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Riot Games Claims Vanguard Cannot Brick Users’ PCs Following Wave of Backlash

Sonu Banerjee
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Riot Games Claims Vanguard Cannot Brick Users’ PCs Following Wave of Backlash

Riot Games has claimed that Vanguard, Valorant’s controversial anti-cheat, “would not and cannot” brick users’ PCs or affect system functionality in any way, following a wave of backlash that the company received as a result of one of its latest X posts.

The X post in question, which garnered immense backlash from the gaming community, saw Riot seemingly joking about bricking cheaters’ PCs, congratulating them on becoming “owners of a brand new $6k paperweight.”

The post sparked some serious frustration within the gaming community over Riot’s increasingly invasive anti-cheat measures, with many raising concerns about the implications of granting a game company the power to modify system firmware.

A few hours later, Riot Games walked back the post, clarifying that Vanguard is not capable of bricking users’ PCs in any way.

Riot Games’ Response to Vanguard’s PC Bricking Rumors

In a series of follow-up posts, Riot Games addressed the backlash directly, clarifying that Vanguard does not physically damage hardware or impact any software outside of its own games.

The company explained that the “paperweight” comment was specifically referring to DMA cheat devices that can no longer be used in Valorant, not users’ PCs as a whole.

For the unaware, DMA-based cheats are among the more sophisticated cheating methods, as they attempt to bypass traditional software detection by accessing memory directly through external hardware. Riot’s updated Vanguard essentially renders these devices useless within its titles.

“The ‘paperweight’ comment was about VALORANT cheat devices that no longer work in VALORANT,” Riot said in a statement, “No hardware is being damaged and no other functionalities are impacted.”

Riot also noted that users affected by the change who wish to continue using their DMA device in other titles can simply disable IOMMU in their BIOS settings. However, those devices will remain blocked from Riot’s games regardless.

Valorant Masters London 2026 Participants Revealed: All Qualified Teams

Sonu Banerjee
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Valorant Masters London 2026 Participants Revealed: All Qualified Teams

With the lower bracket semifinal of VCT 2026: Americas Stage 1 reaching its conclusion, we finally have our full list of teams that have managed to qualify for Valorant Masters London.

For the uninitiated, Valorant Masters London 2026 is set to be the game’s second major international event of the year, taking place from June 6 to June 21 and featuring 12 elite teams competing over a total prize pool of a whopping $1,000,000 USD and crucial VCT Points that will pave the road to Champions Shanghai.

The upcoming event will see three teams from each of the following four regions: APAC, EMEA, Americas, and China.

In this article, we’ll take a look at all the Valorant teams that have qualified for this prestigious event.

All Valorant Masters London 2026 Teams

The twelve teams set to compete at Valorant Masters London 2026 are:

Americas

  • Leviatán
  • G2 Esports
  • NRG

China

  • EDward Gaming
  • XLG Esports
  • Dragon Ranger Gaming

EMEA

  • Team Heretics
  • Team Vitality
  • FUT Esports

Pacific

  • Paper Rex
  • FULL SENSE
  • Global Esports

Where to Watch Valorant Masters London 2026?

Fans will be able to catch all the action that unfolds during Valorant Masters London 2026 by tuning into the official livestreams of the event via Twitch or YouTube.

Pick’Ems for the event are also expected to unlock within the next few days, offering various rewards to participating players, including an exclusive Title and Gun Buddies.

Falcons to Face Legacy in CS Asia Championship Grand Finals

Sarjyo Mukherjee
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Falcons to Face Legacy in CS Asia Championship Grand Finals

The semi-finals of the CS Asia Championship have delivered in aces and spades with back-to-back action-packed matches that gave us our finalists, who will be fighting for the lion’s share of a million dollars.

Semi Finals 1

Falcons’ starting poorly led to MOUZ running away with the offense, leading to a heavily one-sided map to open up the series. Falcons recovered on Dust2, with a 9-3 start in the first half and an effortless close to the game, leading to a levelled scoreline as the series headed to the third and final map. A 10-2 start on the defense of Nuke put the Falcons in a prime position to close out the game, only for MOUZ to start mounting a comeback on the defense. However, the massive lead garnered by the Falcons in the first half helped them close out the game with a 13-10 scoreline.

