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lvlUP and their road to the sixth A1 Adria League season!

September 24, 2020/0 Comments/in CS:GO /by ElGancho

A1 Adria League has been a talent factory since its very first season. Each game featured so far saw players go a step further and reach the next level in their competitive careers. That still hasn’t changed..

The sixth A1 Adria League season recently began. Four games, countless talented players, and an impressive prize pool worth €11,000. The competition is fierce, but there are competitors that stand out and are considered favorites for lifting this season’s trophy.

lvlUP going for their third title in a row

The Serbian side has been a force to be reckoned with for the past two years. The team consists of the core of Miloš “dEE” Marčeta, Filip “aVN” Belojica, and Dimitrije “DiMKE” Veljković along with the newer additions of Nemanja “Impulse” Stankić and most recently, Andrej “Necrogenes1s” Mancheski. These four veterans and the young Macedonian talent, Necrogenes1s, are already establishing themselves as one of the best teams in the lower Europe tiers.

dEE has been a part of the A1 Adria League since its very beginnings. The first season saw Miloš compete as a part of Zonic eSports. His team managed to secure a LAN spot in the online playoffs, but two disappointing 0-2 losses against Valiance and KlikTech put the team in the fourth place. dEE had already improved before the start of the second season. He spearheaded GamePub to a second-place finish and a €3,000 reward in Zagreb.

DiMKE wasn’t so successful in the earlier seasons of the A1 Adria League. He and Impulse finished dead last in the first A1 Adria League group stage and second-to-last in the second season of the League. UltiCoin, the team that he was playing for during the second season had a talented lineup with the likes of Luka “c0llins” Živanović and Pavle “Maden” Bošković under their name, but the squad ultimately failed to deliver.

aVN has been a part of the regional scene for quite a while. From the AdriaMasters competitions to the First Serbian League, the player has played for a number of teams and has reached a certain level of success. He also took part in the first season of the League, but his team, proWince, finished at 7th, right in front of DiMKE’s Resistance.

Impulse played the first season of the League as a part of Resistance. A team consisting of the likes of Nikola “Lobanjica” Mijomanović, Nemanja “k1Ng0r” Bošković, Jovan “N1GHTMARE” Derebanoski as well as DiMKE, really seems like a dangerous squad on paper, but in the end, the team couldn’t even play out the entire season. Impulse then had a short stint with the Spanish team, x6tence, and after that, he took on the AWP role in Valiance. Valiance & Impulse didn’t have much trouble in the second season of the League and a victory against GamePub secured them the first place.

Akopalipsa started a new adventure

At the beginning of 2019., a new name appeared in the regional Counter-Strike scene. Akopalipsa was formed by five phenomenal regional players and we instantly saw great results. DiMKE, dEE, and Nemanja “sarenii” Šarenac were the core of the team, and they were joined by Petar “HOLMES” Dimitrijević and Maden.

HOLMES’ team was constantly improving on the regional and European CS:GO scene. Even before the start of the third CSadria Clan Championship season, they were considered the favorites, and they affirmed their dominance in Split. A great showing during the Good Game 2019 qualifiers as well as their first-place finish in CCCS3 brought the attention of some organizations to this Serbian team.

After negotiating the contracts with the German organization, BLUEJAYS Sports, dEE & co. signed six-month contracts. The signing of the contracts was supposed to bring stability to the team, but that didn’t happen. Soon after the signing, sarenii left the team, and aVN filled his shoes. This combination of players didn’t show promising results, so the IGL of the team, HOLMES, decided to step down from BLUEJAYS. sarenii returned to the team once again, and this time, the young player took on the IGL role.

Four months after the signing of the contracts, SMASH Esports bought out the Montenegrin player in the team, Maden. BLUEJAYS were once again left without a fifth player, and this time, the position was filled by c0llins, a young Serbian player that was looking for a team at the time. Together with c0llins, BLUEJAYS won the third iteration of the Belgrade Open tournament and they also managed to secure a second-place finish in the tenth ESL SEC season.

