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NaVi vs NIP at Blast Premier Spring Groups 2023

We are back with CS:GO action and it’s getting hot at Blast Premier Spring Groups 2023. Day 3 of the tournament saw one of the most exciting matches which was NaVi vs NIP. How did the action turn out and more importantly, who won? Find out only at Gamopo!

NaVi vs NIP

Rosters

Natus Vincere

  • Denis “electroNic”  Sharipov (IGL)
  • Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev
  • Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy
  • Valerii “b1t” Vakhovskyi
  • Andrii “npl” Kukharskyi

Ninjas In Pyjamas

  • Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen (IGL)
  • Fredrik “REZ” Sterner
  • Hampus “hampus” Poser
  • Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin
  • Danyyl “headtr1ck” Valitov

Map Picks & Bans

  1. Ninjas in Pyjamas removed Nuke
  2. Natus Vincere removed Vertigo
  3. Ninjas in Pyjamas picked Inferno
  4. Natus Vincere picked Mirage
  5. Ninjas in Pyjamas removed Ancient
  6. Natus Vincere removed Anubis
  7. Overpass left

The Series

Map 1 (Inferno)

NaVi started off well on Inferno winning the pistol rounds. However, NIP was quick to respond picking up the next three rounds. Till the end of the first half, things kept going back and forth. However, advantage NIP as they were up 7-8 on their own map pick. But NaVi did well to recollect themselves from the start of the second half. Five straight round wins saw them picking up frags after frags. They continued to remain untouched as they picked up their map pick 16-9.

Map 2 (Mirage)

Map 2 between NaVi vs NIP was where the real action took place. NaVi started off well picking up the first round but NIP was quick to respond. NIP’s latest recruit, headtr1ck was annihilating everyone from the start of the map. The first half ended 7-8 in favor of NIP on NaVi’s map pick. NIP continued to bulldoze over their rivals from the beginning of the second half. But NaVi did a great job at coming back later tying the score line 15-15 and heading into overtime. In overtime, NIP looked determined to pick up the map. They won the first three overtime rounds and while NaVi showed some resistance, it was too little too late! NIP picked up their fourth overtime round and won 17-19 on Mirage.

Map 3 (Overpass)

Overpass was the remaining map that both teams tried to ignore. Right off the bat, NaVi looked determined to wrap up the series in their favor. Picking up from Mirage, s1mple was reminding everyone why he was the best picking up one frag after the other. But it was not just s1mple, the entire roster looked well coordinated and flawless in terms of strategies executed. The first half ended 11-4 in favor Natus Vincere. Second half saw NIP’s efforts go in vain as NaVi continued to dominate. The map ended 16-8 in favor of electroNic’s team.

 

With NaVi vs NIP over at the Blast Premier Groups 2023, Natus Vincere walks away with a win. While it was not a walk at the park for NaVi, NIP was far behind in terms of quality of strategies executed. Talking about the IGLs, electroNic surely put in a shift but the same couldn’t be said about Aleksib. S1mple continued to be himself even though he was slow in the first half of Inferno. Well, that’s what you expect from the number one CS:GO player in the world. All aside, if there’s any positive that can be taken away from the series, it’s the two young guns- headtr1ck and npl. Both have thoroughly impressed the audience with their energetic performance. We hope to see more of that in the future!

NaVi will be facing G2 next at the Group C upper-bracket final. The two teams faced each other not too long ago in the quarter finals of ESL Pro League Season 16. G2 came out on top beating their arch-rivals 2-1 but later conceded to the champions, Team Vitality in the semi finals.

 

 

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LCK Spring 2023 Day 3 Predictions

League of Legends Korea is back with this year with more promising action than ever. LCK Spring 2023 has kicked off already with day 3 action coming today. Let’s take a look at the matchups and get some predictions rolling!

LCK Spring 2023 Day 3

The LCK Spring 2023 has kicked off earlier this week with four matches being played. T1 and DWG KIA has already picked up their first wins of the tournament. Their wins came against Gen. G and DRX respectively.

