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The year is over and so are we… for now!

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Quite the unexpected year, but nothing could’ve stopped the players, teams, and us to do two seasons of A1 Adria League this year. We witnessed some amazing matches, few upsets, and were shown a display of the ultimate esport experience.

Clash Royale had quite a dramatic year. In season five Crusher Esports crushed the competition, but in the sixth season, they sunk all the way down. Disqualification, losing players and in the end, they were forced to change the team name. On the other hand, Joža Esports (ex Totem) first ended up third, and then in the finals of season six managed to beat Team LAZR, who before the final match didn’t have any losses.

Good Game had an awesome year in Brawl Stars. Even though ending up second in the fifth season wasn’t that bad – finishing behind Alpha Elite – they still had room to improve. In the following season, they showed how powerful they can truly be. Good Game Gold and Good Game Red were representing the GG brand and they did it in the best possible way, taking the top steps of the podium, with GG Gold being the first and GG Red coming in second.

It was lvlUP’s year in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. After winning the finals last year at Reboot InfoGamer, they carried over their form to 2020. Winning in both season five and season six, they established themselves as the biggest team in the region. They became the only team to win three consecutive seasons of the A1 Adria League. It will be interesting to see if their reign will come to an end next year.

FIFA competition was the strongest by far in both seasons. Fantastic display of tactics and strategies kept players and viewers on the edge of their seats. esad1memic was declared the winner of FIFA 20 in season five. In season six, players had to transition from FIFA 20 to FIFA 21, and the setting of the new game settled best with amke2001, who took home the full prize in last week’s finals.

In addition to all of that, we were saddened by the news that LAN finals for season six weren’t able to take place in Zagreb this year on Reboot InfoGamer. The outbreak of COVID-19 forced us to take a different path for the last part of the season. In exchange, Reboot Online Games Week was introduced – an event in which viewers could enjoy watching regional esport people talk about their careers, casual players had a chance to participate in small tournaments, charity matches have been held, and everyone was able to watch online finals of A1 Adria League as well as enjoy other cool stuff.

Even though the pandemic made us step back a little bit, all of us overcame this difficult period together. We will be back next year – stronger, better, and wiser. Until then, stay safe and keep on grinding!

A Macedonian derby to end the fourth CS:GO SWISS round!

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The first part of the fourth SWISS CS:GO round was big for the Kosovar teams in the League. Blink and EAGLES two of the four playoffs spots, and unfortunately, eSportsKosova were eliminated from the tournament.

Blink vs. lvlUP

Probably the biggest derby in the region, Blink and lvlUP ended in favor of Sener “SENER1” Mahmuti’s team this time around. After a 5-1 lead for Blink, lvlUP caught up and tied the match. The first half ended with a 9-6 lead for the former. The Serbian powerhouse managed to come back and take a 10-6 lead on their CT side, but Blink’s players started dominating again and reached their 14th round without a problem. The match went to all 30 rounds, but in the end, Blink closed out Mirage with a close 16-14 victory.

Jon “b0r1” Nuredini’s 4k in the first pistol brought the round in favor of Blink. Even though Vertigo is one of the best maps for the Serbian champions, Blink were in great form and took this match in only two maps. After a 9-2 lead for the Kosovars, Miloš “dEE” Marčeta’s squad tried to go back into the game, but it was already too late. A 16-8 victory meant that Blink will be heading into the playoffs with a 3-1 record, joining Shock Bomb and the team that qualified after them, EAGLES.

eSportsKosova vs. EAGLES

The Kosovar duel between eSportsKosova and EAGLES started on Inferno. EAGLES had a great lead at the beginning of the half and managed to finish their T side with ten rounds. EAGLES’ weak CT side was severely punished by eSportsKosova who caught up to them (13-13), but a semi-buy in round 27 won the 14th round for Serdar “cerber” Mahmuti. Just like Blink’s first map, EAGLES barely escaped overtime and won Inferno 16-14.

