Author: Nik Ranger

ESL chief surprised as Virtus.pro claim IEM Rio CSGO Major trophy Michał Konkol//ESL Gaming via ESPAT & Virtus.proESL VP of Product Development Michal ‘Carmac’ Blicharz has expressed his astonishment at seeing Virtus.pro claim the IEM Rio CS:GO Major trophy, won by Outsiders. The IEM Rio Major came to an end in November, with CIS team Outsiders winning the trophy at a packed Jeunesse Arena after beating Heroic 2-0 in a one-sided final. ‘Outsiders’ is the name that Virtus.pro’s CS:GO team has been playing under since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in February 2022. The use of a neutral name, without any reference to Virtus.pro or their sponsors, came in response to several tournament organizers, including ESL, banning Russian organizations with alleged ties to the Kremlin. But on January 18, Virtus.pro posted on social media a video of the unboxing of the Major trophy, prompting a response from Carmac. “This is certainly an unwelcome surprise, as VP did not win the title at IEM Rio and VP do not have the right to misrepresent the IEM Rio results as a VP victory,” he posted to Twitter. “The trophy was sent to an address in Armenia provided by Outsiders.” The video has sparked outrage among Ukrainians, who have called on ESL to respond. “I hope such a great company like ESL will find some dignity to do something about it,” said Valorant coach Ivan ‘Johnta’ Shevtsov. For several months now, Virtus.pro have claimed that they are no longer associated with ESforce, a Russian holding company that owns several esports properties, including media website Cybersport and tournament organizer Epic Esports Events. ESforce was acquired in 2018 by Mail.Ru Group Limited, now known as VK. Since December 2021, state-run insurer Sogaz has a controlling stake in VK, with the company being included on the European Union’s February 28 sanctions list imposed on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. In September, Armenian citizen Aram Karamanukyan was announced as the new CEO of Virtus.pro and an investor in the company. Virtus.pro’s Dota 2 team was able to play under the organization’s banner at TI 2022, but the CS:GO squad had to play as Outsiders at the Rio Major and at the year-end BLAST Premier World Final. Mr. Karamanukyan’s tenure as Virtus.pro CEO proved short-lived: On December 13, the organization announced Nikolai Petrossian as the organization’s new CEO. A former PR Director for Adidas CIS and director for Mail.Ru, Mr. Petrossian took charge of Virtus.pro after almost a year at the helm of ESforce — an announcement that many saw as confirmation that the two entities are still associated. Contacted by Dexerto, ESL provided the following comment: “The IEM Rio 2022 Major trophy was sent to the address provided by Outsiders. As Virtus.pro did not win the title, it does not have the right to misrepresent the tournament’s results as it being their victory.”

ESL bans orgs with ties to Russian government from ESL Pro League 15 ESLESL has announced that organizations with “apparent ties” to the Russian government will not be allowed to be represented in the upcoming season of the ESL Pro League in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The tournament organizer has currently identified two Russian-based organizations with Kremlin ties, Gambit and Virtus.pro – both of whom were due to be represented in ESL Pro League 15. Gambit are owned by Russia’s largest telecom company, MTS, whose largest shareholder, the AFK Sistema PAO conglomerate, is headed by Vladimir Yevtushenkov. Mr. Yevtushenkov’s name appeared in 2018 on the ‘Putin list’ as one of the 210 political figures and oligarchs with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Virtus.pro are owned by the ESforce Holding company, which was acquired in 2018 by Mail.Ru Group Limited, now known as VK. Since December 2021, state-run insurer Sogaz has a controlling stake in VK, with the company being included on the European Union’s February 28 sanctions list imposed on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. According to ESL, the players from both organizations will still be allowed to compete in the tournament as long as they do so under a neutral name and without representing their country, organization, or sponsors. “We recognize that players are not complicit with this situation, and we do not think it is in the spirit of esports to impose sanctions on individual players,” ESL said. Our statement on Ukraine. Read more: https://t.co/QMrakmtC5P pic.twitter.com/fFebyPoXMo — ESL (@ESL) March 2, 2022 ESL has taken a somewhat softer stance than BLAST, which announced on March 1 an outright ban of Russian-based teams for the foreseeable future. On March 2, Finnish tournament organizer also decided to suspend all “Russian-owned organizations” from its tournaments. Virtus.pro and Gambit have not yet stated whether they plan to comply with ESL’s new regulations. Virtus.pro have been placed in ESL Pro League’s Group B, which kicks off on March 16, while Gambit are in Group C, which begins a week later. The tournament will take place in Germany, with $823,000 on the line.

ESL and B-Site woes continue with new schedule clash for CSGO Rio Major ESL / FACEITESL and FACEIT’s CS:GO pre-season feud is still ongoing, with players and pundits alike breaking out on Twitter to criticize both parties for a scheduling clash between open qualifiers for B-Site and the Rio Major. ESL and FACEIT don’t seem to be making up any time soon, with the two CS:GO tournament organizers both competing to get the best teams attending their events. However, a new scheduling clash is only adding fuel to the fire, with the two leagues butting heads over times instead of teams on February 3. Former Cloud9 player Jordan ‘Zellsis’ Montemurro shed light on the scheduling conflict on Twitter, originally side-eyeing B-Site for scheduling their $100,000 online qualifiers at the same time as ESL’s Rio Major qualifiers. “Don’t let this distract you from the fact that B-Site put their qualifiers the same days as the major qualifiers,” the player said. B-Site did publicize their qualifiers eight hours after ESL did their announcement regarding the path to the Brazilian major, but organizer Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields assured fans that Zellsis’ concerns were “factually incorrect.” Don’t let this distract you from the fact that b-site put their qualifiers the same days as the major qualifiers — Jordan Montemurro (@Zellsis) February 2, 2020 “We had our dates out before and ESL went over the top of them,” he said. Instead, B-Site will now look at changing their own dates to not clash with the major qualifiers, and will inform teams as soon as possible. Thorin couldn’t help but take another jab at ESL as well, with the two parties being involved in a public feud over their competing CS:GO leagues over the past fortnight. “Jokes on us for thinking our direct rival could be trusted to play fair,” he said. “Thus ends the era of TOs organizing around each other. “This is the same ESL who scheduled their EPL Season 10 travel day on a Sunday to ensure any EPL team that made the final of ECS Season 8 would be playing said final on their travel day.” This is factually incorrect. We had our dates out before and ESL went over the top of them. We are changing the dates and everyone will be informed ASAP.https://t.co/zoxmNma06X — Thorin (@Thorin) February 4, 2020 B-Site are yet to announce when the new date for their online qualifiers will be, with ESL having the four weekends from January 31 on lock for the major qualifiers in North America and Europe. B-Site is expected to kick off for real in March, with six teams including Dignitas, Cloud9, and MIBR already confirmed for the league. The ESL Rio Major will take place on May 21-24.

ESL Senior VP apologizes for CSGO Pro League controversy ESLESL Senior Vice President Ulrich Schulze has apologized to the Counter-Strike community for their handling of the ESL Pro League invites, which saw slots in the franchised league slashed without being communicated to teams. The veteran tournament organizer found themselves embroiled in controversy after announcing the 24 teams in the ESL Pro League Season 11 on January 24. Originally touted to have 48 slots, numerous teams who had qualified were suddenly left without a spot in the event. These teams were instead relegated back into the second-tier Mountain Dew League which ESL runs with another chance to qualify for Season 12, but the company had not communicated these changes to teams before the January 24 announcement. After being widely criticized on social media by players, casters, and fans, ESL Senior VP and Managing Director of Pro Gaming Ulrich Schulze apologized on behalf of the company, saying they are looking to address team’s issues to “the best possible extent.” “On Friday, we announced large changes to ESL Pro League for 2020 and beyond,” he said. “As part of it, a number of teams were informed that they would not have a slot in the upcoming season. We apologize that we have not conducted the process up to the desired standards. “We got it wrong by not letting affected teams know further in advance that significant changes were coming, including the number of teams playing.” On Friday, we announced large changes to ESL Pro League for 2020 and beyond. As part of it, a number of teams were informed that they would not have a slot in the upcoming season. We apologize that we have not conducted the process up to the desired standards. — Ulrich Schulze (@theflyingdj) January 27, 2020 He clarified that while details regarding the structure of the league were “unknown until last week,” this wasn’t an excuse to not notify teams. They are trying to rectify the problems by making a clear path to promotion, as well as listening to the concerns of teams. “We weren’t specific enough about how teams can get back to EPL in the future. We are still working on final details in consultation with the CSPPA, but any of the teams [not invited] will be able to make it back in Season 1 — not only through MDL and in a way that ensures regional representation. “We didn’t engage with the affected teams enough to understand how we can preserve the value the EPL slot held for them. We have reached out to all teams and are going to speak this week to make sure that we can address their concerns to the best possible extent.” We did not engage with the affected teams enough to understand how we can preserve the value the EPL slot held for them. We have reached out to all teams and are going to speak this week to make sure that we can address their concerns to the best possible extent. — Ulrich Schulze (@theflyingdj) January 27, 2020 ESL’s plans for the Pro Tour in 2020 split the system into two tiers, Masters and Challenger. While Pro League teams will have an easier time qualifying for Masters tier events, ESL are making sure that teams that missed out on a slot will still have a chance at making it to the big events. “In 2020 we have opened up the ESL Pro Tour up with a large number of opportunities for aspiring teams to reach the Masters level, including spots for Challengers teams in Masters tournaments and a mandated percentage of open online qualifiers in our Masters stops.” They’ve also pledged to communicate further changes with more transparency, stating “we will release more details in the next days and will continue to provide updates and engage with everyone on this topic.” ESL’s Pro League is one of three major CS:GO franchised leagues taking place in 2020. FACEIT has started the B Site League, focusing primarily on North America, and including teams like Cloud9, MIBR, and Dignitas. BLAST has rebranded their global circuit into BLAST Premier, with 12 of the world’s best CS:GO teams taking part, including Astralis and Team Liquid. Season 11 will be taking place in the coming months, although a date has not been confirmed for the 24-team league.

ESL announces surprising change to streaming deal with Facebook Esports event organizer ESL and Facebook have decided to expand their deal to stream ESL’s various tournaments and competitions, but this time with one major omission. Some of ESL’s most high-profile events, including Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) and ESL One, and the ESL Pro League will be broadcast on Facebook and now on other streaming services. The new agreement comes just a few months after it was reported that Valve, publishers of CS:GO, were unhappy with ESL and Facebook for the comparatively low viewers Facebook managed to pull in for CS:GO events on the platform, against games like Call of Duty on Twitch. No other specific streaming platforms were named, but it now seems that fans who weren’t crazy about watching events on the site won’t have to. Facebook will still be showing ESL events, but they will now be available on other sites like YouTube or Twitch. The move is one that will not only be good news to fans, but it should be good news to developers like Valve who can get back to enjoying massive success with their popular esports broadcasts. In January 2018, ESL partnered with Facebook to give the social media giant exclusive broadcast rights to ESL One (Dota 2) and the ESL Pro League (CS:GO), a move that was met with much backlash from many corners of the esports space. “Providing ESL fans a way to watch esports on multiple platforms is something we know the community cares about,” Leo Olebe, Global Director of Games Partnerships at Facebook said about the deal. “And that’s a big reason why all 2019 content will broadcast anywhere ESL chooses to stream.” With the IEM Katowice 2019 CS:GO Major set to begin on February 13, fans will surely be happy to hear they can watch the tournament somewhere other than Facebook.

ESL announces new teams and format for CSGO Pro League season 11 ESLESL has announced the 24 invited teams for Pro League season 11. Along with a new format, they also revealed that both Cloud9 and MIBR are no longer competing. After a quiet January, CSGO is expected to go through some big changes in the year 2020, with multiple leagues looking to define the future competitive landscape. ESL are rolling out the “all new” Pro League for their 11th season, with 24 teams from all around the world invited for the next campaign. It will have company with the still yet-to-be-named B Site League, as well as the BLAST Premier series. Finally ready to share this with all of you: Our all-new, truly global #ESLProLeague. Featuring the best teams and players invited and qualified to a pure and raw Season 11. All details at https://t.co/C1Ho59MmSy pic.twitter.com/wcLZmetcxS — ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) January 24, 2020 Earlier in the week, Jarek ‘Dekay’ Lewis reported that ESL would soon be announcing the 24 competing teams as well as the new format, and provided a list of the 24 expected teams. The list is largely the same, but with two notable changes. Both Cloud 9 and MIBR, who have reportedly agreed to compete in B Site League, are no longer competing in the ESL Pro League, and are not listed among the 24 teams. Taking their place are OG, the dominant Dota 2 organization that expanded into CSGO at the end of 2019, and GODSENT, a returning Swedish brand led by CS legend Markus ‘pronax’ Wallsten. Assuming that ESL gets these teams to sign the LANXESS Agreement, that incentivizes teams to commit to the league, this could potentially leave slim pickings for the competing B Site organizers. 21 of the 25 currently ranked top teams have been invited to ESL, and potentially may not compete in the NA league, however nothing has been confirmed yet. For Season 11, the 24 teams will be split into four groups of six, and participate in best-of-three matches in a round-robin format. No more regional leagues; all play in one league. Group winners will get playoff byes, and second and third-place finishers will play in the first round. The final six teams in playoffs will play in “arena location for a three-day live event.” The official Pro League page says the “truly global league” will start on March 16, 2020. List of teams invited to in ESL Pro League season 11: Evil Geniuses – FNATIC – Astralis – Team Liquid – G2 Esports – Natus Vincere – FaZe Clan – CompLexity – Mousesports – Ninjas in Pyjamas – ENCE – 100 Thieves – Team Vitality – OG – GODSENT – North – Heroic – TyLoo – Sharks – Renegades – forZe – INTZ – FURIA – Virtus.pro – Notable teams/rosters NOT invited to ESL Pro League: Cloud9 – MIBR – Dignitas – MAD Lions – Gen.G – Rumored TSM lineup (not confirmed) – eUnited – ex-Virtus.Pro – Heretics – Sprout – BIG – GamerLegion – Spirit –

ESL announce first ever CSGO major to be held in Brazil in 2020 ESL has officially announced the dates and location of the next CSGO Major, set to bring the world’s best teams together in 2020 in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro. Major championships are the crowning moments of CS players’ careers, akin to Dota 2’s The International or the League of Legends World Championship. There are two Major events each year, held across the globe with 24 of the best teams in the world looking to become Major champions. Now, these teams will be heading to Rio in 2020 to become legends of the game and win their share of the $1,000,000 prize pool. In a tweet posted on December 11, ESL said: “The players, the fans, the game… We’re bringing the CSGO Major for the first time to a special place where passion leads the dream.” Tickets will go on sale on Thursday, December 12 at 12PM BRT / 10AM EST / 7AM PT / 3pm GMT. Brazil has been a hotbed for some of the most committed fans in CS, with a passion rarely seen in esports, and the fans will be delighted to finally have a Major championship take place in their capital city. The players, the fans, the game… We’re bringing the @CSGO Major for the first time to a special place where passion leads the dream. Introducing #ESLOne Rio 2020! Tickets will go live tomorrow, Thursday 12th at 12:00 PM BRT 💛💚 https://t.co/x1AlxA1CiG pic.twitter.com/BgWx9BiVHk — ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) December 11, 2019 It had already been leaked by DeKay earlier in the year that Rio will be hosting a Major, so this news isn’t exactly a huge surprise to those who have been keeping up with the rumors. However, the Vice-President of Pro Gaming at ESL, Michal ‘Carmac’ Blicharz later tweeted a list of the cities ESL has hosted “Masters level” CSGO in – and hints at some more new cities on the way. “ESL has taken Masters level CSGO to venues in: Beijing, Belo Horizonte, Chicago, Cologne, Dallas, Katowice, New York, Montpellier, Oakland, Odense, San Jose, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, and Sydney. In 2020 we will go to Rio and… new cities.” .@ESLCS has taken Masters level CSGO to venues in: 🇨🇳 Beijing 🇧🇷 Belo Horizonte 🇺🇸 Chicago 🇩🇪 Cologne 🇺🇸 Dallas 🇵🇱 Katowice 🇺🇸 New York 🇫🇷 Montpellier 🇺🇸 Oakland 🇩🇰 Odense 🇺🇸 San Jose 🇧🇷 Sao Paulo 🇨🇳 Shanghai 🇦🇺 SydneyIn 2020 we will go to 🇧🇷 Rio and… new cities. 👀 — Michal Blicharz (@mbCARMAC) December 11, 2019 So make sure to save the date May 21-24 in your calendars, with tickets available Thursday, December 12, 2019. Danish side Astralis has won four of the last six major championships in CSGO, and they’ll be looking to keep their streak of three consecutive wins alive in Brazil in May.

ESL announce exclusive ‘Louvre agreement’ with 13 CSGO teams ESLESL have announced an exclusive deal with 13 CS:GO teams dubbed the ‘Louvre agreement’ which provides long-term slots in their global Pro League. Following FACEIT’s Flashpoint League announcement on February 5, ESL have set forth their new agreement with 13 of the world’s leading Counter-Strike teams. The agreement sees ESL, DreamHack and 13 top-tier CS:GO teams partner to govern the brand-new global ESL Pro League. Participating teams will also become majority stakeholders in the league, granting them their own long-term slot. What is the Louvre agreement? In effect, the agreement will seek to bring deep-rooted stability to the participating teams by not only providing them with long-term slots in their new 24-team Pro League, but also dishing out shares of revenues and profits from ESL’s Pro Tour events — previously leaked to be 21.25% of all gross revenue and 60% of profits in the first year, although this is yet to be officially confirmed. Per ESL’s press release statement, “the new agreement further establishes the ESL Pro Tour as one of the most valuable properties in the global business of esports.” Given that all 13 teams are majority stakeholders in ESL’s new operational model, they will play a pivotal role in the league’s strategic decision-making process. What does the Louvre agreement mean for CS:GO? The Louvre agreement will alter the landscape of competitive CS:GO. For starters, ESL have scrapped their regionalized approach and moved to a single-division model for their Pro League, inviting 11 more teams to join their founding 13 teams. Partner teams will retain a spot in the Pro League, while the remaining 11 teams can qualify through their ESL Ranking or directly through the Mountain Dew League (ESL Pro League’s gateway competition) for future seasons. Coming March 16, ESL’s Pro League will separate the 24 teams into four groups, each comprised of six teams. Matches will take place in a round-robin, best-of-three format, where the winner of each group will earn their chance to play for a direct slot into the semifinals. All matches starting in Round 3 are set to be played in an arena location, which will build-up to a best-of-five Grand Final. All other ESL Pro Tour events will not be scheduled to take place during the ESL Pro League season. ESL’s Chief Product Officer, Sebastian Weishaar, spoke of the “stability and growth” that will come as a by-product of the investment from the agreement’s founding teams. “‘The Louvre Agreement,’ as we have grown fond of calling it, is a clear vote of confidence by the best teams in the world (and their players) to create the most valuable products,” Weishaar shared. “It will build a platform to create stability and growth, without sacrificing the ability for new teams and players to climb to the top,” ESL provided Dexerto with the following statement regarding the Pro Tour structure, exclusivity and the ESL Ranking system: “As an important part of driving the CS:GO ecosystem forward, we have been working with multiple teams to improve and further establish a joint approach to funding the activities in the space. That process started years ago and has been continuing ever since, being adjusted multiple times along the way. “In-line with the spirit of the Valve blog post, any team playing in our tournaments will remain free to participate in any other tournaments they want. Regarding the ESL Ranking, we have developed it in the past years as a key tool for event invites and seeding and will continue to do so without preventing any team from referring to any other ranking. “Overall, ESL Pro Tour events will remain open for everyone to play in regardless of if they want to engage in closer business relationships with us beyond their tournament participation.” ESL partnered teams under the Louvre agreement Astralis – Complexity – ENCE – Evil Geniuses – FaZe Clan – Fnatic – G2 Esports – Mousesports – Natus Vincere – Ninja in Pyjamas – Team Liquid – Team Vitality – 100 Thieves – Remaining 11 invited ESL Pro League teams (Season 11) BOOM – Forze – Furia Esports – Godsent – Heroic – North – OG Esports – Rengades – Sharks Esports – Tyloo – Virtus.pro – Some glaring omissions include Immortals-owned MiBR and former major winners, Cloud9 — who have both pledged their allegiance to FACEIT’s Flashpoint League, alongside the likes of Dignitas, MAD Lions and Gen.G.

ESL add three more CSGO teams to Louvre Agreement in $20m deal ESLESL have added some of the biggest teams in CS:GO as partners of the ESL Pro League, with BIG, Heroic, and FURIA all joining the Louvre Agreement. Tournament organizers ESL launched the Louvre Agreement in February 2020 as a new partnership with 13 teams, providing shares of revenues and profits from the ESL Pro Tour. The partnered teams dropped to 12 when 100 Thieves left CS:GO in October 2020, but it’s now at an all-time high of 15 partners with the additions of BIG, Heroic, and FURIA. ESL have stated that the total bids from the three teams totaled almost $20m USD as they looked to enter the agreement and secure themselves a stake in the Pro League going forward. After conducting an official RFP process for the ESL Pro League, we are pleased to announce that @Heroicgg @Furia and @BIGCLANgg will all be joining the Louvre Agreement as Partner Teams of the @ESL Pro League. Read more:https://t.co/oJmoD0KKTg#esports #proleague #esportsnews pic.twitter.com/c1wcXDrt0g — Alexander Inglot (@AlexInglot) October 21, 2021 Each prospective new partner in the Louvre Agreement had to provide a “range of organisational, legal and financial information” when being considered by the tournament organizer. Read More: HUNDEN’s mission to destroy Heroic – FURIA and BIG will join the alliance immediately, with Heroic not officially starting until the second half of 2022. The Danish organization’s delayed start is due to the ESIC investigation that has taken place surrounding former coach Nicolai ‘HUNDEN’ Petersen’s use of a spectator bug and subsequent accusations that were made. ESIC updated its stance on the situation on October 18 by punishing Nikolaj ‘niko’ Kristensen for “complicity.” A day later, on October 19, Heroic’s players released a 35-minute long video to share their perspectives. These three teams join the following partners in the Louvre Agreement: Astralis, Complexity, ENCE, Evil Geniuses, FaZe Clan, Fnatic, G2 Esports, Mousesports, Natus Vincere, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team Liquid and Team Vitality. “These teams and their investors have recognised the value of what we are building with the ESL Pro League project,” said ESL Pro League commissioner Alex Inglot. The fact that they have put down such significant bids (with financial and non-financial components to each) shows they see real stable governance and growing value, that puts us on a par with other top-tier investment opportunities in esports or sports.”

ESIC says it would not have banned HUNDEN under different circumstances Valve / ESICThe Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) has shed more light on the two-year ban handed to Counter-Strike coach Nicolai ‘HUNDEN’ Petersen for a breach of its integrity program. The esports watchdog group revealed on August 27 that HUNDEN had been slapped with a two-year ban after sharing documents from his then team, Heroic, with a competitor ahead of IEM Cologne. In the report of its findings, ESIC said that HUNDEN was locked in talks with the opposing side — whose name was not disclosed — about a career move when he shared the documents, with both teams set to attend IEM Cologne, the first international Counter-Strike LAN event during the global health crisis. This, according to the esports watchdog, threatened “the integrity of an ESIC member event”, the “reputation of an ESIC member”, and “the reputation and competitive integrity of esports, and ESIC’s member ESL.” And it was because of these special circumstances that ESIC saw the case as more than a labor dispute between a company and an employee, and decided to intervene. “In any circumstance other than those surrounding Mr. Petersen’s conduct (see our release for the specific dot points that set these out – but specifically the timing and context of his action), ESIC would not have acted to impose a sanction,” ESIC explained when contacted by Dexerto. Ban details The length of HUNDEN’s suspension has been criticized in some quarters given the lack of precedence and the fact that he was previously banned for half that period for abusing the spectator bug — an offense that many would say is more serious than the sharing of information with a rival team. However, ESIC insisted that the two cases are very different and, as such, should be looked at separately from one another. “ESIC takes any threat to the integrity of a member event very seriously,” the esports watchdog said. “Mr. Petersen’s conduct posed a significant threat to a member’s major tournament, which had the effect of potentially undermining the competitive integrity of the match in question but secondly and consequently the whole event. “ESIC’s sanction is a precedential statement of the severity of misconduct around and leading up to an ESIC member event. “This is not in any way comparable to a historical examination of coaching bug abuse, which was conducted with a comparative sanctioning model involving many other offenders.” With HUNDEN being a second-time offender, many have wondered whether his past transgression was taken into account when the length of his new ban was determined. But according to ESIC, HUNDEN’s previous offense “was considered but not applied in the sanctioning process as a result of a plea bargain offer.” This explains why the esports watchdog said in its report that, if HUNDEN rejected a plea deal and decided to appeal against the ban, he risked “a more onerous sanction at the discretion of the Independent Appeal Panel.” Reopening the bug case On August 26, HUNDEN made a shocking claim that “some of the players” on Heroic were aware that he was using the spectator bug. In his first version of the story, HUNDEN had claimed to have acted “on my own, without the knowledge of my teammates.” CS:GO analyst Jacob ‘Pimp’ Winneche has said that it is “highly probable” that HUNDEN is now telling the truth after seeing evidence obtained by TV2.dk that seems to support the coach’s new claims. Coach bug scandal 🚨 Hunden claims that the heroic players also was involved and aware of his cheating in the coach bug scandal. I’ve been presented the material the article is based on. My judgment is that it’s highly probable he’s telling the truth.https://t.co/8SaJGgqrl1 — Jacob “Pimp” Winneche (@PimpCS2) August 26, 2021 ESIC did not rule out reopening the spectator bug case if new information comes to light, but it stressed that it had not yet been presented with the evidence mentioned by Pimp and TV2.dk. Read more: Guild CEO considering entering CS:GO – “No information has been received to date,” ESIC said. “In the case that information is received, ESIC will investigate. ESIC is awaiting any evidence from any source that would enable ESIC to proceed.”

ESIC sanctions former Heroic player niko over HUNDEN coaching bug “complicity” ESL / ESIC / HeroicThe Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) has handed down their full ruling against Heroic’s CS:GO squad, punishing Nikolaj ‘niko’ Kristensen after former coach Nicolai ‘HUNDEN’ Petersen claimed they knew he was abusing the spectator bug during their 2020 rise. The ruling, handed down on October 18, claims niko “admitted his complicity in the cheating exploits of [HUNDEN] and is, therefore, guilty of breaching the ESIC Code of Conduct.” ESIC received a voice recording of a conversation between niko and HUNDEN about the spectator bug during their investigation, implicating him in the scandal. He was sanctioned under Article 2.4.4 and 2.4.5 of the code, which outlaws “cheating or attempting to cheat to win a game.” Niko was able to escape a suspension from ESIC for his actions because of “special circumstances” due to an ADHD and Asperger’s Syndrome diagnosis. HUNDEN used Niko’s diagnosis — and his relationship as his coach — to “deliberately [foster] and [exploit] trust at a timing that was convenient to him”. “ESIC was informed that this would have significantly impacted his ability to know right from wrong, make values-based decisions on his own and communicate effectively in a conventional way,” it said. However, he will receive a “severe public reprimand”, as well as “one-on-one education sessions with the ESIC Commissioner” about the code. If he does not comply with the ruling, ESIC will suspend him for a minimum of 30 days. ESIC declassifies report detailing investigation and outcomes resulting from Nicolai “”HUNDEN”” Petersen’s allegations of team’s complicity in spectator bug abuse. Read: https://t.co/oFyVnNeKjm pic.twitter.com/560v1UX9sY — ESIC (@ESIC_Official) October 18, 2021 In the ESIC investigation, HUNDEN accused all of Heroic except b0RUP. He told Danish news site TV2.dk “some of the players were aware” of his abuse of the spectator bug. The bug allowed coaches to set their cameras to watch parts of the map otherwise unavailable to them, thereby relaying important information to their team mid-game. The other four Heroic players at the time — TeSeS, cadiaN, b0RUP, and stavn — were cleared by ESIC. “ESIC was unable to find anywhere near enough evidence to reasonably conclude that these four players were guilty of any offence under the ESIC Integrity Program,” it said. It comes at the end of a tumultuous 18 months for Heroic. After reaching the heights of CS:GO with an ESL Pro League win during the online era, they were struck down by two ESIC rulings against their former coach. On top of the spectator bug abuse, HUNDEN was also caught leaking strategies to another organization in the lead-up to his departure from Heroic in 2021. Documents obtained by Dexerto’s Richard Lewis claimed Heroic created an NDA to prevent the team from speaking about the alleged cheating allegations. No players signed the NDA. HUNDEN was banned for two years for breaching ESIC’s code of conduct on August 27 for the leaks. His ban is set to expire on August 24, 2023. Heroic are currently set to take part in the upcoming PGL Stockholm Major, CS:GO’s first since 2019.