Of course, the team achieved their biggest accomplishment when they were no longer a part of BLUEJAYS and were using the ex-BLUEJAYS tag, during the fourth A1AL season. A fantastic season from the team culminated in a spectacular Grand Finals versus the Kosovar team, uNiQUE. ex-BLUEJAYS came out on top and bested their rivals in the third map of the finals, lifting the trophy in Zagreb.

Two weeks after the LAN finals, Juggernauts (ex-BLUEJAYS) went through another change. Recently before the change happened, Impulse decided to leave the British organization Fierce Esports because of disagreements with the players. Juggernauts offered him an ideal chance to continue with his career, and Impulse gladly accepted the offer.

The team didn’t secure an offline finals spot in the first Relog Esports League, but they easily outplayed the competition in the WESG Adria LAN. Unfortunately, because of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the team never got the chance to play the main event in China. Besides Qi Banja Luka and WESG Adria, the Serbian quintet played a number of online cups in the free time they had between LANs.

The new year brought new challenges

Juggernauts didn’t really start the year in a good light. Most of the qualifiers they played ended badly for Miloš “dEE” Marčeta’s team, but they had their good moments as well. In the third qualifiers for the first FLASHPOINT season, they managed to finish in the top 4. The bad form from the team continued in the following months, and in the end, we saw yet another change take place..

In the beginning of May, sarenii announced his departure from the team via TwitLonger. We were approaching the A1 Adria League S5 qualifiers and there weren’t a lot of good regional players without a team, so the team decided to go with an unusual signing. David “devoduvek” Dobrosavljević, a Serbian player that lives in France and has spent his CS:GO career playing for French and international teams joined a Serbian squad for the first time.

Juggernauts qualified for the fifth A1 Adria League season in their first try. Their first match against Athaim (Karavan) ended in a loss for the reigning champions. That was the last match that devoduvek played for the team, and the empty spot on the team was filled by the team’s coach, Darko “soLo” Mitić. This change didn’t hurt the team by much, so they managed to finish the SWISS stage without any more losses.

During the fifth season of the League, Juggernauts received an offer from a Serbian esports organization, lvlUP. This offer came in the right time for the team that had been playing without the support of an organization for months prior. The people behind lvlUP didn’t have to wait much for results because the team won the A1 Adria League just a couple of days after the signing was made official. They beat Blink twice in the playoffs and were also better than the Macedonian Good Game squad (QSKE Gaming during the fifth season).

The sixth A1 Adria League season

After the fifth season ended, the players had a player break that lasted for a month. DiMKE and the team continued playing online cups like Eden Arena: Malta Vibes and the Nine to Five tournaments organized by Relog Media, but also spent their time looking for a potential fifth player. And they found him..

The twenty-one-year-old Macedonian, Andrej “Necrogenes1s” Mancheski is the newest addition to lvlUP. While dEE was a part of the Relog Media podcast, he stated that they noticed Necrogenes1s while the player was a part of Adaptation. Necrogenes1s formed Adaptation together with Anel “NENO” Ceković and two Israeli players, Shiran “shushan” Shushan and Shahur “flameZ” Shushan. The quartet was later joined by Sebastian “Basso” Aagaard, and this mix team accomplished great results in the short period that they spent playing together.

Before receiving lvlUP’s offer, Necrogenes1s often played with NENO. The duo won the Macedonian A1 Game Fest tournament in the end of 2019., and in the tournament’s final they met the current Good Game squad, without Jasmin “JasmiNhs” Murič. Necrogenes1s’ team played in a similar competition during MESA’s Quarantine Online tournament, but Jane “aidKiT” Apostoloski’s squad managed to dominate the veteran team.

Going into the sixth season of the League, lvlUP may have their biggest challenge in front of them. Good Game and Blink have the potential to upset the Serbs in a BO3, and GODZ1337 and Shock Bomb have the surprise factor by their side. The other teams shouldn’t be written off too, but these four rosters have the highest chances of beating the current champions.

Will the lvlUP players win three seasons in a row or will a new roster rise up to the challenge? You can watch lvlUP’s potential road to a third title on our Twitch channel, and the team’s next opponents are the Kosovar team MiKS…

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

July 4, 2020/0 Comments/in CS:GO /by ElGancho

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.

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

June 28, 2020/0 Comments/in CS:GO /by ElGancho

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:

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.

Only one more spot remains in the CS:GO playoffs!

June 24, 2020/0 Comments/in CS:GO /by ElGancho

The last round of the A1 Adria League begins tomorrow, and for those who didn’t watch the fourth round, here’s a short recap of the Round 4 matches where Juggernauts managed to advance to the playoffs.

Shock bomb were eliminated from the tournament in one of the worst ways possible. On the first map in their match versus Blink, Shock bomb were able to hold their ground and play all 30 rounds of the match before falling short. The same story happened on Train, with Shock bomb once again losing in the last round of regulation. With this win, Blink advanced to the 2-2 pool and will fight Athaim for a spot in the playoffs.

An upset we had the chance to see in the fourth round was GamerS’ dominant victory in their match against Athaim (ex-Karavan). The Macedonian-majority team went 13-2 in the first half of Inferno. They continued the impressive form in the rest of the map and closed it out 16-2. Even though Athaim put up a better fight on Mirage, GamerS1337 were still a level above their opponents and finished this BO3 with a 16-8 win.

We saw another one-sided game between Juggernauts and Gameroids. Gameroids are a team that have a really good Dust2, but that didn’t stop the Serbian powerhouse from destroying them 16-7 and going into Vertigo with a 1-0 lead. Aleksa “Impulse” Stankić had a great game on Vertigo and carried his team to a 16-6 victory on the second map on the series. Juggernauts secured the second spot in the playoffs while Gameroids will have their last qualification chance against GamerS1337 in the fifth round.

In the first match of the fifth round, GamerS1337 managed to secure one of the remaining spots in the playoffs. After a 0-2 start, Blaže “HEv1X” Hristov’s team outplayed Gameroids on both Mirage (22-19) and Dust2 (16-10). This means that we will not be seeing Gameroids compete during this season anymore, and we wish them the best of luck next season!

QSKE are going to the playoffs; odred otpisanih eliminated

June 14, 2020/0 Comments/in CS:GO /by ElGancho

As we are approaching the fourth SWISS round of A1 Adria League, let’s take a look at what happened in the last two playdays.

Athaim (ex-Karavan) managed to upset yet another favorite in an intense Train match. This time, Blink was the team that couldn’t handle Filip “DEPRESHNN” Jarkić’s troops and Athaim are now a victory away from the playoffs. The match between GamerS1337 and odred otpisanih was cancelled due to odred otpisanih not being able to have all five players available on time.

The second playday of the third round saw Juggernauts take on Shock bomb on Mirage. The ex-Juggernauts player, Luka “c0llins” Živanović wasn’t able to stand up to his old teammates and lost the match 9-16. The Shock bomb players were able to get back in the game after a shaky start, but they couldn’t show up in the second half and gave a point to the current champions.

In the first BO3 match of the league, QSKE Gaming faced Gameroids in the 2-0 pool match. Gameroids started the series dominantly with a 16-6 victory on Dust2. QSKE didn’t stand a chance on Gameroids’ map pick, but they managed to bounce back on Nuke with a close 16-14 win. The last map, Overpass, went in favor of Gameroids in the first half. Even though Gameroids had a five-round advantage, the Macedonian squad had a perfect T-side and closed out the match without losing a single round (Overpass – 16-10).

QSKE and Gameroids are a step closer to the CS:GO playoffs!

June 7, 2020/0 Comments/in CS:GO /by ElGancho

The second round of the A1 Adria League CS:GO SWISS stage went underway on Sunday and the teams with best performances managed to secure a spot in the 2-0 bracket.