KT Rolster vs T1

Rosters

KT Rolster
  • Kim “Kiin” Gi-in (Top)
  • Moon “Cuzz” Woo-chan (Jungle)
  • Gwak “Bdd” Bo-seong (Mid)
  • Kim “Aiming” Ha-ram (Bot)
  • Park “Rebel” Geun-woo (Support)
  • Son “Lehends” Si-woo (Support)
  • Lee “PerfecT” Seung-min (Substitute Top)
T1
  • Choi “Zeus” Woo-je (Top)
  • Moon “Oner” Hyeon-joon (Jungle)
  • Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (Mid)
  • Lee “Gumaysu” Min-hyeong (Bot)
  • Ryu “Keria” Min-seok (Support)

Prediction

The first matchup of LCK Spring 2023 Day 3 is between kt Rolster and T1. KT Rolster are yet to play a match and T1 have already played and won their first match here. So, naturally they have an advantage of being warmed up already. If we resort to head-to-heads, T1 won 10 times out of the last 13 times they faced kt. The last time kt could beat T1 in a competitive match was back in 2021. KT is also in a 3-match losing streak, so the odds aren’t looking too good for them. With all of that into consideration, T1 should be picking up their second win of the tournament quite easily.

Check out more esports news at our blog!

SANDBOX vs DWG KIA

Rosters

SANDBOX
  • Noh “Burdol” Tae-yoon (Top)
  • Kim “Willer” Jeong-hyeon (Jungle)
  • Lee “Clozer” Ju-hyeon (Mid)
  • Lee “Envyy” Myeong-joon (Bot)
  • Kim “Kael” Jin-hong (Support)
DWG KIA
  • Kim “Canna” Chang-dong (Top)
  • Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu (Jungle)
  • Heo “ShowMaker” Su (Mid)
  • Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu (Bot)
  • Kim “Kellin” Hyeong-gyu (Support)

Prediction

The two teams, DWG and SANDBOX have faced each other 19 times in total. Of those 19 matches, 16 were won by DWG. However, both the teams aren’t at the best of their forms currently. Both managed to pick up only 2 wins in their last 5 matches. The last time the two faced each other was in LCK Regional Finals 2022. DWG won the series 3-1 against SANDBOX there. So, this should be a victory for DWG. Not an absolutely guaranteed one but pretty sure that will be the final outcome.

May the best teams win!

 

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HLTV Award Show 2022 Recap

CS:GO’s biggest names all gathered under one roof last night for the HLTV Award Show 2022. At the ceremony, the home of competitive Counter-Strike recognized and rewarded the biggest performers of the year. Let’s take a look at all the awards up for grabs and who went home with them!

HLTV Award Show 2022

Before we find out who won, let’s take a look at the list of awards and their nominees:

Panel awards presented by 1xBet:

  • Opener of the year (⁠NiKo⁠, stavn, YEKINDAR)
  • Closer of the year (Ax1Le, KSCERATO, ropz)
  • Anchor of the year (NAF, Perfecto, sjuush)
  • AWP of the year (sh1ro, s1mple, ZywOo⁠)
  • IGL of the year (⁠cadiaN⁠, karrigan, Jame)
  • Coach of the year (B1ad3⁠, RobbaN⁠, sAw)
  • Best five of the year

HLTV Awards presented by 1xBet:

  • Highlight of the year (m0NESY vs. MIBR, ropz vs. G2, broky⁠ vs. Astralis)
  • Rookie of the year (m0NESY, Patsi, w0nderful)
  • Women’s team of the year (Nigma Galaxy, FURIA fe, CLG Red)
  • Team of the year (FaZe, G2, Natus Vincere)
  • Women’s player of the year (ANa, Olga, vilga)
  • Player of the year

It’s safe to say that the awards have intense competition. Along with the HLTV Awards, the panel awards were presented by a star-studded committee comprising of professional players, on-air talent as well as HLTV writers.

The Award Winners

Panel Award Winners

Opener of the year: Recognizing the best entry fragger of the year, the opener of the year had to be decided between NiKo⁠, stavn and YEKINDAR. NiKo came out on top winning the first award of the night with YEKINDAR and stavn taking the second and third spot.

Closer of the year: This award recognizes a clutch player who consistently shows up on late rounds. There was little surprise that Ax1Le took this award over KSCERATO and ropz. C9’s Rifler had constantly displayed his confidence and nerves on multiple occasions throughout the year. But he was equally humble as he read out a cute little speech thanking his well-wishers after receiving the award.

Anchor of the year: Perfecto came out on top over NAF and sjuush to win the title of Anchor of the year. The NaVi representative surely showed everyone a thing or two about holding sites firmly last year.

