Month: January 2021

Categories
Call of Duty

CDL 2021 Kickoff Classic & Opening Weekend announced

The Call of Duty League is finally back as the first two events of the year are announced. We have all the details you need to get set for the 2021 CDL season.

In just over one week’s time, the CDL will celebrate the one year anniversary of the league with the Kickoff Classic. All 12 teams will compete in matches that have been voted for by the fans.

The Kickoff Classic can be streamed live on the CDL YouTube channel. It begins at 3PM ET/12PM PT/8PM GMT on January 23-24.

More details of the 2021 CDL season will also be revealed during the Kickoff Classic so keep your eyes peeled.

Kickoff Classic Schedule:

https://twitter.com/CODLeague/status/1349431206257979392

The CDL Opening Weekend will be hosted by Atlanta FaZe and takes place from February 11-14. All 12 CDL teams will compete in the Opening Weekend, and every other event this season, following a format change.

Teams will compete on PC instead of PlayStation and in teams of four. Five majors will take place this year as well as the usual Home Series events. The top eight teams at the end of the year will advance to Playoffs.

With more details on the event expected at the Kickoff Classic, the Opening Weekend can be streamed on the CDL YouTube channel.

Notable matches at Kickoff Classic

The six matches being played at the Kickoff Classic next week have been picked by the fans so there are bound to be some exciting storylines.

OpTic Chicago vs Los Angeles Thieves

OpTic Gaming was recently reacquired by former owner Hector Rodriguez. The OpTic Chicago franchise now look forward to their first year in the CDL in place of Chicago Huntsmen.

100 Thieves owner, Nadeshot, bought the Los Angeles spot in the league previously held by LA OpTic. They are also preparing for their first season in the league.

The 100 Thieves vs OpTic Gaming match-up is one that all Call of Duty fans long for. Their last meeting on Black Ops 4 ended in 100 Thieves’ favour but the tables may turn this year with new teams, a new game and a new format.

OpTic Chicago vs LA Thieves will begin at 6PM ET/3PM PT/11 PM GMT on January 24.

Dallas Empire vs New York Subliners

Clayster’s controversial removal from the Dallas Empire squad after their Championship win caused uproar amongst the community. The move to a 4v4 format meant that many top players were dropped from their teams.

New York Subliners picked up the three-time world champion and he will now face his old team at the Kickoff Classic. He will no doubt be looking for revenge on his former teammates.

The match will be first on, starting at 3PM ET/12PM PT/8PM on January 23.

Are you looking forward to the Kickoff Classic?

Let us know!

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

Categories
FIFA

Second week of FIFAe Club World Cup qualifying shows favourites

The second round of qualifying for the FIFAe Club World Cup has concluded while clear favourites begin to emerge.

There are six qualifying zones which are divided into conferences. These conferences are then split into divisions 1-3.

The top two teams in each conference at the end of the qualifying rounds will qualify for the FIFAe Club World Cup on February 24-28. Additionally, the two best teams in the Consistency Rankings at that time will also qualify.

With a larger number of teams taking part, Zone 4 will be organising additional play-offs to decide FIFAe Club World Cup qualification.

Only two weeks of qualifying remain with Zone 1’s matches kicking off next Thursday.

FIFAe Club World Cup qualifying results after Week 2

Japanese squad, Blue United eFC secured first place in Zone 2 after losing just one game in the first qualifying week. They have a total of 300 consistency points.

Zone 3 saw Saudi Arabians, Tuwaiq eSports Club, lose to 25eSports in the final of week two but they took first place in the consistency rankings with 540 points.

With a total of 14 conferences, Zone 4 had a lot of action with some interesting storylines. Ellevens and VFL Bochum are joint top of the consistency rankings in Conference 1 with 500 points.

Fnatic are on top in Conference 2 with a dangerous roster of Tekkz and Harry whilst RBLZ Gaming come second in Conference 3 but top the consistency rankings.

Team Vitality top the rankings in Conference 4 and Team Gullit sit on the maximum of 600 points in Conference 5.

Another team on maximum consistency points is NEO who have been dominant throughout. Only two other teams, HexoN eSports and Burnley FC have the maximum number of consistency points.

The complete set of qualifying results so far are available on the fifa.gg website.

With only two weeks of qualifying left, we will soon find out who qualifies for this year’s FIFAe Club World Cup.