ESIC provisionally suspends three CSGO coaches attending Antwerp Major over spectator bug Valve / ESICThe Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) has announced that it has provisionally suspended three CS:GO coaches attending PGL Major Antwerp as part of its investigation into the historical use of the spectator bug. ESIC did not name the coaches that have been suspended from all member events, only stating that these cases are tied to the two more serious variants of the spectactor bug, with another update expected shortly. Dexerto’s Editor-at-Large Richard Lewis revealed on March 29 that “as many as 52 CS:GO coaches” could face sanctions as ESIC was in the final stages of an investigation into the historical use of the spectator bug. The article explained that one of the reasons for the slow nature of the investigation was the existence of other variants of the spectator bug, which came to light in August 2020. The more common version of the bug, called “static view” by Michal Slowinski (the tournament admin that played a central role in uncovering the bug scandal in 2020), led to 37 CS:GO coaches being banned in September 2020 for periods ranging from just under four months to three years. According to ESIC, the static bug affected 47 coaches that have not yet been sanctioned, bringing the total number of cases to 84. For these new cases, ESIC will continue to follow the sanctioning matrix that it adopted for the first wave of bans, with the coaches being provisionally suspended from all ESIC member events “pending resolution of the charges.” ESIC to Imminently Issue Charges Resulting From Historical Spectator Bug Investigation In the statement, ESIC identifies its intended treatment for three forms of Spectator Bug discovered which collectively impact 134 participants. Read on our website: https://t.co/7VAkWjpKVd pic.twitter.com/aUMF39qOLH — ESIC (@ESIC_Official) May 5, 2022 Other variants ESIC acknowledge the existence of two other variants of the bug, called “free roam” and “third-person”, both of which were revealed by Dexerto. On February 9, Dexerto reported that former Cloud9 coach Soham ‘valens’ Chowdhury had encountered this variant of the bug in an October 2017 match against Team Liquid. valens, who told Dexerto he came across the spectator bug “several times without knowing what it was”, also experienced the static view variant on a number of occasions. Jaxon reported on April 22 that Brazilian coach Luis ‘peacemaker’ Tadeu also encountered the free roam bug while coaching Heroic in 2018. peacemaker is due to attend the Antwerp Major with Imperial. ESIC has determined that the advantages provided by the free roam variant are akin to those “of a map hack, wall hack, or other cheat.” As such, the esports watchdog added, this variant is “far more serious” than the other two and may carry a sanction “of up to 24 months”. According to ESIC, this variant of the bug affected only three coaches, who have been provisionally suspended from all ESIC member events. The third-person view The final version of the bug that ESIC is investigating, called “third-person view”, also came to light only recently. On April 15, Dexerto revealed that over 40 coaches had come across this version of the bug between 2017 and 2020 and explained how it added another layer of complexity to the investigation. Triggered by reconnecting to the game server during an online match, the third-person view bug lasted one round or less. It may seem rather innocuous at a first glance, but coaches could still relay information – obtained by moving the camera – that would be outside of a player’s field of view. There was a “”3rd person”” one, where you could watch your teammate from a 3rd person view and simply clear all the angles for him (if abused). You can see an example I recorded for Valve back in 2020: https://t.co/que89Iqh0q 3/5 — Michal Slowinski (@michau9_) March 29, 2022 One of the biggest headaches for ESIC is finding out for certain whether coaches attempted to obtain information when they ran into the third-person view bug. In some of the cases reviewed by Dexerto, there appears to be clear sweeping movements of the camera; in others, there is barely any movement that suggests the coach was trying to take advantage of the situation. This version of the bug only happened on game servers hosted by FACEIT and Gamers Club. Neither company was able to provide an explanation for this when contacted by Dexerto. ESIC distinguishes this variant of the bug from the other two as it poses “a relatively low risk to competitive integrity” and was not triggered on purpose. However, it is still of the opinion that coaches should be sanctioned if they did not ask for the round to be paused and reconnected to the server under supervision of the admin. “What the participants being prosecuted chose to do was remain in the bug until the end of the round,” ESIC explained. “This is unacceptable and, in the Commissioner’s view a breach of the Code of Conduct.” ESIC has ruled that each instance of third-person bug should result in a 30-day ban – the exception being the cases when coaches had the bug for less than one round, which will be reviewed by the commission on a case-by-case basis. Unlike the other two variants, however, the third-person bug will not result in coaches being provisionally suspended with immediate effect. ESIC said that this variant affected one coach attending the Antwerp Major, who will continue to work as normal until the conclusion of the event, after which he will to respond to the charges. “The Commissioner takes the view that it would be unfair on the participant and would yield a disproportionate consequence impacting not only the participant but their team to provisionally suspend them at this point,” ESIC says.

ESIC opens investigation into alleged player complicity in Heroic’s spectator bug use João Ferreira/DreamHackThe Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) has confirmed that it has launched a formal investigation into the claims made by coach Nicolai ‘HUNDEN’ Petersen that some of Heroic’s players were complicit in his use of the spectator bug. The announcement comes just days after the Danish coach provided ESIC with evidence allegedly supporting his claims that at least some of the players on Heroic were aware of the fact that he was using the spectator bug – for which he had to serve an eight-month ban. According to ESIC, a formal investigation has been launched “despite the fact that this allegation is contrary to previous public statements” made by the coach. HUNDEN had initially claimed to have acted “on my own, without the knowledge of my teammates.” The Danish coach changed his story just hours before ESIC confirmed that he had been banned for two years in a separate case involving the sharing of confidential and sensitive information belonging to Heroic with a competitor ahead of IEM Cologne. In an emotional interview with TV2, HUNDEN revealed that he decided to come clean after realizing that “there is nothing called Counter-Strike for me after this”. The evidence Danish outlet TV2 showed on September 3 bits of evidence, including what appears to be a sensitive conversation between HUNDEN and Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen (who was playing for Heroic at the time the bug was used) in which the player said that “everyone on our team knew” about the bug use. TV2 also released the excerpt from a server log that appears to show René ‘TeSeS’ Madsen, another team player, helping HUNDEN to get into the position from which the bug was used against Spirit in Home Sweet Home 5. According to TV2, the logs have been reviewed by “one of the world’s leading referees”, who said that HUNDEN’s allegations that he had the help of the player “definitely make sense.” It was also revealed that HUNDEN and the players were asked by Heroic to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that would prohibit them from discussing the spectator bug use. According to HUNDEN, everyone refused to sign the document. Players tight-lipped Heroic’s players declined to comment on the matter in a September 6 press conference ahead of the ESL Pro League playoffs. “There will be no answers about this situation,” the team said. Read more: French CS:GO legend RpK announces retirement – The Danish team are through to the quarter-finals of ESL Pro League Season 14 after cruising through their group with a 5-0 record. They will face the winner of the match between Liquid and fnatic on September 9.

ESIC lifts suspension of CSGO coach hally: “Happy with the appeal result” João Ferreira for PGLDexerto spoke with Dejan Minić, the lawyer who represented Team Spirit CS:GO coach Sergey ‘hally’ Shavaev in his appeal against a suspension for use of the spectator bug. In a brief Twitter post on September 15, Team Spirit confirmed that hally’s suspension had been lifted by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) and that the coach was free to resume his activity ahead of the upcoming Regional Major Ranking (RMR) tournament – the qualifying event for the IEM Rio Major. Though the verdict was delivered only on September 14, Minić told Dexerto that hally’s suspension was actually lifted by ESIC ten days earlier. hally was one of the three CS:GO coaches attending PGL Major Antwerp who were provisionally suspended ahead of the Belgian event as part of ESIC’s investigation into the historical use of the spectator bug. The Russian coach had the static variant of the bug in one round of a 2019 CIS Rising League Season 3 match against Dracarys, when he was coaching Espada. 9z coach Rafael ‘zakk’ Fernandes encountered the same variant of the bug, while Imperial coach Luis ‘peacemaker’ Tadeu had the free roam variant. All three coaches had to miss the Antwerp Major, which led to fierce criticism from the CS:GO community about the timing of the suspensions, especially considering that ESIC had known about the trio’s offense since March 2021. Of the three coaches, hally was the only one who remained suspended. peacemaker was cleared by ESIC in May, while zakk had his provisional suspension lifted in June, though he still remained subject to a ban. “Personally, I think ESIC was fair during the appeal process, just a bit slow sometimes, which is understandable considering the number of new cases [they have] every day,” Minić told Dexerto. “In my opinion, the suspension for the static variant of the bug was way harsher than it should have been, considering that the free-roam version was used for years in official matches. hally’s bug occurred only in the pistol round, and his team did not change its playstyle because of it. One of his players asked for a timeout so that he could reconnect, and the admin did nothing to explain how the bug reporting process should be done.” Minić went on to criticize the fact that hally was suspended without a proper investigation, noting that Team Spirit managed to reach the semi-finals of the Antwerp Major without their coach. “Could Team Spirit have done better with the coach behind the players?” he questioned. “Calling timeouts at the right time, cheering them on, supporting them. It’s as important as staying calm in front of a crowd. “All things said, we are happy with the appeal result and we hope, for the sake of integrity in esports, that ESIC will continue to do its job but faster. Justice is served only when the time is right.” At the time of the announcement of the three suspensions, ESIC said that a fourth coach attending the Antwerp Major had encountered the third-person variant of the bug. Because of the less serious nature of this variant, the coach – whose name was not given – was not provisionally suspended from the Major. The esports watchdog said that the coach would respond to charges after the event, but no updates on this case have been provided. ESIC did not reply to a request for comment from Dexerto in time for publication.

ESIC lifts suspension of 9z CSGO coach zakk João Ferreira/PGLThe Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) has lifted its suspension of 9z CS:GO head coach Rafael ‘zakk’ Fernandes, Dexerto has confirmed. zakk was one of the three coaches provisionally suspended by ESIC on May 5, days before the start of PGL Major Antwerp, for encountering the spectator bug in competitive matches. He had the static variant of the bug in 1.5 rounds across two games between 2018 and 2020 while coaching two different teams, Luminosity and 9z. Because of the suspension, he was not able to guide 9z in their first-ever Major tournament. The South American team, featuring players from Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, was eliminated in 23rd-24th place following defeats to ENCE, MIBR and Team Liquid in the Challengers Stage. Contacted by Dexerto, ESIC explained that, after “receiving additional information” from zakk in response to his notice of charge, Commissioner Ian Smith “has formed the view that a provisional suspension is no longer necessary pending ESIC’s final determination being issued.” “The Commissioner would ordinarily maintain a provisional suspension in a situation where an integrity threat, whether actual, potential or perceived is, in the Commissioner’s view, posed to member events in the absence of a provisional sanction,” ESIC added. zakk has been spotted coaching 9z in Roobet Cup 2022, an online competition hosted by ESIC-partnered tournament organizer Relog. The esports watchdog told Dexerto that a final determination on zakk’s case will be made shortly. Ongoing investigation The Brazilian coach still faces a potential ban for encountering the bug. In its May 5 statement, ESIC stressed that, with the static variant of the bug, the “mere potential for exploitation”, regardless of whether an unfair advantage was achieved or not, “created an unrectified opportunity for an unfair advantage.” The static variant is the more common variant of the coach bug, which in September 2020 led to 37 coaches being banned for periods ranging from just under four months to three years. It was later revealed that there were other two variants of the bug, called “free roam” and “third-person”. According to ESIC, almost a hundred coaches still face potential bans for use of the bug. Besides zakk, Imperial’s Luis ‘peacemaker’ Tadeu and Team Spirit’s Sergey ‘hally’ Shavaev were suspended provisionally by ESIC ahead of the Antwerp Major. On May 26, days after the conclusion of the Major, peacemaker revealed that he had been cleared by ESIC, describing the outcome as “the biggest victory of my career”. In a statement issued two days later, ESIC explained that it found the evidence provided by peacemaker “compelling”. The Brazilian coach encountered the free roam variant, the more serious of the three, but because ESIC views this variant as a cheating offense, it is necessary to establish that the outcome of an unfair advantage is achieved for a charge to be established. ESIC ISSUES FINAL DETERMINATION REGARDING LUIS “peacemaker” TADEU FOR FAILURE TO REPORT FREE ROAM BUG Read on our website: https://t.co/zDUrco8mLL pic.twitter.com/Um70Lk2bMC — ESIC (@ESIC_Official) May 28, 2022 In the end, peacemaker was suspended for 22 days for failing “to take appropriate action during or after the relevant match to bring the bug to the attention of the relevant authorities.” hally, who had the static variant of the bug, remains suspended from ESIC member events, with a final determination on his case expected to be made shortly. Team Spirit will attend the IEM Cologne Play-In stage in July, but it remains unclear whether the Russian coach will be able to guide the team at the event.

ESIC lifts CSGO coach HUNDEN’s ban DreamhackThe Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) has announced that it has lifted the ban imposed on CS:GO coach Nicolai ‘HUNDEN’ Petersen, who is free to participate in member events again. The decision followed an in-person meeting between the two parties to discuss the two-year ban with which HUNDEN was slapped in 2021 over a breach of ESIC’s integrity program. Despite “disagreements on certain matters”, ESIC said, the two parties “recognised the importance of integrity to the thriving Esports industry.” It was agreed that HUNDEN will undertake “relevant training”, while ESIC will “review its policies and procedures to ensure they are consistent with good industry practice and fit for purpose”. “The parties will make no further comment on this matter,” ESIC noted. HUNDEN was slapped with a two-year ban on August 27 2021 after ESIC learned that the coach had leaked sensitive information to a competitor ahead of IEM Cologne without the knowledge of his then-team, Heroic. The name of the team was not revealed, but HUNDEN was at the time linked with a move to Astralis as Danny ‘zonic’ Sørensen was entering the final six months of his contract with the organisation. A forensic investigation determined that the recipient did not access the material shared by HUNDEN. Still, ESIC determined that by merely leaking the information, HUNDEN had created threats “to the integrity of an ESIC member event” and “to the reputation of an ESIC member”, and had “threatened harm to the reputation and competitive integrity of esports, and ESIC’s member ESL”. Before that ban, HUNDEN had served an eight-month suspension in another case, related to the use of the spectator bug. That ban, reduced from ten to eight months for his assistance with the investigation, expired in April 2021. What now for HUNDEN? With his ban now removed, HUNDEN is expected to return to coaching immediately. And he might finally join Astralis, who are looking for a new head coach after parting ways with Martin ‘trace’ Heldt in October. In August 2022, Dexerto Editor-at-Large Richard Lewis revealed that HUNDEN had “a working relationship” with Astralis during his ban. The Danish organization told Dexerto that the coach interacted with the team on a regular basis to create content for strategic partner Aim Lab. At the time, Astralis also noted that they would jump at the chance to work with HUNDEN in a more direct capacity once his ban expired. “Should we have the need, we would not have any second thoughts about offering him a position as an analyst or the like,” Astralis said.

ESIC hand out first CSGO bans relating to North American match-fixing investigation Valve / ESICAfter a long period of silence, ESIC have finally issued an update on the ongoing investigation into match-fixing within North American Counter-strike, particularly within the ESEA league. This will be the first official reaction relating to the year-long investigation ESIC have issued since they recommended ESEA ban five players after a recording of a match-fixing proposal was made public. However, those expecting more names to be implicated will likely be disappointed, as the latest measures only relate to those implicated by the recording. It’s still not clear how long it will take to issue penalties or clear the names of the other 34 individuals under investigation. Five-year bans were issued to Sebastian ‘retchy’ Tropiano and Kevin ‘4pack’ Przypasniak, the two players that were openly driving the decision to fix at least one match on the now public recording. However, ESIC have made it clear that their investigation has found that they both had additional as of yet undisclosed code of conduct violations. Dexerto has seen additional evidence that seemingly implicates both players in match-fixing activity and that is likely a part of ESIC’s ongoing investigation. While the recording is damning in and of itself the players will have the right to appeal the updated penalty, which is due to end on 1st April 2026. The bans will apply to ESL, ESEA, DreamHack, WePlay, BLAST, LVP, Nodwin, Eden, Relog, UCC, Allied, Kronoverse, Estars, and 247 Leagues. Carson ‘nosraC’ O’Reilly was issued a 111-day ban for his part in the recording. This was issued on the understanding that failure to disclose intent to fix matches from teammates or colleagues is also a violation of ESIC’s code of conduct. The report makes it clear that there has been no evidence forthcoming to suggest O’Reilly actively engaged directly in any match-fixing or illicit betting. His ban was officially lifted on July 22 and he has since been back in competitive action with his current team ChocoCheck. Alex ‘vek’ Voynov and David ‘J0LZ’ Jolin were both named on the recording as conspirators in the match-fixing plan although were not present at the time of the recording. Although both players served a temporary ban from ESEA under the recommendation of ESIC, there is to be no further action taken against them. The investigation has been of significant interest to both the CS:GO and Valorant communities as fans of both games wait to see who will face what punishments, if any at all. ESIC have been publicly criticized for taking their time, especially since their Integrity Commissioner, Ian Smith, told YouTuber slash32 that action would be taken in a couple of weeks back in March. Since then, the lack of communication has been met with concerns that ESIC may have bitten off a lot more than they can chew. The words in this report will do little to allay those fears. Some will question why it has taken months to issue official bans for players recorded planning to fix a match, especially if they have additional substantiating evidence. However, this is partially explained by ESIC in their summary. “Most pertinent to the complications faced and the length of this investigation,” they wrote, “is ESIC’s observation of compelling evidence that suggests that organized crime groups and foreign betting syndicates were involved in fraudulent activities during the course of season 35 of the ESEA Premier: North America.” ESIC did not give an estimated end date either. They said the investigation “must be completed with the time and attention required, no matter how long.” There is some good news for those taking an active interest in ESIC’s attempt to police esports; the introduction of their ‘Transparency Initiative’. As part of a desire to keep communities up to date with what they are doing, they have published a register of active investigation which will show the date the investigation started, what stage the investigation is at, and each published update around the investigation. ESIC suggests the database will include all information pertaining to sanctions and appeals of relevant players by the end of the year.

ESIC discovers suspicious betting around Akuma matches at CSGO’s CIS RMR event CybersportFollowing allegations of cheating and potential match-fixing activity at EPICENTER’s CIS CS:GO Regional Major Ranking event, the Esports Integrity Commission has released a report that they have evidence of suspicious betting activity around matches involving the Akuma team. After a notification from the Suspicious Betting Alert Network (SBAN) they were shown that the CEO of the now-defunct Project X org, Alexander Shyshko, had been placing bets on suspicious matches involving that team, the core of which is now Akuma. Crucially Shyshko had made accurate pre-match bets on the Akuma vs Virtus Pro match that has been subject to allegations of cheating. The event was blighted with a number of problems from the start all of which raised serious doubts about the integrity of the competition. First, there were multiple claims of players being DDOS’d in high-profile games although no official statement was made on this matter. In addition to this, there were public questions raised about the lack of protective measures put in place by EPICENTER. These included no anti-cheat client, no recording of voice communications, and most perplexingly of all, recording POV demos was not required either. The absence of this information would make any attempts to corroborate claims of cheating impossible. Allegations of cheating would manifest when underdogs Akuma achieved a streak of five clean wins including victories over Na’Vi and Virtus Pro, ranked second and eighth in the world respectively. Akuma came into the tournament ranked 138th. The allegations were given additional substance by the occasional lack of live camera feeds for players and due to Akuma players seemingly looking at something other than their crosshair during clutch situations. This prompted many players and pundits alike to speculate that at least one of the players was utilising a radar hack or watching a live feed from the server to ascertain where their opponents were. The Na’Vi coach, Andrey “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy, even stated his belief that the team was cheating in the HLTV Confirmed podcast. Following the public allegations, Akuma would suffer heavy losses against Gambit and Virtus Pro. The subsequent furor around the legitimacy of these results was given more fuel when forZe player Alexandr “zorte” Zagodyrenko publicly stated he had discovered the existence of a zero-delay GOTV feed that was in use for matches. He added that there were people sat on these servers and that he was unsure who these people were. “We could start the match and the manager could sit in the GOTV in real time and no one knows how long he could be there… The password was changed and no one could connect except admins and some Chinese guys who entered the server in spectators and just sat there during our entire match against Na’Vi.” While frustrations were building among the affected CIS teams the Russian Esports Federation (RESF) released a statement saying that their investigation “did not reveal any evidence of compromising the administration of the tournament and the work of GOTV… A review of the Akuma players, their hardware and software revealed no signs of foul play.” This statement didn’t satisfy the teams and they grouped together to release an open letter urging Valve to investigate the matter and outlining recommendations for future RMR events. All attending teams, with the exception of Akuma and the ex-Marlian roster, signed the letter. Specifically, the letter requested that ESIC or “any other competent authority” conduct an investigation into Akuma. Sources have informed Dexerto that Valve is currently in the process of reviewing the standards of the tournament. It isn’t clear how these new revelations will factor into that review nor whether or not they have been in communication with ESIC around this matter at the time of publication. ESIC refers evidence indicating potential match-fixing and betting fraud in RMR event to Valve. ESIC has made a referral to Valve including substantial evidence indicating the existence of potential betting fraud in the CIS RMR event run by EPIC. Read: https://t.co/P90BBzeGkX pic.twitter.com/i34AkHvEzH — ESIC (@ESIC_Official) June 9, 2021 While the revelations of the betting activity are by no means conclusive evidence that these matches were fixed, the sheer volume of coincidences makes it an assumption impossible to look past. Attention will now turn to the Russian Esports Federation who will have to make a determination about what sanctions, if any, are appropriate under these circumstances.

ESIC Commissioner hints towards more CSGO bans for stream sniping ESIC/Valve/Unsplash: Alexander Jawfox[jwplayer sVR4A9qr] After a wave of 37 bans in the Counter-Strike scene thanks to the exploitation of a spectator bug in-game, the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) has hinted that more bans may be on the way to stream snipers. Since the coaching bug was uncovered, which allowed team coaches to watch certain areas of the map independent of their players and therefore keep an eye on enemies, the community has been shaken as a number of top talent has been implicated in proceedings. Shortly after ESIC announced that 37 coaches had been found using the exploit, the commissioner of the organization, Ian Smith, revealed that more bans could be on the way for a whole different reason. Appearing in a conversation with other prominent CS:GO community members, the topic of cheating was understandably the focus of discussion, and while it was centered around the coaching bug, the buck didn’t stop there. Now, it looks like some of the focus of ESIC’s work is to be shifted towards stream sniping, which has apparently become a major issue since leagues were moved online thanks to the ongoing global health crisis. Read More: How Kjaerbye plans to rebuild with FaZe CSGO – “We’ve got perfectly factually substantiated reports on stream sniping,” Smith said. “I won’t go into too much detail because we’re going to explain this all in a release, but it’s a pretty big deal.” He continued: “I know what information you can gain from the stream, given the delay between real-time action and the stream, is limited. But there is some useful information there, and on top of that, it’s against the rules. It’s not about how badly you’re cheating, but it’s against the rules, and unfortunately we found that a lot of people were on the stream. Players and coaches. So, we’ve got something to say about that.” “”We’ve got factually substantiated reports on stream sniping””@bristollawyer says that we’ll soon hear on the stream sniping abuse that was happening during online leagues. We’re still live:https://t.co/RaYXOfbXTV pic.twitter.com/warpiVKb9H — HLTV Confirmed (@HLTVconfirmed) September 28, 2020 Many of CS:GO’s top coaches were implicated in ESIC’s findings earlier on September 28, but the fact that many more — players and coaches alike — could face repercussions if found guilty of stream sniping. Of course, some of those included in ESIC’s report have responded to the accusations. Notably, RobbaN, who was coaching FaZe Clan at the time that he is accused of using it, was backed by the organization when saying that he did not use the bug to his advantage. How long we have to wait to find out ESIC’s research into stream sniping, as well as the guilty parties involved, remains to be seen. But it’s fair to say that the entire CS community is being shaken as the stories unravel.

7 CSGO players banned for MDL betting offences by ESIC ESIC / ValveThe Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) has issued 12-month bans for seven CSGO players after a joint investigation with ESEA discovered multiple breaches of ESIC’s Anti-Corruption Code in Mountain Dew League (MDL) Australia. ESIC confirmed in an official statement on Sep. 3 they had been investigating an issue that had been present in the professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene for “approximately 18 months.” The esports watchdog revealed there were investigations being carried out on as many as 15 individuals involved in the Mountain Dew League. These potential breaches were of “significant concern to the industry,” ESIC stated at the time. The 18-month investigation has resulted in ESIC confirming 12-month competitive bans from Counter-Strike for seven Australian players. They have also confirmed that other investigations into matchfixing in both North America and Australia are still ongoing. In their report, ESIC confirmed that “as a result of the joint investigation between ESIC and ESEA, ESIC has discovered that seven current CSGO professionals playing in MDL Australia placed bets on MDL matches during their participation in the MDL.” “Some of these individuals engaged in betting activity related to matches they were playing in themselves,” the newly-released Oct. 23 report continues. “Further to this, ESIC has identified several associates of the offending parties also participated in betting activities related to the matches being played. In some instances, the associates placing bets mirrored identical bets to those placed by the Offending Parties.” ESIC match-betting investigation results The banned players come from three organisations currently competing in the Australian Mountain Dew League, and four CSGO lineups. These include one player from Ground Zero Gaming, one from LAKERS (formerly Team Skyfire), and five from Rooster. Two players are currently listed in Rooster’s first roster, while three more are involved in the group’s second roster. These include Corey “nettik” Browne and Akram “ADK” Smida. The seven banned CSGO players were in breach with Article 2.2 of ESIC’s Anti-Corruption Code, as well as ESEA’s standing MDL tournament rules. ESIC and ESEA have sanctioned all involved CSGO players with twelve-month bans from all competitive CS:GO tournaments and events organised or promoted by ESIC members. This includes ESEA, ESL, DreamHack, WePlay, BLAST, and more. Full list of banned CSGO players Stephen “sjanastasi” Anastasi (LAKERS) [now playing as “stvn”] – Akram “akram” Smida (Rooster) [now playing as “ADK”] – Daryl “Mayker” May (Ground Zero) – Corey “netik” Browne (Rooster) [sometimes spelt “nettik”] – Damian “JD/The Real Goat” Simonovic (Rooster 2) – Carlos “Rackem” Jefferys (Rooster 2) – Joshua “jhd” Hough-Devine (Rooster 2) – ESIC has already issued all seven players with notice of charge, which details the offence, ban applied, and appeal mechanisms available to them. All those impacted are now eligible to appeal their charges by emailing Kevin Carpenter, chairman of the Independent Disciplinary Panel. Due to the nature of these offences, ESIC has also referred the matter to law enforcement. This referral is related to breaching criminal codes in Australia. Further ESIC updates to come on MDL matchfixing Despite the announcement, the overall investigation into systemic matchfixing is still ongoing. The esports watchdog has flagged additional breaches of the Anti-Corruption Code that are expected to be resolved in “further updates,” which will address match-fixing allegations. “ESIC is in the process of investigating additional breaches… within the MDL in both Australia and North America,” they wrote. “As these investigations relate to other behaviours, such as match-fixing, they have been significantly more complex.” For a full breakdown of ESIC’s investigation, details of specific matches where the bug was used, and an explanation of the sanctions, read the full report here. ESIC concluded their report with a message to the wider CS:GO community: “It is crucially important that professional players abstain from placing bets on the game in which they earn an income from in order to preserve the integrity of the esports landscape internationally and mitigate the potential for bad actors to take advantage of our sport.” These new bans from ESIC come just six weeks after the esports watchdog handed down over 40 extended bans for CSGO coaches. Those bans were related to the exploit of a CSGO spectator bug which Valve reportedly patched on Sep. 2.

FBI investigating CSGO match-fixing with ESIC ValveThe Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) are working with the FBI in investigating CSGO match-fixing and “outside betting syndicates,” according to Commissioner Ian Smith. In an interview with CSGO YouTuber ‘slash32,’ Smith revealed that in the scope of match-fixing throughout the world the cases he finds in North America are “much more serious.” The commissioner said that ESIC has a strong case against match-fixers, with logs of corroborating evidence that they feel comfortable going public with very soon. However, Smith said the cases of cheating in the North American MDL have “been going on for longer, [and] it’s much more organised.” Now the situation has the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who recently created a sports betting investigative unit. (Timestamp at 20:24 for mobile viewers) “In North America, it’s much more serious,” Smith explained. “[It’s] what I would describe as classic match-fixing. In other words, it’s players being bribed by outside betting syndicates in order to fix matches. Rather than players doing it off their own backs, opportunistically.” Smith said that a “relatively small, but significant group of [CSGO] players” who organized match-fixing in NA MDL over a long period of time. ESIC is confident in their findings, and Smith said if it were up to his team, they would be ready to immediately go public with the evidence they already have. But since they’re working with local law enforcement in Australia, where these are considered criminal offenses, and now to some extent the FBI, it’s going to take longer for them to publish their investigation. This follows the seven CSGO players that were banned for 12 months in October 2020 following ESIC’s look into breaches of the Anti-Corruption Code in Australia’s MDL. This was apart from a separate ESIC investigation that resulted in 37 CSGO coaches who were banned in September 2020 for abusing a coaching bug. ESIC and the FBI are expected to work together in the case to investigate the length of infractions and any possible consequences outside of CSGO or esports. Smith said he’s “optimistic” that he’ll be able to go public with findings in the next two weeks.

ESIC announce Forsaken’s ban length after being caught cheating under OpTic India OpTic GamingThe Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC) announced on October 24 that former OpTic India CS:GO player Nikhil “Forsaken” Kumawat will be banned from all esports related activity for five years, after being caught cheating at a major LAN tournament. Forsaken had been playing for OpTic India at the eXTREMESLAND 2018 tournament in Shanghai, when admins noticed suspicious gameplay and investigated his PC, finding cheats had been in use. OpTic India were immediately disqualified, and the organization later released the entire roster, who it is believed were unaware of Forsaken’s cheating. ESIC say that after reports of Forsaken’s cheating, they asked ESL India to investigate and examine his performance at the ESL India Premiership, which OpTic had won the week prior. The investigation by ESL India uncovered evidence that “indicates beyond reasonable doubt that Kumawat cheated during the ESL India Premiership.” ESIC say much of it is “publicly available and compelling.” Despite calls for a lifetime ban, ESIC say they have been careful to act within the Code of Conduct which Forsaken had agreed to by participation at the ESL India Premiership. Because this was Forsaken’s second offense, after a first in 2017, the maximum ban was lifetime. However, ESIC say that “his first offense in 2017 was only very indirectly related to this offense”, and so a lifetime ban would have been “disproportionate.” Ian Smith, Integrity Commissioner at ESIC said “this case is particularly disappointing as we have previously shown compassion and consideration for Kumawat in our prior dealings with him. […] There is no place in esports for cheats like Kumawat and, at a personal level, I hope we never see him back in CS:GO or any other game again.” Forsaken has 48 hours within which to appeal the decision if he chooses, but given his statement released earlier on October 24, it sounds as though he is accepting whatever punishment is handed down. Source: ESIC

ESEA Bans Two MTN DEW CSGO League Players for Match Fixing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players Loic ‘effys’ Sauvageau and Victor “cardiac” Kwan, who compete in ESEA’s MTN Dew League, have both received one year bans for violating ESEA’s gambling laws. Alongside Sauvageau and Kwan, caster Roy “Stronglegs” Andul-Ahad was also found in violation of the gambling regulations, has had his account banned for a year, and has been removed from his casting position for the league. The players, cardiac and effys, had been representing Really Old People in the 28th season of the MDL, were found to have been using family members to place bets on games that they were playing. During an ESEA investigation, it was found that while a family member, or possibly Sauvageau himself would place a wager, the same bet would be placed by Kwan, or a relative of his. In the statement, ESEA also confirmed that caster Andul-Ahad had, on multiple occasions, placed the same bet as Sauvageau’s family member, including one match that Really Old People went on to lose. Really Old People, who narrowly avoided relegation from the MDL this season, have been removed from the league entirely, although no current evidence suggests their teammates were involved, and none of them have been banned as a result. Their spot will be made available to teams competing in the MDL Relegation Tournament in September. Stronglegs has taken to Twitter to apologize for this actions, stating the incident was a “giant misunderstanding” that he hopes is cleared up soon. ESEA have referred the case to the Esports Integrity Coalition, and have confirmed they would be open to altering the ban length based on their recommendation. You can read ESEA’s statement in full here.

