Las Vegas takes the lead in Fortnite eSports!

Combining the best of both world, esports and betting. What other place than Vegas could combine these two?! You might think sure, the entourage of Vegas is nice, but I can perfectly bet on esports from behind my pc or on my mobile phone on MasterMazuma as well. And your right! But this time Las Vegas got a scoop: they are organizing the first Fortnite league! The game that has taken the world by storm has potential to become a serious esports. The tournament will be exclusively and fully broadcasted on Facebook, that announced a streaming service for gamers (all Facebook members) recently.

eSports 2.0?

Some things stated above are not business as usual. For one, Battle Royale is becoming a serious esports. Secondly, companies in Las Vegas are willing to invest in esports as a lucrative entertainment model and last but not least, Facebook is attacking Twitch on its position as a streaming service.

What will be called the H1Z1 Pro League will see its first professional battle royale esports league tournament starting on April 21 at a new venue in Las Vegas. The competition will be held by Caesars Entertainment, league operator Twin Galaxies, and game publisher Daybreak Game Company. 15 teams will take on each other in an arena that is circular, so fans have the chance to watch all the teams all the time. Twin Galaxies, co-chairman Jace Hall calls the league the beginning of esports 2.0. This ‘level up’ means that everybody gets to participate in-, and profit from the success of an event. So not only the players on the teams and their owners, but the game publisher, league operator and most importantly the fans as well!

Really eSports 2.0????

Yes, yes, promoters usually use hyperboles to exaggerate how awesome and game changing their product is gonna be. Whether Jace Hall is right about his claims has yet to be seen. There are indeed promising signs, then again, the build venture can only host 300 people. Which aint huge for esports standards and giving it a VIP’ish vibe.. Let’s see how this translates into ‘everyone can benefit’.

(image credit: esp gaming)

Chances to win big; the semi-pro circuit

How do bookmakers decide on their odds? Well, a magician never truly tells ofcourse. But, you can assume that bookmakers have a closer watch on the major leagues and teams. Making the odds on the regional and semi-professional circuit a ‘wild west’ of odds. A place where you can win big, and likewise, lose big as well…

League of Legends European Masters tournament

A perfect opportunity to try profiting on bookmakers limited ‘scouting’ capacities is just around the corner! 26 teams take it out for a prize pool of €150,000 in the League of Legends European Masters tournament, starting with the group series 14th to 17 of April. The tournament, held in the UK, features players that are on the threshold of making it big. There is a good chance that we’ll see the winners of this tournament in the EU League of Legends Championship Series (LCS). Knockouts will follow in the weekend of April 19 to 22 and the grand finals will take place April 28-29, live in Leicester.

Getting an edge

Though a week’s time isn’t a whole lot, it is still worth it to dive into the statistics of the participating teams. It’s the group stage where the odds are most ‘unbalanced’, due to no one really knowing what to expect. Maybe you are not into taking big risks, just sit out the group stage and find out who has chances on taking the title and perhaps, who might be outsiders that bookmakers missed.

“We’re thrilled to continue our partnership with Riot Games by powering the League of Legends European Masters,” said James Dean, UK Managing Director at ESL. “From our time running the ESL Premiership for League of Legends, we know how incredible the level of play in these competitions can be! The Spring split is a great opportunity for fans to see some of the most impressive rising stars in the European League of Legends scene. Our aim is to offer an even better competition experience for fans, and even more opportunities for talented European players to raise their game in esports.”

Players to watch (our tips)

We wouldn’t be MasterMazuma if we didn’t atleast gave you some tips on players to watch this tournament.

Quixeth (support), SPG Esports (Switzerland)

A support that knows how to play lot’s of support characters and wants to prove the world wrong about Europe not having any good support players. Making name since last year, this Norwegian player is one to keep an eye on.

Milica (midlaner), Kliktech Esports (Croatia)

Watch out PerkZ, Milica is here for your title as best east-european midlaner. His team absolutely dominated the regionals in the balkan with an unprecedented 20 win streak.

Crownshot (ADC), Mad Lions (Spain)

This youngster formerly known as Crownie, coming from Slovenia, wrecks havoc with his Ezreal plays. The French already know what he is capable of, now the rest of Europe follows.

