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Fnatic bench smooya, sign regali

Bharat Kotwani
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Fnatic bench smooya, sign regali

Fnatic have benched Owen “smooya” Butterfield from their active CSGO division, the British-Swedish lineup announced today on their Twitter handle. This change comes after Fnatic’s elimination from the Group stage of the ongoing IEM Katowice 2022 where they were denied a spot further by Astralis.

smooya joined Fnatic on a three-month trial back in October 2021, replacing Jack “Jackinho” Ström Mattsson on the main roster. The Brit shook the community with some charismatic results across a plethora of tournaments including championship at the most notable DreamHack Open November 2021 followed by a mid table finish at the IEM Winter 2021. However, smooya’s form seemed to enter a downward spiral with dwindling individual performances across Funspark ULTI 2021 finals and the Pinnacle Winter Series 1. 

The vacated position will now be filled by Fnatic Rising (Academy) player Lulian ‘regali’ Harjău . The 19-year-old Romanian joined Fnatic Rising in July 2021 and has dominated the scene with a 1.15 rating across a series of WePlay and other smaller events, according to HLTV.org. regali is no stranger to Fnatic’s British-Swedish roster as he briefly trialed with the team after Jackinho was moved to the bench in October. 

Mr. Andreas Samuelsson, Fnatic’s team director said in a press release,

We acknowledge and appreciate the hard work and amazing plays Smooya put into our Katowice run but we have come to the conclusion that he is currently not the right fit for our main CSGO roster. We think now is the best time to allow Smooya to explore his options within the game.

Owen has given his all to Fnatic and contributed greatly to our performances over the past few months. Myself and the entire team wish to thank him for the great memories we have shared and the entertainment he has provided.

Fnatic is set to debut with regali at the ESL Pro League Season 15 where they lock horns with the Ninjas In Pyjamas in their opener on March 10. 

The team is now:

  • Alex “⁠ALEX⁠” McMeekin
  • William “⁠mezii⁠” Merriman
  • Iulian “⁠regali⁠” Harjău
  • Freddy “⁠KRIMZ⁠” Johansson
  • Ludvig “⁠Brollan⁠” Brolin
  • Jamie “⁠keita⁠” Hall (Head coach)
  • Owen “⁠smooya⁠” Butterfield (Inactive)

Recommended | DID NAVI BREAK COMPETITIVE INTEGRITY BY COMMITTING BETTING FRAUD AT IEM KATOWICE 2022?

How to claim FIFA 22 Twitch Prime Gaming rewards for February 2022?

Aritra Patra
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How to claim FIFA 22 Twitch Prime Gaming rewards for February 2022?

The FIFA 22 Twitch Prime Gaming rewards for February 2022 are here for Amazon Prime members. If you are one of them, you can claim a special FUT pack filled with a very rare player.

EA Sports has just launched the reward pack for February a few hours ago. Let’s check out what are the rewards and how to claim them.

What are the rewards in FIFA 22 Prime Gaming pack?

This month EA is providing a few interesting rewards. Let’s find out:

  • 7 Rare Gold Player cards
  • N’Golo Kante (20-game loan)
  • Two 82+ rare Gold Player picks
  • 12 Rare Consumables

How to claim FIFA 22 Twitch Prime Gaming rewards?

Those were indeed very interesting rewards. Aren’t they? Now you just have to follow the simple steps mentioned below to get those rewards within a few minutes:

  • Go to the official Prime Gaming website.
  • Connect your Twitch account with Prime Gaming.
  • Then connect your EA Sports account with the Twitch account.
  • After that go to the Twitch Prime crown situated on the top-right corner.
  • Claim your rewards.
  • Launch FIFA 22.
  • Go to the Store section on Ultimate Team.
  • Click on My Packs.
  • Now enjoy your rewards.

Recommended | FIFA 22 PRO PLAYER TIPS AND THE 5 BEST FORMATIONS

AMD Skyesports BGMI Grand Slam sets new viewership records on Loco

Divyesh Moghe
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AMD Skyesports BGMI Grand Slam sets new viewership records on Loco

AMD Skyesports Grand Slam was the first big BGMI event of the year and on the Skyesports 2022 roadmap. The popularity of this event soared new heights as the broadcasting meta was slightly shifted. Due to the intense competition and incredible production, Grand Slam 2022 set a new record for Skyesports and Loco by reaching 159,000 concurrent viewers on this homebred streaming platform during the grand finals.