Astralis confirm sale of es3tag to Cloud9 in $2.1 million deal Adela Sznajder for DreamHack / Cloud9Danish CS:GO star Patrick “es3tag” Hansen has only been a part of Astralis for six months, but he’s already moving on from the squad’s ambitious 10-man project, with the organization confirming he will join Cloud9 at the end of October. [jwplayer b1eu2UIx] Astralis have said they want to create a 10-man team for CS:GO in 2020, a plan that started when members of the legendary lineup took time off after a strenuous couple of years that saw the team lift four Major trophies, and cement themselves as one of the greatest squads of all time. With the idea to create a two-team core, filled with players who could rotate in and out for each other, es3tag was signed to play a major role in that expansion. Just months later though, his time with the Danish organization has officially come to an end. es3tag joins Cloud9 Despite being the first man to join this new initiative, es3tag is set to depart for Cloud9, with Astralis CEO Anders Hørsholt admitting that this was “not something [they] saw coming,” but player transfers will always be part of the game. “We will not be commenting on any specifics, but I do believe it is one of the biggest transfers on record, and the conditions offered to Patrick are also of a kind he wanted to pursue,” he continued. “We have an obligation towards our own business and towards the player, and as such we are pleased to have finalized this agreement with Cloud9. Patrick will be missed by everybody here, and I hope one day he will yet again be part of Astralis.” Cloud9 manager Henry ‘HenryG’ Greer later confirmed the details of the deal, with es3tag joining on a 3-year-contract, in a deal worth $2.1 million – the most of any player on the new C9 ‘Colossus’. The Colossus plucks the brightest star from the Danish night sky to complete a line-up with true astronomical power 🌠 🔹 Player: Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen 🇩🇰 🔹 Role: Entry / Aggressive Rifle 🔹 Contract length: 3 year deal (from 10/25/2020) 🔹 Value: $2,100,000#C9WIN pic.twitter.com/vwiNb74GFO — HenryG (@HenryGcsgo) October 15, 2020 Es3tag has also commented on the news, saying he is proud to represent Astralis, and never thought he would be moving so soon: “I just won my first big title, and I truly enjoy working with all the guys on and around the team. That being said, what Cloud9 is offering me is something I needed to consider seriously. I love the ideas behind the project, and I believe it will be a team to consider in the top of CS for years to come. While I am sad to leave Astralis and the people here, I look forward to the challenge in Cloud9. Astralis and Cloud9 have agreed to a transfer of Patrick @es3tag Hansen from Astralis to @Cloud9. READ MORE: https://t.co/C9xp68MlD2 The transfer will be effective after DH Open Fall. Let’s finish this adventure in proper fashion. 🔥#ToTheStars pic.twitter.com/W7xdsqBpTJ — Astralis Counter-Strike (@AstralisCS) October 15, 2020 es3tag joined Astralis properly in July 2020, but the move was announced months earlier during Flashpoint Season 1. He was the first part of Astralis’ 10-man puzzle, as the Danish squad looked to implement a new rotation system. Jakob “JUGi” Hansen was also a part of the squad earlier in 2020 but left when Astralis onboarded Bubzkji. Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer was temporarily used as a substitute for es3tag as well before his contract with Heroic ran out. Cloud9 have announced four of the six pieces of their new CS:GO team after dropping their South African-NA hybrid roster in September. Ricky “floppy” Kemery is the only player from the former ATK squad remaining, with Cloud9 picking up Alex “Alex” McMeekin, William “mezii” Merriman, and Ozgur “woxic” Eker. They will be coached by former 100 Thieves coach Aleksandar “kassad” Trifunovic.

es3tag links up with FaZe for BLAST Premier Spring Groups João Ferreira/PGLFaZe Clan will attend the BLAST Premier Spring Groups with NIP benched player Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen as a stand-in, it has been announced. es3tag will step in for Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard for the inaugural event of the season as the Norwegian player is unable to compete because of the birth of his child. FaZe requested an emergency replacement as Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer, the team’s registered substitute, cannot play at the event because of personal reasons. Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke was FaZe’s No.1 stand-in choice, but their request to use the former Astralis player was denied on the basis that he was already registered by Heroic as a substitute player. The decision came as a shock to FaZe’s team, who had been told over a week earlier that they could play with k0nfig if necessary. es3tag was moved to NIP’s bench at the end of December in anticipation of the arrival of Ukrainian youngster Daniil ‘headtr1ck’ Valitov, who would be signed from NAVI weeks later. As Dexerto reported on January 4, es3tag is not part of the lineup submitted by NIP for this event. The Swedish team have registered academy duo Linus ‘nilo’ Bergman and Max ‘maxster’ Jansson as substitutes. FaZe have also registered Edward ‘Eddie’ Han, the organization’s Director of Esports Operations, as their substitute coach for the event, replacing Robert ‘RobbaN’ Dahlström, who will miss the start of the tournament due to personal reasons. Eddie stood behind FaZe’s team during their title-winning campaign at PGL Major Antwerp in 2022 as RobbaN was ineligible to work at the Valve-sponsored event because of his coach bug case. FaZe are slated to take on Complexity on January 20 in their first match in Group B, which also includes Team Liquid and OG. Because of this substitute emergency, FaZe have incurred a seeding penalty, which means that they will be the lowest seed in all matchups during the Spring Groups tournament.

Sources: Envy looking to add Karrigan to CS:GO roster long term North American Esports organization Team Envy are pursuing Finn “karrigan” Andersen to return to their CS:GO roster long term, according to multiple sources. Karrigan played for Team Envy at the Americas Minor on loan from FaZe Clan and it appears they would like to add him on a permanent basis. During his short stint with the roster in January, Envy narrowly missed qualifying for the IEM Katowice Major. After finishing in third place at the Americas Minor, they missed a second opportunity to qualify at the Minor Play-in after losing to North. Karrigan would go on to try and help the team qualify for Intel Extreme Masters XIV: Sydney, but lost 2-0 to Ghost Gaming in the qualifier. In order to acquire Karrigan, Envy or any other organization will have to pay a buyout figure to FaZe Clan as well as come to an agreement with the player himself for his future contract. Multiple sources have confirmed with Dexerto that the buyout for Karrigan is at least $150,000 USD. Team Envy were able to hold on to the ESL Pro League Slot during Season 8 Relegation which means they are qualified for Season 9 of ESL Pro League. This season will exist entirely on LAN for the first time in league history and is set to begin on April 12th. Sixteen teams will qualify for the playoffs of the tournament split between Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific regions.

Envy CSGO player reveals issue-riddled benching situation ESLFollowing the decision from Team Envy to replace CS:GO roster member Jacob ‘FugLy’ Medina, the now inactive player took to Twitter to express his grievances with how the situation was allegedly improperly handled. Benching can be a messy, drama-ridden process in the world of esports: just look at how both Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen and Nathan ‘NBK-’ Schmitt closed out their chapters at their respective teams before joining forces on the new OG roster. But in the curious case of Team Envy, the situation appears to have gotten downright ugly for FugLy, who finds himself sitting on the bench going forward as a “restricted free agent.” CSGO Update: @fugly has been moved to the reserved roster as a restricted free agent. Additional roster change information coming soon. — ENVY (@Envy) January 15, 2020 A veteran of the North American Counter-Strike scene, the twenty-five-year-old rifler has not restricted himself to remain quiet while on the bench, and in a TwitLonger post aptly titled “Benched,” he explicitly states that while he doesn’t care that he was moved off the starting roster, he does take issue with how it was done. According to Medina, the members of the Envy roster had decided to tell management they wanted to move on without in-game leader Noah ‘Nifty’ Francis in August. Nifty allegedly found out about the group chat where the players were discussing this, leading to the removal of Aran ‘Sonic’ Groesbeek afterward, who would go back to ATK before that roster was picked up by Cloud9. Sonic provided an immediate reaction to FugLy’s story. Following that, Envy management began allegedly hinting to FugLy that he would have to move with the rest of the team to Dallas at the beginning of 2020. According to him, an important reason he chose to sign with Envy was that he was told he would not have to move. Fast forward to December, and Envy reportedly told FugLy he would officially have to move to Dallas or be kicked from the team. He told them that he was allegedly fine with that, but would need some financial help with moving due to the mortgage and bills he still owed in Arizona. He says the organization told him that he would hear back from them. Throughout the month of December, he alleges that he was repeatedly put off regarding the moving stipend, and on top of that, claims his discussions with Nifty regarding the future of the team’s roster were repeatedly ignored. This led to a series of roster changes that occurred without FugLy’s knowledge, which included one of his teammates in Bradley ‘ANDROID’ Fodor being benched, which was officially announced on New Year’s Day. Finally, after several instances of asking for an update on the moving process, he was reportedly told he was benched. All in all, Jacob says he was “jebaited for over a month, lied to, [and] left on the backburner,” and that Envy “was not a team but one person making every decision for himself and no one else mattered, which the org is OK with.” Numerous members of the CS:GO community replied to his story, wishing the NA veteran well in the future and commenting on the situation with Envy. I’m sorry that happened to you. Good luck where ever you go Jacob. I have a few good stories about orgs/players I will tell when I retire. — Peter Gurney (@PTR_tvCSGO) January 15, 2020 Great example of why you don’t let players act as your GM too. They’re good at wiggling their wrists. Leave the future of your org in the hands of a thinker. https://t.co/iWP6obFv04 — Thorin (@Thorin) January 15, 2020 FugLy said that none of the issues with Envy stemmed from its owner, Mike ‘hastr0’ Rufail. We will update the story if and when statements from Nifty and/or Team Envy are made available. Envy announced during the roster move that additional roster changes are inbound. Here is FugLy’s full Twitter post, as written on January 15: As you are all aware now, I am being moved to the bench of Team Envy. It only came to my attention on the 14th of Jan. I just want to share this story to show what I was dealing with for over a month, whether it was intentional or last minute changes that couldn’t be seen which led to this, I was still ignored and kept in the dark for ALL of the off-season which is my issue. Don’t care in the slightest that I was moved to the bench, I just care how it happened. So just know all this was happening during the most important time for a lot of players. Also, when I say I am talking to Team Envy, I mean the GM, not hastr0. August: I’ll start off with the whole Sonic situation that led to him being cut in late August. We were struggling a ton in practice/officials and it was obvious we just weren’t getting better. People started to get frustrated in the team including myself. I was already thinking that our foundation, everything we built just isn’t right and we need a change. We felt the best approach would be to get rid of Nifty (IGL – was not awping at the time, Sonic was). I will not say who approached who but eventually after 2-3 days of talking, we decide to make a WhatsApp group with everyone besides Nifty (Group chat was made at night). Everyone but one person felt it was a good idea, which is why the group was made. We needed everyone to feel this was the right move to make so that we can go to Envy and let them know. The next day after the WhatsApp group chat was made, somehow Nifty found out about it and immediately cut Sonic. No hesitation, no talking to anyone about it, just went to practice and heard he was cut and now we need to look for another player (everyone else was just as surprised). There was no discussion about it, that was final. I know that if we ever did go to Envy about this, it would not have ended well for anyone but Nifty. Little backstory: A big reason why I chose Team Envy over the two other offers I had back in March was because I was straight up told by Envy that I did not need to move. I have a place in AZ and told them up front. They were cool with it and I had no issues at all. Now, Sept 4th. comes along and they slowly start hinting that I might need to move come January-Febuary 2020 as the new Facility was being built and they wanted all teams over in Dallas. I told them I will have to think about it and that if they can help me past the minimal stipend amount. No answer or response about moving until December. From Sept to December, I didn’t think much about moving, was being reassured by players on the team that no way I need to move to Dallas. I already pay a mortgage and utilities over in AZ. Moving to Dallas would mean I pay Rent + utilities on top of what I pay in AZ. This is why I was hesitant at the start and was really waiting to hear back from Envy. Now December 9th comes along, we are on break now. I get another call about moving and now its official. I either move to Dallas or I be kicked off the team. I told them that I am willing to move, I would just need a bit of help (which a certain amount was already a guarantee). All is good, I was told I would hear back from them soon! Now, I get a call from Nifty (Dec. 11th) asking what my plans were and what my ideas were for the team. We talked about ryannn who I felt we should keep. We talked about ANDROID, who I LOVE, but we were on the fence about. I said, OK talk to ryannn and see what he thinks as you know…he is a part of the team after all. Then we can hop in TS or a call together and discuss. This is around the same time that Eley/Tailored were cut from the Coach and CS Manager positions. Again, had no idea about this beforehand. December 20th, I get another call from Nifty. No news about ANDROID yet, ryannn has not been contacted from Nifty. We just talk about me moving and that if I am ready/not ready to commit to Dallas. I just said I was waiting to hear back from Envy. I messaged Envy the same day asking for an update and was told I will hop in a call with them over the weekend. December 23rd comes along (not the weekend btw, Monday) and I get a message from ANDROID that he has been cut. Weird…I message ryannn and ask if he knew about this because I told Nifty to talk to ryannn first. Nope. He just found about it as he got cut. I get a call the same day from Envy. They say “It’s the holidays now, we won’t know about your stipend until early next year”. Ok…January comes along, I message Nifty on the 3rd of January about potential players which he responds and agrees that “that” player might be a good option. Even names another potential pickup we get get. Now to the 8th of January, I ask for another update from Envy which they replied that they are working on getting the team sorted out this weekend and to hang tight. I think at this point, it is just a bunch of bullshit so I message Nifty saying that I am committed to going 100% now. Lets just get this going. I ask if the plan is still the same, me/Nifty/ryannn +2. And he ASSURES me that everything is still going to plan and there’s nothing to worry about. We then start discussing options and talk about how EU is the way to go here. Now, I am thinking Envy are just busy with new Facility and that I wasn’t at the top of their priority list. After all, Nifty did confirm everything is going nicely and that the plan was still the same. On the 9th of January, I get a message from a number I did not recognize asking “When are you looking to move?”. I message the number back but no reply. I message Nifty asking who this is, obviously he would know as he was the only one I told that I am 100% ready to move now. No reply for 5 days. I wait for the weekend to get an update from Envy. Weekend passes and nothing. Then on the 13th I see an artcle about Calyx joining Envy and ask ryannn if he knew about it. Which he did, and he also thought that I knew about it. That’s when I messaged Envy again and asked for a real update this time. That is when I got the call saying that I have been moved to the Bench. And also ryannn, who is still part of the starting roster, had no idea about me being cut nor about ANDROID getting cut. So all in all, I was jebaited for over a month, lied to, left on the backburner and after all that, it ends like this. Sucks but it is what it is, I felt I was still very naive even after the whole Sonic situation where everyone on the team knew it was fucked and it was not a team but one person making every decision for himself and no one else mattered, which the org is OK with. They want him running the show as Nifty and Envy are very close. (CoD org) Update from 1/15: It was brought to my attention that I was a part of the team up until the 13th when new options came to light. Yet, I had no clue about any player releases and player signings before 1/13…and I was being ignored since the 9th.

ENCE and NRG Esports first to advance to StarLadder CSGO Major Berlin playoffs StarLadderThe two teams have locked in their spot at Champions stage of the StarLadder Berlin major, and thus their spot in the Legends stage at the spring 2020 major. Both ENCE and NRG Esports have achieved a 3-0 record in the Legends stage of the StarLadder Berlin major, and now await the other six teams that will join them in the Champions stage. ENCE were the first to advance, with a quick and commanding 2-0 over Team Vitality on day three. This tournament is a last hurrah of sorts for this version of the ENCE roster, as the organization will be replacing in-game leader Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen with Miikka ‘suNny’ Kemppi after the conclusion of the major. Aleksib is going out with a bang, and making a case to other organizations why he should be picked up immediately after Berlin. The young Finn led ENCE to a surprise grand finals appearance at the last major, but it’s no surprise that he’s brought the best out of his teammates again in this tournament. Currently Aleksi ‘allu’ Jalli and Jere ‘sergej’ Salo are in the top five statistically of players in this stage, with a total KD +/- of 40 and 26 across four maps, respectively. That means allu has been averaging 10 more kills than deaths across the entire stage. You could almost say he’s making it look EZ out there. The first map of the Astralis and NRG Esports series delivered, and is an instant contender for map of the tournament so far. A quintuple overtime back and forth thriller on Train that finally went the way of NRG, 31-28. Cvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov had a standout game for NRG, with 52 kills and mosaic of highlights and clutches across the five overtime periods. With momentum on their side, NRG didn’t slow down for a second, and rolled over Astralis on Train 16-4, punching their 3-0 ticket to the Champions stage. In-game leader Peter ‘stanislaw’ Jarguz led the way for his team on the scoreboard and the headset, notching a 24-7 KD and shutting down the once unstoppable Danes. While the future of ENCE is still in question despite their impressive showing so far, the future of NRG couldn’t be brighter. A 3-0 start, a spot in playoffs, a huge series win against Astralis, and they’ve got a terrific young star in CeRq, who’s only 19 years old. Now both teams have almost an entire week to prepare for the Champions stage.

‘Emergency’ CS:GO update fixes major lobby exploit, riot shields coming soon – Patch notes ValveValve have released an emergency patch on Tuesday, April 30 for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in an attempt to combat the lobby glitch which allowed people to inject cheats into other players’ games. While the major story of the April 30 patch is the fix for the lobby exploit, Valve have also made a number of massive changes to Danger Zone, CS:GO’s version of the popular battle royale genre. Danger Zone is receiving a brand new map called Sirocco for combatants to try out in battle, along with brand new items and a respawn system as well. Major lobby exploit fixed On April 30, Valve confirmed via the CSGO_Dev Twitter account that they would be disabling lobbies in the game as they attempted to find a fix for an issue that was allowing players to inject hacks and cheats into other user’s games. Former Counter-Strike pro Sébastien ‘krL’ Pérez found himself at the center of a hacking scandal when obvious cheats appeared on his screen, despite the streamer claiming to have no idea how they got there. It appears that krL was the victim of this lobby exploit, which allows other users to enter the lobby and access the console to enable cheats and wall-hacks without the knowledge of the player. Thankfully, Valve have now addressed the issue, and confirmed in the patch notes that an “anti-exploit device” had been included to help combat this problem. We believe to have found a fix for the recent lobby exploit. Soon we will be deploying anti-exploit devices to all CS:GO players: pic.twitter.com/WS8lg8tQlO — CS:GO (@csgo_dev) April 30, 2019 New Sirocco Danger Zone map plus Ballistic Shield coming soon Fans of CS:GO’s Danger Zone gamemode will be excited by the prospect of a brand new map, with Valve stating that the map will bring a new experience to the mode, stating that: players can “Brave the wide open spaces, or use stealth to navigate kasbahs, towns, and intricate underground passages.” Players will also soon be able to wield a huge Ballistic Shield, which can be used to deflect enemy damage and keep you in the game as opponents attempt to eliminate you and be the last team standing. While Valve have confirmed that the item is on the way, there is currently no official release date, with the developers simply stating that it is “coming soon.” You can read the full April 30 patch notes for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive below. CS:GO April 30 update – Full patch notes Danger Zone Updated Danger Zone with a new map, new items, respawning, and more. – Jump Boots are now available. Hold the jump key for a high jump or crouch before jumping for a long jump. – Bump Mines are now available. Toss one on the ground to send yourself (or an opponent) flying. – The remaining new items and upgrades will be unlocked in future updates – check back and see what’s new! – Blacksite is temporarily unavailable in official matchmaking. – Your teammate will now appear wearing a blue uniform. – A player pinging system has been added, bound to Mouse 3 by default (command “player_ping”) – A radial weapon select menu has been added to allow quick visual selection of weapons/items. This menu is customizable by editing the radial_quickinventory.txt file. (command “+quickinv”) – Misc Fixed a lobby exploit –

ELEAGUE Premier 2018 Reaches Semi-Final Stage as Team Liquid and Mousesports March On ELEAGUETeam Liquid and Mousesports have clinched the final two playoff spots at ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018. Team Liquid rolled over MiBR in two maps, while Mousesports secured a 2-1 victory against a spirited Fnatic to close out the day. The final day of Group Stage action at the $1 million tournament saw Team Liquid trying to bounce back from a defeat at the hands of Astralis, while the MiBR players were hoping to continue the momentum that they found against Cloud9 in the Group A elimination match. Team Liquid looked like the team in control throughout the first map, Cache, despite some strong form from Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David. The North American team was able to grind away at MiBR and eventually take a comfortable 16-10 victory. The next map, Overpass, was much of the same. Team Liquid controlled the game from the front throughout – weathering the occasional storm from the Brazilian opposition and taking another 16-10 win as Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulken topped the scoreboard. Next up on stage was Mousesports versus Fnatic. The Fnatic players were clearly confident after their impressive win over FaZe Clan in Group B’s elimination matc and carried that form into the first map, Inferno, against the international lineup of Mousesports. The Swedes secured a tight 16-13 win on their map pick before moving on to Mousesports’ choice of Train. The entire map was a back and forth affair, but Tomáš ‘oskar’ Šťastný and Robin ‘ropz’ Kool were the difference makers, helping Mousesports to grab a narrow 16-14 win and force a third map. .@chrisJcsgo comes into Game 3 with a nasty flick! pic.twitter.com/UHevMKahpA — ELEAGUE (@ELEAGUETV) July 26, 2018 Fnatic’s form seemed to dip in the final map, Mirage, and it was Miikka ‘suNny’ Kemppi’s time to put in a monster performance for Mousesports, picking up 30 kills in just 25 rounds. Mousesports controlled the economy throughout the game and eventually secured a 16-9 win, knocking Fnatic out of the competition. Mousesports will now move on to face the world’s consensus number one team, Astralis, while Team Liquid will have to deal with a Natus Vincere lineup that has both Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev and Denis ‘electronic’ Sharipov firing on all cylinders. The semi-final matches will take place on July 28, beginning with Astralis versus Team Liquid.

ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2018 – Final Placements Astralis is back on top after winning the ELEAGUE CS:GO Premiere 2018 tournament, taking home the $500,000 prize. They defeated Team Liquid in a Grand Final that only had brief moments of competitive action. The Grand Final predictions were not even as Astralis entered the match as heavy favorites over the Team Liquid squad who has never beaten them. Astralis proved their favored ranking early, winning the first 14 rounds as a helpless Liquid struggled to match the talent of the number one squad in the world. The 14th round was a particularly impressive blowout, with dev1ce’s AWP picking off Liquid one by one as they barely fired back. The crowd was in disbelief as Astralis was rarely challenged. It would not last, Astralis shutdown Liquid’s dual pistol strategy to go up 15-1. The map win would elude Astralis for a few rounds before closing out by a count of 16-5 to take the 1-0 lead. Team Liquid used their relatively strong finish to take an early lead in Map 2, taking an 8-4 advantage to the 13th round. Astralis re-established their dominance to stop any upset hope, winning six straight rounds to take the lead at 9-8. The teams traded rounds before Astralis pulled away at the end to win the championship with a 16-12 final score and the 2-0 sweep. Astralis and Liquid both qualified for the Playoffs by advancing out of Group A. Liquid reached the Grand Final by upsetting Group B first seed NaVi, while Astralis handled business against the overmatched mousesports. The final placements for the ELEAGUE CS:GO Premiere 2018 tournament are below.

EG director Danny Engels quashes speculation about exiting CSGO Stephanie Lieske/ESLDanny Engels, gaming excellence director at Evil Geniuses, has said that Counter-Strike remains “an important pillar for esports in the organization”. He has vowed to do all he can to restore success to the team. When Danny Engels took up the role of gaming excellence director at Evil Geniuses in July, one of his first orders of business was to bring order to a Counter-Strike team that has been in the doldrums for a year. EG were the cool new kids on the block in September 2019 as they re-entered the Counter-Strike scene after an almost ten-year absence. The team they signed had enjoyed moderate success while with NRG, but they reached another level under the new organization, winning ESL One New York and StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8 in the space of a month. They reached the top of HLTV’s world rankings, if only for a little while, and were the fourth-best team of 2019. EG then stabilized as a top-five team in the world during the first months of the global health crisis, winning a handful of domestic competitions, but those gains were lost once they traveled to Europe after the summer break. Since then it has been heartbreak after heartbreak for the North Americans, who are currently ranked 40th in the world. “The biggest challenge of this team is energy management,” Engels told Dexerto. “That is something that I think players and teams still have to learn about across multiple games. “The whole circuit in CS obviously makes it difficult to manage energy properly. You can also see it in traditional sports: Sometimes, you have to let your striker sit on the bench in order to have him peak at a certain moment. “That’s something I think the team has struggled a bit with. There was the issue of going back to Europe, even though, heading into 2021, there was this big hope that we were going back to LAN and that everything would kind of go back to normal. “I think that was the biggest challenge, because of the frustration that we’re still stuck in a COVID bubble, which makes Counter-Strike much trickier for them.” Engels is looking to bring to EG some of the experience that he garnered during his almost four-year tenure working with G2 Esports. He occupied a number of roles within the organization, from manager of the racing team to head of esports. While with G2, he observed the importance of the strong dynamic between head coach Damien ‘maLeK’ Marcel and team manager Jérôme ‘NiaK’ Sudries. He wants to implement the same concept in EG and is looking for a team admin that can act as the liaison between players and management. “For me, the team admin is one of the most important persons on the team,” Engels explained. “You know how maLeK and NiaK work behind the team, I think they make an incredibly strong management team. “I see the team admin as someone that is important to establishing this best-in-class operation outside of the game. Someone who understands the needs of the players together with the coaching staff. This helps us make sure that the players have everything they need to succeed.” .@EvilGeniuses is seeking a team admin to connect the dots internally, with myself, TOs, GM, coaches and players. I’ll let all of you connect the dots what this hire might mean for the future of EG CS:GO, but those interested in the role take a look here: https://t.co/TP9gvOqzmQ pic.twitter.com/KxvHMLtTQV — Danny Engels (@HuskyGoalie) September 15, 2021 EG receive boost with duo return Since Engels joined EG, a significant chunk of his time has been spent on the CS:GO squad, “while also looking out for the other teams”. He sees the players “motivated and determined to find a solution” to their problems during this crucial stage of the tournament season. The team will next appear in IEM Fall North America, the final Major qualifying tournament. It is a season-defining moment as a poor run can doom one’s chances of reaching PGL Major Stockholm – the first CS:GO Major in over two years. IEM Fall will mark the returns of Peter ‘stanislaw’ Jarguz and Vincent ‘Brehze’ Cayonte to the team after they requested some time off to preserve their mental health. Due to travel limitations, the players will be in different locations, reuniting only once they’re back in Europe before the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown and potentially the Major. “CeRq and MICHU will be in Mexico since I cannot bring them to the US or Canada,” Engels explained. “At the same time, I found it unreasonable to send everyone to Mexico just for this one week. “We agreed with the team that it would be best if we all just played from ‘home’ and then focus back on the European side after IEM Fall.” Engels agreed with the notion that, with the stakes being so high, practice for IEM Fall has been less than optimal. However, he refers to the recent CS:GO update – with its controversial grenade-dropping feature – as a blessing for his side as every team is approaching the tournament with a clean slate. “You could say we are lucky with the timing of the patch because it seems like there might be a shift in the way we play Counter-Strike,” he explained. “Daps and stanislaw will make the most of the time they’ll have before IEM Fall and then in Europe. While practice and time are limited, I think we are in a good position, also thanks to the new update.” Shutting down rumors Over the past 12 months, the rumor mill has been rife with talk that Evil Geniuses are considering leaving Counter-Strike. This would deal an almost fatal blow to the North American CS:GO scene, which has seen many organizations shift their focus elsewhere, most notably 100 Thieves. In December 2020, Greg Kim, then EG’s director of esports, told HLTV.org that Counter-Strike remained “a priority” for the organization. And Engels insisted that EG still stand by that, even though the team have continued to struggle and even lost one of their star players, Ethan ‘Ethan’ Arnold, to Valorant. When asked if EG are only still in CS:GO because of their commitments with tournament organizers, he said “If that were the case, I think we’d more likely go down the 100 Thieves route, which proved that you can exit a partnership with ESL and BLAST.” “We’re totally engaged with the partners that we have there, and we believe in their vision and in what they want to create around Counter-Strike. “Even though our performance has not been at the level we would like it to be, our ambition is still to lift trophies, as we did in 2019 and 2020. “We hope that, once the world goes back to normal, we will have a better foundation to work with. This North American and European separation, with players having to live in hotels in Europe for nine months, obviously impacts performance. This is not just for us. I think Liquid has faced similar issues. “I hope we are getting back to a normal world where we can celebrate being part of ESL and BLAST.” But hope alone won’t solve EG’s current predicament. They have looked disjointed as a unit – not exactly a surprise, given their roster issues and the frequency with which they have had to field stand-ins – and even their star players have not been able to put in the sort of performances that can drag the team over the line. Vincent ‘Brehze’ Cayonte, the eighth-best player of 2019, has looked disinterested and out of form all year, leading many to wonder whether his heart is still in it. One or two roster changes might be needed to breathe new life into the team, but all EG can do now is wait. “Our hands are tied,” he explained. “There’s not much we can do, especially with the Major coming up. We cannot make roster moves. This roster is locked, also thanks to the RMR. “The clear focus now is the Major, and the same goes for many other teams, and making sure that this lineup that we have has the resources to focus on the Major, work for it and hopefully make us proud at the event.” Passion for the game Engels acknowledged the challenges that come with finding tomorrow’s stars after the CS:GO talent pool in North America was left thin following an exodus of players to Valorant. Still, he insisted that EG are determined to find a way for the team to be a “tier-one championship contender” again, and pointed to how engaged with the game he is to illustrate that commitment. As someone who spent nine years on SK Gaming, five of which as a player, he is well aware of the organization’s Counter-Strike legacy. His deep and strong roots in the game, he noted, are part of what EG bought into when they brought him in. “I think every time you’ve talked to someone from EG, they have spoken highly about CS and how they see the value in the game,” he said. “It’s a classic esports game that gives so much credibility to an organization. “I believe they wouldn’t have brought me all the way over to Seattle if they didn’t believe in me bringing this experience to Counter-Strike and to multiple other games. “We’re working in a direction where CS is an important pillar for esports in EG, and that also gives me an exciting background to work with. “I’m passionate about esports and I want to win. I’m very competitive. My promise to all the fans is that, from the management side, I’ll do my best to bring success to EG.”

