JW secures the top spot for most knife kills in 2020

Fnatic star JW secures the number 1 spot in the most knife kills this year from the top 30 professional teams in the scene. Many CSGO fans already anticipated this result as the professional had the best season so far. JW played like a rat in the games and secured many rounds with several knife kills. 

Knife Kill List

Just like every year, the Knife Kill list comes out at the end of the season. This year, Fnatic’s professional JW takes the lead by securing 34 knife kills in 2020. It seems like Fnatic has a thing about knife kills in the pro games. The second position in the list is also secured by a Fnatic professional, Robin ‘Flusha’ Ronnquist. Flusha secured 18 knife kills in the whole year. The third place in the list is secured by two professionals as they secured the same number of knife kills during the season. Team Big’s professional Florian ‘Syrson’ Rische and Team Heroic member Martin ‘Stavn’ Lund are sitting in the third position by securing 11 kills each. 

Other Professionals

Knife killing in a professional game of CSGO is not an easy task to accomplish. However, there are professionals who make it possible. Notably, there are only 6 professionals who have secured knife kills above 10 during the whole season of 2020. Team Na’Vi’s legend Oleksandr ‘S1mple’ Kostyliev, who is also referred to as one of the best CSGO professionals of all time, has secured 10 knife kills in the 2020 competitive season. 

Extra Cash and Humiliation

Multiple CSGO professionals use knifing to humiliate their opponents. In most cases, professionals make fun by killing their opponents by knife and showing them that they were not even aware of the coming danger. Similarly, some professionals also attempt the knife kills in the game to gain extra gold. One knife-kill in the game rewards $1,500 in-game gold. This reward is greater than any other gun kill. Therefore, professionals prefer knife kill over the gun when they look at the opportunity to kill in ninja mode. 

More Audience

A knife kill is always more appreciable than a regular gun kill. Fans always like to see a twist in the game. Professionals always prefer to attempt knife kill whenever possible. In this way, they attract more audience in their favor, as they secure more knife kills. Knife-kills in a competitive CSGO match is very rare as all the professionals play at a very high intensity. With extreme focus and determination in the game, if an opponent secures a knife-kill over you, the audience just goes nuts. 

In the upcoming year, we will get to see more epic games and knife kills as the next season starts soon. Similarly, at the end of the season, we will get another professional to top the knife kills list. For now, JW sits on top in humiliating and securing the most knife kills in the complete season of 2020. 

/by

Karrigan might join FaZe Clan

According to multiple esports reports, Finn ‘Karrigan’ Andersen, might be going back to FaZe Clan’s active CSGO roster. The professional is currently the in-game leader for mousesports. If the professional is actually moving back to his former roster, he would leave his captaincy seat for another player.

Report from TheClutch

A very famous esports analyst, TheClutch, explained in his report that Karrigan has linked to his former CSGO team, FaZe Clan. Similarly, in the Flow Podcast, Marcelo ‘Coldzera’ David expressed his team’s 2021 plans. The team would be looking for an in-game leader, as well as a psychologist. 

Karrigan with FaZe Clan

At the end of the year 2018, FaZe Clan moved Karrigan to the bench due to the poor performance in multiple tournaments. After some time, the player took off from the team and found a new home. Similarly, after losing another professional to the French squad, G2 Esports, FaZe Clan had to cut ties with Nikola ‘Niko’ Kovac. Right now, the team is looking for an in-game leader for its squad to move. 

FaZe Clan in 2020

We would not say that 2020 was the best year for FaZe Clan throughout. Most of the time, the squad seemed to struggle in several tournaments. The team failed to maintain consistency over the period, and could only manage to win a single title in the whole year. FaZe Clan managed to win the IEM New York 2020 Europe where they took the best-of-five series against Team OG. 

Similarly, the team also went through multiple roster switches as no professional stuck with the team for a long time. The team tried Aurimas ‘Bymas’ Pipiras in the place of Olof ‘Olofmeister’ Kajbjer, as Olof stepped down from the team earlier in May. 

In the end, Bymas left the squad and Markus ‘Kjaerbye’ Kjaerby took his place on a permanent basis. 

