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Massive FACEIT Ban Wave: Over 23000 Smurf Accounts Suspended in One Day

Sonu Banerjee
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Massive FACEIT Ban Wave: Over 23000 Smurf Accounts Suspended in One Day

With the launch of FACEIT Season 8 on the horizon, the CS2 matchmaking platform has banned tens of thousands of smurf accounts within the span of a single day.

Through an announcement on April 21, 2026, FACEIT confirmed that it has banned over 23000 smurf accounts over the past day ahead of the new season.

Additionally, the platform reassured players that anyone who lost to these accounts in their last 100 matches and within the past three months will have their elo restored. According to FACEIT’s official statement, the elo refunds will be done to ensure a fairer start for players’ placement matches once Season 8 goes live.

The massive ban wave comes as part of FACEIT’s continued effort to combat smurfing, cheating, and comms abuse on the platform, all of which are long-standing issues that have plagued the CS2 community for years.

Prior to this, FACEIT reported over 151,000 toxicity-related bans in the past year, along with an additional 541 bans for cheating in January and February 2026 alone.

If you suspect that you’ve played against smurfs recently or reported any suspicious accounts on FACEIT, be sure to check your inbox to see if you’ve been refunded any elo.

Overall, the community reaction regarding these bans has been largely positive. However, several users are also claiming that they’ve been falsely banned from the platform as a result of this ban wave.

If you’ve been falsely banned from FACEIT despite not smurfing, be sure to reach out to the FACEIT support and let them know about your concerns.

CS2 Armory Update: Skins and Stickers Leaving Soon

Sarjyo Mukherjee
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CS2 Armory Update: Skins and Stickers Leaving Soon

The Counter-Strike 2 community has been put on alert after Valve quietly announced on X that they will be removing several popular cosmetic collections from the Armory, having failed to mention this in the official release notes earlier today.

Skins in Counter-Strike 2 are known to hold aesthetic but, more importantly, market value; therefore, once collections are removed from active drops or the Armory, there is a significant chance that this might directly impact their demand in the market. As a result of higher demand, players might see a quick jump in their prices, making this move more significant than it seems.

Items Leaving the Armory

According to the latest announcement, the following skin collections will be leaving the Armory, therefore putting players and collectors on high alert.

  • Train 2025 Collection
  • Sport & Field Collection
  • Sugarface 2 Stickers
  • Elemental Craft Stickers

Valve has not specified when these collections will be available in the Armory, only confirming that they will be leaving “soon”, therefore giving a window for players to stock up before the prices increase.

The Train 2025 Collection caused quite the buzz at launch and attracted a lot of attention from players due to its eye-catching design and its significance with the iconic map. It goes without saying that these items were already trading at high prices, and this news is bound to shoot them even further.

Valve choosing to miss out on these points in the patch notes may seem to be a simple oversight at first glance; however, there might be deeper implications. Having this info out of the patch notes gives them the room to go back on their decision, but whether they will or not, only time will tell.

New CS2 Update Improves Recoil, Aim Punch, and Teases Armory Overhaul

Sonu Banerjee
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New CS2 Update Improves Recoil, Aim Punch, and Teases Armory Overhaul

Less than a day after introducing the new Animgraph 2 animation framework to the live servers of CS2, Valve has shipped yet another major update to the shooter, bringing some much-needed updates to weapon recoil and aim punch that the community has been requesting for years.

For the uninitiated, after several weeks of beta testing in the “animgraph_2_beta” build, the Animgraph 2 update officially went live yesterday. The new framework saw all third-person animations in the game getting reworked, resulting in much smoother and more accurate animations alongside a surge in client FPS for most players.

Now, it seems that Valve is tackling even more issues that have been plaguing CS2 since its release. In an April 22 update, the CS2 devs improved the camera motion due to weapon recoil to match CS:GO more closely. Bullet trajectories for each weapon still remain unchanged, but overall screen shake when spraying has been reduced.

