CS:GO 'ALEX' And The Rise Of British Esports Stars

British esports star Alex “ALEX” McMeekin had a breakout year in 2019 as he led Team Vitality to victory in several big CS:GO tournaments. The highlight came at the FACEIT ECS Season 7 Finals in June, where they beat FURIA 2-0 to seize gold in front of a passionate crowd in London. It was a great moment for British esports fans, as it finally allowed them to celebrate the success of a homegrown star.

The UK has certainly had an impact on the burgeoning world of esports, as Fnatic is based in London and it also yielded Team Dignitas, but British competitive gaming stars are few and far between. The highest-earning Brit in this arena is Wolfiez, who famously clinched a silver medal in the duos section of the Fortnite World Cup in New York this summer despite playing with a controller. The 15-year-old from Essex became famous overnight for his exploits and he earned more than $1 million.

Another Fortnite player called Mongraal is second on the list of the highest-earning Brits, followed by FIFA legend TekKz. ALEX comes in at 15th on the list, behind a bunch of gamers that made their money by playing Fortnite, Call of Duty and basically defunct titles like SMITE and Heroes of the Storm, but he arguably has the greatest potential of any British esports star.

An Upward Curve

ALEX earned just $3,000 in 2015, $10,000 in 2016, $17,500 in 2017 and just under $26,000 last year. He would also earn a nominal salary, but that is not enough to sustain a full-time career as a pro gamer. Yet his persistence paid off and he has earned more than $130,000 in 2019 thanks to Vitality’s success at various tournaments.

They beat highly rated Team Liquid to win cs_summit 4 in Los Angeles and lifted another trophy in Charleroi, while they took silver at ESL One Cologne and DreamHack Masters in Malmo and went to the quarter-finals of the Berlin Major. Vitality is now eighth in the HLTV rankings and they have FaZe, 100Thieves and Evil Geniuses in their sights, while they are now among the favorites in the esports betting odds on big CS:GO tournaments, so a burst into the top five looks like a realistic target in 2020.

A Big Break

ALEX’s career really took off when he moved to Vitality from Team LDLC in December 2018. The ambitious French team plucked him from relative obscurity and installed him as a key component in a star-studded line-up. He was known in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) circles as an aggressive rifler with an ability to conjure up a decisive moment of magic out of nowhere, but he was crying out for a big team to give him a chance.

Vitality had enjoyed some success in Call of Duty, PUBG, and League of Legends, but the franchise only expanded into CS:GO in October 2018. Yet it made an eye-catching entrance onto the scene after hiring a group of fantastic individuals, comprising NBK, apEX, Happy, RpK and the wunderkind ZywOo, who is now widely regarded as the best player in the world.

However, results were underwhelming and Vitality decided to jettison Happy out of the team and bring in ALEX to replace him. The idea was for the Brit to revitalizing the team’s CT sides along with the T-side mid-rounds, and Vitality’s form has improved considerably since his arrival. ALEX previously led Team LDLC, but NBK remained Vitality’s shot caller, allowing ALEX to focus on his own game.

Leading the French

This year, ALEX and NBK shared leadership duties until NBK was dropped in favor of shox following a disappointing showing at the Berlin Starladder Major. Now NBK has left for Team OG, leaving ALEX as undoubtedly the main man at a team bursting with promise.

It is hard to overstate just how talented ZywOo. Until this year, NaVi superstar s1mple was the best player in the world by a comfortable margin, but ZywOo has arguably exceeded the Ukrainian. He is primarily an AWPer, but he can pull off stunning headshots with pistols, rifles, and SMGs, and his stats throughout 2019 have been insane.

If ALEX can manage to harness ZywOo’s talents correctly then Vitality could be the team to mount a genuine challenge to Astralis’ hegemony over the CS:GO scene in 2020. It is interesting to see a Brit installed as the leader of an exciting French team, and it may ask British esports fans to wonder why a domestic franchise cannot offer him the correct platform for global success.

Lagging Behind

CS:GO is one of the top three most popular esports in the world. Only Dota 2 has given out more prize money over the years, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) has more pro players than any other game. Yet ALEX is the only Brit that is making a career out of playing it. Rory “dephh” Jackson and Owen “smooya” Butterfield have played in a few tournaments, but ALEX is the only one flying the Union Jack on a consistent basis.

