Author: G7R

This year’s League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational was a roaring success. With the format change for the tournament fully settled in its second year, a lineup of teams with strong, supportive fan bases, and a host time zone that favored the teams that made it furthest in the bracket, the tournament naturally etched itself into the professional League history books for all the right reasons. But while MSI cemented itself as one of the most-watched League tournaments in recent years, fans of the game are divided down the middle as to how much that actually matters. In a thread posted to the official…

Dota 2 pro Tommy “Taiga” Le released a statement today to clear his name after being embroiled in a matchfixing scandal. The statement copped to some of the allegations against him, but stopped short of a full confession. Earlier in the saga, an investigation by Dota 2 content creator Morf detailed the allegations, accusing Taiga of collaborating with the “322 Mafia” to manipulate matches in 2023 while on OG for betting purposes. In the recent statement, Taiga acknowledged his struggles with gambling addiction. “Late last year, I made a post about battling addiction and becoming someone else when my brain became more damaged and damaged,” Taiga said. “Everything about me changed, including…

Counter-Strike‘s Smoke Criminal is back. North American player Stewie2K will make his CS2 LAN debut next week at IEM Dallas after receiving a call-up from G2, with captain HooXi ruled out due to personal commitments. His addition to G2 on a one-off basis has been hinted at for weeks now but it was finally confirmed after the team’s roster was revealed for the ESL CS2 event on May 17. G2 later made the announcement official on X (formerly Twitter), adding that HooXi was ruled out due to a clash with his sister’s wedding. “I wish I could be in two…

Gen.G triumphed over Bilibili Gaming at the 2024 League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational grand final in Chengdu, qualifying for Worlds along the way. The LCK top dog’s rematch with the LPL first seed was already poised to be epic, and the 3-1 victory from Gen.G proved to be historic.  Among the storylines that thrilled Gen.G fans, Chovy’s first international win was the crown jewel. However, every member of the LCK team brought something extraordinary to the series, making this victory not just epic but legendary. Canyon, the jungler for Gen.G, celebrated his first MSI win, joining the ranks of players…

MOUZ’s young international squad keeps going from strength to strength in CS2, and with a second 3-0 final under their belt in quick succession, they achieved something the org has never done before: becoming number one in the HLTV rankings. Shortly after defending their ESL Pro League title, MOUZ were straight back in the action at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade, an event with lesser prestige but a nevertheless notable $500,000 prize pool and some big-name opponents in their way. 300,000 more reasons to be happy. Photo via Adela Sznajder via ESL Gaming In the end, siuhy and co. only dropped a…

It’s been just under two months since the last LAN event of the 2024 Call of Duty League season wrapped up with Atlanta FaZe hoisting the trophy. But now, FaZe will look to defend their throne at CDL Major Three in Toronto. The third Major of the 2024 CDL season will begin on Thursday, May 16 and run through Sunday, May 19. With the season well into its second half at this stage, all 12 professional CoD teams will be fighting hard for those important CDL Points in hopes of qualifying for the end-of-season playoffs in July. The final standings…

We talk about viewership a lot in esports because it’s one of the many ways we can gauge an event or esports’s popularity, and it’s safe to say the 2024 Mid-Season Invitational this year was a real banger. In 2023, MSI only saw an average of 802,561 viewers across the mid-year League of Legends tournament. In contrast, MSI 2024 averaged 1,013,790 viewers, which is an incredible improvement for the Riot Games series and a testament to how successful the MSI format changes—best-of-threes into best-of-fives—have been. It was so good that viewership hit an all-time high, with over 2.8 million fans tuning in at…

League of Legends‘ Mid-Season Invitational has come and gone for 2024, but many fans will struggle to forget the action that unfolded over the past few weeks. Many are even proclaiming this MSI the best of all time, chiefly due to the format change. This year’s edition introduced the very highly-requested double-elimination playoffs for the tournament and this, combined with a faster turnaround between each series and the removal of as many “civil war” matchups between regions, made for a much better viewing experience. Fans on the League subreddit pointed out last year’s World Championships had seven best-of-fives over three…

Australia’s biggest FGC celebration is back with a bang as Battle Arena Melbourne (BAM) shapes up for its return in late May, complete with a massive lineup of titles, huge prizes, and qualification to one of the world’s biggest tournaments at the Esports World Cup later this year. A staple of the Australian FGC calendar, BAM14 makes a move to the Moonee Valley Racecourse for 2024 and will play host to thousands of competitors across nearly 50 tourneys. BAM14 runs from May 31 to June 2 and will also feature seating for spectators, room for the more casual gamers to…

G2 Esports surprised the League of Legends community on May 14 by defeating Top Esports and disqualifying them from the Mid-Season Invitational 2024. After their victory, Caps called for Western teams to stop making excuses for their losses. In the League esports scene, North American and European teams frequently lose to Chinese and Korean teams, and the so-called “gap” is widening each year. G2 is the only team that has looked competitive in the space for a while now. After their victory against TES, Caps pledged not to make excuses for himself and asked other Western squads to do the same.  “Making excuses like, ‘Oh, we’re from Europe,’ or making…