Entity gaming have announced the signing of Đorđe ‘DJOXiC’ Niciforović, who is currently a free agent, taking their active roster size to 4.
The news comes on the backdrop of the press release by Entity to bench Simar “Psy” Sethi and Bhavin “HellRangeR” Kotwani with the recently concluded ESL India Premiership Winter Finals being their last event, which they won comfortably against 2ez.
The move to acquire ex Valiance player DJOXiC signals the direction in which the management want to steer this team, with an equal mix of Indians and Serbs, as well as a good balance between young blood and experienced players in the international scene being added.
This means that DJOXiC is set to reunite with coach Darko “soLo” Mitić, who he had played with in Valiance, a team which nearly qualified for the upcoming IEM Katowice Major. The future of psy and hellranger at this point is unknown, although it is expected to be resolved very soon.
Former BIG player Owen “smooya” Butterfield has had yet another setback this month, after having been banned in the FACEIT Pro League for being toxic against another player.
In an FPL Game last night, the 19-year-old was seen calling Ismail “refrezh” Ali of OpTic a “fucking bitch” and told him to “kill himself” after appearing to have not tried all match that led it to go to overtime.
BREAKING NEWS: PLAYER BANNED FROM FPL
I’ve been suspended for the foreseeable future for my comments towards @refrezhCS. I don’t agree with what I said nor do I think it’s right in anyway. I will take the week to relax! This isn’t any way reflective on @BIGCLANgg, it’s on me.
“After recent events and many clips that resurfaced, we decided to bench smooya in FPL to give him some time to clear his thoughts and adjust his behavior, which recently was out of control in the FPL,” FACEIT partnerships manager Milos Nedeljkovic said.
“He will reflect on everything and calm down without potentially saying any career-ruining words in FPL, so we are giving him some time off to clear his head. Just wanted you guys to know why you won’t see him around.”
The toxicity did not stop there, as the Brit called refrezh out on Twitter after the match, by saying: “don’t queue FPL if you’re in a bad mood or something [and] don’t waste my time, thanks!”
The tweet has since been deleted.
Butterfield has been no stranger to such incidents, with a particularly striking one being that against Mousesports in StarSeries Season 6, when he was seen incessantly yelling after every round and “accidentally” buying the auto sniper in the CT side.
He has since tweeted and confirmed that the ban will be set for the “foreseeable future,” and also agreed that what he said was right in anyway, without offering any apology.
2EZ Gaming have announced the departure of Chinmay “PokI” Mehta. Earlier, it had also revealed the arrival of Saharyar “BaDMaN” Shaikh. This comes in as a surprise since the line-up qualified for ESL India Premiership 2018 – Winter Finale, Delhi and eventually secured 2nd position; falling short to Entity Gaming. 21-year-old has been a part of 2EZ family since over a year and his departure echoes several questions. The shuffle season could be around the corner.
Chinmay had been playing under the 2EZ banner since quite sometime. He has definitely impressed the scene with his raw firepower backed by decent statistics. During his tenure under 2EZ Gaming, the line-up has triumphed at ESL India Premiership 2018 – Fall Finale and eventually secured a slot in ESL Pro League Season 9 – SEA (Closed Qualifier). Apart from this, they also fell short in the hands of Entity Gaming, twice, at Dew Arena 2018 and ESL India Premiership 2017 – Winter Finale.
At the moment, it is unclear who would replace Chinmay. 2EZ’s squad post-ESL India Premiership 2018 – Winter Finale:
Entity finally got their hands on the ESL INDIA 2018 title after coming close during the Summer Phase. The fabled organization beat current holders and Fall Season winners 2ez in straight maps (Inferno 16-10, Nuke 16-8) to land their first trophy after the addition of Serbian duo of Dav and Solo.
2ez started on the T side on Entity’s map choice Inferno and went for a B fake. Entity were sold on the fake but a brilliant 3k from Solo at pit salvaged the round for Entity. The CT side got one more round on board and looked like getting the first real gun round as well, with a 2k from Dav on the B defence.
But, 2ez immediately switched up their focus and went for an A take, which ultimately saw them grab their first round and Dav save his AWP. A couple of B takes thereafter, saw 2ez take the lead before Entity bounced back with a solid defence of their A site as the Ts attempted a Patient A split.
2ez started with their unrelenting aggression and raced to a 7-3 lead with some fiery shots from Rexy, which compelled Entity to take a tactical timeout. HellRanger and Excali stepped up to the mark in the rounds after. The former Entity IGL shut down the B take with a 2k while Excali defended an Ultra late A hit with a 3k to facilitate a mini bounce-back.
But, Rexy weaved the Deagle with some immaculate precision, opening up the B site and ensuring 2ez go into the halfway mark with a lead, at the very least. With just 5 rounds on the board, Entity stepped up, defending the A site on the ensuing rounds to finish the half 7-8.
Entity hit the B site on the pistol with success to level the scoreline. Two more rounds were added by Entity as 2ez resorted to quasi buys with little impact. Antidote though, came up huge with a 3k on the B site to get one round back for 2ez.
