Month: November 2020

Categories
Dota 2

OGA Dota Pit Season 4 is coming to Europe in December

Just a day after OGA PIT announce that they would host a tournament in China, it turns out that there will be an EU/CIS version as well. According to the latest announcement the tournament should arrive in mid-December and will have a prize pool of $150,000.

The event

November was a pretty sweet month for Dota 2, with tons of tournaments in Europe and CIS. We got to see the best teams in action and now we will do so once again. Alongside OG and Alliance, we will witness Team Nigma, Na’Vi, Virtus.Pro, Vikin.gg, mudgolems, and Just Error in the upcoming event. Sadly, we won’t see Team Secret, the best team in the world right now. It seems that Puppey and his teammates decided to take a break so they can prepare for the upcoming DPC.

One thing we can’t wait for is the release of the new patch. Valve announced that 7.28 will arrive in mid-December, which means that it’s pretty likely that OGA Dota PIT Season 4: EU/CIS will become the first tournament on the new patch. Needless to say, it will be very interesting to see how the changes may impact the game.

The event itself will host a standard double-elimination format. We will have two groups, in which each series is played as a best-of-three format. Of course, the Grand Final will be Bo5.

Feel free to follow DartFrog on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch for the latest Dota 2 news.

Categories
FIFA

ePremier League is back for the 2020/21 season

The ePremier league makes a return for its third season with registration opening in the beginning of December.

The EA SPORTS FIFA 21 tournament offers UK-based players the chance to represent their favourite Premier League club.

Registration for the ePremier League opens at 17:00 GMT on Thursday 3 December and can be completed by visiting e.premierleague.com. All participants must be aged 16 or over and play on either Xbox One or PlayStation 4.

Matches will then take place between all 20 clubs for four months. Online qualification will lead to club playoffs which will come to a climax at the ePL Finals in March/April 2021.

This season’s finals will again be broadcast live on Sky Sports, Premier League channels and the EA SPORTS FIFA Twitch channel.

The prize pot this year remains unchanged with a £40,000 overall prize being shared out between the top four.

Watford’s “Hashtag Tom” Leese won last year’s ePremier League title. He defeated Bournemouth’s Marc “MarcMarleyyy” Marley in the grand final and took home £20,000.

Last year’s champion said: “I would recommend the competition to FIFA players as ePL is a massive tournament with a lot of people watching.

“It also gives you the unique chance to try and represent your favourite Premier League team. And if you’re looking to break into professional FIFA then this is the perfect opportunity for UK gamers to showcase their talent.”

As well as taking home the trophy and a cash prize, the top ranking players will be offered seats at the EA SPORTS FIFA 21 Global Series European Playoffs.

If you want to find out more information regarding the Global Series rules visit the EA website.

The Global Series is now underway with the main tournaments kicking off this month. Big changes have been made to the global series format this year with regional play from home being a main focus.

It will be interesting to see how it all plays out on the road to the FIFA eWorld Cup next year.

Are you excited for the ePremier League’s return?

Let us know!

For all the latest competitive FIFA news and analysis follow Dart Frog on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Categories
League of Legends

TSM upheaval as SwordArt signed, Doublelift retires

Big moves are shaking the foundations of Team SoloMid, as the NA team signs Hu “SwordArt” Shuo-Chieh, just as bot laner Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng retires. The two-year, six million dollar deal was revealed on Thursday, November 26, giving TSM fans something a little extra to be thankful for on Thanksgiving.

SwordArt is one of the most renowned LoL players ever to emerge from the LMS and PCS regions. The Taiwanese player began playing in 2012, with stints on the Gamania Bears and ahq, before joining his most famous roster Flash Wolves.

A multiple-time Worlds participant, the support player is widely regarded as one of the best in the world at his position. Most recently, he was part of the Suning team which went to the Grand Finals of Worlds 2020. The team narrowly missed out on victory, only losing to eventual champs DAMWON Gaming.

The record $6 million deal rockets SwordArt to the top of the list of best-paid players in North America. TSM is one of just a few organisations in the world that could pay such a prize tag for an import talent.

But the signing of a world-class support may not be enough to console TSM fans. On Wednesday, November 25th  Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng  announced his retirement from pro play. The bot laner for TSM revealed his plans in a Twitlonger posted on his official Twitter.

In the post, Doublelift reflected on his decade within the game, and the achievements and accolades he’d amassed. Over the course of just under 10 years in the game, the legendary bot laner was part of Counter Logic Gaming, Curse Gaming, Team SoloMid, and Team Liquid. Always one of the premier players of the North American server, Doublelift is perhaps the most successful domestic NA talent of all time. 

However, his international achievements have been limited. What’s more, the latter part of his career has been tarnished somewhat by his links to allegations of serious conflicts of interest within the LCS. 

Many members of the League community joined in paying homage to the retiring player.

Doublelift retires from the pro-scene having left behind a legacy of incredible play for his region.  Looking for more off-season bombshells? Count on Dart Frog for all the latest League of Legends news! Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!

Categories
Call of Duty

Top 5 greatest Call of Duty maps of all time

There are hundreds of maps to choose from in the Call of Duty series. Maps have often been a make or break for a Call of Duty title since the first game was released in 2003 to Black Ops Cold war which was released this month.

From chaotic and replayable maps like Nuketown and Shipment to maps catered towards competitive play, Call of Duty really has it all.

Whilst it’s impossible to name every top map there is, we have whittled every single map in the franchise down to what we believe are the 5 best maps of all time:

5. Fringe – Black Ops III (2015)

Map “Fringe” on Black Ops 3

Black Ops 3 was an immensely popular game due to its exciting, fast-paced and colourful nature. It was the second title, following 2014’s Advanced Warfare, to involve advanced movement with slides, jetpacks and wall-running. The movement on Black Ops 3 always felt clean and smooth and it’s a blessing that Treyarch complemented this with their map designs.

Despite the 2015 game having many impressive multiplayer maps, Fringe suited the gameplay to a tee. Its traditional three-lane style along with quirky wall-runs and varying range of gunfights made it the greatest map on Black Ops 3.

Whether you were playing Hardpoint, Uplink or Search and Destroy, Fringe was always a pleasure to play on.

4. Nuketown – Black Ops (2010)

Map “Nuketown” on Black Ops

Whether you are a Call of Duty fan or not, almost every gamer out there has heard of Nuketown. The infamous map has featured in every Treyarch game, including Black Ops Cold War.

It is a map that you can play over and over again without getting bored. The fast-paced gameplay in such a small area makes it an exhilarating experience and caters to all types of gamers.

Will we ever see a Black Ops game without Nuketown?

3. Crash – Modern Warfare (2007)

Map “Crash” on Modern Warfare

Modern Warfare was the Call of Duty title that really took the world by storm and will always remain one of the greatest titles in the series. Crash became a fan-favourite map on the game and still is to this day.

The iconic map was perfect for Search and Destroy and a well-balanced map suitable for all abilities. It was refurbished in the Modern Warfare Remastered multiplayer which brought the map to life as many players could enjoy it once again.

2. Terminal – Modern Warfare 2 (2009)

Map “Terminal” on Modern Warfare 2

Despite being one of the larger maps, Terminal has always been a fan-favourite. It was perfect for casual players, trick-shotters or even messing about in private matches with your friends

Terminal was also included in Modern Warfare 3 and later Infinite Warfare and it is always well-received. We can only hope that we stumble across this legendary map once again in future Infinity Ward titles.

1. Raid – Black Ops 2 (2012)

Map “Raid” on Black Ops 2

The top of our list is an all-time favourite and one that is widely regarded as the greatest of all time. Not only is Raid gorgeous to look at, its overall design is second to none and its gameplay is extremely balanced.

The map also featured on Treyarch’s Black Ops 4 as well as Call of Duty: Mobile. It is based in Los Angeles, California with amazing views over the Hills.

Raid has both close quarters areas and long range lanes, making it a perfect map for all players. Again, we hope to see this map return in the future as it will certainly never get old!

That’s our top 5 list of the greatest Call of Duty maps of all time.

What maps would you have included?

Let us know!

Follow Dartfrog for all the latest Call of Duty news and analysis on our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch.

Categories
CS:GO

Eight teams confirmed for IEM Global Challenge 2020

The IEM Global Challenge 2020 is confirmed, with the eight teams heading to Europe to compete in one of the 2020’s final events. The IEM Global Challenge 2020 will feature the four teams who earned their way to the event via recent tournament victories, with another four teams gaining their spot through the World Ranking system.

The first four teams to earn their spot through the events are Heroic, FURIA, Team Vitality and Chaos Esports Club. These four teams were successful at the DreamHack Open Fall, IEM New York NA, IEM Beijing-Haidian EU and NA events. While FURIA and Heroic were confirmed for months, Vitality and Chaos joust joined with the success at IEM Beijing over the weekend.

With the four teams confirmed, there were another four teams to earn direct invites through the ESL Pro Tour Rankings. Europe has two slots to the event, with Astralis and Complexity earning their tokens to the event. Over in North America, Evil Geniuses clinched their spot as they have had the next best run after FURIA Esports took the mantle over the last few months. Natus Vincere takes the final slot as they are the most dominant team in the CIS region.

What the Invited Teams means for the Event

The most interesting part of this is how Astralis and Complexity are the two European teams attending. With the recent Vitality victory at IEM Beijing, they secured themselves a spot. If they didn’t the competition of EU teams could have meant Vitality may have earned their invite through the EU top teams, while competing against the likes of BIG and Complexity for the spot.

The stars aligned for Complexity’s invite

On the other hand, the North American seeds are wild. With both Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses getting eliminated by Chaos E.C. and Triumph, it meant that one of NA’s T2 teams were going to a big event with intercontinental matchups. A typical final between EG and TL would have likely meant that both teams would have been invited, but the rise of Chaos has thrown a spanner in the works to really grow the success of the roster.

There was no question for Na’vi’s appearance at the event. If they won the EU Beijing event, they would have qualified via that route. But if they didn’t, then there was no doubt they would qualify through CIS. The only team close to them are VP and forZe, but both rosters are considerably far behind them in terms of quality.

With the amalgamation of teams at the event, the IEM Global Challenge 2020 is going to be an interesting event, with plenty of big teams competing against teams they normally never compete against. The IEM Global Challenge 2020 is set to start on December 15th to December 20th. The groups for the event are yet to be revealed.

Stay tuned to Dartfrog for all the latest news and analysis on CS:GO and follow us on our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch.  Image via IEM.

Categories
CS:GO

Chaos and Team Vitality win IEM Beijing 2020

Chaos E.C. and Team Vitality lock in their spots to the IEM Global Challenge 2020 after winning their respective region’s IEM Beijing event. Team Vitality finally takes a first-place victory after missing out on the last four finals they have attended. Meanwhile, Chaos topple NA giants to grant themselves a trip to the Global Challenge.

Vitality Dominate Europe

Vitality has been one of Europe’s most consistent teams, having reached several Finals this year. There was no end to this momentum either, with Vitality once again progressing through their Group and Playoff brackets well. They started the event a little slow, with a 2-0 victory over Team Spirit, before getting 0-2 by Faze in the Upper Bracket Final.

With an exit to the Lower Bracket, they survived by taking down the MAD Lions, qualifying for the Playoffs. With their lower seed into the qualifiers, they faced off against Heroic, a team that recently beat them at the DreamHack Open Fall 2020 event. However, Vitality had repaired their mistakes and found a 2-1 victory against Heroic.

Moving on, they 2-0 Complexity in the semi-finals, with the series looking considerably easy for them. Vitality won Vertigo 16-11 and then took Mirage 16-7, showing how they were snowballing the more the event went on. Then came the finals, were Vitality reverse swept their opposition.

Vitality staying calm and clutching in the semis

Natus Vincere and Vitality met in the finals for an epic battle. The gods of CS:GO, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev met for supremacy. Na’Vi and s1mple led the charge off the bat, with two map wins in quick succession. Na’Vi won Nuke 16-5, and Dust II 16-12. It certainly seemed like Vitality that couldn’t quite make it in the finals returned.

But Vitality remained composed and turned the series on its head. Vitality earned quick maps of their own in, making Overpass a 16-6, Inferno a 16-9, and Mirage 16-8 wins. With that success, Vitality managed to defy the expectations their storyline projects and lifted a trophy for once. With the win, Vitality makes their way to the IEM Global Challenge 2020 and are one of the candidates for taking home the end of the year trophy.

Vitality certainly raised the stakes by the end of the series

Chaos Win the NA Beijing Event

Who really expected Chaos to win the North American portion of the IEM Beijing event. Rumours are circulating that Chaos is looking to exit CS:GO but that certainly didn’t stop the roster from giving it their all. Chaos made the underdog run in a region where T2 CS is falling apart, with their org set to leave, and still managed success.

Chaos started off the event as expected, winning against teams below them, but lost to Team Liquid in the Upper Bracket Final. With them escaping the group, they faced off against EG, the team that took first in the other group. But this is where the story for NA gets interesting.

Both Team Liquid and Evil Geniuses are the expected teams to make it to the Finals considering there was no FURIA and the old 100T roster has disbanded. However, Chaos and Triumph both succeeded as the underdogs with both winning 2-1. Chaos beat EG 16-11 on Overpass, lost 16-6 on inferno, and won 16-11 on Nuke. On the other hand, Triumph won Inferno 16-12, lost Dust II 16-8 and won Nuke 16-14.

Even on match point eco, Chaos had the tools to pull this off.

Moving into the finals, Chaos faced Triumph in the battle of the underdogs. Chaos won the series 3-1, taking Train 16-5, losing Mirage 16-11 winning Overpass 16-5, and Nuke 16-14. With the victory, Chaos join Vitality as the final event winning team to make it to the IEM Global Challenge 2020. This is a great achievement for one of North America’s rising stars, and one that is going to be interesting to watch unfold.

Stay tuned to Dartfrog for all the latest news and analysis on CS:GO and follow us on our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch. Image via Chaos.

Categories
Dota 2

Cyber Legacy completely scraps its Dota 2 roster

There are a few big names in the CIS Dota 2 industry, one of which was Cyber Legacy. The team had a pretty good roster with plenty of potential. Sadly, due to COVID-19 and a lack of good results, the organization has just decided to release their entire roster.

Cyber Legacy decided to rebuild their roster from the ground up after releasing four of their players. The last member who was still a part of the team was Zaur “Cooman” Shakhmurzaev. Supposedly, he had the uneasy task of rebuilding the team and preparing it for upcoming events.

Sadly, it seems that they weren’t able to complete this task because Cyber Legacy has announced that it’s final player is free from any contractual arrangements. Cooman became a part of CL in July after being inactive for three months. Prior to that, he was a part of Virtus.Pro.

We still don’t know why CL’s roster wasn’t able to live up to the expectations. It contained some pretty decent players, combined brought plenty of experience. Sadly, we might have to wait until the pandemic is over before we see this organization back in the Dota 2 competitive scene.

As for Cooman, we will keep following this incredible player and see whether he will be able to find himself a new team.

Feel free to follow DartFrog on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch for the latest Dota 2 news.

Categories
League of Legends

Perkz signs with Cloud9: A new hope for NA fans

League of Legends will see its most important transatlantic trade in recent memory as Luka “Perkz” Perković officially signs with Cloud9. The announcement of Perkz deal with Cloud9 came just hours after his former team, G2 Esports, revealed the signing of Martin “Rekkles” Larsson. The signing, revealed across social media on November 20, fills in some of the final pieces of the LoL free agency period.

We’ve known since early November that Perkz would likely make the move from the LEC to the LCS. However, only now has the move been confirmed. With a reported five million dollar buy-out clause and a multi-million dollar contract on the line, exactly where the star mid and bot laner would land was up for debate. Taking over the mid role in C9 was one of the most likely destinations.

