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Category: CS-GO

NRG looking to create VALORANT team

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

According to a report from RushBMedia, the prestigious North American organization NRG is looking to create a VALORANT team. Here is their report:

NRG looking to create VALORANT team – Who are they picking up?

The team will consist of recently retired CS:GO coach Chet “Chet” Singh as their VALORANT coach. With regards to their players, they will be picking up ex-Gen.G player Damian “daps” Steele, as well as currently active player for Gen.G Sam “s0m” Oh.

Chet

Chet has been coaching since 2016 and is now known as one of North America’s best coaches. His most memorable moments in his career was when he was coaching the NRG/EG roster, where they managed to win quite a few events. Some being: StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 8, Intel Extreme Masters XIII – Shanghai & ESL One: New York 2019.

Chet Starladder e
Credits: Starladder

Daps

Damian has had quite a long CS:GO career as he started competing back in 2012, and has been guiding teams to the top ever since. Daps already has some synergy with coach Chet as they had already played together under NRG back in 2018-2019.

Screenshot
Credits: Dreamhack

S0m

18-year old s0m has only been competing since 2017, but has already made a name for himself under Team Envy, as well as Gen.G. The young North American star, under the leadership of Daps has definitely gained a lot of experience, and this might be why NRG are interested in picking him up.

sm Dreamhack e
Credits: Dreamhack

The report does not indicate any ETA as to when NRG will be announcing their roster; however we will certainly be getting an announcement in the very near future. North American VALORANT is loaded with organizations that have invested into the game, and it’s very weird to see more and more organizations investing in the region, whereas in Europe there are very few Major organizations that have invested into the esport. The current health situation definitely has had an impact on these decisions, but VALORANT is still in its infancy, which means there will be plenty of time for unsigned European teams to get picked up!

Make sure you don’t miss out on any important esports news by keeping yourself updated on www.esportsguide.com! 

Heroic choosing to keep Hunden despite coach ban

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

Heroic have just announced that they are choosing to keep Hunden as Head Coach of their CS:GO team, despite his lengthy coach ban. Here is their announcement:

Heroic choosing to keep Hunden – Why?

Hunden joined Heroic as a coach back in April, where he was tasked with helping this lineup of danish players rise to the top. In these past few months, he has assisted the team extremely well, and this is very clear when you look at their recent results. 1st in LOOT.BET/CS Season 6, and most recently, 1st at ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online – Europe. Hunden has become a huge part of this Heroic roster, and parting ways with such an experienced player and coach, simply does not make sense.

Here is what Heroic CEO, Erik Askered has said about the situation:

“As earlier mentioned, Nicolai’s mistake does not reflect the values or standards Heroic holds or wants to promote, but a mistake is a mistake. We all make them. After all, Hunden is our boy. We love him and he has so much to give this sport, that losing him would neither benefit Heroic, himself, or the pro scene. Our focus will now be to maintain the ranking we have fought hard for, and continue proving the world how good we are.”

Source

Teams keeping banned coaches – Does it make sense?

Due to the current health situation around the world, CS:GO will probably be sticking to the online cs era for a little while longer. This means that despite the coaches getting banned, there is no feasible way for an admin or tournament organizer to track whether a coach is aiding the team in some way or another. Of course the banned coaches will not be allowed to join the official server via Coach spot, but there are still many other ways of how a coach can help their team perform.

All in all, teams keeping their coaches makes sense, especially those teams that have recently found a lot of success. It wouldn’t make sense to take one big piece out of a puzzle, as that would not only disrupt the team’s performance, but might lead to more concerning issues in the near future.

Be sure to stay tuned to www.esportsguide.com for more esports news!

Xantares re-signing with BIG until 2021

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

Turkish star player Xantares has just announced that he will be re-signing with BIG until 2021. Here is his announcement:

Xantares re-signing with BIG – Xantares’ impact

It is very clear that Xantares has had a huge impact on the lineup, and has aided them in winning in their most recent events. Xantares joined the team back in December of 2018 and has helped the team a lot since then. Some of their recent results are as follows:

Here’s what he had to say regarding his re-sign with BIG

“First of all, I must thank you all for your support of me and my team. In 2020, we have succeeded many things with the BIG family which I joined in 2018. I am so happy to announce that; I have extended my contract with the team. We will do our best to be more successful in 2021 as well and of course with your support. Stay healthy.”

Xantares’ twitlonger

Credits BIG e
Credits: BIG

The team has had huge amounts of success with recent tournaments and events, but is it all due to the online cs era? Or is it because BIG have just improved gradually with their current lineup? Don’t miss any of the action by keeping yourself updated with www.esportsguide.com!

Brazil dominate EPL Season 12

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

With the weekend coming to a close, Brazil are champions once more as they dominate the EPL Season 12 with Furia winning in North America, and BOOM winning in South America.

How did Furia do it?

