Author: Pedro Romero

The 2023 Valorant Game Changers Championship concluded with Shopify Rebellion lifting the trophy after defeating Team Liquid 3-2 in the grand finals.As we look back at the event and everything that happened in its duration, let’s go over the best images that were captured. The tournament began with plenty of grand entrances, one of which featured Chao Hui EDward Gaming’s Wang “Clem” Ke-ching doing a front roll in honor of T1’s Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok’s Worlds 2015 grand finals entrance. (Credit: Adela Sznajder/Riot Games) Another aspect that resolved around the start of the tournament was the appearance of highly anticipated players…

Nouns Esports made considerable noise in The International 12 by finishing 7-8th and being able to play in the Climate Pledge Arena in front of thousands of fans. Despite coming into the event as a team expected to finish at the bottom of the standings, the North American-based side would manufacture an impressive run that saw them stand toe-to-toe with pro-Dota’s finest squads.They would tie with Gaimin Gladiators, Virtus.pro and Beastcoast in the group stage (thus progressing them to the playoffs) before defeating Tundra Esports in the seeding match to start off their Main Event journey in the upper bracket.…

In the second part of BLIX’s interview with Nouns Esports’ Gage “Sasquatch” DuBose, he covers the org’s Pod and how it affects its operation, comparing how the org manages its Dota 2 and Counter-Strike teams, his view on the future of the professional Dota scene, their plans for 2024 and much more. if you missed part one of the interview, check it out here.Comparing nouns’ Dota and CS teamsPedro Romero, BLIX: I want to know what the comparison is like between Dota 2 and CS:GO. Of course, the CSGO team specifically started this year, and it’s going about the same…

The 2023 Game Changers Championship is finally upon us. After a year of top-tier competition, eight teams have each obtained a ticket to compete in Sao Paulo, Brazil for the chance to be regarded as the world’s best and enter the history books just like what G2 Gozen did in 2022.With that said, here are the stories concerning the eight participating teams in the 2023 GC Championship.BBL Queens (Image Credits: Riot Games)Arguably, it’s been a long time coming for BBL Queens in their arrival to the world stage. Since their formation in September 2021, the team largely stayed in the…

Nouns Esports made a significant step towards their Dota 2 team in the early summer of 2023 when they announced they would partner with Mind Body Esports to help its Counter-Strike and, most notably, Dota 2 team for the remainder of the Dota Pro Circuit. Unlike past collaborations in which orgs would hire a sports psychologist to assist a given team for major tournaments, for Mind Body Esports, it focuses on a more holistic approach, per its namesake, emphasizing and building on both the mind and the body to pave the way for better performance.While MBE has spent the better…

Bilibili Gaming finished their run in the 2023 League of Legends World Championship by falling to Weibo Gaming 3-2 in the semifinals, putting an end to an otherwise impressive year for the org.The team underwent a stretch of consecutive runner-up finishes in their first two competitions of 2023, which included MSI and the LPL Spring Split. Despite those results, when the second half of the year kicked off, BLG continued their momentum as they went on to make a 15-1 regular season record in the Summer Split before ultimately placing third in playoffs. It was yet another miss on obtaining…

It’s been a long journey for nouns to reach Top 8 in The International 12. After the 4 Zoomers stack joined the nouns organization in the summer of 2022, the team experienced a gradual rise within the pro Dota scene not just in North America but on the international level as well.They made the TI 11 Last Chance Qualifier and while they didn’t obtain a spot in the main event, it did provide plenty of experience for players like Nicolas “Gunnar” Lopez who competed under the nouns banner. Following a few additional tweaks to the lineup, in 2023, nouns maintained…

Although OG didn’t qualify for The International 12, the team made their presence behind the scenes throughout the competition. From the group stage to the end of the “Road to TI” phase, they held a watch party with Johan “n0tail” Sundstein, Sébastien “Ceb” Debs and other fellow players and content creators. As for the finals weekend, they created a main hub for fans and talent alike to discuss anything and everything about Dota in the present and also the future.Amidst the TI 12 finals weekend, BLIX talked to Mike Schwartz, OG’s Head of Esports, about his management of the team…

Which single word can be used to accurately describe Admir “lizZard” Salkanović within the world of Dota? For one thing, boring is far and away out of consideration. Some may use “charismatic” or “laidback” in observing his personality whereas others may say “knowledgeable” due to how he surveys each game in close detail. But out of all the candidates, one word term that can be used, it can be argued, to chronicle lizZard’s trajectory is “headstrong”.Way back in the early years of Dota 2, as in 2014, liZzard was a pro player trying to fulfill his major goal of qualifying…

In the second part of BLIX’s interview with Dota 2 caster Owen “ODPixel” Davies, he covers how he looks back at his journey to prominence within the scene, how he will look ahead to 2024 and beyond and much more. If you missed part one of the interview, check it out here. Looking back at his road to prominenceBLIX: When it comes to looking at an individual’s career and how they develop, a lot of the cases concern people that go about their business with risks, and despite doing it on the short-term level, they were able to get into…