Hyun Baek, Author at Master Mazuma™ Blog

Spotlight: Cloud9 CS:GO eSports

Cloud9 made history this weekend by becoming the first North American team to win a CS:GO Major. The underdog team made an incredible run through the ELEAGUE Major Boston, right in front of their home crowd. After being down 0-2 in pools and on the verge of being eliminated, Cloud9 stepped up their game. Virtus.pro, Astralis and Vega Squadron were defeated to qualify for the playoffs. The Americans beat G2 and SK (#1 ranked team in the world) to reach the finals against FaZe.

Breathtaking Finals

Cloud9’s map pick Mirage went to FaZe, the heavy favourites. Cloud9 however struck back and dominated FaZe’s map pick Overpass. Skadoodle’s skills with the AWP gained him the top rating in both games. The final game on Inferno became one of the most nerve wracking games in CS:GO history. FaZe got to match point with a 15-11 score. Cloud9 managed to tie Faze 15-15 to force Overtime.

First Overtime ended 3-3 with a clutch double kill by GuardiaN to save the final round. Cloud9 however dominated the second Overtime 3-1 on the back of their leader Tarik. The Boston crowd went wild as their American team finally lifted the trophy. The Major reached a record breaking peak of 1,8 million viewers online.

Cloud9’s Stars

Cloud9’s members weren’t part of the most elite CS:GO players before. A team like FaZe fielded four top 20 players of 2017. Cloud9 also didn’t have much success against the top teams before. Yet everything came together this tournament.

Longest lasting member of Cloud9 is Skadoodle. His quick and aggressive snipes with the AWP gained him the title of best sniper of the tournament. Skadoodle had to wait five years to finally gain his first big success at the Major.

Stewie2K is the entry fragger and secondary AWPer of the team. Although he is one of the newest professional players, Stewie already got multiple tournament MVP awards in 2017. He single handedly defended the B bomb site on Inferno against the entire FaZe team.

Autimatic is regarded the the most versatile player in Cloud9. He currently plays as a lurker, one of the most dangerous roles in the game. He’s shown that he is even capable of taking over the leader position if necessary.

RUSH left his team OpTic Gaming together with Tarik to join Cloud9. OpTic fell apart after their departure and the two received heavy criticism. RUSH is one of Cloud9’s staple players and always in the thick of battle.

Team leader Tarik was crowned MVP of the Major. His CS:GO career started as a streamer on Twitch. He streamed his funny antics from his closet at home. Tarik is originally the entry-fragger of the team, which means he plays aggressively and goes in first. Tarik slowly evolved from a solo player to a real team player. He took up the role as in-game leader for Cloud9 and put together a Major-winning team.

Cloud9 looks like a new top tier contender in CS:GO. In 2018 they will need to show that their victory wasn’t a fluke. Make sure to follow eSports and make money on mastermazuma.com.

eSports gaming back in action!

It was another week of awesome eSports action as we finally exit the off season. This week featured major tournaments in CS:GO, Dota 2, Hearthstone and Super Smash Bros. Meanwhile, the main leagues in Overwatch, League of Legends, StarCraft 2 and Heroes of the Storm are in full swing. Get in on the gaming action on Master Mazuma!

CS:GO ELEAGUE Major: Boston

CS:GO kicked off its season with the first Major. The Majors are held twice per year and provide a prize pool of 1 million dollars. The group stage saw G2 Gaming and FaZe Clan both going 3-0 in matches and qualifying for the playoffs. FaZe notably took down SK Gaming 16-12 with a dominating Terrorist side. SK misses Boltz this tournament and plays with stand-in Felps instead. Astralis and Virtus.pro are the disappointments of the group stage. Astralis barely managed to win a single match, while Virtus.pro got knocked out with three desperate losses. Next week are the playoffs. The matchups are FaZe versus mousesports, Na’Vi versus Quantum Bellator Fire, G2 versus Cloud9 and finally SK versus Fnatic. Throw out your predictions on Master Mazuma!

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive ELEAGUE Major Boston — ELEAGUE Major Boston is in full swing.

