The ESL is negotiating a deal with Twitch, Vulcun, and top Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams to establish a new CS:GO league independent of Valve. What's particularly interesting (and potentially alarming) about the plan is that according to the Daily Dot, the new league would be exclusive, meaning that teams playing under its auspices would not be allowed to play anywhere else. The ESL, however, says it's not seeking to prevent teams attending tournaments put on by other organizations.

The plan is being backed by Vulcun, which earlier this week announced that it had raised $12 million in new financing through investors including Sequoia Capital, Universal Music Group, Mark Pincus of Zynga, and other "angel investors." Sources say the total value of the package offered by ESL and Vulcun runs around $18 million, a "hefty chunk of which" will be paid to teams in exchange for the exclusivity agreement. The deal will also reportedly see exclusive online broadcasting rights granted to Twitch.

The exclusivity angle was challenged by Managing Director of Pro Gaming Ulrich Schuzle, however, who tweeted a link to an ESL post on Reddit shortly after reports of the negotiations came out. "There is only one thing to say about this: ESL is not interested in locking out any tournament organizers from running CS:GO events, nor teams from attending them," it states.

Either way, as the Daily Dot points out, it seems clear that the ESL would like to distance itself from Valve. The CS:GO tournament at ESL One Cologne announced earlier this year is billed as the largest in the world, with a $250,000 prize pool, but unlike previous tournaments that were "community funded" in conjunction with Valve, this year's event is being covered entirely by the ESL. The change struck me as odd at the time—why say "no" if somebody else wants to foot the bill?—but now it's making a little more sense.

An awful lot of questions remain unanswered, including how the new league would handle Valve-imposed bans on players involved in the recent match-fixing scandal. It's not yet a done deal, and the report says other CS:GO organizations are trying to reach Valve, which is apparently in the midst of its annual employee holiday in Hawaii, in hopes that it will intervene. If they can't, or if Valve decides to stay hands-off, it will mean some very big changes to the pro CS:GO scene.

Veteran Counter-Striker GeT_RiGhT did an AMA on the Global Offensive subreddit today, giving his take on the state of CS:GO and how his team, NiP, prepares for tournaments. Below are Mr. RiGhT's most interesting responses.

He doesn't mind the AWP nerf

Question: "What do you think about the new AWP update?"

"I'm fine with it, nothing that affects me in the whole to be honest - Even tho it sucks abit with the autosniper ;)"

Question: "Do you think Valve i heading towards the right direction with the last update and former updates?"

"Yes."

Question: "When you can change one thing (only one) in CS:GO what would it be?"

"I have no idea, I like how it is now.. Pistols could be nerfed tho?"

Question: "What do you think is the most blatant problem currently in CS:GO?"

"I don't know to be honest, there has been alot of different updates since the beg nning of GO - Some has been good, some bad - But in the whole general point of view, I think the most updates are fine. Like, I do like the new update even tho alot of people complains, but sometimes u have to just "adapt" on how the things are and be 'fine' with it if you ask me.

I'd love to get back when you could actually run'n'spray update tho.. ;)"

Cobblestone is his favorite map

Question: "What do you think about the current status of the competitive map pool? What is your favourite map, and your least favourite, and why?"

"I'm actually 'kinda' okay how it is now, even tho they have removed (train - best map before) and now nuke (my other favorite map) :((( But I'm really looking forward to see how the new train will be played, going to be cool.

My favorite map before was cbble/cpl_fire and nowadays cobblestone! And the least one, Not sure to be honest. I don't like dust2 time to time!"

NiP's newest player brings "calmness" to the team

Question: "What does Allu bring to NiP that allowed you to finally take down Fnatic?"

"We actually won over fnatic before we played with allu, so that wasn't the problem if you ask me. What allu brings is alot of laughter, more calmness (can you write that?) ideas that you thought of but thought it was not fit to us as a group and more understanding on how he/we want to play the game.. Basically, a great team player! There is more that could be added, but there is so many more questions that I need to answer so I hope this is fine for now! :)"

...and playing calmly matters

Question: "Did you have to work on keeping your cool?"

"We have forced ourself to become more relax and get a better understanding that if we want to become better as a team and feel more calm. We have to be calm."

His match prep is simple

Question: "Do you have any routines before you play a big match?"

"Take it easy, listen to music - Go volume 0 on the knife round - get a good grip/understanding on how You want to play the game. Nothing more."

Question: "What do you do in preparation for a major tournament?"

"Play play play play play play play play demos play play play play play play demos play play play play play play etc ;D"

He plays MOBAs

Question: "Do you actively play any other games than CS?"

