It's rare to find someone in esports with the kind of history that Kevin ‘Rotterdam’ van der Kooi has. Establishing himself as a top European Orc player and commentator during Warcraft 3’s heyday, Rotterdam entered the age of StarCraft 2 carrying a lot of weight to his name. Weight alone won’t make a career though. …
One of the keys to the success of any region in Esports is the abilities of the teams to acquire talent. There exists a multitude of ways that the teams can go about in order to acquire said talent, ranging from poaching established talent to importing from other regions, but the simplest way is to …
Street Fighter 4 had Evolution 2014 Champion, Luffy, to write the book on his character of choice, Rose. Bisu, BoxeR, and Savior were all revolutionists in their respective races in Starcraft: Brood War. Competitors in esports will always look to explore and push the limits of their craft, no matter what the game. The …
Continue reading “The Multiple Harbingers of Overwatch’s Innovation”
The lineage of mechanically-imposing junglers in Korea has, in large part, been marked by a failure to translate their dominance into competitive play, at least initially; the likes of Flawless, Crash, and Mowgli have all been picked up by teams after impressing in solo queue, yet none of them have found success in pro play. …
Continue reading “Will Longzhu Cuzz Become The Next Victim of Overblown Hype?”
The lineage of mechanically-imposing junglers in Korea has, in large part, been marked by a failure to translate their dominance into competitive play, at least initially; the likes of Flawless, Crash, and Mowgli have all been picked up by teams after impressing in solo queue, yet none of them have found success in pro play. …
Continue reading “Will Longzhu Cuzz Become The Next Victim of Overblown Hype?”
Black and red lacquered dice, skip across a green felt table under the glaring flash of neon lights, and the wide array of emotional cries from the patrons of the casino. Some cry out of joy after cashing out their newly earned jackpot. Others cry in somber disdain after losing millions at the slots. A …
Continue reading “Oh Fortuna: Investigating EnVyUs’s Pair of Aces”
Rivalries between competitors are some of the most compelling narratives in any sort of event whose purpose is to figure who's better at a certain activity. Even the most entertaining spectacles can become extra-engaging when spiced up by the history between the adversaries. With sixteen teams of at least six players entering each season of …
Even in the face of a growing industry, we are often unaware of exactly how big of a deal this is. It’s not just about the money, but there is so much that says that esports is huge. Competing in iconic arenas, like the Madison Square Gardens or the Staple Center, have already been seen …
Continue reading “Psychology"e;s Impact on the Online-LAN Transition”
Hawaii holds the fond byname of the “Aloha State.” Within the Hawaiian language, the phrase “aloha” means “peace, compassion, and mercy.” It also has been commonly used as a term in the English language to hold the dual meaning of “hello” and “goodbye.” With Kaiser’s recent departure from his team RunAway and his acquisition to …
Since October of 2015, Counter Logic Gaming has remained a mixed bag of results, coming from an astounding 2016 MSI Semi-Finals run, to a 5-6th place finish in the 2017 Spring Split playoffs. With that in mind, it has been made official — CLG has finally changed their roster. The surprising change came after …