Hearthstone World Championship

Hearthstone wrapped up the 2017 season with the 1 million dollar World Championship. All the top finishers from the Spring, Summer and Winter Championship were in attendance, including the favourite Surrender. The top decks were without a doubt Raza Priest and Cube Warlock. Especially Warlock was banned in almost every game. The Taiwanese player Tom60229 defeated Surrender and Fr0zen to claim the prestigious title of world champion.

Dota 2 Galaxy Battles II

Another $500,000 was distributed in Dota’s Galaxy Battles II. EG and VGJ.Thunder made it to the finals over OG, TNC and Team Spirit. EG had defeated VGJ.T in Winner’s Finals. The American team rotated its cores Arteezy, Fear and SumaiL around the different lanes, with even Fear playing mid. VGJ.T however made their adjustments and swept EG 3-0 in the finals, including a thrilling 73 minute game 2.

Super Smash Bros. Genesis 5

A huge upset this weekend at Genesis in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Rising star Plup defeated the God players Mew2King, Mang0, Armada and Hungrybox to win Genesis 5. The finals against Hungrybox was hard fought: Hungrybox won the first set in a dominating quick 3-0 before Plup turned the tables in the second set. A close 3-2 victory for Plup completed his first gaming supermajor victory ever.

Super Smash Bros. Melee Genesis 5 — Hungrybox congratulates Plup after his Genesis victory.

eSports leagues

League of Legends resumed its regular season with LCS, LCK and LPL as main events. TSM notably dropped to rock bottom with losses against Team Liquid and FlyQuest. Korean juggernaut SK Telecom T1 seems to become more mediocre by the week. The team lost to Jin Air Green Wings. Star player Faker may need to find new teammates soon.

The Overwatch League completed its second week. Seoul Dynasty proved its dominance again with 4-0 victories over Florida Mayhem and Boston Uprising. New York Excelsior kept up with a 3-0 and 4-0 over both Los Angeles teams Valiant and Gladiators. Seoul and New York are set to play each other next week for the number 1 spot in the league. Expect the highest level of Overwatch gameplay ever.

The GSL once again proved its status as the hardest StarCraft 2 league. Canadian player NoRegreT looked to prove himself in Korea but was quickly eliminated in last place. GSL regulars soO, Zest, TY and GuMiho prevented any upsets and all advanced to the round of 16. soO and TY especially looked unstoppable and didn’t drop a map.

The first week of the Heroes of the Storm Global Championship Phase 1 had few surprises. Top teams like Ballistix, Tempest, Fnatic, Dignitas and Tempo Storm all won their first matches. Tempest even defeated the world champion KSV Black (formerly MVP Black) 3-0.

Overwatch League has started!

The brand new Overwatch League has officially kicked off. And what a start it was, featuring the classic rivalry between Dallas Fuel (formerly EnVyUs) and Seoul Dynasty (formerly Lunatic-Hai). West versus East. The League seems successful in its efforts to make Overwatch one of the top eSports and to increase professionalism in eSports.

Most professional eSports ever

The first season of Overwatch League features 12 teams, which each paid $20 million for their spot. The League aims to emulate professional sports leagues like the NBA, MLB and NFL. Each team represents a city – Dallas, Seoul, Shanghai etc. The teams play their Season 1 games in Los Angeles, but future seasons will see home and away games. The players receive minimum salaries of $50,000, housing, health insurance, retirement savings and more. eSports has never seen such a professional league before.

The highly anticipated start of the League attracted over 400,000 viewers on Twitch. Twitch paid over $90 million for exclusive broadcasting rights for Overwatch League. Expect exclusive virtual merchandise coming soon to your Overwatch streams.

West vs East

Dallas Fuel versus Seoul Dynasty turned out to be a classic power struggle between West and East. The American team took the lead on Junkertown. The second map, Temple of Anubis, was a tight race. The Koreans ended up winning 6-5 in the best game of the week. Seoul closed it out with a win on Ilios and a draw on Numbani. Munchkin’s Tracer was the MVP as he created chaos and disrupted Dallas’ strategy.

