The finals of ECS Season 7 Finals was played between Furia and Vitality. Both the teams had shown tremendous form over the course of the tournament. Furia beat Astralis twice in the tournament in a BO1 and BO3 series in their opening game and in the Group A decider match. Vitality, on the other hand, had remained unbeaten throughout the course of the tournament and made it to the finals after a 2-0 victory over NRG. Furia beat North 2-0 to lock horns with Vitality.
The game was played on Inferno, and Overpass after the following vetoes:
Vetoes
FURIA removed Dust2
Vitality removed Train
FURIA picked Inferno
Vitality picked Overpass
FURIA removed Mirage
Vitality removed Nuke
Vertigo was left over
Scores:
Vitality win Inferno (16-9)
Vitality win Overpass (16-4)
Furia, playing the T-side first, looked as if they were in the driverโs seat in the pistol round where KSCERATO pulled out a splendid 1v4 clutch to shut down Vitality and extended their lead to 3-0. Vitality pushed ahead of the Brazilians and strung out 7 rounds in a row together, to make the score 7-3. However, Vitality hustled and pulled the scoreline to 7-8, giving Vitality the slightest advantage.
As Vitality switched over to the attacking side, one could say they were a shapeshifting demon. Under ALEXโs IGL style, Furia was completely locked out of the game and managed to gather only 2 rounds on the CT side. Furia had no answer to Vitalityโs strong post plant situation and conceded the map.
The second map, Overpass, picked by Vitality, saw the French kick off the CT side in style by pulling out the first 6 rounds in their favour. However, all was not over for Furia who managed to put together a few rounds to make the score 12-3, in the favour of the French.
Furia was on the chopping block as Vitality picked up the pistol round in the second half and the Brazilians were unable to convert their force-buy gamble and saved three weapons for the next round. However, the saved guns did not prove of any assistance as Vitality tore through the Brazilian defence and Vitality marched onto map and championship point. Furia was able to survive the elimination scare and pulled back one round. However, the knockout blow from Vitality came in the next round and Vitality were crowned as champions of the tournament.
The cache contains 18 sets, which includes a Rubick ultra rare set, a phantom assassin very rare set and a disruptor rare set.
Each Collectorโs Cache costs $2.49 or Rs.175 in Indian currency.25% of every purchase will contribute to The International prize pool.
Opening 15 Collectorโs Cache will give the user 36 additional levels, while recycling unwanted sets will grant 2 battle levels each.
The 2019 Cache will only be on sale for 30 days. This will be the only way to acquire these exclusive items, except for the ultra-rareRubick item, which will be marketable towards the end of 2020 after next yearโs International concludes. The odds of receiving a bonus rare item will increase with each treasure you open.
The final vote tally is listed below, with the exception of a second Tidehunter set at rank 18 โ that set will be released at some point in the future.
Here are all the heroes who got one of the 18 sets so far:
Abaddon
Dark Willow
Disruptor
Grimstroke
Dragon Knight
Rubick
Chen
Enigma
Tidehunter
Death Prophet
Undying
Huskar
Dazzle
Oracle
Drow Ranger
Phantom Assassin
Earth Spirit
In other news, the prize pool for THE INTERNATIONAL surged past 16 million $, after the announcement of the collectorโs cache. At this rate, it seems Ti9 will surpass last yearโs prize pool for sure.
Time to let your wallets to do the talking and get the ultra-rare Rubick cache set!
A YouTuber by the name of Quixel has recreated the iconic and the most popular map: Dust2 in CSGO using Unreal Engine 4.
The video only shows parts of the A site, with the Catwalk, CT Spawn and Long areas surrounding it, but the details are very meticulous and represent the next-gen graphics we have come to expect of in recent games.
To begin, Quixel took some screenshots of different parts of the A site to get a better understanding of the space, both horizontally and vertically to exactly replicate the map. He fed these images into a software which converted them into a 3D model replicating A site with a very high degree of precision.
He then used this model to build his own using Unreal Engine 4, after which he added textures and assets like wooden planks and doors, making the site on par with 2019 graphic standards.
