Day 1 of LA Major open qualifiers for Team B8

The first day of open qualifiers for the ESL One Los Angeles Major marked the debut of Danil “Dendi” Ishutin’s new team, B8. The first two matches were easy but the third one, against Team Empire Hope, went up to the 65 minute mark. Even though Empire Hope had good AOE damage heroes against B8’s Phantom Lancer, other heroes were not countered enough. B8 had an advantage in healing, counters, durability, pushing, split pushing and defending whereas Empire Hope had an advantage in initiation, right click damage and mobility.

The worst situation for Empire Hope was when they had the lead and wanted to push on B8’s high ground but they were unable to. They had bad pushing heroes and B8 had good defending heroes. This allowed B8 to buy some time for Phantom Lancer to get a good farm. After a few rough fights, B8 were able to close the game. Empire had a good laning stage, especially for their safe lane Bloodseeker, but as the game went late, he was not effective against B8’s cores. On the other hand, Magnus was the first to reach level 30 and he was a bit effective against B8 but he alone couldn’t do the required amount of damage. Road ahead for B8 B8 will face Hailhydra next and they need to win 3 more series to qualify for the closed qualifiers round.

Cloud9 eliminated from ESL One L.A Qualifiers

Open qualifiers for the ESL One Los Angeles 2020 Major got underway for most regions yesterday and for Southeast Asia, there were a host of teams which were fighting to reach the closed bracket, including Cloud9. Cloud9’s return to the Dota 2 scene was confirmed on January 29th when they announced their latest roster after two years. With some extremely strong names such as Rasmus ‘MISERY’ Filipsen and Adrei ‘skem’ Ong, C9 seemed as though they would be able to make waves in the SEA region where they would be fighting through the qualifiers for the next Major.

While the team were able to make it thorough the first day of the open qualifiers, day two did not go as planned, even after an emphatic victory over Team Uprising to open the day. In the round of eight, C9 were up against Motivade.Trust Gaming, a team that is fairly unknown to most outside the SEA region. Being a best-of-one match at this stage of the qualifier, Trust seemed ready to throw everything they had into taking down their opponents – and it worked perfectly. The loss eliminates C9 from the open qualifiers, not even reaching the closed bracket for the SEA region. While Cloud9 won’t be in the SEA region for the next set of open qualifiers, as they plan to relocate to North America, it will be a long period before they are seen again, with the next Major qualifiers only set to begin at the end of March. The SEA open qualifiers come to an end today, with only four teams remaining at time of writing – and only two spots available in the closed bracket.

T1 signs Black^ and inYourdreaM as part of its ESL One Los Angeles Major qualifying squad

T1 joined the competitive Dota 2 scene during The International 2019 by signing Lee “Forev” Sang-don to its roster. But the team has already gone through two different iterations without making a single Dota Pro Circuit event. The organization wasn’t going to settle for not being among the best in Southeast Asia, however. T1 has signed four completely new players to come in and play alongside Forev for the ESL One Los Angeles Major qualifiers.

Just like the last two times the organization has signed more players, there’s been no official statement from T1, but the details have all been provided by Valve’s official Major and Minor team registry. Depending on how the upcoming qualifiers go, a statement might be made, but so far the team has remained silent on all matters regarding Dota 2. This team has been in the works for a while since Black^, a veteran player who missed most of the early season due to a humerus fracture in his right arm, has been teasing something big for the past few weeks. He also said that he was involved in a boot camp for the qualifiers that started on Jan. 18, which means this roster could have been practicing together for two weeks already.

If that’s the case, it makes a lot of sense as to why xuan officially resigned from his position with Demon Slayers yesterday so that the entire team could register for the qualifiers today. Out of everyone on this roster, xuan has seen the most success this season and will likely be anchoring the team’s backline along with the less experienced Jhocam. The final addition to the roster is inYourdreaM, a player who spent time with multiple teams over the last three seasons and is coming over from BOOM Esports after being moved to the inactive roster. It was likely Forev’s call to bring over both IYD and Jhocam since he was a temporary coach with BOOM for a bit. It seems odd that T1 would let talented players like Pyo “MP” No-a, Johan “pieliedie” Åström, and even Kim “Febby” Yong-min simply walk away from the team, but many organizations are trending toward building around just a few veterans and then signing younger talents. In this case, T1 is banking on Black^ and Forev’s experience to help the others adapt to top-level Dota again.  This new roster will be playing against Cloud9 and LGD.International in the open qualifiers for the ESL One Los Angeles Major, which begin on Feb. 9.

