Following their strong 3rd place finish at the recently concluded OGA DOTA PIT MINOR, Alliance announced changes to their roster.
The famous Swedish organisation had been using Omar “Madara” Dabachach as a stand-in over the last month, who was playing instead of Michael “miCKe” Vu, who was on temporary medical leave.
Welcome @MadaraDotA2 to the #ALLfam 🙌 Omar will be our stand-in for the upcoming Paris Major qualifiers.
Madara played with the team in the MDL Disneyland Paris Major qualifiers, the OGA Dota PIT Minor qualifiers and ESL One Birmingham 2019 qualifiers. Madara travelled with the Alliance squad to Split, Croatia to play in the OGA DOTAPIT MINOR as well.
miCKe has been plagued with health issues since 2017 when he revealed that he was suffering from NTOS (Neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome). Recently miCKe took time off from the active roster of ALLIANCE to properly heal and rejuvenate himself, after experiencing pain in his hand, which was affecting his concentration and gameplay.
After a period of rest, miCKe finally returns to the starting line-up of ALLIANCE. But this was not meant to be the end of the road for Madara, who despite miCKe returning, will continue playing in the team, courtesy of Maximilian “qojqva” Bröcker, who is now taking a temporary medical leave in order to recover from a routine surgery which will keep him away from the PC for a few weeks at least.
miCKe: “I’m super excited to come back and start competing again. Thank you Madaragod for standing in!”
Madara: “I really enjoyed my stay as a stand-in for Alliance, everyone treated me really well and made my stay really fun. I’m looking forward to play with the boys again for Birmingham.”
With miCKe back in the side, he will resume his duties as the position 1 carry for Alliance, a role that Madara was fulfilling in his absence.As for Madara, he will now shift to the mid lane, to fill the void left by qojqva’s departure.
Team Alliance roster :
Omar “Madara” Dabachach
Max “Qojqva” Broecker
Samuel “boxi” Svahn
Tommy “Taiga” Le
Aydin “iNSaNiA” Sarkohi
Jonathan “Loda” Berg
Team Alliance will be next be participating in the qualifiers for the last minor/major of the year and will attend ESL ONE Birmingham at the end of May 2019.
After an exciting day one, the MDL Paris Major group stages resumed on Sunday, 5th 2019 at Disney’s Newport Bay Club, Disneyland, Paris.
Let’s recap yesterday’s events. At the end of day one, the standings were as follows:
Virtus.Pro, Team Secret, Vici Gaming and Evil Geniuses already solidified their positions in the upper bracket of the playoffs. As a result, they did not play on day 2, a well-deserved rest day.
The scheduled games for Day 2 were as follows:
Group A Lower Bracket Decider Game
The first series of group A on day 2 saw Keen gaming (who lost to Liquid) take on Beastcoast (who lost against Virtus.Pro). The North Americans didn’t seem to be much of an issue for the Chinese squad who beat them in 2 quick games to take the series 2-0.
That victory set up a best of 3 series between Team Liquid and Keen Gaming to be played later on day 2, for a spot in the upper bracket of the playoffs, while Keen gaming would be relegated to the lower bracket of the playoffs.
Group B Lower Bracket Decider Game
Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) faced CIS squad Team Empire in the lower bracket decider. Just like the other series from group A, NIP blew away their opposition to win the match 2-0, comfortably without breaking a sweat.
With this victory, NIP were set for a rematch against Chaos Esports whom to lost against earlier on day one, for a slot in the upper brackets of the playoffs. Team Empire would be starring in the lower bracket of the playoffs.
Group C Lower Bracket Decider Game
Group C witnessed a matchup between Mineski from the SEA region against paiN gaming from South America. paiN stood no chance against the SEA powerhouse losing the game in 2 straight games 0-2.
This meant that Mineski would face PSG.LGD later for a place in the upper bracket of the playoffs, while paiN gaming would start the playoffs in the lower bracket.
Group D Lower Bracket Decider Game
Group D saw Fnatic take on Complexity in a gruelling battle which was back and forth, with Complexity making a comeback to win the series 2-1 after Fnatic won game 1 of the series comfortably. This result was a major upset,consideringFnatic were one of the favourites to top group B after Evil Geniuses.
Complexity would take on OG later in the day for a shot at an upper bracket playoffs spot. Fnatic were forced down into the lower bracket of the playoffs with this loss.