Battlegrounds Mobile India is a popular esports title in India and the competition is rising very rapidly. The grand finals of Skyesports Grand Slam 2022 was a gathering of 16 best teams in India and the entire event was very entertaining.

The matches were hyped as Team Soul, one of the fan-favorites, had a miracle run on the second day and climbed from 13th spot to the top three. They continued to dominate but teams like XO, Skylightz and others were on their tail.

The competition was nail-biting as no team had a clear lead and hence, the fight for top spot was continued until the very last match. Team XO was able to claim the victory at Grand Slam 2022.

BGMI fans received a treat in the form of Skyesports Grand Slam 2022 and the response was startling. Skyesports hit multiple landmarks during this event and broke their own viewership record each day.

The maximum number of concurrent viewers touched 159K during Skyesports Grand Slam 2022 grand finals. Talking about this feat, Founder of Loco, Anirudh Pandita said the following:

“Skyesports’ Grand Slam has become a mainstay of the Indian gaming calendar and we are thrilled that Loco continues to be the home for this property. The audience interest and levels of engagement we saw for this IP on the platform shattered all previous records. Skyesports and Loco are continuing to set new benchmarks for content partnerships, and consumers can expect high-quality entertainment from both of us through the course of the year.”

– Anirudh Pandita, Founder of Loco.

The CEO of Skyesports talked about this tournament as well and shared his valuable insights.

“The engagement numbers from the audience is a testament to the production quality of Skyesports and the growing BGMI esports audience in the country. We couldn’t be more thrilled to have broken records on India’s homegrown streaming platform, Loco, and look forward to continuing this partnership in the future. There’s a lot more coming throughout the year.”

– Shiva Nandy, CEO of Skyesports

Rajan Navani, the founder and CEO of JetSynthesys shared his views as well.

“I’d like to congratulate our dynamic team at Jet Skyesports for achieving yet another successful milestone with this Grand Slam 2022 tournament. With the tournament viewership growing rapidly, we’re happy to see the engagement of Indian audiences scaling up towards these eminent gaming titles.”

Rajan Navani, Founder and CEO of JetSynthesys shared his views as well.

Skyesports Grand Slam 2022 will be continued for Valorant after the conclusion of BGMI division. This tournament will also have ₹15 Lakhs up as the prize pool and registrations will start very soon.

Skyesports will be hosting the award ceremony of Grand Slam 2022 Season One at Taj Lands End, Mumbai to felicitate the winners of BGMI and VALORANT and other outstanding awards.

Coin Master Free Spins & Coins Links (February 21, 2022)

Aritra Patra
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0
Coin Master Free Spins & Coins Links (February 21, 2022)

In Coin Master, you have to build your own village just by spinning the slot machine. In addition, you have to collect coins to buy the upgrades. You can also attack other players’ villages to loot their coins like Clash of Clans.

However, after using your daily free spins, you need to buy coins with real money. If you don’t want to spend real money, keep reading this article to know how to get free coins using daily links.

2 million coins

Note: The links normally expire after two days. Use them as fast as you can.

Also Read | HOW BEING A PART OF ESPORTS TEAM IN COLLEGE CAN HELP IN YOUR STUDIES

Did NaVi Break Competitive Integrity by Committing Betting Fraud at IEM Katowice 2022?

Mohd Laraib
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0
Did NaVi Break Competitive Integrity by Committing Betting Fraud at IEM Katowice 2022?

IEM Katowice 2022 is one of the most revered tournaments in CSGO, second only to a CSGO Major. Along with IEM Cologne (previously ESL One: Cologne), IEM Katowice is the stage where all the players hope to play at, one day. After 2 years, the tournament returns to LAN for the year 2022, after being the last tournament that took place on LAN before the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020.

In the latest edition, IEM Katowice 2022 there have been reports of NaVi accidentally committing betting frauds, possibly due to a wrong buy. So what exactly happened that has resulted in these accusations against the best team in the world?

Natus Vincere vs FURIA, Buying M249 and Betting Fraud Accusations

During a Group Stage match between Natus Vincere and FURIA, NaVi were leading the first map by 12-2 and were in prime position to take the map. In the final round, Perfecto bought an M249 which was slightly unexpected as he already had an AK-47 in his hands. Teams sometimes get carried away and as a way of trolling, buy unusual weapons such as the Negev, shotguns, or like here, and M249. The official NaVi Twitter account even tweeted about it

This would’ve been thought of as a misbuy, or just Perfecto trolling.

