Titan
: 2013-08-22
: 2014-01-07
Titan eSports is a now defunct professional gaming organisation, founded in September 2013. The organization was located in Singapore and previously hosted a French Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and a European Smite team before being released. They have previously hosted a Malaysian Dota 2 team from August 22, 2013 to October 10, 2014. The organization dissolved on January 13, 2016.
History[edit]
The end of VeryGames[edit]
In November 2013, VeryGames announced that after 5 years in the competitive Counter-Strike scene, they were unable to continue funding their CS:GO team.[1] Their official press release cited an estimated unsustainable 3-fold increase in travel costs, that they could neither afford nor raise enough money.[2] The announcement came before they competed at DreamHack Winter 2013, where they eventually made the semi-finals, losing to Ninjas in Pyjamas in an exciting best of 3.
At the time that VeryGames withdrew their CS:GO team, they were regarded as one of the best CS:GO teams, having won 5 offline titles (EMS One Summer 2013, the Mad Catz Invitational in Cologne, the StarLadder Starseries VII LAN, the EMS One Fall Season 2013, and MSI BeatIt 2013) and making the final of ESWC 2013 and the semi-finals at DreamHack Winter 2013. They also had a top 8 finish at Fragbite Masters Season 1. Their consistent offline form ensured that they missed out on making just 3 finals events in 2013.
The beginning of Titan eSports CS:GO[edit]
Up until this time, Titan had a Dota2 team which consisted of 3 members from the 3rd place finishers of The International 2013, Orange eSports. The now disbanded VeryGames roster consisting of Ex6TenZ, NBK, SmithZz, shox and ScreaM, decided to remain together as a team and they were signed by Titan eSports as their CS:GO lineup in January 2014.[3]
Less than 3 weeks after being signed by Titan eSports, the team secured a second place finish at the ESEA Season 15 Global Finals, edging out compLexity in the semi-finals before losing in the grand final to iBUYPOWER. The following month, Titan won the DreamHack Invitational I, defeating NiP in the grand final.
The start of the major drought[edit]
The French team traveled to Katowice Poland, to compete in CS:GO's second major, EMS One Katowice 2014. For the first time in the history of VeryGames and Titan eSports, they failed to make the knockout stages, losing to Virtus.pro and an upset loss to HellRaisers in the deciding group match.
Following the disappointing major result, and the loss to fellow French team Team LDLC at the Copenhagen Games 2014, Titan made a surprise roster change, swapping shox who had stepped away from the team and was considered their best player for another former VeryGames player, kennyS.[4] The change helped the team continue to perform well in online competitions and regularly make offline finals, notably with a top 4 placing at the StarLadder Starseries IX LAN, and a Finals finish at Gfinity G3, losing to Virtus.Pro in the grand final, having won best of 3 game series against iBUYPOWER and Fnatic.
However, fans would once again be disappointed as Titan failed to make the knockout stages in another CS:GO Major, ESL One: Cologne 2014. They were defeated by Cloud 9 on Dust II in overtime on their opening match. They bounced back to crush the Australian team Vox Eminor 16-1, before being crushed themselves 16-1 by Dignitas, and ultimately being knocked out of the competition.
The first French shuffle[edit]
During the middle part of 2014, the French teams Team LDLC, Epsilon and Titan were enduring issues of their own with mixed results and players out of form. A French shuffle was hotly discussed by Reddit, HLTV.org and hypothesized by Thorin. By late August the rumors were swirling and HLTV.org reported an anticipated roster change with the new Titan lineup with Ex6TenZ, kennyS, apEX, KQLY, and Maniac.[5] By the end of the first week of September, the rumors were confirmed and the first French shuffle was complete. KQLY, apEX and Maniac left their previous LDLC roster and signed for Titan, while SmithZz, NBK and ScreaM left the team, the first two for the new LDLC, and the latter for Epsilon.
The new roster used the surprise factor to their advantage and claimed a Title at the Dreamhack Invitational II, and a 3rd place at the StarLadder Starseries XI LAN, losing 0-2 to Natus Vincere in the lower bracket. The Fragbite Masters Season 3 LAN followed, where Titan would finish with a 9-12th placing, though at this event they did show their abilities as a single map upset team, taking maps off of Fnatic and Na’Vi. Their last LAN with this roster was at ESWC 2014, where they made it out of groups but got demolished by their fellow countrymen of LDLC in the Quarterfinals.
KQLY Banned, RpK Returns[edit]
On November 21st, 2014, Hovik "KQLY" Tovmassian was VAC-banned and admitted to using cheats for a week before he joined Titan.[6] As a result, he was immediately dropped from the Titan lineup. Valve then applied their own punishment to Titan by banning from contesting in DreamHack Winter 2014,[7] a move that Titan critized for the lack of communication.[8] With upcoming events and no stand-in or 5th player available, Titan used their own manager, ioRek, as a stand-in for the ESEA Season 17 Global Finals. Eventually, the team signed former VeryGames and renowned CS:Source player Cedric "RpK" Guipouy, who returned from his retirement to play for Titan.[9] With RpK in their lineup, albeit slowly returning to his former form as a Source player, Titan achieved 2 finals placings, back to back at Assembly Winter 2015 and IOS Pantamera invitational.