SendOo (toplaner), ExceL eSports (UK)

One of the few promising top-laners the UK has to offer. This will be a tournament where he can make or break; we can assure you he wants to prove himself!

Kikis (jungler), Illuminar Gaming (Poland)

The pressure aint that high for everyone, we conclude with a veteran that has been around making name since 2011. After a successful international career, Kikis now focuses on supporting the LoL scene in Poland.

These were the best april fools day gaming jokes!

Looking for pranks on april first is like asking a woman if she’s pregnant when your in doubt. There are a lot of patches and releases to go around, and some are so sketchy it’s hard to tell if they are real or a joke.

Waking up on april 1’st, we immediately fell for joke number one that popped up on Twitter: ‘it has been a long road to this, but we finally decided on printing the reserved list.’ Wizards of the Coast gave us a ‘YES! Dual lands!!’ moment, just to let us feel depressed afterwards. From that moment on, we approached every newsitem regarding games, regarding everything actually, with caution. This is what we came across:

Pokemon GO will get nostalgic 8 bit graphics

Some of the youngsters might have gotten a culture shock, while the elderly among us felt utter joy when this update went live. Though not all Pokemon got a revamp, it was announced that the update would give the Pokemon a look ‘previously unimagined.’ “Experience Pokémon GO like never before with cutting-edge 8-BIT GRAPHICS! Registering approximately twice the definition of 4K, the chunky squares of each pixel provide realistic detail and unbelievable definition”. This was the foreboding of the hilarious patch. Some players might be disappointed that there is no option to keep their beloved 8-BIT Pokemon.

HALO Battle Royale?

(photo 343 industries)

With all the Fortnite and PUBG hype going around, it’s only logical that one of the biggest shooters follows with their own battle royale. 343 Industries spared no effort in providing details on how the game mode would look like. “Players will gain REQ Points as they complete games and prove their skills, and will be able to progress through ranks to receive rewards like armor, weapon and vehicle skins, grenade explosion effects, armor pieces, new drop pods, and even legendary Characters seen in previous Halo titles.” Unsurprisingly, the fans got hyped and Reddit threads were all over the place.

League of Legends: Proximity Chat

(photo: Riot Games)

One of the most popular games has one of the most vile community (sorry guys). Even RIOT knows this and that’s why they came up with the announcement that there would be proximity chat on all games. In other words, you would not only read your alles flame at you, you could actually hear it as well! This joke was not hard to believe since only recently RIOT introduced voice chat for premade groups. But most players will be relieved that they didn’t push this one!

Make sure to place a bet on these all female teams!

Rumours have been going on about making esports an official Olympic sport in 2024. One of the things standing in the way is (was) that esports were male dominated. We expect that by the year 2024, this will be all in the past. Already we saw a female player taking home the Starcraft II Championship in South Korea recently, which is like the lions den inhabited with a million lions breathing fire. Female exclusive teams are forming in the far east and taking the scene by storm. Something unthinkable just a decade ago. Let us introduce a couple of teams that you need to keep your eye on and that deserve your bet once in a while!

PandaCute

Meet PandaCute, founded in 2016 and based in Hong Kong by captain ‘Deer’ Chan Ka-ching. Along with members ‘Dream’ Shek Hoi-yee, ‘Rispy’ Lau Lai, ‘Momo’ Mo Tsz-ching, and ‘Godlai’ Lily Yim Nga. As well as their coach, ‘Kane’ Li Chi-Hung. Training with J Team, the esports team owned by pop singer Jay Chou. Being Hong Kong’s representative for the 2017 EWG tournament and having won the Shero and HKXP Championship last year, they are really launching their reputation as a force to reckon with. Did we mention they won the League of Legends 5v5 Tournament Championship of Hong Kong the year they were founded?

LLG China

Formely known as EHOME’s female squad, the girls of LLG Gaming won the female division of WESG 2017 against Etab in the Finals. Guaranteeing themselves a chance to win in the $170,000 tournament of next year. It’s safe to say they destroyed the competition, so keep an eye out for these girls!