EG coach explains why NA CS is failing at the highest level Helena Kristiansson/ESL Gaming via ESPATNA CS teams have struggled to perform in recent years and Evil Geniuses Gold’s head coach Joeseph ‘Muenster’ Lima explained why he thinks the region has stagnated. North American Counter-Strike has not had the best results internationally for some time. A full NA team hasn’t had substantial international tournament results since about 2019. That year Team Liquid completed the Intel Grand Slam and the NRG Esports roster, which eventually signed with Evil Geniuses, won ESL One: New York 2019 and was ranked as the No. 1 squad at one point by HLTV. Cloud9 brought home a CS:GO Major trophy for the region a year prior. Now, the highest-ranking team with more than two North American players on the roster is Complexity who are ranked just outside the top 15. The last time a team with a roster made up of mainly NA players broke into the top five rankings was Team Liquid in March 2023, before the organization switched to an international roster. Team Liquid was seemingly the last bastion for NA talent, however, no other NA squad has really broken through on the international stage in recent years. International rosters seem to be the new trend for North American esports organizations as many are bringing in European talents, or just signing full European rosters, instead of bringing in more native talent. Muenster, a veteran North American coach, took to social media to explain why he thinks the NA CS scene has entered into an era of irrelevancy, and what needs to change for the region to improve. EG coach gives opinion on NA CS players and teams The coach detailed his thoughts while reposting a player’s opinion on the region that said North America is missing players “without an ego and an open mind.” Muenster said he disagreed, and agreed, with the statement. “Personally I feel like the best players to ever come out of NA were the ones that had egos, got constantly humbled, and instead of giving up turned around and used that experience to keep improving themselves and their teams,” he said. The EG coach explained that in today’s NA landscape, players with an ego are less likely to be challenged by better teams. “Back in the day, we had EU teams in NA often enough that the best of NA sorted its way to the top pretty easily. The bad ego players gave up and the best ego players made their way onto the top NA teams,” he said. Muenster also said mid to low-level players don’t get the chance to experience true high-level Counter-Strike play and have “almost nothing to play for” regionally, therefore teams are constantly recycling egotistical players. “I wish EU would come back to NA,” the coach said in a reply to his post. Whether North America can change its fortune in CS2 is yet to be seen as the new title should level the playing field across the world for a time.

EG Are a DISGRACE | Richard Lewis Reacts @ ESL Pro League Dexerto It’s pretty clear that Evil Geniuses’ lackluster performance at ESL Pro League has left both fans, and Richard Lewis, pretty unimpressed. After a series of diabolical performances in Group D, Evil Geniuses found themselves at the tail end of the pack, and Richard has a lot to say about it. While acknowledging that the Geniuses’ choice to add Owen ‘oBo’ Schlatter to the roster may have caused major disruption, he refers to their performance as a “disgrace.” After having once ruled the CS:GO world, Lewis notes that the squad have consistently fallen down the ranks, with wins few and far between and never anything “to shout about.” Despite their 50 day bootcamp this year, nothing much seems to have changed. Despite taking down Astralis pretty early, they took “embarrassing” Ls against orgs like Fnatic, Team Liquid, and finally Endpoint CeX. Fans were quick to criticize oBo, but Lewis thinks the problem goes much deeper. Referring to the “Stan project” as “having absolutely failed,” Evil Geniuses have no excuses considering their readily available vast resource pool. “Your players ought be ashamed of themselves, it’s absolutely outrageous how bad you are,” Richard concludes, and implores the squad to up their tactics and stop being so distracted by the monetary gains that many former CS:GO pros claim Valorant offers. Changing the game doesn’t change the attitude. For more CS:GO news be sure to check out our dedicated CS:GO main page.

Edward Snowden replies to Bardolph’s invite to cast Moscow CSGO event StarLadder/WikiMediaJames Bardolph, one of the casters at the BLAST Pro Series Moscow event, sent out an invite to infamous NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden to come join the commentary table, and the Moscow resident actually replied. Sometimes it pays to just shoot your shot, whether you’re in or out of the server. During the Natus Vincere-ENCE match in the second round of BLAST Pro Series Moscow matches, James Bardolph sent out a tweet while he was casting with Daniel ‘ddk’ Kapadia, asking one Edward Snowden to join the desk. I know you can see my tweets @Snowden, come and tricast with @ddkesports and I at @BLASTProSeries. Can promote your book! — James Bardolph (@jamesbardolph) September 13, 2019 Amazingly, Snowden responded, and revealed that he’s an old school fan of Counter-Strike. While he declined to cast, Bardolph invited Snowden to at least attend the event, and promised to promote Snowden’s new book “Permanent Record” if he did. Bardolph made numerous references to the Twitter interaction during the remainder of the match, even wondering aloud how he could get a copy of the new book. Appreciate the response! Welcome to come and watch as well. There will be a big attendance in Dinamo and there’s a place for you on the guest list if you want. Can promote your book as well let’s get it — James Bardolph (@jamesbardolph) September 13, 2019 The replies to Bardolph and Snowden’s tweets were littered with funny responses, with people asking Snowden to leak FaZe and Fnatic’s new rosters, questioning what timeline we’re in, and expressing their surprise at his CS familiarity, among others. One reddit user commented, “if snowden shows up to a csgo tournament before gaben i swear to god.” Snowden exploded into the news in 2013, when he leaked top secret documents about surveillance conducted by the US National Security Agency. Snowden obtained these documents while working for Booz Allen Hamilton, a defense and intelligence contractor. Snowden saught asylum in Russia after he was charged with espionage and theft of government property. The stage is set. #BLASTProSeries #Moscow pic.twitter.com/NpssxnBJcs — BLAST Pro Series (@BLASTProSeries) September 13, 2019 Snowden has remained in Russia since then, and in the past few years has gotten married, became president of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, and has now written a book. Here’s hoping he graces the BLAST Moscow event with his presence. Day one of BLAST Moscow ended with some surprising results. ForZe won both of their maps against ENCE and AVANGAR, thus taking maps off grandfinalists in the two more recent majors. MiBR and Ninjas in Pyjamas ended their day with with one win and won tie, after the two teams played to 15-15 against each other on Train. Na’Vi and ENCE both got off to a bad start, as they each lost their first round map, and then tied each other in the second round.

CS:GO: Team Vitality run over FURIA in ECS S7 Grand Final – Final placements Twitch / FACEITTeam Vitality have come out on top in London, taking down Brazil’s FURIA in the grand final of ECS Season 7 finals. The FACEIT ECS Season 7 Finals saw its fair share of upsets throughout the weekend, in what was one of the more entertaining events of the year. The tournament featured eight of the top squads from around the world, who qualified during the end of season qualifiers for FACEIT’s Esports Championship Series, all fighting for their share of the $500,000 prize pool. The new format for Season 7 of the ECS saw two challenger teams in Vitality and FURIA joining the top performing teams from each region, both of which went on to have an incredible run at the event, as they found themselves eventually matching up against each other in the grand finals. Major Upsets at ECS Season 7 Finals The ECS Finals was full of upsets and one of the tournament favorites, Astralis, shocked everyone after they dropped out of the competition in 6th place, following their 1-2 defeat to the outsiders, FURIA in a very close deciding match. MIBR and NiP were also among the teams who suffered upsets at the event, with both also dropping out of the group stage with 0-2 records. FURIA were the ones causing most of the upsets, as the Brazilian underdogs pulled off an impressive 2-0 win during their semi-finals series against North. AbleJ spoke to Dexerto after qualifying for the grand finals on their incredible run and what it would mean for him to take home the trophy. “”I guess the people like new teams who do a good job””@ableJfps talks about the crowd getting behind @furiagg in their victory against @TheNorthIsHere in #ECS7. The Brazilians are now heading into the finals! pic.twitter.com/4ZRg5mD83j — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) June 8, 2019 The Grand finals between FURIA and Vitality was slow to get underway after some early technical issues delayed the action, but once they got into the action it was largely one-way traffic. FURIA had been impressive all weekend, but appeared to run out of steam when it mattered, as ZywOo led the French roster to a convincing 2-0 win. ECS Season 7 Finals – placements, prize pool breakdown. The final day of the London event also featured a hilarious show match between five of the UK’s best CS:GO players against five of the best players and personalities from the rest of the world. The best of 2 series ultimately ended in a 1-1 draw, and with both teams winning their map 16-7 they were unable to determine a winner with the head-to-head tiebreaker which was based off round count. Doesn’t matter who wins, what matters is the friends we made along the way :earth_americas::uk: (but it was 1:1) Team UK :uk: @smooyacs :uk: @dephh_csgo :uk: @Surreal_csgo :uk: @shaneyCSGO :uk: @ThomasCS__Team RotW :flag-br: @FalleNCS :usa:@OboCSGO :flag-au: @SPUNJ :usa: @ShahZaMk :flag-se:@GeT_RiGhT pic.twitter.com/nLJiMxZj51— ECS (@ecs) June 9, 2019

Astralis wins ECS Season 6: Final Standings, Recaps and Placements Astralis took down MiBR in a classic final to win ECS Season 6. Group A proved to be the better division as MiBR and Astralis both defeated their Group B opponents to reach the final. MiBR took out North to advance, while Astralis upset Group B number one seed Ninjas in Pyjamas. Map one Inferno was as close as it gets as Astralis won on their pick by a score of 16-14. FalleN went off, leading all players in the match with the most kills, damage, first bloods and AWP kills. Despite the statistical disadvantage and a star turn from FalleN, Astralis was able to hold on. The European squad picked Inferno despite losing on it to MIBR in the group stage, though the strategy paid off. The match moved to Overpass, MIBR’s pick and one that was not played during the group stage between the two finalists. Overpass was another back and forth affair between the evenly matched teams, this time it was dupreeh and Stewie2K leading the way for their squads. The map went into two overtimes as neither team could pick up consecutive rounds. Astralis finally broke the deadlock by winning rounds 38 and 39 to take a 20-18 lead, but MiBS answered back with two straight. Astralis ended the match by winning the next two and put Overpass in the books 22-20 to take the ECS Season 6 Finals. Map one hero FalleN was left in a 1v2 with the bomb down and could not pull it out.

Dupreeh speaks out after CS:GO crowd helps Astralis in EPL playoffs CS:GO star Peter ‘dupreeh‘ Rasmussen spoke out after Astralis received criticism for listening to the crowd’s reaction during their match against mousesports in the ESL Pro League Season 10 Playoffs. The finals of the ESL Pro League are coming to a close, however, there was one moment in the global playoffs that stood out to many CS:GO fans during the semi-finals. During their clash against the side of mousesports, Astralis received a little bit of help from the Danish crowd of Odense while checking an angle, which sparked a huge debate online over the influence that spectators can have. Astralis’ rifler Dupreeh spoke out after his teammates took advantage of the crowd’s indications, which led to them picking up a free kill, and explained that he did not condone anyone who gives away their opposing team’s position before calling them a disgrace. “Screaming positions or giving up positions verbally is a disgrace. No matter the fan,” He admitted, before claiming he was unsure of what had happened during their game “getting excited about flanks or sneaky plays, is a common LAN factor. I don’t know what happened in the arena specifically though.” He then expressed that every player would likely look for something unusual if they were in a similar position and revealed that, although it worked for them this time, the crowd’s interactions were not always beneficial to their match. Trust me – when the crowd goes excited every player in the server looks for flanks or uncleared positions. Not a single person on this planet would ignore it, and if someone says they will, they lie. It’s the same for both teams and sometimes not even beneficial. — Peter Rasmussen (@dupreeh) December 8, 2019 When the crowd goes excited every player in the server looks for flanks or uncleared positions, not a single person on this planet would ignore it and if someone says they will they lie,” the Danish star explained. Team Liquid pro Russell ‘Twistzz’ VanDulken also agreed with his fellow competitor, claiming that every player is guilty of using the crowd to their advantage during their tournament matches. Baiting the crowd has been a lan tactic for a while as well, it’s just being smart with how you use your environment — Russel van Dulken (@Twistzz) December 8, 2019 He also explained that it has been used by pros for quite a while and even classed it a tactic that players use to check angles, “Baiting the crowd has been a LAN tactic for a while as well, it’s just being smart with how you use your environment.” Although the clip has caused a lot of controversy among CS:GO fans there seems to be little that tournament organizers can do, as there was also claims that not even soundproof booths can keep the roars of a crowd out in certain cases.

Dupreeh reveals why Astralis chose Vertigo vs Liquid at CSGO Berlin Major StarLadderAfter a 2-0 victory over the world’s best CS:GO team in Team Liquid, Astralis’ Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen spoke with Frankie Ward and Dexerto about their surprising map pick, their desire to win another major, and the secret to becoming the best team. The former kings of Counter-Strike, the Danish dynasty in Astralis are back on their top form, winning a statement series against Team Liquid, who have been dominating 2019 while Astralis struggled. In the quarterfinals of the StarLadder Berlin major, Astralis’ aggressive tactics were displayed before the games even began, with a surprising selection of Vertigo for their map pick. Somewhat flustered, Team Liquid opted to pick Overpass, a map that Astralis is quite proficient on. “We feel at home in the major” @dupreehCSGO tells @getfrank about @astralisgg‘s opportunity to make #CSGO history at the #BerlinMajor Powered by @TeamRazer | #ThisIsEsports pic.twitter.com/lzDIJwGRbG — DEXERTO.COM @ Berlin Major (@Dexerto) September 6, 2019 Even dupreeh admitted that was a surprise, as he expected them to select Dust 2. Unfortunately fans didn’t get the third game on Inferno that they wanted, but they got to see a masterclass on Vertigo. When speaking to Frankie and Dexerto, dupreeh acknowledged that Vertigo was a map where they previously struggled, believing they shouldn’t have lost to Liquid on it when they faced each other at the ESL Pro League finals in July. “We felt we should have won it, we had a really good idea of how to play against them, we just didn’t execute in France.” But he also mentioned that they wanted to play it more after it was changed, that they were feeling good on it in practice, and that they knew it would surprise Liquid. Frankie asked about the extensive smoke and flash usage on Vertigo, and dupreeh ended up giving away the secret to becoming the best Counter-Strike team: “That’s just how Counter-Strike is, you copy each other’s [strats], and the team that does it the most and the most well is obviously the better team. Coming up with new things and always keeping your opponents guessing is really important.” But even by keeping to a simple strategy like that, Astralis isn’t the same juggernaut they were in 2018, and dupreeh is well aware of it. During their slide in play earlier this year, dupreeh said that the most obvious sign of issues was at the ECS Finals when they lost to FURIA Esports. According to him, that was the lowest point for the team, and when they realized something’s not working. He spoke at length about the importance of the player break, as it gave the players time to “recharge their batteries” and isolate the issues that were affecting them. He also highlighted how big the break between stages was, as Astralis had plenty of time to prepare for Team Liquid, and could recharge after playing two different absurdly long overtime games in the New Legends stage. If there’s one thing that should worry teams the most, it’s that dupreeh said that playing at majors is “like playing at home” for Astralis. NRG Esports will have to kick the legends out of their own house if they want to hoist that major trophy.

Dupreeh gives emotional interview after winning IEM Katowice CS:GO Major following his father’s passing R: AstralisAt IEM Katowice, Astralis became back-to-back Major champions in CS:GO, and claimed their third Major title overall. The victory continues a run of dominance that has now lasted more than 10 months, during which time the team has collected eleven trophies, including two Majors and collecting the $1 million bonus of the Intel Grand Slam. During the IEM Katowice Major itself, Astralis lost just a single map – although won the best-of-three series in which it took place – and were flawless through a playoff run that saw them dismantle Ninjas in Pyjamas and MIBR before defeating surprise finalists ENCE for the title. For Dupreeh, the accomplishment was perhaps even more remarkable, as it came in the wake of a great personal loss. His father passed away just days before the tournament began. In the immediate aftermath of Astralis’ victory at IEM Katowice, Dupreeh was interviewed on stage, during which he revealed that it had been his father’s last wish that he compete at the Major. In spite of suffering such a personal tragedy, during the event itself Dupreeh’s form remained exceptional, finishing as the fifth-highest ranked player of the tournament with a remarkable 1.24 rating. With the Katowice win, Astralis tie Fnatic for the most Majors won, with this exact line-up replicating the back-to-back victories that Fnatic pulled off in 2015, while all except ‘Magisk’ also match Markus ‘Pronax’ Wallsten, Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell and Robin ‘Flusha’ Ronnquist with three Major titles total. For many, the win cements this iteration of Astralis as the greatest team to ever compete in CS:GO, a title for which they had already been a strong contender. Considering the incredible form the team was in for their latest victory, the age of Astralis seems far from over.

Dupreeh explains why the Krieg is the most OP CSGO rifle ever In an interview with HLTV, Astralis star Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen compared the current Krieg meta to previous Counter-Strike metas, and explained why this one, in particular, is the most overpowered and impactful. As Astralis prepares for BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen, dupreeh is doubling down on his stance: the Krieg needs to be fixed. A major talking point for the past few weeks has been the dramatic rise in use of the SG-553 rifle, with plenty of pros sounding off on it, dupreeh chief among them. The Krieg-meta however, is really getting out of hands. @CSGO — Peter Rasmussen (@dupreeh) October 24, 2019 He compared the Krieg meta to previous ones, and claims that this is the worst one yet: “I think we are looking at the most overpowered gun in the history of Counter-Strike,” he told HLTV. He compared it to the AWP-CZ75 quick switch meta from early CSGO days, and the AUG meta that the Krieg meta is frequently compared to, but claims that the Krieg is by far the most powerful, and explains exactly why. He says that the Krieg allows CT side players to take duels and angles that they normally wouldn’t take, if their team is able to get their hands on the Krieg. He also says the rifle is too powerful, as it can outduel the AWP, and reduces the amount of peeks CTs can take because a T side Krieg is just waiting for you. Dupreeh says that the rifle has allowed players like NRG’s Vincent ‘Brehze’ Cayonte and Fnatic’s Ludvig ‘Brollan’ Brolinto play even better, reiterating that the players are great without it, but saying “their individual level has gone skyrocketing” since its rise in popularity. Dupreeh has previously spoken up in favor of an idea suggested by Team Liquid’s twistzz, to make the gun a semi-automatic rifle instead of an automatic one, and NBK liked the idea as well. Dupreeh spoke up in favor of it again in the interview, but also added that there would be a risk that the gun would become “completely useless”, and he doesn’t want to the gun to be unofficially removed from the meta. Dupreeh’s solution is to nerf the scope and/or nerf the fire rate, as well as give it a raise in price, much like what Valve did with the AUG when that weapon’s usage skyrocketed in recent past. What’s your solution?

dupreeh confident Vitality learned from last Major’s mistakes for BLAST Paris Michal Konkol/BLASTPeter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen spoke with Dexerto about how Vitality have prepared for the BLAST Paris Major — the 19th CS:GO Major of his career. Vitality have been in this situation before, riding a huge wave of optimism just before a Major. Last time out, things went sour. Vitality had just won ESL Pro League 16, picking up their first title since moving away from a French-speaking lineup and taking the international route. But those gains were wasted as the team entered a hectic period with back-to-back tournaments — the Europe RMR and the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown — before the IEM Rio Major came around. In Brazil, Vitality finished only 12th-14th and even had to scramble to get out of the Challengers Stage. The similarities to where Vitality are now, just before they enter the BLAST Paris Major in the Legends Stage, are striking. The team ended a trophyless run at IEM Rio last month and is once again being talked about as a title contender in Paris, where the field appears to be just as wide open as it was seven months ago, at the previous Major. Heading into the French event, Vitality is dead-set on not making the same mistake. To prevent burnout, the players were given a week off after coming back from Rio. The preparation for the Major started online, with the team gathering in Paris at the start of this week for a quick bootcamp. “We looked at the mistakes we made before the Rio Major, and one of the big mistakes was that we basically played too much,” dupreeh told Dexerto. “We put in too much time. We didn’t have enough time to rest and get everything sorted at home. We went to the Major in Rio, playing the Challengers Stage directly into Legends, and playing one and a half weeks straight, not getting any time off. “It was just too much. We were way too exhausted. We really wanted to change that, this time around.” dupreeh noted that the victory in Rio was the product of the preparation for the Paris Major, not something that happened by design. The team, he added, “put all eggs” in the Major basket when planning out the season at the start of the year. “We’ve been putting in a lot of effort to peak at the right time,” he said. “Some people could argue that maybe we peaked in Rio. But for us, Rio was not a tournament we prioritized. It just came around as a good result.” It’s hard to overstate just how important the Paris Major, France’s first-ever CS:GO Major, is to Vitality. It is the sole French organization at the event and the only team with French players, putting extra responsibility on Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire and Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut to fly the country’s flag high. At the same time, when Vitality began charting a new course for the CS:GO team and lured dupreeh, Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif and head coach Danny ‘zonic’ Sørensen to build what they hoped would be an international powerhouse, they did so with tournaments like this in mind. As the Legends Stage nears, the one big question about Vitality is how the team will handle all this pressure. “Ever since the season started, we’ve been talking with our sports psychologist about the whole pressure thing,” he said. “Not only because it’s a Major and everyone wants to do well, but also because of the fact that we’re playing in Paris, for the French community and for the Vitality organization. “A lot is at stake for a lot of people. I think there will be pressure, probably more so than usual. But I think it’s all about how we handle the pressure. I think we can actually turn that into something good, something that can help us perform. We want to achieve something that a lot of people expect from us. “But I think it’s more on the French guys. apEX and ZywOo may see it that they have to represent French Counter-Strike, whereas the rest of us, yes, we represent a French organization, but we’re an international team. Maybe it’s more on them as persons than it is on the whole team.” As CS:GO enters the tail end of its lifespan before the transition to Counter-Strike 2, one of the main narratives that fans enjoy discussing online is which elite players never got to win a Major. A recent HLTV.org article listed ZywOo as one of the top four players who are yet to win an event of this caliber, alongside Nikola ’NiKo’ Kovač, Ladislav ‘GuardiaN’ Kovács and Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski. dupreeh is confident that it’s only a matter of time before ZywOo knocks that milestone off his list, whether that’s in CS:GO or Counter-Strike 2. “He’s probably one of the guys who deserve it the most, alongside a couple of other individuals,” he said. “On home soil, it would be perfect, but at the same time, if we don’t get the Major trophy here, I’m 110% confident that he will do it in the upcoming title. “He will get it eventually, he’s still very young. He’s so talented and has a huge career ahead of him. I’m not worried about that. But getting it here, in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, would be unique, of course.” dupreeh’s personal goals This is a very special moment in dupreeh’s career. As he takes to the server tomorrow, to face G2 in the Legends Stage, he officially becomes the only player in the entire scene to have played all 19 CS:GO Majors. Is there anything different about this particular one? “No, I don’t think so,” dupreeh said. “I have a lot of experience from a long career. Playing the last CS:GO Major is special, but it’s not going to change anything in terms of mental preparation or how I see the tournament. It’s going to be a Major like any other, and I’m looking to get the best out of it.” In Paris, dupreeh can also reach another milestone in his impressive career if he wins the tournament. Right now, he is tied for the most Major titles with his former Astralis teammates Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth, Nicolai ‘dev1ce Reedtz and Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander – none of whom is playing in the French event – with four trophies apiece. “On an individual basis, I want to get my fifth Major,” he said. “I want to be the only player with five trophies. That would be unique for me.” Regardless of how the Paris Major plays out, dupreeh has left an indelible mark in the history of CS:GO. He has won more Big Event trophies than any other player at 31 and is expected to hold on to the record for most prize money earned in the game. That would be enough for some, but dupreeh has no plans to stop here. He wants to keep adding to his career victories, citing the upcoming Counter-Strike 2 Major in Copenhagen — Denmark’s first Major — as a big source of motivation. “I don’t feel like I’m done,” he said. “So, for now, I want to continue.” And then, of course, there is the question of the one trophy that he is still chasing. “I always mention that I have achieved everything there is to achieve, but I haven’t won Cologne yet,” he said, laughing. “That is the one I haven’t won, and it’s a big one. I would really like to try that.”

Dupreeh blasts fans as a “disgrace” for poor sportsmanship at ESL One NY ESL / StarLadderAfter a thrilling, terrific back-and-forth CS:GO series between Astralis and Team Liquid in the semifinals of ESL One NY, Astralis star Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen laid into the fans in attendance for their behavior. The so-far standout series of the ESL One New York tournament ended on a sour note – but it wasn’t because of the crowd being disappointed in the finish, which saw home crowd favorites Team Liquid get eliminated after an incredible map on Overpass. Instead, it was because dupreeh was disappointed in the fans. After the series, dupreeh took to Twitter to express his thoughts on how members of the crowd chose to interject themselves in the match. “It’s still soooo disappointing from the fans that you can hear them call out our positions,” he wrote. “Just pack your stuff and never come back if you’re going to ruin it for everyone.” And on another note. It’s still soooo disappointing from the fans that you can hear them call out our positions. It’s such a disgrace to the competition; even if you don’t even hear it as a player. Just pack your stuff and never come back if you’re going to ruin it for everyone. — Peter Rasmussen (@dupreeh) September 28, 2019 Discussions on reddit have revealed several instances during the series where the crowd was yelling out information beneficial to Team Liquid. User KoniginAllerWaffen wrote, “You could hear it AND see Liquid players react,” with user @Aelos03 replying with, “I’m convinced Astralis lost at least three rounds on Dust2 because of crowd alone, and hearing some idiot yell through [the] casters’ mic made me cringe.” KoniginAllerWaffen even suggested a way to combat the issue: “At this rate they should start looking at removing people from the event for doing it.” The players on stage were not in soundproof booths as they have been in events like the Berlin major, and it’s been widely discussed and agreed upon by the community that soundproof headsets alone don’t drown out the sound of the crowd. The issue of crowd interference via sound has been an issue plaguing the CS:GO scene for a number of years. Some are of the opinion that that crowds should know better and not do that, while others believe that the crowd can’t really be stopped – so it falls on the tournament organizers to solve the problem. The Barclays Center crowd was already lukewarm on Astralis before and after they beat Team Liquid. After this – and if Astralis faces the North American darlings in Evil Geniuses in the grand finals – the crowd may be even louder.

Dupreeh on Team Liquid dethroning Astralis as best CS:GO team in the world L: Dreamhack. R: Astralis.Counter-Strike: Global Offensive superstar Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen has admitted that Team Liquid has finally toppled Astralis and cemented themselves as the best team around. For 406 days, Astralis reigned supreme atop the HLTV team rankings as they swept aside any team they came across with near perfect CS:GO play. Until June, the Danes looked an unstoppable force, but their decision to pick and choose events has seemingly led to their downfall. They finished 5-6th at the recent ECS Season 7 Finals in London, before falling to a 5-6th place finish at the ESL Pro League Season 9 finals on June 23. It was at those finals that their long-time rifler admitted they have now fallen behind Liquid as the best team in the world. “I don’t think it’s a surprise Liquid has made it this far, Liquid is the best team in the world as of right now,” admitted dupreeh prior to the North American’s EPL finals success. “They’ve knocked us off the throne which is, of course, disappointing but at the same time they’ve definitely deserved it.” The three-time Major champion complimented his rival squad further, praising their teamwork, individual skill, and how they’ve combined those two factors into becoming the best team around at the moment. Of course, the current world number one squad proved dupreeh to be right, as they overpowered the G2 Esports and the vocal Marseille crowd to secure a 3-1 series victory. The LAN success, which puts Team Liquid one more IEM event win away from the Grand Slam, will only add to the American’s cause and widen the gap between themselves and everyone else on the HLTV world rankings. They’ll have a chance to secure the Grand Slam bonus when they head to the prestigious ESL One Cologne on July 2. It won’t be an easy task, however, as Astralis will surely be looking to bounce back and reclaim their spot as the most dominant team in CS:GO ahead of the upcoming StarLadder Berlin Major.

Drunk CSGO player accidentally sold rare $20K skin for low price after forgetting a digit ValveA drunk CSGO skin trader accidentally sold their $20,000 skin with four Katowice 2014 stickers attached to it for $2,000, forgetting to put the extra zero. CSGO skins can get very expensive. So expensive that there are skin traders who are able to make a living, or at least a side hustle, off of just selling and trading CSGO skins. But despite the immense value of certain cosmetics, sometimes it can be a little bit hard to discern how much a particular skin is worth from a glance, as you need to take into account stickers, patterns, its float, and more. Such a problem may have hit a skin trader on June 11, after he accidentally sold his rare AK-47 skin with four Katowice 2014 holo stickers on it for just $2,000. In a tweet from CSGO skin trader Derpz, he posted an expensive AK-47 skin, a StatTrak Vulcan Factory New with four mixed Katowice 2014 Holo stickers on it, saying it undersold for $2,000. The skin, according to Derpz, should have cost around $20,000. Even if it realistically went for lower, he estimates that it should have at least sold for around $15,000 to $17,000. Derpz also posted a screenshot of the seller’s social media post about it, where they claimed, translated from Chinese, they were drunk and accidentally sold it without double checking its price which was missing a zero, and sent it to the buyer. Additionally, the buyer, in their inebriated state, may have gotten confused as most AK-47 Vulcan Factory New’s do regularly sell for around $2,000. However, because of how much value the Katowice 2014 Holo stickers add, despite just being a mix of lower-value ones from collection, it should have added quite a fair amount to the skin’s value.

