One of the world’s greatest Esports organization, FaZe Clan announced FaZe5, an open recruitment challenge for aspiring gamers to join the prestigious organization.
The challenge registered 200,000 aspiring gamers and content creators that was shortlisted into 100, followed by 20 before finally announcing the winner. Given the outcome of this challenge, it is natural for it to attract a heavy influx of contestant who want to be a part of the FaZe brand. One interesting talking point being that the challenge is not limited to gamers however, content creators and editors are also welcomed with open arms.
FaZe 5 Winners
First FaZe5 winner announced –
Meet the first 2020 FaZe Clan Recruitment Challenge winner…
On December 27, Faxuty was welcomed in to FaZe Clan after he came first in the recruitment challenge. Faxuty didn’t make it this far out of thin air. He streamers religiously on Twitch that earned him near about 50000 subs with a Twitch partnership and maintains a healthy YouTube channel which isn’t as active as his Twitch.
FaZe5 top-20 finalists
Proze – 22 years old
HunterTV – 20
Conrady – 20
Zenon – 9
Lough – 14
Zogoro – 22
Cannaestia – 35
K1ng – 14
Montoya Twinz – 20
Scope – 21
RowdyRogan – 6
Flea – 22
NioRooch – 20
Virus – 22
Grant the Goat – 17
Milliam – 15
Stevie – 19
Cufboys – 22
Absorber – 17
Other than landing yourself a spot in FaZe Clan, the winner of the challenge gets a Nissan Kicks SUV with additional $20000 signing bonus followed by a G FUEL endorsement contract lasting for 3-6 months.
The newly formed Colossus bid farewell to their coach after just 4 months of assembly. Cloud9 on Twitter has announced the departure of their Head Coach Aleksandar “kassad” Trifunović from the CSGO team.
Today we're sad to announce that #C9CSGO is parting ways with our Head Coach @kassad.
Thank you for everything you've done to help lay the foundations for the Colossus. We wish you the best in the future! pic.twitter.com/tePnQgl229
Having joined the forces along with General Manager Henry “HenryG” Greer in September, the 34yo Serbian parts his ways with the roster after spending just four months on record with the newly formed Cloud9 roster.
He led the team at 4 tournaments including the BLAST Premier Fall 2020 Showdown and at DreamHack Masters Winter where the Colossus managed to make their way up to the play-offs.
The reason behind this Cloud9 roster change was explained by HenryG on Twitter where the latter talked about the stylistic clash between the IGL [ALEX] and the game of Kassad which led to some compromises from a strategic point of view. In addition to this, it was also revealed that there was no bad blood between Kassad and the players or Cloud9.
For now the North American Organization seeks for a new replacement upon which HenryG commented,
“I am still deciding which path to follow regarding the position.”
With over 37 coaches banned by the ESIC in the aftermath of the coaching bug, this might be an uphill task for HenryG and his side to fetch themselves a proper fit for the drill. He continued,
“Considering the recent controversy around the role, my options are rather limited. Also, I think coaching is still a bit of a dark art we haven’t quite harnessed when it comes to CS:GO. With that said, I am absolutely willing to take a gamble on someone looking to prove themselves at the very top.”
Dedicated players understand that frags are not enough to win a game of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. This game requires team coordination, timely calling, and a mix of strategies. However, aim and agility does decide the fate of teams to a considerable extent.
We have compiled a list of the best CSGO plays of 2020 that exhibit smart strategy, sharp aim, and one-man power impact.
1- TeSeS spray spectacle
A four kills clutch in the Grand final is enough to make you a star player of the match, but René “TeSeS” Madsen took his 4k to a whole new level. Heroic’s young gun showed no respect for the Vitality’s veterans as he took four players down in one AK-47 spray on map Mirage. Thanks to TeSeS’s insane performance throughout the final, the Danes took home the trophy at Dreamhack Open Fall 2020.