Unlike lvlUP vs. Blink and their close Mirage game, this time, the match went to overtime. After both teams kept taking the lead, the regular part of the map ended in a 15-15 tie and we had the chance to watch overtime. EAGLES didn’t let the pressured get to them and closed the map 19-17.

Today, we will have the chance to watch a Macedonian derby between GODZ1337 and Good Game. Both of the teams currently have a 1-2 record and the loser of this match will be eliminated from the sixth season of the A1 Adria League.

Aim Assist triumph at the second A1 Gaming Weekend!

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During the weekend the second A1 Gaming Weekend was played out. The first matches were finished fairly quickly on Saturday, while on Sunday we had the chance to see the best of the best Rocket League duos battle it out on stream.

Both of the finalist teams started out the tournament in the first round. Tryhard Kidz and Aim Assist advanced to the second round after victories against DE | Black and Vrucag Uzica respectively, while L3 had no difficulties versus ExquzeS. Except for the Tryhard Kidz – Bwoah matchup that ended 2-1 in favor of the former, all of the round 2 matches were one-sided 2-0 victories for the favorite teams. Real Misfits bested Simple Boys, Size Matters were better than Calculatando and Suzavci outplayed the Macedonian duo Volovi in the Round of 16.

We proceeded to the Best of 5 games in the quarterfinals. No upsets happened in this third round either, and the quarterfinals quickly came to an end after four 3-0 victories for the much better teams. Tryhard Kidz, Suzavci, Aim Assist, and Size Matters all survived the first day and secured a spot in the semifinals of the Rocket League tournament.

Our caster, Pougljeni Mrav finally got to spend some time casting his game, Rocket League. While Tryhard Kidz barely slipped past Suzavci in the first semifinal, Aim Assist outplayed Size Matters in every way possible. Alexii and hoodied were on a whole different level in the Grand Finals as well and Tryhard Kidz didn’t stand a chance. Dred and Haregan were able to win one of the five games played, but Aim Assist closed out the match 4-1 and secured the first-place prize. In the third-place decider, Size Matters breezed past Suzavci with a 4-0 win and took their share of the prize pool.

The best four teams finished the second A1 Gaming Weekend cup in the following order:

1. Aim Assist – (hoodied, alexii) – €200
2. Tryhard Kidz – (Dred, Haregan) – €150
3. Size Matters – (ENTONI, Stipsy) – €100
4. Suzavci – (Hidex, Daciii)

A1 Gaming Weekend - Rocket League

Tune in next week for the final A1 Gaming Weekend cup – Pro Evolution Soccer awaits! You can read more about the PES cup by clicking here, and we have an upcoming interview with one of the admins that is a must-read.

Closing out the A1 Gaming Weekend series with PES20!

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The A1 Gaming Weekend really helped us pass the time between the regular seasons of A1 Adria League while also helping the scenes of the featured titles grow. After Rainbow Six Siege and Rocket League, it is time to reveal the details surrounding our third game, Pro Evolution Soccer.

The eternal rival to the FIFA franchise, PES is making its debut as a game covered by the A1 Adria League, or in this case, A1 Gaming Weekend. We are really happy to give a chance to the regional PES players, and together with the PESExpert community, we are expecting a great turn out from the players. An interview with one of the members of PESExpert is coming soon, so stay tuned if you want to learn more about this amazing community of players.

Playstation 4 is going to be the featured platform and the best players will split the €500 prize pool accordingly. All the competitors will be split into up to groups, depending on the turnout, with 256 being the maximum number of players allowed to sign up. The group stage will begin at 15 o’clock on the 1st of August, with the best two players of each group advancing to the playoffs. The playoffs will be played on the next day, Sunday and they will be played in a BO3 format, with overtimes and penalties enabled. The matches are set to last 10 minutes each and on Sunday, all the Top 8 matches will be streamed on the A1 Adria League streaming channels.

Make sure to fill up the Google Docs sign up form here and follow the rules and decisions made in the Discord server that you will be invited to upon signing-up. The €500 prize pool for this Pro Evolution Soccer tournament will be split as follows:

1. €250
2. €150
3. €100

lvlUP win back-to-back seasons of A1 Adria League!

