their current rosters like CompLexity. The CSGO scene has been in upheaval as both BLAST Pro Series and ESL have attempted to launch versions of an exclusive league or circuit, utilizing restrictive league rules to prevent teams from playing in other events. Valve later said that they would limit this by not offering licenses to these organizations whose goal was to shut out the other operators in the space, but Miller elaborated that this was not what ultimately made up their mind. “We actually made our decision just before Valve made their announcement about exclusivity,” the NRG owner said. “But we could see that there were a couple of leagues that were going to start up, some you had to pay for, ESL was trying to do something, BLAST was trying to do something. “Players wanted to get as much as they can right now, as they should, that’s what they do for a living, but as an org that made it really tough.” Another win is in the books as we continue our hot streak at #ESLOne New York with a 16-12 victory! GGs to @astralisgg. We have successfully secured ourselves a spot in the Playoffs; see you all tomorrow in the Semifinals! #EGReady pic.twitter.com/nhhhc8J4y8 — Evil Geniuses (@EvilGeniuses) September 27, 2019 Ultimately, NRG may have departed the game, but they hope that they built a lasting legacy that Evil Geniuses and their leadership at Peak6 can run with. “We love the game, we love the fans, we loved our team,” Miller said. “We hope and pray they win everything.” It looks like Miller’s prayers might be paying off so far. The now-Evil Geniuses roster is playing at ESL One New York this weekend, where they took down defending Major champs Astralis in the group stage 2-0 on Friday.

NRG Esports and OpTic Gaming clashed in the cs_summit 3 Grand Final – Results and placements @TGphoto_ / Beyond The SummitThe third installment of the popular cs_summit tournament in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is in the books following an interesting Grand Final match between NRG Esports and OpTic Gaming. The more laid-back presentation and casting of cs_summit makes it a hit with fans, but that doesn’t mean that the matches are any less serious to the teams competing in them. The Grand Final of cs_summit 3, which took place on November 4, saw OpTic and NRG attempting to follow in the footsteps of SK Gaming and Team Liquid to become the third winners of the $150,000 tournament, and it was NRG that eventually prevailed. NRG Esports had a one map advantage in the best-of-five match due to coming their upper bracket run, but OpTic Gaming came out swinging after defeating Ghost Gaming, compLexity and BIG in 2-0 fashion during their lower bracket run. The Danes of OpTic drew first blood with a nail-biting 16-14 win on their map pick, Nuke, despite a spirited display from Ethan ‘nahtE’ Arnold and Tsvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov, but NRG quickly responded with a 16-8 win on Overpass. OpTic’s star players struggled to show up on Overpass and this trend continued on Mirage as NRG’s Vincent ‘Brehze’ Cayonte steamrolled them with a score of 30-12 and over 143 ADR (average damage per round) on route to a comfortable 16-6 victory. The win on Mirage secured NRG their first LAN title since IEM Shanghai, and arguably their most impressive one so far given the caliber of the opponents that they faced throughout. The final placements for cs_summit 3 are as follows:

NRG confirm signing of CS:GO Major Champion Tarik The California-based esports org NRG bolstered their CS:GO squad on February 28 with the signing of Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik. Rumors surrounding his addition to the squad were circulating for a few weeks, but NRG laid them all to rest when they confirmed that the previous Major Champ would be a part of the team. In the org’s video announcement, NRG investor and MLB World Champion Alex Rodriguez welcomed Tarik to the new squad, and even relished in some similarities the two shared. Welcome, Major Champion, @tarik to #NRGCSGO! The Rise Continues. #NRGFAM pic.twitter.com/nttPMGTw41 — NRG Esports (@NRGgg) February 28, 2019 “Hey [Tarik], what’s going on,” Rodriguez said. “From one World Champion to another, welcoming Brooklyn boy Tarik to the NRG family. Let’s bring home some trophies baby.” Tarik was previously a part of the Cloud9 squad that brought North America its first Major title in CS:GO. Soon after he joined MiBR, where the all-star squad had trouble putting together quality results. This led Tarik to a stint in free agency where he was delighted to land on an up-and-coming NRG side. During the 2019 IEM Katowice, NRG stunned everyone when they got out of the Challengers Stage with a quick 3-0. However, they soon fell 0-3 in the Legends Stage but with only an 11 Round Differential across their matches. This is an optimistic signing as NRG will hope the 23-year-old will provide the explosiveness and experience he’s shown throughout his career. Tarik will round out a young NRG core along with Vincent ‘Brehze’ Cayonte, Cvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov, Ethan ‘Ethan’ Arnold, and Damian ‘daps’ Steele.

NRG co-CEO explains why CSGO scene is unsustainable StarLadderCounter-Strike roster to the returning Evil Geniuses. September 25 marked the date that the star-studded NRG CS:GO roster was transferred to Evil Geniuses. In their very first event under the new organization, just a few days later, the team brought home a trophy following a triumphant performance at ESL One New York 2019. With active teams in a plethora of esports scenes, control of Call of Duty league, NRG co-CEO Andy Miller has shed new light as to why CS:GO was left behind for the organization In a recent discussion on Reddit, NRG Miller took the time to elaborate on the significant departure and detail the motives behind such a pivotal shift for the organization. Read more: Hitch and Team Summertime join H3CZ at NRG – Describing the sale as “gut wrenching,” he highlighted how NRG “built that team the right way over a lot of years. Really like the guys, but the space is crazy.” “Salaries are dumb,” Miller expressed. “Too hard to even look at it as a loss leader. We want NRG to be around for a long time and current day CS model wasn’t going to help us get there.” With total prize earnings for certain players peaking over the 7 figure mark and year-round competitions in the scene, it’s no surprise that player salaries are on the higher end of the overall esports industry. “Honestly, I think it’s just bad business for an organization right now, unfortunately,” Miller shared in a recent interview with Dexerto. When asked whether the organization has any plans to re-enter the CS:GO scene in the near future, Miller simply responded with “no plans right now.” “All our existing teams are championship caliber and we want to keep investing in them and put out an insane CoD Chicago product,” he said about future plans. Recently it was announced that former OpTic Gaming CEO Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez would be joining Miller as co-CEO at NRG and leading the Chicago-based Call of Duty franchise. With CS:GO evidently not in focus whatsoever for the organization anymore, it’s clear to see the faith held in Activision’s franchise-based esports model that will soon be applied to CoD. With longevity clearly in his mind, Miller stated that “Hecz is here to stay. He is the face of the org. We got a long term plan and are excited for the future. All teams will start pumping out [Call of Duty] announcements like any minute.” You can keep up to date with the latest from the now Evil Geniuses CS:GO roster here, and stay on top of all the latest roster developments in the Call of Duty space thanks to our tracker. Disclaimer: Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez is a minority shareholder in Dexerto Ltd.

NRG and Astralis tie CSGO majors record for longest map at StarLadder Berlin Major StarLadderIn just the first map of a three game series at the StarLadder Berlin Major, NRG Esports and Astralis tied the record for the longest map at a CS:GO major. NRG Esports and Astralis needed 59 rounds to settle things on Train. And the best part? That was only map one in a best-of-three series. Both teams had stellar T side halves, but it was four straight CT wins from NRG to close out regular time, and force a 15-15 draw that sent us to the first overtime. For four consecutive overtimes, made up of six rounds each, NRG and Astralis would trade rounds back-and-forth, and trade highlights as well, as both teams sought to take that 1-0 series advantage by any means necessary. Not only did Cvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov star in most of the highlights that came from this map, he led the way for NRG with 52 kills (against 38 death) and stellar AWP play. Astralis had a very good team performance, with no lone player noticeably falling behind, but there was no standout player to contend with the hot streak that CeRq was on. With a final scoreline of 31-28 in favor of NRG Esports, this map officially tied the record for the longest map to take place at a CS:GO major. In 2016, in the group stages of MLG Columbus major, mousesports and FlipSid3 Tactics went to 59 rounds as well, as Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač and Chris ‘chrisJ’ de Jong carried mousesports to victory 31-28 with 52 and 50 kills respectively. Unfortunately, FlipSid3 would be eliminated, and mousesports weren’t able to advance out of groups despite the exhaustive win. The longest ever CS:GO match on record? That honor belongs to XENEX and exceL, who went 88 rounds in an ESL UK Premiership match in 2015. XENEX won that map on Inferno 46-42 after 2 hours and 43 minutes. They also won the series 2-0. To put in perspective how long the NRG-Astrais map went, the North and Ninjas in Pyjamas match on the second stream started long after NRG and Astralis did, and were already on to map two while the record-tying map was still going on. But there’s no rest for the weary competitors, as they headed into the second map of the series on Nuke. With all the momentum and no signs of slowing down, NRG defeated Astralis handily, 16-4. NRG Esports joins ENCE in the Champions stage, who qualified after a much less competitive 2-0 victory against Team Vitality.

