E-sports Arena is a curated weekly roundup of the biggest stories in the world of online competitive gaming.
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, the massively popular professional gamer and Mixer streamer, has signed a new sponsorship deal with German apparel powerhouse Adidas. The agreement marks the first time Adidas has signed an individual professional gamer as a sponsor, adding Blevins to a gaming portfolio that includes prominent e-sports teams like Team Vitality in France and North in Denmark.
Ninja announced the new partnership on Twitter, saying, “No shortcuts. Only long days. Never let anyone tell you that you can’t catch your dreams…I’m humbled, and excited, to officially announce my partnership with @adidasoriginals.”
Blevins made waves earlier this month by announcing his departure from Twitch, Amazon’s popular streaming platform, in favor of Microsoft’s Mixer.
Elsewhere, Team USA has named its roster for the 2019 Overwatch League World Cup. A familiar few faces are returning for another run, including the San Francisco Shock’s Grant “Moth” Espe as support and Indy “SPACE” Halpern of the Los Angeles Valiant in an off-tank role. Newcomers to the team include another Shock player, Matthew “Super” DeLisi, as a main tank, as well as Corey Nigra of the Washington Justice and the L.A. Valiant’s Kyle “KSF” Frandanisa. The Overwatch League World Cup kicks off during BlizzCon 2019, starting Nov. 1.
Related Stories
Here’s what else is happening in the world of e-sports.
DOTA 2 International 9 Champions Now Highest-Paid E-sports Players
DOTA 2’s The International 9, one of the largest e-sports tournaments in the world, took place last weekend. Team OG took home the victory, defeating Team Liquid 3-1 in the final match. The win made all five of Team OG’s players the new highest-paid e-sports competitors in the world, splitting a first-place prize of $15,618,600. The previous record holder was Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf at the Fortnite World Cup earlier this year.
Fortnite Meets Borderlands
The next major event to come to Fortnite brings with it a little mayhem, as the world of Gearbox’s Borderlands has invaded the battle royale shooter. In a blog post this week, Epic Games detailed the event in full, laying out everything players can expect the next time they log on. The biggest change is the Pandora Rift Zone, which is full of “surprises for you to discover as you wreak havoc in Pandora.” Players can also purchase a Psycho Bundle, which will unlock a new Bandit skin, Claptrap companion and Buzz Axe pickaxe. The Fortnite X Mayhem Event will run until Sept. 10.
Three of Smash Bros.‘ Best Added to Nintendo “Dream Team”
Nintendo has shaken up the lineup for the first ever Super Smash Bros. Ultimate World Challenge Cup happening at Nintendo Live 2019 Kyoto, adding a “dream team” to compete against qualifiers from Japan, North America and Europe. The team consists of Nairoby “Nairo” Quezada, Ramin “Mr.R” Delshad and EVO 2019 Smash Bros Ultimate Champion Leonardo “MkLeo” Lopez Perez, three of the world’s top players. The trio will take on all comers at the World Challenge Cup, slated for the beginning of October.
