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karazax
United States3737 Posts
Latest news: | ||
Slydie
1778 Posts
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Ej_
47656 Posts
On April 06 2016 21:43 Slydie wrote: Is team Liquid getting a new tank? I saw someone was trying out for them... I think bkb would be the safest bet, but nothing confirmed yet. | ||
SC2Toastie
Netherlands5725 Posts
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EsportsJohn
United States4883 Posts
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Valiver
Caldeum1976 Posts
http://www.teamblaze.gg/news/2016/4/6/bige-parts-ways-with-team-blaze | ||
karazax
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karazax
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
New roster is: Erho, Tomster, Kaeyoh, Goku, Zixz Interesting they let Srey go because he was allegedly too abrasive with team mates and then pick up Erho who was just let go from Naventic for the same reason. | ||
EsportsJohn
United States4883 Posts
On April 10 2016 21:58 karazax wrote: https://twitter.com/Tempo_Storm/status/718997331102851072 New roster is: Erho, Tomster, Kaeyoh, Goku, Zixz Interesting they let Srey go because he was allegedly too abrasive with team mates and then pick up Erho who was just let go from Naventic for the same reason. Once a soloQ star, always a soloQ star. In any case, I think the roster is better for it. Erho and Tomster are good players, should bring a lot to the table. Also, I believe Erho when he says that he works really hard to avoid being toxic. I think he's a pretty positive person overall, just a bit emotional at times. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
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Furinax
Netherlands75 Posts
We are pleased to announce that @EquinoxPLS will be joining the Gust or Bust family as our 5th and final member! https://twitter.com/gustorbust/status/719250928331673600 | ||
Valiver
Caldeum1976 Posts
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MotherFox
United States1529 Posts
On April 10 2016 21:58 karazax wrote: Interesting they let Srey go because he was allegedly too abrasive with team mates and then pick up Erho who was just let go from Naventic for the same reason. Zoia dropping the blame on Srey reminds me of my own career. When I first started in management I used to blame bad employees for bad situations. But the longer I continued on with that tack, the more I realized that the message that gets across to future employers was that I failed in my job as a manager. As if all they thought was, "Oh, you couldn't deal with the situation and turn things around for a positive outcome." Firing people is an important tool, but hiring the right people in the first place is too. And converting bad situations into working solutions is also preferable. Basically letting people go should be a last resort only. Now Tempo has gone through two iterations of toxic team infighting, and the common denominator is something in the organization itself, not the individuals who have been let go. They might have contributed, but the longer this goes on the less likely it's the people cast aside who are the root problem. All that said, hopefully with this iteration they've fixed the problem. | ||
Deleted User 101379
4849 Posts
From the outside it looks like teams try to solve toxicity by "stop it or else", which rarely works. I really wonder if any team ever tried to work on the root of the problem together, maybe even got a psychologist involved. Psychological difficulties like poor anger management are very hard to fix, but once you get to the root of the problem they can be controlled and you end up with a more stable roster. | ||
EsportsJohn
United States4883 Posts
I did a long rant about this on Twitter, but it just seems like a lot of orgs, (particularly NA, sorry), really have no clue what they're doing business-wise, and it's really obvious from observation which organizations have potential and which ones will crash and burn (for instance: Stellar Lotus, Murloc Geniuses, King of Blades, GFE, eLevate (to a much lesser degree), and potentially Naventic). | ||
MotherFox
United States1529 Posts
On April 12 2016 15:37 Morfildur wrote: ESports managers are usually very young with little previous management experience, so it's not surprising when they don't get the people aspect right. From the outside it looks like teams try to solve toxicity by "stop it or else", which rarely works. I really wonder if any team ever tried to work on the root of the problem together, maybe even got a psychologist involved. Psychological difficulties like poor anger management are very hard to fix, but once you get to the root of the problem they can be controlled and you end up with a more stable roster. The only example I know offhand of a sports psychologist being hired for this kind of thing was for Iidra in sc2? But he posted laster saying that the psychologist they hired was confused at why a video game would be considered a sport, so it sounded like it wasn't that helpful. All this said, I do think people have a capacity to learn from their errors. I just hope that whoever is calling the shots at Tempo with regard to managing the players' attitudes learns from their mistakes, and doesn't just go along thinking they got rotten luck with negative attitudes several times in a row. The longer you are not proactive about this kind of thing, the longer it will go on. ALSO, Zoia's reasoning that "it wouldn't make sense to have a contract for 2 months, so we just didn't pay the players" sounds suupppper sketchy to me. If waiting for the contract renewal period was important enough to not pay players, then it should be important enough for the players to not play games for the org while they are not being paid. Even if this kind of thing is standard in the pro-scene, I'd be up in arms about it as a player. Not getting paid for time doing your profession is really dumb. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
I do think that western teams default to the all star team mentality of this guy is really talented so we will ignore any red flags with personality, anger or commitment issues. By commitment I mean for example Dreadnought said some team members would be like pulling teeth to get them to watch a replay and go over mistakes. They would point to one lost team fight and say they already know why they lost and they didn't need to watch it again, when there are a thousand other events that put you in that position. Some players don't want to do the "boring work" of film study or just practicing specific mechanics over and over In other news, Gale Force eSports adds Roflcopter, AkaFace, & Michael Udall to team for upcoming summer qualifiers. | ||
EsportsJohn
United States4883 Posts
