As stated in their announcement, this will involve loads of “inspiring experiences for both players and viewers by developing activations and content that seek to engage both segments.” NiP and their players will embrace Samsung’s products and promote them to all their esports fans through live-streams, as well as various examples of content. They have also stated that this partnership is intended to be 3-years long.
Credits: NiP/Samsung
Here are the thoughts of Hicham Chahine, CEO of Ninjas in Pyjamas:
“Today marks an exciting milestone in the history of NIP. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to work with an industry leading technology partner of this caliber. Samsung is one of the world’s top five most recognized brands and words cannot express what this recognition means for our brand, company and athletes in terms of excitement and possibilities. We cannot wait to integrate their products and technology as a crucial and enhancing part of Ninjas in Pyjamas.”
NiP has already kicked off the year with a banger of a rebrand, and now alongside that, they get to partner with one of the world’s biggest companies when it comes to electronics.
We can’t wait to see what NiP has in store for 2021. But until then, be sure to keep yourself notified on all the important esports news here, on our website.
Natus Vincere first matched up versus the newly signed MiBR roster. Despite a challenging series played by the brazilians, Na’Vi managed to win 2-1 and move on to the Upper Bracket Final. Here they took on FaZe Clan in a best of 3, and after a very intense series, Na’Vi were the eventual winners.
FaZe were then dropped down into the lower bracket versus Liquid, where they had a seamless 2-0 victory to get back into the Grand Final.
Finals
Dust 2 was first, and in this map we saw a very dominant Counter-Terrorist side by Na’Vi which got them a win of 16-10 to get them series point. Here FaZe had to play out their best, but unfortunately, Nuke was next, one of Na’Vi’s strongest maps. Again, Natus Vincere’s CT-side reigned supreme, and they won the map 16-11 to win the Finals. Here’s how it ended:
Na’Vi win Group C of BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2021
We finally have our 3 winners, as well as our 6 invitees to the Spring Finals. The BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2021 has certainly delivered, and we can’t wait to see what else holds for these teams in the following weeks!
Credits: Liquipedia
Be sure to keep yourself updated with all the important esports news on www.esportsguide.com!
30-year-old Finn “karrigan” Andersen first joined FaZe Clan back in late 2016. At that time, he was with the very ancient FaZe squad of Allu, Jkaem, aizy and Rain. Over the years, the team evolved and eventually in 2018, Karrigan and his squad were considered as one of, if not the best teams in the world. Unfortunately after an upset by Cloud9 at the ELEAGUE Boston Major, the lineup wasn’t what it once was. It eventually led into multiple roster changes, as well as Karrigan being benched. Now he’s returned to the team he was most dominant with, with hopes of gaining more success alongside an international roster once again.
Karrigan returning to FaZe – Is that the only news?
Unfortunately, this news comes with the announcement of Olofmeisterstepping down from the team. He has not yet made a clear decision on what he wants to pursue in his future but we can expect an announcement in the following weeks.
Credits: FaZe Clan
This version of FaZe might just be the most stacked roster in terms of talent. With the new addition of Twistzz, and aid of Coldzera, Karrigan has all the tools he needs to shape this into a Major winning team.
Next week, the biggest event we’ve seen so far, the IEM XV World Championship will be taking off. Here’s all the details you need to know, and how to watch it!
#IEM Katowice marks the first event following our new two-week schedule 📅
Play-in stage: Feb 16-17 Group Stage: Feb 18-21 Playoffs begin: Feb 26-28
Intel Extreme Masters, commonly known as IEM, is one of the longest running tournaments in Counter-Strike history. This event is going to be its 15th season and will feature all the best teams in the world.
How to qualify for the main event
Almost all of the teams participating at the event qualified through the Road to Katowice, a regional qualifier. The other teams got a spot via the ESL World Ranking or other qualifiers like the EPEC Winter 2020, and ESL Mistrzostwa Polski.
Prize Pool for IEM XV World Championship
For the IEM XV World Championship there is going to be a total of $1,000,000 USD that is to be distributed between all teams. Here below is the prize pool distribution list:
1st – $400,000
2nd – $180,000
3rd-4th – $80,000
5th-6th – $40,000
7th-8th – $24,000
9th-12th – $16,000
13th-16th – $10,000
17th-20th – $4,500
21st-24th – $2,500
Tournament format
The IEM XV World Championship will start with the play-in stage. This phase is formatted with a double elimination bracket, where the opening matches are best of 1, and the rest are best of 3. Top 8 teams from the play-in stage will qualify to the group stage of the main event.
The group stage will consist of 2 double-elimination groups. Each group will consist of 8 teams which are seeded using ESL’s particular rankings. All of the matches in the group stage are set in a best of 3. The top 3 teams from both groups advance to the playoffs.