Additionally, Valve has reworked aim punch when players take damage. Moving forward, armored players will notice the aim punch (albeit to a significantly lesser extent than those without armor) when they’re shot.

As per the official patch notes, players will experience the full camera motion due to external sources of aim punch (e.g. getting shot) regardless of network latency. The effects of aim punch on bullet trajectories are still applied immediately on the server.

Armory Update

Alongside the gameplay changes, Valve has confirmed that several skin and sticker collections will be departing the CS2 Armory in the near future.

While the Armory changes aren’t explicitly detailed in the patch notes, the official CS2 X handle announced that the following collections are getting removed from the Armory soon:

  • Train 2025 Collection
  • Sport & Field Collection
  • Sugarface 2 stickers
  • Elemental Craft stickers

The last time Valve announced Armory removals, the Gallery Case, Graphic Collection, and Character Craft Stickers were flagged for removal on September 10th, with the actual removal taking place on October 1st. That gave players three weeks to stock up on the cosmetics before they were gone for good.

CS2 April 22 Patch Notes

Below, we have listed the official patch notes for the April 22 CS2 update, as announced by Valve:

[ GAMEPLAY ]

  • Adjusted camera motion due to recoil to match CS:GO more closely. Bullet trajectories should continue to match CS2.
  • Players will now experience the full camera motion due to external sources of aim punch (e.g. getting shot) regardless of network latency. The effects of aim punch on bullet trajectories are still applied immediately on the server.

[ ANIMGRAPH 2 ]

  • Minor adjustments to viewmodel animations.
  • Fixed several cases where crouch transitions in the air were instantaneous.
  • Fixed a bug where MVP panel characters weren’t resetting correctly.
What Is AnimGraph 2 and How It Changes CS2 Meta

BGMI Redeem Codes Today: Unlock M416 Glacier Drops and White Rabbit Backpack rewards

Aditya Parsutkar
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BGMI Redeem Codes Today: Unlock M416 Glacier Drops and White Rabbit Backpack rewards

KRAFTON India has released the next set of BGMI redeem codes as part of its ongoing reward phase. Today’s drop includes select redeem codes that unlock M416 Glacier Spin Tokens alongside the White Rabbit Backpack – a unique, theme-based cosmetic item that enhances player characters with a distinctive, playful aesthetic.

The Backpack features as a key highlight in today’s drop, expanding the range of customisation options available to players. With 53 redeem codes going live today, players stand a chance to win four M416 Glacier Spin Token codes, alongside White Rabbit Backpack rewards and other in-game items.

Redeem codes are valid until July 9, 2026, and will be released daily on BGMI’s official channels.

BGMI Redeem Codes Today: M416 Glacier Token Codes:

  • LHZHZ6PJAP9CP9EW
  • LHZIZKCRDVW5TMC9
  • LHZJZK3RJ5N4RNMP
  • LHZKZMH7CXRUA3AV

General Redeem Codes:

  • KGZCZTB6FXFKTCA6
  • KGZDZVP6TQAUP7KW
  • KGZEZHCUA3ANGQQW
  • KGZFZHB9NJK36EWS
  • KGZGZR6GCCTFF76H
  • KGZHZRSUGEQDPUNE
  • KGZIZW3HD8W5RUJ4
  • KGZJZQSUWMRFG4CH
  • KGZKZP8FCURRNR3R
  • KGZLZJ67HXG35ESJ
  • KGZMZWD4Q7AF6CV6
  • KGZNZE8B9Q73D4AT
  • KGZOZG59U8KSARS5
  • KGZPZS56TAUDHMQJ
  • KGZQZ57CXCDM7FJU
  • KGZRZMUE8WJ73XTR
  • KGZVZTBR6X96BD74
  • KGZTZ6JJJ7GU6D7M
  • KGZUZH3B7U5QWK9B
  • KGZBAZV384AUPDCD
  • KGZBBZUJG75DVBE3
  • KGZBCZCG6KMFFFH3
  • KGZBDZ3ERHK5RV84
  • KGZBEZHQ3TC8Q9TC
  • KGZBFZHGTMMN37PS
  • KGZBGZ7TRJFGX9F4
  • KGZBHZ3RK7N5N4XP
  • KGZBIZF3JK355ARD
  • KGZBJZHNK6HW64JX
  • KGZBKZ4SGX9EN6RK
  • KGZBLZ5A7EXKU4HV
  • KGZBMZERG5CVPPW6
  • KGZBNZH5RN4JR6BW
  • KGZBOZ3VMXFHDVK6
  • KGZBPZ33DXK7Q65P
  • KGZBQZP4HPHUBSR7
  • KGZBRZMP3UP6866B
  • KGZBVZG4KCKH69W6
  • KGZBTZMAVDRMTTH5
  • KGZBUZWHE4GRBW89
  • KGZCAZRTQFSF4PEK
  • KGZCBZPHTE4KAH3S
  • KGZCCZ9J6G7Q936G
  • KGZCDZGUMBH8M3NC
  • KGZCEZ86JRCHSARF
  • KGZCFZ35KE5SN6VB
  • KGZCGZP5VNTJ36JG
  • KGZCHZVX6H8EPVW5
  • KGZCIZB9BVH6K6UU

Read More: KRAFTON India Brings Phoenixtra X-Suit in BGMI, Dark Raven Returns

Steps to redeem:

Players can follow these simple steps to claim their rewards:

  • Step 1: Go to the Redeem section on BGMI’s official website www.battlegroundsmobileindia.com/redeem
  • Step 2: Enter your Character ID
  • Step 3: Enter the Redemption Code
  • Step 4: Enter the verification/ Captcha code → A message will confirm ‘Code redeemed successfully’
  • Step 5: The reward will be delivered via in-game mail

Rules to Remember:

A maximum of 10 users can redeem each code on a first-come, first-served basis

A user cannot redeem a code twice

If a player is among the first 10 users to successfully redeem the code, a message will confirm ‘Code redeemed successfully’. If not, users will see ‘Code expired’ or a similar expiry message

Each user account can redeem only one code per day

Redeem codes cannot be used via guest accounts

Rewards to be claimed within 30 days from receiving the in-game mail post which the mail gets deleted

Xbox Cuts Game Pass Ultimate Price to $22.99

Aritra Patra
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Xbox Cuts Game Pass Ultimate Price to $22.99

Microsoft has cut the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99 per month, effective April 21, 2026. PC Game Pass also drops, from $16.49 to $13.99 per month. Both cuts take effect immediately on Xbox.com for new sign-ups. Existing subscribers will see the lower price on their next billing date from April 22 onwards.

Game Pass Essential at $9.99 per month and Game Pass Premium at $14.99 per month are not changing.

The Trade-Off: No Call of Duty at Launch

The price drop comes with one significant change. Microsoft will no longer offer new Call of Duty games on Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass on day one. Instead, new titles will join the subscription during the following holiday season, roughly a year after release. Existing Call of Duty games already in the Game Pass library will stay available.

Game Pass Essential and Game Pass Premium do not include day-one new releases and are not affected by this change.

In its own statement, Activision said: “Game Pass continues to be an awesome place for players to discover games, including Call of Duty.”

Why Microsoft Made the Change

Asha Sharma, a former Meta executive who replaced Phil Spencer as Microsoft’s gaming chief in February, told employees in a memo that Game Pass had become too expensive. In a post on X, Sharma acknowledged that Game Pass Ultimate had “become too expensive for too many players.”

Microsoft said in a blog post: “Our players cover a wide breadth of geographies, preferences, and tastes, so while there isn’t a single model that’s best for everyone, this change responds to a lot of feedback we’ve gotten so far.”