Seoul Dynasty and London Spitfire were the big favourites in the league and both delivered. New York Excelsior and the big surprise Los Angeles Valiant managed to keep up with 2-0 scores. LA Valiant has a tough upcoming week. They play against top teams New York Excelsior and London Spitfire.

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Speedrunning event AGDQ 2018 has begun!

Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ) kicked off last Sunday from Herndon, Virginia. AGDQ is an annual event featuring top speedrunners from around the world. The speedrunners play in a week-long marathon of 130 hours, covering dozens of games. The event raises millions of dollars for charity each year. AGDQ has raised over $6.6 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation since 2011.

Speedrunning is the sport of beating a videogame as quickly as possible. You might have raced your friends to see who can finish the game the quickest. Speedrunners take this competition to the next level. They’ll use obscure tricks or glitches to gain any advantage. Speedrunners might run a level backwards to go faster. They might squeeze their character through walls into areas that were never intended to be seen. They might even glitch their way past entire levels.

Speedrunning can be done with multiple rulesets. Here are the most popular ones:

Any%: The classic run where you finish the game as fast as possible.
100%: The runner must collect every item in the game.
Low%: A run that completes the game with the least amount of levels and items possible.
All bosses: Every boss in the game must be defeated.
Glitchless: Players can’t use glitches in their run. This mode is mainly used in extremely exploitable games.

AGDQ features games of all generations, from the original Mario games to Skyrim. The most popular games will be played on Friday and Saturday. This includes many Mega Man games, Zelda games, Super Mario games, Final Fantasy, Warcraft, Diablo, Mass Effect and Bloodborne. The weirdest run of the week might be Prey, on Thursday.

The marathon event even runs at night and is broadcast live on Twitch. You can find the full schedule at the AGDQ website. Don’t forget to visit mastermazuma.com if you’re interested in competitive games.

eSports Top 5 Plays of the Year

It’s time for Master Mazuma’s eSports Top 5 Plays of the Year 2017. A few special moments stood out as the best plays across all of eSports. These plays were game-changing. Tournament-winning even. The ones every fan dreams about.

Astralis’ Tec-9 rush (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)

Astralis was behind 7-13 in the ELEAGUE grand finals against Virtus.pro. The team was extremely low on money. Normally, teams save their money and give up the round. Astralis however was desperate and took a huge risk. The entire team bought Tec-9 pistols and rushed to bombsite A. This was an all-or-nothing attempt to surprise Virtus.pro. The attack caught Virtus.pro completely off-guard and the risk paid off. This play gave Astralis the momentum to make a comeback and win 16-14. Astralis won their first major tournament with the biggest CS:GO play of the year.

Ruler’s flash-ult to kill Faker at the World finals (League of Legends)

The League of Legends Worlds finals once again featured Samsung Galaxy and SK Telecom T1. Last year, SK Telecom T1 narrowly won thanks to Faker’s world-class plays. Samsung Galaxy’s Ruler was one of the biggest losers, getting outplayed in crucial moments. This year the reverse happened. Ruler made the decisive play against Faker. He used his flash to go in on Faker and kill him with his Varus ultimate. This won Samsung Galaxy the fight and ultimately the game. Ruler redeemed himself with the biggest League of Legends play of the year.

SumaiL’s 5 man Electric Vortex (Dota 2)

“Sometimes, you just have to go in and hope for the best.” SumaiL followed his own advice in the Manila Masters Loser’s Finals against Team NP. His team, Evil Geniuses, was way behind against Team NP and on the brink of being knocked out of the tournament. SumaiL played his signature Storm Spirit. He went in on the entire enemy team and caught all of them. This fight turned the tide in the game. Evil Geniuses went on to win the series and eventually the entire tournament. This was all made possible thanks to SumaiL’s biggest Dota 2 play of the year.