 But before the game, twitter user ‘cmartforever’ had tweeted this:

“You know what? If it passes, I am making myself a tattoo with: 1) M249 2) Natus Vincere and 3) players s1mple, Boombl4, b1t, electronic, perfecto. Retweets/likes and good luck to NaVi in #IEMKatowice2022 #Maincast”

The bet was that one of the NaVi players would buy an M249, and although the bet was just $20, the odds were astronomical at 501:1.

cmartforever succeeded as NaVi did buy an m249 during their game vs FURIA and caster Leniniw, for the main cast tweeted out:

“Furiously laughed at M249 buy. Respects are flying across all universe. cmartforever, WE DID IT”

Another thing that is of interest, is that cmartforever made a bet with a bookmaker who happens to be the sponsor of NAVI. All in all, that looks like a definite breach of competitive integrity and conflict of interests. 

What will be the consequences of these betting fraud accusations against NaVi?

This isn’t the first incident of betting fraud occurring in competitive sports. Bizarre bets are always made and one such example of it is Sutton United goalkeeper Wayne Shaw. Wayne Shaw ate a pie during an FA Cup game vs Arsenal FC. One of the bookmakers offered 8:1 odds for this event occurring and Shaw admitted he was aware that a bet had been made. The goalkeeper was banned for two months and fined £375 by the Football Association.

Whether ESL or ESIC open up an investigation about this matter remains to be seen. It is safe to assume that NaVi will be penalized and will pay a fine, SHOULD Perfecto admit to knowing about the bet. Or if the investigation finds Perfecto guilty, the punishment could be even more severe, only time will tell.

The original report that first broke the news can be found here.

Also Read | ASTRALIS SEND FNATIC PACKING FROM IEM KATOWICE 2022

Gen.G part ways with koosta

Bharat Kotwani
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Gen.G part ways with koosta

Gen.G have parted ways with Kenneth “koosta” Suen, from their active Valorant division, the Korean-North American organization announced on their Twitter handle. koosta represented Gen.G for a year and a month right after he made the switch from CSGO to Riot’s first-person shooter.

Koosta initially joined Gen.G CSGO from Cloud9 alongside Damian “daps” Steele and Timothy “autimatic” Ta at the end of 2019 and went on to win their first championship at the DreamHack Anaheim beating FURIA Esports in the Grand Finals. This was followed by him and company finishing first in the North American RMR event of  ESL One: Road to Rio Major before Gen.G were forced to transfer list the roster due to the difficulties impeded by the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

On Gen.G Valorant, the team with koosta on board never got past the Challengers iterations dated right from the inaugural Stage 1 Challengers where they were denied a spot further by 100 Thieves in the third qualification event. In the Valorant Champions LCQ, they fell short of a map to beat Cloud9 in the Lower Bracket, ending their final run towards the Champions event in Berlin.

Gen.G recently were unable to qualify for the Stage 1 Challengers from both the qualifiers, forcing them to re-evaluate their options before the next Masters event which saw the Korean-American side part ways with Kenneth and his services. This ends the player’s time with Gen.G, whom he represented all the way back from 2019. 

Gen.G will now trial players for their vacated position and will play out a series of smaller events to determine the outcome and lock their roster with a permanent addition.

Gen.G are now:

  • Anthony “gMd” Guimond
  • Shawn “Shawn” O’Riley
  • Nicholas “NaturE” Garrison
  • Emir “rhyme” Muminovic
  • Chris “Elmapuddy” Tebbit (Head Coach)

Astralis Send fnatic packing from IEM Katowice 2022

Mohd Laraib
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0
Astralis Send fnatic packing from IEM Katowice 2022

Danish CSGO team Astralis beat fnatic 2-1 in their lower bracket matchup to stay alive at Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2022. Having lost to FURIA on day 1, after qualifying through the play-ins, Astralis were on the verge of elimination, once vs ENCE and now vs fnatic but bounced back both times to set up a clash with G2 for a quarters spot. 

MAP VETO

  • fnatic removed Dust2
  • Astralis removed Vertigo
  • fnatic picked Inferno
  • Astralis picked Overpass
  • fnatic removed Mirage
  • Astralis removed Nuke
  • Ancient was left over

MAP 1: Inferno (Astralis 16-11 fnatic)

MAP 2: Overpass (Astralis 6-16 fnatic)

MAP 3: Ancient (Astralis 19-15 fnatic)

fnatic started Inferno with blistering pace. ALEX called a delectable T side, just like he did vs G2 and it paid off. fnatic claimed a 6-0 lead and then went 8-1. But  the Danes found their rhythm and the run stopped there as the half ended with an 8-7 lead for fnatic, in what looked like a blowout at the start. 