The price cut comes six months after Microsoft raised the top Game Pass tier by 50% to $29.99 per month in October 2025. Tuesday’s cut does not fully reverse that increase.

Call of Duty Sales Were Hit Hard

Removing new Call of Duty titles from day-one access is not just about pricing. Game Pass appeared to impact premium sales of last year’s title, Black Ops 7, significantly, with launch sales down more than 60% in some markets. In the US, Black Ops 7 was the fifth best-selling game of 2025, the lowest placement for a Call of Duty game in nearly 20 years.

Revenue from Xbox content and services came in below internal projections, according to Microsoft’s finance chief Amy Hood. Hood also announced an unspecified impairment charge in the gaming business. Microsoft expanded the gaming division in 2023 with the $75.4 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the publisher behind Call of Duty.

How to Enable Vulkan in Minecraft

Sarjyo Mukherjee
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How to Enable Vulkan in Minecraft

Vulkan is coming to Minecraft, replacing the iconic OpenGL system in an attempt to adopt modern hardware, which promises better FPS, improved stability, and more efficient GPU performance, as we have come to witness with this API. In this article, we see how to enable Vulkan for Minecraft to optimize game performance.

What is Vulkan in Minecraft?

For those who are unaware, Vulkan is a next-gen graphics API that enables developers to have better control over the user’s GPU resources, which enables them to optimise the game better. In a direct head-to-head with OpenGL, Vulkan offers objectively smoother gameplay, better FPS, and significant improvements in efficiency. At the time of writing, developers have only released it for Minecraft versions 26.2 or later.

Currently, Vulkan support is experimental and available in Minecraft 26.2 Snapshot.

How to Turn On Vulkan in Minecraft

Follow these simple steps to enable Vulkan:

  • Open the Minecraft Launcher
  • Select the latest snapshot version and click Play
  • Go to Video Settings under Options
  • Find Graphics API
  • Change it from Default to Prefer Vulkan
  • Click Done and restart the game

After restarting, Vulkan will be active.

Vulkan vs OpenGL: Performance Benefits

Early tests have shown signs that Vulkan brings significant improvement in performance over OpenGL, and one might argue that Minecraft is not a demanding title anyway; there is hardly anyone who would reject a lighter and more stable version of a game without a catch for free.

This update might not bring significant benefits to the game, but to know that the developers are actively working to bring micro improvements to the game speaks to the dedication they are putting in. As of now, all modern hardware would benefit from switching to Vulkan, marking a major step toward next-gen graphics and better performance in Minecraft.

What Is AnimGraph 2 and How It Changes CS2 Meta

Sarjyo Mukherjee
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What Is AnimGraph 2 and How It Changes CS2 Meta

As we continue to criticise Counter-Strike 2 for being less snappy than Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the developers have dropped the biggest backend upgrade, which not only changes key mechanics but also drastically improves how the game performs. In this article, we will explore what Animgraph 2 is and how it will change Counter-Strike 2 forever.

What is AnimGraph 2?

AnimGraph 2 is a massive overhaul of the existing Counter-Strike 2 animation system. The update is set to part ways with the older animation framework and adopt the new one, which is said to be more efficient in ways the game tackles player movement, weapon actions, and character model behaviours, and, essentially, all animations. Not only does this make said animations more realistic, but it drastically reduces the load on the computer hardware, therefore improving performance.

This update includes:

  • Reworked third-person animations
  • Smoother movement transitions (like crouching mid-air)
  • Improved animation logic for weapons and player actions
  • Reduced CPU and network usage

To put it simply, the game will now feel lighter on the hardware, allowing your computer to perform better.

What Changed in Today’s CS2 Update?

Following positive responses from the Beta released earlier, Valve has officially launched the full version of the update with the 3GB patch released on 21st April 2026, bringing it to the live game.

Key improvements include:

  • Snappier weapon deploy animations
  • Improved knife transitions
  • Improved third-person visuals
  • Holistic fix of animations throughout the game.

