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Velocity Gaming Wins Valorant Conquerors Championship 2022

Sonu Banerjee
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Velocity Gaming Wins Valorant Conquerors Championship 2022

The action-packed Valorant Conquerors Championship 2022 came to a conclusion today with Velocity Gaming being crowned as the winners of the event.

Velocity Gaming matched up against their prime rivals Global Esports in the grand finals of the tournament and put up a stellar performance to secure the victory. 

Last year’s Valorant Conquerors Championship 2021 also saw these two teams battle it out in the grand finals, but with different outcomes.

Back then Global Esports managed to get the upper hand against VLT, who took the chance to redeem themselves in this year’s VCT. 

While VLT managed to attain victory in the end, Global Esports certainly gave them a run for their money. The former team started off the grand finals on the right foot by securing a 13-8 victory over their rivals in Breeze.

However, GE was swift to nullify their opponents’ advantage, as they secured the following game on Split quite comfortably with a 13-5 score.

The competition continued with the next game on Icebox, which Velocity Gaming won with a 13-7 score. Once again, Global Esports retaliated by taking the next game on Bind with a score of 13-8.

The decider game took place in Haven, and it was undoubtedly the most intense match of the VCC 2022 grand finals.

After exchanging rounds back and forth, the teams found themselves tied at a score of 11-11. Two swift back-to-back round wins from VLT sealed their victory in the tournament with a 13-12 score on the final map. 

Fans will be able to catch Velocity Gaming and Global Esports in action once again during the upcoming APAC Split 1 tournament that’s scheduled to start in a few weeks.

FaZe Clan wins IEM Katowice 2022

The Crew
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FaZe Clan wins IEM Katowice 2022

FaZe Clan came out victorious in a marathon of a Grand Final at Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2022.

After being down 15-7 on the first they came back with 12 on the trot to win Inferno 19-15 and did one better by winning G2’s pick of Mirage in Quintuple Overtime, 31-27 after 58 rounds of play.

On their pick of Dust2 they were in control throughout the game and won 16-14 to take the series 3-0 and with that the title of IEM Katowice 2022.

Twistzz was the star of the show for FaZe with last minute stand-in jks close behind him to help FaZe take the trophy home.

FaZe Clan Vs G2 Esports Match Details:

  • FaZe Clan Vs G2 Esports
  • Event : IEM Katowice 2022
  • Event Type : LAN
  • Location : Spodek Arena, Katowice – Poland

Map Veto: 

  1. FaZe removed Vertigo
  2. G2 removed Overpass
  3. FaZe picked Inferno
  4. G2 picked Mirage
  5. FaZe picked Dust2
  6. G2 picked Ancient
  7. Nuke was left over

Trivia

FaZe Clan once again banked on Justin “jks” Savage as Håvard “⁠rain⁠” Nygaard tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and had to stay in isolation.

Map: Inferno (Pick: FaZe Clan, Winners: FaZe Clan, Final Score: 19-15)

The Grand Finals of the IEM Katowice 2022 started off with FaZe Clan’s pick, Inferno, where Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač immediately put G2 Esports in a winning position following a double kill rifle round.

The 25-year-old Bosnian continued to rack up multi-kill rounds alongside his cousin Nemanja ‘huNter-‘ Kovač as G2 ran straight into the reinforcements set up by FaZe Clan.

Down 1-9, FaZe Clan started crawling back into the game with slower type defaults which indeed kept the ball rolling for Finn “karrigan” Anderson and his men, ending the half 4-11.

The second half of Inferno was a total shutdown by FaZe Clan as they had zero room for error, getting G2 to look destitute and listless after the latter hit match-point at 15-8 only to concede a series of rounds to reward FaZe with an Overtime who were constantly looking for an opening and a shot at redemption after a trophy-less two year period, hoping to get their first championship here at Katowice.

It was Robin “ropz” Kool who aced out the 30th round for FaZe Clan as they went on to win a flawless Overtime round over G2 and go up in the series 1-0.

Map : Mirage (Pick: G2 Esports, Winner: FaZe Clan, Final Score: 31: 27)

FaZe kicked off G2’s map pick of Mirage with the same momentum that they ended Inferno with. A pistol win gave the spark to a brilliant defence as FaZe went up 7-0 without a reply from G2, making it a run of 19 rounds on the trot, carried over from the 12 on Inferno.

A streak of three from G2 brought it back slightly, but their star NiKo was missing from action as he went 2-15 in the first half as FaZe took an 11-4 lead.

Despite a CT pistol win, G2 looked shaky and the scoreline reflected that as FaZe took over once again when the guns came out and were up by 14-6.