And many, many more

Not only in Asia, but everywhere female teams are being formed. Crowns esports in Europe has a female CS:GO team and in Brasil Keyd Stars is taking the scene by storm with their female division. LGG from Taiwan and Blossom from Korea on the other side of the planet make waves in LoL as we speak. Yes, males have a head start, yes, males are still dominating; but it’s just a matter of time before the female ‘Faker’ makes the scene.

Streaming on Facebook? Youtube and Twitch are about to get some serious competition

A good indication of how popular a niche is becoming, is looking for big companies to adapt that niche. Even though eSports can hardly be called a niche anymore, the uprising of worldwide mainstream popularity is still relatively young. Today one of the biggest companies of worldwide mainstream culture is opening up to all developers to broadcast their games Live. Yes, we are talking about Facebook!

So should we all go to our Facebook accounts and watch the Overwatch League there from now on? The surprising answer is; you could. The clever heads of Facebook figured that their platform offers something to streamers that Twitch for instance does not: a ready audience. If you are tired of streaming for 2 viewers, switching to Facebook seems like a good step since that platform comes with 100, 200, 300 or a 1000 virtual friends ready to watch. So instead of luring streamers with benefits, Facebook figured, we lure viewers.

Or better yet, we let streamers lure viewers by giving the option to add promotions like in-game items to their stream. For instance beneath the comments you could find a promotion that says: ‘Watch XXXX streams and get a chance to earn loot to use in-game.’

This could be big

Though the audience might not be as dedicated to gaming as the traditional channels, there is a potential of a lot more viewers. Maybe a whole new audience that is about to discover the excitement of watching streams. Facebook in turn gets to hold visitors on their platform for a long duration of time, which opens up possibilities for advertisement.

But the Facebook algorithm opens up a lot more opportunities for streamers, viewers and developers alike. For example, Facebook already has a well developed analytics tool that can be used to reach potential viewers. And there is an existing friend finder that can simply be enhanced by adding games as a parameter.

Though Facebook is kinda late to the party, the massive funds to their exposal make that they can enter this party like a rockstar and have some heads turning. Already they are making deals with CS:GO and DOTA tournaments about the broadcast rights. And a ‘tipping tool’ is currently experimented with.

Mainstream enough?

Streaming on Facebook means people open up about their love of gaming. Question is if the world is ready to really accept gamers for who they are. Until now people went to designated, anonymous places like Twitch of the corners of Youtube to show off their skills. It’s a paradox of Facebook being late on the scene, but on the other hand maybe being to early. Could it be they found the momentum and we will all be watching streams on Facebook from now on? We can’t wait to find out!

Fortnite is rising in popularity. How is Blizzard gonna react?

The king of nearly any genre has one regret: moba. Heroes of the Storm was to little to late, with League of Legends and DOTA 2 already firm in the sattle. The worst thing of all, DOTA was a mod on Blizzard’s Warcraft 3 for a long time; waiting to get picked up and to be transformed into a game. Now it seems Blizzard missed another hypetrain, that off Battle Royale.

Knowing Blizzard, it’s not the question if they are gonna release their own Battle Royale game, but when. The following question is, like with Heroes of The Storm, will the game be on time and good/unique enough? Quality is what sets Blizzard apart. That’s why there games top multiple genres like RTS (Star- and Warcraft), MMO (World of Warcraft), online CCG (Hearthstone), hero shooter (Overwatch) and ARPG (Diablo). But those games were created without being seriously contested and therefore without time constraint. So, can Blizzard deliver when they are given little room for manouver?

Different roads for the same goal

Blizzard has multiple options to catch up. We like to go over them, but our prediction is that Blizzard will never choose the easy road. So some of these options can’t be taken seriously (it’s Blizzard!)

First off, they could simply make an Overwatch mod. But that will be unlikely to compete with the likes of Fortnite. They could also make a third person shooter based on Overwatch, seeing the graphics resemble those of Fortnite already and Overwatch is already really popular. The only problem with this solution is that they won’t bring anything revolutionary to the table. And Blizzard always likes to go one step beyond.

That is actually the reason why I am writing this article. What revolutionary aspect is Blizzard going to bring to the Battle Royale genre? We could see a melee/caster/ranged-ish version where you can choose your path and each has it’s strenghts and weaknesses. Resembling it more a WoW battleground maybe.

