Riot Games have just announced that they will be introducing First Strike, an event that will crown the first regional champions for the game. Here is their announcement:
Riot Games introducing First Strike – What is it?
First Strike will be the first ever event to be hosted & produced by Riot Games. And similarly to the Ignition Series events, it will feature the best teams and players from all over the world.
First Strike will be offering multiple regional Finals taking place across North America, Europe, CIS, Turkey, Asia, Oceania, Brazil, and the Middle East.
Credits: Riot Games
How to compete?
In their statement, Riot advises that regional qualifiers will be held in the second half of October. They will be releasing additional information regarding rules, policies, and how to register in the coming weeks. The event will be concluding with multiple regional finals that will take place between the 3rd and 6th of December.
Players that are above sixteen, and have earned a rank of at least Immortal 1 will be eligible to compete in the qualifiers. However Riot advises to still read the full rules and policies once they are available publicly.
Credits: Riot Games
Riot Games introducing First Strike will definitely be something to look forward to. Especially since this will be the first tournament hosted by Riot Games themselves. More details will be releasing soon so make sure you keep yourself updated with www.esportsguide.com!
Oxygen esports enter VALORANT – Who are they picking up?
The team has been playing together since the beginning of July under the name looking4org. They have recently swapped out pAura with m1tez in hopes of achieving better results for the team. Here are the team’s best results so far:
As you can see the team has been quite successful in B-events versus decent teams. Hopefully them getting picked up will boost their motivation and work ethic to further enhance their performance when it comes to playing these very important official matches.
Credits: Oxygen Esports
What’s next for VALORANT in Europe?
European VALORANT has been quite slow when it comes to team signings and organizations involving themselves with the esport. So far, there are only 5 big organizations (G2, FPX, Team Liquid, NiP, BIG) that have made the brave decision to pick up a team so early in its esports stage. Hopefully we’ll be seeing more signings in the very near future.
British coach Ash “Chu” Long is mostly known for his time with Envy as their Overwatch coach. He has accomplished many things with them, two of them being both seasons of the Overwatch Contenders 2019 in Western North America.
As for JamezIRL, he has already worked with the organization in the past, as the team’s head coach for their CS:GO division. This was back when the Cloud9 team was undergoing major roster changes and was in a very unstable position. However this time round he has a set role as the team’s strategic coach for VALORANT and will do the best in his power to help the team grow and improve.
Credits: Draft5
Cloud9 add Chu & JamezIRL – Why is this a big move?
Ninjas In Pyjamas have just announced that they will be adding Sayf to the starting roster and removing both Hyp and Fearoth. Here is their announcement:
We say welcome to @DSajoof – an update on our Valorant roster
Ninjas in Pyjamas adding Sayf, removing Hyp and Fearoth – Why?
It has been very clear that NiP haven’t been very successful in recent Ignition Series events. The roster was initially formed as a mix, having three players coming from HypHypHyp, another player from VALORANDO, and the final member which had been standing in for the team since April. The roster was created with hopes to create one of the best teams in Europe, however due to their recent performances, it has been made evident that the team is not working out.
Here’s what NiP’s most recent pick up, Sayf had to say about him joining the team:
“It’s a pleasure to be on the playing field again representing one of Sweden’s largest organisations. I’m honored for this chance and I’ll do my best to make everyone proud. Thank you for your continued support. The grind begins now.”
This is how NiP’s roster is currently looking like:
Players:
Emir “rhyme” Muminovic
Niels “luckeRRR” Jasiek
Charles “CREA” Beauvois
Saif “Sayf” Jibraeel
Coach:
Emil “eMIL” Sandgren
This roster change will definitely benefit the team as Sayf will bring a whole new dynamic atmosphere to the team. He has previously worked with NiP’s current head coach eMIL back when they were on BONK, so the chemistry within the roster should definitely be strong. The team still has to announce their new 5th, so be sure to keep yourself updated on www.esportsguide.com for all your latest esports news!
With the weekend coming to a close, we’ve seen G2 dominate Europe once more for another victory at another Ignition series event. This time however, it was a much more difficult task as FPX gave them a run for their money to win the BLAST Twitch Invitational.
G2 win BLAST Twitch Invitational – How did they do it?
G2 kicked off the event by winning a confident 2-0 versus NiP. This progressed them though the Upper Bracket Final versus Fun Plus Phoenix in a best of 3. The matches were dominated by G2’s squad as they won both maps 13-3. This win secured them the spot in the Grand Finals.
After their loss, FPX dropped down to the Lower bracket final versus Team Liquid. The series was extremely hectic, however FPX were too strong for the UK core, and won both maps 13-11 to advance to the Grand Finals and face off G2 once more.
