BLASTPremier
BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026 - Day 1 - NRG vs Falcons, NAVI vs B8, FaZe vs Aurora, FURIA vs TYLOO
03-18-2026 · 14h 53m
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Welcome to Blast Open Or rather,
Dam where we are getting this tournament under way it's a few days of exciting
Counter-Strike leading up to the arena in Rotterdam and we are so very ready to
get into the action. Joining me here on the desk we've got Jacob
Dam. Wendicke how you doing Jake? Good good Mike good to be great. Sorry great.
Good to be back in Copenhagen it's been a while since we've been in this
lovely lovely studio. It is so very nice to be back here. Yeah. To be good
indeed and we got Donnie Vu Parkhurst. I get your last name this
You did get my life finally. It's not Donaldson. I thought you almost forgot my name for a second there. I'm doing great
Thanks for asking Mike. How are you doing? You're still tall man?
Look at that guy. He is so tall. We had to take him away from Maui
He's a little bit more of an even gradient going on here on the desk
Well speaking of even gradients, we've got some grading to do over the next few days of play
We got some very exciting groups set up 16 teams entering this tournament here starting with group A here Jacob
Yeah, it's it's all just a super stacked tournament to be completely honest
We have all of the good teams coming into this one and all of the teams eager to do well eager to gain some VIS and eager to
Potentially go for the hunt of another trophy grew base that I will say there's a couple of teams within group A that I am
Taking close attention to I think we start with the worst one first face clan rule
I feel we are the the bring now of a team that is just completely imploding
I feel like I have no expectations for face clan coming into this tournament
I was expecting roster changes pretty much after every single tournament they played this year
And then I finally get it and it's to God then coach the change
So I I don't know I feel like I'm getting trolled at this point
So face they'll have to earn my attention instead of just you know having it by default
I think you can barely even call phase a team at this point
They're just the collection of players where you wonder what's gonna happen if they don't make the major if they don't make the next
Step, where are they gonna go? Where's frozen gonna go? What an astonishing concept that would be a major without phase
I don't know. It's been so very long since we've had that conversation
Well, it's that's a scary prospect indeed, but we do have another group to talk about so we'll leave phase for another day
Or at least a later time slot
Voo, what do we think a group B? Well, Pim saying group base stack group B is the most stacked
Vitality the the tournament favorites. It's got spirit. It's got para vision most notably
I didn't mention mouse because they have no hope of winning the tournament about liquid and they've got like
There's also another team similar to Maus with no hope of winning the tournament, but
they could, they could impress us maybe a little bit.
Hey, Maus is on that team now.
They're North American again.
I don't claim them yet.
I think NRG is still the true North American hope.
For sure.
I mean, they stuck in the region for years at this point.
Liquid just took themselves a major slot.
Little, little, little region swap going on.
They got their visa stamped.
That's something they say that's a great GMing.
If you can't beat him, you've got to work around it somehow, you know?
Because if they can't win, counter-tracking can choir him.
Acquire him.
that they've been doing. I'm curious to see Liquid, I'm curious to see the teams in group
B as you said as well. One clear cut favorite in Vitality, no doubt about that. If anything,
Spirit, how are they going to bounce back after what was a disastrous ESL pro league
playoff appearance against Astralis? So a lot of cool star lines coming out of both groups.
I still think Spirit need to prove the Magix, the Magix bring back. The Magix IGL assignment
makes sense.
You're not so yet?
I think we've seen it. I don't think we've seen great IGLing from Magix. I don't
I think that the adjustments he's made in the way he's playing is working for him as
an individual and they're relying on Donk more than ever.
You could say 2024 spirit was the Donk and Shiro show, but they've only doubled and tripled
down on relying only on Donk and it's getting to the point that I don't know if Donk can
carry this team to the next level.
Well I think the interesting thing is it feels like we've seen more Donk wobbles
than we're used to seeing as well, right?
Where it just hasn't been that monolith of impressive performance.
We've had some maps where it's like, where is Donk?
What has happened?
and one may say that's natural, you know, to some extent.
He's just had two of the most amazing individual years
any players ever had, you know, consecutively.
So at some point there's going to be wobbles in the water.
And especially if you're Donk,
we've seen the frustrations coming out from him.
I assume he was one of the players advocating for the change,
you know, cutting chopper and getting some fresh air
into the liner.
But if he's starting to feel that it doesn't work out,
if he's starting to share your sentiment
that maybe Magic is not the in-game leader
he was hoping he would be then,
I can understand why Donk is perhaps losing a bit of focus
and potentially is starting to look around for different avenues.
One team that's coming with some very fierce focus,
Perry Vision, right?
They shocked the world at the bounty,
taking the first trophy of 2026.
Now they come into this team.
Maybe a team they could threaten?
I mean, Perry Vision is a team.
They want to feel so confident with them.
Then they go into EPL and drop out
in historically bad fashion.
You see James talking about their team.
They need practice.
They need time on the server away from events,
but they're not really getting much time away from events.
I still feel a little more confident in their ability
to win a tournament as opposed to most of the other teams
in this group, if they can pull it together.
The problem is, as Jay mentioned,
they need time on the server and they haven't had it.
If they want to be a consistent main state,
they need to show it at this type of tournament
where they come from EPL,
they come fairly quickly to this one,
and show they can keep making playoff runs consistently.
This is something that Dawson's been sure to emphasize
every time we've gotten an interview with him.
It's like tamper expectations, tamper expectations,
but that's not our job.
Our job is to build up expectations.
And a team that we can always trust
to fulfill our expectations, Vitality.
The Kings are back.
Yeah, we're out of that.
I mean, it's good to have them back.
They've had a small break, a well-deserving break,
but they're heading into this tournament
as the clear card favorite.
And some may even argue, myself included,
that them not playing at Pro League
even raised the stock value.
It's not like I saw any team, you know,
closing that gap or playing Counter-Strike at a level
where I was wondering,
maybe if Vitality was there,
they would struggle against this team,
let alone Navi, who ended up winning the tournament.
So I feel for Vitality, that was the perfect timing to take a little break and now the
perfect time to come back in and claim another trophy.
If anything, Pro League showed the gap between Vitality and the teams below them because you're
expecting a spirit or a mouse to take that event and you think they're coming right up
on the heels of Vitality, instead, both of those teams fall out early on.
You have Navi pick it up and we're just thinking Vitality, they're going to run
away with this season.
Could they become the best team of all time?
Could they be?
We can have that conversation a little bit later on, but for now it's time
to take a look at what these teams are fighting for, fighting to make their way into our playoff
bracket, fighting to make their way into the arena to play in front of the crowd in Rotterdam.
Two teams will make it straight to semis, four teams will battle to join them at that point
for three days of brilliant playoff play, and I for one cannot wait to travel on in to Rotterdam.
It's been a long time since CS was in Rotterdam.
It'll be my first time in the city.
I'm very excited.
I'm seeing boats, you guys know.
That gets me excited.
There's a lot to like about Rotterdam.
There's gonna be a lot to like about the counter strike
there too.
Most definitely.
Always nice to venture into two new cities,
and especially in the Netherlands.
And also, Mike, you know, I know you just recently
got a little bit more connected to Europe.
We have had a rough winter.
It's been dark, it's been cold,
but it's starting to get better.
You know, the degrees are going up,
the sun is coming out,
so it should be a good time in Rotterdam.
It's not quite sunny here in Copenhagen yet.
It's a little it's a little on the cold side today. It's a little on the cold side. It's sunny. I'm expecting better in Rotterdam. I
Think it's actually lovely here and booze ridiculous. You're from Canada. It's cold there, too
You're right. You're right as a Canadian. I like it
But for me the perfect temperature is 15 degrees and I don't think most people are on that same page 15 15 25
That's perfect t-shirt weather 25. You just got off a biking for a month in Spain. Yeah
Yeah, where it was 14 degrees and raining every day.
So I'm over.
Beautiful.
Someone cheated Jacob out of his weather.
We'll see if we can get it to him in the Netherlands.
Well, the question is, what would
be the ideal team to make it there?
And the beautiful thing is that we
can make our own courtesy of this gaming multi-blast fantasy.
You can hit the blast.tv to make your own.
We're going to craft one right now.
Gentlemen, we've got to pick one from each of these tiers
to see if we can make the ideal fantasy team.
Diamond tier, we have our choice of Zywu, Dong,
Monacy, Moledoy, K-Sorano or Shiro. I think there's an obvious one here. What do you think?
Mike, I don't know why you listed out every name there. You could have stopped with Donk. And I would have been happy with that.
What?
You're not going to Zywoo, no.
Nope, I'm going to take Monacy.
Monacy? What? Monacy? Oh, my.
Yeah.
The stand-in.
Yes, exactly. The playing with a stand-in means more frags for Monacy on the server, and especially at that rate where not a lot of people are picking him.
Do you want to win this game or do you want to be part of the pack which is, you know, a place ninth, you know?
We want to win this one. We want to go all in. We go Monacy.
Are we going? I mean he's just trying to be different. No, I don't know if I'm with you, but we'll go for monocy
We've got monocys locked in there
Platinum tier we've got Robs, Nezzy, Flamesy, Niko, Ykinda, Brolin, Spinks, Zwei and
Beltranok Beltranok sneaking up it's a few tiers more than I would have expected to be honest. What do you want now?
Beltranok is on my fantasy roster because I tried to make the worst one possible
Possible however, however, I think if we're trying to win here it must be robs or Nico surely
Yeah, but we don't want yeah
We don't want to from Falcons because they don't find a way to disappoint me go did frigate last time yeah
But there's other robs, you know, I don't go robs. I feel robs is a safe pick now
We now we made the ball see people in monasy. Let's go. All right. We're hedging we're hedging
hedging but not edging gold tier. We've got torgy
Zershin, Zontek's Kiosk, he's not here, presumably that's Nucleon's, Frozen twists,
Santara's Wakadia, Bit, Makaze, MVP recently, wonderful 9-10,
Shelo, Nota, Kashbersky, OC, NPL, DGT, and a leash. Say something stupid, we'll come.
OC is on my fantasy roster, in fact, you can find it on my Twitter. He is in fact my captain.
He's my captain too, I'm not gonna lie to you.
You guys want to win this game? I don't want to make my own TV app.
I'm just you know putting out a name here ex Kaspersky from NIP. I think they have in the opening game against prior vision
I think they're in a group and in a bracket where it's it's doable to get some results
And if anyone has been performing well within NIP, it's ex Kaspersky and they just want to land them in a couple of days ago
So maybe they get some of that confidence. They've so so desperately been needed
Let me tell you this is a less crazy pick than monosie in the diamond here. So you're buying it
I'm buying this one. This is much less crazy than
This is my team now. Do you have an opinion or not?
No, no, I'm just a host. You guys are the experts. I just get to watch this trainwreck in motion
Yep, yeah, just brish keys in there. All right silver tier apex Yuri teneer magics tasses kicks and jim pad
Jane techno misdino blitz Emma brokey Jacob Grimm
Jam young wrinkle shush, Lucho Luchov. Kenzie's or mobs or naff
Am I in that we got to get it like this team is missing some aura okay get us
Jane get us Jane for we need some aura man you're not gonna let me insert an
NA player here this is ridiculous all right Jane he's very high percentage
pick so you're laying all your NA players are coming now all right now
final bronze here hey we have two in there we got Fallen Kerrigan Majer
Woxick Soulfly Alexi B Snappy Karen Nitro bro Sonic Alex Sizi Sizi is
intriguing Max Quasopeak best name essential Mayan, Mosea, Mercury, G, Zero, Shui, and Ultimate.
Yeah Mike who do you want? G. G? You want G? Yeah. G? G? G. I didn't go NA. We got no NA. My heart
is broken. We need to pick the captain as well. Who should be the captain of that team? Who
should be the captain? It's a terrible team. Gene is my captain. Gene is my captain.
Yes through all right. I believe all right. We're locking in confirming
Oh, well confirming a lock-in team. That's gonna be our roster here on the desk
You can also check out our individual ones
You can check out the the talent leaderboard see which one of us actually knows and which one of us should probably go
That's really the question about you
But it's time to go into our pre-match to get prepared for the action here
We have a banger game to start the day
We got Falcons with a stand-in nucleons back in the action versus
NRG Navi bait comes after that phase a roar up for our third game and furia takes on G and high Lou
Up the day
This first one though. There's a lot of question marks. There's a lot of intrigue a more harsh roster now on the falcon side
But with a stand-in once again
Yeah, it feels like a train wreck that just never ends for Falcons
you know, a couple of disappointing tournaments, then you come in, play with a stand in it.
It's tough to get excited about them for now.
And I would say NRG, what a golden opportunity just to come in here and make a wave.
I think NRG is an interesting team, got interesting elements, interesting players, Mike,
but they have to step it up today if they want to get the W.
A golden opportunity or maybe an orange one for our new Dutch event.
Well, check out the interviews as we get ready for this game.
Grim, now three weeks-ish in the team.
How are you feeling?
Uh, yeah, feeling good.
We just came back from NA for like a week and a half there to get some practice in.
but yeah, I'm feeling good overall.
Obviously, we'd like a little more practice,
but I'm really excited to play this event.
I know you talked, you were really excited to play
under a Nitro-led team, now having had some time
under his tutelage, what are you thinking?
Yeah, honestly, I think he's a really good captain.
I think there's a lot of similarities with him
and JT, so it's very easy for me to come in
and basically get implemented without much trouble.
So, yeah, I'm just excited to be here
and looking forward to the future with him.
And with you individually, a lot of people
at this is a huge potential firepower piece for the team. How's the aim feeling?
You know, I'm always feeling good at the aim, but obviously I got to do my thing and make sure that,
you know, there's a reason they brought me here and I'm going to show it in the server today and
try to build on that for the future games. Now your opponent here Falcons, the team where
we always talk about those firepower pieces, what do you make of them?
I mean, obviously they're really good. I know Q2K can't play this one, but I think the
the last event ahead of Nucleon to be the finals of the ballonies so obviously they're not a push-over
and we need to come in you know play in our game playing 120% confidence and you know we could
together take a win out. Now Niko coming in with Nucleon's right not the ideal situation but you're
more familiar with him now what do you make of him having played with him before? Yeah we are
a little bit more familiar I think we know what respect from him obviously this time around
We had no practice compared to the first time because the news for Maxim came a bit later this time around
So it's a bit different situation. We're gonna have to be a bit more
Unpredictable and just on the fly as I said, we haven't had much time to practice with him
But yeah, we know how to use him now. We know what to expect from him
So in that sense it could be easier, but again no practice. It's it's always a bit tougher
And last time when you were at bounty right we saw you step up big as an individual to sort of compensate
Do you think that's going to be required of you again here?
I think it's going to be required for everyone to step up. It's very important event for us in terms of VRS as well
so
Obviously the more matches we win the higher chance we have to get Maxim back for the for the future games
Yeah, I think everyone has the possibility to step up
It was a super important event for us. It's super frustrating to not have Maxime,
because kind of both timesheets when we had the most of practice,
and the next event we couldn't use our full line-ups, so it's a bit annoying.
But yeah, hopefully I'm going to be able to deliver something similar to what I've done
at the Blast in January, and we'll see how it goes.
Perhaps Niko to deliver, but it's again the same headline for Falcons.
Josuke not able to be here, a little bit more last minute this time.
Nucleon stepping up into the server. That's the big headline, that's going to be the big focus here again for Falcons.
I have to feel for Falcons, I have to feel for Niko in a sense, because he's right on when he's saying finally we had time to practice.
A lot of that time is given by them not going fine to tournaments, so they can thank themselves for that and there we are.
But finally they have a lot of time to practice together and then the following event they still can use the full lineup.
Now, playing with New Clans, we saw that, you know, first tournament of the year.
They can make it work, they can make it happen.
Nico stepped up, Manusio stepped up, still a very competitive team.
But I also did read something very interesting on the internet,
who is that there is a possibility, and you heard it there from Nico,
they're not sure whether or not he's getting here,
and when he's getting in, how many games they need to win.
If they continue to play with New Clans at the VIS Kodov,
there's a world where he doesn't get a sticker in the game
for the Major coming up as well.
So it's a bit of a mess right now for Falcons and for Kyusuke as well.
Yeah, this is one where you look at New Clans, they did well with them.
Niko actually I think performed better with the stand in at times.
He knows he has the pressure on his shoulders.
He knows he has to make the play.
I think when they give the ball to Niko,
when you look back at his best performance,
it was Stockholm when he had basically no team around him.
The major he carried and then missed the Deagle shot.
He plays so well with the stand in.
I think it unleashes him on the server.
And it's not that he doesn't have his own roles
when he's playing with Kiyosuke,
but I think he makes room for Kiyosuke to get things done.
He tries to throw flashes.
He tries to set him up a little bit more.
But when the ball's in his hand, I think Niko plays his best CS
and he can carry his team across the line against anyone.
It's a conversation we've had about this team, right?
Is it too many superstars?
Is there not enough space for everybody to take their role?
But that's a conversation for a different day
because we don't have one of those stars here.
Instead, we'll focus on the changes
they've been bringing into the atmosphere.
Zana gave some very interesting interviews recently
talking about being a bit harsher now,
being a little more strict with the team,
introducing some bands on free time activities,
such as playing face it pugs.
What do you make of that, Jacob?
I mean, I think it's great that he's finally
coming out with some bigger words.
I think that's something that I've
been lacking from the Falcons camp, you know,
to I wouldn't say take responsibility,
but be a bit more harsh on himself,
you know, being adamant to the fact
that it's simply not good enough from what they're doing.
But I feel like it's also a little bit too late.
I mean, if you're only just starting to get harsher now,
what have you been doing the past year?
And I know that's, you know,
it's easy to pick on a guy saying that.
But at the end of the day, I'm
happy that finally something is being done,
Whether or not I agree with the old-faced thing,
probably not with a team that consists of three youngsters
who just want to grind Counter-Strike.
But at the end of the day, they've got to change something
and now finally change game.
I think that's old-school coaching mentality
where you try and force something,
but there's a limited amount of time
where you can do that type of thing
if you don't find results.
You can tell someone you can't play face-it
for the next week if you go and win the next tournament.
If you go and lose the next tournament,
bomb out in potentially even worse fashion than before,
they're going to lose faith in you almost instantly.
It's also part of the history
I feel like we heard something around the performance coach of the team, Trolls Robble back in the day or Lars Robbles, where they said to Monizy you had to go to bed at a certain time.
You can't stay up to 4am grinding faces etc.
I think something leaked from within that Monizy probably wasn't too happy with that and he should just be allowed to do whatever he wants.
I feel like you're going down a route you tried once already that didn't really reflect well.
Blast Austin was a disaster for Falcons and now you're trying it one more time in a different version.
So I'm not sure if I like the idea and the concept of it, but at the end of the day
I'm not gonna not gonna be after a man who is trying to do something to change what has been a disappointing period for Falcons
Well, we've heard it a little bit right in some of their vlogs and some of the comms in in the conversations
They've been having some of the energies they've been giving they're trying to get everybody to play for the team
Right play for the team play get but not for the individuals
And I think we've seen this in the endless memes of all of the screenshots of 2v5s and 3v5s
that Falcons have managed to lose.
But how difficult is it to sort of change your mantra,
your ego, your essence as a player like this?
Do yourself a favor and watch some of the blocks
that they're putting out.
I think Nico is capturing it perfectly,
saying that we can have all these conversations about it.
We can keep talking,
but someone's got to come up with a solution.
Something's got to change.
And that's kind of what I'm sensing
within Falcons right now that they're talking a lot.
They're trying to figure out what the issue is,
but they haven't really found the solution.
They haven't really found out what they can do
in order to change the course.
My concern is that this is the same thing we were talking about with Falcons last year
with Snappy when they had all of these kind of mix-up, they had the exact same problems.
They were on different pages in the mid-round, they'd play after-plants and just make horrific
misplays between players trying to make two different reads of the game.
And then we go into a new roster, we've got a whole new setup and it seems like the
same thing.
They want to play two different ways for the game, that's why they have so many
of these 5B2s where they just took their hands off the keyboard, sometimes they would
win these just by the time.
someone's going aggressive someone's trying to play smart and you can't have two reeds of the game if it's the more aggressive style where they're in your face pushing you
Swinging every angle that can work
But this split play that they've been going for
Not working for me
Now the team that's going to try and punish them for the splits for the confusion on the other side
It's energy right a team that's very much in the hunt for a major spot
But maybe not guaranteed just yet a lot on the line a lot to be hungry about and a new guy in the fold in
Grimm who joined towards the beginning of this month. What do we think of NRG?
I think it's cool signing for NRG. I think that's a statement in itself.
They're still very much invested into Counter-Strike. They want to make this line-up work and
let's be completely honest. If you look at the NA landscape of Counter-Strike players,
signing Grimm, that's all the way up there. That's a diamond pick for you if that's your
baseline. So I think Grimm coming into NRG can do a lot of good stuff for this team.
Clear upgrade for NRG. However, for Grimm as an individual, is that really an upgrade?
I think it says something about the state of NA where we're saying that Grimm is like the major pick up the best possible.
He is a good player. He's a solid player, but he's a step down from the allege of the world,
where you're thinking NA is in the top 5, top 10 of the world.
But still, Grimm, an upgrade for them, maybe a bit of a downgrade for him.
But I don't think you can, you can fault passion for picking up Senzu over Grimm.
You bring him into this roster. I think he adds a little bit more aggression.
I think he plays almost the same roles, the same spots as George in so many different maps.
maps. It just makes perfect sense for them to pick him up.
Well, this has been the interesting aspect of this transfer, right? Is that it seems
from reading the tea leaves, reading the interviews, talking to people, it was more that Grimm initiated
this. He wanted to be back in a North American team, right? Passion is no longer really NA.
They're passion UN at this point. They are very worldly. And I think Grimm wanted to spend a
little bit more time back at home and a little bit more time in an NA roster. And so he's
back in a truly North American team, repping the region.
can't fault him for that. If that's what he wants to do and if that's what he decides then shares
or go for it. I will also say to to the credit of Grimm I feel like he's one of the few players
coming out of North America who for the vast majority of the past two or three years have
actually been living up to his end of the deal. I think he's doing a decent job. He's consistently
performing. He was making passionary relevant in a lot of scenarios where there probably
shouldn't be. So you know if that's his desire if that's what he wants to do I think he's
earned the right to make that decision. I think Grimm's also on the same page as an OC where
where you saw them in the tier two of North America,
they looked like they could be top 20 players in the world.
They moved to the next level, both on Liquid,
both struggle on Liquid.
They go to another team, they're doing great on this team.
They're not top 20 world-beater players,
but they are very solid pieces
that can bring this type of team
to a top 20 in the world.
They can get into the major, they can make a dent,
and Grimm, on a good day,
can carry this team across the finish line
against a team like Falcons potentially.
I think this is also just a conversation about energy
over the last, honestly, two years, right?
This has been a team that's very steadily built.
They've risen level by level by level, very incrementally.
It's been a slow grind from the initial reintroduction
of energy into Counter-Strike to the point
that they're at now.
And every one of the decisions,
you can see that logical processing of,
how do we take that next step?
How do we get to that next level?
And for me, Grim for George is a natural next jump,
bringing in a piece who has competed at the top,
who has competed at the top teams,
brings that experience in,
brings that rifling firepower in.
And then you have this newly rejuvenated Osea.
Remember, he was benched in the summer.
He only came in at the beginning of this year.
Talking to him, he seemed like he totally redefined
his mentality a little bit more of an effort mentality,
shall we say, on the off, which could be a lot
of fun to watch.
And I think the results have been promising.
And we saw it in their last matchup with Falcons
as well, right?
They very nearly took that series.
They took it to three maps.
They really challenged Falcons.
There were times where they could have won it.
I agree with basically everything you're saying,
but you're also encapsulating the problem.
I'd almost say, you know, because I do agree that energy is making the right steps and then investing into North American Counter-Strike
They're investing into getting a better team
But when you describe OC to me, there's always this thing when we talk North American Counter-Strike
Someone always have some sort of mentality issue, you know
Where you have to be convinced to come back and all of a sudden redefine yourself and realize oh
I've been messing up my life the last two years and now I'm a different person now
I'm a different guy. I'm not saying OC, you know, best of responsibility for all of that
But that's been the same thing I've heard about North American Counter-Strike for 10 years
So at some point, I guess you'll figure it out.
And Falcon's on the other side,
we know nothing about mentality issues.
Let's dive into the veto.
Let's find out where our maps are going to be played.
Is it going to be a rehash of the last matchup,
or are we going somewhere new?
What do we think?
Let's roll the veto.
What are we expecting to see here, gentlemen?
I think we go back to ancient one more time.
Obviously NRG found the win on this map.
It's the one where they're comfortable.
The question I kind of had was, do they go away from Mirage Dust 2?
Do they try and take away the puggy maps?
Or are they comfortable they're looking for in a new base, a new these types of maps instead?
Yeah, I'd agree with that.
I'd be surprised if NRG is not leaning towards that direction.
Same could be said for Falcons.
Now that we have new clones back as a stand-in, simplified.
Pick a map where you, you can almost not mess it up.
You know, we saw it during the blast open show.
I saw it during the blast bounty in Melted.
The Dust 2 was favored by Falcons in that regard.
They wanted to play that a lot and not expect that to be part of the map as well as you see.
Ancient and Dust 2 coming into the mix for the third map though. I feel like there's a lot of different ways you can go here
Yeah, I mean
See we already see the band coming up for Mirage
This is what I was expecting out of actually
I was expecting that out of NRG to try and take them away from the puggy maps although Mirage is a great map for NRG
I was thinking they might adjust things out and avoid those types of maps where they have to actually
Play a 5v5 on a map where nucleons might be more comfortable instead obviously the sider goes to I believe a new bus
Yeah, that makes sense. You know, I think in the Falcons camp, you're okay with the new business a map
They've been trying to integrate they played in a fair bit even with with the new stand-in
However, I don't think the Falcons camps expected to go there. I don't think they should be expecting it to go to a third map
So overall a pretty 50-50 meter on my end. What's an interesting one?
We were talking a lot about nucleons and anubis over at the bounty something about his jaded stats on it
But now face it is banned so we don't have to talk about those anymore Jacob. We're just gonna talk about how this one goes
last time in the matchup it was for NRG it was OC to step up he was a big piece
of what made this a three-map series had a really strong ancient in particular
but a strong series in general now you've got crim in the fold to add to that
firepower I don't know guys maybe I'm just delusional as per usual but I'm
kind of seeing a path here for NRG I think there's a path to make the game
competitive and that's as fast I will stretch you know everything considered
I think Falcons is as you said we were probably one of the best suited
teams to play with us standing like you unleash a guy like Nico you get
more out of him. So in terms of the one-to-one switch, Q-sugar for Nuklans, yes, sure, it's
a downgrade, but I think you also elevate players around him. So I'm not worried on
behalf of Falcons facing NRG, but I would expect NRG to put up a fight.
Unfortunately, I'm still expecting a 2-0, but if we do go to map 3, I actually think
Grimm is a bit of a specialist on this map. When you look at the complexity roster
that he was on for so long, they were incredible on this map and in no small
part because Grimm was an incredible individual on that map. So you go to map 3, I think
NRG could tow it over the line, and they've already shown that they can win on an ancient.
So it's not an unwinnable series, but really I think it's in, we have to admit, it's in
Falcon's hands.
If they play their A-game, NRG shouldn't have a chance.
Although if they play their A-game, but they've got their B standing, I don't know,
Nucleon's actually did pretty well.
We'll see how it goes.
It's time to find out and to take us through it.
We've got two legendary voices of the game back in the server once more, Anders and
Henry G take it away fellas. Couldn't really be any better. Thank you so much Mike. We already Henry.
How are you doing on this fine day? I'm doing so good my friend. Good to be back in the hot seat with
you and some great games to commentate today as well. The first one a few caveats has to be said
a stand-in situation for Falcons but they've been here before and I agree with the deaths. They
should be taking this one 2-0 regardless of the fact that they don't have Kiyosuke today.
I think it's an exciting story if it turns out to be true that we're going to see more of an
Unleashed Niko maybe a little bit less stress. They're playing with the stand-in all of that stuff. I have to be honest
There's a this is the kind of game
I feel like Falcons could easily screw up like there's this okay pressure on them
All right, it's like nobody they don't want to lose to energy at the start of the tournament
I could see that happening somehow just because it would be such a headline so you're saying there's a chance
I'm saying there's a chance and especially because ancient is in there
I don't trust Falcons on ancient not even a little bit. Well, they haven't been playing face-to-face adapters
So maybe that's true so maybe that's gonna turn it all around and everyone's gonna be locked in focusing on that team CS
And yeah, it'll be very interesting to see what level they bring out today energy the best opportunity
They got to get in this sort of tournament a stacked tournament to get an opening win here
A falcons that are wounded had their wings clipped and without one of their star players
They need to stay alive long enough
Hopefully could fool Q2K to actually get here or get to rock them. It's actually kind of a big deal
They mentioned it and due to the VRS system if new clones face five games to them as a chance Kiyosuke doesn't make it to the major
Just imagine. Yeah
We're not gonna waste any more time. We're gonna head right into the game. So big welcome everybody
We're on ancient to begin with it falcons versus NRG. We begin on the T side for an RG
Oh, we certainly do and we have got ourselves a couple of smokes a Molotov and two flashbangs with four players heading towards B
and as it looks to be an AX, the execution, big mohar and we'll see tests as defending towards cave up against bro
Oh, well he was quite a convincing kill to kick things off there one bullet to the dome
Down he goes so they still have
Four players alive, but they've lost a lot of their uter at that point. So we'll see what comes in next
It's OC setting up the one-man execution
So smoke towards long and short your molotov to either cave entrance with a cubby
flash over and in they go. We have got Sonic towards the other side of the map
here. Yes. Yeah, I think he must have been expecting that there might have been
some aggression coming out of the Falcon side and it never really showed up so
this could end up feeling a bit flat right now. All of the utility you just
mentioned is already on the site and they haven't found any kill shit. It's
gonna run out eventually so they need to push right now. Sonic is still on the
other side of the map. He's not even part of this equation at the moment. The
bomb is gonna be planted. It's just Nitro here punching in the digits and
at least they're going to do that clean the and I guess we're falcons they're
saying it's a full-on retake it absolutely is you can see all five
players for the Falcons in the backland right now they've got a flashbang set up
we'll see whether they can retake this bomb site successfully not a kid in
play no smoke either but a really nice headshot to be with new Cleons he'll
follow it up it's a good one Grimm is now gone but the defuse has been
taken away it's just on Sonic he's a bit of a madman at times defuse happening
on the other side till six seconds they're gonna have enough time for it
But one more kill on that defuser and you never really know what could have happened, but I do like it
That's a kind of a calm approach. They weren't panicked by the utility. Yes, true
Absolutely good point without the kid as well. It's a comfortable defuse
They got that opening kill courtesy of tests is towards the cave give him a nice man advantage
No pressure to fight through the utility and make any heroic maneuvers there and it is gonna be sonic left now
One versus three. You're right if he gets one more headshot there
He applies a lot of pressure, but they shut it down nicely, but the bomb did get planted
That's the headline here, Anders.
We are going to see the fourth by in the second round.
It's quite a powerful one, quite potent.
As you see, Sonic with the Galil.
We've got a few tech nines in there as well.
And a plethora of utility, the first of which
has been deployed towards the red room.
Molotov to try and deny CT access towards the elbow.
And here comes OC.
He's actually done very well.
He's got some decent space in the map here.
Just getting some pressure on trying to take the cave away
from the Falcon side.
Sonic is over on the other side of the middle.
Now, he is going to be the entry man onto middle most
the time you're gonna see him try and fly in there very curious how he's gonna
be faring in that it's such an important part of the map here if you can take it
big advantage on the T side and something that probably will play Falcons when
they get to their own T side because normally they actually have Kyusuke in
there to run into middle that's not gonna be the case today it'll be
Nuklons instead. Well Nuklons has had a very good start two kills and
epistles gonna build his confidence up see whether they can hold NRG at bay
here and hit the one-minute mark. Like I said, decent map control where Falcons have allowed
them to have middle. How do you actually push this in towards the bombsite? Smoked off. Really
nice defensive play from Falcons. Forcing their hand after reassess their options. I
think we have to go back towards B now and kick-san investigating the B round till the
MP9 up close and personal. The only SMG looking to take the first incision and they've
done a great job there. And as they can just fall back in retreat now and enable
Crossfires there should be no way into this round and that's Sonic can find an entrance
Found the one I must say was a great overlap with Tessus being there to hold the first angle as they were swinging in because I was about to say
That's a bit risky
Maybe for Falcons to push out of the B bomb side, but it worked out very very well
Niko monosy in the middle just gonna be spraying down a couple there is Oceum bro hit the floor and
Sonic you can't do more than that. It's a great triple for monosy with the FAMAS
Yeah, very comfortable, isn't it? I love that aggressive maneuver blocked them out towards the donor
You know, they're gonna have to head back in towards be you got kicks and as I mentioned the only SMG in play
Get to top the opening kill joined by Tessus as well
Things looking very good for the Falcons will be a full eco coming up next year
So energy uses one as a sort of time out trying to leave out some utility
But we've seen some excellent work in the Famous the last couple of months
It seems to be a gun is getting more prevalent in CS to they seem on the sees a fan of it as well three massive frags and
And just a couple of P250s here, a D-Gull for OC, but of course no Kevlar as we go 2-0, presumably 3.
It's a very smooth sailing at the beginning here, which is understanding what Falcons need.
I think CT side is usually a bit better for them. I feel like their T side is when I get a lot more worried for the Falcons team.
Okay bro, it's a nice headshot here, kick sand though.
Trying to keep it cool, falling backwards, still some bullets in the magazine.
They've taken up OC at the same time though. A bomb site is kind of open for business though
So I don't know how they're getting agree with so much here in RG could be a bomb not coming in
Oh, it absolutely is
Man advantage maintain courtesy of monocy and that 8g gray
But yeah, they're gonna be planting in towards a smoke and ct spawn and Sonic making things uncomfortable
And we'll be more to see to maintain advantage here grim right shot with a p250
It will take a miracle from Nigel at this stage to save the round
But he can find one more frag anders as a pretty good eco overall the bomb planted
It's gonna say trying to make up for that last round where they maybe didn't have the impact they were looking for but yeah
One more kill on a bomb plan that would be great nitro. You will pick it up
Don't expect him to do more than that. It's a lot in a bond one versus three
But and they put a little bit of pressure on the Falcon side of things leading it around number four here
I'm gonna have more guns, but see if they can figure out a way to do this
They're pretty evenly spread historically and RG they they sort of keep it almost 50 50 between the a and the B bomb site
So I don't think it's necessarily that easy to predict what they're going to be doing
But they do have a couple of rushes for the a bomb side I've seen in the past
So they are a team that sometimes will try to to just speed up which I like I think it's nice to throw in some of those a rushes
Every once in a while nice little utility set there for monosie to flush out the pocket incendiary
Into his opposition follow up the HG found the frag on the anonymous player and we go 3-0 here comes the first real gun round
though. I don't see about the AWP but Monosik certainly has got here. He's five and zero right now,
absolutely locked in. We'll see whether they want to apply any initial aggression here.
It's going to be three players towards B. We'll saw it once again, watching the extremities,
looking for the main aggression. Decent spam damage there from Tess S.
Takes Bro down to 6 HP. Pretty much nullifies his rounds.
Fortunate that that was in a smoke being thrown from Tess's and not an HE around the
corner that guy right them right then and there. So just feeling out the map here trying to see what
they're up against. Tug of war towards escape position. Tess is trying to hold them off as
long as he possibly can. Asserting his dominance and well there's monosy strikes. First blood with
the AWP of Bind Sonic as we mentioned. The luck play up watching for the CT aggression. Now they've
lost all the information towards A and middle handers. They have to commit towards B.
You can't really fall back. You have no idea what territory you've lost. Miss Molotov.
In towards B we go, hope for the best there, boys.
It doesn't look good right now for NRG, but I must admit that is a good opening.
Grim will take down Kickshand still.
The rotation's coming in. The four members of Falcons, they are right next to him.
Only 40 seconds left, it's a wall bang to take down Nitro.
It's just getting worse all the time.
OZ's gonna go down next.
New Cleons will pick up a couple of kills,
and Niko will close out the round just like that.
I think you're exactly right. They lost the A part of the map in you,
but even before then Falcons were pretty much in middle and B, they knew everything.
Yeah, way too much information suffocating their opposition that soon as you lose Sonic you have no choice
You don't have the time to fall back and reclaim that territory after walking to be they throw a couple of grenades couple of smokes
But overall very very comfortable for the Falcons once again. They are firing on all cylinders
The star players know they have to step up today considering the fact they don't have kiyosuke
We're seeing monasy finding massive impact wall bang headshots with the awp
Niko's gonna have to find that star level power once again and Nukilon's holding his own.
And that's another potential problem isn't it? When Sonic is such a role player on the map,
when you find him in that position you can read so much of the rest of the setup just from that one player.
Oh, and that's nice, right? You do hate to see that, but fantastic work,
hopping the smoke open, getting the wall banged. Nukilon's looking rock solid as well,
anchoring that B bombsite. Really nice play from the Falcon so far.
up and it's another partial investment now NRG feeling the heat their map pick
getting walloped out there right now same story goes around of a five lot of
grenade damage but bro we'll find the first man advantage of the game so far
finds tests is towards a cave still a lot of work to be done here I do the
counts in this advantage or try and fill out the map looks like they want to
go for it they pretty much given up the rest of it so it's time to get
that bomb planted. It's a little bit further away though, all the way in the back. It's
another kill. This time for the smoke, kicks and will take down Grim and a boost on over,
on top, on top. That's going to be very painful, but he's committed. You can't question his
heart there. OC, he gave it all for the team and at least they got the bomb planted,
but there'll have to be some wild wallbangs, I think to hold on to this one. The after
plant could be very good for Falcons. Yeah, that was a single swim moment. If you don't
get the bomb planted there, you might not ever get it down. So he might as well
sacrifice himself. C4 planted in the 4 vs 3, 2 players quite low.
Bomb took him at some pace already, but the retake should be comfortable.
Should be the opposite word here. Should be the gunner, the grenades and everything,
but a nice headshot, bro. How did he land that? Sonic will take one more kill,
and now they're doubling up inside of the cave here, and time is running low.
They need to be quick on this one, the defuser's on, they're tanking up,
playing the bro through the smoke, trying to run them down.
It doesn't matter that he dies, the bomb will take care of Niko,
Alchins finally feel a little bit of pain.
Bro had one mission there, stopped that defuse,
sacrifices his teammate in towards the cave,
hits the 1D, and is a partial five victory
against NRG on the board.
It started and ended with Bro towards that cave position.
Great shots as well.
Triple kill in total.
What a way to close things out.
It looked like it was gonna be a comfy retake once again,
but NRG throw a spanner in the works here.
Now we've got a game on our hands.
Four buys on either side.
O.C. was AWP. First real gun round here. Red Lawn's fully equipped. We'll see what kind
of approach energy we want to take here. Trying to gain some access towards middle. Gonna take
some name damage, not too much. Maybe we'll need to get flashed in here as the wallbang
is coming once again. A boatload of damage there as Bro's down to 25 courtesy of Tess's
wallbang. Flash into the middle from that B lane. So really trying to set up Sonic
to fight. And actually, Nuclear is stuck around. I was gonna say Falcons don't even
really have to fight this once they know that they're in the middle they can
just kind of chill out a little bit but they are putting them to the test here
smoke up in the red room and kicks and probably needs to escape they have the
advantage already right now Falcon so there's not that much to be done this
I don't say it's on a winnable round but with bro and Grimm already being this
low very very hard to get ahead in this one well they only have two
smokes remaining as well so you don't even have to flash his to follow up
those smokes so to get the orb off the line you're gonna have to actually
challenging yourself that's what they're gonna go for. Monocy comfortable kill
though towards the cave and there's OC does find Monocy here the incendiary goes
down. Do they just extinguish this? They can path around it, they're gonna buy their
time. Wait for the smoke down towards long and there is actually a chance to
get the bomb planted here. The extra seconds are waking like you said if they
run around it maybe the bomb would already be planted by now but the fact that
they waited out a bit means now the rest of the Falcons have shown up
once again. Scary reload but Bro is gonna be going down and I think they're
just going to be feeding pairs from here on out.
I don't even think they get the bomb plants in here.
OC, good shots, little bit of damage,
but the round I don't think is recoverable
any longer, kicks and will take him down.
It's very good defense.
Kebii AK says Nico.
Ha ha ha, great recovery.
I feel like OC should have been saving the AWP there.
It was 20 seconds on the clock, three on one.
He had the opportunity to fall back for that B ram
but they leave with nothing, unfortunately.
The amount of smoke kills Falcons are getting today
is ridiculous.
Not only are they getting that wall bang damage
to open things up,
They're finding kills through the smokes and Kickshand takes down the AWP to close it out as well.
Starting to get out of hand here might be a tactical timeout for NRG not gonna take it another partial buy.
Turning round they've won so far.
Good opportunity for Falcons to build their resources.
Lot heavier in middle this time. Every other round they've been outside of the B-bomb side with four or three people every time.
But this time they want to check out the middle might be trying to go quick towards the donut
But that's being held by just a pixel gap from Niko. He's able to spot it out. Monos he will take the kill
Believe
Pimp on the desk is saying Monos he might be a good pick cuz he might have there might be more kills now that you suitcase not
He's up to 10 and two at the moment
So well it's players like Monos here Nika that know they have to go above and be alright
They really do need to be stars
for Falcons considering they're missing Kyosuke and we've seen them with
Nucleus before. He is a very capable Counter-Strike player and they've made
deep runs with him the last time he played a Blast Bounty. We'll see now if
this is another easy conversion for Falcons. Five on four advantage but the
damage done towards Grim but some territory on the map but you can see
the Falcons are very aware of it. We've got Niko dug a way in towards CT
spawn. He knows his players coming through and you can almost guarantee he's
getting one here. There it is. It's a giant off-rangle when you're
taking the CT spawn like that. Pretty good shot though. O.C.
praying that he could land one more deal.
Headshot like that, bro. Back on the Tech 9.
They're doing some chip damage.
They're taking some of the guns away here from Falcons,
but the truth is the Falcons are still up 6-1.
It's a very, very good start to Ancient Witch.
Again, I feel like it's sort of almost a must-win map here for NRG.
This is one of the maps where I feel like they might have a bit of a chance
against the Falcons.
Don't know if it's going to get any easier on Dust 2.
Still only Daisy Randers.
Sure, there's only one single round so far, but the finances have been all over the place.
You've lost the pistol. Still plenty of time to recover this.
It looks pretty desperate right now, but five or six rounds still on the table.
It all starts here. There we've got another gun round, full investment from NRG.
No AWP for OC, but he does have the AK-47.
And in terms of map control, we've got four players over towards B
looking to maybe just have a set piece into the bomb side.
They need to make sure they mitigate this damage to the star.
Can't you get any things with the ball back?
It's a very similar setup, the only difference is this time, sorry, you're showing the rest of the team yet, they're gonna go quick, that's why, they're all 5 here.
Last time they were slow, they've been weighted out, they've been slowed down by the grenades, this time they want to pull the trigger early and NRG straight onto the bomb site and Grim pushing the backline.
He doesn't want to allow Falcons to set up for the retakes, but he takes down, he's still in front, I don't know how he managed to get in there, somebody should have been watching, they got 5 people on the bomb site.
Grimms traded out by Nucleons and in spite of the effort we managed to steal them some trouble.
3v3 and the bomb may be finally getting planted.
Ah, you say that, but the Infantry will deny all the antics in that regard.
OC with the bomb on his back, down to six points of health.
A minute remaining, they're gonna pump the brakes for a second, but here comes the attempt at a plant.
Very vulnerable to a wallbang here, but OC does get it down.
3 vs 2 as Nucleons once again through the smoke has been ridiculous so far.
Sonic Rathad provides some magic, it's not gonna happen.
A change of pace, Anders, a 5 man attacking towards B, doesn't really find them any decent result.
I like the idea though, you can almost see how that works out on sort of a flowchart way because
every other time they've been on the B bomb site and the problem has been that Falcons has been the
back line setting up the retakes, so this time they say alright, let's take that real estate away
from them. If we put Grimm back there and they can't do the retakes the way that they've
been doing before, unfortunately it doesn't really work and it's kind of close you can see without
the flash there, Grimm probably gets a double. I will say and it's really unfortunate, like very
Well done from Falcons of course, but the fact to keep dying through smoke so cleanly
Yeah, it's got to be frustrating now for an algae daps will get on the microphone try and calm everyone down
I don't think they're playing bats. Yes, there's been some unfortunate situations
I think a lot of damage on route as I get in this bomb planted the thing that the bomb is going down
I feel like if they can just run the default then go to this BXQ try and bleed out some of the grenades first of the
Retake on so potent that might be the way forward
But now we've taken a tactical time out the Falcons will be chomping at the bit that changed their playstyle as well
They know you're about to adapt and change your approach
This is when you for the coach of Falcons you might be dropping an aggressive CC maneuver right now to shut down their intentions
That's an exciting prospect because it's up to energy to find the solution if you can interrupt them before they or in the middle
Exactly, that's what I'd be doing right now, but let's see what Falcons got in mind
It does feel like energy are really trying to prove a point over at the speed bombsite
They keep going back to a very similar setup this time
Looks like they want to take mid first because they got grim and sonic on this side
could be an attempt to try and lure that out they almost did it before with some
flashes coming in it's time the wall bang or yet there it is he just has to do it
doesn't he unreal how much damage he's had with that same wall bang they keep
running into it night show he didn't leave it under 38 points of health test
is not happy with that though remain strong and vigilance into what this
cave position if you look at Glyll on the other side and he's more than
I'm willing to take that dual.
Smoke will dissipate momentarily.
Over default setup this time, grim towards the elbow
with Sonic.
That's where the bombers as well.
So you'd assume A-B and A-Split coming at this point
going to be flushing out the cave,
making sure CT's don't get information they've crossed over.
But that's in their trogo for the mid control right now.
And get that bomb for Donovan.
We'll see.
Sub one minute.
GOC rotating over through spawn.
I mean, this is the opening they've been going B with,
so I'm not sure you're right.
Maybe making this into an A-play instead could work out.
Maybe there's a chance that Falcons would be a little bit overextended on the B-bomb site.
Yeah.
They're going to be pushing down to the B-holt ramp.
They actually know Falcons.
They're going to find out soon.
It's a really nice defensive smoke.
This is the aggressive maneuver we discussed.
You know they're going to change their mentality here.
First time they've actually made their way in towards A, but it's so telegraphed.
They don't realize they've pushed the B-ramp.
They've got all this information.
Modesty and Niko working in tandem.
A beautiful crossfire.
And it looks like it's enough to seal the deal here round of a 9.
They're getting absolutely back to their bed.
A clean sweep.
You'd be now class right now, boys.
That's going to be one of the worst feelings as you're about to
execute that A-split and then you're getting shot from the B-bombside.
And even though you don't lose anybody there,
it sends the message.
It tells you right away they already know.
They know everything they need to.
We're walking in through the smoke towards Donut.
It's a giant trap, but you already knew that because you already been
kind of revealed that side of the B-bombside.
So, devastating feeling and no doubt for NRG.
Started the fall way too far behind here.
Eight to one.
Valken's playing a very, very good CT side of the moment.
Dude, nothing to complain about.
World class stuff.
You wouldn't think this is a standard situation.
Nukeun's got 11 for three.
Yeah, that's cool.
This is high.
Sure, it's a blowout, but you've got to respect
the level they're putting down.
Perfect reads of the game.
Great rotations, great wall bangs.
Kills through the smoke.
And bear in mind, sure, they've got one round in the board, but that was a partial by victory.
But they have to make a heroic play through the smoke, get the 1D.
It should have been a Falcons round as well.
Yeah, that's actually worth remembering, isn't it?
If Bro hadn't run out of the smoke with the Eagle there, that would have been it.
I can't believe Tess has found the Warbang again.
This time it was a different angle, but he still did the damage.
Unreal. If he watches this demo back, I think he's done about 800 damage or so
after 10 rounds just through Warbangs.
He's got four kills, which is not really representing how annoying he's been.
Absolutely true.
Let's see under a minute now. Look at the aggression from Nico. He's pushed all the way in the middle again
This is what you were talking about just now, Henry. Maybe they will try to be a bit more aggressive Falcons
And that's what they're doing once again. Tessus and Monizip have got the openings, but they've already got everyone here
They know because of that Nico mid position, this is gonna be a B attacking. Wallace founds it here
But surely they can just set up for another retake. They've done it all game long
They are looking very average compared to the Falcons right now
It's their map pick. They're not even getting a look in to these rounds five players survive once again
Throw in the towel. They're not even defend defending themselves at this stage
Falcons having their wicked way with them and it looks like one round might be all they get on their T side
Look at this through the smoke. Everything is just pitch perfect. And there's every peak every jewel. They have the advantage
They've already done the damage through smokes and wallbangs.
Is it possible at all that NRG came into this first half with an idea that we're gonna make them respect us at B
and then we'll do all this other stuff potentially?
And they never got there.
We haven't really ruffled any feathers so far, the Falcons.
Have to win these last two rounds.
Let's hope for the best. We want a competitive game to open things up at last open.
They are nowhere near.
9-3 is the best I can hope for. Again, if he does another 90 damage for that wallbang, I'm done.
But finally, at opening advantage, it was Tessus trying to take the aggro for kicks and why he pushed down the B ramp.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work out. Maybe we have the second hit for an RG, but still a lot of work to be done.
Here comes Tessus. He can smell you.
I'm so worried for them on the other side every time now.
Now, ooh, Niko getting caused a rare moment
where he always says he still gets the head shot in.
He's got Monocy there to back him up.
That is getting away with so much.
Niko probably should have been dead.
Maybe Monocy still gets a kill,
but that should have been a lot better.
Loving these crossfires, these setups from Falcons
and loving that from Sonic as well.
Confidence stuff, pushing through the incendiary,
cracks open the A bomb sign, actually recovers the AWP.
Three onto advantage.
Looks to be their second round here.
Sonic, AWP, nails the shot.
Now that's the New Culons.
What can he do with this one?
One versus three, but he's only got the first one, and it's pretty early on in that bomb timer.
So maybe there's a chance he gets one more headshot, swings against Bro,
and maybe he could have had the headshot, but not this time, Bro.
Rock solid, he's responsible for both the rounds they have NRG.
You can see the vibes, understandably a little low for NRG, but Sonic pretty much wins that round
single-handedly, finds the entrance in towards A, picks up the AWP, brings it down to a three versus one,
but it was still on the knife's edge.
Nukions is feeling it today, but this is the nice work from Sonic.
He followed those a moment that they gave it up, but Bro, confident finish.
Need this last round. Bear in mind, Falcons haven't had to eco whatsoever
throughout the entirety of this first half. Last run would be no different,
but we're changing the pace again. Grimm surely gets his open up, and he converts it.
That's very nice. And now, hunting, you can hear the reload. He knows that he can maybe
He chapped him down.
Nice.
Fantastic work.
A triple to add to it.
And that's what they needed.
One more round here.
At least get three on the board.
The Bombers make it his way towards the A bomb site
where Niko was the only defender.
And he's actually outdured by Nitro.
Didn't think I'd see that.
Tess is in a one versus three.
And for once, he can't rely on the wallbangs
here to get him back.
I think you might be onto something there.
Changing the pace, the rush middle.
and Grim entering the server.
New boy finds himself a triple kill.
Doesn't feel like enough.
It's them, our pick.
Just need to find Tessus here.
Okay, tickling away, I was gonna say,
I feel like he should have already been dead,
but he might be anyway.
I don't think it'll make a big difference here.
There's just not enough health left.
Shot in the back by OC and a 9-3 first half,
finisher in favor of the Falcons.
I would say.
You could include yourself if you want.
Honestly, I'm going to be pretty easy.
I would put the whole Vitality line up.
My dream roster right now in CS would be AGO, definitely Apex.
I'm assuming I'm in there, so it's going to be me.
I have blitz.
There's probably a sharpest high child, I would say.
If I had to make a squad to beat Vitality, I would make Niko ideal.
But as I think, Isolated Vitality is really, really good players to have Saibu and then have really great role players.
And if you want to beat them, I think you will have problems beating them by the system, the way they play right now.
So you have to beat them by one five on, just out of the gate.
I think it's a no-brainer to pick Saibu and Bulk in your team. I think it's just unfair.
Yo! Oh, it's been made a panda that end of the sky. It's so ridiculous.
I don't think it needs any extra explaining, like they're not crossing each other's roles, they're the best currently.
I have no idea how this roster might work in terms of relationships, like how they're going to get used to each other and if it even could work.
But you know, Dong is Dong, Zhaowu is Zhaowu.
All per, I would say Zhaowu. I would put Dong because I think he's probably the best hyzer in CS right now.
I'll take Monazie, I'll take Dong.
Multi-frag moment, but here's Dawgz from bottom-up!
They're beating Staypecs to him, and now there's huge advantage!
Time's ticking!
Don't tell him!
And we have an venture at Mesti.
At this point, he's like the best one.
He passed more than a year.
Uh, Ropes.
Apex, I went Ropes, everything for Vitality,
which is by far the best teams in the last months.
Like, even the last one year, let's say.
ropes for the sake of being one of the world-class anchors for such a long time
and right now in the top one team and it's been important for a long period of time.
And then we'll take it.
Kyo-Suke, I would choose him because I think obviously he's really young but even though he doesn't have too much experience
he has shown how good he can be and I think he definitely has a bright future.
Kyo-Suke, it is just Kyo-Suke. Everyone knows.
I think he also takes Kyo-Suke.
And the last player, I would say Monesius, a hybrid.
I just think Monesius just has the class, just has the talent.
He knows all of the situational utility.
He understands how to play college.
So I just think it's an overall pretty tough team to be.
If we're saying that current roster vitality
we're all going to stay together and you can't have any of them,
who would you take instead?
I would take the full roster of CSP.
You never know how a team connects.
These players seem to add something to the server
and make the team that's better.
I think that's unique and I think we've all seen that
in the Astralisero, where every player is really great
and they're making each other better.
And I think that is always the hardest
when you make a team that has to compete
for the finals on the first day of the season.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
You join us for the first day of Blast Open Rotterdam 2026.
First game of the tournament, Falcons versus NRG.
And things starting to heat up.
They're not hot right now, Anders, but NRG finding a couple of rounds towards the end
has at least given them a fighting chance in the second half here.
Hopefully not too hot for NRG. They're on the CT side now.
I say, I think I question Falcons' T side. I don't love it, but it's gonna be lightning fast here.
They want to close this down before NRG even get a chance straight to the B bomb site
trying to crash their way in like Trokette's one down.
And they're called a grim. Great work so far.
A triple, a couple of bullets left. He almost has the head shot.
is so close to being the quad kill that he dreamed of, but now it's Kicksand, so 1 vs 2,
there's a lot of time on this clock. It was looking so promising there, but the Falcons,
they overlooked the Cubby, and it's Grimm, who is best sequence so far. Kicksand now down to 39
points of health, they know exactly where he is, unless he finds his kill quickly, the round
is over, not gonna happen. That's the lifeline that NRG needed. 9-4, no bomb planted, and now
you're playing it by the book, and it's your fourth by this round, you've got a huge lead
already you didn't get the bomb plant to take the eco and then bring out the AKs next when they're on their bonus trap
That's the way I'd play it. We'll see if they've got the same approach same mentality going forward
They might want to serve that dominance and bring out his tech man's armor time will tell but this was really nice play from grim
These pixels away isn't he from getting that last one that would have been sick
Still fantastic work now here are my worries though for the Falcons on the side
Like I said cruise to case normally the entry into the middle. That's a big role
It's such an important task on the T side to enter it. It's got to be nucleons instead now to sort of be the first man in
And maybe you can throw him away in here
But still there's a lot of little details about the timing of flashbangs and everything else that could throw him off
So we'll see how this goes. You're right though. No real investment flashbang to go over a deagle on Niko
With these sort of advantages you want to have as many gun rounds as possible right before sport and then
Limit yourself in the first gun round. Yeah, you let them back into the game. This is absolutely fine
You're objective here find a couple of kills if you somehow get a bomb planted. That's a miracle in its own right
We'll see how they get on here
At the very least you want to be bleeding out a utile
You don't have to be going down in the first ten seconds make them use their grenades make them that reinvest going forward as well
Having a look at the setup as well as I mentioned we have a kate's in the next round
You'll be up against potentially two SMGs here
So that's why you go to the full eco now to have the firepower advantage going forward
No shots connecting there for bro. This is getting a bit dangerous now the bomb gets planted
All of a sudden this is a very promising round for Falcons.
Oh they'll definitely take that, that's a nice bit of cash to add to it.
Good clean up so far here NRG, they shouldn't be panicking, they've got a
bit of weapons, it's really not that much to fight back with so
no real casualties happening, but the bombard is still pretty good. For what you
invested into that you'll definitely take it.
Yes, absolutely true. Falcons will be very happy with their NRG.
A little bit nervous about the following round here, they've got a Pharma SMG and two SMGs, a couple of M4s.
We'll see whether they want to upgrade any of those. No, and they don't really have the firepower to hold off the Falcons going forward here.
But this is a very important round. It will set the tone for the rest of this map. The pick of NRG.
And it all hangs in the balance going forward here. Daps pacing up and down. He knows how important this one's going to be.
It's going to be a challenging round for them. You've given them all the bells and whistles with that bomb going down as well.
So you can see they're fully equipped. AKs across the board. All the grenades they could ask for.
No upgraded weapons for NRG, trying to maintain their gold.
So let's see, MP9, MP7 and Famicet are,
they take a lot of damage at the start here
and we are battling it towards middle.
Oh, he's in the smoke, I do love this play actually.
Tess is coming in from the other side.
This is going to fall apart very quickly
for the defense here, just OC.
Trying to get out but it won't work.
The fact that they were able to hide in the smoke
allowed them to fight with so many people
all at once in the middle.
That's a very, very sick play
and I'm surprised that NRG
Either didn't spam the smoke or tried to blow it open to see if anyone was in there.
That's such a peak liability here Grimm.
Last one left and a one versus four, but they know where he is now.
Figure on fire and he just has to try and escape.
Yeah, that's round.
You can see it all came down to the firepower there.
Pulling their way through middle.
The Famous is unable to hold them off and it's a clean and convincing round.
If I'm double digits for foul, can see it.
Three players to survive as well.
Money should be okay.
Bear in mind, they kept five players alive on the anti-Eco.
so as long as Grimms is m4 they're absolutely fine can even bring out the AWP
very interested to see Falcons end up at the A bombsite a couple of times early on because if you
if you spend a lot of time watching the Falcons on this map they love the B bombsite they're big
fans of it they really don't grow A that much so they seem to have a bit of a lean in that
direction maybe that's part of the planning for the Falcons today let's try and make them
respect this a lot more early on certainly it's been working out here for a couple of rounds
even with the bomb found the previous one, it's good work.
The vibes seem immaculate as well for Valkyrie. I mean it's easy to be happy when you're winning,
but I'm liking this. Some harsh words were had before this tournament. He's banned the boys
from FaceIt, Zonic that is, and so far so good. New Claw's stepping up. That's like a natural
bad. So as I mentioned, money okay, the concession's suddenly made. We've got a Rumboo
coming in. It's going to be Sonic making his way towards the heavens here. Brode weapon things up.
We'll find the actual mention of Nucleons, but Grim will go down. Sonic in a lot of trouble here.
Tucks himself in. The spam will come through. It does not connect for Sonic. Suddenly does.
Back and forth we go. Three versus two. It's Tessa's cracking open the A bomb site. Molotov
towards the donor. He's going to make his way towards spawn through the temple. It's an
enormous bit of macro for Tessa, since they were losing the rest of the map. Monocy is
going to be catching Brode. And unfortunately, I think for NRG, that might have been their
Last chance if they could have interrupted that bomb being carried on over the a bombsite
It's actually kind of a sick move from bro
He must have known test is the front man someone else is gonna be running up behind if the timing get worked out
It would have been sick, but now it's Sonic
I'm gonna be planted here, and I don't mean maybe you find a kill very early
You can try and go for the 1v2, but once the bomb is down
I don't think it's gonna be possible any longer here. I want on to monosie hold the phone
He has no care to know you till low HP now as well
I'll sure give it a go, but your chances are not looking good whatsoever.
Sonic, I would love you to prove me wrong at this point.
He gets the information, gets the Shadow and Kicks in here.
Maybe another kill available, but just can't hold on.
And there we have it.
The loss bonus won't be there either, Anders.
So they've lost a couple of rounds in a row.
They're going to be getting around $1,900 into this next round.
So it is eco territory, but now Falcons in touching distance
are picking up this first map.
You can see that flashbang attempt to swing in towards Heaven.
They managed to get an opening kill, courtesy of Brova,
kicks in, fending them off on the B doors, a bit of a messy spray from Monosibir converted
in the end and pretty clean finish. That should be enough for women back I'm afraid. Bex a
question we're forced by and we do not. You're allowing the opposition to go 12 and 5 and
it feels like we might be done here. You can see the ult and poly market suggesting
the same thing. Yeah, the graph there, it's a moment where it looked like it was
overlapping a bit but yeah, it's rough at the moment isn't it? Very likely 12
five scoreline falcons they've just never been slowed down, nucleons, the stand-in, 17 and then
modesty with 16, Niko with 17 kills as well that is a trio that's very hard to beat and
NRG they just don't have the firepower at the moment here, Niko good spread down pretty well.
Yeah I mean it's not bad growing for the smoke but if they have better weapons it may be a
bit of a different outcome but with the pistols it just isn't enough.
certainly not matte points you had no real choice here to pick your poison
sort of time if you force war here you're unlikely to win and then you have no
money once again at least you have something going forward you get a 2400
dollars on top of the 2k you have so you'll have M4s you'll have a bit of
utility but it feels like a formality I would be very very surprised if we
see this one go to overtime but as I always say and there's round number 13
the hardest round in the world to pick up.
It's Henry's law.
Yeah, you've said it many times, especially with the MR12 format.
It's closer than it seems.
It's always a little bit closer than it feels like.
And you know, Falcons, if they lose a couple of rounds here,
maybe the nervous world starts to set in.
You said it's easier to laugh when you're winning.
Absolutely.
I wouldn't know anything about it myself,
but I'll take your word for it, Henry.
You're a winner of my heart, Anders.
I appreciate that.
So, map point is found.
Seven opportunities to close this one out.
you feel like they're going to do it in the following round.
They'll have all the advantages you could ask for.
The opponent's map take you, take the time out, sure.
But what can you really say apart from round by round lads,
what is play our game?
That's all you can say.
I mean, normally in Falcons is the textbook example
of sometimes firepower isn't enough.
Like you need more than that,
but sometimes it is.
Like you need a game like this one,
you've run into monocene, eco and nucleons
and they've been shooting so hard
that some of the strategy element of the game
It's kind of been wiped out by just the raw firepower here on Falcons, which that should always be a factor, although sometimes it isn't, but yeah, fist bumps all around here, Falcons gearing up to close the book on NRG.
They still have the opening map. They've been looking very, very good for them at the moment.
So, T side. Normally, I have a lot of criticisms, I have a lot of things that I worry about.
I feel like they're very indecisive at times. A lot of rounds on this one where Falcons never reach a bombsite,
but they just get shut down before even getting the bomb planted, but none of that talk right now.
In the middle, Nuke's on straight in there. Flash is going over from the T spawn.
He wants to fight anyone that's capable, but that's a quick shot.
Okay, completely blind. I like that. Niko, this is his signature move, the landers.
out being self-taught to be bombsite, willing to take these duels.
It's not gonna look at the better of them, and Monosy will even the playing field.
Lot of damage for Sonic as he crosses over.
This could be the GG moment, but Sonic is fighting back.
Yeah, Monosy was looking the wrong way. He thought someone was coming out of cave here.
Flash couldn't have been the worst timing for kick-san. He's dead, and now it's Tess's.
Very low health on Sonic here.
About a minute and 13 seconds.
If the bomb had been fronted already, it'd be different for Tess's butt.
Sonic's gonna find him.
He might have been low, but still lethal, a nice triple.
There it is, round by round, boys.
One foot in front of the other.
Play your game.
Get warmed up for the second map, regardless of what happens here.
Make this frustrating for them, that's all you can do.
Bro, fortunate blind kill, he was completely blind, but good awareness.
Sonic stepping up on Low HP gets himself three frags in total,
with one point of health there as well.
So, we'll take it.
It keeps the game alive.
It's never that easy, Anders. You can never go on round 13 that cleanly.
And we'll take a tactical time out here. Zoni doesn't want this one to slip away from them.
That's their first time on this actually called.
I mean, I know it's obviously way too early to...
It's on these detours that Falcons just get lost in the wilderness, isn't it?
When things are looking good, no one's complaining. It's all great, but as soon as the car breaks down
and you have to get off the road to find some more gas, it's just that's when people get lost.
Well, the negative thoughts are in the credence of your mind thinking what if we
did somehow throw this game away. We're entering the next round of a Giga
let it go little boys. What happens here? MR12 can slip away from you very
quickly and confidence being displayed by NRG pushing in towards A main
getting a ton of information and a ton of damage. courtesy of that HG towards a
B ramp. Niko and Monosy very low and you can see they've actually got a
They can actually focus three players in the landers in towards the B-bombside.
Osi's going to rotate over with Sonic parked up. Very powerful position.
You can watch players crossing over each side of a main, alleviates a lot of your manpower over to this B-bombside.
It would be even better if they could have pulled Rowe on over, but they're not that confident yet.
They don't quite feel like they have the full read.
And we'll see if that's going to be a good decision or not.
You could see he's just jiggling around here with a grenade in hand.
It might work out because Falcons are actually starting the war, but I have to say this is so many more air attacks than you're normally seeing.
Sonic hit the deck though, Kixxan found him with the eagle. I don't know how.
I have to see the replay of that. He's so far back. How did Kixxan do that?
Honestly, he gets a headshot as well with the AWP and now things are going to look worse here.
NIG might be one of the last chances they have. Three versus three.
The bomb is being brought back now to the B bomb site and there was absolutely nobody there.
35 seconds remaining. It's Niko with the bomb on his back. His teammate showing presence elsewhere.
And the B bomb site is wide open. You're dead on there. It's Nitro, SMG only. If EV falls
back towards B, it's an uphill struggle. This kill could decide the round. Nitro doesn't
spot him. Makes a big sound cue as well, but I think he's trying to bait New Clon's
in. Get CM4, and now cutting off rotations. Here comes his teammate. New Clon needs
to hold on. Yeah, you say, oh, that's a disgusting headshot, but Nitro, he's done one better, taking
up to Niko, low on health, but at least the bomb is planted here. And Nitro, he doesn't
want to see the fight yet, he just needs to find out where Niko is and then Bro can
win the fight, throw him in like a human flashbang, make sure that Niko has to put
his crosshair somewhere else, they should never be able to line up for this one, but
he's ready to swing for it. Oh no!
Now will be the end of NRG on ancient Wow what a performance
What a showing the stand-in certainly playing above his experience and Niko to close things out of world-class clutch
He said they couldn't line up for Amanda's, but that's exactly what they did
They lost track of him. Yeah, it's the double kill on 30 HP and what a way to kick off the tournament for the Falcons there
They absolutely dominate on their map pick of ancient
Falcons soaring and crushing the hopes of NRG. That was very strong indeed.
Came out the gates running and they did not slow down.
Now winning the pistol is obviously always a good thing in a game like this.
Converting, getting off to a strong start, something that Falcons have been struggling with.
We saw it last time in Kushnapoka where they couldn't win a pistol for the likes of them.
So coming out showing a bit of proquess in that regard and then maybe a little bit disappointed that NRG
able to pick up more T rounds to make the game slightly more competitive but take nothing away
from Falcons the individual display was probably the biggest difference between the two teams.
You know winning a pistol is a good thing it's also a good thing when the other team goes to the same
bomb site like 10 rounds in a row and your stand-in is just destroying them every time and then
the rotates destroy them and the whole team destroys them I think that's a pretty good
sign for Falcons. It is and I mean let's give the flowers to that stand in nucleons but
really well this map performed beautifully had some monster plays some monster moments as you said
just shut down energy round after round after round yeah i mean nucleons he was attacked by
para vision in the grand final of the bounty i think maybe nrg tried to take something from
james playbook if it doesn't work the first four times maybe it'll work on a pistol eco and
then the next five times it might eventually work unfortunately in this case it didn't actually
start working for energy until they went the other direction and you had Graham with the
aggressive play in through mid and you had the A play at the very end of the half. Maybe if they
had done that a little bit earlier they weren't quite as telegraphed in their individual A hit
they went for like eight rounds in maybe we could have seen a closer game. I'll be honest
you know I I respect energy for trying it was a clear game plan for them they wanted to
target new clubs and and see if he was up for the task and had it worked out we would have
had a different conversation right here but in a game where you're the underdog in a game
where you have to invent something. You have to come up with something extraordinary in order to be the team like Falcons when you are in energy.
I can't really fault you for trying the most obvious thing. The problem was Nucleus played well. The problem was the Modesty came in with the AWP as well
from the beginning of that CT side, even with the rifles and support him and backed him up. So Falcons played a good game of Counter-Strike again.
I feel like NRG tried the one chance they had of getting off to a good start by bullying the new guy, by bullying the stand-in.
And that doesn't work. We rewrote back to what we talked about coming into this matchup
where it's a clear cut favorite, getting the job done.
I do want to touch on one bright spot for NRG. It took him a long time to get started,
but after that final round of the first half, Grim really came alive, right? We saw that
just take a little bit more charge, roll on in, headshots and folks, and then in
the second half we saw some stronger performances from Grim.
Yeah, I mean, Grim, you need to see him light up if you want to see any chance
for this team in this type of matchup. The problem is, too little, too late,
You go into the second half, and I don't know, Falcons, they're forbidding facet pugs, but
that felt a lot like a 2AM facet pug against a team 1000 elo below you.
They have a couple rounds where they can get something done, but you just know you're
the better team.
Painful.
Painful for NRG, certainly.
They're going to be looking to rally.
We're going to be headed to Dust 2 as our second map, which doesn't necessarily
bode very well for NRG, but first, a quick break.
last-minute stand-in situation once again. How is that feeling in the team?
I mean it's something we didn't expect to be honest. We just found out like two
three days ago so we didn't have too much time to prepare. We played a few
pracks with him and we'll see how it goes.
Now for you as the IGL right you did have the previous experience playing
with nucleons. Is there anything different about how you want to deploy
him? How you want to structure the team around it now?
I don't think so. I think we would just try to make him as comfortable as
possible, because he plays the same roles in the academy, so it's basically just one for
one trade with Kyosuke, so he will just play his game and I think he will do good.
And for you, there's been some conversation around changing the atmosphere and the teams
on a given interview yesterday, being a bit harsher, being maybe a little bit more strict
about things.
Have you noticed changes?
Are you trying to change anything up as well with your approach?
I have definitely noticed changes.
I think lately, as Zonic said, he has been a bit more harsh
and maybe asking the players for some things
that they haven't done before.
So he has a bigger voice in the team right now,
and the players respect it, and they respect him a lot,
and I think that will benefit us for sure.
And is it something that you're welcoming,
that added pressure, added harshness?
Yeah, I think so.
I think we need this kind of thing, because, I mean,
it's good to have freedom in the team,
but we also need to have some discipline, let's say.
So I think Zonic doing this kind of things will help us.
A little bit of added pressure, added harshness and Kixson welcomes it on.
Thinks that this is necessary.
Thinks that this is what they need.
And I mean, at least in this first map, it did look good.
Yeah, it did, you know, and I'm not really going to take too much away
from this game against NIG regardless.
But once we dive deeper into the tournament and hopefully get Q Shuka back as well,
we can hopefully start to see early sides of that.
I think discipline to me is the key word.
I think that's something Falcons have been lacking quite evidently here in pretty much every single tournament they played.
We talk about all the radar screenshots, we talk about all the rounds they're not supposed to lose.
I think most of that can be narrowed down to discipline in different areas.
So I'm glad that's a focus point.
My only concern is, I'm perhaps feeling that it's a little bit too late to take action in that regard,
because it's been an ongoing problem for a long time.
Too late is exactly how I'd put it.
I mean, what's been going on the last two, three years.
We saw the one clip with the Boros mouse situation.
That seemed pretty harsh, but since then, what have we been just chilling?
It's fine. We're losing these tournaments.
It's fine. We're losing every playoffs.
It's fine. We're dropping out against teams that were clearly better than we're not even we're seeing teams and interviews talk about Falcons.
They're not as much of a threat as we thought they were.
And it's and just now just now we're getting the little bit harsher, the little bit more strict.
You need to take away maybe a little bit of the agency of the players, make them do what they need to do.
This is what Sonic was brought into the team for.
I mean, better late than never, right, as the saying goes.
But I did think it was interesting that Kickson said now he's having a bigger voice.
It's like you would really naturally expect Zonic to have a pretty massive voice in his team in every iteration.
It goes back to something, you know, I think there's a massive missed point, you know,
when we discuss Falcons and Zonic.
You know, Zonic as a coach has been known to be back in the Astralis stage, you know,
to be very hands-on on the details.
He invented the whole, you know, let's make sure we never throw a grenade without a purpose.
Let's make sure that we have the highest ADR with the grenades in the world of Counter Strike with Astralis.
attention to detail, micro-management, etc.
You come into Falcons, you have players like Kyusuke, you have Monizio, you have Niko,
you have to give freedom. You have to be a less big voice within that lineup in order to express
the players themselves. And now seemingly he's reverting back to trying to take a bit more control.
It's always been a mismatch in terms of philosophy from Sonic, coaching a team full
of world stars. It's never supposed to be that way. It's like putting Blade in Falcons
and expecting, you know, Blade to do wonders for players where he's micro-managed them in
in all different essence of the game, it's just not a match culturally speaking.
So that's, personally, I feel like that's the biggest missed point about Falcons
for a long, long time, that stylistically speaking, Sonic was never supposed to have
players of that caliber, right?
He was never supposed to micromanage the team in that way.
So he has to involve, the team has to involve and hopefully they can meet in the middle.
And as you said, better late than never.
But the problem is, if that's true, if what you're saying is the case,
then Sonic wasn't the right coach for this roster from the start.
And we could have had someone else instead.
That's a bold statement. There's been a few versions of the roster as well.
You stamp in that for them?
Yeah, but I would honestly agree with that because I feel like that's a thing we are
very immature in the world of Karnus, right? We're still new to it, you know?
We've been a competitive game with players making millions of dollars for a couple of years.
But let's be honest, you look at football, you look at different coaches.
Sonning is a world-class coach. I'm not saying Sonning is not arguably the goat, you know,
in terms of coaching. I'm not saying Sonning is not a great coach,
but maybe he's not the fit for this team.
You know, just like in football, where you have different types of coaches
who would be a fit for one team, but not for another.
It doesn't mean the coach is bad.
It doesn't mean he can't do the job.
It just means there's different players,
different ways of going around it.
And I think Sonic and Falcons have been shown
to be a mismatch from the get-go.
It's an interesting thought.
It is a very interesting thought.
It takes a bit of brain to come through it,
a bit of nuances, but sometimes Christian will get it.
I'm going to redirect your brain just for a moment.
We're going to talk about Dust here.
That's the next map we're coming in.
We did see this the last time these two teams met.
It was a 13-9 in favor of Falcons.
What do you think is going to happen today?
The only problem they have is new clubs.
Not being able to pick up the second era up in the B bomb side like QCQ Dust from time to time
He was being bullied by Parisian
I believe on dust 2 as well if he has figured out how to play that CT side
I don't see any weakness from that dust 2 is the map where para vision went B
And then they went B and then they went B and eventually it worked out the problem is
Para vision is not energy energy is not para vision
They're not at the same level as that team nucleons is more than enough to send energy to the lower bracket
So we're saying it's NRG that have to elevate their level right as opposed to anything that we need to see from Falcons here?
I think they need a little bit of both. I think NRG need to elevate their level and they need to see Falcons have a few missteps
I think Falcons played near perfect CS in the first map. They had the retakes
They had the plays where they were on the same page for retakes and spots where sometimes you could see them falter if they're not playing their
A game. I think Falcons are playing as well as you've seen them with this player on the roster and
and NRG, they need to step it up as well.
Yeah, I want to see a bit more from NRG, at least to make the game close
and get into some competitive scenarios and see if you can, you know,
put a bit of pressure on Falcons to see how they handle it,
because in reality, there was no pressure applied whatsoever on each one.
What are the keys that we're looking to for NRG, right?
Because on Ancient, so much of the damage was coming
even before they got on the sides, before they saw anybody.
Should be lots of a problem here on Dust2, right?
You could say so. I think OC, one of the useful suspects in him and Grimm,
they have to play well together.
They have to find impact both on the T side and CT side.
in general the AWP role on Dust2 is a free-flowing role you can go wherever you want and you can
definitely find impact if you up for it. You set yourself different mentality coming out from OSEA,
maybe a little bit more careless you know, willing to risk a bit more. Well now's the time to do it
but you have to do it against Monocys. So good luck. It's a little bit of a tough task, a little
bit of a tough goal set in front of you here Voo. What do you think energy could do? Yeah I mean
if we're looking at a map on ancient where they struggled to get into a 5v5 after plant to
get into a bomb site, Dust2 isn't an upgrade from there. Dust2 is a map where you have to
deal with the offers boosted up on short peeking into lower you have to deal with the lower push
you have to deal with the mid take you have to deal with so many different things it's where
individuals can shine and so we need to see what we saw in the the late parts of the first half
on ancient where grim took it into his own hands got aggressive found a few kills that's
what we need to see if nrg have a chance and if that happens maybe there's a chance so you're
You're telling me there's a chance.
What do you guys think?
Andrews and Henry?
No.
Ha ha ha.
Yeah, I'm not really sure, Mike.
It's a bit of a question, Mark.
And NRG didn't complete the role over.
And it's towards the end, it looked
like they were warming up into it.
But I tend to agree with the sentiment to the desk there.
It feels like a foregone conclusion
that Falcon should be taking their map pick at us too
pretty handedly.
Yeah, it's very, very hard to disagree with.
It's only going to get better for me
or not for Falcons now that we've got ancient out
of the way.
We'll see how it goes, getting into the map.
I am I'm very positively disposed don't want to oversell it either it is energy that they're playing here falcons
But still they did look very strong. I mean there were some signs of life
I think bro at some great rounds Sonic was working the extremities quite nicely
They want a couple of force by situations as well
But generally our class in every facet of the game that is the headline after the first map
But it was only the first map just to another opportunity here for the North American organization
organization, Valken's take on NRG and Valken's are looking red hot as they start on the T side here, we'll have a look at the U2, couple of smokes, four flashes in total and Nitro willing to hit these jewels towards top of middle.
We're talking about a Valken's team that has been laughed a bit at for not winning pistol rounds, but NRG are actually significantly worse on this map at winning pistol rounds.
I feel like they need to do that now. It actually would be very, very helpful if they could pick that up, so maybe this would be one of the times.
like bro up here like you said he's very good on ancient and I agree maybe he
could just snatch that first headshot and bring them on track okay not gonna do
that gets the information there top of middle
can't really do much of that intel no reactions just yet gonna be sonic borrowed
away in the pits as we go from mid to be here actually gonna be calling the
one off just getting the map control mid to be smoke goes down it's all
a ruse they know the CT's have no vision now as to who's coming out so
If you throw the smith to B smoke, they're going to keep three players on the B side and
that's exactly what we've got going on.
Yeah, the fact that they already have three, they're going to feel like they're one of the
lottery.
Oh, great!
Exactly.
It's going to be a B split.
We're already set up.
And you've only got one player defending towards the same site.
It's the strongest player so far, but Monosy will take pretty easy shots to open things
up.
Yeah, even if it might have been their best player there, that's not going to make
a difference here.
Just too many people coming at him.
Sonic, you need one more headshot.
Absolutely critical here.
The bomb is planted and unfortunately, he doesn't give that, so he gives up
the map control and now they're all retaking from the short position. I will
say this, they do have the kit on Nitro so there is a way out of this round but
they need the headshots first. OC will deliver the first one but straight back
into it. Tess's lines them up a couple of good kills. It's a very nice pistol
round coming out from Falcons. It really is. Played into perfection how
those three players in towards the B bomb site and it's the important
detail. They go for the mid-doors first and made sure there was no
close range CT's getting information that it was a fake and you confirm that
buried away into WB bombs that three players there as well mid to B smoke hold
them there and it's just one player bro he manages to get one but that's really
all they really pick up as we get into round number two and as we are gonna see
the four spy it's double scouts you don't see this too often and it's quite
an interesting approach there it's gonna be OCN sonic both hitting their shots
take down monocy. We had a couple of scout troops lately that have inspired you.
Yes, we did on this map especially
It's how I imagine every scout buy to go when I pick it up and it never really works out that way
But it's good to see that it's working for somebody the killer monosy here. It's pretty good starts
Just taking some shots throw me why not
No, a big chance. You're gonna get run down right away
So any chip damage you could do right now so you get some of the health rest of the
of the rest of Falcons here, that's going to be great smoke up in the middle and they
will be checking out this long position but honestly, that's an MP9 right in their face
and Ocey's not that far away. Grim can get even a bit of damage as he's run away, the
flash is going to be right in his eye so he's to back on out of the corner, they
know he's there and the scout unfortunately yet will get the kill but a little bit of
a different timing, he could have been sick.
The round's still alive though, that's the headline here, it's hasn't done the
three points of health and if 5-7 can do some work this could be a very frustrating
a kick-sample, hunt down Nitro, double smoke, down towards the CT area and the crossover.
