According to several sources close to Global Esports, Mumbai based organization could possibly acquire service of Sagnik ‘Hellff’ Roy. Aaquib “FalKen” Dingankar would depart the roster, further revealed the sources.
In April earlier this year, after the departure of Polish duo and Sabyasachi ‘Antidote’ Bose, Global Esport had signed – Bhavin ‘HellRangeR Kotwani, Saharyar “BaDMaN” Shaikh and Vishal ‘Haivaan’ Sharma. But, Aaquib was playing official tournaments in the place of Saharyar.
However, after the addition of Sagnik and Aaquib’s departure, Saharyar’s future remains unclear. He could still remain with Global Esports as the 6th man or he could also depart.
Sagnik has earlier played for JMD Gaming, Team Malhar and several other lineups. 20-year-old has a strong aim, excellent game sense and he is a rising name in the Indian Counter-Strike scene. Apart from all this, Jadavpur prodigy frequently live streams his gameplay on YouTube.
If the sources are to be believed, Global Esports’ CS:GO roster for future events will be:
Rahul “t1toSAVAGE” Sridhar
Tejas “Rexy” Kotian
Bhavin “HellrangeR” Kotwani (IGL)
Vishal “haiVaan” Sharma
Sagnik ‘Hellff’ Roy
Matt “dayv1d” David (Coach)
Saharyar “BaDMaN” Shaikh (?)
TalkEsport has reached out to Global Esports for a comment.
Only 3 weeks after adding Roman “Resolut1on” Fomynok to their line-up instead of Sangdon “FoREv” Lee, J.Storm have made 2 more changed to their lineup.
Their mid player Jonathan “Bryle” De Guia and team captainTaewon“March” Park have been benched by the organisation.
Replacing them in the squad, on a trial basis, will be dota veteran Jimmy ‘Demon’ Ho, who had retired from active dota a year ago and ex Penta and Team Spirit player Leon “Nine” Kirilin.
Bryle and March will still be part of the J.Storm organisation, but not part of the active roster.
With this squad, J.Storm hopes to make it to The International through the North American Qualifier, given that they did not qualify for the last minor and major of the season, and therefore do not have enough DPC points to qualify directly for TI.
Call it the gravest level of gaming addiction, but three years back, two Delhi brothers – hooked to gaming consoles in such a way that they forgot to take meals, bathe or even take loo breaks – finally ended up in a rehabilitation facility.
Three years is a long time in the world of gaming, but in the world of technology, it has only got worse. With smartphones getting cheaper and better, mobile gaming has taken off and millions of Indian youth are now hooked to games like PlayerUnknown Battleground (PUBG).
The cardiologist who treated him to the biological and mental after-effects of PUBG has now urged the government to put an end to the addictive game before it threatens lives of more children in India.
“He was a young boy with a healthy heart. He was a swimmer and had no history of heart issues. The rush of anxiety, anger and hormones triggered a deep shock situation that unfortunately blocked his heart,” Dr Ashok Jain, Cardiologist at Pukhratan hospital, Neemuch told IANS. “
He was brought without a pulse. We tried to revive him but we could not,” Jain added.
Developed by a South Korean company video game company Bluehole and launched in 2017, the “survival of the fittest” idea-based battle game was quick to gather a global gamer-base of 227 million but has been infamous for its addictive nature. With an in-game talking feature, PUBG connects strangers and friends from around the world in real-time to kill enemies and emerge as mission winners.
In October 2018, a 19-year-old Delhi boy was arrested for killing his parents and sister because they did not approve of his lifestyle that revolved around playing PUBG with his peers at a secretly rented room.
In May, a 19-year old Ahmadabad girl married with a year-old baby demanded divorce from her husband because of her immense indulgence in PUBG.
“I request parents as well as the government to take strict measures against such games. Not only are games like PUBG hindering the mental, emotional and physical development of teenagers but are also posing life threats now. Its shocking and alarming,” warned Jain.
