Ivan “Johnta” Shevtsov, ex-coach of Tyloo, has joined Winstrike and will be taking the role of a coach from in the Russian organization, according to their Twitter.
The Ukranian coach was coaching Tyloo before he left the role on the Chinese team on the 28th of April following a three-month stint with the SEA side. Johnta will take over the position from Daniil “pipsoN” Mescheryakov, who had been associated with the organization since their revamped squad went live.
Johnta was happy to return to familiar grounds and was excited to communicate in Russian according to his official statement, โIโm glad to return to my native region and work with Russian-language roster. Especially Iโm happy to work with Winstrike. I always liked their passion about the game. Iโm full of enthusiasm and canโt wait for the first practices and officials. I know what to give to the team to reach the new level and to cheer our fans with great performanceโ
Winstrike will be seen in action with Johnta at the closed qualifiers of CIS Minor for StarLadder Major from June 8 to June 10.
Yesterday, at the Season 9 Pro League Finals in Milan, Italy Ubisoft revealed details about the upcoming Year 4 Season 2: Operation Phantom Sight for Rainbow Six Siege. The second update for Year 4 is set to introduce two new operators, map rework, changes to the ranked mode and some balance changes.
The new update is set to launch for the public in June,2019 while the beta will be available on Test Servers from May 21st.
New Operators
Operation Phantom Sight will introduce us to two new operators โ Nรธkk (attacker) and Warden (Defender).
Attacker: Nรธkk
Nรธkkis the new female stealth attacker operator that will be coming with the update. She is a fusion between Vigil and Caveira. She is armed with FMG-9 and SIX12-SD primary weapons and 5.7 USG and D-50 as secondary weapons. Nรธkk will be equipped with HEL Presence Reduction Gadget which will reduce her foot step sounds and make her invisible to cameras. Although HEL will glitch and give away her position if she sprints, shoots, or walks into defender traps. HEL will also be limited by a battery. But, even after all the drawbacks with the ability to mask her sound and invisibility, she will be the stealthiest operator in the game.
Defender: Warden
At first glance, Warden will look like a normal chap but he is a special service agent enlist with the gadget- Glance Smart Glasses. These glasses will make him immune to flashes and also gives him a wall-hack type ability to have a clearer sight (not fully visible, but reduced smoke effect) through smoke while standing still. All this will be limited by battery and also carry a cooldown. Warden will come with MPX and M590A1 as primary weapons and for secondaries, he will have P-10C and SMG-12. With Warden, teams can disrupt the coordinated pushes and/or anchor down a site.
Kafe Dostoyevsky Moscow Rework
Ubisoft wonโt be introducing new maps
throughout the Year 4, but will be utilising those freed up resources to rework
some of the old maps in the game that need to be updated with the change in
meta, as some of these maps can offer clear advantage to certain operators
which limits the choice of the players.
With Kafe, Ubisoft have left most of the map intact while only targeting the problem areas. For the 1st floor, they plan to move the bomb site to Kitchen and redesign the Kitchen. As for the 2nd floor, a new bombsite will be introduced in the Reading Room/Fireplace. Whereas for 3rd floor only some minor adjustments are made namely increasing balcony space and adjusting roof hatch.
Operation Phantom Sight will be coming with a newly revamped store which will feature a tile-based UI design. According to Ubisoft, the new store will be easy to navigate and offer more visibility will also remaining dynamic and interesting.
Also, the Ranked Mode will be come out of beta and receive a Pick & Ban phase. The new mode will only come with bomb rotation and wonโt feature hostages. Finally, it will also come with a new Ranked Hub which acts as an in-game guide for players to view personal stats. It will also show upcoming reward charms and rank distribution graph comparing with all the players.
