Hanwha Life Esports kept their streak alive on Thursday when they defeated Kwangdong Freecs, securing their sixth consecutive victory. It was a clean performance, but it is not like defeating Kwangdong Freecs is a very impressive accomplishment.

Hanwha Life Esports are in great shape, but we know the deal with HLE and their record against stronger opponents. Most of Hanwha Life Esports’ strength comes from feeding off opponent’s mistakes – Dplus KIA are not the type to allow for that.

It makes little sense for LoL betting sites to have Dplus KIA priced as underdogs. They have looked just as good, if not better, than Hanwha Life Esports recently, and they already won this matchup earlier this split.

This is the eighth consecutive match in which Gen.G are priced at under $1.20, which at this point sounds fair. Gen.G have been on a roll since the start of the split, with an 11-0 series record and a 96% map win rate.

The only team who showed Gen.G can bleed were Dplus KIA last week, when they managed a perfect Map 1 only to get bodied in the final two. On the other side, Kwangdong Freecs are 5-6 and while they put up some fight against Hanwha Life Esports on Thursday, they are not a team you would expect to take down Gen.G. But there is another angle to look at.

Gen.G have averaged 23.8, and Kwangdong Freecs 21.5 total kills per game this season. Yet the kill line is set at 10.5, which is high for such a low kill total. Underdogs to keep it relatively close is the play.

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PGL also revealed that the PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 would be held from March 17-31. It will be the first Major event in Denmark and will take place at the Royal Arena, where several previous BLAST CS:GO events have occurred since 2017.

The tournament will be the first Major of Counter-Strike’s newest version, set to be released this summer. Valve informed fans of the new game early last week and began its Limited Beta Testing phase.

The game developer selected gamers to participate based on factors like their Steam account standing, playtime on official servers, and trust factor. The testing period is expected to last until Counter-Strike 2’s official release.

In a press release, PGL’s CEO Silviu Stroie revealed that it was an honor for the company to host such an important event, and they would strive to achieve a record-breaking viewership count with this tournament.

“One of the greatest games of all time is marching to another chapter, and we couldn’t be happier to host probably the most important Major of the franchise in recent years,” Stroie said.

“Denmark has a rich esports heritage, and we are excited to bring the world’s best Counter-Strike teams to Copenhagen to compete for the game’s most prestigious title. Our ambition for PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 is to break the game’s all-time viewership records.”

The tournament organizer set the previous record with the PGL Major Stockholm 2021, which achieved over a 2.7 million count during the match between G2 and Natus Vincere in the grand final.

PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 will be PGL’s fourth Major organized and the third since 2021. The tournament will feature 24 teams competing for a prize pool of $1.25 million.

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Prior to their announcement, Astralis had an impressive run in the Six Invitational last week, finishing in fourth place. In a post, the team revealed that the decision to leave Rainbow Six was born out of the shortage of prospects for future development.

Anders H?rsholt, the CEO of Astralis, explained in a press release that the development of the league agreement made it difficult for them to keep a healthy team running in the esport.

“We entered into Rainbow 6 and the North American League with high ambitions and the best of intentions, and our US organization has done everything humanly possible to meet these ambitions,” the release read.

“However, despite the dedicated and extremely loyal efforts of everybody involved, the development and lack of prospects in the league regrettably make it impossible for us to continue.”

H?rsholt also revealed that before making the decision, Astralis had explored other options to keep their team running, including conducting “an open and constructive dialogue” with Ubisoft to consider ways to move forward. Ultimately, no satisfactory solution was settled on.

“We appreciate all the efforts made, but unfortunately, we did not find a solution where we could continue operations while meeting our obligations and standards regarding working conditions for our staff and players,” H?rsholt continued.

The release concluded by thanking everyone, including fans, management, staff, competitors and volunteers, that contributed to Astralis’ time in Rainbow Six.

The disbanded lineup includes David “iconic” Ifidon, Aaron “Shuttle” Dugger, Roman “Forrest” Breaux, Jack “J9O” Burkard, and Chris “Spiff” Park. Seth “Callout” Mik and Waiffer “Waiffer” Sibaja were the team’s head and assistant coaches, respectively, while Adam “Mango” Pazner filled the analyst position.

The players, via Forrest, revealed they were open to joining another organization with a Rainbow Six team. In the meantime, they will continue to compete together under the ‘APE’ tag.

