The Swedish Organisation has just announced that Belgian CS:GO player Ex6TenZ will be joining their NiP VALORANT roster. Here below is their announcement:
30-year-old Kévin “Ex6TenZ” Droolans is a former CS:GO professional player who endorsed himself as one of the best belgian players to ever touch Counter-Strike. He has played alongside top tier players, such as: Shox, Bodyy, KennyS, SmithZz, and many other French players. His best moments in his CS:GO career were with VeryGames, back in the 2011-2013 era.
Credits: VaKarM
Here are some of his best achievements:
5th/6th at the ECS Season 5 Finals – 9th June 2018 – G2 Esports – $45,000
1st at the Esports World Convention 2017 – Paris Games Week – 3rd November 2017 – LDLC – $29,123.95
3rd/4th at DreamHack Winter 2013 – 30th November 2013 – VeryGames – $22,000
Ex6TenZ swapped over to professional VALORANT back in May, where he joined with his former CS:GO teammates on team “StartedFromCS”. Together they managed to gather some solid performances. Most notably, a 1st place at the LeStream x BMW – The 2 Gran Coupé, and a 2nd place at the Take The Throne event #4. Unfortunately, their journey did not last very long, as on the 1st of September, the team disbanded and every player parted ways. This however, created an enormous opportunity for Kévin, as he will now be representing the Ninjas in Pyjamas.
What will Ex6TenZ impact be by joining NiP VALORANT
With Ex6TenZ’s FPS and IGL experience, this new NiP lineup is certainly a roster to be feared. After numerous roster changes, we can finally see this NiP team alongside the ranks of G2, SUMN FC, and Heretics.
2020 might have been a terrible year for many; however, G2 has arguably had its best year ever as a European esports organization, and here’s why.
League Of Legends
This year, the team managed to win both Spring and Summer Splits in the usual dominant fashion. Not only that, but they continued to show dominance throughout the World Championship Group Stage. Unfortunately for them, they were not able to replicate the success they had in 2019, reaching the Grand Finals, but losing in the Semifinals versus Damwon Gaming was still a solid achievement. That’s not all… With Perkz departing the roster and moving on to North America to represent Cloud9, G2 had an open slot in the ADC position. And guess who they got? The missing puzzle piece that has been itching to be fitted… Rekkles. If this year was good for G2, we cannot wait to see what they have in store for 2021.
Credits: LoL Esports Flickr
G2’s Successful 2020 – CS:GO
G2’sCS:GO team didn’t have that bad of a year either, placing highly in most European tournaments. Most notably, 1st-3rd at the BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 Regular Season, 2nd at IEM XIV – World Championship, and a 2nd placing at DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Europe. These wins got the team to 1st place in the HLTV rankings, back in June 15th 2020. But unfortunately this didn’t last long as the notorious Natus Vincere seamlessly took their spot.
Credits: G2 Esports
In 2020, they also managed to pick up one of Europe’s best players and aimers, Nikola “NiKo” Kovač. So far they haven’t had the best results, but we’re sure that in time, the team will get back to its former glory.
VALORANT
Now onto their most dominant esport this year, VALORANT. The G2 roster was formed back in June with Mixwell as Captain. The team featured former CS:GO players which were either on the verge of retirement or on the verge of Tier 1 CS. So VALORANT’s release came at a perfect opportunity for these 5 individuals. Together, the team won 6 Ignition Series tournaments, and solidified itself as the best roster that Europe has to offer.
Credits: Mixwell
Despite their dominance all throughout the year, they did not manage to win out the biggest event of the year, First Strike. Instead, they placed 3rd/4th after failing to secure a victory versus Team Heretics, the winner of First Strike.
G2’s Successful 2020 – Conclusion
To add on to G2’s successful 2020, they’ve also managed to grab something out of the 2020 Esports Awards. The organisation has been crowned with Esports team of the year for their LoL squad, Personality of the year for CEO Carlos “ocelote” Rodriguez, and many other titles.
Overall, it is without a doubt that G2 has dominated for the most part in 2020, and we are super excited to see what they have lined up for 2021! Be sure to keep yourself updated on www.esportsguide.com to never miss out on any esports news!
Team @BuiltByGamers are disqualified due to an on-going investigation. @Ninja's team will be moving forward to play against @GenG for the Quarter-Finals at 1:00PM ET in the Knights Before Christmas $10K Invitational.
BBG wrongfully disqualified at Pittsburgh Knights Tournament – Why?
