The campaign was created to drive change and promote a balanced and healthy lifestyle within the esports and gaming community away from competition and outside the server. It was launched at the final Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major tournament, the BLAST.tv Paris Major.

The health-focused initiative will be promoted by ambassadors like famous esports, and Counter-Strike face Jacob “Pimp” Winneche. It will also make use of in-arena activations to push for a change and encourage healthier choices from esports gamers and fans worldwide.

The Away from Keyboard initiative will feature a documentary series following the lives of esports personalities as they share how they were able to achieve a more balanced and healthy lifestyle. Pimp’s journey will be highlighted in the first episode of the series.

In a statement, the Paris Major broadcaster analyst disclosed that finding balance between gaming and an active lifestyle was the “key to everything.”

“Striking a balance between gaming and staying active is absolutely essential – balance is key to everything, both as a casual and professional gamer. Having an active lifestyle away from the keyboard allows you to have a more rewarding gaming session while staying motivated and energetic,” Pimp said.

The initiative was launched at the CS:GO Major where 24 teams entered to compete for the $1.25 million (~￡998.825) prize pool. The tournament is currently being broadcast in over 100 territories and in around 24 different languages.

This is not the first time esports tournament organizers and organizations have expressed interest in launching initiatives focused on players’ health and well-being. Esports group Ghost Gaming and healthcare provider Piedmont collaborated in October 2022 for a similar feat.

BLAST’s CEO, Robbie Douek, expressed the company’s delight in working with Novo Nordisk and emphasized the need for healthy living as a professional gamer.

“Maintaining a balanced and healthy lifestyle is such an important part of competing as an esports professional, as well as for the wider gaming community. We are delighted to be teaming up with Novo Nordisk for this exciting new initiative,” Douek said.

“Away From Keyboard (AFK) will look to promote the understanding that excellence in performance as well as physical and mental well-being can best be achieved by striking the right balance between gaming and being away from keyboard.”

The agreement marks Novo Nordisk’s first deal with the esports industry. For BLAST, the collaboration expands its already long list of partnerships. Just this month, the tournament organizer signed a deal with two other firms, cinema chain Cineworld and French automotive brand Alpine.

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The team were one of the three Brazilian guests in the tournament and were eliminated in the Challengers Stage with a 0-3 record on May 9. According to a recent report, Fluxo intend to skip their next competition to “rest and reset” after their Paris Major run.

Fluxo initially traveled to Europe to participate in both the Paris Major and the CCT Finals two. The team, in addition to Sharks and Meta, were invited to the event following their top-three finish in the competition’s South American ranking.

The organization led by ex-MIBR and SK Gaming player Jo?o “felps” Vasconcellos ended their run in the BLAST Paris Major Challengers Stage without a single series win. After losing to paiN Gaming and Monte on May 8 and finally to MAD Lions the next day, Fluxo were eliminated from the tournament.

Fluxo’s coach, Wilton “zews” Prado, expressed uncertainty over their future following the elimination. Felps was more direct, notifying fans of potential changes, including roster shakeups.

Fluxo reportedly communicated their decision not to participate to GRID, the tournament organizer. The organizing committee is currently attempting to resolve the situation and may invite Corinthians, which placed fourth, to replace Fluxo.

The team could use the time provided by the withdrawal to make changes to their roster ahead of the Counter-Strike 2’s release in Summer 2023.

While Fluxo are not known internationally, the squad have a following in Brazil as a result of their presence in Free Fire. They also began investing in CS:GO in August last year.

The CCT Finals two would have provided Fluxo with the opportunity to play against tier two squads. Backing out of the tournament means that the BLAST Paris Major was the only international event the team participated in this year.

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MOUZ enter the opening round of the BLAST.tv Paris Major European RMR following a disappointing showing at BetBoom Playlist. Urbanistic, where they crashed out of the semifinals with a 0-2 defeat against forZe. It marked MOUZ’s third loss over their last five series and only the seventh official match since the turn of the year.

The lack of games might explain why MOUZ couldn’t reach further in the tournament; however, it’s not like forZe are a particularly weak team. So even though MOUZ aren’t in the best form ahead of the Major qualifiers, they should do well against the likes of B8.

B8 have been very active this year but mostly attended lesser tournaments and a couple of qualifiers. Most recently, B8 were seen fighting in Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2023: European Open Qualifier #1 and #2, where they failed to achieve anything noteworthy (17th-32nd).

