Counter-Strike 2 News

Steel retires from CS:GO, will stream Valorant full-time for Chaos

Valorant's recent online competitions have really shone a light on the game's growing professional scene, and it looks like another Counter-Strike: Global Offensive veteran is set to join the Riot Games ranks. Joshua 'steel' Nissan, who was handed a lifetime ban from all Valve events following his role in the iBUYPOWER match-fixing scandal of 2014, has stepped down from the Chaos CS:GO roster to pursue a Valorant career.

First reported by DBLTAP and HLTV, steel has moved to a full-time Valorant content creator position inside Chaos and will reportedly be replaced on the CS:GO lineup by free agent Edgar 'MarKe' Maldonado. The news comes just as Chaos enters the top 20 of the HLTV world rankings for the first time.

"Even at the best of times change is constant. Coming off of our recent success, Josh 'steel' Nissan will be transitioning to streaming full-time as a content creator focused on Valorant within the organization," the official Chaos statement reads. "In his time with us Josh has helped build something special with our CS:GO roster, and we want to honor his wishes to let him take time to figure out what is next for him in his competitive career."

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Pusha T and Logic's CS:GO team withdrew from an ESL One match to highlight protests against police brutality

Chaos Esports Club, the esports organisation part-owned by rappers Pusha T and Logic, withdrew from a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive match this week to highlight ongoing protests against police brutality in the United States.

Chaos Esports was scheduled to be facing Team Liquid in the ESL One Cologne 2020 tournament on Thursday, August 27, but instead backed out in solidarity with protesters who are standing against racial inequality and unfair policing. The announcement was made via an Instragram post from Pusha T, in which he briefly explains the decision.

"Now is not the time for games. We are mad. We are exhausted. We know that gaming is part of the problem," Pusha's post reads. "We will not be competing in today's ESL One Cologne 2020 match against Team Liquid in order to do our part to move the light where it belongs - on the protests against this country's continued systemic racism and police brutality." The match was rescheduled and took place the following day, Friday, August 28. In a follow-up post, Pusha T stated Creme, his boutique clothing store in Philadelphia, will be closed until August 31, with a list of victims of violent policing and the words "Be the change".

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Chaos postpones ESL One semifinal in solidarity with anti-racism protests

In solidarity with the ongoing protests against racism in the US and the player boycott of the NBA, the first semi final of ESL One Cologne has been postponed. Several baseball games have also been postponed as the world takes time to reflect on the most recent atrocities, include the police shooting unarmed Black man Jacob Blake in the back, and 17-year-old white man Kyle Rittenhouse being arrested for two counts of murder against BLM protestors.

Team Chaos is understood to have initiated the postponement, with Team Liquid agreeing to the proposal in order to highlight the systemic racism and police brutality within American society. In a statement explaining the decision, Chaos also threw a spotlight on gaming's role in maintaining racism.

"Now is not the time for games," Chaos says on Twitter, "We are mad. We are exhausted. We know that gaming is part of the problem." Liquids' statement followed shortly after, in which the organisation said it supports the decision.

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NiKo tells CS:GO fans he's had "enough with the hate" on FaZe Clan

Just hours after being eliminated from ESL One Cologne, FaZe Clan's in-game leader, Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač has hit back at trolls arguing about his team's performance online.

The comments come just three weeks after the team signed Danish superstar Markus 'Kjaerbye' Kjærbye. While some fans appreciate the team is going through an adjustment phase with the ex-North man, some have taken to airing their frustrations online, especially after FaZe were knocked out by Team Vitality yesterday afternoon. But it appears NiKo has had enough.

"Enough with the hate on my team and Kjaerbye," his recent tweet reads. "We had five days of practice and we nearly won against number 2 team in the world who has been bootcamping for weeks. Give us some time to work on our mistakes before judging, we are doing everything we can to improve asap."

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Lekr0 completes North's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster

Jonas 'Lekr0' Olofsson has signed for North's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team, completing its five person roster. North has previously indicated wanting to remain a Scandinavian team regardless of progress made elsewhere, and the signing of the Swede only compounds that ambition.

Lekr0 has previously played for GODSENT, fnatic, and Ninjas in Pyjamas, but North has already indicated his role may be changing this time around. Graham Pitt, North's head of esports operations, says "Lekr0 isn't going to continue his previous role of in-game leader, but will use his experience to assist with tactical input both pre and mid game, bringing us an additional edge we lacked previously."

This tweak to Lekr0's role will see him entry fragging on the T side alongside anchoring bombsites on the CT side; Lekr0's preferred role in a CS:GO squad and one which takes him back to his original playstyle. Only time will tell how effective this revert will be for Lekr0, but he'll have to get used to it quickly.

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