Upper Bracket Decider Games (Group A &B):
In group A, Team Liquid took on Keen Gaming, in a rematch of the opening series of Group A (which Liquid won 2-1). This time around, Keen Gaming had no idea what hit them. Team Liquid ran over Keen Gaming for a comfortable 2-0 victory, this securing a spot in the upper bracket of the playoffs.
Group B witnessed a rematch between Chaos Esports and NIP. Last time around Chaos managed to scalp a 2-1 victory over NIP, but this time, NIP was prepared. PPD and team secured a comfortable 2-0 result in their favour, thus joining the other 5 teams in the upper bracket of the playoffs.
Upper Bracket Decider Games (Group C&D):
Group C decider game involved PSG.LGD taking on Mineski, for the second time in 2 days and for the second time in 2 days, PSG.LGD beat Mineski with a scoreline of 2-0 to secure a place in the upper bracket of the playoff.
Group D decider involved defending TI champions OG taking on Team Complexity. Although Fnatic had a hard time against Complexity, OG did not seem to be fazed and they dismantled Complexity and wrapped up the series in 2 games to win 2-0 and secure an upper bracket playoffs slot.
With this last set of games, the group stage concluded, and the playoff bracket was solidified.
The upper bracket of the playoffs:
The Lower Bracket of the playoffs:
Action will resume on day 3 with 2 upper bracket Bo3 games and 2 lower bracket Bo1 games being played.
Team Secret take on PSG.LGD at 13:30 IST for the first game of the playoffs on DAY 3.
The penultimate major of the current DPC season, MDL Disneyland Paris Major, kicked off yesterday, May 4th at Disney’s Newport Bay Club, Disneyland, Paris.
The 16 teams were divided into 4 different groups.
With the group stage only lasting 2 days, a lot of games happened simultaneously. Two teams from each group played a game at the same time.
Opening set of games (Group A):
First game in group A saw DPC table toppers Virtus.Pro takes on the newly sponsored Beastcoast team lead by Eternal Envy. After a few bumps in the road, which involved VP dropping a game, Virtus.Pro managed to beat Beastcoast and take the opening series 2-1.
The second game of Group A involved TI7 winners Team Liquid taking on ESL One Mumbai champions Keen gaming. This series went the distance as well, with Team Liquid coming out on top with a 2-1 victory.
Opening set of games (Group B):
Coming into group B, we had Secret taking
on CIS stalwarts Team Empire, who are here with a new roster. The CIS team
proved to be no match for Team Secret who won the series 2-0 comfortably.
The second game of Group B was a more evenly contested affair, involving South American Squad Chaos Esports Club taking on recently crowned minor champions Ninjas in Pyjamas. The first game was a comfortable win for NIP led by PPD. But Choas stuck back in game 2 and 3 to take the series 2-1 in their favour. Coming into the major as MINOR CHAMPIONS, NIP were expected to win, but Chaos showed that they are no pushover themselves.
Opening set of games(Group C):
Moving on to Group C, we had Dreamleague Major champions Vici Gaming taking on paiN Gaming, the second team from the South American region. The series was a complete mismatch of epic proportion, with Vici Gaming strolling past paiN gaming with an easy 2-0 victory.
The second game of group C saw Chinese powerhouse and Ti8 finalists PSG.LGD take on SEA stalwarts Mineski. The home team of the event PSG.LGD (PSG standing for Paris St. Germain) brushed aside Mineski to claim a 2-0 victory.
Opening set of games (Group D):
Group D seems by far the most exciting group of the lot.
Game 1 of group D saw a domestic matchup between two North American organisations, Evil Geniuses and Team Complexity. Complexity who recently changed a player, were no match for Evil Geniuses who raced past them with a quick 2-0.
Game 2 of group D had SEA powerhouse Fnatic taking on TI8 champions OG. Although this match was expected to be an evenly contested affair, given fnatic’s recent form and Ana’s return from inactivity to OG, It was surprisingly one side with OG winning the series 2-0.
With the initial set of group stage games done and dusted, we had the teams set to play the winners bracket group stage,the winner of which advances directly to the playoffs in the upper bracket.
Winner’s Matches:
Group A’s winners match saw fan favourites Virtus.Pro and Team Liquid take on another in an epic contest. These two teams have produced some of the best games over the past 2 years. This series promised the same. Game 1 was an evenly contested affair, but VP edged Liquid at the end for the win. Game 2 was a more one-sided affair with VP winning it comfortably and taking the series 2-0.
Group B’s winners match pitted DPC’s number two team, Secret against Chaos Esports. The result was no surprise as Secret beat them for a 2-0 victory.
