Saudi Arabia’s Nexus Event, Mousesports Wins ESL Pro League, and Other Weekly Esports News

Two new Operators headed to Rainbow Six Siege, Saudi Arabia’s Nexus event, and more esports news is in the spotlight for this week’s esports news column.

I cover some of the week’s top esports stories from League of Legends, Overwatch League, Rainbow Six Siege, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and more.

Activision will be hosting a charity tournament called the CODE Bowl to help raise money for the Call of Duty Endowment.

According to CallofDutyEndowment.org, “The Call of Duty Endowment helps veterans find high quality careers by supporting groups that prepare them for the job market and by raising awareness of the value vets bring to the workplace.”

The CODE Bowl, set to take place on Dec. 13^th, will feature eight teams each captained by a popular Twitch streamer.

CouRageJD, DrDisrespect, TimTheTatMan, Dakotaz, StoneMountain64, Summit1G, Shroud, and Syndicate headline the streamers who will be raising money on their Twitch channels leading up to the event. The streamer who raises the most donations before the event will receive a championship trophy for their efforts.

On the day of the event, each streamer will lead a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare team that includes two active duty service members from the U.S. Army Esports Team. The eight teams will battle and earn points to see who will become the CODE Bowl Champions.

Anyone interested in supporting the Call of Duty Endowment can donate to their favorite participating streamer on Twitch and through the Call of Duty Endowment website or buy the Defender Pack in-game.

Coverage begins on Twitch at 10:00 a.m. PST.

Riot Games hosted the first official Middle East League of Legends tournament, The Nexus, this past Dec. 5-9^th. The event included six separate competitions with a combined $2 million prize pool.

The event was part of Riyadh Season, an initiative created by the Saudi General Entertainment Authority. The Nexus included musical performances, a five-on-five tournament, an influencer competition, a Teamfight Tactics competition, a one-on-one tournament, and a cosplay competition.

Although esports is not as big in the Middle East as other regions around the world, the Nexus event is a step in the direction of growing the popularity of esports globally. Riot Games is hoping that The Nexus will be the first of many esports events that take place in the Middle East.

The PUGB Corporation recently announced plans to expand PUBG Mobile esports competitions and include a $5 million prize pool for competitions in 2020.

PUBG Mobile is a rapidly growing esports scene that has become insanely popular in Southeast Asia and many countries outside of the United States. Mobile esports like PUBG Mobile have found a niche in areas where smartphones are favored over console and PC.

The 2020 PUBG Mobile competitive scene will feature four levels of competition: The Campus Championship for amateurs, the Club Open and Pro League, Regional Pro Leagues and World Leagues, and finally a PUBG Mobile World Championship for the game’s most elite players.

The 2019 competitive season featured only one level of official competition, the Club Open. The last competition of the year, the Fall Split Global Finals, offered a $200,000 prize pool that was won by team Bigetron in Malaysia.

Big Boss Kim “Pine” Do-hyeon will not return for a third season in the Overwatch League. The legendary hitscan DPS specialist recently announced plans to retire from competitive play and focus on becoming a full-time affiliated streamer for the New York Excelsior.

Pine, affectionately nicknamed Big Boss, became an Overwatch League fan favorite during the 2023 inaugural season. Pine was known throughout the Overwatch League community for his sensational highlights on hitscan heroes like McCree and Widowmaker.

2019 was a difficult season for Pine. He barely saw playtime on an Excelsior squad that went 22-6 and lost in the playoffs semi-final to the Vancouver Titans.

Kim “Pine” Do-hyeon was open about his struggles with mental health during his two seasons with New York. He stated that the pressure to perform and live up to the Big Boss nickname often weighed heavily upon him.

During a Twitch stream in September, Pine assured his fans that the reason he sat on the bench during 2019 was not due to mental health, but rather the meta of professional Overwatch. The 2019 season was tough for many hitscan DPS players because of the prevalence of triple-tank triple-support compositions.

According to the official Overwatch League Offseason Player Tracker, the New York Excelsior’s 2020 DPS lineup will include former Skyfoxes’ DPS Seung-jun “WhoRU” Lee, flex-DPS Hae-seong “Libero” Kim, hitscan-DPS Jong-ryeol “Saebyeolbe” Park, and hitscan-DPS Yeon-kwan “Nenne” Jeong.

The first official Fortnite Mobile tournament, sponsored by Epic Games and Twitch, will be held on Dec. 9^th. The Twitch Rivals-sponsored Battle Royale tournament will feature 12 of the game’s top mobile competitors and a $20,000 prize pool.

The Twitch Rivals tournament will include three squads of four players who battle over three hours to earn as many points as possible. The top squad will take home $10,000, and all competitors will receive a new Samsung Galaxy 10 for their efforts.

So far, mobile players DuckyTheGamer, Surfnboy, Jojo, RolandGT, and SSNSanta have been confirmed for the tournament. The exact scoring system for how the players will compete has yet to be determined.

The competitive Fortnite Mobile community is still small compared to Console and PC, but the growing community of mobile players is starting to make a push for more esports competitions. Fortnite Mobile has racked up millions of downloads and has been one of the top games in app stores since its release in March of 2023.

