Author: Nik Ranger

Four more CS:GO teams qualify for IEM Katowice Major 2019 – EU and CIS Minor results and recap ESLThe IEM Katowice 2019 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive major is drawing ever closer and the race for qualification is heating up and another four CS:GO squads have secured a spot after the conclusion of the CIS and European Minors. Each Minor featured two groups of four teams playing a GSL style format. The top two teams from each group then advanced to a double-elimination playoff bracket and only two teams could guarantee a spot in the New Challengers stage of the Katowice Major. No Grand Final is played. In the CIS Minor, AVANGAR’s players put on a clinic. The Kazakh squad bounced back from a 2-1 loss at the hands of Winstrike in the group stage to defeat the Russian’s 2-1 in the Winner’s Final of the playoff bracket and confirm their status status as New Challengers. In a heartbreaking turn of events for the Winstrike players, they went on to lose the Loser’s Final against Team Spirit and miss out on the second qualification spot, too. The team that beat AVANGAR in the group stage and Gambit during the Playoffs will get one final chance to qualify via the IEM Katowice Minor Playoff tournament where the third place teams from all four Minors will compete for two places. CIS Minor Final Standings The Europe Minor, as is often the case, featured an impressive lineup of teams and it was clear from the outset that major upsets were not only possible, but likely. In Group A, OpTic Gaming didn’t win a single map and the Danes were quickly eliminated, but the big surprise came when Mousesports lost two matches to Valiance and failed to reach the playoff bracket. The impressive form of Valiance saw them push both ENCE and Vitality to a third map during the playoff matches, but they eventually fell short and ended the Minor in fourth place. Read More: HLTV reveals the Top 20 CS:GO Pros of 2018 – The Finnish players of ENCE were the class of the field, taking the first qualification spot and leaving Vitality and North to scrap it out in the Loser’s Final. Despite losing 2-0 to North earlier in the tournament, Vitality eventually prevailed and locked down a New Challengers slot on the back of a 69-38 match from Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut.

ForZe under fire for signing CSGO coach implicated in cheating scandal forZe TwitterRussian esports org forZe are facing backlash for signing former Hard Legion coach Aleksandr ‘zoneR’ Bogatiryev, who was banned by ESL for abusing a coaching bug that was found to compromise competitive CS:GO matches. After the initial wave of backlash, forZe clarified that zoneR was brought on for a “testing coach period” to the ‘forZe School,’ a project that teaches and develops emerging CSGO talent. They do not recognize the forZe School as an academy team and said its not affiliated with the main roster. “Zoner has made a big shameful mistake but we’ve decided to give him a second chance as he’s still a well-experienced coach,” forZe wrote in a statement. His work with the school will be conducted under supervision with the team’s management. Despite org CEO Sergey ‘MegioN’ Ignatko’s optimism for the signing, debacles within the CSGO competitive landscape in the last year created a perfect storm for doubt on the deal. Sergey “”MegioN”” Ignatko, CEO forZe eSports: “”First of all, ZoneR is known for bringing his team to the Major, so his coaching experience and understanding of the game will help to educate new guys who are “on fire” with CS: GO.(2/2) — FORZE Esports (@forzegg) October 24, 2020 “Not the smartest brand development choice, forZe have a lot of lovable characters and their storyline is exciting,” esports host and commentator Alex ‘MACHINE’ Richardson said. “Would be a shame to see an ill-thought out decision damage their reputation or fan base.” Moreover, people are concerned that the org would position young, impressionable players to work with a person who was found cheating. “This has to be a joke, right?” FaZe Clan coach Janko ‘YNk’ Paunovic said. “The most blatant cheater in coaching is supposed to set an example for young players? My mind is blown, absolutely disgraceful from forZe.” On September 1, Hard Legion announced they were parting ways with zoneR, who went by the in-game name ‘MechanoGun’ at the time, following ESL’s decision to ban him as well as two other coaches after an investigation found them guilty of using a coach’s spectating bug. It was initially decided that zoneR would be banned for 24 months from playing or coaching in ESL or DreamHack events. ESL later upgraded his ban to 36 months after the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) concluded their investigation of the bug’s abuse. Of the 37 CSGO coaches found cheating, zoneR’s three-year ban was the longest penalty issued by far. He was found of using the bug in 16 cases, and had “Tier 1 Aggravated” sanctions levied against him. This comes at a sensitive time for the CSGO community, who have been anxiously awaiting any further reaction from Valve on the coaching scandal. Some are worried the publisher might create bigger consequences or tweak team structures to prevent it from happening again in the future. “If Valve removes coaching it’ll be because of some BULL**** like this,” CSGO commentator and BOXR CEO, Mohan ‘launders’ Govindasamy, said. To make things a little bit more clear. We decided to give him a CHANCE to be useful and atone for his guilt and understand why the reaction of the community is very ambiguous. Please, read👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/HZIw2dmxN6 — FORZE Esports (@forzegg) October 24, 2020 A similar concern sprouted when CSGO teams whose coaches were implicated in ESIC’s findings were simply demoted from the position to an analyst role; thereby using a loophole to keep working with the team. ForZe will monitor their partnership with zoneR for the time being, but said they could part ways with him after the testing phase for his position has concluded.

ForZe under fire again in CSGO scrim recording controversy DreamHack / Adela SznajderRussian CS:GO team ForZe is under fire yet again after MAD Lions head coach Luis “peacemaker” Tadeu caught the team using recording software during scrims without the permission of their opponents. ForZe was already facing backlash after it hired former Hard Legion coach Aleksandr ‘zoneR’ Bogatiryev, who received a 36-month ban from ESL in September for exploiting a coaching bug. ZoneR joined in October as the lead for its academy team, with ForZe explaining, “his coaching experience and understanding of the game will help to educate new guys who are “on fire” with CS: GO.” But they still faced negative feedback from the community, with former FaZe Clan coach Janko ‘YNk’ Paunovic worried the influence of a convicted cheater was not an appropriate example for young players. This has to be a joke, right? The most blatant cheater in coaching is supposed to set an example for young players? My mind is blown, absolutely disgraceful from forZe. https://t.co/rNUuwnGVQR — Janko Paunovic (@YNk) October 24, 2020 The latest controversy facing ForZe MAD Lions head coach peacemaker tweeted a screenshot showing ForZe’s use of GOTV: a form of match recording software. He labeled the team’s use of the software ‘a problem’, and said, “it doesn’t feel right.” And also, we play each other in @Flashpoint like.. Idk this just doesnt feel right at all.. pretty disappointing. — Luis Peacemaker (@peacemaker) November 1, 2020 Recording scrims without the opponents’ permission is regarded as being an unspoken no-go in CSGO ethics, especially at high-level pro play. Recording such matches means teams can spectate strategies their opponents have been practicing, putting them at a severe disadvantage. Peacemaker then condemned the shady practices of ForZe, showing his disbelief towards the organization “forgetting” to disable the software while they were scrimming. However, ForZe coach Serbey LMBT Bezhanov admitted his team was “already working on banning [GOTV] from [the] server forever.” Well Im not willing to fight with you at all obv. Thats why Im sorry for this incident and forgetting to kick GOTV. Already working on banning it from server forever. I dont have admin pannel there so manager is on it. — Sergey LMBT Bezhanov (@LMBT_CSGO) November 1, 2020 But former FaZe coach YNk then claimed this was common practice from ForZe: “We’d have to ask them to kick the GOTV every single time we’d practice on their server.” It’s an unwanted controversy for LMBT, who received a 7.5-month ban in September for exploiting a spectator bug while at Hellraisers and ForZe, but was later cleared after an appeal. As always, we will keep updating this story as it continues to develop.

forZe reportedly set $1.5 million buyout for Na’Vi CSGO target Dreamhack/ForZeNatus Vincere has reportedly had to turn their attention to a different CS:GO signing after being quoted an absurd price tag from forZe for Evgeniy ‘FL1T’ Lebedev, according to NeL of 1PV. Even though their roster holds, arguably, the best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player in the world, Na’Vi have been unable to break through the stranglehold at the top of the rankings and dominate tournaments. After much speculation, the team finally parted ways with Danylo ‘Zeus’ Teslenko back in September, adding former star Ladislav ‘GuardiaN’ Kovács to their ranks. Yet, the reunion of Guardian and s1mple hasn’t quite worked as planned and now the former FaZe Clan star is seemingly set to be replaced, after reports claimed he had been replaced by Na’Vi Juniors player Rodion ‘fear’ Smyk in practice. However, it appears as if fear won’t be a permanent addition after the organization has reportedly been in the market to pick up a player from a rival CIS squad. According to French insider NeL, Na’Vi had turned their attention to forZe’s 21-year-old FL1T, but had been told his full buyout price was somewhere north of 1.5 million dollars. “Na’Vi dropped off and is looking into other options now,” NeL tweeted. “Won’t be a player for forZe nor Gambit for sure.” Na’Vi wanted FL1T but forZe wouldn’t let him go unless Na’Vi pays full buyout: more than 1.5M dollars. Na’Vi dropped off and is looking into other options now. Won’t be a player for forZe nor Gambit for sure. Crazy CIS orgs. — neL (@neLendirekt) January 18, 2020 Disputing the tweet, the forZe Twitter account fired back with a handful of tweets of their own – responding directly to NeL with a gif of Huell from Breaking Bad taking a nap on a bed of cash. They followed that up by issuing a TwitLonger statement on the matter, claiming that Na’Vi had contacted them about a transfer but “there were no offers made and no amount named” and they were looking to “stop any speculation and conjecture.” Even though CS:GO insiders like NeL have been perfectly sound with their information in the past, teams do dispute their claims – even if the insider’s claims come true eventually. It remains to be seen what Na’Vi will do to reshape their roster as they could very well dip into their junior team but it appears as if they do want a player with a bit more experience.

Fortnite has already passed CS:GO in all-time prize money Valve – CS:GO / Epic Games – FortniteThe Epic Games Battle Royale sensation, Fortnite, has skyrocketed to become the second-highest paying esports title in the history of the industry, passing CS:GO in the process. Released in July of 2017, Fortnite is a relative newcomer in the competitive video game landscape yet with its short track record, the Battle Royale title is already ascending to great heights in the esports industry. Throughout its rapid rise to the top of the pack, Fortnite has elevated past massive competitive franchises such as Call of Duty and Halo. However, in order to claim the second spot in the world, Fortnite just knocked CS:GO down a peg. The Esports Earnings website was recently updated to reveal that Fortnite had risen to the second overall spot in terms of worldwide prize pools. Read More: Dota 2. Among its peers at the top of the pack, juggernauts such as League of Legends and Starcraft 2 which released in 2009 and 2010 respectively, have played host to thousands of competitive tournaments over the years and generated tens of millions in collective prize pools. Fortnite on the other hand, being a more recent release, is yet to even so much as crack the 500 tournament mark. Yet even with such a low quantity of events in comparison, there’s no denying the significant impact it has had on the industry as a whole. Now sitting in the second spot overall, Fortnite tournaments have doled out $82,909,282.39 in total prizing compared to the $82,728,806.35 in collective CS:GO prize pools. In large part, the recent astronomical funding for the 2019 Fortnite World Cup event bumped the presence of Fortnite by a whopping $30 million USD. Kyle ‘Bugha’ Giersdorf of the Sentinels, walked away from the solos competition in first place, earning $3 million USD for his efforts. With ESL One New York right around the corner as the top CS:GO teams prepare to do battle inside the Barclays Center for their share in $200,000 USD, it’s likely that the FPS sensation will continue to go back and forth with the Battle Royale for some time. Meanwhile TwitchCon will soon serve as host for a huge Twitch Rivals Fortnite tournament which will boast a gargantuan 1.2 million USD prize pool. –

Forsen channels his inner summit1g with CSGO molotov fail Popular Twitch streamer Sebastian ‘Forsen’ Fors managed to channel his inner Summit1g for a hilarious Molotov disaster in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. While he’s not a highly-successful CS:GO pro of any kind, Jaryd ‘Summit1g’ Lazar became infamous within the game’s community for his stunning fail at DreamHack Austin back in 2016. What came to be known as a ‘1G’ involved the hugely popular Twitch streamer dying to his flames while trying to clutch up a crucial round for his Splyce teammates. The moment has followed him ever since – even in games outside of CS:GO – and any streamer who dies to their own flames of in any title get references to Summit and the ‘1G’ meme. That cruel fate fell upon Forsen during his December 1 stream, as he continued trying his hand at getting to grips with CS:GO. With the time left in the round ticking down, he found himself with an open A bombsite on Inferno and jumped out of the apartment spot in order to plant the bomb. In doing so, the streamer tried to create some space for himself by tossing out an incendiary grenade towards the library position. However, he failed and the flames landed on top of the bombsite, essentially cutting him off. Forsen tried to get the bomb down by began being engulfed by the heat. Even though he tried to run away, the streamer managed to clip the edge of the flames and fell to his death, ending the round. As the in-game and Twitch chats both filled up with laughter, the Swede didn’t rage or offer up any excuses. Instead, he muttered a subtle “well” and added “I’ve got nothing,” as even he couldn’t help but laugh. Of course, Forsen probably isn’t going to take over the mantel of the 1G but it’s a good reminder to always be careful around flames, especially when thousands of people are watching and waiting to meme it.

Former SK Gaming CS:GO Roster Officially Move to ‘Made in Brazil’ (MiBR), Partner with Tinder and Betway The full former roster of SK Gaming have officially completed their move to Immortals’ owned brand Made in Brazil (MiBR), with the team’s first two sponsors confirmed. The move has been anticipated for months, with fans waiting expectantly for the official announcement amid growing speculation of discontent between SK and their now former players. The players had even chosen not to wear their official SK jersey’s during recent tournaments, signalling that the move was imminent. On June 7th, the reveal date was provided, set for June 23rd when the legendary MiBR brand would make its return to esports, after US organization Immortals purchased the rights. More: Hastr0 Explains Why Team Envy Dropped Its French CS:GO Teams and Hints at Future Plans in the Space – The team is a full transfer of the former SK players and coach, Ricardo “dead” Sinigaglia, with all players hailing from Brazil with the exception of former Cloud 9 star Jacky “Stewie2K” Yip. MiBR is a nostalgic name to many, especially Brazilian CS:GO fans, as the organization represented teams from 2003 until 2012. Immortals CEO Noah Whinston, who is also the CEO of Overwatch League team Los Angeles Valiant, purchased the MiBR brand earlier in 2018. The full roster is Gabriel “Fallen” Toledo, Marcelo “coldzera” David, Fernando “fer” Alvarenga, Marcelo “coldzera” David, Ricardo “boltz” Prass and Stewie2K. In addition to the team announcement, two major new sponsors have also been announced, with dating app Tinder and bookmakers Betway both partnering up with the MiBR brand. “We couldn’t be more excited to support the revival of @mibr.” #RUNMIBR Read the full announcement here: https://t.co/rsCK76z53k — betway esports (@betwayesports) June 23, 2018 Don’t go anywhere, and swipe right for the show match brought to you by our new wingman, @Tinder. #ORETORNO EN – https://t.co/0S5l8NimsG PT-BR – https://t.co/2vNosIk6cN pic.twitter.com/cLv51FuCXG— MIBR (@mibr) June 23, 2018 These brands join the companies already sponsoring Immortals: K-Swiss, Razor and and Mountain Dew. Betway has already shown interest in CS:GO esports specifically, partnered with Swedish organization Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP). Apparently, the Tinder sponsorship will connect Counter-Strike fans together, although it is unclear exactly how this will operate.

Former OpTic Star Mixwell’s Time With G2 Esports Comes To An End as French CS:GO Roster Shuffle Looks Imminent G2 EsportsFormer OpTic Gaming star Oscar ‘mixwell’ Cañellas has found himself without a team once more as G2 Esports have decided to let him “explore other options”. The Spanish star became the face of the OpTic Gaming CS:GO roster during his stint with the North American organization in 2016 and 2017. However, he decided to leave the roster in February of 2018 and quickly found himself on G2 Esports as a trial member in March after the French team benched Richard ‘shox’ Papillon. The reason for the legendary French member’s removal was that he had proposed a total overhaul of the roster which would see Nathan ‘NBK-‘ Schmitt and Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire replaced by Edouard ‘SmithZz’ Dubourdeaux and Kévin ‘Ex6TenZ’ Droolans. Read More: CS:GO Commentator HenryG Makes “Colossal Error” While Travelling to StarLadder Season 5 Finals – The G2 players and organization ended up siding with NBK- and apEX and NBK- took over the in-game leadership responsibilities but disappointing results quickly led to rumors popping up left, right, and center about shox returning and forming his proposed team. The first step towards those rumors proving to be true came on May 28th when G2 announced that they were officially parting ways with Mixwell and entering talks with the shox, SmithZz, NBK-, and the rest about the future of the lineup. As of today, we are allowing @Mixwell to explore possible options outside of G2 Esports. READ » https://t.co/uoNYRboxVN pic.twitter.com/zc0aYJQBHi — G2 Esports (@G2esports) May 28, 2018 The team’s coach and manager, Jerome ‘NiaK’ Sudries, explained the decision and gave mixwell some major props in the process: “The decision-making process to define the final line-up that will represent G2 Esports moving forward has started. While this occurs, we wish to give Oscar the opportunity to explore any options on the market. It is important for us to make it clear that Oscar has been an incredible teammate ever since he joined us for a trial and in a particular context which has undoubtedly added difficulties for him to show his full potential. His maturity, his worth ethic but also his ability to adapt to a new role and all of that in a language that he hasn’t practiced for years makes Oscar a player of a rare value in CS:GO. We have no doubts that he will find success in the upcoming years, regardless whether he ends up in G2’s final lineup or not.” What will happen next for mixwell and G2 Esports is currently unknown. The Spanish star took to Twitter to thank the players that he had spent his time with and say that they “know what I think about this situation”. Recent rumors have linked both NBK- and apEX with a possible move to Cloud9, who dropped Pujan ‘FNS’ Mehta on May 26th, so expect to hear more from the G2 camp very soon.

Former OpTic Star Mixwell Creates New Roster With Movistar Riders: “Nothing is going to stop us” Movistar RidersOscar ‘mixwell’ Cañellas released a statement following the announcement that he will be heading up the new Movistar Riders CS:GO roster. The former OpTic Gaming star has been without a permanent home since leaving the North American organization in February of 2018 but will now be heading up an entirely Spanish team alongside the likes of Christian ‘loWel’ Garcia Antoran. The Spaniard states that Fernando Piquer, the CEO of Movistar Riders, wanted to make a team that would excite Spanish fans and wished to “create something that has long been in the making: a Spanish team to compete at the highest level”. Commenting in the official press release, he makes it clear that nothing will stop them now that they have realized that dream. “We have worked a lot and sorted many last-minute obstacles to get this dream team, and so the moment to show what we are capable of has come. Nothing is going to stop us once we start oiling the machine.” Piquer emphasized the importance of having a strong Spanish roster and commented on how proud they are of their new project: “The road hasn’t been easy, but Oscar had a very clear road map. We are proud to have a team like this. Long time ago, we decided to maintain two teams to play at a national and international level, but we had to decide, and I’m sure it is the right one. I would like to thank both teams and their coaches the involvement and dedication they showed for the Club, as well as how they have defended the team colours in each tournament.” In a personal statement on Twitter, mixwell speaks about his time living in America and playing for OpTic Gaming. He talks about how he left Spain to follow his dream of making a living by playing CS:GO and says that he grew both professionally and personally during his time there. “Since then, I have been growing personally and professionally. I have failed and I have succeeded. I have lived moments of all kind and met people I will never forget, which has given me the experience and confidence to take on another thrilling adventure.” Mixwell says that the Spanish CS:GO scene also grew while he was away and that the new opportunity alongside the likes of loWel and other top Spanish players is the first of its kind for the region. Movistar Riders now consists of: Oscar ‘mixwell’ Cañellas – Christian ‘loWel’ Garcia Antoran – Aitor ‘SOKER’ Fernández – Alejandro ‘ALEX’ Masanet – Alejandro ‘mopoz’ Cano –

CS:GO: Former OpTic India players signed by new organization OpticFollowing one of the biggest cheating scandals in recent memory, some of the former OpTic India players are getting a new lease on life in competitive CS:GO. During the eXTREMESLAND 2018 Finals in October, OpTic India player Nikhil ‘forsaken’ Kumawat was caught cheating during a match, which led to his team’s disqualification from the tournament and eventual release from the team. It was an unfortunate circumstance for those players who hadn’t been cheating, but in the months following the messy aftermath, some of forsaken’s former teammates will not be getting a second chance. The exact moment when admins at #eXTREMESLAND2018 caught forsaken and he attempted to delete the hack pic.twitter.com/rZG7aYBdbD — CSGO2ASIA (@CSGO2ASIA) October 19, 2018 Indian esports organization Signify announced their new CS:GO team on December 20, and it includes two former members of Optic India: Lukas ‘yb’ Gröning and Agneya ‘Marzil’ Koushik. They will be joined by Cong ‘crazyguy’ Anh, Debanjan ‘Deathmaker’ Das, and Tejas ‘Ace’ Sawant to round out the five-man roster. Other than yb and Marzil, former Optic India member Sabyasachi ‘Antidote’ Bose has found a spot on 2ez Gaming’s roster. Forsaken’s cheating incident was one of the most publicized things to happen at an esports event this year and was definitely a black eye for Optic, so his former teammates are no doubt ready to move past the incident with another shot in competitive CS:GO. There’s no word yet on when the new team will make their debut, but expect them to quickly try and move away from the shadow of OpTic India’s checkered history. Signify Lukas ‘yb‘ Groenig – Agneya ‘Marzil‘ Koushik – Cong ‘Crazyguy‘ Anh – Tejas ‘Ace’ Sawant – Debanjan ‘Deathmaker‘ Das –

Former OpTic India player breaks silence following the forsaken cheating scandal OpTic IndiaOne of the former OpTic India CS:GO players, Agneya ‘Marzil’ Koushik, has released a statement about the cheating scandal involving his former teammate, Nikhil ‘forsaken’ Kumawat. Forsaken was caught cheating at the $100,000 eXTREMESLAND 2018 LAN event in Shanghai which resulted in him and the rest of OpTic India being disqualified for the event. The guilty player was kicked from OpTic shortly after and the rest of the team didn’t last much longer, despite denying having any knowledge about his actions. Now Marzil, who had been on the roster with forsaken since June, has released lengthy statement on Facebook, lamenting the turn of events and doubling down on the comments about not knowing what was going on. “What forsaken did is unforgivable as he has destroyed so many people’s hard work and cost multiple people jobs and opportunities for no fault of their own,” said the for OpTic man. “I know I’ve also publicly defended forsaken in the past and I am sorry for the same. I put too much faith in somebody since the anticheat systems couldn’t catch him for so long and I believed it to be another ropz sort of case.” Robin ‘ropz’ Kool is an Estonian phenom who rose through the ranks of the FACEIT Pro League at an alarming rate, earning a great deal of suspicion from the community and other pro players in the process. The no 18-year-old eventually had to travel to the FACEIT offices and play in front of their admins to help prove his innocence and was picked up by Mousesports soon after. Unfortunately for Marzil and the rest of OpTic India, this was not the case for forsaken. It has also been proven that the Indian player cheated at the ESL India Premiership finals, an event that OpTic India took first place in. “I am taking this time to actually reset by spending time with family and friends, playing other video games and just MAYBE sometimes playing some PUGs to keep me warm and sharp,” Marzil continued. “I do not know what my future is going to be like but I’d like to make an informed decision about the same.”

Former OpTic CS:GO Player and Coach Hazed Provides Update on Missing Payment Situation Credit: Esports Championship SeriesJames’ hazed’ Cobb, a former coach and stand-in for the OpTic Gaming CS:GO team, has provided an update on the lack of payment that he received from the organization. Hazed joined OpTic as a coach in April of 2017 but soon found himself standing in for the team at various events like IEM Sydney and the ECS Season 3 Finals. Unfortunately a breakdown in communication led to hazed revealing in February of 2018 that he had not received any prize money from the team for the events that he participated in – a revelation that caused quite the stir within the community. OpTic Gaming’s management were quick to respond, stating that they would never intentionally fail to compensate a player for their services and that the situation would be dealt with promptly. It seems that the people at OpTic were true to their word because on May 12th the veteran player took to Twitter to post an update, saying that he has now received money for all of the tournaments he attended with the team. As hazed was only a trial coach and stand-in for OpTic Gaming during the time in question, the organization was not contractually obliged to pay him and he makes it clear that he is very grateful for the way things were handled. Giving an update on the @OpTicGaming payment situation. They paid me for the tournaments i went to as a stand in even though they werent contractually obligated. They caught a lot of flak over this earlier in the year but they honored their word. I couldnt be more thankful. — James Cobb (@hazedCS) May 11, 2018 After the amount of flak that they received when the news first broke, OpTic Gaming staff are sure to be just as thankful that hazed posted the update and put the whole situation to bed. Hazed attended a total of four offline events with OpTic Gaming, finishing 5th-8th at ESL One Cologne and the ECS Season 3 Finals, winning the CyberPower Spring Invitational, and placing 3rd – 4th at IEM Sydney. With those results, the North American player is sure to have received a substantial payday once it arrived from OpTic Gaming.

Former OpTic CoD Player Karma Shows His Transferable Skills with CS:GO and Rainbow Six Clutches Recently stepping down from the competitive Call of Duty roster for OpTic Gaming, Damon “Karma” Barlow has been streaming daily, and proving that his skills are not limited to CoD. Karma of course had one of the most storied careers in Call of Duty, but it came to an abrupt end after the team struggled in the early part of the 2018 season. Despite having offers from other teams, Karma decided to take a break from the pressures and struggles of competing, and focus on his personal brand and streaming. Many fans knew what to expect, as Karma had been an intermittent streamer throughout his time as a professional player, and he has proven in the past that he can more than hold his own in other games too. Some may have seen this crazy clip on CS:GO, just shortly after his announcement that he would take a break from competing. Proving that he is no slouch with either controller or keyboard and mouse, he puts down four enemies in quick succession with some precise USP shots. And he didn’t stop there, as he recently purchased Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, and with very little experience on the game, proved he is simply talented at video games. Left in a tough 1v5 spot, Karma takes down most of the team with rapid accuracy, before playing the final 1v1 with the kind of shrewdness fans have come to expect in his CoD career. My ”Casual” clutch on R6. I had to 1v5s but I died to a claymore… pic.twitter.com/iAOvJTd1XV — Damon B (@OpTic_DKarma) May 17, 2018 He also apparently clutched another 1v5 – or would have, if it wasn’t for a pesky claymore ruining the final kill. Karma is clearly putting all of his efforts into his stream, and can be found playing a variety of games, from Rust to Fortnite. You can watch Karma live on his channel, or follow him on Twitter for updates.