Recent studies suggest that three out of four Indian gamers play mobile games at least twice a day, for an average of over 60 minutes each day. Mobile gaming is now prevalent in tier-2 and tier-3 cities with similar amounts of time spent by the users.
However, there are some who do not want PUBG to be banned. “I play PUBG everyday. What happened with Furqan has shocked us all. I do not want the game to be banned because it is a good stress buster but I would try my best to limit my playing hours,” said Prashant Sharma, a 20-year-old student from Pune.
ESL One had hosted a tournament in Birmingham, UK, from the 28th of May to 2nd of June 2019. There were 12 slots – 8 Invitees, and 1 team from each of the 4 regions that would battle through qualifiers.
The participant teams were as follows:
Ninjas in Pyjamas (Direct Invite)
OG (Direct Invite)
Vici Gaming (Direct Invite)
Team Liquid (Direct Invite)
Gambit Esports (Direct Invite)
Evil Geniuses (Direct Invite)
PSG.LGD (Direct Invite)
Team Secret (Direct Invite)
Alliance (GG.Bet Birmingham Invitational)
Forward Gaming (North America Qualifier)
Keen Gaming ( China Qualifier)
TNC Predator (Southeast Asia Qualifier)
Throughout the group stages, each of the qualifying teams put up an exceptional show of their Dota2 prowess. Since this was the first professional event after the 7.22 patch, teams showed impressive ways to strategise around the new meta. New and interesting metas were put forth. Drow Ranger, who was the most picked/banned hero in the previous patch, now saw a huge decrease in its popularity. Mars was introduced to the added to the Captains Draft and hence he was hugely popular every series.
Team Secret had an amazing display of their Dota skills, resulting in them getting crowned as the champions of this tournament. Rising from the lower bracket, they fought through OG (2-0), beating TNC Predator (2-1), Gambit Esports (2-0), and then PSG.LGD (2-1) to earn the entry to Grand Finals, and then finally closing the enthralling series with EG (3-2) to earn their rightful spot.
This tournament offered a lot of spectacular matches of Dota. But this all fades in comparison to what is about to come; The International 2019. So gear up, level up your Battlepass, and come along with us as we witness yet another history in the making.
The mighty North-Americans have earned their second title for the year. Team Liquid have won DreamHack Masters: Dallas 2019 by taking down ENCE eSports 2-1 in the grand finale. They take home $100,000 along with personal trophies and beautiful rings. This victory gets them an edge over Astralis in the Intel Grand Slam titles. Team Liquid have earlier won IEM Sydney while Astralis had won the IEM Major: Katowice.
This victory also leads them to the throne as they will be officially ranked #1 on HLTV as the day proceeds. Astralis will drop down to second position after 406 days of dominance on the throne. On the other hand, Finns will hold onto the bronze position.
Team Liquid picked overpass while the Finns decided to play mirage. Inferno was set to be the decider.
Mirage: Liquid 16-8 ENCE
Overpass: Liquid 17-19 ENCE
Inferno: Liquid 16-13 ENCE
Mirage initially seemed a back and forth encounter as Team Liquid got a slight 8-7 edge over ENCE eSport on the offence. However, as the sides switched, Finns could merely grab a round on terrorist side. ENCE eSport got the bomb down only twice and their offence seemed lacklusterd. Russel ‘Twistzz’ Van Dulke led from the front with an outstanding 1.58 rating and 1.12 kill/round ratio. ENCE eSport got an early advantage in 14 rounds but they could not covert those into wins.
Coming down to overpass, it was Team Liquid’s pick but they were hesitant as the end came closer. However, Liquid went off to an excellent start with 8-7 lead in the first half on terrorist side. Jere ‘sergej’ Salo, 17-year-old prodigy clutched the 24th round in 1vs2 post-plant scenario to secure14th round for his side. While Aleksi ‘allu’ Jalli secured map-point in the overtime with the incredible 1vs3 clutch as the clock was ticking down for Liquid. These clutches played a major role as they bagged the second map.
