One of the top events for competitive CS:GO we’re excited for is the PGL CS:GO Major! However, with the current state of the world we’re always a little worried that events may move to an online format. However, we’ve just received confirmation that the event looks to go ahead as planned live in Stockholm!
PGL CS:GO Major – Live Next Month
Credits: PGL
This was all made official with PGL, the organizer, making a public press release with regards to ticket sales. Indeed, we can’t wait to have a live crowd at one of the biggest events of the year:
The tournament will start on October 26 and it will last until November 7. The playoffs will take place inside Avicii Arena, from November 4 to November 7.
With all indoor restrictions lifted, Avicii Arena is ready to be packed with fans again, for the first time in the last 15 months.
When looking at the competitive CS:GO calendar, there are a tonne of events to look forwards to. Indeed, one staple to the community is DreamHack Atlanta as it looks to be hosted later on in November. Accordingly, read on to learn about how DreamHack Atlanta Delayed!
DreamHack Atlanta Delayed – Why?
Credits: Dreamhack
For context, the event was meant to take place offline running from November 12-14th. Indeed, ESL made the announcement official with the following comments:
DreamHack creates an arena where you can come to connect, explore, win, play a part, and be yourself through a gaming lifestyle experience — so to postpone Atlanta was not an easy decision.
Gaming brought, and kept us together over the last year and a half and it will continue to do so until we return.
Bearing this in mind, it’s definitely due to safety and health issues. Accordingly, we’ll have to wait for more details in the coming months.
Credits: DreamHack
In addition, we’re looking for more details to be made public on December 9th. It seems that DreamHack are committted to hosting great and fun offline events.
Regardless, we’re sure there’ll be other competitive CS:GO events to end the year.
Only recently, the Global Esports Federatrion has announced some exciting details about the Global Esports Tour. Hallmarked as a globl event celebrating esports, it looks to be hosted in multiple countries with multiple esports. Read on as we discuss some of the details we know of.
Global Esports Tour Details – Fact Sheet
Credits: DreamHack
Here’s a quick look at some concise facts below:
Titles: Hearthstone, PUBG:Mobile and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Venues: Los Angeles, Riyadh and Dubai
Prize: $500,000 split across all three event
Organizer – Global Esports Federation partnered with FACEIT
Dates – September to November
This is everything really. Picking some of the top esports in the world, although Hearthstone isn’t as big as the other two, we’re in for a ride.
However, the main highlight is definitley the fact that all events will be held in offline environments across the world. Combining the international organization with FACEIT could make this event a regular staple of the year.
Credits: Psyonix
Here’s what the Co-Founder and CBO of FACEIT had to say:
It’s fantastic to be a part of the Global Esports Federation and to help build the first Global Esports Tour.
FACEIT’s ambition is to build a better competitive gaming ecosystem with more opportunities for players and the community.
We believe that hosting global competitions such as the GET is another step in the right direction.”
Credits: Michele Attisani, Co-Founder and CBO of FACEIT
For the past month, the ESL Pro League has captivated the world of competitive CS:GO. Accordingly, thanks to some awesome competition, the event was simply awesome. Bearing this in mind, we’re here to offer an EPL Season 14 Viewership Recap!
EPL Season 14 Viewership Recap – A Phenomenal Grand Final
We all know how epic that Grand FInal between Natus Vincere and Team Vitaltiy was. Indeed, for those unaware, it all went back and forth to boil down to the final map. Such climax drew in thousands of viewers.
Take a look at the following statistics revealed by Esports Charts:
Peak Viewers – 758,567
Average Viewers – 133,908
Peak Game – Grand Final Between Na’Vi and Team Vitality
What we should look at now, is the past two season of the ESL Pro League in order to properly show off what an impressive event it was:
As you can see, this season saw an immense leap in viewership. Likely, the fact that the Intel Grand Slam was on the line with $1,000,000 also helped apart from Natus Vincere’s growing popularity.
Following the conclusion of the recent ESL Pro League Season 14, CS:GO is on the rise. Accordingly, with the PGL Stockholm event nearing, let’s take a look at how the international rankings sit. Read on to learn about a Regional Major Rankings 2021 Update!
Regional Major Rankings 2021 Update – Nearing Stockholm
For those unaware, seeding for PGL Stockholm will be based on Regional Major Rankings.
Accordingly, teams will qualify as three potential categories – Legends, Challengers and Contenders. Depending on the region, the seeds have been given out.
Indeed, what we’ll be doing here is listing the Top 5 for big regions and the Top 3 for smaller regions.