Former OpTic India player Forsaken explains why he cheated Former OpTic India Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player Nikhil ‘forsaken’ Kumawat has spoken publicly for the first time on the cheating scandal that rocked the Asian CS:GO community, stating that he now wishes that he had never played the game. OpTic India were disqualified from the eXTREMESLAND 2018 CS:GO tournament after Kumawat was caught cheating. After being sacked by OpTic, Kumawat deleted his social media accounts and initially refused to speak to anyone about the incident. However, forsaken has finally ended his silence, speaking about the scandal in public for the first time in an interview with AFK Gaming. He also released a statement. When asked by AFK Gaming about what he would have done differently, Kumawat responded: “If I could go back, I would probably delete the day I first played Counter-Strike – nothing good has happened to me since the day I first played that game. “I am extremely sorry to my teammates, OpTic management and the people who always put their trust in me. I feel guilty of stealing away the opportunities from my teammates. Each one was extremely talented and I have jeopardized their chances of being where they deserve.” Kumawat also clarified that he did not attempt to resist the admin’s decision to inspect his PC, but did close the window that had the cheat in it when the referee found it. 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 Forsaken said that “there was no pressure” from outside forces to cheat, rather that he did it due to a lack of confidence in his aim. The cheat which the Indian player used was designed to give him a slight assist with his aiming, and forsaken has admitted that he used it throughout OpTic India’s pre-tournament bootcamp without anyone knowing. Forsaken hopes to move forward into a new career through which he can help his family, although he is currently unsure as to what that new path will be. You can read Kumawat’s full statement below. “I want to start this by apologizing to my teammates, OpTic management and the people who put their trust in me. I feel extremely guilty for stealing away the opportunities from my teammates, each one was extremely talented and I have jeapordized their chances of being where they deserve. I did not have any financial pressure, any family pressure or anything as a reason to cheat, it was all me. It was all me who wanted to win every game, wanted to be perfect in every aspect of the game. I was confident in my decision making, I was confident in understanding of the game etc, but was never confident in my aim so to compensate that lack of confidence in aim I had to choose the wrong path. None of my teammates had any idea of me using any external programme including my coach and manager. They simply trusted in me and I am sorry to say I failed them. The hack was not too blatant (even though people think it might be), no-one in my team or people standing behind us (coach or manager etc) had any idea I was using anything. It gave me a slight advantage over my natural aiming so it was almost negligible to be observed by people around me. I was also very careful to only use it occasionally and in hiding it after games. I did use hacks inside the bootcamp but it was impossible for them to know. As I already said it only gave me a slight advantage in terms of accuracy, precision and better registry of bullets so it was not visible to people observing me outside the game. There were also no instances to doubt me but whenever clips were online I was quick to come up with an excuse and took advantage of their trust in me. If I could go back I would probably delete the day when I first played counterstrike. Nothing good has happened to me since the day i started playing the game. I thought this game was for me but since last almost one year i have not been loyal to it. I worked hard but i wasn’t loyal. I gave everything away for the game, I always put this game above everything else and today I realize what I have lost. One thing I always put everything above on and I cheated it. I lost everything when putting CS above everything and today I lost CS too. The only thing I never lost is my family and my girlfriend and I hope to never cheat on them. I am broken inside but I am paying for what I did. I have committed a far greater mistake for the community and I must pay not only for my mistake but also for the people who trusted in me. I know my career in CS is over. All I can do is to try something in life so that I can be able to help my family. I have never think of doing anything other than CS. I will try to improve for my mistake and be a better person.i never ever cheated in the tryouts because it was one of my first lans and i wanted to give my best there and i tried convincing myself to leave it and do it by my own and I didn’t had the courage to that also but when I came to bootcamp I was not been able to adjust on pc and by looking towards my teammates the urge to good at every aspect lead me to this again, so I could use it in bootcamp without anyone knowing about it, it gave me the courage to use it in further lans I have betrayed the trust of people who believed in me. I have dragged the name of the country in the dirt and I know it’s unforgivable. There is no one else to blame but me. No one else should have to take the hate and blame for this but me. I saw the holes in the system and I took advantage of it for my own blind, selfish reasons. And I have nothing but regret. Even after I had served the ESIC ban, I could have started over, but in my stupidity and selfishness I continued to cheat. So many people have fought for me and stood up for me, and I realize now, how many people I have betrayed and how they are facing the punishment which is meant for me. – Nikhil ‘forsaken’ Kumawat

Former NIP CSGO player nawwk seeks fresh start with Apeks ApeksTim ‘nawwk’ Jonasson has been announced as Apeks’ second CS:GO player for 2022, ending a long wait for a return to action. The Swedish player is raring to get back into the game after spending the last eight months on Ninjas in Pyjamas’ bench following the organization’s high-profile signing of Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz from Astralis. The 24-year-old had spoken to Dexerto about the difficulty in finding a new team in the current climate, also opening up about his mental health struggles during his time in NIP’s starting lineup. After failing to live up to the hype surrounding him with NIP and enduring a tough time on the bench, nawwk is embracing a fresh start with Apeks. “Starting from scratch will be a great feeling,” he said in a statement. “It sure does mean we need to work a lot harder to get where we want to be. “But it also brings a ton of motivation from every possible angle. All the players are coming from different teams, so we will have a lot of experience from different scenarios and be able to help and give feedback to each other.” Nawwk is the second confirmed player by Apeks for next year. The team will be led by Asger ‘AcilioN’ Larsen, the only player that the organization is retaining from the 2021 roster, which failed to break into the top 30 in HLTV’s world ranking. One piece of the puzzle is in place! Apeks x @nawwkcs 💙🧡#changingthegame pic.twitter.com/shHItvEr6h — Apeks (@apeksgg) December 16, 2021 Anders Kjær, Apeks’ Head of Esports, underlined that the new team has been assembled with loftier goals in mind. “People that are willing to commit 100% to become the best that they can be,” he said about the profile of players the organization will sign. “There will be no room for slacking or holding back. “If you join us you are expected to spend every hour of every single day in the best possible way, to become the best in the world.”

Former NiP coach Pita admits to using CSGO coaching exploit StarLadderFormer Ninjas in Pyjamas coach Faruk ‘pita’ Pita has admitted to using CSGO’s controversial coaching bug all the way back in 2018, but he did report it to Valve afterwards. Following the conclusion of ESL One Cologne 2020, the CSGO community was rocked on August 31 after ESL handed out bans to Heroic’s HUNDEN, MiBR’s dead, and Hard Legion’s MechanoGun for exploiting a bug. The bug allows coaches to freelook over parts of the map – meaning that they can set up a camera above a bombsite or elsewhere and then let their team know where enemies are coming from or what exact strategies they’re running in real-time. With the three coaches receiving heavy suspensions, others have come out and admitted using it, including former Ninjas in Pyjamas coach Pita – who even used all the way back in 2018. On September 4, the Swede admitted to using the exploit way back in 2018 during an ESL Pro League match against mousesports, before reporting it to Valve’s CSGO Twitter account. However, his messages was ignored for a few months by the devs until he figured out how it worked. “The reason why I did this was obviously because I was remorseful but also at the same time I wanted to get a fix to this,” Pita said in a TwitLonger, documenting what happened. “We didn’t play much online games in NiP so I wanted to get this fixed for the sake of the community.” The former NiP coach added that he would “accept any punishment” that might be coming his way because of this. He also noted that he only used the exploit once and anytime it popped up again, he spammed keys to stop it from happening. Pita concluded by adding that he is “happy to assist” with his demos – giving that CSGO referees and admins are currently combing through hours upon hours of previous games to root out anyone else who used the bug. It remains to be seen if the 29-year-old suffers any punishment for using the bug, or if his use falls outside of any investigation given that it happened in 2018.

Former NAVI CSGO star Boombl4 returns in new team João Ferreira/DexertoFormer NAVI captain Kirill ‘Boombl4’ Mikhaylov has officially returned to activity in a new team with fellow Russian players. Boombl4 has signed with 1win together with Aleksei ‘NickelBack’ Trofimov, rounding out a roster that had already been strengthened with the addition of Igor ‘Forester’ Bezotecheskiy earlier this month. The announcement marks Boombl4’s return to activity after nine months away from the game. He was removed from NAVI’s active roster in May 2022 due to what the Ukrainian organization described as “high reputational risks for the club”. It later turned out that Boombl4 and his wife, Lika ‘LiQueen’ Mikhailova, were involved in a messy divorce case that became public. Boombl4’s addition comes as a considerable boost for 1win, who feature one of the hottest talents in Eastern Europe in Denis ‘deko’ Zhukov. During Boombl4’s three-year tenure with NAVI, the Ukrainian team won several international tournaments, including PGL Major Stockholm in 2021, and the $1 million Intel Grand Slam Season 3. But despite his past success as an in-game leader, Boombl4 will not be calling the shots for 1win. Instead, it will be NickelBack taking the team’s reins, Dexerto has confirmed. 1win have also confirmed the appointment of a new coach in Dmitry ‘hooch’ Bogdanov, who reunites with his former Entropiq charges NickelBack and Forester. 1win CSGO roster: Denis ‘deko’ Zhukov – Aleksandr ‘TRAVIS’ Timkiv – Igor ‘Forester’ Bezotecheskiy – Kirill ‘Boombl4’ Mikhailov – Aleksei ‘NickelBack’ Trofimov – Dmitry ‘hooch’ Bogdanov (coach) –

Former MiBR CSGO coach potentially joining Evil Geniuses StarLadderAfter the departure of Chet ‘ImAPet’ Singh from Evil Geniuses, the North American organization are reportedly acquiring the services of former MiBR and Team Liquid coach Wilton ‘zews’ Prado. According to a report from DBLTAP, no final decision has been made, but the Brazilian apparently practiced with the EG squad on April 8, ahead of a potential move. Zews’ exit from the Brazilian favorites was somewhat surprising, after his years of success with the core of the roster. He also had a stint on Team Liquid, before rejoining his old teammates on MiBR in late 2018. MiBR have failed to live up to their own high standards during zews’ tenure, however, with their best placements being top 4 at both IEM Katowice 2019 and the CS:GO Asia Championships. Read More: How Golden saved Fnatic CSGO twice ImAPet left EG amid turmoil between him and some of the players, namely Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik and Peter ‘stanislaw’ Jarguz. Announcing his exit from the team, Singh stated “it’s no secret my relationship with Stan and tarik was absolutely horrendous,” explaining that they disagreed on strategic decisions. Despite this, EG performed well in a handful of events under ImAPet’s coaching, perhaps even overachieving compared to expectations for the lineup. If zews does join, it could repair the gap left by what we now know was a broken relationship between EG’s former coach and their in-game leader, stanislaw. EG are currently flying high in the ESL Pro League too, tied for top spot and qualified for playoffs. Their next match will be up against Team Liquid, for a spot in the grand final.

Former Immortals and 100 Thieves CS:GO pro in talks to join MIBR As we near the end of 2018, a number of high-profile CS:GO teams are looking to revamp their rosters, with MIBR reportedly looking to add a controversial player to the fold. December 11 clearly is the day of roster rumors, as it was first reported that MIBR would be making a trade with Team Liquid to receive Epitácio “TACO” de Melo and head coach Wilton “zews” Prado in exchange for Jacky ‘Stewier2k’ Yip. It now looks as though another deal might be in the works as Jarek ‘DeKay’ Lewis of VPEsports has reported that MIBR is in talks with Vito ‘kNgV-’ Giuseppe to join the active roster. While kNgV- has been out of the spotlight for most of 2018, he is no stranger to being the center of the conversation, having been involved in two high-profile incidents over the last year. He was first terminated by Immortals after Tweeting a death threat to Counter Logic Gaming’s Pujan ‘FNS’ Mehta after Dreamhack Montreal in October 2017. Then, after joining 100 Thieves in early 2018, kNgV- again found himself in the limelight for making homophobic comments towards Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields, which directly led to his release from 100 Thieves before even playing an official match. After spending some time out of the spotlight, kNgV- made a public apology to Immortals, 100 Thieves, Thorin, and FNS in a lengthy Twitlonger posted on December 7. He ended the apology by saying “I want to prove in and out of the game that I have changed.” Desculpas – Apologies [PT/EN] Read: https://t.co/be1fzCOVdQ — Vito Giuseppe (@kngvito) December 7, 2018 While it seemed like a somewhat sudden apology at first, it’s now clear that he’s trying to prove that he truly is ready for the big time again with MIBR. There will still be visa issues to sort out before anything can become official, but it looks as though kNgV- could be back in the mix with a MIBR team that is looking to recover from a string of disappointing performances in 2018.

Former G2 Esports in-game leader speaks out on CS:GO roster shuffle After the G2 Esports’ CS:GO roster underwent a major shuffle on November 26, their former in-game leader has shed light on the major changes. With the addition of Audric ‘JaCkz’ Jug and Lucas ‘Lucky’ Chastang to the new-look G2 roster, Kevin ‘Ex6TenZ’ Droolans was replaced as in-game leader and put on the bench. While the team stated that Ex6TenZ’s “leadership was not consistent with the new direction [they] wish to take,” Ex6TenZ has now spoken out about what led to his replacement on the roster. Just hours after the roster move was announced by the team, Ex6TenZ posted a Twitlonger in both French and English that gave a detailed account of the decisions that led to his departure. G2 Bench statement: ENGLISH VERSION Read: https://t.co/UbZei6nyKK — Ex6TenZ (@Ex6TenZZZ) November 26, 2018 Ex6TenZ starts out the statement by admitting that the team has issues to work out, namely that they lacked “firepower,” but said that he was nonetheless “100% confident for the future” with G2. In the end, however, things came down to the team either keeping him or Alexandre ‘bodyy’ Pianaro. “I was given the choice to stay instead of bodyy while giving up the leadership to [Richard ‘shox’ Papillon] who felt like he could take it over,” Ex6TenZ said of the ultimate decision he was given. Ex6TenZ said that while he had no problems giving up control to shox, he didn’t feel as though staying was the right move since he couldn’t picture himself taking over bodyy’s positions. Rather than risk not being able to make the transition, Ex6TenZ chose to walk away. Ex6TenZ concludes that he has a ton of respect for his teammates, but nonetheless feels that G2’s gameplan of bringing him on to “establish [his] plan and then taking this away” was “incoherent.” Read More: CS:GO: Tarik opens up about recent struggles following MiBR’s heartbreaking ECS loss to Astralis – While Ex6TenZ is currently on G2’s inactive roster, he will still be competing with his old roster at the ESL Pro League finals due to regulatory requirements.

Former CS:GO pro hilariously fails to demonstrate Dust 2 strategy Pimp Twitter / ValveSeems like 2019 will still hold hilarious CS:GO misplays from Jacob ‘Pimp’ Winneche, as the streamer was the victim of an all too familiar brand of flubs that plague his channel. Counter-Strike is a slow and meticulous game that rewards expert forethought and patient offense, but players are all too familiar with unexpected or chance occurrences that can easily foil a sound game plan. Former CS:GO pro player Pimp wanted to give his stream a teaching moment of how to quickly take Catwalk on Dust 2, but things didn’t exactly go the way the streamer had hoped. Pimp was at the tail end of a winning game on the Terrorist side and had a scoreline of 27 kills with 13 deaths, so the streamer got a little confident by attempting to take the express route to the A site by himself. Pimp proceeded to run down the shady corridor aptly named Suicide, knowing the other team couldn’t afford AWPs. He smoked Mid-Doors and ran down Top of Mid toward Catwalk while flashing the cross and bounced another flash off a window shutter to blind anyone peeking around Catwalk. At this point, the Danish player felt confident after his flashes had gone off, but a slight miscalculation with his crosshair placement and blind luck from the opposing player thwarted Pimp’s push. To his credit, Pimp correctly ascertained the enemy’s position and successfully obscured their vision. But the shots didn’t go the streamer’s way, giving him another entry in a long line of broken plays.

Former CSGO pro fer reveals his peak salary during career João Ferreira/PGLFormer SK Gaming and MIBR CS:GO pro Fernando ‘fer’ Alvarenga has revealed the highest salary he has earned since he started playing. As the esports industry has grown over the last decade, so has the amount of money that top players earn. With only a few exceptions, salaries in esports are kept secret, and they might only represent a fraction of what players earn. Last week, former CS:GO player Kenny ‘kennyS’ Schrub revealed that each player attending the Major is likely to earn at least $150,000 through the sale of the event’s in-game items. The five players who win the event, he estimated, could make between $500,000 and $1 million. Speaking on his stream, fer revealed that his first salary, back in CS 1.6, was just R$ 200 ($40 USD) a month. Fast forward a few years and he was earning approximately $1,000 USD a month at Keyd Stars, though part of that salary was used to cover the team’s expenses in the United States. After that, as his team became one of the best in the world, his salary skyrocketed, hitting $42,000 USD at one point. fer did not mention which of the teams he represented offered him that salary. fer is one of the most accomplished CS:GO players in the Americas, with over $1 million in career earnings and two Major titles, both won in 2016. The Brazilian has been inactive since the 2022 IEM Rio Major, which he attended with Imperial alongside his longtime teammate and friend Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo. Before that, he played for teams like Luminosity Gaming, SK Gaming and MIBR, making HLTV.org’s top 20 Player of the Year ranking in 2016 and 2017. When asked about how much money a tier-one CS:GO player makes these days, fer gave an estimate of $30,000 USD.

Former CS:GO Champion will reportedly sit out next Major, to stream instead ESLIt looks like the CS:GO roster shuffle will end up leaving a prominent name sitting on the sidelines for the new year’s first Major competition. The next Major tournament in CS:GO will be IEM Katowice which officially starts January 16, but the deadline for teams to finalize their rosters is January 1, which might not be enough time for a star player to complete his transition out from his current organization. MiBR player Tarik “tarik” Celik’s is currently signed to MiBR, but since the chaotic transfers in the off season, it was likely he was on his way out of the Brazilian-based organization. After Founder and CEO of CompLexity Jason Lake confirmed that negotiations were held for the former Major winner, he was doubtful that Tarik would be added to the team before the roster deadline. “We did have serious conversations with Tarik but I do not expect him to be joining us before the January 1 roster lock,” Lake said. “I remain an admirer of his and wish him the very best.” Soon after, prominent CS:GO reporter, Jarek “DeKay” Lewis gave his thoughts on the latest update for MiBR player Tarik “tarik” Celik’s current status. This coincides with everything I had heard behind the scenes. Last I was told Tarik would sit the Major out and stream. That could have obviously changed by now, but was the case earlier this week. https://t.co/A61tkO7dXy — DeKay (@dekay) December 20, 2018 “[Lake’s update] coincides with everything I had heard behind the scenes,” DeKay said. “Last I was told Tarik would sit the Major out and stream.” The news comes as a shock since Complexity was linked to sign the 22-year-old Turkish-American player after MiBR have reportedly moved ahead with plans to form an all-Brazilian team. DeKay indicates Tarik might not have been interested in the teams pursuing him enough to sign a multi-year deal. Since the deadline is fast-approaching and with no word of a new front runner to sign the former MVP, it looks like Tarik might have to sit out 2019’s first Major tournament.

$100,000 raised for family of former CS pro Atta Elayyan killed in Christchurch mosque shooting Lazyworm AppsOver $100,000 has been raised to support the family of former Counter-Strike professional player Atta ‘crazyarab’ Elayyan, who was one of 50 casualties in the attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. 50 people were killed when automatic weapons were fired at two mosques in the New Zealand city, with at least another 50 people left injured after the attack. Elayyan was praying on Friday, March 15 at the Masjid Al Noor Mosque like he did every week, when a gunman entered the building and discharged his weapon, killing him. Since the attack, people from around the world have moved to offer support to the families of those who were murdered in Christchurch, with a number of funding pages set up like the one for Elayyan’s family. First reported on Daily Esports, Elayyan made a name for himself in Counter-Strike: Source as part of a team called NewType. The team was immediately dominant, claiming seven victories in 15 total events, finishing outside of the top three places on just three occasions. “We spent six or seven hours a night playing,” wrote Elayyan on the GamePlanet forums back in 2012. “We eventually toppled all of Australia’s top teams. We were fairly unstoppable, winning LAN after LAN and nearly every online competition we entered.” Elayyan eventually left the Counter-Strike scene in 2008, choosing to turn his focus to university and the last year of his computer science degree. Elayyan went on to start his own company named Lazyworm Apps, which focused on developing programs for the Windows Store, with one of his apps, MetroTube, at one point sitting as the most popular app on the Windows Store. He also represented New Zealand in international futsal, earning 19 caps for the Futsal Whites, and was a major part of the Canterbury United Futsal Dragons. His friend and fellow coach Ronan Naicker said Ellayan was “someone you would follow. He wasn’t trying to be a leader, he just naturally was by his personality.” A GiveALittle page has been opened in the hopes of raising money for Atta’s family in the aftermath of the tragedy. At time of writing, the total sits at $118,740, with 12 days left until the page closes. Donate via Givealittle Elayyan is survived by his wife Farah and their two-year-old daughter Aya.

Former Counter-Strike pro caught cheating on stream due to reflection in his glasses A former professional Counter-Strike 1.6 player Kristoffer ‘Faken’ Andersson has been caught cheating during a match which he was streaming on Twitch, after his screen was reflected in his glasses. Faken, who was a professional player back in Counter-Strike 1.6, was caught using wall-hacking cheats, in a Twitch clip which was circulated widely online on March 24. Faken has not returned to professional level in CS:GO, with his only notably appearances at tournaments being open qualifiers for minor events like DreamHack Tours 2016, where he fell short to teams such as the former PENTA Sports roster. Faken was streaming a competitive pick-up game on Mirage, when his glasses indicated that he was in fact cheating in-game, allowing him to see the enemies through cover, while they are hidden from his sight. About four seconds into the clip, while Faken is holding a tight angle with an AWP from Palace, his webcam reveals a red player model that can be seen moving in the reflection of his glasses – despite the player not actually being visible from his view at that time. Faken’s Twitch channel is no longer available, although it is unknown if this was done by his own accord or by way of punishment from Twitch. At the time of writing, he has not made a statement about the clip which surfaced. Many viewers are questioning just how long Faken could have been cheating for, and if there are any more notable names in the CS:GO competitive scene who are getting away with cheating to this day. Valve handed out a huge number of bans in the month of December 2018, as they shattered their record with over 1.6 million accounts receiving game bans for in-game cheats, such as wall-hacking, have become even more accessible to players. Since Counter Strike: Global Offensive has been made free to play back on December 6 of 2018, it has seen an influx of cheaters as the punishment of being banned was less of a deterrence.

Former Cloud9 Star n0thing Discusses shroud’s Return to CS:GO and Their New Team With Other Legendary Players @alexmaxwellJordan ‘n0thing’ Gilbert has clarified a few points about the new team featuring himself, Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek, and a number of other veterans and legends of the CS:GO scene. News of the new team originally broke when shroud revealed that he would be playing in the next season of ESEA Open competition with some familiar faces. The roster, which features two of shroud’s former Cloud9 teammates in the form of n0thing and Sean ‘seang@ares’ Gares, was later discovered on ESEA, causing a great deal of excitement from community members. Two legends of European Counter-Strike, Robin ‘Fifflaren’ Johansson and Tomi ‘lurppis’ Kovanen, are also on the team along with Norwegian caster Halvor ‘vENdetta’ Gulestøl and a number of other veterans. Read More: Valve Adds Conflict of Interest Rule Ahead of FACEIT London Major Which Could Affect Some High Profile Teams – The team’s matches are likely to be streamed by the likes of shroud and n0thing and shroud had already said that there will be no team practice as the project is only for fun. However, some fans seem to hold the belief that this is the start of a return to professional CS:GO for some of the players. This caused n0thing to take to Twitter on May 15th to clarify that shroud definitely isn’t coming out of retirement and this is nothing beyond “1 fun (streamed) match per week”. The ESEA open team doesnt mean shroud is coming out of retirment, it doesnt mean we are trying to take this team to pro league, and it doesnt mean we are asking people to commit to the team beyond 1 fun(streamed) match per week. Should be fun regardless to mess around w/ friends. — Jordan Gilbert (@n0thing) May 15, 2018 Heck, people may even leave the team mid season if its conflicting with something else they have to do. @tomi and @Fifflaren just wanted to create something to gather the boys and have some fun. — Jordan Gilbert (@n0thing) May 15, 2018 However, this won’t stop fans from looking forward to the team’s debut match and there is a high likelihood that the first streams will pull in more numbers than the average group stage match for a tournament. The comments about players potentially leaving if there is “something else they have to do” likely refers to players like himself and seang@res who haven’t officially retired and could potentially still join another team. Signups for Season 28 of ESEA Open are now closed and shroud, n0thing and co. should have their first match scheduled in the coming days.

Former CSGO pro shAy sentenced to 116 years for embezzelment Instagram: shaycsgoFormer Brazilian CSGO pro Shayene ‘shAy’ Victorio has reportedly been sentenced to 116 years in jail after being convicted of larceny and embezzlement charges relating to a business she and her ex-partner ran during 2013-2017. shAy, who was active in CS:GO from 2008-2019 and played a key part in the rise of female Counter-Strike in Brazil, has been convicted to 116 years in prison, according to reports from Brazilian media. The Public Ministry of the State of São Paulo alleged shAy helped run an online retail store, failing to deliver on promises to customers to deliver goods. The court heard reports from 118 victims, who were allegedly scammed from 2013-2017. shAy retired from pro play in May 2019 after an 11-year career spanning across CS 1.6 to Global Offensive. She started streaming full-time, often playing CS:GO and GTA V to her 30,000 followers on Twitch. shAy has defended herself after being convicted, releasing a statement to Brazilian news site UOL, through her lawyer, about the court’s findings. “shAy is now the target of defamation on the internet, with people creating fake pages to attack her, simply for the purpose of gossip and malevolence,” said lawyer Antônio Carneiro, according to a translation. Anunciamos a saída da @shaycsgo, que decidiu pendurar o mouse e encerrar sua carreira no cenário profissional. Uma das pioneiras no cenário e parte da nossa primeira line, ela sempre será uma Guerreira honorária 💜 Uma honra ter sido sua última casa nessa longa jornada. #ByeShay pic.twitter.com/dXAY2sIK6j— Vivo Keyd Stars (@VivoKeyd) May 13, 2019 “We will appeal against the sentence that we consider inhumane, awaiting a new decision and under the guise of the principle of innocence, as it can only be someone found guilty, when the sentence is final.” shAy mentioned that her partner at the time took full responsibility for the crimes, and that it “doesn’t fit in” with how she acts. “I work with my image, I do live broadcasts daily, I am known in my field, I have a physical address. It does not fit in with what is being judged out there,” she said on Instagram, according to a translation. Brazil’s law dictates that a person can only be jailed for 30 years for a single crime, even if the court finds the crime to be worthy of a harsher punishment. If shAy’s appeal is unsuccessful, she will be free in 2050.