The CT side’s economy was soon reset though, with Entity successfully executing an A site take. With the score poised at 12-9, Tito chose to go for the AWP, with the player having just 3 kills in the entire game upto the point. The provisionary 2ez IGL came up huge at A with a 4k and a couple of crazy shots to push 2ez to double figures.
Via SoStronk
Entity though, soon cracked the 2ez code, who resorted to some off-timed pushes and passive positioning. The Ts exploited the very gameplay to run up the rounds and secure their own map choice Inferno, 16-10.
Nuke began with a similar tone, with Entity notching up the pistol round and running to a 3-0 lead. 2ez landed their first round on Nuke with a brilliant defence of the Ramp area but were immediately pegged back with a brilliant lower fake from Entity.
Facing a potential reset, Antidote came up with a 2k at ramps while under pressure from the Ts as Tito pitched in as well to ensure their economy is not broken. 2ez notched up two more rounds before it looked like Entity had broken the streak with Poki facing a 1v3 retake situation at A.
Poki though, delivered and how, ensuring 2ez continue their upsurge. Solo made sure 2ez did not run away with the half, converting a 1v2 to nab Entity’s fifth round of the map. 2ez went on to add two more rounds before Entity getting their own couple of rounds on the board, with HellRanger coming alive in the last round with a 4k at Upper bombsite.
Entity made it 4/4 on pistol rounds as 2ez were unable to guard their Lower plant. Entity soon raced to 12-8 and Excali made sure 2ez did not mount any sort of a comeback, with a 3k to extend Entity’s lead.
Antidote was faced with a 1v2 situation to avoid Grand Finale point but could not convert it, thanks to a brilliant defence from Solo, which helped close out Nuke 16-8 and the series 2-0.
Entity’s win came mostly through their calculated playstyle. They did not let 2ez’s random and unbridled aggression throw them off course and stuck to the plan. On Inferno, it was more a case of exploiting 2ez’s off-timed aggression and passive defence.
On Nuke though, it was the staple Outer hit and when on the CT side, their defence had so many layers with good rotation and utility usage, something that really stood Entity apart from 2ez throughout the series.
2ez though, should not be too disheartened. They were forced to make a late change, with the lineup not being allowed to field BadMan, who has recently returned to the active 5-man roster, with Falken making way. They dealt with it well and could have stretched it to three maps had they been a bit more consistent or calculated with their CT side aggression on Inferno.
With the win, Entity nab the available slot in the ESL Pro League Asia Closed Qualifiers. But, it remains to be seen what lineup they will field in the Qualifiers.. HellRanger and psy played their last event under the Entity banner. The duo is now benched and Amaterasu will return to the active lineup along with other changes, which the organization should reveal in due time.
In a move that will come as a shock to many, Mousesports have announced that they have relieved the services of Martin “STYKO” Styk and Chris “chrisJ” de Jong from the active roster, along with coach Sergey “lmbt” Bezhanov.
The announcement comes on the back of a horrendous showing at the Europe Minor for the IEM Katowice Major where they missed out on a major spot by going out in the group stage. They had also had a 0-3 drubbing at the FACEIT Major last year, causing one of the biggest upsets in the tournament.
Announcing changes to our Counter-Strike: Global Offensive division.
“Parting ways after one and a half years and 19 offline tournaments is not easy, but sometimes a few steps back can be multiple steps forward. There are no hard feelings or any bad blood inside the team, we just drove ourselves into a situation we couldn’t get out of and something had to change,” suNny said in a statement for mousesports.
“It was the most successful run for all of us and I hope that this will change the careers of all of us for the better. Thank you guys for everything. Looking forward to a new and fresh chapter now, where we can be consistent contenders for titles again.”
The move may come as a shock for chrisJ, who was one of the more consistent players of the team, and has been in the organisation since 2013. As for Styko, he again saw himself at the end of the firing line after he had already been replaced and brought back late last year.
The move also sees the departure of coach Imbt who had been in the organisation for the past 2 and a half years. The focus will now be on finding the new players and support staff to assist the core of suNny, oskar and ropz.
Under the leader of Chris, Mouz had rebuilt following the departure of star player niko and became a consistent top 5 team, winning the ESL One New York and StarLadder i-League Season 4 among numerous other top 4 standings. The move certainly reinforces the fact that nothing at all is permanent in CSGO.
Mumbai, India: A nineteen-year-old boy committed suicide after he was refused a new phone. The PUBG enthusiast had argument with his family members. According to the local police, Nadeem Sheikh, worked as a sales executive at a company and lived with his wife, a kid, brother, and mother.
The argument was reportedly over a phone priced at INR 37,000. The elder brother of Nadeem had offered him INR 20,000 after much argument. After the argument, close to 02:00 AM the family went to sleep, leaving Nadeem playing games on his phone. The brother got up at 04:00 AM to go to washroom to find Nadeem’s body hung at the ceiling.
Police has registered an accidental death case and the investigation is on.