Accordingly, take a look below:
Europe:
Heroic – 1660 Points
G2 Esports – 1640 Points
mousesports – 1600 Points
Ninjas in Pyjamas – 1488 Points
Team Vitaltiy – 1480
North America:
EXTREMIUM – 1880 Points
Team Liquid – 1840 Points
FURIA Esports – 1584 Points
Evil Geniuses – 1310 Points
00Nation – 1300 Points
Credits: ESL
South America:
MIBR – 3430 Points
Sharks Esports – 3375 Points
Paqueta Gaming – 3025 Points
Asia:
TYLOO – 1600 Points
ViCi Gaming – 1600 Points
Invictus Gaming – 1120 Points
Oceania:
Renegades – 1680 Points
ORDER – 1500 Points
LookingForOrg – 1040 Points
CIS:
Natus Vincere – 3680 Points
Team Spirit – 3530 Points
Gambit Esports – 3475 Points
K23 – 2575 Points
forZe – 2450 Points
Indeed, the next calendar event is the IEM Fall event later this September.
This past weekend, the competitive CS:GO scene celebrated an awesome event. Accordingly, we saw the conclusion of the ESL Pro League Season 14 following a month of competition. Indeed, Na’Vi managed to make history and claim another event. Read on as we show off their journey!
ESL Pro League Season 14 – Not an Easy Road
As we like to do for these recaps, we’ll be following the winning team’s journey.
Heading into this event, Natus Vincere were the favourites. They managed to rise to the opportunity early in the Group Stage.
Here, they managed a 4-1 record, falling short only to a surprising series against BIG.
Following the Group Stage, a turbulent Playoffs bracket awaited the European team. Indeed, seeded into the Quarterfinals, they easily took down ENCE. However, moving deeper in, they managed to take a very close series against Heroic in a 2-1 fashion.
And then, we had our Grand Final. By making it this far, the whole community was watching Na’Vi. Now, they had the chance to seal the Intel Grand Slam and claim $1,000,000. Likewise, Team Vitality had the opportunity to play spoiler.
Anyways, it was an incredible Grand Final extending all the way to map 5 with Natus Vincere edging out Team Vitality.
A few weeks ago, Complexity went public with the saddening news regarding Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke and his injury. Indeed, although temporary, it may set the team back. Accordingly, heading into the BLAST Premier Fall event, it’s public that coldzera stand-in with Complexity is confirmed!
Coldzera Stand-In With Complexity – Facing FaZe
Overall, I think everyone can agree that this is a great stand-in for the team. Indeed, Marcelo “coldzera” David is a staple to competitive CS:GO and could definitely help Complexity.
Accordingly, this was confirmed by the following Tweet from the organization:
Over the past few days, the ESIC (Esports Integrity Commission) is becoming involved once again in studying competitive CS:GO. Indeed, the commissioner himself has publically revealed that an investigation is ongoing – read on to learn more about ESIC CS:GO matchfixing.
ESIC CS:GO Matchfixing – 35 Players?
Accordingly, everything was confirmed as reported in the following tweet:
According to @ESIC_Official commissioner on @HLTVconfirmed there are 35 NA players being investigated for CSGO match fixing, many of whom have gone to Valorant
Indeed, keeping control of these things is essential. What’s more, is that this is being linked to many CS:GO professionals transition to VALORANT too.
A total of 35 players are up for revision too. Supposedly, most are competitors at the Mountain Dew League a few weeks ago.
How are they doing this? Well, the commissioner has already used audio samples before games to determine multiple bans already:
Sebastian “retchy” Tropian – Banned for 5 Years
Kevin “4pack” Przypasniak – Banned ror 5 Years
Carson “nosraC” O’Reilly – 111 days
Credits: CS::GO
If you’re curious to see exactly how this went down, visit here.
Indeed, with 35 players on the list, we’re expecting more and more names to drop.
For those unaware, matchfixing can be very influential and also harmful to an esport. Also, it hurts esports betting too – only benefitting the players who fix it.
It’s been a rollercoaster of a year for competitive CS:GO. Just recently, following a deserved playerbreak, the ESL Pro League Season 14 kicked off all the action where it ended. Regardless, we used the time wisely to sit back and think about how this past year has gone. Read on as we once again review an esport’s season, this time competitive CS:GO 2020/21!
Fending Off New Competition and Online Struggles
Times were tough for CS:GO this time last year, and for two main reasons.
Credits: ESIC
Firstly, online competition was hitting CS:GO very hard in terms of both viewership but mainly integrity. It was at this time that the cheating scandal involving ESIC and multiple CS:GO coaches grabbed the attention of the entire esports industry.
Without a doubt, this had its impacts on the scene. We discussed this topic here.