Astralis joined Rainbow Six two years ago after signing Disrupt Gaming’s roster. Although they were unable to qualify for the Six Invitational in 2021, they showed significant improvement in 2022. The team won the two stages of the North American League 2022 and the grand finals, which took place in the fall.

In Astralis’s second season in the esport, they qualified for the Six Invitational; however, the team lost to G2 Esports in the lower-bracket semifinals. G2 went on to be the 2022 Rainbow Six world champions.

Several other esports organizations have announced their intention to leave Rainbow Six. In the past weeks, teams like PSG eSports, XSET, Beastcoast, FURIA, Luminosity, Gaimin Gladiators, 00NATION, and TSM have taken a similar route.

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The organizers took to their Twitter page to break the news. They also clarified that it does not mean the tournament has been shut down, stating that it is only on pause.

“Sadly, due to financial issues, we won’t be able to make Copenhagen Games 2023 happen,” the organizers said.

“This doesn’t mean that we are shut down permanently, but are on pause for the time being. We will continue to fight for the event, but only time can tell if it will happen.”

The decision comes just three months before the tournament was scheduled to take place. This marks the third time in a row that the event has been cancelled since the last staging of the event, back in 2019. The 2020 edition of the tournament was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and efforts to bring it back in 2022 were unsuccessful as a result of financial constraints and insufficient support from sponsors.

The main reason cited for the postponement of the 2023 tournament is the inability of the organizers to secure enough commercial and financial support from sponsors and exhibitors. The ongoing economic crisis, the after-effects of the coronavirus pandemic, and increased competition in the gaming industry are cited as the key factors.

The organizers, a small team with a passion for organizing esports, expressed disappointment in their statement.

“We have tried to get Copenhagen Games 2023 up and running, but unfortunately we have to throw in the towel now,” they said.

“There still is a huge interest from players all over the world for the event, and the City of Copenhagen is still supporting the event financially. But unfortunately it has not been possible to find enough commercial support for the event.

“The reason is a combination of after-effects of corona, the current economic crisis and increased competition. We are a very small organisation, that have been struggling with esports for many years, mostly because we have a very strong passion for organizing esport.”

The Copenhagen Games have been an important event in the esports calendar, acting as a proving ground for Danish and international talent. The tournament usually begins with a BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer) competition where players from around the world compete for the opportunity to participate in the main tournament, which offers tens of thousands of dollars in prizemoney.

The cancellation of the Copenhagen Games is a significant blow to the esports community in Denmark, which has been eagerly awaiting the return of the event. The tournament has been running since 2010, providing an important platform for players and teams to showcase their skills and compete for large prizes.

Over the years, the tournament has witnessed some of the best talent in the industry, including Gambit Youngsters, Imperial, Heroic, and Sprout, with the 2019 event being won by the Russian team forZe. The postponement is a reflection of the challenging times faced by the esports industry, with the ongoing pandemic and economic crisis taking their toll on many events.

Despite the setbacks, the organizers remain hopeful about the future of the tournament. They expressed gratitude for the continued support from the City of Copenhagen and the huge interest from players worldwide. They emphasized that their passion for organizing esports events remains strong and they will strive to bring back the tournament in the future.

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The esports scene has just been graced with the appearance of HK Privat. The labor union represents clerical workers, as well as retail workers and workers in other industries that are closely related to office work. It is the trade union that holds the position of being the second largest in Denmark. As a result of the partnership with Astralis, the union will be able to contribute to the further integration of esports and gaming into the education sector in Denmark.

The CS:GO tournament will feature both online and in-person matches, and the championship match will be held at the Astralis Nexus in Copenhagen. Additionally, Astralis will be activating their digital channels in order to increase awareness of the event.

“We are thrilled that HK Privat wants to join our mission to support a healthy and positive gaming culture,” said Kasper Sindt, Chief Commercial Officer at Astralis.

“In 2021 we opened Astralis Nexus and since then we have hosted several events and tournaments, both open to everyone and adapted to different groups and communities.

“We insist that games are for everyone and partnering with HK Privat makes it possible we need to invest even more in this area.”

Simon Tegern, Section Head at HK Privat, also commented on the collaboration.

“Positive communities are vital to us as a trade union,” he said.

“With Astralis, we want to support a healthy and fun gaming community in Danish educational institutions. Together we invite students to play and interact in a league of interests and areas of study.