Forgotten CSGO inventory with massive sticker collection sells for a six-figure sum ValveA forgotten CSGO player inventory with a massive Katowice 2014 sticker collection sold for a whopping $446,000 after being dormant for years. Despite the undeniable popularity of CSGO skins and their often lofty prices, not every single player knows of their skins and stickers’ value, since it can be quite absurd to pay thousands for a digital item. Costly mistakes have happened multiple times in CSGO history where players sold their AWP Dragon Lore’s for cents, when they’re actually worth thousands. And such a blunder could have happened again, as a forgotten CSGO inventory was recently discovered with the owner having no idea how much their stickers were worth. In a tweet by skin trader and streamer ‘TDM_Heyzeus,’ he announced that he brokered a deal to sell an inventory containing numerous Katowice 2014 Holo stickers to an anonymous buyer. “The inventory was completely unknown and the owner had no idea how much they’re worth,” Heyzeus said. “Luckily this story had a happy ending and they’ve just made a life-changing amount of money.” Katowice 2014 are CSGO’s most expensive stickers, with the most expensive selling among them, the Titan and IBuyPower Holo’s, selling for $60,000+. Attached in the tweet, we can see some of the stickers which were bought by the anonymous buyer, containing not only Katowice 2014s but also stickers from the Cologne 2014 Major as well. These stickers, when they first came out, were worth cents, but now of course have skyrocketed in price over CSGO’s lifetime as it becomes impossible to obtain new versions, with stock slowly being bought up by collectors. Heyzeus announced that the inventory filled with Katowice 2014s sold for a whopping $446,894 all up. An amount so large that Heyzeus said that tax lawyers were involved in the transaction.

Forced Windows update nearly sabotages DreamHack CSGO match StarladderTeam Vitality’s DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 CS:GO tournament lower bracket match against Ninjas in Pyjamas could have ended in disaster thanks to a horribly-timed Windows Update. In the second game of the best-of-three series, Vitality found themselves up 6-2 when suddenly a pause needed to be triggered by the French squad. At first, the commentators had no idea why there was a restart, but they soon got word that a Windows update, of all things, was the culprit. “Forced Windows Update?” one mused. “I’m pretty sure you can turn that off in the settings as well.” However, that didn’t seem to be the case as the other caster chimed in with some much-needed insight into how the updates function: “If you leave a Windows Update for too long it will just do it. That’s the thing. It will just like force it.” Interestingly, it didn’t seem like any of the players for Vitality left the server, further confusing everyone watching, but as it turned out, the issue was affecting AWPer Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut. “If anyone seemed like the kind of guy to be leaving those Windows Updates until the last minute, tell me it isn’t ZywOo,” the casters joked. Ironically, the delay may have actually helped the French team, as after a few minutes, the match was able to continue with Vitality eventually dominating the map 16-3. That tied up the series at one game apiece after Ninjas in Pyjamas had taken the first map, Mirage, 16-5. The third game was a lot tighter, but NiP ended up regaining their momentum and winning 16-11 to secure victory. Not only did the result eliminate Vitality from the tournament, it also guaranteed NiP a top-six finish, as they will face FaZe Clan in the lower bracket semi-finals on Thursday, June 11. The winner of that will face either Natus Vincere or MAD Lions with a trip in the consolidation final on the line, the only route remaining for them to a grand final berth. For all the latest info on the tournament, keep it locked to our DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 hub, which includes scores, schedules, streams, and more.

Fnatic’s JW hits back at Spanish org x6 for joke transfer announcement Professional Counter-Strike player Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell didn’t take too kindly to a joke announcement posted by Spanish organization, X6tence. Día de los Santos Inocentes is a Spanish joke day, similar to April Fools, that takes place every year on December 28. X6tence was already celebrating the day in full force after announcing that popular porn website, Brazzers, would be front and center of their jerseys for the 2019 season. The Fnatic player is a Major winner and has been considered one of the best players in the world throughout periods of his career on CS:GO. JW decided to respond to the announcement, claiming that X6 shouldn’t make these kind of jokes as they only had a 1% chance of affording him. It’s not clear if he was being serious or not. Im sorry but if you are gonna make a joke, atleast make something realistic? The chance of you guys being able to afford me is approx. 1% — Jesper Wecksell (@JW1) December 28, 2018 Not willing to miss a beat, the X6 team quickly changed up the graphic, thanking JW for his time on the organization. It was fun while it lasted… Well, we will always have that 1% #RoadtoTOP1WithoutJW pic.twitter.com/jUzPfYkCPs — x6tence · #MerryX6MAS (@x6tence_) December 28, 2018 JW and his Fnatic team will continue to prepare for the IEM Katowice 2019 major, when they play in the New Challenges Stage between February 13th and 17th against the teams who advance through from the Minor qualifiers.

Fnatic’s JW roasts Astralis for only attending BLAST events via Dot Esports / Oliver Morgan via AstralisThe competitive scene for CS:GO is filled with some of the best friendly banter in all of esports, and it was in full force when Fnatic’s Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell hilariously roasted world renowned organization Astralis. Having played Counter-Strike competitively for about a decade, JW is hands down one of the most experienced pros in the scene. But his veteran status far extends the servers of Valve’s shooter, especially when someone’s getting cheeky on social media. In a tweet posted on May 3, JW took a moment to relish his team’s fresh 2-1 series win against longtime rivals Ninjas in Pyjamas. But it didn’t take long for Astralis to chime in, prompting a hilarious retort by the Fnatic star. Twitter banter turns to epic clap back In celebrating Fnatic’s nail-biting win over NIP at IEM Sydney 2019, JW reassured his fan base that the Fnatic squad was the “King of the north, still.” It seemed like it would be just a passing moment, until Astralis felt there needed more to be said, adding: “Well, the kind Clutch King Xyp9x, Lord of Denmark, first of his name, would like to have a word.” While there is no denying Xyp9x’s greatness in the annals of CS:GO history, JW came back by saying it “will be tough, looks like I’m not coming to Blast anytime soon,” which sent Twitter in an uproar. Background leading up to JW’s roast To get everyone up to speed, Astralis has skipped big CS:GO events in 2019 such as DreamHack Masters Dallas and IEM Sydney to name a few, instead opting to participate in BLAST Pro Series circuit events. While the BLAST Pro Series delivers some of the most exciting production in CS:GO tournaments, fans find it strange that Astralis keeps bowing out of premier events in lieu of 2-day tournaments consisting of only six top teams. Fan speculation on the matter seems to think that Astralis attend more BLAST Pro Series since they’re both owned by esport commercial operations company RFRSH Entertainment. “The joke is that Astralis have blown off three real and actual tier 1 tournaments this year (with a fourth due, according to Thorin),” Redditor ‘BanEvader999’ said. “So that they can stay fresh for the shitty showmatch-tier BLAST tournaments organized by the company that owns Astralis, presenting something of a conflict of interest.” To bring JW’s roast full circle, he poked fun that he likely won’t be able to prove he’s still the “King of the North” against Xyp9x since Fnatic might not encounter Astralis anytime soon since the Danish org is attending an influx of BLAST events. JW’s jab was met with a flurry of laughter from Twitter fans, which might make Astralis think twice about testing the waters with the Fnatic star again.

Fnatic starts international CSGO roster as ALEX and mezii join DreamhackUK-based esports organization Fnatic has announced the signings of Alex “ALEX” McMeekin and William “mezii” Merriman to their CSGO roster. Fnatic, who have pretty much always fielded an all-Swedish roster in Counter-Strike, are giving their squad some British flare with the two new players. ALEX, formerly of Cloud9 and Vitality, joins following an inactive spell after his departure from C9 earlier in 2021. There were even rumors he might move to Valorant, but those are quashed now. Meanwhile mezii, also formerly of Cloud9, joins from Team Endpoint. The start of something new. Welcome, @kingmezii & @CSGOALEX to the Black and Orange. pic.twitter.com/SYpU8YNAGV — FNATIC (@FNATIC) August 3, 2021 In their announcement, Fnatic says this signifies their “new recommitment and era for CS:GO.” “It has been an intense summer period, culminating and assessing all possible routes for the future of the Fnatic Counter-Strike roster. We analysed over a hundred players over the period to create a fully holistic view of what options were available for us during this rebuild.” While Fnatic said they have “a huge amount of respect and admiration for the Swedish CS:GO scene,” they think “an international lineup would provide us with many more options and greater flexibility for the future.” I’m excited to finally announce that I’ve joined the @FNATIC family!🥳 I’ve achieved a lot with the @TeamEndpoint boys & wish them the best going forward! I’m ready to grind with this great international roster & represent new colours under a historic org 💪👑#ALWAYSFNATIC 🧡 — MEZII’ (@kingmezii) August 3, 2021 Upon joining, ALEX said “I want to get back to winning ways here at Fnatic and I will give my all to do so. To the people that have supported me so far, I would like to thank you for your continuous kind words and energy. In particular, I would like to thank the team at NIVO Management for making this move possible. To anyone new, welcome on board, let’s make it a wild one!” JW and Golden are currently on the bench. On the horizon for this new roster is ESL Pro League Season 14, where Fnatic will face off against the likes of NaVi, FaZe and BIG in their group. FNATIC CS:GO Roster Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin – Freddy ‘KRIMZ’ Johansson – Jack ‘Jackinho’ Ström Mattsson – Alex ‘ALEX’ McMeekin – William ‘mezii’ Merriman – Andreas ‘Samuelsson’ Samuelsson (coach) –

Fnatic locks in rising Swedish star Jackinho for CSGO roster shuffle Kalle Strömgren for Fragbite / FnaticFnatic have confirmed the first piece of their 2021 CS:GO roster puzzle, locking in Swedish star Jack ‘Jackinho’ Ström Mattson joining the squad. He comes in to replace Robin ‘flusha’ Ronnquist, who stood down earlier in January. The semi-pro Counter-Strike star, 21, has been involved in the Nordic scene since late 2016, but has never made the jump to a top-class European roster. However, that has changed. The Swedish heavyweights in Fnatic have locked in Jackinho as a replacement for long-time star flusha leading into 2021. Jackinho has played semi-professionally across much of his CSGO career. In 2016 he played for Nordic Knights and Property, before taking a two-year hiatus. The 21-year-old then played for nerdRage, Visomvet, and Prima Esport in 2019 and 2020. Mattson has primarily played as AWPer across his staggered four-year career, which could conflict with the duties of Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell on the squad. Vi är redo att återgå till där vi hör hemma, ses i toppen.@Jackinhocs joins Fnatic CS:GO. The 21-year old comes in as our fifth member ahead of 2021. pic.twitter.com/uM46sksn8T — FNATIC (@FNATIC) January 12, 2021 This roster shift marks a big moment for Fnatic moving forward. The legacy CSGO squad has been relatively settled across 2020, and that stability led to them winning ESL Pro League Season 11, and finishing third in Flashpoint Season 2. Fnatic last shifted players nearly 12 months ago, and even then it wasn’t a big swap; Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim joined the roster full time after a loan from Cloud9. The question on every Fnatic fan’s lips now is; what happens from here? Jackinho could be the first of many moves — given his role clashes with a long-standing figure in the squad. Either JW or Jackinho would be forced to reinvent themselves for Fnatic if they weren’t to make any more roster moves. With flusha out of the picture too, it could just be that JW shifts to a secondary AWPer role. Brollan and KRIMZ are expected to keep their roster spots. Fnatic isn’t the only Counter-Strike outfit looking to make changes after a staggered 2020 either. Team Liquid have announced Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo is joining the squad to replace Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken. FURIA has also locked in former Triumph Gaming AWPer Paytyn ‘Junior’ Johnson to replace Henrique ‘HEN1’ Teles.

Fnatic’s CS:GO roster reacts to first 16-0 loss in the team’s history Fnatic/WESGDuring the WESG 2018 World Finals, iconic organization CS:GO franchise. Fnatic has always been a staple name in the CS:GO competitive scene since winning the first ever CS:GO major tournament, DreamHack Winter back in 2013. The loss took place while the Fnatic roster was attending the World Electronic Sports Games (WESG): World Finals featuring a huge prize pool of $890,000 despite not being a Valve sponsored Major event. The legendary Fnatic organization received their first 16-0 loss and lost the series 2-1 against underdog Polish roster known as AGO Esportsduring the semifinals of the event. When the pools for this competition was first announced, there was a lot of speculation that the usual names such as NiP and MiBR would be some of the favorite teams leading into the tournament. But once NiP pulled out of the tournament, many looked at Fnatic to have a strong showing. Recent results have surprised everyone, however, as the last two teams vying for first place are Windigo Gaming and AGO Esports, which demonstrates that there is still plenty of high-level talent outside of the household names. Co-owner of HLTV Petar Milovanovic made mention of the major loss on Twitter while also pointing out that it happened on Inferno, which has has historically been their best map. This was the first ever 0-16 loss in fnatic’s CS:GO history. And it happened on their historically best map, Inferno. Not against Astralis or Liquid, but against AGO — Petar Milovanovic (@Tgwri1s) March 16, 2019 The Fnatic players were also quite disappointed with their defeat, with Brollan taking to Twitter to inform Fnatic fans what was going through his mind. “Cannot describe my feelings… Disappointed is one of them, playing for 3rd place tomorrow against G2 or Windigo,” he said in the short tweet. Cannot describe my feelings atm.. Disappointed are one of them, playing for 3rd place tomorrow against G2 or windigo — Ludvig Brolin (@Brollancs) March 16, 2019 CS:GO Veteran Krimz also tweeted out after the loss about Fnatic’s tough defeat, however, he kept it really short and simple saying, “We trash, sry to all. GGWP Ago.” Despite having a rough defeat on Inferno, Fnatic still managed a top-four placing at this event and seem to be improving since their exit at the IEM Katowice Major in the challenger stage where they placed 20th-22nd after a defeat to G2 Esports. The Fnatic players must now look forward to StarSeries i-League Season 7 in Shanghai which kicks off on March 30.

Fnatic CS:GO legend replaced by ScreaM after disappointing finish in FACEIT London Fnatic, one of the most storied CS:GO teams in the world, has made a major roster move after a disappointing finish in the London FACEIT Major. In preparation for ESL One New York, the organization has moved Robin “flusha” Rönnquist to substitute and brought in Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom as his replacement. Both players are highly respected for their success and this represents a huge roster shift for the organization, with only days to prepare for ESL One. Flusha has had a long history of success with Fnatic. The Swede has been with the organization since 2013 and was a key member of their dominant year in 2015. He has won three Majors with Fnatic and a host of other premier tournaments. His replacement, fan favorite ScreaM, is a champion in his own right. Often known as “One-tap God,” ScreaM most recently won the Dreamhack Atlanta Open in 2017 while competing for Team EnvyUs. That team disbanded in June and ScreaM has been a coveted free agent, until now. In the official press release, Fnatic said ScreaM is coming in on a “short-term basis.” It is unclear what that means for the future of Flusha on the squad, but it unlikely a player of his caliber is happy being a substitute for long. You will be able to catch the new roster in action at ESL One New York from September 26th to 30th. While Fnatic did say there might be more changes to the team in the coming months, here’s the Fnatic roster as it stands right now: Fnatic CS:GO Roster – Jesper “JW” Wecksell – Freddy “Krimz” Johansson – Richard “Xsit” Landström – William “Draken” Sundin – Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom – Jimmy “Jumpy” Berndtsson (Coach) – Robin “flusha” Rönnquist (Substitute) – Andreas “Samuelsson” Samuelsson (Substitute)

Fnatic CSGO star Krimz sets LAN record, but his team still loses DreamHackCounter-Strike veteran and Fnatic star Krimz has etched his name in the books once more, with a historic performance against MIBR on Dust2. Unfortunately, that performance still wasn’t enough to propel the Swedish side to a victory at the ESL Pro League finals. Sometimes your absolute best still isn’t enough. Krimz learned this the hard way in the second map of the series that pitted Fnatic against MIBR in the Group A lower bracket of the ESL Pro League finals. Fnatic had already claimed the first map, in a decisive 16-10 victory on Inferno, thanks to a terrific performance from Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist. Krimz was rather quiet on that match, but evidently, he was just gearing up for an incredible Dust2 map. Krimz put on an absolute show, helping Fnatic gain an early advantage in the first round with some vital site defenses. But MIBR fought their way back in, with Epitacio ‘TACO’ de Melo and Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo contributing more reliable performances to tie it 8-8. Krimz would respond with even more impressive play, as he continued to hold down bomb sites while on the opposite side. Despite re-taking the lead again, MIBR would surge back a second time, locking down sites on their CT side to eventually force overtime, where they would emerge victorious in five overtime rounds (4-1). In that loss, Krimz tallied 47 kills on Dust2 with 44 coming in regulation, which according to HLTV’s statistics, was a record-breaking performance. The 44 kills before overtime is the most on LAN in regulation ever, in a victory or in a loss. RECORD BREAKER!@Krimz has just broken the all time record amount of kills within regulation at big events. MONSTER.#ESLProLeague pic.twitter.com/TsjYM5ihLM — ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) December 4, 2019 This 44 kill number surpasses the previous mark for most kills in regulation at a premier LAN that was held by FaZe Clan star Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač, who dropped a cool 40 in a win against Team Liquid at the ECS Season 4 Finals. With the record, Krimz adds to a longstanding and impressive career that’s highlighted by three major championships and a very full trophy case. And thankfully for Fnatic, they were able to salvage the series against MIBR with a victory on Vertigo, thanks to a star performance from young star Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin. He didn’t break any records, but Brollan still posted 34 kills along with only 13 deaths, and propelled Fnatic into a final lower bracket series with 100 Thieves while sending the Brazilians home.

Fnatic bench Xizt and twist after missing CS:GO Berlin Major StarLadderFnatic’s legendary Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster has benched two of its underperforming players after failing to qualify for a major for the first time ever. All magical runs must come to an end at some point. The organization has been a participant in every single CS:GO major since winning the very first one at DreamHack Winter 2013. After DreamHack, they would string together appearances at 14 straight majors, winning three of the first six. While still considered CS:GO royalty, the crown has most certainly slipped off their head and been snatched by another. Their fall culminated at the European Minor this past July, being the first team eliminated from playoffs, and ending their path to the Berlin major (and thus their major streak). In falling short of the Berlin Major, we lost the moniker as the only team to have attended every single CS:GO Major. We set goals and we failed. Today, we announce initial changes to our CS:GO setup as @twist and @Xizt move to our bench. STATEMENT :newspaper: https://t.co/HT8VvYaVGm pic.twitter.com/coi114TxBm — FNATIC (@FNATIC) August 21, 2019 Now a month after that elimination, the team is making changes. They have benched Richard ‘Xizt’ Landström and Simon ‘twist’ Eliasson. The choice of players benched is little to no surprise. Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell and Freddy ‘KRIMZ’ Johansson recently signed multi-year deals and are synonymous with the organization. KRIMZ has also consistently been the team’s best player these past months. Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin is only 17, and they aren’t going to let someone with that much potential sit on the bench. Xizt has struggled since he was picked up, and twist has been unable to stay consistent. Throughout 2019, Xizt never achieved a positive HLTV rating average (over 1) in any of the events he played on the roster. He only achieved a positive K/D differential at one event, the closed qualifier for the EU Minor, and it was only a +1 differential. To sum up, he was a net negative at almost every event. twist did noticeably better, and was even the standout player for the team at the EU minor, but just couldn’t maintain any consistency between maps or between events. Xizt himself acknowledged his poor performances in the team’s announcement on Wednesday: “During my time at Fnatic, there have been many ups but mostly downs…I know I haven’t been playing well lately and certainly far from the level where I want to be myself…I have no excuses for my bad performances and I only see this as a time for me to work even harder…” In the team’s announcement, the organization said that DreamHack Masters Malmo in October will be their next event, and ensured their fans that they will be “securing further support from new talent” before then. Two potential additions exist in former players Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist and Markus ‘pronax’ Wallsten. If pronax wishes to stay retired, they could also seek out Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen, who is reported to be on his way out of ENCE.

Fnatic and mousesports fire back at BLAST over CSGO Premier snub Members of both of the mousesports and Fnatic organizations are airing their grievances with BLAST Pro Series about the tournament organizer’s comments regarding the teams’ snubs from the upcoming 2020 BLAST Premier Series. BLAST Pro Series’ upcoming premier series is a drastic shakeup to the formula that the organizer used in 2019. From two-day tournaments featuring mostly best-of-one series to a year-long league stretching along two seasons, fans were excited about the expanded format. But some fans weren’t happy about which teams were included and which were left aside, and the teams that are forced to watch from home are even less happy about the reasons why. Both mousesports and Fnatic were left off the upcoming 2020 BLAST season, despite their strong showings toward the end of 2019, and the fact that they are currently ranked in the top three globally on HLTV. BLAST director Nicholas Estrup said the organizer wasn’t “relying on rankings” to determine invites, and that an organization’s future “long-term play” was a significant factor in decision-making. Members of both teams have taken extreme offense to those comments. Fnatic founder and CEO Sam Mathews retweeted the December 25 Dexerto article that covered the comments by BLAST’s Estrup and provided his response to the matter. Mathews said he and the rest of Fnatic were surprised not to be included, and that ‘seeing them [BLAST] publicly slate our org, the most storied in esports & a legacy in CS rivaled by few, is beyond disappointing.” We’ve been staying private, obviously surprised by the choices of @BLASTProSeries in choosing not to add @Fnatic to the core. However seeing them publicly slate our org, the most storied in esports & a legacy in CS rivaled by few, is beyond disappointing. https://t.co/m3K2bva5eA — Sam Mathews (@sammathews) December 26, 2019 Fnatic star Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist retweeted his CEO’s sentiments, and the head coach Andreas Samuelsson replied with his comments as well, saying, “We are beyond disappointed not getting invited to blast. We have been quietly trying to understand, but nothing makes sense for us.” We are beyond disappointed not getting invited to blast. We have been quiet trying to understand but nothing makes sense for us. “”thinking long term and not only of the rankings””??? That’s extremely rude to an organization with the legacy we have……. https://t.co/ZPf1jkL8TG — Andreas Samuelsson (@SamuelssonCSGO) December 26, 2019 Fnatic isn’t alone in their frustrations. Members of mousesports aren’t pleased about the exclusion either, including their press director Jan Dominicus, who said: “That they now think it’s ok to question our “long play” in public is extremely irritating to me. We have fielded elite CS teams for 17 years with no plans to stop anytime soon, FYI.” Totally agree on this. I havent lost a word on @BLASTProSeries and didnt ask for any explanation. That they now think its ok to question our “”long play”” in public is extremely irritating to me. We have fielded elite CS teams for 17 years with no plans to stop anytime soon fyi. https://t.co/c6gDDWcFED — Jan Dominicus (@Jandominicus) December 27, 2019 It’s hard not to understand where both organizations are coming from. Both teams have been competing in Counter-Strike for well over a decade, dating back to the 1.6 competitive days. Fnatic have been a team synonymous with success in CSGO specifically, having claimed three major championships while being a flagship franchise for the scene. While the point about rankings not being the most crucial thing to determine invites is understandable, it is still questionable to leave number 2 and number 3 at home. And it’s easy to see how both Fnatic and mousesports would be insulted by a relatively new tournament organizer alleging that the teams aren’t in it for the long haul despite over 15 years of activity in the scene. Not only are both teams winning now, but they have both indicated that they are indeed preparing for the future, with both rosters fielding youngsters with star potential in Fnatic’s Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin and mous’ David ‘frozen’ Čerňanský. The spring 2020 season for the BLAST Pro Series Premier circuit begins on January 31, 2020.

FMPONE shares his CSGO mapping secrets in new concept CS:GO mapping legend Shawn ‘FMPONE’ Snelling has shared his secrets behind what makes a good map with Dexerto, after releasing a new concept revolutionizing how players look at bomb sites. To play a game of proper game of CS:GO, there’s a few things you need. You need to assemble a group of people and find some weaponry to start off with. Then, you need to find a level to play on. That’s where map designers come in, who are often the unsung heroes of CS:GO. There’s no map designer more praised than FMPONE. Responsible for the Cache rework, as well as a handful of other maps in the CS:GO pool, the level design extraordinaire loves to mock up a few interesting concepts in his spare time. His latest concept for a bomb defusal map has introduced some refreshing takes on what a bomb site looks like in CS:GO. Had some pent-up ideas for a de_ map, mostly focusing on unique bombsites, and threw it together in about 24 hours. Here’s the Workshop page. Doubt anything will ever come of this, it’s mostly for practice/for fun. Gotta keep the juices flowing!https://t.co/i3HXhZFfg7 pic.twitter.com/3O4vt2NbPa — FMPONE (@FMPONE) November 14, 2019 The A site, which is in the top-right hand side of the map away from the two team’s spawns, is closed off towards T-spawn, but open towards Connector and CT-spawn. This makes it an interesting site for Terrorists to take, as it’s relatively safe to get near, but hard to plant and defend. The B site is close to both team’s spawns, although it’s quite unique. The bomb site has two levels — teams must plants on the lower level, but can defend from a second tier above the site. The verticality of the map is most similar to Vertigo in the current rotation, but is unlike anything else in the game. It’s a refreshing take on how bomb sites work in CS:GO, and how teams go about attacking and defending them. Speaking to Dexerto, FMPONE explained there wasn’t much inspiration behind his latest concept outside of wanting to experiment with new bomb site ideas. “I just had some bomb sites floating around in my brain,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything I can directly attribute them to, I guess that’s just how it works sometimes.” The CS:GO mapping legend has designed some of the game’s greatest maps, including the newly released Cache rework. He has an eye for good level design, and said that how bomb sites are constructed make or break a map. Started with this sketch. You can tell I couldn’t quite tell how I wanted CTs to get into B 😀 pic.twitter.com/0bD8f3DmHV — FMPONE (@FMPONE) November 14, 2019 “I do think the design of bomb sites is what sets a map apart,” he said. “It fails or succeeds right there. “I’ve designed some good bomb sites and some real stinkers over the years, but I think CS level design has just “clicked” for me now. I have a much better sense of what works after all these years.” Being able to design a good map doesn’t just come with time though. According to FMPONE, as his skill as a player increased, so did his appreciation for good maps, and what it takes to make one. “I was never playing CS enough to really be good enough at the game to understand it,” he said, reflecting on some of his earlier designs. “I think I’ve hit that point now where because I’m a much better player, the design part clicks more.” As for his favorite design of all time, this concept — which he said is unlikely to progress any further — is one of his favorites. “These are probably the best [bomb sites] I’ve designed yet.” FMPONE is always on the lookout for new projects, and says that he might try to look into different game modes outside of CS:GO bomb defusal. “I’d like to expand into UE4 or a new CS game mode at this point,” he said. “I’d like to see how Cache fairs before I sink a bunch of time into another project. Cache took a lot out of me mentally and like all investments you want to see if it pays off.” You can jump straight into FMPONE’s “LD Practice Map” and test it out by downloading it on the Steam Workshop.