After the switch it was gla1ve’s turn to show his in-game leading experience and that he did. Astralis found 8 of the first 10 rounds of the T side as fnatic crumbled. After the initial flurry the swedes found just 3 rounds and it wasn’t enough as they lost 16-11 with a good comeback from Astralis.

On astralis’ pick Overpass, fnatic hammered them. Good reads from ALEX and miraculous AWPing from country mate smooya helped fnatic to 12 CT rounds, taking an almost insurmountable lead.

They went into the T side needing just 4 and started off by taking the pistol to make it 15-3. Astralis found 3 of their own as fnatic cooled off a bit but they got the 1 necessary round needed to stomp Astralis on their own map 16-6.

The final map of Ancient was as close as it could get for the two sides. 

Both the halves were neck and neck at 8-7, with the CT’s having a slight edge each time. fnatic looked set to close it out as Astralis, who were up 14-12 on the CT side, now looked at a 15-14 trail with fnatic raring to go. But the last round went in the favor of the CT’s and the game continued.

Rifler Brollan and smooya did their best to remain in contention and pushed the game into overtime. Both the players had 30 kills each but fnatic needed a little more from KRIMZ who had just 16 frags. 

In OT Astralis were as dominant as can be and didn’t lose a single round to end the map 19-15 and set up an LB final date with G2 esports for a quarter-final spot at IEM Katowice 2022.

G2 Beat FURIA To Remain in Playoff Contention at IEM Katowice 2022

Mohd Laraib
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0
G2 Beat FURIA To Remain in Playoff Contention at IEM Katowice 2022

FURIA dropped out of IEM Katowice 2022 after a loss vs G2 esports in the lower bracket. NiKo and co. beat the Brazilians 2-1 to remain in contention for a quarter’s berth. Earlier they had lost to fnatic to drop down to the lower bracket but beat Liquid to stay alive. FURIA lost to NaVi yesterday and needed to win today if they were going to make it to the Spodek. G2 will now face Astralis in a Bo3 LB final to fight for a playoff spot.

MAP VETO

  • FURIA removed Dust2
  • G2 removed Overpass
  • FURIA picked Nuke
  • G2 picked Mirage
  • FURIA removed Ancient
  • G2 removed Vertigo
  • Inferno was left over

MAP 1: Nuke (G2 16-13 FURIA)

MAP 2: Mirage (G2 13-16 FURIA)

MAP 3: Inferno (G2 16-10 FURIA)

The G2 vs FURIA game was close throughout the series. There were no lopsided scores and either team could have taken the series had a few swing rounds gone their way. On FURIA’s pick of Nuke, G2 lost to Glocks in the second round and had to come back from a 5-1 deficit. The Kovac cousins then helped them get back into the game as they salvaged a  7-8 half. G2 then turned the tide on FURIA with a string of T rounds to lead 12-9 and then 14-10. They eventually closed it out 16-13.

We moved to G2’s home map of Mirage and their T side fell flat as arT’s and saffee’s aggression on Mid and underpass caught G2 off guard. They did find 6 T rounds but that was again down to NiKo’s heroics. After losing the pistol FURIA strung together 6 T rounds and got 7 match points. The inspired CT comeback lasted 5  rounds but the Brazilians needed just 1 and finished it with a 16-13 score yet again.

Like every good series, Inferno was the decider and G2 started off on the right foot for the first time in the series. Aleksib’s calling was on point and NiKo and m0NESY were popping heads to give G2 a 10 round T side and were in prime position for an easy win.

But arT and FURIA had plans of their own and they fought back after a pistol loss to find 3 on the trot. But G2 kept finding rounds and kept FURIA’s aggression in check. They traded 2 rounds each and G2 were already up by 4 and did the needful to end the map 16-10.

NiKo’s performance was a cut above everyone else as he posted 80 frags in the whole best of 3. The closest to him was KSCERATO with 62 but that was still almost 20 kills less than the Bosnian aim god. G2 will face Astralis in the lower bracket final in the hopes of making it to the next stage of IEM Katowice 2022.

Iceland to host the first VCT 2022 event

Bharat Kotwani
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0
Iceland to host the first VCT 2022 event

The first Valorant Champions Tour event of 2022 has been confirmed to take place in Reykjavik, Iceland with teams already in the pursuit to qualify for the Stage 1 Masters through their regional qualifiers.

