Though OG didn’t find consistent Dota 2 success throughout 2019, one player among their ranks powered them to victory at the biggest tournament of the year. Then-19-year-old Anathan "ana" Pham returned to OG in March after an extended hiatus. With ana back on the roster, OG began their climb back to peak form. They qualified for the MDL Disneyland Paris Major, and placed 5-6th at the main event. They then competed in ESL One Birmingham and the EPICENTER Major, placing 7-8th at both tournaments. The International 2019 arrived, and OG immediately exerted their dominance over their group stage opponents. To much surprise, ana played Io, traditionally a support hero, in the carry position. With that out-of-the-box pick, OG were able to top the group stage and secure a play-offs upper bracket berth. OG then took down Evil Geniuses, PSG.LGD, and Team Liquid to become the first team to ever win The International tw
Anthem is taking advantage of its sibling status to the beloved Mass Effect series in its Season of Skulls Halloween event. Players will get the chance to use Asari, Krogan, Quarian, and Turian armor during the event, along with new weekly and seasonal challenges and an increased legendary drop rate. The Season of Skulls will also be a bit of a lore drop, with a fog gathering around Fort Tarsis and "intriguing secrets" scattered throughout
TNC Predator made impressive achievements and left standard-setting records in their trails. The start of excellence began with the team’s roster change and Moba patch notes introduction of two new players, Park "March" Tae-won and Damien "kpii" C
_ Tekken _ phenom Arslan "Arslan Ash" Siddique skyrocketed to the top of the fighting game scene in 2019. Though he competed in very few professional events the year prior, Arslan Ash cemented his name in FGC history in 2019. The 24-year-old kicked off the year at Evolution Championship Series Japan, where a lower bracket run ended in a Grand Final victory over Alexandre "AK" Laverez. He next won the TGU x SEA Thailand Major over two-time EVO champion Jae-Min "Knee" Bae. The _ Tekken 7 _ star then doubled up on his EVO Japan title, defeating Knee once again to take home the EVO Las Vegas title. He became the first player to win EVO Japan and Las Vegas in the same y
As with LoL , Dota2 also got into eSports in a big way. The International, Dota2 's annual global tournament, began with a prize pool of just $1.6 million. By 2019, The International’s prize pool had grown to over $31 million--the largest offering of any esports tournament in hist
You can easily make the argument that video games are a saturated market; anyone who wants to buy a game can easily do so through any number digital distribution platforms for either home console, PC, or mobile device. This doesn’t stop games from being sold, but it does make it a little harder for new games to get noticed. After all, there’s a whole wide world of huge games out there, so why would any gamer bother with something
Since Kennen has poor sustainability in lanes, Taste of Blood (heal when you damage an enemy champion) and Ravenous Hunter (unique takedowns grant permanent healing from ability damage) offset this weakn
Long-standing G2 Esports mid laner Luka "PerkZ" Perković took the _ League of Legends _ world by storm in 2019. Prior to this year's season, G2 announced their addition of former Fnatic mid laner Rasmus "Caps" Winther. As a result, PerkZ moved to the AD carry position. The risky move left many wondering where the team was headed, though G2 came out the other side even stronger than before. With PerkZ as their carry, G2 won LEC Spring after topping the regular season’s leaderboard. They next attended the Mid-Season Invitational, where they took down Korean powerhouse SK Telecom T1 and destroyed North American side Team Liquid to take the cr
Cosplayer Sonia Grillet fashioned her own set of Leona armor with fierce precision. This was her first armor build that she made back in 2015, and since then, her cosplay armor making skills have even slightly surpassed what we see h
Back in the LEC, G2 won the Summer season before moving on to the World Championship. They advanced to the Worlds play-offs, racing past DAMWON Gaming and SKT to reach the Grand Final. Though FunPlus Phoenix took home the Worlds title, G2 Esports had a formidable year. PerkZ was a massive part of G2’s legendary run, in which they stood just one series away from a never-before-done grand slam. He fit into the AD carry role nicely, holding his own against the game’s b
Halloween is right around the corner, which means it's just about the time many games roll out a special spooky surprise. A number of the events have already begun, and more are on the way, so here's a handy round-up of all 2019's in-game Halloween events announced so
San Francisco Shock star Jay "sinatraa" Won took over the _ Overwatch _ League in 2019. Remaining consistent through meta and rule changes, the 19-year-old damage player earned his spot on everyone’s _ Overwatch _ radar. The San Francisco Shock reached the Grand Final of each Overwatch League stage in Season 2, and won stage 2 over the Vancouver Titans. Once in the postseason play-offs, the Shock suffered an unexpected early loss to Atlanta Reign. Led by sinatraa, the team went on an incredible lower bracket run to the Grand Final. Their dominance continued in the Final, where Shock came out victorious with a 4-0 scoreline. Along with the _ Overwatch _ League, sinatraa aided Team USA in a victory at the _ Overwatch _ World Cup. Sinatraa was named the MVP of both the _ Overwatch _ League and the _ Overwatch _ World Cup. The standards the 19-year-old set this year will live on in _ Overwatch _ ’s esports hist
