Day: 16 February 2021

Categories
CS:GO

IEM Katowice 2021: Narratives To Watch At This Major Event

IEM Katowice 2021 is finally here, with the Play-in event kicking off and the Main Event just days away. IEM Katowice 2021 is the first major event in the CS:GO calendar with so many teams involved for several months. Naturally, the best squads in the ESL Pro Tour are awaiting Play-in results to compete on Thursday. However, there are many lineups looking for a shot to make it into the big leagues. Here are the stories to watch:

Main Event Narratives

The Main Event of Katowice has brought many good stories over the years. Natus Vincere won 2020’s event, and previously, in 2019, ENCE had their incredible underdog babyface run to the final. Similarly, this year has no shortage of stories. Here are the best:

FaZe Clan’s First Real Test

FaZe Clan has rebuilt their roster once again. Only this time, the roster has Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken and Finn “karrigan” Andersen. The team recently looked solid with nothing to lose at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2021, and that was without karrigan. IEM Katowice is their first real showing, and it is going to be a great gauge to see how they’re performing.

Heroic’s Enigma

Heroic is a team that really grew into their own throughout 2020. The roster eventually peaked at the second half of the year, contending for finals in several events. And in the process, building an actual rivalry with Astralis. The roster did partially fall off in some events, coming 5th-8th at events like the Global Showdown and CS_Summit 7. Katowice is an event that will define Heroic as either a team falling off or still hanging one of the best in the world.

Vitality down to Five

Vitality is a team that has prided itself with its six-man roster, tactical substitutions, and winning events with their gameplay. However, the start of 2021 has not been great. A fine resulting from an accidental restream of an event noticed on broadcast, Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut getting his lowest ADR game on record at BLAST Premier Spring 2021, and now the temporary leave of Dan “apEX” Madesclair has got the roster shaken up. Vitality has plenty of prep time, so the opening game for them is one to watch.

Vitality down a player at time their six-man roster was working effectively

Play-In Narratives

The Play-ins is the first leg of the tournament, looking to advance eight teams to the quarter-finals. There are plenty of teams in that pool scrapping it out to make it to the one of CS:GO’s most prestigious events. While there are many decent teams, there are a few high profile stories to watch.

How Will mousesports Fare?

Mousesports has gone from one of the best teams in the world several times to falling off the face of the earth. The roster is currently experiencing the latter. Both the aged veteran Chris “Chris J”de Jong is benched and on loan to FPX and karrigan has returned to FaZe Clan. With the veterans out, there are plenty of young talent fending for themselves. Add in the new IGL and the roster is interesting. The question is has Robin “ropz” Kool graduated from young star to the star player and now veteran of the mousesports roster in time?

Karrigan returns to FaZe after several years of absence

The CIS Beast Awakens

Team Spirit, Virtus.pro, and Gambit are three teams on the rise in recent months. The tier 2 Russian squads have made it out of their region and began stomping teams like BIG, mousesports, and others in international online events. Both teams now arrive at their biggest challenge yet: IEM Katowice. Both teams have a darkhorse atmosphere to them, and it will be interesting to follow the growth of new CIS threats in the global scene. There is definitely potential for all these teams to break through the Play-Ins into the Main Event of IEM Katowice 2021.

Can Complexity Keep Up Appearances?

Complexity is a mixed-result team that has been in a weird spot since Owen “oBo” Schlatter left the team. The roster has rebuilt and recently won its group in the BLAST Premier Spring 2021. But now there are many more teams to face off against at of CS:GO’s biggest events. The question does the team have what it takes to keep up its appearances? the Play-Ins will be a perfect benchmark.

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 ESL Gaming

Categories
Valorant

Multiple Players Accuse Phoenix1 of Stealing Prize Money

American Valorant team Phoenix1 has been accused of stealing prize money from its former players. Up to an alleged $1300 was reportedly stolen from each player. Allegations first came to light in a TwitLonger posted by Aiden “King” King.

In the post, King alleged that Phoenix1 had not paid him and other players prize money from the Super League Arena tournaments and Knights Gauntlet events. King states that the organization requested money be paid directly to the team, rather than the players. The money was then never distributed to the players.

