Author: Juandi

RRQ Ryu Announce Full Lineup for PMPL Indonesia Season 4

After releasing Muhammad Redian “Naider” Putrama this week to make room for the new recruits to the squad, Rex Regum Qeon finally revealed their complete PUBG Mobile roster for the upcoming PMPL Indonesia Season 4 on Thursday (12/8/21).

RRQ Ryu brought on the addition of three new players to the squad: Mort, Asaa, and Chuckles. Mort is most known for his time in Geek Fam ID (now known as Livescape) that won the previous season of PMPL Indonesia.

Asaa, a former Voin Victory 88 player, was one of the best performers in his previous team that placed 3rd in PMCO 2021. Chuckles, on the other hand, is a former Dranix Esports player and a PMCO finalist.

Aside from the new three signings, RRQ Ryu will retain Yoga “Nerpehko” Malik Rahman and Rahmat “VALDEMORT” Hidayat on the roster, bringing the roster to a five-man lineup.

RRQ Ryu’s most recent outing came in March, when it competed in the PMPL Indonesia Season 3 League, finishing in 12th place.

“This time RRQ Ryu comes with three new members to complete the lineup and solidify the team’s gameplay. Welcome to the family brothers, lets chase after greatness together in PMPL S4.
Stay solid and good luck RRQ Ryu.” the announcement reads.

RRQ Ryu has always remained among the upper-echelon of Indonesian PUBGM for a long time. It will, however, try its luck against the other teams this time around, especially in PMPL Indonesia Season 4, in which Genesis Dogma GIDS, BONAFIDE, Victim Sovers have confirmed their attendance.

RRQ Ryu has the following lineup for PMPL Indonesia Season 4: 

  • Nerpehko
  • VALDEMORT
  • Mort
  • Asaa
  • Chuckles

 

Evil Geniuses Jalin Kerja sama dengan Klub Sepakbola Wolverhampton Wanderers

Organisasi esports raksasa asal Amerika Serikat, Evil Geniuses baru saja mengumumkan kerja sama terbarunya dengan klub sepakbola Inggris Wolverhampton Wanderers, atau yang lebih sering dikenal dengan julukan Wolves.

Kerja sama ini bermula setelah perusahaan konglomerat asal Tiongkok Fosun Sports Group, yang juga adalah pemilik mayoritas dari Wolves, sepakat untuk investasi di Evil Geniuses dengan nilai sebesar US$255 juta, atau sekitar Rp3,6 triliun.

Kerja sama antara kedua belah pihak ini sudah mulai terlihat dari pembaharuan jersey milik Evil Geniuses yang sekarang memiliki branding Wolves. Untuk itu, Evil Geniuses juga akan mendapatkan akses dalam rencana ekspansinya ke ranah esports Asia dengan fasilitas-fasilitas yang dimiliki Wolves.

Kerja sama ini juga akan membuahkan konten-konten berbahasa Mandarin serta Inggris, serta penyediaan fasilitas latihan untuk Evil Geniuses di Tiongkok.

“Kemitraan ini sangat menarik bagi Wolves dan Wolves Esports. Kami memiliki ambisi yang sangat tinggi dalam esports dan kemitraan ini memungkinkan kami untuk belajar dari yang terbaik,” sebut Russell Jones, General Manager of Marketing and Commercial Growth dari Wolves.

“Kami akan mengumpulkan sumber daya di seluruh analisis dan kinerja serta pemasaran dan komersial untuk melayani dan menumbuhkan kedua belah pihak. Kami berharap dapat bekerja sama dalam inisiatif-inisiatif fan engagement selama beberapa bulan ke depan dan, ketika rute perjalanan internasional sudah memungkinkan, kami dengan senang hati akan memberikan kesempatan tim kami untuk mengunjungi dan belajar dari rekan mereka masing-masing.”

Nicole LaPointe Jameson, Chief Executive dari Evil Geniuses, menambahkan, “Kami sangat senang dapat bermitra dengan Wolves, klub sepak bola bersejarah dan merek olahraga dan hiburan yang sejalan dengan nilai-nilai kami.

“Kesepakatan ini akan membantu memperkuat ekspansi Evil Geniuses ke pasar Asia dan juga memberikan modal baru untuk merekrut lebih banyak pemain kelas dunia dan ekspansi ke titel esports lain.”

Evil Geniuses merupakan salah satu organisasi esports tertua di dunia. Diresmikan pada tahun 1999 silam, Evil Geniuses kini telah menjadi salah satu organisasi esports terbesar dan berkompetisi di berbagai macam titel, mulai dari LoL, Dota 2, CS:GO, dan VALORANT. Mereka memiliki personil di berbagai penjuru dunia, dari benua Amerika, Eropa, hingga Asia.