Kaiser’s 5-man Earthshatter (Overwatch)

It was the deciding game 5 of the APEX semifinals between RunAway and LW Blue. RunAway’s Kaiser made the best play of his life. He caught the entire LW Blue team with his Earthshatter ability and wiped the team. This play decided the series and brought RunAway to the finals. Kaiser’s Earthshatter play proved to be the biggest Overwatch play of the year.

Salem’s last game last stock comeback (Super Smash Bros. for WiiU)

Salem made it to the grand finals of EVO, the biggest fighting game tournament of the year. He took on ZeRo, who was the best Super Smash Bros. WiiU ever and the heavy favourite. Salem made to the final game of two best-of-five series. Both players were on their last stock, but Salem was way behind in percentage. Against all odds, Salem made a single opening into a death combo on ZeRo. This completed one of the greatest comebacks in Smash history. Salem’s combo was without doubt the biggest Smash WiiU play of the year.

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The best gamer girls in Counter-Strike

Ever got beaten by a girl in video games? Those girls are nothing compared to these professional gamer girls. They are smart, hot and kick major ass. Master Mazuma brings you the best gamer girls in Counter-Strike. And if you want to earn money with eSports yourself, check out mastermazuma.com!

missharvey

This girl has been playing competitive Counter-Strike since 2005! missharvey really broke through when she won the Electronic Sports World Cup in 2007 on SK Gaming. She’s one of the most successful girls in eSports, with seven major titles under her belt. missharvey most recently played for Counter Logic Gaming Red. She’s one of the biggest and best-known personalities in women’s eSports.

vilga

vilga only recently emerged on the eSports scene. She quickly climbed the ranks and joined Team Secret. This became the most successful CS:GO team in 2016 and 2017. In 2017, the entire team switched from Team Secret to Dynasty Gaming. vilga is often the most aggressive player in the team and scores a lot of kills.

potter

The experienced team captain of CLG Red. potter was an inseparable duo with missharvey since 2006. Together, they won seven major championships. potter combines her excellent leadership with great individual skill and is often the highest rated player on her team.

juliano

The second of the Dynasty Gaming trio in this list. juliano is the leader of the most successful female team in CS:GO. She personally led her teams to nine major eSports titles. juliano and zAAz teamed up in 2014 and are currently the most successful gamer girls duo in CS:GO.

zAAz

The best gamer girl to ever play Counter-Strike. zAAz won two premier and eight major tournaments in her career, an unrivaled record. She’s been kicking ass since 2008, when she was 16 years old. Her individual skills and K/D of 1.25 often carry the team to victory. zAAz is also the top female earner in Counter-Strike eSports with $27.000 earned. She’s indisputably the best ace player in the game.

A 50 Million Dollar eSports Prize Pool?

Biggest eSports prize pool ever

Imagine playing your favourite videogame for a 50 million dollar eSports prize pool. You win, lift the trophy and get handed a cheque. You just earned 20 million dollars for winning first place. Crazy fantasy, right?

This tournament might actually happen in the next five years. Prize pools in all eSports are rising. The biggest tournaments of the year make their winners millionaires. The biggest of them all is The International. This is the yearly Dota 2 world championship. The International 2017 had a total eSports prize pool of 25 million dollars. Team Liquid took home 10 million dollars for winning first place.

An eSports Revolution

The International had its first edition in 2011. Valve, developer of Dota 2, funded the 1.6 million dollar prize pool. This was a revolutionary eSports prize pool in 2011. Almost no eSports tournament ever exceeded 100.000 dollars, and certainly not 1 million! Na’Vi won 1 million dollars for first place and became legends. But this was just the start.

In 2013, everything changed. Valve introduced crowdfunding to increase the prize pool. Players could purchase in-game items, and 25% of sales were added to the prize pool. These items included the ‘Compendium’ and ‘Battle Pass’ and gave in-game benefits. The total increased to 2.8 million dollars, again the biggest in eSports history. But this was just the beginning. Each next year saw a massive increase: 10 million in 2014, 18 million in 2015, 20 million in 2016 and finally 25 million in 2017.