The Grand Final of DreamHack Open Tours 2019 was played between Mouz and Valiance. The Best of Three series saw mouz take it away with a scoreline of 16-12 on Train and 16-11 on Mirage. The Europeans make this their first LAN victory after revamping their roster following an exit at the European Minor
Scoreline:
Train: Mouz win (16-12)
Mirage: Mouz win (16-11)
The map was set to be played on Train, Mirage, and Nuke. The vetoes were:
mousesports removed Vertigo
Valiance removed Overpass
mousesports picked Train
Valiance picked Mirage
mousesports removed Dust2
Valiance removed Inferno
Nuke was left over
On the first map,Train, Mouz began on the Terrorist side and quickly took charge of the proceedings with a 3-0 lead before Valiance pushed the gas and strung 7 in a row; pushing the score to 3-7, in favor of Valiance. However, karrigan and co. had not given up, the International side edged passed Valiance during half time with an 8-7 score in the favor.
On the second half, it looked like Valiance were able to run away with the map thanks to three back to back failed retakes from Mousesports. The International Squad rallied together and answered back with 3 back to back rounds. Valiance tied the score at 12-12 before mousesports put the final nail in the coffin with a scoreline of 16-12.
The second map, Mirage, saw mouz kick off the CT side by picking off the first round in their favor, only to lose their advantage followed by a successful force buy from Valiance. Mouz looked stronger coming into this map and were dominating Valiance, ending the first half with a scoreline of 10-5.
Valiance hustled together and put two rounds before mouz added 3 to their tally, making the score 13-7 in their favor. Valiance came back hard and pushed the score to 13-11, before, mouz put the final coffin in the nail and took the map with a scoreline of 16-11.
Starladder have revealed the invites for the upcoming Closed Qualifiers for the Asia Minor which is set to take place in the first week of June.
The China Closed Qualifier takes place from June 6-8 with 16 teams battling for 2 spots. Out of that, 8 teams to be invited include the likes of favourites Tyloo and ViCi.
For the Ocenia sides of things, Starladder has released a list of 4 teams that will be a part of the 8 team tournament to fight for 2 spots in the Asia Minor. Among them are Grayhound, who participated in the last Major in Katowice. The Ocenia qualifier takes place from June 1-3.
The remaining teams will be decided via an open qualifier to be held from May 19-23. The full list of invited teams is as follows:
Earlier this year, CSGO Dev pushed an update to the game which updated the altered the Active Duty Map Pool. Cache was taken out and replaced by a recently reworked Vertigo. The map has gained interest in the professional scenario after Nordavind played the first ever professional game on the map and thrashed AGO with a scoreline of 16-5.
Retake A this round next round ? Retake A hmmmm next ? Retake A maybe ?
Ater that the map has been played a lot more at top events. Recently, the map received a lot of backlash following the Liquid vs MIBR game in ECS North America on the 15th May. The game saw the round being played out with a 5v5 retake on the A-site, majority of the time. The round would end in a smoke defuse with the Terrorist side frantically spamming the smoke to stop the defuse.
The same trend was noticed in the Iberian Playoff between Movistar Riders and Giants. In round 22 of the game, Riders had planted the bomb on the A-site and Giants were able to successfully pull off a heroic ninja defuse to pick the round up.
Following the game, the pros addressed the issue on Twitter with Fer leading the charge against the map. Fer, in his tweet, said, โโ Itโs (Vertigo) so ugly to watch and even more stupid to play.โ Other pros such as Showtime and Apex jumped onto the debate and agreed with Fer.
In this current state, Vertigo is in dire need of a rework of the A-site to suit competitive play in the CSGO scene. ย ย ย ย
LXG today announced season 3 of INDIAN LAN GAMING (ILG) Cup, which is set to begin in June featuring a prize pool of Rs 1.6 crore, out of which 1.1 crore will be in cash and the other 50 lac would be redeemable for gaming gear.
The tournament will take place in 20 cities, including the likes of Bhopal, Cuttack, Indore and Dehradun over a span of 9 months which will culminate into a LAN event to crown the champions.
This year, ILG is bringing in 8 Titles, including DOTA 2, CS: GO, FIFA 19, WCC Rivals, PUBG Mobile, Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Tekken 7. The last title has not been revealed and is a surprise.