Suspicions arose after 3 weird VALORANT clips popped up on twitter, leading to conclusions that Critical was cheating during the event. Here below is one of the suspicious clips:
President of the Pittsburgh Knights, James O’Connor took to the official tweet to state the following:
ya everyone thought niesow and leaf cheated too. the only people that can decide if someone is cheating is riot, not us armchair analysts going over 15 second clips like we're flushaholics trying to chase our next high. seems like a hasty decision
BBG wrongfully disqualified at Pittsburgh Knights Tournament – Community reaction
The entire VALORANT community felt outraged. The fact that an entire team got disqualified based on suspicious clips instead of conclusive evidence was a very bad move from James, and the Knights. James then consulted the Anti-Cheat PD, which specializes in gathering intelligence on cheats, in order to suspend & detect cheating parties. After their investigation, it was made clear that Critical wasn’t cheating.
.@AntiCheatPD did not detect anything so we are reinstating the team whether they chose to play or not. Ninja's team will not move forward. Thanks for the fast response during the holiday. https://t.co/mq0ndxRN88
Due to this, the Built By Gamers roster got a heads up that they could resume the tournament. But they decided it was better not to, after the intense scenario they had gone through.
As members of the larger Valorant community we see this is as a learning moment as we collectively advance the competitive scene. We thank @KnightsGG for the invitation and wish the rest of the teams luck as they compete for the top prize.
As you may have noticed in the past few days, there have been many leaks and hints at the new VALORANT Agent. Agent 14 is codenamed Pogger, and is set to release sometime in January, as per Riot’s “New agent every Act”. Here below is a silhouette of what agent 14 will probably look like:
Credits: Riot Games
Originally, leakers had found another agent, which was codenamed “Shatter”. Unfortunately, it was later revealed that this was an early version of Phoenix and not an entirely new agent. Here below is an image of Shatter:
Credits: Riot Games
New VALORANT Agent Pogger – What else?
In a recent video that the Riot have posted on their Youtube channel, a new agent icon can be seen at the top of the screen (1:18). This is how agent 14, codenamed “Pogger” will look like:
New VALORANT Agent Pogger – How will he change the meta?
In a recent blog post that was released, Riot mentioned that the next agent will be a duelist. Here is a line that proves this:
“The year will tear open with a Duelist for all you “lurkers” out there, who will keep you on your toes around which angles are truly safe.”
Many were expecting a controller type of agent to release due to the current state of controller agents. With Viper being worse than both Omen and Brimstone, teams are still relying on these two for cover when entering bomb sites, and that is definitely hurting the competitive scene. Having another duelist in the line up will definitely aid those aggressive teams like TSM and Heretics. But in the end, we’ll have to see the agent’s abilities, and how the agent will play out overall.
We will most probably be getting either more leaks, or an official announcement about this new agent in the weeks to come. So be sure to keep an eye out on www.esportsguide.com for more esports news!
With First Strike coming to a close, it was inevitable that we’ll be seeing some roster changes. However, this is not all bad, as this makes it easier for European organizations to finally get into the action and grab their very own roster. One of these teams is Vitality, and they are reportedly signing former eXiLe Esports player Feqew for their VALORANT roster.
23-year-old Lukas “feqew” Petrauskas is a Lithuanian professional VALORANT player which mains Cypher as his main agent and has recently played for alltheRAGE and most recently eXiLe esports. Despite Feqew’s very short experience in professional VALORANT, he has shown his outstanding potential with the eXiLe Esports roster. Their best achievement was to qualify to Riot’s First Strike Playoffs, being declared as one of the top 16 teams of Europe.
Credits: Liquipedia
Unfortunately, their road was cut short as they matched up against SUMN FC in the playoffs and were eliminated from First Strike. This was the first time Feqew and his former teammates were at this big of an event. And losing to the team that ended up finishing in 2nd isn’t all too bad.
Which members will they be picking next for their roster?
According to a report by Nelendirekt, Vitality have also shown interest in signing bramz, as well as FrAgOn as coach. Bramz is currently playing for French roster Opportunists, whereas FrAgOn is currently a Free agent coach. Despite FrAgOn’s lack of experience, trialing for the FunPlus Phoenix roster definitely means that he gained some knowledge about the role.
With the weekend coming to a close we saw North America’s best teams battling it all out for the title of best team in NA. After an intense group stage and playoffs we saw Sentinels win the JBL Quantum cup, de-throning 100 Thieves from their First Strike Championship win.
Sentinels win JBL Quantum Cup – How did they do it?