With the widespread appreciation within the community, it begs the question whether such an update is feasible. While it provides an experience much better than its counterpart, the increased hardware requirements reduce the number of users capable of running the game which is ultimately costly for a multiplayer game like CSGO.
Nevertheless, the model looks gorgeous and one that has mesmerized fans of the iconic map. It remains to be seen whether Quixel will make a complete model for the map or moving to something else.
In a major goof up, DreamHack were left red-faced after Logistics company UPS lost the trophy that was supposed to be presented to Team Liquid, which resulted in them presenting oversized rings for each player at the stage.
In a statement on Twitter, Dreamhack said:
As you may have noticed, the #DHMasters Dallas trophy has been no where to be seen all event. Unfortunately UPS has lost it and weโve been unable to get it in time. We will ensure that the trophy gets shipped to @TeamLiquid once its found.
The presentation was understandably a disaster, with the lack of trophy being met with jeers and trolls by fans online, but this was short-lived, as the confetti brought some respite and the fact that Liquid solidified their top ranking.
Nevertheless, DreamHack were fuming by this mishap and cheekily tweeted to rivals ESL to connect them with DHL.
“Hey @ESLCS, could you maybe hook us up with DHL next time we have to ship valuable goods?” they tweeted.
While there is no official statement on whether the trophy has been found, the NA org did bank the $100,000 promised to them for winning the event.
A week earlier it was revealed that Natus Vincere and Winstrike Team swapped Ioann “Edward” Sukhariev and Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov respectively. Ioann, 31, has played for Natus Vincere for nearly a decade, however, he had also played for Astana Dragons for nearly four months in 2013.
He has had an impressive run with Na’Vi while they were runners-up at a couple of CS:GO majors and conquered ESL One: New York 2016, CS:GO Asia Championship, StarLadder & i-League Season 5 & 7 and several other plausible performances.
Edward at StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 5 (via StarLadder)
On the contrary, Kirill has displayed serious potential during his tenure at Quantum Bellator Fire (QBF) and Winstrike Team. Quantum Bellator Fire rose to fame when the Russians secured a 5-8th position at ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 all the way through regional open qualifiers. Quantum Bellator Fire (QBF) defeated Flash Gaming, Team Envy and AVANGAR in New Challengers Stage and advanced to New Legends Stage.
The underdogs still didn’t cease as they further took down Virtus.Pro, Gambit and mousesports to make it through the New Champions Stage. Their journey ended against Natus Vincere in the quarter-finale but they had definitely carved out a reputation for themselves and a slot at the next major.
So, what does this exchange means? Is he merely a replacement for Kirill until the organization finds a permanent fifth? Can the transfer of experience facilitate Winstrike Team to peak once again like they did at Boston major? Let us analyse and answer these questions considering various speculations.
“To be entirely honest, I had been anticipating this moment for some time now, maybe for around a year.” In an interview to cybersport.ru, Ioann revealed that he was anticipating this move since a year.
Further, he suggested that Na’Vi received a request from Team Winstrike that the qualifiers for the major would begin soon and they needed to complete their roster. Hence, Na’Vi loaned him to Winstrike Team for a period of ninety days. Kirill was a sniper and IGL for his former team and now, Ioann will be calling shots for the CIS lineup.
“The situation was not easy, qualifiers would soon begin, and if they had not completed the lineup now, then it would have been impossible to do this.”
“Winstrike asked for help, I agreed – for a period of three months and then I will become a free agent,” said 31-year-old to cybersport.ru about his arrival at Winstrike.
Ioann has the experience, lots and lots of experience. On the contrary, Winstrike lineup has a couple of teenagers with nasty raw aim. Since Ioann has decided to lead the lineup, it would be interesting to see whether he would be able to utilize the firepower to its fullest.
However, Winstrike Team has eventually lost it’s first encounter after the roster change 0-2 against Tricked Esports. It is also the first time that 31-year-old has dedicated to call the shots.
Christopher โGeT_RiGhTโ Alesund might be announced as the new in-game leader of Ninjas in Pyjamas, after he was spotted sitting in the middle against Astralis in the ECS Season 7 Group A elimination match.