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

Categories
Dota 2

Mudgolems and Chicken Fighters qualify for the Europe Regional League Upper Division

2021 looks to be an exciting year for Dota 2. The new DPC will soon begin and there plenty of ongoing qualifiers for the first season of the DPC Regional League. After a few days of intense action, Europe’s qualifiers have come to an end. Let’s take a quick look at the results.

Although we expected a different result, mudgolems and Chicken Fighters successfully claimed the last two spots in the Upper Division. This means they’ll join Alliance and Vikin.gg, who also secured their spot via the qualifier. These teams will face off against the likes of Team Secret, OG, Team Nigma, and Team Liquid. Needless to say, it won’t be an easy ride – but the prize is a ticker for the Major, so it’s definitely worth it.

When it comes to the Lower Division, things also look pretty interesting. Hippomaniacs and Hellbear Smashers definitely have the best chance, but No Bounty Hunter and Meta4Pro look dangerous. Besides them, we will get to see Spider Pigzs, Burjui, and Creepwave in action.

Europe has four slots for the upcoming Major, which should take place on the 25th of March, 2021. Unless something goes wrong, the event will continue until the 4th of April. Sadly we don’t have any information about its location yet. What do we know is that the top four teams from the Upper Division will receive an invitation.

Don’t forget to follow the Europe Regional League, which starts on the 18th of January.

We will try to keep you up to date with everything new, so feel free to follow DartFrog on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch for the latest Dota 2 news.

Categories
League of Legends

Riot Games unveils its new Champion: Viego, The Ruined King

It’s only a few days into the new year, but League of Legends is already being shaken up as Riot Games reveals their latest champion, Viego, The Ruined King. The new champ was unveiled across social media on the evening of Jan 8, with a new animated cinematic. The cinematic initially debuted on Riotโ€™s 2021 League of Legends celebration video, but a full champion reveal followed shortly after.

However, this wasnโ€™t the first time weโ€™d seen Viego. Hero has been hinted earlier in 2020 as part of a new game revealed by Riot Forge partner Airship Syndicate. Ruined King: A League of Legends Story, is set to be a turn based RPG based in the League of Legends universe. Viego, the titular Ruined King is set to be a major character in the game.

Viego’s Abilities

For now though, Viego enters Summoners Rift as LoLโ€™s latest champion. And his list of abilities looks incredibly impressive. First up, his passive, Sovereignโ€™s Domination, which allows Viego to possess the enemy champion he kills. This lets Viego take on their abilities, effectively turning him into a version of Sylas that can copy every ability except an ultimate.

https://twitter.com/Blizz_lol/status/1347609507220779008

Viegoโ€™s Q is a percentage health draining passive, with a nasty stab added as an active for good measure. His W is, of course, a dash, and a stun – because what new champion would be caught dead without a mobility move and a hard crowd control ability?

The Ruined Kingโ€™s E is Harrowed Path, which casts a wave of black mist around nearby walls. It grants camouflage to Viego and gives him extra attack and movement speed. This is definitely his major ganking ability.

Viegoโ€™s ultimate is Heartbreaker, allowing Viego to discard anyone he currently possesses with his passive, and blinking forward. Once heโ€™s finished his blink, Viego will attack the nearest champ with the lowest percent health, dealing damage based on missing health.


With his plethora of damage abilities, and stealthy dashy fun, Viego The Ruined King is seemingly set to be primarily played in the Jungle role. However, a champion that can steal literally any non-ultimate ability in the game is surely destined for more than just a single spot on the rift. The Ruined King will likely be seen in many lanes, especially right after release.

Keep your eyes peeled to Dartfrog on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch for all the latest League of Legends News.

Categories
League of Legends

New Year means new logos for the LCS, Rogue, and others

Itโ€™s 2021, a new year, and that means new logos! Teams and esports brands of all ilks constantly look to reinvent themselves to keep ahead of trends, and League of Legends is no different. The biggest change so far? The LCS completely redesigning its look:

https://twitter.com/LCSOfficial/status/1346516816424800258

The LCS struggled to remain relevant in 2020. With poor performance on the international stage – in the limited showings it got, and disastrously bad production values, the LCS was on the verge of becoming a b-league. But with this new logo and refresh, new logos, and a seeming new attitude, the LCS is once again poised to go back to the halcyon days of the early 2010โ€™s. Back then, the LCS was the must-watch LoL league.

