It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
As some of you may be aware from our Twitter, we posted a little teaser about our return at the beginning of March and we were honestly overwhelmed with the love we received. After nearly two years away, Rush B Media is back in business and under new management.
My name is Liam “Slevo” Slevin and I’m a writer who formerly worked for Dust2.us and BLAST.tv, with my passion residing in interviewing and writing about rarely explored elements in our scene such as transfer values and player agents. I’m now the new Editor-in-Chief of Rush B Media, alongside other familiar RBM faces with our managing editor and my good friend Adam “Incipiens” Conway as well as Jacob “haloflyer” Halfman who is helping out with the technical aspects. Adam has a wealth of experience with both the tl;dr newsletter and as the Lead Technical Editor of XDA-Developers. This brand has always had a very special place in our hearts ever since Ryan gave us our first opportunities in esports back in August 2021.
While this is a new venture with different management, we aim to stay true to what Rush B Media has stood for at its core. Rush B Media has historically been a launching platform for aspiring writers and creatives to break into the esports industry. Former RBM staff have gone on to work for some of the largest names in the space such as ESL, FACEIT, and HLTV. Unfortunately in recent times, we have lost a lot of great outlets such as Jaxon and Blix which helped give new writers a chance to get initial exposure. This relaunched RBM will be completely volunteer-based, with our new staff getting out of it what they put into it.
As for the style of writing that myself and Adam have decided on for the site when we first discussed bringing Rush B Media back, we are aiming to focus on the stories that don’t get the attention that they deserve in our community. There is a broad spectrum of things to cover in Counter-Strike, and we think we have found some of the best up-and-coming writers who are passionate about being innovative and taking a different approach to covering the scene.
Welcoming our new writers
A whole new team
Firstly, we have Emile “armchairigl” Morales who has been a fan of the CS scene since the beta days (5 digit WonID iykyk). Emile especially enjoys CS through the macro lens and seeing the evolution of tactics of teamwork. When it comes to his writing, look out for some narrative-building analysis with a twist of humor and meme’ing.
After cultivating a healthy fascination for general technology and video games as a child, Ty “simba” Sherback turned his attention to esports in his teenage years. Having competed in CS:GO between 2016 and 2022, while he never quite reached the heights he dreamed of when he was captivated by the likes of f0rest and KennyS, he earned a new interest in the science of performance that kickstarted his writing journey.
Joaqin “mitsuha” Valencerina has lived and breathed Counter-Strike since he first got into it during the pandemic era. Combining his knack for writing and the passion he holds dearly for the game, mitsuha has always been a fan first, a journalist second. This translates to his writing seamlessly, by delivering stories with the intention of always ensuring that the essence of being a member of the community and lover of CS will never be lost.
Sam “Tech Girl” Wright works predominantly in the CS broadcast space as a desk host and interviewer. You might have seen her on a broadcast. You might not have. She also likes to write (except bios about herself). So sometimes she writes and sometimes that writing appears on Rush B.
Next up we have Tom “tomtom94” Coles who is one of the rare people who enjoyed the online era of CS. Furloughed from work and newly aware of HLTV, he watched far too much Counter-Strike – and developed his own opinions to match. Four years of UKCS later, he still has a passion for lower-tier Counter-Strike and loves telling the stories – the national rosters that rise and fall together, some of the more “out there” international rosters, financial overextensions, and everything in between.
Hugh Dooley is a journalist from Ireland and a proud fan of Arms Race on Baggage. After watching his first game of CS ten years ago, Katowice 2014 had him hooked! The tournament didn’t go too well for his newfound favorite team, but as someone whose only PC gaming experience before that was Robin Hood Legend of Sherwood, he was blown away. At the surface the incredible storylines were evident, but behind the scenes, there were even more stories to be told that he never knew about. Why was one of NA’s greatest IGLs stuck in the observer seat? What impact would stickers have on the competitive scene? What even is a Vox Eminor! As part of Rush B Media, he wants to tell the stories behind the scenes, from the struggles of production crews to the teams that didn’t make the majors.
Pablo “VdaK1NG” Escobar (this is not a joke, it is indeed his real name) is currently studying for a PhD in Statistics and Operational Research at the Spanish University of Valencia. As you can imagine from his expertise and qualifications, his main focus will be trying to shed light on controversial topics with statistics and numbers, taking advantage of his formation and past experience in the competitive scene.
Finally, we have Fred “RONN” Tomines. Fred is currently studying at Grand Canyon University and following his maiden esports voyage with Team Liquid, he is excited to get working here at RBM with his creative graphic designs.
We are at an exciting juncture in Counter-Strike. Counter-Strike 2 is still fresh, the first Major has come and gone and the stars of tomorrow such as donk and Jimpphat are starting to rise. We hope you are excited to join us on our journey and we appreciate all the support and love we have been shown so far.
Freeze time is over everybody.
Let’s Rush B.