Generally, an IGL is seated in the middle of the 5 to get a birdโs eye view of each playerโs screen to better direct the next course of action. While not conclusive, it is likely that Alesund will be the next IGL considering the poor form NiP have shown recently.
If confirmed, he will take over the reigns of Jonas โLekr0โ Olofsson who has been the IGL for a year with mixed results. His biggest achievement undoubtedly was getting them to the Legends Stage in the IEM Katowice Major after a gap of nearly 2 years.
Since then, they have struggled, and the inability of NiP to be consistent coupled with Dennis โdennisโ Eldman being in and out of the team has seen them being 13th-16th in Season 9 of the ESL Pro League and at a threat of being relegated to the ESEA MDL.
If GeT_RighT is indeed IGL, it has not been the best start, with a group stage loss at the ECS Season 7 Finals after losing the BO1 opener to NRG and subsequently 2-0 to Astralis in the elimination match. The next event for the Ninjas will be at ESL One Cologne in July.
Astralis and Furia locked horns with each other on Nuke. The match was a test for both the teams; could Astralis prove that they are the champions on Nuke or could Furia dethrone them. The game kicked off on Nuke after the following vetoes where the Danes began on the defensive side.
Vetoes:
Astralis removed Train
FURIA removed Dust2
Astralis removed Vertigo
FURIA removed Inferno
Astralis removed Mirage
FURIA removed Overpass
Nuke was left over
The Brazilians kicked off the attacking side with an amazing pistol round and survived the force-buy scare and picked up the first three rounds. The Danes were just warming up and put a full stop on Furiaโs antics and picked up 5 rounds in a row. The game continued in its neck to neck fashion and the half ending in Astralisโ favour with an 8-7 scoreline.
As the half changed, Astralis changed completely and pushed the gas by stringing 5 rounds together before the Brazilians pulled the breaks on the Danish dominations and pulled back the game to a scoreline of 15-14 following a critical 1v2 clutch by KSCERATO in their favour after trailing from 14-9.
Photo via ECS
In the end, the Brazilians upset Astralis on Nuke with a scoreline of 16-14 thanks to heroics by KSCERATO who starred with 29 frags coupled with 2 assists and 17 deaths and a rating of 1.42.
Group B opening match
Next, up, compLexity squared up with Vitality. The North-Americans were hot off a roster change and brought in oBo, a 15-year-old player, who replaced stanislaw and dephh became the shot caller for the team. The French team looked to continue their string of goods results after a playoff run at DreamHack Masters Dallas 2019 and winning cs_summit 4.
The games played on Dust-2 where compLexity began on the attacking side after the following vetoes:
Complexity removed Overpass
Vitality removed Train
Complexity removed Nuke
Vitality removed Inferno
Complexity removed Mirage
Vitality removed Vertigo
Dust2 was left over
oBo looked to make his mark in the books of Counter-Strike and did so correctly with 4 kills to kick off the round. Riding on the oBo wave, compLexity secured the first 3 rounds for themselves before a force-buy gambit from Vitality caught them off guard, putting the score at 3-1. The game continued in its back to back fashion and the scores were tied at 5-5. From there, compLexity looked lost on the attacking side and did not convert a single round. Vitality took the lead on the half with a 10-5 scoreline.
compLexity showed signs of a comeback by pulling back the pistol round and the following anti-eco. However, that is when Zywoo and co. put the final nail in the coffin and restricted compLexity to only 7 rounds in the game and won the map with a scoreline of 16-7. Welcome to the Zwyoo show!. The young gun shined with a rating of 1.33 in the game and topped the kills leader board with 21 kills and 10 deaths.
Group B opening match
The last BO1 was played between MIBR and North. MIBR looked to restart their era of dominance and North looked to show promise with Valde taking the IGL role and adding JUGi to take over the big green.
The game kicked off on Inferno with MIBR taking up the role of defenders. The vetoes were:
North removed Mirage
MIBR removed Dust2
North removed Vertigo
MIBR removed Nuke
North removed Train
MIBR removed Overpass
Inferno was left over
The game kicked off with North picking up the pistol round and converting the following force buy round with a bit of struggle, without multiple survivors. However, North conceded the next round making the score 2-1 in the Danish favor. However, the Brazilians had just stepped foot in the server and decimated the Danes round by round and picked up 12 rounds in a row in total to make the score 12-2. North looked to redeem themselves and picked up the last round, ending the half with a scoreline of 12-3.