“The digital space means everything today. When it comes to creating a healthy and professional gaming environment, Astralis is a leader both in Denmark and internationally, serving as a role model for gamers around the world.”

The only piece of information about the tournament that has been disclosed is that it will be played in CS:GO. Neither Astralis nor HK Privat have provided any additional details. Meanwhile, it was mentioned by both parties that there is a possibility that Studie_CS will be extended in the future to incorporate additional gaming titles.

Astralis competes in a variety of other video games in addition to CS:GO, including League of Legends, FIFA, Fortnite, and Rainbow Six Siege. In the year 2020, the Danish organization launched its CS:GO academy team, Astralis Talent, to assist in the development of future players. The team competes in the WePlay Academy League, which is the most prestigious tournament in the game for Counter-Strike academy lineups.

Astralis has been very consistent with building healthy collaborations in the industrial and commercial sectors. At the beginning of this year, the organization also formed a partnership with the Confederation of Danish Industry with the intention of making esports more widely known. It has also collaborated with drink brand GoMate, chewing gum brand Stimorol, sportswear brand hummel, matchmaking platform Esportal, telecommunications company 3, and a list of others.

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The Danish AWPer will be substituting Sebastian “larsen” Larsen, who was benched this past?month, and will be rejoining with three of his previous CS: GO colleagues from his initial time with Tricked. These former teammates include Andreas “kiR” Kirstein, Oliver “kwezz” Rasmussen, and Mathias “PR1mE” Carlsen. During his time with Tricked, which lasted from January 2020 to August 2021, Lucky participated in more than 250 different maps and contributed to the team’s success in various Danish domestic competitions.

However, the 19-year-old was unable to reproduce the same level of individual prowess while playing for Astralis. As a result, he ended up playing as an underdog,?rather than serving as the front runner?for the team across all maps. During the time that he was playing under Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander, Lucky competed in a number of notable tournaments, including the PGL Stockholm Major and the BLAST Premier World Final in 2021, as well as the IEM Katowice in February 2022. According to HLTV, during his time with Astralis, he maintained a rating of 0.95 on average.

Lucky was benched after IEM Katowice to?make room in the Astralis?roster for the incoming sharpshooter Asger “farlig” Jensen. In May, the 19-year-old player was allowed to become a free agent, and after a few weeks, he signed a contract to return to Tricked.

Commenting on the move, Lucky confessed that it was a relief to return to a stable and familiar environment.

“After being in a place where it was very turbulent and at times chaotic with many replacements on the team, it’s very nice to be back in a place where you know you feel at home and where you know how things work,” he said.

Tricked’s Chief Executive Officer,?Morten Jensen, admitted that the team lacked some of Lucky’s skills and potency after his departure, and he is excited to be reconnecting with the talented Danish AWPer.

Tomorrow at 11am Central Time, Lucky will compete once more under the Tricked name in the $50,000 online event Elisa Invitational Spring. The match will be played versus EC Kyiv.?

Both Tricked and Astralis mutually agreed to not make public the money value?of the transfer.

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The 27-year-old Swede will take over the vacant spot left behind by Markus “?Kjaerbye?” Kj?rbye, who departed for FaZe Clan in July.

Lekr0 is now set to team up with Philip “aizy” Aistrup, Nicklas “gade” Gade, René “cajunb” Borg, Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen, and coach Jimmy “Jumpy” Berndtsson, who was his boss during his two stints with Fnatic.

North will mark Lekr0’s eighth stop in a five-year esports career that began in 2015 with Team Decerto. He later played for TSK, Publiclir.se, Team Ancient and GODSENT before joining Fnatic in August 2016. After a two-month stay with Fnatic, Lekr0 left to play for GODSENT and returned to play under the orange banner in August 2017.

Lekr0 saw vast international success during his time at Fnatic, leading the Swedish juggernauts to titles at the Intel Extreme Masters XII World Championship, World Electronic Sports Games 2017 and Europe Minor Championship London 2018, as well as deep runs in several other S-Tier CS:GO competitions.

In May 2018, shortly after Fnatic’s fourth-place finish at the Esports Championship Series Season 5 Europe, Lekr0 was benched in favour of Richard “Xizt” Landstr?m. His career did not stop there, however, since Lekr0 found a new home at Ninjas in Pyjamas, who he joined in June as a replacement for William “?draken?” Sundin.