Bigger than the Super Bowl

If The International continues to grow, 2022 might feature a 50 million dollar prize pool. This would be more than the Super Bowl! However, it is unlikely that Dota 2 will keep growing at the same rate. Experts predict that The International won’t grow as much in the next years. So, is a 50 million dollar eSports prize pool still a crazy fantasy?

No! Dota 2 might never hit 50 million. But new eSports games will emerge and become even more popular. The International showed us how to run successful crowdfunding campaigns. Maybe in five or ten years, Dota 3 will launch and set new records. The prestigious 50 million tournament will happen within ten years, you can count on that.

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ESL Pro League Finals Preview

This week in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive features the ESL Pro League Finals. The best 12 EU and NA teams have fought their way to the live finals in Denmark. The event will take six days. The total prize pool is $750,000. You too can earn a lot of money with Master Mazuma betting. Read on to find out what the best odds are in the ESL Pro League Finals.

ESL Pro League Finals betting: The best teams in CS:GO

G2 eSports won last year’s ESL Pro League Finals but failed to qualify this year. The favourites to win it all are SK Gaming and FaZe Clan. But there are many strong dark horse teams at this event. There is a lot of games to play and a lot of games to bet on.

Will SK follow up their recent success with another win in Denmark? Or will FaZe step up to their potential and take home their share of $750,000? These are two potential outcomes, but there are many strong teams at the event.

The teams are placed into two groups of six teams. Both groups have clear favourites, so we might see less group stage upsets. It might be best to play safe until the group stage is over. The quarterfinals will definitely feature much closer matches.

Each team will play one game against every other team in their group. This means a total of five games for each team. The team that finishes as number one in their group immediately goes to the semifinals. The second and third place teams play each other in the quarterfinals. The bottom three teams are eliminated from the event. The quarterfinals and semifinals become best-of-three matches. The finals will be a best-of-five.

Who will win the group stage?

The 12 teams in the ESL Pro League Finals have been put in Group A or Group B. Both groups contain teams who can win the tournament. Let’s analyse the groups to see which teams are most likely to win it.

Group A

Fnatic
FaZe Clan
Astralis
Liquid
Hellraisers
Luminosity Gaming

Group A has three clear favourites: Fnatic, FaZe Clan and Astralis. All group stage matches are best-of-one though, which means it’s easier to cause upsets. Team Liquid and Hellraisers have both proven that they are capable of upsets. Luminosity is the weakest team and has the worst odds.

The top three teams in this group are all playing well. FaZe has the most individual talent in the world. Based on recent results, FaZe might be the favourite to win the tournament. Read more about FaZe Clan in the Spotlight article.

Astralis still misses its star player dev1ce. The team still finished second at BLAST Pro Series last week without him, behind the strong SK Gaming. Astralis also has the home crowd advantage, since they’re a Danish team. This might be the best place to make it far into the tournament.

Fnatic is one of the most improved teams of the year. The Swedish team has the talent to make it far, but has to prove itself against the best teams in the world. Expect great results in the group stage. The playoffs is where it gets hard though.

Group B

OpTiC Gaming
SK Gaming
North
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Misfits
NRG eSports

Group B has two favourites for qualification; SK Gaming and Ninjas in Pyjamas. The third spot is up for grabs for North or OpTic Gaming.

SK Gaming comes into this tournament with recent wins at BLAST Pro Series and EPICENTER. The Brazilians might be the best team in the world. They beat Astralis, North and Ninjas in Pyjamas all at BLAST Pro Series.

Ninjas in Pyjamas won IEM Oakland over SK Gaming and FaZe Clan. The team is coming into this event with confidence and strong form.

North has a slight advantage over OpTic for third place. North has been playing better and better. The Danish team als has home crowd advantage, just like Astralis. OpTic struggles to play as team, but still has some of the best players in Europe. Nobody should underestimate OpTic.

The weakest teams are Misfits and NRG eSports. Both played well enough to qualify for the Finals. However, they are outmatches by the strong top four teams in their group. Their upset potential looks quite weak.