During the regular season of ESL Pro League Season 12, Furia were doing extremely well, finishing in 2nd place only falling short twice. Their only two losses were versus 100 Thieves in Week 3 and versus Chaos Esports in Week 4. Due to them placing in 2nd, they earned a spot in the Upper Bracket Finals versus the team in the number 1 spot, Evil Geniuses. Furia won the best of three seamlessly and progressed through the Grand Finals versus 100 Thieves. 

Furia vs T
Credits: ESL

Finals – NA

Furia were given an automatic game advantage because they stayed in the upper bracket. First map was Vertigo and was extremely one sided as Furia had a very dominant CT side. As for the second and final map being Inferno, 100T started it off strongly, however did not manage to keep up their performance and lost 16-10 to give Furia the EPL Season 12 championship.

What about Boom in South America?

BOOM matched up versus Havan Liberty in the 1st round of the upper bracket. BOOM won the best of three series 2-0 and advanced to the upper bracket final versus Sharks Esports. After a close and intense series, Sharks come out on top and drop BOOM to the lower bracket final versus the team they had just beaten, Havan Liberty. History repeated itself and BOOM won with a clean 2-0 to advance to the Grand Finals.

Sharks Vs Boom
Credits: ESL

Finals – SA

Similar to the North American format, the upper bracket finalist was given a free game advantage. Despite the map advantage, it did not impact the series at all. This is because BOOM showed pure dominance over all three maps (Vertigo 16-8, Dust II 16-9, Inferno 16-12) to take the win at EPL Season 12.

Brazil dominate EPL Season 12 – What’s next?

CS:GO with the online era has been extremely random, however, Brazilian teams seem to be the ones that have utilized their time the most during this quarantine period. Will they manage to keep it up or is their recent success only temporary?

Be sure to keep yourself updated on www.esportsguide.com 

ESIC issues bans for 37 coaches

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

Monday has arrived, and as previously announced, the ESIC (Esports Integrity Commission) issues bans for 37 professional CS:GO coaches. Here is their full statement:

ESIC issues bans for 37 coaches – Who?

Apart from the ones mentioned initially (MechanoGun, Hunden, Dead), the ESIC have added an additional 34 coaches to their ban list. They have all received lengthy bans, however, some are much shorter than others. Here below is a full list of all coaches that the ESIC banned:

How did the ESIC gather this data?

The ESIC has gone through a long list of professional CS:GO official demo matches and investigated each round to see if there was any cheating involved.

What ESIC has done
Credits: ESIC

Community backlash

When the ESIC released their statement, the community was shocked at the results. Many did not expect that some highly esteemed coaches would actually go so low as to cheat in an official match. When it comes to competitive integrity in esports, cheating must be penalized, and for that, the ESIC will certainly be respected for their efforts. 

Some coaches however have declined the cheating accusations against them, and some have also had their very own team and staff defending their standpoint. This goes to show how far a team will go to defend any of their staff from any sort of harm. Some of the coaches that have denied their accusations were LMBT, RobbaN, as well as Starix, which has taken to twitter to show his confusion regarding his lengthy ban.

This is only the beginning of coaches receiving bans for abusing an in-game bug in official matches. And more will certainly surface in the very near future. Until then, make sure you keep yourself updated with www.esportsguide.com for all your latest esports news!

ESIC set to reveal new findings related to the CS:GO coach spectator bug

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

The ESIC has stated that they are set to reveal new findings related to the CS:GO coaching spectator bug abuse. 

What is the ESIC?

The Esports Integrity Commission was established in 2016 and they are responsible for disruption prevention investigation and prosecution of all types of cheating in esports. This includes all forms of cheating in any type of esport game, match fixing, as well as doping.

This time round, the ESIC are investigating the newly emerging coaching spectator bug. This was being used to gain informational advantages against an opposing team. We’ve already seen multiple coaches receiving lengthy bans for the abuse of this bug, and the ESIC will be revealing more information as to who else used this bug.

One of the First banned coaches hunden
One of the First banned coaches, Hunden
Credits: Dreamhack

ESIC set to reveal new findings – When will they be releasing the information?

The ESIC will be making everything public on the 28th of September at 10:00am CET. It is very probable that many other coaches have been abusing this bug. And this will definitely come out as shocking news for the entire CS:GO community. It is a very controversial topic because from one standpoint, you want fairness in competitive integrity and for all cheaters to get what they deserve. But at the same time if you’re a fan of a team that had their coach abusing the spectator bug. That is going to be very heartbreaking.

Be sure to stay tuned to www.esportsguide.com for more esports news!

FPX signing Peca as General manager

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

FunPlus Phoenix has just announced that they will be signing peca in a General Manager position for both VALORANT and CS:GO divisions. Here is the announcement:

FPX signing Peca as General manager – Who is peca?

Petar “peca” Marković has been in the esports industry since 2012. He has worked in multiple positions and had quite a variety of careers in the past few years. His most memorable moment in his coaching career was when he was coaching for Valiance & Co back in 2017. He is now back in a managerial position under FPX wishing to bring more trophies to the organization.

Screenshot e
Credits: Valiance&Co

What will this mean for FPX?