Kerja sama ini memungkinkan ekspansi EG ke Asia lebih mudah. Apakah Indonesia bisa menjadi salah satu opsi ekspansi Evil Geniuses?

Bigetron Alpha Announce Roster for MPL Indonesia Season 8

Bigetron Alpha has officially revealed their lineup for the forthcoming Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) Season 8 in Indonesia. The “Red Aliens” will start with eight players with no significant changes. Agung “Bottle” Dita is a new moniker joining the Bigetron Alpha roster. Formerly a jungler with Aerowolf Genflix, the Balinese player once characterized facing Bigetron Astro as a “guts’ test.”

The MPL ID Season 7 runner-up squad will also re-field former captain Jabran “Branz” Bagus Wiloko, who was expelled from the competition earlier this year after a video controversy surrounding him. He will initially field the sidelaner position, with the potential of transitioning back to his old position, the jungler position, later in the process if needed.

Branz was replaced by Max when he was suspended but had little success. After being taken down by Malaysia’s RSG, Bigetron Alpha underperformed at the MSC 2021. Renbo took up the jungler position from Max as a consequence of the results.

With these changes, Bigetron Alpha now have the following squad:

  • Max – Jungler
  • Bottle – Jungler
  • Branz – Sidelaner
  • Renbo – Midlaner
  • Rippo – Sidelaner
  • Kyy – Support
  • Matt – Sidelaner
  • Dreams – Tank

MPL Indonesia Season 8 will inaugurate starting from August 13, where Bigetron Alpha will face seven other Indonesia’s giants, including EVOS Legends, RRQ Hoshi, and the new kid on the block, Genflix Rebellion.

Bigetron Alpha finished second in the previous season, barely behind EVOS Legends, who have also announced its roster for the upcoming season. They defeated Alter Ego, ONIC Esports, and EVOS Legends en route to the grand final but were unable to defeat the latter, who advanced through the lower bracket final. RRQ Hoshi also already announced their current roster.

Astralis Gaet Lucky Sebagai Main AWPer; Tambah Personil Menjadi 6 Pemain

Pada Senin (26/07/21), Astralis secara resmi mengumumkan penambahan personil ke roster CS:GO-nya dengan kehadiran Phillip “Lucky” Ewald. Pemain berumur 18 tahun ini sebelumnya dikenal sebagai salah satu pemain dari tim  Tricked.

Kehadiran Lucky akan mengisi kekosongan personil AWPer di tim pemenang tiga CS:GO major ini pasca kehilangan sosok Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz.

Di periode pasca kehilangan dev1ce, Astralis sempat menggunakan opsi yang tersedia dengan memaksakan role AWPer di personilnya saat itu. Di IEM Cologne 2021, Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen dan Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander sempat menjadi AWPer di beberapa pertandingan sembari menunggu kabar kedatangan dedicated AWPer di tim.

“Jika Anda melihat stats dari Lucky, tidak heran mengapa banyak tim mengincarnya,” sebut Kasper Hvidt selaku Director of Sports Astralis. “Teknik dan game sense-nya akan berkontribusi ke dalam tim dan memberikan ruang baru kepada pemain lain.”

Lucky akan bergabung di tim ini sebagai pemain keenam dan akan menjadi bagian dari tim ini mulai dari “hari pertama”, seperti yang dideskripsikan Kasper Hvidt. Ia juga menambahkan bahwa kedatangan Lucky ke dalam tim akan bermanfaat bagi Astralis dalam jangka panjang, mengingat gla1ve akan segera menjadi seorang ayah pada akhir tahun ini.

“Ketika Astralis menghampiri saya, semuanya berubah,” kata Lucky dalam siaran persnya. “Tidak diragukan lagi tim ini adalah salah satu organisasi paling profesional, dan saya sudah merasa diterima dan menjadi bagian dari keluarga [Astralis].”

“Saya tahu beberapa orang akan membandingkan saya dengan ‘dev1ce’ tetapi tidak ada yang bisa melakukan apa yang dia lakukan”, Lucky menambahkan. “Saya harap saya dapat menunjukkan siapa saya, dan saya akan bekerja keras untuk berkontribusi pada tim dengan cara saya sendiri.”

Lucky datang ke Astralis di tengah-tengah isu hangat bahwa tiga pemainnya: dupreeh, Magisk, dan Xyp9x, serta pelatih zonic tidak akan memperpanjang kontraknya yang jatuh tempo di akhir tahun ini. Sejauh ini, hanya Lukas “⁠gla1ve⁠” Rossander yang telah menandatangani perpanjangan kontrak sepanjang tiga tahun ke depan.