AWP of the year: Look, let’s just cut to the chase! If we’re talking about AWPers, the first name that should come to one’s mind is s1mple. S1mple continues to dominate the scene and pick up headshots after headshots. Sh1ro and ZywOo tried but it’s just the s1mple show yet again!

IGL of the year: Three excellent leaders in the form of Cadian, Jame and Karrigan were the contenders for the IGL of the year. But leading a team to four international titles isn’t a matter of joke. And thus, Karrigan deservedly walks away with this one.

Coach of the year: The coaches of ENCE, FaZe and Natus Vincere were up for being crowned the coach of the year. NaVi’s coach, B1ad3 proudly walked away with the bragging rights.

Best five of the year: Now, this award was surely different from the rest. A team consisting of five outstanding players from the entire pool of top-flight players that made waves last year. This is how the team turned out:

  • Anchor: Perfecto
  • AWPer: S1mple
  • Closer: AX1LE
  • IGL: Karrigan
  • Opener: NiKo

Not a bad roster at all being crowned as the all-stars of HLTV Award Show 2022. Any organization wanna pick them up?

In other news: MOUZ has announced their Valorant roster for 2023!

HLTV Award Winners

Highlight of the year: No denying that there were several moments of competitive CS:GO this year that made us speechless. But m0NESY’s clutch against MIBR at BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2022 surely tops them all. Do check it out if you haven’t seen the HLTV 2022 highlight of the year:

 

Rookie of the year: m0NESY was up yet again for the Rookie of the year along with Patsi and w0nderful. The three prodigies surely turned heads and impressed us all. But it was moNESY yet again picking up another award at the show.

Women’s team of the year: It was Nigma Galaxy that dominated the women’s CS:GO circuit in 2022 picking up three titles in the process. The girls easily walked away with the women’s team of the year at the HLTV Award Show 2022.

Team of the year: For this award, the nominations were G2, FaZe Clan and Natus Vincere. FaZe absolutely dominated the entire first half of the year winning Katowice, ESLPL Season 15, Antwerp and Cologne.

Woman’s player of the year: With a phenomenal 1.39 rating, Nigma’s Ana picked up the title of woman’s player of the year. Ana led her team to securing titles throughout the year and her performance was crucial in determining the outcomes of the matches.

Player of the year: Well, this was the award many fans were waiting for. The player of the year was awarded to the one and only s1mple yet again. The Ukrainian had another year full of titles and awards. With a 1.26 rating and 2 MVPs under his belt, little argument can be made here. S1mple even opened up about wanting to take a break last year. He shared a heartfelt speech at the end:

Well, that’s it for our recap of the HLTV Award Show 2022. Let’s see which of these stars continue to dazzle in 2023. See you next time!

 

 

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MOUZ Announces Their Valorant Roster

German powerhouse, MOUZ have revealed their Valorant roster for the onset of 2023. The organization took to social media to announce details about their lineup as well as their goals for the year.

MOUZ’s Valorant Roster

Let’s take a look at the players that will be a part of the roster.

Ilari “ iluri ” Puranen (IGL)

It will be Iluri that will be leading the pack from the front. Iluri has garnered quite the experience now since he built a team last year and took them to Europe’s Tier 1. Iluri has represented quite a few teams in the past including FOKUS. His natural leadership paired with his patience will be crucial for leading MOUZ to success this year. Iluri has already expressed his ambitions this year with the team:

“I am super excited to join MOUZ along with this great lineup. Our sights are set on winning DACH and in summer rising through Ascension to VCT. I’m confident that with hard work we can make it happen!”

Nico “ Obnoks ” Garczarczyk (Controller)

Former representative of SPARX ESPORTS and BIG, Obnoks has his eyes on the prize this year. The Controller was last seen in action at the EMEA Closed Qualifiers of Red Bull Home Ground #3. Never leaving any stone unturned, the aggressive Controller will be going the extra mile to bring titles for MOUZ.

“My goals are to win the German league and reach the Ascension and qualify for the VCT 2024.”

Felix “ al0rante ” Brandl (Sentinel)

Thanks to his young blood and his willingness to learn more, MOUZ made sure to retain al0rante for 2023. Al0rante is not at all unaware of what it feels like to play at the top level, having represented Team Heretics till last year. He was a part of the MOUZ Valorant roster when they took third spot at the VRL 2022 DACH: Evolution Stage 1 in 2022. MOUZ must be confident that the young gun will continue to turn heads this year. It will be interesting to see how he fits in the new role.

