Author: Jimmy “Infernal” Young

Perfect World has announced the initial matchups for the Opening Stage of the Shanghai Major. These pairings were established based on the Valve Regional Standings (VRS) update from November 25, which also identified the eight teams that advance directly to the Elimination Stage. Set to kick off on November 30, the Opening Stage will consist of a five-round Swiss format with a best-of-three structure exclusively for the matches that determine advancement and elimination. The leading eight teams will move on to the Elimination Stage, whereas the eight teams with the lowest performance will be eliminated. The seeding method was based…

As European RMR B ended, we got to know seven more teams qualified for the Shanghai Major, and the list of 24 teams in total has been finalized. The Perfect World Shanghai Major will be held from November 30 to December 15, with a total prize pool of $1,250,000 to be split between the teams, with the first place getting $500,000. European RMR B: How It Went It didn’t go without surprises. First of all, such teams as Astralis and Eternal Fire didn’t make it to Shanghai Major as both teams lost some important matches to underdog teams on their…

TYLOO has revealed that ZhiHong ‘⁠aumaN⁠’ Liu is rejoining their roster, restoring the team to full capacity following Yi ‘JamYoung’ Yang’s recent transfer to the substitute position. ‘aumaN’ was part of TYLOO’s roster for three months earlier this year but was swiftly benched in favor of Qianhao ‘Moseyuh’ Chen after the team did not succeed in qualifying for the PGL Major Copenhagen. During his brief time on the team, the rifler posted an average rating of 1.08. TYLOO has struggled with consistency this year, frequently losing to Rare Atom in qualifiers for international LAN events and failing to qualify for…

Bruno ‘b4rtiN⁠’ Câmara has been sidelined from Legacy’s Counter-Strike lineup and is now available for transfer, the organization revealed on Saturday. The lineup adjustment follows the Brazilian team’s unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the Perfect World Shanghai Major. Following an unexpected win against FURIA to start their RMR campaign, Legacy faced three straight defeats to 9z, M80, and RED Canids, failing to secure more than seven rounds in each of their four map losses. ‘b4rtiN’ achieved the second-lowest performance rating on his team at the Major qualifier, recording a 0.77 rating, which mirrors his average during a period of struggle…

Into the Breach has revealed that Flatron ‘juanflatroo⁠’ Halimi has temporarily left the roster to take time for mental recovery after enduring a demanding season. The player ‘juanflatroo’ has been associated with Into the Breach since June, following the British organization’s decision to form a new team around Owen ‘smooya’ Butterfield. Into the Breach subsequently added Dionis ‘sinnopsyy’ Budeci, who had previously played alongside ‘juanflatroo’ on Bad News Eagles, as well as Nicolas ‘Keoz’ Dgus and Mohammad ‘BOROS’ Malhas to finalize the roster. The initial lineup of Into the Breach was short-lived, lasting merely a month before the team decided…

NRG has revealed that Jeorge ‘Jeorge’ Endicott will be joining the roster, replacing Timothy ‘autimatic’ Ta, who has been shifted to the bench. ‘Jeorge’ joins after spending the previous year with Nouns, with whom he participated in the Americas RMR for the PGL Major Copenhagen and the Perfect World Shanghai Major, not qualifying for either event. The 21-year-old was Nouns’ top-rated player throughout 2024, achieving a rating of 1.18. NRG has struggled since re-entering CS in late 2023, failing to qualify for Majors and undergoing multiple roster changes. Their latest addition is experienced in-game leader Nick ‘⁠nitr0⁠’ Cannella, who joined…

Nouns have disclosed that they are severing ties with their longest-tenured player, Carson ‘⁠nosraC⁠’ O’Reilly, concluding the 24-year-old’s two-year tenure with the team. This signifies the team’s second recent adjustment, as Jeorge ‘⁠Jeorge’⁠ Endicott has just left to join NRG. No replacements have been revealed yet, but the organization informed Dust2.us that they will be evaluating multiple North American players soon. ‘nosraC’ joined Nouns in October 2022 from Gaimin Gladiators, playing 525 maps for the team. He helped Nouns reach the Americas RMRs for the BLAST.tv Paris Major, PGL Major Copenhagen, and Perfect World Shanghai Major, just missing out on…

Polish-Portuguese esports organization Apogee has recently made significant changes to its Counter-Strike squad, marking a new chapter for the team. In this overhaul, Wojciech ‘Prism’ Zięba is the lone player retained from the previous roster. The organization has decided to part ways with several key members, including Jan ‘POLO’ Polak, Oliwier ‘swiz’ Janus, Konrad ‘Qlocuu’ Klocek, and Karol ‘virtuoso’ Wrześniewski. This strategic move signals a shift in direction for Apogee as they look to rebuild and strengthen their competitive lineup in the ever-evolving esports landscape. Taking their place are Patryk ‘Demho’ Tomaszewski, Oskar ‘hfah’ Wroński, Jakub ‘jcobbb’ Pietruszewski, and Milan…

Falcons have made the decision to bench Marco ’⁠Snappi⁠’ Pfeiffer, Peter ‘⁠dupreeh⁠’ Rasmussen, and Pavle ’Maden’ Bošković effective immediately. This choice was made shortly after the team’s unsatisfactory 1-3 performance at the Europe RMR. Falcons organization has officially announced that they will not be extending the loan deal for Oleksandr ’s1mple’ Kostyliev, the renowned Ukrainian esports superstar. This confirmation aligns with s1mple’s earlier statement, where he expressed that he would not be transferring to the Saudi-based organization. The announcement signifies the beginning of another restructuring for the Falcons, who sidelined four players at the conclusion of 2023 and replaced them…

Valve has issued a minor update for Counter-Strike 2, fixing a significant issue that caused a “poltergeist CT model” to show up after a player left the server. A second modification was implemented to ensure that player models from a player who disconnects will immediately self-destruct instead of remaining for 10 seconds. A fix for lag compensation should also address problems encountered on servers that utilized the ‘mp_teammates_are_enemies’ setting, which includes community deathmatch servers, and the recently introduced damage prediction feature has also been corrected. Official Announcement Patch Notes GAMEPLAY UI MAPS Train Inferno Nuke Office You can find the…