Group
C’s winners match was an all-Chinese affair,
with Vici Gaming taking on PSG.LGD. Although the two Chinese rosters were
supposed to evenly matched on paper, Vici Gaming demolished PSG.LGD in a
surprising manner, which saw them take the series 2-0.
Group D’s winners match was a battle between EG and OG, a spicy affair, given that EG players Fly,s4 and Crit all used to play for OG at some point. But again, just like Group C, EG walked over OG to take the series 2-0 comfortably, with the Ti8 champions standing no chance against the seasoned EG roster.
Image Credits: Wykrhm Reddy
With these wins, Virtus Pro, Team Secret, Vici Gaming and EG secured the top spot in their respective groups and earned a direct spot in the upper bracket of the playoffs as top seed.
The groups after day one look like this:
The rest of the group stage matches will be played out today.
The second placed team in each group will join the upper bracket of the playoffs, while the bottom two teams of each group will find themselves in the lower bracket facing the prospect of elimination in a best of one series.
The IEM Sydney Grand Final was going to be played between Liquid and Fnatic. Liquid made their way to the finals without dropping a single map following victories over top teams. Fnatic, on the other hand, clawed through the lower bracket and made it to the finals.
Grand Finals
Liquid vs. Fnatic
Fnatic won Cache 10-16
Liquid won Overpass 16-14
Liquid won Mirage 16-8
Fnatic won Dust2 6-16
Liquid won Inferno 16-9
The first map of the Best of 5 series was Cache, picked by fnatic. The vetoes can be found here:
fnatic removed Nuke
Liquid removed Train
fnatic picked Cache
Liquid picked Overpass
fnatic picked Mirage
Liquid picked Dust2
Inferno was left over
The Swedes kicked off the CT side of Cache in convincing fashion and dominated the North Americans, taking the first 9 rounds in a row. However, Liquid wasn’t ready to give up the game so easily and was able to pull back 5 rounds in the half, pushing the scoreline of 10-5.
Credits: HLTV
In the second half, the North Americans managed to pull back the first two rounds before Fnatic propelled themselves to map point on Cache. However, Nitro had other plans and an ace from his side made sure that Liquid survived for another round. The heroics from Liquid ended and Fnatic picked up the first map with a scoreline of 16-10.
The second map was Overpass, Liquid’s pick, where they started on CT side, which they won after a nail-biting encounter and Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell trying pretty hard to carry his side with twenty-three bombs.
Map2: Overpass; Image Credits: HLTV
The teams went to Mirage for Game 3, where Liquid promptly pulled ahead with a 9-6 lead before switching sides. EliGe led the way once again with 26 kills and only 14 deaths in the map, as Liquid eventually sealed the deal with a 16-8 score.
Fnatic came out swinging on Dust 2 in Game 4, taking a 16-6 victory over Liquid. Jesper ‘JW’ Wecksell and Simon ‘twist’ Eliasson led the way for the Swedish squad, posting statlines of 21-15 and 18-7 respectively.
Though Eternal Envy and TEAM TEAM were recently in the spotlight for all the wrong reason, here is some positive news from their end.
Eternal Envy and the rest of the TEAM TEAM roster were signed by a lesser-known North American organisation called “BEASTCOAST”, who make their foray into the DOTA 2 scene with this pickup.
Team captain Michael ‘ixmike88’ Ghannam had this to say about the new team:
We are proud to represent beastcoast as their first Dota 2 team. We are excited for this opportunity and grateful for the resources and support that has been provided to us. We look forward to a successful partnership and thank all our fans for their continued support.
We’re very excited to have officially entered Dota 2. It’s been one of my personal goals since founding beastcoast to play Dota 2 at the highest level. It means a lot to me personally to have such tremendous NA legends representing our brand and sponsors. We’re looking forward to welcoming the Dota fanbase with open arms.
Beastcoast roster for MDL Paris Major:
Jacky ‘EternaLEnVy’ Mao
Eric ‘Ryoya’ Dong
Braxton ‘Brax’ Paulson
Timothy ‘tmt’ Ong
Michael ‘ixmike88’ Ghannam
The Beastcoast roster are currently in action at the MDL Disneyland Major, being held in Paris, France.
Dominik ‘Black^’ Reitmeier has officially joined Infamous, the famous Peruvian organisation alongside Oliver ‘Skiter’ Lepko, Mariano ‘p4pita’ Caneda, and Malthe ‘Biver’ Winther. The team is missing a 5th player who should be announced soon.