On April 13 2016 00:42 MotherFox wrote: The only example I know offhand of a sports psychologist being hired for this kind of thing was for Iidra in sc2? But he posted laster saying that the psychologist they hired was confused at why a video game would be considered a sport, so it sounded like it wasn't that helpful. All this said, I do think people have a capacity to learn from their errors. I just hope that whoever is calling the shots at Tempo with regard to managing the players' attitudes learns from their mistakes, and doesn't just go along thinking they got rotten luck with negative attitudes several times in a row. The longer you are not proactive about this kind of thing, the longer it will go on. ALSO, Zoia's reasoning that "it wouldn't make sense to have a contract for 2 months, so we just didn't pay the players" sounds suupppper sketchy to me. If waiting for the contract renewal period was important enough to not pay players, then it should be important enough for the players to not play games for the org while they are not being paid. Even if this kind of thing is standard in the pro-scene, I'd be up in arms about it as a player. Not getting paid for time doing your profession is really dumb. Sports Psychologists have been used by many professional teams in different esports. Probably the most notable recent one is Liquid`Hungrybox's (SSB:M player) coach, who helped him to push through a lot of performance issues and win a bunch of stuff recently. As far as not being paid or under contract: It's a pretty common thing to accept that you won't get paid initially in esports—that you're somehow not naturally entitled to money for your services—and that's largely because there hasn't been a ton of money in this field to date (though this is becoming less and less of a reality as esports grows as an industry). To some degree, I think that mentality creeps over in player's minds, especially in Heroes where there is little to no infrastructure; the offer of being sponsored by some company or team is far too enticing, even if the organization has little to no credibility or real professional hierarchy. On the subject of Tempo Storm, I think they just need to go back to the drawing board. Their original roster was inherited as a super team, and it's clear that the people in charge of looking for new players don't have a great eye for talent. Nothing against Goku, Srey, and Zixz, but they were all subpar compared to the level Tempo should be representing. Srey's attitude always worried me when he originally called out several members of other teams as "egos" while projecting his own in the process, but I suppose Tempo expected him to learn from the experience and becoming a true leader on the team. | ||
Valiver
Caldeum1976 Posts
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Slydie
1778 Posts
One important thing is clarity in the working hierarchy. Finding a fit player can be a very difficuly task! I am pretty sure e-sports orgs have very inadequate systems for this. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
Pool Plato Yet More Tangoes added Quinn "Srey" Fischer from Tempo Storm, Francis "MATRE" Gilbert-Brodeur from Luminosity Gaming, and Dan "danleefor3" Lee from Team Blank. Sadly, they’re off to an unfortunate start after being swept by Cloud 9 in the second round of Dreamhack Summer NA Qualifier #1 yesterday. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
eLevate splits after not qualifying for Summer Regional | ||
Ej_
47656 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
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karazax
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
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Larkin
United Kingdom7161 Posts
On April 29 2016 02:20 karazax wrote: Navi disbands Damn, that's harsh. But 5 good players on the market now, I guess. | ||
NKB
United Kingdom608 Posts
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EsportsJohn
United States4883 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6036 Posts
On April 29 2016 07:05 SC2John wrote: I saw it coming a while ago. I hate to say it, but I think they were a one-hit wonder. Their performance in Prague last year was insane, and since then they've been a collection of really talented players, but they just haven't been "great" for a while now. And with the poorer and poorer performances, I don't blame Na`Vi for cutting lose the cords on a team that just wasn't winning in a game that makes significantly less profit than LoL/CS:GO. Well, I feel calling them "one-hit wonder" is more than a bit over the top for a team that shaped the game for quite some time in 2015 together with TL The achievement of Heroes of the Storm Natus Vincere line-up: top 1 place DreamHack Tours 2015 top 3 place DreamHack Summer 2015 top 1 place StormGrounds Invitational top 2 place DreamHack All-Stars Valencia top 1 place 2015 HWC - Europe Championship top 3 place 2015 HWC — Global Finals top 1 place Enter the Storm #4 top 2 place Heroes Battle Arena I hope the best for the players. Pretty sure this isn't the end for most of them | ||
EsportsJohn
United States4883 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
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EsportsJohn
United States4883 Posts
On May 02 2016 23:40 karazax wrote: I don't know who they can roster change for this late in the season that would improve them enough to bother. Next season seems very likely though. It really isn't the same game as it was when C9 won Blizzcon due to many patch changes, and the meta shifts have not been kind to them. Some of their players seem to have limited hero pools and that really restricts their draft options. I'm not sure it's a problem with draft only. Even their mechanics are looking questionable lately, and I think that's a factor of team tensions and miscommunication. Arthelon and DunkTrain in particular are struggling the most. | ||
Larkin
United Kingdom7161 Posts
On May 02 2016 23:49 SC2John wrote: I'm not sure it's a problem with draft only. Even their mechanics are looking questionable lately, and I think that's a factor of team tensions and miscommunication. Arthelon and DunkTrain in particular are struggling the most. Agreed. DunkTrain is a liability. His positioning has cost them games. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
Saw a few threads here and on reddit; also some discussions in-game general chat about the C9 games in HGC. Lot of misconceptions about why they lost, their drafting, the relative strength of their team vs asian teams. So here are a few of my thoughts on the matter. I'll go over the games quickly then talk about C9's drafting and style of playing. They played 3 series vs EDG (chinese), mYi (european), and eStar (chinese). vs EDG The first game was on EDG's map sky temple. EDG had a really solid comp for that map, while c9 played an incredibly fragile one. The reason they lost was a slight misplay by Arthelon on thrall when he didnt get the value needed at bot temple. The shift of momentum lost them the advantage that their comp needed. However overall c9 played a lot better than EDG, both mechanically and in rotations. EDG had simply too many get out of jail cards (tyrael, uther, falstad). Game two was a decisive victory for c9 on their map temple of doom with a strat that caught EDG completely off guard (murky). Again it was a very technical comp that allowed for almost no mistakes. The fights were incredibly close in terms of outcome, although c9 played a comp that was a lot harder to execute. Just look at how low every single one of c9's members was at the end of some of the fights. Spreading the damage so cleanly among themselves when not having a healer isnt easy. Especially vs double jaina (aba). In game three (the chen game) they got somewhat outdrafted (EDG map and 2nd pick) and had to adapt. C9's comp was very fragile and incredibly hard to