In what came as a setback for the European juggernaut, mousesports were eliminated from IEM Major: Katowice 2019, earlier this month. Mousesports has been showing tremendous form since quite some time with decent finishes at tier 1 LAN tournaments, although the squad couldn’t get past the likes of Valiance, twice.
The German organization has managed to retain itself within the top five positions in HLTV’s global ranking backed by decent outings, excluding the Europe Minor.
EU Closed Qualifier
Mousesports qualified for Europe Minor through the Europe Closed Qualifier. ChrisJ and co. qualified directly into upper-brackets, although they couldn’t get past the Minor. Mousesports lost the group A opening match against Valiance. It was a nail-biting encounter but the latter got the better off, despite ChrisJ’s 32 frags in the regulation. The opener was a lackluster outing for mouz firepower – Ropz & suNny.
Picture courtesy: HLTV.org
On the following day, mouz encountered OpTic Gaming in the elimination match in a best-of-three scenario. Mouz concluded the match within two maps while the ‘Green Wall’ was sent packing. Mousesports lived to fight another day.
The German organization again faced Valiance in the decider match of group A. The decider didn’t go well for mousesports as Valiance won train and cache. Train eventually went into Valiance’s bag 16-12, although, mousesports made a commendable effort. On the contrary, Cache was a one-sided affair favouring Valiance 16-8. Eventually, mouz was eliminated with merely 5th-6th position at the Europe Minor.
This was quite a big blow for the mouz squad. Ever since ESL One: Cologne 2015, this is the first time that the ChirsJ led line-up wouldn’t appear at a Valve sponsored major.
Unfortunately, the community will miss mouz stickers in the Steam Store throughout the major. Regardless of the major, mousesports has had decent results with this line-up. Triumph at ESL One: New York 2018 & StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 4 depict their impressive outings throughout the season.
BIG have announced that Owen “smooya” Butterfield will be replaced on the active roster by Johannes “nex” Maget, who is set to return to return to the active roster after a month.
In a statement, BIG’s Head of CS, Nikola “LEGIJA” Ninić, explained that the difference in plays style was the reason for his departure.
Today we say goodbye to a teammate, a friend, and a family member.
“Its not always easy if you are the only foreigner in a team. We had some different opinions on how to approach the game and team development and it turned out that his and the teams not align. I’m sure that he is a great addition to any top team and I personally and the whole BIG family wishes him all the best in his future endeavors,” he said.
Nex, who has been out of the active roster since December owing to a wrist injury that could have potentially sidelined him for a while, was replaced by Turkish ace Ismailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş.
The 26-year-old, however, did not require surgery for his procedure, and keeping this in mind the German Organisation registered him as a player/coach for the IEM Katowice Major, making him eligible for the tournament, as a swap between a coach and player is allowed once.
Smooya will be remembered in his 10-month tenure as giving a new vigor and hope to German CS, after having helped BIG reach the Finals of ESL One Cologne and a Legends Status at the FACEIT Major, as well as maintain a consistent top 10 ranking in the world.
“I had a long think about not wanting to hold this team back, I think they already have an insane system that just needs a little bit more work and they will become a standout top five team in the world, but, sadly, I don’t think I’ll ever fit into this system simply because of playstyles. There is no bad blood between anybody in the team, I just think personally they would be better with another player to do my role, as I’ve never really had the MAIN AWP role since being here. I had different visions of the environment that would be here for me at BIG in-game,” Smooya said.
Astralis have been announced as the 2nd team to be invited for the Blast Pro Series, to take place from March 22-23.
The Blast Pro Series is an invite-only tournament consisting of 6 top tier teams fighting for the majority of the $250,000 prize pool. The Sao Paolo edition is the first of 8 this year, with cities like Madrid and Miami being considered as well.
And yes, today we also announce that @astralisgg will be competing in São Paulo ??
The four remaining teams will be announced later on.
Local favorites MIBR were the first team to be invited in December and will look to use the home support to fight off competition form Astralis, who are the reigning champions of the Lisbon edition of the tournament held last year.
The other 4 teams are yet to be invited and will be revealed in the coming days.
The German Olympic Sports Confederation has maintained its against welcoming esports for Olympic occasions, referring to a Hesse Interior and Sports Minister as a major aspect of their choice. That serve says ‘esports are as meager a game as sewing’, and is against financing esports organizations in Germany.
That opinion isn’t exclusive to the German Olympic Sports Confederation. Hesse Interior and Sports Minister, Peter Beuth, agreed: “Esports are as little sport as knitting and recorder play,” said Beuth. “We must not allow the e-gaming industry to collect these sports assets. The idea that the E-gaming industry is vying for funding, I think is absurd.”
“Esports does not exist. And it will not be included in the Olympic program, “said Alfons Hörmann, president of the German Olympic Sports Confederation.
This proclamation on esports came during the New Year reception for the German Olympic Sports Confederation, and doubled down from their previous statements in December.
Content fetched from Unikrn, no editorial team was a part of this story.