Another thing we imagine Blizzard doing is creating a map that interacts with the players even more than in Fortnite and PUBG. Maybe adding locals that you can convince you to rally to your cause, or an erupting ground that swallows players. The possibilities are endless and so are the funds Blizzard has to it’s disposal. In other words: we can’t wait!

Sweet taste of revenge: Fissure Style

What is the best way of letting your former team know that benching you was the wrong decision? Exactly; by stomping them ruthlessly. This is exactly what Overwatch tank player Chan-Hyung ‘fissure’ Baek had in mind last weekend. Spending stage one on the bench as part of London Spitfire, he got his revenge by taking the team from London on with his new team LA Gladiators and completely dominating his former teammates.

Feeling like a Gladiator, Chan-Hyung must have felt the lust for glory in the arena, throwing London into the sound. Who were the winners of OWL stage one. Ofcourse it was a team effort with LA DPS’er ‘Asher’ Choi harassing London without giving them a moment of peace and using Tracer to infiltrate their backline like a ninja. Disrupting London over and over again with well placed pulse bombs. The Gladiators made the performance from London on the first and second map, Lijang Tower, look almost childish in comparison.

No hard feelings

Though it has to be noticed that London was playing with a B squad, composed of members mainly from a dismantled Korean team called GC Busan. They played like London, but it looked like a London in slow-motion. On the third map, the Londoners intervened by switching to the regular team. Among which KongDoo Panthera; Fissure’s long lost friend. But it wasn’t enough to stop the Gladiators from LA on the third map, despite some awesome plays like a devastating Reinhardt/D.va ultimate combo. The third win was enough to convince the world that this wasn’t a fluke, but it was an outcome few on MasterMazuma saw coming. Even though London took the 4th map and regaining some of their glory.

LA Gladiators are at 4-2 this season, making them a surprisingly serious contender for the lead of the pack. Until now they were usually seen as the outsider. Things just seem to fall into place for the Gladiators. The recent addition of Fissure is just further proof of that. Though there was no hatred in this revenge; Fissure hugged his former teammates as soon as the match ended.

Team Vitality Gears up with Renault: Enter Renault Sport Team Vitality

After years of providing engines for Formula 1 and cars for rally racing, Renault strengthens its ties with sports once more. This time they set their eyes on eSports, and once they have their eye on something the teeth usually follow. This is no exception. The French eSports Team Vitality and the car brand team up on a new eSports team called Renault Sport Team. The three team members will compete in Rocket League, a car-based football game with over 25 million players worldwide.

  • Philip Paschmeyer – Paschy90
  • Victor Locquet – Fairy Peak!
  • Sandro Holzwarth – FreaKii

Based in France like Renault, Team Vitality seems to be the perfect partner for the manufacturer. Formed in 2013, Team Vitality has had success in tournaments of games like League of Legends, Call of Duty and FIFA, among others. Though starting with Rocket League, chances are that the team will compete in the eFormula 1 in the future as well.

It’s all about hard work

Venturing in eSports is a logical step for a company that has tight bonds with competitive sports. “The ties that exist between motorsport and gaming are obvious. Both call for mental strength and physical fitness in a highly competitive environment,” said Cyril Abiteboul, General Manager, Renault Sport Racing. “Last year’s exciting launch by FOM of the Formula 1 eSports Series has accelerated the convergence of these two worlds and created opportunities for collaboration. Our drivers, and especially those who form part of the Renault Sport Academy programme, and Vitality’s own champions will be able to trade best practices. In this area, as in F1, our objective is to build a team for the long term that is both respected and feared by its opponents!”

A whole new audience

The merge of Renault and Team Vitality opens up a whole new audience that could not be reached before this date. It gives eSporters a chance to practice in the famous Enstone Factory. With professionals who are accustomed to working in a high pressure environment. Hence giving them the skills to dominate whatever platform they choose. Though McLaren won’t be far behind, after a successful ‘World’s Fastest Gamer’ program.

Like eSports divisions of football teams like Ajax and Manchester City, this step of Renault is one in a series of development where sports en esports get more and more intertwined. Creating an audience that might have been primarily not been interested in eSports.