play vs a stun heavy comp. They played amazingly and made some incredible chen/falstad plays. The amount of technical play needed to make chen/fal/tass work to isolate muradin really showed their skill. The chen gamble was paying off, contesting hard the thrall solo lane top. Unfortunately Chen/iDream did throw a bit at some point and EDG's comp was just solid overall to capitalize once c9's deaths became stacked. vs mYi They got outdrafted in game one with targeted bans to their falstad/zera, while also allowing mYi the power of thrall + greymane. To top it off they chose an incredibly technical tass+aba comp. Needless to say the artanis (power of blind + heavy melee lineup for mYi) was a gamble and didn't work out. They spread themselves too thin in draft trying to deny tass to grey/thrall, while also securing their own aba-centric strat. However the rest of the games where they managed to secure their falstad and force their draft they won. vs eStar The drafting was very complex in g1 and they had to make some concessions ending up with a comp that gave room for no mistakes. By this point they were exhausted and half way into the game they started losing steam. By the time game 2 was played c9 was too tilted. Now let's talk about drafts. You might ask why c9 appears to get outdrafted a lot. It's due to their hero pool and the overlap between their players and heroes. There are two ways to deny the enemy picks either by banning or securing them yourself. C9 generally focused on crippling their enemies' warrior lineup (ETC ban was most common) because of how hard uther + ETC is to deal with (not to mention tyrael in there). However, because their draft focuses on securing falstad + muradin, they rarely took away thrall + greymane from their opponents. This is because they are most comfortable with playing a more technical style and being patient. They like the flexibility of heroes like falstad and tassadar over "go hard comps" like thrall + tyrael or poke hard comps that center around li ming. Their style revolves around forcing positional plays with gust. When falstad is not available they still like muradin, tass, or zera as tools to create position and space for picks. Although they can hold their own in dirty fights, they don't like gambling on li ming resets as a fighting win condition. They also don't like compositions that require big setups like maw/mosh, vp/mosh, sundering/mosh. By the time they adapted in g1 vs estar and chose muradin + greymane, instead of muradin + falstad in first pick round, they were too tired to play outside of their comfort zone. You can see vs estar that by only having greymane and falstad as playmakers, they weren't able to secure those needed li ming kills in g1 - although some were incredibly close. g1 is a good example of how when the enemy has a more flexible comp in terms of win condition (they can win fights OR push with sylv and force c9 out of the temples) then c9 can't capitalize on their rotational plays. Compare g1 vs estar on sky temple to g1 vs EDG on sky temple, where zera pushing top pulled falstad back home, allowing c9 for a 5v4 engage shortly after. Focusing on securing muradin over the midliners early in a draft creates a lot of restrictions on the possible permutations for your comp overall. The big problem that c9 has right now is in hero/role allocation. k1 is arguably the best ranged assassin in NA, but his hero pool is very limited at the moment. He primarily only plays falstad with valla as a backup. Although he dislikes li ming, it's a hero that he should add to his pool, freeing arth to play a midliner rather than have li ming + valla/falstad whenever c9 does grab li ming. Lunara has been shown a lot in the NA scene but in globals the damage is just not burst enough to make th cut. I'd like to see k1 (and maybe arth) also pick up zagara more. The next issue is support. Dunk plays an incredible support when he's in a passive/defensive role. He's solid at staying alive and healthy in the backline, but other styles of support are just not his forte. Whenever he plays tyrande, it's a very safe backline style, and not aggressive enough to secure picks or to pressure (think of Bakery's tyrande). k1 has shown at blizzcon that he can play a stellar tyrande, but that would leave dunk on something like tass and the permutations of tyrande + 2nd support are limited and rarely fit the draft - even more so because you'd need a ranged assassin either way, so in those cases they place arth on tyrande. Kharazim is out of the question for dunk vs the asian teams in terms of mechanics. Speaking of Arth on second support: I was very disappointed in his performance on tyrande and tassadar throughout the tournament. I think arth needs to step up his game. His style of tass is still backdated to before the scaling patch when tass could midline at all stages of the game. As it is right now tass players have to stay healthy pre 13/16 and then be very aggressive in the later stages of the game. It was a big misplay for him to die on sky temple vs eStar g1 in the early game, and then not frontline enough (to save falstad in one instance) in the late game. Warrior picks are also fairly problematic - c9 has too strong of a bias for Muradin with weak backup plans. In the NA scene enemy teams fear Caff's muradin so much that they target ban that hero often, opening up a lot more options for falstad + zera with stitches/johanna/leo to simply body the enemies in lane early game. In the global scene we see the asian teams placing a lot more emphasis on securing solid midliners and letting the warrior picks sort themselves out. Korea has shown they are comfortable in throwing a lot of warriors into the frey - including leap sonya. I think Arth showed very questionable plays in most games. His ranged assassins (valla, li ming) were often at risk, while his support plays (tass, tyrande) made his team struggle - not to mention force barrier on tass? It's clear to me that c9 is still unsure on how to utilize arth consistently and it's preventing them from running double midliner (2 of either sonya, thrall, and greymane) because of the lack of synergy between him and dream in a lot of fights. While most deaths by the other members can be scratched off to cc lockdown (e.g most of caff's deaths on xul) or rotational plays by the enemy, arth's death were primarily avoidable with better positioning or use of skills. Compare k1's valla to arth's or compare dunk's tass to arth's. Imagine if Arth had played better in g1 vs EDG, avoiding the set vs mYi and keeping c9 fresh for the winner's match-up, maybe things would have been a lot more different. (TL;DR) To sum it up C9 needs to diversify their hero pool better and find the correct overlap for their players. Caff and k1 should explore other heroes for their roles, while iDream and Arth should practice more midliner synergies. Dunk needs to master solo tyrande play. All of this will lead to more options for draft which will strengthen their choices considerably. MVP Black has shown that when you diversify the hero pool of each player enough it doesn't matter if the enemy cripples your warrior, midline or support choices: there are still plenty of ways out in the draft. As it stands C9's draft pivots around too few key heroes (Falstad, Muradin, Zeratul). | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