The playoffs will feature a single-elimination bracket where all matches are a best of 3, and the final is a best of 5. The winning team will be crowned as IEM XV World Champion.
Teams Participating
A total of 24 teams are participating, here is the full team participation list (sorted by qualification):
Directly Qualified Teams
Heroic
Team Vitality
Astralis
Natus Vincere
G2 Esports
FaZe Clan
FURIA Esports
Evil Geniuses
Play-In Teams
Complexity Gaming
Fnatic
OG
Ninjas In Pyjamas
Team Liquid
Team oNe
MiBR
Renegades
BIG
Mousesports
Virtus.pro
Gambit Esports
Cloud9
Team Spirit
Movistar Riders
Wisla Kraków
Credits: IEM
Schedule list
The event will commence on the 16th of February and will go on till the end of February, as it will finish on the 28th. The tournament will kick off with the Play-in, here are some of the first few matches:
Watch the IEM XV World Championship live stream on esportsguide.com
You can also watch the IEM XV World Championship live stream via our very own website. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.
All the best teams from all over the world are participating in this event. If we’re going to have to base out predictions on recent results, we’d have to put our money on Natus Vincere, Ninjas In Pyjamas, as well as Complexity to take the win. However, this is CS:GO, an esport where anything can happen.
Credits: IEM
Be sure to keep yourself updated with www.esportsguide.com for more esports news!
It’s only been a handful of days since the BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2021 event kicked off, and we’re already in the final stages of Group A. What’s surprising is that BIG was the one to come out on top and win Group A. Here’s how they did it:
In the first round of the group stag BIG took on OG. BIG managed to win both maps (16-12 Inferno, 16-13 Dust 2) and progress further into the bracket. Then they were against NiP, after they beat Astralis in their 1st round. The matches were very close, and eventually NiP were stronger in that series. This meant that BIG dropped down into the lower bracket versus Astralis. BIG had the upper hand here, and came out victorious versus Astralis, to advance to the Finals.
In the Finals BIG were to rematch the swedish NiP squad. First map was Vertigo, and it was completely one-sided for the German squad, as they won 16-2. After that, Overpass was next, and it was way closer than the first, but BIG played better and won 16-14. With this win, they have solidified 1st place, and with it $25,000, along with a spot at Spring Finals.
BIG win Group A of BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2021
As we’ve mentioned in previous articles, BIG have been very consistent in recent months. Them getting partnered with BLAST will only help them improve further, possibly being one of the teams to look out for in 2021.
Be sure to keep yourself updated with all the important esports news on www.esportsguide.com!
“In the near future, we planned to make two replacements, the transition of Twistzz has already been announced. The next step will be to replace Olofmeister, who will end his career. He doesn’t want to play Counter-Strike anymore. We will announce the name of the fifth player in March or April.”
Olofmeister is a legendary player in the CS:GO scene. He has won 2 Majors, and was with the most dominant version of Fnatic, back in 2013 & 2015. Unfortunately, in recent years, he hasn’t been as impactful in the scene, and hasn’t won a big event since BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen in 2019. In his CS:GO career, he has an approximate total of $880,519 in tournament earnings.
Here are some of his best results:
1st at ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017 – 13th October 2017 – $500,000
First in ECS Season 4 Finals – 17th December 2017 – $250,000
1st in EPICENTER 2018 – 28th October 2018 – $150,000
Credits: BLAST
Olofmeister to retire – Who will replace him?
In the interview, Coldzera also goes through the team’s plans moving forward with their new addition, Twistzz. With their new addition replacing Kjaerbye, the team should be more consistent moving forward. However now, the team is in desperate need of a proper In-Game leader. Before NiKo went to G2, he was tasked with the IGL role, seconded by Coldzera himself. Now there have been rumours in the past few months that former IGL for FaZe, and current IGL for Mousesports, Karrigan is set to return to the red and black. For now it’s only been rumours, but in March or April we’ll be getting a clear answer, according to Cold.
Be sure to keep yourself updated on all the important esports news by tuning into www.esportsguide.com!
In their statement, North’s backing organisations Parken Sport & Entertainment and Nordisk Film revealed that the main reason for shutting down was due to the pandemic affecting large parts of the industry. On account of this, these organisations saw it fit to no longer invest in North and focus on their other businesses.
This is what Lars Bo Jeppesen, Chairman of North, had to say:
“We are of course sorry that we now have to close the Danish-based e-sports company North, which has made a great impression in international e-sports. We have searched the market to get one or more co-investors on board the project, but have unfortunately not found the right match.”
