Even though the parallels between “regular” and esports always seem to imply an uneasy companionship of sorts, the rise of playing video games professionally clearly owes a lot to the models established by existing sporting franchises. Some lessons are learned, many are ignored, and while it’s evident that CS:GO, League of Legends and the like […]

Beyond the Anatolia-related puns, the Asia minor always felt like the odd one out of these qualifiers, and this iteration proved no exception. Even with the lack of TyLoo – who have finally managed to crack the code and make it to the New Legends Stage –, the competition still felt like “Renegades and the […]

With the regular minor events complete, we’ve successfully established eighty percent of the Katowice newcomers. While there’s still one last chapter to be written with the third-placed playoffs, we can already decipher most of the interesting storylines of the Americas minor. This tournament has clarified a lot of domestic hierarchies. Established that NRG and karrigan […]

Perhaps the competition with the lowest profile out of the four, the Katowice Asia minor will nevertheless offer an interesting snapshot of the state of play in a part of the world that Valve clearly covets: even though the Asian sides thoroughly failed to make an impact on the big stage so far, TyLoo’s successful […]

With the European and CIS minors out of the way, the spotlight is now turned on the Americas and Asia’s representatives. Just like its EU counterpart, the American minor features a team – and a player – that arguably shouldn’t have to grind through this stage in order to get a ticket to Katowice: all […]

IEM Katowice 2019 EU Minor Recap While the European minor and its incredible upsets stole the spotlight, the CIS competition also had quite a few interesting storylines to offer: the “usual” suspects will be making a return to the big stage in the form of AVANGAR and Team Spirit as the old guard of the […]

The European minor was littered with fallen giants and upsets in every stage of the event: while no one can say that ENCE or Vitality didn’t deserve their spots, it has to be said that their performances were overshadowed by the failings of those better-known names that failed to show up. Questions will be asked […]

IEM Katowice 2019 EU Minor Storylines For many Western viewers, the CIS region is the CS:GO equivalent of the twilight zone. And yet, there are quite a few familiar faces amid all the shadows and the confusion, and it turns out that some of the most interesting storylines of this minor cycle will come from […]

IEM Katowice 2019 CIS Minor Storylines It’s always the darkest before dawn, and the long buildup to the Katowice major is finally starting to reach its conclusion. London’s incredible upsets, subtle rule changes, injuries and other drama all came together to set up perhaps the most exciting minor cycle in CS:GO history – but perhaps […]

Rarely is a coaching move considered a high-profile transfer in the world of CS:GO, but Janko “YNk” Paunović’s decision to exchange broadcast desks and fancy suits for a MiBR jersey grabbed the attention of the community. However, it’s worth taking a critical look at his tenure with the Brazilian-American side. No matter how many times […]