Esports

The Texas Overwatch League Teams Are Having A Rough Go Of Stage 2

The Dallas Fuel and Houston Outlaws both had matches to play last night. Both teams needed a win, and neither found one. It was a tough evening for Texas fans that highlighted both teams’ ongoing issues in the second stage of the Overwatch League. The Houston Outlaws had an incredible showing in stage one, surging…

Two Dragon Ball FighterZ Pros Finally Settle The Score

After a few public call-outs, two fighters finally clashed last night in Atlanta, Georgia. Dominique “SonicFox” McLean and Goichi “Go1″ Kishida met in the ring at Final Round 2018 for a first-to-10 wins exhibition. The result was electric. McLean has been dominant in the western Dragon Ball FighterZ, and after a win at Winter Brawl…

The Weekend In Esports: Another Season, Another Reason To Love Blanka

It’s the start of a new season for the Street Fighter V pro tour. Players have been (mostly) taking a breather since MenaRD took the Capcom Cup title. But the leaping green monster has returned, heralding the start of a new season of competitive Street Fighter. Some big names are heading to Atlanta to carve…

Overwatch Coach Issues Apology For Being Kind Of Clumsy

David “dpei” Pei, head coach for the LA Gladiators Overwatch League team, bumped into two Houston Outlaws players backstage last night and issued a real head-scratcher of an apology for it: “Yesterday during the Outlaws match, I inadvertently bumped into two of the Outlaws players. I hadn’t been watching where I was going. I was…

Hearthstone’s Randomness Can Be Tough For Pros To Swallow

Hearthstone is a game for haters. It’s expensive; its metagame stands still for months; no matter how well you play, you will drop games to bad players with good luck. Read the comments on pretty much any article about Blizzard Entertainment’s wildly successful collectible card game, and you’ll find a glut of testimonials from disgruntled…

StarCraft: Remastered Pro Arrested For Match-Fixing

The StarCraft scene just got rocked by a match-fixing scandal that feels like a blast from the past, given that it involves a tournament for StarCraft: Remastered, the remake of StarCraft: Brood War. Although StarCraft II has had a few match-fixing scandals of its own, SC’s most notable match-fixing scandal happened in 2010 in the…

Pro Gamers Are Getting Serious About Unionizing

Former Overwatch pro and coach Thomas “Morte” Kerbusch has partnered with sports labor attorney Ellen Zavian to push towards unionizing, according to a report from Liz Mullen in Sports Business Journal. Meanwhile, the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive pro scene is also forming a players association, thanks to the efforts of Scott “SirScoots” Smith, a longtime esports…

The Rock Climbing Walls In Overwatch, Reviewed

When Overwatch unveiled new map Horizon Lunar Colony last summer, players were quick to catalog its every feature and develop strategies for how best to defend or attack the moon base. There are airlocks that lead to the surface of the moon, a single mega health pack right next to the first point, stacks of…

Overwatch Pros Introduce Themselves By Singing Frozen In Korean

Overwatch League’s minor league, Contenders, kicked off with a bang over the weekend. Also, karaoke. Overwatch Contenders tournaments will be running for the next couple months in seven regions, one of which is Korea. As part of an official segment showcasing the competitors, two players from a team called Foxes belted a stirring rendition of…

Weak Pokémon Evolves Thanks To Possible Pokkén Tournament Bug

Croagunk is the closest thing the Pokémon fighting game Pokkén Tournament has to the prototypical fighting game joke character, but the character’s stock rose dramatically over the weekend when a player discovered something new about its Gunk Shot. Some of Croagunk’s most important skills involve randomness: its most versatile attack throws out several beneficial items, but…

Valve is rolling out a subscription service for Dota 2, called Dota Plus. An extension of the battle passes, Plus users can earn cosmetics and non-gameplay goodies, as well as gain access to a coaching system called Plus Assistant, for $3.99 a month.

Dallas Fuel Release Félix “xQc” Lengyel

Overwatch League team Dallas Fuel announced today that the organization and tank player Félix “xQc” Lengyel have mutually agreed to part ways. Lengyel’s contract was set to last through the entirety of the league’s inaugural season. “There are few players out there who have achieved as much success in as short a time as Félix…

Rocket League Player Sinks Goal Over Sick Double Bump

In today’s European play-in qualifiers for the Rocket League Rival Series, team Triple Trouble showcased some beautiful coordination in setting up a clean shot on the goal by bumping out the defenders. As Ronaky sailed through the air towards the ball, his teammates seized the opportunity to bump the opponent Zebra Nose’s cars with their…

Florida Mayhem Scores First Win Of The Overwatch League’s Second Stage

The Florida Mayhem have heart, but the yellow-and-red has also been struggling to break out from the bottom of the standings. Last night, with its back against the wall, the team started to turn things around with a solid reverse sweep of the Dallas Fuel. Despite early signs of life for the Mayhem, the Fuel…

Virtus Pro Look Unstoppable In Dota Bucharest Major Finals

Just making the grand finals ensured Virtus.Pro would punch a ticket to this year’s Dota 2 International. But in the grand finals of today’s Bucharest Major, VP reminded everyone why they’re at the top of the Dota pro circuit, in a 3-0 sweep of Vici Gaming J Thunder. Analysis for a win like this is…

Overwatch Pro Stomps Former Team That Benched Him

It’s been a good day for Chan-hyung “Fissure” Baek. The tank player, who spent stage one on the bench as part of London Spitfire, came roaring out the gate with his new team, LA Gladiators, and stomped London, likely giving their management some things to think about in the process. From start-to-finish of today’s Overwatch…

The NHL Is Hosting An International Tournament For NHL 18

It looks like hockey will joining the growing trend of tsports getting into esports. The National Hockey League will host the 2018 NHL Gaming World Championship, where fans of the virtual ice can compete for a share of a $100,000 prize pool and a chance to be a part of the 2018 NHL awards. The…

The Weekend In Esports: Straight From The DPC

The race for the 2018 Dota 2 International is heating up. Thanks to today’s win over Team Liquid at the Bucharest Major, Virtus.Pro is the first team to punch a ticket to The International. At 6297, the team’s Pro Circuit point total is high enough that it could essentially do nothing until the big dance…

A Clash Between Two Fighting Game Legends Ends In Tears And Resolve

At last night’s Kemonomichi 2, two of Street Fighter’s best-known players played an exhibition set. It was a clash of the giants that ended in emotion, laughter, and tears. It was one of the best fighting game sets I’ve seen in some time. Daigo Umehara and Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi are eminent within the fighting game…

Popular Twitch Mod Is Sorry For All The Revenge Porn [UPDATE]

This past Wednesday, a former moderator for Overwatch League’s Twitch channel who goes by the handle Uncleswagg posted about having been unceremoniously demoted from his duties with no explanation from Blizzard. On Thursday, former Blizzard employee and World of Warcraft streamer Cher Scarlett came forward to say that Uncleswagg had non-consensually posted naked photographs of…