Welcome Black^
Today we announce our new player for the rest of the season: @BlackDotA2. He will be playing as midlaner for our squad.
Black^ replaces Enzo ‘Timado’ Gianoli, who left the roster recently. Black^ has previously played from Infamous as a stand-in for Timado who could not attend World Showdown of Esports (WSOE): Dota 2, an event held recently in Las Vegas, USA.
Dominik ‘Black^’ Reitmeier is a pretty well-known name in the Dota 2 community, having played in many different teams in many different regions. Although he has not been playing a lot off-late, being more of an analyst and commentator at events, he seems confident about joining and playing for the South American team.
Starting the next chapter in life. Hopefully I will be able to make it count. See you all on the battlefield soon! 30 hour journey, here we go! pic.twitter.com/vlUZfwuAdx
With the next set of qualifiers looming on the horizon, Infamous need to find their 5th player quick, in order to adequately prepare for the last minor/major of the season, before THE INTERNATIONAL in August 2019.
Roman Dvoryankin, Virtus.pro general manager had the following statement to make:
We won’t be able to defend the title in front of our English fans. The best teams in the world will battle on the Birmingham stage and we were looking forward to thrilling and challenging games against them. However, the current DPC season schedule has taken its toll and as we approach the peak of the season we need to focus on preparation for home Major and The International. Sometimes it means sacrificing events. We will work hard to perform on the highest level and ensure the best results in these two tournaments.
It turns out VP withdrew from ESL ONE BIRMINGHAM to play another event called Adrenaline Cyber League, which is kind of their home event, considering that the event is organised by ESFORCE Holdings, which owns Virtus Pro.
Although VP chose ACL over ESL ONE Birmingham, they will attend the event with a stand-in.
Rostislav “fn” Lozovoy will stand-in for Pavel «9pasha» Khvastunov in Adrenaline Cyber League.
Roman Dvoryankin, Virtus.pro general manager released the following statement:
Team’s schedule for this part of the season has been formed way ahead of our ACL invite, so the team understands Pavel’s wish to spend time with his family. We are extremely thankful for Rostislav’s help – this marks the second time he plays for us as the carry this season with Ramzes performing on offlane. We expect him to show up as much as he did in the Kuala Lumpur Major qualifiers where Virtus.pro took 5 games out of 5.
Following up on our TalkEsport’s Interact series, where we feature talent from the esports circuit. Our new guest is Francisco “escudo” Mascarenhas. Escudo is a 15-year-old CSGO Pro from Macau, China. Escudo is currently playing for Team Brutality in ESL India Premiership: Summer Phase of the Masters Cup.
Malav: So escudo, you mentioned earlier that you are 15 years old. How did your journey to play CSGO professionally begin?
escudo: So it all started when I was around ten years old and my dad bought a computer for his own office work. Instead of him, I ended up using it for hours daily. I actually played Counter Strike 1.6 when I was eight at my domestic helper’s house. I first played Counter Strike Global Offensive in the summer of 2016. In the beginning, I did not enjoy it and I would only play because of my friends, but after a while I absolutely enjoyed it. In reality, it took me a long time to get to where I am, after playing the game for a month I was still horrendous at it and I was mocked for my skills. Being mocked by my friends, in turn, motivated me to play even better.
While scrolling through Youtube for CS:GO videos, I stumbled upon highlights video of a professional CS:GO match, to be exact, it was ESL Cologne 2016. Till then, I had no idea that there was a competitive CS:GO scene. I thought that the only possible way to make money with gaming was by making Youtube videos. After that, I watched the entire ESL Cologne 2016 tournament and saw SK Gaming lift the trophy. That’s when I found out that I wanted to go professional, I said to myself “this is what I wanna be, an esports player.” So I started playing, even more, I even quit sports to devote myself to gaming and from there everything led to another. By that time I started playing FACEIT and I started getting recognition from the community. I started playing tournaments, I got invited to teams and that’s essentially how it went.
The first sponsored team I joined was Wanted Esport, a French organization, and now I am in Brutality playing the ESL Premiership India – Masters League.
Malav: Did your parents support gaming from a young age? What do they think about going professional is CSGO
escudo: My parents have always supported me in whatever I did, whether it was sports, gaming or anything. I am very lucky to have this kind of support. Many parents are against gaming- they don’t buy their children computers to play games who then sneak out to Internet Cafes to play. On the other hand, some parents prohibit gaming despite owning a computer. I believe that I am very fortunate to have such supportive parents. They are the best parents I could have asked for.