"Alot of League of Legends at the moment.. But I'd love to play some Doto [sic] time to time and other mobile games on my phone (at the moment I'm playing Geometry Dash)"

Earlier this week CS:GO released an update that made significant changes to some of the core aspects of the game, including the design of popular maps, weapon balance, and tagging (movement speed loss when shot). We asked Counter-Strike expert and commentator Duncan Shields to outline what these changes mean for CS:GO. —PCG

The CS:GO update released on March 31st contained numerous fixes, particular to some key weapons for the competitive scene and to most of the maps used in the Active Duty map group. Let's run through the major adjustments Valve made.

Slower sniping

The AWP has been changed so that players move much slower while scoped in. This change takes many of the standard AWP pick spots and turns them heavily into the favor of the Counter-Terrorist (CT) sniper, as the Terrorist will not be able to scope in before moving out to take a shot quickly, where previously it would have been a similar chance for both snipers and the offensive sniper could have perhaps gotten away to cover if he missed his shot.

The impact this will have on the competitive scene is likely to be drastic, as AWPing was already a niche skill and it was rare to even see teams run two AWPs on either side of the game. In particular, teams like Titan and Na`Vi, who rely heavily upon the individual sniping strength of kennyS and GuardiaN, should find some difficulty in adapting, as they will get fewer T-side kills from their AWPers and lose a key strength from their stars. Players of CS 1.6 may note that the changes are more in line with how the AWP was back in that iteration of Counter-Strike, but a key difference is that quick-scoping—firing without letting the scope animation complete—was significantly more accurate and possible to control back in 1.6.

In CS:GO, there is a random component to quick-scoping, meaning that AWPs are more likely to be overrun and killed. The kill bonus for AWPs was already weak to the extent that the weapon's strength primarily lay in either having a star AWPer or being able to control a position and win the round, thus making back some of the investment via the round win bonus. On their own, AWPs are highly cost-inefficient weapons, unable to make back the money spent on them purely by kills made with them. Many in pro scene have already spoken out about this change and it is hoped that it will be in some sense reverted, though, knowing Valve, that does not seem entirely likely.

The Tec-9 nerfs

To say the Tec-9 was overpowered previously would be a vast understatement. The pistol was so powerful that it made sense to buy it on every single save round as Terrorist at the pro level, such was the likelihood of being able to get a kill and then parlay that into picking up a weapon. Teams like FNATIC and EnVyUs were already the best in the CZ era and adapted to become even more frightening with the Tec-9.

Typically, weapons should be balanced in CS around making their accuracy related closely to how much you have to stand still to achieve such accuracy. The Tec-9 betrayed that balance and thus threw off the whole standard dynamic of CS:GO. Yes, we saw more T side rounds won, but it came at the price of the integrity of how the CT side should conceptually be able to be played.

The changes see the damage of the weapon fall-off, hopefully preventing some of those  long, random headshot kills onto enemies with full weapons, and rewarding the ability to close the distance. The magazine size has also been reduced to 24, since it could essentially be spammed with impunity in its previous, 32-shot capacity.

M4A1-$

The price of the M4A1-Silencer was increased by $100 to $3,200 to "align the weapon s price with its utility," Quite a bizarre statement, really, in light of the fact its lower clip size of 20 bullets, in comparison to the M4A4's 30, already balanced the weapon heavily against its unsilenced counterpart. Many pros have already begun practicing their M4A4, as that $100 and 10 more bullets is suddenly looking vastly more cost-efficient.

Running and gunning

A regular complaint from professionals is that the movement speed and lack of tagging has allowed too much mobility from Terrorists, who seemingly fly around corners and overwhelm opponents who have even hit them on the way. The introduction of  increased tagging, based on weapon, looks to help balance that out and reward those who land shots on their opponent, hopefully allowing spots such as the pit in long A on Dust2 to be more easily covered when one does not immediately get the kill. 

All aboard

Train has, as previously promised, been added to the Active Duty group. In the early days of CS:GO, as in 1.6, this was a core part of the map pool, but was reduced due to both being considered tremendously CT-sided and rarely being picked to be played in competitive games. The new train has been reworked and it has been promised to be easier to secure bombsite takes with, particularly at the outside site. With the advice of some pro-gamers apparently having been taken on board, hopes are high that the map can bring a new dynamic to the map pool in the pro scene.

The old Train suffered from the differences between 1.6 and CS:GO, as it did not allow players to move under trains, a key component in 1.6 to allow Terrorists to hold onto sites after planting and not be easily found. Even with the outside bomb spot moved closer to the Terrorist mid, the map was still heavily biased to the CT side. NiP's early dominance on the map scared many top pro teams away from playing it, leading us into the era of it being almost permanently banned, similar to the status nuke has taken on now among the top teams.

I'm Duncan "Thorin" Shields, also known as "The Esports Historian," and I've been involved in esports journalism since 2001. I write for a number of sites on a freelance basis, provide on-camera analysis at CS:GO tournaments and produce YouTube videos on my channels. Follow my work on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.