Dengan kedatangan Lucky, roster lengkap dari Astralis CS:GO adalah sebagai berikut:

  • Andreas “⁠Xyp9x⁠” Højsleth
  • Peter “⁠dupreeh⁠” Rasmussen
  • Lukas “⁠gla1ve⁠” Rossander
  • Emil “⁠Magisk⁠” Reif
  • Lucas “⁠Bubzkji⁠” Andersen
  • Philip “⁠Lucky⁠” Ewald
  • Danny “⁠zonic⁠” Sørensen (Coach)

Aerowolf Pro Team announce disbandment; Free Fire division to stay

Following the recent financial problems surrounding the organization, Aerowolf Pro Team have decided to fully suspend their operation, which includes the Mobile Legends (MPL and MDL rosters), PUBG Mobile, and its talent division.

“With this announcement, we, from Aerowolf Pro Team, want to announce that we’re officially suspending our Mobile Legends, PUBG Mobile, and talent operation,” the announcement reads on Instagram.

The announcement comes after a string of events in recent months, beginning with many players from their Mobile Legends and PUBG Mobile divisions not receiving their salaries; leading to Agung “Bottle” Dita, Deden “Clay” Muhammed, Rinazmi, and Supriadi “Watt” Dwi Putra leaving the squad as a result.

Not only a handful of issues with the Mobile Legends division, but Aerowolf also made it too serious that Tencent Games intervened due to the organization not paying their players on time, resulting in halting the organization’s participation in their esports ecosystem. The lineup was compelled to transfer to another organization, Alter Ego in this instance.

The biggest setback occurred when Aerowolf Pro Team’s partner, Genflix, chose not to extend their contract with The Rising Wolf and instead joined hands with Rebellion. Genflix Rebellion will take Aerowolf’s position in MPL Indonesia Season 8 and so forth.

 

Aerowolf Pro Team’s journey as The Rising Wolf

After acquiring the old TEAMnxl> MLBB division, they rapidly grew into one of Indonesia’s largest esports organizations. They began as a modest organization that fielded a CS:GO squad with young prodigies like Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto (now Paper Rex VALORANT) and Jose “Jo” Iman (now Invictus Gaming R6). Apart from MLBB, they had also participated in PUBG, PUBG Mobile, Rainbow Six: Siege, and other games.

Apart from that, Aerowolf Pro Team shocked the public during the fourth to the sixth seasons of the MPL by adding Kaesang Pangarep, the son of Indonesian President Joko Widodo, as their tenth player.

Free Fire Division to Stay; collaborate with MBR Esports

Aerowolf Pro Team’s Free Fire division will be an exception to the disbandment scenario. Aerowolf and MBR Esports will collaborate to ensure that the lineup will compete in the Free Fire Master League Season 4 this year.

MBR Esports’ Garena Free Fire division will now made up around well-known players that have often competed in the highest level of domestic competitions The following are the five players:

  • Bentar Arya “BhenK” Sabastian
  • Moh Hafix “Danz” Ramadhan,
  • Ilham “HaLcyon” Dwicahya
  • Fani “Jans” Ariantanto
  • Yusuf “BesToo” Ramadhan

MBR Esports will field the newly signed Free Fire roster for upcoming tournaments. DIVIZE will compete in the Free Fire Master League Season 4 which will start in the near future.

MPL expand to Cambodia; Officially announce MPL KH Season 1

Following the recent debut of MPL Brazil, Moonton as the official Mobile Legends: Bang Bang developer takes another step forward with announcing MPL Cambodia (KH). The first season of MPL Cambodia will be a joint effort with Cambodia’s leading mobile telecommunications operator, Smart Axiata.

The Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) Cambodia will follow the same format as the other leagues, with two seasons each year. The first beginning in August and ending in October. The entire prize pool for the inaugural season will be US$30,000.

“Teams in the league will compete for cash prizes, the bragging rights of becoming the first champion of a major esports league in the Kingdom and the chance to represent Cambodia at the MLBB Southeast Asian Competition and M3 international tournament at the end of the year,” a media release from Smart noted.

Image Via: Smart Axiata

“Partnering with Smart as our league partner in Cambodia was an obvious choice, as they have dedicated a lot of time, effort, and resources to growing esports in Cambodia. We are very excited to be working with them to bring this international-standard gaming experience and competition to Cambodia,” said Trinity Wu from Moonton quoted by Khmer Times.

