Wednesday, April 30, 2014

MLG Has Announced Their Second International Expansion!

MLG Makes move to china

Early on April 24th, 2014, MLG announced they are going to be building the first ever MLG Arena in China. The project is a joint operation between MLG, Lai Fung Holdings Limited and eSun Holdings Limited which are both Chinese gaming companies. Lai Fung are looking to place this arena as the beautiful centerpiece to their Renminbi $18 Billion "Creative Culture City". This city is located on the island Hengqin which is off the coast of Macau. This city is designed to be a dynamic economic zone and a huge tourist complement to Macau with a wide view of a leisure and recreational activities. With MLG staging the arena, they are building a V-Zone in the arena. The V-Zone showcases any new gaming releases developers want to show, restaurants with gaming themes, and retail shops.

MLG, Lai Fung and eSun are collaborating with many gaming companies from around the world to put together the V-Zone and establish regular gaming competitions that will be aired just like in all the other countries. The plan is to have the arena opened up by the year 2017. With an emphasis on "ongoing competition". MLG plans on streaming every event of the best players in the world that takes place there because of the increased growth in eSports.

This isn't it of MLG expanding to the world. This is yet the second announcement of 2014, with the first being MLG Brazil. This is because MLG is trying to provide competitive gaming platforms for underserved communities around the world. This is great because all the other countries that compete in competitive gaming won't eventually have to travel out of their countries and continents just so they can practice for the worlds majored events. They will be able to just play within their communities and even host their own major events.

MLG & ESPN Come Together To Bring Call of Duty To The XGames

Just when everyone thought the world of eSports was going to finally start slowing down on its growth, MLG throws another big news update into the mix. They have announced that MLG has collaborated with ESPN to bring competitive Call of Duty to the X Games! It is an eight team invitational tournament that will be broadcast on MLG.tv but highlights will show on other networks. Occurring on June 6th-8th at Circuit of Americas in Austin, Texas.

These networks include:
- ESPN
- ABC
- MLG.tv
- X Games digital and social platforms

With MLG coming together with the renown leader of sports entertainment. It will show the world how serious eSports are. The Pro Gamers for the first time ever will be getting rewarded medals for playing. Gold medals just like athletes. Continuously pushing eSports into the mainstream with a constantly growing, rapid pace.

The eight teams that will be invited to X Games are the top three finishers at Call of Duty Championships which includes CompLexity Live, EnVyUs, and OpTic Gaming. 5 other teams will be decided based on their pro point standings in North America only by May 13th. The 5 teams that are looking to participate in the tournament have to have their rosters submitted by May 9th with their four players.

X Games Bracket Play

The eight teams that are invited to the X Games will be split up into two different groups. Both playing on the Xbox One Version of Call of Duty Ghosts. They will play in a double elimination bracket where every team plays each other at least once. The top two teams of each group will advance into the next day of bracket play. The bracket of the second day will be a single elimination bracket. Where MLG will hold two semi-finals matches. One being for the bronze medal and the other for the gold medal.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Team EnVyUs: The Roster Nobody Wanted Part 5

COD CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET PLAY Part 2

Moving into Round 5 of the Lower Bracket, still having an upward battle. EnVy looked for revenge against Strictly Business who earlier won the series 3-1. Needing to show up more than they did earlier, nV was hungry for a win. Pulling out an amazing run with the series being brought to 3 maps to none by nV. With a highlighted 6-0 victory on Warhawk S&D. Winning the series against their US brethren.

Squaring up against their brother squad OpTic Gaming in the US Lower Bracket Finals. Everyone knew this would be a match up of a life time. Losing the first map against OpTic, EnVy responded by winning map two evening up the series with a 6-3 win in S&D. Showing that their S&D game is too strong to handle. After playing a gruesome map three with OpTic, they won it 6-5 in the last seconds of Blitz. Going to map four closing the series out on Sovereign Domination with a 157-125 win.

With the uphill battle almost complete, they had to go up against the reigning world champions of CompLexity. Coming up short by getting a 3-0 sweep by coL. Their rise though, shouldn't be put behind as another loss. They faced limitless adversity not only over the CoD Champs weekend, but the months leading up to this event.

With Rambo, Merk, Studyy, and Nameless all facing many roster changes like many other players. Having finally found a team where they feel at home with. Bonding with one another, making a friendship between each individual that some might say is the strongest in Call of Duty.

This is the bottom line to playing with a team in anything you do. It's not about giving up as a player but it's about finding other players who you work well with and can create a bond with. Make chemistry and make sure that all four of you have one common goal.