But G2 the Kovac cousins were not done just yet, powered by huNter-’s heroics G2 found 4 rounds, but a 2v5 from jks and ropz had G2 in shambles, especially with jks only having a p250 and 3 kills with it. 

With m0NESY showing up alongside huNter-, G2 were able to push the map into OT.

Calling it a back and forth affair would be an understatement as the teams went toe to toe every single step of the way, either side refusing to back down as the map went into double and triple OT. Both sides had chances to close the map out but refused to do so, and a 5th Overtime was needed.

G2 finally ran out of steam in the 58th round, as stand-in jks was able to secure a 1v2 on the B side to win it for FaZe Clan 31:27, and take a 2-0 lead in the Bo5.

Map: Dust2 (Pick: FaZe Clan, Winner: FaZe Clan, Final Score: 16-14 )

FaZe Clan got off to the perfect start by picking up their T pistol and converting, but the conversion was far from simple and required some heroics from Nemanja ‘huNter-‘ Kovač to get the rounds in the bank.

Although FaZe got onto a healthy lead and once the gun rounds began, G2 Esports took the game by the scruff of the neck, their proactive and varied approach to the defense picking FaZe apart.

Aleksi ‘Aleksib’ Virolainen and his troops managed to grab a few more isolated rounds, tightening up their reinforcements to keep FaZe at bay. Although karrigan’s men never got the space to maneuver around the weakened G2, they managed to claim the half under their belt, 8-7.

Coming from the break, with fire still in their bellies, G2 Esports started to trade rounds back and forth with FaZe Clan.

It was the duo of Ilya ‘m0NESY’ Osipov and huNter who squared off business with FaZe at 14-14 but the newly revamped roster seemed to have fell just 2 rounds short on the IEM Katowice 2022 championship as Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants picked on Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač which further sabotaged the A execution of G2 Esports, letting FaZe triumph for the first time at the Spodek Arena.

MATCH MVP:

Photo: HLTV

CSGO Banned in Russia: Real or Fake?

The Crew
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CSGO Banned in Russia: Real or Fake?

Residents of Ukraine woke up to the sound of gunfire and bombings on the dawn of February 24th as Russian President Vladimir Putin announced war on their western neighbours.

As the invasion continued, people throughout the world expressed their discontent and anger with Russia for what is being considered as the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two. 

The war also took a toll on the world of esports, and several renowned esports stars took it to Twitter to state their views, with some fearing for the lives of their countrymen while others wish to be with their friends and families at such troubling times. 

Following the incident, some CSGO fans even started raising petitions to ban the Russian community from the game. Posts were also seen on social media forums claiming that  Valve CEO Gabe Newell would ban Russia from CSGO and Dota 2, two of the biggest titles by the company. This leads us to question the veracity of such news. 

Gaben Banning Russia From CSGO, Dota 2?

Upon closer inspection, it’s obvious that the news of Valve banning Russia from CSGO and Dota 2 is not only absurd, but outright false information. Furthermore, it doesn’t seem like Valve will be banning Russia from these games anytime soon. 

The Reddit post linked above has since been deleted while the petition has also been removed shortly afterward. Russians are still free to play CSGO or Dota 2 as Valve hasn’t banned the country from any of their titles.

As Ukrainian CSGO legend s1mple said at the IEM Katowice 2022 earlier today, “esports is out of politics.” Fans shouldn’t let decisions made by governments hinder or circumvent the existent integrity in the world of esports. 

Valve’s co-founder Gabe Newell calls NFT “super sketchy”

Bharat Kotwani
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Valve’s co-founder Gabe Newell calls NFT “super sketchy”

Ever thought of building something unique from scratch? Ever thought that it could be listed for a price which a specific cluster of collectors would pay? Investments, nah.

You pay for it, congratulations, you own it. Yes, you heard it right, NFTs are the new meta. NFT, known as a Non-Fungible Token indeed has taken everyone by storm. They can be anything, say a piece of artwork, music or any other digital creation.

The most important question here is, “Does anyone know what they really are or how do they look?”, “Where will I get the proof of ownership?”.

This was answered by Ubisoft as a part of their Quartz initiative where they drafted an NFT platform for their title, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon.

It was indeed done when the community were rhetorical about the Blockchain technology although Quartz was dubbed as the “not-at all forced program” by the French Publishers.

Surprisingly we have something from Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of the video game developer and digital distribution company Valve who shared his opinion to eurogamer.net regarding the NFT technology in gaming. He stated,

“”The things that were being done were super sketchy,” Newell told Eurogamer. “And there was some illegal shit that was going on behind the scenes, and you’re just like, yeah, this is bad. Blockchains as a technology are a great technology, that the ways in which it has been utilized are currently are all pretty sketchy. And you sort of want to stay away from that.”