Although my parents support me, they do have some concerns. They think that gaming is not healthy and hampers education. I do agree with them to a certain extent. A lot of people have not been able to balance gaming and education. In my opinion, with good time management anything thing can be achieved, you can be a top student and a top player at the same time. My parents believe that gamers are lazy and overweight. When I hear people saying this I just show them a picture of, my teammate, Ankit. Ankit (better known as V3nom) is the most active person I know. He plays professional Counter-Strike, goes to the gym, likes to do modelling and is the brand ambassador for the best companies in the world. He is the perfect example to show people that being a gamer doesn’t mean that you can’t be fit and lead a good life.
Malav: Is there a communication barrier between you and Indian players?
escudo: Well the communication in Team Brutality is a mix of Hindi and English. During retakes and executes, there have been moments where I have felt a bit out of the loop. Other than that our communication is pretty clear and all of us are working to improve it.
Malav: How different has the experience been playing on an Indian Team compared to a SEA Team?
escudo: In my opinion, there is a huge difference between Indian teams and SEA teams. In SEA, there are more individually skilled players so when it comes to teams you can see more individual plays in SEA teams. On the other hand, Indian teams have a lack of firepower and structure, however, they are getting better day by day. Something I realized about Indian teams is that they tend to craft their own style. On the other hand, SEA teams tend to copy strats from other teams. Additionally, the SEA region has many young talents between the age of 13 and 16 who play on the top teams there. In India, there aren’t any players of my age group (13-16) who play for top teams
Malav: Where do you see yourself 10 years down the line?
escudo: To tell you the truth, it scares me a little to know that in one decade I will be twenty-five years old and that my childhood will come to an end. I hope that in ten years I can buy my own house from my own income and provide for my parents and family.
Malav: Favorite moment in your life regarding CSGO?
escudo: My favorite moment regarding CS: GO is definitely when I reached the finals of CESG & KOM, Macau. It was the first time I played on a stage and my parents were there. It was a special moment because I made my parents proud by showing them how good I really was and I feel that my parents started to believe in me even more.
Malav: What is one fact about you that only a few people know?
escudo: I have a huge passion for learning languages, for me when you learn a language you don’t only learn the language, you also learn about the culture of a country. I can only speak Portuguese and English fluently. However, I have intermediate proficiency in other languages like Mandarin, Malay, Bahasa Indonesia, Spanish, French. In Macau, the esports scene isn’t great and I learned languages by playing with my friends from other countries.
Malav: A quote that you live by?
escudo: “With hard work and effort, you can achieve anything”- Antoine Griezmann
I live by this quote because I can relate my life story to it. I do believe that if you work and focus really hard you can achieve anything. It wasn’t easy for me to get here, I worked really hard – hours and hours of practice and watching demos every day. I still work hard to find ways to improve myself.
Thank you Escudo for generous responses. We wish you all the best for your endeavors with Brutality!
The semi-finals of IEM Sydney 2019 brought massive action at the table. Team Liquid dominated MIBR and advanced to the finals with 2-0 scoreline of a best of three series. Whereas, Fnatic put before their best performance to beat NRG Esports 2-1 to win the finalist spot.
The game began in inferno, leveled at train & finally Fnatic knocked down the Americans in Mirage.
IEM Sydney 2019 grand finals is scheduled for tomorrow, where Team Liquid & fnatic will battle to earn the trophy and pride.
Rambo joined the North-American organization after Soham “valens” Chowdhury was transferred to Data Science wing at Cloud9 earlier this year in March. However, the relocation did not lead to necessary results. Cloud9 had a poor appearance at BLAST Pro Series Miami with five consecutive losses against Na’Vi, Astralis, MIBR, Liquid and FaZe. Although, Cloud9 finished second in the ESL Pro League Season 9 – Americas which was quite a bold result.
Cloud9 thanks @RonRamboKim for what he brought to #C9CSGO in the last months. We wish him the best of luck as he moves forward in his career.
Soham had been the head coach of Cloud9 from February 2017 till March 2019. Under his guidance, Cloud9 won the prestigious ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, DreamHack Denver 2017, iBUYPOWER Masters 2017 and had several other commendable performances. His arrival has high expectations since the lineup has not lived up to it’s standards. After the departure of Tarik “tarik” Celik, Jake “Stewie2K” Yip and retirement of Tyler “Skadoodle” Latham, vintage organization has lost its charm.
With this change, Cloud9 roster for upcoming events will be:
