Legacy Esports and electronics brand Samsung have renewed their partnership for 2020, with both organizations looking to ramp up support for Australian esports in the new decade.

The partnership between the Australian team and Samsung is set to “help grow and develop the team’s competitive and grass-roots community gaming programs.”

“As we enter a new decade, we’ll see esports continue to grow in Australia capturing the attention of more gamers and viewers,” said Phil Gaut, Director of Display and Memory Solutions at Samsung.

“Our commitment to Legacy Esports is to continue supporting their growth and help them make the unachievable possible.”

This includes support to their professional players, including new equipment and bootcamping opportunities, like the League of Legends bootcamp with Gen.G in 2019.

“We look forward to the future as we move into the third year of our partnership with Samsung and are excited about what we can continue to achieve together,” said Tim Wendel, Head of Esports at Legacy Esports.

“The support we have received from Samsung has been fundamental to the development of our athletes and we can’t wait to explore new ways to collaborate.”

Legacy Esports, who are owned by AFL team Adelaide Football Club, have a League of Legends team as well as players in Fortnite, StarCraft II, and Hearthstone.

Their League team sits in second on the OPL ladder with a 7-1 record, while StarCraft II pro Sean “Probe” Kempen is currently competing at IEM Katowice 2020.

Oceanic esports organisation The Chiefs have announced a historic two-year partnership with Marvel Entertainment, which will include a run of limited-edition co-branded merchandise.

As well as the limited-edition merch run, the org has also announced their newly-unveiled Marvel partnership will see all the entertainment giant’s properties?—from Star Wars to The Avengers?—involved in Chiefs activations around Australia.

This will include the Chiefs’ upcoming pop-up gaming experience, the QV Gaming Dome, which is set to begin at QV Melbourne from February 24, and run until March 15. The Chiefs have confirmed fans can get a “first glimpse” at the partnership there.

According to the Chiefs’ chief executive, Nick Bobir, the org is hoping this historic deal will “redefine” the Oceanic gaming and esports landscape.

“This is a historic partnership for video games and esports in our region that will redefine what can be achieved in the market, and make a significant impact on video game and esports events moving forward,” Bobir said in the org’s release.

“At the Chiefs, we are all about developing the next generation of gamers, and fans of esports, through creating these unique experiences. We will continue to raise the bar for esports in our region.”

• Read more: Thien admits Chiefs true challenge lies ahead: “We have to beat Legacy”

This isn’t the first time Marvel has dipped its toes in the Australian market either. In 2018, Docklands Stadium venue owners agreed to a sponsorship agreement with Walt Disney Company Australia to rename the Melbourne arena to Marvel Stadium.

Marvel has also already partnered with another gaming and esports org, Team Liquid, in a similar deal that saw the North American franchise don branded matchday jerseys. That partnership also included a series of limited edition merch runs.

After three years of epic moments, and playing host to some of the best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive teams of all time, IEM is leaving Sydney, swapping Qudos Bank Arena and the Harbour City for Melbourne Park and a southern switch according to sources.

A new teaser from ESL Australia features host Danny Kim, resplendent in a Renegades jersey and an Australian flag, waltzing up to Qudos Bank Arena. He appears ready to claim his seat, but is soon told there will be no IEM in Sydney for the first time in three years.

The first question raised by the announcement is where the Oceanic IEM event will take place this year, and a clear frontrunner has emerged.

We normally send @DannyKimHD out just before our big events, but for #IEM this year, he wanted to queue up early.

Things didn’t go to plan, however… pic.twitter.com/xCdpZYcRU2

— ESL Australia (@ESLAustralia) February 3, 2020

Fans have been clamouring for ‘IEM Melbourne’ for years, especially following the success of the Melbourne Esports Open. According to sources close to Snowball Esports, they may finally get their wish, with Australia’s premier CS:GO event heading south.

For those already pulling out their esports calendar, keep in mind there have been no dates confirmed by ESL yet, but sources have suggested IEM’s move to the Victorian capital will likely coincide with the ever-expanding MEO.

MEO has traditionally taken place towards the end of August to coincide with the Oceanic Pro League grand final. If IEM locks in its arrival to Melbourne Park, fans may be treated to a doubleheader with the best CS:GO and League of Legends on offer.

As well as the two headlining events, it’s expected Rainbow Six’s Oceanic Cup will still be played on Margaret Court Arena in the opening days. However, there has been no confirmation the Overwatch Contenders finals will be hosted this year.

While it looks like Melbourne esports fans may have less travel to contend with in 2020, there has been no confirmation the premiere CS:GO event will be permanently moving to Melbourne, or if this is a one-off switch for the calendar year.

There is one thing that’s certain though ?— with the Melbourne Esports Open, the upcoming debut of Fortress Melbourne, and now IEM Melbourne, it’s a great time to be an Australian esports fan, and there’s sure to be plenty more on the horizon.

Follow ESL Australia on Twitter to keep up with the latest IEM news.

Header image credit: Helena Kristiansson | ESL Australia

Chiefs knew that to fill the shoes of their iconic roster AND go hunting for the major slot that has so far eluded them, they’d have to sign one heck of a Team. Fortunately, they’ve found one.

For the continual history at the top of the CS:GO division, as one of the stalwart organisations in Oceanic Esports, one of the feathers absent from their cap is a Major sticker. Today, they announced a new direction in their CSGO division which retains that status while also allowing them to compete in the Major system.

The acquisition of the roster most recently known simply as Team has been a consistent performer at the top of the scene over the last year. The roster joins Chiefs almost twelve months to the day after having formed under Genuine Gaming and have a slew of top 4 results over that time.

• Hugh “HUGHMUNGUS” Anderson
• Chris “Jinxx” Moseley
• Tom “apocdud” Henry (Captain)
• Jordan “SkulL” Newland
• Daryl “Maker” May

apocdud is excited to join a roster that shares their ambition and will empower them to grow.

“We’re all super keen to represent such a respected and storied organisation, and hopefully with their support we’ll be able to continue climbing the ranks of OCE and start consistently competing in overseas events.”

“I hope all our team team fans keep following us on our journey with Chiefs!” said apocdud.

Chiefs CEO Nick Bobir paid tribute to the outgoing roster, who served admirably in the events they were able to compete in under their circumstances.

“We would like to thank the previous members of the Chiefs Counter Strike roster who at the end of last season decided to go their separate ways, pursue new teams or hang up the keyboard.

“While one chapter closes, we are excited to start a new era with a team that has certainly worked hard throughout 2019, turned heads and made plenty of noise.”

The outgoing Chiefs roster contained some absolute titans of the local scene that would be a monumental challenge to live up to. Fortunately, their new roster has been putting up some titanic efforts of their own. Currently 5-1 in Mountain Dew League, this new partnership is poised to go from strength to strength as they push towards the first major qualifier season of 2020.

Follow The Chiefs Esports Club on Twitter.

Legacy Esports are set to announce 2019 Split 2 most valuable player Quin “Raes” Korebrits and reigning champion jungler Leo “Babip” Romer as the first two signings for their 2020 roster, league sources have told Snowball Esports.

According to sources, Legacy is also eyeing former Mammoth top laner Kim “Topoon” Ji-hoon and highly-prized academy youngster Jonah “Isles” Rosario to bolster the already star-studded potential roster. Isles would play support.

With the impending signing of Raes and Babip, Legacy brings a top-level flavour to its new roster that it was missing in the org’s transition season last year. While the team shone brightly at stages on the Rift, the young squad never fully clicked.

Raes, on the other hand, as shown exactly what he can do as one of the best bot laners the Oceanic domestic league has seen in his eight-split career.

2019’s most valuable player stands in a class of champions AD carries that include some of the greatest to have ever played in the Australian league, including Calvin “k1ng” Truong, Victor “FBI” Huang, and Derek “Raydere” Trang.

Korebrits’ Oceanic championship came at the end of the Chiefs’ two-year reign over the Pro League, after the Kiwi superstar replaced a retiring Raydere in a player-trade deal with the Dire Wolves ahead of the season’s playoff series.

For Babip, the title wait was a little longer, after he lifted the Oceanic trophy in this year’s second split at the Melbourne Esports Open, before representing the region on the international stage at the 2019 World Championship.

Romer’s move to Legacy ahead of the 2020 season also marks a homecoming for the championship jungler, who started life on Legacy’s development team ‘Genesis.’

The former Mammoth star spent three splits in the Challenger Series, while he put in time as the starting lineup’s substitute jungler for the entirety of 2017 behind veteran Pro League jungler Tim “Carbon” Wendel, who founded Legacy.

In 2018, Babip threw off his Legacy nickname of “Baby Bip” and joined the Chiefs as the team in blue-and-white looked to return to the Oceanic throne.

While he, alongside Raes, couldn’t defeat the imperious Dire Wolves, Babip still announced himself as one of the strongest Oceanic Pro League junglers in the region, and well and truly settled into life in the domestic competition.

The OPL is set to return on January 31, with new team Pentanet.GG replacing the outgoing Bombers. The league will also have a changed playoff format in 2020.

