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Blog entry by Taylah Killian

League of Legends ' Kennen hails from the Ionian Isles where Order, Chaos, Light, and Darkness must exist in perfect harmony within the Kinkou order. Kennen is a shadow warrior who seeks the justice of the Kinkou and is entrusted with the sacred duty of Coursing the

Long-standing G2 Esports mid laner Luka "PerkZ" Perković took the _ League of Legends _ world by storm in 2019. Prior to this year's season, G2 announced their addition of former Fnatic mid laner Rasmus "Caps" Winther. As a result, PerkZ moved to the AD carry position. The risky move left many wondering where the team was headed, though G2 came out the other side even stronger than before. With PerkZ as their carry, G2 won LEC Spring after topping the regular season’s leaderboard. They next attended the Mid-Season Invitational, where they took down Korean powerhouse SK Telecom T1 and destroyed North American side Team Liquid to take the cr

But it’s mostly a farce. Those who play the most popular games at the highest level get all the limelight and all the cash. For everyone else, streaming—where personality trumps skill—is the only way to make money from gaming. If the community stays as segmented and hastily constructed as it is, it’s tough to imagine esports becoming anything better than what it already is. If you’re happy with the current state of esports, good for you. But for someone who wants a more entertaining and structured esports community, something has to cha

The goal of each match is simple and draws from core idea of League of Legends , where two players face off to take the opposing Nexus down to zero from 20 health. Each player has an initial drawing of cards and a single mulligan phase like Hearthstone, and like that game, the mana pool grows each turn so there is no need to worry about mana or land managem

San Francisco Shock star Jay "sinatraa" Won took over the _ Overwatch _ League in 2019. Remaining consistent through meta and rule changes, the 19-year-old damage player earned his spot on everyone’s _ Overwatch _ radar. The San Francisco Shock reached the Grand Final of each Overwatch League stage in Season 2, and won stage 2 over the Vancouver Titans. Once in the postseason play-offs, the Shock suffered an unexpected early loss to Atlanta Reign. Led by sinatraa, the team went on an incredible lower bracket run to the Grand Final. Their dominance continued in the Final, where Shock came out victorious with a 4-0 scoreline. Along with the _ Overwatch _ League, sinatraa aided Team USA in a victory at the _ Overwatch _ World Cup. Sinatraa was named the MVP of both the _ Overwatch _ League and the _ Overwatch _ World Cup. The standards the 19-year-old set this year will live on in _ Overwatch _ ’s esports hist

_ Counter-Strike _ ’s Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut made a splash in 2019, lighting up scoreboards with a consistent form that rivals the game’s best historic talents. The 19-year-old star debuted with Vitality in late 2018, and immediately turned heads as the newest French star. Following in the footsteps of legendary AWPer Kenny "kennyS" Schrub, ZywOo took over every server he played on . In 2019 alone, ZywOo lifted trophies at cs_summit 4, the ECS Season 7 Finals, and EPICENTER 2019, earning the MVP accolade at each event. Vitality also reached the Grand Finals of ESL One Cologne and DreamHack Masters Malmö, and, despite losses, the teenager was named MVP of both tournaments. ZywOo boasts staggering statistics, having maintained a 1.31 rating for big LAN events in 2019. His consistent performances this year place him among _ Counter-Strike _ ’s very best, and this is only the beginning of his car

DOTA2 's hero pool is full of counters and somewhat well-balanced heroes. Each patch usually introduces pretty major changes to the game, but players are never tied to a certain meta. Because the game isn't just decided on meta heroes but micro-level plays, items, builds and such, you can successfully run almost any composit

For instance, winning nine rounds in a row will give you three gold and if you successfully beat the creep rounds you get to pick the item that you want instead of relying on the gods of RNG to save you. Losses aren’t the end of the world, but winning is how you, you know,

At the end of the day, esports is still relatively new. In the current state of things, most games are simply not worth watching. However, that may change. The most popular games will likely develop more polished ways of conducting business, acting as their own miniature industries. As a result, better coverage for games will take some time to arrive, with bigger titles leading the

Most of your gold will go towards scooping up heroes you plan on upgrading down the road. If you can swing it, having upgraded heroes in the early rounds is a great way to win and give yourself an early e

As 2019 comes to a close, esports fans are left to reflect on the best competitive moments of the past year. Jaw-dropping plays, unbelievable tournament runs, Moba Guides and shocking levels of consistency from the world’s best players. Five of the biggest esports titles saw their biggest talents rise to the top, taking their rightful places as some of the best players in the wo