Murat “ murii ” Korkmaz (Flex)

Being impressive on agents such as Breach, Cypher and KAY/O, murii will serve as the Flex for the team. Murii has already played for teams such as WAVE Esports and Dsyre in the past. In his last spell with Dsyre, he won VALORANT DACH Evolution: Unity.

Dawid “ Filu ” Czarnecki (Duelist)

Bringing in more young energy to the roster is Filu. The 18-year old is the most mechanically gifted player their coach has ever seen. That is not a surprise as he has already played for UCAM Esports Club, Case Esports and Movistar Riders.

Jiri “KUNDIKUNDI” Honkala (Coach)

Jiri Honkala, or better known as Kundikundi will serve as the coach for MOUZ’s Valorant roster. A coach with VCT experience, he previously served BIG. This is what the new coach of MOUZ Valorant had to say on his tweet:

The roster has quite a few goals in mind for this year. Their first challenge will be Challengers DACH Stage 1 beginning this weekend. A solid finish there will provide them the opportunity to qualify for the Ascension. Ascension winners qualify for the 2024 International League in their respective international territory.

 

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T1 Ranked As The Most Watched Esports Team Of 2022

2022 was a year filled with esports tournaments and events. With the top esports teams clashing against each other week in week out, it’s no secret they’ve racked in millions of hours of watch time. With that in mind, a question naturally arises- who was the most watched esports team of 2022? It was none other than the Korean powerhouse, T1! Today we’ll be finding out more about how they achieved that.

About T1

T1 (formerly known as SK Telecom T1 or SKT T1) is a South Korean professional esports organization that was founded in 2004. T1 is known for its successful teams and players in a variety of esports titles, including League of Legends, Overwatch, and Fortnite. The Korean team has won numerous championship titles in major esports tournaments, such as the League of Legends World Championship and the Overwatch League. The organization has also produced some of the most well-known and respected players in the worldwide esports scene. Of course, the first name to come to mind is Faker, who is considered one of the best League of Legends players of all time. T1 has a strong presence in the competitive gaming community and fans consider them as one of the top esports organizations in the world.

T1 finally announce their League of Legends roster for the 2022 season

The Year In Review for T1

Esports Charts recently published a rank of the most watched esports teams of 2022. T1 tops the list with a total watch time of 112.93 million hours. While that surely is a huge number, it shouldn’t come as a surprise for their fans. T1 has had a phenomenal year in 2022 as they continue to dominate the scene of League of Legends. With Faker still leading from the front, there were few that could give T1 a run for their money.

An undefeated run at the LCK Spring 2022 set the standard for the South Koreans for the rest of the year. Their 10th domestic title provided them unparalleled confidence. At the MSI 2022, T1 continued their hot winning streak. Their streak did come to an end soon though after conceding a defeat to European giants, G2 Esports. T1 did become the runners-up of the tournament though, losing the finals to Asian rivals, Royal Never Give Up. It was now time for LCK Summer 2022 and fans had hoped their team replicated their previous levels of performance. Unfortunately, that really didn’t happen. T1 faced defeats quite a few times throughout the entire tournament. Despite their rather scrappy performance, T1 still managed to appear at the grand finals. Their opponent was Gen. G who put up an impressive show throughout the Summer split. T1 succumbed to defeat failing to respond to Gen. G’s intense tactics. It was another second place finish, one that fans couldn’t complain much about.

T1 keep perfect season intact, advance to MSI 2022 rumble stage - Dot Esports

Three-time Worlds champions now showed up to the Championship to make it four. They dominated the group stage only conceding a single defeat. T1 faced back to back Asian rivals, RNG and JDG in the quarter and semifinals. Both fell prey to T1’s dominance as Faker and co. proceeded to the finals. The stage was now set for T1 vs. DRX. Fans were treated to one of the best finals in the history of League of Legends. It took all five rounds to crown a winner and it was DRX that lifted their first Worlds Championship.