Flow Podcast

In the recent Flow Podcast, Coldzera talked about the future plans of the FaZe Clan. In the interview, he said that the team intends to hire a sixth player in its official roster. Similarly, he also explained that the organization is looking to hire a psychologist as well. The South-American further explained the scenario in an HLTV.Org write-up, that the team would most likely not change the remaining members. However, it is totally focusing on finding the in-game leader for the time being. 

At the end of the Podcast, Coldzera talked about some of the best in-game leaders in the active scene of CSGO. He also recognized Karrigan with a few others like Gabriel ‘Fallen’ Toledo, and Lukas ‘Glave’ Rossander. The professional said that the team will most likely look for these players for its in-game leader position. With such a strong claim, it seems like Karrigan might be returning to his former squad. Similarly, as the professional is ready to leave his current team, this thought looks more convincing. Whatever happens, FaZe Clan will come back stronger in the next year.

/by

Valorant – Developers say that nerf to running accuracy is coming soon

Top professional Valorant players and several casual gamers have shown their frustration due to the running and shooting accuracy of the game. This issue is in the loop since the release of the closed beta version of the game. However, it seems like Riot has finally listened to the fans and going to fix the issue very soon. 

How does Accuracy work?

In any tactical shooting game, developers make sure that the accuracy and gameplay match the real-life examples. Accuracy is always high for the players who are standing still in a position. However, as the player moves or runs, accuracy drops gradually. This is what happens in real life as well. In the shooting games, the term ‘Running and Gunning’ is very famous as most of the professional players avoid doing it, due to less accuracy. 

Running and Gunning in Valorant

After the release of the closed beta version of the game, players noticed that the accuracy of the weapon did not reduce, even using it while running. Even the powerful ones like Vandal did not lose their maximum potential while running. Therefore, running and gunning became very famous in the game. However, this became a massive issue for the players who switched to Valorant from CSGO, as CSGO players are not used to enemies charging on them like that. 

Fans’ Concerns

Running and Gunning became a huge concern among the pro and the casual players in the game. The community has discussed this matter for a long time now. A professional player from 100 Thieves Nicholas ‘nitro’ Canella, raised his voice against this issue in the game. He took the issue directly to the Valorant’s developers through Twitter. The professional made a sarcastic comment on his social media by saying that Riot decreasing the running accuracy in Valorant is my number one wish. 

One of the developers from the Valorant team replied to the post and shared the news about the dev team working on the problem. 

Next Patch?

The developers of the game say that the running accuracy fix will not come along with the next patch. However, they said that the issue is their top priority and they will release an optimal solution very soon. 

As the developers made an official statement over the running accuracy of the game, the community is applauding the team. The former CSGO players who switched to Valorant also took it to social media. They said that they have never experienced responses from Valve in the past. However, getting a reply from one of the developers from the game seems like the developers are watching over us. Generally, Riot is much more active than Valve when it comes to replying to fans. The organization has replied to multiple posts in the past, whether on Twitter or on Reddit. 

Fans already know that Running and Gunning will not be fixed in another month. However, it feels accomplished knowing that the issue will be fixed very soon.

/by

Patch 7.28a is out on Dota 2 main client

After the successful release of Patch 7.28, Valve released a new update on the 22nd of December, 2020. Just like every year, Valve always releases a new patch in which mostly heroes possess stronger abilities. However, after a few days, the organization releases a supporting patch to balance the heroes and gameplay. Valve has recently released 7.28a, in which multiple heroes have witnessed nerfs and buffs. 

Talent Updates

In the new update of Dota 2, Valve has massively changed the hero talents. The developers of the game have brought in some changes to balance the game more. Mirana is one of the heroes, who have gone through a big change. Her level 20 talents now provide +8% magic damage, instead of the previous +10%. Similarly, her level 15 talent now decreases a 3 seconds cooldown of Sacred Arrow, instead of the previous 3.5. 

On the other hand, Lifestealer has received some buffs after the previous update. The base minimum Attack Damage is 24 now. Similarly, the base maximum Attack Damage is now 30. The recent update also served Outworld Destroyer with a buff. The movement speed of the hero is now 315 from the previous 310. The talent tree at level 15 of the hero now gives +8 defense. Similarly, the talent tree at level 25, now gives 30% lifesteal. 