Flusha makes tarik slam desk in anger after CSGO no-scope clutch Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist is back to his old ways, pulling off clutch plays for Counter-Strike juggernaut. With their backs against the wall facing Evil Geniuses in the Winner’s Finals of the StarSeries Season 8 event, flusha needed to create some more magic to give his team a fighting chance. He did just that, and tarik couldn’t believe it. It’s easy to see why tarik got frustrated. flusha hits an unreal noscope onto Cvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov, and then uses the smoke grenade he tossed to get into prime position to take out tarik who’s up on the boxes on A site of Inferno. Commonly referred to as Señor VAC, flusha is no stranger to frustrating his opponents. Throughout his career he’s had to deal with all manner of allegations that he is cheating, even going so far as to include a separate webcam on streams to show his mouse movement. Flusha was released from Fnatic back in September of 2018, and found himself overseas on the Cloud9 roster alongside Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim. Read more: TenZ reveals why Cloud9 CSGO benched him – Alongside Will ‘RUSH’ Wierzba, Fabien ‘kioShiMa’ Fiey and Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta, that version of the C9 roster drastically underperformed, and flusha’s time with C9 ended with him opting to take an extended break. As flusha returned from break and returned to Fnatic, the Swedish organization acquired Golden from Cloud9 on a loan, reuniting them with FNATIC legends Freddy ‘KRMIZ’ Johansson and Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell, as well as the young, very promising talent Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolin. They won DreamHack Malmo in their very first event together. In the clip, you can see Evil Geniuses’ coach Chet ‘ImAPet’ Singh do his best to calm down tarik, and it appears that whatever he said worked, as EG held off the Fnatic comeback to win the map, and take the series 2-1. It’s not easy to come back from tilt, but tarik and the rest of EG did just that, and punched their ticket to the grand finals of StarSeries S8. Fnatic have a chance at redemption, if they beat the winner of FURIA and Rengades, You can follow all the action and results on our StarSeries Season 8 coverage hub.

Flusha convicted of tax evasion on over $100,000 of CSGO winnings Adela Sznajder for DreamHackFnatic CS:GO star Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist has been convicted of tax evasion dating back to 2015. Flusha failed to report over $100,000 of prize money, which the Swedish star claimed was a mistake. He managed to avoid jail over the offense. Flusha has been at the top of Counter-Strike for a decade now, helping lead Fnatic to numerous titles across Europe and the world. However, the Swedish star has been struck with a hefty tax bill and a criminal conviction, after he was found guilty of tax evasion back home over CS:GO prize money he failed to declare. According to a report by Swedish site Fragbite, Rönnquist didn’t report over 1.04 million Swedish kronor ($120,000 USD) of income back in 2015. Prosecutors stated that Flusha should have understood that his prize money winnings from the year were counted as income. 2015 was arguably the peak of Flusha’s CS:GO career. The Swedish rifler won two majors — ESL One Katowice 2015 and ESL One Cologne 2015 — as well as DreamHack Open Tours, DreamHack Open Summer, the ESL Pro League Season 1 and 2 Finals, and the FACEIT 2015 Stage 3 Finals. Fnatic ended up making around $1 million USD in prize money that year alone, of which the 27-year-old would have received a big portion of. In Sweden, prize money from esports events must be declared as income, and is subject to income tax. The tax rate for income over 675,700 kronor is as high as 57%. Flusha denied he intended to evade the authorities, claiming it was a mistake and not malicious. Flusha has been forced to pay back the missing tax as well as a 40% surcharge, which equals to around 200,000 kronor ($23,300 USD). He has also been served a suspended sentence of 120 hours of community service in lieu of four months imprisonment, and must pay 800 kronor ($100 USD) to the Swedish Crime Victims Fund. His sentence means he will be able to continue competing for Fnatic in Flashpoint Season 2, where they’ll face off against MAD Lions next in the Group A Grand Final on November 20.

Flusha announces new CSGO team after leaving Fnatic ESLFnatic CS:GO pro Robin ‘flusha’ Rönnquist has left the organization to form a new squad with an as-yet announced org. Flusha will leave the Fnatic lineup for another CS:GO team. – He is forming a new team of his own. – The player won 3 Major titles in the black and orange jersey. – Flusha leaves Fnatic After a star studded career for the iconic organization, flusha has parted ways with Fnatic. The player secured three Major wins with the squad, as well as successes at DreamHack Masters Malmo and ESL Pro League Season 11. Recalling fond memories, the player stated that “another great stint with Fnatic has come to an end! We achieved some great things during the 15 months we had together, winning a few tournaments and even being the number one ranked team for a while. Now I’m looking forward to starting on the path I had set out on before coming back. I wish nothing but the best to my former teammates and Fnatic.” Flusha announces his own CS:GO team In the wake of Fnatic’s tweet, flusha has announced that he will be creating his own CS:GO team. Writing that “we have an organization supporting us that will go public in the near future,” it’ll be exciting to see the future of this roster. The team includes: flusha – Buğra ‘Calyx’ Arkın – Miikka ‘suNny’ Kemppi – Jere ‘sergej’ Salo – Rokas ‘espiranTo’ Milasauskas – Finally today i get to announce the team project we have been working on for the past few months. Not everything is set in stone regarding lineup but for now it is: flusha suNny sergej espiranto CalyxWe have an organisation supporting us that will go public in the near future! — Robin Rönnquist (@flusha) April 12, 2021 Fnatic’s CS:GO roster Fnatic’s current CS roster is: Freddy ‘KRIMZ’ Johansson – Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell – Ludvig ‘Brollan‘ Brolin – Maikil ‘Golden’ Selim – Jack ‘Jackinho’ Ström Mattsson –

Flashpoint signs WWE writer to make CSGO pros “theatrical” superstars ESL / FACEIT / Wikimedia Commons: Alexander VaughnFlashpoint’s goal from day one was to make CS:GO entertaining for all, and they are committing to that promise by hiring a former WWE writer to turn the league’s players into characters of themselves “cranked up to eleven.” Everyone loves a good bit of trash talk in esports, however personalities can be pretty hard to come by. Some players prefer to hold their tongue, letting their gameplay do the talking instead. However, Flashpoint is going to turn some of CSGO’s best players into “theatrical” stars — at least, that’s what they’ve promised. How? They’ve hired a WWE writer to help train players to tap into their own personalities, and scale them up to 11. “We’re going to do some media training with the players, and we have a former WWE writer who’s going to be talking to the players and his job is to work with the players to develop their personalities in the same way that he literally worked with WWE wrestling,” said Christopher ‘MonteCristo’ Mykles The comments from Monte got a laugh out of Team Envy owner Mike ‘hastr0’ Rufail and fellow Flashpoint caster Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields, cracking jokes about how exaggerated the writing could get. “So, is he gonna be like — s0m, this is the part where you grab a chair and crack over Nifty’s head,” laughed hastr0. There was good reason for skepticism in the Flashpoint camp off making the bold hiring, but Thorin stated that this move could be a game-changer for the league, which might not have the same level of player firepower as ESL Pro League. “I was actually concerned when I heard we were bringing in a real WWE writer because obviously WWE does go a bit too silly sometimes and they have those weird things for kids,” he admitted. “However one area that actually reassured me was that this guy said ‘the best wrestling characters are the ones that are the person just turned up to 11.’ They are cranked up to be theatrical, but they still have some elements of who that person is. “It’s not like when you make a fake wrestling character that’s really silly. He’s, for example, not going to make a super-quiet person like Daps the swag baller, he’s not going to do that. It’s going to be appropriate to the character of the person as well.” It’s all about entertaining the audience in a new way that esports hasn’t tapped into before, and making players more marketable than ever. Given Flashpoint, on paper, doesn’t really boast the star power of Astralis or Natus Vincere, having players and personalities spectators want to watch is a must. Plus, one might hope the week-to-week trash talk between players might become a bit better too.

Mousesports win Flashpoint Season 3: final placements & recap FlashpointFlashpoint Season 3 is all wrapped up, with Mousesports fighting their way to the top of the 16 best teams in Europe on the road to the Stockholm Major in October 2021. Here’s a full recap of their nearly-perfect run, and how they managed to pull it off. NiP ran the gauntlet after their controversial Anonymo rematch to make the Grand Final. – Mouz would drop it’s first map of the tournament against NiP in the Final, but win 2-1 in the end. – Mousesports take home $17,000 and 1600 RMR points. – Flashpoint returned with Season 3 of its CS:GO event rivaling ESL Pro League and BLAST Premier — and there was enough drama and storylines to keep almost anyone entertained. 16 teams across Europe competed in Season 3, including 11 invited squads. It was the first step towards the Stockholm Major, set to take place in October 2021. Mousesports continued to dominate, not dropping a map until the Grand Final vs. NiP, who had a memorable tournament themselves — though, not quite for the same reason. It will probably be awhile before anyone forgets about the NiP/Anonymo saga that took place during the first round of Flashpoint Season 3, even if the Ninjas did fight their way through the Lower Bracket to the Grand Finals anyways. Take a look at the full final placements below, along with a full recap of each day’s scores. Flashpoint Season 3: final placements Flashpoint Season 3: full results & recap Day 1: Monday, May 10 Day 2: Tuesday, May 11 Day 3: Wednesday, May 12 Day 4: Friday, May 14 Day 5: Saturday, May 15 Day 6: Sunday, May 16 Makeup Day: Tuesday, May 18 Day 7: Wednesday, May 19 Day 8: Thursday, May 20 Day 9: Friday, May 21 Day 10: Saturday, May 22 Day 11: Sunday, May 23 Day 12: Tuesday, May 25 Day 13: Wednesday, May 26 Day 14: Thursday, May 27 Day 15: Friday, May 28 Day 16: Sunday, May 30 Flashpoint Season 3: teams The tournament organizer extended invites to some of the world’s best teams, including Astralis, Vitality, G2, and FaZe Clan. Flashpoint Season 2 champions Virtus.pro weren’t invited to the event, as they are classified as a CIS team under Valve’s major rules. The same goes for IEM Katowice 2021 champions Gambit Esports. Mousesports, Complexity, Anonymo, Sproud, and Double Poney all managed to make it through the Closed Qualifier to join the big dogs.

Flashpoint Season 2 details revealed: $1 million prize pool, teams, more FlashpointFlashpoint is returning for Season 2 on November 9, featuring 12 top CS:GO teams playing online duking it out over a $1 million prize pool. Seven teams from Season 1 have been confirmed to return. After an up-and-down first season, Flashpoint is looking at making things right in Season 2. They are bringing the big guns too, retaining their $1 million prize pool, while also looking to up the competition with new teams. The CS:GO league, which is a rival to ESL Pro League, will be returning to your screens on November 9. The competition this time will be hosted in Europe, taking place online with a studio broadcast. Flashpoint returns November 10.#RushFragRepeat pic.twitter.com/HGPeLOS50O — Flashpoint (@Flashpoint) October 22, 2020 Flashpoint Season 2 to boast $1 million prize pool The big selling point of Flashpoint is its $1 million prize pool. With $500,000 going to the winner, winning Flashpoint can set teams up for the rest of the year. There will be no format changes for Flashpoint Season 2. The three-phase points system, including three double-elimination groups of four, will remain as the format of choice. The top eight teams in the regular season will then progress to the double-elimination playoffs. The tournament will still be held online, however. They are aiming to get all teams over to Europe to play, while also having the broadcast hosted out of the B Site studio in London. “We’re eager to give our fans a raw and unfiltered CS:GO tournament series while still taking necessary precautions to keep players safe,” commissioner Christopher ‘MonteCristo’ Mykles said in a statement. Flashpoint Season 2 teams 12 teams will compete in Flashpoint Season 2. Of those, 10 will be directly invited, while the remaining squads will make it in through two Open Qualifiers. The top four teams from each qualifier will then duke it out in a double-elimination bracket to decide the final two teams. Seven squads from Season 1 are returning to the online competition, including Season 1 champions MAD Lions, finalist MIBR, and the new-look Cloud9. One notable omission is partner team FunPlus Phoenix, who are instead working on building for 2021 after their Season 1 disaster. “Our plan is to take our time and focus on 2021. We don’t want to make any rushed decisions, as our main goal is to build a promising, long-lasting roster. We are currently in talks with several orgs and individual players,” general manager Petar Markovic said on October 6. The list of confirmed teams are: Cloud9 – c0ntact – Dignitas – Envy – Gen.G – MAD Lions – MIBR – BIG – Fnatic – OG – Virtus.pro – forZe – Flashpoint Season 2 will kick off on November 10.

Flashpoint reverse CSGO VAC ruling to allow reformed cheaters to play DreamHack / FEL / FlashpointA much-requested change into the CS:GO professional ruleset is coming, in one league at least, as Flashpoint (formerly known as B-Site) will be allowing players with VAC bans before 2018 to participate in their events. After initially announcing that all VAC-banned players would not be eligible to play in their events, FACEIT has backflipped and allowed reformed cheaters and match-fixers to play in their upcoming Flashpoint League. They become the third tournament organizer to revoke permanent suspensions on VAC bans, after ESL and DreamHack did so back in 2017. Flashpoint announced the changes on February 5 after “reviewing [their] rules around VAC-banned players for the Open Qualifiers.” Under section 5.1 of the Flashpoint rules detailing Anti-cheat, “any player with a VAC ban prior to February 5, 2018 is allowed to participate in the competition.” It follows a similar line to ESL’s two-year rulings for VAC bans, although for Flashpoint, it’s a hard cutoff for now. We’ve reviewed our rules around VAC banned players for the Open Qualifiers. Players can see this rule change on the Open Qualifier page at https://t.co/sHvI5ZCEzU — Flashpoint (@Flashpoint) February 5, 2020 The ruling will mean that some of the game’s most talented players will be given a second chance for cheating years, and for some, even decades ago. The ruling will allow players like North American veteran Josh ‘steel’ Nissan, who was caught up in the 2014 iBP matchfixing scandal, his former teammate Braxton ‘swag’ Pierce, and Finnish prodigy Elias ‘Jamppi’ Olkkonen to participate in the upcoming event. Steel, now with Chaos Esports Club, revealed he has been given an invite to the North American Open Qualifiers for the Flashpoint League as a result. “See you in B-site, B for not_Banned,” he said. Got an invite to the @FLASHPOINT closed qualifier. See you in B site. B for not_Banned! @ChaosEC Just majors only now. And dEadLEAGUE. 5 yrs — steel (@JoshNissan) February 5, 2020 Swag’s Swole Patrol will also have a chance of qualifying for the event, after filling out their roster with Sebastian ‘seb’ Bucki and Skyler ‘Relyks’ Weaver, both formerly of Team Singularity. While VAC-banned players are still banned from participating in BLAST events and Valve-sponsored majors, the move is a step forward for some of the game’s youngest stars who made mistakes before they could go pro. It’s unclear as to whether VAC-banned players will be able to participate in the league after qualifying, with the rule change currently only applying to that side of the event. Two teams will join the likes of Dignitas, MIBR, and Cloud9 in the 12-team league from these qualifiers, which start on February 6.

Flashpoint to share revenue from new CSGO NFT collection with teams YouTube: FlashpointCounter-Strike tournament organizers Flashpoint have announced a set of collectable cards and NFTs featuring players from the 2021 Major cycle. Flashpoint, owned by a collective of esports organizations known as B Site, has partnered with Rally to launch packages of NFTs and cards featuring players competing in their ongoing event, Flashpoint 3. Rally describes itself as an “open network” that enables creators to kickstart their own economies within their communities through the blockchain. Proceeds from purchases of the NFTs, which in this case are digital artwork with unique identifiers and proof of ownership, will be split equally between Flashpoint and the team that the player in the artwork represents. Teams outside of B Site’s ownership group — including the likes of Cloud9, Envy, Gen.G, and MIBR — are competing in the third iteration of Flashpoint as it’s an official ranking event for Valve’s Major circuit. Read More: Fnatic raise $17m to expand into Asia – Players such as Janusz ‘Snax’ Pogorzelski, Philip ‘aizy’ Aistrup Larsen, Martin ‘STYKO’ Styk, and Alexandre ‘bodyy’ Pianaro are all included in this batch of artwork. The art is available for purchase on May 30, with customers having to acquire an equivalent of $100 in the $FLASH coin to be eligible to purchase. Flashpoint’s commissioner Christopher ‘MonteCristo’ Mykles is married to Susie Kim, who serves as an advisor to Rally. Mykles also works with Rally on ‘Grog Coin,’ a cryptocurrency that provides access to private channels in his joint Discord server with ‘Insight on Esports’ co-host Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields.

Flashpoint CSGO ‘B Site’ League reveals tournament-style format B Site Inc.FACEIT have officially announced that their new CS:GO B Site League’s is named FLASHPOINT, while also revealing the official format and broadcast talent that will be used in the inaugural season. The “next generation of CS:GO competition” has officially been announced, as B Site Inc. and FACEIT have revealed the official branding and format for their highly-discussed ‘B Site League’ project. Titled FLASHPOINT and officially announced on February 5, its creators revealed that it’s less of an actual league and more of a “tournament series” that culminates in a double-elimination bracket. https://twitter.com/FLASHPOINT/status/1225116815665303552 FLASHPOINT official 2020 format FLASHPOINT will consist of 10 partnered teams, as well as two teams that qualify from open qualifiers. A report from the week prior also revealed that teams competing without organizations will receive monthly stipends from the league, should they qualify. The series will consist of two phases, and each phase will consist of three groups of four teams each. Captains of each team will decide the groups in a selection show before the phase begins, after the top three seeds are randomly distributed between groups. Each group will then play a double-elimination style format, and the results of that tournaments series will determine how groups are decided for the next series. The tournaments’ results also determine the number of playoff points earned, and the top eight teams in playoff points will qualify for playoffs. Those eight teams will compete in a double-elimination playoffs bracket. All matches in all series will be a best-of-three format. This whole process is thoroughly explained in the video below: So far, Dignitas, MIBR, Gen.G, and MAD Lions have all officially announced their partnerships with FLASHPOINT. The Dignitas announcement reveals that the series will “take inspiration from UFC and WWE,” and will feature $2 million in prizes during 2020. c0ntact Gaming, who recently acquired the CR4ZY roster, are also rumored to be one of the league’s partnered teams, but the full list of participating organizations hasn’t been revealed. FLASHPOINT is scheduled to begin in March. We will provide more updates regarding exact start dates and other partnered teams as the information becomes available.

Flashpoint confirm all 12 CSGO teams joining Season 1 league DreamHack / FACEITFlashpoint has announced the 12 teams set to compete in the first season of the ESL Pro League competitor, with a mix of up-and-coming talent and veterans from North America, Brazil, and Europe. After weeks of speculation and rumors, the team list for Flashpoint’s inaugural season has been finalized on March 11. It confirms reports from March 10 that League of Legends World champions FunPlus Phoenix would be entering CS:GO through the league, although their actual roster is yet to be confirmed. Flashpoint originally came in with the promise of ensuring all teams in the league will be ranked higher than 20th on their own rankings. However, only three teams are expected to come in above that benchmark, according to HLTV rankings. MAD Lions (12th) and Gen.G (15th) have already confirmed their line-ups, and the Heroic roster (14th) is expected to join FunPlus Phoenix to make up the third top-20 squad. The rest of the teams are ranked from 25th to 51st. BIG, who was originally listed as one of the partners orgs in Flashpoint, is a notable exclusion. It’s reported the German squad will be moving over to ESL Pro League, possibly taking the spot vacated by the ex-Heroic roster now at FPX. Announcing the 12 Teams competing in Flashpoint 1! Come catch all of the action starting with the group draft selection, tomorrow, March 12th at 20CET/12:00pm PDT on twitch at https://t.co/iSiSGyTLeT pic.twitter.com/CQSaNrxhEu — Flashpoint (@Flashpoint) March 11, 2020 The list of teams includes fan-favorite orgs like Cloud9, Dignitas, and MIBR, alongside up-and-coming teams like HAVU, Copenhagen Flames, and c0ntact. While the teams have been announced, groups will be drawn on March 12 ahead of this weekend’s action. Teams will be split into three groups of four, before playing a GSL-style bracket to determine the top teams to progress to playoffs. The finals for the first season were set to be played in Stockholm in April before the event was canceled due to the global coronavirus outbreak. Instead, it’ll be played behind closed doors in Los Angeles to ensure the safety of players. Our statement regarding the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the safety of our players. pic.twitter.com/KGFTPNrh4b — Flashpoint (@Flashpoint) March 6, 2020 Flashpoint Season 1 kicks off on March 13 from the FACEIT Studio in Los Angeles. The teams competing in Flashpoint Season 1 are as follows: c0ntact: emi, rallen, ottoNd, SHiPZ, EspiranTo – Chaos Esports Club: steel, smooya, vanity, cam, ben1337 – Cloud9: Sonic, JT, floppy, motm, oSee – Copenhagen Flames: Nodios, HooXi, refrezh, TeSeS, Farlig – Dignitas: f0rest, GeT_RiGhT, Xizt, GuardiaN, friberg – FunPlus Phoenix: es3tag, stavn, b0RUP, Snappi, cadiaN – Gen.G: BnTeT, daps, autimatic, koosta, s0m – HAVU: sAw, ZOREE, sLowi, doto, hoody – MAD Lions: AcilioN, Bubzkji, acoR, sjuush, roeJ – MIBR: FalleN, kNgV-, fer, TACO, meyern – Orgless: FNS, yay, Subroza, WARDELL, Infinite – Team Envy: MICHU, Calyx, Nifty, ryann, moose –

Flashpoint apologizes after “unfortunate” issues plague CSGO qualifiers B Site Inc.Flashpoint’s organizers FACEIT have issued an apology after a problem-riddled first week of qualifiers saw brackets reset mid-way through, and players abused by admins. Flashpoint’s CS:GO league qualifiers have once again been marred by controversy after numerous complaints were voiced following the weekend’s action. From unclear technical pause rules, to admin abuse, players were disappointed in the experience being a let-down compared to previous FACEIT events. Regarding the FLASHPOINT Open Qualifier issues.https://t.co/22nuXey4ky — FACEIT (@FACEIT) February 11, 2020 FACEIT came out and issued an apology to players for the “unfortunate events” that plagued the league’s qualifiers. Milos Nedeljkovic, partnerships manager at FACEIT, relayed to players the issues they faced during their Open Qualifiers were unprecedented in their four-year history. However, they also clarified why they made the decisions they did, which when stacked up made for a disaster, according to players. One such decision was the removal of in-server technical pauses, which Nedeljkovic said was to stop “historical abuse” of the system. Read more: Stuchiu — What does Impact mean in CS:GO? – “We decided against allowing players to use technical pauses directly on the server due to historical abuse of the way in which they were used during previous high-volume FACEIT Open Qualifiers,” he said, before stating the rule had been amended for future weeks. Due to unforeseen issues in the FLASHPOINT EU qualifier bracket, EU Qualifier 3 will restart, with this taking place at 5pm CET. We apologise for the inconvenience and will share the new bracket once live. — Flashpoint (@Flashpoint) February 9, 2020 The major issue players had with the qualifiers, especially in Europe, was the restarting of brackets half-way through. FACEIT mentioned the restart was caused by “unforeseen technical infrastructure issues,” with the only remedy being a full restart. “The time it would have taken to fully understand which matches had a reliable outcome would have prevented the Qualifier from continuing that day,” he said. “For this reason, and due to the short window of time available with other qualifiers taking place on consecutive days, we made the decision to restart the qualifier.” Read more: When is IEM Katowice 2020? – The decision angered players, none more so than Yacine ‘yzn’ Laghmari and his squad, who had taken down top-seeded team ForZe in the first round. Just beat the best seeded team in the tournament, @forzegg and admin goes “”Bracket issues, new qual. in an hour, everyones welcome””. Gotta love esport, huh — Yacine (@YACINELAGHMARI) February 9, 2020 However, after he voiced his frustrations on Twitter, he was then made the target of admin abuse, something FACEIT has cracked down on in the days since. “As many in the community have probably noticed, an unfortunate conversation took place between a member of FPL-C Staff and yzn,” said Nedeljkovic. “During that conversation the attitude of the admin was not appropriate and they then took an action that is certainly not aligned with what FPL stands for. The admin in question has been relieved from his role and we immediately apologized to yzn in private and reinstated him back to FPL-C.” The Flashpoint qualifiers will continue on February 14.

Flashpoint 3 qualifiers marred as cheater gets banned mid-tournament FlashpointThe Flashpoint Season 3 qualifiers have been marred by a VAC ban mid-tournament. ‘Peterpik-’, playing on RatPatrol, was banned mid-qualifier, but only after his squad made the top eight of the open event. 476 teams signed up to the Flashpoint Season 3 Open Qualifier 3, with two spots on the line in the Closed Qualifier to enter the prestigious RMR event. With the path to the Stockholm Major laid out in front of teams, this Open Qualifier marked one of the last chances for smaller squads to try and breakthrough, getting a chance to test their mettle against world heavyweights. However, the event has been marred by a cheating controversy. Danish player ‘Peterpik-’, part of RatPatrol, was VAC-banned midway through the event after their team had reached the top eight. RatPatrol knocked out teams like GameAgents and Apeks before making it to the quarterfinals, two games away from making the Flashpoint 3 Closed Qualifier. Apeks veteran Dennis ‘dennis’ Edman said on Twitter “[we] lost to cheaters in the Flashpoint qualifier and we can’t do anything about it. Read More: Flashpoint Season 3 details – “At least one of them got banned but we’re still out, it’s a bit…just a bit f**ked up that it works like this.” Dennis’ squad lost to RatPatrol 16-14 on Inferno in the Round of 32. Lost to cheaters in the flashpoint qualifier and we can’t do anything about it.. At least one of them got banned but we’re still out, it’s a bit.. just a bit fucked up that it works like this. Everyone who played them should play for the spot? @Flashpoint — dennis (@denniscsgod) April 21, 2021 VAC-banned players are not allowed to play in Valve-sponsored events. This includes Regional Major Rankings (RMR) tournaments like Flashpoint 3, which is a direct qualifier to the 2021 Stockholm Major. Peterpik- has also been banned on FACEIT, where Flashpoint events take place. Read More: How to watch DreamHack Masters Spring 2021 – It comes a week after Valve relaxed their rules regarding VAC bans in competitive play. The CS:GO developer shortened the permanent suspension to five years, forgiving the bans of Elias ‘Jamppi’ Olkkonen, Vinicius ‘vsm’ Moreira, and more. Flashpoint has been contacted for comment.

flamie explains why Na’Vi have struggled during CSGO’s online era ESLInterviewed by Dexerto, NaVi CSGO player Egor ‘flamie’ Vasilev discussed his team’s struggles in the online era, the North American teams coming to Europe and what it means to be already qualified for BLAST Global Finals. The 23-year old Russian commented on NaVi’s struggles at the beginning of the online era of Counter-Strike. He talked about the struggles in adapting to playing online, referring to his team’s history of being a squad which turns up on LAN. This was evident from their inability to replicate their success at IEM Katowice 2020 in following events such as EPL Season 11 and the ensuing Regional Major Ranking events. “At the beginning, it was really hard to adapt to online…”@flamieCS explains how the online era of #CSGO negatively impacted NaVi, despite being top of the @BLASTPremier Circuit. #BLASTPremier | w/ @GFuelEnergy pic.twitter.com/5sRdq3X61I — Dexerto (@Dexerto) October 27, 2020 The young rifler expressed his belief that LAN events might still be an unrealistic prospect in the near future and mentioned how a recent bootcamp with part of the team has really helped to improve everyone’s game. Flamie also revealed his excitement in seeing NA teams coming to Europe in order to compete in online tournaments, especially Evil Geniuses which appear on their BLAST Premier Fall Series groups. NA vs EU! @flamieCS explains why he’s eager to face NA teams @BLASTPremier after 8 months since their Iast event.#BLASTPremier | w/ @GFuelEnergy pic.twitter.com/Giyd8Rvwmp — Dexerto (@Dexerto) October 26, 2020 In the end, Egor commented on the relief in pressure now that the team is almost certain to qualify for the BLAST Premier Global Finals and how it, together with Ilya ‘Perfecto’ Zalutskiy’s recovery from illness, will improve the team. With NaVi’s @BLASTPremier Global Finals spot all but secured, @flamieCS reveals that the pressure is off heading into Fall Regular Season despite Perfecto’s illness.#BLASTPremier | Presented by @GFuelEnergy pic.twitter.com/PYWRi6io7h — Dexerto (@Dexerto) October 26, 2020 NaVi and flamie are currently looking to top their group at Blast Premier Fall Series 2020 and will be playing NiP today in the lower bracket final, aiming to get their revenge against OG in the final game of the day.