Group Stage
Sentinels first kicked off the event with a disappointing 13-10 loss versus Gen.G in their first group matchup. They then played versus TSM and left them completely astonished as Sentinels won 13-1. And lastly, for their final game, they beat Cloud9 13-3, meaning that Sentinels barely made it out of groups as they finished the group stage with a 2-1 score line.
Credits: JBL
Playoffs
It all comes down to this! 🔥
The #JBLQuantumCup VALORANT finals start in 30 minutes! 🏆
Who do you have to take it all? Will @100Thieves make it back-to-back or will a new challenger arise? 👑
For their first playoffs matchup, Sentinels were matched up against the champions of North America, 100 Thieves. This was certainly a tough task for the Sentinels roster, but they have proved time and time again that they have what it takes to be a top contender for their region. They started the best of 3 series with a 13-8 victory on Haven. 100 Thieves then replied with a close win of their own on Ascent, as the match ended 13-11. And lastly, for their final map, they played on Icebox, which was also a close game, as the score ended on 13-10, favoring the Sentinels.
WE HAVE OUR FIRST FINALISTS! 🔥
GGs @Sentinels incredible plays from the entire squad! 🤯
For the Grand Finals they took on a team that had never reached the finals before, and that was FaZe Clan. The FaZe Clan roster had shown some promising results in events prior to the JBL Quantum Cup, but were never as successful as teams like TSM, Envy, 100 Thieves, and Sentinels have.
Credits: JBL
The best of 3 series kicked off on Haven, where we saw both teams giving their best to take on the first map. Haven went the distance as overtime was played, and the match eventually ended with an 18-16 scoreline, favoring Sentinels. Next up was a much more favorable map for the Sentinels as it was Split, and have had a long history of victories on this particular map. And this was shown in the Grand Finals as the Sentinels took on another win (13-9) to win the series and the entire event.
Sentinels win JBL Quantum Cup – What’s next?
We’ve seen many North American rosters and their potential when it comes to regional competition. Hopefully we’ll see more consistent performances from the top teams heading into the VALORANT Champions Tour in 2021.
It is very clear that after G2’s disappointing performance at the European First Strike event, some role changes were inevitable. Mixwell at the helm, leading the team as it’s captain was not enough for the squad to win the biggest VALORANT event of the year, and this is why the team is opting to make some changes. As it stands, G2 are in desperate need of a proper in-game leader.
Credits: Mixwell
This was further proven by David himself as he took to twitter seeming quite disappointed with the news he was faced with.
Despite the original report stating that both Pyth and Davidp will be getting benched, an update from nel has indicated that Pyth will stay with the team whereas Davidp is confirmed out of the team. His tweet below:
Update: Sources inside G2 confirmed that changes were ongoing. However Pyth will remain while davidp will be out of the team. G2 should comment in the upcoming days.
I was intially told that Pyth was offered to different teams and on his way to Guild. Things might have changed. https://t.co/sQanr3w769
It’s definitely a gutting feeling for Davidp, but to remain at the top you need to win events consistently. With this loss, G2 is looking to rebuild and improve, and that is exactly why they need a proper leader. We’ll be revealing who they eventually pick out, so be sure to stay tuned on www.esportsguide.com for more esports news!
Riot Games have just revealed their newest update coming to VALORANT. In patch 1.14 we’ll be getting some new winter-themed stuff and events, as well as some changes to Sage and VALORANT’s newest map Icebox. Read on to know more about everything you need to know in VALORANT patch 1.14.
Icebox changes
To start off, let’s jump into the map changes on Icebox. Most of the changes were introduced to balance out both Attacker and Defender side, while also allowing solid gameplay fluidity throughout. Here are some images that highlight which spots received some tweaks:
A Belt area given a ramp Credits: Riot GamesSee-through gate in A Main Credits: Riot GamesSloped wall on entrance to A site Credits: Riot GamesDouble-stacked crates swapped out for a smaller object Credits: Riot GamesReduced height of yellow container Credits: Riot Games
As you can see, these changes will definitely have an impact on how Icebox is played overall. Hopefully players that disliked the map on release, will give it another shot.
Sage changes
Second up on our list of patch notes is our favourite in-game healer, Sage. The biggest change that was introduced with this patch was that she will no longer be able to place the Barrier orb whilst the Buy Phase is ongoing. This means that we won’t be seeing any surprise peeks from Jett or Omen anytime soon. Another big change to the Barrier orb is that the barrier itself will not lose health over time anymore. The barrier will only start to deteriorate a few seconds before it expires. This change will introduce a whole new way of playing around Sage’s abilities, and is certainly a buff to her current utility.