There are no famous British players in the other big esports like League of Legends, Dota 2 and StarCraft II either. The competitive gaming scene has enjoyed huge growth in the past five years and it now boasts more than 450 viewers across the globe, but it is seemingly passing the UK by. China, Korea, Scandinavia, and North America are the global hot spots in terms of talent and taking the scene seriously, while Britain is lagging well behind.

For a small island, it has always punched above its weight within traditional sports and indeed entertainment forms like film, music, and TV, while London is a leader in the tech industry. It is therefore surprising to see that the UK cannot hold a torch to countries like Sweden, Denmark and South Korea when it comes to esports.

Reasons to be Cheerful

However, that could all change in the years ahead. The British Esports Association has been established to promote competitive gaming in the UK, increase its level of awareness, improve standards and inspire future talent. The British Esports Championships have been launched to give school and college teams a tournament to work towards.

ESL One returned to Birmingham in 2019 and London often hosts big tournaments. The LEC now has a UK team called excel Esports. London Spitfire has done well in the Overwatch League, and Brits continue to succeed at FIFA. Aspiring esports stars from the UK have a genuine star in ALEX to look up to and his exploits in 2020 and beyond should provide inspiration to aspiring esports stars of the future.

***DISCLAIMER***

This article is a Guest Post written by James Metcalfe from Unikrn.com

The Overwatch System Makes CSGO Skin Collection Secure

Here's how the Overwatch system keeps your CSGO skin collection safe from unsavory players. There's also the hows of the system, as well as a bit of an update for the Chinese version.

The presence of hackers, griefers, and generally rude players in CSGO is a given. They're such a nuisance to ranking up and collecting CSGO skins. That's why Valve introduced the Overwatch system. It's not related to Blizzard's competitive shooter game. The system lets players self-regulate. ‘Investigators' review collected evidence of unwanted behavior. Depending on their verdict, recipients may get permanent or temporary bans.

Keep in mind that Steam Support has no jurisdiction over the application of these bans. This means they can't revoke or reduce the duration of the punishment. As a result, players who receive permanent bans from this system have to make another account or buy the game again just to resume playing.

How It Works

Investigators receive clips of a player with an outstanding pattern of complaints. That pattern can either be a spike in reports or many that built up over time. The investigator would then review the replays and judge whether it is ‘Evident Beyond Reasonable Doubt' or ‘Insufficient Evidence'. They can also ‘Postpone' judgment and restart it later.

However, those replays are also sent to other Investigators. There must be an overwhelming verdict before setting a ban on a player or not. It's not one person who judges and has the final say. The more times an Investigator submits accurate verdicts, the more Overwatch points they receive. XP rewards from participating scale with those points, so this can help with ranking up.

The pool of Investigators increases steadily. Players who play in official Competitive Matchmaking often have the best chances of getting chosen. Other criteria are account age, play time, and skill level. The selection is random so it might be a while before you can become one.

The System in Perfect World

Now that CSGO has come to mainland China through Perfect World Entertainment, the Overwatch system also migrated. While it has almost been a year, there are still many bugs and kinks to work out. The latest update for the launcher, however, made downloading evidence much more reliable.

Considering the newness of the Chinese servers and launcher, there's bound to be problems that will come up in the future. The Investigator pool will also be smaller than the one already established in the West.

Let's look forward to the continued improvement of the Overwatch system and launcher, as CSGO – Perfect World gets better.

CSGO New FBI Character Models Introduced

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive aka CS:GO is proof that the classics are still the best with regards to their simplicity and longevity. The six-year-old game shows no signs of slowing down. Constant game updates and bug fixes keep it from going stale. Speaking of which, one of this month's updates finally refurbishes character models for some game modes. The counter-terrorists' FBI character models are now clad in blue jackets and blue jeans. Also, a tactical vest covers the jacket.

So go out and collect those CSGO skins in those spiffy new duds! The new character models are on the maps Nuke, Office, and Agency.

Other Updates

One other major recent update is the "mp_solid_teammates 2" setting. It lets players stand on and walk through teammates. Then there's the change to the starting money of the team on a losing streak. Some guns have updates on their accuracy and price. New maps are available and some old ones are now unavailable in different matchmaking modes.

While nothing too exciting is happening in CSGO, no events or teaser for a big update, the blog reports over 11 million unique players last month. Also, CSGO trading is still in full swing, for skins are always in demand.