As far as we know, with NFTs scaling new heights, it is still unclear whether they would be the next face of the cryptographic assets on the globe or be just another public attraction. Mr Newell continued,

“We have the same problem when we’re accepting cryptocurrencies, 50 percent of the cryptocurrency paid for transactions were fraudulent, right? You look at that and you’re like, well, that’s bad. And then cryptocurrency volatility meant that people had no idea what price that they were actually paying. Yes, they were anchored to a cryptocurrency, but most people’s wages are not in cryptocurrencies. So they’re like, how come I just paid $498 US dollars for this product? And if the answer is, you know, that’s what happens when you have a highly volatile currency that you’re paying for. That’s like, today, you paid 99 cents for it tomorrow, you’re going to pay $498 for and people that make people super cranky. So it just wasn’t a good method. The people who are currently active in that space are not usually good actors.”

FaZe Clan decimate Heroic, to face G2 Esports in Grand Finals

Bharat Kotwani
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FaZe Clan decimate Heroic, to face G2 Esports in Grand Finals

Despite having been forced to play with a stand-in, FaZe Clan entered the Spodek with their guns blazing, only to whitewash Heroic here at the Semi-finals of the IEM Katowice 2022.

Match Details

  • FaZe Clan Vs Heroic: Best of 3 Semi-Final #2
  • Event: IEM Katowice 2022
  • Event type: LAN
  • Location: Spodek Arena, Katowice – Poland.

Map Veto

  • FaZe removed Vertigo
  • Heroic removed Dust2
  • FaZe picked Inferno
  • Heroic picked Nuke
  • FaZe removed Ancient
  • Heroic removed Mirage
  • Overpass was left over

Trivia

FaZe Clan once again banked on Justin “jks” Savage as Håvard “⁠rain⁠” Nygaard tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and had to stay in isolation.

Map 1: Inferno (Pick : FaZe Clan, Winner: FaZe Clan, Final Score: 16-11)

After an incredible performance on Friday against Gambit, FaZe Clan came into the semi-finals to face Heroic. On Inferno, the Europeans looked to bring the fight to the Danes right from the very beginning with an aggressive T side on Inferno, running away with a mammoth lead of 10-2. It all started with Helvijs ‘broky’ Saukants picking up 4 kills, crippling Heroic’s reinforcements to set up the pace for FaZe. FaZe later went on to register a ballistic side once again, credits being rolled over to the 21-year-old Latvian who clutched out two rounds in quick succession in the 10th and 11th rounds respectively although Casper “CadiaN” Møller and his men got the better of FaZe who tried to crawl back into the game, helping them finish 5-10 in the first half. 

Not much Heroic could do going into the second half despite some valiant efforts put in by Martin ‘stavn’ Lund and Ismail ‘refrezh’ Ali to open up the sites as it was the new signee Robin ‘ropz’ Kool who seemed to have ran a series of permutations and combinations with his team as FaZe secured their opponent’s map pick, 16-11 on Inferno. 

Map 2: Nuke (Pick : Heroic, Winner : FaZe Clan, Final Score : 16:5)

Nuke was a pure carbon copy of what happened on Inferno with the European mixture yet again overwhelming the Danes with an early lead only leaving the latter into shatters. With Finn “karrigan” Anderson locking up the Denmark-based squad out of the sites, he set up a perfect example of a fragging IGL who claimed a majority of real estate on Nuke, sabotaging Heroic and every trick from their Strat book. It was the duo of broky and ropz once again who set the rhythm for FaZe Clan with the Latvian pulling off havoc to help FaZe lead 10-5 in the first half. 

Heroic looked completely destitute and listless in the second half with FaZe Clan getting the better of the former, sweeping the Danes’ map pick to set up the Grand Final clash with G2 Esports. 

With that being said, FaZe Clan will now face G2 Esports in the grand finals of the IEM Katowice 2022 set to begin from 21:30 IST onwards where a Best of 5 match-ups would help determine the champions. 

Recommended | G2 Book Grand Finals Berth Over Natus Vincere

Valorant Gaia’s Vengeance Skin Bundle: Release Date, Price & More

Sonu Banerjee
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Valorant Gaia’s Vengeance Skin Bundle: Release Date, Price & More

Riot Games has recently unveiled their upcoming weapon skins bundle that’s set to be introduced in Valorant alongside the upcoming Episode 4 Act 2 update.