The Houston Outlaws’ star DPS player, Jacob “Jake” Lyon, recently announced his plans to retire from professional Overwatch.

Jake was an essential player for the 2019 Houston Outlaws team that finished the year with a 9-19 record and failed to make playoffs. The American flex-DPS played a variety of heroes for the Outlaws, including Brigitte, Pharah, Hanzo, Junkrat, Tracer, Reaper, and more.

Jake explained his retirement in a post to his fans.

Jake goes on to explain that his retirement will not be the end of his involvement in the Overwatch League, and I think it’s very likely we will see him in some sort of caster/analyst role this upcoming season.

The Year 4 Season 4 update introduces a new Operation and two new Operators to Rainbow Six Siege.

Kali, a two-speed two-armor attacker, and Wamai, a two-speed two-armor defender, are the latest Operators to join Siege with the arrival of the Shifting Tides Operation.

Kali is a unique attacking Operator who can fill a backline or disabling role. Her CSRX 300 Marksman Rifle is one of the most powerful weapons we’ve ever seen in Rainbow Six. The CSRX is a bolt-action rifle with a slow rate of fire and the ability to down defending Operators with a single shot.

Kali’s ability, the LV Explosive Lance, is an under-barrel device that penetrates through reinforced walls and destroys any gadgets on the other side.

The LV Explosive Lance is a direct counter to Operators like Bandit and Kaid, whose abilities make life difficult for hard-breaching Operators. Kali synergizes well with hard-breaching attackers like Thermite and Hibana, and she can be used in place of Thatcher to shut down enemy gadgets.

The new attacker’s kit gives players the option between the P226 MK25 Handgun and the CZ75 Auto Handgun for close-quarters engagements. Kali players can bring Breaching Charges or Claymores, making her useful in a variety of situations.

The newest defender, Wamai, is a well-rounded site-anchor whose Mag-Net ability will make attacking operators think twice about where they throw their gadgets.

Wamai’s Mag-Net System is a powerful electromagnet that intercepts and redirects projectiles. The Mag-Net System can redirect Flash Grenades, Frag Grenades, and many other projectile devices to detonate at the spot of Wamai’s choosing.

The Mag-Net System allows Wamai to fill a defending role similar to Jäger; attacking Operators will have to think twice before deploying throwables through a doorway or window.

Wamai’s kit offers a choice of two primary weapons: the AUG A2 Assault Rifle and the MP5K Submachine Gun. Two secondary weapons, the Keratos .357 and P12 Handgun, give Wamai players the option between high-damage stopping power and improved magazine size.

The Shifting Tides Operation went live for all players on Dec. 3^rd. Those with the Season Pass have access to Kali and Wamai immediately, while those without the Season Pass have to wait until Dec. 10^th to unlock the new Operators with Renown or R6 Credits.

The Korean esports organization RunAway, best known for success in the Overwatch Contenders division, recently announced a new League of Legends roster. RunAway is hoping its new roster will be able to compete in the 2020 Challengers Korea Spring Split.

The new RunAway roster will feature top laner Shin “Seraph” WooYeong, junglers Kim “Crush” Joonseo and Kim “Bluff” HyeonJun, mid laner Lee “Edge” HoSung, bottom laner Lim “Moo” Muheon, and support Jang “Zzus” Junsu.

RunAway’s League of Legends team will have to work their way through the ultra-competitive Korea Contenders division, but management has already proven in Overwatch Contenders Korea that they know how to put together a winning roster.

The Mousesports CS:GO team won its first tier-one championship this past Sunday with a 3-0 sweep over Fnatic. This significant result comes just two weeks after Mousesports won the CS:GO Asia Championships.

Mousesports earned a spot in the ESL Pro League Season 10 Grand Finals after beating Evil Geniuses in the Quarter-Finals 2-1 and then besting Astralis in the Semi-Finals 2-1.

The German-based gaming organization netted $250,000 for both the ESL Pro League championship and Asia championship victory, making the last two weeks one of the most lucrative in the club’s history.

The current Mousesports roster featuring Chris “chrisJ” de Jong, Robin “ropz” Kool, in-game leader Finn “karrigan” Andersen, Özgür “woxic” Eker, and David “frozen” Čerňanský will look forward to the CS Summit 5 tournament this upcoming Dec. 12-15^th.

Six teams from around the world battled for supremacy this past Dec. 3-7^th to see who would become the Clash Royale World Champion. The Clash Royale World Finals featured a $400,000 total prize pool and marked the end of the Clash Royale World League season.

Team Liquid from North America won the best-of-five Grand Final 3-1 against team W.EDGM from China. The first-place finish netted Team Liquid $150,000, W.EDGM took home $100,000 for second place, and $50,000 was awarded to both SK Gaming and FAV Gaming for finishing tied-third.

The Clash Royale World League is expected to start its next season in the spring.

Keeping up with the latest esports news is key if you’re planning on betting on esports. So is finding a reliable betting site. To find the best sites to trust your esports wagers with, check out our list here.