Partnering ILG would be Dell Gaming | Alienware as the title sponsor, powered by Logitech G, with associate sponsors being Nextwave Multimedia and GPU partner Galax. A new feature called Play, Win, Earn has also been announced whereby one can earn G Tokens by just participating or engaging in promotional activities which can be used to redeem gear worth Rs 50 lac, as mentioned above.
โThe Indian Lan Gaming Cup attracts both hardcore gamers and mainstream fans and thereโs no questioning, esports in India are a key arena for youth to engage and explore new technologies,โ said Sumanta Datta, Managing Director and Cluster Head for India and South West Asia at Logitech G.
โWe are once again happy to partner with Indian Lan Gaming for the 3rd ILG cup and looking forward to the action-packed season.โ
According to prominent esport journalist Jarek “DeKay” Lewis, the North-American organization is looking for potential replacements as they plan to bench Josh โjdmโ Marzano. Josh joined Envy is September 2018 along with Kory ‘SEMPHIS’ Friesen, Noah ‘Nifty’ Francis, Taylor ‘Drone’ Johnson and Steven ‘reltuC’ Cutler.
After a series of unsatisfied results, the lineup went through an overhaul in March earlier this year. However, even the revamped roster couldn’t reep substantial results. They could not qualifier for DreamHack Masters: Dallas 2019, ESL One: Cologne 2019 and stood on the bottom of the table for ESL Pro League Season 9 (Americas). Now they will now have to play relegation stage.
Team Envy is looking is for potential replacement. They allegedly reached out to Tyson “TenZ” Ngo. 18-year-old just recently announced his departure from Team Bad News Bears.
If the organization benches Josh, the roster will have:
MIBR have secured their spot in the ESL Pro League season nine finals yesterday, sweeping Renegades. They join fellow Brazilians Luminosity and Detona at the 16-team event featuring some of the best CS:GO teams in the world.
The competition started for MIBR on 14th May against Isurus, compLexity, and Renegades. They played bo3 series against each other.
ALL FIVE KILLS AND ALL FIVE HEADSHOTS ๐ #ESLProLeague
The Brazilians maintained their spot as the number one seed in the offline league last night when they defeated Renegades on Mirage (16-2) and Train (16-14). This win, along with another set of wins on Mirage (16-13) and Overpass (16-1) against compLexity, allowed MIBR to clinch a spot for the finals, which will be from June 18 to 23 in Montpellier, France.
The Brazilians pull it off ๐ง๐ท
After a 16:14 victory on Train they sweep the series 2:0 against @Renegades
Under the leadership of Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, MIBR put up a 3-0 win-loss record in their run to clinch a spot in the seasons finals. The successful Brazilian side joins Liquid and Astralis on the team list for the sixteen-team finals.
Astralis, BLAST Pro Series and their parent organization, RFRSH Entertainment has been under the radar as they have become the center of controversy and gratuitous decisions. Be it skipping tier one events or the exclusivity of BLAST Pro Series, neither of them is not received well by the community.
If Team Liquid are really skipping ESL One Cologne but playing at Blast Pro Series Los Angeles then that is some seriously disappointing shit and it's time we had a serious discussion about what the fuck the CS:GO tournament circuit even is any more.
After Team Liquid reportedly decided to skip ESL One: Cologne 2019 to in turn attend BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles, the community lost it’s cool. Prominent analyst, Thoorin, reflected his anger through his Twitter handle. “Events like ESL One: Cologne are the life-blood of the scene. It is literally the most prestigious title after the major,” said the popular analyst. On the other hand, Counter-Strike community on Reddit illustrated their agitation through a moment โ ‘BLASTOFF’.
BLAST Pro Series has a quite an unconventional format. The tournament ends in a couple of days while multiple matches are played simultaneously. Each of the six teams face one another and the top two directly advance to the finale. The best of one format is somewhat unpredictable and not competitive in nature with no overtime and mere regulation. BLAST Pro Series is expected to host 8-12 such global events in the upcoming year.
