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100 Thieves raises another $35 million in second round of investment

Prateek Jain
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100 Thieves raises another $35 million in second round of investment

North American esports organisation 100 Thieves has announced the end of Series B funding round where they were able to raise $35 million which is $10 million more than the $25 million raised in October.

This time the second round was led by Artist Capital Management, a growth investment firm whose chief investment officer Josh Dienstag will be joining 100 Thieves Board of Directors. The organisation also has rapper Drake and Scooter Braun as members of Board of Directors.

Josh Dienstag in the announcement said:

“As long-term investors, we believe that 100 Thieves has a differentiated approach to esports and gaming. 100 Thieves has a visionary founder, a best-in-class management team, and premier strategic shareholders. We are very excited to support 100 Thieves with the growth capital they need to see their vision through.”

The end of Series B funding will bring the total post-funding valuation of the organisation to $125 million, which is up from $90 million valuations they had after Series A funding rounds in October.

CEO and founder of 100 Thieves Matthew “Nadeshot” Hagg said:

“The most important lesson I’ve learned going from gaming to leadership is ‘over-communicate, over-communicate, over-communicate. Making sure we’re all aligned on our goals for each day and each week and each month, to have an open and transparent environment, really builds a culture where everybody enjoys working with one another. Over-communication helps drive success.”

100 Thieves has announced that they will be using these funds to construct a15,000-square-foot  headquarter and training facility in Los Angeles. The facility will be equipped with streaming stations and content production ready studios. The facility will also include an apparel  design workshop where all their upcoming apparel will be designed and also feature a storefront for 100 Thieves branded apparel. According to Hagg the apparel business yielded more than $500K in revenue last time.

Currently, 100 Thieves compete in 3 esports titles namely Call of Duty, Fortnite and League of Legends. The organisation also releases original content with their in-house talents such as twitch streamers Jack “Courage” Dunlop and Rachell “Valkyrae” Hofstetter. The organisation is also sponsored by Red Bull, Rocket Mortgage, StockX, Cash App and Totino’s.

Wix announces global partnership with FaZe Clan

Prateek Jain
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Wix announces global partnership with FaZe Clan

This week Faze Clan announced its new partnership deal with Israeli cloud-based cloud-based web development platform Wix as an official website developer and website design partner.

As part of the partnership announcement, Wix’s branding will be featured on the official Faze Clan jersey. Wix will also serve as official supporter of Faze’s Fortnite team and has already released an official Fortnite Team website: https://www.fortnite.fazeclan.com/

Omer Shai, chief marketing officer at Wix, in the announcement said:

“Esports is wildly popular, with a growing and enthusiastic audience, and we are always looking for the best places to connect with current and future customers. We have pursued sports marketing partnerships for many years as we feel that this is a great way to build our brand. The partnership with FaZe Clan marks our first esports sponsorship and we believe it is a perfect fit. Plus, the opportunity to create dynamic content for FaZe Clan’s brand and their millions of fans is exactly the kind of engagement we love”.

This partnership is a first for Wix as they have only worked with sports organisations before. Faze Clan will be first sponsorship for Wix in esport industry. With the expertise in website development and content management, both the organisations will integrate social and digital content which will be used to interact with fans and the gaming community.

Faze will also be releasing new original content which will also feature their players. The content will be aimed especially at the fans and will available through the websites that Wix will be creating.

Erik Anderson, head of Esports at FaZe Clan said:

“We look for partners that understand our vibrant communities and the esports audience. Wix has all of the elements of energy, style, and speed that our players embrace and are symbolic of the FaZe Clan brand. Together, with Wix, we’re committed to creating content we know our fans will love.”

Currently Faze Clan competes in CS:GO, Fortnite, Call Of Duty, PUBG, Rainbow Six Siege and FIFA.

Intel Grand Slam returns with season 3 with updated rulebook

Malav Popat
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Intel Grand Slam returns with season 3 with updated rulebook

ESL has announced that Intel Grand Slam has been renewed with a third season with an updated set of rules to increase competitivity for winning the prestige prize of 1 million dollars.

The rule update has been made in order to keep the award as the highest level of achievement the team can be given for a certain time period.

Earlier, teams would have to win four tournaments hosted by ESL and DreamHack in the ten events they would choose to attend. The last season was won by Liquid who completed the series in 144 compared to Astralis’ record of 379 days in the first season.

