Cloud9 have just announced that they will be dropping their entire CS:GO roster and rebuild it from scratch. Here is their announcement video:
Cloud9 dropping CS:GO roster – Why?
Cloud9 picked up the ATK roster back in January and during that period the roster was having a lot of success versus North American teams. Despite not being successful enough to win events, they were still placing well at several tournaments, most notably ECS Season 8 NA Challenger Cup. This motivated the Cloud9 organization to sign these players with hopes of getting better results.
Unfortunately in the past 9 months they were unable to get good results consistently. Here are some of their most recent event placements:
As you can see above, their recent placements weren’t the best, especially for an organization like C9. This is what probably led to them dropping their entire CS:GO division.
Image of the ATK roster Credits: ESL
Here’s what Cloud9 CEO and Co-Founder, Jack Etienne had to say about the changes:
“We’re entering a new stage in our CS:GO development, and we’re really excited to show our fans and community what we’ve been working on. We’re grateful to our existing roster and all their hard work and determination – as we enter this next chapter, we’re dedicated to finding them a new home that will empower their continued growth.”
The most worrying thing about the whole situation is that Cloud9 fans do not want the organization to go back to the period, where they used to switch up the roster every few weeks. This created an unhealthy relationship between the players and the fans were disappointed with what the organization was doing.
We will just have to wait and see how they’ll progress with their Team Development Program. And hope that the ATK roster finds a better home and gets better results. If you would like to read more about the changes, visit C9’s website here.
Cream Real Betis have just announced that they will enter CS:GO with an international lineup. Brazilian star Horvy will be joining the swedish trio, as well as British player CYPHER. Here below is their announcement video:
#BTSCSGO | Es hora de presentar al nuevo equipo de CS:GO. Los encargados de defender nuestros colores esta temporada serán:
As of late, teams have been leaning towards international lineups due to G2’s successful late 2019 and 2020. They have proven that a roster does not need to consist of 5 players from the same region or country, and this has inspired many other teams to follow in their footsteps.
Image of JayzaR at Ownit CS:GO Challenge Credits: Fragbite
Cream Real Betis enter CS:GO – Players experience
The main star player, jayzaR has a lot of CS:GO experience, especially with international lineups. He has played under Fnatic Academy, Chaos, Valiance, and most recently Adaptation.
The other 2 swedish players (Djury & aybeN) have come from a team known as Tikitakan, which has had some recent success versus teams like Hard Legion and Syman.
UK player CYPHER has played alongside jayZaR in a team called Orgles5, and has shown his potential in an international squad.
Horvy has been Brazil’s shining star for quite a while now. He has played under numerous Brazilian rosters, such as: Immortals, INTZ, and Team oNe, however recently he’s been playing under a European roster named No Limit Gaming.
Image of Horvy Credits: Fraglider
Cream Real Betis have taken a great risk to enter CS:GO with an international lineup. However the past has shown that these types of teams do work, and from what it looks like, the team has a bright future ahead of it.
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After almost 4 months, Gla1ve will be returning from CS:GO break and put back into the Astralis starting roster. A few weeks ago he hinted that he will be concluding his CS:GO break and have an earlier return to the Astralis squad. Here is their announcement:
Here’s what Astralis’ management had to say about Gla1ve replacing es3tag:
“While he made an impactful debut on the team, Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen will not be a part of the starting line-up in the Pro League opening match against Complexity. He will be observing and analyzing the gameplay and the team further, as well as assisting with preparation for the upcoming matches.”
Gla1ve returning from CS:GO – How has the roster performed since the swap?
The roster has definitely improved from what they had before. However obviously they still require a lot of work to be the number 1 team again. Today Astralis faced off Complexity in the ESL Pro League, and despite their great performance it was still not enough to take down Complexity. They ended the best of 3 series with both scores ending 19-17 favoring COL.
It will be very interesting to see this 7-man squad develop over the coming months and what they manage to come up with. Who knows? Maybe we’ll be seeing the newly formed Astralis back in the number 1 spot in a month’s time? It’s all speculation however only time will tell with regards to how Astralis will be performing with the recent changes.
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Since the statement from ESL, there were many people that were praising Michal Slowinski for his excellent work with detecting the coaches that were cheating. However, there were a couple of CS:GO community figures were making fun of the entire situation:
It’s a very troubling time for the CS:GO scene at the moment. With the online CS era, then professional players taking breaks, and now with the cheating accusations, it has definitely shaken up the scene. Hopefully Valve fixing the coach bug will help CS:GO resume to its fair and more interesting gameplay.
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ESL have just released a statement regarding the Coach spectator bug being abused in professional Tier 1 matches. The Coaches caught so far are: Heroic’s Coach Hunden, MiBR’s manager Dead, and Hard Legion’s coach, MechanoGun. Here is their statement:
As part of a recently concluded investigation into the exploitation of a spectating bug in ESL and DreamHack CS:GO tournaments, we are issuing punishments to the coaches of three teams today.
Apparently, this coach spectator exploit has been around for a while. Basically, the bug can be abused by having the coaches lock on a position anywhere on the map. This allows the coaches to view certain areas and give information to their players, hence cheating.
