Nov 18, 2016
The best pro gaming to watch this weekend
Dota 2

(Header Intel Extreme Masters)

Although the Rainbow Six Pro Season 3 Finals came to an end, there s still plenty of explosive action to watch from the intense firefights of CS:GO and Overwatch to the fantastic coordination of Dota 2 and League of Legends. All the details on this weekend s action can be found below.

CS:GO: Intel Extreme Masters Season XI Oakland

The CS:GO Intel Extreme Masters concludes in Oakland this weekend as the teams battle it out for their share of the $300,000 prize pool. Quarterfinals kick off Saturday at 10:45 PST / 19:45 CET, while the semifinals start the following day at 10:00 PST / 19:00 CET. The grand finals start at 18:00 PST, but those of us in Europe will need to be up bright and early on Monday to catch the explosive action at 03:00 CET. Tickets can be purchased here, while the event can be watched live by heading over to the official site.

League of Legends: Intel Extreme Masters Season XI Oakland

The Intel Extreme Masters will also be holding a League of Legends tournament with six international teams starting this Saturday. The IEM Oakland champions will be competing for $100,000 and will also qualify for the crowning event at IEM Katowice at Spodek Arena on March 2017. Playoffs begin at 10:00 PST / 19:00 CET, while the semifinals start Sunday at 9:30 PST / 18:30 CET. The grand finals will start at 17:00 PST / 02:00 CET and can be watched over on Lolesports.

Dota 2: Summit 6

It s been a lengthy wait for Dota 2 fans, but The Summit 6 finally gives us something to look forward to before The Boston Major in December. The Summit 6 is held outside Los Angeles, California with a $100,000 prize pool up for grabs. The summit tournaments are known for their fun, casual atmosphere and laid back couch commentary. Amongst the various pro players present at the event, there will also be some special guests to look out for. More information about the event and its schedule can be found here.

StarCraft II: HomeStory Cup XIV

This event is organised by StarCraft II caster Dennis "TaKe" Gehlen. TaKe invites star players from around the world into his home to compete for their share of the $20,000 prize pool. The first group stage can be viewed today at 04:15 PST / 13:15 CET, while the second group stage and playoffs begin Saturday. HomeStory Cup provides multiple streams and interviews that aim to create a fun atmosphere for both players and fans alike. You can watch the event live here.

Street Fighter V: Asia/Oceania Regional Finals

The Capcom Pro Tour 2016 Asia Finals take place this Saturday at the Global Game Exhibition in Busan, South Korea. So far the CPR has brought together players and spectators from all over the world to share their love of Street Fighter. The Asia finals are sure to pack a punch and can be watched over on Twitch. Full schedule and times can be found here.

Overwatch: Carbon Masters

In the wake of an action-packed qualifying event, teams -Bird Noises- and Denial Esports came out victorious. They will now join the six invited teams, to battle it out in the competitive playoffs, which kicks off on November 19th at 11:00 PST / 20:00 CET. All eight teams have a lot to prove, as the best North American Overwatch players will be battling it out to prove their worth. The event can be watched over on Carbon Entertainment s Twitch channel.

Rocket League: Cross Pacific Championship Cup

Rocket League s two day Cross Pacific Championship Cup takes place this weekend. The tournament will pit the Oceanic and South American regions against one another to determine who's the best at Rocket League. The finals will take place today 15:00 PST / 00:00 CET and will continue tomorrow at 14:00 PST / 23:00 CET. You can catch all the action on Twitch.

Hearthstone: Red Bull Team Brawl

Red Bull's second Team Brawl is this weekend, an invitational that pits teams of three against each other in simultaneous games. The teams will be able to talk among themselves during the matches to strategize, and deck building is limited to the "sealed" format where each team gets 240 cards they must use to build three decks. The tournament starts tomorrow at 12:00 PST / 21:00 CET can be watched on Twitch.

Nov 11, 2016
Lunar New Year 2017 Call to Arms
Dota 2 - Dota 2


With the fall season now upon us, it's time once again to turn the focus of the Dota 2 Workshop to thoughts of the upcoming Lunar New Year that kicks off the Year of the Rooster in Dota 2. To that effect, we are now officially accepting submissions from Community artists based around the themes of the Lunar New Year and the renewal of spring to be considered for inclusion in a new treasure to mark the occasion.

As before, we would like to ask artists to avoid the use of any concepts that involve human skulls, blood, and gore. Additionally, to have the best chance of having your work make it into the game, please be careful not to mix cultural concepts in your designs, such as traditional divisions between the dress of children and adults, warriors and civilians, and upper and lower classes.