Ogre Magi Nerfed

After several demands of the community, Valve finally decided to nerf Ogre Magi in the recent 7.28a update. The minimum Attack Damage of the hero is now 34. Similarly, the maximum Attack Damage is now 40. Valve has not nerfed its Multi-cast ability on items. The hero also gets a new ability with the new Aghanim’s Shard. Ogre is one of the most popular support heroes in the game right now. 

Hero Ability Updates

Along with the talents and some basic changes, the new update also brought changes in multiple hero abilities. The top contestant in this list is the Juggernaut. The new update has reduced the range of the Swiftslash from 650 to 600. Similarly, the update also increased the cooldown of Swiftslash from 15 to 20 seconds. 

Vengeful Spirit has received one of the biggest buffs in the new update. Almost every ability of the hero is reworked and modified. The update has increased the damage of the Vengeance Aura from 8/16/24/32% to 11/18/25/32%. This makes the hero stronger in the early phases. Similarly, the damage for Wave Terror Form is also increased. The update has also decreased the cooldown of Nether Swap from 60/45/30 to 50/40/30.

There are several other updates and modifications available for the heroes in the game. The new update has further improved the gameplay of the new patch. The community is getting everything that it is asking from Valve. The new patch is very famous and pro players are creating some wombo-combos with the new abilities. With the Dota Pro Circuit starting next year, we will witness a lot of amazing games for sure.

/by

Dota 2 – New Hero Hoodwink Nerfed immediately after release

Valve recently nerfed the newly released Dota 2 hero Hoodwink, after the community’s demands. In less than a day, the organization decided to serve the hero with a significant nerf in its talents and abilities. It has become a tradition in Dota 2 that every newly released hero comes out very strong in the beginning. Valve has always nerfed the heroes after their release. However, Hoodwink becomes the fastest to receive so many nerfs in its abilities in just one day. 

Nerfs to Hoodwink

Valve has significantly nerfed Hoodwink as the hero looked a bit overpowered after its release. The first and basic nerf is the reduction in its base Agility. The latest update has reduced Hoodwink’s base Agility by 4. This means that the hero will not have the Attack Speed and damage advantage in the early phases of the game. Similarly, Hoodwink also received some nerfs in its abilities AOE. The bounce damage of its Acorn Shot is reduced significantly. On the other hand, Bushwhack’s range and AOE are also reduced. Eventually, Hoodwink’s talent tree has also gone through some nerfs. The level 20 talent tree provides three armor reduction instead of the previous minus 5. These are some of the nerfs to the hero. Although they look pretty simple as we read, all these nerfs make the hero weak in the longer run.

Best Usage of Hoodwink

All of Hoodwink’s abilities are equally strong and play a vital role during a team fight. However, the combination of Bushwhack and Acorn Shot makes the best use of her spells. As the Bushwhack works with a nearby tree only, multiple players are using Iron Branch in the early game. The basic combination goes as a player plants a tree near enemies and then uses the Bushwhack ability to tie all the enemies in the radius. Eventually, the player goes for the Acorn Shot to bounce between the enemies stuck to the tree. As Acorn shot is a physical-damage ability, armor reduction items further amplify the effect of the spell.

Strongest Heroes in 7.28

At the beginning of the patch release, Hoodwink became a significant potential for the strongest hero in the patch. However, after all the nerfs, the hero goes out of the list. Currently, it is very difficult to call out an authentic list for the meta rulers. However, after a few days of 7.28, the strongest heroes to conquer the patch are most likely Batrider, Mirana, Io, Kunkka, and Ember Spirit. 

This list of the strongest heroes of the patch consists of the heroes that are usually reliable in the team fights. All of these heroes have somehow proved helpful in most of the games.

Valve has never nerfed a hero after just one day of its release. However, Hoodwink looked a bit overpower and that is why the organization decided to nerf it immediately. With the patch going on, let’s see which hero comes out the strongest and which new updates does Valve brings.