Four-time champion top laner Brandon “Swip3rR” Holland is set to join Order ahead of OPL 2020 Split 1, league sources have told Snowball Esports.

Holland captained the Chiefs during his tenure with the organisation, and is expected to take on a similar role in Melbourne with Order, commanding the roster from the top lane as they seek to return to the Oceanic Pro League grand final.

The former Chiefs star also took the time to have a bit of playful fun with his fans after first announcing he would be departing his old organisation on November 25.

“Hey Carlos, thanks heaps for the opportunity, I’ll see you soon,” Swip3rR wrote on Twitter, pretending to write a letter to G2 Esports’ owner Carlos “Ocelote” Santiago as he jetted towards Germany.

Hey @CarlosR thanks heaps for the opportunity, I’ll see you soon.

The Armoured Titan.#OPLTRADES pic.twitter.com/mQTSzDjWuI

— Swip3rR (@Swip3rR) November 28, 2019

Swip3rR’s southern move marks a major change for the 25-year-old, who competed for the legacy Australian esports organisation for five and a half years after originally joining the Chiefs in August 2014, ahead of Logitech CGPL Season 2 Winter.

The Armoured Titan signed with the Chiefs alongside the rest of the Team Immunity roster, which included two of Order’s previous franchise players in Simon “Swiffer” Papamarkos and Samuel “Spookz” Broadley. They departed the roster in 2017.

The Melbourne organisation is currently undergoing a major roster overhaul, similarly to many Oceanic Pro League teams ahead of the 2020 season, with Swip3rR’s signing all but confirming James “Tally” Shute is also on the move.

There has yet been no confirmation whether Holland will be re-joining his former Chiefs teammates Spookz and Swiffer for the upcoming campaign, but rumours have suggested both veteran stars will be finding other homes in Australia or abroad.

Order has boasted decent success in Australia and New Zealand’s premier League of Legends competition since joining two years ago, appearing in the 2019 Split 1 grand final opposite eventual champions the Bombers.

The Melbourne organisation has already cemented themselves in the league’s folklore, overthrowing Sin Gaming’s miracle gauntlet campaign with their own unstoppable run in the first season of this year. The team defeated Mammoth, Avant Gaming, and the Chiefs on the way to the decider, winning nine of ten playoff games in the process.

The Oceanic Pro League is expected to return in January 2020, and will include at least one new organisation after Essendon sold their league slot to Perth-based esports start-up Pentanet.GG. Pentanet will be helmed by games media personality Pete Curulli.

2019 champions Bombers, and parent organisation Essendon Football Club, are set to depart the Oceanic Pro League after selling their slot to Perth-based esports start-up Pentanet.GG ahead of the 2020 season.

The Bombers’ withdrawal comes after the removal of an “operating subsidy” payment to teams from Riot within Australia and New Zealand’s premier League of Legends competition next year, as reported by Kotaku earlier this month.

The Melbourne-based squad won the first split of the 2019 season, defeating Order 3-0 at the Riot Oceania studio in Sydney. Their championship success comes after middling results early in their OPL narrative, before a star-studded squad was built, which included NA imports Victor “FBI” Huang and Tommy “Ryoma” Le. The organisation represented Oceania at the Mid-Season Invitational, where they exited after the international event’s Play-In group stage.

According to sources, Pentanet.GG will replace Essendon’s Bombers esports team in the OPL for 2020.

Pentanet.GG is a new esports brand, backed by Perth internet provider Pentanet and led by radio host and prominent games media personality Pete Curulli as their general manager.

They’ve already made waves in esports, hosting a Rocket League LAN during the Vic Park Festival in Perth just last weekend.

So bloody proud of this team! We built a fully functional remote LAN in the middle of a street and exposed 60,000 people to the awesome message that #esports is here in Perth in a big way!#gaming #perth #perthisokay #perthpoweredesports pic.twitter.com/iB4kgqe3DQ

— peteyperth (@PeteCurulli) November 24, 2019

The Essendon Football Club was approached for comment by Snowball, but organisation representatives did not officially respond ahead of publication deadline. Riot Games Oceania chose not to comment when approached.

Pentanet.GG were also approached but declined to comment at this time.

More information on this move and the OPL offseason to come from Snowball. Be sure to follow us on Twitter for the latest updates.

Additional reporting by Isaac McIntyre.

NVIDIA have announced a $20,000 region-based Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament featuring open qualifiers and a finals in picturesque Kuala Lumpur.

The GeForce Cup Pacific is the pinnacle of NVIDIA’s esports competitions. Australia and New Zealand will combine to form one of 10 different regions who will be among those looking to to battle for the $20,000 prize pool.