DreamHack reveals 2020 tournament schedule for CSGO ESL Pro Tour DreamHack has announced their full schedule for 2020, with the tournament organiser announcing earlier in 2019 they would be joining forces with ESL for the CSGO Pro Tour, as well as continuing with major events in other games. DreamHack is celebrating their 25th anniversary in 2020 in style, with the biggest circuit they’ve ever undertaken. The veteran LAN and tournament organiser has hosted some of the biggest tournaments in esports history, and they are looking at expanding the operation in the new year. With more CS:GO, Dota 2, Fortnite, and Rocket League major events planned, each DreamHack will have something for every esports fan to enjoy. Guess what? We’re 25 years old today 🎉 So what better way to celebrate than reveal all of our festival stops for 2020! 🧡 🤩 https://t.co/uaRcuuOsa3 pic.twitter.com/LgFCOm1LzY — DreamHack (@DreamHack) December 9, 2019 DreamHack will host 11 events across 10 cities in 2020, from India to America. They will be returning to their homebase in Jönköping, Sweden, twice across the year for their major Summer and Winter LANs. Leipzig: January 24 to 26 – Anaheim: February 21 to 23 – Dallas: May 22 to 24 – Summer (Jönköping, Sweden): June 12 to 14 – Valencia: July 3 to 5 – Montreal: September 11 to 13 – Rotterdam: October 16 to 18 – Hyderabad: October 30 to November 1 – Atlanta: November 13 to 15 – Winter (Jönköping, Sweden): November 27 to 29 – Sevilla: December 11 to 13 – DreamHack also announced earlier in 2019 they would be joining forces with ESL to host CS:GO Pro Tour tournaments at their events in 2020. The ESL and DreamHack Pro Tour events will operate across two tiers, with players aiming to take a share of the massive $5 million prize purse. DreamHack Open events will be part of the Challenger-tier, and most DreamHacks will play host to these Open events. Leipzig, Anaheim, Valencia, Montreal, Rotterdam, Hyderabad, Winter, and Sevilla will be on the Open tournament schedule for 2020. Teams can qualify for Masters-tier events by performing well in the Challenger-tier events. These Masters-tier events include DreamHack Masters, which took place in Dallas and Malmö in 2019. Dallas, Summer, and Atlanta won’t have Open events, which make them prime candidates for Masters tournaments. More details about the Masters tournament schedule will be released in the new year. Welcome to #DHOpen 2020! 🇩🇪 #DHDE20 Jan 24-26 🇺🇸 #DHANA20 Feb 21-23 🇪🇸 #DHVLC20 Jul 3-5 🇨🇦 #DHMTL20 Sep 11-13 🇳🇱 #DHRTM20 Oct 16-18 🇮🇳 #DHHYD20 Oct 30-Nov 1 🇸🇪 #DHW20 Nov 27-29 🇪🇸 #DHSEV20 Dec 11-13Looking good for the ESL Pro Tour, right @ESLCS? 😏 pic.twitter.com/JsI8tbKeXb — ESL Impact (@ESLImpact) December 9, 2019 The organiser also mentioned they would be bringing a $250,000 Fortnite tournament to the Anaheim event, and the Dota 2 DreamLeague Major to Leipzig. The Rocket League Pro Circuit is also expected to return, after appearing in Leipzig, Dallas, Valencia, and Montreal in 2019.

NaVi win DreamHack Masters Spring 2021: Final placements & recap DreamHackThe DreamHack Masters Spring 2021 tournament has been decided, with NaVi taking home $100,000 after defeating Gambit in the grand final. Here’s a full recap of what went down during the thrilling event. NaVi defeated Gambit 3-0 in the Grand Final to take home $100,000. – Heroic & G2 wrap up the top-four placements, winning $20,000 each. – FURIA & Astralis eliminated in first round of playoffs. – The DreamHack Masters Spring 2021 was a loaded event from the start, with an astounding group of talented teams set to face off for their share of a quarter-million dollars. 16 of the top CS:GO teams faced off across two group stages and three rounds of playoffs to decide the event’s winner. When all was said and done, Natus Vincere and Gambit Esports took the number one and number two spots, netting them a combined $142,000 dollars. DreamHack Masters Spring 2021: Final placements and prizing The event’s $250,000 prize pool was split amongst all 16 teams, with each org taking home anywhere from $4,000 to $100,000, depending on their final placement. NaVi and Gambit finished as the top two teams, with Heroic, G2, FURIA and Astralis following in 3rd-6th place. DreamHack Masters Spring 2021 results Groups scores: April 29 to May 2 Thursday, April 29 Friday, April 30 Saturday, May 1 Sunday, May 2 Playoff scores: May 7 to May 9 Friday, May 7 Saturday, May 8 Sunday, May 9 DreamHack Masters Spring 2021 teams & groups The 16 top CS:GO teams were split into two groups for DreamHack Masters Spring 2021. You can find their full line-ups below. Group A Group B

DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 CSGO Streams: How to watch, schedule, more Dreamhack A number of Counter-Strike’s top teams are ready to battle it out to be crowned DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 champions of their respective region. Here’s how you can catch all of the action on stream, keep up with results, and placements. While a huge number of esports LAN tournaments are being canceled, games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive have switched to an online format – splitting events between different regions to avoid ridiculous ping. The DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 event is no different, with 16 teams playing across four groups in Europe and eight teams playing across two groups in the North American region – with prize pools of $160,000 and $100,000 respectively. So, here’s what you need to know about the upcoming online event. When is DreamHack Masters Spring 2020? The European side of DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 will kick off on Tuesday, May 19 at 1 pm BST/8 am EST/5 am PDT/2 pm CET with Group A action between Astralis and Heroic. As for North America, that side of things will get underway a few hours later at 8:10 pm BST/3:10 pm EST/12:10 pm PDT/9:10 pm CET. Unlike Europe, there will only be one group game per day until the start of the knockout round. Though, both region will conclude their matches on June 14. DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Stream You won’t have to split your time between too many different websites or streams to be able to watch the action, however, as each game will be broadcast live on DreamHack’s main CSGO Twitch channel. So you don’t have to go anywhere, we’ve embedded the main channel below. Alternative langue broadcasts should also be available. DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Format Despite the different number of teams in each region, the format will remain the same no matter what side of the pond the teams are competing from. The groups will be contested under the round-robin best-of-three format where the first-placed team advances to the upper-bracket, while second and third-place squads will fall into the lower bracket. Once there, the games will remain as best-of-threes until the grand final which will be the best-of-five. DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Playoffs schedule & results Both Oceania and Asia regions will be placed straight into Playoffs, with the bracket adopting a double-elimination format. For both Europe and North America, qualified teams will either be placed in the Lower Bracket or Upper Bracket (depending on their Group Stage placing). An updated playoffs schedule can be seen below: DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Groups schedule As already mentioned, 24 teams will be competing in DreamHack Masters Spring 2020, with the groups for each region already decided ahead of time. You can check the groups schedule and standing out below:

DreamHack Masters CSGO moves online: Teams, schedule, prize pool DreamHackDreamHack have confirmed that the upcoming DreamHack Masters event, originally set to take place in Jönköping, Sweden, has been moved to an entirely online format. The original news that the 2020 DreamHack Masters was postponed did not come as a shock to many competitive CS:GO fans. Almost across the board, the ongoing global health crisis has seen esports events canceled, postponed, or moved online. Just in the CS:GO community, the ESL One Rio Major, originally scheduled for May, has been pushed back to November. While ESL took the decision to keep it on LAN later in the year, DreamHack have shifted the 2020 DreamHack Masters to online. DreamHack Masters 2020 Schedule DreamHack confirmed that the new tournament will take place in two parts across May and June. However, qualifiers will take place from April 16-20, in order to confirm all the teams taking part. The first part, from May 19 to 30, will be the group stages. These will be split into NA and EU, so as to best to reduce latency and potential internet issues. Both competitions will go ahead simultaneously and will follow identical formats. The second part of the reorganized tournament will be the playoffs, which will take place from June 8 to 14. This will see victors crowned in Europe and North America. Similar competitions will take place in Oceania and Asia from June 2 to 7, albeit with significantly smaller prize pools. DreamHack Masters 2020 Prize Pool Despite moving to an online tournament and so losing revenue from ticket sales and other income streams, the tournament will still boast a $300,000 prize pool. This will be split between the four different regions as follows: Europe – $160,000 – North America – $100,000 – Oceania – $20,000 – Asia – $20,000 – DreamHack Masters 2020 Teams As any competitive CS:GO fan will know, the major teams are not obligated to attend every tournament. At the time of writing, DreamHack have confirmed that the following teams will be in attendance: Europe — Astralis, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Vitality, ENCE, BIG, North – North America — Evil Geniuses, 100 Thieves, Furia, MIBR – Asia — TyLoo, ViCi Gaming – DreamHack will confirm the participation of more teams as they become available. Online tournaments may be rejected by some teams on the basis of the inconsistencies that can come through internet connection. “We’re very excited to move to an online format for DreamHack Masters Spring,” said Michael Van Driel, Chief Product Officer at DreamHack. “While not being able to compete on LAN is unfortunate, we’ve developed a structure to support teams, players and fans around the world.” “We look forward to a great competition,” he finished. “Showing that the world of esports goes on as we’re quick to adapt and find solutions for this new reality.” We will continue to update you on DreamHack Masters as news becomes available.

DreamHack reveals new CS:GO championship winning rings for Dallas Masters DreamHackDreamHack Masters Dallas 2019 is heating up, and tournament organizers revealed on May 30 the insane Championship rings that the top Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams will be vying for over the weekend. As the Group Stages for the six-day event draw to a close, teams are competing for the best placements possible in the Arena matches for a better chance to claim the top honors in Texas. While teams will be plenty motivated to get the lion’s share of the $250,000 pot up for grabs, they’ll be happy to see the icing on top that the champions will earn after lifting the tournament trophy. 600In a tweet, DreamHack unveiled the Championship rings custom made for the winners of Dallas 2019, featuring iconic CS:GO emblems and a slew of jewels fashioned throughout the piece. Read more: DeKay Mailbag Part 2: What’s next for Gambit CS:GO, Valve franchising, and HellRaisers Major slot – “Think it’s time to reveal what the little teaser was from yesterday,” DreamHack said, ramping up to the reveal. “The winning team at CORSAIR DreamHack Masters Dallas will get personalised Championship rings!” Across the face of the rings appear to be more than 20 diamonds lining the DreamHack logo, with “Dallas Masters Champions” prominently positioned on the front. 600Meanwhile, the ring will have the famous split Counter-Terrorist and Terrorist merged emblems on one side, while the other side is fixed with the silhouette of a CT. The rings also have a “gamertag” placeholder, which will be custom-made with their owner’s in-game ID. Names like ‘NiKo,’ ‘Stewie2k,’ and ‘allu’ will easily fit in that template, but it’ll be interesting to see how they fit names like ‘olofmeister’ and ‘Gratisfaction’ should the need arise. DreamHack Masters 2019 has been full of surprises Even before the rings were announced, players have been giving it their all as upsets and insane clutches have been littering the Group Stage in Dallas. NA fans will quickly have to bank their hopes on Team Liquid to keep the trophy on American soil, seeing how Cloud9 were eliminated by NRG who were taken out of the tournament shortly after by G2. 600Fnatic were also eliminated in a shocking loss to the relentless Renegades, who are now looking to lock their place in the Quarterfinals against G2. At the time of writing, FaZe Clan and Liquid are locked in an intense match to see who will claim the first spot in the semi-finals. DreamHack Dallas has been rife with close games, and with these championship rings now on the line as well, matches are bound to heat up even more.

DreamHack Addresses Event Security Concerns Following Jacksonville Shooting DreamHack’s Press and PR Manager, Per Sjölin, has released a statement event security after the recent mass shooting at a Madden 19 esports tournament in Jacksonville, Florida. The tragic event on August 26 saw the shooter take the lives of two people, and wound multiple others, before taking his own life. DreamHack, the host of some of the biggest esports conventions and tournaments on the planet, sent its condolences to the victims before reassuring fans and players that the upcoming DreamHack Masters Stockholm event will have the correct security measures in place: “While we cannot provide any details on how we work with security, we can say that this is done in consultation with law enforcement and security experts. This work is always ongoing and involves all DreamHack events. We consult and have an active dialogue with the police as well as the Ericsson Globe security team regarding this weekend’s tournament in Stockholm. The latter has a long experience of event security and will have all their standard security measures in place for the CORSAIR DreamHack Masters Stockholm.” The Jacksonville news brought the issue of security at esports and gaming events to light in the worst way possible, and number of prominent figures, like Richard Lewis and Jaryd ‘summit1g’ Lazar, expressed their concerns about security at tournaments in general. In fact, DreamHack’s statement came after summit1g took to Twitter to say that security at events “needs to be taken ultra serious” and that 90% of the events he attends have “little to none”. Read More: OpTic Gaming Announces Madden Charity Stream to Support Families Impacted by Jacksonville Shooting – He followed that statement up by saying “I don’t want to throw DreamHack under the bus, but literally zero security”. With the $250,000 DreamHack Masters Stockholm CS:GO tournament set to begin on August 29, attendees should expect to see tighter security measures than ever before. 550

Draken promises to perform brutal forfeit if Fnatic lose their next match at the FACEIT London Major *UPDATED* ELEAGUE / TurnerUPDATE Fnatic and draken managed to overcome Winstrike with a score of 16-7 on Inferno. This means that they now hold a 1-1 record and, more importantly, draken won’t be eating any shoes today. We’re not sure whether to be happy about that or not… Original article… If the competitive CS:GO scene has learnt one thing in recent years, it’s that saying you’ll perform a forfeit if something unusual happens is never good idea. Unfortunately, Fnatic’s AWPing sensation, William ‘draken’ Sundin doesn’t appear to have received that memo! Following his team’s dismal first match at the FACEIT London Major, where they lost 16-4 to compLexity, the 22-year-old made a particularly bold statement about winning their second game: “Playing vs Winstrike tomorrow, if we lose I will eat a shoe,” he said. One of the first people to respond to the Swedish player’s statement was Vince Hill, the British commentator that fell foul of betting against the very same team at the ELEAGUE Boston Major in January. Then playing under the Quantum Bellator Fire banner, the Winstrike players shocked the world by making it to the final eight of the prestigious competition – something that Vince had said was so unlikely, he’d eat a boot if it happened! Vince would later decide that eating a boot might actually be bad for his long-term health but ended up performing a number of other forfeits in an attempt to make up for not sticking to his word! (Of course, that doesn’t mean anybody has let him move on.) Of course, Vince isn’t the only one. FaZe Clan’s Håvard ‘rain’ Nygaard was so sure that Astralis would 3-0 Team Liquid in the ESL Pro League Season 7 Finals that he said he’d eat a cigarette if they didn’t. Well, they only managed to win 3-1 and the Norwegian star ended up scoffing down a cigarette in an interview with ESL after the match! With this in mind, and considering the pedigree of Winstrike when it comes to bets about eating footwear, we hope draken has a strong stomach! Fnatic and Winstrike will meet in the second game of day two in the New Legends Stage of the FACEIT London Major. The team that loses will have a 0-2 record and be just one more game away from elimination.

Draken: NiP “lied to its players” about his position on the team Dreamhack/NiPThe two-time former Ninjas in Pyjamas player William ‘draken’ Sundin opened up on Twitter about his second stint with the Swedish CS:GO organization, where he went from substitute to the bench to out in just a matter of months. Ninjas in Pyjamas’ run at the StarLadder Berlin major came to hugely disappointing end on the third day of the Legends stage. Three losses to MiBR, CR4ZY, and North sent the Ninjas home in 15th/16th place, which means they’re not even guaranteed a spot in the Challengers stage of the next major. But NiP barely had any time to themselves before two-time former player draken went on Twitter to tell the CS:GO world about his time during his second stint with the Ninjas. After his first stint with NiP, during which they would claim victories at DH Valencia and IEM Oakland, draken spent a year bouncing around different teams like Fnatic, Red Reserve, and even played alongside famed in-game-leader Kevin ‘Ex6TenZ’ Droolans on Uruguay3/GamerLegion. In his post, draken praised Ex6TenZ for showing him “dedication, setups, and how to play around an AWPer like me.” When he was offered a chance to come back to NiP, he was elated, and he was reportedly offered a contract with a minimum of six tournaments and a potential permanent spot. But according to draken, the rest of NiP weren’t aware of the permanent aspect of his contract. And on top of that, he was only being brought back as a stand-in until Dennis ‘dennis’ Edman decided to return. According to draken, during those three to four weeks, the team only spent three hours practicing game theory together, and one of those was for a map they wouldn’t even play, Inferno. Draken alleges that he tried to slide into the dennis’s role but with an AWP, and that just “fucked up our T sides,” and he didn’t feel like himself when playing. After BLAST Sao Paolo and StarLadder Shanghai, draken had a choice: sit on the bench with dennis back, or try his luck somewhere else. He went to Ancient, and they got off to a great start, qualifying for the European minor after slogging through the open and closed qualifiers. And then NiP took Nicolas “Plopski” Gonzalez Zamora, Ancient’s young star, right before the EU minor. Without their young prodigy, Ancient failed to make the major. draken wasn’t at all happy about the move, especially the timing of it: “Yeah.. they steal our best player, (of course his decision) just like the Swedish scene have done for ages now. And it really screws up our team that we had built with sweat and hard work. I mean… they couldn’t even field him at the major? Is this some sick prank to just fuck me over or something?” Here’s draken’s full Twitter post, as written on August 30, 2019. Hello guys, I was interview last week by TheScore so i figured it was time to post this. This is about my second journey in NiP. (Part 1) I was going to post this after starladder in shanghai but I decided the time wasn’t right. I think it is now… So, when NIP asked me to stand in, they offered me minimum 6 tournaments and potentially a permanent spot if I showed them that I had worked on myself. I have been in many teams and many different team environments in the past 12 months and I felt that I was ready for this chance. (I cried tears of joy that night). From Epsilon to NiP to fnatic to Red Reserve to an international team, and so back to NiP… The sad and disrespectful thing about the offer they made was that none of the players knew about the permanent deal offer. They only thought I was as a stand-in and whenever dennis decided he wanted to come back I would just be put on the bench. Only Pita and Hicham knew and they both pitched the permanent offer to me when they asked me to come back. You don’t go behind your players backs and you DONT LIE to your ex player just to make him come back for a false reason. I signed a 10 month long contract, like come on? I expect all of the players to know that I could be back permanently. So now with the results in hand I know I did a terrible mistake. I would never have joined NIP if I knew it was stand-in for only three weeks. We only had 2 hours theory about how we should play and 1 hour of those were on inferno, which we never even played during these 2 events (Blast Sao Paulo/Starladder Shanghai). So basically I just took dennis role but had an awp instead, which fucked up our T sides a bit, I wasn’t comfortable in my game because of that. But I just tried to focus on the bigger picture, I tried to let the NiP-boys shine and not play around everywhere, with aggressive peeks and calling setups. The whole situation was unfair because we had something really great going on in Uruguay3 (GamerLegion) and now I can’t go back. I want to give cred here, especially to Ex6tenZ because he really showed me dedication and setups how you can play around an awper like me. He teached kennyS, toinou and more players from the French scene. So, sometime after dennis came back I felt that I wanted to play more, compete and WIN. I had two options, Sit on the bench in NiP and see how things played out and maybe a spot would open up, or join and create a new team. I decided to go with the second option, try out with a new team (Ancient), and to be honest the appeal was about Plopski. Time goes on and we qualified to the minor and to DH summer where we made #2. High spirits, everything was going great but what is the first thing NiP does after we had some success? Yeah.. they steal our best player, (of course his decision) just like the Swedish scene have done for ages now. And it really screws up our team that we had built with sweat and hard works. I mean… they couldn’t even field him at the major? Is this some sick prank to just fuck me over or something?Massive success is the best revenge. In my dream I would be part of a team of young talented Swedes with me, Hampus REZ Plopski and Brollan. Holy fuck – we would climb the rankings like a Space-X rocket. Maybe… If you want to see this team, I might open up a crowdfund, so Sweden can get back on top.

Draken has unfinished business in CSGO: “I wasn’t happy with the way I left things” GuildSwedish AWPer William ‘draken’ Sundin discusses returning to CS:GO after a Valorant stint, and learning from his past mistakes, in an exclusive interview with Dexerto. If there’s anything that has defined draken’s CS:GO career, it’s the shots that he has missed. At the height of his powers, when he played for NIP and fnatic in 2017 and 2018, draken was capable of pulling off the most ridiculous of flicks — think of his 1v2 clutch against Gambit that left teammate Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund in awe. But at the same time, his proneness to whiff the easiest of sitters became a running gag in the scene and a stick to beat him with by casters and analysts. “I’m really heaven or hell,” he told theScore esports in 2020. “Some shots are really f**king sick but some shots I can really miss and it looks really bad. “Everyone misses shots, but I guess I’m just the one who got the 30-degree meme.” Unable to reach the level of consistency required to compete at the highest level, draken saw his career fizzle out. In 2020, he switched to Valorant — the place where a number of CS:GO players have gone when they started fading into the background. But almost two years on, draken is back in CS:GO with a ragtag group of Swedish players. It begs the question: Is this the start of his redemption story? Bouncing back in a new setting In Valorant, draken was able to start afresh. He took part in some of the earliest invitational tournaments in Europe and was even named the MVP of the G2 Esports Invitational. In October 2020, he and the rest of his Bonk squad were signed by British organization Guild Esports. The Swedish team, coached by his former CS:GO teammate André ‘BARBARR’ Möller, didn’t make it to any of the international LANs that Riot Games hosted in 2021 but were still a considerable force in Europe. They placed 3rd-4th in the VCT Stage 1 Masters, 5th-6th in the Stage 2 Challengers Finals, and 7th-8th in the Stage 3 Challengers Playoffs. Just before the end of the year, they were one victory away from securing a spot at Valorant Champions but lost out to Team Liquid in the grand final of the last-chance qualifier after beating G2 Esports and three Turkish teams. “Valorant is a great game, and I feel that I have grown a lot,” he told Dexerto. “Before Valorant, I always played the main AWP role, but here I was tested outside of my comfort zone. “I played a more supportive role, and that really helped me understand small details in competitive games that I didn’t think about before. “A team needs to work like clockwork. Everyone needs to be on the same page and know their specific tasks to succeed. And, of course, believing in your teammates is one of the most important things.” The ensuing offseason brought a wide sweep of changes to Guild, who moved on from Yacine ‘Yacine’ Laghmari, Malkolm ‘Bonkar’ Rench, and draken as part of their rebuilding strategy. Yacine and Bonkar have since built a new team, called YONK, who are closed to signing with London-based organization Tundra Esports. Draken, too, could have continued his Valorant career, and there certainly wasn’t a shortage of suitors after him. But that prospect wasn’t nearly as alluring as finishing what he had started in CS:GO. As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and draken’s time away from CS:GO only made him appreciate the game more. “A little part of me always wanted to go back,” he said. “I wasn’t happy with the way I left things. I always knew I had so much more to give, but I had lost my motivation in CS due to playing too much and joining one team after the next with no breaks. “The Major has motivated me a lot, just like seeing how all the ‘new’ teams performed. “I’m very hungry to play CS again. I have found the focus and ambition that I once had. I want to give CS another try and see how far I can go. I’m getting older as well, so it was kind of a ‘now or never’ situation.” Draken is one of a number of players who have gone back to CS:GO after giving Valorant a shot. The most notable example is that of Nick ‘nitr0’ Cannella, who returned to Team Liquid earlier in January after playing Valorant at the highest level in North America with 100 Thieves for over a year. “I don’t think it has anything to do with Valorant,” draken said about the returning players. “It’s more about getting your passion back. “Valorant is a great game but CS is purer. It’s no bulls**t, you really get what you see. It’s the FPS godfather.” Lessons learned Draken is currently plying his trade for Savage, a Swedish team that includes another former NIP and Fnatic player in Simon ‘twist’ Eliasson. The rest of the roster is made up of Niclas ‘PlesseN’ Plessen, Denis ‘grux’ Gutaj, and Adam ‘dezon’ Wahlqvist, with the latter being the only unknown quantity of the team. It’s a solid lineup on paper, as their current world ranking of 38th attests. Draken raised eyebrows with a 1.72 HLTV rating in his first official match in almost two years — a 2-0 mauling of MASONIC —, but his numbers have since stabilized. He is still averaging a respectable 1.14 rating after playing against higher-caliber opposition, including GamerLegion, SAW, and Sprout. This time around, draken is taking nothing for granted. Looking back, he admitted that he was “immature” and that his meteoric rise to the top clouded his vision. “I think I was too comfortable in the position I was in,” he said. “I got everything handed to me a bit too early.” With a renewed love for Counter-Strike and a fresh outlook on himself and on his life based on three pillars — “sleep schedule, diet, and exercise” —, draken is ready to write a new page of his own history. Two years ago, he left CS:GO through the back door. Now, he is returning to the game a different, “happier” man, one who, according to him, has more self-esteem and discipline. He knows that he has a long line of critics to prove wrong, but that doesn’t stop him from dreaming big. “I want to win a Major, that’s the first goal,” he said. “I have always had high expectations for myself, and I intend to keep it that way. I know my talent and how much impact I can have. I just have to play with and for the team, and success will come, I’m sure of it. “2022 is going to be bigger than just me coming back to CSGO. I’m working on a big CS:GO project. I’ll be able to tell everyone more about it when all the dots are connected.”

Dr Disrespect explains why CS:GO should have a $30m tournament, not Fortnite Counter-Strike: Global Offensive should be the game to have $30 million prize pool – and not the Fortnite Battle Royale players in the world against each other for a slice of an insane prize pool. Just qualifying for the huge tournament guaranteed players $50,000, but winning the solo portion of the event will net one player a life-changing $3 million, with the top four players all becoming millionaires. Considering Fortnite is such a new esport, and battle royale’s RNG (random number generator) factor makes it arguably less competitive, it has drawn plenty of criticism – especially when compared to long-standing games like CS:GO and Dota 2. During his July 26 stream, Dr Disrespect weighed in on the debate in the most Dr Disrespect fashion possible. After finishing up his lengthy intro, The Doc sat and addressed fans about what was coming in the stream – before giving his less than supportive opinion on the Fortnite World Cup. After labeling the pro-am competitors as nobody he had ever heard of, the streamer continued on. “Phony, fake belief, manufactured popularity – all that shit makes me sick to my stomach,” he stated. “Imagine Counter-Strike putting on a $30 million dollar tournament. Now you’re talking real, now you’re talking stakes – now you’re talking entertainment. Now you’re talking true, pro gaming at its finest.” Of course, the Two-Time has never been one to keep his opinion to himself, and even took his criticism of the World Cup to Twitter. After fellow streamer Jack ‘Courage’ Dunlop tweeted out a photo of himself at the event, Dr Disrespect turned his attention to the attendance of viewers – stating it was smaller than an eighth-grade basketball game. I’ve seen more people in the stands at an 8th grade basketball tournament. https://t.co/4FV6UQryDs — Dr Disrespect (@drdisrespect) July 26, 2019 While he didn’t reference Counter-Strike any further, The Doc clearly feels that the near two-decade-old esport title deserves a bit more than Fortnite. Valve’s other major competitive game, Dota 2, knocked the World Cup off its prize pool perch as fans raised over $30 million. Yet, that hasn’t quite caught the attention of Fortnite considering the MOBA is an established competitive scene and the battle royale has taken the gaming world by storm since its 2017 release.

Dota 2 org OG Esports to enter CSGO with roster led by Aleksib CSGOBack-to-back TI winners OG Esports are reportedly set to enter CS:GO with a stacked roster, led by ENCE’s Aleksib and former Vitality star NBK. According to a report from 1pv, OG will recruit Nathan ‘NBK’ Schmitt, Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen, Elias ‘Jamppi’ Olkkonen, Valdemar ‘Valde’ Bjørn Vangså and Issa ‘ISSAA’ Mura. OG are best known as the kings of Dota, as the only team to have won ‘The International’ – Dota’s biggest tournament – more than once, becoming two-time winners in August 2019. TI9’s record-breaking prize pool meant that the organization walked away with a whopping $15.5 million, and it looks as though they are using some of that capital to invest in a star-studded Counter-Strike team. According to the report, both Aleksib and NBK have favored OG over 100 Thieves, who they were also linked to. Dexerto’s own Richard Lewis also reported that another North American organization, Complexity, offered Aleksib $1 million to join their roster. The report from 1pv also claims that OG has secured a spot in both the BLAST and ESL Pro Tour for the 2020 season. Shortly after the report was published, French star NBK posted a cryptic tweet – writing in Finnish what essentially translates to “what the f**k”, perhaps hinting at having new Finnish teammates. OG Esports CSGO roster (rumored) Nathan ‘NBK‘ Schmitt – Aleksi ‘Aleksib‘ Virolainen – Elias ‘Jamppi‘ Olkkonen – Valdemar ‘valde‘ Bjørn Vangså – Issa ‘ISSAA‘ Murad –

Dota 2 mod gives players a new way to experience CS:GO Valve / YouTube: MocheradAn incredibly talented Counter Strike: Global Offensive fan has recreated the game in Source 2 using a DOTA 2 mod. Some of the most influential PC games ever made have been created by mods. Valve in particular has a history of embracing these creations, such as the original Counter Strike being a Half-Life mod. It seems fitting that Ukranian developer Mark Mocherad has recreated CS:GO using a DOTA mod, finally giving fans what they’ve always wanted by putting the game in Source 2, even if it’s not an FPS. The mod is called ‘Polystrike’ The name of the mod is called ‘Polystrike’ – a fitting name given the aesthetic and art style mixed with the classic game. You can find out information for the mod on the official site, which details the features in full. Read More: Nadeshot reveals 100 Thieves CS:GO return – The developer promises gamers a faithful CS:GO experience in a ‘top-down shooter’, as well as impressively “recreating classic Counter-Strike, game economy, weapons, sounds effects, maps, mods and even more”. Can’t wait to see it? We got you covered. Mocherad released alpha footage Mocherad posted a video on his YouTube account which shows off the alpha footage for the game – it looks absolutely incredible. In the clip, we see a full match play out, and the gameplay looks tight. Read More: Surprise rule change for StarLadder – If you are a fan of top-down games like Hotline Miami, the frantic gameplay looks like a perfect match. Which makes sense as the developer listed “short game sessions that won’t get you bored” as a feature. Even if you prefer the FPS style, there is no denying how great the mod looks. Perhaps its new style will bring in new gamers to the CS:GO world – you never know. You can also follow the developer’s Steam Workshop here. We will keep you updated on more information on the mod as it comes out.