Notorious CS:GO YouTuber banned after years of cheating accusations ValvePopular Counter-Strike: Global Offensive YouTuber Zuhn has been struck down by with a ban from Steam on at least two of his accounts. Valve dishes out VAC [Valve anti-cheat] bans to players who opt to use hacks in games like CS:GO that run on VAC-secured servers, which regularly scan for potential cheaters. Bans can be handed out on a case-by-case basis or in one sweeping ban wave that wipes out a regularly used exploit of some sort that has reared its head in-game. However, game bans can also be handed out via overwatch (a system where fellow players can monitor suspicious behavior) or by the developers themselves. For Zuhn, it would appear that it was not VAC, but some other means of catching cheaters, that he fell foul of. Zuhn, who has been accused of cheating for some time, and allegedly uploaded videos demonstrating those exploits in the past, lost two accounts – YouTuber and ZuhnRawr – to game bans on May 27. After receiving the bans, Zuhn wasn’t sure on the reasoning behind them, pleading his innocence by tweeting: “Welp. The only thing I can think to say right now is [a] false overwatch ban. It’s obvious I don’t cheat but we’ll see what happens. I don’t know what’s going on.” Welp. the only thing I can think to say rn is false overwatch ban. its obvious I don’t cheat. But we’ll see what happens. idk whats going on.— zuhn (@zuhncs) May 27, 2019 He followed up by referring to how another YouTuber named Foekroka received a VAC ban back in December of 2018, which was eventually overturned after an appeal and support from the community. Zuhn stated that he was absolutely certain that the black mark against his name would be taken away, too. The fact that both of his accounts received game bans at the same time has caused some CS:GO fans to assume that the ban was handed out manually by the developers rather than some sort of simple overwatch ban, but this is far from confirmed. If @Foekroka got his VAC ban removed I am 1000% sure I will get my OVERWATCH ban removed. (If it’s false and not a grief ban) — zuhn (@zuhncs) May 27, 2019 However, unlike Foekroka, it’s unlikely that Zuhn will receive the same level of community support considering the accusations put against him in the past. In fact, many members of the CS:GO scene seemed to revel in the fact that he was banned. Popular community member DonHaci posted a screenshot of the account with the caption ‘pretends to be shocked’ attached. The YouTuber even ran a poll, asking his followers if they believed he was a cheater. The ‘Yes’ option won by an overwhelming margin of 80% to 20%. After more posts protesting his innocence, Zuhn posted screenshots of a private message conversation with a fan who believed he was being ‘report bottled.’ The viewer revealed that the YouTuber had received 132 reports against him but the in-game match ID that could explain why he had been banned was ultimately missing. Will Zuhn be unbanned? Despite the ban, nobody is quite sure of the reason behind it, despite the reasoning being a game ban. Valve can hand out suspensions in multiple games for multiple reasons – not just for potential hacking in CS:GO. Zuhn posted that it could be a ‘grief’ or an Overwatch ban – where veteran CS:GO players are tasked with uncovering cheaters by watching replays of matches with reports – which the game ban would give credence to, but even he doesn’t know for sure. It remains to be seen if the YouTuber will have his ban overturned if it indeed turns out to be a false suspension. We will update this story as and when anything develops. This post was last updated on Tuesday May 28 at 7:38 am Eastern Time.

North Win DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018 $250,000 CS:GO Tournament – Final Placements North have topped off their impressive run of form with international tournament win, defeating fellow Danish team, Astralis, in the Grand Final of DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018. The tournament saw 16 of the top teams from around the world descend on Stockholm for a five day tournament, the last big event before the FaceIt London Major, starting on September 5. Astralis were the big favorites coming in, but were actually pipped to the top spot in their group by Danish rivals North, who beat them 2-1 in their group stage match. But Astralis’ confidence wasn’t knocked, as they took down both MiBR (formerly SK) and Ninjas in Pyjamas in pretty dominant 2-0 fashion. North continued to look equally strong, as they defeated Na’Vi in the quarter finals in a 2-0, before they faced a tougher test against mousesports in the semis. Mouz had already defeated FaZe Clan, who finished in a disappointing 5-8th. North bettered mousesports in the end however, after being 16-0’d in the first map, they bounced back to win the series 2-1. And North looked on track to take down Astralis in the Grand Final after a big map one win, and were favorites on map two train. Astralis though, ever resilient, took train comfortably, 16-6, forcing the third decider map. They also started the stronger on Overpass, map three, but North kept themselves close in the round count, until eventually closing out with a 16-11 win.

North reveal surprise return of MSL to CSGO team DreamHackNorth have announced the surprise return of former in-game leader Mathias ‘MSL’ Lauridsen to their CS:GO squad. North recently underwent a rebrand and are currently in the process of rebuilding their roster for the new year, and surprised fans by revealing the return of their former IGL. The announcement came alongside the first look at the team’s new jerseys, with the video ending with MSL stepping from the shadows, once again sporting a North shirt. #DawnofNorth jersey x Capgemini x Massive Surprise Later in the video pic.twitter.com/6qJEYPtxfw — North (@TheNorthIsHere) January 17, 2020 MSL represented North from the team’s inception in January 17 through to the FACEIT London Major in September 2018. During that time, he led the team to several trophies, most notably at DreamHack Masters Stockholm where he himself was the MVP, just weeks before he would be removed from the squad. Following his departure from North, MSL moved to Rogue before joining OpTic Gaming, but following the acquisition of the organization by Immortals Gaming Club, which also owns MIBR, the OpTic CS:GO team was disbanded. Meanwhile, North have struggled to return to the peaks they hit in the MSL era, with largely underwhelming results since replacing him. They also recently lost star player and in-game leader Valdemar ‘Valde’ Bjørn Vangså, who for many had remained the highlight of the team, as he joined the new international roster under OG. North haven’t yet confirmed their full starting line-up with MSL, as the organization now apparently houses six players. It’s not currently clear which player MSL will take the place of, or whether the team is still to undergo further roster changes. So far, they have only announced that Markus ‘Kjaerbye’ Kjærbye has re-signed with the team. Update: North have confirmed that Jakob ‘JUGi’ Hansen has been benched following the return of MSL. North roster: Philip ‘aizy’ Aistrup – Markus ‘Kjaerbye’ Kjærbye – Nicklas ‘gade’ Gade – René ‘cajunb’ Borg – Mathias ‘MSL’ Lauridsen –

North call out the CS:GO community for hateful comments following EU Minor upset ESLDanish esports organization North called upon the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive community to kick the rampant hate and toxicity out of the scene after being bombarded by abuse following the EU Minor. North have given themselves another chance at qualifying for the IEM Katowice Major after finishing third in the EU Minor. The third-placed teams from all the regional Minors will fight for another spot in the Major at the Minor Playoff on January 27. The Danes had been expected to be one of the favorites to qualify from the Minor but, after they faltered, the team revealed some of the hate-filled messages that they have received from ‘fans’, bettors and others. The Danish organisation tweeted: “Hey CS:GO community, We have something we need to talk about. This is not okay. Not to us, Not to our players, Not to our opponents, Not to TOs, Not to casters, Not to your own opponents, Not to ANYONE. We need to stop this as a community, because THIS IS NOT okay!” with a photo attached showing some of the comments they had received. “This is not about a single result, nor is it from a single demographic,” they continued. “It is only a fraction of the hateful, threatening or insulting messages that we get on a regular basis. And then we’ve not even begun to talk about the messages players get. We need to stop it together.” With players receiving all kinds of threats for losing a game or missing a vital kill, teams and community members are beginning standing up and calling out these hateful comments en masse to send a message. Fnatic responded to North’s call by stating: “We are here for incredible stories, good and bad. We are here to laugh as much as we are to cheer to the very end. We stand with you against the highlighted behaviour and we shall do our best to promote the very best in all of our fanbases!” We are here for incredible stories, good and bad. We are here to laugh as much as we are to cheer to the very end. We stand with you against the highlighted behaviour and we shall do our best to promote the very best in all of our fanbases! — FNATIC (@FNATIC) January 21, 2019 G2 Esports also chimed in with support for the Danes. They replied: “100% agree. We give everything to win and entertain. Most fans understand and appreciate this. It’s important the minor voices of negativity don’t ruin the shouts of joy and excitement!” And it is important that we as organizations, players and voices in the community, stand up against it :right_bicep: — North (@TheNorthIsHere) January 21, 2019

