Author: G7R

Bilibili Gaming ADC Zhao “Elk” Jia-Hao returned to streaming League of Legends today for the first time since he and his squad were defeated at Chengdu’s Mid-Season Invitational last week. He had one purpose in mind for the stream—for viewers to flame him for his defeat. Korea’s Gen.G triumphed over the hometown heroes on May 20, with BLG’s lower bracket run stopped at the final hurdle, and for this Elk blames himself and his performances so much he opened himself up to a ruthless community via his stream on May 24. “I started the stream today so you guys can…

After another action-packed split in the global VALORANT competitive scene, the 12 best teams in the world are finally colliding once again at VCT Masters Shanghai 2024. For the first time in VALORANT history, Riot Games is hosting a major international S-tier event in China as Shanghai welcomes some of the top talent from around the globe. From tournament favorites to dark horses and every team in between, there’s a squad for any fan who will be watching the festivities when the tournament takes place from Thursday, May 23 to Sunday, June 9. Although America’s defending Masters Madrid champions aren’t…

Would you rather have a confident instalock duelist on your VALORANT team or someone who fills in the role but knows the ins and outs of it? Shopify Rebellion’s Melanie “meL” Capone believes being a duelist is more about confidence than technicality.  “Definitely a confidence-based role…” meL told Online Esports during an interview at the Red Bull Instalock, a VALORANT tournament featuring a quirky “three instalock duelist” format that took place in April. “I think when you are looking for a great duelist player for your team, the first thing is confidence. You don’t want someone managing the technical aspects…

Karmine Corp has introduced its new gaming and esports home, Les Arènes, directly in the heart of the Évry-Courcouronnes section of Paris, France. The 3000-seat venue will serve as the org’s base of operation for in-house events, tournaments, and friendly matches across all of its esports teams.  Les Arènes has stood in Paris for years, and it is a publicly owned venue operated by the French government. To be clear, it is not a newly constructed arena that Karmine Corp specifically built. The franchise simply now owns the right to host its events there.  Karmine Corp has teams competing in…

It is time once again to head back to the land of no coasts for Combo Breaker 2024 and a weekend of pure fighting game goodness. From Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 to community classics like the Mystery Game tournament, get ready for non-stop action out of the Midwest.  Set to shake up Chicago from May 24 to 26, Combo Breaker is one of the fighting game community’s biggest and most diverse tournaments every year. Combo Breaker 2024 features over 24 main event brackets across new and classic titles, plenty of community tournaments, and plenty of other bonuses—like the…

Team Falcons has overcome a banger new Dota 2 patch and a late rally from Gaimin Gladiators to take out DreamLeague Season 23, locking in back-to-back DreamLeague titles and securing themselves a spot at Riyadh Masters 2024. Falcons was all but assured to make the Saudi Arabian mega-event in July after a purple patch of form over the past few months, but the 3–0 sweep of Gaimin—and a completely clean upper bracket run without a match lost—accentuated the team’s dominance over professional Dota this season. In fact, had they not split their groups series against Shopify Rebellion, Falcons would have…

At the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Los Angeles Regionals this weekend, we saw multiple players intentionally attacking and knocking out their own Pokémon. Here’s why. As Pokémon players, we’re taught to knock out all Pokémon on the opponent’s team while trying to keep our team healthy. However, at the highest level of play, there are certain situations where it’s actually beneficial to attack and knock out your own Pokémon—even if that sounds counterproductive. At the L.A. Regionals, that’s exactly what top players like Alex Underhill and Joseph Ugarte did on-stream during their matches. Ugarte casually knocked out his own Pokémon…

At the beginning of the year, Riot Games announced the League of Legends esports Hall of Legends as a way to honor the game’s greatest players. And today, the first player to be inducted was revealed, along with the criteria other pros will have to work on to earn the same honor.  Much to no one’s surprise, the first inductee in League’s Hall of Legends is none other than the Unkillable Demon King, Faker. Thanks to his unmatched skill and contributions to the wider esport and its community, Faker made history again by being the first player to own a…

Chris “Zuna” Buechter, one of the first players to compete in the North America League of Legends Championship Series, died on May 20 at 33. The news was shared by his brother, Kenneth, who created a GoFundMe to cover the funeral expenses. Kenneth revealed that Zuna died due to “a sudden unexpected medical episode.” At the time of writing, the fundraiser has raised almost $11,000, with current and former players from the League of Legends esports scene contributing to the cause. One donation came from Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng. Zuna competed both in League and HOTS. Photo by Carlton Beener via…

The annual MC Championship (MCC) Pride event has been a staple for the Minecraft tournament since 2020 when the first iteration of this special theme ran. The fifth run of this special celebration is MCC Pride 2024, featuring 10 teams ready to battle for the victory coin. MCC Pride is the only non-canon event that returns every season and it’s always focused on partnering with charities to raise money for the LGTBQIA+ community. The actual format for it is about the same as any other version of the event, so here are all the teams competing in the non-canon MCC…