With the new rules, teams can claim the coveted one million dollars price in the following way:

  1. Winning four Masters level CS:GO tournaments including one (or more) designated Masters level CS:GO tournament inside a span of ten consecutive tournaments.
  2. Winning six Masters-level CS: GO tournaments inside a span of ten consecutive events.

The list of Master level events is:

  • Intel® Extreme Masters
  • ESL One
  • ESL Pro League
  • DreamHack Masters

The list of Designated Masters is:

  • Intel® Extreme Masters Katowice
  • ESL One Cologne.
  • ESL/DreamHack organized Valve Majors

The race for Intel Grand Slam Season 3 begins with IEM Chicago which begins from 18th of June to the 21st of June.

The Season 3 of IGS was first seen on Liquipedia on the 9th of July which reported the season, to begin with, IEM Chicago as well.

PUBG Lite to get Radio commands soon

Bhavya Shah
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PUBG Lite to get Radio commands soon

In a Facebook post, Bluehole revealed that PUBG Lite will soon receive ‘Radio Message’ feature to enhance effective communication ingame. The developers have not revealed the exact date, however, players expect that the upcoming update will be equipped with aforementioned feature.

According to the representative thumbnail, several radio messages are:

  • “Enemy Spotted”
  • “Negative”
  • “Sorry”
  • “Need Ammo”
  • “Need Backup”
  • “Need Med”
  • “Thank you”
  • “Affirmative”

PUBG Lite was launched by Bluehole Inc. on January 24 earlier this year. However, the game was launched only on July 04 for the Indian subcontinent in a closed beta version. And, the game received it’s first batch of the update on July 04 as well. The following radio messages are expected to be added in the upcoming update.

PUBG PC Test Servers also received an update including radio messages on June 21 this year. PUBG Lite is basically designed for battle royale and gaming enthusiasts not having a high-end setup. This update will, in turn, facilitate users to communicate without external applications like TeamSpeak3 or Discord. This will eventually lead to the smooth functioning of the game on low-end PCs.

Following set of update is expected to bring along alot of interesting and buzzing stuff paired with the radio messages. The developers are expected to reveal the date in the upcoming days. Until then, stay tuned.

Team Liquid becomes the first team to win 18 games in a row on LAN; beat Astralis’ record of 17

Malav Popat
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Team Liquid becomes the first team to win 18 games in a row on LAN; beat Astralis’ record of 17

After a win at BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles, Team Liquid has broken Astralis’ LAN win record of 17 games and replaced it with their own win stream of 18 matches at LAN events.

Photo Via HLTV

Team Liquid has added to their accolades after breaking this record of LAN win streaks, which was previously held by Astralis. The team recently claimed one million dollars after winning the second season of Intel Grand Slam.

Additionally, Jakey “Stewie2k” Yip has become the highest earner in 2019 from CS: GO. He has earned $397,900.00 in 2019 and $942,790.00 in his lifetime of being a professional Counter-Strike player.

Liquid began their streak of winning LAN matches after beating Tyloo at ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals with a 2-0 scoreline. Their streak beat Astralis’ record after they beat FaZe Clan at the finals of BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles. Their last loss on LAN was against North, on Dust 2, at ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals. Liquid lost to the Danish side following a 16-13 scoreline.

Astralis’ streak began on the 24th of November 2018 with a 2-0 win over mousesports. It was broken by Liquid in the Grand final of iBUYPOWER Masters 2019 where the North-Americans trumped with a scoreline of 2-1 in the Best of Three Grand Final.

Liquid will be seen in action at IEM Chicago 2019 from the 18th of July to the 21st of July 2019. Their first game will be against Team Envy, which will be in a BO3 final. Liquid will aim to continue their dominance, extend their streak, and take home $250,000 in prize money.

Opinion: Faze Clan should steer away from coldzera

Abhishek Bajaj
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Opinion: Faze Clan should steer away from coldzera

It’s official! Mercurial Brazilian Counter-Strike player coldzera has been benched by mibr going forward. The organization relayed the news with some explanation, which was then supplemented by coldzera’s own Twitlonger, shining more light on what transpired and the events that led to him asking to be benched.

In his Twitlonger, coldzera iterated that he is set to move to EU and train during the interval or his ‘bench period’ as he evaluates offers, perhaps hinting that he is likely to move away from North America and join a European lineup.

