Esports Journalism
Please note that some of these articles are under the byline “yotobari288.” That was a previous username I have used in the past.
VIDEO: A History of Overwatch’s ‘Cloud 9 Meme’
Despite only being around two years old, Overwatch esports has a rich history: be it the double-hero meta back in the day or the stopwatch vs time bank era, Overwatch started off with some unique moments that veterans of the game know well. However, out of all of these, only one has stood the test of time: the C9.
If you’ve watched the Overwatch League (OWL) within the past few weeks, you’ll have noticed the “C9 LUL” spam every so often. It’s a highly memed and often used term in Twitch chat, a sign that a team has done something embarrassing that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
For those unaware, “C9” refers to a team not staying on an objective and losing the round/control of an objective due when the team could have easily contested the point/payload/etc to stay in the game. Most C9’s generally lead to the loss of a match or a map, though some teams manage to recover from it. There have been a few C9’s throughout OWL’s young history, but none will ever be as famous as the original.
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Trevor May on Overwatch eSports: “I want to be involved in some big way”
Minnesota Twins pitcher Trevor May sat down with GosuGamers to talk about Overwatch, eSports as a whole and how he got involved with Luminosity Gaming.
It’s no secret that it’s a great time to invest in eSports. Business Insider reported that advertisers have spent over $540 million in advertising and sponsorship in eSports within the past two years, which will be just over half of what brand spending is projected to be in 2019. Overwatch in particular is full of potential; the Overwatch League franchise spots have been rumored to cost between $2-$30 million.
It’s because of this rise in popularity that eSports is seeing a rise in investors, particularly athletes: former Yankees shortstop Alex Rodriguez and former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal both have invested in NRG Esports, the NHL’s Boston Bruins have officially backed Splyce and other athletes and “traditional” sports clubs have followed suit.
What’s unusual, though, is for a player to actually be signed to a team. Surely, no one could be playing for a traditional sports team while representing an eSports one, right?
You might not be able to, but Trevor May is.
Hexagrams and ZP on getting into casting: “Put in the work, put in the hours, actually do it”
GosuGamers sat down with Hexagrams and ZP to talk about their casting dynamics and give pointers to those who want to cast in the future.
Casting is deceptively hard.
To the untrained eye, being able to constantly talk about what’s going on in a game looks easy. Putting that theory into practice, however, is a lot harder than it seems: not only are you talking about what’s happening, you need to be talking about possible ramifications of the player’s actions in later fights, seeing who has ultimates and who used them last fight, see if anyone switched off of a hero, how much time is left in the map, who’s on the payload/point, who looks like they’re about to make the next big play… oh, and remember to operate the camera. You’re doing that, too.
A lot of it involves a battle of attrition, having to practice the craft of play-by-play and color commentary over and over again until you start to get a rhythm down. For most people, it’s easy – you can watch the many VODs on YouTube, turn off the sound, and just record yourself practicing over and over. In the early days of Overwatch, however, it was a bit more trial by fire; you didn’t have a lot of sources of professional casting when Overwatch first came out, so it was a lot more of a “sink or swim” mindset.
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Contenders S1 EU Bracket: Who’s in the Playoffs?
EU Overwatch is the most unpredictable yet, with all but one team having a shot at Playoffs.
In a weird twist irony, the Overwatch Contenders Season 1 EU brackets are the most hotly-contested brackets that Contenders has ever seen. There’s not one, not two, but five teams still in contention for playoffs, thanks to multiple teams playing two games this week instead of only one.
Wondering if/how your favorite European team can make it to the Playoffs in October? Here’s as simple of a reasoning as we can possibly make it:
Overwatch World Cup 2017 Playoff Brackets Announced
The Overwatch World Cup Playoff brackets were announced following Overwatch Contenders Week 2, Day 2 matches.
Who would face who was decided on a random, lotto-like system, with what looked like ping-pong balls being randomly drawn.
Matt “MRX” Morello had the honor of drawing the teams, the first of which is UK. China was the second, then Canada. South Korea was pulled fourth, meaning that the last team left in the draw would be the unlucky squad to take them on in the Quarterfinals.
Much to the analyst on hand and Sweden player Reinforce’s relief, Sweden was picked next, avoiding South Korea’s entire bracket until the Grand Final. China was fated to square up against France, who both qualified in the Shanghai Qualifier. The most tense draw was the last one, with either Australia or the United States having the task of taking on Canada in their quarterfinal match.
Gambit’s Zeus on team’s goal to win a Major: “Without a doubt, we’ve come closer to that goal”
Daniil “Zeus” Teslenko talked to GosuGamers about DreamHack Austin and Gambit’s plans moving forward.
Gambit Esports was in a bit of a dry spell when it came to tournaments, as the team hadn’t a first place win since November of last year, most recently placing second at cs_summit on April 23. However, just a week later, they came out on top at DreamHack Austin, besting Immortals in a 2:0 sweep and earning themselves $50,000, the largest prize pool they’ve taken home to date.