Nitr0 returns to CSGO and Team Liquid after Valorant stint Helena Kristiansson/ESLTeam Liquid have confirmed the return of Nick ‘nitr0’ Cannella to their CS:GO squad after he spent over a year competing in Valorant. The 26-year-old is the final piece of Liquid’s puzzle for 2022 and the third signing during the offseason, following in the footsteps of Josh ‘oSee’ Ohm and Richard ‘shox’ Papillon, brought in from Extra Salt and Vitality, respectively. Nitr0 retired from CS:GO in August 2020 to pursue a career in Valorant. He signed with 100 Thieves, joining a star-studded roster that included his former Liquid teammate Spencer ‘Hiko’ Martin. After a promising initial period, during which 100 Thieves won First Strike North America, the team lost some steam and saw Sentinels take over as the strongest side in the region. They finished 3rd-4th at the VCT Stage 3 Masters in Berlin but, crucially, missed out on a spot at Valorant Champions after placing third in the last-chance qualifier. Before the end of the year, 100 Thieves announced that nitr0 had been transferred to another organization. In the farewell post, they praised how the player had “helped to create a winning culture and lifted us to championship heights.” As we continue to reshape our VALORANT roster for the future, we are announcing the transfer of @nitr0 from 100 Thieves. Nick helped to create a winning culture and lifted us to championship heights. We’d like to wish him the best in his next chapter. pic.twitter.com/8XUN8tYrEq — 100 Thieves VALORANT (@100T_VAL) December 7, 2021 Returning to Liquid In a Reddit post on December 10, nitr0 revealed that he decided to return to CS after watching some matches. “It reignited my passion for the game,” he wrote. It’s likely that nitr0 was referring to PGL Major Stockholm, which smashed CS:GO’s viewership record and was the fourth most-watched esports event of 2021. Read more: NIP target djL as new CSGO coach – On Liquid, nitr0 will reunite with Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski, Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic, and head coach Eric ‘adreN’ Hoag. The quartet was part of the team that enjoyed a dominant run in 2019, winning a series of international events and the Intel Grand Slam Season 2 title inside 63 days – which prompted ESL to change the rules and increase the difficulty of the challenge. Liquid will hope that nitr0’s return will vault the team back into title contention after a difficult year. They won only one tournament in 2021, cs_summit 8, and were generally lackluster despite the high-profile signing of two-time Major champion Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo. As the season came to an end, Liquid announced that FalleN, Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip, and Michael ‘Grim’ Wince had been placed on the inactive roster. The Brazilian confirmed on January 14 that he will be part of the Brazilian ‘Last Dance’ project, a new team that has been linked with Imperial, while the North American pair are expected to join Evil Geniuses and the new Complexity roster, respectively. Team Liquid CS:GO roster Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski – Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic – Josh ‘oSee’ Ohm – Richard ‘shox’ Papillon – Nick ‘nitr0’ Cannella – Eric ‘adreN’ Hoag (coach) –

NiP win CSGO game versus G2 with back-to-back insane clutches Ninjas in Pyjamas mounted an impressive CSGO comeback against G2 Esports in the second map their ESL Pro League series, capped off with two insane back-to-back AWP clutches from Simon ‘twist’ Eliasson and Fredrik ‘REZ’ Sterner. The Ninjas in Pyjamas are still a long ways away from reaching the heights their legendary roster once obtained. But the new look NiP players are racking up tons of impressive highlights on their road back to glory. On November 13, NiP took on G2 Esports in round group play of the ESL Pro League. Both teams are competing in Group B alongside BIG and North. NiP were in trouble early, losing the first map on Dust2, and were trailing 10-5 at halftime of map two on Inferno. But the Ninjas maintained their composure, winning round after impressive round on their CT side to tie the map at 13-13. On the wrong side of a comeback, G2 Esports stormed in to the B bombsite in the next round, but into the waiting scope of NiP’s newest addition in twist. Despite only wounding Kenny ‘kennyS ‘ Schrub and leaving himself vulnerable in the process, twist was able to find the one hiding spot on the bombsite, and drop the other four G2 players with his AWP. This 4k included two impressive wallbangs, and that initially hit and very wounded kennyS was forced to retreat and surrender the round to NiP. But while twist unleashed a flurry of shots that decimated the G2 front, his teammate in REZ only needed one to destroy the French side’s remaining hope. What you’re hearing is the sound of a man’s brain breaking. CSGO caster HarryG was unable to put into words what happened, as REZ retreated from car with three kills and only one shot to his name. As impressive as these plays were, neither player earned man of the map honors, as the young Nicolas ‘Plopski’ Gonzalez Zamora finished the map with an astounding 36-16 KD scoreline. Even more impressive, he had another big performance on map three, notching 32 more kills in a decisive map three on Mirage. – Despite the superior stats from Plopski, twist would steal the show in map three as well, with an anti-eco ace late in the map to shut the door on G2. Since signing twist from Fnatic, Ninjas in Pyjamas have been making a slow resurgence. At DreamHack Malmo and BLAST Copenhagen, they had strong tournament runs which each ended in losses to the eventual champions of those events in Fnatic and FaZe Clan respectively. NiP are a top ten team again for the first time since June, and with a potential star in plopski being so young, and with Fnatic in the midst of a resurgence themselves, the old Swedish rivalry could be due for a renewed place at the top of the global leaderboard.

NiP better off without twist | Richard Lewis reacts at BLAST Spring Groups The BLAST Spring Groups kicked off on February 4, and comes to a head on Valentine’s Day. We’ve already got plenty to unpack, but Richard Lewis believes that one team might benefit from a recent benching. Richard Lewis reacts to Ninjas in Pyjamas benching twist at BLAST Premier Spring groups, and playing with academy starlet Erik ‘ztr’ Gustafsson instead. Richard thinks that twist is ultimately too negative for the NiP roster, and it’s likely they’ll continue to shine without him. But is ztr the long-term answer? Richard says NiP fans can be cautiously optimistic about the youngster, and there’s nothing they could have done about losing to BIG in the Group – a final due to the sheer power of Florian ‘syrsoN’ Rische. While Ninjas in Pyjamas ultimately did lose 2-0 against BIG in their latest showdown, many still believe that the team shows promise of being able to inch back through to the top 10 contentions. Simon ‘twist’ Eliasson has, for Richard, never been a player that he can figure out. While the tools and performance potential definitely sits within reach for the player, he believes that something continuously holds him back, evidenced through many of the top organizations he joins having a performance boost upon his departure. His career started at a time when all of Sweden’s greats were starting to fall by the wayside, and unfortunately, it seems the same is happening here for Twist. While ztr coming into the team definitely hasn’t fixed all of the problems and secured them a win, Lewis believes that the team can still see something great come out of the ashes of this loss. For all CSGO news and events, stay tuned over at our dedicated hub.

NiP respond to player mistreatment allegations following Fifflaren’s claims L: Twitter @ChahineHicham / R: Twitter @FifflarenNinjas in Pyjamas have issued a response after ex CS:GO pro Robin ‘Fifflaren’ Johansson accused the organization of mistreating their players. NiP are best known for their CS:GO line up that were a force to be reckoned with in the early stages of Global Offensive, setting a record streak of 87 LAN map wins in a row. Since then they have grown to be one of the biggest teams in esports. The organization came under fire on July 23 as one of their former players, Fifflaren, accused them of mistreating their players in an interview. On July 24 they released a response to these accusations. Hicham Chahine, the current CEO of NiP, wrote about various issues that Fifflaren brought up in his interview. To begin with, he mentioned that the organization is under all-new management since 2016, and he stated that: “we have dedicated all of our time and energy to recovering the organization from its turbulent past and mismanagement.” He also added that while the organization is no longer ran by the old management, they are still working to “put lingering issues from the past right” and they aim to resolve everything and want to be “open and accountable with our fans”. Other key issues were also mentioned in this response, including “paying all players any due amounts, starting a full and thorough process with the Swedish tax authorities, and putting in place structures for each individual player to handle their financial earnings properly.” This is likely a direct response to accusations of the organization taking unfair amounts of money from the teams CS:GO Major stickers, sponsorship deals, and tournament prize winnings. This response also directly mentions Fifflaren, claiming that the new management “settled all outstanding financial obligations on September 20th 2016”. However, he stated in his interview that all the players are still owed money, and other problems, such as the claim that the team needed written permission to have a girlfriend, have not been addressed, so there may still be more to this story.