Credits: G2 Esports
Grand Finals
G2 were given an automatic map win due to never dropping down to the lower bracket, however this was quickly overcome by FPX as they took the win on Ascent 13-7. After that match, G2 dominated on Bind and won the 2nd map 13-4 to take the series lead. FPX quickly replied with an astonishing win on Haven, 13-6. The final map was super chaotic as all 24 rounds were played, however G2 clutched it up in the final round to be crowned European champions for the 7th time.
Kings of Europe, we won every single Ignition Series tournament in our region.
G2 win BLAST Twitch Invitational -What’s next for G2?
G2 have shown that they are Europe’s best team, going undefeated in every best of 3 series, and Finals. The team has come so far and gone through so much in the past few months. They are definitely a team to be reckoned with, and once international matches start happening again, they will be the most fearsome team by far.
Luminosity have just announced that they will be making changes to their VALORANT roster. They revealed their roster in August by signing the Mixup squad. The changes include replacing Fiziq & Hoppin with Ksiaze and ex-100T player Venerated. Here is their announcement below:
The roster has only been together since August, meaning that they could only participate in 2 events so far. Which are the Pittsburgh Knights Invitational Gauntlet Series & Pulse Series. Results couldn’t have been the only factor that caused the change. The players haven’t voiced anything about internal conflicts on their social media. However most rumors are pointing to that being the reason they have been dropped from the roster.
Luminosity adds Ksiaze & Venerated – Who are they?
Justin “Ksiaze” Goszczynski is a former CS:GO player who has made the switch to VALORANT upon release. He was first signed by Charlotte Phoenix in May and had quite a couple of good placements with that team. After 3 months moved over to Rise where he was lacking success.
For Luminosity to add Ksiaze & Venerated, it definitely shows that they want the roster to succeed. They know that the team has a lot of potential and can win against the best teams in the region. Their team is filled with talent, and it will be very exciting to see them progress in the coming months.
Luminosity are currently playing in the Pulse Series where they are currently through for playoffs. Their matches will be live on the Pulse Esports arena twitch channel so be sure not to miss out.
Keep yourself updated with www.esportsguide.com for all your latest esports news!
T1 is one of the most popular esports organizations in the world featuring in almost every esport you can think of. They have many titles to their name, however this year they have had continuous struggles with almost every major esport.
T1’s disappointing 2020 – League of Legends
Starting with League of Legends, T1 had a very disappointing end to the season. In the Spring Split they were performing extremely well, finishing 2nd place in the group stage. Then progressing in the playoffs and winning it all in the Grand Finals versus Gen.G to be crowned champions of Korea for the 9th time.
Credits: T1
Despite their great start to the year, they could not replicate the same performance in the Summer Split. T1 finished 5th in the group stage which got them in the Wildcard round versus Afreeca Freecs. They lost the match and ended the Summer Split in 5th. They were then given a 2nd opportunity to advance to Worlds via the Regional Finals. T1 had performed really well, up until the Grand Finals versus Gen.G where they got clean sweeped 3-0. Missing the League of LegendsWorld Championship for the first time.
2020 Regional Qualifiers Finals – Game 03 vs GEN
이번 선발전 끝까지 최선을 다했으나 여기서 마무리하게 되었습니다. 끝까지 응원해주신 팬분들께 감사드립니다.
At the start of VALORANT, T1 were one of the most hyped up teams considering they picked up some of the best North American CS:GO players. During the closed beta, and shortly after the game was launched T1 had been dominating the region alongside TSM. Their best placement at an event was at T1 x Nerd Street Gamers Showdown where they got 2nd place, losing to their rivals, TSM.
Image of Skadoodle Credits: T1
A few months passed and T1 were only getting worse with every event. This led to the benching of Skadoodle, where coach fRoD had to step in and replace him while they found a suitable 5th. They did not manage to find anyone which fit into the roster, and after another terrible result, T1 released both Crashies and Food. Now, just like 100 Thieves, they are rebuilding the roster with hopes of getting better results.
They’ve also had a horrible season In Overwatch. In the first season of the Overwatch Contenders in Korea, the team ended the group stage in 3rd place after getting a 100 points with a victory in Week 1. In the playoffs they were against RunAwa y which beat them 3-1, dropping T1 to the loser bracket. There they met with Gen.G which beat them 3-2 and knocked them out of the playoffs, ending the 1st Season in 7th-8th place.
Credits: Liquipedia
Now in the 2nd Season of the Overwatch Contenders in Korea, T1 have already lost all 3 matches in their group stage and are sitting in last place. Them having a score of -7 clarifies that they will not be progressing forward to the playoff stage, and ending the 2nd season in 9th-10th place.
[OW Contenders 2020 S2: KR]
오늘 경기도 연전연패하며 아쉽게 마무리하였습니다. 끝까지 응원해주신 팬분들께 감사드립니다.
