The North American esports organization revealed that it will be designed to help young people develop skills in gaming and esports.
The organization took to their official website to announce the development, describing it as a “platform for youth enrichment and skill development.”
“Ghost Gaming, the Atlanta-based gaming lifestyle org and professional esports team, today announced the planned Q1 2023 launch of Ghost Gaming Academy, a platform for youth enrichment and skill development,” the organization wrote.
“Ghost Gaming Academy will offer outside-of-school pathways and projects for student engagement and career preparedness within and adjacent to the gaming industry — including Professional Esports Competitor, Content Creator, Livestream Broadcaster, and even Game Designer.”
Aside from the news of the youth training academy, which the organization revealed will be launched in the first quarter of 2023, Ghost Gaming also announced the appointment of its Director.
According to an announcement from Ghost Gaming, PK Graff has been appointed as the new Director of the Ghost Gaming Academy.
Graff brings over a decade of experience in the fields of technology, gaming, and esports to the role, having been a teacher and instructional designer in the esports and gaming scene. He also has a research fellowship at the North American Scholastic Esports Federation (NASEF).
In addition to his work in research, Graff has launched 11 middle school esports programs in Georgia and serves as the general manager position for seven varsity esports teams. His focus is on using scholastic gaming to promote resilience in at-risk students.
The Chief Executive Officer of Ghost Gaming commented on the launch, highlighting the benefits of the youth training academy and why the organization selected Graff as the best candidate to head the academy.
��Structured esports can transform youth screen time into personal development and skill development,” Harris said.
��PK is a top practitioner of scholastic esports and our program combines his classroom and youth esports coaching experience with content and lessons from game industry professionals, including professional competitors, coaches, gaming content creators, and even game designers.
“Our Ghost Gaming Academy mission is to deliver positive and inclusive gaming experiences that empower youth to shape their future.��
The academy will provide online courses, as well as the opportunity to compete at gaming venues throughout North America.
In addition, students at the academy are also given the opportunity to attend invitational events at Ghost Gaming Atlanta-based headquarters and esports campus.
The academy courses will cover various careers within the esports industry, such as information regarding how to become a professional player, content creator, and game designer.
In addition, students will have the opportunity to interact with other competitors in the Georgia Esports League and Ghost Gaming roster of players and coaches.
Throughout 2022, Ghost Gaming has increased its involvement in grassroots and collegiate esports.
In August, it took over as the operator of the Georgia Esports League, and in October, it signed an agreement with Georgia healthcare provider Piedmont.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development, the Georgia Film Academy, and Piedmont, the Official Healthcare Provider, all support the collegiate esports property.
]]>Seeing two of the team’s longest-standing and most successful members may come as a shock to some. However, this kind of activity is now a regular occurrence at Ghost Gaming, who have been haemorrhaging players since January 2020.
Zander “thwifo” Kim, Christian “Snood” Hastie, Dylan “Dmo” Moore and “Justin “Kayuun” Ha all announced their exodus from Ghost’s Fortnite squad on January 18. A month later, Daniel “innocents” Rebelo and Kovon “Assault” Richardson followed suit, leaving their former employers with only four active members. Although there was no official explanation as to why the duo left Ghost Gaming, Assault said he parted ways with Ghost on good terms.
Like Assault and innocents, both Aydan and Bizzle stated their departure was the result of a mutual agreement between the players and team management.
“I have mutually parted ways with Ghost Gaming,” said Bizzle in his Twitlonger post.
“Ghost was my first org and the true start to my gaming career, from Pax West to Dreamhack they have been there for me and there are a lot of people I want to thank. I also wish Ghost the best of luck on its next chapter.”
Bizzle made his first competitive Fortnite appearance on June 27, 2018, when he and ex-Trouble Bois member iHesi finished second at Summer Skirmish Series NA – Week 3. Shortly after, Bizzle was signed by Ghost Gaming and in August won FN Pro League NA – Season 1 alongside Dmo, Zamas, Rocco “Saf” Morales and Wade “Ghoul” Manley.
In months that followed, Bizzle continued putting up solid performances and by the end of the year had added silver medals from Summer Skirmish Series Week 8 (PAX West), Fall Skirmish Series NA – Week 1 and Fall Skirmish Series NA – Week 3 to his win at the Microsoft Store North American Championship.