The next skin bundle has been named “Gaia’s Vengeance” and will feature various skins for Valorant weapons that players will be able to purchase using the in-game currency, Valorant Points (VP).

Here’s what you need to know about the upcoming Gaia’s Vengeance skin collection in Valorant. 

Gaia’s Vengeance Release Date

As mentioned earlier, the Gaia’s Vengeance bundle will be added to the game with the  Episode 4 Act 1 update around March 1, 2022.

Gaia’s Vengeance Bundle Price

The Gaia’s Vengeance skin bundle in Valorant will be priced at 7,100 VP, which translates to roughly 75 USD. 

Gaia’s Vengeance Bundle Skins

The Gaia’s Vengeance skin line will include skins for the following weapons:

  • Vandal
  • Marshal
  • Guardian
  • Ghost
  • Melee 

Alongside these skins, the bundle will also include a new gun buddy, spray and player card. 

Here are some pictures of the skins included in the upcoming Gaia’s Vengeance bundle:

G2 Book Grand Finals Berth Over Natus Vincere

Mohd Laraib
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G2 Book Grand Finals Berth Over Natus Vincere

G2 finally broke the curse of losing versus NaVi and came out on top to eliminate them from IEM Katowice 2022. Famed for losing to them in Grand Finals time after time after time, G2 reigned supreme today, powered through by huNter- and m0NESY, yet again. This is the second time that Aleksib has eliminated s1mple’s NaVi from IEM Katowice as he did the same in 2019 with ENCE. G2 will now play the winner of FaZe vs Heroic in the Grand Final tomorrow.

It should be taken into account that NaVi came into the game with a lot of mental pressure, considering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Wednesday, the fact that they even came out to play was appreciated by the casters and analysts alike. 

MAP VETO

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

MAP 1: Inferno (G2  16-12  Natus Vincere)

The semi-final started on G2’s pick of Inferno and the international roster got off to a flier with a beautiful pistol and conversion to go up 4-0. The preparation from IGL Aleksib was on point as they were able to find openings, again and again, exploiting Boombl4’s position on Banana. It was only s1mple that was able to find entries for his side and only when he did find entries did NaVi take a round. With the score at 10-2 and only s1mple positive in K/D, the CIS side turned the gears after a timeout and were finally able to string together more than 1 as they ended the half with a respectable 5-10 score.

NaVi won the T-side pistol but on the second force buy, a good read from Aleksib had NaVi walking into a stack as they lost to pistols and then the next 3 too as the score read 14-7. They traded rounds and G2 found match point at 15-8 but NaVi weren’t done just yet. Fired up by s1mple’s heroics they strung together 4 more but that was mainly due to G2’s broken economy. Once the guns came out, m0NESY took control and swiftly ended the map for his side 16-12.

MAP 2: Mirage (G2  16-13 Natus Vincere)

NaVi’s map pick started with a bang for them off the back of a pistol win and conversion to go up 3-0. But that is almost all they got in the rest of the half. m0NESY’s AWP went ham on his former organisation, helped greatly on the side with huNter- as G2 took round after round from NaVi, not even letting them plant the bomb in the next 6. The only round they got was off the back of a 1v2 from IGL Boombl4 on the B site. 

Then, m0NESY once again raised the roof and defied the odds to bring back a lost round for G2 with a magnificent 1v3. He sent shockwaves through the arena with his wrist breaking AWP shots as even NiKo had to get out of his chair and hug the 16-year-old to congratulate him on what he had just done.

That broke whatever momentum NaVi had as the half ended 11-4 in G2’s favor.

On the CT side, the s1mple show began once again as he took G2 by the horns and made short work of them everywhere they went. NaVi came back firing on all cylinders to bring the score to 11-11. The sides then traded rounds once again, courtesy of another sick 1v3 from captain Boombl4 to keep NaVi even at 12-12 and then at 13-13. 

But a series of on-point calls from Aleksib to attack the A site 3 times in a row bore fruit as G2 took the last 3 rounds to send NaVi out of the semis 16-13.

GRAND FINAL FOR G2 ESPORTS

G2 make it to the Grand Final of IEM Katowice for the second time in history after doing it the first time in 2020. This will be the third IEM Katowice grand final for NiKo (2017, 2018) and second for huNter-, JACKZ(2020), and Aleksib(2019). m0NESY will be playing his first. 

NaVi will finish in 3-4th place while G2 will play the winner of Heroic vs FaZe Clan tomorrow at 21:30 IST.