Of course logos and new purple colour schemes are nice, but it’s nothing without a great cast of casters and personalities. The new list of talent is pulled from across the League community, with familiar names from the likes of the now defunct ESPN Esports. This pads out a crew of veteran casters and up-and-coming personalities giving huge variety to the new on-air talent. Itโ€™s going to be exciting to see how this cast present the new LCS in 2021.

Outside of entire leagues, teams have also started the year by revealing a new look. LEC team Rogue began teasing their new logo right from the start of the year:

Then, on Jan 4, the new logo debuted. A reimagining of the classic hooded figure weโ€™ve come to know, the new Rogue logo is more simplistic and minimal, giving the whole team a more defined style.

Itโ€™s the perfect way to breathe new life into a team that has dramatically risen in standings in the LEC. After years of struggling, In Spring 2020 they seemed on the verge of a wave of success, making it into the Spring Playoffs. Despite early elimination the team came back to top the LEC 2020 Summer Split, with an incredible 13-5 record, beating out G2, Fnatic, and MAD Lions to get there. Sadly once again they fell in the playoffs. But with a new logo, a chip on their shoulder, and even greater heights to shoot for, 2021 is poised to be the year of Rogue.

But Rogue werenโ€™t the only League of Legends team debuting a new logo. The LCSโ€™ Team Dignitas have (hopefully) once and for all abandoned their โ€˜owlโ€™ logo and returned to the lovable alien critter Digi which represented the team from its founding until 2017.

What’s more, the storied esports organisation heaped some shade on rivals Evil Geniuses, parodying their own recent logo design. In a mock-up of EGโ€™s own logo reveal, the DIGI logo was broken down to its raw parts.

Image via Dignitas
(Image via Dignitas)

2021 is young, and thereโ€™s no doubt plenty of marketing executives eager to spice up some older teamโ€™s logos. Keep up with all the rebrands with DartFrog on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch.

Categories
Dota 2

HellRaisers complete their new roster

HellRaisers has been one of the most popular CIS Dota 2 teams for the last couple of years. Sadly, due to constant roster changes, they were unable to live up to expectations. However, it seems that they have big plans for 2021 judging by the players they’ve recently brought on board.

New Roster

The first big player joining HR just a few days ago was Roman “Resolut1ion” Fominok. Everyone who’s been following the professional Dota 2 scene knows that he is one of the top core players in the world. Besides Reso, the second player on the roster for HR is Zaur “Cooman” Shakhmurzaev, another CIS legend who has had a major impact on every team he has been a part of.

Last but not least, we have Ivan “VANSKOR” Skorokhod, who will round out HR’s roster. VANSKOR has played for numerous teams throughout his Dota 2 career. Some of the most notable are Natus Vincere, Gambit Esports, and Team Empire. He definitely has what it takes to play alongside some of the best players in the world.

The first big challenge ahead of HR will be the DPC qualifiers that start on the 8th of January. The players will have to compete in the CIS decider tournament, which will determine which team will enter the Upper Division.

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

Categories
League of Legends

Team Griffin officially disbands: The end of a surprising enigma

Team Griffin, League of Legends team and two time LCK runners up have officially disbanded. The news broke on the morning of Jan 5 on Team Griffin’s Twitter account. However, this merely confirmed what many had already expected to be the fate of the team. The organisation disbands having spent three years within the Korean LoL scene.

Griffin had failed to become part of the LCKโ€™s new franchised format ahead of the 2021 season. After a dismal fifth-place finish to the Challengers Korea would have secured Griffinโ€™s spot in the new LCK. With their departure, competitive LoL has witnessed the end of one of the great fairytales in esports.

The team were first formed in 2017 to compete in Challengers Korea 2017 Spring. Comprised of a group of amateurs with high aspirations the team set their sights on the LCK. With players such as the now LNG Esports jungler Lee “Tarzan” Seung-yong and Choi “Sword” Sung-won. The team successfully navigated the summer playoff and promotion tournament to earn a spot in the KeSPA cup 2017. There they admirably took a game off SKT T1 before their elimination.

In 2018 the team finally achieved promotion to the LCK. Immediately making a splash, the squad finished second in LCK Summer 2018, and headed to the regional finals. The team narrowly missed out on a Worlds invite, but later shocked the world by winning 2018 KeSPA Cup. 