They have no flashbang, a swing-footed smoker comes down to gut instinct and needs to find
a timing, needs to push through this when he feels that there's a gap. Niko patrolling
that prospect and yeah, good attempt, burns. The round is now over. Okay, say that there's
a jumping scout kill.
So yes, they're letting the headshot here otherwise it's not going to be working out.
Oh, the damage onto Nico pulls out the USP, feels comfortable that he's done enough damage with it, but now time is running out here, the backup is going to be there.
That's a very nice attempt from the jumping scout into the USP headshot, you have to appreciate that.
Now you need to discuss your options, you either take the full eco and allow the Falcons to regain their resources or you go for the Hail Mary.
You caught four kills in the previous round, you got some extra cash to work with there.
There is a world you can force by handers, I don't think they will do it.
But the way they're playing right now, they're hitting their shots, they are feeling it, they're making them uncomfortable.
There's a world we discussed and say, let's go for it, let's try and take a chance here.
We'll see what they've got at their sleeve.
It would be kind of sick, like you said, they know they're already in a dangerous position playing against the Falcons.
There we go.
Yeah, you called it Henry.
That is very interesting.
I like that approach, I think it says something about the mentality of the team.
Either we win really big or maybe we get blown up like we did on Ancient, but at least we're going down swinging.
Yeah, I don't hate this call at all.
Mk10, out on the prowl.
You can see a distinct lack of helmets though,
so that could be a real problem for them,
but it is going to be brawling OC on these rifles.
The former in towards middle, and down he goes quickly.
Now you've confirmed they have got rifles here.
You're going to adjust accordingly.
Oh, the timing on the flashbang could be everything though.
Swinging with the M4? That could work.
It could.
Oh, but there may be a little bit late.
killed as no one else there to pick up so that's a bit of a shame
would have been sick if they could have followed it up and found somebody who was
flashed on the other side of the wall still the one-for-one trade going out
through the middle a little bit. Valkyries do love these B-splits quite a bit
they're gonna find nucleons in the middle that could change everything
Niko he knows he has to take his map control before the rest of the team get there
he's trying and maybe overextending a bit. Nitro taking him down huge gamble
huge risk on this buy but it seems he's paying dividends round not over
But yeah, just now, because we see Nitro maybe a little bit too aggressive there, trying to recover the weaponry.
Still with the man advantage here, and 30 seconds remaining. It looks like an NRG round.
We'll see if Monosy and his AWP can find an opener.
I don't think they even have time to really get this bomb down. We'll see what they've got up still next.
But for now, towards where do we go? And Grimm should be able to find one.
Yeah, at least recognize that it's happening very early on.
Tessa's only with the one, and Monosy very nearly walks his death down to 10 seconds.
Like you said, there isn't enough time.
They just have to not die, and they're going to be fine.
Can't make the bombsite any longer.
Hunting him down is fine, even if he was the MP9.
Nobody cares about that.
And he's around the corner.
It's another missed shot.
And massive success.
The gamble works out.
You said it could be worth it, based on the damage
from the previous round.
And here we go.
I think those sort of gambles is the only way
you're going to take down Falcons.
They are hitting hard today.
We saw in an ancient, the surprise purchase.
It works out beautifully.
It all starts with the man dead sit as well.
those rifles going down, but the pounds towards short, kicks in, gets the information short,
but a lot more than he bargained for. Nice turn from OC and the fact that Grimm finds
the AWP at Monacy as well puts him in a prime position going forward here. Now we have got
a full investment. We got to see the scout at Monacy that does considerable damage towards
OC to kick things off here. Deagles and a Tec-9 otherwise. So, NRG need to convert
this one if they're going to stand a chance in this map. Bear in mind plenty of Counter
today four best of threes to bring you it's navi versus baits coming up next stock home champions will take to the server
for now though just going through the motions the default you can see the bombs down towards the
right t spawn side of the p-tunnel so this will be a bit of a ruse here you go showing a bit of
presence towards shore sending up some utile for a mid to be split by the looks of things though
nitro just playing with the pixel gap gonna drop the incendiary as soon as he feels uncomfortable
as we hit the one minute mark looks to me like it has to be the B split there's
the smoke kicks and we'll try and show some pressure towards short they are
aware of the potential long flank that could come through you've got a lot of
pressure on on that middle part of the map then maybe you could find a way to
break through so there's a smoke it's a good call there's only two players
in towards CT here yeah both of SMGs this could be a very difficult round
handle for NRG. If they don't get some kills quick, that's a very nice grenade. They'll just
soften up a little bit. Scouts doesn't connect. There they come. Yeah, they're gonna be very fast
with it. Suck 30 seconds in the round. Nucleons gets one opening in the end.
Hey, Nitro! Fighting on his zone is fantastic work, though. He got a couple of good kills out
of it. Bombing planted inside. 2v2 in the after plant. And Niko setting up in the window.
Close range with the Deagle. He wants that quick headshot, but Sonic goes right in for the
That's not even going to wait a second Sonic with a triple and a good retake
Yeah, we did say in the first map it was only Sonic and bro of any sort of serious output there and Sonic with a fantastic round
Preemptive shots all over the shop that managed to get that kill towards middle
Pre-firing around the door and then finishing off Miko towards the window as well. It was dangerous
It was uncomfortable, but they stick the landing and it's gonna be an eco falcon coming up next
We definitely have got a game on our hands now really nice round from Sonic in general very comfortable very calm
And we go 2-2. I don't think we'll be forced by here. Nucleon has got a Galil and Kevlar. Okay
We'll take a tactical time out here. The fact they
Brought it down to such a close round same sort of ideas and philosophy we discussed with NRG
You could go for another force by here with a horse bonus accumulating. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it at this stage
I don't think you need to when you're falcons. You're the favorite team, but definitely still viable
That's what we discussed in those options with them. Be prepared for anything in this
following round.
Think about the conversation we're having on Ancient with how much on-track the game was
for Falcons. They never had to worry about anything. That's the case here. Like already
there's a bit of a wobble, there's a little bit of a doubt maybe. That's set in much,
much earlier than we ever really saw. Maybe at the end of Ancient, towards the end of
a couple of grounds there, but overall it's a different atmosphere already on Dust
2 and I really like that for an IG.
The War of Attraction continues and as it is going to be the force by Soka Lilz, Tech
Nines trying to punish Ali here, shut down the finances before they get out of control
for NRG.
You're normally bringing out set piece, pocket strats in these sort of rounds, you want to
pounce through, set smokes.
They do love smoking the door on B and going for those B splits, a big thing that Falcons
are into and if they can isolate Nitro he's going to be the anchor on that B
bombsite the whole time if they can keep Ro in the middle and that might set them
up very nicely.
First they have to clear out the catwalk position, Grimm's already spotted a couple and actually,
look at the mine game here, we're standing that far in front, that's a very nice grenade
landing on top, you can see nucleons and Kicksand already dropping quite a bit.
Advantage NRG, even more so now, getting a taste of their own medicine, they got a ridiculous
amount of smoke kills on Ancient and now it's NRG to find one of their own, Kicksand
in-game leader goes down and in terms of uterlanders, we don't have a ton out there,
They've got one smoke and a couple of flashes, but he goes very low.
They already have three people here. They've read it so well. Like I said, smoking that
B door and going for the spawn bomb site is the most used strategy that Falcons have
on this map in recent memory.
They have no more to off the flush out Nitro. He should be getting two kills here.
That's a good point. Can't really get rid of me. Sonic's just playing an anti-flash
position. There's not a lot they could do about it either in the back.
Recall.
Yeah, he's going to be taking all of the attention away down to 30 seconds. There's
quick one and he can't do anything about it. Yes they know but it does nothing at all for them.
You set two kills, that's exactly what he's got. He played it perfectly. That's the experience
shining through there. Get the intel. Duck and weave. Get your first head shot, lay your teammates
at the next level of aggro. And then get your second. Well done from Nitro and well done from
NRG in general. Needed this round. That's going to have to be the eco now at this stage.
Three to two. They take the lead for the first time in this series.
Oh, this is looking very good. The Manusley slapped this round out of the hands of Falcons who took a risk in buying.
I think he just said, I'm doing a Tizian. When he used to play for big, that's exactly what Tizian used to do.
He was really good at the back platform.
And that spot on.
It's a good shout out.
Absolutely. Yeah, like I said, without the Molotov going towards his B attacks,
that platform position can be an absolute nightmare to deal with.
Nitro shows us how to play it perfectly.
And for now, not even a partial buy, as mentioned, this is the Eco.
It's going to be Sonic to open things up.
He is getting stronger and stronger as the series continues, 8 and 2 right now.
Look at this forward position with the OCAWP.
And previously, I think it was the rifle and Sonic who was playing down in front.
I love these slightly aggressive CT catwalks.
I think one of the worst things about Dust 2 is when the CT side just plays the most passive game imaginable.
imaginable so I like the fact that energy are trying to put some pressure on Falcons right now
Even if you don't fight to the death in that position just being there
No casualties for an RG
They're in the driving seat now first time the Falcons have been tested thus far
Said it was easier to laugh when you're winning and you had the five
I'll peel battle now, but still early days
6 rounds of play we enter round of the 7, 8 kids across the board no more, honestly AWP speaking of which
We set up the utile to deny any sort of aggro towards short O2 of his AWP
Watching those long doors
Gonna be throwing a nice deep incendiary that
Allow him to go for a deeper angle
Maybe feels like it and I think that's exactly what he wants to look for here. He's got a kill
Not quite
So dangerous though
It was a really nice idea, Sonic can save the day once again, still battling back here,
Tess has done 24 points of health, they can't punish just yet, the round's still alive,
unfortunate there for an RG, like I said, they're proactive play, not sitting back and
allowing the Falcons to have their free reign at the map.
Look at Bros' position, I mean, they almost have to take another risk now that they're
a man down, maybe Bros is enough of one, just being forward here, he could catch
a player, maybe listen as they're on the catwalk soon, he's got Nitro playing behind
It doesn't matter monesties found him great with the AWP, but he's deadly with the rifle as well
Nitro and Sonic
I mean, I still think I love to see a replay of that around because I think you're right
He had that kill he that should have been the OC opening. It was a perfect maneuver a good idea
It is unfortunately misses out on the shop by millimeters
See if they can recover it like I said this round isn't over
You have got Sonic and Nitro working in tandem
the thing is you've spotted one there you can guarantee there's going to be at
most one player towards B but it's wide open so that is round can they make it
expensive time will tell kick sand looking for the double not going to find
it so save an AK now all the AWP that's even better for Sonic that's
subjective but they're not going to let him get away that easily and eco knows
he's going to box in on the one side they're going to be calling you over
monosy and Tessa's right away see if they can keep in inside of this box at
the moment. Sonic is such a funny player to watch. I have a rule of these about one
in ten games. Sonic just takes over on his own. At that level of consistency you're looking
for maybe at a top level but there are just moments where he is so unbelievably strong.
Making all the right moves here to save the AWP. Gets him into a prime position
now. Looks like it should be fine to save that. I don't see much danger coming his
way. Well here comes Tessus though. I think he hits a shot there. Lovely work from Sonic.
So sure they lose a round but he gets four kills in total and holds on to the AWP. Their
money is already strong, we know that. So it's actually the best outcome he could have
voted for there.
So what are those weird rounds where you're winning in a fountain where you're not exactly
celebrating?
Like we said, really nice idea. If he hits that shot it's a very different round.
You take that aggro away, your rifle's waiting with you in the crossfire. They
would have killed both kills but a narrow miss does get the falcons back on the
ball but an expensive one. They're on Galils. Yeah, after winning the previous round here,
so NRG, they should be relatively happy with that outcome to be honest with you.
Yeah, and on the macro level as well, they're on the CT side. I feel like it could be harder to
pick up the rounds here, so not too sad about what's going on at the moment. Good flashes
into the lower dark position. Tess is hanging around the T spawn still, but big presence here
to suggest that maybe they could just be going very fast to the B bomb side, which is something
Normally not that quick to do but I think Nitro might be tested almost immediately tries to throw out a grenade
But he's already tagged up grenades to follow. He's down to 21 before he even has a chance to fight here
You will get rid of them, but that's very very hard to deal with
Really will have to channel his in a tizzy and now
Think for Sonic for through the wall and a dink he will offer up and return this time you'll find nucleots
13 and 2 Sonic really is feeling it right now
Now, is that one in ten game, Henry? I'm telling you.
Yeah, right.
I don't know how he does it. It's so ridiculous, but he is 13 and 2 right now. 50 seconds on
the clock and if Grim could find Tess's on long, that could be enough to win the round
or maybe. Oh, see in the middle would love to see him land a shot here with the AWP.
You certainly see them go up the catwalk, so it's good information either way. And
Nitro has not heard from anybody at the back of the B-bomb signer. They're trying
to sell the idea that it could be a bit of a split, but I don't know if it really will
be or they aren't going through the smoke. Maybe they're committed.
That's a strong presence in middle. I thought they might go back to catwalk, but now they're
being pushed from long as well. 20 seconds. They still don't know for sure NIG, but they're
going to find out that B defense is going to be tested. Already low as Nitro. Bro
is gone, so it's just Nitro. They know that he's here. He is the B anchor,
so they don't have to think about it. Grim with a good kill. The bomb is going
to be planted with eight seconds left.
Here we go then the retake is on Anders
and it's Grimm keeping that round alive.
The retake will occur from the tunnels,
they've got a flashbang and here's the commibber now
from Sonic.
City is kicks and good, the burst of the Galileo
take down Sonic and begin with
and very low as for the Grimm he has to try
and escape, would have been OC to try
and make a breakthrough but he didn't even get
close to the side at all.
Tessus takes him down and Falcons narrowly
make their way through, that's a very hard round
to win.
The Falcons operating with a couple of Galils there, getting their mid-control once again,
contact plate up and towards the B side, Nitro low, isolated at the platform.
This time it doesn't work out for him, and it will be the Falcons confirming their fourth
round, tying things up.
Money should be absolutely fine, they've been saving weapons, they've won a few in
a row.
Might be tactical timeout territory at this point to discuss their options going forward,
and there it is.
But as a chance for Daps now to try and stabilize this half,
they've had a flying start here after losing the pistol.
And the second round follow-up,
they took that huge gamble to purchase once again.
It was worth its weight in gold.
They caught them into this series.
The most promising half we've seen so far out of them.
And they're still in this game,
but this is a very important follow-up round.
Daps knows it.
A couple of timeouts remaining.
Zonic discussing their options as well.
Their finances starting to get to a stronger point
with three players surviving the previous round, should have a bit more firepower, might even
have the AWP, it all started here with a Sonic kill down into lower B, but Niko makes light
work of them, knew exactly where Nitro would be. There was a little bit of danger there
on the retake by a well positioned from Kixxan, find Sonic and indeed the round, and indeed
we've got the AWP for Monosy. Helmet watch Anders, the Mach 10 is going to struggle
only nitro about the helmet no damage on the cross yeah see if you could find that
one player with anything Sonic is gonna be taking our knee card on long go again
not afraid to play in their faces here on the CT side I absolutely love it
Tess's he's just barely back for the smoke if they were to beat them right
then there I think he's just dead four buses five to begin with and grim
he's actually taking up an even more forward position how much further can
go at the stage. If he realizes that nobody's immediately on the other side here that's a lot of
information to work with but the weak point might just be catwalk here. We'll see if they can
somehow sniff that out here Falcons. They're at least in the area.
Possible fate here for a B-split.
It might be on to something. It's another man advantage but they have got full vision
those double doors they will not be calling. For everyone to rotate over but
it's just actually a bit of an issue. We're dropping down into a T.T. and Sonic on the
boost or five new culons. They've got a five on three situation but the A bomb
side relatively open. It's just grimmed down towards a pit which is fine
Anders. They'll be going for a retake here which is a very common approach.
You're up against the Falcons with Monosie alive in the AWP. He is going
to be hunting for you. He spots one towards the pit. You've got critically
some Molotovs on the CT side to try and get rid of him as well. That
that drop down could have really backfired against Falcons.
If they had flashed short, it would have been fire flashes in all, but OC didn't need eyes to get that kill.
Grim's gonna go down on Long, and Monosy could be a real big problem here.
Tess is with the shot, he's so lightning fast as neat.
Monosy will take down Bro, and it's got a lot worse all of a sudden for NRG.
This is the round they must win. A 5 versus 3, now down to Monosy.
He connects with another bullet, and the flash is in the house! Henry!
God damn that was good. A five on three advantage thrown away there. The Falcons
snatched it away. As soon as that bombs down, you see Monossey is alive. You know
there's always a way out of those situations and my god what a sequence to
close it out as well. It was Sonic with the presence of minds and look for that
drop down position. OZ getting a flying kill towards Short. It looks like it's
going perfectly but you're right. Monossey. He doesn't miss a beat.
That is the back break up that one really hurts yes the morale the finances everything
and now we're down to just an eco here nope what partial buyers opposed or is
Kevlar as well they got one smoke an SMG and a few pistols here oh see the
Orpah he will be full eco Sonic has got three less kills than the
entire rest of his team combined so that's a problem he needs some time
great news for him it's great news for me like I said those moments but just
need somebody else to step it up and maybe they could still be very
competitive but I think you're right though that is a back breaking moment
that's around you expect to win
monacy though beautiful shot well that's our star power coming out you know
monies gonna have one of those rounds that's all the Falcons are designed to
do. They have those sort of players that can dig you out of those holes. Classic strategy
here, the Avangar smokes, they waterfall down, allow you to drop down towards spawn. They're
great for fakes, they're great for a takes and Niko will be taken ahead. Grimm pushing
towards Long, Sonic would need a couple of kills here. The first one's not bad. Has
he got anything left in the chamber? Spots a couple more and Tessus will make a lot
of work of him. So yeah, a little bit of danger there but well handled as Falkus
Who will be taking this round?
Starting to put it together now.
It's a tug of war at the beginning of this map
because of the economy, because NRG cheated their way
to an earlier round, and suddenly
Falcons were running out of money.
But all of that's behind them now.
They're looking a bit more comfortable.
They've got the weapons to fight with, and NRG, four
rounds.
Yes, you could still make a comeback in the second half.
It's not completely devastating,
but they'd love to pick up another couple here.
Nitro hanging around looking for any kind of rifle you could pick out of this round, but
Falcons will be on six
Still have chance though for a six six four is not out of the question. I like her optimism and it's you got to
We can all learn a thing or two from you, but
Things looking good for the Falcons some great moments individually from Sonic sure
But you are right. We're gonna see a lot more output from the others if they're gonna stand a chance of taking this map
I'm the guy that said they should play more fbl might help them Henry more face it more fbl more pugs more premier
Everything let's get in there more public servers. Go to the rats
All right long-corner smoke from Tess S
They have got a buy again missing a couple of key pieces of utility
But grim pushes past that long-corner smoke and actually gets the input and all taking it's gonna be a contact play
maybe up towards short here, but Sonic playing on the front for once again.
Nice setup, he gets himself another double kill and the bomb goes down Anders.
I love this all much as well, the grenade on top, he's up to 20 and 5.
He is owning it.
It's so sick isn't it?
If only there was a way to know which of the games Sonic is going to be good in.
You could make some great predictions on that one.
Nico, 23 health, Grimm shooting him in the back now, head shot onto Monozy and
it's just kicks and left.
Well, I really like that change.
NRG, that's sick of being pulled around the map.
Losing out on these clutches,
they take the game to the Falcon tier.
An ultimate round,
and it's Sonic with another stunning sequence.
Double kill, set up by OC on the AWP.
They swing around, he takes two headshots,
massive knee damage on the follow-up as well,
setting up Grim for the double,
working in tandem to perfection.
And now Landkixen, you don't think he's gonna make a dent in this one, but he's given a good go.
He's actually got free reign of the B-bombs now, Anders.
There is a wilder they fumble this.
He has to use his thinking cap, though, because he's not gonna run in towards B.
He's gonna see if he can find another pick and potentially go through spawn.
Oh, he hasn't got the bomb.
That is a problem. Okay, fair enough.
He's so deep in there as well.
I thought maybe with a bit of luck he could be a little bit close towards the middle, but yeah.
19 seconds. He's being allowed to fight them one at a time, though.
That's not great.
If Grim would have gone down, there would have been enough time I think to make it to the A bomb site, so who knows what could have happened, but nonetheless, great start for Sonic again.
Let's have a look at his replay. You can see that's what I'm talking about.
Sure, OC probably should hit one there, but he takes enough aggro for Sonic to get the double kill.
Follows it up with the grenade as well.
Ton of damage. Sets up Grim for the backstab, and he delivers the goods.
Really nice play from Grim especially.
Sonic setting them up for success.
And the final round here. They can get a 6-6 half.
That's pretty powerful, of course. They'll take that all day long.
I think they'll be quite happy with that at the moment.
Again, the money is at least up for question for Falcons here.
Two Galils, one Tek-9 OC up in this, it can be a very popular position all of a sudden.
Looking down into that lower dark position, we'll see if they're gonna have the flashes.
I'd be shocked if they don't.
Don't expect Niko to try and peak that for nothing, but yeah, they're already around the corner, so...
Am I letting them know?
We're well aware that could be happening. So long control instead Grim is there, but there's a lot of people on the other side
He can be put to the test right now
Oh Grim be careful my friend
Three players on the other side that smoke
traditionally a one-and-done setup
You can find that one though if you go down with nothing the wheels fall off the A bombsore will be compromised
Ready for the fights here. There will be no flashbang to get them out.
Freebie on the first. There's the one and done. That's absolutely fine. That's the bare minimum.
Quick reaction from Nuclear Ensemble. You're right, at least. It slows them down a bit.
45 seconds. O.C. repostitions. That is a great pick off from Nitro. How does he get away with that?
Now, Niko's going through the smoke over here, but the bomb is miles away.
35 seconds. They're running it back so they're hoping that Niko can stay alive and that hope is gone within a second.
Now they're stuck in T spawn. It's the final round. They're gonna do something.
Where's the way out? Yeah, you just gotta run. You can't even sneak your way here.
You have to charge around the corner with 18 seconds Nitro. Ready to catch him.
There's another army waiting for him here. No chance. OC gets the shot, and they tie the first half 6-6.
6.
And with the deep information, if they don't disrespect this or if they come forward, it's
actually come to the point now where his smoke can take over, he doesn't have to put
himself in jeopardy.
They're running through this, oh my god, they're actually going to come, yeah.
Oh, no way!
Double no-scope collapse!
Oh, no!
Oh, oh, oh!
Easy pickup for Navi.
I mean, they laughed in the face of this attack.
Fifth player in, he's the only one that gets a kill.
He'll double down, Monosy, but he's already down to a quarter HP.
But old habits die hard, it looks like.
That's three.
Man.
But he only has three health left.
That should be the end of him.
There's only two guys.
Yeah.
He's gonna use the smoker need to cut off Alexi
Could they mess this up 25 seconds and monasy is seeing red
What's to make it happen? Oh my god. Oh, no way dude. This is a one versus five straight up
And he can read it bomb. He's he should have this red with another smoke. Oh
My monasy one fake the nade doesn't come through now
He's got enough space to commit to this monasy a pure one v five and his email
tries to get out through that smoke.
Monacy's just dodging all these bullets.
He's terrified.
And Ema's looking behind him for a push through,
times taking away.
I mean, how could you not be horrified?
Monacy, the prodigy, has pieced together
four frags in this 1v5 ace clutch.
And Ema is on a silver platter, a miracle,
from the magnificent Monacy.
Flames and Dexter.
And this bomb down is scary.
Flames is taking real estate, but ends up
getting punished, liquid hold, and they win these fights.
Just Eggster left to get passed,
but he's an iron wall at the back of the site.
Moving around, kill number three!
Oh!
Eggster!
Makes a noise for him!
That is incredible!
And you've got JL in wonderful.
It's this fight. JL and one are in fame, excuse me.
Very key.
Fame slips up, getting ever closer.
JL thinking about going to help is wonderful.
puts that off over to the corner that could come back to haunt him tough spot
to get the multi-frag but the CT's sitting and waiting for a little longer
Molotov goes to cage. If Finn waits this long this might come back to bite him.
He's got the kit and that kit could be so key. You got to go VP. He needs to move.
Oh! Oh! Welcome to Wonderland! They locked down that post plant like it's nothing.
Well, it's supersonic play from the South African that gives NRG a fighting chance here
in the second map. We tie things up six to six after he posts 20 kills and five deaths and this
is looking like they could actually take this map now. It comes down to another very important
pistol I would say. Both teams struggle to win them. If NRG could do it now, just Sonic, I know
it's a lot to ask but a couple of more kills here and it could be seen on the right track.
Pushing up the middle though. Monossey is ready for a fight and I don't think they
realize that he's this deep in. He's already passed the point that they're looking for.
nearly walks into the headshot. That's dangerous, but at least they know that he's up here.
Needs to be careful now, low Bees are threat and he knows it.
Focuses a tangent towards that position. Nice movement to get back up towards Short.
Still aggressive. Doesn't want to relinquish control of middle.
That's a great picture in picture. The smoke is already down, so that's a big signal
that someone could be coming. Let's see if they find their way out on Long.
Niko is here, Tessus as well. Is there gonna be any kind of a flash to set it up?
Oh, she has one, so they could flash around the corner, but it might be too late.
Already on top of them at the long corner. A bit of a surprise for NRG that they were not expecting.
What is he gonna kill? And now they finally swing. Now they're ready to go, but the smoke is gone for the cross.
So it's getting tricky. Grim in the middle though catching
nucleons. He can't be part of the round anymore, and they're rotating back.
You're right. Quick to try and go into T spawn. Grim holding the middle.
This is going to be tough for him though. He knows that he's alone and he should know that he's here somehow
They've overlooked it. I can't believe it. That's a big mistake for Falcons another headshot Grimm landing a triple in the middle
I'm shocked that they just live as the goods in the pistol three kills to his name
Bomb gets planted zero chance almost a monosie, but you can never count this guy out of these sort of rounds
But he has no kid no you till
77 points of power for it would take an absolute nightmare of a sequence for energy loving that
mid-round calls play out to perfection there to get the long control take down
Nika removed that vision push the CDs back towards spawn all the meanwhile
grim fighting that space towards middle gets himself three kills as they're
rotating back towards B through T spawn itself and it's 7-6 but they are not out
of the woods just yet I'm afraid double scalp the same approach you saw from
NRG in the first half didn't work out for them it was the follow-up
investment that he got going. We'll see if Monocy and Kixxan on the snipers instead of the Block 8.
New Cologne's taking a lot of damage at the start there. Mid to B smoke courtesy of OC and you can
see all five players on this side of the map and so we'll be either just a shred of B attack or the
B split coming through. Looks to be the latter. Yes, they still probably want to check out what's
close to middle or that catwalk position which they're doing now. Little Monotov to get rid of
The boost is interesting. So is that headshot?
That is not a good start and of all the players that get down it's Sonic who's out of it first inside of the smoke hideout
Grim it's another headshot here in the middle finally Nitro activated
But really good for the one kill makes it a lot more tricky the bomb though looks like it's gonna be planted still advantage of my book
Okay, RNG
Very difficult retake here. You've got a smoke and a flash to be fair
The scout on the retake not ideal, but Nico will see what he can make of it. There's the flash
They set it up. They're throwing tessus in first against the galeos here a little bit risky. Oh, see a lot of the spray down
The spacing was good right through the smoke and a great retake here coming out for Falcons
It's all about that flashbang as well isolating those duels
AK-47 recovered by Nico and they do indeed win their second round of four spy
Kicks and the hero of the round and is he got two scout kills there. What is it with in-game leaders in the scout?
I have no idea. It's just always gonna thing. What is the philosophy behind that?
It's just, it's a one time where they play the game and they can have fun.
No stress, just having a good time.
Well, he's definitely having some fun out there.
Get himself a couple of headshots, lays down the foundations,
man advantage,
and they steal the round away.
He's going to have to be a 4 spy in response here.
Pistols and a scout once more.
OC5's off the first bullet.
Long take. Good flashbangs here.
Honestly, can't follow things up.
He actually gets a deagle to the face.
Couple there for bro Nico needs to step up here
What is happening? He's still committed to this. I don't know why that's necessary
Fighting them alone out on long nuclear on so he's gonna get a kill right there flashed on through and I
Could aim OC takes him down a one versus one the bombers at the corner though kicks and has the massive health advantage over OC at the
Moment yeah, you would have to be a scout headshot to win this round
Rifles are available, but the bomb is down plenty of time to cook
See if Kicksan gets hungry for information, he's actually rotating out of the sand dunes.
He's actually moved away from the A side knowing he has the advantage.
This might be a 200 IQ move.
How is this ever going to be readable?
When Oc the science to get about on the pit,
how long before he would ever check that long position?
I think it's going to be a long time.
He's aware of the prospect. He's at least checking it.
Kicksan not overplaying his hand.
He's wondering if Oc would pick up the bomb as well and walk back.
That's also a possibility here, but the timing is so sick kick-sand
I don't think he heard it, but the timing is almost found him at the corner
It's an easy burst on your right. That is the 200 IQ move very nice work there from kicks and a dangerous round
That was a five on three
Bro got a couple of nice deagle headshots there, but it was new cons that actually saved the day call for the flashes great
Coms of look at the replay really crispy opening shot
Oh, the second was beautiful as well. You see how blind monest he was get his head ripped off
and then when he's going down as well you thought okay that's probably gonna be
round it was a four on two technically at that point as well but kick some as
mentioned really nice play couldn't have timed it any better big brain on the
in-game leader he saved the previous round of the scalp and that is to pick
things up but they've done it again Anders for spying when it comes down
to the 1v1 it worked out in the first half but you can see it's pistols
across the board here I mean we gave them credit for the will to try and
really go for it I guess we have to do it again I think this could be very
interesting up on the catwalk here and I do do love a really good catwalk
execute on this map and sometimes they'll go through a lot of steps to clear
out the middle before they actually go a short so maybe we'll see some more
this but this round looking very much like a be-heavy execute two people
inside that that mp9 up close in your faces you're trying to get out
that's not easy to deal with well running gun tech 9 is pretty difficult
contain as well okay I feel like there is definitely groundsmen to win this one
but they did run past the MP9. Nucleons stepping up to the plate once again
good flashbang needs at least one more and is he gets it and he finds even more
impact he certainly can making a name for himself here at the blast open as we
go into a three versus one OC best he can really hope for as a plan and one
further kill he'll get that plan flashbang comes over no kill found
They can partial buy again. They're getting the loss bonus and the bomb down right, but they shouldn't fully invest going forward
That smoke that they threw out from inside of the B bomb site on the CT side
It lands so deep in the hallway and it's one of the things I feel like
Still see a lot even at top level counter strike
Sometimes it can make a lot of sense
But if you don't know exactly where the Ts are sometimes it's just a signal for them to go
I feel like it could be very risky when you bounce them too deep in that hallway, but it worked out just fine
And so, Nukion's standing his ground, great work.
He's been great in general today.
He was very impressive and ancient as well.
With good standing given the circumstances.
He's looking very good, very comfortable.
Yeah.
We heard it in the interview with Kicksand.
He gets to play all his roles from the academy team.
And an opportunity to put himself in the shop window,
you know, show that he can be a well-classed player
going forward and he's given them hell out there.
Very decent B-hole.
said he doesn't get one kill there the round could be over he gets a double he
shuts it all down leaves his teammates in a very winnable three versus one as
mentioned the best you can hope for here is a partial buy for an RG they'll bring
out a few pistols but I'm not seeing any Kevlar out there just for Sonic he's
got Glock now a deagle and the helmet same story for Grimm so not a forecon
conclusion they give this round up Sonic 23 and 8 standing to slow down a
little bit almost to be expected right he's put in so much work I mean second
half they haven't had a lot of money but it is still worth pointing out because
they've been relying on him to get some of those rounds in the first half
they're gonna have to call his number again at some point when they start to
make a bit of cash here looking very likely that it's gonna be a 10 to 7
scoreline which point Falcons probably start to feel a bit more
comfortable they start to have a little bit more money as well three of
them are not completely dead broke here so we'll see bomb is in upper dark so very
good chances that we're gonna see something similar is in the last round
could be an attempt to put some pressure on the B bomb site oh this walking it
away okay the problem is with NRG and the sort of favoring the cowboy position
that's where Nico plays on the other side so you're sort of playing into
Nico I don't know if I love that
Well, Nico hasn't gone into his gold-like form as of yet.
Had a few frustrating moments, been taken down by the pistols,
caught out of position a few times.
It's Kicksand has really stole the show here for the Falcons.
Winning the Clutches, getting the Scout kills.
He's already got them back on their feet here in the second half,
especially NRG, a desperate round.
Pretty desperate shot of that range with the Deagle as well.
Decent control of the map, 25 seconds here.
Mid to B smoke goes down, but it is going to be A
where they finish their attack.
And look at how well Falcon's reading it.
And this shows that they've been watching a lot of demos.
It might be able to, but there's only 15 seconds left.
They're really running low on time.
Niko does go down.
Tess is gonna get one kill in return.
10 seconds left to proc here and what a flash setup.
Tess is to get the kill in monosy
with the assist as well.
It's gonna be Sonic here, one versus two.
Just a couple of seconds left here, bomb.
I can't believe it's even planted.
With the D1 hand, it would have been so sick,
but new Clowns will defuse the threat
and it will be Falcons to win the round.
Running out of time and space now in the series,
that's double digits, an admirable attempt there from NRG.
I like the play going through CT spawn, finding Niko,
made things uncomfortable, Sonic with another couple of kills,
bringing his game back to life
after I mentioned he slowed down a little bit
and the last few rounds, that's it, my God,
this was good, very clean,
calm taps towards that A bomb site,
gets a quad kill, have a look at that in slow motion.
very clean is so devastating isn't it flash setup from on a scene I'm impressed
that Falcons didn't rotate more to bro being out in the middle with the deal
but NRG like I said they do this a lot where they have this very heavy clear
of mid before they go catwalk so maybe Falcons have just been watching a lot of
that this time we're backing up a dog again yeah we're going to be pound
smoke goes down removes the vision of OC I think they'll recalculate now
reset the round, assess their options, they don't feel like running for a smoke
at this stage of the game, lose this round, the money is gonna be busted,
Falcon's a couple of rounds away from victory, becomes a flashbang towards
shore courtesy of Sonic. It's gonna try and do a default set up at this point,
bomb's gonna be making its way outside the B tunnels, have to be amidst a B
smoke. There's only two players in towards that B side, no one patrolling middle, so
this could be the perfect call.
Something's certainly checking it out. Two in the middle, Grim's been holding long,
that is the opening of a lifetime. OZ's taking up hits and leaves just one defender
inside a B, Nucleon's just standing and they're coming everywhere! It's gonna
be Brode to take it down.
You don't go for this.
Yeah, that's a quick call.
And they've got a nice advantage here. You don't want to throw money away. You can see they don't have a huge reservoir of cash.
Save the oil. Save the couple of M4s. Great call by NRG. Couldn't have played that better.
I want to see that kill from Mosey. He got one through the smoke. I wonder if they popped it open or he just shot through it cleanly and took down the initial defender. That was kick-san.
Nucleons did well though. You can see he was surrounded. Managed to get one.
Oh, okay. What the hell?
That is so ridiculous.
But you know what, we need this version of Grim though.
We know what it could do with the rifle, I think Mikey asked him about it, he's brought
on to the team for the firepower.
We need shots like that.
Yeah, replacing George.
Definitely an upgrade.
Back in the North American team and looking fantastic here and running a great team.
They take down every member of the Falcons there.
That is huge.
the money wasn't great for the Falcons there. They'd already decided to save the three weapons
there. They hunt them all down and all started with that ridiculous... okay, it was for the
smoke but he definitely had vision. But look at this ridiculous drive-by from Grimm. I'm
glad we saw him at BOV. It doesn't get cleaner than that, Anders. And then a run boost as
well. Thinking on their feet. Guaranteeing the kills.
Sometimes when you see the shot from the person making it, it doesn't look as impressive,
but this actually looked even more ridiculous than it was point of view. He didn't even
really stop on his savage. So it is going to be a force five sword set. Tegel for monosy
would have loved to have saved that orb. Famous for Nico. I've I've watched enough Falcons
collapses to know that this is starting to feel like it could be that happening. Money's
running out. They already had the advantage. Now you could see energy a laughing a bit.
Sonic is playing very well. Grim is starting to feel the game up before.
This could be very risky though. Pushing onto the A site here, the so far on the line.
What a spray down from Nucleons.
He's got two of them and Nitro is dead already. He's got one health left.
You cannot win this round. What a save that is.
It was feeling so interesting. It felt like NRG were about to run away with the second half.
That's exactly what I thought.
It's shut down very quickly.
The rugs pulled from underneath them. Fantastic grenade over and things up.
The follow-up spread, they couldn't have lined up any more for them, you could see them turning from the flash as well.
That was the key piece of utility there. It doesn't blind them, but they're averting their gaze.
Right.
But a swing to come through, that's what it's all about.
They get absolutely manhandled there.
As New Coulons gets the double,
one round away from series point, team Falcons now will have the AWP. Nice injection of cash.
After a clean previous round.
Oh, spotted one.
Takes a quick shot, doesn't connect.
Grenade could not have been any more in his face at that point in time.
Ran like he was trying to catch it with his forehead.
Down to 49 health.
Another bit of utility as they are setting up for some catwalk pressure once again.
Which they do love. Still got plenty of time on the clock here and they've got Grim out on long.
So if there's another distraction here, let's see if Grim can be activated at the right time.
I'm feeling such a hard role to play lurking that long position if you're too late or too early. It just doesn't work
More talk to clear out the double doors here
running out of time in the series
Running out of time in the round was sub one minute
Gotta be sitting at our mid to B smoke once again is bro four players
Heading towards the ace out of the map. I've got grim patrolling long for the back steps
This will be an a finish and is oh, yeah the mid to B smoked a bit of a ruse try and keep B players on that side of the map
comes down to this it's Niko the defend 14 and 15 got a double kill in the
previous round I feel like Falcons know already they have such a good reader
what's coming ever today they knew what a way monosies with a smoke but he
went down solid work from Niko a couple of quick head shots but he's got rid of
no see lands the kill on me still 25 seconds Grimm he's been creeping out
on it doesn't matter his teammate is dead that's a nice pick up from Tess's
that's all he needed didn't need any more kills 18 seconds left and they
know exactly where Grimm is coming from. Trying to make them run but Nucleons will stop him
and Falcons close to stopping NRG in this series.
Dust 2 looking much better than Ancient, that's for sure, but it's close but no cigar by the
look to things. Shut down these last couple, very convincing from Niko especially. I said
he got a double in the previous, he gets a double once again and Tess says looking
Razer Sharper that AK-47 confirms around Nucleon Sioux, bit his things off.
And yeah, of course you have to buy now.
Series point, three pistols, a scout and a Galil, it doesn't look good.
Damage exchange, but it's OC taking the brunt of it down to 19th.
Yeah, not exactly an equal fight there, I'm honestly not afraid to take another look.
As we always say, this is the hardest round to pick up, no teams seem to be able to
closed games are cleaning these days.
You know, there's not a lot of money on the CT side.
If they do this NRG, then they can force that overtime.
I think it's within striking distance
and want to remain optimistic.
OK, I feel like they finally got something going here in RG.
They need to keep it a little while longer.
What's the final call, Nitro?
What have you got for us?
No one out middle, not yet, at least.
So I'm going to be setting up another mid to be Smoke.
Nuclear Ons had a great game so far,
especially on the CT side of just two.
It's going to be the B-pounds. It's Kicksand ready for them.
Rugsmote comes through, but this could actually be really sick.
They've got nucleons occupied in the middle, so just one defender,
but they're not quite checking it. Sonic goes down.
Westeros to the push. They need to go right now.
I feel like this is very mistimed right now for NRG.
Just not finding the perfect timing for it.
Nitro goes down and the bomb.
I don't know if they could do anything more here. Two versus four.
Kicksand receives the wave for his teammates.
Doesn't need to overstep the mark here at all.
you're up against a Digo and a Scout in a 4-on-2.
Not where you want a Scout at all, is it?
Not the perfect weapon to try and hold on to.
He's done some damage with it or anything else.
You've got to appreciate that, but they're coming through the window.
Digo's holding it off to the side.
Good head shot, but it is too much.
They cannot hold on any longer.
The Falcons with a great start here at Blast.
Yeah, absolutely true, Anders.
Enjoyed that showing from the Falcons,
especially from Academy Player Nucleons.
He stepped up and went above and beyond time and time again.
show that he can play at this level.
NRG, better than Ancient, but overall,
it's an impressive victory.
The Falcons, they kick off their campaign here
and the blasts open.
NRG attempt to go supersonic,
but they get the rings knocked out of them
and Falcons take the victory.
Strong showing from Falcons,
a little bit to be desired from NRG perhaps,
but I think focusing in on Falcons
showing up really well here for their first match
with the stand-in back in.
Couldn't really ask for much more.
To be completely honest for Falcons,
to get the job done. They get it done in a convincing 2-0 fashion. And I think the biggest
takeaway from these new cunts, he was targeted on Ancient, he was targeted on Dust2 and I
think he passed the exam by an A plus almost. I think he did well for himself, I think Falcons
did well for himself despite NIG trying to apply a bit of push.
Yeah, I mean, I think Ancient was an A plus, Dust2 was at least a B if not better. I mean,
that was all you can ask for out of Falcons. They don't need to 13-1 these guys. They
They just need to close the door, not let them get back into the game, and despite Zonic dropping something like 26 kills, just absolutely carrying, they didn't have any trouble.
No problem, no trouble. And this young man showing up very nicely in the server, Nucleon's joining us here on the desk. Welcome on in, great game today.
Yeah
When did you find out you're gonna be coming back into the team?
I just like at Friday. It was very quick and I didn't even know so it was like two days ago three days before
Like before the tournament it's got a phone call or text or what I'll text from the manager
All right, all right new country was pretty obvious from from the outside that you saw a lot of action today
Both an ancient and does to fell like energy tried to target you we would just give you an A plus for for your performance
How do you feel that it went for you?
T-Side was a bit rough, but I think on CT-Side I managed to come back and play my game and kill them.
What's the difference between T-Side and CT-Side when you're playing?
I just think I made mistakes on T-Side that I shouldn't make, and that's what cost me most of my deaths.
When you're playing this game, obviously they were going to your bomb site, what, nine rounds in a row on Ancient?
Is this one where you recognize it and you say, hey, they're trying to target me, or are you just playing your game?
I'm just playing my game and if they come I kill them, if they don't, my teammates will kill them.
Obviously it's the second time you're standing in for Falcazone. Is it easier this time around?
You know, less of an unfamiliar environment I guess?
Yeah, I took a lot of experience from Malta in the last tournament and now I feel a lot easier.
easier than a lot like how they said a lot easier to read them and like against better opponents.
Yeah and I'm sorry I have to ask you to know if you're playing the next game or is it still
up in there? I don't know. Okay it's still to be decided. All right. Which game by game you wake up
every morning and you get attacked? Hey you're up. Hang on in. Yeah as a player how much do
you think you've advanced in just this little bit of time? You touched on it already right?
You've only had so many games in this Falcon roster that bounty round all you see all the
the way into that grand final. For a young guy who's really just new to competitive counter-strike
at this level, it feels like a very rapid development for you.
Yeah, I took everything from the main team I could and tried to improve it. I tried to fix my mistakes and yeah.
Can I ask what's the most notable difference playing for the Falcons main roster? Is it the
communication at a higher level? Are they just operating at a higher level or is there
Is there anything that sticks out that is different between this main roster and other teams you play with?
I would say the communication and the lot of small details that are being better in the tier one scene.
And a lot of mid-round calls, faster reactions and all of that.
And now looking at this, let's just say, hypothetical situation.
You play this tournament the way that you did Bounty, you stick around for the full run.
Grand finals last time.
trophy lift this time. We'll see about the teams this time.
Exciting prospect, though. Thanks for joining us.
Congratulations on the win today. Really looking good in the server.
No. Just go ahead.
Pop that off. Walk on out.
Really great showing from Nucleon's happy that he could come to join us.
It really is interesting.
I mean, you just see the confidence from having just had a few games
in the server, having had one event with the team now coming back in,
looking very much more sure of himself, I'd say.
Yes, it's kind of what we alerted to coming into the game.
I think Falcons is obviously a team that has the struggles, you know, obviously a team that hasn't really hit the mark,
but in terms of playing with a stand-in, probably one of the more suited teams for that, you know,
I think replacing Kyusuke is always going to be tough from an individual firepower perspective,
but in terms of the enabling monosy, which we saw in Ancient, Nico had some decent rounds and Dust 2 as well.
I don't think it's going to be too big an issue for Falcons to get into the play-off, even if they play with a stand-in.
The question remains is, can you be competitive against the likes of, I'd say, Mouse, Spirit, Vitality once you get into the play-off?
It's still the only question I got.
Yeah, I mean, Falcons lose Kiyosuke,
and they have to rely on bums like Monosie and Niko
and Kicksett.
How could they even manage?
I mean, Nucleons is really impressed, I think,
individually.
You expect to come in, and especially they talk about,
they didn't have any practice with Nucleons.
They didn't have time to practice.
So you see NRG, they know that, they try and attack him,
and he holds his own.
He does exactly what he needs to.
And then on the T side, he might have some struggles,
might have some missteps, because he hasn't practiced.
still Falcons as you said it's the perfect team for a stand in they have
the firepower they need and they they execute it perfectly here they did
indeed they didn't need we'll spare some thoughts for energy they're not out of
the tournament so we don't need to spend too much time on this but I do want
to circle back to highlight just a little bit we had a monsters performance
from Sonic you touch on it a little bit earlier here just fragging out of
his mind and it still was not enough the disappointing part is that they
couldn't make it even a 13-11 game they couldn't make it close they
I think they won both pistols.
They at least got off to a lead on both halves and Sonic with some unbelievable plays just carrying his team on his back at times.
But you could see there were the missteps that you have because Grimm just joined the roster with several times where Grimm was clearly not on the same page with a player next to him.
There was one on long A on like round four.
They lose the round because of that.
And it's just a team where you want to see them win based on teamwork and having time and practice together
So they can catch Falcons off guard
But they just don't have that quite yet despite you know having a four-man roster for quite a while that one edition
I think makes a big difference who wants a North American team to win based on teamwork. That's funny
That's hilarious. I agree with you
You know, I agree with the sense that I didn't really learn anything new from from energy
I started having a great game is obviously a good thing for him individually
but when you're not able to, as you said, when you win both pistols, convert it,
you get into a scenario where you didn't win both on Dust2,
but when you win the second one and you don't really convert it and get off to a strong start in the second half,
then I feel like when you have 26 kills and you're not supposed to be the star of the team
and you still don't make it close against a team with a stand-in,
it kind of sets the scene for where NRG is at the moment.
If they can get one win at this tournament in the lower bracket,
that in itself would be, I guess, impressive for NRG, but it still is.
There's a long way before they enter the conversation of Tier 2,
You know and teams that we should be fearful of when they face teams like Falcons
I think it's absolutely fair
It's something that Nitro touched on a little bit when we had our pregame interviews
As you said really the focus for this one is about continuing to integrate grim
It's about having whatever practice they could have whatever time that they can take to just get on the same page to get him
Working in the roster with an eye towards the major towards the end of the season
That's the focus, but I cannot do that pretty then quickly because then the lower bracket now elimination is on the line
I think the one thing that I would give to NRG that if I want to give them some respect big big picture wise
I think we have to give some respect to the NACS player
Nitro he went from the top and he goes to a lower level he sticks around
He doesn't go to streaming like some other people
He's willing to get stomped by Falcons
Multiple times and still stick around and try and develop the younger scene. He saw the light Mike
He went to a different game, he saw the light, he came back, I'm going on this.
We know that. His time doesn't count.
And his time in Valorant doesn't count.
I think he'd agree if you asked him that.
Yeah, if I fix it too. In all of this, you know, this is also not the tournament for NIG to necessarily compete in.
Obviously, them being here is a great opportunity and naturally they want to win their games and they want to do well.
But we're not really looking at NIG at this specific tournament.
We just labeled it for Falcons, right? The best teams in the world are here.
Nine out of ten best or nine out of ten highest ranked teams in the world are participating in this tournament.
And so, now really this field of teams and the scobal teams where you necessarily think that NID are supposed to come in and make big waves.
If anything, learning experience, you know, figure out what are the mistakes, what is it that we can improve on with Grim,
and then when you enter the tier 2, tier 3 tournaments where you're supposed to be one of the top dogs, that's what I want to see you play well.
We'll see if they can do it. That'll be the question for the future.
But the question for right now is what do we have coming on the other side of this quick break?
We've got a special treat here on the desk. We've got a little bit of time before our next series, so we brought in Sonic to talk a little bit about his team, about playing with nucleons, about making a go here at the tournament.
You've been in the headlines recently, gave some interviews, some harsher words coming in for the team,
changing things up, changing practice habits, changing personal habits for your team.
What's prompting all this? What's the focus for you and Falken's coming into this?
I think ultimately it's just being tired of seeing the same things happening and trying to change a little bit the approach.
Normally when we are at a tournament, we come home, we identify the issues, we talk about specific rounds
and here I wanted to maybe take it a step further.
I think it's just when we have a practice day, it starts around 10 and then it finishes at 6 p.m.
You know, we have one and a half hours of theory. I think the priorities,
maybe even from the staff as well, but also from the players is as soon as practice is over,
we go and we enjoy play facets, play DM, talk to the pre-later, you can also say I've been
after him a lot for not playing enough facets or not playing enough outside of practice,
but I think this team, it's maybe a little bit on the other scale.
I want the players, when the day is over,
if we had a rough practice day that they go together,
talk about the site, the setups,
we talk about the different situations.
So ultimately, it was just a shift in the priorities for us,
that we need to spend more time on the team
and not so much on the individual part.
I've been watching some of your blocks as well,
and I think there was a quote by Niko,
where he said, like, yeah,
we talk about the same issues all the time.
We localize the issues.
You know what the issues is right, but you haven't really found the solution
Is that also a way of trying to to give the team a solution now that instead of just talking about the same thing over and over and over
You're giving them concrete stuff to work with I mean ultimately I'm the I'm the captain of this ship and
You know if I see that the things that we're working on and not working
it's my responsibility to to try and do something different and
It's tough when you see situations that
that normally don't, of course we make mistakes in practice as well, but normally they don't occur even in the group stage.
But when we hit playoffs, these things happen and it's not, it's without disrespecting anyone, it should not happen on this level.
And we should be better at this and it's, you know, some part could be mental, but I can only screw on the things that, you know, it's my responsibility.
And for me, it was just that we have to put the team first, we have to make our fundamentals work and then the individuals can try afterwards.
I know it may be a bit rough to put it up like this,
but would you almost agree with the sentiment that he was coming with,
that it's maybe less talk and more action?
Like, you want to see a change from the players or mentally,
them doing something differently?
Because, as he said, you talk about the same things over and over and over,
but seemingly nothing changes.
I mean, it changes in practice, and we see less mistakes,
and then we also see that it becomes better.
I think we had a very good group stage inclusion,
finally beating Furry, and when Fizio and everyone was like,
Oh yes, let's go. And then just we can just feel kind of fast in the game that the flow is not there and
We make more mistakes maybe also the communication that has also been a focus point that the ones who are depth
They have a bigger responsibility that has to direct more than suggest or maybe just comment a little bit and you know
We have to see
Maybe not a new clients. I think this is maybe taking a bit too far
But you know, you have to see a Q2 you tell me you have to peek you have to go for this and and give more
direction because ultimately they have the better overview of the guys with that.
Is that a facet as well of like age and experience right? If we look back in your
career you've usually worked with shall we say a little bit more experienced
players a little bit more confident sure of themselves and their roles. Here
you're working with I mean Monacee's more experienced but he's still young.
Mekyo's case a lot less experienced even nucleons as a stand-in we saw it
with Boros at times as well. Has that forced you to change your approach
to how you communicate how you coach these players? I think the biggest
change for me has been to, you know, I'm a coach who like to involve my players, you
know, they should know this, but like have them have a sense of they are part of
the decision-making because it's easy for my for my job to maybe go after them and
say this is what we all agree on guys so let's stick to it but I think with
this team could also be a cultural thing that I need to just say this is
how I want it and this is what's gonna happen and I have not done a
good enough job with that thing up in a bit too inclusive and this time
it was like now we have to do stuff differently and then see how it works and I think we also need
time because you know just putting off one week of face it or whatever is probably not going to
cut it this is something that I have to see over a period but I want to see us all you know all
of us not just the players but also the staff think more about and spend more time outside
of the practice because you can only do so much in one and a half hours two hours theory
together as a team they have we have to spend more time outside of the practice as well.
Drawing back to what you're talking about with communication, sometimes it's talked about that
there's too much communication, you have too many people with too many ideas on certain teams.
Are you saying that the problem you think is that there's not enough ideas, there's not enough
communication in these pressure moments? I think when it comes to the pressure moments,
it's a little bit, you know, I don't think we don't communicate enough. I think when we are
retaking or playing afterplan it's probably slowing down the chaos a bit because it is a
a little bit chaotic, but also spending time on talking about after-plan situations.
And, you know, if you're not in a good spot, someone who is dead has to say,
you guys should have to fight. And then, you know, you get these small,
you know, peaks, let's peak one, two, three, and then we all swing
and to, you know, maybe get more advantage.
And I think this is something that we have.
We don't have anything specifically that it's too chaotic or it's too slow
or too fast or whatever. It's just about finding a balance
and not thinking that it has to be super perfect,
we just have to be on the same page.
And I think this is the...
Do you feel it? It's any different, obviously.
You got to the finals of Bounty with Nucleons.
You weren't there for much of it.
Does it feel different with Nucleons in the roster?
Is there a change in the dynamics at all,
or is it just slotting in a new player
and you have more or less the same?
I think it's tough for me to say.
I only had one game with Nucleons
because I was not there, as you say.
I think, obviously, Maxim is one of the best rivals out there.
But of course, new clients can bring something else.
Maybe there is some areas with, I would say,
taking the space when sacrificing or could be
on the communication part as well,
that new clients is doing a good job.
But I think it's too early for me to say.
It's not all doom and gloom.
You just won a game here and had a good start
to the tournament.
So I didn't get in teaming, as you said.
It's getting better in practice.
So I'm also sensing a positivity coming out of you, like you still believe very much in
this project and you still believe that you're going to turn around the ship and start winning
stuff right?
I mean of course, I think we have the right pieces, it's just, you know, when you look
at Falcons as I also said in that interview, immediately when you look on the paper say
that this team should win, you know, almost any game they play, well we have different
issues.
You know, it's about putting aside the ego, putting the team first, it's other issues and if you look at traditional sports, it's not an easy task when you have a lot of good players.
We all have got issues. I'll be the first to admit that. One thing I also wanted to ask you about, and you said to yourself, you only played one game with new clients, but in general the whole concept of integrating a standing into a team.
And as I understand it, you don't know whether or not Kyushu is going to come or when he's
going to come from a coaching perspective and from a team perspective.
Is that tough to manage and juggle with, not knowing who you're playing with?
It is super frustrating.
Because you know, when we went to Blast in January, we knew beforehand.
We put New Clients into the bootcamp, also have to praise the Natsafics for the academy
team.
They're really following the main team, even when it comes to positions, call
out everything.
It's easier to slot him in, but of course it's frustrating that you don't know.
And here we were told one or two days before coming here, so we only had one practice day.
But New Clients is doing a good job and having him in the academy team, having talks with
the academy team as well, we in Natus Alphix, we try and build a red threat between the
two teams.
In case we do need to stand in all the positions already lined, you know, if it's Kyosuke, then Nucleon is playing all the same positions.
If we swap on the main team, they will swap on the academy team.
Okay. That's interesting. I mean, that's something to look forward to if you wind up with a different standard.
Let's not say that, but thinking about this one, right, building on Jacob's point, going forward in this tournament,
Is it just totally tunnel-visioned on nucleons,
getting him into the team, integrating him into the team,
making sure that this version of the team can compete the best?
Or is it always that one eye on the horizon
of when is Kyosuke going to be back?
I think for now, we take it one day at a time.
If I'm expecting Kyosuke to come back,
we're going to practice tomorrow.
You know we have an off day,
we're going to practice with the nucleons,
we're not going to sit and hope
that Maxim is going to come back because we have no idea.
So for us, it's taking one day at a time.
We will practice tomorrow.
Go through the game with new clients,
integrate them into more maps, just to make sure everything
is spot on and then, yeah, prepare for a game
that day after tomorrow.
So taking it one day at a time, we
have to live in the uncertainty that we are here in now.
And for now, it's nuclear for the entire tournament.
That's how I see it.
We have to live in the uncertainty.
That's a good quote.
That's a banger line.
I think that's a good way to end this one up.
Thank you so much for joining us.
fantastic insight into what's going on. Thank you. Lots of wise words, lots of
interesting insight coming out of that conversation with Zonic. I thought it was
super interesting the way he was talking about changing his role, right? What he
needs to be delivering into this team to be a little less collaborative and a
little bit more directional. That's exactly what I spoke about when I said
that Sonic stylistically back in the Astralis days was a little bit more
hands on. I think he wants to be theoretically more hands on as he is right now, but given
that you have players like Kyusuke, Monizii Niko, who needs a lot of freedom, I understand
why he decided to go in a different direction like that. And he also did say, you know,
he hasn't been doing a good enough job at that, and I very much appreciate him being
honest about that, candid about that, but now also trying to force the changes.
So we can all agree, he will even agree with that, you know, that it hasn't been
a great season for Falcons in 2026. The way they finished 25 wasn't successful
either. So at the very least, you know, as a lot of people out there maybe have lost hope in them ever
winning trophies together, it does feel like they're trying to do something proactively and actively, I
guess, within the team in order to change the outcome of what has been disappointing after
disappointment.
I think what you get out of an interview like that, some of the things you drop down suggests the
troubles that you have with an international roster. The reason it's impressive that you've had a
caragon go with multiple rosters with different nationalities, different cultures, different
play styles and be able to work with it because I think Zonic came into Falcons
used to dealing with the core of Astralis with that Danish style of CS,
maybe the Danish way of dealing with things. And then you go into this and
he's talking about maybe there's you know there's your stylistic differences,
the way they communicate is different. It's a whole different set of problems.
So to see him continue to problem solve forward, I have faith in Zonic that
he's one of the best coaches, possibly the best coach of all time up there
with Blade maybe. And I think he's, I've got faith in him making,
Steering the ship in the right direction writing the ship and pushing them in the correct way to actually become
But what their potential is you know you look at Falcons their potential is to be the best team in the world
And they haven't come honestly anywhere near it. Just one more thing if I may add Mike
Yeah, I find it super interesting that he spoke about the whole Academy approach as well
Yes, I could you line it up that you at least in Denmark we say create a red line of thought
You know where it's all aligned and as he said if we need a player in X position
we know who to pick from the academy team as well.
However, I would be curious to see, let's say, that Niko is not going to play a tournament,
they need a stand-in.
Wouldn't it be easier to put in new clubs and then maybe let him play in different positions?
Or do we actually believe that every single element of your academy team is ready to step in?
At the end of the day, I like that approach.
I like the fact that you're trying to streamline it and you try to line it up.
And I think that's something a lot of other organizations could very much learn from.
I guess it's expensive to do it that way, but it's fruitful, as you can see with the new clubs.
Certainly is. It's been helping them a lot.
Speaking of things that can be expensive but fruitful, let's talk about Nova Wallet for our Nova Shots a game segment
Now if you want to participate in this you can go to NovaShots.io. There's no money involved
You just get a thousand points to spend on different teams. You buy and sell stunk in different teams depending on how well you think they're gonna do
They succeed, line goes up, they lose, line goes down
I think it's really interesting right now that
Navi and bait are the two most expensive ones in anticipation of their game. Yeah, I kind of get
People play into the upset on the bait side. Yeah, that the investing there say are putting in some tokens into to bait
I'm not quite sure if I would do the same
I'm I would more look towards some of the other teams, you know that has upset potential
I see the Mongols are not hot. I see liquid are not hot
I see Falcons are not hot as well. She's because they're playing with a stand-in
I don't know about you but I have no issues saying that Falcons taking win against anyone with a stand-in at
At least in the group stage in an environment like this. I think I'm happier putting my money on falcons than on bait at the moment
Yeah, look, I'm just saying this is a crazy bargain. They're point six six four next closest team is nip at a point
Put your tokens way. I think what you do it. I'm listening is onyx speaks. I listen and I like what I'm hearing
I think we're putting two fifty two fifty a quarter of our oh, uh, type 220. So that's what we're doing. Okay doing 220
all right
Confirm we're locking that in on Falcons. I'm buying in I think that was a really telling interview really insightful as you
I think it's it's just it's always nice when somebody's
Really diagnosing their own problems and addressing it right and taking action to address it
And it feels like this might finally be the right track for Phil and that's where I feel the the community sometimes and even us as experts
And pundits and whatnot
We're maybe not you know fair enough to guys like sunny because I really do really that once you actually listen to what he's saying
You can make a lot of sense out of it
you know, there's a lot of thought process going behind it.
There's always a way of making it nuanced in a sense.
You can definitely critique him for not having shown up
great enough.
You can definitely say that what he's achieved with Falcons
so far hasn't been great enough.
And you can question whether or not
he's the right coach for the team.
I'm not disregarding any of that.
But if you actually sit down and listen to what he's saying,
you can definitely get a sense of the fact
that he's trying to attack this
from every different avenue.
Like he's trying to figure out a solution to the problem that
has been the same for a long time.
I think what the average community member doesn't
understand is they look at Falcons,
They see these problems, they have and they go,
don't you understand?
You shouldn't lose a 5BT like that.
Look, when you come into a team as a coach,
I've done it before, you think the problem is,
oh, we figure out what the problem is, and then we fix it.
No, you go in and you know what the problem is.
Everyone in the team knows what the problem is.
The trouble is figuring out how to fix that problem.
You go into these 5BTs, you win them in the group stage,
you win them in scrims,
and then you go into playoffs
and the communication's different.
People are playing different,
they're not playing the same.
That's not an easy fix.
that's where you have to come in with all of these
alternative solutions, getting people to stop playing,
face it, communicate in different ways.
You know the problem, but how do you fix it?
That's what makes a great coach,
is to find new solutions when they're not obvious.
I love you shoe-horning in a comparison
between yourself coaching teams such as Warriors
International and Sonic Coaching.
Same pedigree, same pedigree, same caliber of players,
same stakes.
Let's take a look at our schedule
for the rest of the day.
First match done, two of Falcons.
Now we move into Na'Vi vs. Bait.
A little bit of a grudge match in this one,
at least from the bait side of things.
And I think this could be a very juicy matchup indeed.
We'll be talking more about that
on the other side of this break.
A full year, I say, eSports player.
It's a really counter-strike player.
It is a lot of work.
It is a lot of spending time with your team.
As a pro player, you need to sacrifice.
It's not just going to tournament, having some fun,
CSAT, you go around being a tourist.
It's pretty hard with all the travel and bootcamps
and practice from home and all of that.
But yeah, that's how it looks.
Travel days, it's always so tough.
We are traveling like all together,
like five players, coach, manager.
I mean, usually the year starts with a bootcamp
before the first tournaments.
In Navi, we are bootcamping quite a lot.
We tend to have a bootcamp at the start of the season.
at the end of the season, before the major,
and sometimes we might even have a bootcamp in the middle.
You have now grinded practices at home for two weeks,
maybe two days off, then you go into a tournament,
and you get met by extreme happy emotions
or extreme sad emotions.
The best part of all of this is definitely competition.
When you're making B fronts,
especially if you're winning a tournament,
you get the benefits of the hard work you put in.
When you're losing constantly,
Even if you might go home a couple of days earlier,
you're thinking of what would have happened
if we beat this team or win the tournament.
As appropriate, you need to fight to stay mentally strong.
You have to fix mistakes.
You have to adjust.
You have to prepare for the next day.
You go into the game and then you repeat.
This year was pretty hard for us, I would say,
because we had the bootcamp tournament
just a few days off than another tournament,
then again just three or four days off.
Getting energy again is one of the most important thing
for me. I've done this for 25 years now. I have my family close, I have my wife close
and those are the people I see the most, but not a lot.
You're traveling a lot of countries, sometimes even back to back, now they're turning home.
I'm used to it, I guess.
I think one of the most important things as a team is the team dynamic.
We are five people on the server and if one person missing outside the game,
automatically feels very less.
In Nalvin we try to have the balance of not spending time 24-7 with each other,
But I'm close with EMA for example, I'm close with Makaaza.
We might spend more time with each other.
Overall you're still going to be in the practice room with all your teammates for countless of hours a day.
When we, let's say, go out for dinner or we go for a teamwork, we always try to be together like the whole team.
Everybody has to commit to the same amount, sacrifice the same things.
And only then you can reach the trophies.
What makes the whole year worth it is the majors.
I always have the best feeling of my life when my parents were watching me and my best friends were watching me.
So I just think that's the peak of the tournament calendar.
Everyone is looking for winning and this is what makes competition like being real.
I'm here for one reason. I'm here to win everything I can.
And the day has stopped. I have time for everything else in my life.
3.
Inputting me or no?
You could include yourself if you want.
Honestly, you're gonna be pretty.
I just put the whole Vitality line up.
My dream roster right now in CS would be
Higel, definitely Apex.
I'm assuming I'm in there, so it's gonna be me.
We have Blitz, who is probably the sharpest Higel,
I would say.
If I have to make a squad to beat Vitality,
I'll make Niko Higel.
Because I think I see a lot of people
I'll make Niko ideal but as I think Isolated Vitality is really really big players to have Saivoo and then a really great role players
And if you want to beat them, I think you will have problems beating by the system the way they play right now
So you have to beat them by role 5 on just out of the gate. I think it's a no-brainer to pick
Zagwin don't get your team. I think it's just unfair
Yo, oh, it's me the band of that end of the school. It's so ridiculous
I don't think it needs any extra explaining, like they're not crossing each other's roles.
Yeah, they're the best currently.
I have no idea how this roster might work in terms of relationships,
like how they're gonna get used to each other and if it even could work.
But you know, Zayu is down.
All per, I would say Zayu.
I would put Zayu down because I think he's probably the best lifter in CS right now.
I'll take Monazze, I'll take Tank.
A multi-pride moment, but here's Dawgs!
Their beast, Apex, to him!
Another huge health advantage!
Time's ticking!
Dawgs out!
And we have an venture in Macy.
At this point, he is like the best one.
He passed more than a year.
Uh, ropes.
Apex, I went ropes surfing for a title,
which is by far the best teams in the last months.
Like, the last one year, let's say.
Robbs for the sake of being one of the world-class anchors for such a long time and right now in the top top one team
And he's been in for a long year of time and then we'll take it
Yes, okay, I would choose him because I think obviously he's really young but even though he doesn't have too much experience
He has shown how good he can be and I think he definitely has a bright future
Okay, okay, this is just go so far. I don't know is nothing else take a sugar and the last player
I would put Monacea as a hybrid. I just think Monacea just has the class, just has the talent.
He knows all of the situational utility. He understands how to play college,
so I just think it's an overall pretty tough team to be.
If we're saying that current roster vitality will all be in the state together and you can't have
any of them, who would you take instead? I would take the full roster of teams here.
You never know how a team connects. These players that seem to add something to the server
and make the team that's better.
I think that's unique and I think we've only seen that
in the Astralis Zero, where every player is really great
and they are making each other better.
And I think that is always the hardest
when you make a team that has to compete
for the finals on the first day basically.
Na'Vi take on B.
Fresh off of a trophy dub,
Not as Vincera joined the roster server once again.
They joined something.
They're here to take another trophy, if I'm not mistaken.
They're trying to make their way over towards Rotterdam.
Some lovely bridges, some beautiful waterways on there.
And I think it might just be smooth sailing
for a Navi team that's looking very good right now here, Jacob.
It may be in the first game,
but I want to speak top line stuff.
I kind of want to take a temperature check
on YouTube as well in terms of where you rate Navi.
Because, yes, what they did in Pro League was nice.
That was great, you know, winning a trophy,
especially in this day and age of Counter-Strike.
It's tough to speak to something about that.
Falcons haven't been able to do it.
Now, Navi did it with this current roster.
However, the field of teams, they're way to the final,
beating a Roar and a Bester Five.
It leaves questions, at the very least, in terms of,
okay, now you're showing us,
you can beat that caliber of teams.
What happens when you play a spirit
that is not losing to Astralis?
What happens when you play a vitally, per se,
that is the best team in the world?
Or Furia, who gets to act together?
That's kind of what I want to see
from Navi at this tournament.
I want confirmation that what we saw from Pro League,
which was great is something that we can start to expect from Navi because it hasn't been consistent
for a long time. We saw it at the major. They play well, they go into the semi-final, we think,
oh, are you going to win the major? Then they bar out of the semi-final. Then the next couple
of tournaments are so and so. So I want to see a bit of consistency and I want confirmation.
Is that too much to ask for? I don't think that's too much to ask for. In fact, I think
Navi have, if anything, proven that when they're given the chance, they're given an
opportunity, they won't drop it the same way a spirit or a mouse will just find a way to lose.
Now he will find a way to win when they're given a slightly easier path to the finals
when vitality is not there, when a mouse is going to lose, when a spirit is going to lose.
When they have a chance to find their way to a final, they're not going to let you down.
Blades going to come in with the ultimate game plan. Wonderful. I think he had some
a bit of choking issues in the past. I think he's starting to get over them.
You've got Macauze showing up. This is a team where I don't expect them to win a tournament
in this field. I expect them to get to the playoffs. I expect them to
have some good games, but I'm not sure I'd put them at the top of the bracket still.
They're a step below a spirit. They're a step below a fury and a vitality still for me.
I still did think it was quite funny that Blade gave that interview where he was like,
yeah, the season will be a disappointment if we don't win a trophy. Boom, immediately win a trophy.
Just they heard his directive and they said, yes, Blade, we will accomplish this.
We will get you a new Instagram photo.
Yeah, I think that's a massive step in the right direction for Navi that I think
a lot of people were starting to lose faith in. I think Navi were one of the teams that,
Given the situation and phase, you know, maybe maybe frozen come over and join us, you know
Let's let's strengthen our team a little bit. Maybe this puts that at hold for now, but that's kind of what I'm learning to write here
I want to remember they were trying to get sense you that too
You know, I think Navi is always send most teams always on the lookout for an upgrade
And I think there is different ways you can upgrade this team
But if anything right now the focus should be let's see now
We let's see what happens when you go into a tournament that is stacked with nine out of the ten best teams in the world
Can you replicate that kind of performance yourself and probably because if you can do two tournaments of three tournaments in a row
Then I'll start to buy into the project and maybe I'll as you said as well
Put them in the same category as a spirit and Mars
But for me still despite a first trophy that just beneath that threshold do a little bit of housekeeping here
Just taking a look at where we're at in terms of the groups group a here the one that we are currently dancing within
We've got the first result coming through falcons will be moving on into that second round winner of this match
will face up against them. So that's an interesting prospect. Falcons with a stand-in as well to
potentially make it through guarantee your spot in Rotterdam. I'd imagine that's a pretty
right prospect for say a Navi or perhaps a Bate as well. I think for either team to be completely
honest I think Falcons are even like okay that's not too bad beating a Navi in a game like that
that's doable so I think for all teams regardless of who's going to win this one I think both the
Bate and Navi they're going to feel comfortable walking into that game that we can win. Yeah
you're not looking at a matchup where you see maybe a Navi against a Vitality in the
the second round. If you were in Group B, you might see them get rolled over.
I think that's a great warm-up for a Falcons with a stand-in.
We presume they're still probably going to be with a stand-in for their next matchup.
And it's Navi kind of dipping their feet in this one as they get into this tournament.
I want to see them replicate at least some of the gameplay style.
I want to see Mikaze continue on his MVP path.
I want to see Wonderful continue to the heights that we've seen him hit for moments at a time.
If he can replicate that with consistency,
you're looking at a Navi that maybe can be in that next category, can be in the next year and can
compete for tournaments. As it stands, when their players show up on the right day at the same time,
when they can find Mikaze wonderful, they can find Bit all performing to their top level
on the same day, they can beat almost anyone but not anyone. But they can certainly beat
this Bit team because they've done it a lot before. This is a matchup that we're well
familiar with. Both sides are going to be well familiar with and it's been a matchup that
that has been very one-sided.
Despite some strong trunks for Bate in other games,
it just can't quite get past this game.
Navi squad.
No, I don't know what it is.
Would Bate, to be completely honest,
I think during the major, they did a decent job.
And for the majority of last season,
they were overperforming, I said.
They're doing better than I expected at the very least.
But then some weird roster changes coming into this season
haven't really found their footing.
Last six games, they lost five of those.
And they're more and more looking
like a team that is, instead of climbing upwards,
instead of confirming that, hey, this is a team
should be on the lookout for I feel like they're declining and right now
fighting just to stay within relevance. I think for a lot of 2025 you would think
of them a little more similar to what foot is doing right now where you're
looking at them on the upward trajectory you're looking can they make
the step into tier one can they make the next leap forward to actually compete
for tournaments rather than being this really solid upset team and foot
have taken that next step foot look like they're taking a step forward
into tier one and bait unfortunately after replacing headtrick they're
a step back. They're looking like they can lose to a lot of Tier 2 as well now.
What does feel like the difference there is those additions, right?
Long's huge for Foot for pushing them forward. He's been a huge dynamo, a huge
spark plug piece to get the wrestler roster performing well as well.
Meanwhile, Bates kind of still trying to figure out the answer, right? They had
Sekugawa in there for like two seconds. They said, nah, got rid of him.
They've got Sizi in now. He's a young 16-year-old offer. We don't really
know what to expect of him too much, but this is a bait team that they had a stability with
Hedrick, I would say, right? He was the kind of player who you know what his floor is generally
going to be. He might not be the kind of player to push your ceiling. Then you said, okay, the
ceiling's not high enough. We're going to tear out the floor at the hope of building up that
ceiling, but it's a risk, right? And we haven't necessarily seen it pay off for Baye.
No, I think that's a fine way of putting it out. It is a risk and it's a risk that they
needed to take if they wanted to take the extra step and maybe solidify themselves in tier two,
tier one counter strike. So I don't really fault bait for doing it. I don't really fault bait for
trying something. I'm not quite sure what the first pick up was all about. You're only going to play
two or three games and then get rid of him straight away. Sissy, as you said, coming in,
I saw Glimpses in Inclusion and Poker that he definitely has some flat to his skill,
he has some mechanical skills, but also was caught off guard like a ton in the game, you
know, where we see in terms of understanding playing counter strike at tier one level,
still a lot to be learned. So I'm still looking at bait as a team that can eventually,
in 26, rediscover some of that same form. Right now though in this specific matchup,
I think that quite far away from that. I think you you look at some of the
offers that have come out of tier two, tier three relative obscurity recently
and they almost bait teams into thinking oh we can just pick up an offer, we can pick up
Segukawa from the academy squad who has zero HLTV matches and we can make it work,
we'll find a diamond in the rough and what you realize is actually CS2 was really tough
for offers and Hedrick wasn't performing at the level maybe you wanted to perform at
But he was still a stable presence.
He still allowed the team to perform around him.
And now they just have this missing piece.
They have no floor, as you mentioned.
I think that's the right way to put it.
They have no floor to fall back to,
where you feel like you can feel comfortable predicting
where bait is going to play, how they're
going to perform against a tier two opposition.
At this point, you can't make heads or tails of it.
I mean, the thing about a diamond in a rough
is it's still a rare thing, rather,
even if you have to polish it.
Maybe they picked up the first stone, realized,
It wasn't as shiny as they thought it was going to be.
They pick up a different stone.
Remains to be seen how this one's going to turn out.
But prospect for the future,
I do want to turn the conversation back towards Navi
a little bit and to get us back on that track,
I figure why not hear from Alexi B.
Move a trophy.
That's got to feel good.
What has that done for the team?
Has it lifted your spirits, built your confidence?
I think so.
I think it's only natural to do so.
The thing is that we immediately travelled the day after, we tried to take the travel
day as a kind of like a day off, still had to wake up early and do all the necessary things
to get here and yesterday we practiced hard after media and the necessary preparations
so I just hope the whole team feels a bit more energetic now since coming off of the
final and yeah hopefully we're ready as a team.
Not so much time to soak in the victory though.
Speak about your young players, right?
Makase coming in with the MVP, wonderful, having a really good tournament as well.
What do you think about your young stars?
Are they bringing out firepower that you guys need?
Yeah, I think they were the reason we won.
And Makase overall, pretty tremendous tournament ever since the online stage into the playoffs.
So I just hope that they both can keep it up coming into this tournament.
And as a team, I just hope that we elevate our game up a notch.
We still didn't face the top four teams, the top five teams, so that's something we're
looking forward to this tournament.
Speaking about your opponents here, Bate, very familiar.
You guys have played them a lot recently, three matches in the last however many months.
What do you think about them?
I think that they had a long time now.
They knew that they were going to play the opening match against us.
They mean possibly watching us play throughout the EPL and they only had time to practice
now and prepare for us.
I think that they should have done their homework and we need to take it serious and we need
to trust the preparations we did yesterday evening and overall just trust in the process
and be ready for them.
Got to trust in the preparation.
I mean a lot of respect being shown towards Bait, Navi, some of these recent games have
gotten pretty dang close.
They've been some overtime maps even if the maps keep going the way of Navi.
See the thing is I buy what Alexa B is saying and I agree you know they've known
for a long time they're playing Na'Vi they can prepare maybe you're even argue
that bait should be a little extra motivated to take down a team like
Na'Vi given the domestic you know relationship there is between the two
but I will also say that if we talk about a Na'Vi that is punching upwards
that is punching you know to be considered the same as Maus and Spirits
and whatnot then there should be no question like you should be should walk
into this game and be like we're gonna win this game regardless you may
have known for six months that you're playing us in this game I don't
care we are significantly better than you are that's sort of like the
confidence I want Navi to us and I didn't really feel that in this issue.
I don't know if Alexi B is the person that comes out with that very
off, where he says, we're just going to destroy them.
Absolutely. I think he's a little more held back.
He's not going to say that type of thing.
I think that might be what they believe as a team, though, that they believe
they've beaten this team three times in a row.
I don't think they've dropped the map over time is the closest it got.
Mike, the other time is it?
I think that's very fair, right?
And it is just very Alexi, very this squad in general,
to be super understated and respectful of your opponent.
But the reality is we do expect this to be a Navi team that's very prepared for it.
They've also done the match up recently.
They've done the match up a lot recently.
I can't imagine all that perhaps gone out the window, even with Sizi now in
potentially being a little bit of that Joker effect.
You don't really know what this guy's going to bring yet.
No, and I think that's a fair point.
But I would even turn around the conversation and be like,
they'd have their own problems to solve, you know,
they have their own issues to figure out.
So yeah, you can put a lot of focus on Navi and try to anti-strat to a
degree where that may win you a map or that may win you you know an opportunity to to make it
competitive and close but in its sense I feel like bait is probably better off focusing on
themselves because they have a lot of stuff to figure out as well. Yeah I mean when you're looking
at when you're looking at Sizi as the X factor I almost feel like it's the situation where it's
I could pick Hedrick or I could get Sizi who he might even be as good as Hedrick sometimes
he's just not he's just not performed at the level that we're hoping or I'm sure
beat is hoping he performs that quite yet. I think he still needs a little bit of time.
I think it's important to clarify. Yes, lots of time, perhaps. He's 16. This is like his highest
level of competition outside of some games on an academy team. And not even many. It's not
like he had a lot of time on an academy team. He is so very new to this level of play that,
yeah, I think time is certainly the case. You just have no clue what you have with him.
I'm not saying he's old and washed, Mike. I'm just saying that he's not quite at the
level where I expect he's gonna go up against the Navi and be the X factor that carries them
over the finish line. I'd like to be proven wrong. I just haven't seen that from him quite yet.
I think he needs a little bit more time to develop. And just a few days, you know, knowing
maybe a week in advance that you're gonna play Navi, I don't think it's enough of a
benefit for Bate to actually push them over the finish line. And I'll say like this as well.
Again, you know, spending the conversation that goes both ways. If you're a blade,
you look towards Sissy, you look at two or three of his demos and you're like, okay,
this is this is everything this kid got to offer. You know, take Tosya as an example.
when he first came in to a mouse, was flying all over the place, you know, aggressive.
Then people figured it out, then it took Torsi what it was, six months, 12 months before he
got up to speed again. He had to reinvent himself, had to mature as a player since he's not even in
step one in that whole process. First and foremost, he has to prove to us that he has the capabilities,
the mechanical skills and the understanding of the game to be relevant on a team like
Bait for a longer period. That's when people start to look at him. That's when they start
to figure him out. That's when he has to reinvent himself and add layers to his game
play right now if you're played it probably takes you five to ten minutes to
figure out okay this is what he offers that is what he's going to do so in
terms of preparation I don't really see the clear-cut advantage going the way of
bait I think it's pretty much 50-50 I was curious about him I wanted to find out
a little bit more about city so I talked to the guy so let's go ahead and
give a listen to what he had to say to see very new to this level of play
young guy in what's the experience been like in bait so far
My team is giving a lot of space to me. I'm feeling good. I think I can play good.
Now I was just talking to MPL. He said he thinks you can be one of the best operas in Counter-Strike.
What does that kind of praise from a teammate mean to you?
It's really good for me.
And for anyone who's not familiar with you, how would you describe the way you play Counter-Strike?
What kind of an oper are you?
I think I'm a smart oper and also I can play aggressive. Some ways.
Should we be expecting that aggression today?
Yeah, of course.
Are you going to take down Navi?
Yeah.
At least B didn't want to say it.
He didn't?
He said it.
Says he says it.
A little bit of confidence, a little bit of a smirk there.
I think it's exciting, right?
I mean, if we've learned anything
over the last few years of Counter-Strike,
it's that anytime a random 16-year-old you've never
heard of during the roster, you should pay attention.