Fans’ agitation towards the tournament format is the thing of past. However, the community has been very vocal about the possible absence of ENCE at Blast Pro Series – Global Final. Global Finale will feature four best teams according to a point system with $500,000 USD on the stake. According to BLAST Pro Series, only the partnered teams can attend the Global Final while the wild card/qualified teams will have no preference.
ENCE eSport is unfortunately not a partnered team. However, after their successful run at IEM Major: Katowice, Finns received wild card entry for Sรฃo Paulo and Madrid event earlier this year. ENCE eSport placed third and first respectively. And, if they were a circuit team, they would have tied with Team Liquid for 2nd-3rd position on scoreboard with 16 points.
This very much feels like a franchised league in my opinion. If ENCE receives invites for future Blast Pro events, they hold a serious contender spot above teams like NiP, Cloud9 or even MIBR for instance. BLAST Pro Series partnered/circuit teams are โ Astralis, NiP, Cloud9, MIBR, FaZe, Liquid and Na’Vi. They are inclined to attend five out of seven BLAST Pro events in 2019.
BLAST Pro Series just rushed through the scene with little to no respect to the ‘Counter-Strike calendar’. It has undermined tournaments which were scheduled prior to BLAST Pro events. Partnered teams are eventually forced to attend these attends because they are inclined to attend five out of seven BLAST Pro events.
Although, the short format is attracting substantial viewership numbers for the organizers. “What we’re trying to get is a format that will allow the crowd to enjoy the tournament, and it is both for those who are used to watching esports and those who aren’t. The event in Copenhagen is a good example, you see families there, mothers, young people, a big mix, and everyone is enjoying the event,” said Jordi Roig, VP, RFRSH Entertainment to HLTV in an interview.
Talking about Astralis, Danes missed quite a few events to in turn attend BLAST Pro Series. They missed StarSeries i-League Season 7 and IEM Sydney 2019 to focus more on Miami and Madrid events of BLAST Pro Series respectively. Astralis’ coach and a prominent caster engaged in a quick exchange of words regarding Danes absence at premier events:
That's highly ignorant of the fact that talent works as a team of a much larger size, have to sync with production, work far longer days, AND represent the game to the public.
I'm all for taking brakes, but I'm just pointing out the obvious conflict of interest here.
However, after a string of outrageous backlash from the community, Astralis’ in-game-leader has come out and announced that they will be attending ESL One: Cologne 2019, ESL Pro League Season 9 and ECS Season 7 Finals. This means that the Danes would possibly skip BLAST Pro Series: Los Angeles and IEM Chicago 2019.
A lot of people have been asking about our upcomming events. I understand that you want us to play at every BLAST event, but I am sad to tell you that our last 3 tournaments before summer break is: ECS Finals, ESL Pro League Finals and ESL One Cologne. I hope its ok.
Gameloft the mobile developer behind big titles such as Asphalt series, Nova series, Uno, etc. is all set to host its first ever esport tournament for Asphalt 9: Legends. Today the company made a joint announcement with Xiaomiโs Black Shark gaming brand about the โAsphalt Esports Seriesโ.
The esports Series is set to start from May 20th with top-ranked players from 9 different countries will be selected on the basis of overall ranking. The series will conclude in August at Gamescom where Gameloft will hold the Grand Finale.
Currently, only players from France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, UK, and U.S. will be selected for Grand Finale. The winner will take home $ 22,500 cash prize.
Gameloft is partnering up with ESL to organise the event with Black Shark offering Black Shark 2 smartphones as the official gaming devices of the tournament.
โEsports coming to mobile is a natural evolution of the industry and a testament to how important mobile gaming has become,โ said Gameloft VP of marketing Damien Marchi in a statement.
Asphalt 9: Legends is a free-2-play racing game available on both iOS and Android. The Asphalt series is Gameloftโs most popular game and it isnโt surprising for them to try and push into esports scene. With mobile gaming getting more recognition from companies and gamerโs around the world, more mobile esports tournaments are sure to pop-up soon.