Team Liquid went ahead with an incredible opening on Inferno while they grabbed 9 out of the first ten rounds. However, ENCE eSport retaliated winning the last four rounds on defense in the first half. Team Liquid almost secured the pistol round but Sami ‘xseveN’ Laasanen charmed in with a crucial 1vs3 as Team Liquid overstepped and pushed through the smoke.
Since then, both teams traded a few rounds but the Americans came out on top. Jake ‘Stewie2K’ Yip’s triple kill in the final round is highly applaudable.
Photo: HLTV
Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski received the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award for his outstanding performance in Dallas. This is the first MVP award for the 21-year-old American.
North American based giant esports organisation, Cloud9 has signed a multiyear partnership deal with the technological mammoth Microsoft. Microsoft will be working as official technology and performance analytics partner for Cloud9 and help co-develop esports driven tools for all Cloud9 teams.
According to press release Microsoft will
be utilizing its Azure platform to
analyse and mine data from the competitive matches and practice sessions.
The said data will then be processed to provide valuable information such as
strategies, player insights, team formation, etc for players and teams to
utilize.
In the press release, CEO and Owner of
Cloud9, Jack Etienne said:
“As our organization looks at reaching new heights this year and next, we are incredibly excited to use the power of Microsoft technology to help get us there. At Cloud9, we are all about giving players the tools they need to succeed, and with Microsoft leading the way for us, we’re going to have the competitive edge”
Mike
Downey, Director of Sports Technology at Microsoft also
shared information about the deal and role of Microsoft in this deal:
“Using a range of Microsoft’s commercial and consumer products and services, we will work with Cloud9 to build tools that will help them train more efficiently and determine their best strategies to win. Pairing the technological expertise of Microsoft with some of the world’s best gamers and coaches, we have an opportunity to develop some really innovative technology.”
Although the use of data analytics in esports isn’t something new or out of ordinary, what stands out from this deal is that both organizations will develop tools which Microsoft may later integrated into their Azure platform and partner up with more teams in future. The possibility of others also getting benefits of data analysis and tools is huge and this might push the skill cap higher making the games more competitive and more enjoyable for the audience.
Cloud9 currently fields teams and players in many esports games including League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch and Rocket League. With Microsoft’s support and resources at disposal, there is plenty of room for Cloud9 to expand further and dig deeper into analytics which in-turn will improve their teams and help generate better results in competitive matches.
Virtus.Pro is an organization which has a profound history with Counter-Strike. The organization had grabbed ESL One: Katowice 2014 Major, however, the present lineup is extensively different. And recently, their lineup lost to Team STEPx in the open qualifier itself.
Yes, you heard it right! Virtus.Pro was shown the exit door in the Third Open Qualifier for the Europe Minor. However, they still have a little hope because they can reach Europe Minor through the Fourth Open Qualifier. However, it is still a major embarrassment for the Poles and even if they qualify for Europe Minor, will they sustain any further?
Team STEPx defeated Virtus.Pro 19-16 in the overtime. Tobiz, one of the player on the bottom of the scoreboard for the Danes was facing internet issues. Casper ‘casper’ Anderson further shed some light on Virtus.Pro’s fiasco and his teammates’ suffering internet on Reddit. “Just to clarify what happened so people dont think it was a full 4v5.”
“He (Tobiz) dropped at the 8-7 half, where we and VP took technical (timeout) to wait for his internet to come back on. He joined once and dropped weapons but otherwise, we managed to get to overtime 4v5 as CT. In overtime, he played with us,” further added the top fragger for Team STEPx.
Virtus.Pro seems to be in deep trouble. Their CS:GO lineup is plagued with inconsistency and poor results. Further, the Poles have stopped receiving an invite for premier events. It is quite overwhelming to witness Janusz ‘Snax’ Pogorzelski losing in open qualifiers. He is a beast on the server with gifted raw skills and commendable game sense.