VALORANT, is not going to be the only focus for peca, as he will also be building a strong and structured roster in CS:GO. As you may know, FPX have previously tried to sign a roster back when the 1st Season of Flashpoint was taking place, earlier this year. Their original plan was to sign the roster representing Heroic at the time, however Astralis interrupted that discussion by poaching es3tag from the lineup. Then they tried to approach a North American team in Swole Patrol, however no deal was finalized.

This time round, FunPlus Phoenix seems more structured, even with their approach towards signing a team. They’ve already had some success with their VALORANT roster, and it will be certainly exciting to see who they will pick up eventually with regards to their CS:GO team. FPX signing Peca as General manager is only the beginning and we can’t wait what comes next for the organization!

Be sure to stay tuned to www.esportsguide.com for more esports news!

Furia looking to get sixth player for CS:GO team

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

Furia’s coach Guerri has just posted a statement which reveals that Furia is looking to get a sixth player for their CS:GO team. Whis will definitely be interesting, especially after MiBR’s latest roster changes. Here is his tweet:

Furia looking to get sixth player for CS:GO – Why?

Despite the pandemic limiting competition in North America, Furia were still quite a dominant team. They won both Dreamhack Open and Masters in North America, as well as BLAST Premier Spring in June. In spite of their excellent results it would be very probable that some members of the team require a short break, and this might be why Furia are opting for a sixth player for the team.

Furia Credits
Credits: Furia

What are the player options?

With MiBR’s recent roster developments, the player options for Furia’s sixth are quite variant. They can either grab an exceptionally talented fragger like Fer, or go for an experienced supportive player in TACO. As mentioned earlier, they have many options to go for, but it all depends on what direction Guerri and the rest of the Furia roster want to take.

Credits Dreamhack
Credits: Dreamhack

We’ve already seen instances of a 6-man roster or more implemented in modern CS:GO teams. Some examples are: Astralis with es3tag and Bubzkji, Mousesports with Bymas, Ence, and most recently, Copenhagen flames. From what we’ve seen, it’s not very simple to make this transition, however it is a new thing in the world of Counter-Strike and considering the current health situation in place, we’ll probably see more of these 6-man rosters develop.

Stay tuned to www.esportsguide.com for more esports news!

oBo benched himself from Complexity

Posted on by Nathan Bonello

Yesterday, Complexity published an emergency CS:GO press conference on their Youtube channel. In their press conference, Complexity CEO Jason B.W Lake states that 17-year old Owen “oBo” Schlatter has benched himself from the Complexity CS:GO roster.

oBo benched himself from Complexity – Why?

When the roster was formed it was clear that there were 2 North American players on the roster. The original plan for the team was to compete in North America. However due to the current health situation the Complexity roster was stuck in Europe. This meant that they could not fly back to North American and compete there. Since the pandemic, CS:GO has gone through a long period of online CS due to health prioritization for the players. This might have affected oBo’s mentality, and is probably why he is returning back to North America.

oBo credits Complexity
Credits: Complexity

oBo’s future?

Many rumors that have been spread since the announcement referred to Gen.G or Cloud9 as possible opportunities for oBo’s CS:GO future. Gen.G have recently benched their in-Game leader Daps. Which means that they are currently looking for a full time 5th player for the team. Cloud9 on the other hand are still in their rebuilding process. However, there could still be a spot for him on the team as they have only announced 3 members.

What’s next for Complexity?

oBo being benched from Complexity will certainly impact the roster in a negative way. The team has been together since the very beginning of the Juggernaut, and them losing such a strong fragger within the team will not be very good for the team moving forward.

ESL Pro Tour 2021 – 8 Events Confirmed

Posted on by Gabriel Sciberras

ESL and DreamHack have finally come together to reveal details about the ESL Pro Tour 2021. Indeed, many have thrown about speculation that the entire Tour would have to be played online. However, against all odds, a total of eight LAN events have been scheduled for 2021. Read on for all the details!

Originally, the competitive CounterStrike: Global Offensive structure had 10 LAN events lined up to test the best in the world. That number is decreasing to 8, but not due to restrictions. As announced, the co-organizers in ESL and DreamHack have purposely decided to reduce the strain on competitors.

Kicking off in February, there’s a tonne of excitement behind the entire season which will run to December. Everything may be subject to change depending on how the global situation changes.

Credits: ESL Twitter

Just like that, here’s the confirmed calendar for the ESL Pro Tour 2021:

  • IEM Katowice (16-28 Feb)
  • ESL Pro League Season 13 (10 Mar – 18 Apr)
  • DreamHack Masters Event (3-13 Jun)
  • ESL One Cologne (6-18 Jul)
  • IEM Melbourne (17-22 Aug)
  • ESL Pro League Season 14 (1 Sep – 10 Oct)
  • IEM Masters Event (14-24 Oct)
  • IEM Masters Event (2-12 Dec)

Together with dates, ESL announced a double-weekend format. This should provide more time for players to practice, enhancing the viewing experience and allowing for more content to be made. The CS:GO community can’t wait to get started.

For more esports news, visit: https://www.esportsguide.com/news.