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Valiver
Caldeum1976 Posts
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Furinax
Netherlands75 Posts
Natus Vincere disbands http://read.navi-gaming.com/en/team_news/natus_vincere_hots_disband ---- AlexTheProG joins Team Dignitas. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
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EsportsJohn
United States4883 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
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karazax
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Foxxan
Sweden3427 Posts
According to this site, its kinda official. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
Also according to NaCHoJin's stream, the Korean team DSA has disbanded. NaCHoJin is now streaming twitch NA and KR hero league, potentially looking to come to NA team in the future. Other members included Ttsst, MonkeyDFish, Kinnu, and BDG | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
MVP_Black is forming a sister team: MVP_Miracle, including Cmoving, Sniper, ttsst, Reset and Darvish. MVP_Black also released an update with a bunch of other info on their upcoming plans with Heroes of the Storm. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
and | ||
ShoCkeyy
7814 Posts
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ETisME
12067 Posts
Sc2 still doesn't have the voice packs and skins Hots is only finally getting its much needed improvement for ranked mode. Let's hope overwatch doesn't suffer the same | ||
ref4
2933 Posts
On June 10 2016 15:00 ETisME wrote: Both hots and lotv didn't get as popular as I hoped. Imo they suffer way too much from slow actions. Sc2 still doesn't have the voice packs and skins Hots is only finally getting its much needed improvement for ranked mode. Let's hope overwatch doesn't suffer the same If anything I am surprised Blizzard still give a damn about SC2 since they got your $40/$60 upfront already. I mean I guess it is technically the sucessor to their flagship game (BW) and the successor of the grandfather of eSport (BW). At this point they are just losing money still running SC2 tournaments. At least Overwatch have microtransactions that get multiplied proportionally by the size of its player base and thus forcing Blizzard to give it their best to fix/balance/create new OW contents. SC2 is just pay for the game and done kind of deal. Same with D3. | ||
Thax
Belgium1060 Posts
On June 11 2016 00:43 ref4 wrote: If anything I am surprised Blizzard still give a damn about SC2 since they got your $40/$60 upfront already. I mean I guess it is technically the sucessor to their flagship game (BW) and the successor of the grandfather of eSport (BW). At this point they are just losing money still running SC2 tournaments. At least Overwatch have microtransactions that get multiplied proportionally by the size of its player base and thus forcing Blizzard to give it their best to fix/balance/create new OW contents. SC2 is just pay for the game and done kind of deal. Same with D3. How are you surprised? It's Blizzard's thing. They support their games way after release. Besides SC2 is going all in on mission packs and other micro transactions, which apparently are doing quite well, and D3 is still a solid seller in the back catalogue. | ||
Wuster
1974 Posts
On June 11 2016 04:44 Thax wrote: How are you surprised? It's Blizzard's thing. They support their games way after release. Besides SC2 is going all in on mission packs and other micro transactions, which apparently are doing quite well, and D3 is still a solid seller in the back catalogue. TotalBiscuit posted a few years back that Mike Morhaime was using all his clout to make sure SC2 was supported no matter what the number crunchers said. BTW, is this time to worry about HoTs taking off? I watched the NA finals last week and was shocked the stream was only at 10k viewers. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
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Talaris
Switzerland747 Posts
If it the former it'd suck to lose viewership and potentially the whole game as an esports just due to amateurs messing up =( If it's the latter, what can Blizz do ? Automated ban system in custom games ? But then I thin the 2-4minutes delay between the draft and the game start is not the biggest problem, but the time from game end -> start of new draft. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
On a different note, a new competitve stats, news and VOD website has launched called masterleague.net that looks pretty impressive. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
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Talaris
Switzerland747 Posts
bkb and Lowell supposedly left (or was this a hoax?) | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
Team Liquid released BKB and Lowell, so far no replacements, I'm guessing they are waiting until after worlds to see what other teams shake their rosters up. | ||
Ej_
47656 Posts
On June 18 2016 01:42 karazax wrote: Yuuj leaves Panda Global; Zixz retires from HOTS. Team Liquid released BKB and Lowell, so far no replacements, I'm guessing they are waiting until after worlds to see what other teams shake their rosters up. SportBilly and Athero played with TL in their recent matches | ||
Ramiz1989
12124 Posts
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Wuster
1974 Posts
Also the stuff about Yuuj and finger pointing, that seems like something a good coach solves, since players doing post-game criticism is pretty biased and all that. But most teams don't seem to have coaches and just player captains huh? Edit: Looks PG does have a coach, well then something's up if the players are blaming each other like that then. | ||
Cyanocyst
2222 Posts
Glad to see Sniper and Crazymoving back with MVP Miracle, wonder who supports on that team. With Cattle back to BP, and Cathon Luck out they seem a lot stronger. Moba's are an interesting genre, given how many heroes there are, with so many abilities it really requires a lot of just general knowlage of the game. I think that's why HOTS never took off. Because once you find one MOBA, you really don't care to ever switch to another. Not anything due to game play, or difficulty, just the general knowledge of what every hero is capable of. I thought about trying LoL in the past, or Dota 2. But end the end, never did because i don't feel like grinding through enough games just to gain that kind of knowledge. Also the fact that games last 1 hour as opposed to 20 mins, means that it takes a lot more time to get the game repetition you get in Hots. Finally I don't think Overwatch will really make it as an eSport. FPS games make for poor spectator sports as you're only getting a fraction of the action at once. Quake 1v1's were probably the best fps in terms of spectating. | ||
Valiver
Caldeum1976 Posts
On June 18 2016 03:47 Cyanocyst wrote: Finally I don't think Overwatch will really make it as an eSport. FPS games make for poor spectator sports as you're only getting a fraction of the action at once. Quake 1v1's were probably the best fps in terms of spectating. I just need to point out that csgo is even on major cable TV now. | ||
Ramiz1989
12124 Posts