Griffin competes in LCK 2020 Spring (Image via Riot Games)

Riding high, the team won both the LCK Spring Split and Summer Split in 2019. However, each time the team would fall short of winning the playoffs, falling to now rivals T1. From here, the team gathered the unfortunate reputation for choking. They lived up to this slight at Worlds 2019, where they found themselves eliminated by Invictus Gaming. 

After a humbling at Worlds, and the departure of their world-class calibre mid laner Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon, the team floundered. Unable to replicate their earlier success, which in hindsight may have been simply the product of Chovyโ€™s incredible play, the team fell out of the LCK in 2020 Spring. They failed to return to the league in the summer promotion tournament. 

What remained was a slow death for the team. With a new format shaking up the LCK there was no chance of a Cinderella-style qualifier available anymore. Todayโ€™s announcement stating that Griffin disbands confirms simply what many had already know – Things are over for Griffin.

But the team leaves behind a remarkable legacy and story. Rising from an amateur league and defeating the best teams in the world to earn your spot is something that cannot be replicated. Griffin will remain remembered as the last great amateur team that came out of nowhere and shocked the LCK.

Follow DartFrog on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch for the latest League of Legends and LCK news.

Categories
Call of Duty General

Seven Call of Duty pros make the Top Ten Esports Players of 2020

The Top 10 Esports Players of 2020 have been listed by The Esports Observer with seven of them being Call of Duty professionals.

An impressive amount of Call of Duty League players made the cut this year. Additionally, two Call of Duty teams, Dallas Empire and Atlanta FaZe, made it on The Top 10 Esports Teams of 2020.

These lists are ranked entirely by prize winnings from all competitions and are not voted for.

Whilst the usual top ten is often flooded with Dota 2 players, this year’s list looks a little bit different as there was no Dota 2 The International Championship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Top 10 Esports Players of 2020

If 2020 couldn’t get any stranger, the highest earning esports player was a chess professional, Sven Magnus Carlsen.

Many believe that chess should not be considered an esport, however, the board game took Twitch by storm as all competition moved online during the summer.

The rise of chess is clearly no laughing matter as Carlsen took home nearly $500,000 this year and many players have even been signed to esports teams such as Team Solo Mid.

Numbers two to six consist of Call of Duty League players: Clayster, Crimsix, iLLeY, Shotzzy and Huke – the former Dallas Empire roster.

With Dallas Empire crowned champions of the inaugural 2020 Call of Duty League season, it is no shock to see their roster on this list.

As there have been multiple Warzone events and other independent tournaments throughout the year, not all of their prize money totals are even. Clayster takes the top spot as the highest earning Call of Duty pro of 2020 with $373,330.

In seventh place is Magic: The Gathering world champion PVDDR who took home $300,000 this year. The old card game has quickly become a popular esport in recent years.

With another chess player in eighth place, two more Call of Duty pros finish off the list in ninth and tenth. Cellium and Simp both competed under Atlanta FaZe last year who came second in the CDL Championship.

Whilst the pandemic remains an ongoing issue, we may well see another peculiar list of players in next year’s top ten.

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

Categories
Dota 2

Na’Vi, VP, and Live to Win receive an invite to the CIS DPC League Upper Division

2020 was definitely not the best year for Dota 2. Due to COVID-19, almost every LAN tournament was postponed, meaning that teams didn’t have many options other than playing online. Luckily, CIS & Europe were merged together, which is why we saw tons of interesting series.

Now, a few months later, the Dota 2 world is finally preparing for the beginning of the new Dota Pro Circuit that will start in just a couple of weeks. Before that, ESL will host the upcoming CIS regional qualifiers, which should bring together some of the best teams from the region.

The Qualifiers

Unless something goes wrong, the CIS qualifiers should begin on the 5th of January. Valve has selected four teams that won’t have to go through any qualifiers. This means that they will go straight into the Upper Division of the first season.

Even though there were a few big names that deserved this, the ones that stood out were Live to Win, Team Spirit, Natus Vincere, and Virtus.Pro. Live To Win is perhaps the most interesting name here because the team was created just a few months ago. Despite that, Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev and his team-mates quickly showed the world what they’re capable of. Team Spirit is also a pretty interesting name because the organization acquired Yellow Submarine’s roster just a few weeks ago.

Don’t forget to watch the upcoming open qualifiers because they will definitely be really interesting. In fact, you can even register yourself, as long as three or more players from your team are residing within the region.

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