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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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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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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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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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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. 

NaVi Secure Playoffs Spot at IEM Katowice 2022 With Win Over FURIA

Mohd Laraib
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NaVi Secure Playoffs Spot at IEM Katowice 2022 With Win Over FURIA

NaVi booked themselves a place at the Spodek Arena with a 2-0 win versus FURIA. The NaVi that struggled and almost lost versus ENCE yesterday displayed a completely new face today as they defeated the Brazilians with relative ease. Mirage was an absolute stomp, with just 2 rounds for FURIA. Nuke was closer but FURIA was never really in the game despite coming close. NaVi will face the winner of FaZe vs fnatic, to decide who goes through to the semis, and who drops to the quarters.

MAP VETO

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

MAP 1: Mirage (NaVi 16-2 FURIA)

MAP 2: Nuke (NaVi 16-12 FURIA)

We kicked off on FURIA’s pick of Mirage, not knowing what they had in store for them. Arguably the best duo in CSGO at the moment, s1mple and electronic made mincemeat of FURIA’s T side. Both of them had 15 frags each, combined with 13 from b1t on the catwalk, FURIA could do nothing but see their T side fall flat. At the end of the half, it was 13-2 in NaVi’s favor.

They dotted their i’s and crossed the t’s to see out the remaining 3 and blow FURIA out of the water with a 16-2 stomp.

Nuke, where NaVi were humbled by ENCE and handed their biggest loss, was picked by the reigning Major Champions yet again to show what they were made of. They went on a tear with brilliant executes on the A site again and again to break FURIA every time they had the economy on their side. A 10-2 start was somewhat salvaged by FURIA, courtesy of KSCERATO who outdid everyone on the server. FURIA went into the T side with a 10-5 deficit.

A pistol win saw FURIA cut the lead down to 2 rounds but once we moved to the full buy rounds, all of NaVi started fragging out. A string of 4 meant NaVi sat comfortably at 14-8. KSCERATO proved yet again that he wasn’t done and found entries, again and again, to help FURIA to 3 more on the trot. But NaVi’s CT side wasn’t gonna crumble so easily and they did their due diligence and ended an inspired T side from the Brazilians at 16-12.

KSCERATO outraged everyone on the server with 34 kills in just 28 rounds of play. The next best was s1mple with 22.

SPODEK ARENA FOR NATUS VINCERE

NaVi confirmed their spot at the Spodek and will play FaZe or fnatic for a chance to make it to the semis straightaway.

FURIA will have another chance to make it to the playoffs as they will play G2 in the lower bracket for a chance at survival.

Astralis Take Down ENCE to Stay Alive at IEM Katowice 2022

Mohd Laraib
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Astralis Take Down ENCE to Stay Alive at IEM Katowice 2022

Astralis beat ENCE 2-1 in the lower bracket to eliminate the international roster from IEM Katowice 2022. ENCE almost beat NaVi yesterday, battering them on Nuke in the process but a second consecutive close loss sees them bow out of IEM Katowice. Astralis started with a loss on Mirage but fought back on Overpass and Ancient with huge impact from blameF and k0nfig respectively, on the 2 maps.

MAP VETO

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

MAP 1: Mirage (Astralis  16-19 ENCE)

MAP 2: Overpass (Astralis 16-12 ENCE )

MAP 3: Ancient (Astralis 16-13 ENCE)

We kicked off on ENCE’s pick of Mirage and they were ready to exploit Astralis’ inexperience on the map since it was their original permaban for more than 2 years. The danes won the pistol but ENCE had the spoils when the guns came out, they won 3 consecutive rounds, thrice in the half to end with 9 T rounds. Astralis did manage 2 consecutive rounds twice but they were never in control.

On the T side, Astralis started well and a vintage 1v3 Ace clutch from Xyp9x saw them even the score out.

But ENCE didn’t back down and with AWPer hades taking over the map, Astralis ran ragged. Both the sides went back and forth and Astralis came back from 15-12 down to take it to overtime. But the comeback ended there as they couldn’t do the same in OT and won only 1 round while ENCE took the 4 needed to close the map 19-16.

Overpass started, this time with Astralis in control and blameF leading the charge. A 4-0 start quickly turned into a 4-6 trail as IGL Snappi started reading his Danish counterpart pretty well. But out of the last 5, the Danes won 4 rounds to secure at least a 1 round lead going into the next half.

CT side Overpass has been blameF’s bread and butter even when he was on Complexity. He was no different today as after the initial flurry of rounds thanks to the pistol, ENCE found only a round here and there. He locked down the A site with ease, racking up 15 kills in each half to win the game for his side 16-12, with a 1.68 rating to boot.

Ancient was the deciding map and it was close yet again. A fine start from ENCE was quickly mopped up by Astralis as the 5-2 lead was followed by an  8-5 scoreline. Lucky and k0nfig  on the A site/donut position and blameF on the B site locked ENCE out of the half after a slow start. 

A 9-6 half was followed by a force buy battle between ENCE and Astralis. spinx and co. finally strung more than 1 together and were back at even keeling at 11-11.  It was now a different Former complexity gaming members turn to step up as k0nfig took ENCE by the horns, entry onto the A site again and again as he went 19-10  on the T side to help find the much-needed 16 rounds for his side. 

Astralis were made to sweat as the game was close throughout but they held on and won out the game, with good calls from gla1ve to end Ancient 16-13.

NO SPODEK ARENA FOR ENCE

ENCE are out of IEM Katowice 2022 in 13-16th alongside OG, Copenhagen Flames, and Team Liquid. Astralis live another day and will play the loser of FaZe vs fnatic tomorrow.