As you can clearly see above, their results this year have not been promising; however, every organisation has its ups and downs. T1’s disappointing 2020 should be used as a learning curve for the future. All they have to do is look back, see what went wrong, apply the changes and move on. They will certainly be missed in this year’s League of LegendsWorld Championship, however it will be very exciting to see new Korean teams perform instead.
Make sure you don’t miss out on any important esports news by keeping yourself updated on www.esportsguide.com!
The format that will be used for the BLAST VALORANT Invitational consists of a double elimination bracket playoff format. Every match will be a best of 3, with the grand finals being in a best of 5 format. BLAST will be distributing a total of €50,000 between all teams. Here is the full distribution below:
4 teams will be placing into the double elimination playoff bracket and will verse their opponent in the 1st round of the event. The teams that win their match move on to the Upper bracket final, whereas the teams that lose have another chance at climbing to the finals through the loser bracket.
Watch the BLAST Twitch Invitational stream on esportsguide.com
You can also watch the BLAST Twitch Invitational stream via our very own website. Providing an extensive list of the biggest esports together with streams for each esports match live today or upcoming matches.
Even with only 4 teams in the event, it is still very hard to predict the outcome of who will win it all. All 4 squads are extremely talented, however if one had to assume that the winner is going to be the most consistent out of all, it would have to be G2. They have won every major VALORANT event in Europe so far, and are confident into grabbing a win here as well at the BLAST Twitch Invitational.
A report by Arran “Halo” Brown, writer for Halo of thoughts, indicates that BLAST will follow in Flashpoint’s footsteps and host their very own VALORANT event for Europe. Here is his report:
In the article, he states that BLAST have not yet revealed their tournament format, event name, or team invites, however sources have confirmed that there will not be any sort of qualifying stage as BLAST have invited 4 of the best european teams already. Sources have also indicated that BLAST will be offering a total of $50,000 in prize pool.
On the 4th of September, Halo released an update on the article, stating that multiple sources have confirmed that FunPlus Phoenix, G2, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Team Liquid are 4 invited teams for the event. He also stated that the event is intended to take place between the 12th & 13th of September. The format will consist of a double elimination bracket. Having matches set in a bo3 format whereas the final will be set to a bo5 format.
BLAST VALORANT event UPDATE
BLAST have now tweeted the below video, confirming that BLAST x VALORANT is definitely happening.
It will be very exciting to see the top European VALORANT teams competing against each other once again. Will G2prevail once more? Or will Team Liquid, NiP or FPX topple them over? The official announcement for the event will be releasing very soon, so keep your eyes peeled on their twitter and our website for more esports news!
100 Thieves have just announced that they will be signing Steel as their third player of their revamped roster. He will be competing alongside Hiko and nitr0 and will be looking to bring some championships to 100 Thieves. Here is their announcement:
Announcing the newest addition to our VALORANT roster: Steel.@JoshNissan is an incredibly skilled & talented player from the Counter-Strike scene. We’re so excited to start a new chapter of his competitive career with him in VALORANT. Welcome to 100 Thieves! #100Tpic.twitter.com/qZyGKhnZG4
30-year old Joshua “steel” Nissan has been playing Counter-Strike since 2008, and has been under numerous rosters in CS:GO. Some that are worth mentioning are: Dignitas, iBUYPOWER, Ghost Gaming, and most recently, Chaos Esports. Steel is mostly famous for the iBUYPOWER scandal back in 2014 where the team was accused of match-fixing games. The entire squad except for Skadoodle received a lifetime ban on CS:GO and was not able to compete at any events.
Image of Steel under Chaos Esports Credits: Dreamhack
Few years later, ESL released a statement which said that they will lift the indefinite match-fixing bans placed on players. And they will be able to participate in non-major events. However this was not enough for the ex-iBUYPOWER members as they have transitioned over to Riot’s new FPS, VALORANT. Here’s some of Steel’s CS:GO highlights after getting unbanned:
Why sign Steel?
Steel is one of the most experienced FPS players in all of North America. He’s been an in-game leader for the majority of his esports career. This will means Hiko will be more flexible with his role other than leading. Now all they need next are 2 up and coming talents which are hungry for victory.
Image of Steel under Ghost Gaming: Credits: Draft5
100 Thieves signing Steel as their third is certainly heart warming, especially for fans of Steel himself. He has always been a shadow in the Counter-Strike community, and was never able to express his abilities in the way he wanted. Now with VALORANT he has a 2nd opportunity. Just like the rest of the ex-iBUYPOWER roster to shine and show everyone that he has what it takes to become a top FPS professional player.
Make sure you don’t miss out on any important esports news by keeping yourself updated on www.esportsguide.com!