NIP player Plopski reveals ultimate career goal João Ferreira/DexertoNicolas ‘Plopski’ Gonzalez Zamora spoke to Dexerto about the joy he felt when he signed for NIP, his meteoric rise to the top, and what he wants to achieve in his career. For Plopski, being able to play NIP is the stuff of fairytales. The Swedish player was offered his big break in June 2019, when he signed for the storied organization as a rising 17-year-old talent. Just two years after bursting onto the CS:GO scene with Spanish organization x6tence, Plopski was now playing alongside Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg and Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund, two of the most iconic players in the Counter-Strike franchise. “It was always one of my biggest dreams to play in this organization,” Plopski told Dexerto. “I always followed them when I was young. I was a fanboy, if you can say so. “When I got the chance to play for them, it felt like a dream come true. It felt so nice. I got to play with f0rest and GTR, who were my idols, and also REZ, who is now my longest-standing teammate. “It’s nice that my idols when I was younger are now my friends. It feels like home. It feels right to play here, and I’m happy that they put their trust in me.” Plopski reveals ultimate career goal Plopski has other stars around him now, most notably Danish legend Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz, who was signed from Astralis in April in a shocking transfer deal. He is now one of the team’s longest-serving players, but he’s still coming to grips with playing at the highest level. He admitted that he was “a little bit nervous” at PGL Major Stockholm, where NIP were eliminated in the quarter-finals by G2 Esports. After exiting the tournament, the Ninjas decided to add more experience to the team in the form of Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen, who joined from Complexity. With a more balanced squad now, NIP will be looking to cement their place at the top, with the BLAST Premier Fall Final being their first tournament with the new lineup. Read more: BLAST Premier Fall Final tournament hub – As for Plopski, he has his eyes set on winning top honors with the team, including a Major title. “The ultimate goal for me would be to win a Major,” he said. “I think that’s everyone’s biggest goal in CS and probably the hardest thing to achieve as well.”

NIP hampus casts doubt over dev1ce’s return to CSGO team Dexerto & Helena Kristiansson/ESL Gaming via ESPATNIP captain Hampus ‘hampus’ Poser has indicated that he still doesn’t know when or if Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz will return to the team. The Danish AWPer, widely regarded as one of the best players in the history of the Counter-Strike franchise, has been out of action since December as he continues his recovery from mental health issues. NIP have remained tight-lipped about dev1ce’s situation, which in itself has contributed to speculation about his return to action. Last month, former 100 Thieves and Cloud9 coach Aleksandar ‘kassad’ Trifunović said it was “messed up” that NIP were “casually pretending nothing is happening” with their star player, signed only last year from Astralis for a reported $700,000 fee. With the new tournament season just around the corner, hampus expressed relief that the team has been able to pull itself together after losing dev1ce, and noted that morale in the camp is high. “It felt like we never really knew who to play with when dev1ce was gone,” he told Expressen. “Now we get to play with the same team and everyone is here and happy. Everybody wants to be here.” NIP will play their first match of the season on August 19, against Astralis, in the BLAST Premier Fall Groups. But the buzz is all about the IEM Rio Major in November. Questioned about the team’s lineup for the Brazilian event, hampus all but ruled out dev1ce’s return in time for the event, and stressed that they are not thinking about the Danish AWPer. “This is the team we have now and I hope it stays that way,” hampus said.

Ninjas in Pyjamas explain why they felt “lost” at Berlin CSGO Major StarLadderOn the eve of BLAST Pro Series Moscow, the Ninjas in Pyjamas players sat down for an interview with Frankie Ward, and discussed their disappointing finish in Berlin, their reunion with Nicolas ‘Plopski’ Gonzalez Zamora, and the future of their roster. NiP are picking up the pieces after a dismal showing in Berlin. The legendary Swedish Counter-Strike squad were quarterfinalists in the Katowice major prior, nearly taking a map of the red hot Astralis in that series. But nothing went right for the Ninjas in Berlin. They were without their newest addition Plopski, and fielded a substitute in Maikil “Golden” Kunda Selim. Their beloved veteran Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund played with his future in question. And all of this went on while the details of alleged financial misdeeds by management dominated CS:GO headlines. With seemingly everything going against them, Ninjas in Pyjamas crumbled. They went 0-3 and went from a guaranteed New Legends spot to no major spot at all. When speaking to Frankie in Moscow, Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg acknowledged that NiP hadn’t expected that result at all. “We didn’t have the highest expectations,” he told Frankie. “But we didn’t expect [that result] either. It felt really good during practice, but once the major came, everything just fell apart. We felt lost.” Watch BLAST Pro Series Moscow – BLAST Backstage from BLASTProSeries on www.twitch.tvThe return of Plopski is huge part of getting back in the right direction, according to f0rest. He also acknowledged that the team had been preparing for BLAST Moscow since the major ended. For plopski, he was forced to sit out of the Berlin major, as he played for Team Ancient in the EU minor qualifier before being picked up by NiP. But he was terrific in that qualifier, and had a solid performance at his first event with NiP, ESL One Cologne. He admitted he was nervous being in front of a crowd that size, but the 17-year-old also said it was the best experience of his life so far. NiP are excited to have Plopski in their future, but have to answer other questions about their future very soon. GeT_RiGhT was reported to be replaced after StarLadder Berlin, but is still competing with the team in Moscow. When Frankie asked GeT_RiGhT about his future and what he wants to do, he flatly responded with “No comment.” GeT_RiGhT, along with f0rest, has been with NiP for seven years and has given no indication that he wants to retire from competitive play. Whether or not he continues playing for NiP, and for how much longer, remains to be seen.

NIP execs refuse to entertain CSPPA intervention in sticker money dispute NIPThe Ninjas In Pyjamas organisation has rejected the authority of the Counter-Strike Professional Players Association as it looked to intervene on behalf of players who believe the Swedish company owes them money. The dispute, first reported by Dexerto, revolves around both former and current players believing they are owed money by the organisation for digital sticker sales from the canceled 2020 Rio Major capsule. The capsule sales are believed to have generated somewhere in the region of $300,000 per player but the NiP management believe that this time, as there was no physical event played, the organisation was entitled to keep the money. A leaked group chat led by NiP COO Jonas ‘calc’ Gundersen saw him say the following: “These were ‘Capsules’ created by the teams, and Ok’d by Valve, in order to survive the pandemic and keep paying salaries without any cuts, despite the complete lack of sponsorships and exposure. Therefore it’s not stickers as it would be normally – because there was no major. This was a desperation move for many teams because elseway something like half would have pulled out of CS:GO altogether.” Sources familiar with the matter informed Dexerto that at least one of the affected players, Tim ‘nawwk’ Jonasson, was not satisfied with this interpretation and had investigated the possibility of pursuing the matter further. When the CSPPA became aware of this they volunteered to act on his behalf to try and resolve the financial dispute. Sources with knowledge of the investigation, who requested anonymity due to their proximity to the involved parties, said that the CSPPA had contacted Valve and asked them to clarify their position on the intention behind the capsules. “They said it was just a blog post” the source explained “and that it was never intended to be a contract or legal document in any shape or form.” In addition to that the CSPPA contacted each of the other Challenger and Legends teams from that capsule and asked if they had paid the players. Their findings confirmed the independent investigation of Dexerto. “The organisations that were Challenger or Legends from the canceled Road To Rio Major cycle got paid according to the CSPPA” the source added. “This applied even to teams like 100 Thieves who had disbanded in the meantime. No player outside of NiP has reported any disputes or perceived wrongdoing on behalf of their organisations.” Armed with these findings the CSPPA contacted NiP management via email and explained that it was the belief of the CSPPA, having reviewed the contracts, the players were indeed entitled to the money. The CSPPA was told in no uncertain terms that they would not be listening to their recommendations. “Their reply to the email said that the CSPPA does not govern NiP contracts in any way and that as far as they were concerned the case was closed” the source told us. The CSPPA recently made more headlines about their involvement with financial disputes with a report published on French esports news website Vakarm. The outlet claimed that the player’s association was on course to sue now-defunct league Flashpoint for outstanding “guaranteed” money for players that competed across its two seasons. They say an estimated $11,000 per player is currently owed and they are now in the process of securing legal counsel as they look to pursue it for its members. Unless the player’s association would be willing to leverage its membership to try and pressure NiP management into addressing the issue the next course of action would have to be legal but that will depend on the desires of the players. As some of the players theoretically owed money still represent the organisation they may be reluctant to become embroiled in legal action against their employers. NIP so far have made no public statement on the issue and are unlikely to. The organisation, despite being one of the largest in Sweden, has had a long history of financial disputes and irregularities despite having made multiple changes to management. Should legal action be forthcoming it would be another stain on one of CS:GO’s historic names.