The major drought continues[edit]
For a 4th consecutive time, Titan failed to progress to the knockout stages at a CS:GO major, this time at ESL One: Katowice 2015. Titan played a close match against eventual semi-finalists Team EnVyUs, going down 14-16 in their opening match. The losers bracket match against PENTA Sports was a blowout, with Titan losing 4-16.
Titan weren't able to recapture their early 2014 form, with an inconsistent summer, placing top 4 twice at Gfinity Masters Spring 2 and DreamHack Open Summer 2015, and finishing runners up at ESL Pro League I.
The second French shuffle[edit]
It was announced on July 20th, 2015 that another French shuffle was completed, albeit without the same drama as their first shuffle. The changes were between the top two French teams, EnVyUs and Titan, with kennyS and apEX moving to EnVyUs and shox and SmithZz moving to Titan.[10] The new five man roster, consisting of shox, SmithZz, Maniac, Ex6TenZ, and RpK, attended the qualifiers for ESL One: Cologne 2015, successfully qualifying for the major.
New lineup but major drought continues[edit]
The new found success with the new line up was short lived. They attended ESL One: Cologne 2015 and once again, failed to make the knockout stages of the major, even with the revamped group knockout stage, where teams from different groups played off against one another to make the knockout stage. Titan lost their first match in overtime to Na’Vi on Overpass, and lost losers bracket match to the Australian team Renegades, 16-9 on Mirage.
On September 23rd, 2015, Maniac was cut from the starting roster and former member ScreaM was brought back in to the lineup, having been bought out from Gamers2. The roster change had a direct correlation with their online play, qualifying for the next CS:GO major, DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca, the last Major of 2015.
But once again, Titan failed to make the knockout stage of another major. They eventually broke their opening game losing streak with a victory over eventual semi-finalists Ninjas in Pyjamas, but then lost to Virtus.pro in the winner's bracket, and did not manage to repeat their earlier victory against NiP, losing 2-0 in the decider match.
Timeline[edit]
Player Roster[edit]
Former[edit]
| Former Squad | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Join Date | Leave Date | New Team | ||
|
Ex6TenZ 
|
Kevin Droolans | 2014-01-07 [11] | 2016-01-13 [24] |  ex-Titan
| |
|
RpK | Cédric Guipouy | 2014-12-23 [21] | 2016-01-13 [24] | ex-Titan
| |
|
|
SmithZz | Edouard Dubourdeaux | 2015-07-20 [22] | 2016-01-13 [24] | ex-Titan
| |
|
|
shox | Richard Papillon | 2015-07-20 [22] | 2016-01-13 [24] | ex-Titan
| |
|
|
ScreaM | Adil Benrlitom | 2015-09-23 [23] | 2016-01-13 [24] | ex-Titan
| |
| Former Players | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Join Date | Leave Date | New Team | ||
|
Maniac | Mathieu Quiquerez | 2014-09-03 [14] | 2015-09-23 [23] |  Team EnVyUs
| |
|
|
kennyS | Kenny Schrub | 2014-04-28 [12] | 2015-07-20 [22] | Team EnVyUs
| |
|
|
apEX | Dan Madesclaire | 2014-09-03 [14] | 2015-07-20 [22] | Team EnVyUs
| |
|
|
KQLY | Hovik Tovmassian | 2014-09-03 [14] | 2014-11-20 [20] | ||
|
|
NBK | Nathan Schmitt | 2014-01-07 [11] | 2014-09-03 [14] | Mercenary
| |
|
|
SmithZz | Edouard Dubourdeaux | 2014-01-07 [11] | 2014-09-03 [14] | Mercenary
| |
|
|
ScreaM | Adil Benrlitom | 2014-01-07 [11] | 2014-09-03 [14] |  Epsilon eSports
| |
|
|
shox | Richard Papillon | 2014-01-07 [11] | 2014-04-28 [12] |  Clan-Mystik
| |
| Notable Temporary Stand-ins | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Replacing | ID | Name | Tournament(s) | |||
|
|
ioRek  |
Jeremy Vuillermet |  ESEA Season 17 Global Invite Division - LAN Finals
| |||||
|
|
FARIS  |
Faris Ait-lalla |  |
|
ScreaM | Adil Benriltom |  FACEIT League 2015
| |
Organization[edit]
Former[edit]
| Former Organization | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Position | Join Date | Leave Date | New Organization | |
|
Damien Grust | CEO | 2016-01-13 [24] | |||
|
nonotemma | COO | 2016-01-13 [24] | |||
|
|
NiaK | Jérôme Sudries | Manager | 2014-01-07 | 2016-01-13 [24] |  G2 Esports
|
|
|
Lyoneer | Sophia Lyon | Community Manager | 2016-01-13 [24] | ||
|
|
ioRek | Jeremy Vuillermet | Analyst | 2015-??-?? |  XenoDragons
| |
|
Mini | Johnathan Daniels | Project Manager | 2014-01-01 | 201?-??-?? | |
Results[edit]
| Date | Placement | Tier | Type | Tournament | Results | Prize | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-11-08 | 3rd - 4th | S-Tier | Offline |
|
CEVO Season 8 Professional | 0 : 2 | 