The team came together, practiced immensely with short time period. Mixing the veterans the young talent together really brought out a strong team that deserved the $200,000 richer they became as a team. Proving all doubters wrong, placing 2nd out of all of the best teams in the world at the Call of Duty Championship for all of their own fans and supporters.

Team EnVyUs: The Roster Nobody Wanted Part 4

COD CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET PLAY

With the squad taking second place in their pool play, it seeded them in bracket play against the US Finals Champions Strictly Business. After losing the first map like their other match ups, EnVy evened up the series with an impressive 6-3 win in S&D on Warhawk. sB responding back by winning the next two maps dropped EnVy out of the Winners Bracket and the first team to go into the Lower Bracket. Putting them on death row needing only one loss to go home and not have a shot at the prize money at stake. Giving them an uphill battle in order for them to finish in the money for a Top-6 placing.

Matching up against Team Kaliber in their first Lower Bracket match, many fans were biting their nails on who was going to go home. Once again nV dropped their first. Making the crowd wonder if it would be another performance against them like sB did. However, EnVy took the next two maps to bring the series to a 2-1 lead. Later being tied up by Team Kaliber to bring the series to a game 5 Search and Destroy. The map was played on Octane, with Rambo and Studyy showing no signs of slowing down. Bringing their team to a 6-1 round victory on Octane, they defeated their US counterparts 3-2 in map count to move on to the next round.

Epsilon, being the team that knocked OpTic Gaming into the Lower Bracket also made the EnVy fans nervous. Putting EnVy's heels on the edge by going up in the series 2-0. EnVy being on the brink of elimination, they showed the world what kind of team they were. Winning the third map Blitz and barely winning the fourth map domination (152-146). EnVy brought the series to another 2-2 stalemate against a European powerhouse. Nameless being a questionable player for Team EnVyUs, made a spectacular performance on Freight S&D with 16 kills and 6 deaths. Moving EnVy on once again with a 6-5 win going into Lower Bracket Round 3.

After putting their backs against the wall with their last two match ups. They went on a tear in their next three. Playing against VexX Revenge, they only needed three maps to sweep VexX 3-0. Then bringing them to face the Australian powerhouse T1Dotters, using only three maps once again to quickly disperse the Aussie team.

Team EnVyUs: The Roster Nobody Wanted Part 3

ONLINE QUALIFIER

With no time to spare the squad how to get used to each other in no time because the Online Qualifier was growing closer. With the same squad that played at the Winter Invitational, it helped nV acclimate to each other more easy. They were more ready for the Online Qualifier than their fans had thought. In 5 matchups EnVy only drop 2 maps as they easily qualified for the US Regional Championship.

US CHAMPIONSHIP

With the team of Rambo, Merk, Nameless, and Studyy going to their first LAN together they aimed to put on a show for the fans watching the US Championship. In order to move on to the CoD World Championship where they would compete against 31 other teams they only needed to win 2 matches before they lose 2. They first went up against Team Xfinity and won with a 3-0 map count. Setting up their match against their brother team, OpTic Gaming.

Playing against OpTic Gaming in their second series, EnVy fell behind early after losing the first Domination map. However, they responded swiftly and took the next three maps they played winning the series 3-1 and qualifying themselves for the World Championship.

Going onto their third match, EnVy lost against Strictly Business and FaZe securing themselves a spot in Group E of the World Championship.

COD CHAMPIONSHIP GROUP PLAY

Group E at the Championship consisted of EnVy, Immunity (AUS), TEC (UK), and Klarity (UAE).

After EnVy stumbled into their match against Immunity. They swept the first match of Domination taking a lead in the series 1-0. Responding in the next match Immunity took the Sovereign Search and Destroy, allowing Immunity to tie the series 1-1. nV taking the series lead again by winning the Blitz map 22-16. But Immunity with their backs against the wall responded fantastically against nV in winning the next two matches on Sovereign Domination and winning the final map Warhawk S&D to take the series with a 3-2 victory.

EnVy once again putting on a show when they went against the second team in their pool play group, TEC. Going down 0-1 right away after the first match, they won Freight S&D and Freight Blitz to take a 2-1 advantage and showing their strength as a team. However, TEC tied up the series and made sure that nV once again went to game 5 on Sovereign S&D. EnVy taking game 5 with a 6-4 win, also took the series 3-2.