Fabien Devide, Team Vitality’s founder and chairman, sees the new cooperation as fertile ground for future ambitions: “Vitality’s DNA is to be seen as a French front-runner that is competitive in the international arena. Our partnership with Renault is a natural match, not only because we share the same values and colours but also because we all want to make it to the very top of the European and international scenes. At Vitality, we stand to learn a great deal from Renault Sport Racing and how it prepares for Formula 1 races. At the end of the day, many of its methods are the same as those we employ in eSports, namely data and performance tracking, physiotherapy, fitness training and mental training.”

Community against ESL for Katowice schedule

Back against the wall. ESL Faces incomprehension from the community. Again.

..This time it’s the ESL One Katowice Major schedule to blame. And in good fashion, ESL has responded on reddit promising to look into some options to ease the frustrations of fans and improve the experience for fans attending.

So what is the story here? apparently the organization released details on the groups, matches and final planning. Few people seemed to either realize or bring up that the playoffs would be held only over a period of two days, including one quarter final match and the two semi finals happening on the first day and the grand finals taking place on the last day. As with previous events, the group stage would not be held on the main stage at Spodek Arena. The frustrating part is that fans already bought tickets before releasing this information, not knowing that the group matches would not be held on stage. Premium tickets selling at almost $120, you can imagine people thought they were not getting their money worth.

Katowice schedule

Social Media Protest!

Fans mounted their Social Media and Reddit to express their complaints. Loving the game but not quite willing to pay the cost to travel, accommodations and ticket prices for only two days worth of matches. It is the order of events that struck fans the most: tickets were released for sale on January 30th and as of five days ago 90% of the premium tickets were already sold.

As previously announced, all of ESL One’s Pro events would be following the same format with the same number of participating teams. ESL One Genting format was the same as ESL One Katowice, however it took place over the course of six days, with the playoffs being held from January 26-28 including one full day of quarter finals, one full day of semi finals and the grand finals being held on the last day. With one day less, ESL has condensed the playoff portion into only two days.

Regardless of the commotion, there will be over a million dollar prize money to distribute in the ‘weekend’ of February 20-25 and over 1500T18 qualifying points. Whatever the roster, ESL One Katowice Major promises to be a large tournament that can’t hardly dissapoint!

Japan Welcomes Esports and Pro Gaming

Why is the father country of gaming unsuccessful in esports and how are they planning to solve this?

Though further research on the subject might be neccessary, there are strong allegations against a decades-old law preventing the Japanese from participating in gambling, but indirectly targeting professional esports tournaments as well. Resulting in poor competitive players over the long run.

The “Act Against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations,” was passed in the early 1980’s, as a way to solve the issue of organized crime using gambling as a money maker. The infamous Yakuza made alot of profit from video poker during these days. Regulation the gambling business, prize money was capped under $1000 by parlement.

Though with esports making rise in popularity and a likely candidate make its debute as a Olympic sport in Paris 2024, government starts to realise their old law is doing the country more harm than good.

Captain Hindsight strikes again! But it’s not to late to prepare for a succesfull eSports Olympics. The law changed, prize pools are increasing and a start has been made last weekend in the Game Party Japan 2018 in Chiba. It was a great event, focussing on fighting games with Street Fighter V Arcade Edition, Tekken 7 and Monster Strike. The latter had the biggest bounty on it’s head with a prize of $73,000. It was just a portion of the total of $300,000 that could be won during the weekend. All provided by game publishers.

First step to something beautiful

“This is the first big step,” said the Japanese Esports association’s vice president. “What’s really important for the esports movement is whether our players can become stars. And I think that’s coming.”

Japanese has always been a center of gaming. Headquartering companies like Nintendo, Sega, Namco, Capcom, and Konami, among others, it is surprising Japan has next to no eSports culture. Despite championing gaming, Japan was a late bloomer in esports. Home audiences prefered solo console games, though the paradigm starts to shift.

And chances are coming about fast. A recent report revealed that Japan is the fastest growing esports market in the East Asian region, as more than 80 percent of the fans first encountered esports less than two years ago. Though being the fastest grower, usually means you are the one catching up. Hopefully changing the law is the beginning of a new era in a country with a rich gaming culture!