Author: Jimmy “Infernal” Young

ESL has unveiled the list of teams invited to participate in the ESL Challenger Atlanta event, which is set to be held from October 4-6. This prestigious tournament boasts a prize pool of $100,000 and will showcase the talent of eight teams competing in two GSL groups. The group stage will serve as a gateway to the intense single-elimination playoff bracket, where the teams will battle it out for victory.ESL Challenger Atlanta Invited TeamsFlyQuestBetBoomBIGM80FlyQuest is currently the highest-ranked team attending the event, having secured an invitation through the ESL World Ranking system. They will be joined by two other top…

ATOX has officially finalized the signing of Yalalt ‘yAmi’ Oyunbileg, as announced by the Mongolian organization on Monday. Aged 19, Oyunbileg will step in to fill the void left by the benching of Munkhsaikhan ‘Zesta’ Erdenebaatar earlier this month.’yAmi’ is a well-known player who has a history with ATOX. He was part of the team from July to November 2023 before being benched and later transferred to The Huns. During his time with The Huns, he demonstrated an outstanding performance, maintaining an impressive 1.21 rating.ATOX has become one of the top teams in Asia, entering the top 50 rankings after…

After eight years in North America, Arteezy is considering moving back to Europe. He’s stepping down from the Shopify Rebellion roster, realizing he wasn’t prepared for leading a team and establishing its culture.’Arteezy’ switched from Evil Geniuses to Shopify Rebellion after a disappointing finish at The International 2022. However, Shopify Rebellion’s first year in Dota 2 was lackluster, culminating in a 9th-12th placement at TI 2023. As a result, three of ‘Arteezy’s teammates left the team, leaving him to rebuild the roster.Shopify’s performance worsened after losing Jonáš ‘SabeRLight-‘ Volek in May. Despite being the strongest team in their region, they…

FISSURE has unveiled plans for the upcoming BetBoom Dacha tournament, which will take place in Belgrade and have a prize pool of $500,000. The tournament is currently scheduled to run from August 25 to September 1, although organizers have mentioned that these dates are subject to potential adjustments.Six teams have already received invitations to the upcoming tournament. MOUZ and Spirit, finalists in the previous iteration, have secured their spots. Additionally, invitations were extended to Virtus.pro, Aurora, BetBoom (the team owned by the tournament’s title sponsor), and FURIA as part of the first wave of invites.In the upcoming tournament, there are…

ESL has announced the 11 direct invites for IEM Rio 2024, with five spots for regional qualifiers. The $250,000 tournament will run from October 7 to 13, with teams split into two groups. Matches will start with BO1 and transition to BO3 for the rest of the event.The group stage winners will advance to the semi-finals, while the second and third-place teams will move to the quarterfinals. The playoffs will consist of a simple single-elimination bracket.Several raft teams have received invitations due to their status as members of ESL’s partner system. Additionally, FURIA received the “local hero” invite.According to ESL,…

ATOX has announced that they have benched Munkhsaikhan ‘Zesta’ Erdenebaatar and are now considering offers for the 21-year-old player. The Mongolian team has recently entered the top 50 of the world rankings and is currently the third-highest-ranked Asian squad after The MongolZ and Lynn Vision.ATOX established itself as one of the region’s top rosters by qualifying for the PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen Asia RMR, where they finished fourth. In March, the team replaced Otgonlhagva ‘AccuracyTG⁠‘ Batjargal with Tuvshintugs ‘Annihilation⁠‘ Nyamdorj. Following the change, they secured second place at ESL Challenger League Season 47 Asia-Pacific, earning a spot in ESL Pro…

The company behind YaLLa Compass, YaLLa Esports, has announced the return of its tournament circuit for 2025. The United Arab Emirates-based tournament organizer has two S-tier LAN events planned across the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, offering a combined $1.5 million prize pool. According to HLTV, the first LAN Final is scheduled to take place from April 15-20.The tournament’s open qualifiers are set to commence on July 29, 2024, followed by two additional open qualifiers planned for Q4 2024 and Q1 2025.The qualifying format is like the one used by YaLLa for its Compass 2024 tournament, featuring Spring…

ESL has decided to eliminate the best-of-one format from IEM Cologne 2024. According to the announcement, this change was prompted by “player and community feedback.”The organizers initially planned for the Play-In stage to include best-of-one games, but they recently changed the format to a best-of-three series instead. This new match format will be used for the entire main tournament, except the best-of-five grand final.The recent change has been met with enthusiasm by numerous community leaders. Notably, analyst Janko ‘YNk’ Paunović is among those who have openly backed this decision.The Play-In stage is scheduled for August 7, featuring 16 teams competing…

IEM Cologne 2024 is an S-tier tournament that will be held from August 7 to August 18. There will be 24 teams featured; eight got direct invites, and sixteen teams will have to fight through the Play-In stage. The prize pool is $1 million, and not only that, but 1st place in IEM Cologne 2024 will also get a direct invite to IEM Katowice 2025 and BLAST Premier World Final. You will find the IEM Cologne 2024 tournament format and a list of participating teams here below.IEM Cologne 2024 Tournament FormatPlay-In:Double-Elimination bracketOpening matches are Bo1All following matches are Bo3The top…

BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2024 is an S-tier tournament that will be held from July 26 to August 4 at BLAST Studio in Copenhagen. There will be sixteen teams featured who will have to fight for the prize pool of $190,000.00 and spots at the Fall Final. Among the participants, we have teams that any CS2 fan already knows – it’s Natus Vincere, who won the latest major tournament, PGL Major Copenhagen 2024; FaZe, who were the vice-champions of the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024; Vitality, Team Spirit with what might be on of the most talented young players ‘d0nk’ and…