Author: Pedro Romero
For a time, Iceland was the hotbed of esports. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic prohibiting many countries from hosting events, the island nation lent its resources to make them possible. To their credit, fans could watch the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational and League of Legends World Champions, VCT Masters: Reykjavik, and the Northern LoL Championship (NLC) (a regional league for Northern Europe) in vivid detail.More eyeballs subsequently became focused on the country in terms of esports, coupled with their commitment to maintaining its presence; they’re looking to continue stamping their mark in more games beyond those they helped stage.The…
In the second part of BLIX.GG’s interview with sports psychologist Dan Abrahams, he discusses how he helped Tundra Esports win The International 11 from a mental standpoint, working with head coach Kurtis’ Aui_2000’ Ling and team captain Wu ‘Sneyking’ Jingjun, and how esports is adopting sports psychology into its repertoire.Tundra in TI11Pedro Romero, BLIX.GG: I’ve listened to you mention on Twitter and during this conversation the five pillars that helped Tundra win the whole tournament at its end. Within that aspect, how did you implement these five pillars ahead of TI to make sure at the very least Tundra wouldn’t…
Tundra Esports bested their opposition to win The International 11 and lift the Aegis of Champions as its eventual winners. It was the result of a seemingly flawless performance that saw them lose five games in total (four in the group stage and just one in the main event phase) for their entire stay in Singapore and be regarded as one of the most dominant sides in Dota 2 history.While it is reasonable for one to primarily bask in Tundra’s TI achievement, with its players and coaching staff being the main reason for making it possible, it is equally crucial…
Ninjas in Pyjamas announced their entry to the Valorant Game Changers scene with a roster entirely based in Europe.The announcement so far revealed three of the five players that will represent NiP in the upcoming season within a stacked region that currently boasts the reigning world champion in G2 Gozen.It consists of Nelly “Raina” Sosobrado, Ãykü “Oyku” Büyük, and Paige “Padge” Thomas. All three were together in their previous team in Rix.GG Lightning from April to November of 2022. Going further back to cover the entirety of the season, Rix.GG Lightning qualified for each of the three EMEA GC Series…
Amidst the post-TI11 roster shuffle, B8 Esports announced its return to the Dota Pro Circuit with a new lineup that they hope would prompt a spark towards finally excelling in the scene, a feat that has long eluded them since its formation.Under the direction of founder and Dota team captain Danil ‘Dendi’ Ishutin, the team settled on a nearly full Ukrainian roster featuring Funn1k, Lodine, StoneBank, and MoOz, the lone exception who hails from Peru. But besides announcing their return to the game after almost half a year, what caught everyone’s attention was knowing exactly where they will compete next…
Since forming in 2021, Game Changers has served as the main stage for female and marginalized gender players to kickstart a professional career in Valorant. It is where those who are normally unable to find their footing in standard Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) play can make real noise against their peers, thereby improving the general scene for all involved.Since then, not even two years have passed into the scene’s existence and it has already seen the emergence of numerous figures who subsequently became role models for younger fans. A clear example includes Cloud9 White, North America’s most dominant team with…
By this point in time, esports has seen far more than a bevy of players and teams make a name for themselves in the title they choose to pursue. Through seemingly endless bouts of struggle and hardship, some eventually manage to finish their journey in championship glory whereas the rest fall in defeat at their own expense. Whatever the case may be, their contribution serves as the continuation of the general esports community, thus extending it all together.One way to commemorate the existence of those responsible for continuing the scene is through photography. Photography adds depth and context behind a…
Despite being a relatively young game, Valorant’s esports scene has already given the community an inundation of memorable teams that painstakingly worked to become the absolute best at their peak. Similar to how the game fluctuates in its mechanics and ability sets in each patch, so too has the esports scene watched various teams usurp and fall off the championship throne.Such great teams include Sentinels decimating their opponents during Masters: Reykjavik 2021, Gambit Esports and Acend each taking their own step to victory in Masters: Berlin and Champions of that same year, OpTic Gaming restoring North America’s superiority not long…
When Misfits Gaming started the 2022 LEC Summer Split with four straight losses, little was needed to describe how the team and its players felt over their rough form. For starting support Mertai ‘Mersa’ Sari, his description amounted to a single word.”Sorry,” he said on Twitter by the end of Superweek.Considering how the team finished their previous split (fourth in playoffs), stumbling from the outset flipped their aspirations on building their success upside down overnight. All they had left in their disposal was their own anguish to remedy. As such, the need to revise what went wrong was paramount for…
A chorus of cheers reverberated throughout the Suntec Singapore arena upon the conclusion of the Thunder Awaken vs Team Liquid playoff series in The International 11. In what is regarded as the most exciting series in the competition so far, with a spot in the event finals in the balance, both teams threw everything they had on the table to come out victorious.Even when nearly every game surpassed the 50-minute mark and every player drained every last bit of their energy, when all was said and done, it was TL who outlasted their South American opponents to progress further and…