Now, the obvious team that has been linked with coldzera is Faze Clan. The lineup that once dominated the Counter-Strike scene, continuously placing among the top four, is now a shadow of their glory days.

NiKo was found lacking in the IGL department and NEO was brought in to fill the void created by karrigan’s departure. While the performances and placings have improved somewhat, there still begs the question of a lack of firepower from the IGL, especially with stars like olofmeister and rain not being as clutch as they used to be.

coldzera is an obvious candidate, having done some calling at mibr for a brief period. But, the overwhelming sense of a superstar dream team along with Niko, Guardian, olofmeister and rain is surely a tempting proposition for both coldzera and Faze Clan.

On paper, the lineup will probably be one of the best, if not the best, iteration that has represented Faze Clan. But, a closer look throws up some potential ‘nays’ for Faze Clan, if they were to go for coldzera.

Why Faze Clan should not go for coldzera

The buyout for coldzera is likely huge, something the Brazilian confirmed, highlighting it twice in his Twitlonger. If Faze Clan were to buy coldzera, it would likely be through a dragged series of negotiations rather than just going in to buy the player out.

Photo Via: StarLadder

One thing that could be pointed towards coldzera’s attitude is perhaps, his inability to deal with a continued period of anonymity as far as top four placements are concerned.

He confessed his desire to leave the organization has been present for a considerable period, which coincides with the recent struggles that mibr faced, starting from the decision to stray away from a full-Brazilian lineup to going back to being an entirely Brazilian roster once again.

If coldzera does come in for NEO, without any other roster changes, it could present a similar problem of not having a proper IGL within the lineup, which saw Faze Clan struggle to post consistent results.

Natus Vincere’s early tenure with s1mple when Zeus departed is a very able example of how sometimes, firepower cannot solve all the problems. One more problem that could arise is that of conversation and adaptability.

coldzera hasn’t played in a lineup where English was the primary language and in the brief period that mibr had Stewie and Tarik, there were evident gaps in communication between the Brazilian core and the former Cloud9 duo.

coldzera hasn’t played in a lineup that did not have a Brazilian core either. While the entire lineup showed adaptability by moving from Brazil to North America for more exposure, that is easier than moving across to Europe, as has been shown by s1mple and mixwell – two mercurial stars who spent a considerable period in North America but ultimately moved to Europe to allegedly, be closer to home.

The grass mostly, seems greener on the other side. But, one must understand that it’s all about perspective.

On paper, the lineup seems to be a daunting prospect for the entire Counter-Strike Community to face. But, the scene has evident examples of how firepower alone is not enough for success and Faze Clan could be the next one, if they do go in and acquire coldzera from mibr.

Team Liquid beat FaZe to win BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles

Malav Popat
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3
Team Liquid beat FaZe to win BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles

Liquid took on FaZe in the grand finals of BLAST Pro Series Lose Angeles. The finals saw them beat FaZe Clan in the two map affair on Nuke and Inferno after the following vetoes:

  • FaZe removed Overpass
  • Liquid removed Train
  • FaZe picked Nuke
  • Liquid picked Inferno
  • FaZe removed Vertigo
  • Liquid removed Dust2
  • Mirage was left over

The scores were as follows:

  • Liquid win Nuke (16-13)
  • Liquid win Inferno (16-6)

The first map saw Liquid on the defending site where they showed a streak of brilliance and were able to completely shut down FaZe’s attacks. The North-American side went onto taking 11 rounds in the first half, limiting FaZe to 4. As the sides switched, FaZe looked much better and mounted hopes of a comeback by pulling back rounds in their favor. However, it was not possible for them as Liquid finally managed to close out the game with a 16-13 scoreline.

The second map of the series was Inferno where Liquid was attacking FaZe’s defense. FaZe looked much better on the first half and limited Liquid to a modest score of 9 rounds on the first half. However, FaZe were unable to break Liquid’s Inferno CT side and lost 7 rounds in a row and lost the final map of the series with a scoreline of 16-6.

The match saw Twistzz leading by example with 46 kills to him with only 25 deaths in the series. He had a rating of 1.45 out of 2.0 in the series.

BLAST Pro Series Los Angeles final standings:

Liquid’s next competition will be at IEM Chicago, which starts on July 18. The $250,000 tournament will feature teams like Vitality, ENCE, G2, and MIBR.