Make sure to mark your submissions with the "Spring2017" tag when tendering items to the Workshop. All submissions must be on the Dota 2 Workshop by January 7, 2017. All Dota fans should remember to regularly visit the Workshop and vote through the Queue to ensure your voices are heard in the selection process.

Also returning for the Year of the Rooster, the Valve Store powered by WeLoveFine is again accepting Dota 2 merchandise designs to launch in celebration of the Lunar New Year. Submit your swag ideas to the Workshop and you could join the growing number of artists with retail merchandise designs available through the online Valve Store.
Nov 11, 2016
Lunar New Year 2017 Call to Arms
Dota 2 - Dota 2


With the fall season now upon us, it's time once again to turn the focus of the Dota 2 Workshop to thoughts of the upcoming Lunar New Year that kicks off the Year of the Rooster in Dota 2. To that effect, we are now officially accepting submissions from Community artists based around the themes of the Lunar New Year and the renewal of spring to be considered for inclusion in a new treasure to mark the occasion.

As before, we would like to ask artists to avoid the use of any concepts that involve human skulls, blood, and gore. Additionally, to have the best chance of having your work make it into the game, please be careful not to mix cultural concepts in your designs, such as traditional divisions between the dress of children and adults, warriors and civilians, and upper and lower classes.

Make sure to mark your submissions with the "Spring2017" tag when tendering items to the Workshop. All submissions must be on the Dota 2 Workshop by January 7, 2017. All Dota fans should remember to regularly visit the Workshop and vote through the Queue to ensure your voices are heard in the selection process.

Also returning for the Year of the Rooster, the Valve Store powered by WeLoveFine is again accepting Dota 2 merchandise designs to launch in celebration of the Lunar New Year. Submit your swag ideas to the Workshop and you could join the growing number of artists with retail merchandise designs available through the online Valve Store.
Nov 9, 2016
Dota 2 Update - November 9th, 2016
Dota 2 - Valve
- Fixed Morphling causing performance issues in bot games.
- Fixed bots not using the specified difficulty level.
- Fixed issue where some team emoticons weren’t working with :pro_team:
- Fixed the interaction between Rubick’s Spell Steal, Treant Protector’s Eyes in the Forest and Techies’ Land Mines.
Nov 8, 2016
Player Cards and Fantasy Challenge
Dota 2 - Ward


The Fantasy Challenge returns for The Boston Major. Head into the Compendium section of your Battle Pass to unwrap your 12 Player Card Packs and start assembling your daily Fantasy Rosters. Slot your favorite pros into Core, Offlane, or Support roles, and earn fantasy points based on their performances in the Group Stage and Main Event.

Complete an entire set of Player Cards for any pro team, and you can select to use that team's in-game TP effects and team logo emoticon. Collecting a full set of either Silver or Gold cards for a team will unlock upgrades to the TP effects and emoticon. Show off the favorites in your collection by adding Player Cards to your Dota 2 profile.

Fantasy play kicks off on December 3 with the start of the Group Stage in Boston, and daily rosters will lock at 10:00 a.m. EST on each day of the tournament. Score in the top 50% of all players to earn 2 Battle Levels, reach the top 25% to get 4 Battle Levels, or captain yourself to the top 10% to collect 8 Battle Levels. With the best pro players in the world at your disposal, you might even crack the Global Top 100 Leaderboard, or at least place first amongst friends.

Today's update also includes the addition of The International 2016 Battle Pass Summary to your player profile. Now you can survey the records of your Battle Level, Quest progress, Wagering and Battle Cup performance, Player Card collection, and more.
Nov 8, 2016
Player Cards and Fantasy Challenge
Dota 2 - Ward


The Fantasy Challenge returns for The Boston Major. Head into the Compendium section of your Battle Pass to unwrap your 12 Player Card Packs and start assembling your daily Fantasy Rosters. Slot your favorite pros into Core, Offlane, or Support roles, and earn fantasy points based on their performances in the Group Stage and Main Event.

Complete an entire set of Player Cards for any pro team, and you can select to use that team's in-game TP effects and team logo emoticon. Collecting a full set of either Silver or Gold cards for a team will unlock upgrades to the TP effects and emoticon. Show off the favorites in your collection by adding Player Cards to your Dota 2 profile.

Fantasy play kicks off on December 3 with the start of the Group Stage in Boston, and daily rosters will lock at 10:00 a.m. EST on each day of the tournament. Score in the top 50% of all players to earn 2 Battle Levels, reach the top 25% to get 4 Battle Levels, or captain yourself to the top 10% to collect 8 Battle Levels. With the best pro players in the world at your disposal, you might even crack the Global Top 100 Leaderboard, or at least place first amongst friends.