You should sit up in your seat a little bit,
because this kid might just be nuts.
And NPO clearly thinks this guy can be electric.
To my surprise as well, I think
made a great point before, you know, with the whole orping discussion. It's very
tough right now, Wu, to find capable or players to replace. You know, Hedrick was
maybe not performing to the level that you expect, but he wasn't bad either.
Look at all the other teams that we're discussing right now. Broke, Ian Faiz, or
Sun Peers, NG2, whatever it may be. Like, how do you replace our opponents when
there's no one to replace you? So, one thing is that you're forced to go for
16-year-old, because there's no one else to pick. Another one is that
that's kind of how the market is at right now. So, I feel personally it's
It's very tough to expect anyone to come in and be the next Molo, there was a 1 in a
million almost.
So, I would temper my expectations for Sissy.
If he can get to the level of Headtrick in terms of consistency within the next six months,
maybe you get lucky with that.
I do think Sissy does bring a little bit more than Headtrick in terms of aggression.
That might be why they wanted to remove Headtrick to begin with.
He was a little too passive at times.
And I think Sissy can show that.
I like that NPL is giving him a little bit of confidence.
He can be the best offer out there.
It's going to take some time.
take a while if he's gonna get there, but at the very least you can see where the ceiling could go
if he could find some consistency, if he can find the game sense at this level. But I mean,
hell, we've got an ultimate for Team Liquid that's been here for a year, still talking about the same
issues. I think this is an offer problem. It's tough to bring offers in. I think this is also
a facet. This is a conversation I've been thinking about and wanting to have for a little
while. So I'm just gonna chew hornet in here because we've got some time. The pace
This is so quick in Counter-Strike, and especially in this world of the VRS where it's so easy
to tumble down the rankings if you make some missteps, the tolerance for players to develop
and evolve over time, it's just not there anymore.
It's very hard to take the time to develop players because the system's so brutal
that we're discounting people after six months of play, after a year of play, where if
you look at this guy, 16-year-old kid coming on in here, AWPing prospect, it's
tough to do at anything approaching a tier two, tier three level even, much less
on a stage like this against a team like Na'Vi?
Yeah, I don't disagree with that, but it works both ways,
because then let's say Cissi doesn't work out.
He then joins a team maybe beneath the level of Bate,
and then the way to the top, you know, the way into VIS
is also easier than it's ever been.
It just takes one or two tournaments where you do well,
and all of a sudden you're in contention
to qualify for a Major.
So it worked both ways.
If anything, I think it's just a concept of,
we've been very lucky there, say it,
with gifted players like Seivu coming in
and becoming the best player in the world in his first year.
You have Don coming out of nowhere being this gem
that no one saw coming. You have a Moldova who all of a sudden becomes a top contender as well.
That's not normal, you know, to have three players like that in the span of two or three years
is not normal. So I think in that regard, that's why I want to temper the expectations just a little
bit. As you said, Mike, he's 16 years of age, maybe in a year from now we can have a different
conversation about him. But in this game against Navi against Wonderful, good luck.
I actually kind of want to highlight the players that you spoke about as a contrast, right?
Because if we look at them, one of the things that's true about a lot of them is that they
They did actually have more time before they hit that spotlight.
Right? Zai Wu took a little bit longer to get to the stage because he wanted to finish
high school first.
So he was playing in AAA or whatever, playing random French lands, and everyone knew he
was going to be incredible.
It was just a question of when he made that jump.
You had a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a,
a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a,
a year on that Academy team playing different roles being put in different spots being developed
as a player so they use more of a sure thing when he came through. If you look at a monocity,
if you look at a macaque, they've come through from those Academy systems. Sizi hasn't had that
luxury necessarily. And I think that that is an argument for we were talking with Zonic
about the Academy team and how it has made it easier to integrate nucleons as a prospect.
This Academy era, having some sort of an on-road to top level play could be so important
for these prospects. I very much agree with that which is why I'm super super sad that the
we play academy league no longer exists why the academy team in modern day day and age counter
strike no longer exists. Falcons are one of the few teams you know top organizations who have a
dedicated academy team saw Navi as well they sold off their academy team they became foot they
became a great team one of the hottest prospects right now. I agree with you it's just the
landscape of the scene right now is that if you're sissy either you play face it or you
play for bait there's no in between there's no academy team to join there's no I guess slowly
and surely being modest and coming into the game, you have to perform from the get-go and it's hard,
you know. I'm not discrediting that, but that's just the landscape of Counter-Strike.
I think when we're talking about contrast with Zywoo and Donk to this type of player,
I mean, we've got a great contrast on the team with him. They've got NPL. You know, he went to
Navi, really struggled. He goes to the level below and he's come out. He's kind of a diamond
in the rough. I think he's improved over time. He's become a very solid player. You
wouldn't necessarily have expected that based off his time on Navi.
And I think there's a few examples like that in the scene right now.
I mean, Fuzio over on Astralis is a great example where he came up with the young ninjas,
got slaughtered in the main roster, underperformed our expectations,
but then went on a world tour of Chinese teams, North American teams, finds his way back in.
He's a hell of a good player at this point.
You see examples of this again and again where I think the scene and teams are just too quick
and too harsh to judge players. And part of that is just the demands.
The demands are so fierce. Every tournament, there can only be one winner at the end of the day.
I disagree and it may be the cynic in me because do you think Fusi would have been the player
here today if he hadn't been caught from those teams early days?
If he hadn't had those experience, if he hadn't been sent to NA and had to suffer
for six or 12 months or however long he was there, it builds character, Mike.
And it builds players and some players, you use them as great examples, there's
also a ton of players who did that and never came again, who never got that next step
and never got to the next team.
So I think if anything, it's just part of maturing, it's part of growing up,
it's part of learning.
If anything, you know adversity as we know it in life, it builds character and I think Fusi is a great example of that.
Well, focusing in on back onto the players that we've got here, we're going to focus up just a little bit.
I think this is a nice segue into talking about Mikaze, right?
Because Mikaze is a player who came from the academy, came from that Navi academy team.
His teammates go off to foot, he moves up to the main roster, and there was a little bit of an on-road.
I mean, there's that famous Suwe Tweet, whatever it was, interview segment, we don't have to bully him too much.
We'll focus on Mikaze.
Took a little bit of time to get up to speed.
Now we see an MVP level performance at the ESL Pro League.
Navi is being rewarded for their investment,
for their expectation, for giving Mikaze some time
to turn the corner, to perform at the level
that they're hoping he can.
Yeah, I mean, he also had plenty of time
on that Navi Academy roster as well.
He onboarded onto that team.
You saw the way they played.
They played a style, I think,
that was adopted from the Navi system as well.
He played a really interesting brand of CS,
and you still bring him on to that Navi roster,
it still takes some time.
He was kind of a liability, especially on certain maps,
especially on Inferno for a while.
He was really struggling on that map
and I have to give credit to the coaching from Navi
to even develop him while he's on that roster
because I think a lot of coaches
you bring a player on like that
and he's either ready for that level
or he's getting replaced.
And I think he was never at a point
where he needed to be replaced,
but I'm impressed with how much he's developed
to be an MVP level player in this short of a time period.
I think it is incredible for Macauza.
That's exactly what Navi needs, right?
We're speaking about a team that, once again,
has to establish themselves as a team
that we put in the same category as Maus, as Spirit,
you know, maybe a contender to vitality
for a trophy down a line.
It requires someone within the team to step up
and the player with the most potential.
Like, we know what we get from him, right?
We spend around four long, long time.
We sort of know what we get from Wanda4.
We definitely know what we get from LXB as well
and a bit for that matter.
So the one, I guess, unknown within the Navi camp,
the one player that can maybe elevate himself
And the team to a higher level is MacCasey, which is why it's such a great thing for them that he played so well at Pro League, which is also, you know, we're running back to my point from the get-go.
I want confirmation. I want confirmation that that is a MacCasey that we can count on for the future because we've seen glimpses of it.
But what we saw Pro League was by far the best performance he's had over a longer period.
It also feels like it's so important for who he was replacing for this team, right, JL.
I mean, it's been a while at this point, but that he's still the role that he was coming into.
And in addition to the individual theatrics, heroics that we're seeing from MacCasey,
We're also seeing just, he's smiling, he's having a good time,
he's bringing up the energy, he's bringing the vibes in a way
that we used to expect JL to do for this team.
And so I think there's multiple pieces to him getting confident,
him getting comfortable, that's starting to elevate
this Navi roster.
And it speaks again to another Blade interview
where he was saying, I think one of the big things
we're lacking in some of these games is firepower.
If that firepower increases, this is a Navi team
that's built to contend.
I agree, but that's also my concern for Navi,
because I only feel my car can elevate the firepower
by so much, you know, he's not, he's not a Q shoot,
could prospect just yet.
He's not a Niko or a monocene that we got
in terms of raw firepower.
He's definitely a player that can evolve and get better.
But if that is to be the case,
rule that Navi lacks a bit of firepower,
sure adding Makassi in top form is going to help a bit
with that, but then you still lean more coming out from bid.
You still need more from Emma.
And when you compare Navi to the likes of Falcons,
to the likes of Spirits, to the likes of Vitality
for that matter, they do like firepower.
Yeah, I mean, when you look at JL's peak,
I think JL came seventh in the HLTV Top 20
and Macaulay could try and challenge for that.
But even when you looked at that Navi roster,
when Jail was the seventh best player, you look at that
and you still said that team is more than the sum
of their parts.
They could use more firepower.
They aren't winning events based off their ability
to out aim the opponent.
It's because they really developed the meta on Mirage,
especially it was like an unbeatable map for them.
They don't have a map like that at the moment.
So they actually need to perform consistently
across all maps against what is likely a better scene
in terms of fragging power,
in terms of consistency across top teams.
You didn't have a Falcons with Kiyosuke, Niko, and Monosie
when Navi were competing to be the best in the world with JL.
That's fair.
The level has risen around them.
But I do think the Navi level is still increasing.
And I think part of it is also this guy, wonderful.
He had a really good pro league.
At one point, he's being looked at
as one of these top potential prospects in the world.
And obviously, that started faded quite a bit
over the course of 2025.
But if he can get back to that 2024 form,
If he can be more consistent, always a buzzword that we're focusing on here.
A hard thing to do as an AWPer, but the EPL performance I think has to be encouraging.
Especially the playoff performance from Wonderful.
Online was one thing once they got into the playoff.
He was definitely the spearhead together with McCarthy in that trophy.
I agree. We also saw him doing the Major.
You know, that Wonderful had a high top level.
I think he was the one, a lot of people pointed towards like he's the most replaceable player with a Navi
with a Navi at the end of 25 up until the major where he then played exceptionally well,
cooled off a little bit, didn't get off to a good start in 26 and now he had pro league.
So when you say consistency, it's a word that we use all the time and it's a word that
everyone is looking to figure out how do I get consistent.
I think he's a great example of a player that when he's on it, when he's feeling
it, when he's confident, he helps Navi become a totally different team, but he
has flaws in terms of his consistency.
I would say that wonderful is a great example of how hard CS2 is for AWPers because you
You look at wonderful and you do think he could be better.
We could get someone better, but then you try and actually list out who could we get that's better.
There's really no answer except for the best offers in the world that just aren't going to leave their team.
You're not going to get a Zywoo to replace him.
And so although he was the target of much chagrin, people really wanted him gone from this roster.
I don't think it would have been a good idea.
It's shown out to be a, it would have been a terrible move based on the major, based on this recent event.
I think he's finding a little bit more consistency.
And what I really like is that he's performing in the big moments because when we did see him on Navi initially
He did have struggles in those grand finals
He did have maps where he took off and with a Navi roster that's already kind of on the edge of not having enough
Firepower you need your offer to be consistent. You need to find those frags in the big moments
I think it's also key to to mention that he's still very young
He's still just 21 right and if we look at offer peaks or where we start to see that consistency that
Reliability of offers tends to be a little bit older
you know, outside of some prodigy exceptions.
But I think there's still a lot of room to develop,
and we do see that.
We'll have to see if he's going to be bringing that level
to the server today,
and the question's going to be, where are the maps?
So, it's time for the Vita.
MUSIC
We've had a lot of games between these teams.
They've tried a lot of maps over on the bait side.
Anything we're expecting today?
No Anubis, seemingly.
I think Mirage is a map that I would anticipate to be in contention to be part of this map pool.
The overpass coming out as well makes an awful lot of sense.
They played a lot, as you said, Mike, so question is, if you're bait,
are you going to try to stay in a different direction, try something new,
or do you think that you learned enough from your losses that you're willing to play the same maps?
I think one of the things on the other hand is that the last time these teams played,
Navi actually didn't ban overpass in the first round. They banned Ancient instead,
and I thought that showed they gave a lot of respect to bait,
that they said hey we need to change things up because we're worried about what you can bring to this game.
Now they go back to the standard ban, they ban it and they pick Ancient. Yeah this this I think this is
a Navi that's that's perfectly confident with this. They may have been a little bit tentative in the
interview saying you know that they've got a lot of time to prepare. I think Navi is completely ready.
I agree you know you have a Mirage of Ancient. If you're big right now you couldn't really
ask for much more regardless of the third map it's not going to be inferno. Nuke is definitely
off the grass right here. Could be the map that should decide it all but I think you're right
I think Navi is showing that they have, you know, maybe respect for fate
But they don't really respect them enough to stay away from it
And then if you're bait you you're pretty happy with this map pool
You're talking you're talking three maps where you have a realistic chance of making a game out of all of them
This is something at MPL touched on when we were talking pregame as well as like this is a tough matchup, right?
There's there's no obvious place to go in the veto. There's a lot of challenges here
They know that stylistically Navi is a challenge for them
The question is as baits found anything to get over this wall have they found any magic thing
Outside of Sizi, who are you looking at?
What could be the key here for Bay for challenging this one?
Based on recent performances, no.
I don't see anything that's changed within Bay.
They've lost five out of the last six games.
Quite convincing in some of them as well.
I agree with you, NPL, a diamond in the rough.
I think he, individually speaking, has been showing up more often than not.
So if he's having a great game, especially in the roll-wood in the team,
that's a win condition, but it's something like we just saw with NIG.
Even though NPL could sit on 25 kills,
I'm not sure the rest of the team is up for it, you know, in order to contest with Navi.
So it takes more than one pledge for the whole for bait would be that they found some inconsistencies in Navi.
Maybe they found something that they're going to be weak to maybe they're weak to aggression on ancient.
We've seen Navi struggle sometimes in middle on ancient, but the problem is that this is a Navi team
that doesn't have too many obvious flaws other than their firepower.
And when you look at Navi against bait, firepower isn't going to be a problem for Navi in this matchup.
So I just I just don't think beat has really anywhere to go, except for to play really solid counter strike as a team and and hope that Navi don't show up to the level that they can.
Hopes prayers, maybe a little divine intervention. We see the huddle ups going on as these teams get ready to lock on into the server.
I mean, I think we're all unified here, right? There's an expectation. There's one team coming off of the trophy ready to try and do it again and another team that's very much still finding their footing.
But that is added pressure. I don't want people at home not to understand the concept of when you just won a trophy, you know, just a couple of days ago, you go straight from one tournament to another.
Now you play your first game in a matchup that you should be winning 9 out of 10 times. That is added pressure towards Navi, let alone the fact that if they lose this game, they have to go through a tough lower bracket run as well.
So there's definitely a lot of pressure on Navi, despite them being the favorites.
And I mean Navi is still looking at the RS trying to get to stage 3 as well
It is something that I think they have to worry about
There is pressure on them to prove themselves
But I don't think they're gonna fall against a big roster
Well with those roars of battle racing through the hall that can mean only one thing
It means that it's time for us to get into the game and so our casters will take it away
Enders and Henry G. We got for us. Oh, we've got all sorts
Michael, but royalty is in the building. Not only do we have Anders Blum on the
mic, we have got the king of Sweden, Mikazi, MVP of Pro League, stepping on to
the server against a full Ukrainian squad in the form of Bates. Now it's a match
that we saw at Pro League as well. They played at stage two. Actually some pretty
decent games. They went to overtime on Mirage, which is going to be the opening
map here, and it was 13-7. Pretty easy victory for Nabi in the second map,
but still, I feel like Bates are a very good team. With the addition of
Sizi, 16 years old, he is one of those superstar prospects for the
WP in the future you better be because this Navi team is looking very scary and it's it's insane
I cause he went from the Academy team to being the MVP in Stockholm like right so dangerous
And it's what they needed everyone's been saying it now. We needed something like this
I know that they had the philosophy at one point of not really building your own superstars
But they do need some star power and my car seems to be the one to step it up right now
He is consistent. I feel like every time I watch Navi play he seems so confident
He's always top-fragging for them and if wonderful can find that grand final formula
We saw and to close out that best of five and Stockholm. There is a real good chance
They pay this one to bed 2-0, but that is the problem wonderful does have his problems with consistency
That's the one play you have to keep your eye out for because sometimes he just drove off the AWP
Sometimes he looks at one of the world's best snipers go against city today as well
Fellow countrymen could be an interesting battle and there's that's all I'm gonna say
Yeah
We start off on Mirage as well
which is a map that doesn't always lend itself to a lot of great op-ing.
Obviously, you can have the impact, but there are just so many needs that are used nowadays to lock you out.
Yeah, to lock you out is very hard to do, you know.
Well then, this is going to be our second game here at Blast Open Rotterdam 20-26 underdogs Bates.
Looking to prove themselves as Nabi, certainly the favourites here.
But Anders, do you believe in the champagne hangover?
Do you believe in after winning a tournament, focus could drop off?
You're not having the same level into the next tournament.
I think it's absolutely a real thing and I think the pressure is also on and Navi is not one of these teams that's won so many things that they can just relax and say, oh, it doesn't really matter.
Yeah.
Like they need to keep winning. Like it would be great if we could start. I don't want to say anything like a Navi era. They've won one tournament but they do need to get something building. They are a legendary organization.
They've got a legendary coach and blade right here behind them. I'm sure he'd love to put more trophies in the cabinet.
I feel like Blade was instrumental in their victory over in Stockholm as well.
He seems like he's got such a firm grasp of the understanding of mentality of his squad as well.
He knows when things are getting out of hand. He knows how to calm everyone down
and he seems to have a very solid game plan there.
As long as they follow it and don't panic, they seem to be a world-beating team.
That's the problem though, if they can keep their mental in the game,
if they can recover from fumbled rounds and clutches of full awry.
Which is going to happen in this game. It's a very talented roster.
They managed to take a map of Spirit and Pro League as well.
Apples and Mirage, if you give them 13-4, Anderson.
So if they turn up, they can hit incredibly hard.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's Navi taking on Bates here.
The opening game here at the blast open.
We'll get into Mirage.
Anderson, take us away.
Well, we're going to start with Navi on the CT side.
Bate on that T side.
Already, I'm seeing an enormous amount of utility for Bates.
So this is going to be really interesting.
That's an unusual amount of grenades on the T side.
It might have to restart the round.
Oh, I just gave it the beans for no reason.
OK, we'll reel it back in.
They got us, they got us good memory.
Got out of the chair and everything.
All right.
Had to stand up just to purify Simon.
But let's assume they buy the same amount of utility.
Like, that's a lot of grenades.
That means they're going to be a lot less armor
and play on the T side.
You're going to be potentially able to be chipped down
by the USPs a lot more.
Kind of curious how this plays out.
With Psyduck, the mascot of, OK, Emma, I like that.
He had a fantastic tournament over in Stockholm as well.
I think he proved his haters wrong.
He had some incredible performances.
For me, he was in the conversation with MVP as well.
I thought he looked fantastically entire tournament.
Makaazi certainly stole the show.
Okay, and so try again.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's Bates taking on Navi.
We'll kick things off on Mirage.
We got a CT staff on Navi and the plucky underdogs.
We'll try their luck with a plethora of utility
as they make their way towards B this time.
It makes a lot of sense.
If they can just get a couple of good flashes over,
maybe a good Molotov summer in the back.
They know that Alexey's gonna be playing here.
He loves playing by this van.
If you look at the amount of time that he spends here
in any given round, it is enormously big.
Gonna be falling back a little bit now.
Backup is not that close by.
So Alexey, do you stay and fight to the death
or do you slink back into the market
and try and stay alive for the retake?
Oh, he's almost made it around the corner,
but not quite.
Isentiel will take him down instead.
The bomb is gonna be planted here
and a very tough retake now for Navi.
Bombs not down yet. It's looking a little bit problematic, but there we go.
A convincing enter the round as we do have actually a 2 vs 1.
Bit still in this, but a little bit closer than it had to be.
Where was that bomb plant?
I don't know. He was...
I assumed that it was going to be planted as I was saying the word.
I thought that's fine, because you could see in the minimap
he was right on top of the plant spot.
They just waited it out for a long time and it worked out anyway.
Well, there we have it.
Smoke execution from the T side, given great space in the map.
I sent the AWP with the double kill through smoke, adding to get himself three kills in total.
A pretty clean finish, no bomb plan required.
They can't believe it.
Miles around. Yeah, they're laughing already.
Yeah, it's a very, very nice execute onto the site.
Alexi, you could see if there's a moment there where he's not sure if he wants to stay
or if he wants to go and just go for a full five on five retake.
5 retake. I mean that's a hard choice to make anyway, so I don't really blame them for being
a bit confused about that.
Well we have got the 4-spy in response here. Navi can be very problematic to deal with in
these sort of rounds. Mikazi's Deagle especially is very potent, but he takes a heavy grenade
at the start and has 60 points of health. Petroleum towards that window room on the
CT side here. Smoked off and now going to take some speculative spam through the
smoke. Not connecting just yet. Pissing some holes, seeming to get some information
here never grenade landed his front door more damage inflicted his round pretty
much nullified down to 12 points of health great map control so far from
Bates sneaking in one of these Mac 10s it's a high-risk maneuver but only
risking the SMG such a shame that my car's is so low already because he's
trying to help out that B-bombsite which does need a lot of help he's still
gonna get the head shot though Alexi's taking down the Mac 10
There's just so many targets, but they still have to make their way past McCarthy
It shouldn't be a problem and eventually get the job done there, but if he landed that headshot, I don't know what would have happened
Feels like that Mac 10 could have got more kills. Well, there we go
Looks to be a comfortable finish here for baits two players remain its bits and wonderful
Mac 10 recovered short. You don't necessarily want to take that forward
You actually ideally want to go for a killing at the extra of $600 on the exits here and wonderful
Beagle Kevlar might as well do the same thing give himself something to work with going forward here
But they will not be trying to do much more than look for the exit kills
But this is the start there bait needed
Should be three zero after this one bid this hoping for one kill. I think he gets this
$600 in the bag if you take everyone down and there's there is an argument to be made you could force by dead
Especially with bit farming this sort of catch me gets this kill that almost certainly gonna force five doesn't happen
Now it's a bit of a question. The thing is people have $4100 to the next round
If they wanted to buy and as you can have one of your star players rifle
Kavlar ends it a follow-up knowing that you've done considerable damage in this particular round
I mean it is tempting right?
The thing is when you're the favorite so you don't need to take those sort of risks
But I will see what they've got a best sleeve there's the M4 and armor
Okay, we come for a farmers instead. Okay. Yeah, I don't want to go crazy
easy. He's actually downgraded all the way to an MP9. That's fine. He wants to keep the
money strong, you know? That's kind of funny though, because it's almost like a live preview
into the conversation that's happening on the team. It's like, now I'm down. We need some
money going forward. And they do lose Mikazi early on. I just also imagine that Blade
is the kind of coach that isn't going to frown upon the idea of forcing an early
M4. I feel like he's going to be, you know, playing to the strength and playing
for the statistics on that one. But maybe the solo MP9 could do a bit of work here.
So far, Bit hasn't really managed to find the timing.
Smoke is very annoying and they're going to put up more grenades towards that jungle position
to make his life very, very tricky here.
They're well aware that someone could be in here.
I think maybe get one kill.
I don't think he'd get a lot more than that at the moment.
Actually, better than I thought.
They've all maybe made their air around the corner.
Goes back.
Oh!
It's into the great headshot!
Okay, he's paid off his debts for the MP9 now.
Nice.
Gets himself $1,200.
I don't think the round goes much further than this.
They don't have Kevlar on these three CTs once again.
Looking for those exits.
KZ confirms the round with that kill.
Wonderful would love to get one and steal a rifle away if possible,
but sitting in the smoke right now, two players he decides.
Not long for this world, I'm afraid.
Alexi B, can he find one?
I doubt it.
KZ will actually shut it down, and they've got themselves
in a prime position here in the opening stages of Mirage.
3-0 up.
Money's looking strong.
But here comes the first gun round here.
And there should be plenty of cash,
especially with bits, finding those couple of kills on the MP9.
Yeah, it's very good work.
At the end of the day, the downgrade from the M4 to the M4 to the MP9.
Yeah, right, it's worth it.
Like, it actually made a lot of sense at the end.
So, pretty good work.
They managed to do some damage to the economy on the T side as well.
You'll definitely take it.
Now, the chips are down.
Bates got the momentum on their side of the serve-up.
Here's the AWP for 1-4 though.
As mentioned, fantastic in the grand final,
but he definitely had some matches where he didn't turn up
throughout their campaign in Stockholm.
It's one of the big things separating the good orpers from the truly great.
Absolutely.
Yeah, I agree with that.
It's had a lot of criticism recently about that performance in the grand final speaks for itself.
Yeah, but just to echo what the Desk was saying as well, right?
Like, who would you replace him with?
It's the issue.
Like, there's not a big list of candidates where you say,
oh yeah, we'll totally get rid of wonderful and then we'll just get,
well, who?
You know, who's the next name on that list?
Sizi would have been ideal.
would have been ideal.
Sizi might be one of them.
If not for the visa issue, I don't even know how to use someone like Dexter, but, you know,
well, I think Z.
That's what matters for me.
Ooh, through the smoke as well.
Kenses all goes down.
That is a way to announce your participation in the match here.
Alex is going to get a kill and return to Onikaze, and now Alexi back here needs
some backup.
It's not going to be there in time.
Ima, he'll get away and kill before anything else happens, and actually swings into the
monitor for the triple.
That is so greedy from Ima.
He had to go for it though.
XB going down with nothing there, was a very scary prospect for Navi.
Imap through the fire and flames, runs the gauntlet,
manages to get that triple kill and shuts it down, denies the plant,
and that's the Navi we know and love there.
It was looking very good there.
Mikazi goes down in the opening stages of the round once again.
He's one of four.
Hoping that smoke open.
Look at that teamwork, and there's really nice stuff.
Speaking of nice, this was too far.
Imap saves the day,
goes down in the flame short but the round was one so we got a full investment
here quite a week one we've got an SMG a Desert Eagle and a Galil in the hands of
Alex opening kill looks promising it's wonderful okay not what he was looking
for exactly the timing is just unfortunate isn't it but they've been
testing out that B bombs are the lot baits in the early rounds here which
is a bit unusual I think that they're sort of making a point to beat up
on Alexei as much as they can and maybe force Navi to to make some different
decisions on the defense. Both teams favor the A bomb site by some margin on
this map so then again if you can force Alexei to feel uncomfortable then maybe
you can change that defense quite a bit. So far no kills in the middle but
they're all here there's nobody in the B hallway so one of the A Palace at
all the entire bait team is just sitting around the middle of the map
That's a bit risky, potentially.
Opening kill for Bait once again.
Mikazi, he's forcing the issue, forcing these fights.
He's trying to assert his dominance,
trying to find that form he had in Stockholm.
So far, no good.
They hear hard this Bait team, especially on Mirage.
Specialty map for them.
Got themselves the opening kill.
Damage taken, but here comes him up,
and Alexi B looking to pince it towards connector.
Might be able to get it, and he will.
Good trade though with Centiel, quick on the trigger, Alexi being there and now it's just
a bit in the sandwich position, takes down Centiel, two versus two is that kill, only
for a second Alexi, he's pulled out the USB, I don't know how.
They know exactly where Kenzie Zor is, but can he do anything with this, doesn't opt to
pick up the upgraded weapon, stays on the Mac 10, you're right, 10 seconds, nothing
he can really do with this one, bomb down, we'll find the AWP and it means at least
to have something going forward, it's gonna be an eco but it's one of those weird
ones.
stage of Kevlar, but only $2,000 per player otherwise. So, do you go all in? It's early
stages, you can take that risk, but it will mean if you lose the round, your money is going
to be in tatters at this.
Yeah. I feel like they've kind of taken the fight to Navi. They've been very respectful,
very respectful performance so far for bates. They've been good at hitting the shots.
I feel like they should have confidence here. Look at how they're defeating
Mikazi in this moment. Aren't they tempted to keep the pressure on?
I would say Makazi, call your jets.
He's getting too aggressive at the start of these rounds,
trying to find his open up.
He's died every single round so far and had little impact.
But it is going to be the eco round of safe orb.
Sizi, though, about to save one of the most promising prospects
in the sniper category we've seen in some time.
He shut down early.
It's going to be a nice double kill for Emma.
And that should be all Shirou.
But there is a chance of a plant.
That would do nicely.
Bomb does go down, though.
They get some B side control,
but what can you really do with it?
Nothing is the answer.
There's the bomb top mid.
Yeah, I feel a little bit closer.
I feel like there was a, you're not wrong.
Like they could have definitely made their way there,
but they just, I don't think they may be expected
to get B that quickly.
I think they thought there was going to be more
of a battle going on there.
Still going to be another round for Navi.
Will she'll tap the score?
Make it a 3-3.
Alex would love to save the AWP.
For another minute, though, I feel like eventually,
they know that it's on the map.
They're going to be able to find him here, sneaking on in,
Flip doesn't quite connect and nobody dies on the Na'Vi side either.
First time, Mikazi has survived.
They're levelling up, finding their footing here on their opponent's pick.
We'll take the first tactical time out now.
Lexi B, stabilizing the squad.
It's now down to Bates.
They took the Faleca in the previous round with their AWP, didn't find much.
Blade will be aware of what they're up to though. He knows they're going to change the pace. They love a set piece.
I've commented to this team on Marat plenty of times. They love just going in towards a set piece,
setting up their stars to try and hit shots. You're going to see a lot of that from Bates.
We'll see if there's one of those rounds. Here's the boost.
Didn't work out for him. The flashbang came in. You can see how blind they were. It's a great shot.
Well, that's about to ask you because it's been, you know, six rounds now, but we haven't seen those default A executes
with the smokes towards like, you know, jungle and all of that stuff.
They're coming.
Don't worry about that.
You guarantee.
Of course, you can live trade the game on polymarket.com,
official prediction market of Blast Premiere.
See Na'Vi looking quite comfortable in that regard right now.
Yes, they are.
Round number seven here.
Even aids to that top mid positional.
Singe, Alex, just a bit.
Bones dropped back in T spawn, so they're not committed to anything yet.
It's a bit of a default opening here.
MPL already taken down from bits, not a great start for them.
Mac 10 as well, Galileo in play,
so you can tell that the economy is
not exactly as strong as they'd like right now
on the bait side of things.
Alex though, it's an important kill.
Emma wants to stand this ground,
he's been very aggressive in these fights.
They're dropping like flies though, Anders.
We go to four on two, make it one,
and they know exactly where Kenzie's door is
and he's only got that Mac 10 jumping around.
And yeah, this is looking a little bit scary now
as baits get nothing done in round number seven.
No grenades, no firepower,
just hoping that a CT intercepts a mark here,
but you know he's got the Mach 10,
you don't need to go hunting for it.
Let him keep it.
I guess that's one of the dangers of running a default
as opposed to the set pieces is sometimes
when you just get picked off like this one
by one by one across the map,
it feels like such an empty round.
Well, you can see on the mini map right now,
we have one dead towards Palace,
one dead towards A round, one towards middle.
And it's just like, yeah,
everyone had a poke around the map,
completely taken down. None of it worked. Alexi's got it drawn here. There it is. So $600 in the bag.
Maybe another one. Okay, getting expensive now, but sloppy from Navi. Don't really need to
challenge us at all. He hasn't got the bomb bearer in mind. He can't win the round. And now he has
got the AK. I guess I'll take it. Just got a little bit of money from the Mac 10 there. Yeah,
that's... I agree. It's a bit sloppy perhaps, but the way in which they're fighting those
rounds early on. You could see it from Bates' point of view. They didn't stay alive for long.
Very, very quick shots coming out. That even invites even further the idea that maybe you
just go for a set piece. You say, well, we avoid that if we just set down the grenades
and kind of actually get onto a site. Probably the A-bomb site.
It's because this team hits incredibly hard. Bates have a lot of talent. They're a young
team. They're willing to take fights across the board, but you can see them in our
class right now. Alexi B, coming to life as well. It's a nice shot from him
from the bench. Bits, you expect that from him. AK-47 in his hand, he's always going
to be deadly, always going to be a problem, and it's going to be the partial buy now for
Bates. Upgrading some pistols, and here we go Anders, the set piece. He begs for it, you
probably did, and we've got it. So it's going to be the wall of smokes, flashbangs
over, trying to get the bomb down, and we'll see what works out for him.
I like this because all you really need is the one opening kill, and at least you're
competitive in the round. That's great timing. Since he unfortunately hits the deck
He's very active look. Oh my quick kills coming through. They never stood a chance
That's very nice. There's not bowed well for the future of baits
They get sent packing courtesy of the AK-47
That's the kind of bits that some of us will remember from the beginning of this career
That trio simple bit and electronic when they were at their best is
undefeatable is what it looked like
Yeah, it's scary once he gets into this zone as well, you can see all the kills is getting the flashbang assist are coming through
He's in the pop and open smokes. The teamwork has been excellent for Navi as of late
Later be very happy about rounds. No problem at all five to three
Mccase aggressive once again though goes down early, but Ima there to pick up the pieces of wonderful
They maintain that man advantage and
They'll allow them to have middle now. It's down to kenzie's or to try and threat the needle
He's actually in front of the incendiary. I don't think Alexi will be aware of this for a bit certain years.
He seems to be everywhere right now.
It's a great read in some sense for Kensesor because he knows that Alexi is playing this position so much along with that.
As soon as he doesn't find them by the van, he's so sure that the rest of the bombsite is going to be open,
but turned out to be a bit of an assumption at the end of it.
Sizi, alone versus four, no chance to check the entire bombsite.
him down. This is, you know,
Navi, I don't want to say
struggling to get into the map,
but a little bit of a slow start
for them. But now that they're
here, they look so warmed up.
I'm loving this, Anders. It was
a little bit ropy to kick things
off. I think the wazee was a
bit too excited. He was swinging
by himself and trying to take
the challenge of searching
his dominance. I get it. He
just got an MVP medal over in
Stockholm. But yeah, once he
started reeling it in, he's
not going down every single
round. Wonderful. He's
still looking fantastic and
Ima as well. He seems to be
powering up this year as the
as the events go by fighting for his position the team I would say he's had a
downward turn in 2025 but he's fighting back and looking excellent right now
well you can already see what's coming setting up all the classic positions but
once again they don't quite have the firepower to really make this as
impressive as should be could still be a bomb plant could be a quick kill maybe
getting under the site but I wish they had some rifles here yeah start almost
for free bit goes down and now they're gonna be following it up a
sent to you with a good kill. Wonderful. Can he hold it on his own here?
He pulls out a needle instead, but they are overwhelming him.
That's set peace, Anders. Keep it simple.
Stay together, hunt as a pack, isolate the jewels, and you will be rewarded.
Six to four.
I think it's good every round, lads. Just keep running, though.
It looks so good.
Really enjoyed that.
Perfectly played, perfect execution, and you're going to see the opening kill.
Bits kicking himself trying to get some intel as the water up against a lot more than he bargained for though
Desert Eagle to the face
Last couple of rounds there played
On to slow them down
Stop the momentum before it gets out of control
Still very much in this game are baits a couple more rounds because so tight things up at 6x in the T side
Which is more than enough?
Yeah, you'll take that they're gonna be happy if they can get that far
They started out, I mean, they had some success when Navi had fewer rifles, they were fine on the B bomb site.
But once Navi had picked up the rifles, that mid-fight's been going only Navi's way.
Right, so maybe you're right, maybe that A bomb site is the better choice.
At least it's, you know, again, if you just convert some of the kills there, you're at least getting a bomb plant.
Well now you've sown the seeds of doubt and towards the minds of Navi, you can start faking that execution.
You can start playing with them a little bit more.
True.
See whether they're going to go back to the default stance.
Seems to be the case.
Then three players towards the top of middle, smoke down towards our window area. CTs are looking to get towards the underpass.
It's in there.
It's locked in.
Gonna get some backup from Mokazi towards short. I will instate these jewels.
The GFBL don't have the things out.
They found nobody at the B bomb side whatsoever. They had three people in the middle to take that fight.
So the fact that it's a two for one in favor of bait is kind of disappointing for Navi.
I was expecting more, I was expecting there would be more of a trick to maybe blow up in the smoke in the window and really take that fight.
I feel like you're going to give up on the B defense to try and have that much mid control. You must win the fight.
Here we go then back towards A. Looks to be Palace Pounce.
He'll be down to bit. He will have to play like a king and he's going to defend this one off.
He's been playing very well. I mean 15 and 4 right now. It looks like he might be capable of holding the site on his own.
We'll see. You can see he doesn't have much information at all.
Scared of the prospect of connector, smokes off towards the A round. I say that presence of mind switches towards our palace.
He only expected one player there. That should be enough to win it now. You can see we have got wonderful LXCB.
Pretty far removed from the scenario. Great round once again from Bates.
Such a good round as well for bait. Even though, like you said, Bid had the presence of MindTek to take a look, but they threw no grenades. They just walk out with no warning.
So I don't even know how he sort of got the timing down right, but even then, he said he couldn't expect for more people to get there.
Alexian, wonderful. Still investigating this situation, which...
I mean, did this last round coming up next?
Yeah, you're right.
We're gonna have to buy it, so you might as well give it a look and put the rod in the water.
Yeah, they can buy the AWP no matter what. They don't have an AK to save.
Oh, maybe they do, alright.
Now, yeah, saving the AK.
For those not aware, you cannot buy that on the CT side. That is worth saving.
Yeah.
Would have been very, very tricky to try and retake that anyway.
Great work for Bates.
We did-
Just as we were talking, like, where are those AXQs? They start coming out?
Yeah.
Even though this one, you know, a little bit delayed after some shenanigans in the middle,
still works out really well for them.
As we're down to this initial aggression, the CTs, once again,
every turn they make that aggressive maneuver. Doesn't really seem to work out for them.
MPL cracking things open towards mid, giving them the man advantage, helping themselves to
a contact play through the palace. And we've reached the final round of this first time.
It's been a quick half on this. He has had no slow defaults here. It's Rockham, Sockham,
Counter-Strike over and over. So what do you expect from this young team of baits?
We haven't said Sizi's name a whole lot. He's six and eight right now.
See where we can get going here. Final round. Such a good kill for one of them.
Oh, there he is. He's a T-Jail.
Team kill.
I can't believe he's asking it all.
What the fuck is going on?
He should be as well.
Quick, put the retribution.
MPL, he wanted to follow that up.
But wonderful. He's got to pull out the pistol instead.
The sidearm to take down MPL.
Eysentheal, don't think.
The bomb's in the middle. He's alone versus four.
This round is now. He's written all over it.
Six and about to be seven here.
Genjiol getting peaked already wonderful, he's gonna go down this time but Bit will follow it up.
It's a fantastic first half for Navi.
in the process apex gets the better of his teammate now he's got the utility to
keep talk out of this he knows he's going to swing
apex baby
look it's plugged in there we go
Even though you win, we love you.
That's it, madam.
I might make sure that I always put 100% effort into it.
I don't know if that's kind of through.
Then, you know, you lose this timing that you get with the Elevator surprise.
It's like, what? They turn us lose a plan?
You're too messy! You're too!
You wish you were there!
Give me the fucking train, or I'll fuck you, suck me!
If I think of five rounds against the Stockholm champions,
I think they're still well within good reach
of taking the series.
Turned out to be very important that they didn't
win that pistol round,
otherwise it could have been a very miserable first half.
But I think you're right though,
like they're still within striking distance.
Yeah.
If they could win another pistol,
it becomes a very interesting conversation.
But man, Navi were shooting very, very hard.
Once they got online, it was scary.
Yeah, bit went 17 and five there.
My God.
Speaking of a execute,
we might have one in the pistol here, Anders.
one smoke of flash and a Molotov all in the back of Alexi B here.
It's normally wonderful with the P-350,
and he's got that in his hands right now.
Here comes the execute.
We have got Imma with the back step towards connector
from the underpass.
In we go. No messing around, Anders.
Yeah, straight for it.
Molotov's not going to touch anyone,
but it means they don't have to check that position.
They can now just focus on the shadow instead
and Mikaze, great opening.
Alex, he's about to have a lot of trouble here.
Even the dualies can't save him.
The double is great, and in the middle they'll find Imma.
And how's just Alexi alone?
I thought they were at least gonna make it onto the site
once they got that kill conversion.
If they can close this one out, which they should do,
Alexi has no grounds to win it, no Kevlar,
half health, just a clock.
The bomb is back sure, but there it is.
Ascentiol will close things out.
That's both pistols now landing in favor of Bates,
seven to six.
And with no plan coming through,
I think we might have a full eco coming in the next round.
This is where it gets real interesting.
said in the first half we haven't really seen the scissor that much maybe a bit of a runaway here
given the AWP a little bit early on the CT side yeah for sure that's that no chance of them losing
this round the three versus one easy does it nice shot to close things out and as mentioned it's
unlikely we see the force by here that seems to be the case we get into it with glocks and a
couple of deagles in the mix uh mb9s across the board by rampers so sure that's going to
to work perfectly for this round but it means that first gun round you got four SMGs. When
the bomb doesn't go down you kind of do want to focus on the M4s and getting at least famuses
out there because the firepower is going to be a real issue against the AKs going forward.
Not a problem right now but it could come back to haunt them in the follow up.
Yeah it's an interesting point right because when you see this kind of a buy it makes
you think well maybe they were expecting that there was going to be some armor on
the side. Either that or they have a plan to go a lot more aggressive with the MP9s
in the next round that could be another way to play it.
Yeah, I'm not saying it's wrong. It's just an approach we're used to seeing.
You normally want to have a couple of rifles out at the very least, knowing that the AK is coming out in the third.
But we've talked about it a million times. These sort of rounds from Na'Vi just bleed out the utility,
look for a couple of kills. If you get the bomb down, jobs are good.
You're not going to be winning this one, but let's see what they can make of it.
Yeah, they've got a couple of tickets for it, a couple of deagles there. So you can do some damage.
Bait should be very respectful here in the middle and they kind of are as well.
Sizi just taking a peek in, but not really finding that hard for it.
Towards connector is a different question though, MPL right next to the smoke and they're going
to be creeping on through Goods, oh not good spray at all, thought it was going to be
Mikaze.
Time on, taking down instead and now Ima will to kill on the Sizi, suddenly Alex here
shadow position but they can spray him down, he's not very safe in this corner,
three health, he's done immaculate work though, I can't believe that he actually
stayed alive for that many three kills in total because the bomb unfortunately not
on his back so how did he put the pressure on them yeah good effort shouldn't
have been that close I guess the good news is you've lost three SMG so the
rifles will now be in the CT hands but yeah shouldn't have been that close
shouldn't be that uncomfortable up against a couple of diggles and glocks
but well played to Navi to make it so uncomfortable that's the moment MPL
they didn't check him couple of freebies available to him
an armoured player as he doesn't get one but thankfully Alex is able to pick up the pieces
he farms a ton of cash he can drop a rifle going forward as well so that'll be fine
it just shouldn't have been that close yeah that got way too scary we'll see what Navi could do
if they can manufacture something coming in a round of a 15 here eight keys or across the board
no AWP lit yet on CC either and we're all tied up seven seven
Let's see what Navi can make of it. Very traditional default right now. Emma patrolling B, bit towards
the palace, three towards middle. They've smoked off towards the window room and they're
making their way back towards A. So, got to be going for one of the set piece themselves.
I have a similar sort of palace pop we talked about before or the full on execution from
the ramp. Yeah, and with Emma lurking around that
top in position it's kind of classic for Nabi as well he does love to do that so yeah you're
right this is looking very much like a standard a execute he's actually gonna be falling back
through T spawn anyway so they might have wrestled the team double pump this they're not in position
to strike right now they're just trying to bait out that reaction to the CTs which they've got
they still have two smokes available to them and Molotov so that's all they wanted to do
I don't mind the double pump I'd be so scared if I was Nabi to be this you know stuck on
the map and have no knowledge of what's happening anywhere else but it's fine no one's pushing for
bait so it's not like it's gonna backfire that smoke though is a bit annoying it's perfectly timed
you're gonna have to run for it yeah you kind of have to otherwise they're gonna run at a time 30
seconds back up starting to get there as well they've already got three people at the site as
well Sizzly with a good spray down Alex wow only good for the one the trades are kind of
favoring Navi at the moment but up until MPL gets the kill there we'll see if they get the bomb
Planned to this world mccasek pushing towards CT spawn all he has to do is go
We didn't know they alive and they did not plan a bomb no another down to 10 seconds awesome easy push in
No bomb plan allowed for that seemed like it was a mistake. I don't know why they didn't commit to the plumb there
I couldn't see the position he was going for where he's been touched with the flames
I didn't hear any ticks
But there it is the double pump not working out there for navi it was because of that final smoke that they were hoping they
Drained the util on the A site
But as soon as that slow comes down at a sub 40 second mark like I said they have to run through it
It discombobulates the initial encounter, makes the wonderful go down with nothing.
It's unfortunate, MPO did very well to spray through the smoke and get that advantage.
Maybe, okay, you can see they take a lot of damage from the spam there as well.
But yeah, huge round for Bates who win and they take the lead 8-7 here.
Could be a partial buy from Na'Vi.
Once again, focusing on that A bomb site, smokes go down.
I think they just push through this one, flash over, deep breath and in we go.
Grenade, I think he goes a little bit too far to the left, but the AK will certainly connect good headshot from Alex.
Wonderful, good for the one, and they're going to keep on pushing towards that connector.
They've taken down a couple of players. Yeah, unfortunate miss there.
Long to be able to screen Sissy's name a little bit more than others.
They've actually got the AWP, but they lose. Kensasaur as well.
It's another 2v2. Last time in the weather where baited could again.
Wonderful, just very low. That eagle has to ring true and not quite possible.
takes him down to the end.
He had no Kevlar either,
so as soon as a bullet touches his body,
aim punch comes into effects,
and yeah, no chance to win it.
No one digs found.
Still pretty good partial buy there from Navi.
No plan once again.
Blade will chime in,
offer his thoughts as this one's
starting to get a little bit uncomfortable,
a little bit out of hand here
as Bates solidify their lead.
Money will be fine going forward.
That was the partial buy.
Lost bonus accumulating here.
Can they get back online here?
This is the pick of Bates as well.
They hit very hard as a squad.
They're not pick.
They are specialists on Mirage.
Oh, yeah.
Late.
We'll have to sort this one out.
You can see the power of them
practically standing on top of the T-
or CT smoke when it lands on that previous round.
Like, they were able to fly through that smoke so quickly.
So I do like the idea from the T-side there.
And they got kind of close towards the end.
Top-fragging on the Bates side is cential with 14,
But Alex and Ken saw right there with him, so pretty good team effort to be honest.
Bit still headed everybody in the server at 17 kills.
But I feel like that was what we said last time, in a minute, since he's picked up any kills here in the second half.
Just the traditional nades towards the middle.
We'll see if Bit is going to be active on the ramp.
Certainly thinking about it.
We have very much a default spread from Na'Vi.
They are trying to control every part of the map at the moment.
Alright, smoking off Connective on that side, not bad at all.
Bomb is still not picked up, I think right now Navi's probably a bit frustrated that
there's been no dinks at all, finally they get one, that's I think what they were waiting
for the whole time.
I didn't think that was going to win that fight at all, looked like he was outmaneuvered
there, but of course he comes out on top, takes a dink, bounces back with the AK-47,
smoke down towards window, MPL has got the grenade available if he wants to pop things
open but that's that look what that's what he wants to do and sender it goes
out and advantage only just for now be it's bit down to 10 points of health
didn't get much for that grenade you could see the idea but still has to
worry about the summer could be in there 40 seconds bomb is gravitating
towards the A side of the map so we choose what I'm here defending oh that
needs to be a kill doesn't it yep MPL might have let one go and now the backup is gonna
be there Alexi does go down oh if he misses that shot that could have been everything
but wonderful good work still 20 seconds a little bit sketchy there Anders but I think
they're gonna stick the landing it's a nice shot step mccasey see was the deal there
with a kill from palace four players looking to survive here and we go to a one round
game 9 to 8 money not in a fantastic spot as well bear in mind they're gonna be
getting $1400 and is into this follow-up round so saving this M4 is
paramount for their future success imagine if they had to go back and pick up
the bomb if one doesn't win that that was the key jewel it's very
fortunate I'm not gonna say lucky but very fortunate he hits our shot the
rounds over if he fumbles did they spot him I feel like maybe wonderful
It looks like he's moving right now and looks to be the case, but everyone else is still exploring bees
I don't think so
That's still hunting
Okay
It's a really nice idea, but like you said very important percent fuel. Yeah
Bottom of the barrel of spurness. You might take a tactical time out here. Yeah, I think we've got one
Just because of the finances, this is do or die time
This could decide the outcome of this game you force by here
You won't have the runway to build up the economy once again to actually get back into it
It's a very important round. You need to decide what's more important to you.
Force buying and taking a gamble, saving the resources and trying to build things up.
I think you have to force buy here.
Oh really?
I think you do because even if you take the full eco energy at $1900 and put it in the next round, right?
That's fair, yes.
And then you still can't buy.
You've got to save them for now.
You're going to have to go for a novelty play, a boost somewhere.
Try and find an open up and give them hell.
That's the only way in for this one if you ask me.
It's a very, very precarious spot to find yourself in now.
There's Bits.
There's so many fights in this round, the BIT one to begin with and the follow-up is wonderful.
It was on a knife's edge the entire time.
It's a huge round.
The financial ramifications will rear the ugly head now, so indeed, they will go all in.
It's the only choice they have and they have to go for some sort of boost,
some sort of play around a cent-fiel to get him an opening pick.
And he's a source connector.
Yeah, this is dangerous though.
Navi are way quicker than they've been in previous rounds.
They've been so slow on the default Navi and this time they are all the way in connected within seconds of the round starting
And they're gonna keep the pressure on right now
They might as well push towards that shadow position Alexi's gonna take one in the kill of the middle another one in fact and Alex
He had no chance here a massive pace change coming out from Navi and just catching bait completely off guard
Very well handled from Navi here
They take care of the two rifles speaking of which MPL or at least pick one up towards middle
but he's got a Lexi B to deal with.
He's actually aware of the prospect of him being behind these midboxes.
Doesn't seem to match up.
Nice swing from a Lexi.
Calm spray to close things out.
We talked about the finances.
They now get $1900 into the next rounds.
So that has to be for Liko.
And as you combine it to the next one,
but you can't invest a single dollar
in his following rounds.
I think you're right, though.
Some sort of a blue store trick here
are so many available on Mirage as well
that you could try to do.
Because you don't need three kills in the middle, you just need one.
Just one with that rifle and they didn't look like they tried to really do that.
I mean, they were in the middle fighting, but would have loved to have seen more of a trick as well.
Game is tied, nine to nine.
Not good news for Bates.
Money's not on their side.
It's really not.
Couple of upgraded pistols, that's about it.
Wonderful.
He can smell them on the other side of his connect tap.
Looking for some opening kills there.
Came up one of the masters of the connector itself
Showing you what he's made of double kill for him the USP does answer back for one. That's a Lexi be taken care of
Sizi and a cent fuel
Is there anything left to be said about this round apparently not?
Now we will go back on the lead after this one ten to nine
Very well handled
Yeah
Probably worth it to stick around and try and take that you'll fight no matter what your only advantage
you really have so I get it but not a round that works out for Bates. Navi continue to power up.
There's a map picked by Bates as well. Navi definitely love to walk away with an early victory
on their opponent's map pick. Ancient to follow it up but we know Navi are going to be good on
that one. Let's get into it then. AWP is available for Sizi. You can see concessions made
across the board in terms of grenades. Yeah, a bit difficult round to pick up here. The
all-pull have to do the heavy lifting. The boy won currently 9 and 15. A lot of hyper-random
right now. Unable to deliver the goods so far in Mirage. And even was they tried to
set him up there, blowing open the smoke at the top of that mid position, but he
didn't quite get the connection. And now he'll be back to play at more slow defaults.
Seems like it should be easy to play against this kind of a thing, but it can be very
I don't remember CT side having to wait for this long.
Like this from Wonderful.
Posted himself up in a very powerful position with the AWP while his teammates made their way towards the underpass.
Bit towards the day rampage you might expect.
CT's on higher lube.
Desperate for information right now, they've got nothing to work with.
Here comes Inna.
He's invading the stakes and made.
We need to see some Alper here from Sizzy.
Such a lot of silence here for bait. They've just been in the dark. They really don't know what's going on right now
There's the nico position on that a bomb site, but all it takes is one kill to dislodge the defense
It's one mistake here down to sub 40 seconds
It's in a good position, but it's wonderful to begin with instead. It'll find Alex and now they're floating onto the bomb site
Ken's or an essential good defense so far sub 30 seconds the bomb is up at the palace
They need to make another move here, they need to get onto the site right now.
The difference though, it's being whittled away.
No way.
It goes down, deep grenade on top, and NPL the only one left.
17 seconds and what a headshot from Maccazzi.
That's more like it.
Slow start from the young gun, but that's a beautiful sequence of events there.
Fully blind as well on the retreat towards connector and find that knockout blow.
We'll take a tactical timeout.
I'm not sure this is called by Navio Bates.
It looks to be by Bates, but Blade loves that.
The fact he gets a chance now to calm everyone down, focus on the objective.
You know you're up against quite a little here. The Finances want to get him ruined.
The Lost Bone is accumulating, but not enough for an AWP.
Not enough for helmets, not enough for the defused kits.
It's a very difficult round coming in next.
Na'Vi getting very comfortable after that round victory.
And it feels great there. Your star players, I bit.
And Mikazi are finding their footing here as well.
Sizi's still struggling, and this has to be said.
He's not really having the impact you're expecting.
Wonderful, however, is finding some excellent shots there,
taken down by the grenade in the end.
Nice shot from Mikasa to close things out.
Good stuff from the Stockholm Champions.
Yeah, I mean, it's been on everybody's lips.
The champagne hangover, I think is what people call it, right?
Yeah.
Doesn't seem like it's hitting them that hard at the moment.
The money, however, is really hitting bait.
These are the sort of rounds out.
You need Miracles, he's partial buys, grouping up together, one flashbang is all you need, Anders, and you can cause havoc out there.
I feel like this is pushing to Panus. Why is it only now that they're doing it? I feel like there are so many other rounds, same at the B bomb site, they've been very, very passive.
Oh, that's a shot. Do we have another one, please, with the Deagle? That might change the round. That might change the entire map here, but shot in the back eventually, it's a long spray there, but Ema gets a job done and Sissy,
He couldn't land another deagle headshot there.
Two v two.
Kenzie Zorn to save the day here.
His teammate encroaching on that position
from the connector.
Smoke's dissipating as well.
There is a gaffing of smoke.
Him is going to try and use it.
Still got a minute to work with it.
They don't necessarily have to finish things up here,
but they need to recover the bomb first.
Just making sure they go through all the motions
to clear out these close range areas.
Shadow confirmed clear.
on to be recovered footstep made and here we go
okay they're still sticking around even though it's very telegraphed at this
point in time making the jump on over
trying to clip through the watch the connector 30 seconds
and they do fall back a little bit further now clock is running low and
now creeping is MPL with the eagle looking on top of the box to find one of the
oh he misses the chance! it was right there for the taking but the bullet
it whistled right past him as head
And now instead they come back for revenge. That is devastating.
I was going to say that was quite dicey there for Navi, operating with almost zero information.
Took all the time he could, landed that Desert Eagle headshot. It's unfortunate, it doesn't connect.
It took a partial bite, needed a miracle here. They came tantalizingly close, but
even after that beautiful shot from City, it wasn't quite enough there.
Emma can't believe his luck that he's still standing after taking those Eagle bullets right here.
He's dancing around them, jiggle peaking and yeah, that was the opportunity to win that round and that might cost him the map.
You hate to see it.
So frustrating. Took so much time with the shot as well. He wanted to guarantee the kill. Yeah.
I can't, I mean again, it can be very hard aiming people who don't know you're aiming for them because they just move so
erratically but
Man, that is brutal. So Blague calls a timer this time. He doesn't want us to go to distance.
He wants to be a part of this decision,
call the strategy, the knockout blow,
the haymaker, whatever you wanna call it,
he doesn't want this to go to overtime.
You're not gonna get a better opportunity than this.
Close it out right here right now.
There's only one kid in play.
They're lacking some key pieces of utility.
I'm gonna be going for an A finish, Anders,
off the back.
It's worked for them so far.
Why would they not?
The pressure is on, the city is being hunted.
Even though he gets the shot, I mean it's impressive,
but it might not be enough, unfortunately.
Plenty of time, obviously,
we're just getting started on the round.
Bruce Gray, for him, a solo lurker,
and you said the connector expert
against the headshot on MPL,
is Centio, there's not much to be done here.
The bomb is gonna be planted,
and he's alone against three now.
After having given that first kill,
they know everything,
they don't have to fight him at all,
but they do a wonderful take in down,
and Navi taking care of business.
Excellent work from Navi,
a bit of a question, Mark,
as to what level they'd bring to this tournament,
but it's a resounding answer as they post a victory on their opponent's map pick of Mirage and go 13-9.
Well, that one looked interesting for a while.
They made a real game of it, made a real show of it, but ultimately comfortable for Naravi as they take the dump 13-9.
Yeah, I think they locked in in that second half to be completely honest and made it look somewhat easy.
At the end of the day, Mike, I think it's fair to
contextualize the game by saying that without pistol rounds growing the way of bait,
this game would have been over way, way before.
Yeah, I mean, you can respect bait for converting the pistols and the anti-ecos,
but that's six of their nine round wins.
When you get down to it on gun rounds, Navi was clearly far and away the better team.
Yeah, and I guess we had the conversation in the green room and kind of
we're thinking about it.
You look at Navi's wind personas on Mirage and you think to yourself,
is there a bit of a weakness?
I think the level of opposition they play and in general whenever you watch Navi play Mirage,
they're still a good team on Mirage but they have some results where it's kind of screwing
with the perception in terms of their win percentage. So I think picking Mirage against
Navi was always going to be a tough task but essentially you lose 13-9 in a game that easily
could have been 13-5, 13-4. I don't think Bate were anywhere close winning this one.
The problem for Bate and the reason that we were so negative about Bate before this game
is that they don't really have any other choices. I mean Mirage is clearly their best map
Even though it's a good map for Navi as well, where else do you go for Bade?
You kind of have to pick Mirage if you're them and hope that you can bring your strength into their strength and win.
But it's not going to happen most of the time against Navi.
I don't think they've won this map against them yet and it's not going to happen today.
Strength on strength is generally going to favor the stronger team.
One would expect one of the big strengths for Navi in this map, Bitt coming on in.
We had talked about Mikaze. We had talked about wonderful.
We didn't talk about Bitt that much and he reminded us why we should.
Yeah, he's a great player. Honestly, I'm a big fan of Bit.
Sure, there are certain times where you'd expect a bit more from him,
and you hope that he's going to return to the excellent form he had
when Navi was the best team in the world in 21.
Obviously, that's a long time ago, but I think in his role within his,
I guess, job in Navi, he's doing more often than not a great job.
You know, he's one of the best role players in the world.
He's one of the best players in the world in his specific position.
And when you're going up against a team of the caliber of Bit,
Of course, it can be the difference made on the server, which we saw in this game.
There's really only a few anchors that you can talk about that excel past their role, past their team's ability.
Most of the time you see a team with a good anchor, it's a team that's doing really well.
It's vitality with Mezzi.
You're looking at heavy-gotted G2 as I suppose another one that can kind of exceed his role in the team.
Usually, you're a slave for your team's ability.
If your team is doing bad, your anchors are not going to look like their star players.
He usually plays above that it can usually propel himself into stardom as an anchor very rare to see but recently he's been kind of struggling to be taking a step back.
I think as you said we'd like to see him go back to the level he was at and I think would not be performing better with Mikaze showing up with wonderful showing up.
It's just going to make his job a little bit easier to actually showcase his skill what he always has.
those players looking strong in this one as well and Ima as well bringing a
strong level I mean just every you look anywhere on this team right everybody's
doing what they're supposed to be doing performing the way they're supposed to
be doing it's hard to poke many holes in this Navi right now yeah the only
thing we can say is that obviously would have been nice for Navi to win a
pistol round you know just to make sure that the game was never within
distance of bait because you can make the case that sure 13 to 9 I'm saying
it wasn't really a close game it just took one or two more rounds so I wanted
to be in a winning position given that they were off to such a good start in both halves.
So if you want to poke any holes in Navi's performance, it's obviously when a pistol
outside of that, I agree with you.
All the players showed up.
The game plan from Navi was great.
The T-side control, the Ema as you said as well, he's a Mirage specialist.
Accurately the map he feels the most comfortable on, especially during some of the job
on the T-side.
So it's hard to be negative in any way you want to come to Navi.
That was a solid performance from start to finish.
Looking at the other side of it, obviously we highlighted Sizi a bunch in the pre-game.
Didn't really deliver here. I will tell you Sizi got two op kills in this game. Yeah, one of them was on Alex 666
Okay, so we really caught one total up kill in this game on the final round that zero
And I don't want to yeah, I don't want to be too negative. You're right. He is a 16 year old
He's new he's got brought into the team
But at the same time it's Mirage if you're opera you're face it
You know someone that you you expect to be a face it star that's played tons of plugs that is gonna pop off
This is the map you're expecting them to pop off on if you can't do it on Mirage
I'm not expecting better on ancient this is the risk that Bates been taking right there betting on future results
They're trying to develop this guy
We talked about you know you tore up your floors
Maybe you discovered something you didn't like in the plumbing underneath now
You're having to totally renovate the house pull up the pink shag carpet and and you're discovering that maybe it's gonna
Take a little bit more work than you expected and until they do that
You're gonna see performances like this from bait especially when the level of opposition is still likes a barbie
who's first of a tournament win, who's coming in with confidence,
who, as we just discussed, played well on Mirage.
It wasn't Bate only playing better, and that's why it looks so easy.
I think Navi, overall, played a good, solid game of Counter-Strike.
And again, let's be completely honest.
When you have a team like Navi taking on Bate,
this is what you expect.
Like, this is the result that we expected coming into it.
And we often praise ourselves as saying,
oh, that was a big surprise, or the underdog made it closer.
Sometimes it's nice to watch a game where you actually get what you expect.
I saw Navi in control.
I saw Navi being significantly better than the opposition, just like I would expect coming into the game.
Painting a complete picture of this Navi, but we'll see if they can take their artistic skills into map number two when we come back.
Coming off of a trophy lift, first trophy lift in a long time, how good does that feel?
It feels good, definitely to have a win in the back.
And what does that do for you as a player, coming off of that kind of victory, coming off of that as a team, does it build the confidence in the roster?
Obviously I think it will give more, not only for me, or maybe for everyone in the team, more confidence to play.
And also we know that we didn't play the best teams in that like we didn't face them
But also they play there. So they got upset and we beat them like the others
And yeah, I will say it's important that we have this win because it gives us confidence and that's pretty much it
Now bring it into this matchup. You've got beat on the other side of you. What do you make of them?
I
think it's gonna be hard game only and only because they they need so bad points and then
And yeah, probably they will give us a hard time only because they need so bad at points for the Major.
And we just need to keep up their pace, let's say, to be even better.
And what are your expectations overall for the tournament, right?
Coming off of that trophy, now facing off against the top teams, how far do you think this Navi can go?
We didn't set any expectation, we didn't set anything, but obviously it's good to make the playoffs and after that we will see what happens.
A desperate bait team. They need the points. They need the points, but they still didn't
give too much of a challenge on Mirage. A little bit. A little bit. They made it interesting.
But do we think a hungry bait can make a little bit more noise here on Ancient?
What do you say, Roo? Is there a chance?
I think they have a chance to get destroyed. I think they have a chance to get absolutely
wrecked by Navi on this map. I think Navi takes it easy.
Yeah, it's tough for me to build a case or give you a good reasoning as to why I think Bate
were going to win this game, even Amos struggling with it.
I love his answer, you know.
He thinks it's going to be a close game because they need the points badly, like really badly.
They need all the points, right?
That's the only thing he can come up with as well.
And I tend to agree.
I think Bate should obviously be mega motivated as XB said as well.
They knew this game was going to come for a long, long time, so they could have
prepared for it.
Did they know Ancient was going to be picked against him?
I put up my questions in regard to that.
But overall, it's tough for me to make a case right now.
I think we're looking at two teams that is very different in their skill,
very different in the way they approach the game,
and we're looking at two teams where a true result is what I expect.
Well, we'll see if it's going to be reality.
Sometimes the upset expectations, maybe they're baiting us in with that first result
to deliver a little bit of a switch up.
How would it happen?
How would it happen?
Entertain me here.
If we're going to do it, how would we see it happen?
First and foremost, now we would have to lose focus
and then drop quite significantly in the level of gameplay.
I think that's step number one.
You know, I don't think a bait playing their A-game versus Navi's A-game is going to win the game.
Second of all, I want to see more from Sissy as well.
You know, as you said, it will amaze you to a map that opens up the possibilities for an offer to do a lot of work.
Ancient is a little bit more tough, I'd say. You're more often than not stuck behind a smoke.
You're more often than not flashed or in a molotov.
And I think the work conditions for Sissy on a map like Ancient is even tougher.
So I want to see him step up to the location and maybe be the first line of force
and the catalyst behind what could be, I guess, a competitive game.
Ancient is a map where as an offer a lot of the time you have to post up you get
boosted on the box post up as your team walks in or you're holding an angle as
your team tries to take control of something. I'd like to see Sizi if his
team is getting locked out make a play make a Mollidoy ask push through a
smoke go for a repeat. I'd like to see him make a mark on this game if we
want to see bait actually take this one. Well he did describe himself as smart
but aggressive so maybe he's just the sizzle that bait needed to make a
fire out of this one remains to be seen but it would sure be interesting if we
could indeed. Two guys who are going to make this one a very interesting indeed
are casters Henry G and Anders. We'll do our very best Michael and yeah Navi
putting their best for forward in that opening map taking their opponents pick
a mirage and yeah it was a little bit of a slow start for Navi having
McCarthy trying to force the issue a bit too much wide swings left and right
it was actually pretty close in the opening sector of the game Anders but
I tend to agree I feel like Navi should be closing this out to zero now move on to their map pick of ancient
Yeah, it was quite unfortunate because they set off camera just now
They actually won both the pistol rounds as well there baits and in spite of the fact
They still kind of got beat up by Navi
They just looked like the better team today, but you've got an interesting stat about the pistol rounds for bait here
Right? You've got something you've got something for me. I've got some of they have one
100% of the pistol rounds they won on ancient in the last three months and how many times are they played that's not important
Don't worry about the statistics at all just know that they've never in the last three months like in the two times that they've done
There it is
But still it is an important factor the fact they won both pistols there and the fact it wasn't really a close game
At least I didn't feel like it towards the end
They're gonna have to win both pistols here again to be honest bear in mind
You got Emma working towards middle with Mikazi one of the deadliest duos in Counter-Strike right now an ancient like they are
are absolutely deadly. They are killers.
Macaulay if he finds his form, there's no way to shut them down.
That tag team duo is a real problem to handle
and it's going to be instrumental in the success here.
I think another interesting strength of Navi on the CT side of this map
is the fact that when Alexi is anchoring that B bomb site,
he doesn't need as many resources as other teams do.
Like, he can handle so much himself.
He's so comfortable with all the angles, even with like an MP9.
And I think it gives a lot of space for Navi on the rest of the map
move around and have more people fighting middle or fighting cave if they need to. I feel like just
having it's a little bit like we saw Mirage like Alexi a lot of the time is alone on the B bomb
site and it's fine like he'll either take one with him or stay alive like he's very good at just
being proficient alone. Alright ladies and gentlemen it looks like we are good to go this is
group A second map between Navi and Bates favorites for sure of the Stockholm champions
So see if they can convert this one as I mentioned look out for the T side mid-play from Emma and McCasey
There's not many teams in the world that could shut them down and we'll see whether baits and when this pistol
They don't have much utility on the CT side
They do have a kits and in terms of you two over the T side two smugs one Molotov and assuming a pg-50 for wonderful
And indeed that's exactly what we get
That is a peak lean over on this B side and already
We have got the jewelies set up here in a prime position.
Hey, you're right.
We did reveal that they have a big read right now, Navi, surely.
Still some utility, right?
Two smokes, one Molotov.
I think Navi are a bit confused, at least they're wondering, nobody's peek middle,
nobody's peek in the A hallways.
They might be starting to sort of get us a bit of a sense that most of the action
is going to be over on the side of the map. More damage, and this time results in a kill, at least
there's one in return. Finally, something working for Bait. Yeah, round not done yet, but they are
leaning towards the B bomb site. Bait, that is. All the meanwhile, Navi starting to coordinate
themselves in towards that A site. It's going to be MPL, but it's towards Brokey. It's got a
lots of manager. You can see he's worried about A main. The donor needs a quick headshot,
but only receives one. And unfortunately, Anders, I hate to be the pessimist. It feels
that might be the round already. But there is the kit in play, maybe I'm wrong.
There is the kit but no smoke and they still have that Molotov on Alexei, so either way they
could buy a lot of time. Alexei might use it early on the cave in the wheel, but I mean,
still, that's two out of three players that have to wait on the other side.
There's a lot of time off the clock here. They've played it pretty much perfectly now,
I doubt if bait can get back in here, it would have to be such a quick retake and
they're getting shut down instead. Ima and Bit contributing, Alex here,
no matter what he's out of time. Those are great kills, it's very impressive,
to put all they have to do is hide and they're going to be fine, Ima with the last kill.
The streak is broken. The perfect pistol record Anders, what a shame.
You really hate to see that. Yeah. And it is a perfectly played round there from Navi,
getting all that damage done towards the cave, a couple of gushes, getting it down
to a 4 on 4. Sure, they get a kill in return but it means your defence is then spread
across on that very thin and they made their way in towards a where MPO just couldn't
hold on. He did at least one quick headshot there so the round could be possible. The
Molotov was just a cherry on the cake. As soon as they Molotov that position
You've bought seven seconds and there was no chance you can retake the bomb site.
They will force by in the second.
Okay.
So, not out of the woods just yet, Navi, but it's looking very good.
And this is what I'm talking about.
Imera Mikaze, the Smash Bros. towards middle.
They are so good in this position.
I can't stress that enough.
I won't mention it again.
Just watch out for it.
And if you can have the upper hand in some of these fights in here, it opens up the
entire map, doesn't it, tactically, for the T-Sci.
So, great resource.
It's been a little bit of nade damage on the kensasaur so far.
Now the Nats, it's Navi with a similar kind of a default but they've been running in a lot of these rounds
they did on Mirage as well, they're very happy to wait and see if they're going to show themselves
and then they make up their minds afterwards and honestly it's been working very well for them so far
so I don't really blame them for keeping it up. They're going to be crouching through the middle
under the smoke here trying to get in towards the donut position. I mean this could work out if they do it again
they're going to find an empty bomb site.
smoke up but look how much control they've got at the map though Anders yeah
two players in towards donor if they make their way towards a there's no one
home CTs started to realize there's something to foot here sure you get a
couple of kills but that should be the bomb making its way in towards a very
quickly they've got full control that's out of the map sure it's a four on
three but massive advantage for Navi still they're really good kills but
they don't necessarily give them the upper hand not yet anyway comes down
that he's playing doughnut. There it is, okay. Now he's dangerous.
He's found the second one. That's absolutely perfect. Alexi and Makase, how do they hold
on to this round now? They're all surprised. He's out in the open. He can't escape. Alexi
goes down and somehow that was easier than I expected. I don't know how, even I agree
with you, the first couple of kills still, Navi had a good chance to win that round.
As soon as they lost control of doughnut, that's when the wheels fell off. It was
unfortunate timing, but threading the needle through the smoke, that push through
through the Mac 10. That was absolutely everything. Nice shot of the Desert Eagle as well.
You still think they're going to convert the round at that point, but that played right there.
Pushing through the smoke, Mac 10 in hand, and you can see they've had too much of a manager at that point,
and it's a great rebuttal there. Sure they didn't win the pistol-landers,
but winning the second round forced by is technically better.
But you are going to see a forced by a responsive, that's for sure.
Bomb goes down, so they do get a bit of firepower behind it as well.
T-47, three deagles and a Tec-9.
Towards middle we go, we talked about this.
And Emma trying to open things up, there it is.
Ton of damage and an opening kill.
It's the one AK that they have,
so it's a lot of production tower
out of the single rifle there at the beginning of the round.
They've got once more.
Yeah, once more.
Might be able to get more.
Esentio, gotta be careful sticking around here.
If he dies as well,
it could be the beginning of the unraveling of the round
and the jump right through.
It's a nice idea, but great work for Esentio.
I can't believe it. Takes down Alexia and Emma.
The bomb is here. One plant, sure.
But again, how do you hold on to the after plant?
I'm not sure. It's only the Deagles as well, bear in mind.
Sure there's a chance to win this one, but it's very unlikely.
Unless they hit shots like that.
Wonderful. Takes out Sizi, and now we're down to a two on two.
Do it again. Why not? Oh, he lined it up!
That's why he took an extra nano-second.
Just to try and hit it, but it didn't work out.
And now it's all on Bits.
They've lifted up to him. I do like this move, but it's being anticipated.
You could see he was thinking about it as well. He can't quite hit it.
Oh, wonderful. I thought there was a chance for that second one.
It's a pretty impressive work for a 4-stop.
You get three kills and a bonk line. Is it worth it?
We'll see. They could force by again, but that should be it.
I don't think they will force going forward.
You get three kills in total.
You can see it's the spam flashes that makes it take so potent.
They set out a four of them.
But great work, the Senfuel went towards that K-position and just get that double kill.
Yeah, and you really thought they set a chance there. That's a cracking shot there from Wonderful.
But good awareness from Senfuel. Get them to our three in total on the round
and I'd be surprised that they forced by here as we get into round number four.
Desert Eagle for Wonderful and for Ima. But great serve for Bay once again.
Sure, they lost to Pistolanders but they're going to go out three to one.
pretty good boost on over all it requires is one CT on the other side to be a bit careless
or maybe run boosted up to try and go somewhere else but that is not happening at the moment
baits one of the things I didn't like that much about the Mirage CT side was I felt like
they were a little bit too passive there were rounds quite a few rounds actually that
now we could have been punished for being too grouped up on the map and they never
really were they were very far back on the map at all times I would love to see
them take a couple of risks on a map like this one to push out down the B
ramp out in the a-hole ways I just feel like you can't have Navi have this much
of the map but in this round it's not really that important they have all of
the upper hand right now doughnut being controlled as well Kansas always in
there M4 in hand there is not a lot of danger here so should be a chance
repeat to relax and get some more kills on the board. Yeah, I think you're on to something there.
MPL with the shooting gallery, knocks over the first target no problem, flushes out the second
with the incendiary, teammate stacking them up, jobs are good and Lexi B and Ditts with nothing to do,
nothing to say, 3-1 locked in. And there we have it, comfortable start here on their
opponent's pick. Keeping it calm as well, one over celebrating, staying locked in.
Pressure now on the side of Navi. Yeah, in spite of winning the pistol, a little bit
more of a slow start. They had a slow start as well on the opening map and
they still managed to turn it around once they pick up the rifles but
C side here, AKs now started to be assembled. Nobody really stepping it
Emma's got 4 kills, that's good, but we'd love to see some more people on that Navi's small board at the moment.
Just given how little bait actually played this map, you think that Navi are a shoe-in for this.
Oh, yikes!
Towards the middle, NPL, he actually got one more kill in the middle there.
Alexi was about to get pushed from behind, but now he's got some teammates with him.
He's got wonderful there to help him out.
I think NPL might be in a little bit of trouble here.
Oh, he's actually walked the other way.
They've left Alexi alone.
I'm so surprised they didn't help him out.
Did what he could. Alexi with a couple of kills, he bestilled the man in advantage.
Gonna be pushing through the fames. Trying to shut down that plant.
Kenji's also gonna push for Smoke as well. Taking a lot of damage on Rude as
he want to continue with this expedition. He certainly does. Two on two. Very winnable now for Nabi.
Sick idea for KensaSoul, but when it packs fire, it could have been a little bit scary here.
Wonderful. On his own, Smoke's fading. Gets the first.
Oh, Sizi, yeah, he has to hit the shot, oh, wonderful.
He is so crisp right now.
Great double and a great clutch.
Absolutely true.
Up against Sizi in that 1v1.
Pre-firing the corner, very aware of what is up against there as well.
Senpil with the madman maneuver, pushing out of the cage smoke.
Doesn't manage to get one, that was impressive,
but presence of mind from Alexi being full display there.
Gets himself the double, taking the doubles.
Wonderful gets one of his own really clean, confident finish there.
From the young Sniper.
Yeah, let's go with Deed.
That's all they needed, Blade loving that.
Tatsical Timeout called by Narvi.
Klaid can feel the pressure.
Doesn't want to let...
This one get out of hand.
It's there in that pick for a reason.
He's been very tight with the Timeout, Blade.
Yeah.
Like, he takes them when you said you mentioned it a couple of times in the first half.
Like, even when they had an advance,
he was on the win when they were doing one on the first match.
Doesn't want to fumble the easy ones.
Yeah.
But they've got the advantages, let the game come to you.
I respect that, like, Navi, they're not a team that can afford that.
They need a Strayer wins, they need to prove to the world
that they are here to contend for the very top all the time.
And this is the first real gun round, right?
You've got wonderful AWP, you've got Sizi on his.
Yeah.
This is breaking point on either side of the servers.
The most important round so far.
It was set to tone the remainder of this series.
Oh, a lot of damage for MPL back towards the cubby and Makate.
Not looking as strong as usual, but Ima certainly is.
He gets a double with the galil from way downtown.
Nice spray.
Man-advantaged Navi, but Ima is very low for his troubles.
Centiel, vision removed, but the Spam is gonna pitch perfect.
Now say that, only just 10 damage.
Looked like it was dead on.
Tessus would have got that.
Oh, for sure.
He was a beast earlier, if you missed it.
spouting through those walls.
But yeah, if you're McCarthy,
I feel like the sadness from that
little in the last couple of seconds,
because when Emma gets double kill,
it's all gonna be worth it at the end.
Oh, did they overlook this position?
This could be a nightmare.
There's no way.
Surely someone is gonna be...
I don't think you checked this, Anders.
I think you assume your teammates already have.
Oh my God.
Oh my God.
What have they done?
Ships in the night.
Both teams completely...
You're fooling each other?
Navi is so lucky.
He didn't look behind him.
You don't see that too often.
The thing is though, if they'd gone straight in and planted right away, there was a chance that he could have come back and shot them anyway, but because they waited so long to plant, he's so far away now.
Well, he's back at A at least now. He's got towards donut. Smoke is going to beat him. But he goes down. That's really unfortunate, Alex.
Like he has no idea.
The perfect read on the scenario.
Yeah.
Perfect position. Just the timings alluded him.
So, Dev. It's such a devastating move that the rest of the team don't even move.
They can't, they don't even get close to the site.
Oh the thing is when you're pushing a main there's so many angles you need to take care of like that
You've got the pillar in front of you got left and right of the steps
There's a little couple of cubbies as well. You're worried about that if he just checks behind him
There are three players lined up for him
But it was locked in look if that backstab
And unfortunately, he'll never know
How close he was to winning that round
They're in the hearts. Well, I do kind of like this thing from now
It could be very expensive obviously it already has been a couple of more kills there
Can they find anybody else? No, it doesn't seem like it, so it's going to be the end of it, at least for Bait. They get to save a couple of rifles.
And the AWP as well. Like I said, that was a very important round. The most important so far. If they lose everyone there, they've got nothing going forward.
I would assume they take a tactical timeout of their own now going forward as well. And it was the opening kill from Kenzie there.
In the back a little getting the job done bit nice work
And indeed the time just because of the financial ramifications as we discussed before
Yeah, it makes sense. Oh, that's a rare round
It's one of those rounds that you you're gonna look back in the demo review later on and you're gonna tell that's exactly how to work out
I'm surprised though that Navi didn't check it either
I felt like that typically you do you try to do that, but but they were so focused on the site itself
never really occurred to anybody there and now he's starting to gear up now
they've got the money on their side round number seven wonderful hitting a
couple of shots here and there in a still the main force you are right though
MacCasey hasn't really been activated yet he's one and six yeah he was very
slow Mirage similar scoreline to everything's up there as well I think
like he's trying to show that he still got it so with that form from
Stockholm and but a lot of Jules not going in his favor so far, but it's okay games
neck and neck
You go around the same for AWP
Sizi yet to really blow us away with his performance
See what he can do with this one if you can save the day here all be forgiven. It's a very important round
Of the cleanest spray from him out, but the job is done
cracked up the middle and
Indeed the a bomb site
Such a shame the AWP never really in position where they needed it to be
They had that one trick of blowing up in the smoke in the middle of begin with and then
They just kind of missed all of the other opportunities that might have been there
Wonderful quite happy to hold this
Yeah, NPL
Maybe try and find a timing through to smoke, but there's no real reason to avoid your gaze from it, but
We'll see what does anything to be said at this stage is trying to take the AWP
The hunters on the land as you can see
Navi spreading across the map. They know there's an open play right now and they
want it desperately. Yeah I mean they tried to hunt at the previous round and it
didn't really work out but true. Why not try and take it away. It's given very
similar feelings as to what we saw on the first map with Navi's slow start but
they lock in, they keep their nose to the grind and they're kind of
back in the game now. Four to three big money advantage here even if they
don't find the AWP at the end. It's still nice position for Nabi to be in as they are
looking to take the second map in a series. Avoid the lower bracket if you can.