Semi Finals 2

Despite Legacy being the favorites, MIBR managed to keep them at bay in the first half as they dominated with a 9-3 scoreline before the scoreline was levelled, pushing the game to OT. In overtime, Legacy remained flawless to take away the first map from the edge of defeat. Following a tough win on the opening map, Legacy dominated the second map, opening on their defense with a 10-2 lead, leaving no room for a comeback as MIBR got eliminated, having managed only 3 rounds in the second half.

It goes without saying that this is the Falcons’ tournament to lose, and should they do so, it would be hard to consider them among the favorites for the Major in the coming month. Karrigan was brought in to help the team in their playoff woes, and so far, he has guided the team to back-to-back finals. Therefore, the only question that remains is whether he can bring their trophy drought to an end.

Riot Reportedly Remotely Disabling Users’ Hardware After Latest Vanguard Update

Sonu Banerjee
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Riot Reportedly Remotely Disabling Users’ Hardware After Latest Vanguard Update

Riot Games has once again ignited some serious controversy among gamers with its latest Vanguard update, rendering Valorant’s anti-cheat system capable of permanently disabling users’ hardware, and the company is openly celebrating it.

The drama kicked off after Riot confirmed reports of yesterday’s Vanguard update disabling a wave of DMA (Direct Memory Access) cheating devices.

Riot Games’ official X handle posted a photo of the bricked devices, known as Heino 2, with the caption: “Congrats to the owners of a brand new $6k paperweight.”

New Vanguard Update Can Brick Cheaters’ Hardware

DMA cheating devices work by reading game memory from a secondary piece of hardware plugged into the motherboard, keeping the actual cheat software invisible to any anti-cheat running on the main system.

Vanguard’s new update counters this by going after the NVMe and SATA drive firmware that these devices rely on, corrupting it on detection so the DMA card can no longer talk to the host machine at all.

The damage doesn’t stop when you close the game either. Some users reported that the firmware remained broken even after fully uninstalling Vanguard, leaving a complete operating system reinstall as the only path to recovery, not to mention that the process carries risks of permanent data loss.

This could have been possible through Riot’s partnerships with major motherboard manufacturers, including MSI, ASRock, and ASUS, which could have given Vanguard the low-level access it needed to identify and target these devices.

Community Reactions

The reaction within the gaming community to this Vanguard update has been rather mixed. While some users applauded Riot for taking the battle against cheaters to the next level, a lot of users have raised some serious concerns about the precedent it sets, with some even uninstalling the game entirely in revolt.

For the uninitiated, Vanguard runs at the kernel level on your PC, which is already deeper than most software. Critics argue that giving a game company the power to modify firmware crosses a line that shouldn’t be crossed, even against cheaters and other bad actors.

The worry isn’t just about cheaters either; it’s about what happens when the system gets it wrong. A false positive on a legitimate player’s machine could easily result in wiped data and a dead OS.

Whether Riot’s boldness here is seen as genius or recklessness may ultimately depend on how long it takes for that first wrongful brick to happen.

CS Asia Championship 2026 Quarter-Final Recap

Sarjyo Mukherjee
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CS Asia Championship 2026 Quarter-Final Recap

The group stage, along with the quarter-finals, has concluded for the CS Asia Champ 2026, and we have the teams who will be setting up for a clash in the semi-finals in China. Day 3 of the event saw the group stage conclude with the Lower Bracket matches, followed by a quarter-finals clash that put two teams against earlier qualified ones in a match for a spot in the Semi-Finals.

What went down

MOUZ, going through the lower bracket, managed to make their way to the finals in Group A, where they secured back-to-back 2-0 wins against paiN and B8, which puts them in a clash against Falcons in the semi-finals. With the Falcons being heavily favored, MOUZ can cause an upset, given their team is relatively unknown in terms of playstyle.