2- ZywOo 9Hp clutch
If there’s one guy who can snatch a round out of enemies’ mouth, it’s Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut . In the European Finals of IEM Beijing 2020, ZywOo exhibited an insane display of skills with his ace against NAVI. The French AWPer carried p250 in the first round of the decider. He initiated the map with 100Hp and a kill against Denis “electronic” Sharipov and finished it with five kills and 9Hp. Team Vitality won the match and ultimately the tournament.
Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz’s ace in IEM Global Challenge proved that Astralis’ AWPer could even beat fire if needed. The star player began his iconic ace from Dust II middle, landing a kill on Keith “NAF” Markovic. A quick rotation saw him getting a kill on A long and A short. The AWPer then stood on enemies’ Molotov and registered collateral against Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski and Jake “Stewie2K” Yip. After this insane ace, Astralis’ win in the IEM Global Challenge was a given.
The star player culminated in 2020 with a flawless ace against Astralis. Team Vitality failed to win the IEM Global Challenge, but ZywoO‘s performance in the Grand finals cemented his position as one of the world’s best players. The AWPer sent a deadly message to the Danes in a clutch mixed with no scopes and quick flicks.
5- JaCkz Ace against Vitality
Former G2 rifler was a force to be reckoned with in BLAST Premier Spring 2020. The rifler stood like a stone wall in front of enemies pushing from mid. After gunning down Richard “shox” Papillon in the palace, Audric “JaCkz” Jug farmed from A site, using the smoke to his advantage. Standing alone at the site, JaCkz was able to take the five men of Vitality down.
6- Flamie’s Galil ACE
Galil is not the most commonly used weapon by professional CSGO players. Egor “flamie” Vasilev, however, proved the efficacy of this weapon by adding five kills to the scoreboard in a half-buy round. The rifler had the ramp of Nuke locked with his Galil when Astralis was trying to play a bonus round in the IEM Katowice semifinals. It took Flamie five seconds to turn the tables around and take the entire Danish lineup down in a smooth spray.
7- Ropz ACE with the AWP
Mousesports’ Robin “ropz” Kool is one of the most sought after aimers. However, his agility with AWP is none less than that of any star AWPer; the player proved this in a duel against Team Liquid in Dreamhack Masters. Operating from lower tunnels, the player shut down the enemies in an aggressive 5k.
8- S1mple’s AWP clutch against team Liquid
In a struggle to secure the bomb site from NAVI, team liquid was up against the one-man army Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev. The renowned player had his favorite weapon the AWP as he comfortably walked towards the side, aiming to take the entire team out. His successful venture resulted in NAVI securing the round in IEM Katowice Quarterfinals.
9- Jks’ match-winning clutch
Justin “jks” Savage is no stranger to incredible clutches. However, his duel against Evil Geniuses in ESL Pro League North America is noteworthy. The young rifler ended the last round of the match with an insane spray down against the remaining two enemies.
10- Flusha’s Knife 2k
Robin “flusha” Rönnquist’s two kills with the knife in a decider match of Grand Finals is nothing short of daring. In a genius flank on mousesports, the rifler managed to stay undetected until he cut out two players from the round and eventually the entire team from the Grand finals. Fnatic won ESL Pro League Season 11 in a tough match against mousesports.
François “AmaNEk” Delaunay proved that checking predictable angles should always be the priority. In BLAST Premier Fall Finals against Astralis, G2 esports’ AmaNEk chose a common spot in A apartments of map inferno that Emil “Magisk” Reif rendered unimportant to clear out. The small mistake cost Astralis the round as AmaNEk tapped out three players in apartments and then Gla1ve at arch.
12- Nivera pulls off a s1mple
In a 1v1 with BIG’s İsmailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş, Nivera brought the 2016 memories back by replicating the infamous s1mple weapon throw. The Vitality’s newly acquired rifler dropped his AK-47 to throw off the rifler guarding the bomb. The trick worked, as Nivera took Xantares down with his pistol.