This is still a best-of-one series where it’s not uncommon for the favourites to slip. But B8 have given us nothing to feel excited about. Take MOUZ to get it done with at least five rounds to spare.

Virtus.pro were given the green light to start competing under their old banner at the end of March, following a somewhat questionable transfer of brand ownership. That was the only notable thing that happened with the Russian CS:GO squad since the departure of Timur “buster” Tulepov, who left the team in January, although he was never a part of the roster that won the Rio Major.

This year, however, wasn’t as fruitful for the squad, who placed fifth-sixth at Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2023 and crashed out of ESL Pro League Season 17 in ninth-12th place. And to top it all off, VP exited BetBoom Playlist. Urbanistic after a 0-2 loss against forZe.

Despite their lack of success, Virtus.pro should feel confident facing SAW, who haven’t achieved anything in 2023 besides semifinal appearances in a couple of B-Tier events at the start of the year. But the Portuguese squad have been ramping up over the last couple of weeks, sporting a 9-2 record.

Virtus.pro are individually superior to SAW, but it’s tough to justify placing money on the Russian team after what they’ve shown in March. SAW should keep it close.

The clash between Fnatic and Viperio is billed as one of the most one-sided fixtures of the opening round, which isn’t too surprising. Viperio are a second-division team from England, whose only tournament victory over the last year came at ESEA Advanced Cash Cup: Europe – 2023 #5.

On the other side, we have Fnatic, who have had some concerning performances this year but found momentum at Intel Extreme Masters Dallas 2023: European Qualifier earlier this month, when they defeated Team Spirit (2-0) and Ninjas in Pyjamas (2-0).

Fnatic aren’t serious candidates to contest the Paris Major title, and they’re not even ranked inside the top 10 on the global CS:GO ladder. But this is still a top-tier team that shouldn’t give up much against squads like Viperio. Barring any major upsets, Fnatic should keep Viperio at single digits.

Bad News Eagles have returned to the RMR, chasing their third Major ticket, but their shaky form ahead of the tournament makes it look like they will have a hard time emulating their success from the last two RMRs.

With early exits from ESL Challenger League Season 44: Europe (13th-16th) and BetBoom Playlist. Urbanistic (ninth-12th) and with a 5-5 record over their last ten series, the Kosovar squad have a lot to prove. But it’s not like 1win are in a much better spot.

The CIS squad rebuilt its lineup in February with the addition of Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhaylov and Aleksey “NickelBack” Trofimov, which led to a fruitful honeymoon phase and a bronze medal at ESL Challenger League Season 44: Europe. But like BNE, 1win failed to deliver in their last two tournament appearances, finishing BetBoom Playlist. Urbanistic in ninth-12th and CCT Central Europe Series #5 in ninth-16th.

On paper, this looks like a coin-toss match and the CS:GO betting odds reflect that. Expect a close game, so we’ll take over 26.5 rounds.

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The Mongolian players include Garidmagnai “?bLitz?” Byambasuren, Baatarkhuu “?Bart4k?” Batbold, Sodbayar “?Techno?” Munkhbold, Chinguun “?hasteka?” Bayarmaa and Tuvshintugs “?Annihilation?” Nyamdorj. It is currently unclear if the players have officially parted ways with IHC, who have been silent on Twitter since March 24.

They are among of the top-ranked squads heading into the event, peaking at 18th in the world rankings. During their run in the IEM Katowice, the Mongolian lineup defeated top squads like Cloud9, paiN Gaming, and FURIA.

The former IHC CS:GO squad will join the rest of the teams in Ulaanbaatar under the famous tag, which has been a key part of Mongolia’s CS:GO scene since 2015. During this period, some of the best players in the country played under TheMongolz tag. They include legendary player Enkhtaivan “?Machinegun?” Lkhagva, Erdenedalai “?maaRaa?” Bayanbat and Temuulen “?Zilkenberg?” Battulga.

Machinegun and the rest of the team participated in past Big Events like IEM Katowice in 2016 and IEM Oakland in 2017. MaaRaa is currently in a less competitive role as TheMongolz coach.

Prior to the news, IHC brought on hasteka to replace their star player Tengis “sk0R” Batjargal, who was benched to the confusion of the CS:GO community in early March. The player’s consistently good performance, in addition to the proximity of the RMR, raised a lot of questions, particularly when sk0R revealed that leaving was not his decision. The organization also replaced Bat-Enkh “?kabal?” Batbayar with Bark4k recently.