If you’re an avid CS:GO fan and watch official matches on the regular, you know who North are, and their struggles during 2020. Despite this, they will be leaving an amazing legacy to remember. Here are some of their best results in CS:GO:
1st at DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018 – 2nd September 2018 – $100,000
2nd at ESL Pro League Season 5 – Finals – 4th June 2017 – $100,000
3rd-4th in ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017 – 12th October 2017 – $70,000
Will the organisation come back?
In their statement they also address the possibility of North returning, and despite the realisation of the potential that the esports industry has, they will have to work based on how the pandemic continues to develop, and see from there.
Nordavind reveal new CS:GO roster – Who did they get?
Nordavind have made quite a lot of major decisions with regards to changes to their new roster. One of them being, bringing back HS and Tenzki to the roster. This duo had previously represented the team for the majority of 2020, but after some unsuccessful results, the team let them go.
The three new faces on the team are Mertz, Supra, and Mirbit. With the release of the x6tence CS:GO lineup, Mertz was teamless, and therefore, a perfect option for Nordavind. Supra on the other hand transferred from Gambit Esports, and Mirbit was put in a similar situation to Mertz, as Alternate aTTaX parted ways.
Why did they make these changes?
It’s no secret that Nordavind didn’t have the best 2020, when it comes to its CS:GO team. These major changes had to be made so that Nordavind can grow further and improve in 2021, and with these new additions, it really does seem like it’s heading for better.
This team has loads of potential, especially with the raw talent that the squad consists of. All they need to do is deliver good performances during officials, and they have plenty of time to do that in 2021.
Be sure to keep yourself updated on www.esportsguide.com for all your esports news!
The second BLAST event of the year is just around the corner, and it will feature 16 of the best teams in the world. Here’s everything you need to know about the BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2021, and how to watch it:
BLAST has hosted some of the best events when it comes to CS:GO. Their most popular events were the BLAST Pro Series, which featured events at several cities around the world. Last year and this year, BLAST have created the BLAST Premier revolving around online CS:GO, and have also brought on North American teams to participate in Europe.
How to qualify for the main event
All of the teams that are participating at the tournament are partnered teams. Therefore, there are no options to get to the main event through qualifiers. These teams are some of the best in the world, and have definitely shown what they have to offer, and this is why they are partnered teams.
BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2021 Prize Pool
The prize pool will consist of a total of $150,000 USD to be distributed between all teams. Here below is the prize pool distribution list:
1st/2nd/3rd – $25,000
4th/5th/6th – $12,500
7th/8th/9th – $7,500
10th/11th/12th – $5,000
Tournament format
The event has quite a different format than usual. The tournament kicks off with a group stage between 3 double-elimination groups. Each group consists of 4 teams and they will be playing each match in a best of 3. The top 2 teams from each group will advance to the Spring Finals. Whereas the Bottom two, will advance to the Spring Showdown.
Teams Participating at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2021
A total of 16 teams are participating, and they will all be fighting through to climb the bracket to reach the Grand Finals. Here is the full team participation list:
Astralis
FaZe Clan
NiP
BIG
G2 Esports
OG
Complexity Gaming
MiBR
Team Liquid
Evil Geniuses
Natus Vincere
Team Vitality
Credits: BLAST
Schedule list
The event will take place between the 4th and 14th of February. These following days are going to be action-packed with CS:GO so be sure to clear your dates if you’re interested in watching. Here are some of the first few matches:
Watch the BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2021 live stream on esportsguide.com
You can also watch the BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2021 live stream via our very own website. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.
With Natus Vincere currently at the top of their game, it’s almost certain that they will qualify, or even finish 1st in their group. Astralis have also shown some strong performances in recent events, so they definitely have a high chance of qualifying. For our third team, we’d have to give it to Team Vitality, as they have been consistently performing on par with both Astralis and Na’Vi.
Be sure to keep yourself updated with www.esportsguide.com for more esports news!
In their statement, it is revealed that the main reason for the roster change was due to their recent performances as a team. The Ninjas’ best result in recent months was a 4th placement at DreamHack Open Fall 2020. With such a talented roster, one would expect much better results than what they’ve delivered.
NiP CEO, Jonas Gundersen, has opted to explain further:
“Moving twist from our active roster wasn’t easy, but ultimately something had to happen. We’ve been unable to release the massive potential and energy in our team, and over time, energy like that ends up becoming a negative spiral which is incredibly hard to break, without changing up the group dynamic. New, positive and fresh energy is needed, and thus we ended up at changes in both roster and backroom staff. I want to thank Simon for his incredible work ethic and everything he has done for this team, and I am sure he’ll find a new home very soon.”
In replacement of Twist, NiP have opted to bring on, up and coming talent Erik “ztr” Gustafsson from their Young Ninjas squad. Ztr will be kicking off his debut performance this week versus Astralis in BLAST Premier Spring.
Be sure to keep yourself updated on all the important esports news by tuning into www.esportsguide.com!