Cambodia has been one of the enthusiast nations when it comes to Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. At the professional level, Cambodia was one of the countries that received a representation in the M1 World Championship – Impunity KH.

By the time of publication, MPL KH has announced four invited teams:

  • Impunity KH
  • New Blood
  • See You Soon
  • Burn Gaming

Moonton has recently made a concerted effort to extend its reach. MPL Brazil was launched less than a month ago, while MPL Philippines was just upgraded to a franchise-league format a week ago. With this rate of growth, it is quite conceivable that Moonton would announce intentions to expand into another market with a sizable player base in the near future.

ESL Hadirkan Permainan Monopoli Esports!

Organisasi esports terbesar di dunia saat ini, ESL Gaming, baru saja mengumumkan kehadiran Esport Monopoly, permainan papan klasik yang mengizinkan pemain untuk membeli turnamen besar alih-alih properti seperti yang kita biasa mainkan di permainan monopoli.

Esports Monopoly mengganti item permainan monopoli konvensional, seperti sepatu dan bidal, dengan item berbau gaming seperti game controller, keyboard, headphones, logo ESL, piala, dan patung ‘Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner.’

Image: Esports Insider

Intinya, pemain dapat membeli hak gelaran-gelaran besar seperti DreamHack maupun IEM Katowice, dan juga berinvestasi di liga, menjual tiket ataupun merchandise lainnya. Menariknya, Esport Monopoly akan mempertahankan penjara dan free parking, yang artinya pemain masih bisa tertangkap di penjara.

Permainan papan ini dicetak dalam dua bahasa: Bahasa Inggris dan Jerman.

Cara permainan Esport Monopoly ini pun tidak berubah. Sama seperti permainan monopoli berlisensi lainnya, pemain harus berusaha untuk mendapatkan lebih banyak uang daripada lawan mereka dengan membeli aset.

Faktanya di dunia gaming, ESL bukan yang pertama dalam bekerjasama dengan Monopoly. Fortnite dan Super Mario juga sudah terlebih dahulu mengeluarkan versi ‘Gaming Monopoly‘-nya.

Screengrab via: ESL Gaming

Esports Monopoly tersedia di website ESL Gaming dan dijuals eharga US$60,99 atau sekitar Rp884 ribu dan tersedia untuk dikirim ke seluruh belahan dunia. Menurut ESL, permainan ini dianjurkan untuk kelompok berjumlah antara dua hingga enam pemain, dan berusia delapan tahun ke atas. Permainan ini bisa dimainkan antara satu hingga dua jam, atau sampai seseorang menyerah.

Cover photo courtesy of TV Azteca

Omega Esports Signs Former Execration MLBB Lineup

Omega Esports has acquired the former Execration lineup that won Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Southeast Asia Cup (MSC) 2021, the organization announced. Other than that, the roster will be set to attend the upcoming Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) Philippines Season 8.

The roster includes Caidic “E2Max” Patrick James, Joshua “Ch4knu” G Mangilog, Renz “Renzi” Errol Salonga, Kiel “KielVJ” VJ Hemandez, Billy “Z4pnu” Jazha R Alfonso, and Duane “Kelra” Pillas. Omega Esports has also secured the service of Jomie “Pakba1ts” Abalos, Execration’s coach to help the squad further, with ex-Smart Omega coach Anthony “Ynot” Senedrin serving as head of coaching and player development.

Aside from the Execration core, Smart Omega also introduced Dian “Dian” Cruz, Romeire “Allidap” Padilla, Dean “Raizen” Sumagui, and Robert “Hito” Candoy to complete its 10-man squad for Season 8.

Image Via: Everything Studio

Jiane “Kenji” Villa, Jeniel “Haze” Bata-anon, EJ “Heath” Esperanza, Salic “Hadjizy” Imam, Jankurt “KurtTzy” Matira, and Adrian “Toshi” Bacallo were all released by Smart Omega last week. Haze just signed with Nexplay Esports, while Hadjizy signed with Blacklist International, the MPL PH Season 7 champions.

Omega Esports had considerable success in their journey, placing second in the MPL PH Season 6 and tied for fifth and sixth positions in the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) M2 World Championship in January.

However, the club underperformed in the most recent MPL season, going 6-7 in the group stage and losing in the playoffs to Aura and Execration.

“Thank you for welcoming us to this team. We will do our very best. For us, this is just the start of our journey and we promise to do the best that we can,” Z4pnu said in a statement.