For those wondering how this coaching bug works, here is a short clip of me being bugged on mirage, A spot. You can pick any location on the map you want. And yes, you can rotate the camera angle as much as you want. pic.twitter.com/C0CdDV9zXi
ESL banning coaches – How long are the bans of the coaches?
With regards to their lengthy bans, ESL have said the following:
After closely analyzing all matches from ESL and DreamHack competitions which took place in the past months, and consulting with Valve in the process to solidify our findings, we have identified the following coaches to have knowingly misused the bug for a competitive advantage in live tournaments:
Photo of Dead coaching SK Gaming (MiBR) Credits: Draft5 (Lucas Spricigo)
Based on the findings and our rulebooks, the following ruling is made after consultation with ESIC:
dead will receive a 6-month ban from playing or coaching in competition
HUNDEN will receive a 12-month ban from playing or coaching in competition
MechanoGun will receive a 24-month ban from playing or coaching in competition
Teams will retroactively be disqualified from the tournament in question
The teams will forfeit their ESL Pro Tour points from the tournament in question
The teams will forfeit their prize money from the tournament in question
Where these teams the only ones exploiting the bug?
It is truly saddening to see, especially with the situation we’re in with the online CS era, where cheating is more tempting. It’s a miserable feeling seeing teams like MiBR and Heroic succeed, but you’re not sure if they were abusing the bug or not. On top of that, ESL’sMichau also added that he has another 1000 demo reviews to carry out so that they can identify which teams cheated or not in recent events.
Definitely a troubling time in professional CS:GO, however ESL banning these coaches might be serious enough for Valve to involve themselves with the situation by listening to the players and fixing the game’s main issues.
Make sure you don’t miss out on any important esports news by keeping yourself updated on www.esportsguide.com!
ESL One: Cologne 2020 NA ran from 18th August to the 29th. Running parallel to the European event, the same level of competitive CS:GO riddled the competition. Accordingly, $125,000 offered to just 8 teams made for a far more personal competition. Read on for a recap!
As outlined by the title, Evil Geniuses eventually claimed the crown. Luckily, we predicted this perfectly. However, some of our other predictions didn’t stick the landing as viewable in the Group Stage.
Only the top 2 from each group progressed. While Group B took place as expected, Group A saw Chaos Esports and FURIA Esports sweep the rug from under 100 Thieves and Gen.G. It all boiled down to a decider between 100T and FURIA.
Accordingly, the Playoffs bracket then took place:
Evil Geniuses may have won, but they had to fight for it. The Grand Finals were especially intense as it boiled down to Map 5 where EG stole it from Team Liquid. EG are back to back NA champions!
ESL One: Cologne 2020 Europe ran from 18th August to the 30th as a massive CS:GO event. Indeed, carried out online with $325,000 present, 16 teams battled it out for the regional dominance. In the end, many were surprised as Heroic transcended the ranks and claimed victory.
There’s a lot to dive into here, due to the multiple stages of the event. Mainly, two teams stunned viewers early on. Firstly, Sprout immediately eliminated took down BIG and OG. Meanwhile, Heroic in Group B managed to beat FaZe and Fnatic.
WE ARE YOUR #ESLOne COLOGNE 2020 CHAMPIONS! We clean sweep the final 3-0 versus @TeamVitality, GGWP! 👊
Our boys have shown that they are here to play among the best teams in the world!
It’s somewhat of a fact in the community that online CS:GO is more varied and less legitimate than LAN competition. Regardless, that shouldn’t take away from Heroic’s achievement here. They managed to win despite the odds against them and are a new threat in Europe. Otherwise, the new Astralis roster didn’t perform too poorly, though they fell short somewhat.
On the 26th of August, CS:GO proved once again why it’s one of the most successful esports out there. While Dota 2 has already surpassed this value, Valve’sCS:GO has finally reached 100 million in total prize pool.
CS:GO Reaches 100 million in total prize money awarded – Why is this big news?
Most people thought that due to huge backing and financial support, Epic Games’Fortnite would eventually pass CS:GO in terms of prize pool awarded. However with the latest online events taking place, CS:GO managed to climb up to 2nd, just under Dota 2. Here below is an image of the top 5 esport games (in terms of prize money awarded).
The top 5 esport games (prize money awarded) Credits: Esports Earnings
The top 25 CS:GO events (prize money awarded) Credits: Esports Earnings
Which players made the most money out of CS:GO?
At the time of writing, The Astralis roster has definitely made the most, with Xyp9x sitting at the top having a total of $1,771,621.90. Something that is worth noticing is that Stewie2k is the only American player to have made over $1,000,000 in prize pool earnings.
The top 25 players (prize money awarded) Credits: Esports Earnings
How is Dota 2’s prize pool much larger even though it’s made by the same company?