Oh absolutely. Lose two games and you're out of this one. Opening day of the group stages
here, the blast open. Looking for our six teams to make our way towards Rotterdam.
As we get into round number eight here, they'll save the AWP, which is a bit of
God's end because the money would have been too tight otherwise to bring it out.
We'll see whether they can start to find their footing here after winning that
second round forced by Bates will not be combative towards middle allowing them
to have that control which is okay. Like I said, Nabi is so good at it, let them have
middle and fight elsewhere and fight they shall. Alex will strike first, take
down the danger man, Ima towards K. Makaas can push through and actually
win the fight towards Donut. That might be a really big deal.
You can see his Sizi on the other side. The smoke has faded. He doesn't realize Makaze has already walked through.
This is so dangerous. They've actually walked past each other again. This time it's just one man, but Makaze,
he is behind enemy lines.
How much key to convert right now? This could be absolutely epic. The bomb is on the other side,
but all it needs is Makaze to get one kill, and this entire defense could crumble.
They're gonna go and pick up the bomb. They want to get back towards the A side of the map,
but they don't even realize he's walked past Sizi in donut,
and Kensen stores he still hang around to the back of the side here there's the
shot now they know what's up from a car they get to come back into it this could
still fall apart for now be such a great position but might not be enough oh
he fumbles it yeah he didn't go deeper than that says he now activated teammates
surrounding will look to be a very promising position for Mikaze completely
thought to death and wonderful of no chance of 30 seconds remaining sure
he's got the bomb find his rival opera as well as gonna take a lot more that
came from but I don't think it's any
wildy to send the all-close things out
and yeah that one kind of the sizzles out
such a shame there was looking like
they could have done it again back to
or not really back to back but two
rounds and a half where they slink past
the defense and yeah managed to win it
that would have been devastating for
Bates but good work for Sizi once he
realized what was going on there
some real good shots coming out and
gets a little round here for Bates
yeah he's got to wear super sick
Highest up the game once again.
Huge one to pick up, 4-4.
Let's have a look what we've got, full body available, resources running low for all.
He decided to serve here but looks to be a V-Contact play-and-is, waiting for the initial barrage of utility to subside
and let us walk their way in towards the B site.
In front of the smoke now, Alexi B will make the noise.
McCarthy goes down again, he is having a rough one today.
They must have known that Alex was there, so maybe he wasn't really calmed out properly
because Alexi just got shot in the back, but NPL will burn alive.
Oh, trying to push it, imagine if people would have hit that.
That would have been the end of the round I think, but Sizi wants to stay fighting.
Kensesaw now activated, leaves Imor alone here, just a Hicane hand.
And he's got 11 bullets, hasn't had a chance to reload yet, gotta be very careful.
Bombs right in front, uses half the bullets.
Now he's got a chance to reload, he knows the sentiel is right there.
Oh!
Instant headshot. What an expert play from Ima.
They needed that.
Felt like these rounds are getting very complicated, very uncomfortable for Navi.
Mikazi's going down with nothing almost every single round,
even when he finds perfect in prime position.
But it is Ima to save the day. It felt like they needed that one.
As mentioned, resources very low on either side of the server.
And that would say, at a time I was being called, I was going to say by Navi,
again considering how chaotic it's getting out there.
But it is bait to call it.
They go 5 to 4. Blade is more than happy though to take this time out. Calm everyone down.
Not getting the same level of output towards middle as he's used to.
Those B contact plays are so powerful. They are so often that you can catch the CT defense,
looking the other way, trying to throw a grenade, do whatever they do.
This time it looked like they actually had a bit of an event going, but only for a while.
In a sick round from him.
Four kills again, I think.
Was it four?
I think so.
Beautiful play.
Good read of the situation.
Massive round.
Can't stress that enough.
There's been a prime position going forward now.
He's carrying them right now.
Ten and five.
And we're going in for another B-play.
Ooh, that was nice.
That starts pretty damn good.
Wonderful.
cracking open the skull of a centipede. Now back here is MBL hoping for a
demon shot. That's more like it. Now we're finding a lot of confidence in this round.
Should be the clean sweep and it is indeed very clean.
It did work out, that's for sure. All right then. The moralizing round there
for baby that was Jericho. They ran into the stack, still no problem.
Ima looking unbelievably sharp right now
Yeah, the issue is I mean so far again very limited on the data, but it seems to be the CT side is significantly stronger
Normally bait than it is on the T side
So doesn't bode well is a problem
There's just no other way to put it in the back testing it that smoke doesn't really block anything that already through
I love this from now on Alex see if they can find the opening says he's gonna get one and Alex in the corner
It's a double kill for Sissi now trying to hold them back and finally
Finally there might as a thought now being this a of this be attacked. That's just been so relentless
Kill area situation don't grenade in hand bomb is down
But there's so much time to work with he's picked them off one by one. There's no way there is a way
I've got a channel that grand final wonderful, but okay a young team like bay. They're gonna make mistakes and these sort of scenarios
This could be the first one
He's hearing the scope already, so he knows.
Yeah, gonna be too scoped up, unfortunately. Good work from Alex, and it could have worked for Pete.
They absolutely needed that round.
I thought of the perfect call as well. The incendiary wasn't great from the CT side as well.
You can see they took no damage when running into the bomb site. They got so much ground into their remit.
But it's Sizi. I always said we wanted to see more output from him, and we're certainly getting it now.
From his POV, that's excellent work there.
Nice change of pace. Didn't hate the call from Navi. They're just unfortunately the Orcs waiting for them and converting.
The opportunity is found and it's gonna be a one-round game looking for 7-5 our
Navi and Bay looking to tie things up.
Sounds a bit bold isn't it going back to the same bombsite three times just
punching the same weakness over and over again.
I like it.
I'm boosted.
Right on top of the Molotov here finding that gap in between the two and that's more like it.
You've been saying it for a while as a demon in the middle and now we get a
chance to finally see that activated towards the end of the half here.
an advantage and he arrived final round of this half wonderful with great space
towards a CT's rotating in Sizi really finding his form now 11 and 7 down he
goes
he's so much work he's finally caught throwing that grenade two versus two the
bomb is by the B ramp I don't know if there's any way that bait can read this
it's gonna have to be a very very tricky 2v2 at the moment here it's
I got the right idea though, it was sent to you, I actually knew!
Don't love that.
That's the bomb going down, he had one minute to work with.
Surely, you've got the information that one player's towards A, group up and go together.
I don't know if Alex realized but he did see him.
Maybe it's possible a teammate might have called out for him and said,
wait a minute, like he was on your screen though.
You could see just the heel of Alexi slinking around the corner.
40 seconds now, he's picked up the barfing and he knows exactly where he is.
That's going to be an instant deathly, a tied game at the end.
6-6 right down the middle here in this second map.
That's a quite high commanding counter shot.
Let's get into this one.
Well, a very loud and warm welcome here in Hong Kong.
Do you like this?
Now the people here is amazing.
It's insane.
Maybe Korg will open the show.
Act of moody center from I would kill this right there. How would you do it?
First I remind them where we are
Austin, Texas
This state has been the beating heart of Counter-Strike for 25 years
You know who's waiting for you back stage. They want to hear your height. They want to feel it
Six teams entered the opening up, but there is only one prize waiting on this stage.
Lispawa makes some noise!
Hold on a second, music, people, cheer for us.
Do you feel it? Your heart pounding with anticipation.
That shiver down your spine.
My power strike lives within us from the bottom of your heart, my DNA!
Welcome back to Blast Open, you join us for the second half of the second map between
and Bates. A couple of fumbled rounds towards the end there from Navi and is has opened the
door of opportunity for Bates and we split this one right down the middle 6-6. I'm actually very
impressed by Bates. I feel like it was a bit of a tough start for them honestly but they made it
back and tied up the game right now. They just needed with a pistol here and suddenly it's a very
different conversation. Let's see if they got it. Looks to be a fake of some sore here.
Three players over towards the A side of the map. MPL showing some presence over towards
Okay position is gonna love to deal with it
Wonderful with those jewelies perfect weapon for the job. It was supposed to be a ruse
But now object to get that bomb plant towards a and see what you can do nice shot from Sizi
He could have stayed alive that would have been different. I think you're exactly right
It would have been sick to see how that works out me
Oh
Charles they just keep sacrificing themselves to the clock of kensis or how on earth did that happen one by one
one. Now it's just Emma, the last one left. Could he get one more kill? He's in the smoke
hiding once, another head shot surely. It'll come through Alex to take him down, but Kensa's
war. It's like he's just a blender and they just keep walking into it. Well there it
is. Three out of the four pistols, landed Faber of Bates. A five on three advanced
agendas. How do you get that one up? I'll never know. He had the reeds. You knew
Exactly what was going on, but it's Kenzie's door to shut down the Navi retake
Bombers only just getting planted there as well. They're really
Forced things too quickly there. It felt like that was unnecessary
Speaking of horses speaking of forces indeed. We have got one for Navi
76 beta to leave against the MP9 the famous wonderful Kelsey of his double kill
Doesn't have a helmet mind you
Let's see if they can answer back.
They know that Makazi's in here and some of the surprise that he stuck around as long
as he did seemed like a vulnerable position.
They're taking over some mid-controls.
There's plenty of time in the round here, so I think this is fine for Bates, alright.
Some wallbangs.
I didn't see too many of these from the other side.
If I now be less interested, they just wanted to attack the B bomb site as fast
as possible.
The wallbang is still very powerful. Only one defender at the A side of things.
It's the most powerful weapon, but not a prime position for the job.
No real information there through the donut, so it's wonderful it's dead.
Yeah, best case you could have taken somebody with him, but...
To save now.
That's gonna be the call, right? They get one kill on CZ, that's nice.
They could upgrade into the Galil, but still the call doesn't really change.
really changed that. A few far away.
Dalgiv Bates an additional lead up to 8-6 now.
Yeah, a few rounds fumbled here.
Most notably round number 12 with our first half.
Bits walking into the bomb site by himself in a 2-on-2
and he had the information the player was in towards there.
You had that information locked in.
Yeah.
And he decided up the year round by himself,
such a gamble player, he goes down,
Lexi can't win it. That's exactly what happened.
They had all the time in the world it was baffling
why they didn't just group up and go together but there we go and this round very comfortable
up in themselves towards middle well these are some of the mistakes that maybe the maybe blade
has been taking those timeouts for to try and control those moments and try to make sure that
they don't throw it away when they've got the opportunities because certainly very painful
this is a match or a map at least by all these and navi should be winning on this ancient one
Real jump scare there for wonderful.
It can be a horror game.
But a second bite of the cherry is available for Navi.
They save the majority of their firepower.
In up, we'll enter with a galil.
MP9's it out on full force as well.
Couple of upgraded pistols, 5-7 from XB.
McCarthy's still really yet to get going on Ancient.
8 and 12 right now.
They feel like he's trapped.
They feel like Inna could be in there still.
He's got the one kill but they don't want to hunt him down on the five seven up close. It's not good enough
Have they forgotten about Emma? They've been so careful about checking this position, but
Again, not quite enough. I feel like flashbang would have done the job there, but the trade is in yeah
So 2v3 they maintain that man advantage. You got plenty of time. There should be no problem to shut this one down
I say that MPL and kensies or are low. They do end up walking into a two-man stack here
a couple of eagle body shots could seal the deal. Ascent for the player of 100 HP, he'll
be going in first. And, well, that's why. Great shot from him. That secures the victory of the
round. Yeah, look, there was a second there, but can only ask so much of Wonderful. He's
been playing very well on this map. Him and Emma really have been the main driving force
for the Navi side of things. It hanging around in the middle, see if you could find anything
to upgrade into. I don't know if you have, so go a little on the ground at the very
least if you want it. One on the other side too. So 9 to 6. Navi not quite able to slow
down bait at the start of the second half. Like you pointed out they've won three out
of four pistol rounds and even the pistol round they lost in the first half of this
map they won the following round so it might have been even better for them. So all of
the halves we've really seen so far have been good starts for bait and it's been
Na'Vi catching up afterwards, sort of in the template for this match so far.
Sobering moment here for Na'Vi. The champagne hangover setting in Anders.
Maybe. We're missing some star power out there, the MVP of Stockholm, Mikazi.
MIA right now. Unable to find the same level of impact. We're used to...
I'll get you a more champagne.
Yeah, it must be.
The only way.
So tactical timeout called by Blade.
Can feel this one slipping away.
This is supposed to be the
locked in victory on their map pick.
Plenty of tape out there.
And now they operate on ancient looks.
I bait and a very comfortable spot right now.
Currently up three zero in the second half.
Guns are becoming out following round.
See what they've got.
It is interesting because Mikazi and Emerus are fighting in the middle with the same confidence as if they're going to win every time,
but because Mikazi isn't quite there, the results don't really follow and that mid has become a bit of a liability for them.
Agreed.
Which is hard to criticise, right, because you do want to see them still have the confidence, like you don't want to see them back it up, but...
Yeah, and it's the times of this though when your star's on showing up, you can't play your A again, you have to adjust.
Yeah.
And you can see now changing things up slightly, not hyper aggressive as they once were, waiting
for the initial bombardment of Utility to come in, but the flashbang still catch him.
Imma holds on a 4-4, technically does favour the T side here so early on.
We'll see them coordinate themselves towards A. MPLs confirm that A main is clear for
now, they can execute with a smoke down towards Donut and CT spawn.
There is CT presence here, Imma and Wanda4 both in the Donut, however as I mentioned,
they are going to be smoked off momentarily.
they come yeah classic grenades to be set up yeah he confirmed both in this
position Vitas actually went to the out-of-the-pea bombsite it's what the
point that I made earlier about Alexi being very much a solo player at times so
at least they're closer to the bombsite than they would have been but still
smoked off still grenade it out of this position off a nice swing attempt
here from wonderful there might be an opportunity but now he's very low on
health and low on ammo as well comes up with the USP still a 2v2 the bomb is
planted and Sizi and Alex they're both a bit tagged up here this is a doable
retake I wonder if Navi know how much damage they've done there is a smoke as
well to be picked up here there's one already on Ima with a kit as well so
they could get close incendiary landing in a corner nobody is there and that
bomb is ticking in front of them so they need to get running on this one
smoke on top of the bomb we'll see if they can play around it Ima with a
good kill Alex now alone trying to guess the angle that the infuse already
happening he's not getting it right in front of him, that is a devastating
way to lose a round. Just didn't have the bullet to commit to the full spray the
glock comes out when you see that pulled out and as you know the rounds over
nice work smoke on top of the bomb you called it as soon as that devues comes
in panic stations and it's not the cleanest round they lost that opening
kick they kept the minute felt very uncomfortable for a moment but the
headline will read Navi a pick up their first round now the second half
round of bullets this way pulls up a clock and you know it's already over but
still not a clean round. Only one player surviving the CT side means there will be
concessions yet. One kit available to them. Wonderful the AWP. And we're gonna
have a fast play at that B ramp. It's a bit ready for it.
Now we already showed how powerful this could be. Let's see if we can replicate that.
It's already good and trash. Two for one and they know the bit is in this corner.
that they will simply pull him out of it.
So many people coming his way and the rest are running.
They don't have a chance here.
Wow.
Great change of pace.
They were not ready for that whatsoever.
They had players there, ready and waiting.
Three of them in total, completely taken care of.
Senthio, MPM and Sizi working together,
brute force in their way towards that B-bombsite.
I'm guessing that would have been
Alexei dying towards the cave.
I feel like a lot of the times Alexi is pathing on this bomb site at the start of the round
is to run past the pillar and all the way to that wall bang wall just so that he can
basically stop this from happening.
Yes, I normally see him play early in the round to stop this kind of thing.
Like he's really well aware that people can be faster at that ramp.
Not that that was necessarily the only mistake, but when you are this far back it does
allow them to fan out on the bomb site and where if you're already in that corner
It could be very very tough coming out of the ramp a great par thing relentless aggression there from baits. They do hear hard
Navi are feeding it right now
Thanks to questions blade want to get stuck in they do save the AWP and then m4
Third map edging ever closer there will be dust to
10 to 7 they will force by around the save weaponry a couple of MP9's
Two M4s in the wonderful AWP.
The cars are taking the front of damage again.
Kind of nullifies his aggro towards middle. We're going for a contact play.
All five players are inside of the map and CTs have this information. They need rotations right now.
Good smoke.
Yeah, but they might just go through it.
They're all here like you said. They don't have anywhere else on the map to go.
So they're just getting all the ruggles ready.
Fucking entry it is with the Molotov on top.
Wonderful. One good connection, but he could not escape.
escape. The bomb is being planted right in front, in a good position, Ken's saw will go down,
that'll be upgraded into an AK, so 3 vs 3 now. They're fighting a lot more than I was
expecting here, but I feel like once the bomb is down, it's on you to try and just waste
a little bit of time. They have another Molotov on Sizi.
No kit.
Yeah, no kit either. If he can find a good way to burn out that bomb, then there
might still be a chance here. Alex is alive as well. Sizi here, just got to
Fall a little bit further. Oh, keep it dream going a while along a property through the grave
I'm making it to mine. I mean you make a difference great spray down
Can't get it running for it. Yeah, he wishes he had the kit right now
Then the round would be easy gets the AWP instead, but he's another probably go some of the blasters. Well, I'm pretty sure
No, I'm not quite okay
He gets the AWP but and as I have to say McCarty that spray his trackings off
Yeah doesn't look confident like the aim is just not there right now like he had the advantage in this kill
like the Molotov's down but yeah you think he gets the least one there doesn't happen
and it's another round where it all falls apart they had the man in advance he could sit
even spawn a real nuisance gets a second kill and that's enough to win the round
feeling the pressure they save the AWP but they don't have much else to go around it
It's when it's slipping away.
It is like any faster than I was expecting.
I'm just really, really impressed with Bates.
We don't have a lot of tape on them on this map.
It's not one that they play very often.
Somehow they've managed to put together something really impressive here.
So they saved the AWP.
What can they do with it?
Did they want to force by?
It's 11-7.
11-7. They have actually got a surprising amount of cash here, so not a done deal, but only picking up one round so far.
It's 5-1 in the second half.
Let's have a look.
Okay, opening pick. Attempted there by Sizi.
17-13 right now. It's wonderful on the other side with 15 kills to his name.
Opportunity for that first kill might come a knock in.
Quiet standoff outside of the B bomb site.
Sizi hoping that there's a mistake.
And Navi on the other side hoping the very same thing.
MacAuzzi's kind of falling back up from middle, so he's kind of giving up that position,
but the forward hallways position from inner is kind of sick.
Sizi, good work.
Really well played.
Good discipline, good patience.
Knew his opportunity to come eventually.
He knows Navi a desperate for an opener right now.
They play the cards right, they've got map points and five opportunities to put it in.
Looking for the CT aggression, there has to be a rebuttal, the CTs need information,
they've pushed A main, they found nothing.
Alexi B, tucked away into that cave position.
He's got the orb to try and bait him in, if the orb fires off that's when he swings.
B execution nades going in, Molotov for cave entrance, smoked down towards Long.
This cave set up pretty good.
Do we need something out of you, my friend?
Yeah, if he dies, then the setup doesn't really matter at all.
Group on the first one, quick transfer,
and a couple of more bullets, mine are done,
and he gets assist.
Oh, and no scoop at the end.
That is sick.
That's the best showing from a car's in the CT side so far.
They desperately needed it.
Sure, they're running for the smoke, but he finds his double.
Beer recovering the fall and AWP.
Pits of the good work, and a lovely no scope
to close down that round.
Denying map point, Anders.
They're still in this one.
We are getting so many timeouts right now.
There's only one left.
Yeah.
They're burning through them just to keep the focus in this match.
I mean, you have to respect that.
Yeah, it's an intense game so far.
But the job is far from done if you're baited.
Sure, you're close.
But against Nabi, the tenacious, resilient team.
And he's led them back in.
McCarthy will be feeling a lot more confident after getting a couple of kills there, getting
himself at the double digits.
It was a 5-1-4 advantage, but one they can't convert.
So much riding on Mikaze's double kill here because the double setup they have in the cave
right next to it.
If Mikaze dies, then suddenly, that's a really mean that much.
Okay, kind of unreal.
Bidden aside, Pop Shot through the smoke.
Again, not lucky, but certainly fortunate.
Lovely nose, good to close things down.
A lifeline here, and a chance to catch their breath.
A moment's respite, and as you can see, the full eco pretty much here.
Need to keep this one clean.
Yeah.
But also, this is the kind of round that could give Navia chances of a catch their breath and
and feel like they're in control once again.
Let's see.
They can keep this one clean.
Mikazi?
Sure, actually maybe let him off the leash this round. Get him some eco kills.
Yeah, he just needed, I mean, he's got 10 kills.
I've been devastatingly mad, but like coming off that MVP level performance
Yeah, and being like the juggernaut towards middle especially this is nice and day. This is not the player. We saw in Stockholm
Yeah, that's the problem right you have your being measured against your former self. That's not that long ago
everyone remembers
Okay, like that
That was mine
Okay, there we go. He's getting his there it is you needed those kills trust me. That's gonna help out a lot for his mental
Little cheeky smile there on Alexi
They are not ready to let go of the map just yet and I mean the pressure is on
Bates the whole way through here of course yeah they've already got a map
under that Bell Navi if he goes to a third there's still the favorite team
and they can still win in regulation here sure it's 11 to 9 but they are
looking a lot more comfortable fully equipped here can't say the same thing
for Bates they've gone for two glills bare bones utility could be a
They did want to recover here. They did not have the Orbis Sissy available to them.
And he's really been hitting shots like he's found a headache with those shots so...
Unlike the first map, it actually feels like a serious downgrade now.
Not having him on that one. MPL though.
It's a beautiful start. Takes down Alexi.
And the fact that...
He can get that kill early. You gotta wonder if they can spawn anything off it.
The fact that Alexi's that far up alone, I mean, you would think there's a big weakness at the B bomb site.
But the breathing bomb over to the A bomb site instead looks like they might leave one person here by the cave in essential and
Just trying to see if they can rotate on out
It's a very open a bomb table wonderful patrolling it from CT spawn with the AWP
plenty of time to work with
That was out the playing field four and four
It's a really really big find
Yeah, the fact that nobody's at the A bomb site looks like they're just now be ready to go play for a retake if they need to
Trust that maybe wonderful can hit just one shot in there
They have one smoke remaining easy towards CT spawn the site is theirs and it has gone down
Yeah, let's see. He does have a couple of grenades here though
So you could try and do some damage to them all on its own. There's the incendiary slow them down even just a little bit
Now they're pushing towards the donor good trade of a car safe does get one
But Ima is there. Look at the flank coming in. I think Alex wants to wrap around through middle
That might be very hard to time. He should almost certainly get a free kill here. Oh, it's nearly spotted out Ima
One more pixel and he would have had it. That's so close
But now instead it's a 2v2 and they're gonna be on it right away
They need to get on the Steve Hughes and try and put some pressure on the rest of bait
It might not work at all. Sizi, he picks up the first one and he will double down on it
It's great around from Bates comes down to the minutia that doesn't it Emma
You're right. Just one more centimeter around the corner. He gets a free kill the round is theirs
But unfortunately it unravels and that's gonna be map pointing out for Bates. They go 12 to 9
Very important round in the car. They look like he was having some serious impact there as well
That's the moment the round falls apart for them. Does he get some all the top down the bottom even follows it up with
The final kill as well beautiful stuff
Three in a row required now to take us to overtime, still very possible.
An uphill struggle for sure, it's going to be McCarthy, throwing that grenade in towards the elbow, successfully landed at the front door of Sisi.
Alexi being towards cave.
Sisi and Imr at the moment, a bit of a competition to reach the top both at 20 kills.
And there's actually a bit of an even trade at the beginning, but Centiel trying to make
quick work of the B-bombside defense.
Immer gets blown up, the top fragger for Navi out of the round, and Navi fighting to secure
over time.
Centiel, he's pretty much won the round on his own at this ramp.
Three kills so far.
Alexi and Wonderfall, they are miles apart on this map, just each person holding
a bombside on their own.
It's not what you want to see.
Well, they don't have much of a choice, unfortunately.
Under a minute, so plenty of time still,
and just waiting for it here.
Try to flick from wonderful.
I can't believe he's not dead.
And now they're in the middle, maybe shuffling around.
This could somehow still work.
That's a two on four.
If they win this one, that's devastating for Bates.
Well, it's Alexi B that has to fend them off.
He's gonna lose his vision,
but they actually overplay their hand.
They don't wait for the smoke.
It's a bit of a freebie there for the in-game leader.
Gonna go for the spam, but the smoke as well.
There's considerable damage, it's a single down of 45, but still two versus two.
Aubrey take it with challenging here for Navi.
This could be the GG moment.
Retaking as well with the AWP.
You never really know how that's going to be going.
Might not have many chances to follow up if you miss a shot.
The bomb slowly ticking.
There's a flash and it does hardly anything.
It also sends you a good spray down and he goes for the challenge.
I don't think he needed to.
Alexi takes him down, but the clock is working against him.
He tries and he gets the headshot on Kensen.
So wraps around and that is going to be such a close round, but one that bait might severely regrets couple of mistakes there
Playing in front of the smoke if it is waited one more second
He doesn't get that free kill the bomb doesn't get denied so early on and yeah
It comes down to those small details that they had the man advantage and he feel bad for a cent feel as well
He does all this great work. It's a four on two at that stage
Wonderful pulls on back and then Alexi B saves a day frustration coming through
I feel like even towards the end once they got the kill on wonderful
They could have probably disconnected from Alexi and just said well
We're just gonna make you waste all the time in the world here. Oh, they look so tilted
Don't give it now boys is they're gonna come down to round number 24 and there's a gun for a full eco here
Crazy work from Alexi B. I could totally understand the why that would tilt and be like you pointed out
There are so many times in that round where you know a tiny just wait a second
Just go together like wait for the smoke
We're putting the smoke down to stop that happening.
You've run in front of it with the bomb.
And presumably the worst feeling is you know it the second it happens.
You know what just went wrong.
You know exactly what the mistake is.
You just knew it a second too late.
Oh, if they end up losing this now and over time,
it all comes down to that moment.
A four on two and is to close it out
and you've run through before the smoke popped.
Classic way to lose, though.
I really feel like it.
Yeah, it is the old classic.
And that's the lesson they are never going to forget.
That's what happens.
Here, unfortunately, it's too eager to play.
And now, we enter round number 24, still not feeling 100% comfortable.
Two players on galills, you have the Sisy Orb and he's been playing phenomenally well.
21 and 17.
Trying to deny that B rush, it was a problem for them before.
This time the incendiary's there.
Speaking of incendiaries, the B laying is on fire.
Lexi B needs to be very careful here.
The cars will join him towards the haven, smokes up towards Elbow, goes to the spam.
Got four players outside B right now, looks to be a B execution.
It's a really big allocation of players again.
I don't think you can justify anything else now, I think you have to go for this B play.
You have no idea what's going on towards middle or towards the A side of the map.
Yeah, that's what worries me as well.
Okay, a double smoke long to stop it being popped open, I assume.
Molotov behind us, they're trying to burn everything out before they really go for it.
And here they pull the trigger already.
It's a missed shot, I can't believe it, it looks like it was perfect.
Wonderful!
He's still alive on the side.
Goes again and takes down MPL.
Wait for the teammates.
I don't know why, just wait.
It's a 1 vs 3.
And now turn into a 1 vs 1, Emma.
Just getting the kill on Sizzion confirming the overtime for Navi.
We said that's an Asius, we said that's a Brazilian.
You had plenty of opportunities to knock them out here,
thumbling the four-on-two advantage.
An unforced error as well.
They didn't have to lose that round at all.
We hate to bring it up, but it's true.
Yeah.
Another close round there.
He did the double kill, but got dinged on that first swing.
You were never going to win that second encounter.
That's unfortunate, but Maximum told now for Bates,
you knew you had that game.
That one round, that one mistake could cost you the map.
And indeed, the series.
We reset it all in overtime. Navi remain on the CT forces.
Nice injection of cash from both teams here.
This is even so impressive. 23 and 18 right now.
Yeah, the problem is it feels like McCartney's starting to get warmed up as well.
He's looking for this in the middle, taking down TZ.
That's the McCartney we know about.
And that's the problem, right? Because you pointed it out so many times
that he wasn't playing himself early on in the series
and now you're starting to see it a lot more.
The next he gets hunted though, they want some revenge here baits.
Yeah, round certainly not over.
Kendi's all spotted him jump, jumping into the donut.
And now they can take a bite out of CT spawn.
Alex, no problem the first.
Nice movement as well, forcing the hand of Mikaza to come to him.
Oh, it's risky for Mikaza to stick around.
Oh, no business winning that second fight.
He's back baby.
That is disgusting.
pretty woeful smoke should be enough to win the round here for Navi went too deep
and you weren't lying Henry you weren't lying about the Kaze on this map absolutely it was a slow
see like Mirage pretty quiet for him as well another slow start having used one and seven
oh my god if he found the fifth gear just needed to wake up it's the early morning game man there's
this young guy yeah so i think you're right now that he's here it's look it is devastating
the confidence to stick around as long as he did take the fight and then he's
retreating back into a player that's waiting for him and he spins around and
kills him that's that's a lot. The thing is for this young team as well now all
you can think about is we should have won this game already. Yes. No one wants to
admit it, your coach is telling you to move on. He's got that feeling in the
pit of your stomach knowing you fumbled this. Yeah. And now you've let
McCarthy back in the series as well. He was MIA. You've let him right back
in and my god does he look good right now this kill is ridiculous how he has a
presence of mind to flick into this one players all around him he has no business
getting a double kill there such sick move isn't it and that's the problem though
sometimes with the game last long enough like you said suddenly somebody else
comes alive back in yeah he must be playing well with Kasey okay anything here
it's pit instead taking the fight but my car see work at once getting scrappy
out there Anders. There's tactical retreat coming in now. They're just trying to get out.
But you know what? They've got the man advantage. They might be a bit beat up. You can see Immer
is on 5 health but still they've got one man lead and that could be all that they
need at the moment. Everybody from Bates in the middle and I love this play from
Immer. He's low on health. He knows he's not going to be that valuable in the middle
of a bomb site so he's taking up this super strange position that would be very
hard to clear. That's a big miss. Oh, but Maccazzi gets himself yet another double, but
this round is still on. You've got a minute on the clock. Ima on five points of health.
Again, this is such a rare position to like at this point in the round. Well, that's
what he's at the player with his brain instead of his brawn here. That's what he touched
himself in toward day main force. The next move out of Alex, hoping a mistake presents
himself at every second he waits means he's gonna be further and further away
from planting this bomb has to make the move now doesn't have the time or
resources to really do much with this he can molotov towards a man I suppose then
go for the plumber does he make the read it's gonna say if he does find a
molotov in that corner that would just be so sick but again like there's so
many positions you could see is checking everything he really wants to
find somebody in it I can't believe it he must found the perfect timing
He's checkmated him right then and there.
He has perfectly played for Mimma.
Mikazi in his zone right now,
he was what, zero and seven again.
He's currently up to like 23 kills.
Yeah.
A master class, an ancient,
it took him a while to get there.
The mic on is a little good right now.
Bit of a messy start from Bits.
And Mimma was there to pick up the pieces with Mikazi.
And then a mixture of wonderful,
you think right, they're back in the round
but there he is, another double kill.
I think Mikazi had 10 kills in the round over 20.
Yeah.
He's just exploded from the hour now
Not looking to slow down any time soon. Unfortunately
The callback to that 214 is gonna be epic. Nice opening frag. They find a danger man
Five on four need to convert this one final round of the first half of overtime
Sizi he's got 25 kills. Yeah, he's living up to the hype as well
to see it's gonna be taken down
At least they need a round here beats in the in the first half of the time
Well, if you don't convert this one, you're not going to convert any of them
This is looking very good good trade four on two. You cannot afford to fumble this. Oh
My god, what's the guys? Okay? That was a bomb almost almost a disaster, but it's fine
Very nearly nicely done
couple of moments where they look a bit shaky where it looks like they're forgetting to kind of
Tab the conversation there plenty of time
They didn't need to really rush anywhere
But it all works out in the end so they get one out of three rounds in the first half over time
I guess that's not the end of the world really
No, absolutely. I didn't want to be playing all time at all enjoyed that opening pig from Sissy especially Wow
Really confident stuff like we said taking down McCarty. He was getting stronger and stronger as a series develops
more tactical timeouts both these coaches are loving it and we go to one in favor of Navi
yet one round to guarantee double overtime to would secure the series and deny dust to for
all of the be attacked that we've seen with that ramp in play how come Henry we haven't
seen any CT side yet push outside of be quickly remember right when ancient came out how
aggressive like rain and carrying in together would do this thing that they
push down and take control of basically that door that's by the T side of B.
Well maybe that's what we happening in overtime here there's gonna have to be
a change of pace you can't just present the same rounds over and over I
think the main discussion is always towards middle these days that seems
where most of combat goes down it's the battle for mid control the
start of these particular rounds and we'll see if the CTs want to change
anything up remember one round but now these secures double overtime can
They get it in the first year. Maybe it's a lot of pressure if they can
smokes down towards donor
red Molotov and cubby
The magnificent duo was ever and the cars they will have to operate without an in-game leader now
Brave wall bang from a centio gives them an advantage
They started something even finished there unfortunately for Alexi yeah
They got mid control, but mostly because bait never really wanted to fight for it.
They just chucked in a grenade and said, you can have it.
We'll take some damage for it and then we'll pretty much just leave.
Macaulay no longer in mid, but by the cave instead, maybe he could find just one good
opening for his team here.
Bait would love some revenge and look at Kensesor.
He is so far pushed out right now.
a great position to be in as they're trying to attack the speed bomb site but
this is gonna be well known eventually more rotations gonna start to come in I
think they have a very good read on what is happening in this round might be
difficult to make it through they're gonna be boosting on over but that could
have been a mistake almost because they only were the one but it looked like
that was a multi-spray down in the making round is still on my advantage
yet and even more so now a bit dropping down four versus two retakes
should be comfortable but Emma gonna do everything he can to fight back into
It is one doesn't have to play on the other side of the smoke to be one for wonderful
Definitely could pull this one off that overlooks the angle kensiz already passed the ramp and there will be one more round going in favor of
bait we type things up a 14 14
They never I think realized that kensiz always on that longer of a flank so they just didn't have the timing and I guess that's fair like he was
Used the whole round used thanking that be bombsite. That's an unfortunate round and comes down to this wallbanger the star
You can see like that's not sustained anymore, but he'll take it all day long
It's a very common approach from the T side, drop a Molotov down, go for the follow-up
wallbang, but unfortunately it gets a face for the ledge.
Nice close from Kenzie's AWP.
Keep themselves in here, two in a row now required.
Send feels really come alive as well.
MPL's starting to add it to it's got a great trio that's working over on that
side of Bates.
It's not out of the question that can still win this map. I feel like they are strong on the CT side
Lot of mid grenades, but again bait I think I've decided we don't really want to be fighting middle
We're not really gonna take the battle in here towards Macaulay and whoever else is in there. They let them have it
That's a leg choice real close to finding wonderful
So towards there we go again Anders.
Posturing around the elbow position.
Deciding the final move.
I feel like this position at MPLSN is so obvious that you just might overlook it.
I think once a half it's fantastic, especially if Kenji's all can take the initial aggro.
Okay, yeah.
Or some chaos, yeah.
There's no reason why this can't work.
The problem is it is a very Molotov position. Whether they'll do it is yet to be seen.
There's the Molotov. So yeah, it comes in.
Oh, it doesn't reach.
Does it spread from?
Oh, that's insane.
It's just so close. He swings up for a double kill. That is crazy.
Grenade around the corner here and a little bit more to try and just distract them.
The backup is coming. Alexey's holding the middle though. That's a very nice shot from one.
They needed that. The farthest part of now.
And Alexey's tripled in value. He can control the rotation.
He can stab them in the back even, even though they might be low on health here.
On the T side, I think Alexi might be able to close out this round.
Wonderful, scoped up already, shot in the head, but here comes Alexi,
and easy spray down, leaves just dizzy.
A one versus two, and that's a lot for our young player to deal with,
but it's good on the first one, looking for the tap on the second player,
just diving into CT spawn.
He's gonna go straight for it, he's got the kit as well.
No time left at all to try and stop, there's he strongly got it!
That is great!
Oh, he holds his nerve, Alexi B.
I'm not sure we didn't get the combo, that was a terrible plan for his position.
Yeah.
And it is the young gun stepping up, it felt like a locked in round and that two versus one, the back stab was a thing of beauty.
Like I said, a Molotov position and it doesn't quite spread.
He finds the perfect opportunity to get a double spray down.
They find the man advantage regardless, it feels like it's a perfect round with a defined series point.
Full defuse comes in, it actually doesn't quite time it well enough.
Stop!
Get off!
Stop!
I'd love to know why
They weren't quicker to try and deny that is hoping you call his bluff, but
Sticks the full defuse and they're the ones now on map points
What a recovery from baits I feel like the emotions are running very very high at the end of that 2v4 loss and
Somehow they managed to recover it that is admirable
Wonderful sneaking in but once again bait are offering no fights in the middle
They're just not interested in giving that opportunity for Ima or Makasa here.
You can have middle, but good luck with the bomb sites.
15 to 14. Could go another round all the time of course, but we'll see.
Sizi, can you pull them over the line?
Very convincing case to do so.
Top fragging right now up there with Asentheal.
26 kills to his name.
Until his opening kill is going to walk right into him, tags McCarthy, and he'll be taken down, so that is not ideal.
Smoke towards CT spawn courtesy of XCB, and the scramble back into the side-handed.
Here comes a cavalry that have to go through the temple and say their prayers, if they're going to close this out right now.
So many people, such a small choke point.
They just run through.
That's madness, essential.
I can't believe he's got another kill, but it doesn't matter.
Can't make it work at the end.
Double overtime now in his blazing series.
Just when you thought you'd done enough, it all falls apart.
And it comes down to the Manish's again, Landis.
So you hit this shot, the AWP from Sizi.
It was a clean kill.
It's a very different round.
It ends up being McCartney, the player he led,
that finds him, they swarm into the site.
Wonderful gets that shot.
And like we said, they have to go over the temple.
Molotov dropped off towards Spawn.
Three players dive out of the tempo.
It doesn't work out for them and reset once again.
It allows Blade to get one more time out if he wants it.
But they'll remain on the T side now.
Double overtime is a foot towards middle we go.
Hopping that smoke open, going to cover.
NECT's crossing towards Heaven.
Akazi feels comfortable to cross out now.
Molotov down towards the Cubby.
Loudness to focus towards our red room and donor position.
Exchange utility, CT's not really part of the fight right now.
Could pop up in the smoke towards red and challenge it together?
It does feel like that's exactly what they want to be doing, but...
Very delayed in the middle air, so if we could kill...
That's an alley-oop. You see that spam coming through to try and dislodge it from the corner?
Again, the donor player swings out. Great teamwork.
Good coordination. Absolutely right.
Macaulay. Oh, he did get flashed, but honestly it looked like he had him.
NPL down a 5 health. I mean at this point you've lost every other position on the map.
You might as well try and go for it here. Bit of a spray through and it is NPL to die,
but he was very low from earlier. Not necessarily the biggest deal in the world here.
Yeah, round certainly still on here. They get the skill of Kansas off,
which they will, but they take a counter-steal on Rue. They can still fight back into this.
3 vs 2. Wonderful on the AWP. What have you got for us? 24 kills to his name so far.
joined by Bit and a well-being showing from him on ancient so far can he find the form to get the
first round here a double overtime they almost both got shot down on that kill that's scary there is
a player coming in from there's a smoke and there is a smoke as well important lead nice kill on to
Bit as Senthiel doing great work again this flick not connecting and it's all on the back of
wonderful now the greatest out of the land and they're putting the pressure on he doesn't care
He's no scot-one, but they're once again defusing right in front of Na'Vi, the blade!
And they can't find him!
Another devastating right in your face, defuse!
They knife him back as well, that's so unfortunate.
He has the AK there, it's job done, spray him down.
The AWP in those five seconds, blink and you miss it, Anders.
You miss one all-shot, you put out the glock, you're panicking,
trying to swing in the smoke, and it comes down to...
...near the seconds once again.
Great effort there from Wanda4, but you can see...
The bomb was already gone, even if he got a slash off, I don't think he wins it. He does get knifed in response as well.
It was looking so good, so promising.
They were working with a man deficit there as well, but they fought so hard to bring it down to the 1v1.
Let's have a look. There is the tactical timer now from Blade.
It's on the back of the no scope as well, that's when you think, alright, he's in the zone here, but...
That smoke made all the difference in the world.
We've had some close ones. We had the earlier. Oh, it's been crazy. Yeah, but with Alexi and Sizi in the 1-1, like so close.
That makes all the difference in the world in some of these matches and see Bate can start to accumulate just a bit of momentum.
They've been so close to closing this one out so many times our bait should have been done in regulation round number 24
felt like they had enough to work with it slipped away same approach from wonderful
getting those smokes popped open a couple of times denying any sort of cross towards heaven
look at this move out of a that's very fast kensasaw's already taking up control
towards that C spawn position. They're aware of it though. They are well aware this is very dangerous.
Could be a bad mission but I like the attempt. I think he's kind of sick obviously backfires but
yeah it's a cool idea. You've got to try something. Senfield quietly snuck up to the
top of the scoreboard 30 kills on him in double OT. Very nice attempt but MPL takes quite a
bit of damage has to try and fall back. Gotta be careful you can get spammed down through it.
Very close. I don't know if I'd be taking that fight with our MPL.
Sizzle though. What's Sizzle gonna be taking down Ema? That's not bad.
Puts them back into a 4v4 and they still got 50 seconds left here.
There is still a chance for bait to win this in spite of losing the opening fight.
Lexi goes down again. I feel like tapping a lot towards this side of the map.
Two players very low, three on three sure, but I'm favouring Bates here.
Feels like a matter of time before they close this one out. Here comes McCarthy though, flashbang out of the cave.
Gets a little bit of space to work with here, but it's certainly not safe as a CT lying in wait.
Gets blown up by his teammate. Guys, what is going on there?
I knew I would. Where are the comms?
That is actually a giant mistake in McCarthy hits. They headshot on Alex.
Alex this could be another collapse moment because it was a sick play from NPL hiding inside of the smoke
It was a really cool idea. It's such a cool idea
His teammates have betrayed him. Oh, he blow him up. Oh
Oh, you hate to see that I
Actually can't believe. Oh man that one hurts
especially when
He's playing so well
brought this round back to life
Blowing each other up not ideal
You can see on the screen as well. He knows his teammates there.
And what are you hoping for? You know, he saw it from his monitor.
You saw the red bar of health. You know, he's right there.
And you just thrown an egg on top of his head.
I couldn't even begin to imagine.
That's devastating. Maybe we'll get him out soon.
Just a moment of madness, I think. Just lost in the sauce.
I don't know if I can say that's the reason they lost around, but it certainly didn't help.
Very difficult comeback from that moment on. There's no question about it.
it. Emma has taken an enormous amount of damage so maybe you try and park him
somewhere. Maybe you just walk straight into it, use him to trade out for Mikaze
getting the kill. That's not bad, wonderful. No escape on that one. The bomb is now lost
to the T side. But there is a very deep flank from Mikaze. This round is not
over yet. We've seen a few of these attempts over from Mikaze. He's unable to
stick the landing on these huge advantages. An interesting space he's
able to find but for now they need to recover the bomb and is a long time before he can be
activated so what can Alexi do for him he's got a Molotov and an HE. If you wrote it back
to A they could try and attack Kensesor over on that side they kind of know that he's been
anchoring this position so maybe that's the gamble that it's only him 45 seconds though
maybe not. I feel like Mikasa needs to make the next move here. He'll go towards A.
He'll be the bait and hope that a lexie bee can help himself towards a bee bomb site.
Molotov down.
Okay.
Making himself known now.
Straight back to try and catch them.
There's not...
Okay, there is a bit of panic.
I was going to say they're not moving that much, but now they are.
Oh, Macassie set up nicely for it.
They nearly line up.
It's going to be another team kill, but I guess they do trade it out.
Okay.
A bomb-fronted.
A thinking man's clutch.
Yeah, a lexie bee all the time in the world.
That smoke's going to do nothing.
They're essentially playing in front of that.
Oh, Willie.
apparently not. Yeah he decides to respect it. Which is probably the right move, you
had no idea what's on the other side. And they do have a smoke, they do have a smoke
against the wall. He's got a lineup of playing Valorant, let's go. Yeah, he's trying to see
if he can burn it out, but they have the smoke, so unless they screw this up somehow,
they could still smoke the ramp and then they'd be in trouble, but this will do nothing
at all, they can just throw a smoke and now they know exactly where he is. Yeah,
grenades are coming out and let's see you're gonna have to fight your way through
this one and it won't be easy. Good head shot though the inside is trying to...
OHHHHHH! This time it works up for Alexi!
Goddamn, well done to Alexi. Ice cold in the clutch.
Looked like he was out of luck there. They had to smoke Anders.
And still he comes out on top. I don't know how they fumbled that one.
Here against the in-game lead up. You smoke at his position.
You know exactly where he is and he gets the double kill
Has been so many rounds where it feels like a lock-in and Alexis is so calm here doesn't the spray make sure he knows
Yeah, there's exactly where he's blondie
calmly taps away
Very very nice his best moment yet in the series and like to be saved today
It's also the value of having somebody with that much experience where I'm at double o t
Not stressed at all just going through the motions very very cool to see
Another timeout burned here, obviously you get another one every time you get into more timeouts
So we're in more time. So they're gonna keep going here, but
The frustration still seems to be more on the bait side. They really wanted to close out this map. I
Mean whatever happens here. You're going up against the EPL champions
You're young underdog team. The fact you got them on the ropes here. I know it doesn't
Mean much to them, but if that's like that's you had them uncomfortable
This team is on the up and up bait are looking deadly. They've got a bright future ahead of them. We'll see if they can keep it going here
Ascent kill
Cracking things open. He'll find two. He's had a great showing so far 36 kills to his name
Everybody was blind for such a long time in the middle that even in spite of the fact
There was like four people stood on in front of each other
Nobody from the Nardi side could really see what was happening now essential is almost dead with 36 kills. You're right
So this round could still be navies, but the question is do they want to take a risk here?
They're a man down. Do you want to push up somewhere?
That's what bait have been doing on the CT signs.
They've been pushing that A hallway.
They've been trying to find an advantage when they're played down like this,
but navies so far sticking to their positions.
They're going to tie things up baits a four and three advantage right now.
Now, it's McCarthy and Emma, the Smash Bros. taken care of, 50 seconds remaining,
ElectriBull took himself in.
Two players towards A.
It's Bitt, who needs to step up here.
They're running A. Look at that.
He has not had a great showing, not the bit we know and love.
If he can find some strong form here, defendants A bombsite,
it'd be worth its weight in gold, 30 seconds if he can see.
overworked in the position. They got a wall for that smoke at A main, I think.
Yeah, this fake didn't really work at all. Like, they've only kept one player at the B bomb site.
They never really bought it. Now they definitely know that it was a fake coming out, and they'll
will expect that. Alexi, the second player towards that donut position.
15 seconds left. Good headshot from Kenzozor, but that bomb still needs to be planted.
They got about nine seconds on the clock. Water headshot from Ascentiol. That's ridiculous.
He's only got 14 health, and he just swings into the fight like that.
Terrifying display of aim from a cent fuel. Yeah, what a beast. He's turning out to be here an ancient
They had the reed they knew they were coming towards a but a little bit of panic there bit unable to find the impact
We were looking for as if the flash is going over towards middle. They said it's ten feet a lot
Get some stuff to double here
Yeah, I'm surprised that bit couldn't find a better way to play with the land surprise like it
He got away with murder there. The fact that they fired at him towards the temple and he reaped. I don't know why he re-peeks there.
I don't know. Yeah, you don't have the advantage anymore. You had to jump on him. You lost that angle.
Re-peaking it and offering up your life when you're having a rough game. I don't think was the answer.
Oh, here we go. That's how the hell is going on.
Okay, that is an absolutely absurd spray transfer from NPL. That is so quick.
We're gonna need a slow motion replay of that one.
Whatever happens here MPL has already done his job. It'll get one more headshot. What's a round?
That might be enough to put them over the edge here that might be enough to secure the second map for them
might be
Lexi B would have to do something unbelievable it's not gonna happen. It's gonna be map point once again for bait
The individuals going above and beyond this damage MPL of the wild class sequence from
the heavens he strikes down gets himself that triple ridiculous we need to go triple overtime
Oh
That is just a lot to be over doesn't it?
Bits is can't catch a break everywhere. He goes he's out of position
Okay, well I guess they needed that they needed somebody to help out a sentiel who's almost he's not getting the tour of 40 kills
Yeah, right 38 and 21
MPL
Fantastic work. Can he replicate it? Can they see all the deal now? Finish them off.
You've got them right where you want them, they're weak.
I like to see people with the MP9, you can see they're lacking util.
You're not going to get a better chance than this. Should have closed it out in regulation, but here we are in double overtime.
If we could do it now, all is forgiven.
We'll say it was just a bump in the road and we can move on to the third and final map here, tickling MPL through.
It's a B finish and there's, you know, a little bit of presence shown towards A, but look to things that a B execution needs to dodge those bullets, though.
It's gonna be bit to defend.
Can he find his form when it matters most? I don't think so.
That's a trouble. Dangerous! Oh, he does! Somehow!
I think what the hell was that MP9? I think Elections can actually manage to completely pull that defense or the attack coming in.
The bit is still alive. I can't believe it.
Hey, Clan.
Yeah, trying to do it again now, they've got a player in middle and Alex, but he's going
to have to join this cave position in just a bit, Navi, see if they can do this retake.
Nice Molly, that is a sick Molly, that might slow them down, Sizi gets one, but WandaFolk
is going to be there for the trade, they keep on going, and now Alex had the ramp
set up with a cross against the insta knockdown, and he's already low here because the clock
is running against him, he has to get this incredibly fast headshot and it won't
Alex takes him down and it will be baited double over time to win this second map against Navi.
Stunning!
Defeat there for Navi, a little bit of a surprise on Ancient as the sizzle indeed becomes a flame,
and bait make this a series.
That's a massive result for bait and they really really really had to fight for it
I know a lot of the attention will be focused on the overtime
But in regular time it did feel like bait where the better team there said I think in the first half
Navi had to fight for every single round a lot of them came down to 2v2 1v1s in the vast majority
Navi went out winning those which is why I thought okay
Experience gonna win out of this game unfortunately for Navi kind of slowed down a little bit couldn't get it over the finish line and bait
You know kept their head cool despite showing a lot of frustrations despite having a lot of opportunities to close out the game
before third all the time.
I think they did a good job finally getting it done.
Yeah, I mean, going into overtime,
you're expecting with all the money behind them
that Navi are going to have the experience.
They've got big game players like Macause
to bring them over the line.
They have bit that had a slow start.
You expect a little more from him.
So for bait to actually close it out
after allowing them into OT is incredibly impressive.
And it shows some psychological kind of wherewithal
from Sizi, who you were talking about positively.
I was talking about negatively.
I got to say, great game from him.
It turns out I know things sometimes, maybe, or sometimes I get lucky.
Either way, talking about big-game players, these two guys, Essential and Sizi, huge part of that, right?
Really bringing it consistently throughout this ancient as well.
I mean, even if you cast your mind all the way back to regulation, that final round, Sizi nearly pulled off a 1v3 to close that regulation.
And what happened?
Almost made it happen.
The two most impactful players on the side of bait.
I think Essential in particular, I agree with you, Sizi found moments, he found clutches,
and he stepped up when, I guess it mattered the most considering his age, his experience,
but essential were a consistent force from start to finish.
Finishing at what, 38 kills, 37 kills or something like that,
doing a really, really good job, Keating Bait alive in moments where it felt like
Navi was going to take over the game.
So in that regard, we kind of poised the question,
what does it take for Bait to beat Navi when it took essential playing the best
player in the counter strike he possibly can, and he did consistently in almost, you know, 40 rounds.
Yeah, you had Sizi, I mean, coming in over time. He unfortunately had a few clutches
I think he kind of just let go as well. He had the 1v1 against the Lexi B where he
already did the hard part. He couldn't kill him through the smoke. He had the end,
the final round of regulation. He couldn't close that one out either. But I
don't think we're expecting Sizi to be the best player on the server. I think
we're happy if he can be a bit of an upgrade from Head Trick and show some
potential so we can see where he's going for the next few months. I think
when you also look at a young piece that they're potentially bringing as a
of firepower upgrade consistency is going to be the last thing to come in there.
So having those wobbles, having those mistakes, well, he's getting more experience, right?
Every one of these maps is a data point that's going to go towards the future.
So it's not too surprising that maybe there are some rookie errors because he is a rookie.
Yes, especially considering a game that goes double overtime against a force like Navi.
As you said, when you go into overtime, Navi have all the money, have another time out in blade as well.
You think to yourself, that's when you shut down a guy like this.
That's when he's, I guess, floss will be exposed.
I do want to give a bit of credit to NPL as well.
You know, he's the one experienced force within Bait.
He was the one stepping up in a couple of these overtime rounds,
winning rounds by himself, a nice gobble entry,
you know, at a crucial moment in the game as well.
So in terms of giving all the edge to Navi an experience
and in know-how in order to close out overtime,
the one experienced element within Bait
was also stepping up in overtime and helping them out massively.
I think the reason why we're so pleasantly surprised in this desk
is that we've seen this script a million times before
And I want to cast all the way back to round 22 in regulation because this was the moment
I think we all saw the vision in our head of how this was going to play out
This was bait had the 12 to 10. They had the ideal score line
They were set up to close it out
They had the man advantage they had all of the control and then there were mistakes there was overfights
There were overfaces there wasn't playing the numbers
There was a kill even before this in towards a main that let the opportunity slip by and when you see this moment
When you see Navi get this round, in your head you go, okay, this is where it falls apart.
Now they've got to eco, now Navi have the momentum, they bring that into overtime.
We've seen this a million times before.
This is how inexperienced teams lose games.
Somehow they didn't.
Last production brought up the status, Will.
So far, Bait have lost four out of four overtime games this season.
So yeah, I think when you're at that all up, it goes into overtime.
I, as you thought, that Navi was going to close it up.
Yeah, I mean, Bait is a team that's also known to be a little bit tilt-y at times.
They can get off their game, and you saw in the player cams immediately following that,
they knew that was their chance to close it out.
And so many times when you have an underdog team coming to a game like this, they get
it to the finish line, they start overthinking it, they get pushed into OT, and then Navi
are just supposed to close it out from there, so incredibly impressive that they could
actually turn this one.
And I think there's a lot of credit to share around on the Navi side, but I do
want to give some praise to Alexipi, because he was having a pretty rough game
for most of that map and found some serious impact late.
There was one particular 1v2 clutch
that he played the perfection.
We were looking at it going, oh, he's relying on the Molotov.
It's not going to happen, but made it work.
Now, Alexi managed to make this one work here.
Jacob, that could have been the key difference.
Yeah, he was also the guy who won the 1v2 in the round
that we just saw before this.
So in terms of finding impact, despite the score line,
not looking too pretty, I agree.
I think it likes to be stepped up when they say it mattered
the most, but it's always that two-way street
that sure you stepped up you know in overtime you stepped up to keep the
team alive but you also picked part of the reason as to why your team in the
first place was struggling. I did see LXB play with a lot of confidence taking a
lot of duels problem for him was that he lost the vast majority of the duels
in the regulation so good for him to to step it up and then somewhat fight his
way back into the game unfortunately also part of the reason as to why
Navi was struck in the first 24 hours. Yeah looking at the score line ends 20
and 25 I think he probably got maybe 40% of those kills in overtime he was
in the later parts of the game I think doing a really solid job but as you say
early on you could see he was getting picked off quite often he wasn't playing
at the level that he should be playing at against a team like bait and really if
he was playing at his top level this doesn't even go down with you. I mean
speaking of players who had that slow start right as well, Mikaze we've been
praising him all series long he's somebody that we looked to to be
that spark plug he was but it took him about a half a play to really
start to get on the level. Yeah I think he never really fully heated up
I think Macasi on ancient specifically is having a good time normally this time around. Yeah, he he got hotter
You know to some degree a lot of it fostered by ecofrax as well
You know trying to found some confidence
But he also did slow down a bit in overtime and that kind of summarizes the I guess whole experience for me when it comes to
Navi they didn't play a great map right here
They played significantly better than I'm the first one and it was enough to push a Navi that
As I said, I don't have confidence in them winning the games
You know convincingly yet and that's kind of what I want to confirm the after-pro league and this is just
another scary sign for me that sometimes that lack of focus and lack of
individual firepower that we spoke about it's showing in games like this.
Yeah, I feel like this is kind of the quintessential Navi game. They have they
struggle a little bit strategically, but they come back into it. And then you
just have one player playing at 70% of their level or 80% and then another
player playing at 90%. And that's just enough to fall to a team like Bate
that they're supposed to be on paper just far better than their firepower
is a little too fragile. And they can't just have one player carry
the entire game the same way a Falcons can where they can just they can give up
the fact that one of your players having an off game everyone on Navi need to be
performing for them to win consistently.
Claws for concern here and we're gonna have to see if that concern bubbles over into a full-on panic when we come back from this break.
One more map, all that separates these two teams from potentially an early round upset.
Bait really making this one interesting in an AWV team that showing enough wobbles, enough
cause for concern that despite coming right here off the back of a trophy lift, we got
some questions.
Listen, here's my objective for Dust2 coming up right now for the third deciding map.
I'm okay with Na'Vi losing Ancient if they get it done right here in a convincing fashion,
but I don't want to see Na'Vi struggling.
I don't want to see Na'Vi winning this game 13-11 or having to see wonderful winner,
miraculous 1v3 in order to get it over the finish line.
I'm okay with them losing a map to Bate when they played as well as they did
if they get the job done on the third map in a convincing fashion.
However, we're talking about a team who just won Pro League a few days ago.
We're talking about a team that we're trying to set the bar as
do you want an up-and-the-door to be considered at the same level as Maus, Spirit, etc.
then you better be bait in a convincing fashion now.
I think the reality of Navi is if you're a Navi fan,
you have to accept that they can win by any means,
even if it goes into double, triple overtime,
as long as they win.
Because even in events, they win the major
with less rounds, one than they lost.
They win pro league.
They still have some bad losses within that victory.
They still have some questionable defeats.
I think Navi, they struggle to find consistency
against every team.
If they can get it over the line on Dusty at all,
I'm gonna be fine with that.
It's been a long time since that major.
Yeah.
Not long enough to forget.
Not long enough to forget.
Memory of an elephant over here on Voo.
My memory extends back to the last map.
In that map, there was some exciting stuff coming through
from Bait.
And if we're talking about firepower,
we're talking about that as being a concern for Navi
over on the other side, essential.
And Sizi really bringing it in in spades.
And that could be a key difference on a dust too.
I think so, especially, essentially,
as I said, he played well from the get-go.
Didn't really put a foot wrong.
Didn't really mess up in anything.
had a consistent output in terms of frag and impact from start to finish.
Now, can he carry that over to Dust2? That's always a big question,
but obviously he's shown that he's capable of doing it against Nami.
So, that's another sorry win condition for Bait.
Sissy even more so, up on Dust2 we discussed it with OC and IG as well.
I feel like Dust2 is the map where you get the most freedom if you're an AWP.
Especially if you're 16 years of age and no one expects anything of you,
fly all over the map on the CT side. I don't care if you get boosted Catwalk,
I don't care if you go away just make sure that you try to find impact early on instead of waiting to get
Executed on because if there's one thing Navi does will it's executing and if you're stuck behind a smoke a Molotov and a flash
It's gonna be tough for Sisi now if you're in your face of Davi
There's a chance. Yeah, we've discussed a lot about Sisi and wonderful throughout the series
I think Sisi you're expecting him to be the underdog you come into this map
He does really well on ancient you come in the map three. I want exactly what you're saying
I wanted to be aggressive
I wanted to be all over the map and I have to say that the struggle
I have with Navi on this map. Even though bait aren't an amazing Dust2 team, wonderful
is a liability on Dust2 recently. He is only underfragged by Alexi B on this map. That's
your AWPer. You need him getting kills on Dust2. It's where your AWPer generally shines.
You can go for all of these aggressive plays. Wonderful's been struggling, so I am a little
worried for the Navi side.
That's a concern. That's a cause for concern for sure. He has shown a better face though
recently, especially in those ESL pro league playoffs, right? So do we think that if he brings
that level in here, that should be a sure thing?
Yeah, I'd say so.
You know, again, if Navi, as Wu said, if Navi play close to the A level or even the B level,
I think it would require an extraordinary performance from Bate in order to make this game competitive.
So yeah, I'm still siding with Navi.
There's nothing that gives me the feeling that Bate is going to take it over the finish
line and win this map.
But I wouldn't be surprised if we're seeing a Navi that makes the game closer.
I don't know what I've seen so far today, hasn't really, you know, oozed of confidence.
The LXB interview as well is not oozing of confidence.
So I think there's a world where we're having another close one.
What are they losing of?
Insecurity. No, I don't know.
No, but it's a team that just want a trophy, right?
I would love for them to come out and say,
now we're going to run on that momentum instead of downplaying it a little bit.
And I get it, you know, they come from one tournament to another,
as well as Alexi B said, you know,
Bait have known for quite some time this is going to be the matchups
that they fully prepared for it.
Maybe they even figured out the veto beforehand.
So there's definitely excuses there, say, in the toolbox of Navi.
But at the end of the day, if you want me to consider you a team
that can win a trophy, that can go into the Cologne Major
and be effected in the playoff, you've got to beat bait.
There are certainly some concerns for Navi,
but exactly as you're saying, I have to echo that,
that if you want Navi to be taken seriously
as a championship contender,
if you want to be up there with the likes of spirit
and fury and vitality up at the top,
you have to be able to win this no matter what.
Well, it remains to be seen which way this story will go.
Will we write the first chapter in the saga of Sizi
or will Navi restore order your authors
of this next chapter, Anders and Henry G?
Here's my third and final map here between Navi and Bate, a surprise package Bate today,
stepping up and imatred most. It followed a fumble in regulation anders, but managed to get
it overlined in overtime. Double overtime, I should say. Very true. It was a stressful moment.
You could tell that Bate almost couldn't keep it together, but they actually did, and I do a
lot of credit to them. That's not easy to do. Navi, and I think they just said it rightfully,
they do need to prove that they can beat Bate at this stage of the tournament. They've
just come up a big win but we won't see more now we're hungry for more Navi
trophies
absolutely true I definitely one of the favorites coming into this one
we have got a big boys at this tournament most notably Vitality are here and
are the favorites
but let's see what happens they do need to get past Babe first
should be okay on Dust2 but they are hitting very hard as Enthu and NPL really
coming to life towards the end of that one
yeah and both teams have their struggles on this map it's not like
a foregone conclusion here both that about 50% win rates
Lot more data on Navi once again, but I wouldn't rule it out
And I like what people were saying about Sizi here in this one, you know, let him off the hook
It's dust to yeah with the AWP just let him roam the map and shoot people
He was a very good on ancient. I want to see a bit more output from bit as well
He bottom fragged on ancient a lot of
Uncharacteristic misses from him. They seemed like he was surprised and out of position time and time again
He finishes that 19 and 25 bottom of the scoreboard
Beaten by Alexi B as well. So yeah, definitely need to see a lot of more output there from one of the star players
But ladies and gentlemen third and final map bait taking on now V the final battle ground will be dust to
Knife round presumably already taking place. There will be a CT start here at four baits
Setting up the classic smoke down towards the middle and yeah, there we go
Absolutely perfect, isn't it?
They do have some more utility though, Alexi with another smoke, so they could do a lot of things with this, but
Stepping up on cap, what was if they want to try and fake that split or if they're just gonna use it to try and create a
Little bit more space on the cap walk to get out single flash bang as well Alexi
Yeah, there's the smoke for the potential split and because there's only three people at the B bomb side right now
bait are going to be thinking man this is great they might actually do a split but they're not
they're jumping down in stance straight into MPL's open arms that's a nice shot. Yeah we have that
slow start from Mikhalze on ancient but he's certainly got going feeding himself as he jumps down
towards cd-sport but it does allow the bomb to be planted this is a retake set up here from bait.
They do not have a kit to work with but they have got a freebie on the a-ram but a couple
towards cd-sport it's not going to be a clean sweep is it? Not quite but a zero chance at
Mexico when they stay hound him down and it will be another pistol victory here for Bates.
It's a very interesting round because the whole setup for that round actually was very good for
Navi apart from MPL being in CT spawn there was nobody at the bombsite to really defend. So
if they don't jump down but just plant for short then it's a straight five on five retake with a
pretty good advantage but they didn't work out that way. Certainly did not. Beautiful shot from
MPL. More than ready for it. You got that defensive hole from Alex as well making sure they
can't find a safe haven towards the A ramp. And a couple of kills to add to his tally.
MPL goes up to three in total. The M4 and helmet to operate with him round number two.
Bear in mind, you can live trade the game on polymarket.com official prediction market
of blast premier. Oh, there we go. Wonderful in the middle.
Kensis or else the scouts have made a bit of a return on dust to us of late
And the car sees got that a K as well
I'd be so devastating, but maybe some justice as well beat themselves did steal a second round of losing a pistol
So maybe now they could do the same thing here. Oh
It's a bit early. Unfortunately, that's not gonna do anything, but the wall bang
Don't know if he could do it
Mostly done Alex and he can
It's a good edge shot.
But the AK is still alive.
Makase is still up there.
You've got to be super careful here.
I feel like it's holding control of this one.
Alex is going to be more important.
Bit goes down.
There's Makase finding it.
And Ima patient in the middle, waiting for it.
Matt tends to get the kill on the sentiel.
They're picking them apart right now.
Sizi is the only one left.
He saved the only one left,
but he had a great showing on ancient.
Round unnecessary over,
but Ima will find it from shore.
It's the second round forced by victory.
3 by virtue of planning the bomb in the first and now on the back for
Bates will have to force buy back themselves and hope for the best for the one pack as much as the punch and as
$1400 CT side beautiful shot from one of the things out there just a note
So we're talking five sevens and eagles maybe an SMG
Let's have a look
Nope pistols only
So very difficult round to win they're gonna take that long spawn flashed out here for the double nade being set up
But they're gonna be caught with their pants down I think
Good job from Alex
Should be no problem here. Mikazi will seal the deal. They'll smoke the crossover. Is that a creek?
It is. What year is that?
I haven't seen a creek for about five years. The whole entire probe community gave up on it when they when they nerfed it. The creek?
and listen people said that in this economy maybe it's maybe somehow it's sick
again maybe they did a silent update nobody knows about it I mean it's not a
bad gun it's just more expensive that's a problem yeah I'll be interested to see
what bit can do of it he wasn't playing well on this last map maybe he's like
okay time to change things up a little bit change the pace let me operate if
some range here I don't hate it I don't hate it I kind of hate it but we'll
see how it goes. There's a reason no one uses it, but yeah, maybe you're right. Maybe it's
low key OP. I mean, it's happened in the past that a gun has just sort of gone over. I'm
still waiting for the auto sniper to be a thing. You've been saying this for a while.
I know I've been saying it for about 10 years, but I still think there's a conversation
to be had about the auto sniper, especially in CS2 where you can pop open smokes and
spam them. Some of the war bangs are back like when you shoot a smoke, it pops
open right they give you a little a piece of room yeah I thought there is
something there just USB unfortunately on the CT side so they would have had an
awful sniper here could have been different but he's nothing like that in
fact okay the Kree gets a strike that's gonna run coming up it's would love to
see what you've been cooking with this weapon this is the first tournament
been bought out I don't think I'm exaggerating about three or four years
something. It's really been a minute yet even the more eccentric players that
sometimes will do it. It was a Lexi B that made a name for himself with the
weapon back in ends. Well they've always been these players that have that have
gone outside of the range of normal bias. Lexi's one of Karrigan is another
one that will sometimes pick up a random weapon every once in a while but
even he's not doing it so yeah we will find out. He's still got it and now
the AWP's out on Sizi and that is definitely worth talking about. He was
was very impressive on ancient.
Yeah, good stat line coming in from Vue, mentioning the wonderful dust and normally perform on
dust too and that really goes against the grain of what you expect for Orpas.
It's commonly referred to as an Orpas paradise.
It's a deathmatch puggy style map where you can use your spawns, crack things open,
you can defend the ace site.
You think that's where your Orpas will excel, we'll see what Sizi can make of it.
God is the flashbang, not dissuaded from the angle just yet, it's got wonderful
on the other side of those double doors and they're going to jewel it out any second now.
Not quite. Disengages and back towards me. Damn. Look at that. It's beautiful. What a
weapon. We need to see him actually get it. It did break CSGO for about a year. It did.
And just when Nico decided to like, oh, you know, I'm going to give it a go. That's
and they know after what's doing what is he doing yeah you're right though there
were there were legitimately players that almost sort of a gentleman's
agreement said I'm not gonna use so good I won't use it but then actually they
they had to try and then it was too late so here we go catwalk position though
the bomb is still if you go anywhere this is the beauty of us two at this
point in time you could go where you want really but it looks like they will
try to double up with the bomb and the catwalkers will 25 seconds oh that's
It's a weird jump. I hate to see that.
But let's see, trying to recover it.
But Ascentiol with a great spray down the creek here.
There's only 15 seconds left.
They can't really get onto the site.
That's all gone wrong.
Yep.
Got a little bit strange, a little bit weird
with the jump from Akazi.
Solid hold towards the A site.
It is going to be baits answering back quite quickly.
They certainly can keep up with the very best
in terms of individual mechanics.
Ascentiol giving you a prime example.
Beautiful spray down there from the Goose position.
Pick gets one with a Crete.
I don't think he buys it again.
I know he's had some fun.
I doubt it as well.
But first tactical time out, Blade.
He knows the significance of winning this opening series.
You do not want to be down in the lower bracket
with a stacked tournament like this.
If any more upsets occur, you could
be crashing out in the second round.
Yeah, I think you've gone on the days
when there are a lot of teams in these tournaments
where you could say, oh, we'll probably
run into like one of these probably gonna be fine like in the lower bracket you back in CS go
Maybe you run into like an EG and you probably have like a more or less a default win
But I feel like even the tier 2 teams or whatever they are like they did 1.5 to this showed let there so deadly
They're so lethal you'd be going down loser this will go on to play NRG and sure
Like you'd favor probably both of these teams in that outing that they they hit hard as well with Grim coming in
They're looking like a solid team as well. That's not Sonic. Yeah, Sonic look fantastic Grim was looking strong as well
That's not a means again. You do not want to be in the lower bracket in such a stacked tournament
But that's neither here nor there indeed they will go back to the AK 47
We enter the next gun rounds here after winning the pistol Nabi
Managed to answer back with three rounds in a row. But baits are back to their winning ways a
Convincing round from a cential especially he's got a AK to work with it and it's going to be mccasey
lots of space towards short
What a smoke to work of as well wonderful deal towards upper B. It's a lexie B with the bomb on his back
It is to do, you know kind of you know give a bit of a perspective to the earlier game
NRG they were so aggressive earlier in the day on this catwalk position and it was very very hard to play up against
I think it's one of the really cool things that we ended up seeing a lot more
And I hope that we get to see more out of this in both teams
Controlling this catwalk on the CT side or at least stopping the T's from being able to do what they're doing now
Which is just taking it for free with no no one even there to stop them. I think it's a big mistake
See if Cizzy can make up for it here. Fortunately, he gets a bullet to the head instead
That might be enough to win the round here. Definitely give it a look here
But the fact the bomb's gone down is such a clean opening kill. You need to do emma quickly here
He's gonna try and stay alive as long as he possibly can it and I access toward shore
That's his only objective right now stay alive and delay. Yeah, and he's actually done a pretty good job again
and valuable seconds that you have lost already.
Trying in some more utility,
but I feel like it's very, very risky.
They run into Grenade before they even get close here
and yeah, they gotta pull the plug on this one.
Like I said, give it a little look in,
but you took so much knee damage on route,
lost another play up, I call it a day.
Hold onto the AK-47s in the hands of Kenzie Zaw
and Ascentfield and Sampia with the M4.
Not the end of the world, it's not ideal,
but a beautiful shot there from Akazi.
Close line on the A bomb site.
It felt like the round was over without one kill.
That's more like it.
Blade's happy with that.
That's a good timeout from Bait.
So far back before you realize that it's an air attack, like it's so deep in there,
your first point of contact can't be Sizzy on long with an AWP, like somebody before
then has to kind of realize what's going on.
So I just think that's a bit of a mistake, but so far it's only cost them the one
round.
I mean to be honest as well it took a while on ancient even before Bates really tried to be even a little bit aggressive on the CT side
And they never did it on Mirage at all
I
They just don't feel like a team that want to be that forward on the CT side plenty of counter strike action to come your way today
Ladies and gentlemen at the blast open we go orders of scrawny in the building that we're taking over for phase versus Aurora
And then furia versus tyloo for me though phase Aurora just to see where phase are at right now
I'll remember to get no coach at this point, Nio's been removed, I think it's going to be a new look phase.
They've got nothing to lose at this point, pressure's off, I think they're going to come out swinging.
I think that's a really good analysis, I like that idea.
And you've got to remember as soon as you start on the estimating phase, that's when they're dangerous.
Then we go towards B Anders and it's wide open, round might already be open.
Unless you get one for the smoke now, I don't think you can just buy going for it.
Oh, devastating.
There's the one, okay, rounds on.
that's really interesting unless you get that kill it's not worth it but now
you've actually got the man advantage it's still advantage towards Navi overall
it is but they have a lot of smokes exactly they can just keep smoking the
door funnel you through towards the window yeah even behind this one there's
another one even on wonderful so they can they can keep this up all day you're
gonna have to try and pull your way through grenade goes in towards the
tunnel now they're trying to wallop up the way on to the site itself a flash
bank's pretty good the sand seal is gonna get a kill but pit enema doing a
little bit of work now it's down to the 2v3 that bomb is not that far ticked at
the moment they can still do it I think it's gonna come out wonderful oh my god
it's real nice nice work it as well yeah it all comes down to that initial
kill through to smoke as I mentioned unless you get that it's gonna be such
a difficult non impossible retake the fact they get that man advantage and
the fact that Navi had two players towards the tunnels as well would have
loved them that the manpower actually in the bomb side itself with those
crossfires you get overwhelmed and it's a great recovery this kill here
The cars are going down. Enables that retake.
Great shot from Kenzie Zor as well from the window position.
Got that AK. And he's against a great effect.
Wait, this round is going to be a big point of conversation.
How often do you get to rush the B bomb site and find nobody?
Why do you lose them at that?
Yeah. And that's a frustrating one.
A very well handled from Bates.
Oh. Oh my god.
Just one pimp on it.
This is exactly what he wanted, right?
Let him lose.
Sheik that is!
Nobody was expecting that on the T side.
Yeah, there's like a deer in the headlight.
You can't move. You got a player on top of your head.
You're...
Damn!
Well, very good read.
Sizi has impressed.
Had a slow first map at the second.
He showed us what he's made of, getting 30 kills.
And now starting to pop off in Dust 2.
Man advantage, looking to tie things up at 4-4.
It's Mikazi.
They're gonna balance things out.
grenade down towards cd spawn but no one home mids pheasant shown bits or edges
way out mid to be smokers down as well the MPL is boosted check it but do you
check it thoroughly jack in the box to pop it up on top not great is it very
commonly in the past that position we molotov all the time but that boost
has gone away a little bit I guess it's returning now just slightly into
the matter but yeah starting to make a bit of a comeback. Amos coming in from
upper dark as well there's still about 35 seconds left there to try to get on to
the site here. One kill on kensasaur from the window could do it. He's very
exposed and there we go. Makase is able to get the job done. It's a sential next
and that's such a great way to get on to the bomb side. That's a 5 versus 3 now
3v3 and a bomb fly. That's great work from Navi. Advantage Navi at the
shore. It's down to NBR to try and find the damage from the window. He's got
Makase to deal with on the other side, burning away.
Options limited now.
They have the flashes,
they have the incendiary for the back platform.
They'll deploy that in.
It does actually land effectively in Alex Hukovar.
Makase though comes very aggressive out of the window.
Nice one, got to get the kill on Alex as well.
That is, you know, we just had a big loss around there
for Navi that they should have won,
rushing the B bomb site.
This one for Bates, it's a 5 on 3, you probably should have won this one.
That's unfortunate, but great setup. This time inside the B bomb site, it all started here, LXB, nullified early, they didn't lose bit as well.
But it comes down to McCarthy, coming through that window, gets himself a triple kill in the end.
Excellent work from him, he's up to 11 and 5 is more like it.
From the MVP of Stockholm, smoked down double doors, one of the top towards short, smoked down on the corner of Long as well.
Spamming through it and desperate buy here and the MP9 swinging through to the smoke will find nothing
Makazi getting stronger and stronger here on dust 2 will open up things once again
You can see and is there lacking utility on the CT side right now smoke down in the crossover
Navi you've got this round in the palm of their hands
It's up to them to give it away now a
Quite open just a player towards short. I gotta try and reclaim territory elsewhere
They'll be pushing towards short mid-double doors, ambitious maneuver, wonder if he'll
kill, but Emma, he gets the triple, nice hat trick from Lower B.
And that should be all she wrote.
Kenzie's all, he's had a great showing, but a bit too much to manage this time I'm afraid.
The cars will take him down and shut down the economy of Bates as well.
I don't know, I did like the idea of retaking control towards middle.
I think it's probably something like that you need to do.
Absolutely.
of the the old classics of dust to lose territory on one part of the map you have to reclaim it
elsewhere otherwise you're going to get split on and you'll lose everything so nice idea but
you can't really account for Emma hitting this sort of hat trick so clean with it as well
that's a very very good work you love to see it mccasey still playing well Emma is up there
still haven't seen that much of a bit true this is not been a great showing from this series
That's Mikazi. He's doing all the heavy lifting.
Well, spots are playing towards lower as well.
Easy comes. Just going to be on it since he goes down, trying to make his way through.
Maybe he doesn't.
Maybe he gave up on it too soon.
Alexi, you're going to get a couple there.
There's got to be at least one creek player still left in the world.
Just one at a high level.
I can't take a one to be on there.
Yeah, I'm struggling myself.
But maybe that's what Blade is discussing right now.
I don't even see the Orc purchase that much anymore.
No, that's definitely fallen out of fashion as well.
It was used on CT side of Nuke quite a lot, like towards ramp and outside.
But yeah, the original bedroom lineup,
because I famously said the Austin Major was going to be the Orc Major.
It's horrifically wrong, but I thought it was cooking really hard.
I've seen enough games,
like this bedroom team, they're going to make it popular.
Didn't happen.
Didn't happen at all.
Magnus portrayed me. Yeah, it's fair enough. It happens. So
Get back into it Navi's that look quite dangerous here, of course
It goes about saying they're the heavy favorites heading into the series
Bates always seem to be a dangerous team themselves. So back at Pro League. They managed to take a map of spirit
They beat one Mirage 13 to 3. Yes, absolutely
Dumpster don't they didn't win the series and that seems to be a common trend for them
They have one really good map. Yeah, and then they fall off for the rest of the series and we're feeding that right now dust to
Yeah, they had a nice start. It was neck and neck, but now,
McCarthy and Co, a full speed ahead. McCarthy, especially 16 and 5.
What the hell is that?
Absolutely no idea.
That's outrageous. That's not even...
That's not meant to be the sort of professional structure,
sort of counter strike. That really is just, you know,
scrim counter strike. Ah, shoot them in the head. Why not?
Oh, right.
All right, then Theo goes down next and kens is off stick it through the Middle Easy catch relaxy
I we need to see the replay of that one. I didn't even see two players there. No, and we've got x-ray on
But not the same eyes obviously yes, but yeah, let's get the replay of that. That's unreal
This is the level this kid brings
From the Academy roster to the tippity top of the main team come on then in the fire and flames
Oh God does he even see them? I I wonder if that's not really jumped into it now. He's here from that angle
It's really unlucky still a six sequence. He if you don't laugh your cry I suppose
Damn, I'd be crying. Yeah
It's a fine around the first half not a very compelling one we've got the Famous
The MP9 and a scouts but these are the sort of rounds they win
They need to win this one though. Last of the half here. It's got to work out.
Good start. Kenseth saw we'll follow it up alright. They've got some backup now.
A 5 on 3 looking very decent. Bomb could be caught even on the catwalk.
Yeah look at this wonderful bomb on the ground all of a sudden.
Makase doing some good work here but Alexi just need to stay alive.
Maybe let Makase get another couple of kills and then Alexi could be activated afterwards.
He's going to walk right into that shot. Kenseth is always well aware that could be happening.
They're all on the car they're one versus four could be done go on. Okay. Well
He's got the 1v3
That's a headshot. He's still got a minute left if they lose this one. They can definitely lose a it's a ace clutch to come
Into it. They absolutely could we'll see how dangerous he's gonna be grenade around the corner
Touchdown
On top that might be risky. I was gonna say if he walks through it. That's too much
But he relocates. I don't think they heard the drop down. I
I don't think they heard it because they were spamming on the other side, but maybe they are aware
They're certainly thinking about it now down the sub 40 seconds and they're gonna be on him
They realize that he could be coming through it's still a really good spray down 30 seconds. He's hunting them a one versus four
How are they afraid of him? I have no idea down to 25 seconds pushing into this and it's such a crossfire
He can't make it our kensis or we'll take him down to the first half still immaculate for now V
The Majors are not banana cups.