Becoming The Most Watched Team of 2022

There’s quite a few reasons how T1 turned out to be the most watched esports team of 2022. Here’s a few:

  1. League of Legends had the highest peak viewership this year with 615m hours watched in total. With T1 playing all the matches of the top League of Legends tournaments this year, it’s no surprise they racked in so many hours of viewership.
  2. Who wouldn’t want to watch Faker play? Even in 2022, Faker is playing the game like he owns it. He was joined by one of the finest young talents of the year that is Zeus. Fans poured in to watch the two play and create magic together.
  3. The growing popularity of LCK also had quite the role to play. With an airtime of over 300 hours, viewers watched 74m hours of the LCK this year alone.

How about the other teams?

With T1 taking the top spot, it was Mobile Legends: Bang Bang team, RRQ Hoshi that took the second spot. In 2022, matches with its participation generated 88.2m hours watched which is 30% more than last year. Third on the list was none other than Natus Vincere which is the first CS:GO team to be featured on the list.

The next four spots on the list were taken by new entrants DRX, FaZe Clan, ONIC and Gen. G. EVOS is another MLBB team to be featured on the list with G2 and DWG featuring next. DWG dropped 9 spots in the list than before.

Well, there you have the most watched esports team of 2022. It’s yet another W for T1 and their fans are surely ending the year on a high!

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IEM Rio Major 2022 Quarterfinals Predictions

We have finally stepped into the Champions Stage of IEM Rio Major 2022. With only 8 teams remaining, the quarterfinals will commence from tomorrow. Let’s check out the top 8 teams and present our predictions of the IEM Rio 2022 Quarterfinals!

IEM Rio 2022 Quarterfinals

Top 8 Teams

Here are the top 8 teams of IEM Rio 2022 Quarterfinals:

  • Cloud9
  • MOUZ
  • Fnatic
  • Outsiders
  • Heroic
  • Team Spirit
  • Natus Vincere
  • FURIA Esports

IEM Rio 2022 Quarterfinals Predictions

As we can already see, there are an abundance of big names among the top teams this season. It’s gonna be tough to pick up the victors in all of the matchups but here we go with our IEM Rio quarterfinals predictions:

Fnatic vs Outsiders

We have Fnatic vs Outsiders as the first series of the quarterfinals. And this should be a good one! Both the teams have had a similar form throughout this tournament so far. However, Outsiders picked up a two-map win over Fnatic last week. Fnatic would definitely want to take revenge for their earlier loss but it’ll be tough. It seems like Outsiders will be picking up another win over Fnatic but it might be a close one.

Cloud9 vs MOUZ

The second match of day 1 of the quarterfinals see Cloud9 facing MOUZ. The two teams had very different starts to the tournament. MOUZ were table toppers during the Challengers Stage picking up consecutive wins against Outsiders, Evil Geniuses and Fnatic. However, they couldn’t replicate the dominance in the Legends Stage losing against BIG and Outsiders. On the other hand, Cloud9 started off sloppy losing against Fnatic and Grayhound in their two opening matches. Over time, they regained their form and now look to dominate MOUZ.

Cloud9 should be the easy favorites to win the series here. We know how good they are on maps like Overpass and Mirage where they have far better winrates than MOUZ. MOUZ always tries to ignore Dust2, so if C9 picks that up then it will be game over then and there. So, we’re siding with Cloud9 as the clear favorite here.

Heroic vs Team Spirit

Heroic vs Team Spirit could go either way. Both the teams have displayed some amazing Counter-Strike in this tournament. Heroic’s wins over Fnatic, Outsiders, and Team Liquid have impressed the crowd quite a bit despite being annihilated by C9. Team Spirit did pick up a well-deserved win against Liquid but losses against FURIA and Outsiders were uncalled for.

This matchup will boil down to the map picks and bans. If Heroic gets both Nuke and Overpass in their favor, they should be picking up this series. This series should be an amazing matchup!

Natus Vincere vs FURIA Esports

FURIA, overall, have had a better performance at IEM Rio thus far. They won all of their Legends Stage matches against ENCE, Team Spirit and BIG. Including those three, FURA have won six consecutive matches. With all of that in mind, Natus Vincere is surely in trouble. They started off the tournament on the wrong foot losing against Cloud9 and Team Liquid. With current form in consideration, we don’t see NaVi making it out alive. FURIA just might get the best of them this time around especially with yuurih in such great form.

So, what do you make of our IEM Rio quarterfinals predictions? May the odds be in your favor!