On June 18 2016 03:47 Cyanocyst wrote: Finally I don't think Overwatch will really make it as an eSport. FPS games make for poor spectator sports as you're only getting a fraction of the action at once. Quake 1v1's were probably the best fps in terms of spectating. I think that you are very wrong here. First FPS are quite popular, second something like this: And LoL was really really dominant in Korea. For all we know, Overwatch did really well on release, maybe too well for such game and I thought that it won't as big because of the price but it actually is quite big. There are few games announced already that are trying to copy it. And this is Blizzard we are talking about, they always try to support their game and push it into eSports as much as they can. | ||
Ej_
47656 Posts
https://www.teamliquidpro.com/news/2016/06/21/june-2016-heroes-update let's see for how long | ||
Valiver
Caldeum1976 Posts
So far one part has happened: | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
Our Thoughts on Fury's Departure from Gale Force eSports We would like to address the fans of Gale Force eSports as well as the Heroes community as a whole; I am sure a lot of you are a little confused as to why we let Fury go. Let us start off by saying that his performance in game has nothing to do with why he was removed. Nor was this the case of coming back from Worlds and wanting to changing the roster just for the sake of changing the roster. Fury has played well and has been such a huge part of why we qualified and how special this team has been. For this we are ever so grateful to have had the time to spend with Fury and watch him grow as a player and as a teammate. The decision to remove him was not made lightly. That being said, as we are sure anyone reading this heard, we removed Fury “because of his girlfriend”. She has always been very kind and nice and she herself never tried to wedge herself between the team and Fury. This is not about her, it’s about Fury. When we put this team together some players were skeptical to play with Fury because of previous stints on teams where he had personal outside issues. He reportedly let that spill into his performance in game and it affected his desire and ability to play and be productive with his team. We spoke to him more than once about his commitment level and he assured us this would not be an issue and that he was going to show everyone how much he cared about this game. We put our reservations aside and told the team that everyone deserves a chance to be in a different environment and see how things go. Many people know that most of the players on our team are in relationships. We are not against our players being in relationships, and this was not a personal attack on his. Our team’s attitude is to show the same amount of dedication to the game as one would do for their job or career. Unfortunately, a number of players felt like Fury was letting his relationship interfere with his work. This created tension at times and occasionally influenced the team atmosphere in a negative way, which was not something we could overlook because of our belief in team chemistry being of utmost importance. One example of this would be when he stayed in Texas for an extra 10 days after Dreamhack Austin to spend time with his sister and his girlfriend. We asked if he could still scrim with the team and he said yes. He had a laptop capable of running HotS with him. Despite all that, he missed out on a full 10 days of scrims with the team, which is simply unacceptable. Regardless, this decision was tough for everyone involved. Fury is very kind and has a good heart. We are confident he won’t have any trouble finding another team and we truly wish him the best. Also Naventic and McIntyre Part Ways | ||
Wuster
1974 Posts
Unfortunate that Fury's dirty laundry got aired it like this, although he started down that road. Not sure what I think about McIntyre's situation. Sounds like he knew they were considering changes for a while. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing, on one hand honesty and not being blindsided by the org, on the other hand... Is it really something you can back down from after broaching the subject? (Ie isn't his release basically a done deal after that?). Of course the post was s little vague so maybe I'm misinterpreting the situation. | ||
Ej_
47656 Posts
http://naventic.gg/articles/features/media/36/naventic-and-mcintyre-part-ways I hope Fan leaves as well and they both find a team where they can shine. | ||
Ghostcom
Denmark4776 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
On June 23 2016 12:52 Wuster wrote: Guess this is the inevitable grab for the C9 players. Despite their slump they are still some of the most mechanically strong players. Unfortunate that Fury's dirty laundry got aired it like this, although he started down that road. Not sure what I think about McIntyre's situation. Sounds like he knew they were considering changes for a while. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing, on one hand honesty and not being blindsided by the org, on the other hand... Is it really something you can back down from after broaching the subject? (Ie isn't his release basically a done deal after that?). Of course the post was s little vague so maybe I'm misinterpreting the situation. Yeah it's hard to say if he knew a release was inevitable, or if they are just talking about the challenge when he was moved to other roles like warrior and support on the fly so Zuna could play DPS. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
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Thax
Belgium1060 Posts
On June 29 2016 07:26 karazax wrote: Tempo Storm releases current HOTS roster; new roster coming soon Tempo picked up C9? | ||
Valiver
Caldeum1976 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
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karazax
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karazax
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karazax
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karazax
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batatm
Israel116 Posts
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karazax
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Ej_
47656 Posts
On August 04 2016 04:53 karazax wrote: I wonder if Team Liquid would be looking at swapping them out for their current roster which has been under whelming. Team Liquid has been the problem all along. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
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karazax
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karazax
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Ej_
47656 Posts
Fan!!!!!!!!!!! | ||
Larkin
United Kingdom7161 Posts
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Foxxan
Sweden3427 Posts
On August 13 2016 18:57 Larkin wrote: It's a sick pickup, Roflcopter was GFE's weakest link and you could tell Fan wasn't fat or bald enough for Naventic. how so? | ||
Larkin
United Kingdom7161 Posts
How so to which part? | ||
Ramiz1989
12124 Posts
"Weakest link" part obviously, since the second one makes sense. Good move by Fan in my opinion, he is really likable and he is actually quite good, no point in wasting your talent on a team with 2 brothers that will always play the blame game when they start to fall apart. | ||
Larkin
United Kingdom7161 Posts