CS:GO has been around for a very long time, and when in comparison to its sister game, Dota 2, it seems like Valve doesn’t really care about increasing the prize pools for CS:GO Majors. A while back, Stewie2k himself voiced his opinion about the matter, and how one major event in Fortnite could definitely overcome a CS:GO prize pool. Here is the clip:
It’s definitely concerning to say the least. Everyone knows how much money Valve has in their pockets, and it’s definitely not too worrisome if Valve throws a couple million some time every year when the Major is around. Hopefully reaching 100 Million in prize money awarded is one milestone of many.
Make sure you don’t miss out on any important esports news by keeping yourself updated on www.esportsguide.com!
ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online – North America and Europe are two of the four divisional regions of the event. Making the transition to online, it still remains as one of the top events of the CS:GO year of 2020. Organized by ESL, read on to learn How To Watch!
Running from the 18th August to the 29th and 30th August, the S-Tier events looks to crown champions for NA and EU. The first-person tactical shooter may have had a rough swap to the online format on the whole, but the community has gotten used to it.
Credits: ESL
Accordingly, the top 8 teams in North America and 16 in Europe have qualified through the multitude of avenues available. Some have made it through the Road to Cologne events while others through ESL World Ranking. Indeed, the following 8 NA teams are fighting for the majority of $135,000 very soon:
Team Liquid
100 Thieves
Evil Geniuses
FURIA Esports
Cloud9
Gen.G Esports
Triumph
Chaos Esports Club
Meanwhile in Europe, 16 teams are fighting for $325,000:
For ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online, all teams will be put through their paces thanks to the challenging format. Many look at this event to round off these past few weeks of competition.
Format
In terms of format, it’s strictly unsurprising for the most part. The online event will be split into the usual Group Stage and Playoffs style.
Credits: ESTNN
Group Stage
For the group stage, the 8 teams have been sorted into two groups of 4 teams each, or 8 in the case of Europe. Following a double-elimination/GSL format, with BO3 games, only the top half will move forward to the next stage.
Playoffs
Unlike the usual double elimination format, a brutal single-elimination bracket is present. The four remaining teams from groups will be seeding according to placement. Here, more BO3 matches will determine the Grand Finalists. In the grand final, with $135,000 and $325,000 on the line, a BO7 will be played out. For Europe, a double-elimination bracket is being followed as there are more teams.
Credits: DreamHack
The Tier S event is not playing around.
Schedule for ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online – North America and Europe
Here’s exactly how the schedule will look like. Games will be present every day of the event with two per day at most. Here are the first two days of groups for North America.
For Europe, the schedule is almost identical, just with more matches. Here is a look at the first two days of groups also:
August 18th
BIG vs Sprout (15:00)
OG vs Ninjas in Pyjamas (15:00)
Team Vitality vs Team Heretics (18:30)
Fnatic vs Astralis (18:30)
August 19th
Natus Vincere vs mousesports (15:00)
Complexity vs MAD Lions (15:00)
FaZe Clan vs Heroic (18:30)
mibr vs G2 Esports (18:30)
Watch the ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online – North America and Europe stream on esportsguide.com
You can also watch the ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online – North America and Europe 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.
Predictions for ESL One: Cologne 2020 Online – North America and Europe
As always, when it comes to predictions, we take a look at the most recent event to see what could happen next. In this case, the last event was cs_summit 6 Online: North America which ended last month.
Since then, not much competition has really been present as the mid-year break took place. At that event, all the teams were present – here’s how they stacked up:
1st – Evil Geniuses
2nd – Gen.G Esports
3rd – Team Liquid
4th – 100 Thieves
5th – Cloud9
6th – FURIA Esports
7-8th – Chaos
9th – Triumph
Credits: ESTNN
Some might say that this is an accurate prediction of what is to come this weekend. However, things look different according to the world rankings. Also to note, that now, teams have had more time to get used to the online environment and will perform better.
Personally, my pick would definitely go to Evil Geniuses. By also placing 1st at the BLAST Premier Spring 2020 Americas Finals, they are the undisputed favourites to win the entire event. Behind them, I’d say that Gen.G makes it to the grand final to give them a good fight.
Meanwhile, for Europe, I’d have my eyes set on Astralis’ new roster. Can they match up against the current top dogs in BIG and Team Vitality? At this pace, this event will be the perfect way to find out how Europe stacks up right now.
Streams
For both regions, the following links are available on YouTube and Twitch:
Monday has come and gone, and that means that the newly updated CS:GO HLTV Rankings are here. In this week’s rankings, there are multiple changes and shuffles in the top 10, however BIG stay at #1 with maximum points in HLTV rankings. Here they are below:
Surprisingly, Heroic have also been on the rise in terms of their placement at events. At their most recent event, DreamHack Open Summer 2020: Europe, they placed 2nd after losing to the almighty BIG roster. They’ve also had a really good placement at cs_summit 6 Online: Europe. They managed to grab 4th place, and with it a decent amount of money from the prize pool. Alongside reaching 11th in the World, they’ve also gained the #1 position in Denmark. Astralis is in 2nd with 101 points in between.
Online Counter-Strike has been very interesting to watch, as it has been very random with all these roster changes going on. Now with ESL One Cologne, set to kick off today it will definitely be worth watching to see if BIG can keep up their pace, and stay in their #1 spot.
