Dota 2 – eSports Boulevard News Week 3

After a long road that began in August of last year, WESG2016 has finally come to a close. A great couple of days of DOTA 2 showcased some great talent from around the world. Notably, along with the champions TnC, Peru had a great showing with a top eight finish for Team DileCom, and a notable third or fourth place finish for Infamous, contested by Alliance.

Alongside TnC’s victory, was the revival of Cloud 9’s DOTA 2 roster, made up of the former Danish Bears who proved that they are a force to be reckoned.

And with ESL One Genting recently behind us and a hugely positive response to the event, it seems as though we might be getting many more ESL events in Malaysia and the SEA region. While nothing is confirmed, the massive turnouts for both ESL One Manila last year and ESL One Genting have prompted ESL to want to return to the SEA region continuously. Ulrich Shulze, VP of Pro Gaming at ESL had given some hints in the recent event at Genting’s Resort World.

In the squad changes, a new perspective has come in play as Newbee has announced a new team, Newbee Boss, a mixed-gender team with the likes of Xiao8 and Ferrari_430. After Xiao8 announced his retirement from LGD just a few days ago and stated that it would be permanent, he has returned to the DotA 2 scene with a group of some of the biggest names to grace the game.

The team consists of players who have retired from various other organizations, coming together in time to compete in the 2017 DAC Chinese qualifiers which take place from January 13-15. One interesting point about this team is that they will be a mixed-gender one, as Axx will be the first ever semi-pro player to compete amongst a male professional team. Axx was a player in CDEC’s Master League and is seemingly well known for some amazing performances, and with an MMR of around 7k, she should fit in perfectly.

League of Legends – eSports Boulevard News Week 3

The official blog of League of Legends has confirmed that a sandbox mode will finally come to the game enabling players to play and hone their skills without fearing that another player will sneak behind and kill them. The upcoming sandbox mode is called the Practice Tool and will serve like the game’s practice gym. Riot Games focused on five game elements for players to practice. These include champion mechanics and combo, endless last hitting, map familiarity, jungle practice, and item build DPS check.

And adding to much pleasure as League Of Legends continues to bring new content for their players to enjoy. Now, an event from before is available for a limited time, as the Ascension game is ready to play from 1/13/17 – 1/16/17 and 1/20/17 – 1/23/17. This is part of their rotating game initiative to keep things fresh for its players.

Counter Strike: Global Offensive – eSports Boulevard News Week 3

Team EnVyUs have won the biggest CS:GO prize ever at the World Electronic Sports Games. Despite the enormous $1.5 million prize pool, there were relatively few elite teams in attendance. While EnVyUs made their way to the final as anticipated, Virtus.Pro did not, falling short in the semi-final to their Polish compatriots in Kinguin. Despite some struggles earlier in the bracket for EnVyUs, come the final the French side managed to close it out cleanly with a 2-0 victory.

And in the roster changes saga, in December, ENCE disbanded, claiming the desire to construct a new five-man lineup, which would not include suNny, who had played for them before. PENTA experienced a difficult 2016, with many of their players voluntarily leaving or being bought by other teams, including the transfer of Christian “loWel” Antoran to MouseSports.

The next time that PENTA will be seen in competition is later this coming week when they play in the relegation stage of EPL, where they will attempt to retain their position in EPL Season 5. Since they do not have a complete five-man roster, they will field Mike “mikeS” Tuns, and Tomáš “oskar” Šťastný.

Overwatch – eSports Boulevard News Week 3

Korea’s premier Overwatch league has announced the groups for its upcoming season. OGN APEX Season 2 has invited four Western teams to compete with the best Korea has to offer. 16 teams will be split up into four groups, where they will play round robin best of 5s. The top two teams from each group will move on to the bracket stage. The tournament will begin on January 17th and feature a $180,000 prize pool.

And to add spice to the build-up to the APEX, just when you thought the NA scene wasn’t changing enough, a top contender changes things up. Cloud9 will be adding former NRG member Daniel ‘Gods’ Graesar to the starting roster. This change comes off the back of a semifinal finish at MLG Vegas and Cloud9’s recently announced invitation to OGN Apex Season 2.

Hearthstone – eSports Boulevard News Week 3

The PH Alliance player defeated Orange in a tense seven-game final to win the biggest Hearthstone prize pool outside HCT and the first major gold for Southeast Asia. Staz is now the winningest SEA player in Hearthstone as well as the second major champion of the year altogether after OmegaZero’s Gold Series triumph. And one of the most circulating happening this week, Miami Heat, the major NBA brand has made an undisclosed investment in esports organization Misfits. For Hearthstone, this means good news for the trio of StanCifka, Pokrovac, and Georgec, who signed with Misfits at the end of 2016.

And lastly after being free agents for half a year, Xixo, Hoej and Surrender have found a new home in Counter Logic Gaming. The multi-gaming NA-based organization ventured into Hearthstone on January 9, boasting one of the strongest rosters in the game right off the bat.

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