Newsflash: MAD win LEC, Fnatic Valorant team changes, NFTs in esports, Endpoint academy roster, Uni of Birmingham PVP game wins dev challenge, UK Twitch streamer unbanned 2 years after false ban
Dom Sacco, Senior Editor
Last Updated: 04/10/2021
Here’s our latest weekly Newsflash roundup, where we cover a host of esports and gaming news in an informal, bitesize nature for you to digest.
MAD Lions win LEC Spring 2021 final in thrilling best-of-five
MAD Lions defeated Rogue 3-2 in a crazy best-of-five series in the LEC Spring 2021 playoffs final this evening.
Rogue were 2-0 up but MAD reverse swept them to become European League of Legends champions for the first time in their history.
MAD have some UK talent in head coach James ‘Mac’ MacCormack, while Danish assistant coach Patrick ‘Pad’ Suckow-Breum has previously worked with MNM Gaming in the UK League of Legends scene.
#LEC CHAMPIONS! pic.twitter.com/CbHlEWTxnT
— LEC (@LEC) April 11, 2021
No tengo ni puta idea de lo que estaba pasando en el último partido pero os puedo decir que en mis 27 años de vida, jamás he experimentado un momento de felicidad tan completo y perfecto.
— James MacCormack (@MacCLol) April 11, 2021
Gracias.
A todos que nos han apoyado en este viaje, gracias desde el fondo de mi corazón.
Fnatic make Valorant team changes
Fnatic have made changes to their Valorant team which they signed back in February.
Fnatic announced in a post on their website that Greek player Kostas ‘tsack’ Theodoropoulos and UK player Muhammad ‘Moe40’ Hariff have been dropped and are now able to explore other opportunities within Valorant.
Finnish player Nikita ‘Derke’ Sirmitev and Czech player Martin ‘Magnum# Penkov have been announced as the new recruits stepping in.
Endpoint CSGO academy roster announced as flameZ departs first team
UK esports org have announced their CSGO academy roster, a few months after revealing their Endpoint ROG Academy initiative to help young UK CSGO players go pro.
The news comes after flameZ departed their first team to join OG.
When flameZ joined Endpoint, he ignited a fiery passion in the #CSGO team
— Endpoint CeX (@TeamEndpoint) April 9, 2021
We look forward to watching him burn bright in his next endeavour
Thank you @flameZcsgo 🇮🇱
🎥 https://t.co/7xPUtBFS2d#NeverStop ❤️🔥 pic.twitter.com/xdHuUnjSiv
University of Birmingham win NSE student Games Innovation Challenge with PVP battle arena game Blade
University students from across the country have been competing to be crowned the country’s finest student game designer. The Games Innovation Challenge was delivered by UK university esports body NSE (National Student Esports) presented by Barclays.
Students were given nine weeks to create the most innovative game, structured around the theme of competition, with the submitted entries being judged against technical quality, look and feel, entertainment, innovation and a competition plan.
More than 20 games were submitted for the final assessment, with the University of Birmingham entry ‘Blade’ taking the top spot. Blade is a 2D fast-paced 1v1 PvP Battle Arena game and the judges highlighted it’s easy to grasp yet hard to master gameplay paired with high entertainment value.
Second went to the University of York entry ‘Zen Tower’, a multiplayer physics-based free-for-all competitive brawler, while third place went to University of Arts London entry ‘Found Guys VS’, a multiplayer game inspired by the old TV game show called Finders Keepers.
NFTs in esports: Veloce, 100 Thieves and Tfue get involved
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), data bought using cryptocurrency (usually on the Ethereum blockhain) that allows people to certify the ownership of a digital asset – usually digital art – have started breaking into esports.
Org 100 Thieves, streamer Tfue and UK racing org Veloce are among those experimenting with NFTs.
Tfue announced the NFTfue King of Gaming Collection celebrating his time in Fortnite, CoD and Minecraft.
And Veloce is teaming up with Animoca Brands, which has invested in REVV, a motorsports utility token into Veloce’s recently announced pre-IPO funding round. The partnership also covers sister company Veloce Racing — competing in the innovative electric racing Extreme E series — and in doing so, represents the first real-world global motorsport outfit to be partly funded by REVV tokens.
There’s more on 100 Thieves’ announcement in the following tweet:
Excited to reveal a project in conjunction with our latest apparel collection: 100 Thieves Enter Infinity NFTs.
— 100T Nadeshot (@Nadeshot) April 6, 2021
I absolutely love the art in this collection. It features eight 1-of-1 unique items: 4 for auction & 4 for giveaways this week. @100Thieveshttps://t.co/zdtEyck6pG pic.twitter.com/xyYOVwxOGA
UK Twitch streamer unbanned almost 2 years after false ban
UK Pokémon streamer RyanWasTaken has been unbanned by Twitch some two years after being falsely taken off the platform.
Ryan had spent a long time trying to talk to Twitch privately, but this month decided to go public. And the ban was quickly reverted.
GUYS THEY DID IT THANK YOU SO MUCH I'M ACTUALLY CRYING pic.twitter.com/KrNHLaTciQ
— RyanWasTaken (@RyanWasTakenToo) April 7, 2021
Change for Dota 2 UK talent Teaguvnor
Dota 2 UK caster and coach TeaGuvnor has stepped away from his role as coach with Hellbear Smashers to focus on his casting with ESL One and Dreamleague.
As a result of being invited as talent for S2 DPC #ESLOne & #DreamLeague. I will unfortunately be stepping down from working with @HellbearsDota2🍅
— TeaGuvnor #StandWithUkraine (@TeaGuvnor) April 7, 2021
I hope the lads SMASH Div 1 this season!
Going forward, I will be dedicating all my energy into my analyst career. Bring on S2!🥳
LDN UTD announces initiative combining esports with traditional sports
UK org LDN UTD have teamed up with Matchroom to merge the world of esports with competitive sport.
Entertainment content appearing on Matchroom and LDN UTD social channels will feature athletes from the Professional Darts Corporation alongside players from LDN UTD’s rosters of FIFA, League of Legends, Valorant and Fortnite. In addition, Matchroom’s athletes will appear in LDN UTD campaigns addressing inclusion, diversity and wellness.
There’s more info on the LDN UTD website.
Flashpoint Season 3 announced
Flashpoint, the global CSGO tournament series from B Site, Inc., will return with its third iteration as an official Regional Major Ranking (RMR) event for the European region. The Flashpoint 3 main event will begin on May 10th 2021 and will feature a 16 team double-elimination bracket played out over 3 weeks of competition.
There’s more info in this Flashpoint Season 3 press release.
Did you like this news roundup? Would you like to see more? Please let us know on Twitter! Esports News UK is here to serve.
Dom Sacco, Senior Editor
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He has almost two decades of experience in journalism, and left Esports News UK in June 2025. As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late '80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He also previously worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation.
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