Legacy, on the other hand, dropped to the lower bracket after losing to Falcons. However, despite losing their own map pick, they edged out a close win against MongolZ to secure a spot in the semi-finals against MIBR. Despite both teams being evenly matched in terms of head-to-head results, one might build a case for Legacy to reach the finals given their recent run of form.

Semi-Final Fixtures

MatchTimeFormatTeams
Semi-final 110:30 SaturdayBO3Falcons vs MOUZ
Semi-final 213:30 SaturdayBO3MIBR vs Legacy
Final11:30 SundayBO5TBD vs TBD

Falcons are heavily favored against MOUZ to go through, while Legacy, on the other hand, are the favorites to take it away. Keeping the predictions to the side, upsets are common on the big stage, and with none of the teams showing anything promising in recent times, it would be hard to favor one. Only time will tell who goes through, but we are bound to see two back-to-back exciting matches of Counter-Strike tomorrow.

CS2’s New Token System Explained: Valve Kills Sticker Capsules

Sonu Banerjee
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0
CS2’s New Token System Explained: Valve Kills Sticker Capsules

In the latest CS2 update, Valve has completely overhauled how players buy stickers and souvenirs during Major events, and it’s easily the biggest shake-up to the system since stickers were first introduced to the game.

With IEM Cologne 2026 kicking off the new era, here’s everything you need to know about the new token system in CS2.

Valve Kills Tournament Capsules in New CS2 Update

The new CS2 update, ahead of the IEM Cologne 2026 major, saw Valve killing off capsules entirely.

For the uninitiated, during previous Major events, players were able to buy tournament capsules and open them in hopes of getting the stickers they wanted. Valve argued that players weren’t particularly fans of this method.

The company also pointed out that certain countries have completely banned lootboxes, and players in those regions wouldn’t have been able to purchase the capsules.

“In the past we shipped team and player autograph stickers in capsules,” the CS2 devs said in a statement. “While this approach was popular, we’ve heard feedback that players might prefer to purchase stickers directly. Additionally, players in certain regions cannot purchase sticker capsules. So we’re exploring alternatives that allow all players to participate.”

New CS2 Token System Explained

Valve has replaced tournament capsules in CS2 with a far more transparent system.

In place of capsules, there’s a token-based shop system in the game where every team sticker, player autograph, and all its variants are available to buy directly at any time during the event. No more gambling on what you get.

Stickers are purchased using tokens, which can be obtained at a fixed rate of 100 tokens per $1. You purchase these tokens directly and redeem them for any sticker you want. Simply select the sticker you want, choose the variant you’re looking for, add it to your cart, buy the tokens needed, and redeem.

CS2 IEM Cologne 2026 Sticker Pricing and Price Protection

Every sticker in the new CS2 Major shop has a price set by relative demand. When one sticker sells more compared to the others, it sees a price increase, while the stickers that are less in demand get their price reduced. These sticker prices don’t update in real time, but refresh periodically, around once every few hours, with players browsing the store receiving a warning before the update hits.

There’s also a price protection mechanic built in. If any sticker you bought drops by more than 25 tokens within 24 hours after your purchase, you get the difference back automatically.

CS2 IEM Cologne 2026 Viewer Pass and Pick’Ems

Similar to other Majors, two versions of the IEM Cologne 2026 Viewer Pass are available for purchase: the standard pass at $9.99 and a bundle with 900 bonus tokens for a 5% discount. Activating either gives you the Cologne 2026 Major Challenge Coin, which starts at Bronze and can be upgraded to Silver, Gold, or Diamond through the Pick’Em Challenge. Each upgrade tier awards 300 tokens.

These tokens can also be used to convert any skin you own into a Souvenir skin.

Yes, you read that right. Instead of implementing Souvenir packages for the IEM Cologne 2026, Valve has completely changed the method for players to get Souvenir skins in CS2.

You can take any normal or Souvenir quality weapon in your inventory, select a completed match and one of the players, and get your weapon back in Souvenir quality with gold team, autograph, and map stickers applied. This will consume tokens based on the demand for the specific gold team and autograph stickers involved, and the rarity of the weapon.

With IEM Cologne 2026 just around the corner, there’s a lot more to look into, and our full update breakdown has you covered.