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After the other three titles crowned their champions, last, but certainly not least, our CS:GO season came to an end after lvlUP breezed past Blink in the Grand Finals of the League.

The second day of the playoffs started with a Lower Bracket match between GamerS1337 and Blink. We are already used to seeing Blink pick Train, and that was the case once again. The team led by Sener “SENER1” Mahmuti managed to secure the first map with a 16-10 score. GamerS1337 won one more round on their map pick, Mirage, and finished the tournament at the fourth place (Mirage – 16:11).

QSKE and lvlUP closed out the day with an intense BO3 match. The Macedonian squad won the first map, Mirage, convincingly (Mirage – 16:9). lvlUP struck back on their map pick and on the decider, Inferno, we saw an even more dominant match by the Serbian side (Nuke – 16:6, Inferno – 16:5). With this victory, lvlUP became the first team to qualify for the Grand Finals.

Sunday saw the Consolidation Final played out first. Blink and QSKE clashed in a duel which ended up 2-0 in favor of the Albanian organization. Even though the match saw only two played maps, QSKE put up a great fight and didn’t make the job any easier for Blink (Train – 16:14, Mirage – 16:12).

Blink once again secured a rematch from the last season’s Grand Final.
uNiQUE against ex-BLUEJAYS then, Blink versus lvlUP now. The teams went through a number of roster changes, but the rivalry remained. This time we saw lvlUP, who were using Luka “emi” Vuković instead of Miloš “dEE” Marčeta, win the final after only two maps. All lvlUP players were on point today and after two short maps, Train and Nuke, they were crowned back-to-back A1 Adria League Champions.

 

Congratulations to lvlUP! Blink and lvlUP already secured their spot in the next season which will boast a prize pool of €11.000. We will be taking a short break from Counter-Strike until the next season starts.. Use the break to practice more and prepare for the upcoming qualifiers. In the meantime, we will be organizing a couple of tournaments for the titles that are not regularly featured in our League, starting with Rainbow Six: Siege.

esad1memic wins the FIFA season after an incredible final and a penalty shootout!

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The title that was finally back after being featured in the first season, FIFA, showed us that the region still has it when it comes to our virtual footballers. We watched seven qualifiers unfold as the best of the best kept delivering and made a great show for anyone interested in the game. The SWISS and playoffs stage finished recently and now, we have a new FIFA A1 Adria League champion.

Jasik had a clean 3-0 score in the SWISS league, while HarisBLrob1 was eliminated without getting a single win. esad1memic and amke2001 booked a spot in the playoffs with a 3-1 record. In the fifth round, rob1 was the player who got the W and advanced to the next stage of the tournament.

Jasik outplayed rob1 in the first semifinal. Both the matches finished with Jasik having a three-goal lead at the end. After a 3-0 loss in the first match, rob1 lost the second game as well, this time, the final score was 4-1 in favor of Jasik. The second semi was pretty close as esad1memic won the first two games with a single goal advantage. At the final whistle of the referee, esad1memic won the matches with a 2-1 and 3-2 results, respectively.

In the third-place decider, amke came out as the better player. And after an amazing Grand Final match that our caster PvtMole commentated, esad1memic was crowned the best FIFA player in the fifth season of A1 Adria League.


All of the top players will soon collect their earned rewards and Esad “esad1memic” Memić now has the A1 Adria League winners belt under his name. We want to thank all the players that participated in the qualifiers, and the number reached over 400. Thanks to the admins and the guys from the FIFA Balkan Community, and we will be glad if this tournament helps their community grow and develop even more. As for the players who didn’t end in the top eight, keep practicing and we will see you in the next season!

CS:GO’s endgame begins; tune in and support your favorite team!

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Four qualifiers, eight teams, five rounds of SWISS. The last month has been filled by the best Counter-Strike our region can offer. After the regular season finished, we have four remaining sides still in the fight. The first day of the CS:GO playoffs finished with the favourites, QSKE and lvlUP (ex-Juggernauts), each earning a spot in the Upper Bracket Finals.