Despite his solid showings throughout 2018, it was not until the following year that Bizzle rose to prominence with two titles, six bronze medals, seven fourth-place finishes, and 23rd place at the 2019 Fortnite World Cup Solos. His impressive performances helped him to accumulate 54,450 Fortnite Power Rankings points, which saw him finish the year ranked 16th in the North America East PC standings.
In 2020, Bizzle has already won a title (Contender Duo Cash Cup Week 1 – NA East), pocketed two silver medals and accumulated 7,000 ranking points.
Aydan has not enjoyed quite the same level of success as his former teammate, having finished 2019 ranked 49th in the North American West PC rankings with 39,350 points. Some of his best placements throughout 2019 include a runner-up finish at WC 2019 NAW Qualifiers – Week 6, first place at WC 2019 NAW Qualifiers – Week 8, and 37th place finish in the Fortnite World Cup 2019 – Duo Finals.
Earlier this year, Aydan pocketed a silver medal at Contender Solo Cash Cup: Chapter 2 Season 1 – Week 10: NA West and bronze at PS4 Exclusive Tournament – Day 2: NA West, which helped him accumulate 7,950 Fortnite Power Rankings points to sit 24th in the region.
The departure of Aydan and Bizzle leaves Ghost Gaming with only Saf and Sean “Sean” Close, which is a far cry from the 10-man roster they had in January.
]]>Ghost Gaming will take on Team Liquid in the opening match of cs_summit 4 this Thursday at Summit House in Los Angeles.
The fixture will be separated into two BO1 scrims. The first match will be played on a map of Ghost’s choosing, while the second map will be whichever Team Liquid choose.
Team Liquid are coming into the match as IEM Sydney 2019 champions, which was the first ‘big’ tournament for them. They won all their matches and did not lose a single map up until the finals, where they saluted with a 3-2 victory over Fnatic.
Liquid also ranked second in ECS Season 7 North America Week 4. They won two BO3 matches against Spacestation and Luminosity but came up short in the finals against MIBR, who bested them 2-0. Things may have turned out differently if the second match was not on Vertigo, which is a map where Team Liquid tend to underperform.
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Their opponents, Ghost Gaming, have made only one roster change in 2019 so far. They released Yassine “Subroza” Taoufik from their starting roster and added Ryan “freakazoid” Abadir, who came over from Swole Patrol.
SEE ALSO: HOW TO BET ON CS: GO ESPORTS
Ghost are coming into the match off a disappointing DreamHack Open Tours 2019 campaign, where they lost both matches, first 16-11 to AVANAGAR and then 2-0 to the home side, G2 Esports. They also played at the ESL One Cologne 2019 North America Closed Qualifier, where they managed to reach the playoffs but were eventually defeated 3-2 by FURIA in a BO5 final.
As for their ESL Pro League Season 9 Americas campaign, Ghost placed second in Group B after the first round. They won against compLexity and Lazarus but lost to Team Liquid. Nonetheless, their performances were good enough to earn them second spot and a ticket for the second round.
Ghost vs Team Liquid betting predictions
These two teams have played a total of five maps in the span of four matches, which were all won by Team Liquid. The last time they faced each other was in this year’s ESL Pro League, where Liquid won 2-0 in a BO3 match.
We have to side with Team Liquid. They are a far better team with much more experience and stronger players. There is simply no area Ghost could compete, so a clean sweep looks likely.
Prediction: Team Liquid to win both maps – Best odds at GG Bet
]]>Eight NA teams battled it out from May 9 till May 11 for an invitation to the main event in Germany, which is set to take place at the start of July.
The qualifiers featured names such as Complexity Gaming, Team Envy, Ghost Gaming, Lazarus Esports, ATK, Bad News Bear, INTZ eSports and FURIA Esports.
SEE ALSO: ESPORTS LEAGUES AND TOURNAMENTS
Teams were divided into four groups of two and were put directly into quarter-finals. The matches were played in a double-elimination Bo3 format.
The ties started on May 9, when we saw which four teams earned themselves a promotion into the semi-finals, and which four were pushed into a lower bracket, where they got another chance to reach the grand finals and ultimately earn themselves a ticket for ESL One Cologne.