How to fix VAC authentication errors in CSGO ValveValve Anti-Cheat (VAC) is there to make sure games are as fair as possible in CS:GO. However, sometimes players get hit with false positives and get locked out of official servers. Here’s how you can fix those authentication errors. Getting hit by a VAC authentication error in the middle of a competitive game can be infuriating at the best of times. It always seems to strike at the worst possible time, and can lead to you getting a competitive ban for hours, days, or even weeks. Once you get one as well, it’s like being stuck in an endless loop. It happens time and again, to the point where players stop loading CS:GO to avoid the issue. There’s a good reason for these VAC authentication errors though. They are there to make sure the servers stay clean, and keep games fair. The issues are commonly caused by “third party software interfering with your game or Steam,” but sometimes a quick re-log doesn’t do the trick. Read more: CSGO pro play records – However, there are a few fixes recommended by Valve themselves as to how you can solve the errors. So, if you’re struggling to load into CS:GO, follow these steps, and hopefully you’ll be back on the right track. Restart your computer It seems pretty straight forward, but we have to list it anyway, just in case. Giving your computer a quick restart can help, as a fresh boot might be all you need to fix the error. Reinstall Steam and CS:GO Sometimes, a quick uninstall and reinstall of both Steam and CS:GO can solve all the issues as well. If you don’t want to go through the massive download, you can just verify the integrity of your game files through the Steam client. Right-clicking on CS:GO in your library, looking through Properties > Local Files, and running a verification check could also fix the authentication error. Repair the Steam Service If that doesn’t work, you can repair the Steam client itself. A corrupt file in the Steam Service can be all it takes to close your account off from VAC-protected servers. By booting up a repair command and re-starting Steam, the issues might sort themselves out. It’ll take a few minutes to do, but can save you hours of hurt. If you are on Windows, here’s how you can run a repair of the Steam Service: Exit Steam. – Click Start > Run (Windows Key + R). – Type the following command: “C:Program Files (x86)SteambinSteamService.exe” /repair – Launch Steam and test the issue again. – Restore boot settings to default So restarting your computer hasn’t worked, and neither has repairing the game files. The issues may lay deeper in your computer’s boot settings, which can affect all programs. Restoring your boot settings to default may remove any settings that might be incompatible with VAC. Here’s a step-by-step guide to doing that yourself: Exit Steam. – Click the Start button, then All Programs, and Accessories. – Right-click on Command Prompt and click Run as administrator. – In the command prompt, type the following commands and press Enter after each command: bcdedit /deletevalue nointegritychecks, bcdedit /deletevalue loadoptions, bcdedit /debug off, bcdedit /deletevalue nx – Restart your computer. – Launch Steam and test the issue again. – If you receive an error along the lines of “The value is protected by Secure Boot policy and cannot be modified or deleted,” your boot settings are already default. Repair system files Finally, the most drastic measure you can take is a complete repair of your operating system. There might be some corrupt files floating around that VAC detects, shutting you off from the servers. To run a repair, follow these steps: Exit Steam. – Click the Start button, All Programs, and Accessories. – Right-click on Command Prompt and click Run as administrator. – In the command prompt, type the following command and press Enter: sfc /scannow – Once the operation has completed please restart your computer, then launch Steam and test the issue again. – Send Valve an email If all else fails, Valve always checks their emails. CS:GO developer John McDonald told players they can send the team an email to give them a chance to not only fix it for you, but for other users. Read more: How to watch ESL Pro League Season 11 – “If this is affecting you, please send an email to CSGOTeamFeedback@valvesoftware.com with the subject line ‘VAC Authentication Error,’” he wrote on Reddit. “Make sure to include a link to your Steam profile, how long this has been affecting you, and any steps you might’ve attempted to remedy the situation.”

Five CSGO players banned by ESEA amid ESIC match-fixing investigation Valve / ESEAThe ESEA has confirmed that five Counter-Strike professionals, previously players for Team Rebirth and Russian Canadians, have been banned from competing in the esport while an official investigation into match-fixing proceeds. The announcement was made off the back of leaked audio, which shows three members of the Team Rebirth roster discussing how they could subvert the outcomes of two of their ESEA matches. The audio, from October 2020, relates to matches that were played against Incognito and Russian Canadians. It also suggests that two players on the Russian Canadians roster were willing to participate in the match-fixing scheme. The statement, made by ESEA on April 3, explains that the three Team Rebirth players are suspended, as are the two members of Russian Canadians who were alleged to be participating as well. “As part of the ongoing ESIC investigation, we are suspending the players from Team Rebirth from all competitions until the investigation is concluded,” ESEA said. “We continue to support ESIC and will always enforce actions against violations of competitive integrity.” This suspension affects the following players: -Sebastian “”retchy”” Tropiano (ChocoCheck) -Kevin “”4pack”” Przypasniak (Inactive) -Carson “”nosraC”” O’Reilly (ChocoCheck) -Alex “”vek”” Voynov (OCG) -David “”J0LZ”” Jolin (OCG)— ESEA (@ESEA) April 3, 2021 As the ESEA stated in a follow-up tweet, the players suspended (and their current teams) are: Sebastian “retchy” Tropiano (ChocoCheck) – Kevin “4pack” Przypasniak (Inactive) – Carson “nosraC” O’Reilly (ChocoCheck) – Alex “vek” Voynov (OCG) – David “J0LZ” Jolin (OCG) – ESIC’s Integrity Commissioner Ian Smith has confirmed that the FBI are working with the organization to investigate CS:GO match-fixing and its potential links to “outside betting syndicates”. Dexerto will be publishing a much more in-depth report into the alleged match-fixing in the coming weeks.

First Round Matchups Drawn for New Legends Stage at FACEIT London Major First round matchups for the New Legends Stage at the FACEIT London Major have been drawn, following the New Challengers Stage which saw some big names fall out of contention. The FACEIT London Major is the second major of 2018, after Cloud9 historically won ELEAGUE Boston in January, but the landscape of Counter-Strike has changed significantly since then. The main qualifiers for the London Major take place in two stages: New Challengers and New Legends, before the final stage, New Champions. Eight casualties have fallen in the New Challengers stage; North, Team Spirit, OpTic Gaming, Gambit, Rogue, Renegades, Space Soldiers and Virtus.Pro. That leaves the top eight teams to advance, with upsets earning unlikely hopefuls such as TyLoo, Vega Squadron and compLexity a place in the New Legends stage. Teams were drawn from five separate pools, with Legends teams matching up exclusively with teams qualifying from New Challengers. New Legends Stage, First Round Matchups Cloud9 vs Vega Squadron – Made in Brazil vs TyLoo – FaZe Clan vs BIG Clan – Natus Vincere vs Astralis – G2 Esports vs Hellraisers – fnatic vs compLexity – Winstrike vs Team Liquid – mousesports vs Ninjas in Pyjamas – Na’Vi will know they have likely the toughest draw here, with Astralis coming in as arguably the most in form team, but with the likes of s1mple and electronic, there is no counting out the Ukrainians. FaZe Clan’s match up against BIG should go in their favor, but BIG have proved themselves a banana skin team of sorts, especially with their memorable run at ESL One Cologne, where they caused a string of upsets to make the grand final. One of the harder matches to predict will be mousesports vs NiP, with a finely poised series waiting there. Cloud9 have had their struggles of late, but surely they can overcome Vega? The same goes for MiBR, who despite their patchy form, should have enough talent to see past Chinese hopefuls TyLoo. The New Legends stage will begin on September 12, and last until September 16, with five rounds of matches to be played. Rounds one to four will be best of 1 matches, shifting to best of 3’s for round five. Again another eight teams will advance, to play at the SSE Arena, Wembley, to decide the FACEIT Major 2018 champions.

First round matches confirmed for 2019 IEM Katowice CS:GO Major New Challengers Stage ESLThe opening matches of the IEM Katowice CS:GO Major have officially been confirmed, and there are some seriously tasty matchups that will take place when the Major begins. The event is the first major Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament of 2019, with 24 of the best teams in the world descending on Katowice, Poland in hopes of claiming the prestigious crown. With the IEM Katowice Major kicking off on Wednesday, February 13, the first round of matches for the New Challengers Stage have officially been announced. The format for the 2019 IEM Katowice Major has seen some significant tweaks from past majors, and nowhere is it more evident than in the New Challengers Stage. This time, the 16 teams in New Challengers were asked to rate the other teams in their stage based on their own personal opinions, with those answers being tallied up and averaged to find the team’s seeding heading into the tournament, which you can view below. With those seedings finalized, it means that the opening matches of the tournament have also been set, and some interesting matches have been thrown up ahead of the start of competition. Fnatic will face off against ViCi Gaming in the first round, who secured their place in the competition by beating out North and Team Envy in the 3rd PLace Playoff, while NRG Esports take on the other Playoff qualifier, Winstrike. AVANGAR will square up with Renegades, with both squads ranked eighth and ninth in what is sure to be a tight match. The 2019 IEM Katowice Major is set to kick off on Wednesday, February 13, and you can make sure you don’t miss any of the action with our handy IEM Katowice Major viewing guide. You can see the full first round matches below.

First look at new CSGO skins from Operation Shattered Web update A new Counter-Strike: Global Offensive operation years in the making titled Operation Shattered Web brings a ton of new weapon skins in four new cases for players to collect. Shattered Web came out of nowhere on November 18 to stun Counter-Strike fans across the world and bringing new playable content to CS:GO for the first time in almost three years. Weekly missions, which can be completed in any of the game’s matchmaking game modes, which allows players to earn in-game rewards tied into the new set. The new cases are all themed around the Shattered Web Operation and three of the new maps coming out along with it: Norse, St. Marc, and Canals. Introducing CS:GO’s ninth Operation, available now: Operation Shattered Webhttps://t.co/jEtiqv30Nz — CS2 (@CounterStrike) November 18, 2019 So, what are the new cases and their skins? As we said before there are four new sets of weapon skins available in the new cases for Shattered Web. One is the aptly-named Shattered Web Case along with the Norse, St. Marc, and Canals cases. Shattered Web Case Skins like the Decimator Tec-9 and Bloodshot for the SSG 8 are sure to be popular, but the event’s namesake case seems to have something for everyone. The cases will also give players a chance to unlock one of four new knives, the Paracord knife, Survival, Nomad, and Skeleton knives. The Norse Collection The Norse Collection cases feature skins designed by CS:GO modder The Honey Badger and they definitely contain a few skins that players will want to get their hands on. The badass Mjölnir Negev skin or the impressive Gungir AWP will probably become two of the most sought after cosmetics from this collection. The St. Marc Collection Like the Norse collection, St. Marc cases also feature designs from a CS:GO community member, video game artist Chemical Alia. The St. Marc Collection has a collection of tropical-themed skins that are sure to keep players warm during the cold winter months. The Canals Collection The Canals Collection features designs from CS:GO YouTuber Teo and “The Prince” AWP skin might be one of the best out of all the new cases. The Cinquedea MAG-7 is nothing to scoff at either, and both should be fetching fairly high prices on the marketplace before too long.

Fifflaren calls for NiP CEO’s resignation, leaks old messages Twitter: Hicham Chahine / Facebook: FifflarenFormer CS:GO pro Robin ‘Fifflaren’ Johansson has called for current CEO Hicham Chahine to resign from his position in a new tweet released on July 25. Fifflaren sent shockwaves around the CS:GO community on July 23, when he made a number of accusations against NiP, claiming that the organization withheld money from the players, made roster changes without consulting with the players, and included unfair clauses in contracts that would allow them to fire players at any time. Since Fifflaren’s tell-all interview with Richard Lewis, a number of other players have shared their experiences with Ninjas in Pyjamas, with Mikail ‘Maikelele’ Bill, Richard ‘Xizt’ Landström, and Adam ‘friberg’ Friberg adding to the allegations. Current NiP CEO Hicham Chahine has since issued a statement that said the current management team have “dedicated all of (their) time and energy to recovering the organization from its mismanagement,“ and were working to “put lingering issues from the past right.” Fifflaren has seemingly disputed these claims, releasing messages from 2016 that apparently show him asking Chahine for help because he has no money to pay his taxes, and was subsequently ignored by the NiP CEO. “Do you want a screenshot from when I’m asking for help because I don’t have money to pay my taxes and you ignored me?” wrote the former NiP player on Twitter. “(I’m) sure it’s just one of many. Pay the players and resign.” Do you want a screenshot from when I’m asking you for help cuz I don’t have money to pay my taxes and you ignore me? Sure it’s just one of many @ChahineHicham pay the players and RESIGN pic.twitter.com/VMyhDkpiEA — Robin Johansson (@Fifflaren) July 25, 2019 According to a translation from Twitter user Liiinusen, the messages from Fifflaren say that “taxes should be paid tomorrow,” and was unable to receive the money required to pay them from the organization as questions would be raised if he tried to explain why he transferred $10,000 from his US bank account to an out-of-country account. He goes on to explain that he’s asked for a loan, but that his parents don’t have that kind of money, and was unsure of how to proceed. According to Fifflaren, he did not receive any response. NiP have refrained from commenting on any of the new allegations made by players, with Chahine simply tweeting that he was personally opening communication to any and all former players or employees who have any unresolved issues they would like to discuss. With players like friberg commenting that there may be even more accusations made against NiP, it seems we are still yet to see the full picture in terms of what NiP may have done in the past.

Fifflaren accuses Ninjas in Pyjamas of mistreating players in tell-all interview FB @OfficialFifflaren, R: Ninjas in PyjamasFormer Counter-Strike pro Robin ‘Fifflaren’ Johansson made some serious accusations against his former organization Ninjas in Pyjamas in an interview with Richard Lewis. Update: Full interview Original article: Fifflaren was part of the legendary NiP team that dominated the first two years of CS:GO, famously achieving an 87-game win streak that still stands as one of the greatest feats of dominance in esports history. It seems Fifflaren doesn’t have entirely happy memories of the period, however, as now, nearly five years after retiring from professional play, he’s accused Ninjas in Pyjamas of mistreating the players in a variety of ways. Fifflaren claims that much of the prize money during NiP’s 2012-13 run never actually reached the players, that management made roster decisions without consulting the players, and that the players’ contracts featured a variety of unfair clauses such as one that allowed the organization to fire them at any time. The Swedish ex-pro also recounted a variety of anecdotes about dealings with the management during his time there, including an occasion on which the players were informed that then-CEO Niklas Fischier had taken money from the organization and “fled to Thailand”. Fifflaren also had a clear message for former team-mate and current NiP player Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund, whose time as a player in the organization looks to be coming to an end after the team announced they would be looking for a long-term replacement for him following the StarLadder Berlin Major. Read more: Thorins’ Take: Too hard for ENCE – “Fucking leave! Dude, listen, you’re not even that old. This team has really fucked you. I think the other two players that left are much happier now. Listen, you don’t owe NiP anything, GeT_RiGhT. If anything, they owe you fucking everything.” The accusations against the team go beyond the financial, however, as Fifflaren also corroborated reports that NiP players had to make a written application to the organization in order to have a girlfriend, as the organization was apparently concerned about the effect relationships could have on their focus on the game. For those that weren’t able to catch the interview live, unfortunately you’ll have to wait to see the full thing until the video is released by Richard Lewis. Ninjas in Pyjamas haven’t yet made an official comment on the accusations levelled against them by their former player.

Female CSGO Twitch streamer goes viral for dominating games with one hand Valve/Instagram/xirilikikaGaming with only one hand can prove to be extremely difficult for most players, but one Twitch streamer showed how despite physical limitations, she can annihilate foes in CSGO. On November 18, a clip of Portuguese streamer Kika ‘xirilikika’ Martins exploded on Reddit when one of her opponents uploaded a video of the Counter-Strike player. In a post titled “I was playing against a one-handed woman and this happened,” xirilikika shows how she is able to play the game despite limitations. While she uses her hand on the keyboard to move with the WASD keys, her forearm is positioned in a unique way to guide the mouse. Once she acquires a target, she is quick to change gears, grab the mouse, aim and shoot. View this post on Instagram In the clip in question, she is able to leap into the air and transition her keyboard hand to the mouse before landing a clean headshot onto an enemy with her Desert Eagle. Moments later, she follows this up by performing a similar move, this time securing the round-winning frag with an MP9. It was a truly incredible showing and a sign that even with only one hand, you can make some serious moves. According to xirilikika’s channel information, she had a stroke when she was a little girl which left her disabled in 60% of her body. Since then, she has been doing everything with just one hand. This isn’t the first time a player has gone viral for their incredible plays with only one hand. As Dexerto previously reported, an amputee’s one-handed Valorant setup made waves when he showed how he plays with a “stump.” It just goes to show that regardless of your physical condition, can you still make some big plays and enjoy gaming in extremely competitive titles.

CSGO Feb 24 patch introduces patches for agent skins, new buy menu, more ValveA major update shipped to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has revitalized the game’s UI in many aspects, as well as added a new patch system for agent skins and fixed various bugs. Agent skins have been a contentious point in CS:GO since their release, although the new level of customization has pleased many casual players. Now, everyone will be able to personalize their skins however they want, with the introduction of patches in February 24’s update. It was shipped alongside a host of UI changes to the buy menu in-game and the crosshair selection menu, various bug fixes, and changes to Breach and Studio. Today we’re shipping a visual update to the Buy Menu, a new setting to edit and share crosshairs, and Patches for Agents. Here’s today’s “”Patch””… Notes: https://t.co/8To9IjVVCv pic.twitter.com/cTfQGVfxfr — CS2 (@CounterStrike) February 24, 2020 The patches added to agent skins are like stickers, but for your body. The first set of patches introduced into CS:GO have translated some fan-favorite sticker designs into body art, including Welcome to the Clutch, Operation and map stickers, and the Howl skin. There’s an endless possibility of new patches that could be added too, like a patch capsule at Majors like sticker capsules. Read more: Gen.G stun FURIA to win DreamHack Anaheim – The patches will set back players around $2 USD, and can be bought from packs in-game and on the community market. Updates to the buy and crosshair selection menus in-game have added more clarity than ever before. The buy menu now shows you your player model holding the weapon you intend to buy, as well as all of its stats. It’s also been modernized, with a fresh lick of paint. No major changes to the layout have been made though, so you won’t need to update your binds. Read more: How to watch IEM Katowice 2020 – The crosshair menu also gives players direct feedback on how their altered crosshair will look in-game. Instead of having to tab in and out, you’ll be able to see how your crosshair looks against a variety of backgrounds, and be able to change it with ease. You can also share your crosshair more easily, with a new sharing code system being implemented that allows players to export and import new crosshairs, making set-up a breeze. Alongside these changes, various movement bugs have been patched out, including making AWP crouching movement acceleration constant. Breach and Studio also underwent minor visual fixes and lighting adjustments. The CS:GO February 24 update is live right now, and is around a 600MB download. You can read the full patch notes below. CS:GO February 24 Patch Notes Agents Introducing patches – new customization items which can be applied to any agents you own. Once applied, patches can be removed but not recovered. – Added support for shuffling equipped agents in their loadout slots. – UI Added equipped agent to buy menu. – Moved display of item purchasability to the buy wheel. – Bringing up the buy menu will now center the mouse pointer to the middle of the buy wheel. – Added localization support for position of the currency symbol for in-game prices. – Added support for editing and previewing crosshair in the game options. – Added support for sharing and importing crosshair sharing codes. – Maps Breach Fixed a bomb stuck spot in mid. – Fixed long A Wingman clip not working. – Added additional clipping to mid staircase. – Minor visual fixes. – Prevented guns from clipping through the door near A site window. – Clipped the sign on A-long, preventing players (and the bomb) from reaching the top of it. – Improved clipping in several areas. – Studio Improved clipping and geometry around A site. – Removed upper window unplayable area above B site. – Fixed players not taking damage from bomb detonation. – Improved clipping across the map. – Fixed bomb-stuck spots. – Fixed an issue with players boosting out of the map. – Improved visuals of CT / T Streets. – Added bomb target decals to each site. – Misc AWP crouching movement acceleration is now constant and will not spike after firing a shot. – Increased competitive max fps limit to 400 to support higher refresh rate monitors. – Fixed a transform matrix bug when navblocker was instanced via rotated point templates. – Fixed an underwater rendering crash on OSX. –

FBI alerted after threat against Fragadelphia CS:GO LAN Valve/N3rd Street GamersN3rd Street Gamer’s CEO addressed upcoming security concerns for the CS:GO Fragadelphia and Chicago NCS Major events after a fan tweeted a picture of someone claiming they were going to “shoot up” the Philadelphia venue. Fragadelphia is a Counter-Strike series usually hosted by N3rd Street in Philadelphia (if you couldn’t tell by the name) and it will be entering it’s 13th year in 2019. This year the event however will be held on September 13-15 in Huntington Beach California. CEO John Fazio said there would be increased security at the event after the threat, which apparently was made during an online CS:GO match. What was the threat? On August 6 a Twitter user by the name of Droidcsgo tweeted a picture of their chat during a CS:GO match that showed another player threatening to “shoot up” the venue. After one player in chat mentioned Fragadelphia (frag), another said “might shoot up frag, irl, D:”, which clearly caused concern among the other players in the match. After Droid tweeted the image, Fazio responded and assured them that there would be an increased security presence at the event. “We take these matters seriously, we are in the process of connecting with Faceit and alerting the FBI & local PD,” Fazio said. “We will have armed security and a police presence on site at Fragadelphia.” Fazio also added that increased security would be put in place for the upcoming NCS Chicago Major, which begins on August 9 after the threat as well. Thank you for alerting us. We take these matters seriously. We are in the process of connecting with Faceit and alerting the FBI & local PD. We will have armed security and a police presence on site at Fragadelphia. Our priority is providing a safe gaming atmosphere for all. — John Fazio (@jfaz) August 6, 2019 A need for more security at esports events The question of additional or increased security at live esports events hasn’t gone away since the tragic mass shooting at a Madden tournament in Jacksonville, Florida, that left three people dead in August of 2018. But, after a weekend of deadly mass shootings in the U.S. the question has come to the front once again, with a number of esports personalities calling for better, more committed security for the duration of events. “Every time I am at an esports event I am looking over my shoulder it feels like. I want so much more security at events. Some events have little to none after day 1,” Dan ‘clerkie‘ Clerke, general manager of esports org eUnited said on Twitter. “I get it’s annoying having your bag checked but it can save lives.. Tournament organizers we need this.” Every time I am at an esports event I am looking over my shoulder it feels like. I want so much more security at events. Some events have little to none after day 1. I get it’s annoying having your bag checked but it can save lives.. Tournament organizers we need this. — eU dan (@clerkie) August 4, 2019 Unfortunately, mass shootings have become commonplace in the United States, so for esports events that see large amounts of people gathered in one place, the extra security just makes sense.

FaZe’s YNk slams “joke” CSGO teams keeping banned coaches as analysts StarLadder / DreamHackFaZe Clan’s Janko ‘YNk’ has criticized “joke” CS:GO teams who have kept banned coaches on as analysts following the ESIC investigation into bug abuse. He singled out teams like Heroic, ENCE, and Hard Legion in his October 1 thread. FaZe Clan’s coach Janko ‘YNk’ Paunovic wasn’t one of the 37 coaches caught up in the CS:GO cheating scandal. However, many of his contemporaries were. It wasn’t just smaller teams who were found to be breaking the rules. Heroic’s Nicolai ‘HUNDEN’ Petersen, ENCE’s Slaava ‘Twista’ Räsänen, and more were banned for anywhere from four months to 36 months. However, many teams have found a loophole around the suspensions. While the coaches can’t be in the servers or on stage with players any longer, they can still help them out as analysts. In doing so, the majority of teams have kept their old banned coaches on. YNk has condemned this practice though, saying that organizations need to make sure their coaches “face the consequences” for their actions. “Some of these orgs really are a joke. Their coaches [were] found guilty of using the bug, multiple times and with clear intent of gaining a competitive advantage, and you simply move them to an “analyst” position,” he said on Twitter on October 1. “I’m all for giving people second chances but you also need to face the consequences for what you’ve done. What kind of an example are we setting here? Do the time and then you can come back and get another opportunity to redeem yourself and prove you’re better than that.” He singled out HUNDEN and Twista staying on with Heroic and ENCE respectively. While he acknowledged they were “huge factors to the success of their teams,” he compared their punishment to that of steel’s following the iBuyPower matchfixing scandal, where the NA veteran wasn’t even allowed to coach. Some of these orgs really are a joke, their coaches found guilty of using the bug, multiple times and with clear intent of gaining a competitive advantage and you simply move them to an “”analyst”” position? Seriously? — Janko Paunovic (@YNk) October 1, 2020 “I’ve got nothing against them personally, I’ve talked to Twista multiple times at LANs and I think he’s a great guy but they’ve smeared the whole scene and especially our profession, how are these orgs still allowing them to be a part of the team,” he added. YNk has also claimed that many players have gotten off without punishment. He claims that for teams that abused the bug over dozens of rounds, “there is no chance the players weren’t aware and they just played along.” HUNDEN and Twista were suspended for eight months and 16 months respectively on September 28. The ESIC investigation is still ongoing, with a final report due for release in October.