This week's Triggernometry is all about the basics of flashbanging. CS:GO's blinding bomb is one of the fundamental tools of competitive play, but the techniques surrounding flashing can be pretty opaque. This video gives an overview of how flashes work and demonstrates two maneuvers, the pop flash and the fake flash.

For more advanced techniques, consult Swag. 

CS:GO s  ESL One Katowice last weekend drew more than a million viewers at its peak, a record viewership for any version of professional Counter-Strike. If you hold that number up against the number of people who gathered around League of Legends late last year (11 million concurrently) it looks slim, but it s a significant milestone for the FPS genre, which has struggled for decades to pull a large audience around its various competitive scenes.

Granted, the fact that spectators could earn  rare editions of CS:GO weapon skins by watching might ve had something to do with Katowice s popularity. I d rather credit that excitement to its matches, the majority of which were excellent through the four-day event. Coming into Saturday, the semifinals were stacked: Polish home team Virtus Pro was matched against Fnatic, who s considered the most-skilled team in the world. On the other side of the bracket, Dreamhack Winter 2014 champs (as Team LDLC) Team EnVyUs faced off with Swedish stalwarts NiP.

I recommend jumping into the Watch panel in CS:GO to watch some of the final matches in-client, but if you're short on time, here are some of my favorite clips from the event.

Katowice's early rounds included more than a few blowouts, but this video collects some of the best moments from early play

GeT_RiGhT pulls an insane 4K on de_dust2

Neo and Pasha make a memorable moving boost on Cobblestone

Device patiently lines up two NiP in banana on Inferno

Good breakdown of Pronax s strategy in some key rounds against NiP and VP

Friberg pulls a crazy double-kill on a single AK spray on the final map of the Katowice finals to keep NiP in it

Another great breakdown of Cloud9 s T-side pistol round execution against TSM on Nuke

MojoOnPC pulls in teams' in-game voice chat to share some of the funny moments from the competition, including team kills

Article by Tomi "lurppis" Kovanen

The fifth CS:GO major is days away as the world s best teams are soon starting their travel to Poland for  ESL One Katowice 2015, where the new world champions and winners of $250,000 will be crowned after four days of play, beginning this Thursday.

16 of the world s best teams are present, including the top eight finishers from the previous major,  DreamHack Winter 2014. Joining them are eight teams from the offline qualifier, which also took place in Katowice, a month ago.

In this preview we ll focus on the absolute best teams present in Katowice. For a longer preview featuring all sixteen squads, head over to  HLTV.org for their ESL One Katowice 2015 coverage, including interviews with every team in attendance.

This year's catalog of GDC panels included some Counter-Strike: "Community Level Design for Competitive CS:GO" a series of words that are alarmingly up my alley. There was no way I wasn't missing a panel dedicated to competitive CS:GO, especially when retired Counter-Strike pro player Sal "Volcano" Garozzo and Shawn "FMPONE" Snelling (who we've featured previously on our site in the series "Building Crown") were doing the panelin'.

I'm still writing up my notes and recorded audio from the presentation, which I'll share soon in a separate story. After the panel, though, I pulled Garozzo and Snelling in front of a camera to get them talking about the state of CS:GO's esports scene and the immortality of de_dust2, likely the most-played map in the history of gaming.

When someone put these mirrored versions of standard Counter-Strike maps in front of me, I thought, "Well, that's cute. Let's give that a whirl." Little did I know that I'd be subjecting myself to the Counter-Strike equivalent of a lobotomy. I switched on the ol' Shadowplay to capture my reaction as I loaded flipped versions of Nuke, Inferno, Dust2, and Mirage up for the first time.

Positioning is a part of Counter-Strike that many players don't lend the proportional amount of consideration to. Where you are in relation to your teammates and the enemy (and when you're there) has a huge impact on how a round plays out. Positioning is also a massive topic—more than a 10-minute video can cover every aspect of—but for this week's Triggernometry I've focused in on the CT side of that most ubiquitous of maps, de_dust2.

The ESL is hosting what it says will be the largest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament in the world this summer, in the biggest indoor arena in Germany. It also promised that 2015 will see more CS:GO action than any previous year in the ESL's history.

The Score reports that the 2015 Cologne tournament will see 16 teams battling for $250,000 in prize money, which will be funded entirely by the ESL. Last year's Cologne tournament offered a similar prize pool but was "community funded" through sales of the 2013 Arms Deal update. Ulrich Schulze, the ESL's managing director of pro gaming, said the ESL-exclusive funding  demonstrates its commitment to CS:GO as a professional e-sport.

ESL One Cologne is going to be the largest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event in the world," he said. "Taking place in the biggest indoor arena in Germany, we re sure it ll be a massive hit for fans from all over."

The ESL One Cologne tournament will take place at the 20,000-seat Lanxess Arena in Cologne on August 22-23. Tickets to the event will go on sale on February 23.