/by

Team Spirit signs Yellow Submarine as its official roster

Even in the absence of LAN tournaments in Dota 2, the community remained active and multiple online tournaments kept the circle running. 2020 has been quite a competitive year for Dota 2 where multiple teams maintained their winning streaks. However, several teams dropped their rosters due to the absence of DPC (Dota Pro Circuit). Before Valve could drop the next year’s DPC roadmap, a lot of teams went out of the scene. 

Yello Submarine as Team Spirit

Although it looked like a downfall period for the game and industry, it proved to be very vital. Multiple organizations came to know about the struggling teams and a lot of them met their potential. Just like that, Team Spirit officially announced today the acquiring of the former Yellow Submarine squad. The whole squad will participate under the name of Team Spirit in the upcoming tournaments. 

Yellow Submarine’s Dominance

Yellow Submarine has recently performed in the last Dota 2 tournaments. The team has shown some decent and reliable plays against some of the best teams in Dota 2. Submarines have also won multiple series against the streak holding teams. During the recent tournament, Submarines had some decent showings against Team Nigma, Team Secret, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and Just Error. 

During the Dota Summit 13 Online, Yellow Submarine finished in the top 4 teams. Ever since this position, the team has performed extremely well to secure top places in different events. The European region of Dota 2 is considered the most packed region. Numerous events take place at the same time and multiple teams participate in both. Team Spirit is definitely going to be eye candy to watch in the upcoming games as the roster is already performing to the highest level.

Team Spirit’s Squad

The team consists of a mixture of young and experienced talent in the game. The main roster of the team includes Alexander ‘TorontoTokyo’ Khertek, Ilya ‘Yatoro’ Mulyarchuk, Magomed ‘Collapse’ Khalilov as the freshies. Similarly, the team also have Vitaliy ‘Sobad’ Oshmankevich, and Yaroslav ‘Miposhka’ Naidenov as the experienced ones. 

Team Spirit’s Debut

Team Spirit is going to make its debut at the BTS Pro Series Season 4: Europe/CIS’s third phase. The team will face Live to Win at 12pm CT. Team Spirit will also battle against some of the teams like Vikin.gg, and Spider Pigs. This shows that the tournament is worth watching as big teams are facing each other. You can watch all the live matches on BTS’s Twitch Channel. 

DPC

The 2021 DPC is scheduled to begin on 28th January 2021. According to Valve’s blog post in November, the newly formed Team Spirit will contest in the tier-one events until the new season kicks off. 

We are not so far from witnessing a huge team playing under a new name. Yellow Submarine has represented itself as a strong squad. With the new name, Team Spirit tagged on it, the former Submarines have a reputation to maintain.

/by

Dota 2 Patch 7.28 Mistwood Update and Hoodwink

The Dota 2 patch 7.28 is now live, which came a little later than expected from Valve. The Mistwood update in the game brings a lot of exciting features along with a new hero, as promised by the developers earlier this year. The new hero in the game is Hoodwink, who is fans’ favorite at the moment. Along with the new hero, multiple new items came into the game and several went through different modifications. 

Aghanim Shard

The patch 7.28 brings a lot of new gameplay changes, along with the new feature in the game, Aghanim Shard. Aghanim Shard is for 1400 in-game Gold and can be bought after the 20-minute mark in the game. The Aghanim Shard comes with a lot of benefits for each hero in the game. For some heroes, the shard adds a new ability, and for others, it upgrades a unique ability. The item is consumable as you purchase it, just like Aghanim’s Blessing. 

You can check the upgrade available for each hero by Alt-checking every ability of the hero. The consumed Scepter buffs no longer appear as a buff icon mixed with other buffs. 

Release of Hoodwink

Valve already teased the fans back in November when they announced the delay of the release of the new hero. The organization said that they will release the new hero in mid-December along with patch 7.28. Finally, the day has come and Valve released Hoodwink in the game. The hero is basically a Nuker who can help big-time in the team fights and can escape very easily. 

Along with stunning the targets and escaping close calls, Hoodwink also possesses a strong ultimate through which she can deal heavy damage. 

New Items 

The new patch 7.28 also comes with multiple new items in the game. In this recent update, Valve has also released some Neutral items as well for every tier. Some of the new items in the game are Falcon Blade, Witch Blade, Mage Slayer, Eternal Shroud, Orb of Corrosion, and a few more. Similarly, some of the latest neutral items are Chipped Vest from Tier 1, Bullwhip from Tier 2, Cloak of Flames from Tier 3, Stormcrafter from Tier 4, and Book of the Shadows from Tier 5. 