PUBG banned in Jordan with other “violent games” to be banned soon

Prateek Jain
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PUBG banned in Jordan with other “violent games” to be banned soon

After PUBG’s great success run worldwide, the game currently seems to get entangled in a political mess. Many countries have banned the game arguing it to be too violent for kids and teenagers which might cause harm to the mentally and sometimes physically.

Jordan is the latest in the long list of countries that have banned the game such as China, Iraq, partially Nepal and some states in India.

The decision was met with anger from citizens who argued that the game wasn’t harmful and had followed several steps to tackle the “violent” attribute.

Telecomm Regulatory Commission of Jordan said the main reason for the ban was WHO’s study on gaming addiction and social isolation. According to Jordan’s Telecomm Regulatory Commission, PUBG is a violent game and falls directly in the category of games that may cause addiction and social isolation. They also claimed that children who play the game will be more violent and will drop off in studies.

According to them more “violent games” are being checked and the appropriate solution will be taken for them (mostly banning them). These “violent games” will include games related to PUBG which might also mean Fortnite getting banned ( another leader in Battle Royale category).

Currently, it isn’t clear on what platforms the game is banned as only the mobile version seems to be taken off. We might see a complete ban in the coming week or maybe only mobile version getting hit.

Although some countries have also revisited their decisions after anger from the citizens such as India and Nepal had overturned the complete nation-wide ban. But in some, the game is still banned such as in China (mostly because of non-licensing of microtransaction and due availability of state-approved clone version of PUBG by TenCent) and Iran(government claims the game is a national security risk).

Invictus Gaming signs Chevrolet as official car partner

Prateek Jain
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1
Invictus Gaming signs Chevrolet as official car partner

Chinese esports organisation Invictus Gaming (IG) signed a partnership deal with Chevrolet, acting as team’s official car partner. Chevrolet’s logo is now also featured on IG’s team jersey and jackets. As part of the deal, IG will specifically promote the new Tracker SUV from Chevrolet.

The deal was first teased on 4th July om Chinese social media platform Weibo by IG. The post featured a commercial called “IG X Tracker”. The commercial featured 5 players from IG’s world champion League of Legends squad. Each of the 5 players were also featured in a solo Chevrolet commercial.

All of the 6 commercials were also released on the official Chevrolet Chinese website.

Later, on July 12th the deal was showcased when players from IG’s League of Legends team appeared on the Chevrolet’s stage at the Chongqing Auto Show, wearing their team jackets with Chevrolet’s logo beside team branding.

Chevrolet isn’t the only car brand involved in esports. With other brands such as Mercedes-Benz being partnered with Royal Never Give-Up (RNG), and Nissan partnering with Optic Gaming and Faze Clan, and Audi with Astralis.

Currently, Team IG in Dota 2 has been showing great performance, with the team currently leading the group stage board with a comfortable 6-1  and advancing to the Double-Elimination playoffs as the top seed. The team seems to be positioned well to secure a spot at The International 2019.

Astralis break ties with RFRSH Entertainment

Malav Popat
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1
Astralis break ties with RFRSH Entertainment

According to HLTV.org, Astralis and RFRSH Entertainment will go their separate ways and will not be associated in any way moving ahead.

Astralis earnings

RFRSH Entertainment has two professional teams under their banner, Astralis, and Origen. These teams will fall under a separate organization called “RFRSH Teams”. In an interview with HLTV, the CEO of RFRSH Entertainment, Nikolaj Nyholm stated that the organization would concentrate more on organizing tournaments and would be pulling away from their interest in professional teams. Additionally, an employee would not have duties relating to RFRSH Teams and RFRSH Entertainment.

The CEO added that following the StarLadder Major, both the sections would be completely separated and that this move and had been in the workshed for the last two years

The move comes after Astralis and RFRSH Entertainment have been accused of potential revenue splits and a conflict of interest as Astralis chose to skip multiple top tier events to attend BLAST Pro events around the world. The Danes have earned the nickname of “BLASTRALIS”, mainly seen on r/GlobalOffensive and other social networking sites.

However, Astralis has cited Device’s health issues in order to dodge all accusations of revenue splits with the organizing team, RFRSH Entertainment, of BLAST Pro events.

In the interview with HLTV, Origen and Astralis will see new investors in the future following excessive interest from investors looking to make moves in the esports scenario.

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