On August 14 2016 21:51 Ramiz1989 wrote: "Weakest link" part obviously, since the second one makes sense. Good move by Fan in my opinion, he is really likable and he is actually quite good, no point in wasting your talent on a team with 2 brothers that will always play the blame game when they start to fall apart. I felt that Rofl's play was pretty sketchy in the last tournament (and has been for a while), he often had some pretty bad misplays/poor positioning etc. He was at his strongest when GFE drafted for him and he was able to play Zagara. Not saying he's a bad player by any means but compared to the others he was meh. Michael Udall wasn't great this tournament either, a dip in form for sure. | ||
Foxxan
Sweden3427 Posts
To the last part where Fan couldnt play at his 100%. Curious how one could tell and how good is he then exactly? Top best player? | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
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Larkin
United Kingdom7161 Posts
On August 14 2016 23:00 Foxxan wrote: To the last part where Fan couldnt play at his 100%. Curious how one could tell and how good is he then exactly? Top best player? Um, I didn't say anything of the sort? | ||
Foxxan
Sweden3427 Posts
I thought it meant he wasnt bald in team naventic but might be bald enough in another team, but reading it now again and thinking about it more - might be very wrong especially the "enough" part. | ||
Larkin
United Kingdom7161 Posts
On August 15 2016 07:06 Foxxan wrote: "fat or bald enough" I thought it meant he wasnt bald in team naventic but might be bald enough in another team, but reading it now again and thinking about it more - might be very wrong especially the "enough" part. It was a joke about how Fan is quite small and has hair compared to the rest of Naventic who are universally overweight and have little hair. | ||
Foxxan
Sweden3427 Posts
At the same time i looked at the word "fat" as something as "big in terms of the game". Sry for the confusion. | ||
Larkin
United Kingdom7161 Posts
On August 15 2016 07:34 Foxxan wrote: Aha, i actually thought the meaning was bold until now. At the same time i looked at the word "fat" as something as "big in terms of the game". Sry for the confusion. Haha, no worries. A crummy joke lost in translation | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
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Ej_
47656 Posts
On September 01 2016 07:16 karazax wrote: Cris leaving Team Liquid? guess who was the problem | ||
NKB
United Kingdom608 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
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Immersion_
United Kingdom794 Posts
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Larkin
United Kingdom7161 Posts
On September 03 2016 04:14 Immersion_ wrote: Retiring ahead of what is quite possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity (Blizzcon) is extremely odd. It was pretty clear he wasn't enjoying himself, though, even when winning tournaments he barely cracked a smile | ||
Wuster
1974 Posts
On September 01 2016 18:29 NKB wrote: I'm not surprised that the TL roster is changing, I am surprised that Cris is leaving though. It seems odd. It makes sense that Athero would want to rejoin Dig (well assuming no bad blood of course). But what does that have to do with Cris? Guess it was an excuse for a roster shake up. | ||
Ej_
47656 Posts
On September 03 2016 12:34 Wuster wrote: It seems odd. It makes sense that Athero would want to rejoin Dig (well assuming no bad blood of course). But what does that have to do with Cris? Guess it was an excuse for a roster shake up. there are speculations that the Durans might be rejoining Liquid | ||
Wuster
1974 Posts
On September 03 2016 18:58 Ej_ wrote: there are speculations that the Durans might be rejoining Liquid Ah, your post makes more sense now and I agree. Ever since the old El Nexo lineup failed to qualify for Blizzcon the team moves have seemed knee-jerk and almost panicky. I thought when the Durans retired the team could have some more stability but I guess not. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
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karazax
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EsportsJohn
United States4883 Posts
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Ej_
47656 Posts
On September 27 2016 00:21 SC2John wrote: Gee, I wonder which double regional champions without a sponsor they're looking to pick up..... here's to cross fingers for anyone taking L5 under their wings... | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
On September 27 2016 00:21 SC2John wrote: Gee, I wonder which double regional champions without a sponsor they're looking to pick up..... Astral Authority acquires Murloc Geniuses | ||
Larkin
United Kingdom7161 Posts
no other way he could have known that! | ||
Ej_
47656 Posts
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EsportsJohn
United States4883 Posts
On October 01 2016 13:29 Larkin wrote: John prophet confirmed no other way he could have known that! >.> <.< | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
Bkid replaces Jason on Naventic | ||
karazax
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karazax
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karazax
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karazax
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karazax
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karazax
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karazax
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karazax
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EsportsJohn
United States4883 Posts
I wouldn't be surprised to see someone else pick up Denial. There are likely to be some orgs coming in to sign NA/EU teams over the next two weeks. From what I have heard, HGC starts fairly early next year. | ||
Thax
Belgium1060 Posts
On December 25 2016 15:56 SC2John wrote: ct expired and they were not able to come to an agreement with Denial for 2017, similar to mYi. Some thoughts floating around that orgs might not be willing to pay salary since Blizz is paying salary for HGC. . What would even be the point of signing with a team if they don't pay salary? Especially because Blizzard already pays salary. Just some sponsored keyboards or whatever don't seem that worthwile. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
MVP B. : Sign & Rich out (taking break from heroes, looking at other options), Ttsst & Reset in (from MVP M.) MVP M. : HongCono & Dami in | ||
Ej_
47656 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
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karazax
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karazax
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