|
$10,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015-09-11 | 5th - 6th | S-Tier | Offline |
|
ESL ESEA Pro League Invitational | 0 : 2 | 
|
$12,500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015-04-19 | 3rd | S-Tier | Offline |
|
ESEA Season 18 - Global Invite Division | 0 : 2 |
|
$15,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015-04-12 | 2nd | S-Tier | Online/Offline |
|
ESL Pro League I | 1 : 2 | 
|
$7,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015-04-06 | 1st | B-Tier | Offline |
|
Gamers Assembly 2015 | 2 : 0 | 
|
$10,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015-02-01 | 2nd | A-Tier | Offline |
|
Assembly Winter 2015 | 0 : 2 | 
|
$7,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2014-09-26 | 1st | S-Tier | Offline |
|
DreamHack Invitational II | 2 : 0 | 
|
$10,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2014-08-03 | 2nd | S-Tier | Offline |
|
Gfinity G3 | 0 : 2 |
|
$10,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2014-02-21 | 1st | B-Tier | Offline |
|
DreamHack Invitational I | 16 - 10 |
|
$7,500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2014-01-19 | 2nd | S-Tier | Offline |
|
ESEA Global Finals Season 15 | 1 : 4 | 
|
$8,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| About achievementsComplete Results in any Tournament | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date | Time | Tier | Type | Tournament | Score | vs. Team | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-01-11 | 19:00 CET | Online | |  | Red Dot Invitational | 1 : 2 |  ? | ||||||||||||
| 2015-12-15 | 21:00 CET | Online | | | Red Dot Invitational | 2 : 1 | LDLC.W | ||||||||||||
| 2015-12-06 | 18:00 CET | Online | |  | StarLadder i-League StarSeries XIV: Europe | 2 : 0 |  E-Frag | ||||||||||||
| 2015-12-03 | 21:30 CET | Online | | | StarLadder i-League StarSeries XIV: Europe | 2 : 1 | Envy | ||||||||||||
| 2015-12-02 | 21:00 CET | Online | | | StarLadder i-League StarSeries XIV: Europe | 0 : 2 | Na`Vi | ||||||||||||
| 2015-11-17 | 21:00 CET | Online | |  | ESL ESEA Pro League Season 2 - Europe | 3 - 16 | NiP | ||||||||||||
| 2015-11-17 | 20:00 CET | Online | | | ESL ESEA Pro League Season 2 - Europe | 16 - 13 |  DIG | ||||||||||||
| 2015-11-15 | 21:00 CET | Online | | | FACEIT League 2015 Stage 3 - Europe | 6 - 16 | NiP | ||||||||||||
| 2015-11-15 | 20:15 CET | Online | | | FACEIT League 2015 Stage 3 - Europe | 2 - 16 | VP | ||||||||||||
| 2015-11-14 | 21:00 CET | Online | | | FACEIT League 2015 Stage 3 - Europe | 3 - 16 |  HR | ||||||||||||
| Complete List of Matches in Any Tournament | |||||||||||||||||||
Highlights[edit]
Interviews[edit]
- 2015-07-24 | Les Titan nous répondent [We meet Titan] by neL of VaKarM.net (trans. )
Gallery[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ http://www.sk-gaming.com/content/555314-VeryGames_are_now_Titan_eSports
- ↑ https://www.hltv.org/news/11703-verygames-to-shut-down
- ↑ https://www.hltv.org/news/11911-titan-sign-ex-verygames
- ↑ https://www.hltv.org/news/12391-titan-change-shox-for-kennys
- ↑ https://www.hltv.org/n/13126
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/csgobetting/comments/2n0xuz/kqly_confesses/
- ↑ https://www.hltv.org/news/13650-kqly-removed-titan-criticize-valve
- ↑ http://titan.pro/news/read/Statement-Regarding-DreamHack-Winter-2014/20
- ↑ http://www.gosugamers.net/counterstrike/news/29425-rpk-joins-titan-to-complete-their-cs-go-roster
- ↑ http://www.goldper10.com/article/2024-french-shuffle-20-pros-and-cons.html
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 Titan sign ex-VeryGames HLTV
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Titan Player Change - kennyS Returns titan.pro
- ↑ NBK, ScreaM, SmithZz out - Report HLTV
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 ScreaM in new team for FACEIT HLTV
- ↑ [1] HLTV
- ↑ https://www.hltv.org/news/13636-kqly-handed-vac-ban
- ↑ https://www.hltv.org/news/13638-titan-suspend-kqly-following-ban
- ↑ KQLY's Steam profile
- ↑ https://www.hltv.org/news/13642-titan-epsilon-disqualified-from-dhw
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 kqly removed from titan HLTV
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 RpK comes back in Titan HLTV
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 Titan, EnVyUs swap players, HLTV
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Titan CS:GO Roster Changes, Titan CS:GO Roster Changes, Titan.pro
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 24.5 24.6 24.7 24.8 24.9 Damien Grust (2016-01-13). "Titan Bids Farewell". titan.pro/.