Ninjas in Pyjamas Dilaporkan Segera Merger dengan Tim Tiongkok

Kejutan datang dari salah satu organisasi esports legendaris asal Swedia Ninjas in Pyjamas yang dilaporkan telah melakukan merger dengan sebuah entitas Tiongkok. Merger ini akan menghasilkan sebuah entitas baru dalam usaha mereka go-public di Amerika Serikat pada akhir tahun ini.

Ninjas in Pyjamas, atau yang sering disingkat NiP, merupakan salah satu organisasi esports terbesar dunia yang dikenal dengan tim Counter-Strike: Global Offensive-nya. Mereka dilaporkan telah teken kontrak dengan entitas Tiongkok bernama ESV5. Entitas tersebut adalah perusahaan patungan milik dua organisasi esports besar Tiongkok, eStar Gaming dan Victory Five.

Pertama dilaporkan oleh Reuters, merger ini akan menghasilkan penghasilan gabungan sebesar RMB400 miliar, atau mendekati angka Rp900 triliun. Mereka juga akan memiliki agenda untuk membentuk perusahaan publik di Amerika Serikat pada akhir tahun ini.

ESV5 adalah perusahaan patungan dari organisasi esports Tiongkok eStar Gaming (ES) dan Victory Five (V5) yang berbasis di Wuhan. KPL Wuhan merupakan home venue dari eStar Gaming sedangkan LPL Shenzhen adalah home venue milik Victory Five.

CEO Victory Five, He Youjun (kiri) saat mendapatkan Series A funding lebih dari US$14 miliar di akhir tahun 2019. Image via: Victory Five

eStar Gaming berkompetisi di LPL dari 2019-2020. Pada tahun 2020, Nenking Group, pemilik tim Liga Overwatch Guangzhou Charge, mengakuisisi waralaba eStar Gaming LPL dan berganti nama menjadi Ultra Prime (UP).

Seperti yang kita tahu, Tiongkok adalah pasar game terbesar di dunia hingga saat ini, dan rumah bagi perusahaan video game top dunia seperti Tencent dan NetEase. Negara ini memiliki 388 juta penonton esports pada akhir 2020, naik 21,3 persen dari tahun sebelumnya, menurut Niko Partners, sebuah konsultan video game.

Hingga saat ini, kedua belah pihak belum melakukan pengumuman resminya. Namun diperkirakan mereka akan segera mengumumkan merger ini dalam waktu dekat.

Bigetron RA Emerges Victorious at Ultimate Warrior Showdown: PUBG Mobile Asia Invitational 2021

Bigetron RA from Indonesia was crowned champions for the fourth season of Ultimate Warrior Showdown: PUBG MOBILE Asia Invitational 2021, organized by Esports Fight Club (EFC), a Verasity platform, and supported by HUYA, PUBG MOBILE, and Tencent Games. During the three-day competition, the Indonesian side won with a total of 161 points, earning USD 27,000 in prize money.

FaZe Clan was close behind with a total of 159 points and took home the second prize of USD 18,000. On the third position, LIT Esports received USD 9,000 at 130 points. Meanwhile, the remainder of the prize pool was divided among fourth to tenth place winners, Eagle Esports, Da Kun Gaming, Tong Jia Bao Esports, PN Crew, Stalwart Freestyle, DRS Gaming, and Orange Esports in order. Bigetron RA’s Zuxxy was also given the honorary title of MVP.

The latest instalment of the Ultimate Warrior Showdown saw 16 professional teams from 14 nations competed in 12 rounds across four maps each day for a prize pool of USD 90,000.

The Invitational was an anticipated event as it featured two competing Chinese teams as well. With the postponement of the ~US$1,852,109 Peacekeeper Elite Championship (PEC) due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this event gave fans a chance to see the dominant Chinese teams compete against global ones.

The two Chinese teams, however, fell short of supporters’ expectations. Da Kun Gaming came in fourth place, while Tong Jia Bao Esports came in sixth.

The overall standings of the UWS: PUBG Mobile Asia Invitational 2021 are as follows:

  1. Bigetron RA (161 points)
  2. FaZe Clan (159 points)
  3. LIT Esports (130 points)
  4. Da Kun Gaming (105 points)
  5. Eagle Esport (105 points)
  6. Tong Jia Bao Esports (98 points)
  7. PN Crew (88 points)
  8. Free Style (83 points)
  9. DRS Gaming (70 points)
  10. The Infinity (69 points)
  11. Orange Esports (69 points)
  12. RSG Malaysia (64 points)
  13. JoinMe Yellow (61 points)
  14. Demigods Incognito (61 points)
  15. XB Blood Legion (49 points)
  16. 7Sea Esports (42 points)