It looked like North had run out of luck as MIBR won the pistol and the following anti-eco from North, putting them two rounds away from match point. However, North mounted a ridiculous comeback and pushed the game from 14-3 to 15-15 and forced overtime.
NORTH TAKE THE WIN!! ๐ฉ๐ฐ Friendly reminder that the first half ended with them being 10 rounds behind ๐๐@mibr 23 – 25 @TheNorthIsHere
It took the game 3 overtime sessions to be able to decide a winner of the game. The first overtime session ended at 18-18 and the second at 21-21. However, North ran away with the game in the last overtime session with a scoreline of 25-23.
Group A winners’ match
The group Aโs winnersโ match saw NRG take on Furia in a Best of Three Series where the North Americans grabbed a confident win against the dangerous Brazilians. The game was to be played on Train and Nuke, without the need of a third map.
The vetoes were:
NRG removed Inferno
FURIA removed Dust2
NRG picked Train
FURIA picked Nuke
NRG removed Vertigo
FURIA removed Mirage
Overpass was left over
Scores:
NRG win Train (16:13)
NRG win Nuke (16:9)
The first map, Train, was picked by NRG which saw them beginning strong by picking up the first three rounds in a row before Furia tied things up and added another round to their tally. NRG kept coming hard and took the half in convincing fashion with a scoreline of 9-6.
Furia converted the pistol and was not able to hold their ground as NRG took the next six rounds, pushing them to match point at 15-7. Furia looked to survive the loss and pulled back two rounds before NRG ended the first map with a scoreline of 16-13.
The last map was Nuke where Furia showed their strength. They kicked off the CT side in style with the first three rounds before NRG tied up the game at 4-4. After that, it looked like the North American team was running away with the gamer and extended their lead to 9-6 at the end of the half.
As the sides switched, it became really hard for Furia to get rounds on the board who only picked three rounds in total in the second half before NRG clinched the series with a scoreline of 16-9. With this victory, NRG have secured their playoff berth.
Group B winners’ match
The last game of the day was played between Vitality and North with the victor moving onto the playoffs of the event. North emerged victorious in the three map affair and the successful reverse sweep sees them sealing their playoff spot.
Vetoes:
Vitality removed Train
North removed Vertigo
Vitality picked Nuke
North picked Inferno
Vitality removed Overpass
North removed Mirage
Dust2 was left over
Scores:
Vitality win Nuke 16:13
North win Inferno 16:11
North win Dust 2 16:7
The first map of the series was Nuke where Vitality kicked off the attacking side by securing the first 5 rounds in convincing fashion. However, North was able to the force-buy round thanks to a brilliant anchor role played by JUGi who made the Desert Eagle and picked three vital frags and North secured their first of the series.For the rest of the half, the French hommes struggled to add multiple rounds on board and North edged past Vitality with a scoreline of 8-7.
As the sides changed, Vitality was able to draw the score at 11-11 as the game proceeded in its neck to neck fashion. The French rallied together and went onto map point at 15-12. The Danes were able to add another map on board before the French closed out the map at 16-13.
The second map was Inferno where North showed good footing by picking up the first 2 rounds as CTโs before Vitality responded with one of their own. Vitality struggled to find rounds as North picked up 7 rounds while Vitality sat on 2 rounds. Vitality stringed out 5 rounds till the end of the half, putting them at 7 rounds while North tipped past them with 8.
On the Terrorist side, North took charge of proceedings with a 4 round streak which Vitality broke with one of their own rounds. North limited Vitality to only 4 rounds in the second half and closed out the game with a scoreline of 16-11.
The last map of the day was Dust 2, North began on the CT side with the first two rounds in their favor. They conceded the first buy round to the French but propelled themselves to 4 rounds. The game was tied at 6-6 and North steered clear and put the score to 9-6 in their favor.