VALORANT Patch 1.14 – Modes and Events
With Christmas approaching, Riot have decided to introduce a Winter-themed game mode for all that would like to just hop into a match for fun. This is why we will be having Snowball Fight as our new gamemode with patch 1.14. The Gamemode will be active on LIVE servers on December 15th, and will last only for 2 weeks, meaning that it will be removed after December 29th.
Snowball Fight – what is it?
Snowball fight is a 5v5 Team Deathmatch mode where the team that reaches 50 kills first wins. Respawns are enabled and the weapon you will be using is the snowball launcher and it will have an infinite amount of ammo, so don’t worry about spam shooting! Gifts are also placed around the map, which can be opened to retrieve one of many power ups. However, you can only have one power up at a time, so be sure to share some with your allies. It’s important to note that when you die you will lose your power up and the enemy team can steal it.
Credits: Riot Games
Power ups:
Rapid Fire: Fire even faster
Growball: Grows over time while traveling in the air
Ricochet: Snowball trick shots off the ground and walls
Skates: Skate around quickly and in style
For the first week, the map that will be used for snowball fight is a tweaked version of Icebox which is holiday themed. But for the second week, any map in the current map pool can be played.
With regards to experience and progression, once a match is finished you will receive 750 XP and an additional 150 XP if the match results in a win. Bear in mind that this game mode will not impact any sort of progress missions (Daily/Weekly).
Competitive changes
With regards to competitive, Riot have introduced a new feature which allows rank distribution to be updated easier to climb out of the lower ranks. The ACT rank badge will now be visible in in-game player cards and the Career page bug has been resolved.
Store Updates
An interesting new update with patch 1.14 is the newly revealed Night Market. This Night Market will feature 6 chances to either receive a Deluxe or a Premium skin at a sweet discount. Keep in mind that these 6 weapon skins will all be selected at random, and that this store will open on December 10th.
Credits: Riot Games
Despite the skins not being announced, leakers have revealed that Riot will be releasing two new Skin bundles which are the: Winter Wonderland and Blast X. Here are images of both bundles below:
Winter Wonderland Credits: Floxayyy’s twitterBlast X Credits: Floxayyy’s twitter
VALORANT Patch 1.14 – Additional changes
Requirements to unlock Competitive play have been changed from Play 20 Unrated matches to Win 10 Unrated matches
Players can now add friends in-game via the player list in the escape menu
Manual Game State Recovery
Cinematic Cameras
Projectile Follow
Minimal Broadcast HUD
Observer Follower
This patch is certainly a huge update, especially when it comes to the Icebox and Sage changes. With VALORANT events coming to a close, we will definitely start seeing more and more updates in the coming weeks.
So be sure to keep yourself updated on www.esportsguide.com for more esports news!
First Strike EU & NA – Finals Standings + Winnings:
Europe:
1st – $40,000 – Team Heretics
2nd – $20,000 – SUMN FC
3rd-4th – $10,000 – G2 Esports
3rd-4th – $10,000 – FunPlus Phoenix
5th – $5,000 – Team Liquid
6th – $5,000 – Orgless
7th – $5,000 – Purple Cobras
8th – $5,000 – Nolpenki
North America:
1st – $40,000 – 100 Thieves
2nd – $20,000 – TSM
3rd-4th – $10,000 – Team Envy
3rd-4th – $10,000 – Sentinels
5th – $5,000 – Immortals
6th – $5,000 – Renegades
7th – $5,000 – T1
8th – $5,000 – FaZe Clan
How did they do it?
Europe:
Heretics kicked off the main event with a 2-1 win over Team Liquid in the QuarterFinals. This win was not only considered an upset, but a direct message of fear to the G2 esports lineup which was next up in the Semifinals. The Semis was as close as it could get as Heretics took the first map (Ascent 13-10) and G2 replied with a 13-5 win of their own on the 2nd map (Bind). Lastly, in the final map, it took every single round to be played for Team Heretics to win the first ever best of 3 series versus the former kings of Europe. With this win, they were confirmed a spot in the Grand Finals, matching up against SUMN FC.
SUMN FC had pulled off an upset of their own, as they beat FunPlus Phoenix in a best of 3 as well to get to the Finals. Heading into the Grand Finals, maps were as follows: Ascent, Icebox, Haven Bind, and for a 5th, Split.