IEM Sydney came to an end on May, 5th with Team Liquid triumphing over Fnatic in a best of 5 with a comfortable score-line of 3-2. After losing 10 finals and finishing at 2nd place, Team Liquid was able to break past the silver medal curse and defeated Fnatic in what looked like Fnatic’s game at the start. The Grand Finale went the full distance of 5 maps which at first saw Fnatic leading the charts but later saw Team Liquid stepping up and comfortably finishing the game. The Grand Finale was sceptical to behold, with Team Liquid taking home a whopping US$ 250,000 prize money in front of fully packed Qudos Bank Arena.
With over 20 million viewers tuning in
across the event and almost 10 million hours of Counter Strike content (up by
16% over 2018) watched by fans across the globe, this year’s event surpassed
all previous viewership records for any esports tournament held in Australia. A
solid Grand Finale helped push the numbers up even more. On Twitter, fans made
over 36,000 tweets related to IEM Sydney 2019,while content surrounding the
tournament was viewed over 55 million timesacross all platforms.
With ESL’s experience and expertise on board, followed by Intel providing the tournament with world class gear and equipment, the IEM Sydney was a huge success and performed exceptionally. Further, this time around the event saw no delays and was able to pump out even more content than last time, which also boosted the overall viewership and helped setting up the new viewership record.
Nick Vanzetti, MD & Senior Vice President of ESL APJ on the success of IEM Sydney said:
“IEM Sydney is a truly world-class event, and seeing our broadcast reach over 20million people around the world is a testament to the quality of the tournament. Between those who watched online and the 7,500 fans who attended each day of the main event, there is a growing appetite in Australia for the highest level of Counter-Strike.”
Followed by, John Bonini, Vice President and General Manager of VR, Gaming and Esports at Intel saying:
“We owe the continued success of Intel Extreme Masters Sydney to the esports community in Australia and around the world, which continues to grow at an incredible pace. This community is why Intel keeps fuelling this growth with more esports, more great content for PC gamers and more innovation when it comes to performance and power.”
With the end of the fourteenth Intel Extreme Masters in Sydney, posting such substantial viewership number gains over a period action-packed six days, ESL has delivered, like always. While the fans and esport enthusiasts also displayed significant affiliation and tuned-in in large numbers.
Furqan Quereshi, a student of Kendriya Vidyalaya in Nasirabad, was visiting his hometown Neemuch for the marriage of his cousin where he played the game continuously from 12:30pm-6:30 pm on Thursday despite his parents scolding him when the teenager had a cardiac arrest. The attack has been attributed to a sudden, but deep shock due to bursts of excitement and fear generally seen in tight football and cricket games.
“Furqan suddenly started shouting ‘blast it, blast it’ and ‘Ayan tune mujhe harwa diya aur marwa diya, ab mai tere saath nahi kheloonga’ (Ayan you have made me lose the game and life, I won’t play with you again). He subsequently started complaining of an acute headache and slumped on the bed,” Fiza, the eldest of the two sisters told Indian Express.
“On hearing Fiza shout for help we rushed to the room and found Furqan lying unconscious. We rushed him to cardiologist Dr Ashok Jain in Neemuch town, but the doctor declared our son dead on arrival,” said his father Haroon Rashid Qureshi.
“Only two weeks ago, I snatched his cell-phone over his habit of playing the online game which was having a negative effect on his academic and sports activities. He left food for 2-3 days forcing his mother to convince me to return the phone, after which Furqan promised to play the game only for half an hour daily,” said the father, who has appealed to the Narendra Modi government to ban the game.
In a recent report, the World Health Organization has declared that gaming disorder is indeed a thing and addiction can cause mental health conditions.
Pronax won three Majors while leading Fnatic, and two of them were back-to-back championships. He won his first CS:GO Major at DreamHack Winter 2013, followed by ESL One Katowice and ESL One Cologne in 2015.
After leaving Fnatic in November 2015, pronax transitioned to smaller mixed Swedish teams, such as GODSENT, Enyoy, and Team Ancient, with the biggest upcoming stars from his home country. He also founded Godsent, and as IGL, he helped them qualify for the ELEAGUE Atlanta Major in 2017.
Pronax is expected to release a more detailed announcement regarding his future, but it’s unclear whether he will stay in the world of esports or not.