NIP complete k0nfig signing as hampus faces long spell out Adela Sznajder/ESL Gaming via ESPATNIP have announced that they have bolstered their squad with the addition of former Astralis rifler Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke. k0nfig joins NIP’s team with immediate effect, replacing Hampus ‘hampus’ Poser in the starting lineup as the Swedish player will take a break from competition until the summer because of health reasons. hampus was announced as unavailable by NIP on January 25, during the team’s campaign in the BLAST Premier Spring Groups, due to what the organization described as “unforeseen personal circumstances”. He is being replaced by academy player Max ‘maxster’ Jansson for the remainder of the tournament. This is k0nfig’s first team since he was released by Astralis in October. His time on the Danish team came to an unceremonious end after he fractured an ankle during a fight in Malta. The injury saw him miss the ensuing European RMRs, where Astralis, playing with a stand-in, could not qualify for the IEM Rio Major. In a November 11 interview with Dexerto, k0nfig opened up about the scuffles he was involved in while attending events and said that he was eliminating some bad habits from his life, including excessive drinking, with the help of a therapist. Before the end of the year, he played for Heroic at the BLAST Premier World Final, where he averaged a team-high 1.11 rating. He was due to play for FaZe in the BLAST Premier Spring Groups as a stand-in before the move was blocked by BLAST as he was already registered on Heroic’s roster for the event. NIP lose Swedish core with k0nfig signing k0nfig becomes the second player to join NIP since the start of the year following the arrival of Ukrainian AWPer Daniil ‘headtr1ck’ Valitov from NAVI. With hampus set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines, NIP looked to find a long-term solution to plug the hole in the squad rather than promote a player from the academy. The Swedish organization believes this is the right time to onboard another player as headtr1ck is still adjusting to his new surroundings. k0nfig’s signing marks the start of a new chapter in NIP’s history as the lineup will no longer have a Swedish majority. The team began communicating in English in September 2022 following the signing of Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen, who took the captaincy role from hampus. k0nfig will make his first appearance for NIP at the upcoming IEM Katowice event. The Ninjas will take on MIBR in the opening round of the Play-In stage, scheduled for February 1. NIP CS:GO roster: Fredrik ‘REZ’ Sterner – Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin – Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen – Daniil ‘headtr1ck’ Valitov – Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke – Daniel ‘djL’ Narancic (coach) – Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen (bench) – Hampus ‘hampus’ Poser (inactive) –

NIP CEO criticized after joke about BLAST Paris Major stickers tricks CSGO fans Ninjas in PyjamasNinjas in Pyjamas CEO Hicham Chahine has come under fire after putting out a joke post on Twitter about the BLAST Paris Major stickers ahead of the tournament. The BLAST Paris Major is days away and the stickers for the last CS:GO Major ever have yet to drop. In an attempt to conjure some kind of reverse jinx, the NIP CEO boldly posted on Twitter that there would be no stickers for the Major. The post has quickly gained traction, garnering over 200,000 views and almost 1,000 likes, with some believing the post was factual, and others commenting on the joke. “It’s true, the French unions firebombed all the stickers yesterday during the protests,” Dust2 Editor-in-Chief Ryan Friend said in response to the post. “Is there a reason for this? Surely it’s unrelated to CPH Flames?” 100 Thieves Senior Vice President of esports Jacob Toft-Andersen said. BLAST Paris Major stickers are still coming Chahine, realizing many CS:GO fans had taken his tweet seriously, responded to his own post and said he really has “no info” on when the stickers for the Major will come. “Oh wow,” he said. “I was trying to state it wouldn’t happen so they drop tonight.” The follow-up post to clarify his statement has only been viewed about 20,000 times and has seen little traction compared to his initial joke post. Stickers from the event are a way for teams that qualify for the biggest tournament in the esport to make money through Valve’s in-game sale of the cosmetic. Some stickers from previous events have gone for hundreds of thousands of dollars on the resale market. One team was recently accused of “insider trading” in the CSGO sticker market as its players bought up their organization’s stickers before the company announced it had filed for bankruptcy. NIP is set to compete at the BLAST Paris Major, starting in the Challengers Stage. The team’s first match is against MOUZ on May 8.

NIP are finding their stride without dev1ce — but their silence is bizarre João Ferreira/DexertoNIP seem to be doing just fine without star CS:GO player Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz, who remains sidelined due to mental health issues. But the organization’s silence about his situation is hard to understand and has done more harm than good. As dev1ce faced the camera, his arms crossed around his back, wearing a jersey different from the one in which he had won four Majors and risen to the top of the world, there was shock and disbelief, but at the same time a sense of inevitability. It was the end of an era, a reminder that all good things must come to an end, even eras like Astralis’s. Comparisons with transfers of LeBron James and Cristiano Ronaldo were made as the magnitude of the moment wasn’t lost on anyone, not even dev1ce himself, who set lofty goals for his new team: “I think we have the possibility to dominate a lot of teams and be the best in the world.” Those comments have not aged well. Twelve months on, NIP are still nowhere closer to being a dominant team than they were when they splashed a reported $700,000 fee to sign dev1ce. It was one of the biggest transfer deals in all of esports, but for a player like Mr. Consistent, who could solve one of NIP’s biggest problems inside the server, it seemed like a risk worth taking. On Saturday, April 23, NIP qualified for PGL Major Antwerp with a 2-0 victory over SINNERS in the fourth round of the EU RMR B tournament. That day was also the first anniversary of his signing by NIP, but the moment came and went unnoticed by the Swedish organization. dev1ce wasn’t in Bucharest with the rest of the team to celebrate. He was over 1,000 kilometers away, in Copenhagen, continuing his recovery from the health issues that have prevented him from playing a single game since December 5. NIP have done a terrible job in terms of not letting the team linger on questions of when dev1ce will return. Their latest interaction with — or mention of — dev1ce on Twitter was in January, when the Danish player said that he was “working towards a safe return”. In a celebratory post on Twitter after the team qualified for the Antwerp Major, NIP COO Jonas Gundersen tagged the five players in the starting lineup in Bucharest as well as head coach Daniel ‘djL’ Narancic and technical director Björn ‘THREAT’ Pers. dev1ce didn’t get so much as a shoutout despite being listed as a substitute for the event (and potentially for the Major as well). Slow starts remain our Achilles heel which makes it a tall order to get ourselves back in control before it’s over. Top 4 still good, all things considered. The grind continues. Let’s go boys!@Plopski @REZcsgo @hampuscsgo @djLCSGO @phzycs @es3tag @Brollan @NIP GG @ENCE — Jonas Gundersen (@jonasgundersen) April 9, 2022 Keeping fans in the dark In what has become a ritual before every tournament, fans will check dev1ce’s recent activity on FACEIT, looking for clues as to when he might be coming back. Earlier this week, the most recent rumor suggested that he would return at IEM Dallas, simply because he was listed on the team’s roster on the event’s Liquipedia page. (Contacted by Dexerto, NIP said that’s not the case, and his nickname has since been removed from the starting lineup by Liquipedia) It’s quite possible that NIP still have no timetable for dev1ce’s return to the lineup. But they owe it to their fans to at least keep them in the loop as much as possible, even if only to say that they will be finishing out the season with the current roster to ensure stability and tranquillity. But instead, they’ve let his absence hang over the team for months on end, putting the players in a tenuous situation, even though they have been able to rise to the occasion on the server. In another statement of their ambitions, NIP spent a reported €600,000 ($633,000) fee to sign Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin from Fnatic, leaving fans wondering how high the ceiling of the team is once all the pieces are in place. In Bucharest, Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen did most of the work with the AWP, but the tournament did not provide an accurate measure of their level. NIP qualified for the Major almost by default, beating Endpoint (No.46 in the world), Bad News Eagles (43) and Sinners (42), though the victory against No-6 ranked ENCE — one of the most-in-form teams at the moment — in the battle for the Legends spot did raise some eyebrows. The recent departure of academy player Love ‘phzy’ Smidebrant, who had been filling the AWP-shaped hole in dev1ce’s absence, indicates that they will try to make it work with the current lineup until dev1ce returns, whenever that may be. But those who watched es3tag’s ill-fated Cloud9 spell will remember his limitations with the AWP, and the decision to play without a dedicated AWPer could come back to bite them if it ends up costing them an important game at the Major. Even if dev1ce does feel ready to return for the Major, it’s questionable whether he should be thrust into the starting lineup immediately, not least of all because — regardless of his talent — he would be coming in cold with very little time to shake off the rust. NIP would also come under fierce criticism, as Astralis did when they left Lucas ‘Bubzkji’ Andersen out of their PGL Major Stockholm lineup to make way for the returning Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander. It would be nothing short of cruel to deny any one of the five players who earned qualification their shot at Major glory to accomodate a dev1ce return. Almost five months since his last game for NIP, dev1ce continues to cast a long shadow over the team — a natural consequence of his status as one of the game’s greatest players. But NIP knew exactly the kind of attention that a high-profile player like him would generate when they opened their coffers and made him the new face of the organization — which is why the decision to avoid the topic altogether is hard to fathom. dev1ce’s return date seems to be anyone’s guess at the moment. Some still continue to believe that dev1ce will miraculously rise from the smoke and make some sort of grand entrance on stage, ready to lead the team to the promised land, but that appears nothing more than wishful thinking.

