BIGGEST CS NEWS FROM WEEK 26
Dive into the latest happenings in the world of Counter-Strike, from major team roster changes and platform shifts to regulatory actions and upcoming event announcements.
NAVI ANNOUNCE INTERNATIONAL ROSTER
Natus Vincere (NAVI) has announced some big changes. They are transitioning their team to an international roster after signing Aleksib, jL and iM.
s1mple and b1t remain from the old lineup. This confirms rumors about NAVI moving away from the CIS region. The new roster will debut at the BLAST Fall Groups event. This event runs from July 13-23.
NAVI’s new team will also appear in a special showmatch. This match is against Vitality and is called ‘Match of LeGGends’. It will happen on July 8. The match will have special rules. These include player exchanges between the teams. This adds excitement and unpredictability.
Time for some changes pic.twitter.com/XdsQogspHq
— NAVI (@natusvincere) June 30, 2023
VALVE BANS HIGH VALUE TRADERS
Valve has banned about 40 trader accounts. These accounts are linked to CS:GO gambling sites. This action removed over $2 million worth of skins. The crackdown started after a rival site, CS:GO Empire, made allegations. They claimed traders were laundering cryptocurrency through CSGORoll. This platform is known for skin gambling. Many named accounts were then banned on Steam. This made their inventories worthless.
The owner of CSGORoll denied these claims. They said they run a trading platform, not a casino. Despite this, Valve continues to ban accounts. Some of these accounts have inventories worth up to $6 million. This has started a debate on regulating skin trading and gambling in CS:GO.
Through CSGORoll's top secret Supplier program, traders have illegally laundered $12.7m in crypto over the last month alone.
— Warren (@variancewarren) June 28, 2023
A CSGORoll supplier tried blackmailing me with my address if I posted this.
His name is in red.
Supplier List:https://t.co/ciQWVWdmUR
ESEA LEAGUE MOVES TO FACEIT
The ESEA gaming league, run by the ESL FACEIT Group, is moving to the FACEIT platform. This change is set to take place before the start of the next season in August. The main reason for this move is to take advantage of FACEIT’s superior anti-cheat technology, which will help ensure fair play in the league. Despite the change in platform, the league’s structure will stay the same, and the ESEA website will still be available as a record of past seasons.
This decision was influenced by feedback from the gaming community and past issues with the ESEA client. The upcoming launch of Counter-Strike 2 also played a part in this decision, as it would be difficult to integrate CS2 into the ESEA platform. As part of this transition, subscriptions to ESEA and FACEIT will be combined. To celebrate this change, a special ESEA event with a prize pool of $36,000 will be held in July.
DEGSTER REMOVED FROM OG
degster, the Russian player, was unexpectedly removed from the OG team. Despite being one of the team’s top performers with a 1.15 rating over the past year, degster was benched alongside teammate NEOFRAG. The decision came as a surprise to degster, who only found out about his removal at the last minute.
He expressed his gratitude towards OG and stated that he didn’t regret his time with the team, despite the rapid ups and downs they experienced. degster commented on his situation saying:
My path in OG comes to an end. It was my first experience in an international roster — and it was awesome. We have had rapid ups and equally rapid downs, but I don’t regret a thing. I’m thankful to everyone from OG. It’s time to move on, peace. And for those dumbos who spam me with my previous post — I didn’t know until the last minute that I would be removed from OG.
MIBR BENCH HEN1
HEN1 the Brazilian AWPer, has been benched by the esports organization MIBR. The move came as a surprise to HEN1, who had been with MIBR for nearly a year and had an average rating of 1.21 over 240 maps. Despite some success in online competitions, the team struggled in offline tournaments and failed to achieve international success. This led to multiple roster changes during the off-season, including the benching of another player, Tuurtle, last month.
Despite his benching, HEN1 expressed support for the team and a desire to continue playing. He hopes that his performance has attracted the attention of other organizations.
He says “The race doesn’t stop, so I’m open to proposals and I hope that my performance throughout this period was enough for them to trust me in a new org. thank you for everyone’s support.”
ESL FINE ASTRALIS $100,000 FOR CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The eSports organization Astralis has been fined $100,000 by ESL Pro League. This was for a conflict of interest that wasn’t reported. Astralis had sought services from a future employee. This person held a position of authority in a competitor team at the time. This happened between April and July 2021. It wasn’t reported to league authorities or the competing team leading to a breach of the Louvre Agreement’s regulations.
The conflict is linked to Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen. He was a former coach for Heroic. He was accused of leaking strategies to Astralis. This was before the start of IEM Cologne 2021. Astralis was considering hiring HUNDEN at the time. The investigation found no competition or match results were impacted.
Astralis CEO, Anders Hørsholt, reacted to the investigation’s conclusion. He expressed surprise and disappointment but accepted the verdict. He emphasized Astralis’ commitment to professionalism, integrity, and fair play. He acknowledged the importance of the Louvre Agreement. This agreement maintains good governance and regulatory discipline in eSports.
With ESL’s recent statement relating to an investigation into potential breaches of the Louvre Agreement’s Code of Conduct, I would like to make a brief statement regarding the conclusions of the investigation
This is the second investigation into this subject, and it is likewise the second time I have not been sanctioned. In the first event, I was originally banned by the organization behind the banning order, but the banning order was later revoked and deleted with retroactive effect. This time around, the investigation concluded that there was no grounds for sanctioning me and I was placed within the “non-sanctionable conduct” in its conclusive and independent findings.
I have cooperated fully with ESL and their third-party investigators in their examination of the events by providing all necessary documents and participating in relevant interviews, and I have spent a substantial amount of my own time and resources into this investigation.
One would like to empathize that my departure from Astralis was not connected to the ESL investigation, and would like to request that any questions in relation to Astralis’ role in the recent announcement be directed at them. Finally, I would like to thank ESL and Sportradar for a thorough and professional procedure where I feel like I have had an opportunity to present my case and be heard.
TICKETS SALES FOR FIRST CS2 MAJOR GO LIVE
PGL has started selling tickets for the first CS2 Major, scheduled for March 2024 in Copenhagen. The event will take place at the Royal Arena, which can accommodate up to 16,000 spectators. Tickets are available for individual days, with no weekend or premium packages. There are three different seating tiers, with prices ranging from 380 DKK to 740 DKK. The competition will feature the world’s top 24 CS2 teams, competing for a $1,250,000 prize pool. Denmark, known for its rich esports heritage, is the host country.
📢 PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 tickets will be available for purchase in 1 hour!🇩🇰
— PGL (@pglesports) June 26, 2023
🎟️ Buy your daily tickets: https://t.co/VhnaEWfQyz
💯 Be a part of the first Counter-Strike 2 Major!#PGLMAJOR pic.twitter.com/FLzaOkSBbr