What Does This Mean for CS2 Gameplay?

From what the name suggests, this is more than just an update that improves animation but changes a fundamental aspect of the game, which is suggested to improve CS2 in ways that will be welcomed by the community.

  • Better performance: Lower CPU and network load improve gameplay, especially on weaker PCs.
  • Improved hit registration: Set to reduce desync issues by sending fewer but more accurate animation updates, which, in sync with sub-tick, will improve hit registration.
  • More consistent movement: Realistic changes to ramps and player height,
  • which improve grenade lineups and positioning.
  • Cleaner visuals: Enemy animations are more consistent, which makes fights fairer than before.

AnimGraph 2 has been a welcome change for the community right from when the Beta was introduced. Performance improves drastically, changing how the game performs and eventually leading to smoother and more consistent gameplay. Only time will tell how this update fares, but as of today, the community celebrates this big update.

CS2 Pro Faces Lifetime Ban for Slapping Opponent During Live Tournament

Sonu Banerjee
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CS2 Pro Faces Lifetime Ban for Slapping Opponent During Live Tournament

Yesterday, we reported on a shocking incident that unfolded at the award ceremony of CAGGTUS Leipzig, where CS2 pro Maurizio “MAUschine” Weber slapped an opponent during the live broadcast, receiving a 10-year suspension from DACH CS Masters and Fragster as a result.

Now, ESIC has stepped in, and the situation has gotten a whole lot worse for the German content creator.

Following an investigation into the situation, the ESIC has confirmed in a statement that it is issuing a permanent ban on MAUschine for physically assaulting Spidergum at the aforementioned CS2 tournament on 20 April 2026.

“Physical violence in any form will result in the strongest possible sanctions,” the ESIC said in a statement. “A live esports event is a professional sporting environment. Participants are expected to meet the highest standards of conduct. Crossing the line into physical aggression (particularly in a public, on-stage setting) is not a lapse in judgment; it is a serious integrity violation that fundamentally undermines the safety of players, officials, and the credibility of competition itself.”

According to the ESIC, the sanction prohibits MAUschine from participating in any capacity across all member events worldwide, marking this as one of the most extensive bans the body has ever issued for physical violence.

In its statement, the ESIC described the incident as “clearly documented” and called it “one of the most severe breaches of the ESIC Code of Conduct.”

“The lifetime ban imposed reflects the gravity of the offence and ESIC’s commitment to ensuring that individuals who engage in violent conduct are removed from the competitive ecosystems of ESIC’s membership.”

What started as a regional LAN event with no prize money on the line has now cost this man his entire competitive career, and potentially a lot more, should Spidergum decide to pursue legal action.

Spidergum has since been active on social media, celebrating his team’s win and poking fun at MAUschine for being, in his words, “better at slapping than AWPing.”

CS2 Animgraph 2 Update Reportedly Increases Your FPS by Over 5%

Sonu Banerjee
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CS2 Animgraph 2 Update Reportedly Increases Your FPS by Over 5%

Valve has officially shipped the Animgraph 2 update to the CS2 live servers earlier today, and early reports suggest it’s triggering significant FPS spikes for gamers regardless of their PC specs.

Prominent CS2 content creator ‘ThourCS2’ shared a before-and-after performance comparison following the Animgraph 2 update, noting an approximate 5% increase in both average FPS and 1% lows.

However, the X user points out that he is running high-end hardware, including a 9800X3D and an RTX 5070, and claims that the FPS increase is likely to be higher on low-end PCs.

For the uninitiated, Animgraph 2 is a complete overhaul of CS2’s animation system that improves visual clarity while reducing CPU and network load, leading to more responsive gameplay and potentially higher, more stable FPS.

For the past few weeks, Valve has been testing the waters by initially shipping out Animgraph 2 to a beta branch of CS2. The update had been available since early April as an opt-in “animgraph_2_beta” build.