FaZe win $1 million Intel Grand Slam prize after ESL Pro League title ESLThe Intel Grand Slam is a million-dollar prize awarded directly to the players on the first team that takes home a first-place finish at four top-tier CSGO events, and FaZe has managed to do just that. The Intel Grand Slam is something very few teams can say they’ve earned. It’s a race against every other team in the world to find out who can claim four titles at Premier tournaments. These include events like the BLAST Premier, Intel Extreme Masters, Majors, and ESL Pro League Finals. Despite current controversy about FaZe as a whole, their Counter-Strike team is exceptionally good. They’ve been dominating the international competition in CSGO’s final days, and going into the ESL Pro League Season 17 Finals, FaZa was poised to take the Intel Grand Slam. Only three teams have earned this accolade in the past, and after their win over Cloud9, FaZe has cemented themselves as the fourth. FaZe take down Cloud9 to earn Intel Grand Slam $1 mil bounty It’s been a fantastic run for the current FaZe Counter-Strike roster. They’ve got a team that just works and will surely be remembered as a lightning-in-a-bottle team that had a reign over CSGO during 2021 and 2022. But they’ve struggled to take home a first-place finish since winning IEM Cologne. With Counter-Strike 2 on the horizon, winning the ESL Season 17 Finals was one of their last chances to take the million-dollar bounty attached to the Intel Grand Slam. This is an especially big deal for Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken, a player that already has an Intel Grand Slam. He’s the only player to have taken two Grand Slams, with his first being taken during his time on Team Liquid in 2019. Robin ‘ropz’ Kool is also a big winner here, taking home his third ESL Pro League title on top of being voted the MVP of their series against Cloud9. The first two maps against C9 were incredibly dominant, but the next two maps saw them drop a round to C9 on Mirage and really having to work for their win on Ancient. The trophy raise for FaZe Clan was followed shortly by each player getting awarded a solid gold bar for claiming the Grand Slam bounty. This leaves the door open for the best Counter-Strike 2 team to claim the fifth Grand Slam. Or for FaZe to try and take it again in the next era of competitive CS.

FaZe Twistzz slams BLAST over Spring Final schedule: “[It’s] bullsh*t” João Ferreira/DexertoFaZe CSGO star Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken has lashed out at BLAST over the condensed schedule of the BLAST Premier Spring Final. With the group stage in the rearview mirror, FaZe find themselves in a do-or-die situation at the BLAST Premier Spring Final as they prepare to meet Vitality in the opening round of the playoffs. FaZe placed second in Group B following a 2-0 defeat to Heroic in the winners’ match. The series ended past midnight because of the tournament’s packed schedule during the group stage, which had four best-of-three series per day. With the three preceding matches being very close affairs and two of them going the full distance, the start time of the FaZe versus Vitality series was pushed back several hours to almost 10 pm. While Twistzz congratulated Heroic for the victory, he said that “to have a schedule that can put teams in this position is bullsh*t.” “Imagine if C9 and vitality [had gone to] three maps,” he tweeted. “Our BO3 would have started at 11 pm most likely. [We] should be treated like humans first.” In August 2020, the Counter-Strike Professional Players’ Association (CSPPA) reached an agreement with ESL regarding the schedule of tournaments in an effort to reduce the players’ workload. One of the things that were discussed was a change to the start time of matches so that they cannot end past midnight. However, Twistzz noted that there is no such agreement between the CSPPA and BLAST. During last year’s Spring and Fall Final, there were also four matches a day during the group stage. In a subsequent tweet, Twistzz noted that these delayed matches “add to burnout at the end of the day” and that there are more issues he cannot talk about publicly. To prevent long days like this, he suggested that tournament organizers should have two streams running at the same time. Twistzz is one of the players who have openly addressed the issue of burnout during this final leg of the tournament season (the player break will begin the day after the BLAST event). In late April, shortly after FaZe were eliminated from IEM Rio, he admitted to being “exhausted” after “a stressful few weeks” in which the team had to fight its way through the last-chance qualifier for the BLAST Paris Major. “One too many days on low sleep, no appetite,” he said. The BLAST Premier Spring Final schedule eases up considerably after the group stage as there will be only two matches on Friday and Saturday before Sunday’s grand final.

FaZe reveal behind the scenes of CSGO team’s Major Antwerp win Stefan Petrescu/PGLFaZe Clan made history by winning the PGL Antwerp CSGO Major on May 22 – the first international roster to do so. The organization released a short documentary showcasing how Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen led the team through the tournament to their eventual victory. Before this win, FaZe Clan’s CS team, and karrigan had never laid claim to a CS:GO Major, and it was clear through the 27-minute video that karrigan was ready to change that. “Just play our f**king game, guys, close out.” karrigan said before FaZe’s match against NIP in the Champions Stage. “This is where we play the best, on the stage under pressure. It doesn’t matter who we play today.” That energy permeated almost every match as the IGL kept his team’s spirits high and guided them through the tournament while also putting up carry performances of his own. The 32-year-old ended the tournament with an HLTV rating of 1.01 and a 0.97 Impact. FaZe’s mindset at the CS Major Throughout the event, FaZe only dropped two maps and looked in top form despite starting with a loss to ENCE in the Legends Stage. While karrigan and the team took the tournament seriously, the documentary showed how the players still enjoyed themselves at the event. “[IEM Katowice] brought the team together and I think…. at [ESL Pro League] and the Major we had the same mindset,” karrigan said. “Even if we lose stupid rounds enjoy the game and still try to do out best.” Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants can be seen playing catch with a paper ball with the team’s manager before a match a few times and before each series the FaZe members let out a cheer of “Bobby” for rapper Bobby Shmurda. Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken suggested the cheer before their match against Bad News Eagles and it stuck. Nerves weren’t a factor for the squad, according to longtime FaZe member Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard. The team only really let the moment get to them during their semifinal bout with Team Spirit, who were coming in hot off of a 2-0 series against FURIA. “I think that was the most nerves we had the entire tournament,” MVP-winner rain said in the documentary. The team then went on to face NAVI and beat them in a 2-0 fashion. After FaZe ended the final round, the players jumped out of their seats and came together for one final cheer in the booth. As FaZe’s players stood on stage with the trophy, karrigan explained what the win meant to him after going so long without reaching the top of the esport. “To be honest, never back down. It doesn’t matter how hard life hits you, I’ve been benched a few times, came back. All I wanted in my life was to make history with an international team at a Major and we f**king did it in here,” karrigan said after lifting the trophy.

FaZe Rain’s Incredible Gesture to Young Fan with Cancer FaZe Clan CS:GO player Håvard “rain” Nygaard met with a young fan suffering from cancer, and made an incredible gesture he will never forget. The meeting happened back in March of 2018, but screenshots of rain’s conversation with the young fan were posted to Reddit on August 16, spreading the heartwarming story. The ‘Slaughter’ skin on the butterfly knife is a very valuable skin, and one rain is known for using, making it the perfect gift for the young fan. The conversation between the two shows rain send him the trade offer for the knife, and the fan even responds ‘isn’t this the knife you use?’. Fan Favorite MP5-SD SMG Weapon Has Finally Been Added to CS:GO Confirmation of the trade was also posted on Reddit, showing the fan secured the Butterfly Slaughter. The knife usually trades for around $300-$500 if in mint condition, and is notoriously rare and desirable. Rain himself didn’t publicize the gesture greatly, and its unclear how the images made it to Reddit, but he no doubt made the young fan very happy even as he suffers through cancer. Other fans praised rain for the touching story. One Redditor said: Wow, genuinely really cool moment. Props to Rain for stepping up without having to and being a standup guy. Hopefully this gets a little more attention and other pros from the scene can do more community work. Huge part about this becoming a more legitimate sport is community interaction and support. More: s1mple’s Former Teammate adreN Gives Scathing Review of His Time on Team Liquid – s1mple Fires Back – Rain and his FaZe Clan team are some of the biggest stars in professional CS:GO, considered an all star lineup capable of winning the grandest tournaments. They have a busy schedule coming up for the remainder of 2018, with DreamHack Masters in Stockholm on August 29, before travelling to London for the $1 million FACEIT Major on September 12. Source: Reddit

FaZe Rain details why CS:GO team “regrets” dropping Karrigan EPICENTER / ESLFaZe Clan’s CS:GO star Håvard ‘rain‘ Nygaard recently sat down with VPEsports for an interview after their elimination from ESL One Cologne, where he discussed the current state of the team. After their loss at ESL One Cologne, rain had a few things to say about the current state of FaZe’s CS:GO team, as well as addressing their feelings regarding Finn ‘Karrigan’ Andersen being cut from their roster. In a brutally honest answer, the esports pro revealed that the team regretted their decision, and said they never should have kicked him off the squad. “Not the best idea by far” “But now everyone regrets it. Of course we do. Maybe not right now, but the month after when we got AdreN everybody started to regret it, cause we didn’t have an IGL for five months.” he said. Read More: CS:GO: How to watch BLAST Pro Series – “Everybody was like “Fuck, we kicked our in-game leader without having an in-game leader to take over”. Not the best idea by far.” In a cruel twist of fate, the very team FaZe lost to in Cologne was none other than Karrigan’s new team mousesports. They went on to beat them 2 to 0 on the Inferno and Mirage maps. When asked how what the mood was after their loss, rain said: “After we lost emotions were pretty low. This is the only event of the year I really care about. Just playing here in front of the crowd is something special. It feels even more like the Major.” rain and Karrigan are still friends Fans don’t need to worry about conflict between the pair though: rain said that him and Karrigan were still good friends, and that there are no hard feelings between them except a friendly rivalry. He even talked about the possibility of them one day playing together again, which would be great to see. Fingers crossed. Rain also spoke about the team’s dynamics, and how he feels they aren’t currently on the same page. The team had a shakeup this year, after legendary Counter-Strike player Filip ‘NEO’ Kubski replaced Dauren ‘AdreN’ Kystaubayev – who had only just signed to FaZe months earlier. The CS:GO pro said that despite NEO initially trying to form a new playstyle for the team, they settled to play the way they did with AdreN, and that their lack of In Game Leader was ultimately what harmed them the most. After the loss, rain said the team needs a vacation, and that he has plans to go to Bali with his girlfriend. Hopefully the time off gives the squad the rest they need to make an epic comeback.

FaZe NiKo reveals how coldzera rivalry turned into close friendship On the eve of the BLAST Pro Series Global Finals, FaZe Clan’s CSGO roster sat down with Frankie Ward on the BLAST media day, and longstanding star Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač revealed how his rivalry with co-star Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David gave way to a beautiful partnership. NiKo and coldzera aren’t just powerful CSGO allies, they’re a full-blown power couple. But before the FaZe duo embodied modern-day relationship goals, they found themselves on the opposite sides of a competitive rivalry. When Frankie asked the two stars why they liked each other so much, NiKo dived in with some history about their relationship. “Ever since we had this rivalry back in 2017, we have been hanging out together,” he explained. “The friendship clicks.” In 2017, NiKo had a breakout year in his first year with FaZe Clan, earning multiple championships with FaZe and giving coldzera some competition for player of the year while he was with SK Gaming. Coldzera claimed the honor that year, his second in a row, and the two players joked that that was the cause of the rivalry. During that year, cold and SK also won the head-to-head matchups, winning seemingly every series that pit them against FaZe, including a handful of series in the grand finals of events like IEM Sydney and ECS Season 3 finals. Two years later, the rivals-turned-friends would become teammates, as FaZe paid top dollar to acquire coldzera from MIBR. Their teammate rain gave some insight on how the two co-exist on the same server when they both make calls. “Of course whatever [NiKo] says is law, but then again cold has some really good input, and sometimes NiKo listens. But usually, it’s ‘end of discussion’ when you talk to Niko in the in-game.” Both NiKo and cold shared a handshake and a smile as rain described the inner workings of their partnerships. NiKo joked earlier in the interview about their disagreements on the comms. “We’re on the same page most of the time when it comes to CS,” NiKo said as he and coldzera shared a laugh. They’ll be sharing the same city block as well in a short amount of time, as NiKo revealed that he was planning to move closer to coldzera soon, to the building next door. The next step for the duo is to improve on results heading into 2020. Their debut at ESL One NY did not go well at all, going 0-4 in maps and getting eliminated right away. The good news for FaZe heading into the Global Finals is that they’ve looked very good in BLAST events already, having won Copenhagen over NiP back in November. It seems the duo really enjoys playing together, but both players will be looking to win much more in the next year, especially as that Valve major victory still eludes the legendary NiKo.

FaZe Clan lose key player for BLAST Premier Spring Groups João Ferreira/DexertoFaZe’s CS:GO team will have to do without the services of Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard for the BLAST Premier Spring Groups, it has been announced. The North American organization posted to Twitter that rain will miss the event to attend the birth of his child, adding that head coach Robert ‘RobbaN’ Dahlström will not be standing behind the team in their first matches “due to a personal matter”. The Swedish coach will be back later next week or ahead of IEM Katowice “at the latest”, FaZe noted. It did not offer a return date for rain, but the Norwegian player said that he hopes to be available for the Polish event, which begins January 31. rain’s absence comes as a huge blow for FaZe ahead of the first event of the season. The BLAST Premier Spring Groups will feature 12 of the world’s best teams, with six spots at the Spring Final and almost $180,000 on the line. “Starting the season without rain and RobbaN is rough,” team captain Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen said on Twitter. “But we hope they will join us soon.” Who will replace rain? Dexerto knows that FaZe registered Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer as a substitute player for the BLAST Premier Spring Groups. But the 30-year-old has been out of action since the end of 2021, when he was replaced by Robin ‘ropz’ Kool on the roster. Speculation has been mounting that Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke could play for FaZe at the event after the Danish rifler posted to Twitter a cryptic message saying, “See you soon”. k0nfig was registered as a substitute by Heroic for this tournament. According to FaZe, further updates will be provided ahead of the team’s first match on Friday, against Complexity.

FaZe karrigan’s PGL Major Antwerp win was a journey six years in the making Stephanie Lindgren for PGLFinn ‘karrigan’ Andersen’s wait for a first Major crown finally ended on Sunday as FaZe were crowned PGL Major Antwerp champions. The veteran in-game leader joins Counter-Strike’s pantheon of immortals, and he has no plans to stop playing anytime soon. As karrigan began his slow walk toward the centre of the Antwerps Sportpaleis stage, where the PGL Major Antwerp trophy waited for him, reality began to sink in. That was the culmination of a journey that had begun in 2016, one that had been too long, too bumpy and at times seemed to have no destination. karrigan was the first to lift the trophy, then his teammates and FaZe esports director Edward Han, each greeted by a thunderous roar from the crowd. As it returned to karrigan’s hands, he brandished it one more time and held on to it tightly. It was a stark contrast to that night almost four years earlier, when he sat in his chair, his head in his hands, as Cloud9 celebrated victory at ELEAGUE Major Boston. What should have been a joyous occasion turned into a nightmare for him and the rest of his FaZe team after Cloud9 had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in a dramatic final that was etched into Counter-Strike folklore. It became a stick with which to beat karrigan, another entry on the list of ‘what if’ moments that had been abundant in his career since his days on TSM/Astralis. That team famously had a long history of choking in big moments — a mental barrier that was only overcome when Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander was brought on. karrigan went on to join FaZe, and while the team enjoyed incredible highs in his first two years there, there were also some painful lows. As FaZe watched the Boston Major title slip through their fingers like dust, many wondered if karrigan’s Major championship moment had passed him by. “I feel like I built a boat. I came over to cross the ocean, and right as we had to go into the harbor we fell down and drowned,” he told Dexerto in 2021 about the team’s early successes before the Boston collapse. Reinventing himself Despite all the titles that FaZe had won under karrigan’s watch, the team’s confidence in his abilities as an in-game leader began to dwindle. After a 0-2 start to the FACEIT Major, Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač did not hesitate to take over leadership responsibilities, stating a few months later, after another disastrous showing, that karrigan would not call again. Before the end of 2018, karrigan was gone. After a turbulent loan stint with Envy, karrigan found himself back on MOUZ, an organization he had represented three times before between 2010 and 2014. He helped assemble an interesting cast of players, joining the existing duo of Robin ‘ropz’ Kool and Chris ‘chrisJ’ de Jong while bringing on Özgür ‘woxic’ Eker and David ‘frozen’ Čerňanský — two players still finding their feet at the highest level. At the same time, karrigan did some soul-searching and thought hard about the lessons his FaZe stint had taught him. “I was too much of a ‘democracy-leader,’” he admitted. Under karrigan’s guidance, MOUZ reached new heights and became a legitimate title contender, ending 2019 as the No.2 team in the world. But their progress stalled after the pandemic hit and tournaments shifted online. At the same time, NiKo walked away from FaZe after becoming enamored with the idea of playing alongside his cousin Nemanja ‘huNter-‘ Kovač on G2 Esports. Discover more: karrigan: “This core can be the next Astralis” – That opened up a spot on FaZe, who began courting karrigan just as he was entering the final months of his MOUZ contract. He returned to his old home two months into 2021, ready to finish the job. Breaking down a barrier Delivering a Major title was firmly in karrigan’s sight, but the event in Stockholm came too soon for this new version of FaZe. It took months for the team to find some sort of stability as they showed clear signs of dysfunction in the server with Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David. Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer’s return restored some sense of order, but questions remained about the long-term plans as it was clear that the Swedish veteran was merely a band-aid solution. Those questions became even more pressing as FaZe ended 2021 without a single title to their name, a semi-final run at IEM Cologne one of the few bright spots of an otherwise disappointing year. Shortly after joining FaZe, karrigan had said that he harbored the “dream” of playing again alongside Robin ‘ropz’ Kool, who had enjoyed the most successful period of his MOUZ career under the Danish tactician. Soon it became clear that their reunion was a matter of when, not if, and karrigan had only to wait until the beginning of 2022 for the move to come to fruition — giving him a lineup that could go toe-to-toe with NAVI and the new international lineups that G2 and Vitality were assembling. Reunited with @ropzicle and happy one of the best players choose to come to us and FaZe made it possible. I believe he will fit in perfectly with the guys, so looking forward to the new season #FaZeUp pic.twitter.com/eJ1pdYmazh — karrigan (@karriganCSGO) January 3, 2022 Without surprise, ropz proved an immediate sensation as FaZe picked up titles from IEM Katowice and ESL Pro League — the first with Justin ‘jks’ Savage as a stand-in for the majority of the tournament. But FaZe and karrigan had won plenty of titles like those before, with better and worse rosters, sometimes also with stand-ins. Winning that elusive Major title became the measuring stick, the end-all, be-all for the team. But as much as the narrative around FaZe became centered on whether they would avoid a repeat of their ELEAGUE Major Boston run, it soon became clear that this team has little in common with the 2018 roster. For starters, it is much less reliant on one star to succeed, as evidenced by the fact that each of their title-winning runs this year has produced a different MVP. Fueled by community comments that he should have been replaced by jks in the aftermath of IEM Katowice’s run, 27-year-old Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard showed vintage form in Antwerp with a tournament-high 1.24 HLTV rating, picking up his first MVP medal in almost five years. But that doesn’t tell the whole picture. Perhaps the most important factor behind FaZe’s success in Antwerp is their mental fortitude, the ability to dip into reserves of mettle and resilience in long games, even when things are threatening to spiral out of control. That is how they managed to stay composed in their playoff series, even after letting a 12-5 lead go to waste against NAVI on their own map pick of Inferno. As NAVI jumped out to a 15-13 lead following a dominant run, 2018 FaZe would have crumbled under the pressure. This team, however, remained cool and collected under the most intense pressure, grinding out the win in overtime. They knew they could not lose, and they carried that attitude into the next map, Nuke, where they were in control from the start and never let go. “I’m stronger than I was in Boston and I think that showed today,” karrigan said after the final. “Regardless of what we go through, we keep a positive mindset. We can lose a 1v5 and win the next round.” That attitude will be put to the test in the weeks and months to follow as FaZe look to establish their own era. But for now it’s all about enjoying the moment. “I want to re-lift that boat,” karrigan told Dexerto in 2021. “[I want to] sail it one more time, and this time finish it with a Major win. That’s the reason I am here.” Six years after joining FaZe for the first time, karrigan has finally completed that journey, cementing his legacy as one of the greatest in-game leaders in Counter-Strike history. He may not have the same achievements as gla1ve, but his title-winning record with multiple teams under different organizations is unmatched. The ghosts of Boston 2018 officially banished, karrigan will now aim to get more Major titles to his collection. Retirement is not something that has entered his mind. “I’m enjoying every single tournament and every single minute [of it].”

FaZe CSGO reveal substitute following Olofmeister departure BLASTFaZe Clan’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad have revealed that Aurimas ‘Bymas’ Pipiras will be their temporary stand-in following Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer’s announcement that he would be stepping down. On May 23, legendary Swedish Counter-Strike olofmeister revealed that he would be stepping down from the active FaZe Clan roster – noting that he had become increasingly fatigued and losing motivation. With FaZe set to begin their run in the DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 online event, that meant that they’d be in need of a replacement and pretty quickly. Though, they have now announced which European player will be taking Olof’s place – at least on a temporary basis. Prior to their run at DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 getting underway, the org tweeted out that 16-year-old Aurimas ‘Bymas’ Pipiras would be stepping in ahead of their first game with GODSENT. Bymas’ addition to the roster had been rumored prior to the announcement, with DBLTap’s Jarek ‘Dekay‘ Lewis revealing on May 23 that FaZe had been in discussions to make the Lithuanian player a part of their roster. Today we begin the DreamHack Masters Group Stage. We will be playing with Aurimas “Bymas” Pipiras as our stand-in. Tune in at 5:30 PM CET to watch our first match vs GODSENT! https://t.co/7R2IcipFFA — FaZe Esports (@FaZeEsports) May 25, 2020 With Bymas replacing Olofmeister, it’s unknown just how the Swede will be stepping away from Counter-Strike for. In his stepping down announcement, he noted said “we’ll meet again” and that his teammates supported his decision – with all of them taking him for his work on Twitter. As for the Lithuanian, though he is a rising star in the European CS scene, it won’t be the easiest of starts for him under the FaZe Clan banner. The all-star lineup faces GODSENT in their opening DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 match before taking on Fnatic and Team Spirit in their other two matches. All eyes will be on the youngster to see if he can step into Olof’s boots, or if FaZe will need to go back to the drawing board and head back into the transfer market.

FaZe CSGO pull off nine-round winstreak vs Liquid with insane clutches BLAST Pro SeriesIn a classic map just two days into the Blast Premier Spring 2020 season, FaZe Clan’s CS:GO roster put together their own personal single-half highlight reel, with Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač, Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David, and others pulling off multiple clutches across nine straight rounds. It’s only fitting that FaZe, an esports organization that is synonymous with highlight reels, created their own montage of monster plays from just a single half of a CSGO map. With wins over Ninjas in Pyjamas and MIBR respectively, both FaZe Clan and Team Liquid faced each other in the Upper Bracket final of BLAST Premier Spring’s Group A. In map one, FaZe’s pick of Dust2, the international lineup of stars found themselves trailing to the North American lineup that dominated the first half of 2019. But after going down 5-1, FaZe went on an insane run of nine straight rounds with a myriad of crazy clutches from their best players. In the eighth round, FaZe’s most recent addition in Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants came up huge for his new club, with four massive AWP kills to single-handedly claim the round for his team. One of those came through the box on the A site, while his final one emulated the iconic s1mple AWP toss. Two rounds later, in the middle of the map, NiKo turned around what was nearly a disastrous round for FaZe with a clean triple via the Krieg, tying the map. In the 14th round, coldzera one-upped his Bosnian teammate, with a vicious 4k with the Krieg from the B site tunnels, only needing to use the scope once in the process. He was so fired up he rose out of his chair to get the London studio crowd involved. On Dust2, a dominant T-side half is almost an assured win, and with the momentum that they carried over from an electric first fifteen rounds, FaZe claimed the first map of the best-of-three, 16-12. NiKo and coldzera’s strong performance, fueled by their incredible clutches, were key to the victory. FaZe look to continue building momentum in 2020, and BLAST events are their wheelhouse. In 2019, they won both BLAST Copenhagen and Miami, and lost in the grand finals of BLAST Los Angeles. That BLAST LA loss, as well as their Global Final semifinals loss, came against Team Liquid. With the clutch-riddled performance they just had, they’re a map closer to getting a portion of revenge. A win in their group stage would put them in a high seed at the Spring 2020 finals.

FaZe CSGO reportedly find NEO replacement for ESL One New York StarLadderFaZe Clan’s CS:GO team is reportedly set to play with young talent Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants at the upcoming ESL One New York tournament. According to a report by CyberSport, broky will fill the gap left by the departure of Filip ‘neo’ Kubski at ESL One New York, which is taking place on September 26-29, although it’s not confirmed whether he’ll be a permanent addition to the team or simply acting as a substitute. Broky was first linked to a potential move to FaZe after he was seen practicing with the team alongside another unknown player going by the name of ‘dickb0mb’. Broky is currently a free agent, having most recently competed for Epsilon Esports, and many have touted the 18-year-old as a potential future super-star. The other mystery player was filling the place of Ladislav ‘GuardiaN’ Kovács, who also seems set for a move away from FaZe, with reports suggesting he might be set for a return to former team Natus Vincere. It’s currently unclear whether this move could go through before ESL One New York, which Na’Vi will not be competing at. Who the other mystery player is has not yet been revealed, although fans have speculated that it could have been Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David, who has expressed interest in playing alongside FaZe star Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač, or Nemanja ‘huNter-‘ Kovač, who is also NiKo’s cousin. Both players are currently under contract, however, with coldzera on the bench at MIBR and hunter- playing for CR4ZY. Whether FaZe could negotiate a transfer for either remains to be seen, should they in fact be pursuing one of these players. The changes come after an underwhelming end to the StarLadder Berlin Major for FaZe Clan, who finished with a 1-3 record in the group stage, losing their status as Legends. ESL One New York will be the first premier event taking place after the conclusion of the Major. FaZe Clan’s current expected roster for ESL One New York: Håvard ‘rain‘ Nygaard – Ladislav ‘GuardiaN‘ Kovács – Nikola ‘NiKo‘ Kovač – Olof ‘olofmeister‘ Kajbje – Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants Janko ‘YNk‘ Paunović (coach) – –

FaZe Clan’s rain Stays True to His Word With Hilarious Forfeit Following the ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals rain Image: EPICENTERFaZe Clan’s Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard put himself in an awkward situation during the ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals when he said he would eat a cigarette if Astralis lose a single map. Astralis looked dominant during the ESL Pro League Season 7 finals, wiping the floor with any and all competition as they aimed to prove that their loss in the IEM Sydney Grand Final was a mere blip. The team that beat them to take the title in Sydney, FaZe Clan, met the Danes in the semifinals of the EPL Finals and were soundly beaten 16-3 on Mirage and 16-6 on Inferno. After that loss many people predicted that Astralis would do much the same to Team Liquid in the Grand Final, including FaZe Clan’s rain who confidently Tweeted out that he would “eat a cigarette” if Astralis lost a single map in the best of five. The Norwegian star looked to be safe after the first map, Dust 2, as Astralis smashed Team Liquid 16-1 in less that 30 minutes. Team Liquid very nearly bounced back with some incredible clutches on Nuke but Astralis’ dominance in the full buy rounds eventually allowed them to take a 16-14 win and secure a 2-0 series score. Read More: OpTic Gaming’s k0nfig Told to Kill Himself After Fans Misunderstand Joke Made to GuardiaN – It looked like rain was safe but Team Liquid finally managed to close out a map with a 16-14 victory on Mirage thanks to some heroics from Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic and rain’s fate was sealed. Despite the fact that Astralis went on to win the next map and the title, his prediction was wrong and he stuck to his word like a true Viking with this hilarious forfeit. Thou shalt honor thy gambling debts! In this video @FaZe_rainCS eats a cigarette No, really.#ESLProLeague pic.twitter.com/WVA0e0NAih— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) May 20, 2018 We presume that rain will be refraining from making such bold predictions in the future but we also applaud him for being a man of his word. The FaZe players comments about Astralis were in line with those from most of the top analysts at present as the Danish team is playing some of the best CS:GO we have ever seen. However, despite the blowout on Dust 2, Team Liquid gave a good account of themselves during the majority of the series and will be going into future tournaments feeling confident.