Documents show Heroic created NDA to prevent squad speaking about alleged cheating HeroicDexerto has obtained documents confirming the existence of a non-disclosure agreement created by Heroic to effectively silence their players from speaking about the cheating allegations or use of the infamous coaching bug for fifteen years. In addition to these documents were parts of a conversation that showed that the Chief Gaming Officer for Heroic, Erik Askered, believed that their coach, Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen, was “taking a bullet” for the team and that he would “be remembered” for his efforts in doing so. These documents confirm some of the allegations made by Petersen at the end of August who went public with claims about his former employer and colleagues, stating that some of the players knew he used an in-game bug to get a competitive advantage and that the organisation tried to cover it up. Petersen had used the bug on two occasions, once versus Danish rivals Astralis at DreamHack Malmo, in a series that they lost, and the other time in Home Sweet Home #5 against Team Spirit in a tournament they would go on to win. After the existence of the bug became public Petersen publicly confessed to his use of the bug and cooperated with the Esports Integrity Commission’s (ESIC) investigation fully. At that time he stated that he acted alone and that the players had no knowledge of what he did, a statement he has since recanted, releasing public evidence that he believes incriminates René “TeSeS” Madsen and Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen, the latter now playing for OG. Whatever the truth of these allegations, these documents and snippets of conversation show for certain that Askered wasn’t confident that the players were not involved and that there was a rush to create documentation that would prevent players from discussing the matter without legal ramifications. Heroic’s NDA to block players talking about cheating The so-called “Additional Agreement” was backdated to August 31, 2020, the day after the Heroic coach Petersen was banned for twelve months. The agreement adds specific language that precluded the players and Petersen, who remained at the organisation despite his punishment, from addressing any allegations related to cheating under pain of having to pay anything up to a $500,000 fine. The Heroic NDA was also set to not expire until the year 2035. The specific language added to the initial agreement was that the signatories could not speak about: any information regarding the cheating possibilities, using of any bugs, exploits etc (whether used or not); – any information regarding the any [sic] teammates or colleagues bans and any information related to this situation – any internal discussion around coaches bans for whatever reasons. – This was later emphasised under another clause that stated the group “shall not make any public or private statements, publications, comments, judgements, assessments (including but not limited to on TV, radio, any other on-line or off-line media or other resource, social media, blogs, vlogs, podcasts, broadcasts, streams, printed media any other means known or that could be developed in the future) regarding the recent coach bans for exploiting spectator bug or any information related to this situation.” Following a meeting about the new additions to the agreement, all squad members refused to sign. Our source explains that this is because the players believed that they would not be able to defend themselves publicly should they be falsely accused. Attached to the documents were also screenshots of messages exchanged between Askered and Petersen that are believed to have been forwarded to ESIC. They reveal that the organisation believed that their coach “took a bullet” for the team and that the new agreement was designed to ensure that the players couldn’t break rank on the original version told to ESIC. Another separate conversation also shows that the team attempted to find workarounds to continue having Petersen in a coaching role and that he would be with the team for any non-ESIC sanctioned competitions. This was later changed after some discussion. However incriminating this might be for the organisation and Petersen there was no compelling evidence contained within the conversation that suggested any players had been aware of the use of the bug. Our source also explained that the reason for the public friction between their former coach and the organisation comes down to, among other things, the fact that large amounts of prize money was held back and not paid out in the agreed-upon thirty-day time period. The explanation for this was presented as being administrative problems as the brand transferred ownership from the Serenades Group to Omaken Sports, an acquisition that took place in February this year. The backlog without payment ran back to ten tournaments and an amount totaling an estimated $127,500. In addition to this, the organisation hadn’t paid out a share of the sticker money from the Regional Major Ranking event. The source isn’t aware if these matters have all been settled. These revelations will come at an inconvenient time for Heroic who have gone to some effort to alter public perceptions about them following the damaging allegations from their former coach. A source familiar with their business dealings told Dexerto that they are currently requesting to join the thirteen teams in the Louvre Agreement that would see them partnered with ESL and DreamHack. As part of this process, they asked for a personal hearing to explain everything that has come to light with “additional context.”

Dignitas CEO blasts other CSGO teams in return announcement Dignitas / RiotDignitas is returning to the male CSGO scene after more than a year, and CEO Mike Prindi has put out a call for any and all talent while criticizing the behavior of other organizations. If one word could be used to describe the last year for the Dignitas organization, it would be resurrection. After losing a spot in the LCS when it moved to a franchising model, Dignitas bought its way back in by purchasing a controlling share in Clutch Gaming. New CEO Michael Prindiville then reset the culture, and a team that finished next-to-last in the Sprint split ran the gauntlet of the Regional Finals to somehow earn a spot at Worlds. Now, Dignitas are setting their sights back on the world of mens’ Counter-Strike, as announced by Prindiville on September 18th on the Dignitas Twitter account. The organization already fields one of the world’s best womens’ teams, and has maintained the same core of ladies since acquiring them from Selfless in 2017. In the announcement, Prindiville wasted no time in addressing some of the negative things he has seen plague the world of Counter-Strike over the last year and a half. “We’ve seen terrible player treatment, lack of management, lack of content around of players, we’ve even heard of players not being paid,” Prindiville says in the video. Prindiville puts out the call for any and all CS:GO talent in the video, even addressing players who may be with other organizations currently who are unhappy. Prindiville says he wants to “build a dynasty” under Dignitas, and references the strides made with the LCS team mentioned earlier. Calling all top #CSGO teams and players. We’re about to change the game. Let’s GO! pic.twitter.com/PTDoEA6fg3 — Dignitas (@dignitas) September 18, 2019 For Dignitas, building a dynasty in CS:GO is paramount given that they previously let one slip through their fingers. In February 2014, Dignitas signed a promising Danish CS:GO team named uber G33KZ. The core of that roster really found their stride in Dignitas, especially after acquiring a new in-game leader. But Dignitas couldn’t get those players to sign new contracts, and they would leave for Team SoloMid, and eventually created a player-run organization you may have heard of called Astralis. Dignitas isn’t likely to pick up another future dynasty and back-to-back-to-back major champion, but if their recent track record in NA LCS is any indication, this new version of the organization knows how to create a winning environment. As the CS:GO scene waits on the big post-major roster moves to unfold, Dignitas’ moves will be very interesting to watch.

Dignitas announces departure from CS for the “foreseeable future” Valve/ Declan McLaughlinDignitas have announced that the esports organization is leaving Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and that they will not be competing in the esport for the “foreseeable future.” The move was leaked hours prior to the official announcement from Dignitas by their CS coach Faruk ‘pita’ Pita on Twitter. The coach tweeted that Dignitas informed him that they were leaving CS and that he had been released from his contract. The organization said that its players and coaches have also been released from their contracts and can explore other opportunities. “We’ll be cheering on our former players and the continued success of CS:GO from the sideline for now and continue to be fans of one of the greatest esports,” the announcement said. The last event the team competed in was the European RMR for the 2022 PGL Major Antwerp were the squad bombed out in the group stage. On May 10, a few weeks after their failed attempt to make the Major, Dignitas announced that all of their CS players were available for transfer while they “revised” their roster. “In the coming weeks, we’ll be evaluating our future in CS:GO in hopes of building a compelling roster that will compete for titles,” Dignitas said in a statement. Varius people working for Dignitas with the Counter-Strike team have announced their departure from the organization in the past few days including their videographer and social media coordinator. The organization also announced on May 12 that their women’s team, Dignitas Female, will compete primarily in Valorant and not in Counter-Strike going forward. Dignitas have been in the esport since 2004 and exited it once before back in 2018 before rejoining in 2020. In that time, Dig’s best finishes have been top four placements at ESL One: Cologne in 2014 and the ESL Major Series One Katowice in the same year.

Dickstacy Delivers Promise to Go in “Nice and Hard” as SK Gaming Bomb Out of IEM Sydney Local team Grayhound stunned last year’s champions SK Gaming at IEM Sydney with a shock upset win, eliminating them from the $250,000 tournament. After both teams had fallen to the lower bracket, with SK suffering their first surprise defeat to Chinese side TyLoo, and Grayhound beaten handedly by Cloud9, the match looked to be an easy one for the majority Brazilian SK lineup. Of course SK have recently acquired former Cloud9 player Jake “Stewie2K” Yip, replacing Epitácio “TACO” De Melo, and so can perhaps be forgiven for still finding their feet as a roster. However, nothing could have predicted that likely the biggest underdogs of the tournament, local team Grayhound, would be the ones to send SK home. The first map, Grayhound’s pick Mirage, was a back and forth affair, and just SK looked like they were back in control, the Australian side miraculously rallied eight straight rounds to take a 14-12 lead, eventually closing it out 16-13. SK didn’t slip up on their own map pick, Cache, and despite a spirited effort from Grayhound, they looked comfortable in the end and took it to a third map with a 16-11 win. The third map, Overpass, is where things got really crazy, as the teams traded rounds and Grayhound very much looked SK’s equal throughout. With the upper hand in the economy, Grayhound took it 16-11, and BigDickStacy and co. sent SK packing. The upset came after possibly one of the funniest live interviews in esports, as Ollie “Dickstacy” Tierney told the crowd that the team were feeling “thick and pumped” and ready to go in “nice and hard”. Dickstacy and the rest of the Grayhound squad will now have the opportunity to cause another big upset as they take on FaZe Clan in the next round. FaZe were taken down by Renegades in the upper bracket, despite star AWP player Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács going +26 kills and deaths over the three maps. SK on the other hand will need to go back to the drawing board and resolve the issues which the new roster with Stewie2K is facing, as little is going right for them currently.

DickStacy jokes that he should play for Cloud9 at the FACEIT London Major and his logic can’t be argued with ESL / Helena KristianssonOliver ‘DickStacy’ Tierney has added his name to the list of people that are jokingly saying they want to play as a stand-in for Cloud9 at the FACEIT London Major in September, and he’s put forward the best sales pitch we’ve seen so far. DickStacy decided to jump on the bandwagon of announcing a desire to play for Cloud9 after Mohamad ‘m0E’ Assad surprised the community on July 15, saying he would donate all of his sticker and prize money if he got the opportunity. m0E’s announcement immediately turned into something of a meme, with numerous community members copying it and using it on their timelines with some slight changes. However, DickStacy’s is the best one yet thanks to his unique selling point. The Australian star implores Cloud9 to “give the people what they want… DICK stickers”! Announcing that I am open to standing in for @Cloud9 at the major. Give the people what they want… DICK stickers. My cut of the money will be going to my choice of either PayPal or Savings account. — Ollie Tierney (@DickStacyy) July 16, 2018 Teams and players get a cut of any revenue that Valve makes from their respective sticker sales at a Major, and you can almost guarantee that DickStacy’s stickers would sell like hot cakes! DickStacy originally made headlines at IEM Sydney with his hilarious pre-game interview with Tres ‘stunna’ Saranthus when he said that his team was feeling “thick and pumped” before promising to go in “nice and hard” against SK Gaming. Naturally, a meme was born immediately after the interview and DickStacy has been a community favorite ever since. The Australian star currently competes for Grayhound Gaming but, due to their elimination in the early online stages of the Major qualification process, there is a possibility that he would still be deemed eligible to play for another team at the Major.

Dexerto partners with DJ Esports to launch ‘Pop Flash’ CSGO show ahead of PGL Major DexertoDexerto, the world’s first and largest esports & influencer media group, is delighted to announce its newest esports show, called ‘Pop Flash’. This CS:GO series, created in partnership with DJ Esports, will launch ahead of PGL Major Stockholm. The video series will feature some of the most prominent and outspoken personalities in the CS:GO scene, including Dexerto’s own Editor-at-Large, Richard Lewis, esports historian and veteran analyst Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields, and renowned commentator Auguste ‘Semmler’ Massonnat. ‘Pop Flash’ debuted on October 23 with a special show previewing PGL Major Stockholm. Our on-air experts went over the biggest talking points surrounding what is undoubtedly the most anticipated CS:GO event in recent memory. What is ‘Pop Flash’? ‘Pop Flash’ is a new CS:GO video series presented by Dexerto and betting platform DJ Esports. It follows up on the success of Dexerto’s other flagship shows, Call of Duty’s ‘Reverse Sweep’, Valorant’s ‘Curveball’, and League of Legends’ ‘The Jungle’. The video series will be previewing the biggest CS:GO events in the world, starting with PGL Major Stockholm, which will kick off on October 26. Further episodes will be released ahead of the BLAST Premier Fall Final (November 24-28) and the BLAST Premier World Final (December 14-19). How to watch ‘Pop Flash’? Every episode of ‘Pop Flash’ will be available to watch on Dexerto’s CS:GO YouTube channel, as well as on Dexerto.com. Meet the hosts of ‘Pop Flash’ New faces will be brought in regularly, but here are the experts who will be running the show in the first episode: Auguste ‘Semmler’ Massonnat Auguste ‘Semmler’ Massonnat is one of the most recognizable on-air personalities in the CS:GO scene, with a career dating back to the game’s early days. Semmler, who returned to Counter-Strike in 2019 after a two-year tenure in the Overwatch League, has casted numerous high-profile events throughout his career and will be one of the commentators at the Major. Richard Lewis Richard Lewis is an award-winning journalist and Dexerto’s own Editor-at-Large. He is best known for his investigative journalism in the esports and gaming worlds and remains the only person to be named Esports Journalist of the Year at the Esports Awards on two separate occasions. The official desk host of PGL Major, Richard Lewis is also at the helm of the popular ‘By The Numbers’ podcast, where he discusses the hottest topics in the CS:GO scene. Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields is without a doubt one of the most outspoken figures in all of esports. He began working as a journalist in 2001 and has specialized in Counter-Strike, Quake, StarCraft, Overwatch and League of Legends, earning the moniker “The Esports Historian” for his valuable historical knowledge of multiple esports titles. Thorin, who will be on the analyst desk at the Major, regularly interviews some of the biggest esports personalities on his YouTube channel and also appears on a number of esports shows. When will ‘Pop Flash’ be released? CS:GO enthusiasts can expect episodes of ‘Pop Flash’ to be released around the biggest events in the world. Episode 1 of the video series was released on October 23, 2021, just in time for PGL Major. DJ Esports co-presents ‘Pop Flash’ In partnership with DJ Esports, CS:GO fans can take part in the Worlds Prediction Series, which boasts a 10 million USDT prize pool. Individual users can win up to 800,000 USDT simply by playing for free and correctly predicting the outcome of matches across major esports events. Sign up right now on DJ Esports, the world’s premier all-crypto betting platform and AI-based analytics matrix. And, join the DJ Esports Discord for a limited time offer of a free 800 DJT to play for the chance to win from 10 million USDT in prizes. About Dexerto Dexerto, the world’s first and largest esports, gaming, and influencer coverage destination for over 25MM unique monthly visitors and 10.5M social followers, is an award-winning digital media group. Reaching tens of millions of millennials and Gen-Zs every month by publishing 24/7 content across owned social and digital platforms in three major languages, Dexerto has seen meteoric organic growth, connecting like-minded communities to celebrate streaming culture through the lens of a new generation of celebrity. Today, Dexerto boasts headquarters in London, with offices in Chicago and Paris, and content creators in nine different countries around the world. To discover more, please visit Dexerto.media.

Dexerto Editor-at-Large Richard Lewis to host PGL Major Stockholm ELEAGUEDexerto’s Editor-at-Large, Richard Lewis, has been announced as the host of PGL Major Stockholm as part of a star-studded broadcast team for the showpiece event. PGL has announced the on-air team for its upcoming Counter-Strike Major, with Richard Lewis, Dexerto’s Editor-at-Large, included on an impressive talent list that appeals to nostalgia. The broadcast team for PGL Major Stockholm, the first CS:GO Major in two years, includes most of the biggest broadcast names in the scene, including a few that have been fairly detached from the game. Daniel ‘ddk’ Kapadia has been commentating on Valorant almost exclusively for the past 12 months, while Matthew ‘Sadokist’ Trivett has made only a handful of broadcast appearances in the last two years in a variety of roles. This will be the fourth Major where Richard Lewis will act as a host, after DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 and the ELEAGUE Majors in Atlanta (2017) and Boston (2018). He was also part of the on-air team for the ESL One Cologne 2014 and the MLG Columbus 2016 Majors as an analyst. Read more: PGL Major Stockholm event hub – PGL Major Stockholm will take place between October 26 and November 7, with $2 million on the line. The event will feature 24 of the world’s best teams, including defending Major champions Astralis. Currently, only 12 spots have been filled as qualifiers are still underway across the globe. On-air team for PGL Major Stockholm: Host: Richard Lewis – Analysts: Duncan ‘Thorin’ Shields – Janko ‘YNk’ Paunović – Mathieu ‘Maniac’ Quiquerez – Sudhen ‘ Bleh’ Wahengbam – Commentators: Chad ‘SPUNJ’ Burchill – Alex ‘ Machine’ Richardson – James Bardolph – Anders Blume – Jason ‘moses’ O’Toole – Auguste ‘Semmler’ Massonnat – Matthew ‘Sadokist’ Trivett – Daniel ‘ddk’ Kapadia – Interviewer: James Banks – Observers: Efren ‘encg’ Chuong – Jake ‘Jak3y’ Elton – Ryan ‘ItsRandall’ Randall –

Devilwalk joins Bad News Eagles as coach: “I would regret it if I chose money over my beliefs” Stefan Petrescu/PGLBad News Eagles have confirmed that two-time CS:GO Major winner Jonatan ‘Devilwalk’ Lundberg is the team’s new head coach. The news comes as little surprise as Devilwalk had been spotted in Bad News Eagles’ practice server multiple times in the past six weeks. The Swedish coach will fill the slot left vacant by Klesti ‘stikle-’ Kola, who left the team at the start of December, citing “different visions and aspirations for the future of the team”. Stikle- also noted that he wanted to take some time off to get his health in order after a stressful year. Devilwalk brings in a wealth of experience to Bad News Eagles, an unsigned team that defied all expectations by reaching the Legends Stage of the last two Majors. At IEM Rio, they managed to knock out then-reigning Major champions FaZe before losing to NAVI in an elimination match, bowing out of the tournament in 13th-14th place. Devilwalk joins Bad News Eagles A former CS:GO pro, Devilwalk is the only person to have won a CS:GO Major as a player (DreamHack Winter 2013) and as a coach (ESL One: Katowice 2015). On both occasions, he represented fnatic. “Joining BNE is something I thought long and hard about,” he told Dexerto. “We don’t have an organization, I’ve been in this position before and it’s not easy to maintain the motivation to keep improving, but through it all they have kept going forward and working hard. “This really makes me want to be with him and join them on this journey, against all odds. When I first spoke to them at Elisa Masters, we talked about CS philosophy and what they were missing. Listening to them, I instantly felt that I would be a really good fit. I think the potential outweighs payment at this point and that I would regret it if I chose money over my beliefs. That’s why I chose BNE over anyone else.” Currently ranked 17th in the world, according to HLTV.org, Bad News Eagles will be participating in ESL Challenger League Season 44 before the qualifying process for the BLAST.tv Paris Major begins. Esports host James Banks, who is helping the players find an organization, recently rejected rumors linking the team with GODSENT, who announced on January 13 their return to CS:GO with an all-Swedish lineup.

dev1ce: The Inside Story of the Astralis Dynasty Dexerto[jwplayer C7bxlw7Y-dXeUz4Ko] Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz is considered as one of the best players of all time in Counter Strike: Global Offensive. We sat down with him to discuss how he helped build the Astralis dynasty. When video game fans think of the most dominant teams in esports history, there are a few that come to mind. Arguments can be made for the OpTic Gaming roster that dominated Call of Duty for nearly three titles, or the G2 Roster that continues to command Rainbow Six Siege’s professional scene. However, one team that should be on everyone’s list is Counter Strike’s Astralis, who have been the most dominant team of the past two years. Among their victories are 2019’s BLAST Pro Series, StarLadder Berlin Major and IEM Katowice. They won all of these grand finals without dropping a map. To find out what it takes to build such a staggering esports dynasty, James Banks sat down with Astralis AWPer ‘dev1ce’, who gave us an insight into what it’s like to be a member of such an esteemed esports organization. Among other things, dev1ce revealed how important minimizing roster changes has been to the team’s success, describing how they have “stuck together”. The core three of himself, Dupreeh, and Xyp9x have played together since 2013. Similarly, dev1ce shed some light on the physical fitness routines Astralis have famously pioneered, keeping all their roster members in excellent health. The interview highlights just how hard players work to get to the top of a game as popular as CS:GO. It doesn’t look like Astralis are going anywhere anytime soon.

Dev1ce stunned after unboxing $1500 knife on first CSGO case attempt Astralis star Nicolai ‘Dev1ce’ Reedtz managed to unbox an extremely expensive in-game CS:GO knife on his first try during a Shattered Web case opening. Players often look to acquire new skins for their weapons in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive by buying keys and using them to open cases, which have a random camo inside for a specific weapon. The desirable cosmetic items can even be worth money outside of the Steam marketplace, where many of the skins are traded, as certain collectors are willing to pay tens of thousands for the rarest ones. The release of the newest CS:GO operation, Shattered Web, saw many players trying their luck at bagging one of the higher tiered skins ahead of everyone else. Among them was Astralis pro, dev1ce, who managed to get extremely lucky in his first attempt at the new cases, even predicting that he was about to about unbox a knife in-game. “Imagine if I get a knife on my account,” dev1ce told his girlfriend, before instantly landing on the gold rare special item icon, which often signifies a knife or another high tier item, after he had said it. The pair couldn’t help but gasp in shock after they were rewarded with a Factory New Skeleton Knife – Slaughter, which is currently valued at around $1,500 on the Steam Market. It is unknown if the Danish AWPer will choose to sell his knife for monetary gain, but, after taking home his share of the $500,000 prize pool at the BLAST Pro Global Finals, it may seem unlikely that he would need the cash. Still, after discovering the value of the item, the pair were left in utter disbelief at just how lucky Dev1ce had been. Regardless, the Astralis star will have plenty of time to test out his new item ahead of his upcoming tournaments which are expected to resume again after the end of the holiday season in the New Year. Device is not the only player who enjoys unboxing a couple of CS:GO cases, as former Overwatch pro xQc also sought out some of the game’s rare special items and has even been seen opening the cases mid-match.

Dev1ce breaks down how Astralis has trained for CSGO success StarLadderNicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz joined Frankie Ward and Dexerto for a short interview at the #OMENChallenge event in London, and got a chance to discuss Astralis’ training tips, his goals for the #OMENChallenge, as well as his viral trophy break. When you’re one of the best players in the world, you set high standards for yourself. And dev1ce laid out big plans for what he was going to do to his competition at the #OMENChallenge. When Frankie asked if he would knife s1mple, dev1ce responded by saying he’s going to try and knife everyone, and then donate all his winnings to charity. But dev1ce isn’t just helping charity, as it turns out that a couple of amateur players have been participating in the Astralis training regime. Dev1ce laid out what goes into the training that has produced three straight major titles, and it extends far beyond just in-game experience: “Basic seating position, basic physical training, good posture, sleep well, how to de-stress, how to mentally prepare for tournaments. [Being healthy] matters the most. Also not overplaying and overthinking things. It’s more or less about finding balance.” Featured: Check out Dexerto’s coverage of the OMEN Challenge “I don’t want his advice, I’ll play worse” :joyful:@FaZeNiko tells @getfrank that he doesn’t want @Ynk’s help with 1 v 1 practice at the #OMENChallenge w/@OMENbyHP pic.twitter.com/948LAdnUDi — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 20, 2019 When it comes to tackling the mental game, Astralis is perhaps the greatest success story. Before their dynasty took off, the biggest opponent to Astralis was in fact Astralis. While they would make several deep runs into tournaments, they would frequently fall short right before the finish line. Thorin describes this time period asthe Astralis era that almost was. But Astralis would climb out of that pit after the addition of Magisk, and have broken free of the lull that slowed them down to begin this year. Astralis lifted another major trophy at StarLadder Berlin this September, their third major in a row. But when dev1ce himself went to lift the physical trophy, things didn’t go too well. “It was too heavy,” he told Frankie. “It broke. Or maybe I was too strong.” Thankfully for Astralis, their confidence is far stronger than the trophy they broke. Frankie referred to her interview with gla1ve at the Berlin major, when the in-game leader admitted that he still didn’t think Astralis was back to being the best team in the world. Dev1ce said that winning the major was “a huge confidence boost” for the team, but acknowledged that they still need to build off of that, improve their map pool, keep the pace, and let their in-game play do the talking. There are plenty of big events left in 2019 for Astralis to showcase their improvements: ESL One New York, DreamHack Malmö, IEM Beijing, and the BLAST Global Finals just to name a few. Some more championships go their way and there won’t even be a discussion on who the best team in the world is.

Dev1ce on s1mple chasing his MVP record: “He’ll probably get there at some point” Stephanie Lieske/ESLWith PGL Major Stockholm fast approaching, Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz has played down the fact that Aleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev is about to equal his medal haul. “You have to give it to him, he’s the best player in the world right now,” the NIP star said. S1mple has managed to elevate his game to another level in 2021 and already has five MVP medals to his name this year — three more than any other player. He is now just two medals away from tying dev1ce’s record of 18 MVP honors, which could happen in October at PGL Major Stockholm, provided that the Ukrainian is also named the best player of IEM Fall CIS. There is mutual respect between the two players, inside and outside of the game. In his documentary, ‘s1mple formula’, the NAVI player said that he sees dev1ce as the GOAT because of his incredible consistency and collective achievements. And dev1ce has now said that he is not worried that s1mple is catching up with him. He stressed that his focus is on winning tournaments, not individual awards while labeling the Ukrainian the “best individual player” in the game. “Individual accolades are just that,” he told Dexerto. “They’re cool and part of the game, but I honestly don’t care too much about them. “For me, s1mple is the best individual. I think he will probably get there at one point or another because he’s also younger than me. It’s cool for him, he is a nice guy and his success is well deserved. “For me, it’s more about looking at which tournaments we can win rather than which tournaments I can get an MVP again from. It’s the second priority in some way. “Kudos to him, you have to give it to him. He is the best player in the world right now, in my opinion.” Lack of silverware Dev1ce joined NIP in April with the ambition of taking the team to the next level after winning almost all there is to win during his five-year stint with Astralis, including four Majors. His impact is such that he was even compared with soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo. But five months on, NIP are yet to win a title with the Danish superstar. They have only been to one final, in Flashpoint 3, and their last two tournaments, IEM Cologne and ESL Pro League Season 14, ended in disappointment. Dev1ce has acknowledged the expectations surrounding the team are high, but he insisted that the focus is on achieving sustainable long-term success. “We definitely have some pressure to go far in tournaments,” he said. “We’ve done quite alright in most of our tournaments. We’re still not quite on the same level as NAVI and Gambit, who have been dominating everything, pretty much. “We were not good enough in Pro League and Cologne but, other than that, I’d say we’ve had pretty good runs at most tournaments. “It’s a process you’ve got to stick to, instead of just being ‘We’ve got to win now,’ because then you get blinded by the urge to win. You don’t work on the things you have to work on, you’re just trying to make quick fixes.” Worst Tournament In the aftermath of NIP’s elimination from ESL Pro League Season 14 in the quarter-finals, dev1ce vented his frustration over his recent performances and described the tournament as being the “worst” of his career. GG @OGcsgo and gl in the semis Worst tournament of my career, a lot of shit going on and i just gotta fucking get better…. 26 y/o noob out, sorry for letting you down — Nicolai Reedtz (@dev1ce) September 9, 2021 The Danish AWPer has now explained that his head was not in the right place during the event due to issues “outside of the game”. “I started out the tournament well, everything was going great, but as soon as I didn’t find the level that I wanted, I didn’t have a way to switch off, get away from CS and think about other stuff,” he explained. “I was just overthinking and I made it too hard for myself. It’s not I’m having a really bad time in scrims, I still think I’m playing at the level I was at a few years ago. “I get too eager sometimes, overpeeking, not playing the percentages, stuff like that. I think it was the worst tournament that I’ve played. I’ve just got to learn from that, move on and do better next time.” Dev1ce is averaging a 1.08 HLTV rating for NIP, which is a far cry from the sort of numbers he used to put up while playing for Astralis. Questioned about this drop, dev1ce argued that he is not going through a slump in form. He explained that getting acclimated with a new team normally takes up to a year in traditional sports and that his Astralis numbers were somewhat boosted because of how dominant the team used to be. “Transitions pretty much take a year in traditional sports,” he said. “I don’t know how long they normally take in CS, it’s the first time for me. I’m not too stressed, trying to find my level. I’m doing good enough in practice, I’d say, playing at the same level I’ve always played. “When you take a look at the numbers, it’s natural that they go down a bit, though not as much as they did in the last tournament. But in general, when you don’t win all games in a tournament you won’t have silly stats as it sometimes happens when you keep on winning and winning. “I don’t need to have a good game for us to win, which is more or less what happened on Astralis. We want to find out how to use all the pieces of the puzzle as best as we can.”