Analysing Why Singapore Based Garena’s Free Fire Was Banned In India 

Prateek Jain
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Analysing Why Singapore Based Garena’s Free Fire Was Banned In India 

Garena Free Fire, one of the leading mobile battle royale games in India was banned in India on February 14 along with 53 other apps by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The app was already removed a day before (i.e. 13th February) on both iOS App Store and Google Play Store even before the news of the ban was made public.  

Hours after the news of the ban went public, Garena quickly issued a public statement and said:

“We are aware that Free Fire is currently unavailable in the Google Play and iOS app stores in India and that the game is currently not operable for some users in the country. We are working to address this situation, and we apologize to our users for any inconvenience.”

Sea Ltd is from Singapore, What’s the Chinese connect?

Garena is a Singapore-based gaming studio, whose parent company, SEA Ltd. is also a Singapore based e-commerce giant. Now the question arises, “Why was Free Fire banned?”

The reason the Government Of India issued a banned for Free Fire is that it posed a “threat to national security” due to its link to China. But now another question arises, “Free Fire is developed by Singapore based game studio, why did the GOI ban the game?”

For starters, the ban is issued due to Chinese links of Sea Ltd. As per Sea Ltd. shareholding, 18.7% of the company is owned by Tencent Holdings Ltd. aka Tencent. Just a month prior to the ban Tencent held 21.3% of the company which was brought down to 18.7% by Tencent in a move to raise $3 billion by selling 14.5 million shares at $208 each in Sea Ltd. 

Since other apps that had links to Tencent were banned previously, the Ministry Of Home Affairs included the game in its list of banned apps.

Previously, the ministry had alleged in a statement that some apps were engaged in “stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India.” As a result, the apps were banned “in the interest of sovereignty of India, defense of India, and security of the state.”

Questions on Ownership of Free Fire

Another point to note is the current owner and founder of Sea Ltd originates from China. Forrest Li, a Singaporean billionaire businessman and the founder of Garena and Shopee, both parts of Sea Limited was born and brought up in Tianjin, China.

Forrest Li later migrated to Singapore shortly after earning a degree in engineering from Shanghai Jiaotong University, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

While it is certain that the cause of the ban wasn’t the Chinese origin of Forrest Li until the ownership of his company, Sea Ltd lies in Tencent’s hand the ban might not be reversed soon.

Although it is possible that Garena might take the PUBG route and launch an India only version of Free Fire after forming a subsidiary company with no Chinese link and investment. 

G2 2-0 Team Liquid To Eliminate Them From IEM Katowice 2022

Mohd Laraib
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G2 2-0 Team Liquid To Eliminate Them From IEM Katowice 2022

G2 esports defeated Team Liquid in a quick 2-0 series to stay alive at IEM Katowice 2022 after they were handed an upset at the hands of fnatic yesterday. Team Liquid’s run at Katowice ended with this loss, having already lost their opening Bo3 to FaZe Clan. NiKo stole the show once again, and this time there wasn’t any lack of support from m0NESY or huNter-

MAP VETO

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

MAP 1: Vertigo (Team Liquid 8-16 G2)

MAP 2: Mirage (Team Liquid 5-16 G2)

Team Liquid decided to test G2 on Vertigo, a map IGL Aleksib hasn’t played an official on, ever. G2 started in fiery form winning the pistol and conversion but a Hero AK47 from EliGE in round 3 caught them off guard and they lost the next 2 rounds. With the score at 2-2, G2 turned up the gears, led by NiKo’s heroics on A ramp and m0NESY on the AWP. Both the superstars had a combined 32 kills to find 10 for G2. Liquid had a decent resurgence towards the end after being down 9-2, they fought to bring it to 10-5.

The T side was where Aleksib’s tactics would be tested, and although they lost the pistol they won the force buy and converted the next 2 to sit comfortably at 13-6. Liquid fought back with 2 more rounds but G2 did the needful to get to 16-8.

Mirage started the same way for G2, this time on the T side. They lost the pistol but bounced back with 5 on the trot. Team Liquid could never find 2 consecutive rounds as G2 had total control with their mid takes and NiKo entry on the A-site. This time was supported by his cousin huNter-, who had 21 frags to complement NiKo’s 18 in the first half to give G2 an 11-4 half.

Liquid won the pistol yet again, but they lost all the rounds that followed, giving G2 a comfortable 16-5 win. 

STILL HOPES TO MAKE IT TO THE SPODEK FOR G2

After a dominant victory today, G2 remain in contention for a playoffs spot at the Spodek Arena in Katowice. They will face the loser of the NaVi vs FURIA matchup which starts at 20:30 IST today. 

Team Liquid meanwhile, have to go home in 13-16th position alongside Copenhagen Flames and OG.

14-year-old boy dies by suicide in Mumbai, police suspect gaming addiction

The Crew
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14-year-old boy dies by suicide in Mumbai, police suspect gaming addiction

A 14-year-old boy died by suicide in Central Mumbai’s Hindmata area on Sunday. The Mumbai police suspected the addiction of online Free Fire which could lead to the boy’s suicide. The game was banned recently by the government of India but the boy was still playing the game.

According to the police, the boy’s father, working in a private construction company as a designer, received a call from his son on Sunday evening at 7.22 pm. Since he was traveling with his wife, he could not receive the call. When the father called back a few minutes later, the boy didn’t respond to his phone calls.

After returning to the house, he found the boy’s room locked from inside. The father unlocked the door to find that the boy died by suicide. The police were informed about the incident and the body was sent to KEM Hospital for post-mortem.

Vijay Patil, the deputy commissioner of police, said, “Preliminary probe has revealed that the boy was addicted to Free Fire online game, but what exactly triggered him to take the extreme step is still a mystery.”

The police are investigating for the reason that could have led the boy to take this step. Although the parents and school denied any game addiction within the boy and that he was a bright student and fond of cricket.

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