Ghost Gaming managed to advance into the finals straight through the upper bracket, while FURIA had to claw through the lower bracket.
Ghost managed to defeat ATK (2-1) in the quarters and Team Envy (2-0) in the semis, to which they added a convincing win against Lazarus Esports in the upper bracket finals (2-0) to book a spot in the decider.
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FURIA, on the other hand, lost their opening match against Lazarus (2-1), which pushed them down into the lower bracket. There they were paired with Bad News Bear, who put up a good fight, but ultimately lost 2-1 after a close 19-16 result on Overpass. FURIA then went on and defeated Team Envy (0-2), Complexity (0-2) and Lazarus in the lower bracket final (0-2), which earned them a ticket for the grand finals.
A completely different experience, but ultimately the same result, brought two of the best NA qualifiers teams on the big stage.
Having come from the upper bracket, Ghost Gaming had an automatic one-map advantage; however, their lead was quickly turned around as FURIA won convincingly on Inferno (9-16) and Nuke (11-16). Much of their success was due to incredible performances from “KSCERATO” and “yuurih”, who once again proved they are worth their money.
Being 1-2 down, Ghost managed to earn themselves a closely fought win on Overpass (16-14), thus equalising the score at 2-2. It was “koosta” who shone in that game with a 1.50 rating as his team rallied from a 5-10 deficit.
After a promising show on Overpass, it was all or nothing for Ghost Gaming, who went into the fourth and the last map confident they could win through to ESL One Cologne. Their enthusiasm, however, as FURIA romped to a 16-8 victory.
The Brazilians will now face some of the biggest names in the CS: GO esports world at ESL One Cologne, including Astralis, Natus Vincere, FaZe, ENCE, Fnatic, MIBR, NRG, NiP and Renegades.
The online event featured 32 of the world’s best PUBG esports teams from the EU and NA regions battle it out for the coveted top spots, after fighting their way through a whopping 512 participating teams in earlier public tournaments.
Three lesser-known European esports teams – Airstation Mike, Avangar and Team Kinguin – beat out household names like Team Liquid in the EU Closed Qualifiers to earn their spot at IEM Katowice, while the North American Closed Qualifiers were headlined by popular pro gaming organizations Cloud9, OpTic Gaming, and Noble Esports.
A final challenger from the smaller South America Closed Qualifier, Kaos Latin Gamers, rounds out the pack, but the fight for top standings is far from over.
These seven regional teams will join the world’s best PUBG squads who received a direct invite to IEM Katowice, by-passing the Closed Qualifiers completely. Their invitations were based on their performance in past PUBG Invitationals.
FaZe Clan, Ghost Gaming, Method, TeamSolo Mid, Tempo Storm and Team Vitality are no push-overs in the last man standing department, with Vitality previously winning the PUBG Invitational under the Against All Authority brand.
All up, we now know 13 of the teams to play at the PUBG Invitational in Katowice, with the remaining three contenders to be announced at a later date.
The PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Invitational at IEM Katowice starts February 24 and is the third of its kind, following the success of the Gamescom PUBG Invitational LAN Tournament and IEM Oakland PUBG Invitational late last year.
Both events hosted 80 popular professional players and live-streamers and featured much larger prize-pools – US $350,000 and $200,000, respectively – but suffered heavy criticism for netcode issues and sloppy camerawork.
While PUBG’s larger-than-average player count makes even spectating more complicated than the average esport, we hope Katowice’s production team can find a way to properly improve the viewer experience.
Katowice also marks the first PUBG Invitational of the year officially supported by Bluehole Interactive, the publisher of the game. Smaller tournament organizers, such as G:loot and OnGameNet, are hosting their own PUBG tournaments without official sanctioning, but have already shown off incredible production values. So long as Katowice can match their efforts, we’ll continue to support ESL’s slow and steady support for the burgeoning PUBG competitive scene.
How to watch the PUBG Invitational Katowice
Find the best live-streaming sites to watch PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds esports events like the PUBG Invitational at IEM Katowice in our guide. All options can stream PUBG esports in high-definition on computer and mobile, for free.
Reading us from Seychelles? If you want to bet on other esports while we wait for PUBG betting markets to become more regular, your top recommended option is GG Bet – follow our links and you can claim exclusive bonuses to put towards your esports betting experience.
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