Counter-Strike 2 News

CS:GO will hold its first LAN tournament in six months in December

For the bulk of the year, in-person esports events have been off the table, with tournament organisers scrambling to set up online events to take the place of LAN-based on-site events. ESL has announced that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will return to LAN format for the IEM Global Challenge this December to crown this year's champion in the multiplayer game.

The Intel Extreme Masters Global Challenge is slated for December 15-20, and will take place in Cologne, Germany. The tournament will feature the top eight teams from IEM New York 2020, IEM Beijing-Haidian 2020, and DreamHack Open Fall 2020, all competing for a chance at an Intel Grand Slam and a slice of a $500,000 USD purse.

Those qualifying events will still be held online. IEM New York is set for October 6-25, the DreamHack Open will run October 15-25, and the IEM Beijing-Haidian tournament will pit the winners of IEM NY and DreamHack against each other November 6-22. Each step along the way is another chance at qualifying for the Global Challenge and a cash prize.

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Counter-Strike: Global Offensive update for 17 September 2020

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Dignitas benches CS:GO stars GeT_RiGhT and Xizt

Dignitas has dropped veteran Counter-Strike duo Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT⁠' Alesund and Richard 'Xizt⁠' Landström from its starting roster after a string of poor performances.

The two Swedes, who were both long-serving members of Ninjas In Pyjama's iconic CS:GO roster before reuniting at Dignitas, have been benched because "recent results have failed to live up to fans' expectations," according to a statement from the organisation. Dignitas also says news on the two players' replacements would be shared "early next week."

In a tweet of his own, GeT_RiGhT expresses his agreement with Dignitas' "correct decision" and admits that he had been weighing up his future with the team for some time due to his health conditions. While GeT_RiGhT was one of the world's greatest and most successful players in the mid 2010s, tournament wins have been few and far between for the 30-year-old in recent years.

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Nawwk takes medical leave from Ninja in Pyjamas' CS:GO roster

Despite the ongoing global pandemic, professional CS:GO players haven't had a moment's rest thanks to online tournaments. The CS:GO community recently saw the effects of exhaustion when Lukas 'gla1ve' Rossander and Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth decided to step down from the Astralis starting lineup, with gla1ve in particular citing burnout and stress symptoms. Ninjas in Pyjamas has now made the decision to place Tim 'nawwk' Jonasson on medical leave for the rest of ESL Pro League.

The reason for nawwk's medical leave has not been officially disclosed by NiP, though Jonas Gundersen, NiP's chief operating officer, was quick to dispel any rumours of burnout. When Astralis star, Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen suggested nawwk was suffering from burnout on Twitter, Gundersen responded with this: "Just for the record: Burnout is mentioned nowhere. Exhaustion can be many things, whereas burnout is an entirely different topic."

By placing nawwk on medical leave, NiP hopes to avoid further problems in the future by ensuring he is able to recover before any big events. It looks like NiP want to have nawwk back in the team for the next RMR tournament, though there is no telling when that will happen. Last week, Valve and ESL officially cancelled the Rio 2020 CS:GO Major which was set to take place in November.

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Origen rebrands to Astralis, xPeke steps back

Astralis Group has decided to merge the branding of all its esports teams to coincide with its most famous and successful squad, the Astralis CS:GO team.

The name, iconic logo, and 'To the stars' slogan of Astralis will now be adopted by the group's two other teams: LEC League of Legends team Origen and the Future FC FIFA esports brand. Astralis Group has always tried to keep its three esports brands separate and leave the Astralis title exclusively for the CS:GO team that made it such a recognisable name. This change of strategy will now see the FIFA and LoL divisions utilising Astralis' power as a brand.

Astralis Group announced the news with a rousing video on social media and a statement on its website, in which CEO Anders Hørsholt says that the merger will now position Astralis "as one of the biggest esports brands in Europe and a major global player."

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