IHC came under fire in February following the arrest of the three founders of the cryptocurrency Ih Bit Global. They, however, stated via IHC chairman Dave Lee that the operation and management of the esports organization had no connections to arrested individuals.

TheMongolz, currently ranked 22nd in the world, are set to face off against Twisted Minds on Thursday, April 6, in the opening round of the BLAST Paris Major Asia RMR. Gan-Erdene “?dobu?” Batbold’s Eruption will also be representing Mongolia at the tournament.

The RMR will see eight Asian lineups compete in a double-elimination bracket to snag one of the two available spots to attend the BLAST Paris Major set for May. The event will be the last Valve-sponsored CS:GO tournament as a result of Counter-Strike 2 being launched in the summer of this year.

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According to the announcement, Luckbox will be Viperio’s official sponsor while they compete against squads in the RMR to snag a place in the final CS:GO Major in Paris. In return, the esports team will display the sports betting and casino provider’s brand on their jerseys and social media pages. Both parties are also required to make digital content together.

Regarding the new partnership, Luckbox’s head of communication, David Souza, commended Viperio for qualifying for the RMR and referred to the collaboration as a “great opportunity.”

“I’m a big Viperio fan, and having them join forces with Luckbox to create hype around the RMR and make memories for fans around the world is a great opportunity. I looked forward to seeing their journey on the path to Paris,” Souza said.

Viperio, established in 2013, are one of England’s most popular esports organizations. Besides a CS:GO squad, they support Rainbow Six Siege and League of Legends teams. Viperio and Into the Breach are the only UK-based esports teams to snag a place in the upcoming Major RMR.

The esports organization’s Founder and Managing Director, Christopher Sword, said, “I’m happy to welcome Luckbox as an official sponsor ahead of our Counter-Strike team’s run in the upcoming Regional Major Ranking event in Copenhagen this April.”

“It’s great to have a market leader like Luckbox back our team as we hope to challenge some of the biggest names on the planet and try to qualify for the last ever Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major.”

Not much information was shared concerning the partnership besides announcing Luckbox as the official sponsor. It is also unknown if the collaboration will extend past the upcoming RMR, as the release only mentioned the qualifiers.

The BLAST Paris Major EU RMR A is set to kick off in early April and will see Viperio take on top teams like FaZe Clan, Natus Vincere, Fnatic, Virtus.pro, and Sprout. The first eight squads will earn places in the Contender and Legend stages of the BLAST Paris Major.

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Challengermode took to its Twitter page to share the news of the partnership. BLAST also confirmed the announcement by retweeting the original post.

“We’re teaming up with @BLASTtv to host the European and Oceanic RMR Qualifiers for the https://BLAST.tv CS:GO Paris Major,” Challengermode tweeted.

“Open and closed qualifiers are taking place between Feb 13-19, sign up is already open.

“Best of luck to all teams!”

As part of the partnership, teams eager to take part in the open qualifications for the upcoming Paris Major tournament will now have the opportunity to do so through the Challengermode platform. The platform will handle both the open and closed qualifications in Europe and Oceania. These will be held entirely online prior to the Major, with the open qualifiers commencing on February 13-19.

This collaboration between BLAST and Challengermode is not the first time both organizations have worked together. In 2021, the two companies joined forces to host the North American and Nordic qualifiers for the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown. This successful partnership has now resulted in their new venture for the Paris Major qualifiers.

The Commissioner for BLAST Premier, Andrew Haworth, spoke on the partnership. He shared his excitement about collaborating with Challengermode, describing the company as a “tried and trusted partner”.

“Challengermode is a tried and trusted partner for BLAST and we are delighted to have their expert support in delivering the Qualifiers for Europe and Oceania – which will both provide a key pathway for all aspiring teams in their efforts to reach Counter-Strike’s most iconic event,” Haworth said.

The Chief Business Development Officer at Challengermode, Philip Hubner, also commented on the partnership.

“It’s an honour to be a part of such a milestone event for CS:GO, and an even greater honour to give thousands of aspiring players a chance to play and qualify for an event of this scale,” Hubner said.

The partnership between the two companies is a major boost for aspiring teams in their efforts to reach Counter-Strike’s most iconic event. It will not only provide aspiring players with the opportunity to participate in the event but also ensure that the qualifiers are managed efficiently and effectively.

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