dev1ce on Astralis return: “I believe my ability is still at an elite level” AstralisAstralis star Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz is confident that he will once again perform at the highest level, though he warned that it will take time for him to rediscover his form. After months of speculation, the Danish player finally completed on October 27 a move back to Astralis, the organization where he built so much of his reputation during five eventful and trophy-laden years between 2016 and 2021. But as much as the move invokes a sense of familiarity, it represents something of a dive into the unknown for dev1ce. Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rasmussen, whom he played alongside for nearly a decade, is gone, and so are Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif, his teammate for three years, and his longtime coach Danny ‘zonic’ Sørensen. The team is also in disarray, still trying to process the forced exit of Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke, a new coach is needed after Martin ‘trace’ Heldt was removed from his post, and Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth’s future remains a subject of speculation (despite still having three years left on his contract). It’s a lot to unpack, but dev1ce knows what he is walking into. And if there is a player who can send a jolt of life into this team and return it to the pinnacle of the game, it’s dev1ce, who won four Majors, one Intel Grand Slam, and 14 of his 19 MVP medals in his previous stint in black and red. “It feels really great to be back in Astralis, a place that definitely feels like home to me,” he told Dexerto. “I know some of the players already and plenty of the staff working here, and everyone has been very welcoming to me.” dev1ce is expected to take initiative in the game and help spread out some of the load on an Astralis team that has been found lacking in the firepower department. He was a highly reliable and productive AWPer during his time with Astralis — earning the moniker ‘Mr. Consistent’ — and this was never more evident than in his absence. He stood as the measuring stick for those who came after (first dupreeh as a makeshift solution, then Philip ‘Lucky’ Ewald and Asger ‘Farlig’ Jensen as full-time AWPers). They all struggled under the unrealistic weight of expectations that came with filling such big shoes. “I’ve had multiple conversations with everyone on the team about what they want from me and how I can best add value,” dev1ce said about his role. “We’ve talked about me being proactive and vocal and being free to make plays, which suits me very well.” A much-needed break After almost a year away from competition, dev1ce is itching to return to action. He played his final match for NIP — the team he had left Astralis for in a mega deal reportedly worth $700,000 — on December 5, withdrawing from IEM Winter halfway through the tournament due to health reasons. By then, personal problems had started taking a toll on his mental well-being. He looked distraught after losses, becoming increasingly frustrated with each setback. After his team’s elimination from the BLAST Premier Fall Final, he was overcome with emotion and had to be comforted by broadcast talent James Banks and NIP COO Jonas Gundersen. “The process leading up to my sick leave was very tough on me,” he said. “I had had multiple signals of it becoming worse, but I kind of neglected things and kept going. I started having small panic attacks/anxiety and I had to tap out, figure out what was going on and accept that I was not fit to play. “I started working on myself with a therapist and have been doing that since January to better myself, learn the tools needed to be the best version of myself and be ready to compete again. Being out for this long also means that even though I feel ready to compete, the right thing to do is ease into things at a slower pace to not end up in a similar situation.” dev1ce left NIP less than 18 months into the three-year contract he signed in April 2021. The length of the deal was a clear sign of his commitment to the project and his role in the organization’s long-term plans, but before the end of the year, it was reported that he was interested in returning to Astralis. Both dev1ce and NIP immediately quashed such talk, but the Swedish organization’s lack of updates about their star player’s situation became a story in itself in 2022. At the same time, NIP’s other players expressed their desire to move on from dev1ce for the sake of stability. In parting, dev1ce and NIP handled the situation with professionalism and class. This is a move that fell short of everyone’s expectations, yet neither party is interested in rehashing what went wrong. “Being at NIP was a good experience, I think that I had a good relationship with everyone there and they were understanding of my decision to take the time I needed,” dev1ce said. “We shared some success together and I truly wish them all the best.” Adding to his legacy and competing with s1mple “He [dev1ce] is inactive, but he just needs to play scrims and he will get his form back,” NAVI’s Oleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev recently said. dev1ce agrees with that assessment. During his break from competition, dev1ce stayed in shape by playing FACEIT games, but this won’t necessarily transfer to a team environment. He cannot give a prediction on how long it will take him to be at 100 percent again — he won’t know what kind of shape he is in until he has started practicing and competing —, but he is confident that his individual level has not dropped. “Things change over time in CS:GO, but one thing I did throughout my break was staying on top of the meta, playing the game and keeping myself focused on the trajectory back on the server,” he said. “I know that the expectations for me are super high, but I really believe in my ability to still be at an elite level. It might take a little while for me to be fully ready at my peak, but I spent a lot of time during the break focusing on CS and improving stuff that is needed to compete at the highest level, both mentally and physically. “It is pretty important to take everything day by day after such a long break away from “work”. Dealing with practice and competitions is way different than FACEIT. That being said, I feel like I might be able to take my individual skill to a new level, having been able to focus more on the details of the individual part of the game playing FACEIT. “I would have a hard time giving a percentage of where I am at right now. I would rather my level on the server be the judge of that.” s1mple and dev1ce are bound by mutual respect and admiration for one another’s success. s1mple holds dev1ce in such reverence that the Dane is the Major-winning player that the Ukrainian would add to his NAVI lineup, despite the obvious role clash that this would create. While recuperating, dev1ce saw s1mple overtake him as the leading holder of MVP medals. With only one event left for Astralis this year, Elisa Masters Espoo, dev1ce will not be able to catch up with s1mple’s tally of 21 medals before 2023. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian will have three more chances to add to his medal count this year. (NAVI will attend the IEM Rio Major plus the Fall Final and the World Final of the BLAST Premier circuit.) 2022 will be the first year since 2013 that dev1ce will not be in HLTV.org’s Top 20 player of the year ranking. Between 2015 and 2020, he was never ranked lower than fifth. “It is truly amazing what s1mple has achieved in CS,” dev1ce said. “I respect him a lot as a competitor and most importantly as a person. I believe in my own ability to get back to the elite, though, but I would rather just perform well on the server and let that do the talking. “My goals are the same as they have always been, focusing on the team performance rather than the individual accolades since they kind of just come if you have success as a team. So right now I am trying to figure out how I can be the best version of myself and match that with what the team needs. If that means I can challenge s1mple for some of the crazy records once more, that would obviously excite me, too.” When he joined NIP, dev1ce spoke at length about how he wished to add to his legacy in the game and emulate NBA superstar LeBron James in winning titles with multiple teams. But with only one trophy and one MVP medal obtained during the time he spent with NIP (both from IEM Fall, a rather mundane event), he knows that he did not accomplish what he set out to do when he switched homes. So what is he looking to achieve as his journey comes full circle? “I would not say my goal has changed,” he said. “Being back at Astralis feels like being home, but it is a completely new team and we cannot just lean on the success we had before. The focus is on creating a winning culture and a team that can challenge for major titles. “Since I have a very competitive nature, there are plenty of things to achieve. I do not really think of all of the stuff that I have done but mainly I am just focusing on the journey and what we can achieve here as a team. The goals are Major and the other big tournaments hosted throughout the year. Especially IEM Cologne.”

Dev1ce leaves Astralis to join NiP in shock move reportedly worth $1 million ESLLegendary CS:GO player Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz has left Danish organization Astralis, after over 6 years, to join Ninjas in Pyjamas. The news came as a shock to fans, despite rumblings of an Astralis roster change afoot, it wasn’t expected that dev1ce would leave the organization entirely. It’s no secret that Astralis have had a major dip in performances in 2021, stretching back into last year too, but to lose their star player is not what fans would have hoped for. Astralis revealed that the transfer was “a personal request” from dev1ce himself, who wanted to work out of Stockholm and “still be able to have a team and organization close to him,” Kasper Hvidt, Director of Sports in Astralis, said: “Nicolai has been a part of Astralis and the core of the team since day one, and he has been vital to the culture and legacy of the team. He is one of the greatest players of all time, and for any team to part ways with a player and a person like him is never easy in any way. “His personality and contribution to Astralis, though, is also the reason why we have made the decision to help him out and arrange a transfer to NiP. For personal reasons he has asked us for the possibility to transfer to an organization closer to his home in Stockholm, and after lengthy talks, it became clear that this is what he felt is best for him. We immediately contacted NiP to see if there was any way we could come to an agreement of a transfer – and here we are.” Read More: How RpK Became a Counter-Strike legend – Dev1ce said: “I would like to thank Astralis for their understanding and cooperation in all of this; I enter a project I truly believe in, and I am looking forward to finding the stability and good energy of having a more balanced work life. I can’t wait to get started with my new team and teammates!” Closing their statement, Astralis said that both teams “agreed not to comment on financial details.” However, reports have claimed that sources price the deal at around $1 million buyout. Dev1ce joins NiP on a three-year contract, the Swedish org confirmed. During his time with Astralis, dev1ce cemented his place in the CS:GO hall of fame, consistently their standout performer in a team stacked with world-class talent. While Astralis’s overall performance hasn’t been up to their usual high standard, NiP fans will still expect big things from their new superstar signing. Shortly after the announcement, it was confirmed that nawwk had been benched by NiP, and available for transfer. Ninjas in Pyjamas roster Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz – Fredrik ‘REZ’ Sterner – Nicolas ‘Plopski’ Gonzalez Zamora – Hampus ‘hampus’ Poser – Erik ‘ztr’ Gustafsson – Björn ‘THREAT’ Pers (coach) –

Dev1ce criticizes Gaules over CSGO cheating accusations against Chaos EC Dev1ce/GaulesThe Counter-Strike: Global Offensive community is up in arms yet again over allegations of cheating made against Chaos EC by several members of Brazilian squad MiBR. Chaos and MiBR faced off in a Beyond the Summit fixture on June 22 that saw Chaos take the win 2-1, but also resulted in the club and its players Nathan ‘leaf’ Orf and Erick ‘Xeppaa’ Bach being accused of cheating based on some “suspicious” clips. True or not, both Chaos players have experienced tremendous amounts of online hate and even death threats in the days after, and on June 28 Brazilian CSGO influencer and player Alexandre ‘Gaules’ Borba added more fuel to the fire with one simple tweet. Gaules tweeted an image of match stats from Chaos’ game against Ze Pug Godz in the DreamHack Open Summer 2020 NA Closed Qualifiers that Chaos lost 0-2. He didn’t include any text, but the message was clear – how could Chaos do so well against MiBR then show up and drop a match to this relatively unknown squad? https://twitter.com/Gaules/status/1277310312887320584?s=20 Some in the community took this as simply more evidence that Chaos players were up to something in the match against MiBR, but many others accused Gaules of beating a dead horse and continuing the harassment of Chaos players. Astralis AWPer Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz said crying “cheats” was a low move, and questioned how Gaules would even be able to know if they were. “Calling out cheats have and will always be the biggest pussy-move you can do, accept your loss, move on and learn,” dev1ce tweeted. “Being an influencer that hasn’t even been on the server and calling out cheats, I’m speechless. How would he ever know?” Calling out cheats have and will always be the biggest pussy-move you can doAccept your loss, move on and learn. Being an influencer that hasn’t even been on the server and calling out cheats, I’m speechless. How would he ever know?— Nicolai Reedtz (@dev1ce) June 28, 2020 The thing is, Gaules is a CSGO professional, playing for Brazilian squad g3nerationX so he has indeed been on the server before, which resulted in some backlash to dev1ce’s tweet. Read More: CSGO pro inventories: NaVi’s skins revealed – “I can own up to my mistake, I didn’t know gaules was a pro before, but it doesn’t change my point which was – How does he KNOW he’s cheating?” dev1ce followed up the next day. “I can’t understand how my tweet can be interpreted as xenophobic and/or even racist, it was direct criticism towards gaules for his actions.” though i recognize that the BR scene gets the most hatred from the community and i understand the frustration/tension it creates – its not okay and i can promise u if i ever witness anything personally in that regard i will ALSO speak up. dont mix it up,please.— Nicolai Reedtz (@dev1ce) June 29, 2020 The general sentiment from the CSGO community, barring hardcore MiBR fans, seems to be that the Chaos clips could certainly be seen as somewhat suspicious, but very difficult to call out 100% as outright cheating, and certainly not worth ruining the careers of two young CSGO pros over. Whatever ends up happening, it’s clear this issue isn’t going away anytime soon, so stick with Dexerto for all the latest news and updates surrounding this situation.

dev1ce confirms when gla1ve and Xyp9x will return for Astralis ESLIt’s been the question on every Astralis fan’s lips — when will gla1ve and Xyp9x return? After weeks of speculation, veteran AWPer Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz has finally put the rumors to rest on when his team mates should be lining up again. Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander and Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Hojsleth took a step back from Counter-Strike at the end of May due to “burnout and stress.” In the weeks since, the practices behind closed doors at Astralis have come under criticizing from some. However, most fans of the four-time Major winners have been wondering when they’ll see their stars back together again. The organization has been tight lipped about when the two will eventually return, citing anywhere from three months to the end of the year. However, dev1ce has said that we can expect one of them, at least, to return soon. Speaking on the HLTV Confirmed podcast, the star AWPer said that gla1ve will be making his return in a couple of months. But, in terms of Xyp9x, there’s no set date. “Gla1ve’s return is planned for August. Xyp9x’s return is not planned. That’s all I can say. I don’t know when in August gla1ve will return, but it’s in August,” he said. He did say the date needed to be taken with a grain of salt though. Everything is tentative, and dev1ce didn’t want to put any undue pressure on his teammates to return too soon. “It’s hard sometimes, with these situations, because a date can put even more stress on the matter. You actually want to handle the situation and then slowly put people into things again.” He referenced his own experience back in 2017, where dev1ce missed several events after IEM Oakland due to illness. “For my own point of view, I kind of got thrown into things again, and it’s an issue you have to be really careful with, because you can pressure people too hard again, and then you’ll have an even harder time coming back.” Astralis, as an organization, has made it clear that in the future they want to build a 10-man squad. They’ve already signed former North player JUGi and Heroic’s es3tag to start the foundations, and are on the lookout for more players. However, their motives have been called into question, with sources behind closed doors criticizing the way Astralis’ management has handled player burnout in the last 12 months.

dev1ce asks Astralis fans to “adjust expectations” after roster shuffle ESLAfter a bevy of roster changes, Astralis’ star AWPer Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz has asked fans to “adjust their expectations” over the next few months, as the Danish squad transitions to a seven-man roster. With Xyp9x and gla1ve out of the lineup temporarily, the four-time major winners have had some soul searching to do. While they’ve picked up JUGi and es3tag, along with Snappi as a temporary sub, it’s just not been the same Astralis. They have struggled at the Blast Premier Spring Showdown, dropping games to Ninjas in Pyjamas and Vitality, and are sitting near the bottom of their group. With the major still five months away, there’s time for change. Xyp9x and gla1ve will eventually return. JUGi and es3tag will find their way into the roster in this system. However, until then, Astralis are asking fans to be patient. After losing to Vitality in the Blast Showdown, dev1ce asked fans on Twitter to take every day with this new roster — and this new system — one round at a time. “Reading the comments on social media is not something I often do, but I notice a high amount of NaCl [salt] regarding our performance,” he said. “Just a heads up, adjust your expectations — we have done that.” Reading the comments on social media is not something I often do, but I notice a high amount of NaCl regarding our performance. Just a heads up, adjust your expectations 😃 We have done that.— Nicolai Reedtz (@dev1ce) June 3, 2020 While JUGi, Snappi, and es3tag aren’t bad individual players, the roster moves from Astralis had a drastic impact on a core that has remained untouched since the start of 2018. Roster changes in CS:GO are inevitable, but Astralis also went a step further by experimenting with a completely different system. Six-man rosters have existed before, but seven man rosters, which allow for more rotation, and potentially recruiting “map specialists,” is unheard of. Astralis don’t want to stop at seven stars either. Sports director Kasper Hvidt mentioned the Danish squad is now looking to expand to a 10-man roster. “Ultimately we would like to see across game titles a full 10 player set-up with an academy team like in the pro League of Legends leagues,” he said in a June 2 blog post. https://twitter.com/astralisgroup/status/1267727655903858690 “It would be a great way of letting talents work in a fully professional environment with access to all facilities, and it would be a smoother transition when substituting players on the ‘A team.’” Once Xyp9x and gla1ve return, they’ll be most of the way there. What Danish talent they’ll pick up next remains to be seen, but by the time Rio rolls around, we might see an Astralis like no other.

denis shares future plans after leaving Sprout: “Still looking to stay in CS:GO” Stephanie Lieske/ESLDenis ‘denis’ Howell has said that he still wants to compete after leaving Sprout at the end of August. “I’m motivated to reach my goals,” he stressed. The German player is currently considering his options after the expiry of his contract with Sprout. He spent the final month of his long tenure with the organization on the bench as the team picked up Rasmus ‘raalz’ Steensborg from Lyngby Vikings. Denis, 27, donned Sprout’s colors for almost four years across two spells, helping the team to win multiple domestic titles and to become a regular in the top 30 of HLTV’s world rankings. Prior to his tenure with Sprout, denis notably played for mousesports between 2015 and 2017. It was with that team that he enjoyed the most successful period of his career – attending several international events, including five consecutive Majors. Discover more: EG need a new roster! Richard Lewis Reacts – With his future up in the air, denis stressed he has no plans to retire and that he still believes he has plenty to offer teams in need of an experienced player. “I’m still looking to stay in CS:GO and I’m motivated to reach my goals,” he told Dexerto. “I’ve always been kind of a supportive caller in most of my teams, so I am also open to being an in-game leader. “Any team interested in working with me can contact me directly on Twitter.”

Denial Esports hints at acquisition of fan-favorite CS:GO team Denial Esports / ValveThe Dreamhack Winter Open 2018 created a lot of storylines in CS:GO back in February, but the biggest news came from an unknown South African team who took second place at the tournament and might have just attracted a major sponsor. Bravado is an esports organization that touts a “zero-to-hero” approach to its teams, and their Project Destiny squad that earned a top 2 finish at an international event have been struggling to fund its CS:GO team to more international tourneys, but that might change soon. Denial Esports has been at the forefront of conversation since management transferred over to CEO of MoneyMatches Zach Smith and Patrick ‘BlackBeardAP’ E. Smith Sr. earlier in December 2018, and the org along with its management has been tweeting hints of entering the CS:GO arena. I said I’d never pick up a CSGO team but damn what an inspiring story. We will be reaching out to them. https://t.co/GCGXMy8bSL — Xac (@ZachtehCEO) December 27, 2018 It all started when Smith was tweeted the story and call-to-action for Bravado’s funding obstacle. Smith was touched by the story and said he would be in contact with the team. The tweet was soon followed by another that all but confirms Smith’s intentions for Project destiny. “I apologize in advance if we pick up a CSGO team and all the old shit I talked on CSGO still stands,” Smith said. I apologize in advance if we pick up a CSGO team and all the old shit I talked on CSGO still stands. — Xac (@ZachtehCEO) December 27, 2018 The “old shit” Smith refers to was his public denouncement of skin gambling that ran rampant in the early days of CS:GO, but something about Bravado’s team must have pushed Smith past that caveat. Without an official announcement Project Destiny’s future is still unsecured, but there are strong indications that it won’t be the last time the South Africans compete on the world stage.

Denial Esports acquires fan-favorite CS:GO squad amid funding woes Denial EsportsOne of CS:GO’s most inspiring up-and-coming teams, Bravado Gaming’s Project Destiny, just landed what seems to be a permanent spot, relieving them of their viral funding woes. Project Destiny was the tag that Bravado gave its CS:GO team made up of incredibly talented South African talent, to train and compete in the United States, but after difficulties for its funding forced them to crowdfund for answers, things were looking grim. Now, a resurgent Denial Esports has come forward to save Project Destiny as the org finalized proceedings to welcome the South Africans to the Wolfpack. Welcome Ex-Bravado roster to the #WolfPit We don’t mind paying extra for the guac :avocado: pic.twitter.com/U3BevTZMmc — Denial Esports (@DenialEsports) January 28, 2019 The roster move will see Aran ‘Sonic’ Groesbeek, Ruan ‘ELUSIVE’ van Wyk, Johnny ‘JT’ Theodosiou, and Rhys ‘Fadey’ Armstrong with coach Tiaan ‘T.C.’ Coertzen representing Denial Esports. The captain of the squad, Dimitri ‘Detrony’ Hadjipaschali has decided to stay with Bravado to continue in the South African org’s undisclosed future goals. Before the signing, Bravado had resorted to Indiegogo to help crowdfund their place on the international stage, but since the team has been signed to another org it will issue refunds for campaign donors While Bravado was sad to see the end of Project Destiny, the org made sure to let supporters know that they will be “continuing its efforts to establish a world-class Counter-Strike team.” Since ownership shifted to CEO of MoneyMatches Zach Smith and Patrick ‘BlackBeardAP’ E. Smith Sr., Denial has been on a series of signings spanning the entire esports landscape, and now fans of the org will have a CS:GO team to cheer on.

DeKay’s Sources: Vitality and ENCE at odds with OG over benched CSGO players European Esports organizations Team Vitality and ENCE are at odds with OG over the transfer fee of their respective benched CS:GO players, according to multiple sources. One source explained that OG have offered less than half of the amounts listed in both Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen and Nathan ‘NBK-’ Schmitt contracts on several occasions. At this time, no official transfer for the two players has occurred as a result of this conflict. To complicate matters even more, another source informed Dexerto that OG intimated a reduction in future salary would occur for each player if Team Vitality and ENCE were not willing to agree to the transfer fee repeatedly proposed by OG. It is unclear at this moment if a similar situation is ongoing between OG and other organizations that possess players they are interested in. When asked for comment, an OG spokesperson said: “The information presented, and that Dexerto was kind enough to share, is absolutely false and misleading.” OG was first reported to be entering CS:GO last week by 1pv.fr, in which the report mentioned targets of Valdemar ‘valde’ Bjørn Vangså, Issa ‘ISSAA’ Murad, and Elias ‘Jamppi’ Olkkonen in addition to the aforementioned players of Aleksib and NBK-. The pairing of Aleksib and NBK- was first reported by Dexerto in a report that documented their discussions with the 100 Thieves organization. The OG organization was founded in late 2015 and is most known for its legendary Dota2 rosters that have won multiple Internationals and Majors. Their return, should agreements with Team Vitality and ENCE occur, would mark the second notable organization to join CS:GO in recent weeks. Evil Geniuses made their first entrance to the game with a surprise acquisition of NRG Esports late last month and was first reported by Dexerto.

DeKay’s Sources: Tricked Esport looking to move to new organization Danish Counter-Strike team Tricked Esport are looking to move on to a new organization, according to multiple sources close to the team. While they wouldn’t be willing to relocate permanently to North America, they are open to short 1-2 months stints in the country if needed, said one source. The team is fresh off a victory at V4 Future Sports Festival – Budapest 2019, which had a €300,000 EUR prize pool. At the event, they beat the new-look MIBR lineup in the semifinals and Virtus.pro in the final to win. In-game leader Nicolai ‘HUNDEN’ Petersen has been a member of the Tricked organization on multiple occasions, joining for the second time in January of 2019. His first stint spanned between 2016 and 2017, where he first played with Heroic rifler Johannes ‘b0RUP’ Borup. Read More: How to watch ESL One New York 2019 – Previous finishes for Tricked Esport include a semi-final appearance at DreamHack Open Summer 2019, a semi-final appearance at Copenhagen Games 2019, and a second-place finish at Good Game League 2019. Tricked’s stand-out player in Budapest was MVP-winning 21-year-old Lucas ‘Bubzkji’ Andersen. The former Fragster player topped the charts in a number of categories, while his teammate Rasmus ‘sjuush’ Beck almost snatched away his MVP after a strong grand final performance. In an interview with HLTV, Bubzkji expressed some frustration at the lack of invites the Tricked team receives to larger events, explaining “We know we’re a really good team, looking at practice, etc., and we play really well online (…) We’re not really getting the invites to prove ourselves and now we’ve had a lot of practice time for this event, so that is probably the difference.” Tricked Esport roster Nicolai ‘HUNDEN‘ Petersen – Frederik ‘acoR‘ Gyldstrand – Rasmus ‘Sjuush‘ Beck – Lucas ‘Bubzkji‘ Andersen – Fredrik ‘roeJ‘ Jørgensen Philippe ‘Winspai‘ Mølgaard Ouabaid (coach) – –

DeKay’s Sources: Team Vitality CSGO could withdraw from BLAST Moscow French Counter-Strike side Team Vitality may opt to not participate at the upcoming BLAST Pro Series: Moscow 2019. According to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation, Team Vitality are strongly considering withdrawing from BLAST Moscow. With less than a week remaining until the tournament, they have yet to officially add a fifth player to their roster. Team Vitality announced during the StarLadder Berlin Major Playoffs that they had benched veteran player Nathan ‘NBK-’ Schmitt, just two days after their elimination in the quarterfinals. Read More: Renegade players’ contracts expiring – It has been reported that the options for who will replace NBK- come down to two players, Fabien ‘kioShiMa’ Fiey or Richard ‘shox’ Papillon. Should they pick a replacement immediately, it will only leave them a couple days to prepare for the event. BLAST Pro Series: Moscow 2019 is a two day event that features six total teams and a $250,000 USD prize pool. Scheduled to attend the event are Team Vitality, ENCE, MIBR, Natus Vincere, NiP, and either ForZe or AVANGAR. The latter two teams are scheduled to play against each other for the final spot, but could both qualify should Team Vitality miss the event, according to one source. Read More: Zeus confirms retirement plan – Team Vitality won ECS Season 7 and cs_summit 4 while also finishing in second place at ESL One: Cologne 2019 with NBK- on the team. Their quarterfinal appearance at the StarLadder Berlin Major was their best finish at a Major since the inception of the team and organization.

DeKay’s Sources: Team Singularity asking $60,000 for hydrex and Shakezullah Danish Counter-Strike organization Team Singularity are requesting a $60,000 USD transfer fee for Cameron “hydrex” Kern and Alan “Shakezullah” Hardeman, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation. Instead of a traditional buyout figure, the players’ contracts feature a transfer clause that allows the organization to choose the transfer fee based on “value provided to the organization and player rating,” according to one source. Multiple sources have explained to Dexerto that the players have less than three months remaining on their contracts that feature a salary of $1,000 USD per month. The $60,000 buyout being sought by Singularity is for both of the players as a package, not individually. Those same sources explained that former Team Singularity players Joshua “oSee” Ohm and Ricky “floppy” Kemery were transferred to ATK for $20,000 USD total. Dexerto reported earlier in the week that the other member of Team Singularity, Ryan “ryann” Welsh has been in discussions with Team Envy about joining their active roster. Since that report, multiple sources have explained that talks are ongoing and will likely result in a transfer. Should a transfer occur, Envy will pay no more than $20,000 USD for him, according to the same sources. The Team Singularity lineup narrowly missed qualifying for ESL Pro League Season 10 with a loss against Lazarus Esports and ATK in relegation. Singularity holds a slot in ESEA Season 32 as well as FACEIT’s ECS Season 8. Team Singularity CSGO roster Cameron ‘hydrex‘ Kern – Alan ‘Shakezulla‘ Hardeman – Ryan ‘ryann‘ Welsh Jared ‘MAC-1‘ Schneider (Coach) – – Update 9/11/2019 1:55 PM Pacific: Singularity’s owner Atle Stehouwer responded to Dexerto’s request for comment and said the following: “We’ve tried to be completely transparent with the organization interested in the two players focused in the article and in light of this report I’d like to clear this matter up as I’ve nothing to hide from everyone else. So just to correct numbers so we don’t waste each others time, the players have a salary of 1000€ + a support towards food budget as they’ve been living together the past season (not living together anymore). In terms of contract length then the players are contracted for the rest of the year = +3 months. And here’s how the pricetag was valued: Hydrex: $17.500 – Shakezullah: $12.500 – MDL: $12.500 – ECS: $17.500 (since it’s not possible to transfer this spot to another org, this was taken out of the equation) – Taking everything into consideration I believe this is more than fair pricing since we would also have to start completely from scratch again. Our player buyouts are based on our investment in the player over the period he’s been developing under our banner. It seems that the value of developing players/talents and investments in teams is not something all organization have in mind when they sit down at the negotiating table.”

DeKay’s Sources: Team Envy in discussions with ryann North American Counter-Strike team Envy are in discussions with Ryan “ryann” Welsh about joining their active roster, according to multiple sources close to the team. If the two come to an agreement, ryann would fill the spot left open by the departure of Aran “Sonic” Groesbeek. Ryann is not the first player contacted by Envy, multiple sources said they reached out to Yassine “Subroza”‘ Taoufik, Joshua “steel” Nissan, and Ricky “floppy” Kemery at different points this week. It is believed by Dexerto that discussions between ryann and Envy are in the advanced stages, due to him having practiced with the team already. Sonic joined Envy from ATK. If the move transpires, Team Singularity will only be left with two players officially on their roster. ryann has played for the organization since late 2018 when they reentered Counter-Strike after releasing their Swedish roster three months prior. During his time with the team, they struggled to qualify for international events and narrowly missed qualifying for ESL Pro League Season 10 with a loss against Lazarus Esports and ATK in relegation. Ryann has been a part of the Team Singularity roster for Team Envy were another team in Season 9 ESL Pro League relegation, surviving the tournament by beating INTZ eSports and ATK on two separate equations. With those victories, they kept their spot for Season 10. If this move goes through, the Team Envy roster would consist of: Noah ‘Nifty’ Francis – Sam ‘s0m’ Oh – Bradley ‘ANDROID’ Fodor – Jacob ‘FugLy’ Medina – Ryan ‘ryann’ Welsh –

DeKay’s Sources: StarLadder reconsidering talent lineup for Berlin CS:GO Major With the StarLadder Berlin Major fast approaching on August 23, the talent pool for the event is still not finalized, but organizers are reconsidering their originally planned selection, sources have told Dexerto. Last month Dexerto published a report about key members of the CS:GO talent pool expected to miss the StarLadder Berlin Major. Since that report, Dexerto has learned from multiple sources that StarLadder is now reconsidering their initial approach to hiring and open to working with at least some of those key members of talent. The three talent members originally expected to miss the Major tournament were Anders Blume, Jason “moses” O’Toole, and Duncan “Thorin” Shields. It is unclear at this time if any of the three of them will come to an agreement with StarLadder, but discussions are ongoing at this time. One day prior to the previous report from Dexerto, Thorin tweeted, “It is entirely possible I never work at another CS:GO Major. Happy to have worked at six no matter.” At the time, sources explained that Thorin was not even in the discussion for working the event despite worked seven events for StarLadder since 2015. His last CS:GO Major as an analyst was the ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta 2017. With just over two weeks until the start of the New Challengers Stage of the Berlin Major, the talent pool is still a mystery. Multiple sources have explained that it is likely that the talent lineup will change between the New Challengers stage and the two following stages.