As NiP’s in-game leader, Lekr0 led the Swedish squad to their first Major in two years – FACEIT Major London 2018 – which was just one of many impressive accomplishments during his two-year tenure with the team. Lekr0’s journey with NiP ended in May 2020 when he was put on the transfer list following the signing of Hampus “?hampus?” Poser, who took over as the new captain of the team.

Despite his experience as an IGL, Lekr0 will take over the role of the main rifler at North, but he will also assist MSL with “tactical input pre and mid-game”, as revealed by North’s Head of Esports Operations, Graham Pitt. Mr Pitt also stated that the communication in the team will not change with this signing, meaning North will continue using a mixture of Danish and Swedish language like they have since February when they appointed Jumpy as their head coach.

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Jonas into the North family,” said Mr Pitt.

“Jonas is a player both our Head Coach, Jimmy Berndtsson, and I have worked with extensively in the past years, so we know exactly what kind of a player we are getting in and outside of the game where we expect him to slot perfectly into his role on the server and the team culture.”

In the announcement on North’s official website, Lekr0 said he had no doubts about joining North, even though he was on the verge of signing for FLASHPOINT Season 1 champions MAD Lions in July.

“I am really looking forward to joining North,” said Lekr0.

“There has been a lot of rumours about me joining ‘this and that’ org, but when I started talking to North about the project and what they aim for with this team and their Nordic ambitions, I didn’t have any doubts. This is definitely the new home for me, and I am really looking forward to playing with the guys and bringing this team to the next level.”

Lekr0 will make his debut with North at the US $50,000 Nine to Five #3 CS:GO tournament, where the Danish esports organisation, alongside Heroic, MiBR and Team Spirit, received a direct invite to the playoffs.

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The announcement comes shortly after Astralis confirmed the signing of Patrick “es3tag” Hansen, who is due to join the team at the end of June, meaning the Danish champions are set to field a seven-man squad this summer.

The 23-year-old Danish AWPer has already taken part in practice sessions with his new teammates, prompting Astralis coach Danny “zonic” S?rensen to say his latest charge had “adapted and contributed as we expected”.

“It feels like coming home,” JUGi said in a statement on the Astralis website.

“To be honest, I was really nervous, but the second I stepped into the office, everything felt just right. The group has grown a lot, but I know most of the guys around the team, I know the culture and I know what is expected of me – on and off the server.

“I’ve had some great times here and being able to wear the jersey with the red star on the chest is just… It’s a pressure, it’s humbling and it’s motivating as nothing else!”

JUGi also spoke about his lack of success in the CS:GO esports scene since leaving Heroic’s active roster in March 2018. Although he helped North hoist the DreamHack Open Sevilla 2019 title in December, a lack of consistency saw him benched in favour of Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen in January this year.

“I’ve not been as consistent in my performance as I want to be, but I know what I can do under the right conditions and luckily so do Kasper Hvidt [Astralis’ Director of Sports] and Danny,” said JUGi.

“Also, I will play with a group of incredibly skilled players on a team where the combined performance is always in focus, which is something I’ve missed at times.”

Despite JUGi’s questionable performances in recent months, zonic said Astralis’ new addition had “already proven his talent and potential” and that he will do his best to help JUGi return to his old form.

In the same announcement, Mr Hvidt addressed the concerns surrounding Astralis’ expansion to seven members. He acknowledged that these changes may lead to some “fluctuating results” at first, but explained that the recent additions are all a part of a bigger plan to build an “even stronger Astralis now and in the many years to come”.

“In essence, for every role on Astralis, we want two players who can fill it,” said Mr Hvidt, which suggests more signings are on the cards.

The new arrival could make his debut for Astralis at DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Europe, where the Danes have been placed in Group A alongside G2 Esports and two of JUGi’s former teams, North and Heroic. The tournament is set to kick off on Tuesday, May 19.

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The Norwegian strategist takes over from the team’s co-owner and esports director, Daniel “vorborg” Vorborg, who stepped into the coaching role in February 2019 after the departure of Niels “rizc” Topp.

In the announcement on Copenhagen’s official website, Vorborg said they had “been looking for the right person for the position for quite a while” and that he believes zEVES is the right person to help their young squad grow and develop.

“Morten has been helping our team the past two and a half weeks and has been part of our teams performance in Road to Rio,” said Vorborg.

