ROG Soldiers of Fortune finals live broadcast this weekend

Issued by Asus
Johannesburg, Sep 16, 2020

Today, ASUS, the company behind the Republic of Gamers ROG Invitational, announced the final eight teams that will compete in the 2020 Soldiers of Fortune edition. The tournament finals will be broadcast live from the Vodacom Esports Studios and will be anchored by Sam Wright (Tech Girl ZA) and ROG ambassador Rachel Kay. Hellbird, Haze, Recoil and Profeci will call the matches and feature as panel experts.

Best of the best

Sinister5 and Goliath Gaming (the 2019 winners) scored a direct invitation to the finals, bypassing the qualification rounds where ATK CS:GO, DMNK, Online Kingdom, Royalty Esports, Energy Esports and ExDee Gaming fought their way past 40 other teams to make it to the final of South Africa’s premiere CS:GO tournament.

The unique Soldiers of Fortune format, where each losing match will cost a team 40% of their starting share of the R150 000 prize pool, will reward consistency with close to R120 000 going to the team that manages to lift the trophy unbeaten. In addition to the winner’s prize pool R10 000 will be awarded to the one player, for all eight teams in the finals, who scores the highest headshot percentage. The Deadshot Headshot bonus will make for interesting gameplay at the sharp end of the competition.

Viewer-driven panel and commentary

“We are placing a lot of emphasis on engagement during the live broadcast of these finals. As a community we want to improve the fan experience and we will be taking a ton of questions and comments from the fans during the live broadcast to ensure we make this tournament as accessible and enjoyable to as many people as possible.

“As an entertainment product, and in particular, a digital product, we know how high the bar is set for commanding people’s attention when it comes to screen time. We want to learn as much as we can from our fans on what they want and, where possible, make those changes in real-time in the production of the event,” said Juan Mouton, Country Marketing Manager, Republic of Gamers and ASUS, Southern Africa.

The event will be broadcast live from 9am on Friday 18 September on the ROG South Africa Facebook page.

Players to watch

Dean “massacRe” Davids
Team: Goliath Gaming
Age: 19
Bio: Having started extremely young, massacRe has always been pegged as one of the up-and-coming counter-strike players in South Africa, and years down the line, you can see exactly why. Having found a home in Goliath Gaming, the team has won multiple tournaments with massacRe as part of the squad, and is always a player to watch when the heat is on.

Tiaan “Tiaantjie” Rheeder
Team Energy Esports
Age: 25
Bio: A veteran in the local counter-strike scene, Tiaantjie may not always be making the flashy plays, but his consistency and temperament as a team player have left him a feared opponent, no matter what team he plays for. Whenever the going gets tough, Tiaantjie gets going.

Gareth “Mistem” Ries
Team: ATK
Age: 18
Bio: Mistem is another young player in the scene, although he has years of experience already under his belt. Having had massive success in the Energy Esports team under the leadership of BlackPoisoN, he has found a new home under the ATK banner, and has added his signature flare to the team with his devastating aim and skills.

ROG Invitational event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/441327443475013
ASUS ZA Web site: https://www.asus.com/za/
ASUS ZA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ASUSza
ASUS ZA Twitter: https://twitter.com/ASUS_za
ASUS ZA LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asus-southern-africa/

Players to watch:

Dean Davids: https://twitter.com/ggmassacRe
Tiaan Rheeder: https://twitter.com/Tiaantjie1221
Gareth Ries: https://twitter.com/MisteMtv

Teams:

ATK – https://twitter.com/AtkArena
DNMK Esports – https://twitter.com/dnmkgg
Energy Esports – https://twitter.com/EnergyEsportsZA
Exdee Gaming – https://twitter.com/exdeegaming
Goliath Gaming – https://twitter.com/GoliathGamingZA
Online Kingdom – https://twitter.com/OnlineKingd0m
Sinister5 – https://twitter.com/Sinister5_SA
Royalty Esports – https://twitter.com/ZA_Royalty