The playday started with a 1-0 match between QSKE Gaming and Karavan. After two clean victories in the first round, the teams went all out in their road to the 2-0 pool and a step closer to the playoffs. QSKE had a dominant start and were a level above Karavan during the bigger part of the match, but as the end drew near, Karavan started coming back and won seven rounds in a row. The match went from a 14-7 QSKE lead to an intense 14-14 game where the Macedonian squad managed to barely slip past and take the win with a 16-14 score.

After a surprising loss in the first round, Juggernauts had a sudden change before the start of the second playday. David “devoduvek” Dobrosavljević will not play the remainder of the League with Juggernauts with the coach Darko “soLo” Mitić standing in in his place. This change didn’t present a problem for Juggernauts and they obliterated Odred otpisanih 16-2 on an unusual map pick, Vertigo. This loss sent Odred otpisanih to the 0-2 pool and a step closer to elimination.

Gameroids and Shock bomb went into the 1-0 match after two close victories against Blink and GamerS1337, respectively. The game on Dust2 was pretty close during the first half, but Gameroids started increasing their lead on the defense and quickly won the match 16-10. Gameroids became the first team to secure a spot in the 2-0 part of the League, and they will fight for the first spot in the playoffs in their next match against QSKE Gaming.

Blink learned their lesson in the first match and went into their second game as a completely different team. Blaže “HEv1X” Hristov and GamerS1337 had no chance against the Kosovar squad and they found themselves at a 2-13 disadvantage at the end of the first half. The GamerS tried to win some rounds and get a good streak going on, but after reaching their 9th round, Blink closed out the game and the second A1 Adria League CS:GO playday.

CS:GO group stage starts with two massive upsets!

June 3, 2020/0 Comments/in CS:GO /by ElGancho

After four qualifiers, we got the eight teams that will compete in this CS:GO season of A1 Adria League and during the last week we saw the first day of the League being played out. Each team played a BO1 match and we had a chance to see a couple of surprises and high-quality games on the broadcast.

GamerS1337 and Shock bomb played the first game in this season of A1 Adria League. The Macedonian-majority team, GamerS1337, had a good start on Dust2 and closed out the first half with a 9-6 lead. Shock bomb won the second pistol round and quickly started catching up to the GamerS, with the latter losing a 12-7 advantage. Luka “c0llins” Živanović and Shock bomb took the lead at the end of the game and closed the map 16-14 in their favour.

The second match of the day showed the reigning champions, Juggernauts, that winning back-to-back seasons of A1 Adria League will take much more effort than expected. Karavan started their Inferno game with a clean win in the pistol round. Miloš “dEE” Marčeta and Juggernauts won the force-buy, but couldn’t keep playing on the same level and Karavan managed to increase their lead to 12-6 in the second half. Juggernauts tried to come back, but David “devoduvek” Dobrosavljević’s debut was spoiled by the Karavan side who secured their first victory with a 16-10 scoreline.

The Kosovar derby between Gameroids and Blink saw the former have a dominant start on the defence and Blink couldn’t counter them in any way. After a 10-3 lead for the Gameroids, Blink had a streak of 6 rounds and nearly evened the score. Ernest “xhoci” Xhoci contributed the most in the second half even after having a 0-8 start at the beginning of the game. Blink made the game much more intense and secured the 13th round before eventually losing the Inferno match 16-13.

The favorites who actually won their match in the first playday were QSKE Gaming who beat odred otpisanih 16-7 on Inferno. Valentin “powerdy” Duracoski’s team had the lead during the whole game and didn’t let odred otpisanih come close to them. After a 10-5 advantage on the defense, QSKE let their opponents win only two rounds before closing out the game and climbing on top of the A1 Adria League CS:GO leaderboard.

CS:GO’s group stage continues today, so make sure to tune in and watch the best Counter-Strike our region can offer!