As the sides switched, they restricted Vitality to only round and emerged victorious with a scoreline of 16-7 in the BO3 series. They have sealed their playoff spot with that win.
In the remaining games:
Astralis will take on NiP in the elimination bracket. The winner of the game will play Furia in a BO3 series to decide the last playoff spot in Group A
MIBR will take on Complexity in the elimination bracket. The winner of the game will play Vitality in a BO3 series to decide the last playoff spot in Group B.
Tyloo Gaming, the Chinese Organisation, have added Freeman and DANK1NG to their active lineup, according to a Twitter post from the organization.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Today we are excited to welcome ex-VICI Gaming member Wing Hei "Freeman" Cheung as well as Zhenghao "DANK1NG" Lv, formerly of BTRG.IMBA to our CSGO roster. #tyloowin#ๅ ๆฒนๅคฉ็ฆpic.twitter.com/qve7pC30ri
WingHei โFreemanโ Cheung who had stepped down from ViCi after IEM Sydney was added as coach/backup player with Tyloo for the Asia Minor Closed Qualifier yesterday. The 19-year-old will take up the role of the entry fragger in the roster. Freeman boasts a rating of 1.21 out of 2.0 and has been regarded as one of the best players in the Chinese scene, at the tender age of 19.
As an entry-fragger, Freeman is a seasoned veteran in the Chinese scene with CSGO major experience and achieved success internationally also within our region.
The second player, Zhenghao ‘Danking’ Lv, is a 19-year-old AWPer from China who currently plays for BTRG.IMBA. The 19-year-old will take up the Big Green in the lineup. He flexes a rating of 1.25 out of 2.0.
However, Tyloo has not reported the players who will be stepping down from the lineup one can speculate that Danking can take the AWP over from xccurate in the lineup. Additionally, the addition of Freeman and DANK1NG could put Tyloo back to a full-Chinese lineup with the removal of the two Indonesian players, BnTeT and xccurate. With this change, another player will have to step up and take the reigns of the team from BnTeT who is speculated to leave the lineup.
DANK1NG is a 19 year-old talented and promising AWPer hailing from China, many consider him as one of the best AWPers in the Chinese region.
Tyloo will be seen in action at the Asia Minor Closed Qualifier where 16 teams will lock horns for two spots in the Asia Minor will the ultimate goals of making it to StarLadder & i-League Berlin Major 2019, the 15th CSGO Major from August 20 to September 8, 2019.
PUBG has come under fire from many Muslims around the world for having a model of Kaaba in its latest update which has hurt its religious sentiments.
So much so, that the Tamil Nadu Muslim League (TNML) yesterday wrote a long letter to the Chennai Commissioner. In its complaint, they accused the game of hurting their religious sentiments and distracting the youth and called for an immediate ban of the game.
The controversy surfaced last week when Tencent rolled out a 1 year anniversary update which contained a birthday crate containing a Kaaba. The Kaaba, meaning โcubeโ in Arabic, is considered by Muslims to be the house of God and it rests within the Grand Mosque of Mecca.
This enraged many Muslims around the world and resulted in various online campaigns against the game. Tencent quickly changed the birthday crate and issued an apology thereafter.
After announcing his departure from ViCi after IEM Sydney, Freeman has been included in Tylooโs lineup for the Chinese closed qualifier for the Asia Minor, where he has been listed as a โcoach/backupโ making him eligible to play.
The young beast was set to join the active lineup after IEM Sydney according to a report by DeKay. WingHei “Freeman” Cheung had decided to leave ViCi โ seek new opportunities and not due to a difference in the attitude between the teammates.โ
Freeman has finally joined a team, 3 months after leaving ViCi where had been a part of for 2 years and attended multiple events and most importantly the IEM Katowice New Challengers Stage, where the team placed 9-11th. In fact, Freeman was the first player from HongKong to ever attend a major following victory over North on Dust 2 and Inferno from the Minor-Play In.
With the closed qualifier beginning, 16 teams will lock horns for two spots in the Asia Minor will the ultimate goals of making it to StarLadder & i-League Berlin Major 2019, the 15th CSGO Major from August 20 to September 8, 2019.
