Though OG didn’t find consistent Dota 2 success throughout 2019, one player among their ranks powered them to victory at the biggest tournament of the year. Then-19-year-old Anathan “ana” Pham returned to OG in March after an extended hiatus. With ana back on the roster, OG began their climb back to peak form. They qualified for the MDL Disneyland Paris Major, and placed 5-6th at the main event. They then competed in ESL One Birmingham and the EPICENTER Major, placing 7-8th at both tournaments. The International 2019 arrived, and OG immediately exerted their dominance over their group stage opponents. To much surprise, ana played Io, traditionally a support hero, in the carry position. With that out-of-the-box pick, OG were able to top the group stage and secure a play-offs upper bracket berth. OG then took down Evil Geniuses, PSG.LGD, and Team Liquid to become the first team to ever win The International tw
During his unprecedented rise to fame, Arslan battled obstacles outside of Tekken . Coming from Pakistan, travel restrictions made his journeys to international tournaments even more difficult, and certain religious dietary guidelines resulted in stomach upset while traveling and during tournaments. Coming out victorious at every turn, Arslan Ash brought Pakistan to the forefront of _ Tekken _ espo
For many fans, DC’s upcoming slate of movies is more exciting than what Marvel Studios has planned for Phase 4 of the MCU. Between 2020 and 2022, DC Films is currently developing more big-name properties than Marvel, who has been leading the industry in comic book film adaptations for the last dec
Bloodborne ‘s Halloween event is a little more non-traditional, in that the Return to Yharnam event is completely community-run. There are officially sanctioned costumes for players to show off, but for the main event, players are encouraged to roll new characters and then interact with fellow Hunters as much as possible, Summoning or Invading them frequently. Bloodborne ‘s community event is going on now and runs until Novembe
_ Tekken _ phenom Arslan “Arslan Ash” Siddique skyrocketed to the top of the fighting game scene in 2019. Though he competed in very few professional events the year prior, Arslan Ash cemented his name in FGC history in 2019. The 24-year-old kicked off the year at Evolution Championship Series Japan, where a lower bracket run ended in a Grand Final victory over Alexandre “AK” Laverez. He next won the TGU x SEA Thailand Major over two-time EVO champion Jae-Min “Knee” Bae. The _ Tekken 7 _ star then doubled up on his EVO Japan title, defeating Knee once again to take home the EVO Las Vegas title. He became the first player to win EVO Japan and Las Vegas in the same y
This is a bit different than the situation with the MCU. Several of DC’s films are generating more enthusiasm than Shang-Chi and Eternals . Of course, this doesn’t mean that either of these film will fail or be any less successful than DC’s movies. If Marvel has proved anything with Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy , it’s that it knows how to make millions with C and D-list characters. Shang-Chi and Eternals could easily be huge box office hits. Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige believes that a movie like Eternals is worth the risk . The idea here is that Marvel is putting quality over popularity. It remains to be seen if this will pay off. Regardless, as it stands, DC’s upcoming movie slate is succeeded in creating the most buzz. How well that will translate to box office numbers is another mat
Marvel Studios has been dominating at the box office for years. Since 2016, Marvel has released seven movies that have grossed at least $1 billion at the worldwide box office. Marvel rakes in the millions with every installment in the MCU, with not a single one being a flop. Each movie has experienced some degree of success. After years of flirting with the top spots in the list of highest-grossing movies of all-time, Marvel finally overtook Avatar with Avengers: Endgame when it brought in $2.7 billion. In another impressive stat, that same list includes several other Marvel Studios movies, such as Avengers: Infinity War , The Avengers , Avengers: Age of Ultron , and Black Panth
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League represented several of DC’s problems, but fortunately it didn’t take too long for DC to fix them. With both movies, it felt like DC was trying to copy the formula of The Avengers , MOBA champions guide but not in a good way. DC’s team-ups didn’t feel earned in the same way as Marvel’s. Marvel took its time, while DC rushed toward throwing its biggest heroes together — and it showed. DC didn’t make the same mistakes with Aquaman and Shazam!, which feel unique from anything made by Marvel. Since Justice League , DC has showed a willingness to dabble in various genres, tones, and styles. What DC has on the horizon is a sign that the studio is doubling-down on this appro
_ Counter-Strike _ ’s Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut made a splash in 2019, lighting up scoreboards with a consistent form that rivals the game’s best historic talents. The 19-year-old star debuted with Vitality in late 2018, and immediately turned heads as the newest French star. Following in the footsteps of legendary AWPer Kenny “kennyS” Schrub, ZywOo took over every server he played on . In 2019 alone, ZywOo lifted trophies at cs_summit 4, the ECS Season 7 Finals, and EPICENTER 2019, earning the MVP accolade at each event. Vitality also reached the Grand Finals of ESL One Cologne and DreamHack Masters Malmö, and, despite losses, the teenager was named MVP of both tournaments. ZywOo boasts staggering statistics, having maintained a 1.31 rating for big LAN events in 2019. His consistent performances this year place him among _ Counter-Strike _ ’s very best, and this is only the beginning of his car
