Author: Benjamin "esk1mo" Esgate

Never-before-seen rosters, players at risk of being cut, and lineups looking for redemption are the standout headlines heading into Group A of ESL Pro League Season 15.ESL Pro League Season 15 will soon be upon us, being the first event since the thrilling culmination of IEM Katowice 2022 – which saw FaZe take their first trophy since IEM New York 2020. As always, the Spodek Arena provided the Counter-Strike scene with an incredibly memorable competition. The final of IEM Katowice 2022 was the most-watched non-major CS:GO match in history – with 1.12 million people tuning in to watch the broadcast.With…

Two days before the Play-In stage of IEM Katowice 2022, Aurimas “Bymas” Pipiras tested positive for COVID-19. This meant the Lithuanian rifler could no longer compete, and German academy player Jon “JDC” de Castro was fielded in his absence.MOUZ underwent a complete overhaul of their Counter-Strike division over the winter break, bringing in academy graduate Ádám “torszi” Torzsás and veteran player Nathan “NBK” Schmitt. The news of Bymas’ absence would have been a significant setback to the German organisation, hoping to start the year positively with their new project.The inclusion of Jon “JDC” de Castro in place of Aurimas “Bymas”…

Before the playoffs, we, here at BLIX.GG, have created a bingo card that contains specific events that may or may not occur throughout the playoffs. Feel free to play along at home. Do you think we will get bingo?IEM Katowice 2022 playoffs bingo The group stage of IEM Katowice 2022 concluded just a few days ago. Emerging from the group stage are the six remaining teams who will fight tooth and nail for the trophy inside the iconic Spodek Arena. The playoffs of IEM Katowice will mark the highly anticipated return to crowded LAN arenas – since their brief return…

Attention is already locked on the next Counter-Strike campaign. 2022 offers so much potential due to the multitude of new rosters being created as well as the sheer amount of young and exciting talent breaking through into the upper echelon of the game.1. Natus Vincere will continue their dominance in early 2022Since Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy’s permanent inclusion in the Natus Vincere lineup in April of 2021, they have been on an immense run of form. Since the switch-up, the Na’Vi squad has won every single LAN tournament they have attended and a plethora of online events. This success netted them…

Every year HLTV.org produces a ranking of the 20 twenty highest-performing Counter-Strike players from that year. The order of these lists are highly anticipated and therefore heavily debated by fans and pundits alike.The articles that are produced there include a segment where players are asked to provide a prediction regarding an up-and-coming player for the next year. These dubbed “Bold Predictions” have varying levels of accuracy, yet it is exciting to track the progress of these players and see if they lived up to the high expectations set on them from some of Counter-Strike’s elite.So, the Bold Predictions of 2020,…

With teams making final adjustments to their lineups as the 2022 season nears ever closer, both G2 Esports and OG Esports have announced the departure of their longstanding In-Game Leaders of Nemanja “nexa” Isaković and Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen. Neither of these moves came as a surprise as a swap-deal between the two organisations had been rumoured for months as G2 Esports have been undergoing a complete overhaul of their Counter-Strike division with their final roster being announced this afternoon.Akin to Ilya “⁠m0NESY⁠” Osipov, the addition of Aleksib is seemingly a big gamble for the Spanish organisation as the Finn is…