Today's update also includes the addition of The International 2016 Battle Pass Summary to your player profile. Now you can survey the records of your Battle Level, Quest progress, Wagering and Battle Cup performance, Player Card collection, and more.
Nov 7, 2016
Dota 2 Update - November 7th, 2016
Dota 2 - Valve
- Reports and Commends can now only be sent in the post-game screen.
- Fixed a problem with the attack-move command which sometimes caused more distant units to be targeted.
Nov 4, 2016
Dota 2 Update - November 4th, 2016
Dota 2 - Valve
* You can no longer random in the last 10 seconds in Unranked or in the final pick per team in Ranked
* Repicking in Unranked now behaves the same as Ranked, giving you a new random hero rather than letting you pick a hero directly
* You will no longer have a chance of receiving the same hero after re-randoming
* Increased report sensitivity (making it more likely that a reported user will go into low priority)
Nov 1, 2016
The Dota 2 Major Championships
Dota 2 - Ward


The Boston Major is just one month away. Congratulations to the eight teams that battled through the Qualifiers to earn their places alongside the direct invites. While the attending teams and players make their final adjustments and preparations before traveling to Boston, we'd like to turn briefly to the remaining events in this year's Dota 2 Major Championships schedule.

THE SPRING MAJOR AND THE INTERNATIONAL 2017
The Spring Major Main Event will take place April 20 - 23, 2017, preceded by Open Qualifiers on March 6 - 9, and Regional Qualifiers on March 10 - 13. Wrapping up the competitive season, The International 2017 Main Event will once again be held in the first half of August, with Open Qualifiers running June 22 - 25, and Regional Qualifiers following on June 26 - 29.

For the Spring Major Qualifiers, we will be breaking the Americas Qualifiers into two distinct regions—North America and South America—and similarly changing the Europe Qualifiers into separate Europe Qualifiers and CIS Qualifiers.

THE BOSTON MAJOR
Now that the field of competing teams for the Fall Major is complete, we look forward to welcoming the players and fans to Boston’s Wang Theatre. With an influx of up-and-coming rosters set to square off against the established teams in a single-elimination playoff bracket, all with their sights set on claiming the Eaglesong trophy, there's no telling how the action will unfold. Tune in for Group Stage play on December 3 - 4 followed by the Main Event on December 7 - 10 to find out.

Invited Teams:
Wings Gaming
Digital Chaos
Evil Geniuses
Newbee
EHOME
Execration
OG
MVP Phoenix

Qualified Teams:
Team NP
compLexity Gaming
LGD.Forever Young
iG Vitality
Ad Finem
Virtus.pro
Team Faceless
WarriorsGaming.Unity
Nov 1, 2016
The Dota 2 Major Championships
Dota 2 - Ward


The Boston Major is just one month away. Congratulations to the eight teams that battled through the Qualifiers to earn their places alongside the direct invites. While the attending teams and players make their final adjustments and preparations before traveling to Boston, we'd like to turn briefly to the remaining events in this year's Dota 2 Major Championships schedule.

THE SPRING MAJOR AND THE INTERNATIONAL 2017
The Spring Major Main Event will take place April 20 - 23, 2017, preceded by Open Qualifiers on March 6 - 9, and Regional Qualifiers on March 10 - 13. Wrapping up the competitive season, The International 2017 Main Event will once again be held in the first half of August, with Open Qualifiers running June 22 - 25, and Regional Qualifiers following on June 26 - 29.

For the Spring Major Qualifiers, we will be breaking the Americas Qualifiers into two distinct regions—North America and South America—and similarly changing the Europe Qualifiers into separate Europe Qualifiers and CIS Qualifiers.

THE BOSTON MAJOR
Now that the field of competing teams for the Fall Major is complete, we look forward to welcoming the players and fans to Boston’s Wang Theatre. With an influx of up-and-coming rosters set to square off against the established teams in a single-elimination playoff bracket, all with their sights set on claiming the Eaglesong trophy, there's no telling how the action will unfold. Tune in for Group Stage play on December 3 - 4 followed by the Main Event on December 7 - 10 to find out.

Invited Teams:
Wings Gaming
Digital Chaos
Evil Geniuses
Newbee
EHOME
Execration
OG
MVP Phoenix

Qualified Teams:
Team NP
compLexity Gaming
LGD.Forever Young
iG Vitality
Ad Finem
Virtus.pro
Team Faceless
WarriorsGaming.Unity
...