Rachell ‘Valkyrae’ Hofstetter abruptly ending her YouTube livestream early on December 27 sparked #ValkyraeSupport to trend on Twitter.
Valkyrae found herself to be one of the victims of the DdoS attack earlier today that forced top streamers to drop the plan of a game of Rust. The collab was meant to be a blockbuster conclusion for the streamers as they were getting prepared to bid adieu to 2020 that went rather off script. An unforeseen DdoS attack forced them to postpone it as the game server was rendered unplayable post attack.
Valkyrae fans were the most disheartened with her stopping the stream as the hashtag was found trending in no time. According to them, she was subjected to toxicity and back seat gaming. This is extremely unacceptable given she wasn’t at fault in this case as the situation surrounding the server was something out of her reach.
She is exposed to emotional support ever since fans realized something was off with her mood and it didn’t take much time for them to figure out why is it so. She responded to her everyone showing support to her in a tweet that read “love you” which indicates she will be back at streaming very soon.
Valorant games are generally no longer than about an hour or so. However, games dragging longer than that on account of a few overtimes are also not uncommon. Do you know about the longest Valorant game that lasted 58 rounds including overtime?
The overtimes are usually resolved by one team winning more rounds than their opposition or a certain number of players agreeing for a draw.
According to some recent statistics revealed by Riot, the longest Valorant game since its release this June lasted for a whopping 58 rounds including overtime.
We're wrapping up 2020 with a look back at game stats.
We can finally settle the Phantom vs. Vandal debate! The Vandal beat out Phantom and Spectre as this year's deadliest weapon.
While it may be hard to believe at first, overtimes as long as this isn’t unheard of in other competitive shooters like CSGO. For instance, in 2015, two semi-pro CSGO teams exceL and XENEX battled it out on Inferno during game two of their match in ESL Premiership UK 2015. The game ended with a score of 46-42, with overtimes starting when the teams reached 15-15.
Other than this, Riot also revealed that Vandal has triumphed Phantom in terms of kill count in the shooter. You can read more about that here.
The Phantom vs Vandal debate has continued to divide the Valorant player base since the early days of its release, but it seems now we may have an answer to it.
Based on some recent statistics revealed by Riot through their social media handles, it seems like Vandal may have a slight edge over Phantom.
According to the stats, Vandal currently has the highest number of kills in the title since its launch in June 2020. It is trailed by Phantom, which is its counterpart with a faster fire rate but lower damage at long distances. Surprisingly enough, the #3 spot is occupied by the SMG Spectre.
However, this information isn’t enough to prove that Vandal is the better weapon overall. Not only is the chart based solely on the kill counts of each weapon, but it might also reflect the popularity of Vandal over Phantom rather than its actual effectiveness in-game.
Fun Plus Phoenix seemed to have announced their entry (somewhat of a re-entry) into the CSGO scene at a large event. The large screen at the event have FPX’s Valorant and CSGO rosters on display in the picture posted by a user named Kiruna on the Liquipedia discord, as pointed out by RushB Media founder Ryan ‘RyanAtRBM’ Friend.
The display appears to signify the acquisition of the GODSENT CSGO roster by FPX, with GODSENT Peter ‘peca’ Markovic, General Manager of the CSGO and Valorant divisions, confirming the same on Twitter, stating that an agreement has been reached between the two organisations, pending individual contract signings.
The stack is currently ranked 20th in the world as per the HLTV Rankings and will be playing under the FPX tag from 2021, according to peca. Interestingly, the display does not show Luka ’emi’ Vukovic’s name as part of their CSGO squad. It does not appear to be an omission as GODSENT were earlier reported to be in talks with ENCE to sign Miikka ‘suNny’ Kemppi days before the news of this acquisition.
In FPS games, players always make custom settings according to themselves. Some games like Valorant save those settings to their server which really helps the player to get back his/her own settings in the future. Apparently, Valorant is showing a “Failed to save settings to the server” error message to numerous players around the world right now. What is it actually and how to fix the issue?