Throughout their entire run at DreamHack Austin, they only dropped one map: de_Nuke, in overtime, against fellow semi-finalists and heavy favourites, 
G2 Esports.
Team Captain, 
Daniil “Zeus” Teslenko, sat down with us to talk about his thoughts on the tournament, 
Immortals, G2 and what Gambit’s plans are moving forward. Read on to get an inside look at the inner workings of Gambit.
DreamHack ASTRO Open Tours 2017 – G2 Esports take the title
The French team was able to take out HellRaisers in two maps to win DreamHack Open Tours 2017 and take home $50,000.
de_cache – 6:16 (3:12; 3:4)
G2 took the first pistol round, but a very aggressive buy – two AK’s on ANGE1YL and STYKO – allowed HR to answer right back in the next round, thanks in part to ANGE1YL’s flank and subsequent quad kill. Despite their flimsy economy, G2 was able to bounce back and take the next round. The Frenchmen took that momentum and ran with it for the next eight rounds, when a triple kill from STYKO finally gave HellRaisers the opening they were looking for to get themselves their second point of the map. With both teams buying and at full strength, the twelfth round was all about technical skills and who could land the kills. HellRaisers won the resulting battle, but a second buy from both teams finished the opposite way in the proceeding round. With G2 going perfect in the fourteenth round, HR called an unusual Tactical Pause with only one round until halftime left. It wasn’t enough, though, with G2 taking the final round of the half.
Developer Update 10/21: Blizzard Teases New Heroes, Changes to Spectator Mode
Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan thanked fans for a successful year and teased new heroes, new maps and a whole lot more in 2017 in the latest Developer Update.
Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan gave us the last Developer Update of the year today, giving viewers a quick rundown of the past seven months, since Overwatch first officially released. The walk down memory lane included throwbacks to the beta phase, changes from season one of Competative Play to season two, and the addition of new heroes.
Kaplan also thanked the community for helping the game develop into what it is today.
“That was a lot of fun for us,” Kaplan said. “[The community] were primary in the feedback and helping guiding the decisions that we were making…”
Kungarna “No Longer Associated” With Ghost Gaming
Kungarna was part of Ghost Gaming for only ten days.
Kungarna has broken ties with Ghost Gaming after only ten days of being aquired, according to their official Twitter.
The tweet promises a longer announcement “coming later;” check back with this page for more updates.
The team is currently ranked 15th in the world and 8th in North America. Kungarna consists of BABYBAY, iremiix, b1am, Ajax, ConnorJJ and mykL, who also serves as the team’s manager…
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NGE Winter Premiere Group Phase 1 results: Citizen7, FaZe Clan eliminated, Immortals top team
Citizen7 and FaZe Clan were knocked out of the tournament after the first round of group play in NGE’s Winter Premiere.
The NGE Winter Premiere tournament has wrapped up Group Play Phase 1, with six teams advancing to Group Play Phase 2 that will take place January 17-19.
Citizen7‘s (C7) fate was sealed on Day 5 after a two heartbreaking map endings: on Route 66, C7’s Sypeh unleashed his Dragon Blade, only to be sleep darted immediately after, opening the door for his team to be wiped by FaZe Clan; FaZe capped the point only seconds afterwards…
Non-eSports Journalism
“Stop Killing Us:” LGBTQIA+ Community Protests Queerbaiting with #LGBTFansDeserveBetter Movement
When we first enter the post-apocalyptic world of “the 100,” children have been banished to earth as a test to see if the planet can sustain life once again after a nuclear war made it uninhabitable over a decade later. The real story, though, was that between the Heda — or leader of the 12 Clans more commonly known as Commander Lexa (Alycia Debnam-Carey) and the main character, Clarke Griffin (Eliza Taylor). The two ended up together, with them consummating their relationship fifteen seconds before Lexa was killed by a stray bullet to the chest. She died in Clarke’s arms.
Her death resulted in a mass fan movement, with #LGBTFansDeserveBetter trending worldwide on twitter for days and thousands of dollars being donated to The Trevor Project, a charity that helps gay youth. The ratings of “the 100” to noticeably drop by the next episode’s airing…
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Crime Times: A Crumbling “Castle”
TV Guide reported a few days ago that Stana Katic — who plays leading lady NYPD Captain Katherine “Kate” Beckett — will not be returning to “Castle.” Even more shocking is that Tamala Jones — who plays the regular 12th Precinct medical examiner, Lanie Parish — will also not be returning.
To make matters worse, it was revealed by Deadline that ABC — the network where “Castle” airs every Monday night — didn’t even approach Katic for a renewal.
While writers did say they had a back-up plan for if the show was cancelled, it’s doubtful that they have one for if their main female lead is suddenly dropped by the network with not a lot of justification other than “budgetary reasons.” This leaves the show with only a couple of important female characters and, more importantly, one major plotline lost…
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Willow "Icarus" Forde 