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A Comprehensive Guide to FUT Trading

No matter how much FIFA fans love playing FIFA Ultimate Team, it really is a chore. The constant grind to improve your team and trying to earn more coins just to do that is a lot of work. This is why coin traders get quite an upper hand on Ultimate Team. We know getting started with trading seems complex for most beginners. For that, today Gamopo brings you our comprehensive guide to FUT Trading.

What is FUT Trading?

FUT Trading is the process of making more coins by trading and/or investing on certain FUT cards available on the market. Prices of cards fluctuate over certain time periods- over weeks and even on a single day. The basic idea of trading is simple, you buy a card at its lowest possible price and sell it when it becomes high again. Now this may sound really simple, but there is a lot to learn here. There are multiple ways to trade cards on FIFA Ultimate Team. Today we’re gonna take a look at the most popular forms of trading.

Investing

The first lesson in our comprehensive guide on FUT trading is investing. True to the definition itself, investing is buying and holding a card for a long period of time waiting for its price to increase. But how can we predict that? Well, a card’s price may increase over time for quite a few reasons. But the most common reason is when a card has demand and it goes out of packs (or OOP, in short) soon. Let us take a look at Seko Fofana’s In-Form card that was released during TOTW2.

Seko Fofana's price increase on Futbin

By monitoring his price chart on Futbin, you can see that his price slowly started to increase near the time he went out of packs. The optimal time of selling was on 5th October, the day the next TOTW was released. So, if you bought In-Form Fofana a few days earlier, you could have made a few thousand coins in profit. This is how investments work and this type of investing is known as TOTW investing.

OTW Investing

There’s another form of investing known as OTW (Ones To Watch) investing. This type of investments are made with OTW cards. The specialty about this card is that the rating increases based on the performance on the player as well as his team. So, it is a good idea to buy OTW cards at fair prices a few days before the player’s team plays. You can sell the card right before the match of the team or risk selling later. When you risk selling later, you’re assuming that the team of the player you’ve invested in will win. Basically, it’s high risk, high reward.

Marquee Matchups Investing

Marquee Matchups is a regular SBC that goes live every Thursday. It is a collection of SBCs of the week’s most hyped matches. Usually, in those SBCs, the solutions ask for players from certain teams such as Bayern Munich, FC Barcelona or Manchester United. The idea is that you predict the matches that the next Marquee Matchups will feature. Accordingly, you will pick up a few cards of those very teams. You can either sell those cards right before the Marquee Matchups is released or risk selling right after. If the predictions are right, you can sell those cards for quite a profit an hour or two after the release.

Marquee Matchups

Sniping

Sniping is a term you may have often come across on Ultimate Team. Throughout the day, players often sell good cards for incredibly low prices on the transfer market. The idea is that you keep searching the market to get those deals. This can be done using specific filters and you keep changing your bid price every search. However, the drawback is that you have to have incredibly good reflexes to pick up those cards. More often than not, someone else will pick up those cards instead of you.

Mass Bidding

Mass Bidding is the art of bidding on multiples of the same card. The idea is that you pick up a few cards by bidding around 10% less than the buy now price. When you bid on multiples of the same card, you’re guaranteed to pick up at least a few. You can then sell these off for a quick flip or keep them to sell later. Mass Bidding works on pretty much every FUT card. You just need some luck to get great deals on cards.

The idea is to trade by having a proper mix of investments and quick flips. That way you minimize a lot of the risks by having a diverse portfolio of cards. We wish you the best of luck for your trading journey on FIFA 23. And of course, may the pack luck be in your favor!

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Team Vitality Are Your EPL Season 16 Champions

It all began in August when 24 teams gathered at ESL Pro League Season 16. The stakes couldn’t get higher with not only $200k on the line but also direct qualification for BLAST World Final 2022 as well as IEM Katowice 2023. After weeks of relentless hard work and a determination to pick up the title, Team Vitality are the unbeaten champions of ESL Season 16.

Roster

Dan “apEX” Madesclaire (IGL)

Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut

Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen

Emil “Magisk” Reif

Lotan “Spinx” Giladi

Team Vitality’s Road To Becoming Champions

Group Stage

Team Vitality started off in Group A along with the likes of Fnatic, Natus Vincere, Team Spirit, NIP and Endpoint. Fair to say that were already paired up with some tough teams but they passed the group stage with flying colors. Vitality easily picked up wins on all five of their group stage encounters conceding a map each to only Natus Vincere and Fnatic. Thanks to their top spot in Group A, they directly qualified for the quarterfinals.