FaZe Clan’s Olofmeister reveals why he’s “taking a break” from CSGO ESLCounter-Strike legend Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer Gustafsson is stepping away from FaZe Clan’s active CS:GO lineup, citing issues with fatigue and motivation as reasons for his decision. FaZe announced the update with Olof in a May 23 Twitter post that suggested the Swedish veteran will be coming back to the lineup, but after a much-needed break to recover. “I still love the game and the scene but I need to regain my motivation,” he explained. “I am going to take some time off to recuperate and think about my future.” He indicated that he’s been feeling increasingly fatigued and will use this break to rediscover his motivation to play at the level he’s always shown. “I have decided to take a break from Counter-Strike,” Olof said in his letter to the fans. “During the last period, I have felt increasingly fatigued and that I have been losing the motivation needed to do myself, my teammates, and the FaZe Brand justice.” He signed off with an encouraging message saying “we’ll meet again,” as his teammates showed their support in his decision. “Thank you Olofmeister for everything!” FaZe’s Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard said. “Was a dream come true when you joined back in 2017 and have so many great memories in-game and out of the game with you! No matter what you decide is next in life good luck brother.” FaZe Clan have been struggling in recent events, but the team are still largely seen as a top 10 team in the world given their roster loaded to the brim with elite level players. Thank you @olofmeister for everything! Was a dream come true when you joined back in 2017 and have so many great memories in game and out of the game with you! No matter what you decide is next in life good luck brother❤️ — Håvard Nygaard (@FaZe_rainCS) May 23, 2020 The 28-year-old will leave a void in a team consisting of rain, Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač, Marcelo ‘coldzera’ Augusto David, and Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants. Coach and former pro player Janko ‘YNk’ Paunović will likely step in to fill the empty spot in the lineup if no other announcements are made. FaZe Clan are set to begin their run at the DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 European qualifiers on May 25. They make up the four-team Group C along with fnatic, GODSENT, and Spirit. Their first matchup will be against GODSENT, who FaZe made quick work of the last time they met – a 2-0 affair at ESL One: Road to Rio on May 5. Whether or not they can replicate that result without Olofmeister remains to be seen, as he’s one of CSGO’s most decorated players and fans are eager to see what is next for his career.

FaZe Clan’s olofmeister discusses if he is the GOAT of CS:GO ELEAGUETwo time major winner Olof ‘olofmeister‘ Kajbjer is considered by many as one of the greatest Counter-Strike players of all time, but Olof himself says he doesn’t put himself as number one. Along with the rest of FaZe Clan, olofmeister has just secured his 14th successive ‘Legends’ status (top eight) at a CS:GO Major, at IEM Katowice 2019, but it’s fair to say he hasn’t been the standout player. During his time on Fnatic, the Swede was often the star of the show, as the dominant team won both majors in 2015, and olofmeister was named the best player in the world. Olofmeister won two majors with Fnatic in 2015. After securing his 14th Legend status achievement, discussions started again about olofmeisters position in the pantheon of all time greats of Counter-Strike, but analyst Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields argued that being “carried” on this 14th occasion, had to be taken into account. olof got carried to this last Legends status. When you’re talking about him in the context of G.O.A.T. status, his Legends streak means a lot less since joining FaZe. — Thorin (@Thooorin) February 26, 2019 In response, olofmeister agreed, both that he had been carried so far in the ongoing major, and that he doesn’t consider himself the greatest of all time. However, he did take issue with Thorin suggesting that he had also been carried in previous majors with FaZe Clan. Would never consider myself the goat in this game, there is a a lot of players I rank above myself in that category and it’s true I got carried in this major. I don’t agree with you about the other majors in faze tho — Olof Kajbjer (@olofmeister) February 26, 2019 Thorin in fact explained that he believes olofmeister is a “strong candidate” for GOAT status, largely due to his time with Fnatic. While many fans, especially those who remember the reign of dominance which Fnatic enjoyed throughout 2014 and 2015, will perhaps see olofmeister as the best to ever play, there are so many other names who could also be considered. olofmeister still has a chance to win another major in Katowice too, although FaZe admittedly look far from the strongest out of the teams remaining.

FaZe Clan’s NiKo hits out at ECS on Twitter FaZe Clan star Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač wasn’t happy with the lack of information coming from ECS during Season 6 of the popular tournament series. With Season 6 of the ECS having gotten underway on October 3, it seems as though the players are just as confused and in the dark about the schedule as the fans are at this point. As has been the case for multiple seasons now, the ECS schedule continues to be a mystery that is only solved mere days, or sometimes hours, before matches are set to begin. Speaking out on Twitter, NiKo expressed his frustrations with this fact, saying “I can’t believe we have to find out that we have official matches [from] hltv.org and not [from] ECS, great work.” I cant believe we have to find out that we have official matches on https://t.co/FG5NYTNkBx and not by @ecs, great work :yes: — NiKo (@fazeniko) October 7, 2018 Following NiKo’s statement, things got a bit murkier when Director of Esports for FACEIT, Roald Van Buuren, fired back with a tweet of his own questioning how FaZe could have not know a match was scheduled since they had previously turned in map vetoes. How did you guys submit your vetoes for the match without knowing it’s taking place? :thinking_face: — Roald Van Buuren (@roaldvanbuuren) October 7, 2018 Even with Van Buuren doubting his claim, however, NiKo didn’t back down and explained in another tweet that FaZe Clan were indeed asked for vetoes, but “weren’t told the dates [they] were gonna play.” The official ECS website seems to give credence to NiKo’s claims given that there are no more games listed for FaZe Clan despite there being a month left in the season. FACEIT is no stranger to such controversy, having recently been forced to make rule changes to both the Major Qualifier system and the seeding for the Major playoffs in September after facing backlash from the community. Neither FACEIT nor ECS have commented on the matter and there’s no word yet on when FaZe Clan’s next ECS match will be.

FaZe Clan’s NiKo destroys CSGO team with insane 1v5 clutch L: E-League / R: ValveCounter-Strike: Global Offensive pro Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač annihilated his opponents in a Faceit Pro League match with an unbelievable 1v5 ace clutch. NiKo is widely considered to be one of the best CS:GO players in the world and currently represents one of the biggest esports teams, FaZe Clan. His team has fallen on bad form lately, but the Bosnian showed he can still be absolutely unstoppable with his incredible 1v5 in an FPL match. FaZe were eliminated from the StarLadder Berlin Major on August 31 and NiKo was already back to his usual practice on September 4, when he made this amazing clutch. He was pushing out of A-ramp on Mirage and found his whole team had fallen, leaving him in a 1v5 situation. He did not give up, however, and a quick spray towards palace secured him his first kill, setting the game to a slightly easier 1v4, but leaving him with only 12 health. From there, he knew his only shot was to kill everyone before they could even touch him. A quick peek into the bomb-site revealed a Counter-Terrorist, who NiKo instantly deleted with a precise headshot. He then moved around the corner to look at jungle, hitting another insanely accurate one tap, and just two enemies remained. Nikola retreated into ramp to check his flank and was able to amazingly hit yet another instant headshot, bringing it down to a 1v1 after killing three enemies without allowing them to react. Things seemed incredibly easy for him after that, as he crept towards the bomb site and managed to get the jump on the final defender, securing the round and an insane 1v5 clutch. NiKo wasn’t streaming this epic moment, but luckily Twitch streamer ShaneyTV managed to capture it, and he was just as stunned by the Bosnian’s skill as other fans, gasping and celebrating throughout.

FaZe Clan’s NiKo apologizes for “embarrassing” performance at Berlin Major ESLCSGO star, Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač has apologized to fans after FaZe Clan’s shock exit at the StarLadder Berlin Major 2019. Despite not having the most success this year, FaZe Clan’s CS:GO team has always been regarded as one of the most individually skilled line-ups of all time, with iconic names such as Olofmeister and GuardiaN as core members of the team. Many FaZe fans were surprised to see the popular international roster fall short at the Major in Berlin, after falling 2-1 to Renegades in the New Legends stage, placing in them in tied 12th place overall. The unexpected result means that their roster will lose their ‘Legends’ status before going into the next CS:GO major and FaZe NiKo was not happy with his performance, apologizing to fans shortly after their elimination. “Embarrassing individual performance by me throughout the whole event, sorry everyone for letting you down,” NiKo expressed, apologizing to his followers and FaZe’s Counter-Strike fans. FaZe’s early elimination from the tournament also means that Olofmeister’s incredible streak placing Top 8 or better and holding his Legend status at every one of Valve Major’s has finally been broken. Embarrassing individual performance by me throughout the whole event, sorry everyone for letting you down. — NiKo (@fazeniko) August 31, 2019 FaZe Clan will now have to start their next Major event from the New Challengers stage and will have to fight their way through the competition in order to have a chance at regaining the all-important Legend status. Although according to recent reports, FaZe may be looking to switch up their roster soon after news broke that they are in talks with MIBR’s Coldzera and ENCE’s Aleksib. Despite Niko’s disappointment at the StarLadder Major 2019, his cousin Nemanja ‘huNter-’ Kovač from Team CR4ZY is still in with a chance of qualifying for the Legends stage as they take on Natus Vincere in a Bo3 elimination series on September 1.

FaZe Clan’s CSGO Major stickers are now worth more than shares in the company ValveSome of FaZe Clan’s cheapest CSGO Major stickers are now worth more than shares in the company amid FaZe Clan’s financial troubles. FaZe Clan’s financial troubles in 2023 have been well publicized. Despite not being the first esports and gaming org to be publicly listed on the Nasdaq exchange, it was one of the most high-profile additions in the space. However, just nine months out after going public on the Nasdaq via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) with B. Riley Prinicipal 150 Merger Corp, the price per share dropped from $13 to the current $0.48. This has threatened FaZe from being delisted from the Nasdaq if their shares do not improve. FaZe would eventually report a $53.2 million net loss in its first year as a public company, despite increasing revenue. Though through all of the chaos, FaZe Clan’s pro teams have been performing well in their respective games, and this is most prevalent with their CSGO team. FaZe Clan made it to the Paris Major 2023, the very last CSGO major before the switch to CS2. As always, Valve created stickers for players and teams for their participation in the Major event. Ironically enough, fans have since pointed out how FaZe’s glitter skins are selling slightly above the org’s stock prices. In fact, the cheapest glitter sticker – which is a tier above paper – their Rio 2022 sticker, is selling for $0.48. Which is the same price as FaZe shares as they stand today. Although their paper stickers are significantly lower than glitter ones, with the cheapest at $0.07, they are generally seen as throwaways by most skin collectors. However, FaZe is not alone in this. Astralis, another public esports company with a team in CSGO, is selling its stocks at $0.30. Most of their Major stickers are also selling well above that amount. FaZe Clan’s CSGO team is at this point legendary. With a Major trophy and an Intel Grand Slam on their belt, they are seen as one of the best orgs in the scene while skirting away from the company’s troubled financial status in the background. FaZe will be playing the opening match of the Paris Major 2023 against Monte on May 8.

FaZe Clan Win ESL One Belo Horizonte $200,000 CS:GO Tournament – Final Placements Two top European squads faced off in the Grand Final of the $200,000 ESL One Belo Horizonte tournament, with FaZe Clan coming out on top on mousesports The tournament saw eight of the best teams from around the world descend on the sunny Brazilian city, including rival Brazilian teams SK Gaming and Não Tem Como (NTC). NTC struggled in the group stage however, as did Canadian side Ghost Gaming, while German’s BIG and the top Turkish team Space Soldiers finished third in their respective groups. With only the top two teams from each group advancing to the elimination bracket, it really was four of the world’s best facing off. More: Team Envy’s SIXER Faints On Stage While Celebrating Win Over Heroic at CS:GO Asia Championship – SK Gaming looked better than the recent form would have indicated, winning a close match against Space Soldiers in groups, but were fairly comfortably beaten by mousesports in the semi final match. On the other side of the bracket, likely the best North American team currently, Team Liquid, took on the star studded FaZe Clan lineup, who had Jorgen “cromen” Robertson filling in for the inactive Olof “Olofmiester” Kajbjer. FaZe demolished Liquid on the first map 16-3, and despite Liquid taking map two narrowly, FaZe advanced to the final with a 2-1 win. So Mouseports and FaZe met up in the grand final, a best of five match that went all the way to the deciding fifth map. FaZe started strong with a 16-6 win, but mousesports immediately bounced back winning two close maps in a row. FaZe forced the fifth map with a 16-9 win on Mirage. It was only fitting that the final map took place on the recently returning legendary map Dust2, and FaZe were dominant on the T side, winning 16-8 to win the championship. – ESL One Belo Horizonte 2018 Final Placements

FaZe Clan Set to Replace Olofmeister At the ECS Season 5 Finals in London EPICENTERIt looks like Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer will be missing out on yet another international CS:GO event despite only returning to activity with FaZe Clan on May 25th. The Swedish star, who was widely regarded as the best player on the planet back in 2015, has been a part of FaZe Clan since August of 2017 and has claimed a number of titles with the international team in the time since. However, he was not a part of the FaZe roster that won IEM Sydney in May of 2018 due to an ongoing hiatus from competion which had begun on April 1st for undisclosed personal reasons. The team played with Richard ‘Xizt’ Landström during Olofmeister’s time away, but on May 25th the two time Major Champion announced that he was returning and excited to compete once again. Read More: S1mple Shines and Random CS:GO Fan Jumps on Stage as StarSeries Season 5 Finals Conclude – Highlights and Finals Placements – It would seem that something else has cropped up, though, as industry insider neL revealed on June 3rd that the Swede will be missing the ECS Season 5 Finals in London from June 8th – 10th. The flickshot.fr founder stated that olofmeister still has some “personal problems” and that Jørgen ‘cromen’ Robertsen will be taking his place at the event. FaZe will play with Cromen instead of Olofmeister for the ECS finals. It’s not about a change or anything, just a stand-in as olof still has some personal problems. — neL (@neLendirekt) June 3, 2018 Cromen recently played as a stand-in for Heroic at the ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals where he helped the Danish team secure a 7th – 8th place finish. But the Norwegian player will have much bigger shoes to fill at the UK event as FaZe Clan looks to defeat some of world’s best teams like Astralis, Team Liquid, and Fnatic. If the reports are confirmed, FaZe will play at the ECS Season 5 Finals with the following roster: Finn “karrigan” Andersen – Nikola “NiKo” Kovač – Håvard “rain” Nygaard – Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács – Jørgen ‘cromen’ Robertsen –

FaZe Clan reportedly eyeing mousesports’ Karrigan to replace NiKo ELEAGUEFaZe Clan are reportedly eyeing a reunion with mousesports’ in-game leader Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen as a replacement for recently-departed CS:GO star Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač. According to The Clutch, FaZe has been interested in the Danish-German who has an expiring contract with mousesports in 2021. The org could decide to pull the trigger on a deal now with a likely buyout, or avoid a transfer fee all together when karrigan hits the free market in March. It’s said Brazilian star Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David has been pushing for karrigan’s signing ever since NiKo left to join his cousin Nemanja ‘huNter-’ Kovač on G2 in late October. Coldzera has been taking over IGL responsibilities in the meantime, and is lobbying the organization to fill in the spot with a strong pick like mousesports’ general. Coming into the year, mousesports had been one of the top teams in the world. Between November 2019 and February 2020, they had secured top 2 finishes in every event they participated in. They’ve struggled in the online era, and that’s even before Özgür ‘woxic’ Eker was benched in August, eventually signing with Cloud9. Mouse’s developmental player, Aurimas ‘Bymas’ Pipiras, was promoted to the starting line, completing karrigan’s five-man team. Now he has a chance to pick between his on-again-off-again org since 2010, or a FaZe Clan team that kicked him in the past just to immediately regret it soon after. It’s not to say that both teams can’t still turn around their fate. While on the lookout for a permanent fifth, Olof ‘olofmeister’ Gustafsson has been subbing in the FaZe lineup and are now in the playoffs at IEM Beijing-Haidian Europe 2020. Should he go back, Karrigan would replace olof and reunite with close friend Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard, the only remnant of the FaZe Clan team he left behind in 2018. Meanwhile, mousesports still has impressive players like David ‘frozen’ Čerňanský, Chris ‘chrisJ’ de Jong, and star talent Robin ‘ropz’ Kool. Karrigan, 30, has a wealth of tactical ingenuity as well as a strong rifle and he’s proven it in the past, making him a valuable asset for all interested parties.

Coldzera moves to FaZe Clan bench with Olofmeister eyed for comeback BLASTFaZe Clan Brazilian CSGO star Marcelo ‘Coldzera’ David has moved to the bench – and the team has been practicing with FaZe and Fnatic legend Olof ‘olofmeister’ Gustafsson, who was benched earlier this year. Brazilian website ge first reported that Coldzera “will not be part of the starting lineup at least for the next championships.” A move of some kind was to be expected from FaZe, due to their undeniably awful run of form lately, which culminated in a top 16 finish at Flashpoint Season 3 in May. Shortly after the news broke, Coldzera confirmed on Twitter that he had moved to the bench and will “analyze a new proposal for the future.” Fala galera! Dps dos resultados que tivemos recentemente e tambem com o pouco tempo que ainda me resta dentro do Faze optei por ir para o banco de reservas e analisar uma nova proposta para o futuro. Queria agradecer ao faze e a todos os fãs e jogadores. 😁👊— coldzera (@coldzera) June 1, 2021 Olofmeister back? Coldzera is said to have missed the team’s practice on Tuesday, June 1, as olofmeister took his place in the team instead. There’s no guarantee that olofmeister will return to the starting lineup proper, but he could move off the bench temporarily to fill the gap left by the Brazilian. Coldzera’s time on FaZe since leaving MiBR has not gone how he would have hoped, and despite numerous changes, the team’s form has been on a downward trajectory. This is despite the return of veteran player and IGL Finn ‘Karrigan’ Andersen.

FaZe Clan’s NiKo set to join G2 Esports very soon: Report StarLadderCSGO star Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač is close to a transfer out of FaZe Clan to G2 Esports, which would pair him with cousin and fellow rifler, Nemanja ‘huNter-’ Kovač. [jwplayer P0zzFW0M] Back in late September, it was reported that the two organizations opened up discussion around the transfer of the 23-year old Bosnian international. The deal was expected to be finalized weeks after the initial report, though now it could be closer to happening. There would be a lot of pressure for both teams to close the books on a deal soon, seeing as the BLAST Premier Fall Series is around the corner. The news follows FaZe Clan’s latest event championship at the European Intel Extreme Masters XV New York on October 11; G2 Esports finished that event in 7th-8th place. According to HLTV, the deal could include “one of the biggest transfer fees in the game,” which could outdo the $500,000 fee FaZe paid mousesports for NiKo in 2017. G2 would have to make space in their starting roster for NiKo, which could see French player François ‘AmaNEk’ Delaunay either benched or traded to another team, according to the report. Similarly, FaZe are said to already be on the hunt for someone to replace the star before the $150,000 BLAST Premier begins. G2 Esports are in the Group C bracket of that event and will face off against FURIA on November 2, while the Group B matchup between FaZe and BIG kicks off on October 29 – so the two sides will be hard-pressed to finalize any proposed deal as soon as possible. As successful as NiKo has been on an individual level, his run with FaZe has yet to result in a Major title. While the next Major in Rio has been indefinitely postponed due to the ongoing crisis, the superstar could be playing under a new banner by the time it rolls around. If a deal gets done, he will move on from a team with players like Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David, Markus ‘Kjaerbye’ Kjærbye, and Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard for the likes of Nemanja ‘nexa’ Isaković and longtime French star Kenny ‘kennyS’ Schrub. NiKo has been with FaZe for three years, but all indications are that his spell wearing the red and black jerseys won’t be lasting much longer.

FaZe Clan mount impressive comeback to win ELEAGUE Invitational ELEAGUEFaZe Clan’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad had to dig in and mount an impressive 2-1 comeback over Cloud9 to secure victory at the ELEAGUE Invitational this weekend in Atlanta. The European squad, who had beaten BIG Clan to reach the Grand Finals, quickly fell behind in the series 1-0 after Cloud9 secured a dominant 16-3 map win on Mirage. Cloud9, who had been in fine form all event long, looked like favourites to secure a 2-0 series win. Mirage had been FaZe’s map choice for the series but a 22-7 performance from Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta and 20-10 showing from William ‘RUSH’ Wierzba saw Cloud9 race ahead. The series was turned on its head on Inferno, the second map and the choice of Cloud9, when FaZe posted a strong 11-4 first-half on the CT side. While the majority American squad of C9 attempted to makke a comeback, the longest-tenured FaZe member Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard pulled out a ludicrous Eco round. FaZe Clan suffocated Cloud9 for the rest of the map, holding off their mini-revivals, to eventually secure a 16-12 map victory – tying the best-of-three grand finals series at 1-1. However, despite getting a shot at the third map – Train – Cloud9 ran into Ladislav ‘Guardian’ Kovács. The Slovakian star brought Cloud9’s early form on the map to an end with a quad-kill in an eco round, before pulling off a disgusting 1 vs. 4 clutch with his signature weapon – the AWP – to complete the ace. The Slovakian superstar finished the map with a ridiculous 34-9 as FaZe picked up the 16-9 win, ultimately handing them the ELEAGUE Invitational trophy. The tournament win should stand FaZe in good stead for their run at the IEM Katowice Major despite getting rid of longtime in-game leader Finn ‘Karrigan’ Andersen in December. Experienced pros like Olof ‘Olofmeister’ Kajbjer Gustafsson and Dauren ‘AdreN’ Kystaubayev have experienced lifting the most prestigious prize in CS:GO in the past but that honour has alluded the fellow superstars on the roster in Guardian, Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovac and Rain. FaZe will begin their quest to lift the trophy in Poland on February 20 at the New Legends Stage thanks to their performance at the FACEIT London Major in 2018.

FaZe Clan stun fans with surprise addition of NEO to CS:GO line-up L: SteelSeries, R: ESLFaZe Clan have announced the surprise addition of Counter-Strike legend Filip ‘NEO’ Kubski to their CS:GO roster. NEO is a legendary figure in Counter-Strike, considered by many to be the greatest player of all time in CS 1.6. He spent the vast majority of his time in CS:GO under Virtus.pro, with the legendary line-up that won the ESL One Katowice Major in 2014 and were renowned for their unique ability to routinely return to an elite level of play. In more recent years, however, the Virtus.pro squad did eventually enter a decline that ultimately prove terminal, with the line-up making its first change with the departure of Wiktor ‘TaZ’ Wojtas in early 2018. NEO himself ultimately parted ways with Virtus.pro in February 2019. The move marks a surprise return to an elite team for NEO, whom many had expected to either retire or play out his final competitive games in a tier-two squad. It had, however, been reported by CyberSport the day before the official announcement. He replaces the most recent addition to FaZe Clan, Dauren ‘AdreN’ Kystaubayev, and is set to fill the role of in-game leader for the team. Read more: Gla1ve reveals only CS:GO events Astralis will attend for remainder of season as BLAST criticism continues – AdreN was added to the team on January 6 as a stand-in for benched in-game leader Finn ‘karigan’ Andersen, although it was star player Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač who took over in-game leadership. The move never quite produced the course correction that FaZe Clan were looking for, however. Though they picked up titles at the ELEAGUE CS:GO Invitational 2019 and BLAST Pro Series Miami, FaZe have yet to replicate the kind of consistency and peaks of play that defined much of the karrigan era. The official announcement of NEO’s addition describes him as a “substitute”, perhaps implying that he will be standing in on a trial basis before his addition to the team is made permanent, but he is set to join the active line-up immediately. NEO’s very first match for FaZe will take place on the same day as his addition, May 13. Not only is he immediately dropping into active play in ECS Season 7, but his debut will be against none other than Virtus.pro themselves, at 5 PM CET. FaZe Clan’s starting roster: Håvard ‘rain‘ Nygaard – Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač – Ladislav ‘GuardiaN‘ Kovács – Olof ‘olofmeister‘ Kajbjer – Filip ‘NEO‘ Kubski –

FaZe Clan fall victim to ridiculous CSGO glitch at Katowice qualifier During the Closed European qualifier for the upcoming IEM Katowice 2020 event, FaZe Clan’s Counter-Strike team found themselves on the wrong end of a glitch that nearly brought about a disaster for the talented roster. It’s tricky to win any objective-based game when the thing pivotal to your objective becomes impossible to reach. What makes it annoying – and potentially tilting – is when it happens in the final round of an important competitive match. With the holiday break over, numerous CS:GO teams are already making the long journey towards the next big competitive tournament – but no team expects to have this kind of mishap occur during their run. FaZe Clan were facing ARCY in the first round of the IEM Katowice closed European qualifier. ARCY is a Polish squad, featuring two players from the legendary Virtus.Pro roster that dominated CSGO for half a decade in Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas and Filip “NEO” Kubski. Read more: Thorin’s CS:GO World Rankings – January 2020 – In the first map of their series, FaZe were just barely holding onto a 15-14 lead going into the 30th and final round on Nuke, when a hilarious nd unplanned-for disaster struck the talented international roster. The online qualifier match was being hosted by commentator Mitch ‘MitchManCasting’ McBride, whose observer quickly panned the camera over to where the outline of the bomb could clearly be spotted under the concrete near T spawn. In years past, this has happened in competitive events where the bomb is stuck or glitched into a place it can’t be retrieved, and players were forced to play through the consequences. Thankfully, in these modern times, rounds can be reset so that everyone has the same money and equipment as before. The server used a program called MatchMedic to do exactly that, and in the actual 30th round, a beautiful triple kill from Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer Gustafsson confirmed the FaZe victory. FaZe had come back from a 14-9 deficit and overcome a frustrating glitch to take their first map against ARCY. They would also take their second map on Dust2 to move on in the tournament, where will they will face Finnish squad ENCE. FaZe, along with other talented European teams like G2 Esports and ENCE, don’t have an ESL Pro Tour win or a direct invite to IEM Katowice, meaning they have to compete through closed qualifiers. Eight teams are competing in the European qualifier with three spots at Katowice available, meaning FaZe have two chances to win just one more series to make it to Poland.