If you ask a player would they rather win a Cologne or a Major?
No one will ever say Cologne unless Cologne is a Major, and that's because of the Prestige.
If the play is going to be iconic, you've got to start and play off.
The crowd on the crowd likes.
The call has to be so good from the casters just to compliment that play perfectly.
Just the right amount of surprise and awe.
and the reaction, just the raw reaction of the room.
So I think it's just about the audience.
For me, my favorite major final was Astralis vs. Virtus. Pro.
And this was right when Astralis had picked up Glaive.
This was very interesting because Karrigan was a much more revered IGL.
But the one thing Glaive brought to that major and to Astralis
was he solved their choking issue.
He made a series of calls on that T-side comeback on train,
and it was a bunch of very aggressive confidence plays
at a moment where if they lost the next round,
they probably would have just lost the entire series
and lost the major.
And that was the first of the four majors that they won.
Had a major where there's the most pressure,
Glaive was the best option.
And I think that was a really key point for both Astralis
and, honestly, Denmark as a whole.
When you look at Faze at Boston,
one of the most iconic images was Niko
blown up on the Jumbo Tron.
As hard as that might be for him to think about or go back and watch,
that's one of the things you remember the most.
Stewie being the guy who was the player that made Cloud9 into a winning team
and made Cloud9 into a team that was top six that year.
So the best sort of NA team that we'd seen in forever.
And then for him to have the clutch moment to bring the team to overtime,
it's not about the scale anymore, it's about who's good under pressure.
And Stewie was that for Cloud9.
I think that one will be forever iconic for him.
I would never want to have to go through what Paige went through at Boston,
but in terms of how much emotion came out of that,
it's sort of irreplaceable as a moment in history.
dead to win an
Karzei enters his final form on
the third and deciding map
here of dust two, he posted 21
and seven leading Navi to an
eight four scoreline. It felt
towards the end of the Adams
can win that one versus four that's how scary it was they looked like they were
trying to dodge him just please no more mccasey but he was terrifying what a
great display for him in the opening half here it's eight four going into the
second half now let's see if we can do even more 21 and seven my god well the
pistols have been very kind towards Bay we'll say that they've only dropped one
so far in three maps true and see whether Emma and Wonderfall can make
light work a bit but it seems to be more the same here something about
these pistols works out very well each and every time the baits and this one is no different
now we need to maybe work on that a little bit but to that credit I suppose they're pretty good
to make it the comeback after losing the pistol so yeah they seem to win the second round forced
by more often than not it's exactly what happened in the first half yeah maybe they could do that
again here ascent you're gonna get surprised a bit of a heart attack moment around the corner
looking for a severe or unlikely you do more than any you know maybe a couple of looks in here
Alex is getting one more. They don't have a kit either so it's just a very long road ahead.
It's some pretty impressive headshots. Alex will get that one and he will close the book
on Narvi in that round so that's good work. Yeah, absolutely. We'll take that. Aggressive
towards middle. Does not work out for Narvi. They've let them back in. Convincing pistol
victory. Zero chance of retaking that one. It's MPL getting that double. Senfield will
join them as well. Alex to close things out, but have a love tap to his teammate. But it's
all good. Eight to five. Closing the gap already, but as we mentioned, forced by going to be
very likely here. Five sevens and a scout for wonderful.
I feel like the dream right now for Bate is to extend this game long enough that
Sanctuary and Caesar can come back online because they were amazing on that ancient
map and they haven't really had a chance to do much of anything here. So just you
You know, keep the game going a bit longer, get some more rounds in, and then maybe some of those players could start to get activated.
We'll see if Na'Vi can finish what they started here. They do have a good lead, but it's not a tremendous lead.
You can definitely come back from this kind of a score line here, especially if they can't win this round.
Na'Vi, which looking very unlikely, it's just getting overwhelmed, already dinged up.
Everybody's coming for him. He does have the 5-7, but yeah, two kills to his name so far.
It's not been a great series for Bits.
And that's round over, unfortunately, we have to save.
Not much he can really do that, to be fair to him, alone with the 5-7, overwhelmed by utility.
You're hoping for one, but, and you get 78 damage posted, it goes two and nine.
So they'll have another go at it, and the follow up round, it won't be full eco.
No real reason to hunt, Anders.
You'd only be sacrificing your weapons here, your rifles.
Let them keep their 5-7s.
Do you think it's any kind of a trick as an individual to kind of get back on
track when you're having this kind of a game like what was your wish you'll go to back in the cgs days
Henry by a creek by a creek that's that's absolutely the only advice I've got for him he's already tried
that didn't work so he's just we've given up on him in that case never mind well then
I'll say the scout epistols but they're very convincing victory doesn't get much easier than
that one player waiting for them in the B bomb site and there we have it uphill
battle now not gonna be the easy conversion they were looking for should
be three in a row to kick up the second half Navi's still the favorite squad
going into his third and final map but we know bait can hear hard their stars
shine bright. Only have a B play. That's one of the things that makes them such a
fun team to watch is is they really can't underestimate them. They prove it
already in the series. We're seeing Counter-Strike develop and evolve with
more and more like practice tools out there, demos available and like just
better equipment. We're seeing teams like Fook full of youngsters, Avergave
and 19 hitting just as hard as any top 10 team in the world. These guys are
no difference. Super young, super inexperienced, but the skill speaks for itself.
It does make it a lot more interesting. Just not knowing whether or not you're going to
get sniped by a team that, you know, yeah, you're right, like five years ago, would have
been different. We said, ah, that's an easy prediction. We know who's going to roll in
and claim some of the early wins here, but doesn't have to go that way at all. Two
rounds separating them, about a minute on the clock now. I was going to say they
could have had a bit of mid-presence here, but how advanced is this going to be?
gonna be seeing smokes, maybe one in the window as well.
They're gonna try and go through this very risky right into the 5-7s, a couple of them
on the other side.
Got a guy.
Got a guy.
You have to right now, but there's just so much on the other side.
They've already lost four people.
He leaves Sizi.
40 seconds.
They're both out on the other side.
He just goes straight for it.
You've got to respect that.
They both go to swing for this smoke if they're gonna win this, Anders.
And they make the right move there.
They race and allow him to reset.
They probably lose the round so a good call a scary one to push through the smoke if he has faked bomb
Then maybe there's a chance he sprays you down
But they stick together the scouter closed things out and it will be Alexi beat the diffuser bomb comfortably
I feel like Navi needed that it felt like it was getting a little bit out of hand in the second half
But they maintain their leading go nine to six
Something to be said for the kind of execute like this one where all of your utility lands behind where the CT's are right
They just don't care about it, like you could have thrown a hundred smokes there and it just doesn't matter because they're just in front waiting.
So a bit unfortunate perhaps, but not for Navi. They'll absolutely take it.
Yeah, choosing the tightest choke point on the map against those five sevens.
Always gonna be a risk and one that doesn't work out for them.
Cored in the crossfire.
Money's still okay.
Fates will have the AWP and a couple of AKs. They won't have MPL though.
So he's removed early and XCB will find him with that galil scavenge from the previous round.
All of a sudden they have the man advantage looking for double digits on the board here.
Third and final map still looking for Bit to arrive.
If he can find some form here, it should be enough to close this one out.
MacAzzie 22 and 9 Bit, 2 and 10.
Just anything, anything at all right now would be very helpful.
In the car they look at the timing was very very odd as he was jumping there, but the trade one they go
Nice shot. So there's a very clean shot
So I had off of Alex and he's I think realize that just as you said it's better to stay alive
Put out a bit of an incendiary swings again for the kill, but this time Sissy will take him down
They're both on 60 health here very uncomfortable essential good kill wonderful gets one and now the hunters on Sissy's gonna
to become an AK, tries to see if he can navigate this corner and he stops but finally one single
kill that's all you need. It's the kill that gets around over the line. We'll take it all
day long. Extend their lead touching distance now of closing this series down. I feel like
that's got to be the mentality that's especially when I'm watching new players that are in
the two or in tier three space. I often look for those games when they really
have a bad performance to try and see do they have anything to get back in
because you're never just going to have all good performances so it is
interesting as a player to see like obviously bit we know he's a tested
player at this point but I love to see him just do a couple of rounds here
doesn't have to be spectacular we don't need him to get 20 kills but have a
couple of these rounds where you're the difference maker worth noting the
winner of this series will go on to play Falcons a wounded Falcons with their
wings clipped and there's no Kiyosuke yeah they are still looking strong but
with a more stern sonic now true and I appreciate that seems to work so far let's
have a look
four rounds the difference for eco not much to report but on this one this is
gonna be a couple of smokes is there even a p250 no it's blocks across the
board I'm afraid down towards lower best you can really hope for it's a
couple of kills. Ideally you want bit to pick these up. Recover his game. What is the technical
term for a flop? So is it like a gaggle? I think so. Yeah. Oh, my. And a ton of damage.
That's wonderful. McCarthy go to town. Just Kenzie's or remaining and this allows Navi
to go to the resources to get 30 to 50 per player by winning by virtue of kills and
everyone survives so the money is going to be very strong looking like this one
they'll be landing in their favor and less baits turn it on right here right now they need to perform
a miracle at this stage. We had a couple of moments in that first one round where Sizi was
really fighting in the minute it looked like he was gonna start to take off but it never
really materialized in the way that we wanted it and maybe it could start here he's got
got the AWP they jump right past with that HE though can't see a thing for the
debris's and Scyma potentially dangerous yeah he's gonna have to back on out
they were taking that lower dark position a bit anchoring that B bomb site I
mean maybe at what point if you're bait you look at the scoreboard and say
let's just try and attack bit then if he's not gonna get the kills let's go
hit him with a weak maybe it's possible but so far it's been a
default setup controlling long controlling upper dark and surely going to be claiming catwalk. Yeah, you can see that's the next step in the default
They're going for the motions of dust suit your main objective push your cities back from shorts
wonderful
We'll take a short spot. They're more than willing to keep pushing him back
It's gonna be
mid their next objective there
actually go through pretty cleanly a lot of crime real estate under their remit
this is one McCarthy missed up away from being a very bad spot and there we go
Kansas all gets an easy entry bit here hasn't had a chance to reload a sent
you will take him down wonderful that's through the smoke as well nobody
know how but I don't think it matters that much bombs gonna be planted here
they have some money still on the Navi side but that AWP is so expensive to
You could get a double orb here. Yeah, just like that
Not fancy. Okay. Oh, just getting away from them. That's pretty smart
Means they won't be able to buy an orb going forward yeah win by explosion
$3,500 you can see that's a cap at the bottom. So yeah, they won't be able to buy the orps
So sure you're not gonna win the round and they have got both orbs in their grass right now and dust to
Double up setup is super viable and you can see them hunting for that all right now
about yeah that XB's done well to juggle it out of contention I mean sometimes
those those only they even dying that's quite significant actually because as I
mentioned you get 3500 each and you just lost two players so you will not
have a full buy going into the next round that's kind of strange a lot two
players go down with a blast like CS2 is a bit weird with the explosions like it
should be a set radius on every map in my opinion but like they keep pointing
It's a little bit weird now. Some maps you can like sit in the pit on Inferno and not get blown up
Sometimes you're blown up across the map. It feels weird that they lost two players at that
That's actually significant now. They've got a scout and two galils and there's a breakpoint. That that's
Terrible. Yeah outcome for them. You really hate to see it like that that might cost them the game right here right now
I think you're gonna be able to do anything here in ice grenade
Ooh, it looked like it was going to go deeper, but it doesn't.
I thought they were about to get blown up.
Dodged the damage at the start of the round at the very least.
Looks like they'll be going through more of a default once again.
Unlike previous times, where it was a little bit more short focus this time,
it looks like they are ready to go into upper dark.
And again, if I'm looking a bit in the kind of game that he's handing on Dust 2,
I'd be very, very tempted to try and put the pressure on.
If they can put some pressure on B for even a couple of rounds
It will probably force Navi to commit another player closer to this
So it might be worth it. They also know that second AWP is in place
So maybe they just feel like my bit how good of an AWP is he really gonna be turns out
Maybe not like you're there to rescue him that is heroic
But he's gonna get another crack at him this time it does connect and that should be it because they got no space from that
The bomb goes down as well
smoke dissipating
Yeah, I'm looking comfortable per se, but Emma certainly is and he closed things out double kill for bit and
That should be a good that brown previous. Yeah, they won it but everyone going down with the blasts. I think that's costing the game
They didn't have enough firepower there. They won't have the money going forward. You might be right
Yeah, that that is that is the difference make
As well because you were you were just explaining how losing the all might be a problem. Yeah, right
They've pretty lost it all, but they've got more rifles.
Yeah.
I think it's costing everything.
Oh.
Navi, though, having been great at closing out these games
today, there's always a chance he loses the pistol.
It's unlikely one Galil and four pistol,
but never say never.
Difficult to find around number 13.
Got to say great news for Navi fans
who were excited in Stockholm, watching
Mikazi play the way that he did.
And it's slow start today, but much better recovery.
He's been wild on the last two maps.
Want to see more out of him like this.
25 and 11. I think 21 kills in the first half I believe. Yeah
Yeah, more of this
Early smoke here for the just gonna make your call and go with a can't be faking it
Can't be prodding around the map. It's gonna have to hope for the best
Brood force you into the bomb site mccasey to the fans. They know to kill mccasey then pits along with the
AWP in here, so there might be a chance it's gonna be a good spray to begin where it comes
Oh, he's got the AK back
They're not loving that are they? NPL will take him down holding the middle of scissi for surely they're gonna come through
They've already liked him in there's the follow-up kill. There's a chance yet
There is a chance especially because Imer is already low on health here
He didn't part the bomb just yet. He wanted to be good figured out maybe get a bit of a fight here
But now he himself is down to 12. He got tired and now he's dead and now V will claim the victory
It took all three maps, but they did get the job done Henry. They certainly did
It would have been an uphill battle.
We had a couple of players, MIA,
but overall they get the result.
The champagne hangover does not prevail,
and it is Navi winning the opening game here.
They'll go on to play the Falcons as well.
And bear in mind, it's a Falcons
without one of their star players.
So this is a great bit of runway now for the Navi
to make the way for the playoffs here at Rotterdam.
Yeah, I'm just really, really impressed.
Even with Falcons without Q2K,
you've still got to assume that they're a strong team.
So I think that match is going to be very exciting.
No question about it.
For Bates, surely this is a great position to be in still, like they can still do all the damage, they look like a strong team.
Strong team indeed, but that Champagne hangover dispelled happiness in the Na'Vi camp despite the wobbles over on Ancient, looking compelling here.
This is what you wanted from them, Jacob, you wanted them to make this one convincing.
Yeah, I think that was a good performance from Na'Vi, obviously they probably would have liked to win Ancient, but third map was decisive, sorry, and again the Na'Vi that we expected.
So at the end of the day, when you win a game, you should always be happy, could have been more pretty.
Sure. Did they get the jump down rule?
Yes.
Convincing from Navi more like convincing from Mikaze.
20 kills in the first half.
That's pretty convincing to bring a steam over the line.
Pretty convincing indeed.
We'll see if you can do any convincing on the desk here.
Welcome to the desk.
Congratulations on that job.
Thank you, bro.
Let's start low and then we'll just immediately go high.
What happened on ancient?
What went wrong for you?
For the others, we fucked up sometimes.
I mean, I was kind of destroying them on mid, but we lost some situation that we shouldn't lose, and they just punished us.
Kind of that overtime, right? I mean, you guys brought it back into the OT, we're thinking, ah, now they're gonna roll them, now they're gonna take it.
What was going on in the overtime? Why couldn't you close?
To be honest, I think, how I say that, we fucked up some situation. We had like, for example, I think, five versus two, I think, on lung, and they just fucking kill us, and that's it.
Sometimes it's that simple, alright, now we'll go happy. Dust2, you killed them a whole lot.
What's been going on with the Surgeiform? You've been lights out right now.
I mean, to be honest, when I started Mirage on CT, it was not going good.
As you could see, I was like 3-12, and I was saying to my teammates that I'm just unlucky today
because I cannot kill them. I'm doing minus 90, minus 8, I cannot kill them.
And on Dust, to be honest, I was feeling the game really good and I knew that I'm going to kill them a lot.
And I mean, even if I go 3-12, I'm still confident. I don't care about kills.
If I have to do something, I will do fully confident. I don't care if I die, kill, I will do my job.
And I think it paid off.
Yeah, it's just about the same. On Ancient, you put up a hundred ADR despite not having the best scoreline.
As you said as well, your form as of recently has been probably the best ever.
Is it just clicking for you now or what's happening?
Maybe I got used to Bladesystem.
What is that system? What is that entitled? We all hear about the Bladesystem.
How is it not the Bladesystem?
Is it tough to integrate into that system?
Did it take you some time to...
For sure. Also, Andres, I say like six months until you get used to it.
And maybe I got used to it. Let's see in future.
We heard Blades say that it would be a disappointment if you guys didn't leave this season with the trophy.
You go into the first tournament, you win a trophy. Where do you go from here? What's the expectation now?
To win this Alstor.
I mean for sure. I think we have maybe a good chance to go playoffs and to win Alstor.
No, we're going to play versus Falcons. Let's see what's going to happen with it.
Obviously our job is to assess your team from the outside.
And right now we're having the discussion up here that are you a team that are on the same level as mouse spirit?
Do you feel you're on that calibre right now? Do you still need a bit more time before we get there?
No, I think we are.
Yeah?
Yeah.
So, you know, playoff, winning trophies, I guess right now it's hard for you to say that we're going to beat Vitality, but pretty much anyone else is a team you can be.
To be honest, I even say like in last interview that we didn't play Vitality in 2025.
We play only once in Major and it was close game.
I mean, of course they're all good because they're winning every tournament and they're taking place, but we never played them, only once and it was close game.
You want to play them, yeah?
Yes, for sure.
Yeah?
Feeling confident about that one? You want to take the match up? You think you beat them?
Of course.
I love this.
I love this confidence. I love this interview.
I mean, speaking about it, right, this is now a team that feels like it can contend.
I was talking to some of your teammates, Alexi and Emma in the pregame and they kept tampering expectations
Oh, we didn't play the strongest teams. We didn't play the strongest team. You're the opposite end
You're like give me the strongest team. I'm ready to take them down
Yes, is that is that something that you think's infecting the rest of the team, right?
We were talking about a bit in the pregame that obviously you're playing really well as an individual as well
But it feels like your energy the smiling face the army just gonna do my job
I have confidence with it. Is that something that you think's helping boost the rest of your team as well
I think yes, like for example, I'm trying to keep the vibes good also in team like making jokes
Like not being like fully serious. Sometimes I'm overpeaking all the fucking some runs, but
Until we really is fine when we fucked up is gonna be bad, but I don't think it's gonna fuck
Well, thank you so much for that. I I think it's a great philosophy for Counter-Strike to be honest
That's what I'm taking away from this sometimes you win sometimes you fuck up
That's life, man. Congratulations on the dub today, win today, and fantastic interview.
Thanks for joining us.
Just use a philosopher.
I like that. As I said, I love the confidence, I love the fact that we have a player within the
Navi Camp who's not afraid to speak out what he truly believes and truly feels.
Whether you agree with that or not, that's up for you at home to decide.
But I do think Navi is knocking on the door to be a team.
At the very least, peeking my interest. I think with Mikasi in this shape, with
Wonderful, seemingly getting better and better as well.
We're heading to a point now where we again can have the conversation whether or not Navi is ready to contest against the big boys.
Because I do feel outside of the major and in Budapest, we haven't seen Navi perform at that level, so for my money, it's good to have them entering the conversation.
I think that's half the battle though, right? That kind of mentality is half the battle.
We talk so often about how psychological counter-strike is as a game.
And as soon as you genuinely believe that you can beat the best teams, you get so much more of an edge.
And when you're like, well, maybe we'll see, we'll test, we'll see what our level is like.
No, I'm going to go in and just destroy them.
That's the mentality I want from a guy like Mikaze.
I think coming into this season, rightfully so, people were a little worried that they would pull the Spirit situation,
where Spirit won the Major with Magics, and then they kept them for a season,
and then you kind of wondered if they just wasted that time.
I was worried that they had this performance at the Major.
That's why they stuck with this roster.
I think they considered making some changes,
and you worry that they're not going to show anything the next season,
But they come in immediately punching they win the first, you know, they win EPL instantly and then they come in and they
They they gain that confidence they gain that ability to kind of believe they can beat a vitality
Maybe that's shooting a little too high thinking you can you can actually take that vitality, but maybe it's not
I'm not a roster, you know
Maybe it's possible for now be to actually regain that form that we saw from them a couple of years ago when they had JL and become a
a threatening team. I'm getting confidence in them.
Yeah. The cynic in me will say though that beating Bate in today's fashion is not something
that gives me more confidence. If anything, the main takeaway for me in this game with
Mikasi individually speaking, continuing the performance from Pro League that I do agree
with, that's a step in the right direction. As a team though, this performance today
against Bate is not giving me a tell whether or not they're ready for that. It's not
giving me a tell whether or not they're going to beat Falcons in the next game. So
I still want to see a bit more of Navi here and blast one of them before I start to enter that part of the conversation.
But at another day, having the cast playing well is, as you said as well, probably half to fight one already.
And I don't know how you can see that man's smiling face at the desk across from you, giving that interview and not being an optimist.
I mean, he's just got to make you so excited about Navi's future as well, which again, considering, as he pointed out,
six months to get used to the blade system, he's still not that tenured on this roster.
The problem with that, Mike, is that it's Counter-Strike, it's a team game.
You have five players on a team, it's not Quake, it's not a 1v1.
Because yes, if it was a 1v1 game, I'd put my money in Mikasa and his confidence right now.
But we also have seen with Navi in particular that there's some tilt-ing going on,
there's some mood issues, some mood swings as well.
So it's good that you have one guy who's happy, they also had that in jail,
but it requires the other four as well to sort of buy into that,
which I think is going to happen more and more often, if he continues to play like an MVP candidate.
They still have the firepower problem, even if Macaulay is popping off.
As we mentioned before, when they had JL popping off in the top 10 of HLTV, it was still a
question if they had enough firepower.
It was still an open question if they could continue their former, how they managed
to do it.
To bring that back together, even if Macaulay is performing really well, we do have to
question, do they have the firepower to beat the Falcons when they don't have
a stand in?
Do they have a firepower to beat Vitality consistently with this roster?
I'm not sure they have it, but I do have the confidence that they can be knocking on that door of the top tier
to be a playoff, to be a contender, or at least starting to move towards that direction.
Trending upwards right now.
Trending upwards.
Sometimes all it takes is one ray of sunshine to dispel the rain clouds.
That'll be the prognosis for Na'Vi, but we'll do some more forecasting of our own after this break.
There aren't that many eSports organizations that have been around for as long as Mouse have,
but they're one of the first organizations that I think really took the talent side of
it seriously.
It paid off massively.
The number one thing probably to mention is going to be Kerrigan, who will rewind
time longer, speaks to his legacy with the game and just how much, you know, he's managed to do.
And the other one probably is Nico, who was picked up, you know, pretty early on. That was, you know,
that was his first escape from the Balkan scene, playing with I-Nation, all the rest of it.
And then he came in and played with Mouse and was essentially the whole team. It was Nico trying
to carry every round for a long time there. He probably set him up for what he's been
doing for the rest of his career moments.
One more than Molly isn't going to touch him.
And what on earth has just happened is D.G.O.L. is on fire.
He's just going to walk into it as well.
Niko is on fire.
This current mouse core has almost too many storylines.
The classic one is about how the roster came from the academy side
and consumed the entire team, Cycron,
and his longevity with the team
and what he's managed to build across multiple rosters,
which I think is really impressive.
And the most recent one for me is probably Brolan.
Having to take over as an IGL,
I still feel like under somewhat unclear circumstances
and the whole entire community, probably including myself,
thought that was gonna fail on almost day one
and then they managed to actually make it look amazing.
I'm actually still kind of blown away by the fact.
It's so hard to judge who is gonna be better on mouse.
I think it's one of the things
that makes them so dangerous.
Torsche and exertion,
they played such different roles
that it's hard to match them one to one.
Look at the energy.
Fintoshi's explosive personality is one of the things that actually makes him insanely valuable on the team.
You can tell when they're playing, how much he contributes to the overall energy,
but exertions, lurking capabilities and like how much he can turn around the game on his own.
For me, that's super rare, and so I'll probably pick him over everybody else.
In my opinion, there's no reason why Mouse can win a Major.
I think they've got all of the essential ingredients.
There's a certain chemistry in the team when they're winning that I think is really hard to stop.
I know that now they are living under the stigma of constantly almost making it
and then not quite making it and you know losing to vitality.
All the rest of it is carried down to I think coincidence and timing
and I can't see why they wouldn't be able to.
Not just one second here, gotta bring him back out for a few questions.
Blade, just talking about Navi in general, about the state the team's in right now.
Coming off of a win, trophy lift coming in here, first game, what's your assessment of the team?
Well, it's a very important step in our progress for sure, right?
So long time without the trophy, like it's...
Any team in our position will be super happy and like...
It's a fundamental improvement because you always need to move somewhere constantly.
You cannot stay and have stagnation and playing the same things, the same mistakes.
People can start to, I cannot say like, start to be rusty or something like this.
It's very important to move somewhere constantly.
Do you feel that the Pro League win is a fair representation of where you are at
the moment?
You've been honest about it before. Are you at this state now where you think you're good enough to win trophies more often than you have been in the past?
Or was it maybe a bit earlier than you expected?
No, not earlier. As soon as we saw Samis, like top 4, some of players were saying something like,
if this happened, we're going to play that, I said like, if this happens, if Spirit lose, we need to win the tournament.
That's like out of question, for sure.
And because this is how we see our progress after Budapest, we knew that we can be a team that can, at the crucial moment, or like it's a proper moment, bounce back and pop up to play their best game.
Because when you're literally playing the game versus best teams on the big stages like Major, we had decent game versus food, decent game versus face,
And you can understand the potential, it's not something like illusion, it's not illusion, you can feel it, you understand it.
And we wanted to build something from this feeling.
And we were trying constantly, but it was hard, I don't know, maybe I was wrong, I thought a little bit about this,
Anyway, it was very close constantly, and one of the things I was saying in the interview
is that map pool cut off, I mean like, minus strain was huge damage for our map pool.
And that was not so confident, because in R12, with proper veto, it matters a lot, because
we won map versus full spirit when we lost Krakow, we won map versus Furia, so we
We can win these teams like specific maps.
And this is how we saw it.
So basically, we're lacking this.
We have potential.
We know it.
And we don't need to persuade ourselves.
We know it.
OK.
Speaking of the ProQuest, I feel like one of the obvious
ProQuest made within the team is Makassi.
You know, all of a sudden, playing his best
brand of Counter-Strike in the Navi.
Is that something you specifically been working on?
Or was it just a question of time before he fully
showed his potential?
It's very hard nowadays to prepare your secret weapon like as one player.
It's very hard.
We just gave him his time and we are constantly working...
Obviously he has less experience, less knowledge.
That's why something that people already know, players, I usually repeat to him.
They know it, but I just did it on our team review.
I usually repeat to him something.
And obviously other players try to help him, but I agree, the way he's playing now is amazing.
It's a little X-factor, and it's very good to have, let's say, a star player in your team
who can fix unlucky situations or your mistakes.
And this is what other teams I think benefit, who have this kind of plan.
Is there something Navi has been lacking, you know, for the past few years?
For sure.
Remember how we won Copenhagen Major.
We didn't have a star player and we were saying this interview is constantly like we're just playing as a team, good as a team.
Everyone can pop at some moment.
And you can see it also that it still exists.
Like wonderful shine in the grand final.
Mihai was playing good versus FUTI, I think.
Like an amazing game.
Like it was very, very decent.
But, at the same time, Mkazel played all games, pretty decent, so you can see that it's a consistency, but it's not over for sure for him.
He can go down, he can go up, I think he needs to keep working on himself, for sure.
I wanted to ask you about that a little bit, right? Because when we had him on the desk he talked about,
maybe I'm just finally feeling comfortable in the system.
Blade told me it would take six months to feel comfortable in the system.
How far along do you think he is on that? Do you think he has more to just be comfortable within the team?
Are you seeing him now in a sort of a flow state point with his comfort for what you want to do
for the way that you want to structure a game?
Yeah, I think he is already there in comfort for sure, because we're not adding something super difficult anymore in our system.
Now he basically went through all our difficult stuff, let's say,
which you need to organize in your head or understand in the proper moment.
And I can see it because we constantly repeat to him, like, here, you remember, we spoke
once, you need to do this.
Here in this situation, like, try to be more aggressive, try to go more passive, like,
try to kite in this situation to be like, not to die, like, avoid trading, we call
it, for example, right?
And I can see now that he is basically doing less, this kind of mistake that we
were working before.
So that's for sure comfort down.
But still, what he maybe needs more is like more prayer for opponent, you know, like because he's in playmaker zones.
And it's good that he knows a little bit more, not only me, but also he can know like more details, like by himself watching like Banana Inferno and Ancient Mead, because it matters a lot.
I wanted to ask about the team in general.
At some point Alexi B mentioned that maybe sometimes you know your teammates too well, you know what they're going to do and you get on each other's nerves, you struggle to find new solutions.
I mean how have you guys kind of worked around that? Because obviously you're finding a new level recently and getting back to contender status.
Well I don't know. It's Alexi said this.
A few months ago maybe.
I don't know. Can you try to repeat in a different way? So I understand.
Yeah, I was asking about, you know, you have a squad of four of the same players for so long,
and you have to come up with solutions to different maps, different components, so many times.
Sometimes you might get stuck in a rut in the same spot. You can't solve these problems.
The question is, will we? Or should we?
How have you? I think we're stuck in these things.
I think that you always know the answer to what is wrong in a specific situation.
That's all. If you don't know, then you're stuck.
But whenever we have some situations in the map,
like 99% we already know what should we do
and why we didn't do it, we discuss after,
but still it can be nerves, it can be bad communication.
I can tell you that mental aspect is huge nowadays.
Because people under stress start to hurry up.
And how you can communicate when you hurry up?
Your player will pick earlier, or he will do something earlier.
it should be sloppy. So this is something that we can stay maybe stuck in, but I also don't know how
to fix it. I think it's like it's not not so easy, right? You need to constantly work on your
composure, right? Constantly like, for example, we try to like spend like two more seconds
before we do this impulsive move. Something like this, but you add something then you try to
to see how it goes.
So we check, like, will it work or it will not, I don't know.
And then, still, if we nailed it, like,
then we have like some super, super important game,
like OT, and still the guy can do it.
So it's like, I think it's part of the game.
As this is, I think, I'm pretty sure Vita
do something like this also in stressful moments.
Fourier, Falcon, Spirit, all the teams, for sure.
Speaking about those caliber teams,
you've given a few interviews recently,
before the the the Pro League win in that run one of the things you mentioned was you were
analyzing the team and thinking sometimes we're lacking firepower thinking about whether you
could contend with that top top top tier player with that top tier team right after this win seeing
the progress that macaas is made seeing the form that wonderful was in are you still having those
doubts do you think that now that firepower is at a level where you should be able to
contend against that tippy top of counter strike i'm actually looking forward to this event
to check it. Because Big Boss is here, right? And other like Donk also wants to show that it was not
it was let's say like random tournament for them or like random play,
that they still can prove that they can do something, right? Falcons also hungry, they missed EPL,
right? They constantly practice. You look forward to that and you're facing Falcons now
with a stand-in. Does that annoy you? Would you rather play the full scene to figure it out?
And I think there's enough power now. I think that the Nucleon was good on Ancient actually.
Who knows? Maybe he should play permanently, I don't know.
Because they were in the grand final, we were in bounty, you know.
And maybe they annoyed that constantly like some vision issues. Who knows, who knows.
Also Zonic was saying something like there's too many egos.
So maybe we need to remove one ego. Some devices, you know.
So basically at this moment we didn't face all these good teams and I'm pretty sure like one of their benefits is firepower and yes, I cannot say that we are lacking, we will lack, but I was saying that as much as what we lost before this season, most of the time we were lacking firepower because some guy could fix everything like win 1-3 for example.
For example, one is a 3-winning clutch and we lost a lot of things like this.
And sometimes not because of bad movement, sometimes just somebody weaved something.
But it's not our main problem, but sometimes it pops up.
Like you said, Mkazik should be pretty sharp.
Others should be pretty sharp.
I also believe that in R12, if all our players will play the way how they can,
I mean, individually. It's enough to focus on the game plan and playing together the team to win any opponent.
That's for sure, but when you have more stable, consistent, this is for sure always a benefit.
But yeah, we showed pretty good firepower, I think, on the EPL.
I'm going to ask you to put a number on it. I'm very excited to see the measuring stick as well.
I think this is a great event for that. If you had to give yourself a confidence rating of, let's just say,
Let's just say, hypothetically, a vitality.
The big boss, as you said.
What would be your confidence rate in going in, that you think your team is ready to run
the series, make it happen, take them to the distance, win?
What's your percentage out of 100?
Honestly, at the moment, it's more like excitement to play and to see how it goes.
Where we are now, like, for us, it's basically check status now, for sure.
So I even don't know, because we are not that sharp on Mapul like we were, like I said,
in the end of Budapest.
Now I think we are still figuring out what maps we can play, for sure better.
And let's say like we played them on Budapest, and I think it was 1311 or something.
Some maps were close, right?
So for me, it's very exciting to play Vitality, it will be very bold to say that we will win them,
because they are the best team in the history of CS.
I think it's more important like if the real Vitality will come to our game,
or they will be like, we call it activated, they need to be activated, right, to be real Vitality.
Because last second season from summer to winter, they were losing a lot of events,
bitable, right? So it's more about this, you always say about this, it's very important for
these tier one teams to be activated also for us. Do I hear you say that with the process,
you know, with checking in now and figuring out where you are in the landscape in Counter-Strike,
that, you know, Cologne, the major coming up, is that what you expect to be fully ready,
is that what your eyes are set to be the, I guess, final version or the best version of Na'Vi?
For sure, T.L. Coln Manager will have enough time to be with this lineup, like our best version.
And I can also say this, that I have experience, and we as a team have experience,
and we believe that we can beat any team. With the proper approach, you can beat any team.
So yes, Vitality is the best team at the moment, but we never think, okay, we go and we will lose.
We always know that there are chances.
And you can see it nowadays. Just take one round when Vitality is losing, for example, on the city side.
And analyze how they lost, for example, right?
And you can see a lot of times it's not something special.
So every opponent is beatable, that's the thing.
Every opponent is beatable. This is a very exciting prospect for you guys.
I mean, coming off of the trophy, into this tournament, you said you're excited to see the games.
I'm really excited to see the games.
Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for the insight.
Thank you, guys.
Fantastic job here. You can go ahead and take that headset off pop off
Go about your day back into the demo review as you said
No, man's work is never done when it comes to blade and his answers
Yeah, are always very insightful a lot to talk about there a lot to digest
Hi, I like the fact that we know play right?
He's always a guy who's looking at it from a top-down perspective, you know talk about process talk about moving talk about getting better
You know talking about this tournament being a checkpoint almost for them
You know to figure out okay as he said when he saw who they were facing at Pro League in the semi-final
Outright said that we have to win this tournament now
Right with the favorites get the job done now that come into this one
You don't hear blades saying that we should win this tournament
You don't hear blades saying that we should be in the grand final per se
He wants to figure out how close they are in order to acquire the goal
Which obviously as I also asked him about would be the cologne major so in terms of moving in the right direction
I think they're on a good path right now.
I also buy into the whole McCarthy conversation, lack of X-Factor, lack of Firepower.
He can mitigate for some of that, but that's still my biggest concern.
And I even sense with Blade as well that he's not really worried about the game prep.
He's not really worried about the tactical aspect of the game.
He's perhaps a little bit worried that the players consistently are not showing enough in terms of Firepower.
I'm really happy to hear him say he's excited to play against Vitality.
See where their level is. He thinks they can show something.
something and maybe he's thinking the team can show to themselves where their level could
be at. If they could surprise Vitality, if they could find an upset win, of course they
have to go through Felgans maybe first to get there, but I think his mentality looking
at this is exactly what you want for a team that you're hoping Navi go into the Major
at their strongest, at their best, it seems like that's going to be the case.
That's exciting. And I think there's a...Blade is not an emotive person, shall we say
normally. I think everybody knows that. But you could see a certain...there's
There's a certain glint, a certain smile, a little bit of a smirk when he was saying
I'm excited to see these games, excited to see the measuring stick, that you can tell
there is a strong confidence building in this Navi team, and that's the kind of thing
that could be contagious.
It's the same thing as we were talking about with Mikaze.
A little bit of confidence, a little bit of optimism goes a long way within a Counter
Strike team.
I think this is a Navi team poised to pull off some surprises as we go down the
stretch here in Open Rotterdam.
Speaking of surprises, you might be surprised to learn that Jacob Pimp-Weneky is heavily
involved with. One of our sponsors, Refrag, and you spent some time this morning setting
up and hopping on into a game mode there Jacob, to show us what you can do. You want to talk
about this one?
Yeah, kind of made it my vision, you know, and my mission in today's Ace Counter-Strike,
to make sure that people play Counter-Strike at a higher level. You know, myself included.
Sometimes you die, sometimes you don't. What you're watching is green right now
is something called X-Fire, Mike, which is a tool that you know about. It's basically
pre-fire and crossfire combined into one mode where the bots, Voo, are adjusted to my level.
So they shoot back, they kill me if I don't kill them quick enough, and then hopefully you get better
over time. Now, I know a lot of the Nami players are using Refract for this exact matter. I know I
myself need to play more because I'm clearly not at that level I used to be, and I also do
know for a fact, Voo, that you would benefit greatly from doing the same. I could have played
this and shown my own gameplay, but it would have been simply too embarrassing. We could
You can do mine one day if you guys want embarrassing.
We should, we should.
But that's the cool thing, Mike, because the bots are just
to your level, so you'll just be running around playing
silver bots.
No, it's great when they whiff a full mag and still kill me.
Yeah.
Because I also whiffed a full mag.
How does that make you feel, though?
Like, I'm improving, Jacob.
Like, I'm improving courtesy of my friend Refrag.
You could try it for free at refrag.gg slash blast.
I can't testify.
It genuinely has made me a better player.
It just, you know, the baseline was low.
So now it's higher.
And I'm very grateful to Refrag for that.
I do love the product, it's quite fun.
It is quite fun, it's supposed to be fun.
You know, it's supposed to be fun to play Counter-Strike,
change, train Counter-Strike, and you know,
one of the most, I guess, motivating things for me
in life is getting better at stuff.
So I promise you, you try it with factory free,
you will get better.
You will enjoy it, you will have fun.
Mandatory fun and improvement as well coming on in,
but we've had a lot of fun.
Day one here on the broadcast for this particular desk,
we're gonna take our leave here,
but there's still plenty more action to go here
blast open Rotterdam. The second desk is coming on in and so I want everyone in
Twitch chat to put their hands together for the Counter Strike debut here at
blast of Natty who will be taking over for me. See you next time. See you
tomorrow. More Counter Strike on the way.
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
You could include yourself if you want.
Wow. Honestly, gonna be pretty easy.
I'll just put all that to Atlanta.
My dream roster right now in CS would be IGL, definitely Apex.
I'm assuming I'm in there, so it's gonna be me.
They have the Blitz.
There is probably Sharpenst IGL, I would say.
If I had to make a squad to beat them, I'd be pretty easy.
I'm gonna be pretty easy.
I'm gonna be pretty easy.
I'm gonna be pretty easy.
I'm gonna be pretty easy.
If I had to make a squad to beat Vitality, I would make me cry, because I think Isolated
Vitality is really, really great players to have Saivoo and then have really great role
players.
And if you want to beat them, I think you are probably beating them by the system, the
way they play right now.
So you have to beat them by role 5-0, just out of the gate.
I think it's a no-brainer to pick Saivoo and Donk in your team, I think it's
just unfair.
Yo!
Oh, it's me.
I mean, either ban to that end of the squad is so ridiculous.
I don't think it needs any extra explaining, like they're not crossing each other's roles.
Yeah, they're the best currently.
I have no idea how this roster might work in terms of relationships,
like how they're going to get used to each other and if it is even going to work.
But, you know, Donk is Donk, Zairu is Zairu.
Hopper, I would say Zairu.
I would put Donk because I think he's probably the bestizer in CS right now.
I'll take Monizzi, I'll take Donk.
Multi-frag moment, but here's Dawgs from football!
They're beating Apex to him, and now this huge health advantage!
Time's ticking!
Down!
And we have an venture at Nessie.
At this point, he's like the best one,
like the past more than a year.
Uh, Ropes.
Apex, I went Ropes, he's a pro at Adity,
which is by far the best teams in the last months.
Like, in the last one year, let's say.
Robs for the sake of being one of the world-class anchors for such a long time and
right now in the top one team and he's been informed for a long period of time and
Then we'll take it. Kyosuke, I would choose him because I think obviously he's really young
But even though he doesn't have too much experience. He has shown how good he can be and I think he definitely has a bright future
Kyosuke, this is just Kyosuke, everyone knows
I think I'll take Kairi Sougi.
And the last player, I would put Monesi as a hybrid.
I just think Monesi just has the class, just has the talent.
He knows all of the situational utility,
he understands how to play college.
So I just think it's an overall pretty tough team to be.
If we're saying that current roster vitality,
we're all going to stay together, you can't have any of them.
Who would you take instead?
I would take the full roster of Champions League.
You never know how a team connects.
These players seem to add something to the server and make the team as better.
I think that's unique and I think we've only seen that in the Astraliser,
where every player is really great and they are making each other better.
And I think that is always the hardest when you make a team that has to compete
for the finals on the first day basically.
Go for the shot!
Go for the shot!
He did it!
You're coming with the round!
Hi, my name is Dupree.
I'm a five-time major champion,
and I was part of the Astralis era.
In the beginning of Astralis,
no, it was with any other star up.
Remember the first day?
This is the first straight iteration we had,
which is like a plain black shirt
with the stars that was printed on top.
Just feeling that this was our own
was something that actually mattered a lot to us.
We were proud of what we had already created.
Now it's more about who wanted and needed to get the results
or to get it where we wanted it to.
It really fast, but pretty big in my opinion.
It rose to become something like a small
of a subculture back in Denmark.
You could go and ask anyone on the streets in Denmark
and they would know what to start as well.
Maybe they didn't like specifically in detail
and know what it was about, but they heard the name before.
It just blew into a proportion that we never expected.
I think for any Counter-Strike player
that are playing this game completely,
it's about making a name for yourself.
That's where the major comes in really handy.
I think the dream of winning one
is what everyone wants to achieve inside Counter-Strike.
But getting there takes a lot of hard work
and also some luck in everything.
But when I first started playing Counter-Strike,
I wanted to win my major.
And if I could just win one major,
then I would be very satisfied.
Gain to the point where I feel like the team back in the days
with Australia said was capable of winning a major,
was like a really good feeling.
You'd go into the tournament and you would feel
that we had to have the capability
of winning this tournament.
That felt really good.
We're winning that grand final, you know?
I think we're obviously playing against Rotis Pro
in that grand final.
We're playing in some really experienced guys
from the time.
And for us to go up against these kind of legends,
it kind of fuels us in a way that we want to go out
and prove that we can also do this, you know?
And then, you know, getting to the point where you need one more round,
I believe that we had 15 seconds of free time and I would say like,
guys, let's just do the exact same as we just did, like, let's catch some more of God.
And you could just feel that everyone in the team was on the same pace.
Everyone felt that this was the right point and everyone believed in it.
There was so much chaos.
I mean, it was just like people just getting to listen right,
but it was just like one crack at a time and you can see in the kill
if you like room getting closer and closer and closer.
And then that final kill, which I believe I got when I picked that last
taking that head shot on the test.
That was like crazy.
And like the feeling is just like we jump out
and throw our heads and so on.
All of a sudden, I promised that if I'm just mad,
I'd actually achieve that dream of winning the major.
I
Linus brings his trap, but he's left as the last man standing
That was brutal for phase. I can't believe they get out so cleanly
Someone call an ambulance
It feels like this car is on beat.
It was a little bit stinking.
For me, French Counter-Strike has always stood out in somewhat of similar just to Danish
Counter-Strike.
There's always been a passion for the game inside of the French team.
There's been a lot of talent coming out of France, some of the best players in the world.
It's always been like a force to be ridden with in the department and I think that their
playstyle has been a really nice mix of being extremely aggressive but at the same time
also having quite the technical skills.
Talking in PK, there's always like a pivotal asset to whatever team you would be playing
in France.
The likes of Kinesis, kind of the same story.
Kinesis was also brought up inside of very games.
I think I've played against Keynes and his first official ever, in Counter-Sauce.
Talking Shucks, he's always been part of the good teams whenever they were on the rise.
Shucks has always had some kind of Godfather role play within the teams, like
I guided, that has guided the young players coming into men, you know,
that's just like a cool story for him to play in, in Keynes and their department.
The funny story with me and APC is that we were rivals for a long, long time.
He and myself, we shared the same kind of role.
He was probably the more grisunist of the two of us.
We got to reunite inside of Vitality.
He had obviously taken up another role,
of him being an England leader, he had this obsession with having a soldier who didn't fit my platole also
and that is what you see now, the Liza Flames, you know, and it works for him, so let's be honest, it's a great asset.
Epic's ideal style is, in my opinion, the perfect fit.
He understands and wants to try and utilize his plays in the best possible way, like he recognizes and wants to figure out what strengths does my player have.
He's exceptionally good at reading the game, not so much like in the micro-decision, but more like in broad pitch, like he always tries to be one still ahead.
He has like the same quality as with the Glapap.
Ike was working off the system,
where I think has maybe created the system.
The Paris Major was obviously unique.
You knew him much, man.
To the organization in French.
We had the CEO coming on stage and lifting the trophy and crying.
Obviously that was very nice.
And I was winning his first major in mortality in Paris.
I'm like this is like a Cinderella story in itself.
Coming into the grand final, we were standing outside.
I remember that I just said to the guys like,
I'm just not losing today.
And I just made that very clear with it.
And I knew that if I could go out and be so confident about my feelings, then that would spark something within them.
I was so close to my own goal and we were so close to the team goal of winning the Paris Major.
There wouldn't be a world where we would fumble this one.
They had the streak going for them right now. They have won six tournaments in a row.
It's got to be something within them that they want to try and beat our record back in Australia.
That's being the greatest team of all time.
I mean, the team is doing so good.
It creates a lot of possibilities to create some really nice storylines.
And there's no doubt that Vitality is also in the position now where they can start doing that.
that will just spark something in some of the young players coming out of France.
The counter-strike in France is not that big in the common knowledge.
But I think that's also changing now.
We've seen the president going out talking about vitality
and he's been wearing like a vitality shirt and everything.
So we see it with the 3D Max, you know, a full French team,
a team that has been grinding to live in a lot of last season.
There's players who have just been around for a while,
but there's also a couple of new guys.
So, tell me about the awful scene.
What do you wanna know?
So the current ring is legal, right?
It's legal.
We're in 10% legal.
We cannot just rock out with the bulls and start shagging on the branded cam.
They want you to wrap the can up so nobody can see what the brand it is.
And suggestion wolves or stage 2.
Okay, so it breaks down like this.
It's legal to drink it, it's legal to bring it with you, but you can't show it when you're
out on the break.
But it doesn't matter, because for them it's illegal to stop you.
And that's the right that referees and player management don't have.
Okay, next time I'm bringing some with me.
But you know what's the funny thing, competing around the world?
What?
You just move defenses.
They got all the same shit over there that we got at home.
Example?
Okay, like look at the last two Blast majors.
In an A I can drive any fucking server and it'll be filled with crazy people.
And also the craziest comps I've ever seen.
And in Paris, do you know how they call a fucking Diggle?
So they don't call it Diggle?
They got different callouts, man. They know what the fuck a Diggle is.
Then what does they call it?
They call it L'Eau Coup.
The line of Coup?
What does they call a Force Buy?
A Force Buy is still a Force Buy.
But they call it left force.
Left force?
What does it call?
Full save.
I don't know, man.
I didn't do anything else.
I know there was a little bit of a tech issue, but everything's being sorted now when we
get to resume our day, our second half of day at number one.
is I'm gonna be your host Natty for that and if you don't know who I am that's totally okay because neither do my two analysts here
Maui and you're pretty joining me. You're worrying about something Dota, right?
Well, I know this is an adjacent game out there, but obviously gonna have a lot of fun with CS over the next couple weeks
It's all in the the valve ecosystem. You know simple plays a little bit of Dota
You play a little bit of CS. I actually heard him say that and I was like, you know what?
I'm I'm converted to CS now. I mean if simple's playing more Dota than CS then I think this totally makes sense
You've got to learn from the goats.
That's definitely a case.
I mean, like, you know, he's been maybe looking
to prioritize the wrong game, you know,
especially that he's trying to come back, you know?
You know, that is, according to that, a good game.
I haven't put much effort into it, but that's how it is.
Well, we're going to talk about CS for now, of course.
And also, you know, I wanted to introduce not just myself,
but the panel here a little bit too.
I think a lot of people out there, they're like,
what are the credentials for these guys to be on this desk?
Like, I'm sure I've seen them before, but like, really,
just kind of all of us, you know?
So I don't know, maybe we can start with Dupri.
I feel like you might be the most known for the credentials there.
That's interesting, you know, it feels good to be here and I'm a guy that you know, I've won five majors and you know,
apparently I've also been rocking a bird suit for one of my times in your life.
It's funny that I've won five majors and I've won that many trophies.
Did you know that many trophies?
That's great, when you're looking at it like this, you know, it's a little bit crazy because
if I had to think about it, it's something that doesn't really come to mind.
27.
It's actually quite impressive, right?
Damn, yeah.
I still didn't have the record before.
Some guy in Vitaly decided to go and challenge that.
What's he doing that for?
Let something stay the same.
Let tradition stand.
I like the picture that they use though.
Yeah, I do too, yeah.
Do you think it got your best angle?
I think it was a good one.
You know, at that time, you know,
I actually had a little contract with Falcons,
so I had to support them.
That's what I was saying, yeah.
Now that's up.
Is that an eagle or a falcon?
Well, according to, I don't know.
I actually have some falcons.
It's a falcon.
But I think it actually said eagle,
since we were in America, so.
Oh, that don't, it's a bald eagle.
It all makes sense.
Well, you passed the credentials check
to prove it's legal.
can definitely stay here but Maui. I don't know what mine's gonna say. I'm a little nervous
about this one. It's alright. We made sure we pulled up the best stats here then Maui.
NACS? Oh yeah. Predictions made 8,437. Predictions correct. You went all in the previous one. It
seemed a lot of predictions about trying to get the Navi game and that didn't really
pay out too well for you. I gave you so much. I got the Mirage game scoreline
perfectly right in the area. Yeah but the frags from my cosy was not really important.
Okay, I think my prediction rate might be just a little bit higher than that. Just a little maybe add a zero
At least he dares to go for the every every one every game predictions every single game
And that's what we need we need someone is one majors
We need someone who's won at least a couple of predictions
Yeah, they you know if you just keep shooting eventually you're gonna hit the target there
And then there was a little bit of a stat line on me because you know the same sort of thing
Maybe if people are wondering why exactly I'm standing here having a lot of fun nice picture. They chose by the way
Maybe maybe by this angle there, but energy wild apparently good at CS. Hmm. Well, I mean
That's a reason why you're right. Oh, you got to prove yourself in this, you know this category as well
So honestly if anybody in chat is not at least
Level three on face it they should stop typing right now
We need high elos only here. Okay level four is in a bug. Okay for every level four is only
for. Yeah, I've been watching CS for a really long time and of course we're
going to get to see a lot more CS today because we're only halfway through.
Yeah, we had our two best of threes earlier, but there's still two more on
the cards and we're going to jump on into it because that tech pause, well,
it already delayed us a little bit here, but we're going to have phase up
against Aurora and what exactly could we be expecting for these two? It feels
like they're on the two opposite ends of a spectrum when it feels like
stability in a roster. We have an Aurora team that's coming fresh off a
grand finals, albeit a loss at ESL Pro League where they showed that maybe they do have another
gear, maybe that this season is going to actually show that they can reach some higher highs where
the playoff nerves that really got the better of them in the prior year can be something that
they can overcome, whereas FaZe on the other hand, the high point of this roster is and always
will be that Budapest playoff run where they reach their own grand finals, but they have
been just atrocious since.
Yeah, well, that's a little bit of the issue
that I've also been trying to put on the table for FaceTime.
They made that result in Budapest,
and now they find themselves in a position
where they are not really, they're not getting anything done.
It's hard to find something positive to say about FaceTime
right now, and it is also maybe just denied
or at least put the inevitable of making changes in the future.
It's like a pace where a face is now trying to,
how do we get back to the DNA?
Because we've actually seen the potential that we can do,
But is it actually enough to have the right roster?
Do you have the right approach to the game?
There's so many things going wrong for us right now.
And also the major coming up in Cologne soon, you know, a little bit in danger.
So there's a lot of the life.
I mean, to put it in Dota terms, I think that it's been, I mean,
FaZe were just perma stunned by their grand final performance there at Budapest.
Now it's like they definitely need some kind of like a BKB or something
to just get them to keep to prevent that.
Like, and they've done that.
They know, at least they're making a little bit of a move
in order to try to shake things up for themselves.
that's what it's like to be
able to do that. So it's
really important to be able to
do that. Yeah, it feels like
it's being so hard for them. And
it's one of those things that
people have out there for their
major run there, making it to
that second place. It's like,
Oh, was a broken clock right
twice a day. You know, did
they just happen to strike
gold and we're not going to
see it again. They're
obviously changing those
things up. They're doing
some things. There's a
topic. Everyone's talking
about here. The fact that
they've made this coach
change. I don't know if
that's the right word to
use it, but Neo out and
Yes, Gruby is coming in, analyst to interim coach.
But until we...
We're gonna put the asterisks next to it.
Exactly, until we know who the actual full-time signing
is for them.
I can't really say if this is a good move or a bad move.
It's only just that they clearly needed to do something.
Because Neil, despite the fact that at the beginning
of CS2 in late 2023, he was the winningest coach
that there was in the game.
But since then, last year and a half,
the results have been shaky.
And that might even be putting it too positively.
Yeah, and as you put it, you know, they had to do something.
And also from the interview that Kerrigan gave it,
that feel like that the removal of Nio was maybe more on the face side.
It's like the organization's thinking that we know that we have not produced the result.
The major is in danger. We have to do something.
We're like, and Kerrigan said that they actually created some kind of more
safe space for the players.
Thinking, OK, now they've actually removed the coach, the players feel safe.
This is what we want to build upon.
And I think they give a lot of leeway to Kerrigan as well,
that he can build a team that can come back to and do have a winnings way.
But looking at Budapest, sure it was maybe like a fluke or whatever you'd say, but I think that creates like the
At least the potential idea that we know it's in there. We know we can play like this, but it's also about being consistent
I think that is what the one thing in a big scheme of issues I face, but the consistency has just not been there
Yeah, and you go to find stabilization for them, right? We're talking about consistency, but that's in that long run, right?
You still need to find a stabilizing pot for yourselves
And I do wonder that big change-up happens
it's made public just a couple of days before we see them here at the blast open. And so
now it's like, how quickly can you adjust? Is that pressure out there? Is it internally?
Because that's how I can interview him. I was also reading where he's just like, I
think it's just all internal for individuals right now.
It's both. I mean, even if they want to internalize it, if they want to say that
it's just that everybody expects more of themselves. The community sentiment is
also pretty much just constantly raging at a phase clan who now really it almost
feels like the biggest mistake in the recent organization's
career has been just doing as well as they did at Budapest.
So I feel like there's a huge problem with FaZe right now,
which is sometimes down to the individuals,
and sometimes it's also down to the calling.
And I feel like you can pick either corner
for what you want to fight for if you say
FaZe need to make one change or another.
To be honest, if you take my perspective on this,
Neo is just, and changing him,
is just buying time for somebody
that needs to get replaced.
The coach is only serving a miniscule amount of what is actually put down in the server.
And I don't think that Nio's change is going to actually bring much more in terms of success.
That being said, it can't get much worse.
Like this team has only won three series this year.
So any change is better than nothing.
But I do think they need to pull the trigger on at least one roster move on top of this.
They're moving closer to rock bottom, right?
Missing on the magic will probably rock bottom for this team.
Then they have to shake everything up, right?
We're moving here. It's not Matthew gonna make the team play better. I think that right now
There's just so much tension inside the game. You know, it's whether if they're losing or winning
You know, they're not comfortable how they're playing like Karen is constantly putting out in the VLogs
So we're also watching him that that he doesn't feel like people are communicating enough
They're not bringing the things that he needs to be able to call right and do not listening to and as a construct plan
Especially as a professional player like if you're not listening to and you know
Using the data you can send through the team and then chime things together
Then you're not going to be playing good counter and that's exactly what we're seeing out of face right now
And that just makes the individuals which has always been the way the faces want to play kind of that DNA that the individuals
Is creating the rounds and if they can't string things together then they will also just look way worse as individuals
Yeah, well that is something that you know
I also asked them about because I got to speak to a couple of them individually starting off with twist just before the series
Twist thank you so much for joining me
I saw her on social media as well as did a little deep dive you tweeted out that you're gonna take a little bit
a break from social media, try and find yourself as a player again. I want to ask, like, how
does that look like? You know, where did the effects of social media come for you? And
do you feel ready now full blast open?
I think just being away from online presence is good for people in general. And it's something
that I needed to do. I think sometimes people catch themselves looking maybe too much at
Instagram, too much at Twitter and so on. But yeah, just let me connect more with
the real world and focus on myself.
Where has finding that balance been for you?
Because obviously you still need to be somewhat connected
to see what's going on with everything in the CS scene.
So where exactly is that balance for you?
I mean, at the end of the day, like individual health
and focusing on the team is a priority.
To be honest, I can get away with not having to check
HLTV, not having to check anything.
And I can still know exactly what's going on
and what I need to focus on.
So it's individual priorities and yeah, it's not a concern to not have to look at anything.
Yeah, and I'm glad you brought up like the individual aspect of this because do you feel that as a player or even right now being in
phase with everything that's going on that there is internal individual pressure to perform to make it that one step
knowing that you know that major is right around the corner?
I think the team is equally feeling a pressure.
Yeah, I think for myself it's more of clicking, getting to click individually and kind of welcoming
the pressure.
When I join the team I know I have to perform.
I'm a key player for the team and that's how it is I haven't been performing and I need
to.
And then of course final question is coming up against Aurora.
They did well in the previous tournament.
Does that factor into it at all or you're just taking this one game at a time, one
map at a time and see where it goes?
Definitely one map at a time.
I'm doing well in the last adventures means we have more VRS points that we can snatch
And I think that's all we're focusing on right now per per series we play I
Liked it. I liked the way he ended that obviously it was a little bit
You know touch and go where he's like there needs to be things that have to click for me as an individual
But at the end of the day, yeah
We're coming up against an opponent people would see us as not the favorites to win against but more VRS points on the table
Yeah, but imagine being a play and then looking at your HLC before I'm sure never done that in my life
I've done a couple of times in my life. It stinks. It can really stink and it's like a spiral where you you turn and you
If things are good, you're gonna get a boost of it. If things goes bad, then you know, it's gonna hurt your confidence
I think that's what Swiss also, you know, relying on to that
He has taken a break out of the social thing and and they know that the pressure is there because they know the major and the
VRS caught off is just around the corner and they need a good result here to make sure like they're almost at a
Point where they will not even make stage one
So face know that there's a lot of things on the line here me personally. I do love reading the forms
For content sake it's great if as a pro player though, I'm glad that twist is going zero dark 30 on it
I mean he's doing a self-imposed social media blackout is a great idea because
Individually he's in his worst form. I've ever seen him
I mean that's to me the way that he responded in that interview was about as despondent as I've ever seen twist
who is usually a lot more assertive, usually has way more ideas, way more confidence.
They usually go into tournaments with the expectation that they can win practically any trophy.
That's, there's no way in hell. They're even considering that.
If they make it to the playoffs here, that would be a miracle.
But be almost even more so than the grand final that they made in Budapest.
Like, they are in a state right now that is beyond disrepair.
And that's why I say I don't think a single coach move is going to be the solution for them.
And I think Twist recognizes that too.
that's what it's about. It's
something that you have to
do. Everyone's body language on
the scene has just like really
just it's cratered completely.
And then we're talking about
making it to playoffs, right?
That's that miracle for them,
whereas on the other side of
Aurora, it's like you just made
it to a finals of the previous
event here. We're looking at
you to be favorites. It
doesn't feel like miracles are
there at all. This is
something that you've worked
hard for, and you just have
to kind of keep proving
yourself to get there a
little bit further. In the
previous year in the first
season, Aurora made six, maybe
in a row. Okay, so they're no
strangers to making it to those
kinds of stages. What they've
proven to themselves at ESL
Pro League is that playoff
nerves are an issue that they
have more or less overcome,
even though they weren't able
to eventually hoist the trophy
versus a Navi team, which is
gaining form. They have proven
to themselves that against
this kind of not the S tier
teams, not the vitalities
of the world, but versus all
these other A tier teams,
They should be raising themselves up in the pecking order.
And so this is to me almost feels like a formality.
If Aurora doesn't just completely batter phase,
maybe I'll send off some morning signs here,
but they're comfortably the favorites for me in this matchup.
And that's maybe a little bit of the crazy takeoff
that Aurora all of a sudden in a best three against phase
is looking to be the favorite.
That's not something that you probably
had on your big accounts one year ago.
Right.
And also now looking at Aurora mentioning
that they did make Arena playoffs last year,
But it just takes time to get in that groove that you can you can contribute
to play the way you've done in the group stage because that is where they have excelled.
And then every time they moved into the playoffs, it did look a little bit dire.
Right. And it just takes time.
And it's good to see that I also feel like the addition of Soulfly has done something to the team.
It's something that has elevated them, something where the roles are now a little bit more set.
We've set themselves interviews that he's like the soldier guy that he's playing for the team.
He will go in and do all the things that is definitely necessary for them.
And I think everyone that team can feel that they have now gotten the role set
and they can all comfortably do what they want.
And that's all for me,
always been one of the greatest things to create a good team.
And the fact that it's a full like Turkish lineup, you know,
they are looking to be like the second best full national lineup
that we have on the ranking as of right now,
just behind Paravision, I believe.
So they are probably in a comfortable spot,
but how far can they take it?
I feel like Aurora right now are looking at this team.
And I also would want to just bring in one aspect
where I do think Soulfly may have a higher ceiling
and then what Jota did, which is great for them,
because sometimes you'll have these nice pop-offs
and everything, but I actually think that Madger
has leveled up as an individual and as a caller.
That's what's been most impressive,
because my biggest complaint about Aurora last year
was how one-dimensional they could be as a team.
They oftentimes are grouping up as five,
hitting a bomb site together,
and if they don't, they're not really trying
to out-style or out-tactic their opponents,
and I feel like actually when watching them at Pro League,
they did that sometimes.
They actually fake people out of their shoes.
They would go into bomb sites that are weakened because they would throw fakes on one side,
rotate towards another.
And so, yeah, Soulfly does have his moments here and there.
Personally, I think it's kind of a sidegrade for Jota, but I actually think Madger's been
the one that has actually heard all of the, well, not the gossip, all of the naysayers,
and that he's actually decided to look in towards his own game and their calling
style and improve it, at least lightly.
Yeah.
It's like a fine line all the time.
I'm sorry, I'm not used to this at all.
This is taking me off guard.
too much energy for me that I've ever seen out of an eSports player in my life, but you're talking
about it there. Obviously that is that you have to look internally where is that line where you're
going down a spiral that's too far that you lose confidence, but I have to tell you when I talked
to Major Early today he still had that confidence for sure. All right you guys are coming off of
a second place in the previous tournament. How did you guys recover over the last few days
knowing it was so close to now having to play Blast open? Yes I think we get used to play
tournament in the world since one years so yeah we just lost the final against Navi in
a set predict and the day after we had the flight in the morning so we had one
day to rest and to prepare just much against FaZe and I think we okay
putting some energy today and hopefully we can do the work. How do you prep
against a team like FaZe because right now it feels like the very chaotic
backs against the wall nothing to lose and some would say that's actually
especially when FaZe is favored.
Yeah, it's a trap match because they have nothing to lose
and a lot of things to win.
And I think I did the same preparation that I do
every time I play under the team, like it's not different.
Hopefully we can show good construct today
and my teammate individually can be on point here.
Well, we had a couple of words earlier
I like that he's showing that respect that, yeah,
FaZe, you know, there's all that words on the ground right now
about them, the hubbub of where exactly are they.
But I take the preparation the same way.
And obviously that is going to translate into Alvido as well.
What is going to be played here when it comes to the three exciting maps?
Yeah, what's interesting about it is if you're a manager
and you're trying to prepare for this,
unfortunately, I would probably just stick with the tried
and tested player-owned game because FaZe don't even know their own game.
I don't think that, you know, FaZe have actually banned at least three
different maps this year already as their perma band or as their pick and
they've also just been picking a variety different maps too. I thought there was a
chance they would go with Mirage as the opener here. They've shown a little bit
of success on it this year and for the Aurora side Inferno was definitely up
for grabs. It was that or Dust 2 for me so I would just say if your face
the unfortunate thing is for the decider you probably want to play
into what could have also been Aurora's pick in D2. Yeah but that's for sure. I
mean I think if you look on the Aurora side you know they've got to be
feeling comfortable because they have been looking at what face can bring
to the table and as you mentioned,
they don't really have a direction.
They're trying to figure out, and it just
speaks of a team that is in a crisis that
they simply don't have a direction to where they want to go.
And having the fact of, first of all,
you can actually move the likes of Anubis for a role.
Then you are in a really good spot in terms of Vita, right?
Because that is their goal.
But that's because they ban anything.
They'll just ban anything now.
They're almost doing a seven-map pool when they don't even
have a map puddle.
They're working with barely anything right now.
That is true.
And if you were faced, you would have
love to go for it. And that's probably the map that you would have loved to play, but
that is also the parent ban of a role. You know, they've only played against Vitali in
some sort of a random, random game. So I mean, like the map pool here speaks for a role.
I believe like, you know, they're looking comfortable. I still think that for me, at
least when it comes to face, like it's not going to matter if the map pool out of
right now, I think there's so much more deeper issues for them to figure out before
they can actually be compared. Yeah, that's like, you know, the last thing you really
want to be looking at when it comes down to fixing certain issues for them. But
we're going to see the first one that they're going to be playing on is Nukes. What
that you're going to have to
be able to do that. You know,
you're going to have to be
able to do that. Exactly. Could
we expect are going to have
Aurora starting on that CT side
to. Well, I feel like Aurora
actually, even when they swap
to the offense later, I feel
like they've actually leveled
some things up. I mean, again,
last year sometimes felt
extremely stagnant, but I
like some of the progress
they've shown on this map,
so I don't think there was
ever really going to be a
good pick for phase in this
series. I feel like what you
have to expect from care again
is that he's tailored some
He's able to at least just kind of throw a variety of different smoke walls, maybe just
go for some gamble pushes.
They can put some semblance of a T side together.
And then in my eyes, they're just running on fumes for their CT side.
They're just hoping that individuals pop off.
I don't always see a directed plan in the middle of the round.
Just feels like it's someone's multi-fragging or we're losing.
Yeah, but it also requires that you have the communication going.
Nuke is a map where you have to manipulate your rotations, you have to play off the
information that you get by also denying, as you mentioned, I think it's a map
that face is looking to go into where they maybe they do have a game plan but
I mean the caravan is very notorious for creating game plans that he wants to
stick to with what they have in first buy rounds and how they want to proceed
around so I think if they can get off a good start then there is a case where
they can you know fulfill and actually go with that game plan but if it's
bios out of control in the first three rounds I would just throw that
game plan on the way now and then start playing on the basics but
that's what they need because the basics right now for face is not
looking good and I'm curious to see if Nug is even gonna cut the case for
You say like off to a good start, right? But that was very ambiguous. You didn't really put a number on that
But the bad start was three rounds. So what is the good start?
I mean like the good start is winning the pistol and then converting that's that's my
Limit the mistakes, you know limit the things that you've been working on the limit and then the things that you know that you had issues with
And Caesar said that done because obviously the pressure is is somewhat also on face
If things get six in the first half to me, that's a miracle if they get five
But I'm not sure if you're
going to be able to do that.
I'm not sure if you're going to
be able to do that. I have
a lot of miracles going around
right now. Now you're a man of
God. That's all that's all
phase do miracles. Okay, because
on the day to day, they're
not really actually giving you
all too much, so it does kind
of have to have to be an
over performance. I'd say, um,
Yeah, if they get if they get
five, maybe they can work
with that going into the
second half, but I would be
surprised to see it. Well
look, as a team of five
phase, they're going to
have to what was it that
you said over. Of what?
coming off of grand finals showing it is it is a very different scene than you
might have you know expected with these two teams if you scrolled back a year or
two I think the one thing that might be interesting for face is the fact that
they they've just made a change like just speaking about that
agnostic Lee I think when you make you remove somebody you add somebody
regardless of who it is you do get fired up to want to try to prove the new
lineup if you are in the mood to try to believe in yourselves you're
here to make some kind of run, you are a bit worried about how many losses that you can
sustain in one season. There is going to be an energy that's like, okay, Eddie's back
around, you know, Leo's not here. How, how, how much of this change going to affect us
and how much are we going to be fired up to prove everybody wrong?
I think twists is individually one of those people who's really looking to find that
new fire. I think he's somebody who's gone out and said, you know, it's gotten
off social media is trying to find himself again as a player, you know, trying
to get that fire spark so that maybe he can take back over games and with the
breakdown that the desk offered you know in certain moments you are just kind of
hoping that somebody from the phase clan on any given day on any given map is
gonna have that takeover moment that potential right that we know everybody
has on this roster now we go back to Budapest mode we saw great things from
Jacob we just wish we could see more and more of it and more of it from
everybody on this team yeah we saw a lot of great things actually specifically
in the pistol rounds.
That's where he was a superstar.
Expect that to continue.
Expect that to be a win condition
if Faze are gonna have any chance of taking the series.
But as the desk brought up,
there isn't a really good place to go.
Like we're playing here on Nuke,
Faze have lost the last three times.
It's just not the Faze in their best form
and they're elimination game merchants.
So like opening day in a groups,
that's when they're actually their weakest by far.
And yet here they are still got to play the game. So best of luck on the attack versus an aurora
That's gonna be banking on Zanterra is outside terrain terror
On any member of face clan that dare walk around those boxes for the time being it's a bit of a pause for face clan out of the
Gate we've got that solo lobby play coming through from frozen and
Karrigan bringing bomb late to the party as we see the singular smoke drop the second lands and they're gonna play on the
opposite side of it. So bit of a ruse here to try to get Jacob that pistol round impacts
Zantara's quick fallback into main. Here's the duel behind him. Wants to stick around
for the duals and that is why. Double head shot coming up from Zantara's. Tries to
turn attention back over. 3v5 rebuttal inbound though. Head and dual to distraction for
Wakadia to get his out through hut. That's man advantage but a player drop lower with
bomb. Yeah a little awkward bro. He's got to try to get to him and Kerrigan
knows he's getting shot at, but just wanted to dip out to cover. His job was
going to be to delay, but now Soulfly knows what the knife out. It's time to
just diffuse. Yeah, you go ahead and stick that bad boy. Brokeys could have to
run it all down. And those dual burritos will keep him at bay. Nothing he can do
about it. The fact you get a bomb plant after Xanterra's establishes the
first two kills. I think you just take that if your face clan and we'll
see what they can offer. But they've got a 0% success rate in round two
breaks at the moment so their force buys mohan not quite something they can bank on maybe they
could change that to one after this next round but here's the moment where brookie makes a smart
choice and delaying his repeat instead of just fighting to enterus head on and make sure that
he's at his most vulnerable overall but not getting the trade right away like these are
going to be the small differences that will compound into a map loss to phaser and showing
up on a firepower basis as well because there are more more problems than just that right now
a little to be desired on that one from wakadia but hey we'll forgive him because it's going to
to set up the secret peek in a moment and that's where Aurora find first blood in round
two.
Yeah, a little zone and control here from Aurora's twist.
Let's take out their little beagle headshot, actually, pressure on Wikipedia now, but he
delivers two.
And P9's gonna swing through it and clean house.
So just as damning is that 0% round two break rate is Aurora's round two conversion,
100% round two conversion on nuke specifically and that stat stands
It's very cool to see Aurora get to the level of you know making the grand finals again of
Like playing well in the playoffs
Breaking through because it was always the question of do Aurora have the stamina to keep up with playing a lot of
deep deep tournament runs in a row and
Again a lot of people like Jota. I didn't really feel like the most
um, ceremonious exit for him when he got off the lineup and it felt like it's only downhill from here, but
Aurora do something pretty special, I think, with Soulfly, even though they don't do much in that final, specifically
They're a team we respect, I think, for consistency at this level right now
We're doing Miss Molotovs here in trades
It's not the prettiest kickoff, but it is going to be three players to contend with the ramp room
You've got Soulfly dead empty handed.
It's a P9 though, tries to put up a challenge,
and it's just the one.
You've got three members of the four still standing
on FaZe Clan tagged dangerously low.
You have an interesting spot.
Wakadia's going to push, because they can come
to reclear ramp.
They need to use these two players
to take over map control quickly.
If FaZe take a little bit of time, they might leave a gap.
And Wakadia, obviously in this two versus four,
little to lose.
So go ahead, pressure the extremity.
take this dual towards the trophy room. You line these bodies up. You've got gold sitting in front of you.
But instead it's an instant headshot out of frozen reopening the ramp room simultaneous with the utility usage inside of hut.
That's going to give away Xanterra's position. So Kerrigan stays locked in on that one and good job on phase.
The fact that even with those three low health bars, they keep all four players standing.
It looked like a pretty formidable ramp hold with the positions that they had in the MP nine kill coming out.
But the trades were better than that this first kill. So really nice to take a soul fly in the back
I mean you have frozen getting to broke you with an opening
Good signs early and it's enough to take all the money away from Aurora. I'll have to use this to save
Flash a smoke into three player ramp stack I
think you pre mentioned
That phase should try to stay in a smaller range, I think of ideas
Just keep it more simple like when you're not playing that way player B or C game as a you know, Alicia's talked about in the past
Why I'll flash that the bomb no that's an AK-47
Push and that is bomb possession in trophy that one flashbang the Aurora coming to the round with is net them a hell of a position
Yeah, that bomb is so awkward, but they get a kill and lower as keeps the numbers even.
Recovery's underway.
Still, talk about making your job harder than it has to be.
Just caught by that.
Kerrigan starting to piece together the recovery of the bomb.
They're going to smoke it off.
So, yes, you found a second frag.
You've taken man advantage back.
But still, sitting on top of that bomb at the moment are two AK-47s.
It's an interesting spot.
They're going to have to decide if they think that Aurora are sitting on the
bomb or not, but with trophy control you have a great angle to fight people even
if they know you're there. You can stand on so many different spots and take a
fight. That'll help all the smoke to try to dip into it, but they haven't
actually pushed us yet. Could be enough to just get Aurora to reposition
though. You know that this could get scooped up silently. They're ready to
go into mini so they can take this upstairs and Aurora will get up in the
In heaven, Twist will probably keep an eye on this in a second.
20 seconds.
Yeah, if they take too long, one kill and it's a mess.
It's a loud stamp and a stomp in the front of the site.
Twist locks in behind the vent.
Well, they're not even going to try it.
All right.
Oh, very gentlemanly ending to this round,
considering it starts with the gloves off,
flashbang into the trophy room.
They're willing to cut their losses to AK-47s
to deaths on the side of FaZe Clan.
And that is something you're not
going to get as much desperation out of Aurora.
They're going to play with a bit more maturity.
They're happy to take these because they know it just improves their odds.
Next time getting this many kills on a round like this.
Yes, they could have won the round.
I don't think they're going to be tilted by the thought that they lost.
It was actually really well handled from phase, which is nice to see.
And I think, you know, if you're on phases, worst days, I mean, when the
pressure's on it's the mid to late rounds, I think that are going to be
what make them stand out against teams that aren't as coordinated or as comfortable.
So disaster averted here for face clan
And I think Aurora in an interesting spot they've got probably got a bit of a globe out them at the moment with their
With their run that they've just made coming into this event knowing what they can do
The guns are out and with the AK saves, that's pretty massive for the money.
Done the math right?
Oh, what a find!
Great break!
Right, a find.
just softening up the edge of that smoke grenade clips, twists off the round.
Acadius timing
is not going to be tested.
Ops not to spam through to give himself away
to welcome potential sprays back.
Just going to bank on Soulfly's reposition downstairs.
There are still options here for FaZe Clan.
I love using the back of Big Garage right now, 5v4.
This player can get locked up, Santeris.
Oh, wait a second to kill Wikipedia!
Over top of the shoulder of Kerrigan, teammates' head gets wrecked.
Soulfly's now going to start to activate, but if he gets caught in awkward timing here,
well, now suddenly, lower bomb site open, prime for the taking.
Woxic waits, hits his shot, and that's frozen dealt with swiftly.
And that's going to be the bomb downstairs to try to cross over.
Looking to play in front of the operas' angles.
You know Woxic, hot to the trot is going to be quick to the scene and so with two kills to his name,
Zanterres right behind him. Aurora aren't going to waste time on this retake.
It's a quick kill of Brokey and a Jacob clutch queued up, but denied.
You get a double out of Woxic. You get a triple kill here for Zanterres.
Two stars of the show for Aurora to take that lead right back.
That's real sharp from Zanterres, I think. Obviously, unlucky he gets the first kill on his teammates,
on his teammates, but they're kind of unflappable right now.
They don't get too nervous.
This is a great shot from Woxic.
And the two shots we saw from Woxic, I think,
show us he's going to have a great game.
Also starting this retake off a little sooner
than Baze are ready for.
I love that.
They bounced on it.
I mean, if you were Aurora today,
you don't roll out of bed too intimidated
by this Baze clan.
I know that in interviews, people
like to be political sometimes and still speak of phase as a team you never
underestimate you never let your guard down this is a team that is three and nine
in series so far 2026 major here he is ready for the site keeping his head down
long enough to get one kill at least Santa eras it's a one-and-done as well
yet another moment we go down to the 2v2 yet another moments all their
for Woxic to be key.
And does that smoke lands?
They're scared though.
I mean, they don't even,
they're thinking about heaven,
but they're also worried
about someone coming into mini.
They use their second smoke up in heaven.
So now they've got a plant for it.
I like that.
Woxic makes noise top of the rooftop.
You see Broke confidently plant in back sight.
Look at this, burning the attention over towards main.
But Woxic didn't actually commit to it.
He just doubled right back up inside of heaven.
He has created a boogie man
Over towards the opposite side of the bomb site and once those flames burn out
We'll see whether or not phase of pieced together that ruse have the perfect setup for the double-heavenry date flash drop supports dead
Broke eat from down beneath
Okay, he goes unnoticed behind the site box and will put another on the board for the face clan
That's excellent pressure a little smile there from Jacob phase pick up another solid rounds. Honestly tough trades
Rora kept doubling down on trying to retake early, pushing through Midi with a flash, coming up from Heaven, taking a peek.
Madra gets a great first kill, but it never gets out of hand.
It's a good day for FaZe Clan when Brokey's got to clutch six rounds into a game.
That's one of those moments in his hey days that you just couldn't deny the guy and here
we are impact early.
Nios got glasses.
How damning is that stat though Moe three and three and nine in best of three series
so far in 2026 phase.
Yeah.
are over BC game heroic and Monty simple who they beat simple oh they did yeah
well so did gaming gladiators gaming yeah oh no sorry they beat liquid all
right and be nine point blank is good for the double good on soul fly to step up
to the challenge is based beside that just kind of test the waters on ramp but
But in a round where you're up versus majority MP9s are less, that is an excellent moment
for Soulfly.
Now they don't have control side and they're a little bit split up, it's going to be very
hard to take lower safely.
It's going to need to be a bit of a bluff.
I think they try to make it feel like it's a lower take, but you can see there's so
much activity for Marora.
They're grouped up, doubled, on lower, they're checking for lurks, they have hut
control. And they're playing good angles for the weapons they have.
Though this part of the split looks excellent, but yeah, they're watching both sides of it.
Oh, Woxic, that's a missed opportunity, although a very slim one.
Kerrigan joining forces with the site players. This position could damn well catch Aurora
off guard. But he keeps his head tucked down as the smoke pops towards main and it
It will find Magert checking the wrong angle.
It's actually quite nice from FaZe, man.
They organized so quickly into the split.
Yes.
That is the nice part about this.
Zero hesitation in round seven out of FaZe,
and we saw that when they pressed their luck up
against Soulfly, and then reacted swiftly
into getting into that upper site.
And it looks like they've done enough
to convince Aurora to cut their losses.
You've got an AK upgrade for Wikipedia
who comes into this round off the 5-7.
You've lost two MP9s here.
if you're Aurora, not a bad deal to whittle away at the numbers of FaZe.
And they just put them on notice again, right?
You're not going to get away with just the smoke rush into the ramp room.
Yeah, it's another good recovery and a nice mid to late round situation.
So like three rounds now where we can point to FaZe
getting things organized safely and landing on their feet.
I think that's actually a very solid sign for them.
And you can see they're really trying to capture the energy of their wins when they do it, they're celebrating.
Those limitations once more for Aurora.
But you've put that AK in with Katie's hands and they'll try to pick up the responsibility
of Outer from Xanterra's.
Let me get this aggressive line posted up by Woxic.