Credits: Riot Games
Secondly, after years of no competition, the title of VALORANT was around to start competing with CS:GO. Although young, it began attraction former CS:GO pros. Indeed, in no time the term ‘CS:GO killer’ was thrown around. Read more about this here.
Indeed, with these two ideas in mind, let’s take a small tour around the year.
Fact Sheet – The Best CS:GO Esports Events Over the Year – Competitive CS:GO 2020/21
As we’ve done for other esports, the following is a short summary of the calendar year by listing some of the more notable events. Also, note that some events are omitted due to overlap – we’re trying to map the whole year here.
Starting with the ESL Pro League Season 12: Europe event, this was one of the first to transition to online.
Notably, by combining EU and North American teams in one league, there were complaints with regards to connection. Otherwise, the $450,000 event managed to offer up some great competition and get the seaso starting well.
IEM XV Beijing Online: Europe – November 2020
Credits: ESL
Peak viewers – 506,271
Average Viewers – 131,305
Online
Moving forwards, the IEM XV Beijing event held in Europe was also another trial for the season.
At this point, major organizers such as ESL and BLAST began familiarizing themselves with online competition and held stronger events. With $150,000 on the line however, these weren’t the biggest stakes.
Indeed, a few were worried with regards to the slight dip in viewership.
Blast Premier: Global Final 2020 – January 2021
Credits: BLAST
Peak Viewers – 687,691
Average Viewers – 317,017
Online
The same can’t be said for the Blast Premier Global Final in January. With $1,000,000 on the line, this turned out to be an incredible event.
Ranked as the 9th most viewed CS:GO event ever, by now, things were looking a lot stronger for the remainder of the competitive season compared to its beginnings.
IEM XV World Championship Katowice – February 2021
Credits: ESL
Peak Viewers – 596,585
Average Viewers – 224,126
Online
Every year, ESL Katowice is a CS:GO event renowned for its energy and crowd performance.
Accordingly, it’s at events like these that the crowd is sorely missed. Anyways, the event still went ahead and performed well, though attracting less viewership than previous iterations.
Dreamhack Masters Spring 2021 – April/May 2021
Credits: DreamHack
Peak Viewers – 551,558
Average Viewers – 184,219
Online
Apart from ESL and BLAST, Dreamhack also got some action this year with some great events.
Most notably, the Masters Spring 2021 event is remembered for sealing the short period when Gambit were on top of the scene.
However, that would change shortly.
BLAST Premier Spring Finals – June 2021
Credits: BLAST
$425,000
Peak Viewers – 393,284
Average Viewers – 160,362
Online
Heading into June, the Blast Premier Spring Finals were lined up for an awesome event.
Unfortunately, although competition was there, the $425,000 failed to break the ceiling with regards to viewership.
With the season ending shortly, many were skeptical of ending on a low note.
IEM XVI Cologne 2021 – July 2021
Credits: ESL
Peak Viewers – 843,369
Average Viewers – 235,354
Offline
How wrong they were.
Despite a somewhat average season, ESL managed to reignite the community by finally hosting an offline Major after so long.
With $1,000,000 on the line, the world would witness an incredible performance by Natus Vincere – making it the 7th most viewed CS:GO event of all time.
Thanks to this tremendous event, the season ended with an epic bang.
Ending on a High – Remaining Top Tier
Just like that, there’s so much more to look forward to this coming year.
Credits: PGL
Yes, this year had its problems with competition from VALORANT and intrinsic troubles, but it seems like the scene is past this.
What we’re excited for is PGL Stockholm this coming Fall.
Looking to be the most epic CS:GO event ever, we’re ready for it. Bearing this in mind, next season is likely going to improve over this past year.
Currently, there’s a great discussion over the PGL Major Stockholm event. Accordingly, a recent update from Sweden makes the event more possible due to relaxed travel restrictions. Read on as we talk about this new update.
A couple weeks ago, Sweden as a venue for competitive esports events was not quite available.
So much so, that Dota’s The International event was forced to move the venue from Stockholm to Romania due to this. However, a new update is live – this was celebrated by the CEO for Ninjas in Pyjamas on social media. Take a look:
Esports athletes are now to go under the same travel exemptions as other sports in Sweden. Amazing work by @a_fa9 and the @NIP team, together with the different federations!
Everyone will now be allowed entry for the major. #GONINJAS
Indeed, to reiterate, esports players will now be recognized as other sports.
Credits: Valve
Bearing this in mind, there’s reason to celebrate. Indeed, although we’re awaiting confirmation, the decision is definitely in favour of remaining the same.
Accordingly, we can’t wait to see the event run from October 23rd to November 7th. Do note that the event dates may change though.
Otherwise, with $2,000,000 on the line, it’s an incredible event which looks to take CS:GO to the next level.