Enjoy CSGO!

CS:GO New Updates: What To Expect From The Game’s Newest Patches

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has just received a couple new updates, and players around the world are wondering what changes they can look forward to. What do these patches bring to the table, and how do they change and/or improve gameplay? They may only be considered minor updates compared to the bigger patches that could change game features or mechanics, but they’re still noteworthy enough to be mentioned and discussed in a bit of detail. 

September 26 Update: Cheaper Weapons, Fix To Smoke Bug

For the September 26 CS:GO update, one of the first things you may notice is that a couple of the game’s weapons have become a bit more affordable. For starters, the Dual Elites are now priced at $400, and that means you can get your hands on this pistol option in the early goings,  The ubiquitous Revolver is also $100 cheaper as well, as you can now purchase this weapon for only $600.

In addition to the cheaper weapons, Valve has also squashed a rare, but rather annoying bug in the game, fixing the glitch where smoke grenades carom off to the opposite side after bouncing into fire, as if nothing had actually happened. This has proven to be quite a nuisance in CS:GO eSports tournaments, but with the September 26 CS:GO update, Valve has made it a point to extinguish the fire each time a smoke grenade bounces into it. These grenades can now bounce off to lower heights to extinguish flames, which should help in squashing the bug and improving gameplay going forward.

You also may have noticed that bug where bullets aren’t able to penetrate the arms of players. Valve has squashed that one as well, while also including some minor stability updates and cosmetic changes on top of the changes we mentioned above.

September 27 Update: New Options For Chinese Players

The September 27 CS:GO update appears to be more geared toward Chinese players than anyone else in the world, but it’s nonetheless important, as players in China can now opt to play the standard version of the game, while players in other parts of the world can conversely play the Perfect World version. The former is facilitated by the all-new “-worldwide” launch command, which allows Chinese players to play on servers located outside their home country, while the latter can be launched with the “-perfect world” command, which simply allows those outsides of China to enjoy CS:GO’s Perfect World in one go.

Meanwhile, this particular CS:GO update will also allow the game to launch in Perfect World mode by default for Chinese players. If you live in China and have your Perfect World and CS:GO accounts linked together, you can take advantage of the lower-latency Chinese game servers, and use the Perfect World CS:GO Launcher to compete against friends any time you wish. 

 

CSGO Trade? These Prices Cut Like a Knife

Why would anyone bring a knife to a gunfight? To show off, or some prefer those vicious close-encounter kills, which is the case in Counter-Strike Global Offensive (CS:GO). So, why do players utilize a knife? Well, when a blade has high value (not in-game money, but real money in the marketplace) then you might as well flaunt it and raise havoc. Check out these hundred-dollar knives of CSGO skins in the CSGO trade.

CSGO Trading: StatTrak™ M9 Bayonet

To some gamers, first-person shooters are about killing your opponents, racking up points, and earning bragging rights. If you’re that type of player, then the StatTrak™ series of CSGO skins is a good fit for you since they record certain data, including confirmed kills. StatTrak™ M9 Bayonet knives are no different; these blades are made to raise some hell.  

There is the M9 Bayonet Fade, whose blade has a metallic color gradient of purple, magenta, bright orange, and black from the tip to the base. Also, the M9 Bayonet Deep Crimson, which (as the name suggests), features a knife with a dark crimson blade and hilt tip. The M9 Bayonet Fade cost $313 to $454, while the M9 Bayonet Deep Crimson ranges from $184 to $210.

Karambit

The karambit is a bloody and lethal-looking knife that is central to the Southeast Asian martial art called “silat.” Since it has a mean look with an animal claw-like shape, this small but terrible blade has become a favorite CSGO skins choice for those in the CSGO trade.

The M9 Bayonet Fade has a golden blade with black stripes, and also a golden hoop at the tip of the hilt. With its shape and its hue, this karambit evokes the same speed, ferocity, and beauty as of the big cat. On the other hand, the M9 Bayonet Deep Crimson has a scarlet-colored blade and hoop by the hilt, which adds to the sinister vibe that the knife gives off. Both blades are roughly $400, and the Tiger Tooth is fifty bucks more.  