The first map was super one-sided as Team Heretics took the win on Ascent 13-1. SUMN immediately replied with a win of their own on Icebox, ending the match 13-7. On Haven we saw another dominant Heretics performance as the match finished 13-5. And in the 4th map, which was a series point for Heretics, we saw all round being played for Heretics to be crowned champions of Europe.
100 Thieves started the event with a dominant win over T1 in the Quarterfinals, winning both maps 13-10. 100 Thieves then played versus Sentinels which were one of the favourites at the event. The series was close, but in the end, 100 Thieves were stronger, and won the bo3 2-1 in their favor. This win secured their spot in the Grand Finals versus their new rivals, TSM.
Heading into the Grand Finals, everyone watching was aware of TSM’s dominance in previous events. However, 100 Thieves was the team that eliminated TSM from the first qualifier to the North AmericanFirst Strike event.
100 Thieves kicked off the finals with an overtime win on Split (15-13). They then played on Bind which was another close win, as they finished the match 13-11. TSM then took a map of their own as they concluded Ascent 13-7 in their favor. Lastly, 100 Thieves played out a dominant Attacker side to win (13-7) the final map of the series and become First Strike champions of North America.
First Strike has certainly introduced some new storylines with regards to the esports side of VALORANT. With new rivalries being created, and new teams reaching the top (as we saw with Europe) VALORANT esports is only in its infancy, and 2021 will certainly deliver more action.
Yesterday we had the first day of the First Strike main event in both Europe and North America. Today, the action continued with the rest of the matches, finishing off the Quarterfinals. In this article we’ll be covering the First Strike EU & NA Quarterfinals recap.
In the European First Strike event, we first had Team Liquid taking on Team Heretics. The best of 3 series kicked off with a dominant win from Heretics on Split. The Team Liquid loss was closely followed by a win of their own on Ascent to tie up the series. The final map was on Bind and it went all the way to overtime, but Team Heretics got the better of Liquid and won the series.
Credits: Riot Games
G2 vs Orgless
For the 2nd match we had G2 facing off Orgless in another best of 3. Despite G2’s constant success during the past few months, Orgless still managed to put up a fight as they lost both maps 13-11 and 13-10 respectively, which was honestly not a bad score.
Credits: Riot Games
SUMN FC vs Purple Cobras
Predictions were off the charts for this series as no one knew how exactly this was going to go. SUMN pulled out the Viper agent pick to win out the first map (Bind) versus the Cobras 13-4. And then went on with their default line-up to win the 2nd map (Haven) 13-8.
Credits: Riot Games
FPX vs Nolpenki
For the final match of the day we had two of the strongest teams battle it out in another bo3. FunPlus Phoenix were the favourites for this one due to previous results, but Nolpenki has shown promising results as well. The series kicked off with a strong win from FPX on Bind as they ended the first match 13-10. Then came Split which was Nolpenki’s pick, but unfortunately for them, they lost 13-7 and hence, eliminated from First Strike.
The Renegades vs TSM series was almost a duplicate of the Envy vs Immortals series due to the one-sidedness from TSM. TSM had a dominant performance on both maps, winning Ascent 13-1 and Bind 13-5 respectively.
Credits: Riot Games
Sentinels vs FaZe Clan
The Sentinels also had a very strong performance versus FaZe Clan in their bo3. The maps picked were Bind and Split and both went in Sentinels’ way as matches ended 13-8 and 13-5 respectively in favour of the Sentinels.
Credits: Riot Games
100 Thieves vs T1
This was the most anticipated series of the entire night. These teams have had very close matches in previous events, and their match was certainly going to deliver. T1 kicked off the 1st map (Haven) with a huge lead on the Defender side; however, 100 Thieves’ Defender side was stronger, and this resulted in a 13-10 scoreline favoring 100T. The next map (Bind) was T1’s map pick, and in fact, they were the ones in the lead at the beginning. The match went back and forth multiple times, but ultimately, 100 Thieves were stronger and eliminated T1 from the event after winning the series 2-0.
Credits: Riot Games
This is how the current NA bracket looks like:
Credits: Liquipedia
First Strike EU & NA – What’s next?
Tomorrow we’ll be seeing Team Heretics are tasked with facing off the Kings of Europe, G2. Whereas SUMN FC will be versing their rivals FunPlus Phoenix for the Grand Finals spot. In North America we have the two rivals, TSM and Envy taking each other on in a best of 3. And on the bottom half of the bracket we’ll be having 100 Thieves against Sentinels for a spot in the Grand Final.