Three days ago, G2 Esports bid farewell to Perkz in an emotional series of posts on their website. Since debuting on the team as a rookie, the player developed alongside G2 Esports to become one of the very best in the world. His move to NA could fundamentally shift the balance between the regions.

And that’s just what Perkz wants to do. In a reply to the announcement of his signing, the freshly minted NA import proudly stated that this would be the “first year that NA is better than EU.”

Still, despite the confidence shown by C9’s newest player, questions remain as to whether the Croatian player will be able to adapt to the NA lifestyle. North America’s solo-queue comes under frequent criticism for its bad attitude, and numerous cases exist of players moving regions to NA, only to flounder in their new region. Notable examples include the legendary Henrik “Froggen”  Hansen, Alexey “Alex Ich” Ichetovkin, and Dennis “Svenskeren” Johnsen.

However, if Perkz can avoid the fall off in ability and motivation which has struck almost every import to NA, C9 seem poised to dominate the region. Their 2021 roster is one of their strongest of recent years, and with the signing of Perkz to Cloud 9, they’re ready to make a push to more international competition – something they missed out on in 2020.

Still hungry for League content? Count on Dart Frog for all the latest League of Legends news! Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!

Categories
League of Legends

Rekkles leaves Fnatic, likely to head to G2 Esports

The free agency period is always time for the unexpected, but few would have guessed that one of Fnatic’s most iconic players would be set to leave the team. However, yesterday evening(October 18), news broke across social media that Martin “Rekkles” Larsson was set to depart the organisation. 

What’s more, Rekkles most likely destination is none other than G2 Esports, Fnatic’s long-time LEC rival. The organization was in the market for a top-tier bot laner following the departure of Luka “Perkz” Perković. It had been previously rumoured that a Rekkles move to G2 was likely, but with his departure from Fnatic, the move is all but set in stone.

Rekkles has been a staple of Fnatic teams for years, playing for the squad in three stints between 2012 and 2020. His first run with the team was all the way back in Season 2, with the youthful carry playing as part of Fnatic and Fnatic.Beta. In 2013 the player would rejoin Fnatic for a short stint, only to leave again in November of the next year. 

His most prominent run, however, would start in 2015. Since then Rekkles has helped the team make four Worlds appearances, including a deep run in 2018 that saw the team reach the finals. Despite a loss against Invictus Gaming during Worlds 2018, Rekkles is still seen as a world-class bot laner and a worthy replacement for fellow semi-finalist Perkz.

The move also rejoins Rekkles with former Fnatic teammate Rasmus “Caps” Borregaard Winther. The pair were part of the aforementioned semi-finalist lineup of 2018, and between them are two of the most decorated players in the LEC. It was a tall order to find a suitable replacement for Perkz, who Caps had developed a significant rapport with, but G2 has done just that in reuniting Rekkles and Caps. 

Still hungry for League content? Count on Dart Frog for all the latest League of Legends news! Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!

Categories
Dota 2

5MEN disband after just a few months

Even though the team was created just a few months ago, 5MEN no longer exists. The team was due to take part in the EPIC League Division 2, but it decided to forfeit all of their series. Even though they won a few matches already, those series will also be counted as losses.

5MEN was a truly interesting team formed at the end of July. Back then, Rasmus “MiSERY” Filipsen and Johan “pieliedie” Astrom decided to join forces. They also added Marcus “Ace” Hoelgaard to the roster, with the team trying its luck in the OMEGA League. This was the first tournament that featured a prize pool of over $1,000,000. Although the team played pretty well, it was eventually relegated to the second division, where the prize pool was only $50,000.

Following the event, 5MEN took part in several other tournaments, but they weren’t able to achieve much. They just started competing in the EPIC League, but after the decision to disband, the team withdrew from the competition.

We will keep an eye on everyone who’s a part of 5MEN’s roster. Hopefully, they will be able to find new teams soon. Feel free to follow DartFrog on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch for the latest Dota 2 news.