Playoffs

In the quarterfinals, Vitality faced The Outsiders who beat FURIA 2-1 to make it there. The Outsiders showed some resistance by forcing the second map into overtime but Vitality seemed to be too strong. Vitality won the series 2-0 and went on to the semifinals against G2. Team Vitality absolutely bulldozed over G2 on Mirage and picked up Inferno in overtime to make it to the finals. It was now only Team Liquid in between Team Vitality and a shot at becoming champions.

The Finals

This is how the best of 5 series went down in the grand finals between Team Liquid and Team Vitality.

Map Picks & Bans
  • Liquid removed Nuke
  • Vitality removed Ancient
  • Liquid picked Inferno
  • Vitality picked Dust2
  • Liquid picked Mirage
  • Vitality picked Overpass
  • Vertigo was left over
Map 1 (Inferno)

Inferno was the first playground selected by Team Liquid. Liquid started off their map pick just the way they envisioned it by winning the first five rounds straight. The boys from NA dominated the first map finishing the first half ahead by 10-5. The second half started in their favor as well as they won the two pistol rounds. At this point, Team Vitality could do very little to turn the match around. And so, the first map was won 16-7 by Team Liquid.

Map 2 (Dust2)

It was time for Team Vitality to respond on the classic Dust2. But Liquid picked up the pistols on Dust2 as well. But Team Vitality responded well as they won five rounds straight to overtake their opponents. Some back and forth was witnessed but the first half ended in the favor of Team Vitality. From the start of the second half, Vitality seemed to be invincible. They only lost one round to pick up the map quick winning 16-7 on Dust2.

Map 3 (Mirage)

It was Team Liquid’s second map which seemed have been Vitality’s. Team Vitality picked up both the pistols and wreaked havoc in the first half on Mirage. They won 11 out of the 15 rounds in the first half and left little room to breath for Team Liquid. Disaster struck when Team Vitality was least expecting it. Liquid recollected themselves in the second half and kept picking up rounds, including some sweet site retakes. They managed to get on level with Vitality and force the map into an overtime. In overtime, both the teams were going back and forth. Thanks to the relentlessness of the two teams, we witnessed not one, not two, neither three but six excruciating overtimes. In the end, Team Liquid won on Mirage with a staggering 25-21 scoreline.

Map 4 (Overpass)

Vitality’s pick of Overpass started off the best possible way for them. They were dominant from the get go winning the first six rounds. But Team Liquid imitated the same and leveled the scores 6-6. The first half ended barely in favor of Team Liquid at 8-7. In the second half, the map kept going back and fourth with both teams picking up consecutive rounds. With the score settling at 15-15, it was time for yet again another overtime. Team Vitality couldn’t let this overtime slip as well and they did not. The overtime ended 19-17 in favor of Vitality and we were down for the final map which was Vertigo.

Map 5 (Vertigo)

Vertigo was the final map and the decider for who gets crowned the champion. Team Vitality put their game faces on and made the best start on any map of the finals. They won 8 straight rounds without flinching even a bit. Team Liquid managed to pick up a few rounds in the first half but still it finished 10-5 in favor of Vitality. Vitality made sure to win the pistol rounds in the second half as well. Liquid showed effort to make a comeback but it was too little, too late. Vitality picked up three rounds straight and won the map 16-11. And with that, they are now the undisputable champions of ESL Pro League Season 16.

 

There’s very few that can say that Team Vitality doesn’t deserving becoming the champions of ESL Pro League Season 16. But the show’s not over yet for the Road To Rio starts soon!

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ESL Pro League Season 16 Quarterfinals Day 1

We are over and done with the Round of 12 of ESL Pro League Season 16. From 29th September, the quarterfinals are to commence. Let’s find out who made it to the ESL quarterfinals and also get some predictions rolling!

Quarterfinals Teams

  • Cloud9
  • FaZe Clan
  • MOUZ
  • Team Liquid
  • G2 Esports
  • Natus Vincere
  • Team Vitality
  • Outsiders

ESL Quarterfinals Day 1 Predictions

Cloud9 vs FaZe Clan

The OG Counter-Strike fans will never forget the ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018 final between C9 and FaZe. It might not be as grand this time around but is a game to watch out for nonetheless. Cloud9 is in a pretty hot form if we take out the last series against Team Liquid on the last day of Group D. They have won the rest of their four group matches. FaZe Clan didn’t start as impressively, however. They lost only to G2 in the group stage but picked up a scrappy win over Complexity in the Round of 12.