CSGO Skins: StatTrak™ Butterfly Knife

You’ve probably witnessed this knife in action movies before, especially gangster films, or maybe being played by Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass. Regardless if whether you’ve seen it before or not, this style of knife, which originated from the Philippines, made its way to CSGO. The butterfly blade is and priciest knife of CSGO skins.

For the StatTrak™ butterfly knives, there’s the Slaughter and the Crimson Web. The Slaughter doesn’t need an introduction because we’ve already talked about the similar karambit. The Crimson Web is a deeper version compared to the StatTrak™ Bayonet’s Deep Crimson, ironically. Both styles of blades range from $300 to $380 (that’s CSGO trading for you).  

Flip Knife | Lore

One of the most sought-after CSGO skins from the CSGO trading platforms is the AWP Dragon Lore. Sporting that iconic scaly green dragon look, the sniper was made to look like the legendary reptile in one’s hands (similar to the Flip Knife).

With the Flip Knife, its golden curved back is laced with knotwork that runs throughout the length of the blade, while green scales cover the handle of the weapon. Since it doesn’t resemble a dragon, such as its AWP counterpart, it appears to be made from parts of the mythical creature. If you want a blade, forget crafting; instead, invest $260 to $400.

Without a doubt, these knives are steep prices in CSGO trading and can be difficult to come across. Bring these knives to a gunfight and be successful, and you’ll be remembered in the gaming community (just don’t get yourself killed). Get your blade on!

A Primer on CSGO Skins

You may be wondering what CSGO skins are and why gamers, who play the game are raving about them. The article is to help you understand what they are, and why skins are a big deal.

 What Are CSGO Skins?

They are cosmetic items that change how your weapons appear. Even though the skins don’t power up your weapons, there are some tactical benefits. On the other hand, decking out your weaponry with color variations could be a motivational way to keep your head in the game.

Valve introduced the skins feature in the “Arms Deal” update for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive to allow players to customize their weapons. In fact, Valve has also introduced a feature that enables players to rename their weapon for a fee, and there are stickers for further modification. Some skins can now keep track of confirmed kills. Also, the update invites players to collect and trade with each other. Not too long ago, a new feature made waves that let players create personal skins through the Steam Workshop.

Where Can I Get Cheap CSGO Skins?

The easiest way to get them is to play the game because they drop after matches on official Steam servers. Skins can come from cases that may drop after matches, though you would need to purchase a key to open it. You can buy the keys officially or from other players in the Steam Marketplace. However, those sources are random. You don’t know what you’ll get. If you’re looking for a specific skin to utilize, it might be better to search for someone selling that specific skin.

Some sites host player to player trading. The Steam Marketplace is one that’s accessible through the Steam app; otherwise, you can search for “cheap CSGO skins.” You’ll get some hits online, but it’s hard to determine which network is the most reliable. Some of the portals have scammers, so trading on those puts your identity and funds at risk.

What to Do with Skins?

Aside from the fact that you can enhance your skins, you can gamble with them. Yes, you read that right. Certain sites that are selling skins are betting sites. Some gamers buy skins with real money to bet, similar to buying poker chips. With Valve, players were betting on match outcomes (identical to betting on horse races). The opportunity to win big is an irresistible draw, which led to some suing Valve for their losses and for letting it happen. In response, Valve banned gambling last year. On the other hand, the ban made other platforms make their operations more secretive instead. As long as people put value in these virtual things, CSGO gambling sites won’t die.

What's worse is that a big portion of CSGO players are adolescents. Some CSGO gambling websites don't have an age requirement, which could make teenagers more accessible for spending their parent’s money. Also, the youth might not know when to stop spending because gambling can be addicting.

However, you can opt to sell skins. Perhaps, you’ll be able to profit more reliably than gambling them away. Besides, you can continue playing the game to get more. If so, buying skins won’t be necessary; instead, you can keep selling or trading them.

What Now?

The key take away about CSGO skins is that they’re a lucrative resource, which can generate real money, but it’s mostly useful for betting on matches. You can sell, buy, and trade if it aligns with your goal(s). Some players enjoy tailoring their weapons (CSGO knives, rifles, SMGs, or pistols) while others collect them to sell or trade. Whether you’re buying, selling, or trading, explore the CSGO website. If it looks sketchy, pull out. Good news: you don’t have to browse online for CSGO skins because you’re already in the safest, fastest, and quickest player-to-player network.