Recommended | HERE’S WHY S1MPLE’S PC WAS INSPECTED DURING IEM KATOWICE 2022

WePlay Holding Terminates Cooperation With All Partners From the Russian Federation

Mohd Laraib
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WePlay Holding Terminates Cooperation With All Partners From the Russian Federation

Ukrainian esports organisation , WePlay esports announced today that they will be ending all contracts with partners from the Russian federation.

The decision was made after Russia decided to invade Ukraine in a military operation in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. Since then over a hundred casualties of Ukrainian citizens have been reported in Ukraine.

WePlay esports had already announced yesterday that they would continue to work remotely so as to fulfil their legal obligations.

The Ukrainian office has been working remotely while the US office of WePlay remains open as usual. 

Oleh Humeniuk, CEO of WePlay esports didn’t mince his words yesterday after Ukrainian territory was attacked by Russia.

Being a Ukrainian organization, WePlay had to work closely with Russia and brands of Russian origins as well. Today, all of those ties were cut off as Ukraine continues to remain under attack.

In the statement released today, WePlay holding said 

“Due to the war of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine, WePlay Holding has terminated all partnership agreements with companies from Russia.

On February 24, the Russian Federation committed an act of attack against the territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine. Our brave country and people are fighting against Russian military troops the third day along.

In connection with these events, WePlay Holding cannot stand aside and has terminated all types of cooperation with legal entities from the Russian Federation. Starting from now we won’t advertise any brands of Russian origin in our broadcasts and for our audience. 

WePlay Holding fulfills all its obligations to other partner organizations and continues to work remotely to guarantee the safety of its employees.

The entire holding team is grateful for the words of support from the community and also calls for the support of the Ukrainian army. It’s possible via a special fundraising account of the National Bank of Ukraine. To find out more and choose another currency, visit the official website of the National Bank of Ukraine.”

WePlay will continue their operations remotely in the meantime. More about the statement can be found here. 

PUBG Mobile Esports postpones PMPL CIS 2022 indefinitely

Divyesh Moghe
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PUBG Mobile Esports postpones PMPL CIS 2022 indefinitely

PUBG Mobile Esports has indefinitely postponed the CIS Pro League 2022 Spring Split amidst the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The officials broke this news via PUBG Mobile RU’s Instagram handle. As the tension rise in the CIS region, officials have stopped the competition.

The political tension between Russia and Ukraine was rising from the last week and Russia invaded multiple territories of Ukraine yesterday. According to multiple reports, this invasion has led to numerous casualties in Ukraine and Russia is criticized by Western countries for waging the war.

PUBG Mobile Pro League is one of the biggest competitions in the global esports circuit and CIS contributes to it by sending some of their best teams like NaVi, Team Unique and Virtus Pro. The PMPL CIS 2022 has several teams with Ukrainian players onboard and looking at the global tension, the tournament is paused.

Following statement was posted by the officials:

"Dear players and viewers of PUBG MOBILE,
Due to today's events, the league administration has decided to indefinitely postpone the matches of the current week of the PMPL CIS 2022 spring split. We will monitor the development of the situation and share more accurate information about updates to the schedule as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding."

The statement was posted in Russian language so some words could be lost in the translation. It is interesting to note that the conflict was not explicitly mentioned in the post.

Also Read | NIP, ASTRALIS EXTENDS SUPPORT TO UKRAINE

How to download Free Fire Max and use old Free Fire ID to play in India

Divyesh Moghe
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How to download Free Fire Max and use old Free Fire ID to play in India

Free Fire is a popular mobile battle royale game and has millions of active players around the globe.

The Indian Govt. recently banned this game in the country with 53 other mobile applications and since then, the Indian player base is stranded.

Players that enjoyed Free Fire need not to worry because they can still play their favourite game in an alternate version.

Free Fire players can enjoy the game by switching to Free Fire Max. It is important to note that the government has only banned Free Fire and its better version, Free Fire Max is not restricted in any way. Additionally, players can directly access this game without worrying about progression.

Players can use their old Garena ID and switch from Free Fire to Free Fire Max. This migrates the entire data from one game to the other and hence, players will get their skins, progress, rank and other things in Free Fire Max as well. The only small issue is that players with lower end devices will struggle in this move as Free Fire Max consumes more space and computing resources.

Simply follow the steps given below to download Free Fire Max and enjoy the game once again:

  • Go to Google Play Store or any other third-party vendor like TapTap to download the game.
  • Once the download is complete, launch the game and login with an ID which was linked to Free Fire.
  • After successfully logging in, you can play the game with your old account intact in a new version.

Players are still reportedly playing Free Fire despite the ban by using VPN services and we urge them to follow the Indian norms and play the game which is available in the country.

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