The two teams have met each other four times this season. Cloud9 picked up the last win and the first three were won by FaZe. The last meeting was in July and to be fair, FaZe’s form dipped quite a bit after that. On the other hand, Cloud9 seemed to get better as they kept playing during the group stage. With that being said, it’s really tough to pick a winner here but we’re going for a 2-1 win for Cloud9.

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MOUZ vs Team Liquid

Team Liquid have barely made it to the playoffs at ESL Pro League Season 16. However, an impressive victory over Fnatic in the Round of 12 has given the team some much needed momentum. Topping Group C, MOUZ have definitely impressed the crowd as they look to make it through the quarterfinals of ESL.

This series could really go either way. Team Liquid looks to have recovered from their form during the group stage. Despite MOUZ having a better form in the tournament, Liquid’s experience might prove to be the victor. Our guts say that it will turn out to be a 2-1 win in favor of Team Liquid.

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Eternal Fire Onto Finals Of TWR Eastern European Masters

We’re at the closing stage of the TWR Eastern European Masters. After a close best of 3 series between MOUZ and Eternal Fire, Eternal Fire reaches the final of the competition. They will be going up against Sinners Esports in the grand final.

MOUZ vs Eternal Fire

Rosters

MOUZ

  • Christopher “dexter” Nong (IGL)
  • David “frozen” Čerňanský
  • Ádám “torzsi” Torzsás
  • Jon “JDC” de Castro
  • Dorian “xertioN” Berman

Eternal Fire

  • Engin “MAJ3R” Küpeli
  • Ahmet “paz” Karahoca
  • İsmailcan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş
  • Özgür “woxic” Eker
  • Ömer “imoRR” Karataş

Map Picks and Bans

  • Eternal Fire removed Ancient
  • MOUZ removed Dust2
  • Eternal Fire picked Vertigo
  • MOUZ picked Mirage
  • Eternal Fire removed Overpass
  • MOUZ removed Inferno
  • Nuke left

The Series

Map 1 (Vertigo)

Vertigo was the first playground of the semifinals of TWR Eastern European Masters between MOUZ and Eternal Fire. Vertigo was Eternal Fire’s first pick but it was MOUZ that started it off on the right foot on defense picking up the pistols. But Eternal Fire showed why it was their pick as they responded right after. They got the plant down multiple times and ended the first half 10-5 in their favor. In the second half, MOUZ responded quite well picking up the first four rounds. But Eternal Fire didn’t take long to pick up the map as it finished 16-12 in their favor. XANTARES was the top fragger of the first map with 26 kills.

Map 2 (Mirage)

It was now MOUZ’s turn to respond with their pick of Mirage. Eternal Fire started off MOUZ’s map pick their way destroying everyone in their path the first four rounds. MOUZ tried to comeback into the half but failed to do so. Eternal Fire was absolutely flawless at picking up kills ending the first half 9-6. Eternal Fire started off the second half smoothly as well and it seemed to be a matter of time till they win the series. They were up 12-6 but the unthinkable happened right after. MOUZ managed to successfully defuse the bomb in round 19 and they just didn’t stop from there. MOUZ picked up nine straight rounds without flinching once to come back and win the map 16-13.

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Map 3 (Nuke)

It was MOUZ again that started off Eternal Fire’s map pick the right way. They won the first three rounds on Nuke with ease. Eternal Fire couldn’t manage to get a hold of the first half at any cost. They managed to get plants down but conceded to MOUZ’s defuses. MOUZ led the first half 11-4. Eternal Fire started off the second half well winning the first pistol and forcing MOUZ to go for a save. Including the two pistols, Eternal Fire won four straight rounds hoping to force a comeback. And soon, they did force the scoreline to go even at 13-13. With some back and forth, the series was forced to feature it’s first overtime. In overtime, Eternal Fire won four of the six rounds to pick up the series and a spot at the finals of TWR Eastern European Masters.

Eternal Fire will now be going up against Sinners Esports in the grand final. Both of the teams started in two different groups in this tournament. Ironically, both of these teams finished as the runners up of their respective groups. Only a matter of time now before we can find out who gets a spot at Blast Premier Showdown from the finals!

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