A large portion of Counter Strike’s history has been dominated by teams of European ancestry. However at times other regions have risen up in order to challenge that dominance, and in the past, during the reign of Counter Strike 1.6 as the predominant game, Brazil was one of those regions. Up until late 2015 however, …
Continue reading “Uncertain Times Ahead in the Brazilian Scene”
IEM Challenger winners INTZ and Chiefs are in a position where they have everything to prove, but nothing to lose. As it were, the Wildcard teams from Brazil and Oceania respectively are at the bottom of the proverbial barrel that regional segregation has wrought. Despite CIS’ Albus Nox Luna’s unlikely achievement in reaching the top …
Continue reading “The Wildcard convergence on Oakland: an unprecedented chance at glory”
Flash Wolves have been the premier team of Taiwan since the end of Spring split and have generally been a solid force internationally. The team has impressed with numerous upsets against some of the best teams in the world, but has disappointed in many matches as the clear favorite. Flash Wolves can do it all …
Continue reading “Flash Wolves"e; Substitutes: A new beginning for Taiwan at IEM Oakland”
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The World Championship is a crucial tournament for Hearthstone. Not just for the obvious reason – crowning the world champion and, in this year’s case, awarding him a quarter million dollars – but also for establishing the definitive tournament metagame: Which decks are the strongest, which are the most popular, which ones are niche or …
Continue reading “Worlds 2016 in numbers: A graphical analysis of the metagame at Blizzcon”
This past week, Yilian “Doublelift” Peng, AD Carry for Team Solomid, announced that he is taking a short break from the NA LCS for spring. Whilst not a surprise to many fans who follow him closely, it comes after a very successful split and a heartbreaking run at the World Championship. Now that Doublelift …
Continue reading “The NA Marksman Pool is Drying Up: Spring without Doublelift”
“SK Telecom winning is boring.” That phrase and sentiment has spread through the League of Legends’ scene like gossip in a high school. Whether it’s because of romanticising the underdog, a tiredness borne from the perception of a single outcome repeating, the scorn of another fandom, or a lack of knowledge about the subject …
It’s November 5th, the second day of 2016 Hearthstone World Championship. The last two remaining players – Pavel “Pavel” Beltukov from Russia and Artem “DrHippi” Kravets from Ukraine – are tangled in a battle for quarter million dollars in front of 350,000 viewers. It’s the highest-stakes Hearthstone match of all time. The cards are played …
Continue reading “The comeback kid: Pavel’s world championship story”
It’s November 5th, the second day of 2016 Hearthstone World Championship. The last two remaining players – Pavel “Pavel” Beltukov from Russia and Artem “DrHippi” Kravets from Ukraine – are tangled in a battle for quarter million dollars in front of 350,000 viewers. It’s the highest-stakes Hearthstone match of all time. The cards are played …
Continue reading “The comeback kid: Pavel’s world championship story”
Written by: Chase Wassenar ___ Anyone who has taken an economics class is familiar with the infallible laws of supply and demand. At its most simple form, supply and demand have an inverse relationship. People are more likely to buy something when it’s rare or available for a limited time. However, if something is commonplace …
Continue reading “Esports Sword of Damocles: Oversaturation of the Medium”
Anyone who has taken an economics class is familiar with the infallible laws of supply and demand. At its most simple form, supply and demand have an inverse relationship. People are more likely to buy something when it’s rare or available for a limited time. However, if something is commonplace and permeates the market, interest …
Continue reading “The Esports Sword of Damocles Oversaturation in the Medium”