Misfits Gaming renews Milk It! campaign partnership

North American organisation Misfits Gaming has extended its partnership with Milk It!, a marketing campaign produced by the Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP). The partnership, which originally began in April 2019, will continue to focus on the organisation’s professional Fortnite players and streamers throughout 2020. In addition to a Milk It! logo being present on the players’ jerseys, the campaign will sponsor content including further “Misfits Story” videos and coverage related to the expected Fortnite World Cup 2020. Misfits Gaming also plans to host an expanded Fortnite Block Party event along with giveaways in partnership with the campaign.

Miranda Abney, Senior Director of Marketing for the Milk It! campaign, commented in a release: “Milk has stuff kids and teens need to do more of what they love, and Milk It! is excited to help bring kids even more opportunities to share real moments with their favorite Misfits gamers this year. From watch parties to giveaways and team events, Milk It! has some awesome opportunities lined up to bring out players’ best game.” Misfits Gaming also competes in the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) and is the organisation behind the Overwatch League’s Florida Mayhem and the Call of Duty League’s Florida Mutineers. The partnership only applies to its Fortnite players, however. Ben Spoont, Co-founder and CEO of Misfits Gaming, added: “The Misfits family is always looking for new and unique ways to interact with our amazing community. We’re excited to bring our fans closer to our Fortnite players through continued events and content in partnership with Milk It!” Milk It! is a unique non-endemic sponsor in esports, and its partnership with Misfits Gamingmust be reaching the right audience for it to add another year to the deal.

LCS spring finals 2020 to be held in Frisco, Texas

Riot Games has tapped Frisco, Texas as the host location for the spring finals of its North American league, LCS, with the Ford Center being its venue of choice. The finals will be hosted at the Ford Center in The Star on April 18-19th. The campus is home to the GameStop Performance Center – the facility owned by Complexity Gaming – and Dallas Cowboys’ headquarters. Stephen Jones, Chief Operating Officer of Dallas Cowboys, touched on the event in a release: “We are thrilled to partner with the City of Frisco in bringing one of the largest esports events in North America to Ford Center. As the esports industry continues to grow, including here onsite with Complexity Gaming, we will continue to create and host one-of-a-kind experiences for fans all over.”

Per statistics released by Riot Games in December, the 2019 season of the LCS saw it become the third most popular professional sports league in the United States among 18-34 year olds. Texas is quickly becoming a hotbed of esports activity, with organisations such as Complexity Gaming and Envy Gaming calling it home. The state also houses the Esports Stadium Arlington, which has hosted the likes of the ECS Season 8 Finals and last year’s Esports Awards. Texas is making a name for itself as a hotspot for esports activity, with both organisations and venues setting up shop in the state in recent years. With LCS now heading to the Lone Star State, it’s further solidifying its status and we expect this trend to continue throughout 2020 and beyond.

Fnatic and Esports Charts join forces for 2020

London-based organisation Fnatic has renewed its partnership with analytical agency Esports Charts. As part of the deal, Fnatic will be provided with insights into viewership analytics for its own teams and its competitors. Ihor Kryvych, Co-founder of Esports Charts, commented on the renewal: “Fnatic is a great example of an organization that consciously approaches the issue of building brand awareness and understands the importance of the analytical component when working with a large-scale audience.

“This approach helps the company to correctly prioritize and make business decisions based on high-quality analytics provided by Esports Charts on top of its own massive experience. It’s a huge pleasure to work with professionals and the Fnatic team is the best representative example.” Fnatic isn’t the only organisation that’s entered such a cooperation with Esports Charts, Team Liquid announced its own partnership with the agency at the start of this year, joining TSM and tournament organiser StarLadder. Craig Santicchia, Partner Development Director for Fnatic, also discussed the deal: “Data is at the heart of what we do, to make commercial decisions, provide feedback and measure value. ESC provides us with accurate viewership data that allow us to reach our goals and report back to our partners value they’re receiving from their assets.” With questionable viewing figures often thrown around in esports, having organisations work with those crunching the numbers to give hard data is a positive step. This is mutually beneficial and any analysis drawn from it will hopefully benefit the viewers in the long-term.