Rough translation from a user on reddit: "(1) Hello, I am MVP Rich. As I share this news, I am deeply regretful to disappoint my fans and also the fans of Heroes of the Storm. It took me almost 3 months of deliberation to come to this final decision. (2) Next year, during 2017, I will again take a hiatus from H.O.S and although I am not sure of what I will do instead, I came to this decision in order to minimize bigger regrets in my life for the future. I truly love this game and believe it's a great game. However... (3) I had to do a lot of realistic thinking and as of now, it is difficult for me to say that I will be back in H.O.S for 2018 as well. I will deliberate and try different things during 2017 and I shall return to H.O.S if I decide it to be appropriate. (4) A huge shoutout to MVP team's coaches and directors and the fans of Heroes for taking and appreciating a dude like me. Whatever I do in the future, I will not forget all that I've been taught during 2016 - I have received many lessons and advice that I will need in my life later. (5) And I am extremely grateful for you guys for making me who I am today. People don't easily change, but I believe I've changed for the better and I wish to continue to be a better person. I plan to tweet personal updates from time to time. Thank you all for your support." Translated: On reddit comments from henrax, I only said I'm having a difficult time with the new contract, never the specifics. Not all of it is true" Here are henrax's comments: I've talked a lot with Rich in the past few weeks about his decision to leave the scene so I think I can shed some light. Basically, Rich was really depressed in the past few months and had no fun in his life and in the game. A lot of stress and pressure, a lot of frustration (he told me "my team is always fighting" but I'm not sure if he meant fighting with each other or against the enemy team), and not a lot of money, to the point that he had to choose his personal happiness over his esport success. Right now he went back to LoL (currently diamond 2) to see how it goes. He wanted to play Dota but the only korean sponsor in Dota is MVP and he doesn't want to deal with them anymore. He wants to start a stream on Twitch where he would play LoL, Hots, and whatever he feels like. Obviously I was a bit devastated when he told me all of it but I think despite the language barrier he has become a real friend of mine and I support him in whatever he decides to do. Hots competitive lost a lot of its flavor to me tho. It's sad when the best player in the world doesn't want to play the game competitively anymore. Edit : the part I wrote about MVP contract was NOT TRUE and was a misunderstanding. I don't know any of the specifics of the contract he was offered. I'm really sorry to have spread false information, this was never my intention. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
and Team Expert picks up Two Bees Determined | ||
Slydie
1778 Posts
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karazax
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karazax
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karazax
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Chu8 has chosen to leave the team. As a result, Chu8 has been disqualified from the HGC for the remainder of 2017 and will not be playing with Team 8 in the first phase of HGC. Prismaticism will join the remaining members of Team 8. Chu8's comments: There is no juicy drama here, boys. But here's what happened in a nutshell. I made sure to let everyone know that I want this team to take more of a casual approach to the tournament. However, when we did qualify and things got more serious, we could not agree on the level of commitment we want to make as a team, mostly because of me wanting to focus on my stream. Since some members of the team strongly expressed their pursuit for HGC, it was clear to me there are more complications here than I expected. I coulda been a douche and just rake in the $$ while forcing a bad practice schedule and toxic team environment, but that's not me. This is best decision for all. Good luck to the team going forward. More details here | ||
Thax
Belgium1060 Posts
On January 14 2017 06:31 karazax wrote: Team 8 moves on without Chu8 Chu8 has chosen to leave the team. As a result, Chu8 has been disqualified from the HGC for the remainder of 2017 and will not be playing with Team 8 in the first phase of HGC. Prismaticism will join the remaining members of Team 8. Chu8's comments: More details here Why even bother to qualify if you weren't going to take it seriously ... Anyway, seems like he made the right choice. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
So why bother qualifying? It was at least 10k salary for each player for half a season for playing 6-10 games every weekend just for fun. That's pretty good money if you aren't spending any additional time practicing and can hold a full time job, go to school or do whatever you want during the week. It's pretty bad money if you practice 6-8 hours every other day during the week, which prevents you from realistically doing any of those other things. At that point you need to win tournament prize money to make your hours of practice pay off financially. Even with a heavy practice schedule their team will be big underdogs to win any significant prize money beyond their salaries. Playing completely casually was the best guaranteed money per hour invested. It wouldn't be a great look for HCG, but if another team really deserved to be there more they should have beaten Team 8 out. They didn't, so it's hard to imagine any of the teams that didn't qualify would have been significantly more competitive. I expect the 8th seeded team in most regions is going to get stomped a lot regardless of how much they practice, and if another team improves significantly between now and May/June then they would knock Team 8 out then. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
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karazax
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Immersion_
United Kingdom794 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
Equinox will not be returning to the GFE team during Phase 2 of HGC. Khroen will be stepping down to a substitute position while continuing to stream under the GFE banner. | ||
dyDrawer
Canada438 Posts
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Thax
Belgium1060 Posts
On May 24 2017 05:10 karazax wrote: GFE roster shake up Equinox will not be returning to the GFE team during Phase 2 of HGC. Khroen will be stepping down to a substitute position while continuing to stream under the GFE banner. That's weird. I would've ditched Udall and Fan. Then get a proper tank and move Equinox to melee carry/bruiser. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
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im a roc
United States744 Posts
Also that SS switch is pretty huge. That team was really getting carried by Goku the past couple of weeks and I don't think they'll be nearly as successful without him. Interested to see what else they change. Before that tweet I was hoping they would drop Hosty and pick someone else up, but I'm not sure they can find 2 players that are better than what they already have. Maybe they'll pick up Insomnia? That'd make a lot of sense to me. | ||
EsportsJohn
United States4883 Posts
B-Step disbands, aPm retires, and the rest of the team are free agents. Even in Death has rights to the open spot in HGC if they accept. Tricked eSport dropped ethernal and are trying out new melee/flex players. beGenius unsurprisingly drop their roster after failing to make it out of the Crucible. Team expert drops bLaDe, adds Atheroangel. bLaDe commented that he would continue to work toward getting back into the HGC premier league. | ||
Adramelch
14 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