The day started with a derby between QSKE Gaming and GamerS1337. The players from both teams are very familiar with each other, and both the maps were intense and interesting to watch. The first map, Nuke, was pretty close at the beginning but then QSKE managed to get a good round streak and finish the half with a 10-5 lead. They even extended their lead to 15-9 at one point, but the GamerS weren’t ready to give up. Blaže “HEv1X” Hristov and his squad won four rounds in a row and brought the map to 15-13, but QSKE closed it out and went to Inferno with a 1-0 lead.

After a 8-3 lead on Inferno for QSKE, GamerS1337 turned the game around and had a 11-8 lead at one point. The QSKE players didn’t let that destroy them mentally and kept their cool, eventually winning the match and the series (Inferno 16-12). With this win, they are a step closer to the Grand Finals, while GamerS1337 will be facing Blink in the Lower Bracket elimination game tomorrow.

We saw a rematch of the last season’s finals between lvlUp and Blink in our second match. We didn’t see a third map this time as the Serbian powerhouse closed out the match after only two maps, Nuke and Train. After having a strong 9-2 start on the T side of Nuke, Blink started getting into the game and quickly brougth the match to a 11-11 scoreline. At the very end of the match, lvlUP won five rounds in a row and came a step closer to their match against QSKE.

Train, as one of Blink’s best maps was much closer in terms of the scoreline, and we saw our first playoffs overtime. After two 9-6 halfs, the match went into overtime where lvlUP edged out Blink and booked a spot in the Upper Bracket Finals versus QSKE (Train – 19-17).

Tune in during the weekend and support your favorite team in their road to the Champions title.

Crusher Esports crush the competition in the Clash Royale playoffs!

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With Alpha Elite winning the Brawl Stars League, it was time to turn to our other mobile title, Clash Royale, and end yet another, fifth, season with an incredible playoffs night.

Our commentator, PvtMole, had the chance to watch the Crusher Esports vs LA Gaming game first. LA Gaming started the game strong with a 2-0 victory in the first 1v1 set. Crusher struck back and won both the 2v2 and KOTH modes, while Tocilovac and LA Gaming once again prevailed in the second 1v1 mode. In the end, ConeKorleone wasn’t able to outplay Bruno Blaze and LA Gaming were eliminated from the tournament.

Crusher went on and faced Totem Esports in the second match of the Gauntlet format playoffs. The first 1v1 set ended in favor of Crusher, while Totem bounced back during the 2v2 and KOTH sets. As Beast was playing the No Tilt league in the time of his match against Totem, the team had to surrender the last set and give the win to Crusher.

Crushter couldn’t be stopped in the finals. After two hard-fought victories, they still managed to keep their cool, stay focused and beat Emperiial-Flayn in the Grand Finals. After an amazing 4-1 Group Stage, Emperiial lost the finals without winning a single set. It was amazing to see Crusher win three out of the three series they played and win the fifth season of Clash Royale.

 

A1 Adria League S5 - Clash Royale Final

Last but not least – CS:GO’s playoffs are beginning today!

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As the fifth A1 Adria League season is nearing the end, it is time to announce and start the playoffs of our fourth game and most popular title, CS:GO.

In the fifth round of the SWISS League, GamerS1337 and Gameroids played against each other, with the Macedonian-majority team entering the playoffs as the third qualified team. Blink easily outplayed Athaim and secured the last spots in the playoffs. With the last two regular-season matches being played out, here are the leaderboard standings:

A1 Adria League S5 - CSGO Standings 5

The playoffs will be played in a double-elimination format with all the matches being BO3 series. The battle for the grand prize of €1500 is starting today and it will end on the 5th of July when the Grand Finals will be played out.

These are the first round matches:

lvlUp vs. Blink
QSKE vs. GamerS1337

Even with some shaky games, all the favorites managed to qualify for the playoffs. I am sure that all the games will be intense and close, so make sure to watch them all and support your favorite teams and players.