The event kicks off with the first online open qualifier on the 5th of November with the second the week after on the 12th. The regional finals will be held on either the 26th of November or the 3rd of December (TBA at time of publishing) and it all feeds into the finals early next year, on the 11th and 12th of January in glorious Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

By putting their name on this event NVIDIA are looking to show off their signature GeForce gaming range – alongside the newer TITAN range aimed at elite video work, they aim to show the link between high performance in the server and high performance in your machine, as the tagline #FramesWinGames shows.

Check out all you need to know on the event page here, or if you want to jump straight in and register you can do so here. Find out more on the ANZ Discussion Discord here.

Icon Esports has acquired the Chiefs Esports Club, effective immediately, with the new enterprise set to compete under the Chiefs’ current organisational branding and structure.

The major acquisition will see the Chiefs take over operations for Icon’s Rocket League team, which will be travelling to Valencia to compete in the Dreamhack Pro Circuit Tour in early July.

The Icon-helmed organisation will also continue competing as the Chiefs Esports Club in the Oceanic Pro League, and the Oceanic Challenger Series. Participation in CS:GO tournaments, as well as Fortnite and PUBG events, will also continue.

According to representatives within Icon Esports, the acquisition of the Chiefs is a natural extension of their ambitions to create a leading esports organisation in Oceania. The new venture will also look to continue to support the development of local regional players.

“We are excited to commence the next chapter of our involvement in the esports market here within Oceania and more importantly with the Chiefs”
– Nick Bobir

“Over the last few months, we have made strides to develop new business lines which give back to the fans, grassroots and help promote the local landscape to new audiences. As a business, it’s important to diversify and strategise for the future and we can’t wait to share the activation announcements in July,” Icon chief executive Nick Bobir said.

Icon has already taken steps to support the development of Australian and New Zealand representatives with their new ‘Ecosystem Development Program’. The first stage of this project from the combined Icon-Chiefs venture will be announced in July. It has already been confirmed the project will “include a number of esports” across Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne.

The acquisition of the Chiefs Esports Club is a major move for Icon, which was founded earlier this year by a cohort of private investors. Icon’s first foray into the competitive side of the esports industry was with the former Tainted Minds Rocket League roster.

They now take on a leading role in one of the biggest esports organisations in Oceania. The Chiefs have been operating in multiple gaming titles since its foundation in 2014, including League of Legends, Counter-Strike, and Rocket League.

The Chiefs have won the Oceanic Pro League four times, and have represented the region three consecutive times at Sydney’s premier CS:GO event IEM Sydney. The org’s Counter-Strike team has been regarded as one of the region’s best since their formation and were crowned back-to-back ESL AU&NZ champions in Season 6 and 7.

Recently, the Chiefs former Rocket League team managed a historic top-four finish at the Rocket League Championship Series Season 6 finals in Las Vegas.

Mindfreak G has become the eighth team to qualify for Contenders Australia 2019 Season 1, after former second placed Trials team Hot Sauce were disqualified.

It was announced earlier today that Hot Sauce had been fielding ineligible players in their online qualification matches, with Blizzard’s official Australian esports account confirming the unsigned team would be removed from regular season participation following an investigation.

We have updated and finalised the Contenders Australia Season 1 Trial results: https://t.co/ibVd9foLtU

Due to the investigation, @LegacyOCE and @Mindfreak will move forward to Contenders Australia Season 1.

— Blizzard Esports ANZ (@BlizzEsportsANZ) February 19, 2019

Hot Sauce had an explosive campaign in the Trials series, earning their qualification over Mindfreak with a 3-2 victory in the seventh and final round. Legacy Esports were the only team to finish higher, securing their qualification a round earlier with a 4-0 against Paradigm Shift.

Mindfreak announced on Twitter after the ruling was revealed that they would “make the most of this opportunity” despite the qualification “not [being] the way that we wanted to get it done”.

The disqualification of a team found to be cheating has occurred in the Oceanic scene before – just over six months ago INTerstella were found to be using ineligible players in the online qualification matches, which resulted in PIXL Esports qualifying over Surge Esports.

Mindfreak joins the Sydney Drop Bears, Order, Athletico Esports, HEIST Gaming Club, the Melbourne Mavericks, Blank Esports and fellow trials qualifier Legacy Esports in the regular season, set to begin on Monday February 25.

Both Legacy Esports and Mindfreak held spots in the previous season of Contenders Australia, but were forced to play through trials qualification again after relegation due to league contraction in 2018.

Stay tuned for more Contenders Australia content from Snowball as we get closer to the beginning of the 2019 season by following us on Twitter!