The announcement first surfaced officially on the Weibo account of Valorant Esports in the Mandarin language due to Weibo being Chinese while the VCT EMEA Challengers Stage 1 Groups were underway on February 18. Valorant had initially laid a roadmap for their 2022 pro season and have successfully confirmed Iceland to be their venue to hold their first tournament of the season.

Reykjavik did host the first international VALORANT Masters event last year in May, a crowd-less gig where we witnessed Sentinels whitewash Fnatic in the Best of 5 grand finals and grab the 200,000$ prize money. 

With Dexerto having already translated the announcement for the community, we can come to the conclusion that Riot seems adamant about bringing Live-Audience tournaments back on the board after a horrendous pandemic situation that forced a plethora of events online.

Today we are excited to announce that the inaugural international event of the 2022 VALORANT Champions Tour is returning to Reykjavik from April 10-24! As host country, Iceland has hosted our recent major events brilliantly and, in the current global situation, provides the best way to ensure a successful event.

Bringing VALORANT events to live audiences in 2022 is a top priority for esports. However, Iceland remains an ideal location to host international offline competitions until it is safe to host an event that will keep fans engaged.

​​It is precisely because of our deep relationship and strong connection with Iceland that all qualifying teams are given the best guarantee of participation. In addition, Iceland’s time zone makes it easy to schedule matches for online viewers on different continents.

Till now Riot brought to us the LAN format back in action in the faces of VCT 2021: Stage 2 Masters – Reykjavík, VALORANT Masters: Berlin, and most notably the Champions where Acend laid their prominence in the Grand Finals, outing CIS heavyweights Gambit Esports. 

As far as the reports suggest, the Stage 1 Masters have been confirmed at the Laugardalshöll, Reykjavik as we await to hear from Riot and VALORANT, the venues for their future projects. 

IEM Katowice 2022: Heroic book Semi-final berth over Virtus.pro

Bharat Kotwani
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0
IEM Katowice 2022: Heroic book Semi-final berth over Virtus.pro

Heroic knock Virtus.pro down to the Quarterfinal bracket after easing out on the CIS side with a comfortable 2-0 victory. 

Match Details

  • Heroic Vs Virtus.pro
  • Location : Katowice , Poland
  • Series format : Best of 3
  • Series outcome :
  • Winner advances to Semi-finals, Loser drops to Quarter-final.

Map Veto

  • Heroic removed Dust2
  • Virtus.pro removed Nuke
  • Heroic picked Mirage
  • Virtus.pro picked Vertigo
  • Heroic removed Ancient
  • Virtus.pro removed Inferno
  • Overpass was left over

Map: Mirage (Pick and Winners : Heroic, Final Score 16-5)

Virtus.pro and Heroic started off on Mirage, where the CIS boys started on the defense, but it was Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller and company who, after winning the second round force buy, took control of proceedings early on, winning nine rounds in a row and going on to win out the half, albeit by Evgeny ‘FL1T’ Lebedev’s efforts, before switching to the defense. It was Rasmus ‘sjuush’ Beck and Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller who charged up the sites and kept on adding to the worries of Virtus.pro who never were able to reckon against the Danish strategy. 

The first half went into the favor of Heroic who although lost both the pistol rounds claimed their map pick, 16-5 and went 1-0 up in the Best of three series in a bid to qualify for the Semi-finals at Katowice. 

Map: Vertigo (Pick : Virtus.pro, Winners : Heroic, Final Score : 16-10)

Virtus.pro couldn’t kick start their map pick until nine rounds against Heroic’s reinforcements as the Danish team converted their winning rhythm from Mirage into prolonging the woes for Dzhami “Jame” Ali“ and men. It was Rasmus “sjuush” Beck who led the assault despite being on the defense, successfully letting cadiaN defuse the C4 and scrapping Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis’s breathtaking 3k to open up the site for business. 

Coming from the break, Virtus.pro seemed to plot a comeback, knocking off the Danes from marching on to the sites although the score read 14-4 thanks to the pistol round win by Heroic who tried to get the bonus round but were denied by Jame and FL1T who had set up shop on B.

VP tried to run-away with the said plotted comeback until it was Ismail “refrezh” Ali who swung up on A with two entries, helping Heroic go up 15-9. The final honors were done by René “TeSeS” Madsen who post plant, racked 3 kills as Heroic now awaits the winner of Gambit Vs Group B second-place winner. 

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