NiP address player mistreatment allegations after WESA investigation launched L: Ninjas in Pyjamas, R: FifflarenNinjas in Pyjamas have released a statement after WESA (World Esports Association) announced that they have launched an investigation into recent allegations against the organization. NiP have been embroiled in controversy since former player Robin ‘Fifflaren’ Johansson levelled a variety of accusations of player mistreatment and management issues at them in a tell-all interview with Richard Lewis on July 24. Fifflaren hasn’t relented in his pressure on the organization, and since his initial accusations several other figures have come out both to support Fifflaren and detail their own negative experiences with Ninjas in Pyjamas. Now, WESA has announced that they have mandated Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC) Commissioner Ian Smith to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations against NiP and CEO Hicham Chahine, who is also an Executive Board Member of WESA. The investigation is due to be completed by the end of August 2019, after which Smith will release a public statement outlining his findings. In response to the investigation, Ninjas in Pyjamas have released a statement of their own, which highlights that the organization “welcome[s] WESA’s investigation and will work with them to ensure it is as thorough as possible, including providing access to records, documents and individuals as needed.” NiP also claim that “several allegations have been presented incorrectly without the full context”, although they do not detail which allegations they are referring to or the nature of the discrepancy. They do state, however, that they have been open to communicating with anyone who feels they have been mistreated by the organization since 2014, and have already reviewed 10 such cases, of which nine have been resolved.

Ninjas in Pyjamas to use Cloud9’s Golden for StarLadder Berlin CS:GO Major BLAST Pro SeriesNinjas in Pyjamas have announced that they will be using Cloud9 in-game leader Maikil ‘Golden’ Kunda Selim as a stand-in for the StarLadder Berlin Major. The announcement comes shortly after Ninjas in Pyjamas made a roster move, replacing ‘Dennis’ with young talent Nicolas ‘Plopski’ Gonzalez Zamora. Unfortunately for NiP, due to Valve’s rules about roster changes during the Major cycle, Plopski cannot compete for them at the upcoming StarLadder Berlin Major, having qualified for the European Minor with Team Ancient. In his place, the Ninjas have announced on Twitter that they have loaned Golden from Cloud9 to use as a stand-in for the event. As @PlopskiCSGO is unable to attend the upcoming Berlin Major with us due to Valve rules, Cloud9 has agreed to lend us @goldenmajk as a temporary stand-in to complete the line-up in Berlin. Thank you @JackEtienne and @Cloud9 for the help.#GONINJAS #CSGO pic.twitter.com/sFAIGGBw99 — NiP :flag-se: @ EPICENTER MAJOR :ru: (@NiPGaming) June 25, 2019 Golden himself competed in the online closed qualifier for the Americas Minor with Cloud9, but the team were eliminated after two disastrous upsets in the first rounds of the double elimination bracket. Though Cloud9 will not be competing at the Major anyway, the announcement also comes as Golden’s time with the North American organization might already be at an end, with reports suggesting that the team are pursuing former NRG in-game leader Damian ‘daps’ Steele to lead the team going forward. The StarLadder Berlin Major is set to take place from August 23 to September 8, with Ninjas in Pyjamas entering at the Legends stage, beginning August 28, due to their top-eight finish at the previous Major, IEM Katowice. The announcement comes at a turbulent time for the NiP roster. Not only have they replaced Dennis with Plopski, but the team also revealed that they will be looking for a long-term replacement Counter-Strike legend and NiP icon Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund. GeT_RiGhT is due to compete with the team at ESL One Cologne, on July 2-7, and the StarLadder Berlin Major, but after that it seems his time as a player for NiP could be at an end. GeT_RiGhT himself stated that at this time, nothing has been decided regarding his future beyond the Major. NiP’s roster for the StarLadder Berlin Major: Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg – Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund – Fredrik ‘REZ’ Sterner – Jonas ‘Lekr0’ Olofsson – Maikil ‘Golden’ Kunda Selim –

Ninjas in Pyjamas hit out against Flashpoint organizers after tournament loss Flashpoint/NiPNinjas in Pyjamas weren’t too thrilled with out Flashpoint tournament organizers handled their May 14 matchup against Anonymo, which they say was plagued by technical issues on their end, resulting in an unfair loss. The second match of the day during Flashpoint Season 3 on May 14 saw Swedish CSGO side Ninjas in Pyjamas taking on Polish team Anonymo, and some viewers may have noticed that the match took a bit longer than your regular best of 3 usually does. A couple of rounds into Overpass, the first map of the series, NiP told Flashpoint they were experiencing technical issues, including 30-40% packet loss, that were affecting the team’s performance. To try and fix the problems, a lengthy break was taken, but according to NiP this still didn’t solve the problem. After working with their internet service provider, trying different VPNs and servers, the team was unable to resolve the packet loss they were experiencing, but said Flashpoint organizers “refused any alternate solution presented to them.” “We offered to play on non-Faceit servers. Anonymo showed true sportsmanship and was open to any solution to help solve the issue,” NiP wrote. “However, Flashpoint refused any solution presented to them. The decision was made by the admins to force us to play regardless. We played all 3 maps in the series with consistent packet loss.” Dev1ce and the boys would rally and be able to finish off Overpass with a W, but Anonymo would take both Nuke and Mirage, ending out the series. NiP had serious issues with how Flashpoint handled the situation, calling the “ignorance, stubbornness, and lack of solutions” unacceptable for a Major qualifier event. “The ignorance, stubbornness, and lack of solutions coming from the Flashpoint staff was simply not to standard with what is expected from a major qualifier event,” NiP said. “We lost the series to a determined opponent who played a great game, and we accept this, but it is incredibly frustrating to have technical issues beyond our control weighing on us when competing at the highest levels of professional CSGO.” NiP aren’t out of the running yet, they’ll have a chance at redemption on Sunday against Hyenas in a match that hopefully goes off without a hitch for both teams. At the time of writing Flashpoint hasn’t posted a response to NiP’s statement or an explanation for why admins forced the game to continue.

Ninjas in Pyjamas CSGO players reportedly receive death threats following Anonymo rematch Ninjas in PyjamasNinjas in Pyjamas staff have reported the org’s players have received death threats following their controversial Flashpoint CSGO rematch against Anonymo. Ninjas in Pyjamas beat Anonymo 2-1 after a best-of-one rematch between the teams’ first round Flashpoint match after NiP successfully lobbied FACEIT organizers for a replay of Mirage, the final map of that first series. Even though it was just one single map, it’s become the most controversial professional CSGO match of 2021 so far. Afterwards, some fans apparently took things a bit too far, sending death threats toward NiP’s players, according to Chief Operating Officer Jonas Gundersen. An emotional and controversial time, that we are trying to be as respectful about as possible. However, death threats and toxicity towards players who are just here to play and compete in the game that they, is something none of us should tolerate. Please have respect for that. — Jonas Gundersen (@jonasgundersen) May 18, 2021 “An emotional and controversial time, that we are trying to be as respectful about as possible,” Gundersen wrote after NiP’s 16-14 win ove Anonymo. “However, death threats and toxicity towards players who are just here to play and compete in the game that they, is something none of us should tolerate. Please have respect for that.” A tweet by Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz following the Anonymo rematch racked up almost 3,000 replies in less than an hour before it was deleted. “Probably the worst I’ve felt throughout a game. I’m proud of my new team but this is the first time I’ve been sad after a big win,” Reedtz said in the now-deleted tweet. “Ggwp Anonymo Esports, you didn’t deserve this and you are a great team. hope to play you many more times in the future.” Fans going to the extreme might also benefit by keeping the fact that Anonymo is still very much in the tournament in mind. Yes, they’ve now technically been knocked down to the Lower Bracket, but it’s not like they’re completely done with Flashpoint Season 3 yet either. Now that the rematch and the drama surrounding it is finally out of the way, we can actually look forward to the tournament going ahead as scheduled. Anonymo, like we said, will now face off against HYENAS on May 19, while NiP will play FPX in the Upper Bracket on May 20. Be sure to check out Dexerto’s official Flashpoint Season 3 hub for the fully updated schedule, scores, and more going forward.