T1 finds gaming gear partner in Logitech G

South Korean organisation T1 Entertainment & Sports has partnered gaming peripheral brand Logitech G. Each of the organisation’s rosters will be kitted out with mice, mousepads, keyboards, and headsets from its new gaming gear partner. Earlier this month, T1 Entertainment & Sports announced sports apparel giant Nike as its exclusive apparel partner. Not only does Nike design and provide uniforms to the organisation’s teams, it will provide “cutting-edge training facilities” at its headquarters in Seoul. It’s also devising training programs to develop players’ physical and mental strength.

The organisation, which is a joint venture between SK Telecom and Comcast Spectacor, is also partnered with SKT 5GX, Twitch, DouYu, Klevv, and Secretlab. Logitech G has added T1 to its extensive roster of partners, joining the likes of Astralis, Natus Vincere, Team SoloMid, Team Heretics, G2 Esports, Origen, ENCE, Altus Esports, Lazarus, Royal Never Give Up, Mindfreak, and Riot Games’ LEC. It’s common across such partnerships for Logitech G to provide products for players to use in return for promotion on social media and other digital platforms. The length and financial terms of the deal aren’t known at the time of writing. If you’re looking to attach yourself to a South Korean esports brand then look no further than T1, right? Logitech G is establishing itself as a key partner for organisations around the world at this point and it’s certainly done a good job at securing a solid roster of teams to work with.

LEC re-energises for 2020 with Red Bull extension

Riot Games has announced that Red Bull will return as the official energy drink partner of European league LEC for 2020. While details of the extended deal are scarce, it appears as if the same terms as seen in 2019 also apply to the new year. In 2019, Red Bull worked with Riot Games on the LEC by hosting live activations at events. At the time of the initial partnership announcement, it was stated that the two parties would “develop grassroots League of Legends competitive events across Europe.”

While the terms of the extended deal between Riot Games’ LEC and Red Bull haven’t been disclosed at the time of writing, it’s clear that the energy drink brand is big on League of Legends esports. Earlier this week, it also extended its deal with North American league LCS for 2020. Ahead of the 2020 season, Riot Games announced a stacked roster of partners – both returning and new – for the LEC. Most recently, we saw Nestlé brand Kit Kat join Logitech G, Warner Music, Beko, Tchibo, AKRacing, HUYA, Alienware, and Kia Motors. Red Bull is big on esports outside of the LEC and LCS, working with Riot Games as a global partner of League of Legends esports. It’s also partnered with the likes of BIG, 100 Thieves, G2 Esports, ENCE, and Tempo Storm. Red Bull continuing to bet on League of Legends esports after the monumental 2019 the scene had is no huge surprise. The LEC has a solid roster of partners for 2020, comprised of both new and familiar faces, and Red Bull is another great name to keep on its list for the year.

Rob Stamey joins DarkZero Esports as Director of Operations

North American organisation DarkZero Esports has hired Rob Stamey as its Director of Operations. Stamey boards DarkZero Esports after a three-year stint at fellow North American organisation Ghost Gaming, having served as its General Manager. In his role as Director of Operations, Stamey will responsible for driving growth for the organisation through staff recruitment, entering new game titles, increasing revenue streams, and consulting with ownership on new opportunities as they arise.

Stamey told Esports Insider: “I’m rejuvenated in the aspect of taking on a “start up” feel again when joining DarkZero Esports. I believe the foundation of the brand has massive potential that hasn’t be unlocked yet. It feels amazing to have ownership who is bullish on the future of esports, which will unlock resources that is needed to compete at the world class level.” Before this new venture, Stamey previously served as the COO of esports organisation Orbit from 2015 to 2016. Moving on to Ghost Gaming in January 2017, acting as one of the founding employees, he contributed to the organisation by building out programs and managing the players that it had signed. DarkZero Esports currently fields a team in Rainbow Six Siege, competing in the eleventh season of the North American Pro League. Stamey has done a solid job at helping to grow North American organisations in the past so there’s no reason to believe that he can’t do the same thing in his new position at DarkZero Esports. Best of luck to both parties!