He's not going to find anybody.
We've already got the majority of phase climb crossing over through the outer smokes.
You got to appreciate the pressure Aurora putting on and they're still poking around
and trying to puff their chest up and make it seem like they've got more than they have.
But Faiz are in the positions that they're looking for all the same.
They've got a nice lead with Kerrigan working towards this wrap,
and with Madger going down that can help him speed up.
Jacob still with a bit of timidness on his approach timing here for Kerrigan as he crosses paths with the player down beneath him finds what looks like a vacant a bomb site and could damn well blindside this opera is going to see it.
Oh, there we go. Sitting duck inside of hot.
Groin shot. Bonus points.
Main play comes through. Deagle spam lifts.
And that is going to be Karrigan standing tall.
Two kills, DP has opened up the round for FaZe.
That was like the I-Show'd speed clip,
where he just looks up with his eyes closed.
Mmm, that's all good. No problem.
So while it's cool that Aurora can like find these moments
where it's like, okay, they have a chance to actually stop something,
stop something it's actually these are just constantly putting up the rounds
anyways and here is like the best of the bunch no losses I mean we've got
face flat on a five-round T side yeah and it's Aurora who have a pistol round
in this game
I'm going to try to do some damage here, you heard all of that last second swing wide
and the humble guy just wants the one walks away
phase solidifying this lead
it's been a couple weird ones though for Aurora we know the money wasn't quite
there for them this round a bit different we've got Colts back across the
board love that Colts
Oof! Playing dangerous games, my boy.
Roky's on the hunt.
Interesting to see him. He's taking speed right here, and I mean, Aurora, they're kind of
waiting, I think, for the cross smokes to come out. They have been putting pressure
on them with spams.
But are we talking about maids outside right now? It doesn't look like it.
One fast staff and an instant duel lost here in favor of Aurora.
Tries to drop a smoke but there's still this gap so Kerrigan knows you're stuck in on the right
side still. Oh but as Kerrigan goes for the flash it's the moment for Woxic to reposition.
Kerrigan wants to join forces with the players downstairs but he gets double peaked
in the middle of his venture.
Ooh, the bomb.
Yeah.
Ouch.
Madger's there to trade out through.
Squeaky, this draws Jacob back into the firing range,
where Woxic's gonna put him to rest.
And that, my friends, is a critical error.
Bomb getting stuck behind the box.
It was awkward, because there was that gap in the garage smoke.
You know what I'm saying?
Gotta go with the smoke.
Right.
They had to cross.
And at any point, trying to cross outside with no coverage,
A little disjointedness here from FaZe Clan
could cut that two round lead down to one.
And on top of that, cement an economy here for Aurora,
something that's been alluding them so far throughout this CT side.
Four, five game, FaZe Clan still lead,
but we've got cash in the back pockets of Aurora.
Yeah, up until now, FaZe have won all the right rounds
and got the half by Z goes to follow,
so that's worked well for them to make this game competitive
or it felt like before it started there wasn't going to be a chance of that.
It's a quick lobby group but squeaky smoked.
We've seen Miss Molotovs come through from the rooftops already out of FaZe Clan.
Don't let that happen again.
We'll be watching, especially now, because it would reposition Madger.
and katia also susceptible to the flames
it's like snoop dog's living room out there
not a player in sight though
another miss molly
twist
we'll see if it matters
how about that
madras able to hold his position
costs him his life as wakadia's got to turn attention back around
okay jacob
beautiful couple of headshots on his entry sequence
fly trying to test the back end of phases hold and you'll get a couple steps
closer all frozen offering up that space cost-brokey his life and then the
op coverage out of Woxic is good for this retake to start rolling forward
carrying in preoccupied with the player invent good flashbang to get him out of
there that's a great dink and then a backstab out through from Zantara's
was it's got you pinned against the wall but it's Jacob with the triple
No, he's got four in that round.
Even better. Wow.
That's such a solid performance here for Jacob.
The double entry, the closing kill and a clutch.
And yeah, who needs Molly's, I guess.
They know that one missed before they walked out of there, but they covered themselves with their own flashes.
And now maybe, you know, we've got a quizzical Aurora a little bit more frustration.
There was a moment there where I was worried Frozen had kind of cost them their setup.
It's that second layer of the ramp retake, but here's that double entry sequence.
You could on Jacob to go for the hunt.
No chance.
You know, top-hunt Molotov, you know, odds are you forced someone's reposition, he locks
in onto it, comes back around with another headshot, and makes those kills look all
too easy.
Hmm.
Acadia not having it, face clan, wasting no time.
Haha, you just stayed there.
Whoa!
Okay!
Soulfly with the triple bullets dwindling in that M4.
He's got himself a fresh mag now,
three health still to work with,
and coverage from single.
Well, that's a special moment from Soulfly.
He should have just won the round.
Nasty sequence on the ramp holds,
Xanteres here to make sure it's not in vain.
Ice cold, triple kill, as what looked like
an electric tempo out of FaZe Clan
was meant to catch him off guard,
but he drew that line in the sand.
Yeah, it hit in the head through the box.
You think you would run on 3 HP and instead sticks around, don't even see a twist on his screen.
He's just cannon fodder. This is a moment for Soulfly and a round for Aurora.
I really respect that he got frazzled off the box by the pacing of FaZe and still decided to hold that ground.
He was right about the next chess move that he was going to get chased down.
And he was a dead man if he just tried to get away.
right and catching the first player with not even a gun in hand really goes to
say they didn't expect him to stick around either
think about soft flies got the brains and the balls tone oh oh
what in the world carragans turn the other way ever seen that as guests are
three
all and he runs and he still gets to
that that had it all for better or for worse
It feels like the right guy got the kill.
Kerrigan was staring in mini into concrete.
This very limited pack of phase clan players,
all the remains on this T side.
Six round T side, excellent outing,
considering you didn't even win the pistol.
And Woxic's gonna make sure that stays at six,
tied half out of Aurora
as they recover in the tail end of this CT side.
The new French Counter-Strike has always stood out in somewhat of similarges to Danish Counter-Strike.
There's always been a passion for the game inside of the French scene.
There's been a lot of talent coming out of France, some of the best players in the world.
It's always been like a force to be reckoned with in the department and I think that their playstyle has been a really nice mix of being extremely aggressive
But at the same time, also having quite the technical skills.
Talking in BK was always like a pivotal asset to whatever team we'd be playing in France.
The likes of Kinesis, kind of the same story.
Kinesis was also brought up inside of very games.
I think I played against Kinesis as first official ever in Counter-Sauce.
Talking Shocks has always been part of the good teams whenever they were on the rise.
Serk has always had some kind of Godfather Roku within the teams like I got it.
that has guided the young players coming to Manuel.
That's just like a cool story for him to come and connect to the department.
The funny story with me in APC is that we were rivals for a long, long time.
He and myself, we shared the same kind of role.
Usually the more grisanness of the two of us, we got to reunite inside of Vitality.
He had obviously taken up another role of him being an England leader.
He had this obsession with having a soldier who didn't fit my plato also.
And that is what you see now with the lights on flame, so you know.
And it works for him.
So let's be honest, it's a great asset.
Apex's IGL style is, in my opinion, the perfect fit.
He understands and wants to try and utilize his players in the best possible way,
like he recognizes and wants to figure out what strengths does my player have.
He's exceptionally good at reading the game, not so much like in the micro-decision,
but more like in broad pitch, like he always tries to be one step ahead.
That's like the same kind of leadership that Glee had.
Apex was working off the system, where Apex has maybe created the system.
The Paris Major was obviously unique.
We knew how much it meant to the organization being French.
We had the CEO coming on stage and lifting a trophy and crying.
Obviously that was very nice and I was winning his first major in mortality in Paris.
I'm like this like a Cinderella story in the south.
Coming into the grand final, we were standing outside.
I remember that I just said to the guys like,
I'm just not losing today.
You know, I just made that very clearly.
And I knew that if I could go out and be so confident about my feelings,
then that would spark something within them.
I was so close to my own goal and we were so close to the team goal of winning the Paris Major.
There wouldn't be a worldwide win for this one.
They had the street going for them right now.
They won six tournaments in a row.
It's got to be something within them that they want to try and beat our record back in Australia.
It's been the greatest team of all time.
I mean, the team is doing so good.
It creates a lot of possibilities to create some really nice storylines.
And there's no doubt that Vitality is also in a position now where they can start doing it.
That will just spark something in some of the young players coming out of France.
You know, the Counter-Strike in France is not that big in the common knowledge.
But I think that's also changing now.
We've seen the president going out talking about Vitality
and he's been wearing like a Vitality shirt and everything.
So if we see it with the 3D Max, you know, a full French team,
a team that has been grinding to living a lot of last season.
There's players you know that's been around for a while,
but there's also a couple of new guys there.
It's a deadly duo in Xanterras and Woxic
that ultimately take over that later portion of the half 14 kills for
zanterra's mohan 12 frags on the walk six scoreboard nobody can quite compete
individually here for phase in that regard and yet still as we go into the
second pistol tied 6 6 yeah so star players on Aurora but phase have a bit
of a team so it's an interesting belt right now I mean I think Mellie said
this six would be a miracle and they did that without a pistol too here
Here comes the pistol pop-out.
Oh, Kane's still flying.
Oh, right, they can do that too, like.
Instant headshot.
Woxic holds the flank with the double kill on his own.
And with Katie, it's got that instant frag as well.
It is done.
Yeah, two pistols.
Pistol is done.
Couldn't have been better than that, really.
Yeah, Santeris 14-4, Woxic 14-6.
Heavy hitters.
Nasty.
But they aren't ready for this ninja defuse the old Karrigan ninja defuse
Watching those fallen POVs will 10 second no smoke
Not today my friends not today another pistol round goes the way of Aurora and again 100% conversion on nuke second rounds so
statistically
Looking like an 8-6 start to this T-side, but we'll see.
Yeah, they have to beat all the odds, all the narratives right now.
Everything stacked against you, FaZe Clan.
I mean, there was just tenacity from Aurora.
As soon as that door got blown off its hinges...
Walks it, nice camera angle there, one of our rare left-handed mouse players.
Representing for those of us touched by the devil, you know what I learned the other day
I was over at the a-zone HQ. Yeah
Impat plays with inverted sound
You're kidding sleep on that I
Mean can we beat that out of him or I just probably beat it damn yeah, and I guess I don't know how that happened
Well
little finish freak love him but yeah gotta call a spade a spade he makes it
look good don't lie there is no resistance here at a face clan walks are
gonna make sure that the first peak is punished and then you got Karrigan
trying to get frisky Santair is gonna climb up how is that Tara's gonna yeah
Oh, and he got the headshot as well. Just didn't pull that crosshair down
They've been trying to tell me the MP7's nasty
And yet might have been a user error right there Zanteras lives on
Now you find yourself a vacant upper bomb site prime for the taking
There's that 8-6 lead we alluded to no resistance for Aurora to have to stomach barring a sneaky position at a carrying
Yeah, maybe it's the unlikely route, but it's possible Aurora really just flexed here on the T side
You can see the confidence already
Tough go of it individually for multiple phase clan pieces at the moment
I got a silver lining. Yeah the worse and worse face clan keep on playing
The more magical the Budapest run really was
Can you believe I did find it funny though? Someone said it was a fluke
And it's like as if they literally haven't done that at every major short. Yeah
It is a matter of circumstance
They are
Wow, yeah, he was
It was really lubing up that mouse right there.
Got to reset round by round, but quick flicks.
Crouching there's a little unfair, but you got to do what you got to do, Santair, as I get it.
Yeah, it's like, when is he ever...
Just going to a peak like that.
Karrigan does have ideas again.
Right in there, not going to waste time here.
And that's what I was kind of alluding to when I said that like Aurora are not afraid of face clan as they roll out of bed today
Yeah, this isn't a phase that's supposed to insti if you're going up against a face clan in a quarter final of Budapest
You're the home crowd favorite like torgy and the crowds cheering against you. That's the phase
You've got to be worried about right this one
Yeah, I be rude not trying to be rude just I
Think Aurora. I mean we talk about Navi feeling the high of pro League
like why wouldn't Aurora, even despite the grand final loss?
Here's an interesting spot.
I mean, you've got Aurora really looking around.
They don't know what the stack is at the moment.
They know they don't have ramp.
They could try to take this back upstairs that they want to,
but that's where FaZe are gonna be going in a second.
Not the prettiest nades, but he's still got good vision into hut, and I was gonna say the
presence of mind to hold that heaven ladder.
Things get sketchy for a second, a well-timed main flank here, Karat's MP9, that's gonna
get the trade back, double kill for him, and then a scout tag instantly dropping him
down to 42 and the follow up because Woxic is not with thing today. No, he isn't. Yeah,
he's got a magnet on that thing. Um, and they're all made of metal. And that feels like Woxic
kind of tapping back into what we got in Sweden as well. I liked watching him play
at pro league. Woxic on a scout as well always feels reliable. A bunch of kills
is nice on a round like this for face clan. It's gonna have to be a comeback into
both halves for them. Broke he's hopping. I might not see that too often in this
game if it gets out of hands this early into the second half, but this will be a
golden chance for him to get back into this game.
There's quite a stark contrast between the two oppers today.
That can't be ignored.
We're clearly seeing a lot of ideas out of spawn here for Aurora.
Just, oh.
Hey!
Hey!
What was a chance to see something, that's for sure.
A lot of misnades for FaZe just in general.
Just kind of wish we hadn't caught it, you know?
Yeah.
Let him get away with it.
Yeah.
But, Irvers, do worse.
Guys.
Shev's just too damn good at this job.
Now Aurora gonna put the slow roll on round 16.
Down to 40 seconds, Jacob playing the A floor as we get this climb from Aurora that is
most certainly gonna compromise the setup.
Got eyes watching it from top hut.
Frozen's going to have to hit this.
And he drops the duel.
Now that op isn't a very scary spot.
77 helped for Xanterres.
Broke, he's going to hit the one towards main at least,
but utility pressure from all directions.
And he's not allowed to get away from this.
Karrigan and Twist over towards the vent side
decide to split this up at 15 seconds.
Yeah, there is time trouble now.
Madge are trying to cross with the bomb.
Oh, no kill.
It dropped.
And so that's got to be recovered.
There is still time to win this.
Xanterres has got to go plant.
He catches the bent play, he knows this player's inside of the hut,
but there's nothing he can do about it, so forced error here
to try to chase down the first player,
and instead, FaZe robbed the round away.
Yeah, they needed to join up.
That's a nice kill from Squeaky.
Just a head-to-head duel.
50-50 could have gone either way,
and it was locked down by FaZe.
It's a moment earlier in this game where they couldn't get a trade.
Here's one where they get it when they need to.
And it's an excellent round from Brokey.
He gets two kills in a spot where his teammates are falling apart.
He's relying heavily on them.
Like he's playing the low ground in this position,
hoping that Frozen takes the edge off, gets a kill up, and Heaven doesn't happen.
He goes combat mode for those.
It's always a nervous day for FaZe Clan fans, though,
when Kerrigan's kind of the guy that's pulling off those X-Factor moments.
Get it every once in a while, and this round is an instance of it.
Drops the bomb, draws Xanterras into an awkward clutch attempt.
Yeah, it means he's really creating chances for assaulters to get caught up.
Absolutely. The only player with a positive KD on phase at the moment.
That's where the Fibers is for advantage there momentarily for Aurora when Frozen misses
his chance at first blood.
And you see how expensive this is for both teams.
So much on the line in this round.
of
trying to peek this push.
Ah, Karrigan's gotten by Wacadia for the moment.
Hmm.
Karrigan's going to miss the timing though.
Like they're ready to take upper and now Wacadia's just on protocols to watch for lobby lurks.
They can come by, take the upper site.
Jacob knows he has his work cut out for him.
Karrigan's got to slow burn this flank, but he's still trying to get in behind Woxic's AWP.
That was a nice escape.
Santeris has managed to get his position up in heaven as well.
could cut off the ramp rotate that eventually comes to the head and retake
and there goes Kerrigan flank all day long but by the time he gets to the
bomb site we've got Aurora locked into the post plant positions.
Santera is trying to find anybody looking for exits that Brokey AWP would be
valuable to drop but it's already managed to get back towards ramp so we've
got majority alive for the moment on phase with Aurora queuing up their
10th round win. Sometimes the 5v4 advantage is because of what you do
later on but I think in this instance it's just like getting that raw duel with a
galil in that spot was just so huge for the program there that upper attack
already in the back of their heads so they just were able to move into that
very smoothly then there's just simply not enough players to defend it's
already a low buy for both teams so a critical moment here where both teams
spend down to zero dollars phase take the save off they lose it I think what
Actually, did they save it just now?
Off-broke he?
Yeah, he was able to hang on.
So at the very minimum, they've kept something
into this next round.
Final timeout here for FaZe.
Hal, Twists even got that upgrade Galil over the MP7.
Fine silver linings.
But like, yeah, I mean, they don't often say superstars.
On that me, we say it with Xanteris and with Woxic
and their consistency is only getting better.
But Sulflight is a great map for him.
That's an excellent kill to show off exactly how much skill
he has.
This is final notice now for FaZe Clan.
So fly looking for a faster tempo.
Ooh, good deal by Jacob.
Drops the bomb with the double FAMAS frag, missed opportunity for Broke to find one,
but he will collect on the second attempt, and Jacob's got another multi-frag.
And we go back to the first half, we can't help but think of Jacob's 4k when he double
entry into that A site on the attack. You know, and of his eight kills on that first half, four of
them come through in that one critical round. Here's another moment where Jacob's going to post
a multi-frag goes from 11 to 14. That's you and doing with a low gun as well, right? I mean,
the, the pharmacist is on this attack. Now, stylistically, you could look at a round like
this and an upper pop might be unlikely because FaZe know that they have a lot of money to
work with, but they also do run this risk that if it's an upper pop versus a team that
that doesn't have much to work with.
You kind of highlight if one guy gets two
and stops you, the whole round is lost.
Whereas if you instead wanted to default
and really draw out as much utility as possible,
put pressure to get one kill
and play it a little bit slower, Aurora,
that's probably where their biggest advantage was.
You mentioned that Kerrigan was putting in the work
to kind of give time to his soldiers to come online.
Well, Jacob is the guy to step up to that plate first.
just blindside so fly they just come in so light here as well I mean it's just
not a fully true true good point we're acting like the team who had more to
work with we skip a few protocols and you get smacked upside the head we go
ten eight Aurora still leading but that lead chopped down to two rounds they
heard somebody outside of like in front of hot and then they sided okay phase
are a little uncomfortable right now but they have the wrong read.
He's looked really prepared obviously.
One player crosses over a couple more sit behind a red remember bombs been dropped by silo for the moment
I don't think I've spotted enough just spammed maybe
That nine back gets a bit of chip damage bro keys gonna hunt you down from inside garage
And that's gonna put Woxic on the hunt to try to counter pick but you've missed the timing bro key already huge reposition here towards ramp
We're gonna get that player rotating down through the lower site bombs in bit of a weird spot
I mean, they're not gonna have outside smoke. They need to go back and get this
Right now phase aren't going to try to fight them here and they're still clearly worried about Broke being somewhere outside. Yeah
In that regard phase clan already a step ahead
Operers gone for a massive reef position unnoticed
Jacobs pick up his duel through the squeaky door and we've got the 5v3 looking comfortable for phase
It's confident positions here, play-and-play by FaZe Clan.
Attack comes through main, it's twists at bat. Good headshot here for Zanterrez.
So the X factor is still alive on the Aurora side of things, trying to displace another defender,
but Jacob plays in the open ground, and as he does, he will line up another.
It is Soulfly down for the count, Bomb drop, and Zanterrez on for the clutch attempt.
20 seconds to the clock, 16 health to the board, and a slow burn reposition from Brokey
that comes all the way from Garage from his first kill out through the lobby squeaky side
for number two.
But we're getting a game that's really hard to sort of predict where it's supposed to
go.
I mean this is actually a match where Aurora have won both pistols and converted both
times and yet still it's a one round match.
They've made a comeback now inside of both of these halves.
They continue to win some of the more important rounds.
Like there are specific ones where the money makes a big difference.
That one looks like it'll just tie it up.
This is where the pressure goes, I think, a bit more back to Madger.
You've got players who are extremely in form.
You've got a really strong core coming at you, not with Katie, obviously at the moment.
But more firepower than Faze have to show.
The pistol rounds with you.
You kind of just need, you know, one really strong idea.
But Faze individually to plan all these interesting spots.
Top of unbreakable here for Karrigan watching outside.
It's understandable that Aurora get caught off by some of this kind of punch all the walk peeks
Broke he clips off Woxic
Frozen ready for a feast we'll more down all the ramp players on the approach
Nobody allowed to step beyond the threshold. That's huge. No, most of these rounds been so close that one makes money here for phase
Everybody stays alive. No test out of Aurora. Obviously on the save there making it awkward
But we go back, we crunch the numbers, we've got three 1vx wins for the side of FaZe Clan.
As they tie this game up, they have hard fought their way to keep this game competitive.
That's no pistols, no forced buy wins in the round 2 breaks.
And three clutches sprinkled in, like it paints a picture of them hanging on by the
skin of their teeth.
Here we are, 10 rounds all.
It's yeah, they're kind of up against it all it's actually I mean you look at the
Kills you look at the the starts to these apps. I mean everything says that Aurora are kind of in control of this game
But that's actually just not the case
This is a game where Twist has four kills, they've somehow managed to tie up, like he could pop off at any second.
Aurora gotta be very careful.
It's a big lean back though, outside for FaZe, new position from Frozen, oh he's gonna have
to come up big, and he will double kill straight down beneath him.
That was a very quick man advantage for Aurora, ripped from their hands.
I was looking at the 4k vs Ziko, it was like okay Frozen get your score back, you
You know, get back into the match, but here he is. Two kills, a spray transfer with the
ramp hold that sends Aurora into a spiral. They don't know what to do right now.
It's another weird one-off position. It's another approach that costs Aurora bodies,
bomb dropped in front of Brokey as well. Brokey has support from the back of the
site. Jacob's watching.
That's beautiful stuff.
Finds the timing for the headshot.
Bays are in the lead.
Can you believe it?
One by round, one foot in front of the other,
they have taken this game into their control.
And it comes off of a four versus five round win
because of this spot from Frozen
and a perfectly timed peek back site out of Jacob.
Because Broke was about to get blindsided
by that quiet main walk up.
And we look back into that first half
and there were three or four rounds where
Faze had excellent mid rounds, excellent late rounds.
Again, it's just not what you can expect
from this team these days.
Three matches won this year, this would be their biggest win of the year, which is crazy to think about.
But now they're in the driver's seat, for sure.
In five of their nine losses in 2026,
Space Clan have at the very least won a map in the series.
It's not always blowouts.
This will be their first Nuke victory.
Look at the change things.
In a conversation that was about a map pool where they really had nowhere to hide,
Xanteris on the AK leave it to Xanteris that just up and all expectations though
That's solo AK approaches found footing in ramp room that is theirs for the taking Aurora
That's a lot of bodies on ramp does help a lot. You have one preemptive rotation still four guys upstairs
Everything's coming to care again. Here's the stop the tech times slide
From soulfly and Aurora
Aurora, four kills from tying this game back up.
Beautiful set of grenades down into the double door staircase.
But there are still bodies behind that, too.
Layered up by Aurora inside of the control side.
We go triple single door retake here for FaZe.
They've got putting on the bomb site.
Frozen finds his.
Tech9 revealed from dark.
And Frozen is going to continue to tear through these later
rounds.
Wants a trolling cover, twists it.
His.
And Frozen on the defuse gives FaZe Clan 12.
It stays saved. They maintain composure.
It was that shoulder peek from Xanteris winning ramp for free.
That made it a little bit scary.
But then the kill when they got into control side
with no one else rotating down,
it felt like that was actually the moment
where it was Aurora's route to lose.
Somehow, FaZe get right back into it.
Off the back of some great shots, honestly.
Not just total outplays,
just excellent reactions here from Frozen.
And some great shots that we've been waiting to see, right?
Jacob was the first to step up when Kerrigan was top-fragging.
Frozen now tying him at 18 kills apiece.
Just enough out of FaZe Clan's individuals
to secure themselves two map points.
On a five-round streak now, our FaZe Clan,
this CT side's been rock solid.
It was just enough time for FaZe to find some footings and Terra is exposed but still able
to best carry again.
But a man disadvantage hasn't deterred FaZe Clan in the past and so they will take this
challenger to the trophy room where Soulfly sits and waits.
Brokey finds his first, Soulfly thinking to get into the engagement instead gets smoked
off.
Here's the challenge out through Hut.
That was two bodies spotted. Jacob dealt with twists. It's about time you come alive.
And as he hangs onto the lobby control, Frozen tries to get upstairs, but that... what was
that?
They go for the plant right away. I don't know.
Either a missed Molotov into Heaven or a Flashbang, but it sounded like flames. Xanterra's
off the ladder, collects the headshot. You've got low health on two of the three remaining
Aurora players. Brokey eats the Team Flash. Twists just gets popped instantly, and
Aurora in the first of these final two tests steps up catches the hot push and
takes control of a site that started off wrong for Aurora but just like phase
have done to them they find a way to land the somersault this is a super solid
round out of Aurora but they're playing from behind now this is just a get to
overtime we'll have to win the next round as well and it's one where phase
still have lots of money look what they've done for themselves with their
streak
of the
Everyone's out of timeouts
Aurora are 16 to 7 in opening kills this game
Really yeah, the zanteras walks it will fly all have five successful opening duels
Magic has won.
That's even more damning.
What is happening?
Yeah, like this game should be a war of fitting kills.
Three superstar top-fragging performances.
Sprinkle in a Waukset clutch.
Not sure what else.
And you're still playing for OT.
Crazy.
Bay's clan hanging on for dear life, but doing it in some oddly impressing way.
That's what they do is they they they cast miracles, right? That's what that's what they've done
It's what we felt like we were losing and yet far and few between
Oh, this this might make them spiral for sure. They just lost madger right away
They're gonna try to pop through that smoke. That was the idea of the round
Man advantage damage on soul fly a prime opportunity to just collect your map pick
Karrigan not super worried about someone in big garage, but cautiously optimistic that outside is open
With man advantage you can afford to have the second player preemptively downstairs
Twist feels like he wants to start testing that secret smoke. Maybe creates a lurker opportunity for zanteris
That's the best. I think they get out of this. Yep. He slipped in that so I don't know how he's gonna take this if he wants to go up
But he will maybe find a moment to catch Kerrigan, yes, no way, because Kerrigan has a stab player.
Kerrigan stops, now Xanterra is no longer outside Xanterra's perfect slip of the net!
Oh, it's perfection! Just a second ahead of Kerrigan, Jacob! You could still be the hero, but instead it's a one and done.
There's the flight from Frozen! Double up, inside of the hut, Twist collects his.
Soul flies 12 health, stands between FaZe and their math big victory, and he will kick this off.
20 seconds left. He's trying to get this reposition off. Damage is dealt, and this one is done.
Twist to the round to be proud of at the very end. All the odds stacked up against FaZe Clan,
but they will strike first in their opening series.
Man, I mean, what can you say about that? The stats, every single one of them was going against FaZe in this matchup.
matchup having it to come into nuke with no wins losing both pistols and conversions
16 to 7 and opening duels lost
They still make the comeback happen and make Aurora fight just to get to overtime and they can't do that. I
Cannot believe that we're standing here and Maui you know at least one of the miracles you thought you
I mean, I'm shocked. I mean,
I'm even shocked about how that
last round unfolded. I feel like
the. It was crazy for me that
phase in the final round off of
an entire T side of Aurora, not
even going outside are able to
win despite having a poor
rotation. No, that was
everything you wanted from a
phase when I mean, I think
that they at times played
fairly scrappy CS. They just
kind of tried bursting into the
A site. We saw a lot of
misutility there. I mean,
I think that's a great
We saw a lot of misutility there, which is extremely concerning for the future of this team.
But you can't lie, the results speak for themselves, and they were able to walk away with the dub.
They got to be happy about also losing two pistols and then still winning this game 13-11.
The fact that Faze didn't play up to me, you know, how Faze is looking right now,
I think they would just be happy about getting the matriot over the finish line.
You know, that's what feels right about Faze.
I think that Faze looked in the beginning also like the individuals were not really playing sharply.
we've seen choice continue his struggles.
I think the ones that kept them in the game in the beginning
was Kerrigan.
He obviously pulling a big weight in the beginning,
then it slowly seemed like that the individuals
of Faze started showing us stepping up,
you know, so Jacob having a good one,
but also frozen coming into,
into fruition in the later stage.
And overall, just, you know,
Faze, they clawed their way back,
they really fall forward around, they didn't give up.
And overall, it just looked a little bit of a lackluster
T-Sci from our role as well.
Yeah.
I mean, there is fault towards that, right?
But I want to focus on a little bit more with Faze,
I asked you, you said, you know, a bad start, that's three rounds, you lose them.
It feels like maybe it's going to be that story we've seen for phase before.
This time around, there were some mistakes, but was it a cleanup play?
Where exactly would you put that description for them?
Well, I feel like some of the credit goes to Jacob, to me.
I mean, even though some of their plays were sort of busted,
that they missed some utility at times,
Jacob was actually able to find entries on these bomb site hits,
which he had no business getting.
I really don't think that he was even always set up to succeed like they miss Molotovs at times.
They didn't always support him with utility, but he called his own number in this game.
And that to me is extremely impressive because he's been struggling on entries.
ESL Pro League was not a great event for him.
He was swinging out with no supporting utility all too frequently.
And so for him here, there was maybe a little bit more in terms of help behind him,
in terms of the nades that were supporting him, but he got it done on his own.
Just instant headshots as he was entering bomb sites.
It's what you want to see.
It's what the face players have been talking about so regularly about the potential of this guy,
and this was one nice map of display of that.
Yeah, and you know, he's been criticized for what he's been bringing to the table for facial.
He has been lackluster.
You know, he was brought into the team.
Hey, this guy has incredible aim.
He can really pull through.
He's a great entry fragger.
Has to really pull through, you know, the fact that he can do this.
It's not the first time we see that he can have good rounds.
It's about being consistent, obviously, for Jacob.
And he's also a guy that maybe has to get in and step into the shoes of becoming a T1 player.
He's still a guy that is relatively new.
He's maybe not being too vocal about what he maybe wants
or what he expects.
He's also a guy that comes in with a little bit of less experience.
So maybe he's also needs to find his own, like,
I need this from you guys.
I want to be doing this.
This is what actually makes me play better.
And it's difficult as a new guy to come into a team
that like face and also having that kind of testimony.
It's interesting to say that because it is a bit of a bright sign.
They have, in some of the recent events,
I think it was at Pro League where the comms are shown.
He is calling his number a little bit more.
He didn't have a great event there,
but it was nice because the early events with him, he would just be dead silent. They've released
whole comms, they're on a whole round. He maybe says just one B, two B, dead. You know, like that's
about it. But now he's actually calling for the next action and around a little bit more. The
results weren't there in the last event, but now we're seeing something at least brewing.
And it's also like for Interfragger, which he's playing, you know, the guy that is the
spearhead of your attacks, like he needs to be vocal because he's the one that needs to be
calling out rotations. He needs to be calling the patterns of what he's seeing. And it's very
important for Kerrigan to get this kind of information. Also calling out what smokes,
what rotations does he use so he can start posting things together and it's also that
that's responsibility that Jacob has to stand up to right. It's not only like it's not good enough
he just brings firepower to the team because nowadays you have to demand a lot of the players
now in Counter Strike and being vocal is something that has been overlooked for a long time and I
think it's just as important as AIM nowadays. Yeah the one-dimensional aspect to a player
isn't really bad. It needs to be so much more we're seeing it. I mean FaZe being able to
to get the win. But more specifically in a certain round here, around 19. That was the
one that you're like phase. Yeah, I'm really seeing it for them now. So I was extremely
concerned about phases CT side because I didn't really know what sort of reactions they were
going to have. I mean, they haven't won this map all year. And this was one where they
lost a lot of info as the round was progressing. I mean, Aurora, they throw triple smokes
outside. They lose all of this information. But then they actually have a really sharp
I mean, they get, yeah, they get that one kill, but a lot of their individuals start taking a little bit of space.
They start, they start moving into positions after especially this lurk kill has given up and they just assembled this basically a crossfire that Aurora just did not really, they couldn't play around it.
Yeah, Jacob does well on the bomb site, but even care again.
I mean, he's like a joker player here at door as well and just kind of the individual reactions needed to be on point for phase.
needed individuals to just not only get their initial kills on their site
defenses, but have that extra layer of defense and people like care again.
I think Jacob as well on some other rounds, they just push lobby.
They were able to take space away from Aurora.
So I'm glad to see that they aren't just flying by the seat of their pants.
They're not just sitting in a default the whole round.
Yeah, I just, I feel like face has had some pretty decent reaction.
They wouldn't just stand still if they would lose the first round.
That was the case in the beginning of the game that they would lose the
first fact, they would lose the information.
They couldn't really possibly together where they were being attacked from.
And as they progress, as they got those first goals back,
they could easily get the information back,
okay, they're actually hitting this one.
And this one's specific around,
Aurora doesn't really get anything done with the smokes,
they actually don't get the space that they want from them.
And from there on, they actually get the understanding
of where they're gonna get hit from
and that they should get the cross-crash going.
Before we even move on from it,
that is one concern I had for Aurora in this T side
is that they never went down lower with smokes,
which is why I think round 24 to me is another miracle.
I couldn't believe the way that FaZe decided to rotate in this round, where there were crossfolks,
they rotate two guys down lower, and they still are able to come out with the victory.
Now, this is what FaZe needed.
They needed, even though the reaction in this round was utterly wrong,
they still were able to come out on top by just basically pure willpower by the end of it.
They had no clue what's going on.
Honestly, even getting the first frag on Ram, keep roasting, killing, they still don't know what's going on.
No, they do it. They have no idea.
They're two guys lower. They smoke lower. They smoke lower.
Kerrigan is jumping out of heaven because he thinks it's going to be a ramp.
But then all of a sudden realize that, hey, it's not being ramped.
We have to go back in there. Then Sam Kerrigan is all of a sudden
because the fake isn't heaven already, you know?
It's, uh...
It was a really wacky round.
My favorite thing is you being like, oh, you know, like,
he's getting that opening kill. You're like, oh, this is it.
That's all for them. And then you see two and Lauren, you're just like,
um, actually...
Why? Yeah.
Maybe this isn't going to be that round at all.
I mean, it's like, you know,
it's like, you know, it's like
it's like, you know, it's like
it's like, you know, it's like
it's like, you know, rotation
like if you took a snapshot,
even with the five before
advantage, say phase are
really out of position for
this one. But I mean,
individuals just I mean,
that's kind of been the phase.
Style for five years now and
kind of gets it done for the
very last round there. I mean,
everything so cyclical right
and maybe we're just back on
that essence of the circle.
I was seeing the phase
individuals. There was a
It's not a clean game, but it's a very enjoyable game to get to see you phase win here for sure
And now it does wonder where does the team mentality go right? You feel like you're on this lost rig
They've already had a really rough record in the last three months or at least to start right now to 2026
And now you're like we're the underdogs backs against the wall and we're really finally delivering to pre game
The map number two could also be asked it. Yeah, but I mean like regardless of the result here and how they played
I think phase is happy about winning new you know even with the way they came into this one
And I feel like faces is you know, they need to be looking at themselves and realizing that we are in a very bad position right now
We know that there's only one way forward and that is by playing better counts like talking more
That's one of our issues leaving some of that tension behind that's been that's been grueling in the team for a long time
And I'm and now moving on I think I can't think Karrick and said in his interviews
Well that they just need to also come into this game and see themselves as the on dog
I mean they are the on a dog here, right?
They they need to leave that pressure behind because so many people are looking at face thinking this team used to be good
These guys have a lot of experience. They are really going to pull through but right now
You know they have to understand that our role is actually favorite here
And I think that's also what we're showing on the mentality you see that the screaming they're being hyped about whatever they get done right now
like every single matter around every single round matters to face in in this game and that is that is like a building stone for moving forward
It's not gonna be easy and I'm not saying that there is still it like they're probably still gonna be the dog
This one. Yeah, there's uh, there's at least some some good things to be looking at
I just like how active the defense was I feel like that's the
that they're not going to be
able to do the. Manifestation
of them, just recognizing that
their backs are against the
wall because I'd say a lot of
the Lowles in phases form are
really you just see them just
playing a default really spread
out almost no plan in the
round, just kind of sitting on
their heels, hoping and
praying that someone gets a
double kill. This was a much
more active game for them,
and I'll always say that an
incorrect plan is still
better than no plan. And
of each other, even if they're lightly out positioned.
I mean, that's a good foundation for the momentum building
for FaZe, of course, now map number one
are going their way, but map number two
to come up after this break.
the game. We're going to go
into the game. We're going to
go into the game. We're going
to go into the nation inferno's
want to hope for Aurora's
state, but they're going to
find a little bit more for
themselves because again, we
talked about it. Phase matter
one map one still underdogs.
Aurora just still probably
reeling for how crazy that
lost fell for them. It felt
like it was in the bag in
some senses or at least
overtime was confirmed. But
now this is a map where
they will have a little
bit more comfort. I think
phase are a bit more of a
known quantity on this one,
He loves to just group up doesn't really care too much to have anybody lurk on his team
If it feels like almost in a way
He just like will slap their hands if they lurk for too long like just group up just group up
And I almost feel like like the way I would describe it is unethical counter strike. It's like it's not spread out
They're not really doing anything crazy. They're just five man deathballing and I feel like that's what's scary because phased bomb site defenders
Are really gonna have their work cut out for them regardless of whichever site matter chooses
Yeah, and it plays into the hand of how Role wants to play, you know, and it is a map where you can actually do it
You can just go five guys, but I'm just a secure that you're gonna have to rely your defenders to actually pull off a very big
Heart and a job and I think that is also comes to the to the point where you know
Phase know that the winning nuke was important now
They're gonna go up against a role on inferno and it's a map there 0-1-5
And like when you got to look into the map pool
You also have to look at the statistics and it just looks pretty bad for phase
Whereas as a role has has beaten so all the bigger teams are the best teams in the world this map
So it is a comfortable one for Arora and I would surprise me eventually see them taking this over the finish line quite comfortably and then moving into Dust2.
Well look you say Owen 5 and in front of the face, well they were Owen 3 on Nuke and they could have done best.
So we're not saying by any means it's probable but there is a chance as we head on into map number 2.
Ah, the beauty of Counter-Strike, there's always a chance and when you, just when you thought the face magic was done for, they bring that one back out of nowhere.
It was supposed to be fine, just to be fully critical.
There's almost no silver linings or anything.
I mean, they literally haven't won a map in the last three
months on either of these first two in the series.
And when we get into Nuke, they show us
why they lose all the important rounds.
They have all the worst stats going against them.
And yet, somehow they still win.
That might be more of a bad reflection on Aurora,
though, in the end.
So if they can't close out a game where all of that
falls into their lap, there is no telling what can happen
to them in this series.
And also, are you going to have two maps in a row
where Woxigan, Xanteras both put up that many great kills?
I mean, it's possible for sure,
but you did just waste a really big carry just now.
Fair.
And yeah, like, Bayes, you know,
again, the only thing I can think is
they've made a change,
even though it's, they've taken out Neo,
which it seemed pretty crazy to do at this moment
or whatever, but they made a change.
I feel like if there's any reason to feel rejuvenated,
at least for today, to feel like you've got
a huge chip on your shoulder.
Public sentiment is totally against you.
You want to prove everybody wrong
and show that you are still alive
and that you still fight like a dog until the end.
I think this is something that could actually spur you
want to do that.
I mean, historically with Karrigan,
it's always been like that.
It'd be the right moment to pull out a victory.
It would be the most impressive best of three
win that Faith Clan have in 2026.
only three of those at the moment in their back pockets.
And to do it off of an Aurora coming out
of the Grand Finals of Pro League,
I mean, pretty damn well timed.
The question will be, can you do it on an Inferno
where as the desk said,
Aurora can just really tap into that individual level?
Something where a guy like Xanteras
can just continue to take over bombsites
with those all in hits.
He's having fun still.
He's having a lot of fun actually, yeah.
Hey, they keep it in the family.
And that's something that, like they were laughing as they lost in the grand finals.
They were losing the grand on, no one's ever done that before.
That's reserved for teams that end up in the grand finals so often, you know, we'll
get them next week.
We'll get them next week.
Not, oh, hey, here we are three months into the year with only three match wins.
Yeah, best of luck to both FaZe Clan and Aurora.
Here we go, map 2 folks, opening day of Blast Open of Rotterdam.
Phase Clan had begun today with 39% the odds shift in their favor with a map 1 win in their
back pocket.
Yeah, I mean essentially even if you don't believe in Uninferno it's just that they
have a map to play with and they could win Inferno, you know it would be a crazy
thing but it is of course possible.
He sees that utility go over top.
That's Jacob's sign to go for the fight.
Little bit labored, but he'll get his one at least.
And twists clean with the USP.
Slows down that bomb play.
Gets another duel as a teammate stood next to him.
Frozen's meant to be trading Vs.
Now he's under pressure.
Burst!
Burst!
Clocked from Woxick.
He's still bursting.
Ay, ay, ay.
Wikadia gets the kill back.
Kerrigan's now starting to retake already.
The bomb can exit CT spawn to B.
Kerrigan's trying to beat him there.
Well, well, well, a little bit awkward actually,
because Wikipedia is going to communicate this.
Now, Woxic, he can't actually speed up.
More than a little bit.
Very awkward situation.
You're going to go back though.
Brokey has not made the rotation just yet.
And Woxic's going to start running.
And as he stomps, he's going to run straight into Brokey,
who's just talked outside of the doorway.
Woxic jumps.
Brokey's got the bomb dropped down at his feet.
And now, Wikipedia has 10 health, 10 health,
And 15 seconds to make this happen.
Sloppy is pistol round we've seen in some time.
And yet still, Wikipedia could pull off this clutch.
Just enough time, just enough health.
Anticipating Karrigan coming from mid, he falls it down,
and Finn will find a clutch
as Space Clan take their first pistol victory of the series.
And again, it's the mid to late situations
that always make FaZe look good.
They pull off another hard to distill situation.
They stay coordinated, they have the right idea,
they find the timings.
Kerrigan just sneaking out of mid was enough
to ruin that situation, deny the bomb plant
from ever going down on B.
And even though Jacob only got one kill there,
it was pretty impressive that he managed to,
you know, dip and dodge through all of that
and still come up with a headshot.
I have like three players staring at him at one point,
but a few sloppy moments, aggression here for phase,
Jacob's trade, jump up by the Mach 10,
Zantera's on the chase. Jacob doesn't even depart. Sticks around a second, and then a frag grenade finds half of Woxic's health.
We come flying into round two as Aurora had a man advantage momentarily.
Frozen's got three players gunning towards him now, and he is on the retreat.
Fire in front of him. Rotation comes over, and it feels like for a second we can catch our breath,
but Aurora is still gonna try to test the waters here inside of the B site.
You've got the rotator dead, frozen sitting in the back of the site,
dueling versus the Tech 9.
Galil's gonna get the better of him.
And now a gun picked up by Aurora, who have a man advantage.
Jacob, yeah, he doesn't go to blow that smoke open in fight.
Comes to the rotation, lets him know that he's coming in from Khan.
Draws a little bit aggro, maybe away from Twist, but it's being watched either way.
We've got no kit for this defuse.
Jacob's gonna need a reload as well.
Twists separate duals at the moment bomb isn't too far gone, but pressure starts to sink in for twists
And Jacob reels away. There is a kid actually to be picked up by the CT rotate
But he missed it as he doubles back for he picks it up not even Jacob still yet to grab that kid off the ground
They'll just make sure that the cost is high here for Aurora, but a round two forced by win secured
And then he's, shout out to Jacob for the four kills.
It was a situation they definitely could have still won.
Don't know how they got the kill in the CT
when Frozen was hitting their equad.
I think that was the big surprise after that fallback.
And that was a great sprint from Arcadia.
We saw he didn't even have a chance to peek.
Nice man, that's cool.
A win is a win, but with five deaths it's not going to give them everything they want.
You can hardly call a Mk10 on a round like this concession.
Sometimes you even drop an AK if you're going to do something fast to go for it.
Especially on Inferno, right?
Yeah.
Ooh, nice utility damage.
Fire floods you back into the frag.
The only map that FaZe Clan have not picked this year, Inferno.
They've been trying to find a couple of them.
They're a team of the people.
Yeah, right.
Haha.
Oh.
Play.
Twist.
Fine.
Boring.
Me.
Triple kill on short side, balcony player can't emerge and twist out of nowhere with
the triple kill.
Majors answer back in the form of a single frag,
Maktan goes down dusted with nothing,
and that is Twitch,
Twists, there's a lot of, there's T's, S's and Z's.
Oh yeah, you know what?
That's the first time you've ever missed,
pronounce his name in history.
Yeah.
So.
Oh, yay.
Ha ha ha ha.
It was one designed to bring the worst out of you,
I think.
Yes, it's got the S's and double Z's and it's,
Perfectly timed. Mow down into middle.
I heard one nice communication. That's kind of what you like to hear.
I like that better than nice shot. You know, in terms of how I'm going to perceive how the team is feeling, like you hear something like that.
That's true. I'm so sick of hearing nice shots shots. They they win frags, but you know communication with bounce
No, I like that. Let's brainstorm. I'd like to hear more. Um nice composure. Yeah
Nice air nice sight. Oh
Yeah start to one for sure. Okay reposition
Spam comes out from frozen feels one-off. What is this right? Oh, we got smoke out, but just enough
Smoke saves the day. Any chance of a hold of this bomb site feels slim, but you've got this AK in hand.
Santerres and Soulfly with the tech 9 headshot!
Oh, and Woxic, Kareem's house!
As Aurora go barreling up through Banana and collect their second round.
Man, while the gun was hot, the second kill, he was aiming right in the middle of the body, but it was perfect for the recoil.
Two kills for Woxic, great reposition.
We go four rounds back and forth
And that's always gonna be harder for the CT side
Rob that a day off of Kerrigan as well
Finds out the walks six hands and he puts it to work
But on top of that the double tech nine peak into CT cross no no chance to catch a breath
Not a hit right back to it turns over towards the alt push so fly
Oh, hold them in it and so what Katie is pop up a bit too late
We go man advantage phase the party every single round
That's a soul fly peak and a dink on broke he will die right chase him down with Katie
It doesn't let him reposition
Low health here for zantara's active move out of Jacob could be a good timing for the halls
I mean a lot of timing involved in this Jacob does it clear the right thing?
Katie is still watching
Oh, and he saw the other two and Jacob's gonna just peel that gun away from the mid-play and hide inside of the bomb site
That is a bit of defense secured in 50 seconds for Aurora to still try to figure this one out
Double up inside of the site instead frozen not too concerned about this arch wrap
But with this much time you've got to be worried about everything
Yeah, now they're playing spots where they can eventually just hold both lane and and arch together
together and they are watching it.
Yeah, but he's not going to expect the second player.
Good position here from frozen ready for the walk out.
There's Xanteris.
Quick head shot back halfway through the 1v2.
Twist walking up on this.
That's a really fresh smoke though.
Easy chance for Xanteris to reposition.
Onto the graveyard stairs.
You'll go.
OK.
It's limited.
Yeah, it's the one way you can play it now.
And Twist, would you ever expect someone
to even bother with it?
Twist looking at the back site instead, slow on the approach.
Jumping up, oh man, he's gonna have to make noise.
Doesn't have a kit either.
Starts stopping, oh, he missed it!
The Santerez with, no!
And a 10 second defuse to boot.
Twist has started to find his mark in this series
because as everybody else on that team
within Nuke was able to come online,
Twists still struggled, not here on Inferno.
Xanterus will not play that spot for another week,
probably after that.
And Xanterus loved playing graveyard steps in punches.
That's, that's ridiculous.
There's a lot of ridiculousness
sprinkled into this round.
Oh no.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. That's an oaf. Oh, that's hard. That's hard. It's hard. It's hard to watch that for sure.
There's some players you see that happen to and you go, ah, that's a heartbreak, but they almost, it almost bounces off them better.
Sure. You know, but for a guy like Xanteras who's so reliably good at aiming. Yeah, he might not smile for another 10 minutes.
I mean, he doesn't experience, some guys experience that at least once a week.
week. Yeah. Santa eras. Yeah, that was very relatable. Not so much. Terminator needing
a firmware update. Instead of got an internal update. Yeah. Rough. And the fact was that
No, no, not even the smallest thought that maybe he'd be sitting duck. Yeah. Oh
My goodness had to make audio falling off the box had to run towards that bomb because he didn't have a kit
Yeah, promise
Yeah, like four kills oh, man. Yeah, I mean
There's compound interest here to be one if they also pick this up as well here. We've got
No Aurora with a couple scraps
They're down to...
This would be three smokes overall.
They're going for the A fake, just to hold the attention of the three guys here.
Probably not gonna get some... Oh, you are gonna get no rotation, actually. They're falling forward entirely.
Frozen's going into a retake spot. They've had great success when they get the B site open.
Needs too late. Awkward one for Frozen. And Kerrigan just gets blindsided by the perfectly timed Wakadia challenge.
challenge.
But Katie is going to fight frozen back turn.
Okay, put a bow on this one.
Man, shout out to Madger for that call.
I didn't expect them to bite that hard on the fake, especially not actually seeing anybody
over towards A, but they didn't have brackets.
And yeah, I guess they felt a bit more insecure.
Also, I know, I mean, it's B that's been the bigger issue for them overall.
that's solid I mean that that kind of dilutes the salt a bit from that one
yep you're right back at it it's been six rounds now back and forth round wins
non-consecutive outcomes oh still no consecutive still no
Let's keep that up forever well
Eventually it's got it or we'll be here forever
And I want to watch Tai Lu play oh, yeah
Yeah, she's having an ice cream right now.
Real kicker in this one is like, not only do you fall for that fake, not only does
Frozen miss the timing on the utility, if that was going to somehow stop Aurora, but
with Katie as flank just pays off perfectly.
So good.
Yeah, so.
Blindside's two, he executes two players, not even looking at him.
That's just a reward for his timings.
So Slim Pickens here for FaZe Clan's buy.
Double Fommas, double rifle.
Very low utility barring frozen.
We'll see what he can do as he's nearly left alone again out of the gate at B.
made for two giving up be these days is not the common way the top dogs are
playing on inferno and the roar have caused a lot of paint for phase clan
with their B-takes so far this game that's kind of the right-looking stack
value at double-arch so you got fast rotations you have 3 and B you have Aurora
starting to lean back in that direction they've been super good on the
entries and not the best guns here but you know phase are expecting this
somewhat. The walk up might be the right call. Comes down to frozen really. Awkward tough
play. Kerrigan remains tucked in. Those flashbangs though. Not the prettiest moment here for Aurora.
And Kerrigan gonna get burned out into the open. Nothing his teammates can really do about it as
the boost gets predicted. Sure Jacob will find one through the spam back the other direction
But it feels like more of a chance to exit than it does a way to win
You can't let you can't let these great inferno teams just kind of have an option to full exact be or like walk up all the way
Like that with five. There's just no recourse really for the CTs. We saw the nades that followed Keregan over to quad
You kind of can just cover everything from car once you get there. So it was a risk to run
Obviously, Faze had the advent of rotations and the ability to stack a little bit, but
you see even with that, you still want to be the T side with five healthy guys and car
control almost every time.
The curse is broken.
six and seven one back to back to
aurora's favor
those flashes
you've got to win that round up for him
jacob's kind of frying right now
did they use the same picture for jacob and frozen
i can't
look at the same mood
it's been a while since we've had twins in the counter strike scene
he's the guy on uh... game and game and glad yeah true
but where's loop guess is he also on there
i was thinking more about freddy frog
Oh my goodness, yeah.
Adam B, Adam B is singing that.
So again, it's sort of this game of like,
well, okay, these are,
are sure that if you let them have B,
they're gonna try to come for it.
So here we go again.
A little scout is a good idea for Madger.
try to over stack it three additional players in position Jacob using this as
a chance to try to carve a path to victory from the push-off a has been
quite weary not with Katie making his move okay not quite ready for the peak
but walks it's got the coverage and that a bomb site soon to be found vacant
as Xanderas continues to confirm bodies towards be this one comes with a price
tag for Aurora but I think they'll be happy to find footing on site yeah I
I mean, they can actually run down.
Obviously, Bum's getting planted now.
There's no kit to work with.
So, just not worth it.
Or obviously have Nuke fresh on their mind.
I don't think they're gonna be super happy
with any kind of lead,
because I kind of just,
I feel like the only way they're gonna feel any,
many amount satisfied is if they just crush on Inferno.
Sure, even if it doesn't win them the series.
That loss needs to be studied.
I need every name.
I need every single name on
of ever heard that for the end of a day every made
and they're going to come through that smoke
and you pay the price
Yeah exactly
just racks up the frags off the AK
him and twist kind of tucked in in front of the smoke grenade
so good on them to fight I think for the top of B
because you've slowly seen this Aurora takeover of the B bomb site
you've alluded to it, you give them the space
they'll happily just barrel roll through
the desk kind of painted the same picture
Well, this time you have to fight for banana and it costs you too.
It's like you've got that leaky ship and you just keep taking a buck as you dump the water
out if you keep stacking, but it doesn't really solve the problem.
So it's a nice change of pace here.
Someone's been playing Sea of Thieves.
This bow to float.
The B site still.
That only momentarily, Xantera is going to make sure he takes one down without damage
back the other way.
This is low as well, tucked in, and we've had a lot of bodies tucked into these positions,
but he goes unchecked!
And so Soulfly's having to turn back around to deal with that one.
Good kill into the church as well.
A multi-frag moment here for Soulfly, 2v2, and a bomb plant exposed to Brokey.
Made easy.
That could have been planted default with the smoke up, but they were worried about
everything I guess.
Soulfly on 10 HP has three kills.
through with the instant headshot five bullets left in the magazine if it wasn't
Jacob I might believe a little bit more he's been a little bit too sharp but
so flies not sure of where he is and with the time remaining and Jacob's gonna
peel back even fake plant confirms nothing another fake plant and Jacob's
too far to run at this so so fly's gonna be so confused wow patience pays off
here for Jacob you made him think a little bit too much little smirk out
Jacob as well plays that one cool as need be and good on him because things were
getting sketchy so fly is time to kill with that headshot into church damn near
instant may have been low health but you know you're going up against somebody
shooting straight
man I thought for sure Santeris was going to look down after
100% because that's normally what you would do especially after like
Karrigan's been playing tucked in there.
Yeah.
It's every round.
Yeah, every round has been an Orange's player.
Oops.
I guess we'll call it an oops.
So three rounds in a row.
All Aurora are allowed.
And fast move out through the apartments
is a beautiful change of pace, called by Madger.
But will it work with limited guns?
AK still on the field.
Madger's got himself a second.
That A-Sight crumbled in an instant.
Yeah, that's actually, uh, another ROOPS here for FaZe.
I ran away from this too... happily.
I don't even know why they got pulled so hard.
Looks like they're still gonna tease a retake.
But, I mean, versus four?
Good luck.
Fun's in there, it's actually right there, back in graveyard.
Heh!
Yeah, we said we wouldn't see him there for a while, but, uh, he's trying to cover up his misdeeds.
I don't like the HUD's map launderers because it still looks like you can play on graveyard don't you think?
Yeah, still looks like you can play there. I think we should cut that part of the map
And pull back the curtain real quick
Very rude of you to point that out. Well, you know
We do have the best guys on it here. I just want to see how quickly they can fix it
Yeah, the pink figure it makes it right now.
Damn it.
We sent the radar guy home already.
I didn't come back.
No.
No, don't.
I like that Aurora show us a different color in that round.
Quick move into the A bomb site.
Throw the one player with a limited gun out
first and trade your way into an easy 6-4 lead.
Now we said that the round wins haven't been consecutive,
but we can only say that about FaZe Clan at the moment.
Four one-offs.
Two rounds left to play.
I think they're in the mode of like, you know what,
we can still make a decent CT side.
That's all we really want at this point.
They've shown that they have the adaptations, like with their push on banana, but it's not that much
They're probably still scared of Aurora and what they can pull off on banana
So even if they get one more I think they can frustrate Aurora a little bit
He doesn't do much. It looks like these are a little ahead on the nade game right now
Let's see yo...
Damn.
Quick with it.
You know the operas here, but that's not going to intimidate Xanterra's.
Yeah, here's where it just gets so difficult.
Like they just really tried to fight to get that first kill.
Now they're totally out of it.
It's the Aurora's map to play with.
But as they take a look back towards this A site,
that is where the shining piece of faceclant CT side still stands.
This 14 kills five death performance from Jacob looks like Aurora not gonna overthink this and yeah
Why should that?
Basically unstoppable from this position
At least phase will have a lot of guns next round well kept the fire in between the lines at least
I think it's by.
He kind of paintful actually.
Oh, nice adjustment here for Broke.
That should be your Q to exit friend.
But he wants another one.
Sticks around, creates a bit of sanctuary here for his other two teammates
And we'll go into the final round of the half with a guaranteed lead for Aurora at the end of their T side.
Unfortunately here for FaZe Clan, it's a high praise for Jacob and that's about it.
Yeah.
We returned back to Nuke.
It was Kerrigan who kind of kept the boat afloat long enough for Jacob to have his moments,
for Frozen to catch up, and eventually as well for Broke to add himself into that.
even twist at that final round fair
but all that time
i don't know if we're gonna get that kind of a situation here on inferno feels
like face planner just trying to play catch up for a team that have been
very confident in their takes
even with that back and forth affair for the first six rounds
We've had a successful endeavor on B, with this kind of a push previously.
That 2k from Frozen that happened once.
Barring that, trying to take over control of Kar has also cost them rounds since.
So another moment where Aurora just show a strong adaptation.
Have not looked uncomfortable so far this map.
Shouldn't either on Inferno, but they forego any kind of control towards that B.
Bombsite, they want to take a look towards brackets.
And Brokey also wants to look at it, but the smoke grenade stays up.
Uncertain as to what's on the other side, flashes start to trickle towards him and
Brokey's going to be given a test.
on Archside in a moment. Mrs. His first chance to strike one down, threat looming ever closer
to this triple stacked A bomb site for FaZe Clan. And you better hope that this Colonel
B has to stand through the test, but Soulfly come through with an additional kill. Oh, Jacob
again is just barring through them. A damn near quad kill if not for Karrigan finding
one in the middle and he'll still find that fourth. Silver lining for FaZe is Jacob's
online.
This brings his trap, but he's left as the last man standing.
That was brutal for FaZe. I can't believe they get out so cleanly, didn't they?
Yeah, someone call an ambulance.
Take you in, Eric!
No!
Who was that?
Yeah, he's James.
Oh my God, he's playing the guitar!
Oh, that's the man!
Man, not talking to him!
Man, you think yourself what the...
Is it a bat?
Is it a plate?
No, it's an eagle!
No!
It's actually a falcon.
Oh, that's the man!
Oh, that's the man!
I can get it!
I can get it!
I can get it!
Yeah, it feels like this.
I'm gonna roll a little bit sick.
Ha ha ha!
Well, a little fire at the fingertips of our boy Jacob tonight.
Let's watch that sequence back.
This was damn near an ace.
That shot's disgusting.
That kill was Karrigan's and he still whips it back.
And one more for the road, shall we?
Jacob, four kills in the final round of the half.
Even with such a beautiful sequence even with
I'm looking at the scoreboard and 18 five half
Face clan still trail five rounds to seven. I you know what not too bad. Actually, I'd say
Yes, it is. Yeah, you know, it's a shame when it's like that many kills, but for phase on this map
To even turn one individual performance into into five rounds. I think it's overall really solid
Okay, okay
Loserated T-side player on Inferno this year. Oh my god. Why are we pulling those stats out?
Because it's relevant to this next half. Twists, best of luck.
Damn. Well, if I got Jacob playing like him anyway, so...
You can do more of those highlights. They've got it covered.
Big if, however.
a little trap wire set up there for the one bullet fired. Everybody walks away, but look
at how many people are in B is this good game planning from phase. They, you know, oftentimes
we see teams are so prepared for stacks and everything in these pistols, but okay. Yeah.
I don't know if he wants all this smoke right now. Oh, that's actually not bad. Good
Push gets him into cover can just buy time and at any moment he could also just kind of pop back out for another duel on his terms
Make it they're wrapping it back around through halls
Also jumping up down beneath him almost manages a chance back towards frozen
But the retakes on triple short retake coming through from Aurora
Madger's gonna buy time over towards library quick hop from soul fly into the site
Broke in twist with theirs and it's Xanteris to hit the mark, but he can't manage the dual versus frozen
And we've got phase clan with both pistols now so far on inferno
Yeah, this game actually becomes real and it's it would again would be even more impressive than their win on nuke
Which is already
The first miracle of the day because on top of that you have to look at this game and just go
Jacob's the reason yeah
You know we had runway for the other individuals of phase to come alive back on nuke
We had that strong core by the end of the first map in the series.
This is so far still nothing but Jacob for FaZe Clan as they trail by one.
Now, we've heard about Scrim Jacob and we've seen some of the potential in some big matches.
But he is the one holding the potential for this team.
He's not a journeyman on this roster. He's an upcomer.
One of the best teams to just have MP9 rounds. I'll tell you that much. This won't be free for face
Especially this well positioned triple arch set up
The cubby player is gonna go unnoticed Woxic how much does he want? Okay?
Broke he thought about it for a second, but a second too late
MP9 from down beneath the van can get it. He'll pass it out by Jacob who then dies right after
And we've got a two versus two.
Kerrigan can just plant.
Got hit by the Nade.
Flushes him deep into the bomb site.
He's trying to play with Pillar with Katie.
He's got him.
And that crossover is enough.
Aurora's forced by off of the triple arch setup pays off.
Ooh, I feel like Kerrigan, you know,
he's got a teammate coming up.
Goes crazy.
Yeah, runs into the site,
but could have planted default with cover coming up right behind him
in case they wanted to push.
Or fake did and gone for a double peek.
And it got real messy.
see arch setups perfect obviously a third mp9 is the last thing that they expected and
walk stick was looking to milk it if someone walked out of halls and wasn't going to be
looking in his direction but it wasn't the case so aurora showing off with these mp9s
making it look like a full buy.
That's now two halves where phased pick up the pistol only four auroras forced by to
win back, paints a bleak picture with the CT side ahead.
What was the stat about twist that he was the lowest t-sided player this this year this year on inferno t-side
In all time. I think it was top 30 teams. Oh, it's rated t-side player on infer. All right, okay?
I'll believe it when I see it. Okay, sure
Jacob's got places to beat
And that is a quick clean up from inside of the B bomb site phases hopes going up in smoke
Again, I actually feel like T-Side could be better for them than CT-Side.
Well, we saw that they didn't really have all the tools on CT-Side, all the ideas.
But with stats like that, you wonder.
trade the game on polymarket.com our official prediction market of blast
premiere
with those glocks sat outside of the apartments it's a dire place to be if
your face clan again map in your back pocket just a winged out of the sails
after losing to another forest buy
You can feel Aurora's confidence growing.
You can feel their comfort here on Inferno too.
You know, not once did you see a phase clan player down this deep on a CT side.
They will show us how to play B for sure.
Yep. They'll just have, you know, further evolution.
The more confident, riskier moments or something Aurora should very well tap into
because they should find kind of home court advantage on Inferno
And especially obviously in a round like this versus Glock's. So quick and seamless for the 10-6 lead.
I need every grenade. I need every grenade.
It's inferno so it's like you know if you're playing B or whatever it makes sense. They have to make a calm like that but it's just funny to hear.
to here it's not even that much of a mask you know it's uh
i just hope that it wasn't like i need every frag or i need an extra malt i
need every maid i need three guys at every piece of
utility you got they did win that round for the record
this one's got a bit of electricity to it crazy and two guys already challenging
arch this tempo is straight out of spawn so i was looking prepared for the
the duel, but Twist hits the headshot.
Oh!
Beautiful blind side from Kerrigan as he peeks out
through the apartments.
Let's call round 17.
Done.
And that, my friends, is phase clan 7.
You don't often see them make a play like that.
That's a little bit new, to be honest.
It's quick.
It's obviously got all the smokes in place
right where they need them.
And it's exactly when Aurora had Arch wide open.
I mean, that was nasty.
Yeah.
That was awesome.
That shot helps.
Yeah, for sure.
That helps.
That's a new evolution, by the way.
You may have not taken the graveyard off of the HUD yet blast production, but you guys are doing replays mid-round in a picture-in-picture.
That's cool.
I'll give you credit.
Yeah, we have two eyes for a reason.
Some of us have four. Yeah. Yeah, one of those guys here used to make fun of them.
What do you want to do?
Tonight, tomorrow.
Karrigan said, I want to do.
Mmm. You do whatever you want, Karrigan. With a call like that last one? Whatever you're thinking next, buddy.
Yeah, what else is new?
Because that was an impressive tempo that I mean caught us off guard and most certainly caught Aurora off guard to yeah
It does bank on the instant headshot coming through from twist. That certainly simplifies things
He's one of the best T-sided for no players out there. Just not in 2026
I felt like Frozen had that same sort of pep in his step, but reels back as the utility
comes through from the V-Site defenders.
Haha!
Frozen!
They were like, yeah.
His eyes!
I was like, well, I thought that was Aris.
Nope.
Walk away from this one.
That's a screenshot and a half.
screenshot frozen space as he jumps back into the court cover I missed it I
was hilarious okay it's just even him walking away like that myself so when
all said and done lots of damage here for Aurora they don't get the vision they
don't get a kill they have significantly significantly impacted I say sniffing
Snippin' and Lickly.
They've smelled around.
I feel like with that sudden pop as well that they hit the A site with, it's gonna keep Aurora a bit on guard.
They're doing a double fake, man. This is next level here for FaZe. They don't even, they don't even do stuff like this.
That much.
Maybe it's time.
Quick swing out through the apartments walks. It's got the cover needed. That's Jacob and twists down for the count mid-player drop with nothing
I love how this didn't work at all, but it looked beautiful in terms of the setup
Everything was there for face to try to play with but it's the kills that count and Aurora collect them all
I'm at the fact that they they didn't move at all. Oh frozen is actually in a dangerous spot
He could die after time
And they're gonna be looking for him. It looks like he's safe
I love how that looked.
I'm actually quite surprised.
It didn't even score a single rotation.
It didn't look like our bays look messy or anything
when they did it.
But it kind of looked like Aurora
didn't know what they were supposed to do about that.
They said 3 on A, 2 on B. Arch was getting threatened,
so they couldn't actually leave.
That's the weird part about that,
is you're smoking off CT and library,
and then coming out of halls.
But the eight players who are just
made to be afraid about banana can't actually get over
there.
What they might have done, given a bit more time,
is try to retake through bracket pushing a mid. So maybe FaZe needed to pause a little
bit longer, let them make a move. But actually I think they might have just held them in place
a little bit. Well, they're trying some new stuff. Set plays. Like you always see FaZe
just default every round. Get it to the late round, you know, in 3v3.
I find what's curious there is that remember Kerrigan says, what do you want to do going
into that. So it feels like somebody else maybe called that for him. He said I want to do.
Oh I want to do, sorry. I thought he was asking. X-man.
Xanterres was one of two players to have an AK in more than half his rounds played last
year. Well, he kind of goes to town with that thing, so if anybody gets one, it should
be Xanterres.
who of course loves playing cc sides with ak's as well ready for that jiggle is
woxic but shots from middle kind of make him a little nervous so he'll peel
away that was good they're very careful about it so this round phase what do you
want to do because 12 is looming you've got guns now that's air taking
He's not seeing anything risky. Oh, but they're so timid. What nobody fully commits to kind of punishing his presence
And so he still gets away with two. I can't believe he got any
Yikes, let's not he was just cooked
Santa is switching over to the off for the triple kill. There's still something to fight for here in this round
FaZe clan trying to keep Aurora off their 12
I've managed to kick the door off its hinges towards the B site put themselves in a two versus four post plan
This is actually not a bad spot.
B5 situation trying to be pieced together.
How do they work together?
These two players have experience in these spots,
and honestly they have some advantages.
The bomb is getting really low already.
The bomb is planted in front of Orange.
They feed Xantera over.
Strong trade out of Madger.
And so Brokey three quarters the HP,
and they tried to cover off that bomb with Util.
All they need, Soulfly's got the headshot.
Aurora have the 12th round secured with five matte points to play. Oh, yeah
It was supposed to be guaranteed with the numbers they did put themselves in a spot to maybe pull off an upset round
But this is just inexcusable really because this one's out looking backward
I'm not sure why twist looks backwards when he had just seen Zanteras
I mean, he's expecting Jacob to just guarantee get the kill and I get that too because
Because they had Zanteras shooting into mid while Jacob was peeking into boiler. So
So maybe that's a small but also massive misstep from Jacob who's otherwise had a pretty spotless map.
Dirty off angle from Soulfly but it doesn't net him impacts.
We've got Woxic trying to hunt in the middle and he'll pluck Brokey off the round
Keeps things even gives himself coverage to go back in with another attempts
And he's lucky it was just the deagle that had a chance to shoot at him
Right the one limited weapon that FaZe Clan are still playing with is the one guy that has a chance at the Woxic frag
Really playing with fire there
Yep, Kerrigan will
Right go and get that. Yep go and get that
We'll get that going the free galeel go and get it come in with a free Molly as well
The galil will be gotten yes while they're taking a I mean they're going into the idea the glills just there it's staring at him
You'll get it. Just please someone pick me up
I've managed to walk. I mean it won't matter right that they're not getting the glue they're going for this arch ram walks
It doesn't know about it just yet
But are they gonna turn into a B split? Oh, that's actually the mistake and
And Kerrigan will get the Galil and the Molotov as well shucks it back at banana as they do push into him
And he's gonna be bested by wakadia, but look at this running through CT spawn not ready
But they're on the other side of the molly right now they're stuck behind it
They're gonna try to double back wakadia to the site 15 seconds on the clock
Oh god bro huge gap on that one wakadia dodging flashes the bomb still gets over
just barely gonna be planted knife out by Madger as he takes to the top row catches
you trying to reposition good trade back by Jacob at least awkward round and in a
moment wakadia no longer covered by that smoke as twist skates into the
coverage of orange utility back site that's gonna take Jacob down to half
health twist activates locks it dodges it oh but now he's still got the health
She will close out the first of five rounds needed to force OT and after that small miss step in boiler
Jacob comes back with a 4k and puts up another round
Just another massive 4k moment here from Jacob
Beacon of hope for face clan tonight
It's got incredibly messy, but man the use of fakes from faces not what I expected to see today and
That car molly was all just a distraction, uh, because it made it look like there was going to be a wrap towards A.
Now the funny part about that, wrap towards A would have been great.
Sure it was just Woxic alone there, but it still did its job.
At this point in the map, round wins a round win.
Oh, uh oh, he's dead. Done.
Nade with his name on it.
That's a bolstered B bomb site out of spawn.
Wackady has been so confident in his opening moves towards that half of the map as well.
And we get this woxic reposition towards the site.
Plenty of time for FaZe to play out.
Far less utility than they're used to when they've been going for these sorts of executes.
So what can you make happen in this much needed 4v5?
Yeah, have they just laid the inevitable or with Aurora dropping guard over here and B
Well, there'd be a timing to get in between this smoke. We'll see how far it goes down
Wokadia is running hit first into this now. He has to drop that defensively
Here's the stopping they are gonna just try to barrel on Peru and great trade. They have the right idea. Not too bad
phase will take it
Making the most of what they can Karrigan takes damage in the spam fight
We've got this fast move by Madger on the banana duel.
It's him versus Kerrigan in a 1v1, but Kerrigan aux to go back through the smoke.
Oh, and that is exactly what Zanterres was banking on.
Four versus two advantage for the Aurora retake.
Jacob tries to go back at the duel. It's a one and done from him and twists.
Gotta shine! Here and now, draws them in towards him,
and it's a spam damage in through from Zanterres.
We need a map three between Aurora and FaZe Clan.
As Aurora step up to the test, then remember how this happened.
The six rounds back and forth at the beginning of this map
bought a little bit of time for FaZe Clan, but ultimately both pistol wins get upset by four spies
and they let Inferno slip by.
I feel like that's just one of the best ways that we can describe it.
Well look, not slip by necessarily, let's be real.
We came into this one knowing that Aurora was going to be heavy favorites.
They were able to pick this map for themselves
and rightly so for a reason as well there and so it's a little bit of a back-to-the-drawing board
for FaZe maybe that's in the future drawing board though. I kind of get why they 0-5 now 0-6
because that looked a little bit uncomfortable and that was not only like in their after plans it was
all approached around there's also the positioning the full back part. Somebody
thinks it just didn't really go the way I think but they also put themselves in the
situations and when they had the chance to actually you know capture late or get in front
of it you know they didn't really make it matter. Aurora closed out in all the ways that you
you would more or less expect them to on a map like this.
I mean, I will say, I mean, Jacob tried his darnedest
to keep facing that one.
There were a lot of moments that otherwise,
this could have even been a more lopsided game
if he didn't just have one of the best maps
I've ever seen him play.
Yeah, it's good to see, you know, it's, again,
a guy that we've been talking about
maybe not putting in the consistency,
but so far he's had a great series, you know.
He's, as you mentioned, by far the biggest guy
in the team as of now, keeping face alive.
And it's a time for Jacob also to prove his worth,
you know, also with the rumors
everything happening inside the team and obviously this round as well is just
like what it's what is actually having you know like bro we falls back into the
situation by missing the shot arson you know it has to get a pretty sure the face
gets an incredible round here where Jacob is just sitting on site and you get the
first guy coming out has his flip around gets a second and then he's doing all
the work for Karrigan as well and getting the third and the fourth one
and it's incredible that Jake we can actually pull this one off because
positioning of face in this given situation is really really poor it's
like they don't have the overview of having two guys in the side already
and the fallback point for
Broglie just incredibly mad.
That's just kind of in how
phase get their wins around a
lot of history.
It's not always positional
advantages, doing everything
by the book, taking space back,
you know, trying to cut off one
pincer of the attack.
It's just standing your ground.
It's fighting.
And unfortunately it wasn't
enough, even though even
though Jacob had, I think
that's the best round I've
ever seen play ever.
That's just that's just an
absurd multi-frag sequence and
just spinning like a top in
the bomb site.
But we could see that I'd
say that that's kind of a
that that's kind of a little bit of a band-aid on what was a bigger problem
which is that positionally Aurora were the better team they were they were
swarming them in situations they frequently had the man advantage when
they were bursting onto a bomb site and not to mention how incredibly hard they
actually pull up this kind of thing you can't do that every time it doesn't
look easy obviously but it's way harder than you expect this one to do
because he has to go up turn around 180 180 180 and then constantly turn his
to the right of the line.
The man's not going to be
able to do that. But I think
he's going to be able to
get a lot of attention where
he's the only one actually
putting up the fight inside
that side. Well, it was
impressive. It wasn't enough
to get them over the line.
But I love it. Yeah, what you
said, Maury, that band aid on
what was such a glaring
issue for phase, and that's
really props to Aurora, what
they're able to bring to
you already said. A death
ball is what they lack to
run for this about the
photos. There's four or
reason they like to just be
like, Hey, Let's go for
it. They do. They do, which
is why actually in a couple
of the rounds, we saw
some surprises if we go
They actually felt like just after around seven where they did five man into the B bombsite.
They actually switched things up.
And this is kind of what I saw at ESL Pro League where you would get an Aurora that has a little
bit more up their sleeve where they send Major out on this mission.
And yeah, it's against an eco or a couple save weapons, but they have a couple just
safety valves in place.
They have Wikipedia in mid.
They have Soulfly towards apartments so that they could play to punish if there's
any quick flank from phase.
They also have players in position to punish
if Faze are going to go for any sort of aggressive play.
And you could see that that comes into play when Jacob says,
maybe it's my time to strike.
Maybe they are just death-balling as they usually do.
But no, this time around, Aurora shuts the door
on any kind of flank play by calling for a mid-round
and be willing to punish or ready to punish
when there's that sort of proactive play
coming out from Faze.
So I'm just giving some props to Aurora
because so frequently that's the kind of move
from Jacob that might even win the round
because he would just get a quick flank timing.
And I don't think that what Jacob does, you know, if he would have just pushed down mid
in the beginning, you know, that would have been his death already.
But he understood that it was going to be a little bit of fake, the racial holding back.
He would actually try and find the timing and he actually, he catches the first guy
in mid and he would, if Boxing wouldn't hit that headshot that fast, you know, it could
have turned around him getting a double than the guy coming out of Palace had to be
the guy making the difference, right?
But Jacob again, showing that he can, you know, really step up to the occasion,
but overall, overall fluke really comes.
Yeah.
I mean, they're taking that one step because you're now pointing out not only are
they able to succeed when it comes to that five-man death bull, but now they're
able to slow it down they're able to do things just a little bit differently too
and you're wondering where is the game plan exactly for overall we have to now
cover every sort of basis when it comes to them and the start not so easy right
like we don't matter the round eight when it came to that middle part looked
really good but overall it was not a great opening from in front of no I
think like round four is a good showcasing of what phase actually
sometimes seems to be lagging it's it's a combination of misplaced but
also in this situation they do get banana control for free and would you
see them trying to get information. They know it's clear, so they're probably hiding somewhere
on ramp. And this one, this is a set round from the Rorus side. They know that they want
to try and cast a guy on banana. The issue for me here is that Kerrigan uses his smoke
deep banana. Now he has no fallback point. He decides to go for a full all in here,
gets the first kill, and he doesn't wait for the flash coming from CT. The flash
that's coming from CT is from Broggy. He could have waited by swinging from first
part, and that would also make the intration for Froze to go through smoke. And it's
just these type of things that they cannot allow themselves to put themselves in
best situation and then it comes down to the to the African situation. They throw out the
Molotov fast, they're not ready to capitalize on it and from here on it's just Aurora just
winning off by crossfires instead of using their time, using utility and then playing
rounds together but it starts by carrying getting, I mean, in my opinion, a bad smoke
down but instead of using it defensively buying his time for a teammate to actually
rotate in.
How important would you say winning that round was for Aurora as well?
One thing is that it's about the economy because they know that at this point they
they are on a fourth buy, they will have a full reset coming into the next one.
And also, momentum-wise, you know, it puts FaZe in a position where they know that they
should have won.
They had all the information, they had everything in the books, but they couldn't capture on
it and actually get back into it.
And from here on, Aurora, they get back in the game, they get the economy going,
they get the momentum going.
It's one of these swinging rounds that is just like so important inside the game
and you can't really afford to lose it when you're looking at it like that.
It just kept the FaZe economy so low.
I think that it was phase that won the next one,
but then Aurora wins the next.
And then, and then phase are on egos for two more
because of that round.
So it's like the, I don't know how you would say it.
I guess the effects kind of compound that,
and that's just like,
it's just not a position you want to be in if you're phase.
You want to win rounds cleanly,
but that's just kind of the state that they're in.
It doesn't seem like you ever really get four alive,
you know, one round.
Yeah, cause you're also talking about that round.
Yeah, it builds up the mentality for Aurora.
They're feeling a little bit better in the phase.
You're like, well, we're in a position where
should never have happened and we're wondering the same thing going into a map number three.
That's not ready just yet. That is going to happen right after this break.
way to our deciding map of
dust map number three there.
We're seeing phase having a bit
of a talk because whilst they
were able to get that win on
Nuke, the photo just wasn't
really bad for them.
Right?
That was all Aurora's game.
It looked fantastic for them
and now it does beg the
question where exactly are the
chips going to fall for the
two sides here on phase and
Aurora?
I would say that it's
definitely leaning in Aurora's
favor.
Yeah, really?
Yeah, definitely.
But phase have made the series
a bit more interesting.
I feel like one of the
that I did not foresee going into this series whatsoever. But another thing that kind of makes a series of coin flip for me is the Broke situation. It's a conversation that we have needed to have. We have started a discourse. We are continuing the discourse on Broke.
This dude's a coin flip. Like every single half of this game, you don't know what you're gonna get because for whatever reason,
he is one of the, he's a great T side player for them. But on CT side, which you would think, you would think to pre,
if you're an AWPer on Dust2, you like the CT side of Dust, but it's actually just topsy-turvy with Broke,
you never know what you're gonna get, do ya?
I really believe that if there's ever a time for Broke to come alive, I mean, I know this is probably not the most exciting
and or the most important best of three a face ever
Point now where they do have to get back into the quest, but it would be nice to have brokeie stepping it up
You know we have had the two maps now where we haven't really seen much of him
So it would it would be good to see and it's also map that will give you the chances of doing so
And I think it's also a map that plays into the favor of Kerrigan and also a team that is
Having their struggles, you know finding their DNA finding how they want to be playing does to it doesn't it's not really
You have to dig that deep it requires a few smokes to run some strategies, but it's also a map where you can just run some defaults playoff with Charlotte and then having you know your plays chiming.
And I think that what plays into the handoff phase and which is also why they, well right now they'll, you know, three map, one win streak and it's also playing it quite often that probably so.
It's definitely a method that phase also know how to play.
Yeah, I'm surprised that you're bringing up a positive stat for phase.
I feel like you go in the ring and you go in the over five.
So what you're saying is, Maui is kind of lying,
this is actually face-favid.
Just joking.
I think you can go both ways.
Looking at how this game has progressed,
I don't think Aurora has been playing the best counter-guider.
I think both teams have been looking sort of sloppy in given situations.
Sure, I think Aurora is still the favorite here,
but I do think that face, if there would be a map,
They could actually come 10 together and then they should pull up a bigger fight.
It could be dust too.
Yeah.
Do you feel like we're going to see that consistency though?
Because you're talking about, okay, we won't break it to show up.