DeKay’s Sources: seangares exploring coach and general manager options Former North American professional Counter-Strike player Sean ‘seangares’ Gares is exploring potential options as a coach or general manager, according to multiple sources. He has not been a member of an organization since leaving Misfits Gaming as a player in early 2018. [jwplayer M9aaQftJ-SUloKWJP] seangares has a lengthy history as an in-game leader in North American Counter-Strike, most known for his time with the Cloud9 organization from 2014 to 2015. One of his best results as a player came at DreamHack Winter 2013 where Complexity reached the semifinals against the eventual Major winners in Fnatic. The former IGL has taken up a role as an analyst and caster since stepping away from playing. Since leaving Misfits, seangares has spent time as a member of broadcast talent for each of the four Majors that have followed as well as many other large tournaments. In an interview last November with HLTV, he mentioned that several top 10 teams had offered him a coaching position. He explained his reasoning for declining at the time but did say: “There will probably be a time where I’ll want to do it, and maybe at that point, I’ll revisit it.” seang@re’s last role as a player came for Misfits but is well known for time with Cloud9. Dexerto reported yesterday that Misfits are exploring a potential return to Counter-Strike, but it is not believed that they are linked to seangares in any way. Just this week, Dignitas announced they are interested in once again fielding a male CS:GO team. Featured: Check out Dexerto’s coverage of the OMEN Challenge HERE “I don’t want his advice, I’ll play worse” :joyful:@FaZeNiko tells @getfrank that he doesn’t want @Ynk’s help with 1 v 1 practice at the #OMENChallenge w/@OMENbyHP pic.twitter.com/948LAdnUDi — DEXERTO.COM (@Dexerto) September 20, 2019

DeKay’s Sources: Renegades CSGO players’ contracts nearing expiration The contracts existing between Renegades players and the Renegades organization are nearing expiration, according to multiple sources close to the team. At this time, it is not expected that they will re-sign and have been exploring options with other organizations. If the current players come to an agreement with another organization, it is not expected that Renegades will immediately sign another team to fill their place. One source said, they are considering leaving CS:GO entirely with no intention to return. Renegades joined CS:GO in 2015 by signing the former Vox Eminor roster that featured current members Aaron “AZR” Ward and Justin “jks” Savage. The Renegades players recently finished in the semifinals at the StarLadder Berlin Major, which is an improvement compared to their quarterfinal run at the IEM Katowice Major earlier in the year. The performance came as a surprise to many, having finished last place at ESL One: Cologne 2019 in July. Renegades currently hold a spot in ESL Pro League Season 10, which would transfer with the players should they leave the organization and stick together. According to information presented to Dexerto, ESL has presented certain teams with a term sheet that would require them to exit all other leagues longer than 14 days in length. The current Renegades roster consits of: Aaron ‘AZR’ Ward – Justin ‘jks’ Savage – Joakim ‘jkaem’ Myrbostad – Sean ‘Gratisfaction’ Kaiwai – Jay ‘Liazz’ Tregillgas –

DeKay’s Sources: OpTic Gaming CS:GO in discussions with TeSeS Danish Counter-Strike team OpTic Gaming has expressed interest in adding Rene ‘TeSeS’ Madsen, according to multiple sources close to the team. If they were to add TeSeS, it is expected that he would replace Marco ‘Snappi’ Pfeiffer on the active roster. TeSeS is eighteen years old and currently a member of GoldenGitte, an orgless Danish Counter-Strike team. His history in CS:GO is brief, first appearing on the semi-professional scene during 2017 and joining Reason Gaming during the final quarter of the year. Since then, the only other organization he has played under is Squared Esports which he joined for six months in 2018. From a statistical standpoint, TeSeS is far and away the best rated player on his current team. Snappi has an extensive history in Counter-Strike with a professional career stretching as far back as 2008. He is primarily known as an in-game leader but gave up that role upon the acquisition of Mathias ‘MSL’ Lauridsen from Rogue. Snappi joined OpTic Gaming in April of 2018 after spending almost two years with Heroic. During his time with the team they didn’t win any international tournaments, but finished runner-up at DreamHack Open Summer 2018 and cs_summit 3. OpTic Gaming have been in the headlines as of late with multiple outlets reporting their parent company Infinite Esports & Entertainment being up for sale. The front runner to acquire Infinite has been reported to be Immortals Gaming Club, but a deal hasn’t been officially announced at this time. OpTic Gaming CEO Hector ‘H3CZ’ Rodriguez is reported to be currently in negotiations to reacquire the OpTic Gaming brand. OpTic Gaming CS:GO (rumored) Rene ‘TeSeS’ Madsen – Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke – Ismail ‘refrezh’ Ali – Mathias ‘MSL’ Lauridsen – Nikolaj ‘niko’ Kristensen – Casper ‘ruggah’ Due (Coach) –

DeKay’s Sources: 15-year-old oBo to trial for Complexity CS:GO at ECS Finals Fifteen year-old North American Counter-Strike player Owen “oBo” Schlatter is expected to play for Complexity Gaming at the Season 7 ECS Finals in London later this week, according to multiple sources. Dexerto first reported last week that the team had been exploring candidates to replace Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz on the active roster. oBo has never played on a professional team before, due to not being old enough to play in most CS:GO tournaments. With less than a month until he turns sixteen, he has spent a majority of his time playing FACEIT Pro League where he has placed first on multiple occasions. His only team experience comes from playing ESEA Main in late 2017 and early 2018. Stanislaw has been a member of Complexity since early 2018, following a brief second stint with OpTic Gaming. The nature of his recent benching is unknown by Dexerto at this time, but is not believed to be a result of him joining a new roster. During his time with the team, their best result was a playoff appearance at the FACEIT Major: London. Since that accomplishment, the team has failed to replicate those results on an international level. The Season 7 ECS Finals are set to begin on June 6, featuring eight teams from both Europe and North America. The prize pool for the event is listed as $500,000 USD but the distribution for those values are not listed publicly at this time. Complexity is in Group B alongside Made in Brazil, North, and Team Vitality. Complexity CS:GO roster (Rumored): Owen ‘oBo’ Schlatter – Shahzeb ‘ShahZaM’ Khan – Hunter ‘SicK’ Mims – Rory ‘dephh’ Jackson – Ricardo ‘Rickeh’ Mulholland –

DeKay’s Sources: NRG CSGO set for surprise switch to Evil Geniuses North American Counter-Strike team NRG Esports are in advanced discussions with the Evil Geniuses organization and are expected to join them officially in the coming days, according to multiple sources close to the situation. It is expected that the team will play at ESL One: New York as Evil Geniuses, rather than NRG Esports. NRG Esports have had a CS:GO roster since early 2016, entering the scene with the pickup of ex-Method ahead of the MLG Columbus Major Last Chance Qualifier. The organization went through a number of different rosters before sticking with the core of Vincent ‘Brehze’ Cayonte, Ethan ‘Ethan’ Arnold, and Cvetelin ‘CeRq’ Dimitrov. In 2019 they added both Tarik ‘tarik’ Celik and Peter ‘stanislaw’ Jarguz who helped them reach the semifinals of the StarLadder Berlin Major. Evil Geniuses has never had a CS:GO roster, but do have a history in Counter-Strike that first became notable in 2007. Their first accomplished lineup in Counter-Strike included Garett ‘Grt’ Bambrough, Corey ‘tr1p’ Dodd, and Griffin ‘shaGuar’ Benger Eventually, Jordan ‘n0thing’ Gilbert would join the organization and played there for nearly four years until 2012. Their entrance into CS:GO has been rumored on multiple occasions, most notable of these was the near signing of the ex-iBuyPower team with Spencer ‘Hiko’ Martin instead of Joshua ‘steel’ Nissan in 2014. The match-fixing scandal that would ensue shortly after prevented the deal from coming to fruition and Evil Geniuses took a step back from entering the space until recently. At this time it is unclear if NRG Esports plan to recruit a new CS:GO roster or leave the scene entirely. The NRG Esports CSGO roster currently consists of: Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz – Vincent “Brehze” Cayonte – Cvetelin “CeRq” Dimitrov – Ethan “Ethan” Arnold – Tarik “tarik” Celik Chet “ImAPet” Singh (Coach) – –

DeKay’s Sources: Ninjas in Pyjamas heavily considering roster change prior to CS:GO Major roster lock Swedish Counter-Strike team Ninjas in Pyjamas are considering a roster change prior to the Berlin StarLadder Major roster lock, according to multiple sources. The team has explored the idea of adding Nicolas ‘Plopski’ Gonzalez Zamora who is a member of the Swedish Team Ancient roster, among others. It is unclear who would be replaced on the active lineup, but all signs point to Dennis ‘dennis’ Edman at this time. Dennis had left the NiP line-up back in March citing energy fatigue but returned on April 10 after a short break away. NiP have struggled to recapture the success their original lineup in CS:GO and have not won a large tournament since the end of 2017 at IEM Oakland. At their last two Major appearances, they finished in the group stage at the FACEIT Major: London and in the quarter-finals of the IEM Katowice Major. In recent tournaments, veteran rifler Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund has taken over the in-game leader role from Jonas ‘lekr0’ Olofsson Plopski is a 17-year-old Swedish-Spanish player who entered the professional Counter-Strike scene in mid-2017 with the x6tence organization. For six months of 2018, he was benched from the active lineup before being reactivated once again and played an additional six months. In March of 2019, the organization announced they would be restructuring which left Plopski and Tim ‘nawwk’ Jonasson on the bench once again. Nawwk has since joined Team GamerLegion while Plopski is still technically under contract, despite playing recently with an unsigned group of players under the Team Ancient banner. NiP had a spot in ESL Pro League Season 9 but a disappointing finish means their future is uncertain moving into next season. They are, however, automatically qualified for the StarLadder Berlin Major as a current Legend team. It’s worth noting, however, that if NiP do sign Plopski in the coming weeks, he would be unable to play in the Major due to having already played in the minor qualifiers with Team Ancient. The roster lock for the Berlin Major for all teams is June 25th, leaving exactly one week for them and others to submit their final roster. NiP’s CS:GO roster currently consists of: Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund – Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg – Fredrik ‘REZ’ Sterner – Dennis ‘dennis’ Edman – Jonas ‘Lekr0’ Olofsson –

DeKay’s Sources: Na’Vi considering B1ad3 as coach in addition to GuardiaN Ukranian and Russian Counter-Strike team Natus Vincere are heavily considering bringing in Andriy “B1ad3” Gorodenskiy as their new head coach, according to multiple sources close to the team. B1ad3 is already a member of the Na’Vi organization, having joined as their Esports Director in March. Both Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and Denis “electronic” Sharipov played alongside B1ad3 during their separate tenures with the FlipSid3 Tactics organization. B1ad3 played for the American organization for over three years before moving to Gambit Esports as a coach late last year. He is known for his contributions in CS:GO as an in-game leader, where he helped his teams reach nine Valve sponsored Major tournaments. Natus Vincere announced earlier this week that Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko will play his last tournament at BLAST Pro Series: Moscow 2019 this weekend. Also leaving the team is head coach Mykhailo “kane” Blagi, who joined in late 2017. Zeus’ replacement has not yet been announced by the organization, but multiple sources have informed Dexerto that all signs point to Ladislav “GuardiaN” Kovács returning to the organization once again as a main AWPer. During Zeus’ second tenure with the organization that started in late 2017 when kane joined, Na’Vi reached a Major Final at the FACEIT Major: London, won ESL One: Cologne 2018, and also won both StarSeries Season 5 and StarSeries Season 7. Na’Vi made it to the new champions stage at the StaLadder Berlin Major, but fell short against NRG in the first round, finishing top eight. Natus Vincere CS:GO roster (Rumored) Oleksandr ‘s1mple‘ Kostyliev – Egor ‘flamie‘ Vasilev – Denis ‘electronic‘ Shairpov – Kirill ‘Boombl4‘ Mikhailov – Ladislav ‘GuardiaN‘ Kovács* Andriy ‘B1ad3′ Gorodenskiy* – – * After Blast Moscow 2019

DeKay’s Sources: Natus Vincere exploring replacements for Zeus Russian and Ukranian Counter-Strike team Natus Vincere are exploring players to replace their in-game leader Danylo “Zeus” Teslenko, according to multiple sources close to the team. It is the expectation of those involved that Zeus will play his last tournament for Na’Vi at BLAST Pro Series: Moscow 2019, which begins on September 13. At this time it is unclear who the team has considered as a replacement for Zeus, but discussions are still ongoing, said one source. Should he be replaced, it is also unknown whether he will continue playing or retire from professional Counter-Strike. Zeus is currently on his second stint with Natus Vincere, having previously played for the organization from late 2009 to 2016. He left for around ten months total to play for Gambit Esports, where he won the PGL Krakow 2017 Major before returning to Na’Vi. Since returning, he has led the team to victories at StarSeries Season 5, ESL One: Cologne 2018, and StarSeries Season 7. Natus Vincere have made it into the playoffs of the StarLadder Berlin Major, where they will face off against NRG in the quarterfinal. To reach the top eight they beat: DreamEaters, Made in Brazil, and CR4ZY. The team’s last LAN event prior to the Major was ESL One Cologne in July, where they finished 3rd-4th. BLAST Pro Series: Moscow 2019 is set to begin on September 13th and run through September 14th, which is just one week following the culmination of the ongoing Major. Zeus’ decorated history with Natus Vincere includes the 2010 Counter-Strike 1.6 season where the legendary Ukrainian roster became the first in history to win three major international events in one year, taking the top spot at Intel Extreme Masters IV, ESWC 2010, and WCG 2010. The 31-year-old is the last member of that legacy roster to still be playing in a Na’Vi jersey; Ioann ‘Edward’ Sukhariev was removed from the team in May of 2019 and has been on loan to Winstrike ever since. Natus Vincere’s current roster is as follows: Aleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev – Denis ‘electronic’ Sharipov – Danylo ‘Zeus’ Teslenko – Egor ‘Flamie’ Vasilyev – Kirill ‘Boombl4’ Mikhailov –

DeKay’s Sources: Mixwell, Daps, Koosta and TenZ to join Cloud9 CS:GO North American Counter-Strike organization Cloud9 is set to add four new players, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation. It is expected that Oscar “mixwell” Cañellas, Damian “daps” Steele, Kenneth “koosta” Suen, and Tyson “TenZ” Ngo will replace Maikil “Golden” Kunda Selim, Daniel “vice” Kim, Will “RUSH” Wierzba, and René “cajunb” Borg on the active roster. Cloud9 recently failed to qualify for the StarLadder Berlin Major set to take place this September, making it the first Major they will miss since ELEAGUE Atlanta 2017. Despite originally owning a qualification spot at the Berlin Major, they chose to change their roster and requalify through the Americas Minor. Ultimately, they fell to New Identity and The Quest in the Americas Minor Closed Qualifier. Mixwell announced today that he would be departing the Movistar Riders organization where he played for one year as a member of a full Spanish lineup. During his time with the team, they struggled and failed to qualify for large international events. In his announcement, he said “I’m starting a new journey, which will give me the opportunity to play against the best teams in the world again.” Daps is currently a member of the NRG Esports organization but is inactive after being replaced by Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz last month. Mixwell and Daps have previous experience playing together from their time with OpTic Gaming back in 2016, before Daps was replaced by stanislaw towards the end of the year. During his time with NRG, Daps led them to victories at IEM Shanghai and cs_summit 3 as well as runner up finishes at StarSeries Season 5 and SuperNova Malta 2018. Koosta is a free-agent who left the Ghost organization last month after they declined to re-sign four of their players whose contracts had expired. He is known for his time both as a rifler and an AWPer, but played as a rifler during his time with Ghost with Matthew “WARDELL” Yu on the roster. During his time with Ghost, they played a number of international tournaments and placed in the semi-finals of DreamHack Open Atlanta 2018 and iBUYPOWER Masters IV. TenZ is an eighteen year old rifler who has drawn attention from a number of people in the North American scene as of late. He has primarily played in ESEA Premier, playing Season 30 with Bad News Bears and Season 31 with ATK. Former CLG and Cloud 9 in-game leader Pujan ‘FNS’ Mehta tweeted praise for TenZ last week, saying “It hurts me to see @TenZ_CS not signed to a 2 year deal already. Truly hurts. This kid leaks potential, it’s so gross.” Update: Cloud9 confirmed their new CS:GO roster a number of hours after this article was published. Cloud9’s active CS:GO roster now consists of: Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta – Oscar ‘mixwell’ Cañellas – Damian ‘daps’ Steele – Kenneth ‘Koosta’ Suen – Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo –

DeKay’s Sources: Misfits exploring options for CS:GO return North American esports organization Misfits Gaming are extremely interested in re-acquiring a CS:GO team, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation. Misfits have not had a Counter-Strike team since early 2018, when they released their lineup and left the competitive scene indefinitely. Misfits are not the only organization interested in returning to CS:GO, both Dignitas and 100 Thieves have expressed public interest as of late. Multiple sources have informed Dexerto that there are more organizations outside of these exploring the idea of joining the space as a member of a new North American league that is currently in the works. Misfits originally entered CS:GO by acquiring the entire Team SoloMid roster in early 2017 due to fallout between the TSM organization and players after a Slingshot Esports report exposed the fact that PEA owned teams would force their players to leave leagues such as ESL Pro League. As a result, a players’ rights movement began which would eventually lead to the creation of the Counter-Strike Professional Players’ Association (CSPPA). While Misfits had a Counter-Strike team, it included a few notable names from the North American community. Star rifler Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken played for them for their first three months before being recruited by Team Liquid. Sean “seangares” Gares was in-game leader from start to finish and Misfits was the last professional team he played for before spending the majority of his time as a member of broadcast talent.

DeKay’s Sources: MIBR targeting kNgV- to replace coldzera Brazilian Counter-Strike team Made in Brazil is actively targeting Vito ‘kNgV-‘ Giuseppe to fill the spot left by benched player Marcelo ‘coldzera’ David, according to multiple sources close to the team. It is expected that kNgV- will join the team following the StarLadder Berlin Major, should all the necessary steps to acquire him be completed. kNgV- has been heavily considered to join the MIBR roster on multiple occasions, but his expected receipt of a proper work visa in the near future means it is likely to finally happen, according to one source. Upon joining, he would fill the roster slot left open by coldzera, who asked for his own benching last week. kNgV- is currently a member of the INTZ eSports organization, who are scheduled to play in the Third Place Minor Play-in, early next week. If he joins MIBR, it will be his second tenure playing for the Immortals organization, which owns the Made in Brazil brand. He originally played for Immortals for a brief stint on loan and a couple months longer as a permanent member of the organization, making it to a Major Final in 2017 at PGL Krakow. Later in the year, the team was acquired by the 100 Thieves organization but never played an official match under their banner. The team was released in early 2018 due to various setbacks and issues with the five man roster. For the Major, MIBR will use coach Wilton ‘zews’ Prado due to the June 25th roster rule in place that does not allow new players to join rosters for the event. Zews played for MiBR at IEM Chicago last weekend, where they finished 3rd-4th for the event. The New Challengers Stage of the Berlin Major is set to begin on August 23rd. MIBR CS:GO roster (rumored) Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo – Fernando ‘fer’ Alvarenga – Epitacio ‘TACO’ de Melo – Lucas ‘LUCAS1’ Teles (on loan) – Vito ‘kNgV-‘ Guiseppe* Wilton ‘zews’ Prado (coach) – – * After StarLadder Berlin Major

DeKay’s Sources: Lazarus Esports to withdraw from CS:GO Canadian Esports organization Lazarus Esports is expected to withdraw from CS:GO effective immediately, according to multiple sources. The ESL Pro League slot held by their team will now be held by the players only, should at least three of them choose to remain together. Lazarus Esports entered CS:GO in April by signing the Swole Patrol roster that included four members of the current roster and coach Daniel “fRoD” Montaner. In June, Lazarus added rifler Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker to replace Michael “dapr” Gulino. In Season 9 of ESL Pro League, Lazarus finished in last place in their respective group, but were able to survive relegation with victories over Envy, INTZ Esports, and Team Singularity. Read More: How to watch StarLadder CSGO Major – The next tournament for the players currently on Lazarus Esports is the ECS Season 8 North America Challenger Cup. The top two of the sixteen teams competing in the online event will earn a spot in ECS Season 8 which features a final tournament with a $500,000 USD prize pool. The most recognizable name on the Lazarus roster for CS:GO fans will that of Braxton “swag” Pierce. Once seen as one of North America’s greatest prospects, swag’s career at the top of professional scene was cut short in January of 2015 when he was banned by Valve, along with a number of his former iBUYPOWER teammates, for match-fixing. Eventually swag and company would be allowed to compete with organizers like ESL again, offering them the opportunity to turn Counter-Strike into a full-time career once more, but Valve’s ban still holds firm and it seems unlikely the 22-year-old will ever get the opportunity to play in another Major. Also on the team is Jordan ‘Zellsis’ Montemurro, who has been playing with this core since his departure from Cloud9 where he was a trial member from December 2018 – March 2019. fRoD is is arguably the greatest North American CS 1.6 player in history and is often named alongside the likes of Yegor “markeloff” Markelov and Raphael “cogu” Camargo when pundits discuss the best AWPers that the original Counter-Strike title ever saw. The 33-year-old attempted to return to activity in CS:GO on a number of occasions before settling into managerial and coaching roles. Lazarus Esports CS:GO roster Braxton ‘swag’ Pierce – Jordan ‘Zellsis’ Montemurro – Gage ‘Infinite’ Green – Yassin ‘Subroza’ Taoufik – Jaccob ‘yay’ Whiteaker Daniel “fRoD” Montaner (Coach) – –

DeKay’s Sources: kNgV- expected to debut for MIBR at BLAST Moscow Brazilian Counter-Strike team Made in Brazil are in the final stages of acquiring Vito “kNgV-” Giuseppe from INTZ e-Sports, according to multiple sources close to the player and team. Based on information presented to Dexerto about BLAST Pro Series: Moscow 2019, the team expects to field him in their lineup for the tournament. Dexerto was first to report that MIBR and kNgV- were in discussions last month, following the departure of Marcelo ‘coldzera‘ David from the active roster. The transfer of kNgV- to MIBR mainly hinged on approval of his visa, which he received two weeks ago according to this tweet. As of right now he is still officially a member of INTZ, who are set to play in the New Challengers Stage of the StarLadder Berlin Major next week. During the Major, MIBR will use their coach Wilton ‘zews’ Prado as their fifth player due to the June 25th roster lock. Once the transfer is complete, he will resume his role as head coach and kNgV- will play as a rifler and secondary AWPer. This will be second time kNgV- will have played for the Immortals organization if the transfer is completed. The first time occurred in 2017 before the transfer of his team to the 100 Thieves organization. They weren’t able to play an official match following the transfer before being released though, due to a number of setbacks with the roster outside of the server. MIBR CS:GO roster (rumored) Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo – Fernando ‘fer’ Alvarenga – Epitacio ‘TACO’ de Melo – Lucas ‘LUCAS1’ Teles (on loan) – Vito ‘kNgV-‘ Guiseppe* – Wilton ‘zews’ Prado (coach) – * After StarLadder Berlin Major

DeKay’s Sources: Key members of CS:GO talent to miss StarLadder Berlin Major The highly anticipated StarLadder Berlin CS:GO Major is set to get underway with the New Challengers Stage on August 23, 2019. However, some of the most recognizable faces in Counter-Strike will be conspicuous only in their absence as a number of top tier casters and analysts appear to have been overlooked for the $1 million event. Longtime members of the Counter-Strike talent pool Anders Blume, Jason “moses” O’Toole, and Duncan “Thorin” Shields are not expected to participate in StarLadder’s Major, according to multiple sources. This will be the first Major since ESL One: Cologne 2015 without moses and will be the second and fifth Major in a row without Anders and Thorin respectively. Thorin was back on the analyst desk for ESL One: Cologne 2019. On July 16 Thorin tweeted, “It is entirely possible I never work at another CS:GO Major. Happy to have worked at six no matter.” Sources were able to confirm to Dexerto that Thorin would not only miss the Berlin Major, but was not even considered at any point in time during the selection process. Thorin has worked seven events for StarLadder since early 2015, including three events in 2018 and one earlier this year. His last CS:GO Major was the ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta 2017. At this point it’s entirely possible I never work another CS:GO major. Happy to have worked at six no matter. — Thorin (@Thooorin) July 16, 2019 Anders and moses were considered as members of talent for the event but would have been there in a limited capacity, according to one source with knowledge of the situation. It is unclear how much their participation at IEM Chicago had an effect on the decision making process by StarLadder, due to the conflict with their Minor schedule. Anders missed the IEM Katowice Major earlier this year, making the Berlin Major his second missed Major in a row. Anders and moses are a fan favorite duo. While nothing is currently confirmed for the ever-popular casting duo of Henry ‘HenryG’ Greer and Matthew ‘Sadokist’ Trivett, signs would suggest that they will be attending the Major in some casting capacity. With the New Challengers Stage of the Major set to begin on August 23rd, it is unclear at this time how much of the Minor talent will be retained for the Major. The current on-camera talent lineup for the European and American Minor tournaments are as follows: Casting Pairs Daniel “ddk” Kapadia – James Bardolph – Vince Hill – Harry “JustHarry” Russell – Hugo Byron – Halvor “vENdetta” Gulestøl – Analysts Joona “natu” Leppänen – Mathieu “Maniac” Quiquerez – Mohan “launders” Govindasamy – Robin “Fifflaren” Johansson – Hosts James Banks – Alex “Machine” Richardson – Interviewer Sue “Smix” Lee –

DeKay’s Sources: jedqr set to play with Virtus.pro CS:GO on a temporary basis Polish Counter-Strike team Virtus.pro will be replacing Arek ‘Vegi’ Nawojski on the active lineup due to illness, according to multiple sources close to the team. jedqr is a Polish Counter-Strike player that is currently benched within the x-kom Team organization, meaning Virtus.pro will pay a loan fee to use him on their roster. It is expected that Grzegorz ‘jedqr’ Jędras will take Vegi’s place during his recovery, in which he will return to the lineup when ready. After joining x-kom Team in October of 2018, jedqr played for almost six months before being moved to a back-up position alongside Krzysztof ‘Goofy’ Górski. x-kom Team recruited Paweł ‘innocent’ Mocek and Paweł ‘reatz’ Jańczak to replace them over the following month. Vegi joined Virtus.pro in April, replacing Mateusz ‘TOAO’ Zawistowski on the active lineup. Since joining the roster the team has not made any progress towards gaining international relevance. After qualifying for the StarLadder Berlin Minor Closed Qualifier, they were unable to reach the Europe Minor with a losses to Mousesports and BIG. Janusz ‘Snax’ Pogorzelski and coach Jakub ‘kuben’ Gurczyński are the only members from the famous Virtus.pro team that won a Valve sponsored Major in 2014 as well as many other premier tournaments. The other four players from that lineup have gone their separate ways: Filip ‘NEO’ Kubski is now playing with FaZe Clan, Wiktor ‘TaZ’ Wojtas has started a new project with Aristocracy, while Paweł ‘byali’ Bieliński and Jarosław ‘pashaBiceps’ Jarząbkowski are professionally inactive.

DeKay’s Sources: GeT_RiGhT to step down from Ninjas in Pyjamas lineup Legendary Swedish Counter-Strike player Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund has stepped down from the Ninjas in Pyjamas active roster, according to multiple sources close to the team. It is expected that Simon ‘twist’ Eliasson will take his place, starting with at least DreamHack Masters Malmö next month. Earlier in the year, the NiP organization announced that they had started talks with GeT_RiGhT about his future with the team upon the acquisition of Nicolas ‘Plopski’ Gonzalez Zamora. They stated that he would remain with them for the StarLadder Berlin Major while they searched for a suitable long term replacement. The statement has since been deleted, but multiple sources confirm GeT_RiGhT made the decision to step down to the bench on his own. Read More: How to watch ESL One New York 2019 – Update, September 26, 12PM EST: Following the publication of this article, Ninjas in Pyjamas have officially confirmed that GeT_RiGhT is no longer an active member of their CS:GO roster. They also state “filling GeT_RiGhT’s shoes is no easy task but we believe we have found the right person for the job.” Once a Ninja, always a Ninja. Thank you for everything, @GeT_RiGhTA new chapter for Christopher Alesund: CS:GO Roster Updatehttps://t.co/54yLIMPTaU pic.twitter.com/2KeCiAEUds — Ninjas in Pyjamas :flag-se: (@NiPGaming) September 26, 2019 GeT_RiGhT is one of only a few players in Counter-Strike history to be able to claim that they were legitimately in the conversation as the best player in the world across multiple versions of the game. He was a key member of Fnatic’s impressive world number one CS 1.6 team in 2009 and he continued to be a top performer right up until the switch to CS:GO, taking second place in HLTV’s top 20 rankings in both 2010 and 2011. The Swede adapted to Global Offensive quickly and was the figurehead of NiP’s dominant roster that went on an incredible 87-0 map winning streak on LAN. GeT_RiGhT took the top spot in HLTV’s top 20 player rankings in both 2013 and 2014 and helped his NiP teammates finally claim a CS:GO Major at ESL One Cologne 2014. In the years that followed, GeT_RiGhT gradually dropped down the rankings as an individual player but continued to be a respected member of the NiP core. While his stats began to decline even further in 2018 and 2019, it still came as a shock to many to hear that his future with the team was uncertain NiP’s current roster consists of: Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg – Fredrik “REZ” Sterner – Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson – Nicolas “Plopski” Gonzalez Zamora Faruk “pita” Pita (coach) – –

DeKay’s Sources: FURIA CS:GO player ableJ at risk of missing ESEA Global Challenge FURIA Esports Counter-Strike Player Rinaldo “ableJ” Moda is at risk of missing the ESEA Season 31 Global Challenge in Dallas Texas due to a visa issue, according to multiple sources close to the team. If ableJ is unable to make the trip to the event, it is expected that FURIA coach Nicholas “guerri” Nogueira would play in his place. The ESEA Season 31 Global Challenge is an offline eight team tournament featuring the top three European, top four North American, and first place Australian ESEA Premier Division teams. The list of teams is headlined by Team Vitality, who won ECS Season 7 and finished runner-up at ESL One: Cologne last weekend. FURIA announced on June 21st that they had signed their players to five-year long contracts, likely the longest contracts ever signed in Counter-Strike. Dexerto reported soon after that some of the contract terms from their previous contracts were among the worst a lawyer had ever seen in Esports. On July 2nd, FURIA announced that they signed a four year sponsorship agreement with multinational sportswear brand Nike. FURIA’s level of performance has cooled as of late with a group stage exit at ESL One: Cologne with losses to both NRG and Natus Vincere. Prior to the event, they finished in the semi-finals of DreamHack Masters Dallas and runner-up at the ECS Season 7 Finals. Following the ESEA Global Challenge, they are set to compete in the Americas Minor Championship in Berlin in an attempt to qualify for the upcoming Valve sponsored Major in September.