Valve Adds Souvenir Trade-Ups, Cologne 2026 Stickers, Pick’Ems, and More Changes with its Latest Update

Sonu Banerjee
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0
Valve Adds Souvenir Trade-Ups, Cologne 2026 Stickers, Pick’Ems, and More Changes with its Latest Update

With the IEM Cologne 2026 Major less than two weeks away, Valve has officially shipped out a new update to CS2 featuring tournament Pick’Ems, Major Stickers, and a bunch of other crucial changes.

While the new team stickers and player autographs steal the spotlight in the latest CS2 update, it has also introduced a key change to trade-ups that could have a huge impact on the game’s skin market.

In this article, we’ll go through everything you need to know about the May 21 CS2 update.

CS2 IEM Cologne 2026 Stickers and Pick’Ems

Similar to previous CS2 Majors, Valve has added the Viewer Pass and Pick’Ems for IEM Cologne 2026 before the event officially kicks off on June 2nd.

Players can participate in the IEM Cologne 2026 Pick’Ems without purchasing the Viewer Pass, but they won’t be able to make progress on their tournament coins on successful predictions unless they get the pass.

As usual, players who get the Viewer Pass will get access to unlimited graffiti for any team throughout the duration of the event, alongside Tokens to get the team stickers, player autographs, and even souvenir weapons, which we’ll talk more about later.

CS2 IEM Cologne 2026 Tokens Explained

In keeping with Valve’s broader move away from lootbox mechanics in CS2, the company has refrained from adding tournament capsules or souvenir packages to the IEM Cologne 2026 Major.

Instead, players will be able to purchase Tokens to directly purchase any variant of any team sticker or player autographs.

“In the past we shipped team and player autograph stickers in capsules,” the CS2 devs said in a statement. “While this approach was popular, we’ve heard feedback that players might prefer to purchase stickers directly. Additionally, players in certain regions cannot purchase sticker capsules. So we’re exploring alternatives that allow all players to participate.”

Upon opening the IEM Cologne 2026 shop, players will be greeted with a brand-new UI containing a list of all the tournament stickers available for purchase via tokens. Tokens can be purchased at a rate of 100 Tokens per $1 USD.

Simply pick the team or the player sticker that you wish to purchase, select a variant, and finish the checkout process to have the sticker added to your CS2 inventory.

Note that the prices of all stickers depend on relative demand, as confirmed by Valve. If one sticker is purchased disproportionately more than another, its price will go up, and the other sticker’s price will go down.

CS2 Souvenir Trade-Ups

Lastly, one of the most important changes in the latest CS2 update that is certain to have an impact on the skin market is the change to Souvenir skins.

As a result of Souvenir Packages being removed, Valve has given players the ability to convert skins they already own into Souvenirs in exchange for a certain amount of Tokens that vary based on the demand for the specific gold team and autograph stickers involved, and the rarity of the weapon.

This means that if you have an AWP Dragon Lore, you’ll be able to convert it into a Souvenir Dragon Lore in exchange for Tokens.

Additionally, Souvenir weapon skins will now be eligible for trade-up contracts. They can be used alongside normal quality items, and all Souvenir attributes will be removed from any of the items selected. The result of a Trade Up Contract will be a single normal item of a quality one higher, from a collection of all of the items selected for exchange.

Fans can check out the detailed patch notes for the new CS2 update for a full list of all the changes.

Fortnite Crew to Get Disney+ for Free

Aritra Patra
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Fortnite Crew to Get Disney+ for Free

Leaker HYPEX found a text string inside Fortnite’s game files that reads, “Confirm your Epic user and redeem your Crew Benefit from Disney Plus.” That string points to one thing. Disney+ is coming to Fortnite Crew as a membership benefit.

HYPEX is regarded as a reliable source for Fortnite leaks, and the phrasing of the in-game text leaves little room for interpretation. It is not yet clear whether the perk will be the ad-free version of Disney+ or the cheaper ad-supported tier. More details are expected to arrive soon.

Who Gets It

The Disney+ benefit will not be limited to any single platform. It looks set to be available to all Fortnite Crew subscribers across all platforms, since the deal is directly with Epic Games.