Are you going to see the consistency though from Jacob?
Because Karrigan also had a great first map, kind of quiet in the second one.
Well, sometimes on Dust 2 in particular, Jacob just gets fed to the wolves.
Sometimes he's going on these cat swings and the nades aren't perfectly set.
Sometimes he's just before the flashes.
Sometimes the smokes aren't even really properly aligned.
And then there's really nothing he can do.
Some God tier entries will get something done there, but it's just such an uphill battle.
And I think Woxic is more than a capable enough oper that if he's not smoked off, if he's
not flashed on that first fight, he's going to get that opening kill.
His reliability in the last year and a half has been something that has actually really
spurred Aurora to become, I'd say, a bit of a force on Dust2.
So I don't think that it's always Jacob's fault entirely, that he's had bad detours.
But I don't know if he can really play his team out of a poorly executed strategy.
I just really want to see Broke be unleashed.
Let the guy run up mid. Let the guy jump off Catwalk. Let the guy do all his crazy things.
That's when he plays better. At least this guy. Just let him do his thing. I hope he will do it.
Then who are we looking for on the side of Aurora? Because you already said it.
Someone that you want to come alive. Someone that we want to see more consistency from.
Obviously on the side of Aurora they make it to the finals of a previous event.
We're not really looking and being like this person needs to step it up because they've shown that they can at times.
I feel like the one of the most dynamic players for them is Waikadia on this one.
Sometimes he'll bust out the secondary up.
I've seen him get pretty aggressive on the CT side too.
If things aren't working in a default setup, he's usually one of the pieces that gets a
little bit more active.
So I feel like his antics are the X factor for an Aurora team that sometimes runs into
a rut.
So he can sometimes pull them out of it.
Yeah, and obviously on the other side, you just untarish, you know, he's always
going to be on top of the whole like map control.
He's going to be the one that's finding the openings.
going to be the one that also delivers that being the most like
influential play on that team. So obviously we have to look up on the
Santerres. I wouldn't say Santerres has had a bad series so far but
they definitely always, they always need Santerres to play good in order to win.
So we will always want to be looking up for him.
Okay, I like it as well you guys. I want for two different players too. You're
like there is different ways that they can play through this. There's
different ways that we can really see them do it. Small little delays so
that means that we get to talk about it a little bit more. What you think
Dust is going to be? Because I liked the start of this series when
Now it was like a miracle, getting six rounds in the first half.
What's another miracle we can expect on the table?
Do we know the sides yet?
You know, do we know?
They're doing it now, I believe.
OK, OK.
So, you know.
If it could show, we just have not commentated.
Did you imagine if I was like, you should be.
That would be absolutely awesome.
At least tell me, you know, I'm right here for this.
No, absolutely not.
Literally all I'm hearing is like people laughing each other.
Obviously, depending on what side you're talking about.
I mean.
I wouldn't know.
I would have the prediction before we even knew.
We can't see this blind guessing who do you think just did that? We heard some from face screen
Maybe they probably will they probably won the knife around I
Think face darling T would would that would be my guess
I think that if Gary can get down the T side and hopefully get the momentum going
I think that was that's gonna play into his cards because he is a guy that likes to do all these cards
Small gimmick plays fakes and everything
Sounds like a roar T side
Aurora one it sounds like it was just like it was like a wall cry
I guess it was a cry of rage. Oh
Yeah, he's just upset. Okay. We'll go up very quickly anything else you want to add no cuz I just feel like this is still Aurora's favorite map
Okay, I'm going like 1310 though because phase of show me a little bit more than I expected today
I always love that from you now you're gonna put everything out that just like we're gonna expect from both phase and Aurora for a map 3
Yeah, time to do it, FaZe Clan. Show us why you've gone ahead in one nuke to push this series to a third mode.
Dust2 and FaZe Clan, kind of iconic in history of Counter-Strike.
So, let's see if they can tap back into the potential that we've seen.
I mean, Jacob has given us two excellent maps back to back now in this series.
I think that's a beacon of hope for the FaZe Clan side.
What I'm worried for them, though, is that this, you know, death ball,
This death ball kind of formed that Aurora brought to the table on inferno is something that they could also
Just kind of set the tempo with here on dust too. Whoa, it's a it's like a tennis ball eight ball with like fortune cookies
advice on there and
What is how did what is it be yourself be yourself?
Not always good advice for the record a fortune or a prediction, you know people nice
Nice.
Gotta be careful. Sometimes you should probably just be somebody else.
Yeah, what happened to shame?
Sometimes you suck.
Hopefully that's not the case for Frozen and the pistol.
We've had some weird pistol moments for FaZe off Inferno winning both and then losing to the Force by in both those halves.
Frozen's dead. See ya, sucka.
Zanterra opens up with ease.
Should have been Jacob.
That round is a mystery eight ball. Did it say play tunnels? It might have said stack B for the rest of his team.
Sit inside of it. Three players strong as mid control could be taken over by Aurora. There is no contest from the bomb site.
Yeah, but this just ends up being an eight walk. Interesting good timing here for Kerrigan. He smells something is wrong.
strong. But the mid B smoke is just going to hold the CTs there a little longer. It's
a very nice play here for Aurora. Just the right utility to still sprinkle into the play.
Kerrigan gets hit by the second flashbang. Soulfly capitalizes on that awkwardness
caused by Madger's Util. That's where you know it's beautifully set up. Yeah, it's
just enough. Flassy. You see like a disproportionate response, a little fake and then you
You try to throw 10 nades and get way too spread out, and it doesn't match the energy
of the other team, but that was perfect.
Like, a mid-B smoke is exactly what they needed.
Even slows down the rotators from seeing things over towards A.
So, FaZe, I mean, on Inferno, they won both pistols, got Eco twice.
Correct.
Aurora won both pistols on Nuke, and then won both conversions.
Correct.
much better on round two. I'm gonna go on a limb and say you know three outstanding
maps for Jacob in the series is a little bit too much to ask for like he's put up two super
strong performances it's just a lot you know like if he puts up three in a row he's
don't for a day right so all that means though is you've still got frozen and
twist and you know like you've got other pieces here that need to contribute
I mean Jacob's the highest rated player in the series at the moment over top of
Zanterrez. I'll speak of the devils they go head to head inside of the B
bombsite Jacob can't hold them back and it's man advantage and a bomb plant
here for Aurora looking good in yet another second round. In fact, Aurora have not lost
a single round. Second round. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. B Tramps. Did he say something?
Oh, he's got something. Oh, let's see what he's got. Going into the series, FaZe had
won just over 42% of their pistols this year. They're not a team that relies on leads.
They like to stay back all the way to the very end.
They just add so much of what other teams don't have in all the best and worst ways.
Every game is a brand new sandbox with FaZe Clan.
Just in the bigger picture though for this event, I mean FaZe do find themselves in a
difficult group, right?
You've got Navi, Falcons, you've got Furia, Aurora, their first competitors as well.
It's going to have to be a strong week from them in what has been a week, year so far.
Will a temporary coach be able to change things?
I mean a win like this could ruin Aurora's week for the exact same reason.
Sure.
Right now twists
Bomb is down empty-handed frozen popped with just the one and keregan just gonna let them
Trickle forward
It's a good trade back from zanteris to maintain the strong 3v1 advantage bomb floating behind him only a pistol in hand here for Jacob
He doesn't even want that dual down in lower tunnels and so Aurora will go up three zero off the start of map three
They're so worried about Jacob though because he's been he's been aura farming this series
I said it was done but the bomb doubles back and Jacob's gonna find this dual. It would have to be a crazy
Still I think a certain timidness there into three versus one with a player on the A site
You know it's scary that you get that bomb dual going back. I wonder if leaving yourself does he got what else is on there?
Okay, that's good advice
You just like throw it at someone's head
read this yesterday you said tomorrow son I'll let your memes be dreams or you
know how it goes shut up Shia LaBeouf one time
booth Libiff yeah we're just having a great Marty Grau
Real guns in hand now for phases round 4 where things turn around just feels sort of bleak
with only two kills across the board for phase in the first three rounds of this map.
The number is strong once more for Aurora approaching the catwalk play where Kadea's
Matt 10's got the trade back good challenge through that open smoke, but the offer still surpasses frozen and with it
Wikipedia has got an additional space created already. So on the arrival of his teammates, they're good to go
Just go ahead and pelt that utility down into the CT spawn couple it with a nice to lurk out by Madger
And this is feeling like 4-0 guaranteed as they're moving a little bit too nice
I mean after the first map again, it's like it's sort of embarrassing for Aurora to say we lost this game
We know all these great stats near the end of it, but it also points to that in the future
Like if we don't make any of those half of those mistakes, we're gonna pretty much crush you
Yeah, and we saw a bit more of that on inferno
Didn't expect them to take off from the same way on dust to I thought dust to be a nice equalizing opportunity here
For face clan, but I mean Aurora look very comfortable. I'm loving the little calls that we get from magic here and there
On map one, I think that was probably partially his fault because again, they had everything else sure opening
frag star players all that. I mean that would actually be a good question to ask him in the
post match maybe. How much responsibility to, I mean, let's say they win. Don't ask him
if he loses. But just how much? Does he think he was kind of the shortcoming on Nuke? Yeah,
won't matter to them if they just cross here. I'm not going to ask him, but the
desk can. Nats new, she can get away with it. Yeah. Madge is really nice. No approach
from phase this round. Not with twist taking that early damage. You want these scouts to
connect. God damn, you just want phase clan to get some kills at this point because it's
been a very bleak four rounds of play. This is Xantera special, always walking
on mid. Oh, Scouts on both sides, actually.
Well, well, well.
Madger just splattered in front of zanteras like that.
Mean it's a touch awkward.
It's not like Faiz are actually that scary over on B.
They do have three players there, but if the split comes in,
they need another scout shot.
Alan's back at K-sharp right now.
Katie remains tucked in twists still smoked off finds no vision on this walk-up
Scout continuing to just try to pry towards tunnels if he doesn't clear it
Pistols not across fires the window players deciding to push two kills cut through for Aurora make it three and with that
Crumbles it is the one death on Madger. That's it. That's all Aurora keep the round wins rolling forward
That was graceful. That was artistic. That was that was perfect execution
I mean, you see Zantara shoulder peeks into the site and as soon as you swing out, he's already staring at you. Yep
So that's pixel perfect felt like for a moment their face kind of left their you know
Their foot off the gas that opening kill on Madger is great and all but then everybody's afforded this walk-up
Nobody took another look at the close, you know perimeter outside of middle. Yeah
They really just gave that space back to Aurora and lo and behold Aurora thrive with it
Aurora used to be a great Dust2 team. That would pretty much only go long on T side, but they've
totally expanded the way that they play the map. They've evolved a lot. They've been under tons of
scrutiny, and I think from the calling perspective, they have tried to make a lot of strides to
make the most of the, on it, just really strong individuals, obviously. Well, Katie has not
even had a good day, and that's someone who we see sometimes absolutely take over.
So, no shortage of skill on this line up.
More rounds for Aurora than FaZe Clan have kills collectively.
Not to be the bearer of bad news, but it's not enough.
The steamroll from Aurora just continues to grow with momentum.
We get this walk out from Madger again, willingness to test the waters in middle.
You'll get blindsided by the first of three, but that's a big commitment.
Three players strong on that mid smoke and the timing as Brokey peels away from long.
We do get this CT player walk up trying to duel with the guys on cat and that's just
enough of a distraction for Brokey to clip one off the play.
Flashbang comes at him with the frag fantastic and where has this phase been?
I don't know.
All their kills right here.
So we'll catch up to that score line at the very least it's a very solid hold and a foundation for what could be a
Come back into this map. It's better late than never such a clean convincing outcome
Madge or just tiptoes into his own death out middle and everybody repositioned towards a soon enough
I
Had soul fly really kind of pushed the issue over towards the long play the Navy, but up that cross. Yeah. Yeah, I damn
See ya Jacob. Oh nice picture picture
Oh, that was a chance for brokeie
Not the easiest adjustment to make but
Wanted that to be a 4v4
Holy
It's like the fifth bad Molotov we've seen in this series. Yeah for a fun phase though, so
Got
Frozen's position correctly but a little awkward here playing with the nades. Oh luck before him twists has got it
Dropped opportunity by frozen and twists here to shine triple kill already
Utility to soften up the last one and watch it just stuck there fully flashed
Didn't even flinch
Accepts his fate as twists plays in front of the utility point blank with that coverage from broky towards window
Can't scoop up the bomb just quite yet. And yeah, bro keys got that one locked in nice triple kill here from twist
We get the back-to-back around wins out of phase clan
Yeah, look at twist like not even going for that extra kill right there. Just doing his job real soldier here indeed
That's gross and that's so cool from walks. It's like obviously you can hit the door cross shot actually very consistently
No secret he's got some of the best reaction times in the scene, but for him to just pre-aim the door like that going for the timing shot
Straight skill
Well, the one round they got was nice.
Two more.
The two rounds they have are awesome.
Poor Jacob still zero kills, but blasted away in the last round, still 4v5 win out of phase.
Like we said, three maps in this series, that impressive out of Jacob, odds are against
him.
can recover. His slowest start yet and twists is not wasting the opportunity to shine here
on map 3. Another multi frag for the Canadian out of the gate here in round 8, locks down
long and thrusts Aurora into the 3v5 disadvantage. He's melting them down and he's playing
both sides. It's nice to see a mobile twist. Somebody who's been very vocal about just
He's trying to find himself on an individual level as a player throughout these recent struggles for FaZe in 2026.
He's saying he's putting focus on that.
Right now, Woxix focused towards the B site window.
He's frozen again as weaponizing this double-op setup.
plenty of time still for Aurora to rob this one back though they walk out
through those mid-doors flash banks come through Karrigan actually eating a
flash in the middle of all that felt like he was about to pounce on it just
to confirm the numbers but we'll see if his timing works out if they move
slowly enough he will have a chance they can't just watch everything they do
hold him back Jacob kills Zanterra's next to Madger who's now gonna try to
That pounce off of that woxic flashbang, but Throzen's got it.
Hookline and sinker stuck through the doorway.
And that perfect pinch between the two
oppers gives FaZe Clan their third.
They really have leveraged that one great round towards A.
To back to back, super good holds obviously from twists
on two of these occasions.
It really was a moment here where this game looked done.
It was 5-0.
And as you pointed out, FaZe had less than five kills in total and just like that, they've earned themselves a half buy here from Aurora.
It's gonna be devastating at this point if Aurora don't close this game.
There we go.
One of the best CT sides this year on Dust2, and we're seeing some of that action right now.
Frozen awkward reposition, still able to put the scope back up, but he loses his support this time. It's all him.
And the third and fourth shots are whiffs, twists, quick to the scene with a double kill, and with a purr!
And twists not wasting his moment in the spotlight tonight makes mincemeat of the follow through there from Aurora.
He has been a firecracker in this last string of rounds here for FaZe Clan.
So many Maltes and Frozen. Also, awkward spot, especially with his teammate dying on the right fall.
Getting to delaying just enough to make sure Twisk could deny any type of bomb plant from going down.
Off the back of the Brokey Flash.
They're keeping up with the action.
Totally different game now after the 5-0 start that Aurora had.
Slowed to get off the pitch, but moving now at full force, another look from Twist!
Another different position at the start of a round and another multi-kill moment for
Van Dulcan.
Got to underscore that, he's played long, B site now, off cat, Maltese every single
time.
He could not figure his game out on map one at all.
Don't count him up for too long.
12 and 4, 10 rounds into dust 2.
I want to say twists was actually like 0 and 3, maybe even 0 and 4.
And this is just, oh no, because he just died.
0 and 3 at one point, it felt like.
Believe in yourself.
Brozen told him.
Broke puts the scope in place just in time, but this long challenge is quicker than some of the others has been.
Oh, the ball is not going to help. I mean, it's going to shove back at least.
I was thinking there was a chance for a kill, which they might need.
Yeah, Acadia just kind of teases the corner.
If he peeks into that, Oprah's got him, surely.
Yeah, Broke, just patient on the line.
Oh, the USP headshot goes brokey a triple kill in this one as that catwalk fallback the long cross hold and the clothes all belong to brokey
We've got a tied game 10 rounds in they've got Aurora sweating now
Individual place all along put it all around excuse me twists
Again opening move into catwalk confident as need be
Double kill right there for the taking
That round also featured twists third successful opening duel as again
He has been happy to take these early fights no matter where no matter when give me opening duel. Oh my goodness. Oh, that is just exquisite
It's another timing shot on Jacob to put him out one and eight on the cross
Scout wall bang headshot
Like again, he's not just relying on his reaction time. That's just perfect
Let's mess up to his last time Jacob jumped and died this time. He'd stayed on the ground and walks. It's still ready for the shot
You try to change up your pathing you try to change up your tempo and you still eat it
What happens now when they're playing on the ramp good flashes, but looks like there's still a chance here for brokeie oh
Oh, that scout coming in.
No.
Oh, it's beautiful.
Second scout headshot.
Madger peeling Karrigan off the play.
Twist is alive though.
Oh, Woxxix cleared.
What?
Nothing but headshots out of that scout so far.
Through single.
Turn around moment.
Here for Aurora.
Five rounds straight out of phase.
Finally able to post another one to the scoreboard and it is all thanks to Woxxix.
The man also went mental back on Nuke and just put up a scout 3k that there there is no counter play to every shots just perfect I
Think we need to make these picture and picture replay is this even bigger
Just so we can really bask in the glory that was that opening duel that wall bang through the doorway
twist gave him the jiggle but we see you woxic back on the AWP this time both
players allowed to cross over to the B site Jacob just counting for Jacob his
lucky stars he's allowed to be alive one and the eight half at the hands of
walk six mid pressure. But hey, the kid had two great maps.
Swiss has been very pervasive on dust two so far, but he's
always been at the site they go to this time he goes for an
early lean towards B.
This is gonna be another golden read. It doesn't look like
it split taking formation towards long now.
The flashes have been on point.
Broke he's out of there with no shot in response.
Tries to give himself a little more wiggle room dodging flashes all the while, teammate's
dead and he misses, Spam's gonna come through with chance to stop Zanteras as well, at
least you could have cut off one end of the attack, frozen Spam's through for a
single frag and that's just gonna post Zanteras one step higher.
Temporary though with that hold
4v3 advantage twists tickled by the flames stuck into the corner. It's getting away with some space
Flames spread but the bomb is planted man advantage held on to here by Aurora frozen takes to the top over the smoke
We've got this car player with head tucked down letting teammates take contact
But they give a lot of space over the face
They let everybody tuck in and Twists uses that moment to get another double. You've got this Woxic off at hand
And they find the retake thanks to Twists
Another triple kill moment comes through tied game at six rounds all how do phase find the runway?
17 seconds left so this is gonna be just an all-out stomp to the bomb side no slowing it down
They just have to rush him in get the kill instantly get the bomb plants it frozen is dropped and that's the ball on the ground
It's brawling with an insane transfer. He keeps it going. It's a quad kill. He saved his team
Nice I don't know the bell is ringing might be the train now
But certainly ringing for astronomers right here one versus four and it's gonna get a better photo
He actually makes it work.
That has to be just pure out just divine intervention.
Shut up.
I've never seen anything like that ever before.
If they're going to get a fifth in this first 15, this could be the round he offers it
at the helm of that monster hit.
Apex comes around the corner, back of electronic, turned a double-man advantage that feels like surely vitality have already got enough.
But what about that flash from SDY? How about this hold from Perfecto?
Incendiary to the right, Sumdai Young turns his attention.
Oh! All three!
Sumdai Young and Sumdai again and again and again.
11-4, 11-round straight and a dominant overpass CT side.
You see definitely a big gap providing itself.
They're going to come through this.
They're on their way. Set-ups here. Good flashes.
Ross, he is supposed to be the way in, but he's escorted out off the premises.
Shush, this is his site, and he continues to lay down more and more from Shush.
Oh, five from the Dane!
Sometimes these work.
See if they get the flash or not, they do.
Oh, no.
That's why those blinds well.
Oh, rain the double-deagle!
You're not gonna...
Oh!
Oh!
When it rains, it pours.
And then rain adds in that extra-secret spice.
Gives you a round like this.
Oh, fourth!
Everybody falls at the hands of rain.
Well, Twists has given us something to talk about despite the 5-0 Aurora start here on
map 3.
I mean, by God, it felt like this game was done five rounds into the half.
And lo and behold, here we are, tied game with Twists on top.
It's just always a new challenge for Aurora in this matchup.
Yeah, this time it's Twist.
Maybe the most unlikely contender.
I think between him and Broke, we were expecting a bit more.
Well, here it is.
So many multi-kills, delivering those Dust2 stats
that were foreshadowed a bit by D-Trams earlier.
Yeah, those were CT side specific
and he held up his end of the bargain.
See what he can bring to the table on the attack,
But for now it's long control for FaZe, at least the doorways earned.
And that does get a roar to scramble back.
Cool, Soulfly first blood here in second pistol.
Quick execution of Jacob, putting him back in the dirt.
No fun for Jacob.
And nine.
From the highest rated player coming into ma-
Oh!
Woo-hoo-hoo!
You got to love that.
Two taps from Woxic and let's say this is Aurora's pistol, shall we?
No one's wasting ammo this round.
Rowson tries to bring it back but he meets his maker in Zanterres
and that is going to be Aurora taking over with a CT pistol, winning both pistols in this map as well.
They got absolutely clapped up right there. That was not close honestly. Nice shots Woxic.
A P2K terror
They don't always win the pistol, but they always win the second round
Sometimes they do both
Faceclon forced to take a knee in this one.
Can talk it out and try to test Magger, but you're meant by another smoke.
It's a bit deep though.
Feels like they're going to pounce it.
They're trying to stagger it, but he is supported by Zanterres, and it goes about exactly how
you'd think.
Bomb is delivered to the feet of Aurora's in-game leader.
And that is Aurora to win every single second round of the series.
Yeah, and it's even more impressive that it's without all the pistols as well.
So really shows you what kind of team that phase you're dealing with.
I'm going to use it to make sure it doesn't get damaged.
Let's see if it gets worse than a two round game and that Fastgame gets back onto rifles
And they have just it's a lot of utility for phase a total in this series misty man. Yeah. Yeah
Okay, a bit of nades out of Aurora though without really having to apply too much pressure walks
It just keeps on dropping these which you know sitting here with mp9 and a flash and no real close support
Well, he could still just whittle this down by drawing them into him
But as he tries to chuck that flash up Broke he strikes well
Madge are dropping nades mid walk out from Karrigan's a one and done
And while Madge are still concerned about catwalk
He's got to forego control of long you think flash comes through
He's gonna try to pounce him and Zanteris collecting those frags from the catwalk play from Jacob a step too late
Aurora called into the action on their terms will get themselves established to the three round lead
That was probably a 50-50 situation with that flash push. Kate phase could have shut it down
But the timing is beautiful. I like when Aurora are just like getting extra aggressive in spots where the other team is too
and Woxic absolutely stealing this
kill away versus twist of all people
with the instant MP9 headshots
that's that thing sings off on the right foot
game goes to three phase go to pistols
Yeah, it keeps it bleak with this buy.
But he's gonna offer nades right back
They don't fully dump the utile
We also don't get the full-blown commitment just yet second volley of utile goes over top of the middoors
Yeah, it looks like a roaring, you know, they know what's coming right here
It is just about a little bit a lot the flashes excellent that no luck involved in that
Car player also eats one soul fly able to kill Jacob
doesn't wait shots for the frozen frag and now that pistol gets swept under the rug twists
unfortunately the MP9 goes dry and Xanterra is right there to conclude the 12th round win
for Aurora as their fire starts to grow here on map 3 starting to feel the ability to close
out this series to keep the challenge of phase clan at bay.
Good energy right there for Madger and a split that you know it can work but it's
The map's a bit too quiet, Aurora are just a little too suspicious about the thought of a B-split.
They don't need to over rotate, they have everything in place.
Their CD setups are obviously gonna be solid no matter what.
and
That'll make it harder for Kerrigan to make the perfect call.
He'll have to guess a bit.
Trying to draw out some kind of reaction.
Jacob is the tip of the spear right now.
Utility pressure is coming through. Well-time flashbang blinds the AWPer, but Jacob was into the corner, so he dodges it and punishes.
5v4 off of Jacob's third kill in this map.
map. This one's only thought it was gonna be coming. B Broke he's actually
changing his plant. I don't know. Out through tunnels back into mid. Okay here
it is. Has to be Xanteris to help out. Oh, Jacob's fourth of the map. Secures the
mid play. Should secure the split into the B bomb site. And he's gonna go
stomping. That's when Soulfly strikes. But now back turned towards the guy
out mid. Kerrigan and Frozen combined for the window pinch. And that is a B
bomb site taken over by phase clan Jacob doubles his kills this round and within it phase find
their first on the attack five rounds into it and you can really you can see still what
Jacob can do but if you watch that first half back we're talking about two rifle rounds
where he literally just got killed through the door on the cross rounds and be where
he's saving where he ends up dying it's not like he had the luckiest half overall
uh... considering a series so
start to like to save the day if he's really got some more left in the tank
but
for now i don't think or are going to be too pressed about losing one round here
in the second half
That flash dodge caught the player in the doorway, but Jacob dodged it perfectly.
And Santerras really didn't mask his approach either, right?
He comes stomping down through CT spawn, very obvious that he was in that corner.
Jacob makes the most of the moment.
Roky unable to collect on the cross and Woxic has found space down in the tunnels.
Flash makes it awkward, he sticks around.
Jacob right above this angle.
There's no guarantee Woxic can even fall back through those middoors so for now he
will remain adamant down here in the tunnels. Wow, I mean this is a huge risk.
Wakata is carefully watching, but can't totally support him and they they drop
their guard a little bit. They just don't think he'd be playing that risky. The
Molly comes to top mid, walks the guy to the escape route now. It's a bit hot,
but he's still afforded an escape. Nobody actually taught middle to make
sure he does get boxed in and stay there. I like them playing the, you
know, dangerous games like that.
Because as much as you know, if they ran down at him, Wakata can only do
so much that one Molly was really all they needed to stop them. Aurora showing a
willingness to make these risky round-winning potentially match-winning
moves but there's twists we've had to wait for him to get back into the
action doesn't waste a bullet off the shoulder peak. Madger riddled and then
twist crossed instantly Molotov over towards the cat player that's gonna keep
them disengaged from sight but Soulfly does pick up that kill towards top mid
Man advantage for Aurora, held on to.
And they'll disrupt the bomb plant for the time being, still extra time, sure.
Trying to pop open that smoke, but not fully.
And then, with Kadia just runs into the waiting hands of Kerrigan.
He doesn't believe it, because there's only three up.
Someone would have been that deep on Long.
Wise move from Kerrigan.
To a stable to fall back into the ramp now.
This position secured by Kerrigan's long frag.
Brokey will not miss the chance to strike one down, but Soulfly.
He's gonna catch Twist off guard, Karrigan drawn back from long.
It's damaged both directions and on shot that can't whiff.
But he does and that opens the door for Woxic's clutch.
You've got him in the open.
Woxic right there to end it.
Jumps on top of bomb with Kit and Aurora.
Find 11.
That's a miracle.
I think that Karrigan even got one kill with the health in his position, but needed
the clutch too.
Couldn't deliver that.
Broke, he's gotta land that.
Yeah, he does.
I mean I was looking at both those fights and I thought the CTs are gonna win both
So again the fact that it comes down to 1v1 already kind of crazy, but
Broke he was so pressed up against that wall. He was gonna get spotted first
Hope's dwindling now
It's a flat T half coming out of phase clan one singular win on the second half
Excellent opening from twists on long, punishing the shoulder, Kerrigan gets away with the
freebie on the flank as well, but Kerrigan's also in such a tough spot, once Brokey misses
the shot from Goose, once he opens the door for that challenge from the bomb site
for the last CT.
They don't have that same consistent ability to get kills on the cross like we saw from Broke on those double doors.
No, that Woxic output was immense.
They're so grouped up inside of Long, I mean, it's all they've got.
It's not that bad of a place to be in, but they will turn around multiple times.
Offers give it a chance to just dump utility, frozen tag by that one down to half,
but you've got Kerrigan trying to run this up point blank.
He'll get stuffed by Xanterres. Jacob, same open tool.
Oh, it's a double and twist helping hand. Serves off the opening kills.
Bomb has been scooped back up in the process.
Nate from Acadia, does he press his luck?
He wants to push the issue though
Bomb tucked in behind those boxes
Acadia and soul fly tasked for the 2v3 but look at the health here for phase clan
They're actually thinking about the money and the guns that they have falling back now
So face clan pull off this split. It's the lurk out middle into the mid B smoke
And
And another good round here.
And the second half for Jacob, two key multi-kills
that we've got from him.
You mentioned it, having the first half.
He was just kind of muzzled, right?
Denied the crossover to the B site.
You've been forced into the saves or the B site retake.
Yeah, somebody look at that, and you know, oh, we only
had two unlucky deaths, but it's two full rifles.
Yeah, like, we just heard Blade talk about,
if you win three important rifle rounds and a half,
like you've just, you can just win the game in MR12.
And so those were not small frags that Woxic picked up on him.
It's an interesting sequence now too, because we've gotten four rounds back and forth, non-consecutive
wins, money under pressure, Aurora's lead under that same pressure, 5-0 start to the
The first half of 4-0 start to the second, but everything they have is invested in this
one for Aurora and Woxic makes sure to set up shop with an opening kill towards Long.
Just a better opera today.
Now starting to feel his impact throw, both halves, with opening duels like that one.
Secures Madger's position, but it is still going to be Kerrigan to test the waters
up Catwalk. T's drop this fake Molotov behind Kerrigan trying to convince Aurora that he
isn't as close as he is. Now the trajectory on the Nade will let him know he was just
there on the brink of it. But what's your move, FaZe?
The fog of war is massive. They've just got this single point of contact on Cat.
No lurks in place.
They've got to brute force this.
Ouch.
Bit of chip damage there for half a phase to deal with.
Woxic's at the chance.
He is on you, but-
They let him live.
There's no full commitment to the corner.
And so Woxic's actually given a chance to breathe.
Bomb goes down for Catwalk and FaZe Clan will be happy to just-
Oh my God, they're not all walking back.
They're back into that post plant.
They can't be that closed off.
They'll get one smoke and lose.
But there are no smokes actually from the CT side.
God incendiary to maybe keep them at bay.
Good kill from Jacob.
Xanterras will not be a part of this retake.
Frag grenade with Jacob's name on it.
Lance, we've got Twist and Frozen into the kill feed,
and it is nothing but phase clan coming out clutch
towards that post plant.
One kill back the Aurora wave.
That's it.
That's all.
We've got consecutive rounds for FaZe now.
Now they fully believe, and it's every single T round
that FaZe have won.
Jacob has a 2K.
Can we stop with the fuel opening?
I mean, now, even Jacob having this score line, it's not his best.
But the impact already in this game, once he's gotten a chance to actually play the round,
shows us the quality of play he's brought all day long now.
And there it is.
Yeah, because you look at this, Spy, and uh-oh, no, not like this.
No, please not like this.
Oh my gosh.
Into the gun! Into the gun.
Oh! Knife into the...
Insta-kill AK Wackadia, half health, three teammates down to just scoop up control.
But he's gonna let his guard down and die to frozen. Okay.
Oh my goodness.
They make mistakes, they get a little too excited about the opening, and it will be the face clan close.
Exactly, holy shit is right.
Yo, you guys see that?
Like he teleported there or something.
Man, that was a bit too much.
He did it for the money back stab and the second player, you know
Got a panic reaction there from care again. Yeah, you can hear the mid player as well
Yeah, that one needs a time now that's just reset your nerves
That's a roller coaster of emotions because you see that kill feed and you're like
I'm like, we're actually going to take this all back.
Xanteras just hit a desk.
All of a sudden, it doesn't even matter.
We're about to win an eco.
And actually, FaZe recover right away.
When you get two kills in lower tunnels,
so you grab the AK, go sprinting towards T-Spawn
and catch a guy waiting outside tunnels.
Or rather, you don't catch him.
You get caught by him.
KD getting a little excited with his opening.
the game is a one round game.
This gives Brokey a chance to
respond, man, because, you know,
Woxics put a stamp on this map,
on this series, across all these
maps, but he's just like Brokey's
getting bested in so many
dimensions of this game so far.
But now that we're down to
But now that we're down to the wire, all that matters is these next couple of rounds.
There's a lot of rumblings of utility out middle and there wasn't anything behind it until this point.
Jacob decides to jump out.
And we haven't had Aurora take any kind of a defensive stance to deal with this.
Again, a whole lot of noise here for FaZe Clan, but what have they really established?
Jacob out through the mid-doors, Brokey working alongside him, carries the bomb with a smoke
to block off any CT play.
This B-bomb site of Wukadia and Soulfly currently no support unless Xantares can
pop this open at the right moment.
The nade's a little short, and we go 30 seconds on the clock.
Now, three players out middle, an additional smoke grenade
to really put the squeeze onto this B bomb site.
Soulfly's positioned.
It's only good for one.
Wikadia, a bit desperate, doesn't
have to worry about mid.
Bomb has been dropped, broken.
Oh.
There to try to recover.
Wikadia hangs on from the car.
Oper's got to get in through the doorway, but down he goes.
And Twist doesn't have time.
He has to run at this, but there's
No reason to fight him.
Wacadia tucks, they get 12.
And a death after time.
25 frags for twists, three kills on the round,
but the clock decides this one.
And that mid-squeeze comes up Aurora.
That looked actually scary for a second one.
Xanteris freaked out and ran into the smoke spraying.
But he had teammates on this round, that's for sure.
The wikadia versus frozen dual is everything in that moment
So much rested on that the entire round absolutely and now it'll be phase fighting to get into overtime two match points
After a three round phase streak and
and 25 kills to Twist's name.
Still a full buy on the cards in this early tunnel's play out of phase clan.
Sofly solo B commitment. We got a lot more presence out of Aurora on middle.
And a stark contrast to the last round where there was nobody home and all this free real estate for phase.
Will this reposition Aurora setup catch them off guard for match point?
The first wave of smoke grenades fades.
Kind of love the call here for Aurora. You've got Madger over out long.
He can stay here pretty much forever.
They've got a flex player towards B, witness, three B lean phase one, a piece of
this is a dangerous game for Woxic to remain floating out here.
Kerrigan is going to try to test the waters as that second smoke goes down on CT spawn.
If he tries to cheat through this smoke, it took line and sinker walks it.
Damage dealt.
MP9 collects.
They're stopped on the side of the tunnel smoke and it goes up.
Empty handed.
Aurora trying to bounce back into this one and they do it in convincing fashion
just when FaZe felt like they had momentum and will get ripped from their hands.
Another loss for FaZe Clan in 2026.
and 10 their record since Budapest and Aurora find momentum off of pro league
Grand Finals and here into their opening game of Rotterdam I cannot believe
just how good Maui is at his jump. 13-10 it went exactly that way and honestly when
we saw their opening of Dust2 here I was like there is something in the
that Maui's having and I don't want any of it because Aurora were running away with it.
It didn't feel like a phase at any foot or any say in what was happening for Dust.
I really don't feel like any of the teams played like particularly great this one.
I think both teams looked sort of sloppy and looking at Aurora coming off of the
grand final in Pro League, you know, it's not really, that's not really what I expected
to see from a team that just had like a recent success, right?
I mean like, Faze tried to claw the way back, you know, we know the
struggles that they have and obviously coming into this game, they did really
to try their best to try and bring it back and they had glimpses especially winning a
nuke that looked good but overall I mean like Aurora got the win in the end but it wasn't
like the most pretty one.
No of course not but you're still going to take it I mean I feel like they would obviously
would have wanted to win in to I think nuke was a game that definitely you're going to
go back to the drawing board and try to figure out how some of those rounds slipped
away from you but maybe we can find that out.
We definitely can because we have the absolute pleasure of having Wuxik join us it's
It's great to see you went off to a victory as well.
Maybe, I don't know, where's the energy
for you personally getting the win over phase?
Yeah, if we were about to lose, I wouldn't be here.
Then when we win, yeah, that's a good energy.
So yeah, I mean, overall, we started bad, like a nuke.
We could have been close to the map also in nuke
and we could maybe make it to zero.
But we made like a silly mistake
and we just did a talk between the maps
that we need this game, the fourth stage tree.
We need to get our shape back and we need to be full focus on winning second and third.
So I think it's worked.
Did you expect Faze to be as proactive on their CT side?
I felt like every time you were doing anything outside, they sent one, two guys in lobby
practically every time.
And so all of your A crunches just kind of, they just got stopped because they always
controlled that.
Yeah.
Actually, we had the game plan about them.
They will maybe leave outside, but I think they will leave some people on the garage,
and also when he's going to get the contact from Heaven, he will swing this kind of thing,
but in the start of the game, we never saw anyone.
We were sneaking all the way around the map, so they were also moving behind us.
But the thing is, we were not expecting from them to play like this, like pro-active
all the time, because they left completely open for us to outside, and it made us
get confused, I think.
And then on those two, where you're a little bit worried,
like you had a 5-0 start and then they came back and, you know,
I mean, Faze can always have it for my kind of play.
And they can always be tough to play against, right?
So, did you have a little bit of a moment
where you got a little bit nervous
or did you always just believe in the game plan
and how would you rate your own like team performance
in this stage?
I think team performance after we just giving the comeback
from I think 5-0 or 6-0, from that they made the comeback.
I think everyone was like still calm
and they said like, we just throw the rounds, guys.
So we just gave it by our hands.
So if we just keep play focus on the city side,
so we can close the game.
And I think I like the mentality of them just saying it.
And also I just say to personally, guys,
it should have been like maybe 9-0.
Like, shouldn't be like this.
It's like 6-6, let's go.
We win the pistol and I'm getting the AWP
and we're just winning.
That's what I just did, like a motivation talk.
But I hope it helped them.
So is it always you doing that sort of motivation talk when you get into situations like that?
Usually it's me and Maier, both of us, always just never step down guys.
Really? We always have a foot in the door, you know, they're going there, they're on a game point and you're like no, we can still win this one.
Yeah, we can still win, if they're not 13, you can always come back. He knows this so much.
I've tried it a couple of times.
I feel like we've seen so much growth in your career as a player, I mean, before you're kind of that, you know, wild opera, and then now I feel like you're kind of a bastion of consistency for this team.
Beyond that, the way you're talking now about just being so collected and being able to be the motivational or morale leader on top of it, I mean, what made you kind of step up in that regard, just on the kind of the out of server intangibles?
Like the motivations, where do those come from?
It was always in me, when I was also playing for Maus, back in the days in my Turkish teams as well,
I was always doing these talks because I always knew that if we play like our game, we can just make it.
If I'm not even believing, I'm just saying with my mouth to motivate the people.
Also here, that was the missing part, that's about here, and that's why every time I cannot step down if I'm down.
I'm not human, you know. That's why I need to be like always saying like yeah guys let's go, let's go, we're making it, we're making it.
If I'm even died like a retard for someone I cannot be killed, I cannot be shown to them. I need to live it inside of me.
I really want to try and pick your brain because you've just recently picked up Soulfly and you're a full Turkish team obviously.
And you know it's got a lot more common that we see in this national teams because you can get more players and everything.
players and everything, but how is it to be a national line up like yourself in Turkey?
And how do you see yourself, like how's the mood in the camp?
Do you actually feel like you are moving forward in a position where you also can fight the
Troves because you've had your struggles with Arenas before, like how you just recently
made it to the to the plan final in Pro League where you unfortunately lost to Navi, but
how's the mood in the camp after getting soul fly and how is it to have a full national
line up?
I think like I can start with the first one.
It's great to play with your own language basically, but the problem is it's just
The team's pick is just sometimes more chaotic than in English, so that was my issue at the
start of the international because I had been playing for like 5-6 years in Turkish team,
so I forgot how chaotic it is sometimes.
And when we just started, I was struggling fully because blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
because all infos are so easy for them to say, it's not like in English, and not
just saying I'm throwing flash, boom, it's not like this, long sentences comes
and boom as well and also at the same time someone else talking so at the start it was bad
for me to adapt it but in the end I was able to make it and for the soulfly part that when he joined
I think he's playing really smart uncle role and also trying to survive and buy time for that
his teammates that who is doing rotation I think because of that that we were like more winning
like the rounds that it was about to go towards the opponent. So I think if we just gonna be
like this in a great shape and also you know always the fresh blood is just gives you more
kind of motivation to go further. So today I can tell yes we can get a trophy that's the
feeling that I have since we also like eliminated in the final but this final is always good
to rather than illuminating quarters. So step by step we go in I think. So what about maybe major?
Who knows? Who knows? Interesting. I have one really quick question just following up on the
whole language aspect you said. Yeah. It's like a really long sentence in Turkish and in English
it's fast. I mean if you spoke both languages equally well. Did you stole my question? That's
so unfair! That's so unfair! Is it easier to play in English? No, I mean we just made
We made shortcuts already for the Turkish, sometimes slowly, but we talked about it and it didn't work as well.
You actually did try it anyway.
We tried.
For a couple of days we tried and someone just started to say, why are we not giving this info bro?
I didn't know the word or something so that's why we removed it.
Instantly going back to our own language guys.
Can't do both?
Oh yeah, mix it up.
Yeah, mixes. Anyway, anyway, it's already mixed up. Our most of the information is in English.
Even like the position names are in English. So it's mixed up.
I guess you get that from Facebook and everything.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's it. Yeah, well there you go. Now I was going to scramble for another question, but instead I'm just going to say congratulations.
Look, it was really nice to get to talk to you and break everything down that happened over this series and congratulations again.
Thank you.
Yeah, appreciated a lot there and it's a lot of fun getting to talk to players in this manner
Always and now we're stealing my question at the end. Well, that kind of felt a little bit bad
But at least we still got the answer to I like I like it's what I earn with what I earn when I get a prediction correct
Okay, that's fine. You can take my question. They don't happen often. Apparently, I know
We have to get the bomb it up now. It's 3.4% exactly if I ever decide to go back playing and just join Aurora
I can just talk English, right? Yeah
They want that now, right? No, it's faster, it's faster, you know.
They probably wouldn't consider me, but it's fine.
I do like that he was willing to give credit where credit was due for how FaZe did play on Nuke,
saying, yeah, we weren't expecting it, we weren't ready for it,
we weren't really prepared for the way that they were doing it.
And that is things that we were saying, and it's like Aurora get to learn a whole new thing.
A lot of viewers, a lot of other teams now get to be like, where is this FaZe exactly sitting?
I'm just glad that walks a confirm kind of what I said in the pregame to nuke
where I'm used to just seeing them just sit on their heels they just wait for
action you know maybe they'll stop a guy because they're already in heaven but
instead today we did get a little bit of a wrinkle like like phase change some
things up it caught Aurora off guard for one map but unfortunately that was
more or less the extent of their game plan for this series they had a
couple little neat ideas which worked in their favor on nuke but through and
through Aurora prove why they were the favorites with a very, I'd say commanding went on Inferno.
And even though things got tied on Dust2, I was pretty confident Aurora were going to
walk away with it.
Yeah, like if you take team pound by pound, you know, I think there was more mistakes
in the face side. And I think the team play definitely proved to pull Aurora over the
finish line. They had more options and more situations where they just had like that
specific flashbang or the setup or the situation getting out of the diary things.
I think FaZe most of the time, the majority of the rounds they got was off the individuals.
Like Jacob had a really good series, I'd say maybe he surely dropped off on those two,
but then Twizz stepped it up, so they did take turns, right?
They didn't have all of them playing on and firing on all-center.
Maybe a little bit of Nuke, that's where everyone contributed the most, right?
But I mean, we're just still left in a position where FaZe is, you know, we expect
more of them, but at the same time it's...
It's the strangest thing to see a team that was in the major grand finals, and
then it almost feels like they're building from the ground up, even though they
they just had what was really the biggest achievement
for the roster.
It's kind of like, how are we back to square one
off of like, usually ride the high of a deep run like that.
And then some part of you also wants to be like,
okay, well, what if we ignore that?
Like, what do we really expect of this roster?
Like, what if we just treat it
as if it was a new roster coming together?
And even then that still feels really hard to be so like,
yeah, that's a great foundation.
That's a good opening for this team
and a tournament when it's kind of lying to the mirror.
But I'm actually left with a feeling that one of the reasons why I think it's tough for Faze is that you had Twist leaving the team right,
what going to Liquid now coming back, he left the team at a point where they were obviously in a better place than they are now.
You had Brokie being benched and then actually coming back. It's like they're recycling the players and maybe they're also left with that old feeling that
we used to be this good now, we're not and what has actually changed. And I think when Brokie did come back from that break,
You know, I think he did prove himself a little bit more, you know, it was a talking point that maybe he wasn't really putting in the effort and being that teammate or the player that we knew he could be, but it's like he's falling a little back into that.
You need to bench him again and bring him back again, that's what you're saying.
Yeah, that's what he's saying.
Maybe we should just like, we should do like a social experiment.
We should bring...
Just bench everybody, bring it back again.
We're at a point where we're sort of out of vitality.
So let's just take rubs out of vitality and then we're going to take rain back for hundreds of feet, just see if it actually works out.
I love your ideas, but I'm not sure that's what I can go on with when it comes to that.
But I do want to talk about exactly what are the implications for the win and loss for Aurora
and FaZe, respectively, there for themselves, and that is, of course, then checking out
what our Group A bracket is looking like.
We saw it earlier where Falcons and Navi got that win for themselves.
Aurora get to continue up in the upper bracket for where we do see now FaZe fall
down to that second chance of the low bracket, whatever you want to coin it there, and get
to sit by and await idly as to if they're going to be coming up against Furia or Tyloo, who
are going to be playing just in a little bit.
If you're FaZe and you do face off against Tyloo in the coming days and you lose that,
we need more changes.
Wow.
We might already do need more changes, but we need them even faster, like even quicker,
expedite the process.
You're like jumping already.
Express mail.
Express mail.
So what'd you get?
That's a great question.
Depends who you're benching.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
You've got to keep the core at least.
I mean, I also want to see who they're bringing in
as a full-time coach.
That makes sense.
That is the thing you said right now.
We don't make those comparisons.
We do still have to give some amount of leeway.
And whilst it wasn't a win for Faze,
it was still a fantastic showing,
a lot of fun that we got to see for them.
And the fun continues.
We do still have that whole another series.
But before we get to it, we're
going to watch a little bit of content
Come back to you guys with a guest.
But yeah, that's how it looks.
Travel days, it's always so tough.
We are travelling like all together,
like five players, coach, manager.
I mean, usually the year starts with a bootcamp
before the first tournaments.
In Navi, we are bootcamping quite a lot.
We tend to have a bootcamp at the start of the season,
at the end of the season, before the major.
And sometimes we might even have a bootcamp in the middle.
We have now grinded practice at home for two weeks,
maybe two days off.
Then you go into a tournament and you get met by extreme happy emotions or extreme sad emotions.
The best part of all of this is definitely competition.
When you're making deep fronts, especially if you're winning a tournament,
you get the benefits of the hard work you put in.
When you're losing constantly, even if you might go home a couple of days earlier,
you're thinking of what would have happened if we beat this team or win the tournament.
As appropriate, you need to fight to stay mentally strong.
You have to fix mistakes, you have to adjust.
You have to prepare for the next day, you go into the game and then you repeat.
This year was pretty hard for us I would say because we had the bootcamp tournament just
a few days off, then another tournament, then again just three or four days off.
Getting energy again is one of the most important thing for me.
I've done this for 25 years now.
I have my family close, I have my wife close and those are the people I see the most,
but not a lot.
Trailing a lot of countries, sometimes even back to back,
down to returning home.
I'm used to it, I guess.
I think one of the most important things as a team
is the team dynamic.
We are five people on the server,
and if one person is missing outside the game,
ultimately, it feels very less.
In Albin, we try to have the balance
of not spending time 24-7 with each other.
I'm close with EMA, for example.
I'm close with Makaaza.
We might spend more time with each other.
Overall, you're still gonna be in the practice room
with all your teammates for countless of hours a day.
When we, let's say, go out for dinner or we go for a team work,
we always try to be together, like the whole team.
Everybody has to commit to the same amount,
sacrifice the same things,
and only then you can reach the trophies.
What makes the whole year worth it is the majors.
I always have the best feeling of my life
when my parents were watching me
and my best friends were watching me.
So I just think that's the peak
of the big tournament calendar.
Everyone is looking for winning and this is what makes competition like being real.
I'm here for one reason, I'm here to win everything I can and the day I stop, I have time for everything else in my life.
There's a little bit of insight as to how a year in the pro would go by for themselves
and I mean I could just pose the same question to another professional that we have joining us here.
Imagine, what would you say your year looks like as a pro player?
I think since two years, like we are in the top 10 now, so there is a lot of tournament.
Like before that, we was not in the top 10.
So there is not a lot of tournament, like since one half a year, two years.
But just one year, it's a lot of tournaments in a row, going outside, airport, hotel.
Yeah, so much again, preparation, like a routine, you know, like everyday routine.
With so many events do you ever feel that the schedule gets a little too full-on and you're like
Hey, actually, I really just don't want to play in this tournament like mentally. I need to take a break
I can't do another you know, I can't do another six flights right now. The things is it with my age now
I try to not have some regrets that you told you know when you stop construct then you have regrets
So I'm not flaming or I'm not thinking about a lot of that for me
It's okay if I do a lot of tournaments in a row, etc.
Now I accept that, I embrace the pain,
mentally, my body, because I know that with my age now,
I'm 35, like it's my last moment, you know,
where I can take pleasure playing.
So I try my best to give everything I have.
And for me now, I'm enjoying because I like competitive,
I like playing against teams strategically, etc.
I like in the morning watching some demos of my enemy extra,
so I still have the fire inside of me, and maybe one day while I will not have this fire,
maybe I will say to my teammates, guys, that's over for me, and I will go out.
Can you feel a difference from now that you've moved up to tier 10 and tier 1
and playing more tournaments that you have less time to practice at home,
like theory crafting and figuring out strategies and everything?
Do you think you have limited time now, or how is it working out for you?
Yeah, we are not protesting at home at all. I think when we have time we do comp also so it's hiding in the shadow, you know
Yeah, it's playing come to strike to be honest like I think it's the dream for everyone
You know as a player you play games you win your life with it. You traveling, you know, bro
you feel that and I think
With my age and I try to I understand that so I try to take pleasure of that
I tried to protect Asia without it.
I mean, it's obviously tough when you're just playing tournament after tournament.
I feel like we kind of saw maybe a little bit of that burnout last year for you guys,
where it just was such an onslaught of tournaments that it was hard for you to reinvent things.
But I would say actually, I've been critical sometimes of your guys' T-sides,
but I'd say coming into this year, I'm seeing a couple more diverse plays here and there,
like the way you even ran one of your T-side rounds on Inferno today,
just kind of making sure you went out B by yourself that one round.
You still had Wikipedia in middle, you have Soulfly in apps,
like those kind of like more spread out rounds.
I don't really remember those in your guys' game as much last year.
So you still are finding a way to reinvent yourselves.
Like how is it just like being self-critical
and like coming up with new plays there?
You know, like, yeah, I know that your criticism is a lot,
also me, etc., but I think criticism is part of the job.
I accept it, you know.
And I take my team like a end of poker, you know?
I don't feel that I have a hand, and I have to show strongness with my hand.
And sometimes my hand is not strong, but like you say, the last match we played a lot of IA speed with smoking archer and liberary.
And today I knew that they knew that.
So I put double smoke and I just insta-beat up like four people,
but also putting wicket there, making some pressure, like you say.
It's just about trying to play good Counter-Strike,
and also with the players I have,
I can't play like Fourier, you know, on the word pass,
like default every once slow,
because when I try to do that, we get punished.
So I say to myself, instead of trying,
playing beautiful Counter-Strike with the player I have
that's not working, at this I play more stack sometimes,
but I accept also that we have to play sometimes like Fourier.
You have to have both styles,
and this year I tried to adapt to have this bot style, you know, in my playbook.
How does Soulfly factor into that? I mean, sometimes he's being used a little bit,
kind of as an extremity, as a lurker at times. I don't know, with Jota it felt like he was more
even though sometimes he starts the round like that, it felt like you brought him into the
pack or he would rejoin the pack a little bit more. Do you find a little bit more comfort
just leaving Soulfly on the edge of the map? Yeah, I feel more comfortable with him
And also, I think he understands Michael better than Jota was understanding.
I think he's more intelligent, to be honest.
Oh, okay.
And I think, for me, he's still young, still playing new on stage, etc.
And he's trying his best, but for now I'm happy about his performance.
Yeah, you're talking about how young he is.
Do you think he's been taking a bit more of a role-model approach for him?
Like who's been helping him settle into a higher tier of CS at the moment and coming up against like these players having those live
That's what I mean, so people
Respect I gotta praise it where it is. It's my role also like I try to be also fighter for them
Also, I try to make so I prefer it for them
But it's not it's not easy as a in-game leader to make AP happy everyone in the team
You know you have to make happy everyone
But sometimes you can't and also sometimes it's telling me like example another pass
I want to play like more ropes going short the picking going most your contact
I say you can do it bro
But you have to find the balance of that like if you go two three times and you're dying if I lose my
my right side
Peter like in the right side on my default
So how can I play more default, like, trying to find balance, you know?
Not everybody can call, like, Apex when they don't have rops.
That's just safely said.
I mean, Kerrigan obviously lost a lot of his mid-rounding ability
when he doesn't have a guy like that, so it makes sense.
Obviously, you're working with the tools that you have
and trying to just put together the best system.
Yeah, man.
I have a funny question.
You've been playing this game for ages.
I believe you play 1.6, right?
Yeah.
So you go back in the days, right?
And I feel like we've been playing against each other for a while, you know?
And I remember you, one of the teams I remember you playing, it was Space Soldiers.
And, you know, I feel like you've got in and out of the Turkish team playing with Santerros,
playing with Vox, Kalex, you know, all these players.
Have they kicked you so many times?
Oh, how has it been going?
No, they kicked you.
Or did you bench yourself?
How did you?
No, they kicked me one time.
Oh, no.
But, you know, the things is we are not like your country or in Turkey,
there is not a lot of player.
Like even for Softly, I didn't have a lot of choice.
Yane hopefully is good, but there is not a lot of player in Turkey
because they're all going to Valorant.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
They're going to Valorant because of the ecosystem there.
Like, when you're young and you want to win money
and you want to make a career in eSports,
Valorant is a way better choice than Construct today in Turkey.
So they're all choosing, all young people,
all young players choosing Valorant, infinitely.
So it's not easy.
Even when I will stop, I don't know if I'm leading
for them, hopefully.
I don't know, but let's see.
But I assume this is the best team that you've been in with these guys, right?
This is...
Yeah, yeah, with Santair as a part of the team.
Maybe in the past prime in Space Soldier, maybe you've been in the past.
Yeah, I do.
No shot, this is better.
Yeah, this is the best team I have, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's perfect.
I'm gonna use the other team.
I guess also, when we talk to Woxic, I mean, the way that he's also able to be,
I guess, a morale leader, you know, the way he's able to help rally the troops.
I mean, I'm sure that's kind of a back and forth thing with you.
How self-directed is he?
because I feel like obviously your AWPer needs to control some of the action there.
Like, for example, the very last round you guys won on Dust 2 when he kind of sets up towards B.
Who's making those kinds of calls?
Yeah, in the beginning on CT side it's me.
Like, I decided also this year to also try to call all the gambler on CT also
because I feel like when we play default, sometimes we don't have a high chance winning runs
so sometimes playing like a parry vision style, sometimes it's needed, you know?
And the last round, yeah, I told him go B.
And in other words, I said, let's play 2B, but with 3 smokes.
And extra, extra, but he's a player that he needs some freedom.
I try also to make him happy, but sometimes I need also to my MVP
to make some support plays, you know, so it's also middle things.
He likes to be free, you know, a lot.
I try to find a balance with him, but he's very professional
and very strong mentality.
He has the most better mentality in the team with me, I think.
It seems like it.
Together, we mentality, we keep the team high when it's needed, yeah.
From player to hand game, I think the whole freedom question is the one thing that I've
asked my, the most about in my career, like, hey, I need more freedom because I'm not
getting any fights.
Why are you always telling me to do this X and Y?
So I mean, I think it's extremely hard for me to try and balance that.
Do you see his side more now, you're like, Matt, you're doing good.
Because four players want everything, sometimes.
So you have to show up sometimes, right?
Yeah.
I have one last question, because we don't get to hear from Faber all that much.
I mean, what kind of, what does he provide for?
He's a very good coach, to be honest.
He's not speaking very well English.
That's why you guys don't listen to him.
But he has the same knowledge of construct that I have since 20 years.
He's an old player in 1.6 in Turkey.
He has a lot of respect with the old teammates that we have.
All the players respect him a lot because he's an old, star Turkish player in 1.6.
So they're all young.
was watching him playing. So he's helped a lot. He has a good knowledge, but I have a chance that
he's letting me a lot of freedom in my game plan on T side. Like I tell him like Faberett,
today I will call this, this, this, this. Okay, we talk together, but most of the time he says,
I believe in you. Yeah, you were right. Like, but we can change this one in this run. So it's
a good synergy between me and him. And I really like that I can have also control as an in-game
because sometimes when you have a coach maybe more blade in the system maybe I
don't know blade but from outside it's like more system look. Yeah controls more
of what's happening. Yeah I like sometimes I have the controller so it's important also for me.
Well it was really fun to get to Toti Madra and I you know respect that you
you took all that time that you could for us and hopefully get to speak to you
a little bit more in the future because you are one step closer to making
it to Rotterdam somewhere that everyone that wants to be hopefully
we'll get to see you there as well and we're gonna be taking it one step
Closer to our next series today, which is going to be a tylu up against a feria. Thank you guys. See you. Thank you
Thanks. Nice
Hey, my name is Kerrigan, I'm currently at IDL for FaceClan and today we're doing some
map analysis.
The game we're looking at is Liquid vs. Heroic.
So first of all you want to always play for some mid control or at least throw some mids
as the CTs.
And most of the time you're actually out playing 2B.
So the third option is always are you going to control mid with 3 CTs or are
we're gonna control B with three CTs as well.
So what happened in the round is basically,
they took the option of starting two guys B,
counter the early aggression if it comes in
with utility as you normally see.
But they wanted the CT side to fight three guys mid.
So to set up the round,
they have to figure out how to wanna fight mid.
The utility down you get down in this,
what we call Poggedyler in our team,
is where there's a lot of HGs,
a lot of Molotovs and flashes,
and CTs are swinging with them.
In this case, what Liquid is calling for
is a classic tactic that's been played on Ancient for a while.
So they send the best spawned out mid
and Heroic decides to fight aggressive up window.
They wanna be in this area.
So they send twist out mid
with one guy supporting from spawn,
three guys running towards what we call A main with bomb.
And of course there's a default smokes mid.
We all have seen maybe a donut smoke,
that's a little bit of everything.
But the key thing here is the guy coming out mid,
the second he sees nothing,
I am pretty sure the call is walk A main
because if mid is clear, they are playing for A site,
right? Means there has to be players B and players A. So in this scenario, normally what
they want to happen is that the guy is running out mid. Hopefully he gets a kill with the
supporting back. When this scenario he didn't get the kill, but he got information about
the three players in mid. Meaning there is 90% chance no one is A. What they do next
is the key element of ancient. They are coming out well knowing the closest player is probably
here or he is in this area in spawn. So the round unfolds in this way that they
are rushing out of the main. The mid guy is coming back. The guy from red who
who supported the window guy has come back to CT.
So now this guy is smoked off from the angle here,
so he can't really support the guy.
Now the decision made by Liquid is really good.
The first two guys ribbon in hand,
third guy throws a flashbang behind the box over here
that blinds the angle all the way into the donut area.
These two guys swing, they take out the donut guy.
And now the key element in this thing is
sometimes people smoke donuts instead,
but in this scenario Liquid decided
to go in to take donut.
Mostly important with that is that they can plan the bomb
without getting spammed from two angles through the smokes.
So they are actually getting a map area
because on ancient Bayside you wanna take an area
especially when planting the bomb
because there is nowhere to go after you plant the bomb.
Liquid did the right thing.
They went in to kill the guy,
trade the guy,
but killed just in the middle
and therefore they had a good success
to setting up the after plant
and therefore win the round.
I hope you guys enjoyed this map analysis.
Bye me.
See you soon on Ancient.
I'm not feeling too well.
At least, was I good to you?
Yeah, you were, you were.
Do you think I was a good leader?
I prefer heart.
It's minus.
Work of art you said, yeah.
Yeah, I work of art.
Gabriel, you're a symbol for Brazil.
Yes.
Without you, there's no me, there's no SK.
There's no nominazity.
Oh man.
That takes it back.
Gabriel, you are so much more than all those who came before you.
They will fire in your heart and treat you as theirs.
The whole world knew to listen when fallen
and his own were in the clutch.
Then it was all worth it.
I'd give anything to have you back, Mr.
What the hell is this?
You just died, bro.
No, no, no.
It wasn't me.
That was bad falling.
Yeah.
That's not a really?
Yeah, and I'm good falling.
Okay.
I left you a friend that came back as a prophet.
I went far and beyond.
Alright.
I saw everything.
Now I know what I need to do to the next major.
Please tell me.
First we need a better helper.
Okay.
Who?
I got a molotov.
Molotov?
Molotov boy?
Who is this guy?
Calm down.
Wait.
I also revived a top ten wife from the world.
Cold zero, let's go.
You wish, kid.
Yeah, Kindar.
Oh boy, bad falling.
Please come back.
group A that we're focusing on and there is group B as well. You've got to wonder out of our 16 teams who really stands out among the rest that we've got to see at least six of them play now.
Yeah, I wonder why. Which one?
So ominous. I wonder which one it's going to be.
It's generic books, you know.
Yeah, I can do that. That's my scene. Yeah, that's for sure.
might need one off to that so anyway that's a shocker look at the graph then
by telling is probably the one you'd go for I mean being the best team in the
world and you know winning everything they're touching right now that could be
like a pretty safe option I feel like now is the time because people still have a
little bit of that uncertainty because people don't know after they took an
ESL probably off are they gonna come back in the same kind of lows before
you know the prediction changes on polymorph you want to get in right now and be like I'm I would say yeah
I'm low selling hot it's it's not getting any lower
It's not getting any lower. So you might as well now, okay?
Well, maybe outside of the obvious then of who's going to win the blast open who'd be your
Underdog dark horse someone that's actually got a leg in the race here
Someone that we might not be having close eyes on like vitality. Oh furia for me. Yeah, I mean I
Know what you're gonna say. Yeah, you want you think I'm gonna say mouse
Yeah. Yeah.
That's always good.
It's always good.
It's always good.
It's not the same house.
Not the same house.
When they lost, probably, it was like, no, not going to go.
Yeah.
I'm starting to lose my faith.
If I, this is going to sound weird, but I want to say Falcons, I know that they don't
have to be there.
Okay.
Yeah.
They did make it with Newquels.
Wild.
Yeah, they did make it.
This is wild.
Okay.
Sell me on it.
They did.
I think the main reason why Falcons is having, like, their issues in terms
of performing, I think that is the pressure.
I think it does take a little bit of edge of the pressure when they're playing
with the stand-in.
they did on Nelson where they played the ball, right?
So I think there's a case.
However though, if they do go up against my talent,
I do not think that they had the firepower
to actually go up against me.
Not gonna do it twice in a row.
No.
Because last time Niko had a crazy,
I don't want you to say life series
because he has a lot of life series.
That's what I mean.
He has so many, he has a whole collection of life series.
I mean, Falco's there at 7% on Point of Monk.
So you're taking those?
You're like, that's the prediction I'm going for?
It's my former coach there.
Sure he did pinch me a couple of times, but.
Are you still contractually obligated?
Is there something?
We're into that X-File.
I get a call of I get some oil.
Sometimes I feel like I mean, I'll explain mine with fury.
I mean, it's pretty low right now,
but they have the most recent track record of being a team that
has shown they can stand up to the elites.
This year has not been the same story,
although at what most people consider
to be the biggest event of the year so far in Krakow,
they made it to the grand finals.
And I feel like they were still kind of powering up
into the season.
obviously with EPL going as poorly as it did.
Some people will say that's a,
it obviously really kind of hurts the case for it.
But that's also another reason why you can get in low now
because-
You're a big man and I like that.
I just, yeah, I just think that they are,
they are gonna, they're gonna beat,
they're gonna beat Tyloo in our upcoming series.
There's no, there's no questions about it.
Yeah, spoiler, let's just fast forward
to the end of the day there.
But they're gonna beat them.
And I think the road for them is not all too,
I think your game that they would have if they be tightly, which they will is going to be the most telling to me
That's a limit test. I'd love to see lower down on the list. I know it's been going up and down a little bit
We obviously vitality being so high up. That's not a real shocker
But do you feel a little bit taken of God that liquid even have one percent?
That team is barely North American now. Oh, that's true
Well technically they just because they are in America now so they just got back
They got back to getting off so there's a case instead. It's probably still a little bit too high
Yes, it is. I mean the other ones are just I mean you're just shooting your shot at that at those ones
I think you're better options. Those are those are those are wild as one of my close co-hosts would say are you insane?
It's just crazy. That's just crazy. It happens. Yeah
Well look at it is fun though because I like to see it while there is obviously that one stand out there in Vitalino
can really go against that until you're proven otherwise, right? You just have to take the
information you have there. It is nice to know where your dark horses sit for you.
Dupree, it is Falcons. And then, of course, now you said at Furia, they're your dark horses.
And straight up, you're like, they're going to take it to Tyloo. They're going to win this one.
There is no argument. It felt that you were even opening the door for.
Things can always get a little weird versus Chinese teams, but in best of ones. We got
a best of three before us here. You got one map to recuperate, even if they swing for
for the fences and hit you with a knockout blow.
Fury can reset, they will reset.
I'm not worried whether it happens in two,
whether it happens in three,
Fury, they are the winners of the series.
Tylo's undefeated.
I'm reaching.
Okay, okay.
No, no, no.
Interesting, interesting.
That addition there to that point.
You needed to say they're undefeated
with that new player.
Seven series win streak.
Yeah. 13 maps.
It's a good sample size.
Some would say it's not enough.
I say it's a bright sign for the future for them.
Yeah, Tyloo with their latest addition in zero,
replacing attacker.
They do look like they're just carving up
the Chinese scene right now.
But reality check for everybody,
that doesn't really mean quite as much as it would
had they had been playing even a Dracula.
Okay, I'm gonna say like a local European land to me
is more impressive than beating Chinese teams
in Tyloo's position.
I feel like this is something that keeps happening
for the Asian teams. They are specifically more likely for Tyloo. They look good in their
own region. You know, Mongols are not really participating in those events anymore. They
look good. They can take down the likes of Blue Mission FlyQuest. Sorry to put the Australians
a little bit under the bus. I know that you are...
Man, I'm just catching strays. I'm just saying.
I know, but I mean, it's always the same. Like, they do good in their own region.
They come to Europe. They look bad. They go back home. They're trying to get better.
They go back. They do poor again. They go back, you know.
They maybe win one series. They do win one series sometimes here and there.
For Tyloo now, moving into taking on the second best team in the world, I mean, sure, like Tyloo is coming from a position where they probably could have done better at home, right?
They're undefeated, they're now in a position where they've got a new player, I think the attacker moving to the assistant coach role is a good move, not only for him but for the team, so that is like a really good approach for the team as of right now.
But sure, I mean, the caliber of teams coming here is just at another level, so it's different.
I want to pick up where you're talking about it right now, Attacker moving to more of a supporting role.
I actually got to speak with G and that is exactly what I asked him about.
You guys recently moved Attacker to the support staff for the side of Tailu.
What's it like being able to use his wisdom and have him support you in that role?
Attacker. I think he's our mentality doctor.
Yeah, he is very important for us, Attacker. Our mentality doctor.
Very important attacker.
I love it. And of course, then, you know, picking up zero.
What did you see in him as a player? What made you pick him?
Uh, uh, actually it's our coach, John King, to find him and to, uh, ask him to join the Tai Lu.
And, uh, I mean, he is genius, you know.
He's very good. He is good at him and maybe he only only have
Four thousand hours income striker, you know, he's genius. Yeah, I believe in him
So a bit of a prodigy. Thank you again G for joining me today. Thank you again. Thank you. Thank you
Thank you. I will try my best again. I love it. I love it
Did you so much fun to get to talk he's definitely a personality he's hard to hate impossible to hate I would say
I'm telling you that's G.
Yes, my mentality.
We're heading into like a four series.
It's been a really long day.
And then you hear a G interview and you're just like,
it's going to be a good series.
It's going to be a good end to our day there.
He talks about the fact that it was really
down to that coach as well as to how they found zero.
So everything that attack is adding to the team now
from a different role.
And zero being like this prodigy that he just found
because that coach is just that good.
He was also carving up the Chinese scene.
Zero also, I was trying to look up some info
this guy. I think he had to make a name change actually when he joined Tai Lu because I think his
username before was just like Li Huang and then he had that so it was kind of tough to piece things
together but yeah he was a star anchor, star extremity player for uh a tier two maybe even
tier three Chinese team called Change the Game and I I feel like because attacker was clearly on
his last legs like clearly just he had a great run, let great career as as a player for China
but zero is the future when it comes to Chinese talent in an anchor position. He actually,
he could be proactive when needed. He can be a little bit mobile. I mean, obviously mechanically,
he's a lot sharper than attacker. That's almost feels rude because I think a lot of people today
are sharper than attacker, but it doesn't really matter. I mean, yeah, zero actually looked
pretty good. I look back at what he did in the Lynn vision series. And as a A site anchor
on nuke, he was nice and mobile. He fought into height. He would make sure that he's not
just playing all the way back or the same position every time so he can be a
little bit versatile in positions that kind of need that extra little mild they
need it they need a little bit of an extra push whether that's mechanics or
whether that's just craftiness I'd say that this guy has shown a little bit of
both so far in the limited series or sample that he's played in China sure
and Tyler put himself in the best possible position coming from the
original move coming here and I think we're all just excited to see what
Syria can bring to the table I mean like we did feel like a tiger did
become a little bit of dead weight so it's also like good inside from
particularly himself the team the coaching everything that he could actually move into another position where he can still as we heard
John G being their mentality culture like the mental doctor, what if he even he even set himself?
I think that's that's a good approach for them, you know
And from now on it's it's just about Tyler who still needs to learn from whenever they go to Europe whenever they play
These bigger tournaments because I don't I just don't think that Tyler would actually become a better team by just playing the regional
It's like they do have to come to Europe to actually improve it is tough
you know also with the viewers and everything so they constantly need to
grind to actually get into the position also if they just go here play one two
games get eliminated you know they're not really going anywhere but um it's
it's it's something that is a that's always been on the line for those
winning teams. Yeah it definitely is and I do like it though that whilst we do
realize it that it is going to be an uphill battle for them they are on the
up there is a chance that they're going to bring something that we're not
expecting at all especially with when we talk about Furia and the fact that
their recent result over at
what you would have expecte
a bad result that you wonder
slow, but are they now cro
at an intersection where w
that has shown to be a bit
from the highs they were h
of last season. But to m
you catch fury on their f
did see, unfortunately, at ESL Pro League, it's still going to be more than enough to
at least take care of Tyloo. They might have some speed bumps in the series. They might
even lose a map, but I don't, I have no doubt that they're going to be able to come back
into this one. And I'm going to, I'm going to cope for Furious's sake. Okay. If I know
that my IGL is not going to the playoffs, I'm, I'm not expecting everybody, including
him to give 100% in games that are going to get you to the playoffs of what is
already an online event in EPL. I'm not buying it. It's just bad excuses. It's
bad excuses for not showing up and actually playing what I'm at. I'm sure you know that
Fallen's potentially not going for the ball. You do know that he's not going to go for
the playoffs, but that shouldn't really matter in the end. The players should still go
up and showcase the best possible way. Sure, it maybe does take a hit on their confidence,
so they're more like, how much do we actually care about the tournament?
Potivation. Yeah, but still from a player to, well, now an analyst or an analyst
I feel like it's just a bad
excuse. That's at least what
I've said to myself when I've
been in similar situations,
but regardless of that, I do
still believe that if you're
should be making light word of
title regardless of how good
they've been in their own
region, I feel like fear could
probably just show up, play
the B level and still be able
to have a relatively
relatively comfortable search.
Well, a bad excuse or not.
There is another one that we
have to talk about here
because if you guys would have
seen it falling tweet just
a little bit, actually, it's
a couple hours ago now,
Actually, it's a couple hours ago now, right?
Where you can, you can, there are all in the fall ins, but essentially the TLDR, if you don't want to read it all, is that at their age, man, a game off to 10 p.m., how can they be expected to play the peak CS?
I can relate.
I have one more face image, right?
I mean, if anything, it should probably help Molo-Doy.
I mean, the faces demons are the guys that are really just, they kind of turn on at this sort of hour.
sort of hour. This is where they're farming all of the ELO that they can possibly acquire
as they are not playing out their scrims. I mean, you know, it's everybody else's day
job to just kind of play well in the scrims and focus. It's Mola-Doy. Mola-Doy, it's still
his day job to farm face it. So this is his time. This is where he's a demon.
So what you're saying is going to be dominating this series just because he's playing late?
I, unironically, I would predict that he is going to top frag the series.
Cold.
Yeah, easily.
You are the Predation God.
That's what I'm saying, man. He gave us the Miracle 6.
I know, right?
the predictions. I'm just going to see, you know, sample size, right? Was that a one-off
series for Mali? Is he going to be able to bring a little bit more table to the table
when it comes to our second series as well? But it wasn't just Hailu that I got to talk
to earlier. It was, of course, falling from fury too.
Fallen, thank you so much for joining me. You know, it's been a couple of days since
people have seen Furia because in the previous tournament you had a bit of an unexpected
lower result, I want to say. One, was it unexpected for you guys? And two, how does a team go about
having those days off after being eliminated knowing another tournament is around the corner?
Well, hello everyone. I think we started the tournament very badly on the last tournament
we played. I think we started up to 0-2 and we're really not playing well.
It gave us some ideas on what to improve and what to focus on in the next matches,
and we started playing better. We got two wins and at the very end we lost to Australia
in the third map and it went out of the tournament. And it was a little bit tough,
Well, it can happen. We have been going for playoffs for nine times in a row,
and so this sequence is broken now with the last tournament,
but it's it's it's going to happen. Sometimes we can play worse than we expect,
and we just got to keep working and keep going.
And what was that work? What was entailed in those days leading up now to the blast open?
Honestly, one of the reasons that we maybe didn't play at our best is because I knew that I had
a personal thing to do after the tournament. So even if we had gone to the playoffs,
so I wouldn't be able to do it.
So that kind of played a role a little bit.
And I was doing this personal thing.
And that's why I didn't have much time to play with the team.
But we have been back together since yesterday,
putting some practice on.
And we're going to go evolving as the match goes by.
And do you feel like the wait's off now?
You're ready?
You're going to show up and be the fury of people expect?
More concerned about really feeling the game,
playing together well, coordinated,
making sure that we're playing with confidence,
and making sure that we evolve every match we play.
That's the focus.
And that's the only way we can go.
Awesome, Milo.
Fallen, thank you so much for joining me.
Good luck today. Thank you very much. Nice to see you. Thank you guys
Yesterday Maui
That's when he rejoined to the team and it felt like he had a full day since their elimination of ESL pro league
I mean, so that means they haven't practiced anything. They haven't gone over. They probably talked. There's probably a chat
But no practice after pro league. That's a little bit concerning. I won't lie
Yeah, it can't be that which I think is and then puts me in a position where I feel like it's good
they go up against Thayloon that they will have the wiggle room to make more mistakes and
probably don't get punched as much if they would go up a greater opposition and sure I
mean it's it's I still think that Fury has improved so much since they decided to go into
national that they should still be able to bring this one back in the books but also
to still not having to go home and discuss everything you know it has been on the
talking point that they've swapped out a couple of positions specifically on Mirage
where they've they've changed around Keisarado and also Yikindah and it's like this
when you are a team, when you get to learn, Charlie, you start having conversations about
positions on the map. Is there anywhere I feel like more comfortable? Is there anything
we can do to become better? Sometimes you go and try that out, sometimes you do revert
that, but I still think that Fiora has everything, or at least the majority of things set in
stone for them to still look decent in the tournament. So I'm sure I can be worried
if they went up against a greater position, but starting off with Tyloo and then maybe
playing themselves into the tournament is going to be important.
A warm-up, because that is a question I had when I was looking at the previous
games for Furia. It felt like they were so solid. They didn't need this warm-up
when it came to a tournament. Obviously we're talking about then like Cluj. We
see them falter a little bit. EPL, their opening match, their opening series. That
is where they get that loss. And that's actually the first time in a while
when it comes to tournament streaks that they lose an opening match. So now
are they falling into a team that does need a bit of warm-up with having
those days off? Or are we just gonna see them kind of return to form and
I mean I would be surprised if we don't see this Furia in the
and he's not going to be
able to play off. Not going to
say with certainty that they
are going to go deep at them.
But I mean, you look at this
kind of trio and again, your
floor is just so so absurdly
high. I mean, Moldova, he's
had his faults, his problems
when it comes to high pressure
moments. But to me again, these
are the type of moments
where he just relishes the
moment where he feels like he
can just carve up any sort of
offense that's trying to
impede upon the spaces that
having its downturns through various years of changing in and out players.
He always stayed completely bad already.
And I have no question that he is going to, he's going to settle this one himself.
And they also just, they just got to live up to the expectation now that they also
considered the second best team in the world, right?
I mean, they've gotten there for a reason, you know,
because they actually have proved they can play really good counter strikes.
So they also just got to continue proving that.
But I think this tournament is going to be very vital for them to kind of,
I wouldn't say, you know, break this downward trajectory that they've come into.
But at least like the results could be better for them if we look at the paper
But also with the major coming but I still think the furays is such a solid team that I'm fairly confident
It's still gonna go in the right direction
Well, the thing about getting that high up in the world rankings is also proving that you belong to state there
That you deserve to be there as well and for furrier after what is being a couple of
Interesting last tournaments they go to prove themselves here against Tyler and that all starts with a map Vita
We're going to see exactly how it plays out, but what would be a surprise for you guys as
this video rolls its course?
Well, I'm not really sure what Furia feels the most comfortable on anymore.
Last year they were an absurdly strong overpass team that's kind of moved away from them.
Now I see them go for Inferno a little bit more here and there.
Tyloo on the other hand for their pick.
They've looked really good in China on Nuke, but I feel like it's such a different
to try to play that against well more tier one opposition so they go with a
with a Mirage pick instead. Yeah and Mirage has formerly been a map that that
Fjord has really loved to play then had a bit of an under swing where they
couldn't really get things going and if you're already starting to go for the
wall plaza you mentioned you know sure they it's a map that they like to pick
but it's also now that they've gone a little bit to inferno I think this is
the time of opponent where you want to be going in saying okay we know
that we are supposed to be better these we can maybe work on the
things we can actually I wouldn't say use of this practice but at least
usually to get into a more comfortable zone, but we know that in the future and in the future
this tournament can take on some of the best teams. And obviously living it for the third
one, you know, it's a, I feel like when it comes to the third map of our team.
Oh, getting, getting Inferno is just so good for Fury.
That's what I mean, right? It really just comes down to what, what both teams feel
comfortable on it. But as we mentioned, like if Fury can get both overpassed and
also inferno in the map, then it's going to be looking pretty good.
This is a little bit interesting. What you're saying is like Tyloo banning out the Nuke
So that was something that works in a different region, but then to still take it away from yourselves
I feel like there's a little bit of a self-awareness there
And even though in China it's working for you
You probably recognize that there's just so many more situations you have to face when you're playing
It's not that you're European but like a tier one team a consistent tier one team
That is running so many different types of set pieces has so many good reactions built in place where?
Zero, even though I've liked some of what I've seen from him in the anchor spots, even on Nuke,
it's still a lot to ask that he's going to be so quick to react to every single call being made
and how he needs to read every situation.
Yeah, and it also just showcases for me that Fuhrer is what they respected the map of Nuke
from Fuhrer because throughout, specifically Kragl, they said to themselves that Nuke is
that map that we probably haven't changed anything out because we actually feel really
comfortable about it. So I wouldn't say that it's a, it's a, it kind of makes
sense in that sense. And I also feel like that, you know, as you mentioned, Tyloo is just like respecting it out of their enclosures.
Yeah, and it's not just us. They're going to give a couple of words as well about how this map beta played and what they do expect to use.
Well, gave us some insight. It's coming up against Furia, second best team in the world.
How is the team feeling? And where would you put your chances of coming up against Furia here?
50, 50. I think the first map in our pick, Mirage, is very important to us. We need to win this map, because I think our path is...
Yeah, it's furious.
Good map.
And obviously, we don't have a lot of chance to
practice this map over the past.
So, first map Mirage is important for us.
And the third map is Inferno. It's our strong map too.
Yeah, yeah, well if you're worried about not having practice on overpass just remember that fury I haven't had any practice at all
since this fallen return so
Maybe just maybe that'll give a bit of an edge to tyloo
But that's where this day ends final match of day one here for the blast open Rotterdam
We got fury versus tyloo it kicks off on Mirage where it feels like G's putting a lot of eggs in this basket mohan
I can understand why for sure. I do think that
There we're just kind of relying on Furia to be exceptionally off today
Sure, because they have been losing but it's like
Under under duress circumstances. Yeah, maybe I won't have it again
Tyloo's the perfect team to really show us if it's Furia who are lacking or because I don't know if Tyloo really have the
Self-belief right now that the series is gonna go their way
Yeah, I mean, Tyloo do not have a best-of-three win over a non-Asian team since September 12th, 2025.
That's about six months, and we know that the highs of Austin are long gone, so zero kicking it off.