FaZe Clan CSGO reportedly dropping Bymas for Kjaerbye StarLadderAn unexpected change to the FaZe Clan CS:GO roster is apparently in motion, with Markus ‘Kjaerbye’ Kjærbye reportedly set to replace the young star Aurimas ‘Bymas’ Pipiras. The Danish former Astralis and North player stepped down from the latter in July, with his next move unclear. 16-year-old Lithuanian Bymas got his shot at the big time with FaZe Clan in May, on a trial basis. According to a report from Polish website Cybersport, his time starting on the roster is now up. He will reportedly be replaced by Kjaerbye as soon as as this month, with the Dane playing alongside the superstars of Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač and Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David for ESL One Cologne 2020. According to Cybersport, the rest of the roster will remain unchanged, with broky, another relatively inexperienced player at the top level, retaining his spot. FaZe Clan CSGO roster (rumored) Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard – Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač – Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David – Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants – Markus ‘Kjaerbye’ Kjærbye – Janko ‘YNk’ Paunović – coach – FaZe Clan, competing in the European division at ESL One Cologne, will face the likes of G2, Fnatic, NaVi, Vitality, and Kjaerbye’s former organization Astralis. There will be no easy matches, and if this reported move comes to fruition, it will likely be due to a lack of confidence in Bymas’s performances against these top teams. Kjaerbye, meanwhile, hasn’t hit the same form he once had back when winning the ELEAGUE Atlanta Major in 2017 with Astralis. His time on North was a rollercoaster, but this would be another chance for him to showcase his abilities on a star-studded lineup. ESL One Cologne starts on August 18, and will be played online, with four separate divisions around the world.

FaZe CSGO practice without GuardiaN or NEO amid roster swap rumors StarLadder/FlickrFaZe Clan’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team has been spotted playing with two new faces ahead of a huge post-Major roster shuffle. The second, and final, CS:GO Major event of 2019 is rapidly drawing to a close as teams battle for supremacy at the StarLadder Berlin Major. Fans have already seen numerous shocks, including the stunning eliminations of ENCE and Team Vitality in the quarterfinals but some huge names didn’t even make it to the arena stage. One such team is FaZe Clan, who were knocked out at the New Legends stage with a 1-3 record. In the fallout, the all-star European line-up is shaking things up in a big way. The current FaZe Clan CSGO roster has been together since May. Eagle-eyed members of the CSGO community, including the popular Don Haci, noted that following their exit, FaZe Clan had been practicing against Ninjas in Pyjamas without Ladislav ‘GuardiaN’ Kovács and Filip ‘NEO’ Kubski. Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovac, Håvard ‘Rain’ Nygaard, and Olof ‘Olofmeister’ Kajbjer made up part of the FaZe side but were apparently joined with 19-year-old rising star Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants and another pro going under the alias of ‘dickb0mb’. FaZe practicing with @brokycs (who is a fucking beast) and “dickb0mb” No GuardiaN/Neo Credit to the important HLTV Forums pic.twitter.com/CutLAzRVnj — Haci (@DonHaci) September 5, 2019 The organization had reportedly been set for talks with legendary Brazillian pro Marcelo ‘Coldzera’ David and ENCE in-game leader Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen, but some onlookers pointed out that the unusual name could belong to someone else. That fifth pro could very well be NiKo’s cousin and current CR4ZY star Nemanja ‘huNter-’ Kovač – who has been linked with joining FaZe in the past – and is a part of a steam group under the ‘Dickb0mb’ name. Found this gem, he is in hunter’s group which could mean it’s his alt/ smurf acc and also he has CR4ZY manager added. Spicy pic.twitter.com/sEhEDHgIpk — Joao Eduardo (@truzzt_) September 5, 2019 Yet, others noted that the unusual name may be linked to Serbian player ‘djokabomba’ who is a friend of FaZe coach Janko ‘YNK’ Paunovic and has played in a number of online qualifiers in his home region. It still remains to be seen as to what moves FaZe will make in the post-Major shuffle, but it appears clear that they are already lining up some fresh blood. The StarLadder Berlin Major concludes on Sunday, September 8, and plenty of teams will be circling for new rosters once a winner is crowned and the resulting confetti is cleaned up.

FaZe Clan CSGO have perfect responses after brutal loss to Astralis FaZe Clan’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad issued some perfect responses to being demolished 32-2 (16-0, 16-2) by Astralis at IEM Beijing. IEM Beijing, one of the most lucrative CS:GO events of the year, is quickly drawing to its conclusion as 100 Thieves will take on three-time Major winners Astralis in the grand final. To get there, though, the pair had to fight through – what seemed on paper – pretty difficult semi final match-ups against Team Vitality and FaZe Clan respectively. Yet, Astralis completely dominated FaZe in their clash, picking up a 16-0 victory on Dust2, before settling the series with a win on their home turf of Nuke by a scoreline of 16-2. After being beaten down by the Danes, the FaZe players quickly responded on Twitter with some pretty spot on posts, summing up the embarrassing nature of their defeat and congratulating their opponents. Bosnian superstar Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovac set the tone by posting a photo of himself with his eyes popping out, clearly stunned by what he was seeing before tipping his cap to Astralis for “playing great CS.” Long-time FaZe member Havard ‘rain’ Nygaard joked that his team “almost had that one,” after the demolition. However, he quickly put all jokes aside and claimed that his team “didn’t stand much of a chance” in this game as the Danes played an almost perfect series. It was left to Marcelo ‘Coldzera’ David and Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer Gustafsson to round out the reactions, with the latter noting that his team had been “De_stroyed.” Coldzera, on the other hand, took a more jokingly reflective stance, laughing about how he’d now fallen to a third 16-0 defeat on Dust 2 where he has finished with 6 kills and 16 deaths. It was also now the second 16-0 at the hands of Astralis. Agora eu sei porque tomei outro 16-0! Famoso karmabitch :shrug:♂️:joyful: pic.twitter.com/CdQK2VkrwA — coldzera (@coldzera) November 9, 2019 Luckily for the international mix squad, they won’t have too much time to dwell on their defeat, as they travel to London to complete their ESL Pro League Season 10 games with hopes of qualifying for the LAN finals. As for Astralis, their eyes will be on the lions share of the $250,000 prize pool in Beijing, but it seems unlikely that they’ll be able to 16-0 the high-flying 100 Thieves squad.

CS:GO: FaZe Clan crash out as StarSeries i-League Season 7 playoff bracket confirmed The eight teams who will complete in the playoff bracket of the StarSeries i-League Season 7 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event have been confirmed after FaZe Clan’s loss to North on April 3 saw them crash out of the tournament. The StarSeries i-League Season 7 event, which is taking place in Shanghai, China, kicked off on Saturday, March 30, as 16 teams battled to earn a spot in the playoff bracket, which starts on Friday, April 5. While teams like fnatic, Renegades and ENCE secured their place in the quarter finals with relative ease, a massive name who won’t be competing on Friday is FaZe Clan, who missed out with a loss on the final day of group stage action. What happened to FaZe Clan? FaZe and North are two of Counter-Strike’s biggest names, regularly competing at the game’s biggest events over the past few years. On April 3 though, one of them had to go home, as both teams were sitting with a record of 2-2 heading into a match that would see one head through to the quarter finals, and the other packing. After missing out on the IEM Katowice 2019 Major, not many thought North would be able to make their way past FaZe, however victories on Train and Dust2 led the Scandinavian organization past their opponents and into the playoffs in the final match of the group stage. What is the bracket for the StarSeries iLeague Season 7 playoffs? With North securing the final spot in the StarSeries Season 7 playoffs, we now know what the bracket will look like when it kicks off at 5 AM BST / 9 PM PDT / 12AM EST on Friday, April 5. Fnatic and Renegades, who finished 3-0 in the Swiss format group stages, will face off against North and Ninjas in Pyjamas respectively, while NRG Esports take on Team Vitality in the first match of the day on April 5. Fans of popular squad ENCE will have to wait until Saturday to see their team in action, as they take on Natus Vincere in the final quarter final on Saturday. #StarSeriesS7 Playoffs Bracket :trophy: 06:00 CEST – @NRGgg vs @TeamVitality 09:00 CEST – @FNATIC vs @TheNorthIsHere 12:00 CEST – @Renegades vs @NiPGamingThe action starts on Friday :fire:! 06:00 CEST – @natusvincere vs @ENCE (on Saturday) pic.twitter.com/QAdPewQscL — StarLadder CS:GO (@cssltv) April 3, 2019 Matches in the StarSeries i-League Season 7 playoffs will be broadcast live on Twitch on Friday, April 5 from the Baoshan Sports Center in Shanghai, China.

FaZe Clan confirms addition of Coldzera ahead of ESL One New York StarLadderCounter-Strike superstar Marcelo ‘coldzera‘ David for an undisclosed fee ahead of ESL One New York this weekend. The Brazilian superstar’s move was first rumored after the conclusion of the Berlin major, and was further confirmed by DeKay on September 24. Many in the Counter-Strike community have simply been waiting for an official announcement for the organization. Now confirmation from FaZe has finally come on September 25, and the former MIBR star will now officially join the roster of Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard, Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač, Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer and trial player Helvijs ‘broky’ ahead of the upcoming eight-team tournament. The announcement comes after coldzera was spotted in various Instagram stories alongside members of the FaZe roster, further cementing the rumors the CSGO superstar would be linking up with the storied organization on the eve of the ESL event. Read more: s1mple explains why he’s giving up the AWP – FaZe’s video opened on org owner Thomas ‘Temperrr’ Oliveira, who joked that he would be joining the active roster for New York. Coldzera appeared on-screen moments later, asking “What about me?” and confirmed he was the real new addition to the squad. We have an Announcement to make… :flag-br: pic.twitter.com/q5n6T80qMn — FaZe Clan (@FaZeClan) September 26, 2019 The reveal comes after coldzera has spent the past two months in self-selected exile on MIBR’s bench following a major fallout between the star and his former roster. Although the superstar faced a slump with the Brazilian lineup since joining in 2018, his individual talents and the positives he will bring to FaZe cannot be denied. The 24-year-old was twice crowned HLTV’s best player in the world in 2016 and 2017, and was a core part of the massively dominant SK Gaming roster that won majors in Cologne, Atlanta, Krakow, and Boston across those two years. Since linking up with MIBR, however, things have gone downhill for the famed Brazilian star. Their last tournament together was in Cologne, where they tumbled to a 13th-16th finish. MIBR went on to finish 12-14th at the Berlin major after coldzera requested to be benched. FaZe’s transfer marks the first time the team has made a paid transfer in CS:GO since signing Ladislav ‘GuardiaN’ Kovács from Natus Vincere in late 2017. Following that major move, the organization has only signed free agents or acquired players on loan. The new-look FaZe roster will debut with coldzera, as well as trialist broky, when their group stages matches begin on Thursday, September 26. The team is in the same group as Astralis, OpTic Gaming, and NRG Esports, the last of whom is expected to make the surprise switch to Evil Geniuses ahead of the New York tournament this weekend, according to DeKay’s sources. FaZe Clan’s new Counter-Strike roster now consists of: Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovacs – Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard – Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer – Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants – Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David –

FaZe Clan bomb out of ESL One NY in Coldzera’s debut Epsilon Esports/ DreamHackIn their first CSGO tournament after the highly anticipated acquisition of Marcelo ‘coldzera‘ David, FaZe Clan played far below initial expectations for a roster of that amount of talent. Is it time to hit the panic button already? With their new additions of coldzera and Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants, FaZe have set a high bar for themselves in the competitive CS:GO scene. But unfortunately, they have stumbled and tripped over the bar in their first tournament. With a 2-0 loss to the newly acquired Evil Geniuses roster (formerly NRG Esports), and then a 2-0 loss to OpTic Gaming, FaZe were the second team eliminated from the tournament and went home with an 0-4 record on maps. Their loss to Evil Geniuses can’t be blamed on the new additions. Broky had a good series against EG, leading the FaZe team in KDA on both maps. His play on Nuke kept his team in the game, but even he couldn’t stop a red hot Evil Geniuses team from rolling over FaZe on Vertigo. FaZe’s star Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovacs didn’t fare well on the second map, as he had an abysmal game on Vertigo, only picking up three kills and dying eighteen times. But a team experimenting with a new roster playing against a red hot top-three-in-the-world squad energized by some shiny new blue uniforms? Evil Geniuses were heavily expected to take that series. However, the FaZe loss to OpTic, a team that didn’t even qualify for the EU minor, let alone the the Berlin major, is surprising. Especially given how one-sided it was. OpTic had a terrific team performance on Nuke, while FaZe were reliant solely on Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer having a good game. While a breakout game from the veteran is good news for FaZe going forward, it’s still a tough loss to swallow. FaZe suffered another tough loss on Dust II, again relying on olofmeister with some support from NiKo to generate all of their offense. For OpTic, it was a standout performance from René ‘cajunb’ Borg, who joined the team last month. That win has to feel good for cajunb, in his second stint with OpTic, who’s struggled to find solid footing with any new team since leaving Astralis. Is it time to panic if you’re FaZe? Is all that money spent on coldzera a waste? It’s far too early to tell. It’s only been four maps and it’s only their first tournament. To have coldzera and NiKo both end up in the bottom three statistically of all the players at ESL One NY is a shock, but FaZe should only be concerned if these kind of results start to repeat. ENCE are in a similar boat, having finished fifth at BLAST Moscow in their first event with Miikka “suNny” Kemppi. For both ENCE and FaZe, it’s best to avoid hitting the panic button too soon. Follow all the CS:GO action in New York by checking out Dexerto’s ESL One NY hub.

FaZe Clan dominate CS:GO BLAST Pro Series: Miami – Recap, final placements, Global Finals standings BLAST Pro SeriesThe CS:GO BLAST Pro Series came down to two of the world’s best on April 13 with regional powerhouses FaZe Clan and Team Liquid vying for the title in the $250,000 tournament. The two-day event invited the likes of Liquid, FaZe, MiBR, Natus Vincere, Astralis and Cloud9 for a grueling contest of round robin before a marathon finish to the grand finals the next day. With tons of fan fare going around the Watsco Center in Miami, Florida the stage was set for an epic event featuring star-studded rosters. Grueling Group Stage Group play was a tale of two stories with the invited teams all at each other’s throats to qualify to the grand final, and then there was Team Liquid The North American org cruised onto the event’s main stage going 5-0 in group play ending with 15 points and an astonishing +25 round differential. FaZe Clan were hot on their heels in second with 10 points, going 3-1-1 in the round robin stage since the BLAST Pro rules allow for a ties in CS:GO. MiBR and Navi closely followed with 7 and 6 points, respectively. The most shocking results from the weekend came when Astralis finished in 5th place with only 6 points. The new Cloud9 iteration couldn’t muster a win in the group stage, ending their tournament with 0 points and a -30 round differential. FaZe stomps in the Grand Finals The two teams had previously met in the second match of Round 1 the day prior with Liquid making quick work of FaZe in a 16-5 win. But FaZe Clan were on an insane run leading up to the final stage, which set up a tantalizing showmatch with the two juggernauts. The Grand Finals started with FaZe Clan on an emphatic run against Liquid by quickly going up 8 unanswered rounds in the first game. Liquid managed to put up some rounds on the first map but never found solid footing to amount a proper offense. The FaZe stars were shining as it seemed everyone from ‘AdreN’ to ‘rain’ were pulling off insane highlight plays which easily gave them Game 1. Game 2 on Dust 2 heavily swayed to the FaZe side as they quickly went up 10-1. Though it seemed like the FaZe roster was going to steamroll the North American organization, Liquid were able to string together a few key rounds that elevated their momentum. The tension in the second map started to grow as Liquid were climbing out of the hole they dug, coming back late in the game to make it 12-15. But whatever hopes of a comeback were instantly thwarted in the next round when FaZe closed out the map and tournament in a hard fought battle in Miami. Looking ahead to another Final The tournament organizers have been counting up points for each team across the BLAST Pro Series season. The teams in the top 4 at the end of the 2019 BLAST tournament circuit will be invited to the BLAST Pro Series Global Final With the results in Miami locked, FaZe added a ton of points to their Blast season total. FaZe is now tied with Astralis in second place with 12 points. Although Team Liquid fell on the big stage against FaZe they still retain the top spot on the leaderboard with 16 points. Then gap widens with MiBR holding onto the fourth place with 6 points.

FaZe Clan take BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen over NiP – Final Placements BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen was packed with top tier CS:GO teams battling for the biggest share of the $250,000 pot, culminating in an epic Grand Finals. The BLAST tournament organizers routinely put on some of the biggest events for the Valve shooter, and this time was no different as fans flooded the Royal Arena to see some of the biggest teams go at it. There were plenty of surprises in the two-day event. Tournament favorites Astralis were eliminated from Grand Final contention, along with the American powerhouse Team Liquid – opening the event for other teams to shine. NiP face off against FaZe on Nuke The Grand Finals at the BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen featured a resurgent Ninjas in Pyjamas against FaZe Clan, whose star power is starting to work on all cylinders led by Brazilian superstar Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David. The first map of Nuke was a slugfest between both sides, as NiP went on a six-round streak after the opening gun round. But FaZe battled back in the first half to eventually get an 8-7 lead going into the second half. Where the first half was a battle of back and forth, the second half was dominated by momentum as NiP came out with guns blazing to push FaZe to the brink 15-8. Here’s where FaZe’s huge investment in veteran starpower came into play: Where most teams would crumble with their backs against the wall, the lineup comprised of cold, Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač, Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer, and Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard held their nerve when it counted the most. NiP couldn’t get that last round they needed to strike first blood in the best of three series, giving FaZe space to roar back to life by stretching seven rounds in a row to force overtime. Since it was the Grand Finals, the BLAST Pro Series demanded the overtime to be played out, contrary to group play. Both teams turned back to the brawl-style of CS seen in the first half of regulation, but it was FaZe to outlast the Swedes, taking the first map of the series 1-0. A classic duel on Dust II CS:GO fans were in for a treat on the second map, as pressure was applied to both sides. NiP needed the map to stay alive in the series, and FaZe were looking to finally pull out an event win since their previous BLAST victory at Miami. The battle that swung the first half of Nuke back-and-forth happened throughout the entirety of Dust II, as neither team wanted to concede an inch to their opposition. Both teams traded small shifts of five-round streaks, then six-round runs – but it was FaZe Clan led by rain who had 25 kills on the map with a server-high 108 ADR (average damage per round) who had the last laugh. It should be noted that coldzera demonstrated exactly why he was brought onto the team in the last round of Dust II. FaZe has needed a closer for a long time, and it was on this last round when NiP were on a 5v2 advantage that they needed cold to activate. When it seemed like the Swedes were going to extend the map, cold shut down any chance of a comeback getting a triple kill and a flash assist for niKo that closed out the series 2-0. Cold’s heroics throughout the title match earned him the Grand Finals MVP award, as well as his first event win with his new team. With this win, FaZe take home $125,000, with runner up NiP getting $50,000 for their troubles. NaVi in third place were awarded with $25,000 and Astralis in fourth place got $15,000.

FaZe Clan and Cloud9 Clashed at IEM Sydney in a Rematch of the ELEAGUE Boston Grand Final – Highlights DreamHack / Adela SznajderFaZe Clan’s CS:GO team has bounced back from a difficult start to their IEM Sydney run to clinch third place in Group A and eliminate Cloud9 from the tournament. FaZe Clan started their IEM Sydney campaign with a victory over ORDER but were surprised by Renegades in the following match, losing 2-1 to Noah ‘Nifty’ Francis and co. They then went on to meet Grayhound in the elimination match and were pushed to the limit, dropping the first map and having to grind their way back by winning a Dust 2 decider. In the third place decider match they had to face Cloud9, the team that defeated them in the ELEAGUE Boston Major Grand Final, with the loser being eliminated. The first map, Mirage, started in a fashion that would continue for most of the series as the FaZe players took it in turns to pick up multi kill rounds, like these quad kills from Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač and Ladislav ‘GuardiaN’ Kovács. Cloud9 had their moments of brilliance in the early on in the game, with one round from Will ‘RUSH’ Wierzba featuring an impressive display of entry killing on Mirage’s B bombsite. Unfortunately, these rounds were few and far between and FaZe Clan gradually extended their lead until they eventually closed things out with a score of 16-9. Moving over to FaZe Clan’s map choice, Cache, Cloud9 got off to the perfect start with a CT side pistol round win but FaZe bounced back in their first rifle round and business as usual quickly resumed. With an 11-4 lead at halftime, FaZe looked to be in supreme control and they refused to relinquish it. GuardiaN picked up an impressive 1 vs. 2 in round 17 which seemed to be the final nail in the coffin and Xizt eventually wrapped things up in round 22 with a 3K for the 16-6 win. The 2-0 victory was exactly what FaZe Clan needed to go into the playoff stages with confidence. With a quarterfinal match against Fnatic facing them on May 4th, they will need to keep up their current form. Cloud9 is eliminated from IEM Sydney in 7th – 8th place.

FaZe back RobbaN after “unwarranted” CSGO coaching bug ban StarLadderFaZe Clan have backed former CS:GO coach Robert ‘RobbaN’ Dahlström after he disputed his punishment from ESIC’s coaching bug scandal ruling. On August 31, the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene was rocked after three coaches – Dead, HUNDEN, and MechanoGun – were hit with bans by ESL for abusing an in-game bug that allowed them to have full view of parts of the map. As a result of those initial bans, an investigation was put into place to determine just how many other coaches were involved. In the first wave of results, 37 coaches were named as having abused the bug – with some bans lasting as long as three-years. However, former FaZe coach RobbaN has denied his involvement despite being handed a five-and-a-half month ban for apparently using it in 2017. The former 1.6 player issued a statement on Twitter to deny having used the bug purposefully, adding that when it initially appeared, he did all he could to get rid of it – including muting himself and informing the admins, which he claims to have screenshots of. “Unfortunately, some of you might still think I abused this bug. I’ve been around the CS community for 20 years more or less, see myself as a very loyal guy… and now my name is listed among others who actually abused and cheated, which makes me feel sick,” he said. “I feel I’m being punished for something I did not do and that it should be obvious in my case.” The Swede added: “Now, three years later, I am getting punished for a bug that I did not want, tried to get rid of before the match, muted myself in an effort to be fair, and immediately wrote about it with concern to the admin.” My side of the bug abuse story Read: https://t.co/aLKofBa94N — Robert Dahlström (@RobbaN) September 28, 2020 FaZe Clan also moved to back their coach not long after he released his TwitLonger, stating they were “disappointed” in the process that led to this conclusion. “We stand behind Robert. Upholding the integrity of competition means everything to us & we’re glad an issue he brought up 3 years ago is finally being addressed, but his ban is entirely unwarranted given the facts,” they said. We stand behind Robert. Upholding the integrity of competition means everything to us & we’re glad an issue he brought up 3 years ago is finally being addressed, but his ban is entirely unwarranted given the facts. We’re disappointed in the process that led to this conclusion. https://t.co/HlXDoztfoE — FaZe Esports (@FaZeEsports) September 28, 2020 A handful of coaches involved in the scandal has also moved to apologize on Twitter, with plenty owning up to using the bug – no matter had they done so for one round or multiple games. These bans have been handed out by ESIC and mean that the coaches will be unable to interact with their teams, but it remains to be seen as to wheter or not Valve will hand out sterner punishments – including any changes to the global coaching rules.

CSGO fans upset at ENCE’s explanation for why aleksib was replaced Following the long ordeal of transferring former in-game leader Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen to the OG organization, ENCE put out a video announcement supposedly explaining how aleksib’s replacement came to pass. But CSGO and ENCE fans weren’t pleased with the information included in the video. ENCE’s days of late haven’t necessarily been the sunniest. Apart from the drop in results compared to earlier in the year, much of the talk online regarding the team has to do with a player no longer there. Ever since the team announced that aleksib would be removed from the starting lineup at the conclusion of the Berlin major, fans of the Finnish franchise, and Counter-Strike fans in general, have longed to know why they would part with the leader that led to them to so much success in the earlier part of the year. After the the December 18 episode of ENCE TV, titled “Discussing Contract Extensions & Aleksib Trade Details”, fans were left disappointed by the continued lack of information regarding why the situation unfolded. And the only information that was provided only led to more questions. In the video, marketing director Joona ‘natu’ Leppänen and CEO Mika Kuusisto explained that they offered all the players extensions in the summer, after their miracle IEM Katowice major run. During that time, they say they considered signing Miikka ‘suNny’ Kemppi, but were unable to do so due to financial reasons. But in August, when they had another opportunity to sign him, they went ahead and did so, and informed aleksib of their decision the next day. Fans were very local about how letdown they were about the information that was revealed, alleging that it hadn’t added anything new, specifically regarding why aleksib was dropped. On both the reddit and YouTube comments, fans criticized the organization for providing only “non-answers.” Fans on Twitter voiced their displeasure as well. Some fans even zeroed in on ENCE signing aleksib to a contract only to sell him with presumably a bigger buyout clause later. They pointed out that the notion of selling him for financial reasons conflicts mightily with previous statements from the team that “he didn’t fit,” and that it was a team chemistry issue. Regardless, the video only drives home the idea that the organization really wanted suNny, but provides no information on why they decided that aleksib would be the one cast out. Fans also critiqued the lack if communication with Aleksib on the situation, stating that they felt he was misled in an effort to sign a new player rather than stick with him. Comment byu/legaala from discussion inGlobalOffensive Their string of results to close out 2019 reflects negatively as well. Since removing aleksib, ENCE have struggled at the offline events they’ve attended, only making playoffs once in five tries, where they lost in the grand finals of the CSGO Asia Championships to mousesports. Meanwhile, Aleksi appears to be settling in well with OG, making the semifinals in their debut tournament at cs_summit5. They’ve also been invited to participate in the BLAST 2020 season.