Dota Plus Grandmaster Tier

With the new patch in the game, Dota Plus subscribers are going to get a lot in the game. The Dota Plus members can now upgrade the heroes to a new Grandmaster tier at level 30. With every player reaching the grandmaster level, they can have the access to a new chat wheel for the specific hero. With each challenge completed, the players will receive rewards in the form of shards. 

The new update in Dota 2 has much more to offer. The community is already enjoying the new gameplay. Similarly, players are happy with the new features in the game. A lot of Treasures also came out for the Dota Plus subscribers. You can find the patch notes in detail from the official Dota 2 website.

/by

Dota 2 Mistwood update coming this Thursday

After the success of the Dota 2 Diretide event, Valve is all set to release the Dota 2 Mistwood update. The expectations of the community are pretty high because of the highly liked Diretide event before. If you are a Dota 2 fan, you don’t have to wait any longer as Valve has announced that the Mistwood update will be coming out this Thursday. 

Positive Reactions

For now, the community is reacting in a positive and enthusiastic manner to the upcoming update. As there is nothing better than an update for a game you love. One more reason for this hype is the new hero, coming to Dota. However, Valve has not expressed anything about the upcoming update and did not reveal any kind of information related to the new hero. We’ll have to wait until Thursday to find out what’s coming for us in the Mistwood update.

What to Expect?

As Valve posted a blog about Dota 2 last month, fans can expect a new hero coming to the game in the upcoming update. However, no one can still tell who the new character will be. A lot of predictions are coming out by different Dota analysts. As far as we can expect, the hero will probably be from the Artifact universe. In multiple leaks, the storytellers have found that the top contender to make a debut in Dota 2 is Sorla Khan of the Oglodi tribe. Sorla Khan is the acquaintance of Axe who is hunting him for his transgressions towards the Red Army. 

Patch Changes

Apart from the new hero in the game, we can also expect multiple balance changes in the game. Multiple heroes will receive modifications according to their doings in the previous patch. Several heroes like Sven, Phoenix, Spectre, who ruled the previous patch, might get nerfs. Similarly, several heroes like Tinker and Monkey King might receive buffs. The community is also expecting the slow pace of the game to be changed. Who knows, after the Thursday update, we will get to play a high paced Dota 2 match. 

Item Changes

It is highly expected that multiple game items will receive several buffs and nerfs. Some of the items that have ruled the previous patch will definitely receive a nerf. Similarly, the left-out items of the previous patch will receive buffs to become popular. We are not expecting a new item release in the upcoming patch. However, multiple changes will definitely come out this Thursday.

 With the success of the previous event, Diretide, Valve is all set to release a big update in the game once again. The community is anxiously waiting for this Thursday as the fans are keeping their eyes on the upcoming hero. Valve has not released any news about the new hero in the game. However, every year, the organization releases a new hero at this time of the year. Therefore, the community is keeping an optimistic approach this year as well. If you are a Dota 2 fan, a lot of new things are coming for you in just a few days.

/by

Ramzes confirms that Just Error squad will disband after one tournament

Just Error gathered some of the best Dota 2 players in the world in one squad. However, after just playing a single tournament, the team has decided to split up, as the team could not perform to its full potential. One of the professionals from the official squad of the team announced the split-up of the team after the Epic League Season 2.

Ramzes’ Announcement 

The position-3 player from Just Error, Roman ‘Ramzes666’ Kushnarev announced the disbanding of the official roster, today. The official said that the team lacks the belief in the ability to play together. Several European big Esports organizations offered the team to join the name. However, the team still decided to part ways. 

Former Virtus Pro 

The former Virtus Pro squad joined together to form the furious roster of Just Error. The team made Alexy ‘Solo’ Berezin the captain of the squad. Solo then brought in his right-hand man Vladimir ‘No[O]ne’ Minenko and Bakyt ‘Zayac’ Emilzhanov to join with Ramzes in the new team. Finally, the last member of the squad, Syed Sumail ‘SumaiL’ Hassan joined the roster as well. No one and Solo have talked about playing with Sumail a lot of times before as well. According to Ramzes, the conversation about playing alongside Sumail came out after The International 2019. 

