What to watch and what to play during the holidays? Suggest eSports

dev.by along with Parimatch and alumni Pavaga Academy sums up the year in eSports, and counsels, for what teams and tournaments to follow in the coming months.

Maxim Kuzmin. Commentator Pavaga Gaming. Dota 2 player. Comments on Dota 2 and CS:GO.

Denis Polovko. Graduate Pavaga Gaming. Dota 2 player. Organizer of e-sports tournaments.

Pavaga Gaming — Belarusian eSports organization that organizes tournaments and conducting broadcasts. Also the organization has its own cyber Academy (Pavaga Academy) for training of players in Dota 2 and CS:GO.

The main events in e-sports in 2020

• It was interesting to see how the tournament organizers and teams will behave in a situation when the whole world moved on udalenku.

In 2020, was cancelled for the first time The International is the biggest Dota 2 tournament. This kind of e-sports world championship with a prize Fund of tens of millions of dollars. Cancel such a major event had an impact on the game: number of players online has dropped.

Other tournaments have moved to a remote format. Become more popular “boot camps” — a gathering place for training eSports teams. Now many athletes participating in the tournament remotely from their boot camps. Of course, the atmosphere of tournaments without an audience isn’t what it was before.

But there was a world tournament for League of Legends — classic LAN-tournament with the fans. The organizers said that the tournament was not a single sick with davidom. As far as I know, now LAN-tournament plan to spend and CS:GO — Extreme Masters. However, without an audience.

According to our observations, players and spectators CS:GO better tolerate udalenku than “daughter”. Online tournaments for counter-strike cause high interest. After all Dota 2 fans are spoiled by a few major events (such as The same The International).

• In the past year there is a new eSports discipline — Valorant. The game is a bit similar to CS:GO: the multiplayer shooter 1st person, but in the “cartoon” style.

The game can be interesting for gamers who have not found themselves in the familiar disciplines — CS:GO or Dota. By the way, three Belarusians participated in the first tournament Valorant and showed good results.

• In 2020, there was another event, for our country. The Belarusian team Nemiga Gaming got on Major.

This is the largest CS:GO tournament, which takes place twice a year. The closest is rescheduled for the fall. You can get on it — the dream of any team.

What to watch in the near future

December and January is “off season” in eSports. Major tournaments for the three main disciplines of the game (Dota 2, CS:GO and League of Legends) will be a little. In addition, many activities suffer due to the pandemic.

Recently ended the tournament Dota Pit. But he’s probably more interesting to players than to a wide audience. But in January, Dota 2 will begin a new season. Teams will compete in regional leagues, and maybe in 2021 we learn the names of new exciting players. By the way, maybe in the regional League will participate in a team of Academy graduates Pavaga.

CS:GO coming months will be interesting. In January, the tournament will be held BLAST Premier, which will be attended by the best teams in the world. And in February will start with Intel Extreme Masters with a prize Fund of $1 million On the translation level and the “picture” these events are always held at the top level. Let’s see how the online format will affect their entertainment. I must say that in recent years the level of production of major eSports events has grown very strongly. They turned into a show that is not visually inferior to the major events from the world of classic sports.

For what teams to follow

CS:GO

Vitality

Photo hltv.org

Team with an interesting history. More recently, they are not, who knew, but for a short period of time, the guys behind “from rags to riches.” Show the beautiful tactical and team play.

NaVi (Natus Vincere)

The Loadout

This team with Ukrainian roots there is a clear leader — the player s1mple. In the world rankings of the best players in the “counter” he has repeatedly won first place. To follow his game is always very interesting. People with a startling reaction: accurate “headshots” — his element.

Virtus.pro

Photos of virtus.pro/EN

In the history of the team had UPS and downs. Now the team has come a lot of interesting young athletes, and Virtus.pro shows good results. It is interesting to observe how the youth will develop.

Astralis

Photo HLTV.org

A year ago, it was the strongest team. Even said that CS “era Astralis”. No one could make it competitive. Now slowed down a little bit, but still in tournaments a good idea. Disciplined team, which shows a very technical game and always thoroughly prepared for any opponent.

Nemiga

Photo hltv.org

As we have said, the Belarusians went on the Major. You can be happy for the guys — they rose to the level of the top teams. Nemiga — hardworking people. However, the last results are not very impressive, but this is due to the injury of one of the major players.

Dota 2

NaVi (Natus Vincere) has Recently joined NaVi Dota took the famous Stak FlyToMoon. In the community call them just “friends” — so they have a cohesive composition. I wonder what the results will show new players.

Virtus.pro

Recently the team had a gold membership. She was at the hearing, but often did not show a significant results in tournaments. Now in Virtus.pro new young players that are actively progressing.

OG the Winners of the last two The International. Interesting and unconventional style of play. Always acting very provocative towards the opponent. Their game can be described as “aggressive confidence.” Their goal is to impose to the opponent the game.

Secret a “Dark horse” in the world of Dota. Captain Puppey (Clement Ivanov) — the real genius of the game. Each year he assembles a team of unknown players and a few months makes it one of the strongest in the world. Puppey is one of the few athletes who took part in all The International.

Final: what to play during the holidays

Maxim: About Cyberpunk 2077, probably, have heard everything. Apart from him we are a team of Pavaga play in Among Us — mobile multiplayer game, similar to traditional “Mafia”. If you want to chat with friends and to emotions the most. Will advise Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The last game of the series, which I think came out very good. Good story and graphics. And still going to buy the new expansion for World of Warcraft — Shadowlands. It was very well received by the players. Many even returned to WoW after a long pause.

Denis: We in the Academy a lot of play in Dota and CS. These games give sports gambling. And even now — in a period of rest from competition — many players can’t drop them. But sometimes I play in similar projects. For example, fans of “dissent” can try Rainbow Six Siege is a tactical first — person shooter. A game that is evolving as an eSports discipline, especially in the West.