EnVy needing one more win to move out of their group play or one loss to go home and not be able to compete in CoD Champs anymore working thirsty for their third match against Klarity. Having a much easier time, nV had a extremely quick 3-0 sweep over Klarity and advanced to the Bracket Play on Sunday. But, with a Round Robin play that occurred when EnVy, Immunity and TEC had a 3 way tie with their records as 2-1. The tie-breaker was a sudden death S&D map played between the three teams. After TEC lost to the Australian team of Immunity, EnVy also needed to beat TEC to move on. In a close match, EnVy came out on top 6-5 and move into bracket play securing their spot for sure on sunday. Playing for the 8-16 seeds.

Team EnVyUs: The Roster Nobody Wanted Part 2

THE ROSTER NOBODY WANTED

RAMBO

After disappointing the Team EnVyUs fans a couple of times towards the end of the Black Ops 2 season and beginning of the Ghosts season. Rambo became the coach with the pickup of pro player Scumpii. With a lucky break though, Rambo was able to refill his spot on the nV lineup. He had the map knowledge and game expertise he has always provided to lead Team EnVy into preparing to qualify for the US Championship.

MERK

As a long time member and captain of OpTic Gaming, Merk was dropped from the team after they placed top-3 three times in Black Ops 2. After the many reasons for him being dropped from his former teammates and him himself, he handled the transition well and moved into a cozy spot with Team EnVyUs.

STUDYY

Studyy teaming with Curse New York for UMG Philly found himself apart of the roster carousel after the 14th place finishing at Philly. When Curse Las Vegas needed another player like many teams, Studyy joined Curse LV joining in with his future teammate Nameless. But, once Parasite became a free agent after being released from OpTic Gaming, Studyy realized what would happen and left Curse LV to rejoin with his former team JusTus. His stay was short lived though as he once again was on the free agent list when he decided to leave JusTus again. When the EnVy squad needed a fill in for the Winter Invitational he jumped right in to help out. Shortly after that he recieved and invite to join the team and become a pro player for Team EnVyUs.

NAMELESS

After serving for the Black Ops 2 season with UNiTE Gaming, Nameless joined in with Parasite on Curse Las Vegas to start out his Call of Duty Ghosts season. With the Curse LV roster eventually becoming Parasite, Nameless, Killa, and MiRx. After taking 3rd place at UMG Philly, they also couldn't avoid the roster changes that many teams had to undergo. Parasite had left for OpTic and regretted that decision and returned back to Curse LV bringing Ricky with him from OpTic. This left Curse LV with 5 players when they only needed 4 and a player needed to be dropped. That player was Nameless who eventually got picked up by FaZe. But, once again Nameless got dropped when Proofy left EnVy and had joined FaZe. Finally, Nameless found his home with the Boys in Blue and became the team's long needed fourth member.

Team EnVyUs: The Roster Nobody Wanted Part 1

Over time teams change no matter what you are talking about. High school sports getting upcoming freshman as the seniors graduate. Or a professional baseball pitcher is released from the Red Sox because he wasn't able to play to their expectations. The same thing happens in the eSport world of Call of Duty. Players are released, players are picked up and players retire. It's all the same, but it involves a video game.

Only 5 teams can say that they made it to the Grand Finals of a worldwide $1 Million tournament. With it being one of their greatest accomplishments of all time, only 1 team has appeared their twice. With the turbulent road to Call of Duty Champs, it made nV's 2nd place finishing even better.

UMG PHILADELPHIA

With the addition of pro player Goonjar, nV had high hopes going into UMG Philadelphia. But, being sent into a rocketing tail spin they took a 9th-12th place finishing.

ROSTER CHANGES

A couple days after UMG Philly had taken place. Pro Player Seth "Scumpii" Abner had left OpTic Gaming to join Team EnVyus, forcing pro player Rambo to become the new coach for nV. With the team of Scumpii, Proofy, Goonjar, and Merk, it only lasted a few weeks before Scump realized that he had made a mistake in leaving OpTic. Thus returning to OpTic Gaming.

The day after Scumpii announced his release, nV player Proofy decided to test the waters and become a free agent. Making nV short 2 players. To fill in spots EnVy then refilled Scumpii's position with the return of Rambo and picked up Studyy off of the Curse New York lineup. Making the team Merk, Rambo, Studyy and Goonjar. However, a couple days later once again, Goonjar then decided that he was going to re-join Team Kaliber leaving the 4th spot on Team EnVy empty. Not wasting anytime, they quickly jumper to picking up Nameless who was a free agent with only 9 days to practice before the Online Qualifier for CoD Champs. Leaving EnVy's squad to consist of Rambo, Merk, Nameless, and Studyy.

Competitive Call of Duty