There is one group that may benefit twice over. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers already receive Fortnite Crew as part of that membership, which means they could also end up with Disney+ included through the same chain.

What Fortnite Crew Already Offers

Fortnite Crew costs $11.99 per month. At that price, subscribers get full access to the Battle Pass, OG Pass, LEGO Pass, and Music Pass, plus a monthly Crew Pack cosmetic bundle and 1,000 V-Bucks. Adding Disney+ on top of that would make the subscription considerably more appealing for casual players who might not value V-Bucks alone.

The Epic-Disney Relationship Behind This

This deal does not come out of nowhere. Disney invested $1.5 billion to acquire an equity stake in Epic Games as part of a multiyear collaboration to build a games-and-entertainment universe connected to Fortnite. That universe is planned to include content from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and Avatar.

On the gaming side, the partnership has already produced several crossovers. The latest included fresh Star Wars content in LEGO Fortnite Odyssey and Fortnite Creative, with popular maps like Droid Tycoon among the additions. A Disney+ perk would be the first time that the relationship moves off the game entirely and into a streaming benefit for subscribers.

Full details of the deal have not been announced yet, but the timing is notable. Fortnite is approaching the end of its current season and is set to launch Chapter 7, Season 3 in the coming weeks. Chapter 7, Season 3 is currently expected to release on June 6, 2026. An announcement tied to that rollout would make sense given the scale of what is expected.

GTA 6 Trailer 3 Release Date Window Confirmed by Take-Two CEO

Aritra Patra
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0
GTA 6 Trailer 3 Release Date Window Confirmed by Take-Two CEO

Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has put a lid on the growing speculation around GTA 6 Trailer 3. In interviews following the company’s Q4 fiscal 2026 earnings call, Zelnick confirmed that Rockstar’s marketing for Grand Theft Auto 6 will not begin until summer 2026. That means fans waiting for a third trailer in May are out of luck.

What Strauss Zelnick Actually Said

Speaking to Variety after the earnings call, Zelnick was direct: “So the next few weeks I don’t think it’ll be summertime yet, but when it’s summertime, Rockstar expects to start marketing GTA 6.”

When pressed on what he meant by “summertime,” he clarified that it will be late June or early July. That puts the GTA 6 Trailer 3 release window somewhere between June 25 and early July 2026 at the earliest.

He made clear that the next few weeks are off the table. A May trailer is not happening, at least not through official Rockstar channels.

GTA 6 Release Date Is Not Moving

On the earnings call itself, Zelnick also doubled down on the November 19, 2026, launch date. He told investors, “I think reiterating November 19 as a launch day today is probably a positive. I think we’ve been really clear that we’re releasing the title on November 19.”

Take-Two projected $8.2 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2027, with the GTA 6 launch in Fall 2026 being the main driver behind that figure.

To put the scale of the franchise in context: GTA V has sold close to 230 million units worldwide, while Red Dead Redemption 2 has reached 85 million units, making it the third best-selling game of all time.

GTA 6 Pre-Orders Are Also Tied to Summer Marketing

Zelnick confirmed that GTA 6 pre-orders will go live when marketing starts. Based on his answer about the trailer’s release window, pre-orders will also likely go live in late June or early July 2026.

GTA 6’s price has also not been announced. Zelnick confirmed pricing will be revealed alongside marketing and pre-orders. So the price reveal, Trailer 3, and pre-order launch are all expected to arrive together in the same marketing push.

Zelnick also noted that GTA 6’s marketing will not follow the same approach as GTA V, though he did not elaborate on what Rockstar plans to do differently this time.

For now, the wait continues. Late June is the earliest realistic date to expect new GTA 6 content.

Esports Nations Cup Rankings and Team Builder Go Live Ahead of Riyadh Debut

Satyam Kumar
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Esports Nations Cup Rankings and Team Builder Go Live Ahead of Riyadh Debut

The road to Riyadh just got a structure. The Esports Foundation has officially launched the Esports Nations Cup Rankings and a new interactive Team Builder platform, locking in the qualification system for the inaugural Esports Nations Cup (ENC) 2026 this November.