In his TwitLonger, King went into detail about the steps he’s taken to recover the money. “After a few attempts at messaging a few members of the organization about my situation it seems no conclusion is being reached and I am still without my money as of now, if this changes I will post an update. I wanted to make this statement to bring to light the situation I have experienced. ”

King also shared screenshots from a discord conversation which detailed the fact that Phoenix1 was ceasing operations. Prior to this post all members of the team, some of whom have since alleged various levels of prize money theft, have departed the team.

Further Allegations

After King’s post, another former Phoenix1 player came forward with allegations. Jadin “Menace” Wagner also alleged that up to $1300 had been “scammed” from himself and “all of” his teammates. 

Phoenix1 dropped all of it’s players at the end of January. The announcement stated that the majority of the team had “bought out of their contracts.” It’s unclear whether this is linked to any kind of payments they have or haven’t received.

Confusingly, Phoenix1 is also an organization name which another American esports organization, Sentinels, used prior to rebranding. The two orgs reportedly have no relation. The allegations have stained the otherwise thriving NA Valorant scene.

Phoenix1 today issued a response to the allegations in a follow-up Tweet. “To clarify, the org has paid all players according to their contracts.”

Make sure to follow Dartfrog for all the latest Valorant esports news on our Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch.

Categories
Call of Duty

LA Thieves and Atlanta FaZe steal the show at Opening Weekend 2021

The Call of Duty League’s Opening Weekend 2021 marked the beginning of the 2021 season. LA Thieves and Atlanta FaZe are now top of groups A and B after finishing the weekend unbeaten.

Image: Breaking Point

There were plenty of highlights, from upsets to impressive plays, that made it a weekend to remember. Current champions Dallas Empire suffered an unexpected defeat to Minnesota Rokkr whilst Atlanta FaZe took down a menacing OpTic Chicago.

The second weekend is right around the corner where we will get a better idea of what teams are ahead of the pack.

https://twitter.com/CODLeague/status/1361405167581675522

LA Thieves top Group A

Nadeshot’s LA Thieves faced Minnesota Rokkr in their first match of the weekend. They started the series off hot but Rokkr bounced back to level the series at 1-1.

https://twitter.com/CODLeague/status/1359971008325779456

Thieves then took over the series and closed it out 3-1, starting their CDL campaign on a high. They then met Clayster and the New York Subliners on Saturday in what was expected to be an exciting match-up.

The series really had it all with flashy plays being made left, right, and centre. In map one, Thieves’ Kenny found three Subliners players in his line of sight when the scores were tied. He cleaned up all three which turned the odds in LA’s favour as they won the map.

https://twitter.com/CODLeague/status/1360759061944360966
Kenny with the triple!

Search and Destroy often provides the best highlights and that was true of the second map. Kenny pulled off the first 1v3 of the season to win the round. Subliners rookie, Diamondcon, then completed a 1v2 of his own in a thrilling map that was won by Thieves.

Another one!
Not a bad way to start for a rookie

LA closed out the series 3-0 which placed them at the top of Group A.

Atlanta FaZe fight off OpTic

FaZe made light work of the Guerillas in their first match, but the one that had everyone talking was the match of the weekend versus OpTic Chicago.

Chicago were slight favourites heading into the series following Atlanta’s defeat to the Mutineers in the Kickoff Classic.

OpTic was in the driving seat after map one as they closed out the Hardpoint 250-225.

https://twitter.com/CODLeague/status/1361115744176644101
OpTic had the opening map in the battle of the titans

However, Atlanta bounced back with a vengeance and levelled the series with a 6-0 victory in the Search and Destroy. In what was a back and forth series, OpTic won a tightly-contested third map to go 2-1 up but FaZe forced the map five after aBeZy ran rampant in the second Hardpoint.

https://twitter.com/CODLeague/status/1361129793186578437
ooo baby a triple

Atlanta’s aBeZy took over the fifth map and guided his team to an enthralling series victory that topped off a great weekend of matches.

What was your favourite moment from the Opening Weekend 2021?

Let us know!

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