iDream will be replacing Kenma, Zuna will be moving back to the range/secondary tank position and bigempc will be moving to the support role | ||
karazax
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karazax
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karazax
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Immersion_
United Kingdom794 Posts
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Ej_
47656 Posts
On June 07 2017 03:15 karazax wrote: https://twitter.com/MVP_GG/status/872108087364263936 Right before Stockholm...? Playing Ducks: chriZplosion out, nande to main tank, Ethernal as the new melee carry | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
On June 07 2017 04:48 Immersion_ wrote: What's the mystery announcement there karazax? I believe Merryday is retiring to return to university after Sweden, and speculation is Rich is coming back to pro play | ||
Immersion_
United Kingdom794 Posts
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Larkin
United Kingdom7161 Posts
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EsportsJohn
United States4883 Posts
On June 07 2017 10:50 Larkin wrote: Rich is gonna join Black as a support main playing exclusively Li Li It's really awkward that you kind of called this.... | ||
Larkin
United Kingdom7161 Posts
On June 07 2017 13:31 EsportsJohn wrote: It's really awkward that you kind of called this.... | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
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Zambrah
United States6831 Posts
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karazax
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Circumstance
United States11403 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
In HGC China, eStar has disbanded and WKG has been relegated. New teams TheOne and Beyond the Game will be replacing them when HGC China resumes on Aug. 28. In North America, Naventic's players have parted ways with the Naventic organization, and will play under the name Lag Force beginning with their series versus SpaceStation Gaming on Friday, Aug 25. SpaceStation Gaming, a new esports organization, has signed the roster of No Tomorrow. The team has been boot-camping together in Salt Lake City ahead of their Week 6 debut against Lag Force. The last two times these teams met under their old banners, SpaceStation took the win. We will see if parting ways with Naventic is the change Lag Force needed to flip the script during this next meeting. Be sure to tune in to all the action starting this weekend when L5 takes on Team RRR Friday morning at 2:00 a.m. PDT / 11:00 a.m. CEST at www.playheroes.com/esports. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
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dyDrawer
Canada438 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
Expect an announcement next week on replacements for 2018. | ||
dyDrawer
Canada438 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6036 Posts
On November 10 2017 06:33 karazax wrote: Team Liquid releases Blumbi and Darkmok Expect an announcement next week on replacements for 2018. Since there are no reasons given I assume they were not happy with their perfomance? Or did I miss something? Anyway, quite a pity. I liked them. Best of luck to them | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
Bakery leaves Dignitas Diamond Skin loses Cris, SportBilly and Ethernal. GranPkt and POILK leave Team Zealots. Team Freedom adds Lutano and Yoda Big E leaves Lag Force Glaurung is released, Daneski and Kure join Roll20 Esports Prismaticism goes free agent, out of Roll20 Esports TigerJK and TalkingTrees go free agent, out of Spacestation Gaming Up to date rosterpocalypse news and updates here | ||
Circumstance
United States11403 Posts
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Thax
Belgium1060 Posts
On November 16 2017 00:29 Circumstance wrote: Doesn't Diamond Skin lose their HGC spot now? Don't they have to retain at least three out of five? I remember that being a part of the reason B-Step split up. In which case, does Polska Pamieta have the rights to the spot, since Good Guys disbanded? I believe they changed the rules so that a team can fire 2 people, but a 3rd can still leave on their own, without the team losing their spot. I can't really find where I read that, so I'm not 100% sure this is the case. | ||
Ej_
47656 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
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NKB
United Kingdom608 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
Fnatic adds BadBenny and Mene scHwimpi is no longer on the Fnatic active roster. First games for the new Fnatic roster will be November 27th in China for the Gold Cup World Championship. | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
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Zambrah
United States6831 Posts
Whatever, I guess now Im a Tempo fan. | ||
Thax
Belgium1060 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
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karazax
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karazax
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karazax
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karazax
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Circumstance
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karazax
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VirsicaGaming
1 Post
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
SpaceStation Gaming has parted ways with their roster. Starting in Week 6, they will play under the No Tomorrow banner. Due to personal circumstances, Jason "Jason" Mei is also stepping down from the team. Should he wish to return to the HGC in any way, it wouldn’t be until September. Replacing him temporarily will be Shawn “Jin” Boyle, from the three-time Open Division cup winning Team XD. Elsewhere in North America, Simplicity Gaming will also be using Kyle "Prismaticism" Belaiche as a temporary replacement for Aaron "erho" Kappes, who has been suspended for the remainder of 2018. Prismaticism is best known for his time on Roll20 Esports. | ||
Ej_
47656 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
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karazax
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karazax
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karazax
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karazax
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
Fury and AKAFace leaving GFE | ||
karazax
United States3737 Posts
Fnatic QuackNiix - out BadBenny - out scHwimpi - in darkmok - in Method scHwimpi - out Arcaner - out adrd - in BadBenny - in Zealots Mopsio - out adrd - out robadobah - in Arcaner in Team Liquid Splendour - out Nurok - support SonicLeBeast - in Diamond Skin robadobah - out darkmok - out DerOlf - in Lauber - in Leftovers Lauber - out Linked - out Mopsio - in Splendour - in Tricked eSport Crozzby - out GranPkt - out Linked - in GURU - in | ||
Harris1st
Germany6036 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
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karazax
United States3737 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany6036 Posts
Team Liquid losing Splendour and Fnatic losing QuackNiix to name two of them. Is there any info on the why? | ||
karazax
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