The dual rollout finally answers the biggest question hanging over the world’s first major nation-based esports tournament: how exactly do countries earn their seat at the table? The short version — performance points from major club tournaments now decide direct invites.

What the ENC Rankings Actually Track

The ENC Ranking is built around club-based competitive results. Whenever a team finishes inside a points-earning bracket at a designated tournament, every active player on that roster pockets the full point haul individually. Substitutes don’t qualify. Those player-level points are then aggregated under each player’s nationality to produce a national score.

Each country or territory submits an official roster, and the system takes the highest-scoring lineup from that pool — the top five names for a 5v5 title, top four for a 4v4, and top three for a 3v3 format. That total becomes the nation’s score on the global board. Rankings refresh at the end of every month once submitted rosters are confirmed, and they keep moving through qualifying events until each title hits its individual cut-off date.

The Esports Foundation has framed this as the backbone of direct invitations.

The Team Builder Puts Fans in the Driver’s Seat

Alongside the rankings system, the ENC Team Builder is now live on the official ENC website. The tool lets fans put together hypothetical national lineups across team-based titles and compare them across regions.

It’s a transparency play as much as a fan-engagement hook. Deputy CEO and COO of the Esports Foundation Mike McCabe said the dual launch is about giving players a clear understanding of what it takes to qualify, while letting communities engage with the qualification race in a more hands-on way.

In practical terms, it means anyone can simulate whether their country’s best PUBG, Valorant, or Dota 2 players actually stack up against the global field — using the same point math the foundation uses for its real invitations.

A Tournament Built Around 16 Titles

The ENC 2026 will run in Riyadh from November 2 to November 29, 2026, and feature 16 game titles spanning shooters, MOBAs, fighters, racing, sports, and chess. The confirmed lineup includes Counter-Strike 2, Valorant, League of Legends, Dota 2, PUBG: Battlegrounds, PUBG Mobile, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Honor of Kings, Apex Legends, EA Sports FC, Rainbow Six Siege, Rocket League, Street Fighter 6, Fatal Fury, Trackmania, and Chess.

Each title carries its own qualification timeline. The PUBG: Battlegrounds cut-off date is locked for June 7, 2026, with 12 direct invitations allocated through ENC Ranking standings. League of Legends will hand out 16 direct invites with a June 14, 2026 cut-off, while Valorant also gets 16 direct slots before its own deadline.

Once a title hits its cut-off, the standings lock and the nations sitting in the qualifying band get their invitations. Anyone else routes through regional qualifiers, wildcards, or solidarity slots.

$45 Million Backing and a Biennial Cadence

The Esports Foundation has committed $45 million to ENC 2026 overall, including a $20 million prize pool distributed directly to players and coaches across all 16 titles. Prize payouts follow a flat structure — $50,000 per player for first place, $30,000 for second, and $15,000 for third — with coaches earning the same amount as players in the same position.

The remaining funds support club release incentives and a development fund aimed at growing local esports ecosystems through national team partners. NODWIN Gaming has been named India’s National Team Partner, handling local qualifiers, coach coordination, and publisher engagement.

The Esports Foundation also confirmed it has approved the first 730 coaches submitted through National Team Partnerships, with player registration now officially open across participating clubs. The tournament will run on a biennial cadence, with the host city rotating in future editions.

What’s Next on the ENC Calendar

With rankings now live and the Team Builder open to the public, the next major checkpoints are the title-specific cut-off dates. Qualifying events accelerate through the summer, with most direct invites finalised by mid-June or shortly after, depending on the title.

The full schedule, bracket structures, and seeding for individual games are expected to roll out in the coming weeks through the Esports Foundation’s official channel. Over 100,000 players across more than 100 markets are expected to chase qualification before November.

For now, the launch of the Esports Nations Cup Rankings transforms a vague promise into a working leaderboard. The race for Riyadh is no longer abstract — it’s measurable, trackable, and very much underway. Keep an eye on Liquipedia’s ENC tracker for the latest standings as cut-off dates approach.

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