New kid on the block for the Tyloo camp this run in Europe, but beyond that opening kill,
it all falls down to G.
Inv4, point blank up against Rix.
You know, I'm not sure if you
can see the game. But the
next Molotow has got one for
the road and it will be
Furia to strike first here in
the best of three. Molotow is
like the first guy that we're
watching because. Like lately
the form like the form
breaking down a little bit.
You're kind of everyone's
trying to point finger. You
know what may be the issue.
Right? Who's the blame? Yeah
and Molotow has been under the
spotlight for that. Which
also means more pressure,
this level. But that's the pressure when you play alongside Fallen on the best Brazilian.
You know, it's just like it's going to come with it. And I think the real question for
Fury is not so much a stage like this, an event like it's their quality of play when
the Major rolls around and proving that they can just consistently be good until that.
Fallen given a real chance to just get his hands on some easy frags. You've got clocks in front of you
brother
Kindar coming over now supports in place the MP9's drop the bomb. That's gonna confirm it for everybody and still
No way jam young's the fourth guy to go into that fight
But takes a sweet time with it fury are gonna convert it with just the MP9 lost to the wayside
No big deal to oh
Let's keep it rolling because I don't know about you, but I don't think
Fury are gonna turn any heads
You know winning almost any other event, you know, I mean like I think a
Big win is obviously gonna be really important Hong Kong was super special sure but now it just showed us what they could do
Right they can win a thriller best of five grand final or Falcons actually aren't choking and still beat them
Yep, like they can they can beat almost anybody. They're doing it seem to get number one last year, right?
I mean literally just win consecutive events as well. Yeah, so now it's like
You know not even just a deep run of the majors enough for them like the expectations are so lie
In a in a field where everyone's got expectations. There's might be the highest
You think I think in a world where everybody kind of wants vitality to have their challenger
Then definitely you can superior were the only guys to kind of throw themselves into that circle of teams
They've unfortunately showed us how good they are. Yep should have kept on sucking
Or something like that we get the double entry into the a bomb site
There's actually legs to stand on here for tyloo. Maybe it's not fair to
Yeah, this is a great round
I was gonna say kind of just with the nature the first two rounds wrote them off
But we get this explosive hit into the a bomb site made awkward by the smoke towards ticket
We get a duel around the side of that smoke and then from that point once they've got their hands on the round
Tyloo just grabbed this opportunity to win one in the third. So I mean yeah, if you're you're lucky to get away with anybody I
Had absolutely ran through that was excellent entry work. Mozia with the double and zero with one
Blast open the ramp hit catch the ticket player empty-handed
There is the question I think with like with Chinese CS because they have such as they do have such a strong scene in terms of
They have lots of their own tournaments break up like that
I mean this is even the case with like the Mongols playing in that region
They were like winning so much prize money without ever leaving
that
It feels like house money when they come over to play a European tournament
Or versus the top 10 teams in the world because they can dominate make so much cash
And they can do that without even leaving Asia essentially which sort of just feels like a foreign part of the scene to the main
You know action, which always is a place in Europe
Satellite scene
Yeah, but in the end I think like China is like the single biggest country in terms of player base
So it's kind of just like a totally whole different world
Think back to the highs of Austin when Lin vision and Tai Lu
We're leaving their mark and kind of upping Chinese success and Tyloo's got a trophy lift in 2025
The value that would have brought him back to the scene that they have since dominated in this run to Europe
Right so trying to find that groove and maybe sure the confidence on overpass is just non-existent
I mean shout out G for just being real with that one that map is just so hard
It almost feels like you're not even ashamed to say you know if you're not the guys who play it all the time
Or make it in your map pool. It's like yeah
Best team in the world are gonna crush you there. Oh nice. Nice reaction. Nice flight here, Mozia
With that pressure back on to the B bomb site. Ykindar's got a free B
though as Mozia crosses over with no support from Catwalk. Nobody there to deal with Ykindar fast kill to jam young and
Tries to go one further, but G's got the answer
Unfortunately, he is wrapped up in that bomb site attack from both sides and Mercury a little late to the party
He's gonna die with zero trade potential
I just walked by your kinder in the hallways of the studio. He said are you casting our game? Yeah, I said yes, sir
He said good. I'll make it fast for you. Wow
Okay, he doesn't like playing the late games, which you know makes sense hard to balance your energy all the way up until it
Especially said fall in 34 years old. That's true
I'm 35 hard to cast this late for me. So are you gonna fall?
Is it 34? I guess I am yeah 36 no
Fallen? That would make him the oldest. He's 34. You're older than Fallen? Why do I work with you?
Yeah, that is weird because I've always just assumed that
Like even in like back in 2016 he's always had this old man present. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's always, you know
I'm older than Rain. Yeah, that's not possible. That never looks right
Just doesn't look right. And Norwegian jeans
god damn giants yeah I just have great skin good on you man keep it up 35 bye bye
hey at least you're not Moses another man with great skin
Grouped up with the tech nines ready to pop through smoke, fallen.
That looks way too easy.
Far too simple.
Stuffs them on the exit of the smoke.
The players behind it, especially the AWPer here in G, unable to kind of rest through
that smoke with any kind of impact.
So he just tucks tail, walks it away.
Maybe Jam Young's got something on the cap plate to unravel the B site,
but it certainly doesn't feel that way at 30 seconds.
crazy already how easy furia made this look in terms of all the gaps they find every little
push every time they stand in front of where a flash of land they yeah they have a great
sense of where tylu are gonna be a little bit too loose tylu's man you really got me
thinking I'm almost as old as fallen. How old are you again? I'm 31 years old. Call it
the day, bud. Damn, Mo. It was nice while it lasted, buddy. But the thing is, you'll
always be almost as old as this. That's true, yeah. I don't ever, ever. God, I just really
tried my best. I can't pass this guy. It's just the goat at everything. Gabriel Toledo.
Nice to have him back. Full force furia coming to this one. Hey, you never know
when he's gonna retire Connor I know which scares me he's always threatening
because what does that say about you where I have almost getting old
I'm gonna do it at the next Rio we'll do it together okay yeah I'll do it
important one last dance still last dance i'll retire at the first canadian major how about that
ah second yeah yeah once you get one maybe we could definitely get yeah yeah yeah and we got
a couple cities to hit right we have to do a lot of trial and maybe event kuber could get thrown in
there just because they exist no Regina
hmm I don't how many people are there probably a few thousand
hext oh true true true well at least we have a representative I thought I was
the representative we know a guy from Regina
it's a real place guys it is so is shabu-gumu Quebec chew on that one you
might have heard of Saskatchewan but have you heard of Saskatoon hmm what
about ill de la Madaline I haven't heard of it no I have great peak
You kind of are making mincemeat of these opening moments just give him space to play how he wants
He's just gonna he's gonna hit you when you don't expect it
And that's what happens to the mid walk-up. They're trying to size up this a site ramp controls taken over by Furia in that kind of pause
Tyloo offered you kind of our end friends. They said have CT spawn. We don't even worry about it
I think a lot of the confidence that G was a you know justifiably nervous about when it came to overpass
It's still gonna be applied here to Mirage. We've seen plenty of Mirage gameplay out of Furia in recent months
Jamulon just being dead silent on the stairs ready for his 50-50
Him and Mercury 2v4
It is quick with it that was fallen folks with the follow-up insta kill on mercury
So you'll get your bomb plant, but you'll get nothing there after he lost focus for just a split second after waiting for 20
so
Not much that could be done there
I mean they're getting blasted through the floor. They got the this palace
Wall bang here from Cacerado
Well from Cacerado's perspective, I think it's a ceiling one man's floor
Here it played more mirages this year, 15 that Tyloo did officials, or 10.
Tyloo R.I.7 match Wing Street, though, in 2026, versus regional opposition, but that's
what they come into this game with.
You already is going to find back's turns.
goes the one AK the Tyloo brought to the table. Yeah! And his teammate's here on the
scene to make sure he is the only death. Yuri's death not in vain. His triple kill valuable.
The clean up duty quick to play. And Furia, the kinder wasn't kidding.
They get a CT start on Overpass. That can't go too badly.
It's true. That will bode well for Tyloo. Hopefully.
You know, I know Jamyon sitting there like, I like Overpass.
Short, that's fair.
I mean, so far, this is promising for Furia.
You might have just, you might see this and go, well, yeah, of course we're gonna do this,
but no, not necessarily based on the last week, so.
Things have gotten weird for Furia, lately.
They've taken a lot of weird losses, so.
Losing four of their last six matches to teams like Astralis, 3DMAX, Bait and the Mongols.
Although stocks rising for Astralis as of late.
Yes, that is one thing.
Popping open the smoke, we've got a double kill here for Tyloo.
Making a clean sweep, shall we?
Yeah, five alive and five down on the side of Fury up.
It's a matter of time and honestly a matter of tempo there as well.
I think Tyloo, sometimes you know, you kind of take your gloves off, come out flying.
Some of their hard-headed attacks on about a bombsite have been the two successful rounds so far.
It wasn't waiting a round to this one.
It was just a matter of moving it along and finding these instant headshots.
So aim looking to power up there in round eight for Tyloo.
It nets them a second round win.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's like, ironically, if you're getting crushed, the way to start winning rounds,
Not to like meet your opponent and play even more difficult rounds. It's to play more compact rounds that just highlight what you can
on yeah
And that's been those a place
Okay, Serato 4 goes the perch
Flames behind jam young puts them back into the duel though on case Serato's terms and even with case Serato tagged down to 20
That's opening kill
Foodie I know about another who all the way missed that though Mercury comes swinging out
Yeah, a little weird actually because he mollies it, but right just doesn't think
Essentially shouldn't a Molly dead. Yeah, or thought maybe he'd run back towards the other side of middle who knows
Yeah, that is true a lot of attention towards B from both teams
That's not great for Tyler. They'll actually change their game plan a bit
They've got the time to do so
That's unfortunate. Could you call it that? It's not unfortunate. I wouldn't have expected
someone to actually push that, so I get it. Man, they're just re-roading to B, but there's
still all these players here.
There's double cat push as well, so perfectly timed.
Yeah, it's not even like you catch him jumping up either you came to our pops up
It's not a shot angle now it's off has to push through a smoke with the bomb
And I don't think so you got fallen tucked back in by bench dinner deal as furia take the seven two lead
In a matter of about six and a half minutes
Almost seven minutes
Almost
lights out. I mean every kill is besides this one smoke push. It's always been like a boost,
a nade paired with it, a good timing peek. Like they are also making these frags easy
for themselves. I wonder if it fits in the back of G's mind to say well how can we create
that A opportunity again because my entries like that site.
I'm kind of expecting them to take a crazier risk to find a new timing.
You know, the counter strike, it's a lot about like having a game plan, but while you're
communicating and organizing it, also throwing in a little bit of extra stuff so that the
other team doesn't know what you're getting closer to doing.
If the map is a little too quiet, that's where, you know, Fury are for sure just
going to be prepared.
As it stands, I mean, A site still looks like a pretty good place to go.
They've just got to stop Yuri from getting a malty and they're going above first,
but it's perfectly spotted.
Really done by Uri Uri, yeah
Kind of love a good angle, you know don't even have to be a good player to stand there. That's gonna work for anybody
Molodoy flashing him in though for the fight Furia not giving anything away for free
New they had to confirm numbers. We get this scramble rotate out of K Serato
He's now joined Molodoy right behind him. Ah
You tease the offer and Molodoy is not gonna miss a duel like that one good damage back the other way for
997 you've got Maladoy now very wounded, but the support system of K serato early into position
Attempt from jam young. He knows he's gonna get run down gun down
Mowed down even all of Tai Lu hit the dirt on the attempt to take that a site is yet again for players from Furia survive
Yeah, this half is absolutely evaporated at this point to very clean a attacks to get them the two rounds
They've got but they haven't shown a second win towards B. They're getting pushed disrespected
easily trade-fragged, multi-killed in a lot of these situations.
But again, it's a nice sign for Furia, who aren't just expected to come out,
destroy everybody of this event, end up in the Grand Finals.
That's not the expectation this week.
It's to see if they feel good, because if they do then
then we could totally see that happening.
But, you know, when Maui called them a Dark Horse or like wanted to pick them,
I'm like, yeah, but I was thinking about it.
They're a very Dark Horse right now.
It's
You know and it's kind of kind of crazy because you go from favorite to dark horse and like a
Matter of a few matches these days kind of strike moves fast. Yeah
I think that same thing kind of happened back at bounty
I remember fury a win their opening game and in our post game
We kind of asked them like oh, is this me furious back and fallen even said it's like it's funny that after one
You know a few bad losses. Oh, we need to come back as if we've gone anywhere
where the problem being that things got worse from there.
Yeah, right?
And it's like it's this, I don't want to,
it's not rebuilding, they haven't moved any pieces.
There was obviously some like external factors as well
in the most recent event and-
No, their real problem is that they lost that match
to Navi at Budapest.
Right.
And that was just, and now they have to wait six months
for another major.
That's kind of their real issue.
That lost way before a break as well, you know?
So.
And a really tough one for Maladoy in particular, I mean we cast that game.
We know that's not him, but at the end of that patch.
But at the same time, he's kind of right now in some of those games, so.
Yeah, that's him particularly, not even the team have to deal with it as a unified front,
but at the same time him individually.
Like I'm sure he's just chomping at the bits to get back on a major stage.
So big move here for Tyloo, they're going to try to make it be again,
but it feels like here you have the information they want.
Kindar tucked in, support down to me, he waits for the second player, and Molo is going to deal with the one that didn't make it.
Whoa, come on. It's so clean from you, Kindar.
Swaps out the AK as Jam Young's stuck on the other side of the smoke, and Furia couldn't have asked for a better CT side, really.
Two quick A commitments out of Tyloo are what they have put on the scoreboard, those all-in rushes.
One from ramp another with majority out through connector
You catch fury off guard twice every other round
Gonna try to take a look at the site don't tie after time they will at least give you the sweet release of death
That's a ninth to the scoreboard for fury
Oh boy
This is not the best not the best exec not ready to clear this spot definitely
Honestly missing some flashes on a lot of their B place almost never is someone blind behind the smoke. They're running through
In this case just open lines
Just continuing to try to pommel and pelt Tyloo as they come out top middle.
255,000 residents in Regina.
Nureed is going to go down empty handed in another moment where Tyloo don't show much
hesitation to take over an A site looking like a third successful A site endeavor.
final round of the half, so Furiel will take a swing at the retake in just a
moment's time. Bitty utility here to try to soften things up from ticket, but
Mosey is still able to hang on, and Mercury's gonna slow down the catwalk
play. Bomb at the halfway point. As Molledoy still waits for somebody to
overstep, looking pretty statuesque are a couple of these pieces. There's two of
of the five needed, but you gotta shake up the hive
and they come back with a bit of a sting.
Tyloo gonna end this half with three rounds
and that's not bad considering how much pressure
Furio were capable of putting on them out of the gate.
Nine-three, the end of the first 12 rounds.
He's not warming up, he's hunting.
It's just a fluke.
You can't drop 30 like that every match.
More possessed, God in heaven, to make a player like Molladoy.
God did not make Molladoy.
I made him.
You trained him, right?
I teach this kid everything, discipline, positioning.
We need lineups.
He's ignoring it all.
Do you want to see me?
Come sit, Daniel.
I've seen your flashbangs.
They'd fall and teach you nothing.
Utilities for people that miss.
That's not game sense, bro.
That's madness.
Madness?
No, confidence.
He's not blinking.
I don't think he's playing it since he walked here.
Look Daniel, the T's out there, they know you're dangerous.
They're playing it around you.
They don't want to end up in another highlight room for you.
If they don't want it to be in highlight room,
they're gonna need one thing.
And what's that?
This can't be.
He's so intense.
You think you can keep this up every single match?
They can't stop me.
You remind me of me.
Just a younger, tick-parked generation, a little bit less patient, but still very good.
You can't coach that!
You can only survive it.
Stop trying to coach me! Start following my calls!
Ha! Be careful! Last time I said it, they made me an ideal.
Is this how roster changes happen?
the table, whether they are also looking for rapid rounds on the offense.
But needless to say, feeling like Furia may be in full force this week.
This could be a good timing.
He's got to throw that flash.
It takes a while.
All right.
Oh, my one.
Blind tries to capitalize.
Only gets the one.
Jam Young's going to find the kill back to Quesarotto.
Still space taken over by Furia.
Three sets of boots on the ground.
Clean tap out of Jam Young as he looks for another one.
Both sides but successful with a triple kill within that hold
Tyloo got a little fight left in him a long time ago
I made like the best crosshair placement in Asia a video on Jam Young because that's like that shows off exactly why
he um
He's a beast when it comes to keeping it headshot level just didn't feel pressured for this kill right floating around
Snaps it back on Yuri
Not even holding the corner either catches Yuri fully swung out against the wall
That's gonna be guns advantage for tyloo here in round 14
We'll see if they can close the deal because this will not be a free half-by
force
for fury up it is
It's gonna take their full attention
That M4. That was awesome.
Sounded very squishy.
Just get off his head right there. That was beautiful.
Four M4s on the field for Tyloo as well.
They have not cheaped out on the investment.
Mercury takes a bit of damage.
Zero tries to go for the lower reposition, and he's got his.
Mollidoy's the only player out through Furious's success so far.
And now King Serato adds himself to the tally.
A bomb can get collected and a smoke will allow him to cross.
It's an upgrade to the M4, in case Rado's in business if they're not too careful.
They should easily be able to do all three here together.
Mercury's low on the reposition towards window.
Nice think damage on the MP9, but Mozia kinda peeks into the stream of bullets.
That's a headshot!
And Mercury takes the time to wrap back around towards ticket and finalize the round.
M4s purchased two of them move forward into the next round playing dangerous games there for a second, but
They avoid the jeopardy. It's really nice on the a-hole to be honest, and
That smoke box helps a lot your jury just had full vision
Could stand here comfortably
I see zero getting tested as well
I mean, just a chance for us to kind of learn more about him.
I think especially in this kind of a circumstance where Furia have put the pressure on instantly, with a successful CT side.
She has one kill and yet still seems in high spirits. I don't know I've never I've seen G you see G get upset, but he just like
it's uh
It's always like
In a femoral moment. Yeah washes off quickly
The
boots on the ground, flash finds its mark, and Mercury still has enough bullets to hang
on.
Kaserado, what are you up to?
Double Desert Eagle headshot, back to back bullets.
Don't make any more mistakes with him around.
Third guy's given him way too many opportunities, uncomfortable, but Kaserado loses his
his last teammate, he would need the ace to pull this one off, and he is given some chances
there beyond the first two kills, but two's all he ends with.
Everyone's having fun now.
Tyloo start closing that gap.
I feel like obviously for them, CT side, you're a mirage, with a nice kickstart off
the pistol.
It's going to be the pull.
What?
Don't even know about that was that just because he was running while he shot was that even around him?
Is he in the same area Cody exactly? I'm gonna request we watch that one after this round as well, please
I don't know if I can make those requests, but
I'm gonna be picture-in-picture a tiny so you can't even really see it
God now top mid
I lose threaten the presence bottom connector
But are pretty quick to fall back into this and they are very much clumped up here towards the a slash jungle side
Super clumped up though. I will say a lot of there's a lot of options to hold things around connector
Where you're not just on top of each other. I like doubling up a jungle. This is a good bait setup
You have palace being watched so everyone's finding a way to be useful here
And it's but if this is gonna be an a split I think three good spots to be honest
They've just got to make sure they keep their composure in the face utility because that's what I think it's gonna probably catch them
Curious to see how smoked off they get
But we've only got the one smoke on fallen
Beyond the one that was just thrown out so nobody actually has a smoke for the execute out ramp
They're starting to break out a little bit. They got spotted from the ramp. Gonna pop this open expose you kindar
That's a sitting duck
and zero reposition so that G can go for another peek.
That's gonna confirm bodies coming out through ramp,
Fallen, slow burn mid-play, threatens this smoke grenade,
but looking to buy time still.
Cat player's gonna kind of force his hand.
No, he talks.
He hears Jam Young, and that's airing him back a bit.
20 seconds, they're gonna throw Kcerato over top.
Mercury's ready for that play,
and then Fallen tries to make his move late.
Line up, damn near denied, and a single casualty.
on the side of Tyloo as suddenly we have a two round game.
They just need a tempo change now.
I feel like that's going to be a really disappointing round
for Fury to lose, but also excellently played for Tyloo.
I mean, they maintained their composure in that spot where
they were stuck up versus connector.
Oh, yeah, that was just lonely eagle headshot.
Extra mustard.
I was going to say that.
Yeah, that's crazy.
We've been hanging out too long.
Yeah.
Nice round out of G.
He also gets that first frag timing H.E. to the bottom connector finds you kinder.
It's a flawless CT side so far out of Tyloo.
Pistols back at hand for Furia.
Like you said, maybe a change of pace.
were the successful rounds Tyloo's T side managed to win and we're gonna get
that cap challenge comes out Desert Eagle kill for Molledoy AK upgrade
instantly and as Mercury tries to out himself oh it's fallen with the triple
excuse me just the double kill picking up the AK off Molledoy's efforts and
putting it to work G gets executed on the murder wall that's absurd man because
Yeah, it looked like it was Volodoy coming out playing there for Fallen, the Rifler here for Furia.
That is a loot across 2K to guess.
Yeah.
My thoughts exactly.
Yeah, that was pretty, pretty legendary.
Oh, man, that's a rough moment for that to happen to Tyloo.
They're about to get... not control this game, but like, nearly tie up.
You brought it up, right?
Little tempo shift and that fast cap play catches you off guard, puts an AK in the
wrong set of hands.
I would honestly ask, like, why are Furia even playing slowly on T side after what
they did in that first half?
Sure.
That's a valid question.
Longer rounds, burn more calories, which you just can't afford late at night.
So I was trying to make it happen, but now you've got Mosia tagged down low.
That M4 sits on 17 health, the 5-7 dies empty-handed, jungle connector fully smoked off, and that
means this wounded Mosia has got to be extra cautious as to not just throw his life away
without value, but that offers up the bomb plant
and a strong post plant position here for Furia as well.
So they're gonna go back to back round wins
after the four round streak from Tyloo.
That cat smash with the tech nine.
And now Furia sensing blood in the water
already setting up the save denial
whether you kind of play through the B apartments.
Feels like Furia, once they know this round is guaranteed
are gonna try to rack up costs,
but good on Mosie to secure an exit here for him
and his teammates.
That's a way out for everybody, man.
Slows down Furia who really want to just crush these guns
if they can, knowing full well,
Kyloop are gonna save right by the hot rod.
It's stuck.
It's the MP9 player.
Get it, Jim Young, get it.
Can't see it.
Did he get it?
He got it.
Thank you, production.
For both the replay and that information,
you guys are on the ball.
Keep it up.
of all the round before was tragic this one was just really well-earned here for furious
so again at least I live with Moses kill have saved all these guts all these walking in
the house. Oh he gets away with no trade G yet to pull the trigger G knows he's playing
dangerous games, but he's got it. He wants to do something. He's, you know, 4v5.
They have full knowledge that he's hopping here. Jumped right by it. That's also risky.
It's kind of a crazy looking stack. It's like 3 and B. You've got an op ticket.
If this ends up being a retake on A, I mean, I think forget about it. We saw
what happened last round. They've got to make a move.
I think they find this timing.
Furia have been moving slowly.
That's one department where Tau Lu could still find an edge, but as you reposition that
Opscope, Ollidoi comes through with the G-Frag and tries to chuck those grenades out, so
entries made easy.
The lurk of your Kindar also pays off with the apartment's death on the side of Tau
Lu.
And this round's going to be Tau Lu with no legs to stand on.
Little x-factor there from Moledoy get that you know deagle shot that fall in get the 2k
Then just no looking back after that. You know how many games?
Are there like slight moments that get missed like that in an eco? Yeah, where you never see a teammate could come back?
Well, that's where
fear a turn water into one
Rikiri sticking around wants to bring somebody down with him, but they're gonna keep two defenders
on the site just in case.
Guarantees a 12-5.
Map points here for Furia.
It still trips me out that Sid yells Harush.
Yeah.
As a Brazilian.
Well, it's not a Brazilian lineup, is it?
That's fair, but...
I remember I was in Serbia after the HLTV Awards and I was gotten to a shuttle with
Yuri, Keisarado and Sid and we were going to the airport and Sid sitting in the front
of the taxi and then just starts speaking to the Serbian driver in Serbian.
Oh what?
He was having a full Serbian conversation and I thought to myself like, am I in a car
with Sid?
Like I actually doubted that I got into the car with the guy and then we got
to the airport, we get out and he goes, sometimes it comes in handy.
What?
Like you're a man of mystery.
I love that.
It's because they boot camp there all the time.
I was thinking maybe that's just took the extra
This guy's just like some kind of polymath or something. Yeah, what's the term for people that learn languages easy polyglot?
I cast my tutu polyglot
paste I
Think that's the right term
I
Fortunate the voice crack, but yeah, it kind of like ruins the whole
Potential final round of mirage
Just in the fact that fury have not let go of the reins since winning that tech nine rush up catwalk
And yet again you kinder gets this close position uncontested
and
bong gets left back though so furia
still looking to just
finish on their terms
all in due time
Yeah, you can feel the tension they're putting on this. It's like tylu don't know what the best option to push is
If there is an e if there even is one they have had some regrets in these last couple rounds
trying to make an aggressive maneuver but they they know what the guns they have
like they're not winning standard
they're not seeing enough
you did nothing wrong explain that to you and then Fallen takes the position
that's insanity because it wasn't even fallin that got the wall bang kill it's
case Serato so zeros and you'd think never gonna be shot but he does worried
about it
Cat player's got his attention now
Fallen just waiting for the smoke to fade. This is a really weird situation
What is that?
And now at the same time the arch player starts the whole Jan Young kills Yuri and the B hit goes down with no success for Furia
This is a little bit silly weird one
I mean, I guess if they got the connector kill the B players could have come back quickly through underpass
I shot they couldn't secure that from cat. They couldn't secure it from the other side of the smoke obviously in connector
So I mean it wasn't as strong of a spot as it looked on its face now the one
thing is the cat guy could have got his kill and get right but that was denied so
felt bad for Mercury when that happens very very important kill and round here
from OZIA 3 yeah clean shots
Tyloo with a little more left in the tank, but we get this Molotov boost top mid.
Not able to snap it over, and the Nades going to chase them back as they have to forego top
mid control.
They also weakens up ALO, the CTs will think they might have to rotate soon.
This is a risk from your kinder because they've lost top mid control.
He hears that, oh he loud stepped.
He did loud step, right?
Yeah, it seemed like it, but.
The cat player was a little slow to react, but did react in the end.
Yeah, they're gonna drop utility. They zone him.
He finds sanctuary between the flames.
And then Mercury from window. Clips fall in top middle.
So will you kindar's ability to hang on to this position? Catch Tyloo off guard.
Could have confused that step first. He made in connector as well.
So might not be totally confident.
Smoke's coming in now, they'll know.
This is going to be a hard clear on zero is the question.
It's going to be a real test of his anchoring.
Yeah, G's back on ticket, but preoccupied.
Trying to go for that cat climb.
Good job by zero, good insta-kill on Yuri.
Second player though, queued up to play out through Palace,
and that one's going to blindside.
And Mollinoy wins the off-duel bomb to be passed over.
And we've got a scramble coming through from Cat,
but fumbling the chance to get into that bomb site smoothly.
You kindar still stuck waiting for the smoke to plume now given a chance to go for the plans
Still case or auto tries to cover
It's an uncomfortable one that gives up man advantage, but it's still a retake needed 3v2
There's no smoke Molly should have to
Will be really important your kindar. It's a great shot though in CT
second player coming in from the same direction
You kindar flushed out from the corner, goes down, and it's a Kcerado 1v2 clutch queued up from Tetris.
Cuts off the player in the site.
Frag to soften up the next target. Jam Young's got to run this, time's ticking quick.
Kcerado lies in wait, and it is excellence to close out map 1.
And the pick of Tyloo, which looked flat in the first half with only those 3T round wins.
a little bit of a comeback in the middle of that one with the start of the CT side, but Furia prevailed in their opening game tonight.
Well, look, I really tried to bat for Tyloo, and I really thought that there was something that was going to be able to come out from.
And that's not to say there wasn't anything for them in here, but you said in this interview when we saw the veto before we headed into this series that they really needed to make something work for Mirage for themselves here.
and unfortunately it just wasn't converted into anything Furiah clearly showed up.
There were a couple of rounds that had you kind of worrying for Furiah there
towards the tail end especially. I think the second to last round where Furiah
just kind of tried to go through the motions of running one of their B hits.
I thought, okay, this is getting a little scary, but then, like, I mean,
Keisarotto just gets it over the line. I mean, the play from him,
the way Yekendar was playing, especially also in the first half,
have. A lot of those guys just came up in big moments and even if maybe some of the teamwork
wasn't always 100% for Furia, the individuals definitely had their moments.
And the T side of Tilo just really just didn't make the cut. It seemed a little bit stressful at
times. They would also have to go a lot through smokes. It did really feel like Furia had a really
good understanding of how to approach the game plan. And I also feel like despite it getting
a little bit closer and you also made me a tad bit on the edge of your seat thinking,
hey, maybe Tilo's going to bring it back. I think like the game plan from Furia just
just worked out when wonders and then they did clutch out the moments when they
got the advantage and they knew how to approach it. So I think that despite
Tyler putting in the fight, losing their map pick is not great coming into the
serious but it's you know if you're a it's just you know they're playing great
counter-attack and I don't see anything it's got to change that for the next couple of hours.
And there was still that question Mark. Whilst it is Furrier, the second best team in the world
we've mentioned it many times we were wondering when you come off the
back of ESL Pro League with that result like that they were even pulling
a team. I mean, it's a
really good team. It's a
really good team. I mean,
it's a team that has been
himself talking about
specifically rejoining the
team yesterday. You're like
individually. We know
everyone can do well. But how
are they operating it as a
team and it feels like him
Maui. That is it, right?
That's exactly what you're
saying where you have the
individual stepped up. Not so
much like wholeheartedly as
a team even fallen himself. Oh
yeah, that's right. That's
a matter of impact. I mean,
what just coming back
yesterday and then putting
up some of the defenses that
he did as an individual.
That's what caught me the
probably you would have wanted them to trade a little bit better. Obviously, we see Ankyr
just kind of farming his anti-eaks, but it's okay because even on real site defenses, even
on rotations, he was having some serious impact. So I'm honestly impressed with the level that
Fallen showed because the one thing you can't say about Chinese teams is that they don't
shoot back. Like they definitely, if you get them in a fair gunfight, they definitely
have their moments there. And Fallen went toe-to-toe a couple of times in what
I would have considered 50-50 duels and came out on top.
Yeah, but that is where the Asian teams usually shine,
like that does mechanical skills.
When it comes to the tactics and understanding of the game,
that is maybe where they feel a little bit lack of posture.
But, man, falling to play even though it's late,
you know, it is getting late.
You're making it even though it's not that mild.
The demon, the facet demon, actually turned back.
I know, I was disappointed actually.
You're like, this is his hour to shine,
the phone's worse before coming home.
Next map, next map, I'll see you in a minute.
He's still waking up to the limit day to have.
Exactly, exactly.
Well, that's how it is, you know?
It's good to see the fallen regardless of what time it is, you know
He shows that he can play counting at a very late hour. He's still on he's still young. Let's be honest. Come on
See trolling was the tweet of troll
It was preference that it was actually you can do on Poland's account
But anyway, we keep talking about you can do a little right here, right?
Because you're saying for fallen he was able to step up or talking about where exactly he would be well
He showed it right he got to that sever and he really proved his point on mirage
and I feel like the same thing was for you, Kinder as well.
I was surprised in this very round
that he was able to get the multi frag,
because that's a pretty tough shot there
on the second guy too.
But again, always a thorn in the side of anybody
that wants to take mid control from Furia,
is Yackandar the way that he's always just,
you know, look at all of the different angles
that he's really just taking Tailu players down with,
the boost at shore, obviously nading the smoke.
He's such a disruptor, and it's good to see
that a lot of his plans were able to execute
as successfully as they did against a Tilo team that just at times just felt
none the wiser like in like the it was almost like sometimes
Yackandar feels a little too much like it's brawn but this one actually to me
felt a lot like brain. Yeah but it's good to see Yackandar once again stepping
out he's been very closer to the success that they had in 25 or the
later stage of 25 and I think that Yackandar is also you know he's
really just trying to find gaps left right in the center like he's trying
to find different angles he's using the smokes creating that you know he's
He's always trying to be that nuisance that is going for the opening.
He's not just going to sit back.
He's always going to be proactive, trying to fight on his terms instead of waiting back
for the opponent's end.
I mean, it's also for him, you know, getting a good start here, getting, I wouldn't say
farming, Tyloo, but I mean, at least getting off to a really good position and start a
tournament.
He did it.
He didn't want to say it, but he didn't have to say it.
Sure, sure.
He prompted him.
That's a good sign moving forward.
you know, it's, it's, um, it's always nice when you go up against an opponent where you feel like you're on top and then you can actually just, you know, really, really showcase how good you can be.
And I think it's just, if you can get to a good start as he does now, maybe that's just gonna push him in the right direction for the rest of the term.
Yeah. And whilst it isn't a win on Mirage that Tyler really hoping for themselves, there were the shining moments that we saw for themselves when they did eventually get onto the CT side.
Yeah, the T side was a little bit lackluster, first off, pretty weak for themselves.
but Jam Young specifically was the one that stood out
above the rest when it comes to Tyloo players.
We're just opening up the Jam Young conversation once again.
He is a shining star of the Chinese scene at present.
He is clearly a talent that in CS2,
there's literally no question
that he is the best Chinese player.
I would even want to pick your brain to pre
in the CSGO on top of it.
Is this the best Chinese player
that we have seen since the beginning of CSGO till now?
I think there's a case that he is.
To be fair, I haven't faced against that many Chinese players,
at least like the Chinese players I played against
didn't really, you know, cut the case
or just jumped off the page
so I took a picture of my attention.
But however, I think that Jam Young has proven that
not only, sure, they got beaten this time around,
but we have seen what he can do on the server.
And we've had this conversation
and at least I've had the thoughts about that.
If I were Jam Young,
would I potentially be looking to try
and potentially take like English classes
go somewhere else?
Like, try and leave, try and I go to,
a team that is outside of the Asian region to actually see if he can make that work.
And, sure, it will probably take some time, and he has to get used to it.
But I think that he has such a high skill-seeing that it's actually going to be possible.
If he can just get catered in a way, then we put in a team where he can feel comfortable
and also learning more like language, you know, I think that could be a bright spot for me.
We're going to do the kind of the reverse league of legend thing,
where we bring the Asians to Europe and not the other way around.
I think that's the case for it, but obviously, for him staying in Taillu, I don't think he's going to evolve into a better player, because I feel like he's getting...
You feel like this game has already hit for him in that region.
I think there's one thing is that him in Taillu, but it's also like, if he could find a way into, I mean, Mongols, maybe he's not up in the Chinese and Mongolian, but if he could do that, that would be a case for all of us getting a better team.
Yeah, it's just the opposite of the meme where usually players get ready to learn Chinese, buddy.
I mean, he won the HLTV MVP award for the Fisher event that he played last year and jumped off the page. I mean, I feel like there's so many moments also where he is totally disadvantaged in a fight, like it's a, it's a 20 80 in favor of the other guy still hits that extremely precise headshot goes on to get a second kill like he's a game changer and unfortunately only in glimpses because
It's a 2080 in favor of the other guy still hits that extremely precise headshot goes on to get a second kill like he's a game changer and unfortunately only in glimpses because Tyler just don't make it deep enough at tournaments regularly.
And it wasn't enough for this Mirage when it wasn't able to get over the line whilst we did love seeing him but did ultimately go towards on the side of Furia back and we'll see exactly if their map pick and overpass will be the same sort of story.
of the game.
We're continuing our final series for
day one at Blast Open where we did
see Furia take Mirage out of the
hands of Tyloo and now we do look
towards what exactly is going to be
happening when it comes to
through it there because I do wonder is it really just going to be a short of sweet as
Mali likes to say it is?
Probably is.
Probably.
They really, really needed it, Rosh.
Let's just put it like that.
Okay.
All right.
Well, they really needed a mirage and something else I needed or at least would like to get
from you guys.
This is the Nova shirt.
That's my segment.
That's what I like.
Okay.
I'm sorry.
I don't need to take it away from you.
Sorry.
I'm a bit of a stock guy, right?
New Lightings.
Teach me.
You know, you know, NovaShots.io, you can participate in our prediction game inside of Blast, but you can use Blast coins, you know, fake money to actually have a chance of winning real money by investing inside of a different team by buying their stocks.
And we've done this a couple of times. Jacob is usually a guy that he's afraid of going all in, you know, also afraid of stuff.
Scat money don't make money.
I'm all in.
As you can see, like, if you go down the list, you can have all the teams.
I mean, it depends who we're picking actually.
I mean and I know tomorrow we have Mongols versus mouse that's the game
We're gonna be covering so I feel like it would be interesting to see if we can maybe buy some of those teams talking if we go down here
We do have Mongols looking pretty decent mouse looking pretty decent. What are Mongols at? Oh, they're sitting at well
4.84% increase so
Are you guys?
Do you like to go all in or you like you want to split up? Wait, what's math?
What's math? I want to know because maybe I want to go all in on one of them if it sounds 703 at mouse
That's not that's not that high. No, they're good for it. Yeah, how do you feel like going for it?
Do you want to go all in or you want to split it up? It's a group stage. I'm all in for now
Are you actually all in your mouse?
I have so much faith. We're gonna do it. We're gonna all in an absurd amount of faith
We're gonna do it right there confirmation confirm. Let's get it. Yes. No nothing left. We actually went all in
That's what we have. We have 25 seconds to cancel if we if we wanted no, I'm not canceling
I don't really have it. There's a better use for that 20 seconds.
And it's talking about the fact that there was just a small patch that dropped.
Yeah, when we were playing out that game and we were seeing Furia take a mirage,
we got to see, I'm going to say small because, well,
I only have a certain sort of metric to go by, but I get the impacts
and the implications of what happened are actually quite measurable.
I would consider it relatively small for people that don't know at home.
Now, if you reload your weapon instead of just topping off your gun
With the remaining ammo necessary to reach a full magazine you will expend a whole clip
So for an M4 for example where you would shoot five bullets now you have 25
But you have nine name reserve you could just top it up have 30 now you have 85 reserve use a whole clip
You would drop that 25 it would
Completely yeah, and now you just have two more clips after that reload so this is a I'd say it's a it's a very
It's a peculiar change because it didn't to me. I don't feel like it needed to happen necessarily
No, I think it's a
Bell have this idea that they want to test random things especially coming in so much
right they let's be honest
they usually care about the majors the most and now they they're going to be trying and have this update coming what effect does it have and
It does create something for the players where they had to think a little bit before they reload now
Especially because we do soon nowadays with specifically how the smoke mechanic is working if you shoot on the edge
you would get a bit of information. Now if you just shoot five bullets, decide the reload,
you actually lose that remaining, depending on what weapon you have obviously, but losing
that extra ammo. And it needs to be tested obviously, and it's something that is so new
that we haven't even got to look at it now. So it's always fun when a new thing gets
brought into the game where we can, because when you get told about your thing, that's
crazy. We always seem to be finding a way to adapt, right?
Just instant impressions for me is that I just feel like now smoke spamming is
slightly nerfed. And so outside yard nuke is probably what I think is most affected by that.
And so people will be crossing a little bit more seamlessly down into secret. So maybe you'll see
a very minor t-side buff for a few of the maps where smoke spams for CTs are relevant.
Would you say that's anything prevalent on the map we're about to see for overpass?
Yeah, yeah, actually. Yeah, I mean monster spams are pretty common also for the CTs. So
monster anchors you're going to see, I think it'll be zero in this one. I'm sure you're
you're gonna see him probably spam that monster smoke or that monster tunnel as he
Believes that fury of players are encroaching on to his position. So yeah, imagine if he didn't have all of that reserve ammo
Well, we don't really have to imagine because Fira and Tyler they're gonna be our little game pigs when we get to see the
Implications of this patch as well as to little getting pigs that like to he happens
Okay, that day one, huh day one is it a Maui American? How come he doesn't know what a mag is?
I know. Clips. Then when you get the new clip.
Sometimes they're clips, depending on what weapons you're using,
but there are no clips here in Counter Strike.
We use magazines or individual shells.
But, hey, I'm almost sore. That's how excited I am.
I'm stoked about this update.
I think this is fantastic.
I think this update makes you actually think about your reloads.
I think somebody who, like myself, who, you know,
I've got all the hours in DayZ that you would need
to appreciate something like this.
It's just a whole element of the game that otherwise you've never really put too much thought into barring the timing of a reload
We've seen players that mag dump a smoke and then should have kept ten bullets for that one guy that rushes through the p250
That's about the extent of you know reload strategy. You've ever had to think about with counter strike
I love this for a community that claims this game is a tactical shooter
This system belongs and puts a real gap between us and the arcadey shit of Call of Duty
Wow, okay. I like God, whatever. You haven't played a Call of Duty since like 2019, dude.
I've never played God 1. Hey dude. Keep it up. On PC. Oh, I'm stoked. Okay, but there's a game at
hand and obviously we're not dealing with the new patch, are we? I like that Nat coming from
Dota thought that maybe we'd be on the new patch with this one the fury of tyloo will be our guinea pigs
I don't think so. Yeah, we got a wait
Potentially weeks
You'll wait patiently for incremental changes
Zero's got the kill back from banks so retakes on the shots
Force three load that would have been four bullets wasted Fallen would be down to 24
Oh, he's in the open actually.
Hey, well, you're not really covering the diffuser the way you think you are.
Zero's just going to get the kill instead.
It is a 10 second stick.
That's fine.
But that's a never trust your friends is what I've just learned with that play.
Yeah, refer it.
Yeah. Yeah.
No, I was thinking, well, just with the ammo thing.
How many situations is it going to affect like the smokes?
situation right you use all your ammo it's not like you you have any penalty
for using your whole mag to spam smoke I think it's really gonna have implications
when you've already had a couple of gunfights let's say start of the round
happens you get a couple kills you're 50 health you got two magazines left
exactly one side not to reload exactly like yeah you know those moments where
you'd go from 15 back to 30 for your you know final hold of an attempt it's
Well, if you know you're gonna lose 15 shots, at that point, do you just wait to reload?
Okay.
This is perfect for the scream comeback.
Okay.
Yeah.
You get more of one death.
Yeah, that's supposed to happen.
He announced it.
Rookie of the year.
I also wonder, I mean, dude, the implication here is what if we start dropping full magazines
on death like grenades?
When a player dies, if they still had two magazines in their gun, those drop at
their feet and then you can pick up fresh magazines off corpses if you have the same gun.
7-6-2.
Yeah, exactly.
Damn it!
It's not a 9mm.
Conversion round here for Tyloo meant to hit the store board.
Fallen's got other ideas and Yuri's working alongside him with the Tech 9.
You've got an MP9 pinched into the corner of Long and the force buys working here
for Furia.
They've got space inside of the site.
They got a bomb plant secured.
We have them all, eh?
Jamiel not using it.
Resmoke?
I'm going to try to peek before that.
Ooh, it hit the curb.
Didn't bounce fully, and they're
going to use that gap to their advantage.
So they thought.
Your impresses the M4 up against their heads,
gets a quad kill in round two, and robs away any hope
at a CT side pistol round momentum.
CT side with the pistol.
You know, you're swimming on in success
if you're on overpass but
pre-game interview showed us how
how scared honestly tylu were to play against furious specifically on this
map
it'll happen to be
catch it in our pre-game interview g
very little confidence in their ability to do much versus fury on overpass
says that you know you don't really get much practice on a map like Overpass regionally
to this level for certain.
It's also just so stompy, like when a team is playing well no matter who they are, it
was like Zywoo went 16 and 0.
Matt Krakow I think it was and yeah it's like, when you snow, I don't think any map
Snowballs harder than this
Nothing will make you feel smaller than losing by a few rounds on overpass. Oh, yeah
You're real suffocating
Map of Counter-Strike. Yeah
It's kind of sure have any snow map subzero. Is that a thing back in the day? Yeah, that FMPone map
Okay, but it wasn't in the pool. All right. Yeah
Yeah, um, well there were, yeah.
What was that CPL map that was, uh, put that up?
Just as somebody who lives in the snow half of the year, I really don't like snowmaps in
my video games.
It's also, they're super bright.
Is there a problem?
Yeah.
I know it spawned a novelty.
Oh, the season map, the new season that, uh, phone mate was, was that snowy or
just white?
Actually, it was white.
Shot.
350 kills something to marvel at but that's about all they get
Three players still survive for fury up as they take control of the situation
Fallen just call it strad off numbers
Zero zero a you just went zero zero if I said zero zero zero eight five two nine or five nine or
See in a plane or something damn man this guy's coming back with strats
We had night you're not wilted os
Yes.
You're in the head.
We've got a very unlikely outcome here for Tyloo, barring death of plenty.
There's zero with one.
Don't put it together.
And G low HP coming out from heaven, rotating down into his demise, which at this moment
is going to be a 12 and one Uri, four rounds into play.
you love to see.
Gaserado steals it.
That's fine.
Still rack it up the frags at the start of this game is Yuri.
Yeah, A.S. Tundra.
when I was there. Yeah. Yeah. That was killing me. Glad to have you back. Just in time for
the first gun round here at Attaya Loo. They're gonna use those guns aggressively off the bat
into the fountain control. Ya kindar will be worried about it. Concerned about the
party fight and understandably. He's not considering this at all. He's gonna get
caught on the reload. Oh, he got spotted. Never mind, he got away. Now Mercury's
got to unravel this forward setup. Mozia hanging on to connector for the time
being and it is just buried down there. It's a scary spot for him to be as his
teammates falling back there. Okay, going back together. Plus they have G on long,
so not too bad here towards A. Looks like you'll be able to be escorted out
safely. Problem is now, what do they do? Are they gonna leave to go B?
Because this nade comes in they start to get worried about the other side of the map
Yuria our plan to just walk up here Mosia not responding to this front side a smoke
Don't mind the position from Tyler even with two, but gee if he gets caught off. Well, and that's a problem
You only do that when you actually don't think it's the site
easy pick off yeah as jam young feels the need to get active and that just
opens up the B cell there's going a then B then a then B like they're they're
getting worked here smokes landing everywhere just as G anticipated fury up
being a real nuisance here on their map pick how did he do that did he just
like flick up and I don't know wall bang the floor it what can we see that from
um all it always POV yeah production can we please I'll say please oh my god
we didn't really that's true actually that's a valid point I'm really just a
piece of work
We'll get there
Gotta make sure nothing funny happens right now for one T side kickoff
For Molladoy, so now if you start speaking Chinese
Yeah, he was just waving it around, man.
What are you doing with that thing?
I mean, that should have been the free kill, that could have had them second guessing B site.
Mind you, it was a simultaneous A kill, so it's like they did actually have openings both ways.
But yeah, that kill could have changed things.
I don't think anyone would complain I feel like collectively we as a community could enforce it here at blast you're scared to play on that patch
You need to retire now. Okay. Oh
But I didn't get time to practice. Yeah, what are you gonna practice alone in the server or something?
Yeah, it's not a gun balance thing. Oh
It is one of those odd changes. That's like pretty significant. I think but also
What do you say pretty significant? Yeah, compare it to another patch. Oh, that's a great great
What's pretty significant here?
Okay, it's not...
In my head, I'm thinking, this isn't that hard.
I think it's going to lead to some situations, but I don't think it's that hard to like.
I don't think it's freaking you out every second of the round.
It's not as big as dropping grenades.
That's still down to the biggest change, right?
So if we put it, the scale is dropping grenades at the top.
Yes, okay.
And...
And the scope thickness.
Okay, the scope thickness at the bottom.
So blur.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, we've made the scale if that's the scale 10 to 1 I would put it
At like a five and a half
Six don't even know what to close the kid. Yeah, I don't anymore either. Also. It's no pain to somewhat
Significant I think it's I think you're gonna catch. I mean for people that have played this game for over a decade
I think you're gonna catch a lot of people off-guard
I just hope people run an ammo all the time. Yeah, that would be most well. He's right in and out. No, he's dead
Top con players. Okay desert Eagles and five-sevens are gonna prevail down here on the B site fallen
They have a time will not play the plant. It's missed his time to plant. There are players all around him
Tyloo stacking the B bomb site still only survive with one that is an awkwardly low amount of time
to go into a B bomb site with Furia. Yes that that took a long a long time for a
team that should be very good at going through things here on overpass. They
just look so comfortable that that my apologies I was creating an arbitrary
scale. And all of a sudden 5-7s go roaring through the attack but there's a
Gapsing the smoke there. Very awkward round. Whoa.
Saved.
of the
some of the up here in the previous round but wasn't spotted just fell back out of that position
going to come up on if I should say, oh no, he's already peeled back.
Oh, they're going to be careful.
Moldo could catch something.
Oh, like that.
That's yeah.
That's if you want to go through the two walls here.
I mean, he's like, he doesn't know if he's still there or not,
but odds are he's not far off.
Here's the hard glare.
Missed up shot, but Yuri's got you covered confirms another bathroom dweller
Spotted again. Mozi is looking for an exit
It's just gonna have to hold the ground now and he's he flashes to the left side. He tries to pounce on the oh
What a shot one more come on
Fall and turns it back the other way we go three versus two to the favor of fury up
You keep us probably gonna test that smoke on the operas fallback, but it's being held
Yeah, I mean they don't even need to go a technically the bomb is in a position to go down the stairs, but 15 seconds
Yeah, they're feeling locked in any find the great timing jam young thinking surely that second players got to be in bound
But they haven't seen the bomb
Auto insta kill some beautiful dare
I say succulent headshots throughout that round. What a sequence. I feel bad for jam young because he's just like wondering what they're doing
It's so late. Are they really gonna try to go away? Like is this the, you know, a walk-up outside of bathrooms?
And somehow your kinder finds timing. This is one tap of the night for me.
That was awesome.
Really great round from us. We've seen some great rounds out of Mosey, to be honest, like aim-wise.
Putting together some cool shots.
Blunt. Thanks. Overpass the lowest rated map in the last three months for both Molledoy
and Cacerado. Whoa. That's interesting. That matters. It'll have to be the Kinderkeri,
I mean the urie care. I was gonna say I feel like you already got that. Yeah
Keep it up Yuri
How's G gonna save the day with the solo off this round
around
positions inside of the A site by the
sign
and with pistols around him he's gonna go for the
boost
yeah let's get vertical
uh oh
that's unfortunate because
that was a kill lined up
oh yeah
Another one on the side post. They're ready for it. Gee, that's a fire. The flashes are
working a little too well everywhere.
Yeah, Alper only now gets a chance to fire and it doesn't quite connect. Insta-Trade
back from Yuri, locking down long. And that's a fallen bomb plant to guarantee the 6-2
T side lead
They really had to find a way to push back into bathrooms when that was coming in
When when a boost like that fails, so it's a little awkward
You don't have the utility to make the space you want
So it was impending doom. I think in their minds when they didn't see anything
Have you ever thought about how you might if you wanted to change over past to like make it faster
or to make the map feel less big.
Because if you actually look at the volume of space or like rotations,
they're not technically longer than other maps.
It just, it definitely feels that way when you play.
I mean, especially if you have like blue control.
I'd say it's something I haven't really thought about
because I just kind of like Overpass as is.
Yeah.
Yeah. I like watching it.
I like playing it.
I just think that there's only a few teams that truly are good enough.
That's fair. Right.
And whether some changes could kind of bring the average Overpass play up a notch.
or just not make the great team versus not so great team so one-sided.
Right.
Because that also means those rounds are a little longer, but still one-sided.
So it's kind of, uh...
I think there's...
Yeah.
But I would never say it's not a solid map. It absolutely is.
of
the snap of the ball and I have a lot of the necessary facts will house that into the brains
of
a spectacular
Meanwhile, Cheat taking a couple shots to get his, but AWPer and an M4 answer.
Connector players look at a blindside Moseo, but he's not putting his guard down.
He falls back into the site.
Ah, it's the fact that he tries to go back at it, and that just gives Yuri the answer.
Now we've got separated defenders here for Tyloo at a man disadvantage, 50 seconds,
full-blown execute comes over top.
Alright.
Bluster zero's position for a second.
What are you made of?
Yeah, it's a full test here for zero.
I've renated the book.
Not saying I'm trying to help.
Fallen goes over top of him, and now G trying to find a chance to strike back, but Molotov
has got the peek covered off, and that is the 7-2 lead established.
I have often thought though, Launder, what if the monster pipes were widened
enough so that you had more space to push through them side by side, but one smoke grenade was still
enough to block them. So it doesn't affect utility, usages. But the only thing is just current meta.
Yeah. E rushes are like the main, main way tees win already. Right. That might be the
way we got to work on the other side. Yeah, like I was thinking if you could connect
along with bathrooms, maybe it justifies more of the space that you don't always use every
around right on the CT side. I think maybe the problem is that sometimes you lose the round on map control
And you're just too far away to change plans, right? And that's when it gets kind of dull for a second. Mm-hmm in those bad spots
or good teams can punish you then you're totally screwed
but
Maybe it is good to have a super skill check map that where the best can you know dominate. I mean that also makes sense
It's just up it's an update today, so now I'm just thinking about yeah
We're thinking update creative juices flowing. What about a second connector?
But a simplified one that connects the bathroom half wall to graffiti down on B. I'm into it. Let's put an elevator
well
An escalator
Hmm
Actually, you know I'm still innovating on the map
Let's just take that train out of the map while we're at it.
I think they should increase the frequency it stops.
I think they should open the door to the nightclub.
Yeah, they should let us into the club.
There's a great place to save over there.
This close push. Flash is good.
Dismantled by the flashbang.
Barring the miss smokes out of the Tyloo side.
He's been strong and it unravels a set up towards long again and what seems like a fresh setup as well
So I'm impressed that they're prepared for it
Osia picks up a position
That will be locked in until Moledoy leaves it would have to be a weird flick
But that's the kind of shot that Moledoy special is specializing in right now. I mean
I'm still shocked we didn't get the replay on that wall bang headshot flick.
Oh!
Well, Molledoy starts throwing grenades that'll offer his life over.
5-7 good for the one up close.
And we go 2 vs 2 at 20 seconds.
Bombs a little bit labored in terms of getting scooped up.
Sounds like that smoke missed.
Oh!
Yeah, it did.
It did!
And so Heaven Retake made easy.
Kcerato kind of feeds Yuri through the wolves.
If this HG is perfect, it kills one.
Mosia, two kills into the round.
We've said his aim is looked good.
Well, 11 and 7 trying to be that beacon of hope for Ty Loo.
Fragrant on to the diffuser.
Damned near kills the man.
Opness is at shot.
He's going to go for the diffuser now.
Oh, Serrano, playing with him.
The accuracy he lacks in utility,
he makes up for with the rifle.
And the Nade was still pretty good.
Yeah.
I meant the Smokey Mist on Heaven.
Oh, right, right.
That one.
He wanted a clutch.
Hey, blame the guy.
He said, Fury, I'm gonna use you as Weapon X.
Let's get Agro.
I'm so frustrating.
K-Toronto's jiggle-peaking you.
If you watch the demos, like, no one's more annoying.
Like, you see him?
I don't know how he does it.
Looks like you're just trying to stare at a quantum vibration.
Whoa!
That's good for the soul.
Jam Young under threat here is the full commitment from Furious coming his way.
Bomb already exiting through Monster.
Supports on the scene, though.
In this Mosiah Heaven arrival. Clean shots again.
We're not talking about these little shoulder jiggles, dude.
The fact that he gets bullets out while he does them.
does them yeah frisky business and jam young gets stomped on by fallen who gets
traded back out mosey a multi-frag again a triple kill from heaven now
mercury's got one for the road and we've got a little left here in tyloo
excellent answer as that rotation comes down and delivers it really wanted to
make it a raw aim map affair right there inside of B but they couldn't
keep up actually. That's really all about Tai Lu showing off their individual skill, which
has always been the story. I think these moments are also being offered over by Furia because
of this comfortable 8-2 lead. Surely feeling like they've been in the driver's seat since
the start of this game. Just so much comfort here on Overpass for them. Forward press
Tyloo over towards playground. It's gonna feel like there's no resistance because it's yet again an all-in B hit
He can't wait for zero to pop up and well zero takes one with him
Jam young meant to die to the tech nine and now lost in the smoke drops the bomb and you've got Yuri with the trade back
Molotoy hunting towards G's heaven approach, but while the bomb still remains on the ground that opens the door for Tyloo to threaten the flank
G does the same thing from heaven popping open the smoke momentarily bomb gets scooped up surely
They're taking an extra second and in that timing Moses found a chance to strike one down
K Serato posted his clutch. Let's see if we can do the same. I assume they're expecting a CT push because
they would have expected him to get the bomb back. So if he wants to reroute go back up today
They might be frozen in place for a second just watching their flank
Yeah, because it's so hard to clear, I think G pretty much has to sit here because the likelihood
he goes graffiti and Yuri knows he gets a free plant off.
So I mean, in the form that he's in, right, maybe something special happens.
You'd have to end this half 20 and 6, puts the smoke down before it.
Ooh, can you win it from long?
I feel like a reach.
17 bullets in the magazine
At the time is ticking in there, they're they're scared they think he's gonna push
Mercury's the one without a kit man in from bathrooms. It's actually the perfect play Yuri. Come on Yuri
They're considering it now. Oh, that's damage on a Mosier in the backdrop
hell of an attempt from Yuri great reposition out through connector and to make it happen back around final two rounds of
the half, go the way of Tyloo. Much needed T side pistol, up next.
From my sense of rivalry, it is something that tests you to your limit and shows you your
limits. It's something where there's a lot of emotion because of how hard it can be
to overcome the rival. There's a beauty in poetry in it because the rival is holding
up the mirror to your weaknesses and they're exposing them and that's frustrating to
deal with but then you're forced to be honest with yourself and to try to work
through it and see become better. And that is what both you and your rival want
and I think that's one of the most special things about competition.
I think one of the things about the fanatics, NV, rivalry that was
interesting is that French and Swedish kind of strikes, I think was really
important to CS. With NV you had this kind of combination of like crazy
firepower and personality with that French energy.
And then you also have on the other end of it,
the Stoic, also villains of the time
in the Phenatic roster where it ensures
the super deep level of strategy and tactics
that they showed a mastery of how to mid rounds.
As well the AWP was obviously got nerfed
thanks to JWMs, Kenyes.
And so he also has in that rivalry the best AWPers
and the two AWPers that understood
how to play aggressively with the AWP
like nobody else.
Now I'm thinking back to the early days of CSGO back in the French Swedish rivalry.
I'm thinking about that stylistic difference and how both of those teams were shown the
best of CSGO in different ways.
I think Liquid was very important to shaping narratives in North America because Liquid
was really the first serious team in North America that showed a culture defining change.
Liquid had moments of much greater success than others.
run you've got this edition as a twist line-up where eventually they could beat
Astralis. This I think elevated all of North America along with it. It was
necessary for them to do that because Astralis were showing mastery of the
game in so many different levels that to compete against them was so infinitely
difficult for basically anyone and everyone. And so everyone was studying
Astralis and Astralis were essentially making a student of the entire scene
and I think Lake Worth was one of the responses to the cultural impact of Astralis.
Tyloo knew it from the get-go that without Mirage this series was going to feel a little more dire and four rounds on the CT side of
One of Furia's favorite map picks. Well, even if this is statistically a worse map for K Serato and Molodoy
That's fine because you've got Yuri comfortably 17 and 7 after the attack of Furia
Lots of yeah lots of potential left to to make this even worse. This is the unfun side here for Tyloo
Their work is cut out for
Okay, I'll have nothing to say about it the CT pistol zero on for a multi-frag moment. Oh
That's nice zero three frags off the doublets
These guys have so much one tap potential
Retakes on no kit. Oh
Okay, make it five
0-0!
No! Ace out of 0!
Picks up the Berettas and whips them against them.
Beautiful one taps in the middle of it all.
Zero to hero.
A much needed pistol at that.
Sprinkle on the style points.
Red Bull, Ace of the day!
When we look out, even the third kill alone.
this is so clean that's so good oh that's fantastic always love it when a new
name gets a moment like that to remember damn 95 damage head shot as well in
the last player should have just given it to him for free
Fallen's 5-7 with one Desert Eagle towards Connector.
Careful now, Tyloo picked up the first pistol and lost to the force by in the first half.
Same could still be done, but blindsided by Mozia.
Molodoye, quarter health now, other side of the map.
How does he position himself to win this?
Unnerving situation, but I mean, Molodoye making this move means he either goes
through to short really starts the thing about getting back to A eventually through bathrooms,
which it looks like he is just going to try to cover everything. Playing,
really playing to win here. I don't even know. Does he run over a couple of grenades maybe
along the way, but the doors closed? He wouldn't even know about it.
But it's a commitment to this side of the map, so should be smooth sailing here for Tyloo.
So, if you had more HP, we could talk.
hero pistol ace, and it's not just a regular ace.
It's a fantastic ace.
What could have been three one taps in a sequence?
I feel like we just round up that last frag
and let him have it.
Is this pervert?
Well, hey there, Chris.
I come inside for a pipe stickle.
Not bad.
I know how hard it is for you to hit those notes.
You get extra credit.
I was just thinking everyone's probably just going to think it's you.
It's usually my shtick.
Two round game but no rest.
I'd love had these stolen away before.
It's also still such a limited by decision here for Furia, but one made with confidence
clearly.
back up carefully here you know case
wrote his guards down it's possible he
just gets his noggin popped
but also carefully on the cement side
was he a calming something
the kinder about to see something you
You know now it's an A-play likely.
Mosey, oh, oh, oh my goodness.
Wait.
What?
That was awkward.
Yeah, I thought he's, I thought Mosey saw that first.
Mosey trying to keep the thread up at the B-side.
They confirmed the one.
Polito is still trying to find contact towards bathrooms.
He peels away.
He drops the ball.
Zero comes through with a headshot.
Awkward moment here for Furia across the board.
You can't get by the flashbang.
G kind of saves that one.
Well, it's Mercury who's about to get Phamas busted up and instead this winds up being a round that looks damn near from the outside
Flawless for Tyloo, but in reality a lot of that was on a knife's edge
Totally and there's a couple of you know shots. I mean spray that could have been a little better
But if Tyloo they created enough tension that those mistakes would happen
They kind of guysed where they were attacking from they threw the flashes when they need to
They popped out all these different timings that's caught fury off guard. So
That's one of the mistakes happen
Game on tyloo
It's still a couple allowed to survive here for fury, uh, so they don't get bottomed out
This was such an awkward engagement that jump up. Yeah
Took a serato an extra second to realize that he had seen something
Mosia escapes within that and that G flash makes sure that there's no costs once they hit the bomb site
really running into this. Oh my goodness. It won't spend any time trying to guard it. I think they
just hope that Fury are gonna maybe go in that direction. They have in fact re-expanded a little
bit. Fallen will be first noticed but he takes a peek doesn't see anything so they decide to go
forward with the wrong stack. It's a nice call here for Tylo.
But as the Heaven smoke lands, at least they follow through with the flashes as well.
Make sure you can't see anything over there.
Fallen still finds sanctuary.
Zero's found him, clears the barrels, and Fallen's gonna go down empty-handed.
and only Molo-Doy had actually taken a sniff down towards this B site to try and help so
They didn't toss those guns right so there's an upgrade
M-Force found
AK also nabbed
You move into the next round with an extra rifle then you came into this one with but we are looking at a tied game mohan
A T side a T side should be so difficult but after
that had spirited pistol round at a zero.
Had good believing as well.
It's a four-round T-side streak
where we've had Furia come through with a couple of four spies.
They haven't really given themselves all the tools for the job.
On top of that, final last two rounds of the first half,
also the way of Tyloo,
call this a six-round streak.
And we know that G wanted to get this series to Inferno.
We just thought that it was going to have to be via a way of a Mirage win.
He thought this would have to be via a way of Mirage win.
He was playing his cards close the whole time.
I've been waiting for real gun rounds coming through from Furia, and here's their first.
With everything you could ask for.
Five rounds into the half.
Oh, everything.
That's so...
A bit like for your kinder, artillery hits the B site, misses its marked case or auto,
still fine.
Through it a little far.
Doesn't even chip a much.
He's dead.
Almost.
But Jam Yonge able to react to it and first blood found for Thai Lu.
A man advantage to potentially take the lead.
That was kind of crazy.
What do I have to move into position?
Well, it'd be the wrong time.
Oh, scary approach there for Tyloo.
That's a lot of info.
But not working with an op of their own.
There's a time issue.
Tyloo are gonna have to rush this now.
And here comes Furia just stacking this bomb site to the brim.
Yuri hanging onto the bathrooms confirms two.
Flashbang finds its mark again.
But you've got fallen and Molledoy is still trying to surpass.
Optimus held here by K Serato. You know the last two CT spots.
Oh! Molledoy! But he doesn't stop the bomb plant unless.
And he opts not to go for the wall bang.
G with AK in hand. Right there on the brink of dice.
Molledoy waits and a miss shot! And now...
G peeks into it, wins the 1v1, and Tyloo takes the lead.
No way. Molladoi, he's getting the fight he's hoping for that peak. G was feeling the pressure.
I thought that Molladoi was going to be wrapping around that smoke maybe.
They did the shot out, but the shot was bad.
By the way, it felt like an inch. Yeah.
And this was a really pressured moment. Molladoi heard info outside of A,
saw them at the back of long at 27 seconds so it's almost a no-go situation
to even get there with the utility scaling into an op rotations are already
there but there's not enough fraggers here for furio
Yeah.
G again credit for another perfectly placed flashbang.
Yeah.
Helps unravel that bomb site.
That's right, that was like Yuri front bathrooms.
Nice!
Nice!
I don't know!
Tyloo with a lead on Overpass.
What was once 8-2?
8-9 now. K-Cirado not the only player stacked behind this pillar.
All kind of ready for the set tactic. No trade comes back. It's actually not a done situation just yet
Ah, there we go.
Mosia thinks he's gonna be the difference maker by just barreling it through monster instead offers the 42 advantage back over and the wall bang damage
Gonna make this
Potential draw back towards the A site all the harder. It's a rock in a hard place, but last round was too
I just need unfavorable trades here for fury up
Kindar already tucked in, got a blindside G, and Yuri's got Mercury dead to right, so easy clean up here for Furia.
All it took was losing the lead to wake them up a bit.
Yeah, it's a crispy bounce back, just like that.
Now, the tempo set by Tyloo, they wanted to make that one fast, unlike all their previous rounds.
But because they're trying to generate a comeback, you're gonna have to start throwing in different rounds,
Even if you don't really want to we even saw on Mirage that
Tyloo were trying to pull off those B plays
I think for the sake of proving that they're more than just a rush is you know like that they can do
More rounds and win more ways
To not be one dimensional
Which is admirable, but they didn't they didn't really succeed in that
But I like the momentum call. Like if it had one, it would suddenly feel like Tai Lu or
Nostra's not going to lose. Yeah.
To just shift up and show us a different look like that. It's nice to know that, again,
even though they say they don't have a ton of practice, they've got different pages
to the strap book.
You do kind of have to give Fury a credit for the setup.
hundred percent double up on pillar yeah just secured it as well no way for
tyloo to really unravel it from there he's falling eats that flashbang fully
he's lucky there's not a maid behind it to expose him
they're waiting for a double up on that rush call
that's interesting I don't think tyloo really saw that as we did something
wrong and weren't successful. That just seemed like there was no chance, but now that they've
established over there, they'll go back to A not seeing anything. They maintaining vision
outside of monster. Is that why some all it always got the off? Yeah. That's kind of
massive information around that 52nd mark, especially towards A. This is where it gets
really tough. But again, they battled through this before and they've had good flashes
to unravel it. So we'll see if Yuri picks a new spot and one that gets away. Such a
daunting place to smoke. Oh, perfect! Beautiful headshots from Yuri! What a fantastic game in
the best round from him so far. Hook, line and sinker for the three players lining up.
Tyloo thought they had just a moment to collect themselves. Instead it's Yuri that
collects them, one after another, bomb dropped in the background, zero down to five health,
despite his best efforts this game. Furia on the brink of going right back into the lead
and Fallen's going to confidently stomp this one towards him. A head shot to close. Furia 10 to
nine. And it's the maid timing. It's the perfect way to release the pressure in a situation
where now you have extra players. You've got Yuri there, but Molo do it already has full info on B.
It's 52nd. 40 seconds now. Now it's time to just frack because you don't want to just sit back on the
site and let them come up and trade like they did previously. And Tyloo were just hoping that they
weren't playing for information, but that's that's not going to be the case anymore. It looks like
Typhuria are awake.
Shaken awake by losing the lead and taking it right back
thereafter.
Daunting round for Tyloop, coming through the single AK on G,
and also late out of spawn, which wouldn't always
be a problem, except we do have Furia limit testing
from long, from bathrooms.
Oh, here comes the repeat.
When they find all this space for free, for sure.
A guy like Mollidow is going to stick around.
We're just doing this versus pistols right now.
Pistols and that 1G AK.
That's the threat you must be worried about.
Bomb leads the pack right now on Jam Young's back.
That's what worries me.
Yikindar's about to find it, drops it in the open.
Flashbang comes up from the B bomb site,
which just does afford Yikindar a little more confidence.
If you can tuck into the deep corner of connector,
value here for Yikindar with that kill,
and the position that comes with this.
Kind of got perfect moves from Furia.
They're coming to help you, Kinder.
They have that door blown open.
It's Tyloo once again,
thinking they're being sneaky on A,
but all the info is already here for Furia.
I think when Tyloo says like,
you don't get great practice on overpass,
this is one of those moments
where a lesser overpass team
would let you get away with these sneaky moves.
But you're up against Furia.
They're gonna push those flanks.
They're gonna find those timings
And they're gonna really put the squeeze on an approach like this.
So final attempt for Tyloo to just bust through that smoke on Long.
It offwards for a second there for Kcerado.
Now he's gonna have to bank on cover.
And Molotow is gonna offer it for the most part, but that single AK from G.
Thurk kills him! He got it!
That's the quad!
G!
A single frag from the ace.
And as he plants that bomb, 48 health!
Fall into deny him, but what a heroic moment he had at his fingertips such a massive round right there at his doorstep
Not an easy play at all to make so close to glory and a moment where it would have had a massive impact on the outcome of this game
Gotta say at least he got the kills in a moment like this considering what they came into this with
But trust him with this a game
What an effort.
You could not have asked for a better moment to try to sprinkle in something like that.
Oof.
That one keeps Fury on the edge of their seats despite collecting a few rounds in a row
now.
Sensing that they can get back in control of this game.
Be cautious.
J-Raz doesn't like Miss Utility, and Furio will be fans of it.
It's wasteful.
Galil's here for the approach.
Miss chance for Fallen to strike.
Molotoy blinded in the process.
Misses his opportunity as well.
Pops back up and drops one.
K-Sorado, they know about him.
And Samozia locks in for the frag.
Swapping over to the AWP.
Space-created and a bomb plant guaranteed.
Real awkward. I mean, it's great to have a full flank like this.
players here who's drawing aggro for you shadows spotted yeah 22nd frag to the
scoreboard for Mosia what a map man he's had some great kills some of his
rifle play has been pristine yeah I thought this was gonna be jamming on
town but it's been Mosia all day
And so Tyloo chip away at that lead once more.
Majority alive as well on top of that, an AWP upgrade offered by Mozia for a round where
they entered in with limitations in Galil's.
Tyloo's T side has turned into a real test for Furia.
Molotov is kind of doing the minimum right now, meaning, you know, Tel-Bak on his one
kill.
The three frags we've seen from him have been pretty extraordinary to be honest, but the
volume really isn't there.
She's found an early angle.
There's been a lot of floating around that pillar.
No boost out of the CT side, but a lot of bodies within this B site.
Four members of Furia, moments ago, Molledoy starts to peel away.
This is the moment if you're Tyloo, what you want is like a double HE kill.
You want something that's a spam.
You want to rock the B site a little bit before you go head on.
You make it a 5v5.
Honestly, Furia only lost that last round by a small margin.
Like, there's been luck involved.
Trying to rock on it into the site is...
It's gonna, it's gonna rely a little bit on luck, again.
They ate their own flash there.
Trying to dodge it, there's the pressure up.
You're up, and Fallen gets away.
How do you get away with that?
Smoke comes over top for Tyloo, they're gonna try to answer here.
Looking to come through with the commitment, Molotov's hit the ground, Fallen off the top box, tries to fall back.
Not given a chance to catch his breath. Heaven players coming through! Melted by G again!
And this time, this time, he sticks the landing!
No hype out of G after that clutch. He just put it together.
Nosey left another one on the table, but it doesn't matter. He still gets his moment.
And so Tyloo fight on, and in the face of adversity here because of the way
I fury apply that pressure not just sitting in the bomb site bringing the fight to tyloo
One v. Three for an 11 11 game
She side come back on overpass here for tyloo have not won a best of three versus
non-Asian competition in six months
And this would just extend play to Inferno, but that is where they had more confidence
and they will find first blood here in round 23 as well.
Furia looking to offer a 12th round to Tyloo, come through with a half-buy, but that doesn't
mean they don't have fight left in them.
Yuri catches the timing on the jump up.
Yeah, no punish on the way back.
Tyloo just have to be careful about one thing, and I think it's the info here
outside of B. Furia are, you know, liberally peaking this. And it feels like, I don't
think Furia are not going to second guess this.
Really? Wow. Really? This is what we're pulling out, round 23. 17 health in this corner.
Oh
Meek and milka to me
No way
Lines them up, but only gets the one that 17 health comes back to haunt him here comes the connector player
This is fine, too. It is G to the clutch again
And as he smokes off the short side case or auto is gonna peak heaven in a second
But he's got his gun back out just in the nick of time. Oh the headshot connects and Yuri
What Tomfoolery is that to secure their 12th they tried to make the most of his low HP and they definitely did
But right when he turns around he has to fall decides to try to milk this what is this man
They were saving that one for the major actually
Eagle kill for Moledoy somehow unfortunately in water. Yeah fallen winning the duel to connector. That's tough
That's pressure it's around 23. That's what you do Yuri
Tyloo have brought so much fight
That the 24th snow guaranteed to fury up
but you can feel it as they get confident push off of party little fountain
control early and made damage for jam young to have to stomach
ace and a 1v3 in this second half and nearly a second to get to this point so
much grit shown they don't want to let it go now you kind of are slammed by the
tech nine fallen's got the answer back towards B but that's only one of two B
players
oh they dropped their smoke back at spawn how did it even land there a lot of
misutility coming out of tyloo to be honest maybe it's optional Connor hit the
headshots baby to prove it now yeah and Yuri's been doing exactly that 23
kills to his name.
They blow this open or not.
Last time they popped it and you got those three frags melted
Tyloo on the other side of it. You know they'll be worried
about something similar, but they do get tucked into connector.
Yuri smelled this. He sees there's nothing here. They're
starting to make it over towards the B site. And this is
where time will have been a little bit obvious. This could
be end of the line. I don't see a fake happening over at
long as the bomb starts to make it over to me. They start
to pull back. Now the jam young's been found falling was
on the retreat in case Serato's caught out in the open.
Two versus four halfway there, but the offer
is gonna slip one over Mosiah.
He gets him back from the plant, zero,
into the clutch, a missed off shot from the ball.
But it's that M4 to strike, and it'll be Uri.
Hero of the day for Furia to guarantee
this is a two-map series.
Tyloo bring fight to the table tonight.
A hell of a T-side comeback attempt.
But at the end of the day, Furia have shown us promise here at the start of Blast Open.
An improvement from previous goes in 2026.
They stave off a hell of a challenge.
And that was a crazy out.
We were seeing overpass play out towards the end.
I mean, coming into it, we're all like, yeah, if Furia get their hands on overpass
when it comes to them as a team, there is just going to be, you know, close of day.
That's all we can really say here, but that's not it at all. My goodness. Tyler brought it to them on a map
Even they personally didn't give themselves credit for
positive science out of title
I mean, I think they actually really brought a good game plan and they sure as hell also brought the individual levels
We definitely saw some some really great shooting out of zero getting that the pistol ace but also getting the
G rounds back to back, you know, that was
Crazy that was straight up incredible. I mean like on the furious side
I would have wanted to see a bit more like are you confident when here, but I still think the title
They definitely proved to to be a little bit new vincere. Yeah, I'm more confident. Yeah, I'm more confident
I love it always and I know it's kind of like tail up there like yeah fury man like why wouldn't they just more confident today?
What's going on? I
Felt like we were super confident today
It didn't look that way, but maybe we're a little bit used to having games that we played even worse, you know.
So for us today was a step forward towards the direction that we had last year,
and honestly felt great to play this game, felt finally good to be online again, and yeah, super pumped.
Yeah, how's the mood in the camp? You said you moved towards how you played in the end of 25,
So how's the mood everyone's feeling great about the team and you feel like you're actually getting back to where you want to be at?
Yeah, I mean we had many
many games where we kind of get
Slapped in the face a little bit and where we kind of got humble down a little bit
I think we at some point we forgot how hard the games were last year
Maybe started punishing ourselves a little bit for not playing perfect every time or whatever
But even though though we never really played perfect, you know, but because we won the
like the four or five events that we won maybe that that was the mistaken mistaken thought kind of in our heads
Can you try to explain the EPL result because I I'm on behalf of you guys coped. I just said
He was making a lot of excuse for it. I felt like it was just you know, I mean if your IGL is not going to the playoffs
It's hard to for me to even imagine to be as motivated, but you know, you're a professional
I mean, what do you think happened in those games? Was it just that or what were you guys actually not playing well?
Yeah, the fall not being for playoffs, I don't think it was definitely the reason why we played so bad.
I think it was overall just a combination of drop-off and form, starting from the start of the year, going into Krakow.
I feel like Krakow overdid ourselves a little bit, because with the map pool we had and the confidence we had,
honestly going to the final was a great result for us, but coming into the EPL, I feel like the biggest problem
when that's been happening for the last four events,
Cluj, Krakow, and EPL as well.
It's like, we always have these late games
and always these late games go to get delayed
and we definitely play a lot worse during the night.
Are you saying, you're not blaming that Fallen's
not going to the playoffs,
you're blaming the time of the matches?
Definitely.
If you ever see a fury, like morning or a day match,
it's completely different.
It's actually night and day, you know?
Wow.
Exactly.
You don't have any FACED demons?
I am.
I thought Moldova was going to play better because of the time, but he had a little bit of a slow game, what do you think went wrong with him today?
I just feel like he got unlucky a couple of situations. I feel like today he...
situations were in a way where he was doing a more supportive role.
I don't think he really had that many opportunities to actually get the numbers that he's usually getting.
the but he was there in columns in terms of like offering ideas offering grenades and that's the most important thing for us
Well, I feel like we really just put you on the spot
You know you conclude your series you've already talked about it a period night
Maybe not the best fury that we get to see but we're gonna get to see more of you congratulations on the win there
I'm gonna let you go. You can I know it's very late
So I don't want to hold you up any longer and whilst we're saying goodbye to your kinder
We're gonna have a look at our bracket
of course as well after we see the winning moments for Fury, just how good it feels when you see
Overpass, your map choice getting so close almost having to go to OT2.
G did not want that game to end. G?
I mean he was having a game.
Yeah, I mean I feel like G was the reason that this one was as close as it was. I mean yeah,
we also got a great moment to kick off the half from zero, but I'm super, I'm shocked that
Tyloo brought it as close as they did. Yeah, I totally buy into that one. I mean sure from the
own region they they have been dominating there the last the last couple of months but I mean here
I didn't expect to put up that big of a fan. Yeah and we're seeing it now right we were wondering
when we saw our phase in Aurora series conclude who exactly Aurora would be going up against and
you guys did put the favorites to be towards Furia but it also means that we get to see
phase in Tyloo one of them eventually being eliminated that's not being played tomorrow
right today was all about group A and we get to see what that first round has
eventuated for that group A. We get all the favorites that get out on top I mean
it's so boring what's going on with CS guys come on man favorites winning.
Land BO3s okay it's the way it's meant to be played and that's why the favorites
took care of business. Yeah in the middle of the night.
I mean we get a better tournament but we do end in the middle of the night you know
What does love I love? This is always one of my favorite times when it comes to getting to watch e-sports as well as getting to talk about
Players and games like this for serious
But we get to talk about what is going to be at day number two as well
When we get to it tomorrow having a look at our matchups because like I said today was all about group A and tomorrow
It's going to be group B where we're going to have you know our morning shifters those who've got to have an easier day for
themselves. They're going to be looking at Paris vision and IP liquid spirit and
then what we get to have a look at is of course mongols mouse and then it's going
to be nine Z in vitality. Keep your eye on that nine Z vitality one. Okay. I
mean one hot tech manly. There was a I mean fucking in for the day. I mean
vitality are obviously the heavy favorites in that but it was a blast
event quite some time ago. Nine Z took down vitality. RPK subsequently
Retired immediately after that game. Let's see if they retire somebody else
That's a long time ago
Little popular that's the only way to sell that
No, no, no, no bias analyst
What would be your must watch you're just like you guys gonna tune in for that that match up for a group A
I mean I'm paper mouse Mongels probably the
All the force one so lucky we also get to cover that one, you know
I get to talk a little bit about miles you get to the unit get to
Tomorrow too though true. Yeah, I think that one is pretty good. Yeah, I should be in more interesting
It's definitely gonna be an interesting day tomorrow, but we're gonna say goodbye for now day one of lost open in the books
So we're going to see you guys first game tomorrow, starting at 11 AM.
So make sure you're here.
Make sure you're already sitting in your seats to enjoy another day of Counter-Strike.