ESL Pro League Finals odds: Insight into the favourites

SK Gaming is the team to beat right now. SK won two of their last three live events and looks to be in top shape. Especially their leader FalleN has been playing great. He finished the BLAST grand final against Astralis with a 1.63 kill/death ratio. If SK’s other stars Coldzera and Fer can find their form as well, SK Gaming would be a good bet in the ESL Pro League Finals odds.

Astralis was the big surprise at BLAST Pro Series, almost winning the event. The team has great momentum coming into the ESL Pro League Finals. Their biggest weakness is RUBINO, who is the stand-in for star player dev1ce. Astralis had little time to practise with RUBINO. The team will probably struggle in the quarterfinals.

FaZe Clan has the talent and firepower to win this tournament. However, recent events have shown that the team has been struggling to find consistency. FaZe’s teamwork also doesn’t match that of other teams. FaZe relies on its star players to carry the team with their aim heavy style. This means that the players must individually outplay their opponents. Some teams have found ways to counter this with teamwork. FaZe’s leader karrigan will need to give the roster a more tactical approach to the matches.

Chances for upsets?

Ninjas in Pyjamas proved to be capable of upsetting top teams FaZe Clan and SK Gaming. The team defeated both to win IEM Oakland. Ace players f0rest and GeT_RiGhT are veterans of the game, on par with FaZe and SK’s best. Ninjas in Pyjamas could potentially win it all if the pieces fall into place.

North could also cause an upset in Denmark. The team showed promise at BLAST Pro Series. They had some encouraging results against FaZe and Astralis. North might be able to turn the home field advantage into some upsets in the group stage.

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Spotlight: FaZe Clan CS:GO eSports

FaZe Clan’s Superstars

FaZe Clan made their debut in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in 2016. The team was known as the most prestigious Call of Duty eSports team and as YouTube famous. FaZe was initially plagued with bad results and roster changes. Finally, the eSports dream team is here. Five of the best players in the game joined up to form the ultimate team. Just like Master Mazuma is the ultimate eSports betting site.

Longest lasting member of FaZe is rain. His team G2 was bought by FaZe for $700.000. rain is the entry-fragger of the team, which means he plays aggressively and goes in first. He often gets the most kills but also the most deaths.

Olofmeister was player of the year in 2015. He gained notoriety for boosting (jumping on a teammate’s back) in tournaments to get to unfair spots on the map. Regardless of the scandal, Olofmeister remains a top 10 player in the world. His role as lurker means he tries to flank and surprise enemies.

NiKo is one of the faster rising stars of the game. He was the number 11 player of 2016 and has only gotten better. FaZe bought NiKo from Mousesports for over $500.000, the biggest transfer in CS:GO history. NiKo is one of the best in the world with assault rifles and sniper rifles.

GuardiaN played Counter-Strike professionally since 2009. His highest ranking came in 2015, when he was the second best player in the world after Olofmeister. GuardiaN is known for his skill with the AWP sniper rifle.

Team leader karrigan brings discipline in the team. He often sacrifices his own life and weapons for the team. Without karrigan, FaZe would be four superstars each trying to play 1 versus 5. karrigan makes sure everyone sticks to the gameplan.

FaZe Clan finally has its CS:GO dream team. Master Mazuma predicts that the team will end SK Gaming’s reign and dominate 2018. Make sure to follow eSports and make money on mastermazuma.com.

Alodia Gosiengfiao

Alodia Gosiengfiao is not only a succesful cosplayer, but also a film and tv star. Her career can only get better with her incredible looks.

Favourite cosplay: Baroness (G.I. Joe)

Fun fact: Alodia is a big name in the Phillippines. She regularly appears in the Top 100 Sexiest Women.

Follow her on social media

Jessica Nigri

The queen of videogame cosplay. Jessica Nigri is by far the most popular cosplayer in the world…. and it’s easy to see why. She’s even appeared in movies and tv shows. Jessica can cosplay anything from realistic to sexy.

Favourite cosplay: Sexy Pokémon

Fun fact: Jessica loves to cosplay as sexy versions of popular videogame characters. She became famous with her sexy Pikachu costume.