“We have for a long time looked for a person to add strategic value to our team. Morten will be a big part of making sure our overall strategic plans make sense, and keep the players to higher standards in-game.

“I will still be very much involved with the team but instead of being there for every single practice, I’ll step back a bit and spend more time with our other titles and the business side of things in Copenhagen Flames.”

For zEVES, this is an opportunity to get back on top following a difficult period in his CS:GO esports career.

“I’m beyond excited to get this opportunity. For me this is a breath of fresh air and a chance to redeem myself because the past years has been rough,” he said.

“It makes me proud to get to work with such a hard-working organization and talented players.”

This is zEVES’s second stint as a CS:GO coach. The 29-year-old Norwegian took over the Team Dignitas roster in May 2017 and remained there for eight months. Dignitas failed to see much success in that time, which led to the disbandment of the team and the departure of zEVES in early 2018.

The move into coaching came after three years as a CS:GO player, during which he played for zX9, oFF Balance Gaming, clutchlT.org, London Conspiracy, LGB eSports, Copenhagen Wolves, Deadweight and Norse. After leaving Dignitas, zEVES went on to play for NOREG, Nordavind and, most recently, Riddle Esports.

Copenhagen Flames’ first test with their new coach is scheduled for Friday, May 8, when they will tackle FaZe Clan at ESL One: Road to Rio – Europe. Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen and co. have sit fourth in Group B with a 3-2 record and nine points next to their name.

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After spending more than a third of his life as a Counter-Strike pro, HUNDEN will now have a chance to use a decade worth of knowledge and expertise to help Heroic re-launch their CS:GO project following an unsuccessful takeover deal with FunPlus Phoenix.

“We are happy to announce that Nicolai “Hunden” Petersen will lead our newly formed roster in their quest for success,” Heroic revealed in an official statement posted on Twitter.

“Nicolai has a long history in Counter-Strike as a player where he has built up his name as an in-game leader and mastermind.”

HUNDEN will join a freshly rebuilt Heroic roster consisting of Martin “stavn” Lund, Johannes “B0RUP” Borup, Casper “cadiaN” M?ller, René “TeSeS” Madsen and the newest addition to their active lineup, Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen. On the bench are Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer and Patrick “es3tag” Hansen, the latter of whom is on his way to Astralis in the summer.

HUNDEN was benched by MAD Lions at the start of March in favour of Asger “AcilioN” Larsen, shortly before the team competed in the Europe Minor Closed Qualifier and the inaugural season of FLASHPOINT. Although MAD hinted HUNDEN could remain with the organisation, where he would take over a managerial role, nothing was confirmed until the Danish Counter-Strike veteran announced his retirement on Wednesday.

HUNDEN kept his announcement short, stating only that he had “decided to retire as a CS player” and that there was “news coming up soon”. Shortly after, the 28-year-old made another Twitter post unveiling his move into coaching with Heroic.

“Finally I took the step that I’ve wanted to take for so long. Now, when I was offered the chance to coach such a talented team, it was easy for me to finally make up my mind. I’m looking forward to doing what I’m best at, and that is using my brain and create a masterplan to make Heroic shine, and finally make them go deep in the rankings again,” said HUNDEN.

“The future looks bright, I’m looking forward to finally work with Niko and Borup again. I have always wanted to be a part of HEROIC, and now I’m the head coach – and I will do my best to show the best HEROIC anyone has ever seen!”

HUNDEN’s transition to coaching has ended an 11-year career as a Counter-Strike player that began in April 2009, when he played for CS: Source team DSRack. He also played for the likes of SK Gaming, Copenhagen Wolves, ALTERNATE aTTaX and Tricked Esports, with whom he won V4 Future Sports Festival – Budapest 2019.

HUNDEN failed to see much success in any S-Tier tournaments outside of a fourth-place finish at StarLadder StarSeries X with MyXMG, a top-eight finish at ESL Pro League I with Copenhagen Wolves and a ninth-12th result at IEM Katowice 2020 with MAD Lions. Nonetheless, with a young and talented Danish roster under his guidance, his best years as an esports athlete might be on the horizon.

The new-look Heroic roster will play their first match under HUNDEN’s guidance at Elisa Invitational 2020 on Friday, May 1 at 13:30 CET, when they will face off against their regional rivals North.

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