After nearly three weeks of beta testing, fixing underlying bugs, and fine-tuning the system, Valve officially launched Animgraph 2 to the live servers on April 20, 2026.

The Bigger Picture

When CS2 launched, one of the most common complaints from the game’s community was the added system load that came with the Source 2 engine. As a result of the improved visuals, many players who used to be able to run CSGO smoothly for years found themselves struggling to run CS2 on their hardware.

While Animgraph 2 is unlikely to bring your FPS back to the CSGO era, it is definitely a step in the right direction. Players on low or mid-tier PCs should see a significant increase in their CS2 FPS moving forward.

Additionally, the fact that this update also delivers better-looking third-person animations for character models at the same time makes it a huge win for Valve and the entire CS2 community.

Shreeman Legend Joins Team Apex Gaming as Founding Member: Role, Responsibilities & What It Means

Hoax
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Shreeman Legend Joins Team Apex Gaming as Founding Member: Role, Responsibilities & What It Means

Siddhant Praveen Joshi, known online as Shreeman Legend, officially joined Team Apex Gaming (TAG) as a Founding Member on April 19, 2026. This came in one of the biggest announcements the Indian gaming community has seen this year. The move goes far beyond a standard creator deal. In fact, it signals a deeper, long-term stake in the organization.

Shreeman Legend Becomes Founding Member of Team Apex Gaming

Who Is Shreeman Legend?

Shreeman Legend is one of India’s most recognized gaming content creators, celebrated for his Marathi commentary, GTA Roleplay streams, and a fiercely loyal fanbase known as the #ShreemanFamily. He runs multiple YouTube channels covering gaming livestreams and lifestyle vlogs. Over several years, he has earned massive respect across platforms. His journey started with earning Rs. 8,000 a month. Now, he owns multiple vehicles and has built the Shreeman Legend Foundation. As a result, this reflects how far he has come in the Indian gaming space.

What Is a Founding Member Role in Team Apex Gaming?

A Founding Member is a distinct tier within Team Apex Gaming’s launch structure, and it is specifically different from being a regular content creator signing. This title means Shreeman Legend plays an active part in shaping the identity, direction, and culture of the organization. He helps build it from the ground up. He is not simply creating content under the TAG banner. TAG’s official announcement video, titled “THE MAN THE MYTH THE LEGEND!”, described him as “a true pioneer who commands absolute respect and has carried the community for years”.

Team Apex Gaming’s Current Member Structure

Here is how Team Apex Gaming’s founding roster breaks down as of April 2026:

MemberRole
Jonathan GamingFounder & Star BGMI Player
SSR VlogsContent Creator
Shreeman LegendFounding Member & Content Creator

Jonathan Gaming leads the org as its primary BGMI esports athlete, while Shreeman Legend anchors the content and community side of the organization. This structure shows that TAG is being built as a full-scale content and esports empire. It is not just a competitive squad.

Shreeman Legend’s Responsibilities in Team Apex Gaming

His core responsibilities center on content creation, community building, and expanding TAG’s reach in the vernacular gaming audience. This is particularly across Maharashtra and the wider Hindi-speaking belt. As a result, fans can expect more engaging live streams. In addition, there will be collaborations with other TAG creators and a bigger push on community events as part of his role. Shreeman himself stated in his announcement that Jonathan handles the top-level competitive gameplay while he focuses on entertainment. Both are working together to deliver results for the fans in the future.

What This Move Means for Indian Esports

This signing positions TAG as a serious dual-threat organization that competes hard on the esports stage while also dominating the content game. TAG’s official BGMI roster reveal and their competitive debut at BMPS 2026 in May are right around the corner. There are EWC 2026 slots on the line. As a result, Shreeman Legend’s presence as a founding member gives the org a massive community-driven platform going into a crucial competitive season.

For Indian gaming as a whole, this kind of collaboration between a top esports player and a veteran content creator under one org roof is a sign of the industry maturing into a full entertainment and competitive ecosystem.

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