What is the Valorant Settings error?
If you have changed a setting in Valorant and it is showing “Failed to save settings to the server”, then the Valorant servers are probably facing an outage. This will make your Valorant Settings default as it won’t be able to fetch your saved settings.
Well, this error is really annoying. Due to the Valorant server issue, the game can’t load your saved crosshair, mouse sensitivity, and everything else. Once the game fails to load those settings from the server, it will make all the settings default. However, there is a fix. Let’s dig into it.
How to fix “Failed to Save Settings to the Server”?
While you are facing an issue while connecting to the Valorant server, check out both the official Riot server status and DownDetector to find out if the servers are down or not.
If the servers are down, don’t try to connect to the game server.
If you have already tried to connect to the game and got a connection error message, quit the game as fast as possible. By doing that, the game won’t get enough time to reset the settings to default.
Moreover, try to save all the settings and keybinds in a TXT file. Therefore, if the settings get reset, you will be able to fix them pretty quickly.
PUBG Mobile is one of the biggest mobile game title in the world and due to its incredible presence with a large user base, the campaigning strategies launched by various brands through PUBG Mobile have been a treat for the player base. OnePlus has entered the picture once again as the brand has collaborated with PUBG Mobile to launch a big giveaway event at the start of 2021.
OnePlus is the mobile manufacturing brand which offers premium devices at a relatively lower cost. Earlier, OnePlus had collaborated with PUBG Mobile on a grand scale. The product of this crossover was a new feature which was introduced in-game. PUBG Mobile got the 90FPS support for the first time and this feature was made exclusive to OnePlus users for a certain time period.
This time, OnePlus has yet again partnered up with PUBG Mobile but the rewards at stake are very expensive. PUBG Mobile and OnePlus are holding a giveaway where three lucky entrants will get the ‘Never Settle Airdrops ft. A OnePlus 8T, 256GB.’ The entries for this event have already begun and you can participate in it very easily.
How to participate in PUBG Mobile x OnePlus Giveaway
Here are the simple steps through which you can participate in this giveaway. There are various number of entries and users can opt for multiple entries at once to get a higher chance of winning these rewards.
Each method grants one entry and if you complete all of these entries, you can gain additional two entries as a reward.
Players have an opportunity to enter this giveaway till 9th January 2021 and the winners of this giveaway will be announced after the entire process is completed. Remember that more amount of entries will grant a bigger probability of you winning the Air Drop so use all of these methods. The winners could be announced on the relevant social media handles but further details are not provided yet.
Shroud, Valkyrae, TSM Myth, Sykkuno were about to enjoy a game of Rust when a unforeseen DDoS attack ruined it for them.
With big names involved, attention is inevitable that attract a lot of viewers who tunes in to watch their favorite streamers join forces and play their favorite game. shroud, Valkyrae, TSM Myth and many other big names in Twitch planned to host a game of Rust that will attract tons of viewers and also bid farewell to 2020 with a banger of a stream, but all of that went in vain when the server was DDoSed by hackers.
What Is DDoS?
“A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, service or network by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic. DDoS attacks achieve effectiveness by utilizing multiple compromised computer systems as sources of attack traffic. Exploited machines can include computers and other networked resources such as IoT devices. From a high level, a DDoS attack is like an unexpected traffic jam clogging up the highway, preventing regular traffic from arriving at its destination.” according to Cyber Security company Cloudflare.
This is where things get confusing as many suggest it to be caused by the tons of viewers trying to get into the server to get a chance at playing with their favorite streamer while other suggest a DDoS attack on the server by hackers.
DDoS attacks are very common and hosts should have been careful while launching servers. DDoS attacks often occur in esports events where hackers find it funny for a game to get delayed with no actual gain. Admins/hosts need to be extra cautions while dealing with such stuff where details about the server should be kept close as smallest of leaks will expose the server to hundreds of hackers hungry for attention.