Ninjas in Pyjamas bench es3tag as CS:GO roster overhaul continues BLASTNinjas in Pyjamas have benched Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen as they continue to shake up their roster ahead of the 2023 CS:GO season. After the disappointment of 2021, where they were hyped up to make a march on the top level of Counter-Strike once again, 2022 proved to be another rocky year for Ninjas in Pyjamas. The iconic Swedish organization has reshaped its roster a few times over the last few months as a result, bringing in Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin and Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen from Fnatic and G2, respectively. They’ve also recently bid farewell to Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz as he returned to Astralias, as well as benching Nicolas ‘Plopski’ Gonzalez Zamora to free up a spot for Aleksib. That upheaval is set to continue into the early part of 2023 at the very least, as they’ve now benched es3tag and allowed the Dane to find new opportunities away from NiP. NiP bench es3tag from CS:GO roster NIP announced the roster change on December 21, confirming that the Dane would be allowed to find a new home for the 2023 season. “In preparation of the next year we’ve been evaluating the team composition overall, and have moved Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen to the bench, and are allowing him to explore new opportunities ahead of the 2023 season,” NIP said. “Patrick has been a fantastic teammate, colleague, and player to have at NIP. We have nothing but good things to say about him, and we are sure he will find success where ever he goes next.” As of writing, NIP have not yet announced a replacement for es3tag, nor has the Dane given any hints about his next move. Ahead of 2023, the current NIP roster looks like: Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen – Fredrik ‘REZ’ Sterner – Hampus ‘hampus’ Poser – Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin –

NiKo’s LAST DANCE? The stats behind FaZe’s IEM New York renaissance Before IEM New York 2020, FaZe Clan’s CSGO team had gone 338 days before winning an event at Blast Copenhagen in 2019. After taking the top spot in the EU IEM, Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač showed why the elite talent would be missed if this really was the last dance with FaZe. There’s no sugar-coating the FaZe star’s woes in the last year, that was only made more apparent with the team’s placements at events. Up until October 2020, FaZe failed to make any notable finals and posted an 11th place finish at CS Summit 6, 9th-12th at ESL One Cologne, as well as a 13th-14th placement at ESL Pro League Season 12. This didn’t help public perception for Niko, who was starting to notice CSGO fans’ flak towards his own IGL capabilities and new teammates on the roster. Throughout 2020, Niko actually hasn’t been having a bad year. His HLTV rating for the year is sitting at 1.11, a decline from the 1.19 and 1.18 ratings for 2019 and 2018, respectively. The Bosnian has never posted below 1.04 at an event this year. IEM New York could serve as a turning point in FaZe’s fortune so far. Not only did the team take top billing, Niko soared above his squadmates with a 1.28 event rating with 22.3 kills per map with 55.1% headshot rate to boot. With questions in the air about Niko’s future in FaZe, the 23-year-old star’s performance at IEM could be an indicator of better things to come as long as he’s on the team.

NiKo Reveals What m0NESY and Aleksib Really Bring to G2 Dexerto spoke to Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač about G2 esports’ ambitions for 2022 and how the new arrivals on the roster are going to positively impact the squad. With G2 Esports establishing themselves as a consistent top-three team in the world last year, the organization is looking to improve on those achievements in 2022. Adding Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen and 16-year old prodigy Ilya ‘m0NESY’ Osipov to the roster, Dexerto spoke to veteran NiKo about how the changes are going to push G2 forward and allow them to ascend above the competition. Discover More: Nitr0 reveals real reason he quit Valorant

NiKo leaves FaZe Clan to join G2 Esports after months of speculation G2 EsportsBosnian CSGO superstar Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovac is officially a G2 Esports player, having left FaZe Clan after over three years with the organization. The former FaZe Clan star and IGL announced his transfer on Twitter in a humorous fashion, seemingly already familiar with the now renowned meme style of the G2 organization. “One of the biggest signings in CS:GO History! Today, we’re ecstatic to welcome Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač to our Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Roster.” Read G2’s official announcement. At the time of writing, it is not yet clear which member of G2 will leave or be benched to make space for NiKo. Rumors say he will be replacing one of François “AmaNEk” Delaunay or Audric “JaCkz” Jug. “With this signing, we’re taking a new direction with our team. Over the course of the next few weeks, we’ll be evaluating the team and it’s progress to determine the optimal line-up for each match. We will provide more information on this in the coming days.” I’m really excited to announce that I will be joining @G2esports and I can’t explain how happy I’m that I will be playing with @G2huNter and rest of the guys from now on. I’m coming to this lineup with the goal to bring them back to the top and make sure to stay there. #G2WIN https://t.co/2zbFWwsqOd — NiKo (@G2NiKo) October 28, 2020 He will be joining his cousin Nemanja “huNter” Kovač in the French-Balkan lineup for the upcoming BLAST Premier Fall Series tournament. G2 Esports’s next official match will be on Monday and will see them face off against the ultra-aggressive Brazilian team FURIA. https://twitter.com/CarlosR/status/1321487031114076162 Rumors of NiKo’s departure from FaZe have been circulating around the scene since September, with constant reports from 1pv.fr and HLTV.org kept updating the situation. HLTV stated that NiKo was set to debut for his new team in BLAST Premier Fall Series 2020 Speculation was then fueled by a tweet made by the mother of FaZe player Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David asking NiKo to “rethink some decisions” -possibly referencing his rumored move to G2. Only a few days ago images of FaZe practicing with Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer instead of NiKo started appearing on Reddit. The transfer announcement confirms that olof will be playing for FaZe. G2 will rely on NiKo to replicate their early 2020 success which saw them skyrocket to the top of CSGO team rankings before going slumping and failing to deliver top results. G2’s lineup for BLAST Fall Premier Fall 2020 will be: Nemanja “nexa” Isaković (IGL) – Kenny “kennyS” Schrub – Nikola “NiKo” Kovač – Audric “JaCkz” Jug – François “AmaNEk” Delaunay – Nemanja “huNter-” Kovač – Damien “maLeK” Marcel (coach) – Richard Lewis gave his thoughts on the move, arguing that NiKo wasn’t the answer to G2’s problems. We’ll have to wait to see who is proven right.

Niko hits back at FaZe Clan haters after ESL One Cologne elimination ESL[jwplayer 3EyfiByz]CSGO star Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač has addressed the ‘hateful’ comments audiences were directing toward his FaZe Clan team moments after being eliminated from ESL One Cologne. After an 0-2 loss to Team Vitality in the second round of the Lower Bracket in the ESL Cologne EU bracket, CSGO fans were directing their displeasure about the team on social media. The mounting furor was directed at many FaZe players, but largely aimed at newcomer Markus ‘Kjaerbye’ Kjærbye. While players usually work off critiques and typically welcome feedback to build upon, there was a wave of comments that didn’t sit too well with the in-game leader. “Enough with the hate on my team and Kjaerbye,” NiKo said. “We had 5 days of practice and we nearly won against the number two team in the world who has been bootcamping over two weeks.” Enough with the hate on my team and @KjaerbyeCS, we had 5 days of practice and we nearly won against nr 2. team in the world who has been bootcamping over 2 weeks. Give us some time to work on our mistakes before judging, we are doing everything we can to improve asap. #FaZeUp — NiKo (@G2NiKo) August 26, 2020 The best of three was one of the day’s best matchups with both teams unrelenting on either side of the map. On FaZe’s map pick of Dust 2 in Game 1, it was a game of CT sides as both teams commanded the defensive side to take it to overtime. It’s there where the French team were able to pull away with a 4-1 scoreline in OT after FaZe came back down 7-15 in regulation. That ultimately put FaZe in a dire predicament for Game 2 as they faced Vitality on their map pick of Nuke, where they’ve won 53 times of the 85 total matches played in their team’s history. There were many reactions to FaZe’s performance, particularly to the moments in which they had man-advantages just to concede the round, failed to trade kills at pivotal moments, or gave up early picks to Vitality. Separately from NiKo’s comment’s, coach Janko ‘YNk’ Paunović also said that the team still had “some rust from the vacation which showed in an embarrassing amount of rounds lost where we had a numbers advantage.” Lost 2-0 to Vitality, gg’s! Still having some rust from the vacation which showed in an embarrassing amount of rounds lost where we had a numbers advantage… Straight back to work, EPL starts next week and we WILL do better, thanks to everyone who cheered for us! #FaZeUp #IDEMO — Janko Paunovic (@YNk) August 26, 2020 Regardless, it was clear that NiKo wasn’t ready to roll over with what was being said about his team. As FaZe prepares for upcoming CSGO events around the corner, there’s going to be more opportunities to prove how far this iteration of the lineup fare with the quality of players it has on the roster.