Ramzes’ Comments

Ramzes talked about playing with Sumail multiple times. The professional said that the idea of playing with Sumail actually came out after the TI9 ended. However, the professional also agrees with Evil Geniuses that the roster cannot work out like that. Ramzes also said that after losing in the first tournament, Omega League, the team decided to try again one more time. However, as things didn’t work out, the roster will disband. 

The professional says that the roster first decided not to play in the Epic League. However, after several discussions, the team went in for the tournament, and according to Ramzes, that was the wrong decision.

First Elimination

The confidence of playing together eventually shattered for the team as they faced the first exit from the Epic League Division 2. Ramzes said that a huge European organization reached the Just Error squad to sign a contract for its November squad. However, the team did not want to bind itself in contracts that they think could not fulfill. 

Future of Just Error

Now that the team has disbanded, the future of the squad is uncertain. No one, Solo, and Zayax are free birds and can find their new homes very soon. Similarly, Ramzes is still under the contract of EG, but on the inactive roster. However, Sumail is looking for a team after leaving Team OG in July. The Dota Pro Circuit is due to begin on the 28th of January. Before the DPC, all the professionals have to find a new home to get to play in the TI 10. It will be unlikely to witness if these professionals didn’t get their names under big teams.

/by

Dota 2 – Former Evil Geniuses Captians Fear, Ppd reuniting at BTS Pro Series

North America’s most anticipated Dota 2 captains are set to reunite soon in the new future. Peter ‘ppd’ Dager recently announced that the professional will be coming back from retirement to play some competitive Dota. The professional is making his return at the BTS Pro League Season 4. A lot of other North American professionals are joining him in the squad to enter the tournament. 

The new Roster

PPD is making his return to Dota 2 with a new roster in the game. The new lineup contains Dnm, Clinton ‘Fear’ Loomis, Peter ‘ppd’ Dager, David ‘Moo’ Hull, and  Jingjun ‘Sneyking’ Wu. This new roster shows the ending of Moo and Sneyking’s bindings with the previous team, 4FUN. 4FUN played under the name Team Zero. Surprisingly, the team finished first at the Dota Summit 13 by scoring a victory over Quincy Crew in the grand finals. 

4FUN with Direct Invitation

After a massive victory against Quincy Crew, 4FUN received a direct invitation to the BTS Pro Series Season 4. However, the roster has dissolved after an early elimination from Realms Collide 2. The roster still holds the direct invitation and this newly built lineup is going directly to the tournament. As ppd announced his new lineup, Jacky ‘EternalEnvy’ Mao posted that the professional is currently looking for an opportunity, on his official Twitter account. 

SADBOYS

The community dubbed the new lineup that contains Fear and ppd as SADBOYS. Ppd previously captained Ninjas in Pyjamas’ roster before announcing retirement from the Dota Pro Circuit. It is still unknown whether the professional is a free agent or not. The player is definitely back in Dota and the community is happy for it. 

The union between Fear and ppd looks promising as both professional lead Evil Geniuses winning the TI in 2015. The famous pair last played together at the TI6 in 2016. 

The new team also brings two North American famous players. Moo has reached the grand finals of The International with Digital Chaos. However, Sneyking does not have any solo accomplishment yet, but the player has enjoyed multiple successes throughout his career. 

Dnm, a new entry

New blood in the game, Dnm also joins the squad of Sad boys. The 17-year-old is currently ranked in the top-30 players in the Dota 2 leaderboards for North America. The professional has also made some appearances with different North American squads. The player also played with Plus One. This is the team that received a ban from the Beyond the Summit tournaments for match-fixing. However, Dnm came out clear in the acquisitions. 

SADBOYS will make its debut at the BTS Pro Series Season 4. The team has taken the direct invitation from the tournament and will start battling very soon. The community has its high hopes with Fear and Ppd joining together. Both professionals have done so much before, and the community is positive about the future of the players as well. Let’s wait for the tournament to see a new roster perform at its best.

/by