NiKo believes G2 are “close” to winning trophies: “It’s a matter of time before we do it” Simon Howar/ESLAhead of G2’s first match in the BLAST Premier Fall Groups, Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač said that the ESL Pro League stumble was down to the team’s poor preparation after the summer break and noted that the only way is up. NiKo joined G2 Esports from FaZe in October 2020 in one of the biggest transfer deals in Counter-Strike history. He linked up with his cousin Nemanja ‘huNter-‘ Kovač in a squad packed with talent and that included a Major winner in Kenny ‘kennyS’ Schrub. But almost 12 months on, G2 are yet to lift a trophy with the Bosnian star. After achieving stability following Audric ‘JaCkz’ Jug’s return to the team in March, they came close to breaking their title duck at IEM Cologne, only to be swept by NAVI in the best-of-five grand final. NiKo is happy with the progress G2 have made in recent months in establishing themselves as “a solid top three team”. However, he stressed that he will never be satisfied by just competing and that he is targeting silverware. “I joined the team to win trophies, not to be top three or top five,” he told Dexerto. “We are definitely not satisfied with our results. “But overall, I’m really happy [with the team]. Everyone is working really hard and willing to sacrifice everything to achieve the same goals. We’re on the same page in most of the things. That’s the reason why we have been a bit more consistent than when I joined. “I think we are very close to winning trophies. I think it still requires a lot of practice, and maybe implementing some new things or switching some roles around. “I think we definitely have what it takes to win one and that it’s a matter of time before we do it. I’m not saying that we will create an era or anything. But I’m very confident we will lift some trophies.” Mental block The IEM Cologne grand final against NAVI was not as straightforward as the scoreline might suggest. G2 put up strong fights on Mirage and Nuke but ended up collapsing at the final hurdle as the CIS giants ramped up the pressure in the closing moments. Discover more: The CSGO Record That Will Never Be Broken! – And NiKo emphasized how important it would be for some of the team’s players to lift a trophy, saying that a title would alleviate some of the burden. “Winning a tournament definitely helps with your confidence and definitely helps with easing the pressure,” NiKo said. “It helps with many aspects in the team, especially with those players who haven’t won many big events. “Once we’ve done it, I think confidence will slightly increase and that we will start performing a bit better when it comes to those tight games.” EPL struggles G2 began the season on the wrong foot, finishing bottom of their ESL Pro League group without a single victory from five series. They even lost to Sinners, who were then ranked outside the top 20, and to a Complexity side fielding a stand-in. NiKo blamed the team’s “sloppy” approach to the tournament for their horrendous run and said that they have been hard at work in preparation for their next events. “I think we were very sloppy when coming from holiday and into our first event,” he explained. “Maybe we made a mistake in not going to a bootcamp and deciding to have one only before the playoffs, which we, unfortunately, missed out on. “I’d say that was the reason why we started the season poorly.” G2 will be looking to give a much better account of themselves in the BLAST Premier Fall Groups. They are the highest-ranked team in Group B and are expected to breeze into the second round after being paired with World No.48 MIBR, who are attending the event with two stand-ins. “I think it’s going to be hard to see a worse G2 [than the one in EPL],” he said, laughing. “I don’t think we can get any worse than that, so that’s always a good sign. Read more: k0nfig reportedly set to join Astralis – “We have worked mostly on our map pool, just making sure ready we are ready on the maps we weren’t before, and making sure that we are getting back in form, individually and as a team. “We had a sloppy start, which is not a good sign, but I’m confident we can get back to the performances we had.”

Nigma Galaxy put CSGO division on hold: “Will look into it in the future” ESL/Nigma GalaxyMiddle Eastern esports organization Nigma Galaxy have confirmed their withdrawal from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for the foreseeable future. When esports orgs Nigma and Galaxy Racer announced their merger in September 2021, they made it clear that they had ambitions of becoming the “biggest esports organization” within the next three years. The new competitive arm of Galaxy Racer, Nigma Galaxy have wasted little time in making major changes to their esports strategy — one of which, as Dexerto have learned, is departing from Valve’s FPS title. Their Swedish team, headlined by former Fnatic and NIP player Simon ‘twist’ Eliasson, announced on October 20 that they were looking for a new organization to represent. They are currently ranked 51st in the world by HLTV.org. Hello guys I would like to announce that we are searching for an organisation to represent, The line up consist of @chawzyyy @dezoncsgo @ElGrucko @Plessencsgo and me!For any questions regarding our team contact @ImBonafide — Simon Eliasson (@twist) October 20, 2021 “The roster is free to explore other opportunities, for the time being we won’t be in CSGO,” Nigma Galaxy confirmed to Dexerto. “We love CSGO and will look into it in the future. We [would be] more than happy if the current CSGO roster finds a home where they will feel comfortable.” In the month leading up to their eventual departure from Nigma Galaxy, the team achieved a top-two finish in the Pinnacle Fall Series 2 Regionals and top-four placements in open qualifiers for DreamHack Open November and IEM Winter. Twist and his Nigma Galaxy teammates Denis ‘grux’ Gutaj, Niclas ‘PlesseN’ Plessen, Adam ‘dezon’ Wahlqvist, and Hugo ‘chawzyyy’ Günther are sticking together and are on the hunt for a new org to compete under moving forward. 𝗔 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗘𝗿𝗮 𝗕𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝘀🌟 We’re excited to announce Nigma Galaxy, the new competitive division of Galaxy Racer, a merger between @TeamNigma and @GalaxyRacerDxb! For more information, visit https://t.co/T7eSkDPypR#StarsAlign #NigmaGalaxy pic.twitter.com/R24ecZrCKo — Nigma Galaxy (@NigmaGalaxy) September 20, 2021 While Nigma Galaxy haven’t explicitly stated that they’ve chosen to compete in Valorant over CS:GO, they are now only competing in the former. They currently field two Valorant teams, a men’s squad and a women’s roster, both from the Philippines. Their men’s squad recently competed in the VCT SEA Stage 3: Challengers Playoffs, finishing 13th-16th.

Neymar hypes up FURIA ahead of PGL CSGO Major playoff match Twitter: @PSG_EnglishSoccer prodigy Neymar showed his excitement for Brazilian CS:GO team FURIA, hours before their PGL Major Stockholm clash against Gambit. FURIA will step onto the stage on November 5 in a do-or-die match against world No.4 Gambit in the quarter-finals of PGL Major Stockholm. The Brazilian team made it through the Legends Stage with a 3-1 record, losing to Astralis before beating MOUZ, Liquid and Entropiq. But Gambit, one of the best teams of 2021, are an entirely different caliber of opponent. The last time the two teams faced each other, in September 2021, Gambit ran out comfortable 2-0 victors, dropping just 13 rounds in the series. Neymar hypes up FURIA With the odds firmly against FURIA, Neymar posted messages of support for the team on Twitter, using the hashtag #DiadeFuria, which quickly began trending in Brazil. “If there is one thing that makes me happy, it is to see Brazilians making their dreams come true,” he wrote. “And when you know the person, you’re three times as happy. “Today is clutch day for KSCERATO, arT will play like a loose dog, VINI will lurk, drop will curse at the guys, and nothing less than the AWP of yuurih.” Se tem uma coisa me deixa feliz, é ver brasileiro realizando seus sonhos. E quando você conhece a pessoa, a felicidade triplica. #DiadeFuria— Neymar Jr (@neymarjr) November 5, 2021 Hoje é dia de clutch do @kscerato Cachorrada do @arTcsgo @FURIA_VINI de lurker Juvena xingar os caras @dropcsgo_ E nada mais nada menos do que a AWP do @yuurih #DIADEFURIA— Neymar Jr (@neymarjr) November 5, 2021 This is not the first time that Neymar has expressed support for FURIA during the PGL Major. In the Legends Stage match between FURIA and Liquid, who boast Brazilian veteran Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo in their ranks, the Paris Saint-Germain star posted a picture on Instagram showing that he was watching streamer Alexandre ‘Gaules’ Borba’s broadcast of the match. Neymar is an avid CS:GO player himself, regularly seen streaming his games on his Twitch channel, where he has amassed over 1.7 million followers. Read more: Messi and Neymar send message to PSG Talon – In December 2020, he pulled off a 1v3 pistol clutch in a CSGO stars match against the likes of Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut and Richard ‘shox’ Papillon. DJ Esports odds: FURIA are priced at 3.761 to beat NAVI Odds correct at the time of writing.

Neymar hyped up after insane 1v3 clutch vs CSGO stars Zywoo & shox Neymar – Twitch / ESLSuperstar footballer and avid gamer, Neymar, pulled off an incredible 1v3 pistol clutch vs ZywOo and shox in CS:GO, getting the entire lobby up on their feet in excitement. With the current global situation forcing professional athletes to stay home, many of them have turned to gaming and live-streaming in their free time, including the likes of Neymar, whose been grinding CS:GO when he’s not practicing or playing for Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil. During one of his recent broadcasts, he was matched up against a pretty star-studded team – featuring two of the biggest names in CS:GO, ZywOo and Shox, both of whom play for Team Vitality in Paris, where the Brazilian also plays professionally. With the first round underway and everyone using pistols, Neymar found himself in a difficult situation, having to defend the bomb while ZywOo, Shox, and Gotaga were all still alive on the other team. Somehow, someway, the PSG star took down all three enemy players to improbably win the round. Even after his teammate went down and left him in seemingly impossible circumstances, he pistoled down both Gotaga and shox to finish things off, jumping up in excitement after the final kill. While his teammates were cheering him on, even those on the enemy team were hyped up for Neymar’s clutch, laughing about it in the in-game chat. Funnily enough, that wasn’t the only wow moment of the match for Neymar; with his squad up 10-4, he victimized ZyWoo again, this time in humiliating fashion – sneaking up behind the Frenchman and slicing him up with a knife. Luckily, fans were able to see all of this from Neymar’s POV, including his awesome reactions to both moments. If it happened a couple of weeks ago, when his Twitch account was suspended, maybe we don’t get to watch all of this action unfold. Read More: Fnatic eyeing Swedish CS:GO star Jackinho – The temporary ban was issued after Neymar had accidentally leaked his Brazilian teammate Richarlison’s personal phone number. Because the VoD of that stream never got deleted, Twitch had no choice but to push the punishment through, despite there being several weeks between the two incidents.