BLASTPremier
BLAST Rivals Fort Worth 2026, Playoffs, Day 3 - G2 Esports vs. FaZe Clan
05-01-2026 · 8h 03m
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Music
They say Fort Worth is where the rest forget.
they never tell you the price. Here, nothing is given for free. If you want respect, if
you want legacy, you have to fight for it. Port Worth is built by trailblazers, riding
cattle through the dust and drawing oil from the ground. They staked their claim and they
fought tooth and nail for.
Fortune's made in a moment taken away even faster, and all that time, nothing has changed.
When you step into the server, you better fight, because your respect, your legacy, depends
on it.
This is Pressure.
This is everything on the line.
If light never let this see, just welcome new contenders.
Welcome to Fort Worth. Welcome to the fight.
We're live in Fort Worth, Texas as Counter-Trike takes centre stage here at the iconic Dickies
Arena all weekend.
It is last Premier Rivals Fort Worth for 2026 where a lot of questions will be answered
and legacies will be tested.
I guess the most intriguing is whether or not any of the teams here can knock the incredible vitality off the top spot.
They are on the run of a lifetime looking unstoppable.
Will they claim another crown?
I want to give a shout out to our incredible fans that are already starting to fill up this arena.
We've only just opened up the doors and this stage is absolutely massive.
My name's Ian.
Thank you for having me, Anders.
You want to get your steps in.
Our incredible cameraman.
Let's go and show off this incredible stage, shall we?
So here, in the heart of it, of course,
we have our player booths.
So our players are literally and figuratively
sitting opposite each other as these rivals continue
to unfold here in the quarterfinals
and then on into the semis.
Down here, we have our ringside area, exclusive VIPs.
We've got some incredible co-streamers
familiar faces of the counter strike community all in attendance welcome guys it's a pleasure
to have you here and of course we've got our casting food center there as well which
is where our first tour of Moses and Dinko will be leading us through that first water
final. So we've got six teams remaining I've already mentioned the kings of counter strike
but we've also got some incredible talent here looking to get their hands on this
trophy and the lion's share of the hefty prize pool. So whether you are backing the
favorites or riding with the underdogs, let's get this party started in Texas.
I think FaZe has a lot of hard time, but for me, it's FaZe up, okay?
FaZe all day for sure, even without Kerrigan.
Huh, Falcons.
It's going to be phase play. It's going to be phase play.
Is it going to be phase all day? We'll see. Welcome to the Analyst Desk. My name is Shox
and I'm joined here by Maui Snake and by Dust. Wow, it's feeling great up here, I
have to say. We talk a lot to the fans as well. By the way, phase, those track
what is the difference between
the two? I think they're
wearing suits. What is stroke
a genius like everybody's
wearing them already. They're
so good. I feel like I've
already seen a dozen people
wearing them. There aren't
many orcs that have merged
that good, but phase always
is pulling all the strings
all the all the stops. The
other beers are flowing early
too, because I think face
is going to win. So wild
stuff out here already. The
topic lots somewhere. I
suppose if there's
delusion, there's hope
doesn't know what they
did. We'll get there. We'll
get there. Yeah, we'll
playoffs and I think Maui you're the one that said this is name brand value wise an incredible
incredible field. In terms of the organizations here there's only one that's really missing
from the group stage the fact that we don't have fury but in their stead game religion that's
proved themselves and then look at it star stud it already in the semifinals you've got Navi
you've got Vitality two best teams in the world for my money and then legacy organizations in
phase G2 Astralis. What's not to like? Yeah, indeed. Let's take a look at the
schedule immediately because today we'll have the quarter finals on the docket to
see who will get the honor of playing respectively Navi or Vitality tomorrow.
Thus, yeah, indeed, the chance to take another shot. The greatest of all time,
right? So many have come up to bat. So many have fallen short. We'll see if
things change here in Fort Worth. Yeah, absolutely. So and I think that is a
story of any tournament, right? The last couple of months. In fact, the
last year and a half, who can beat Vitality? And whenever you talk to
any of these teams. They always bring up vitality in one form or other famously.
Alex you'd be right saying if you win a trophy but you don't go through them, have you really deserved it?
I mean this is a team that hasn't missed a playoffs ever. This is a team that's placed
top four 21 times in a row. They are the final boss of Counter-Strike and I agree with them.
No trophy is going to feel as satisfying unless you're able to deal a blow to vitality on the
way to it. Yeah definitely so but I want to know who you guys are backing. Maui,
A little birdie told me you're back in phase.
We all know, we all know why that is, okay?
Phase Clan now with Twist taking the reins once again
with a couple new up and comers here on the roster.
Nate, you NKJ showing what they're made of here,
but I can't remiss the fact that we all know
that it is indeed Brokey Friday.
Nate, how you doing?
Hello, I'm doing really good.
You've only been on this phase roster for eight days and now you're walking into a quarter-final.
How are you feeling?
I'm feeling really good. I'm excited to play in the arena and I just can't wait.
Twister said already that you bring a lot of energy to this team.
I imagine you're going to need a lot of energy here on the main stage.
Yeah, of course, it's going to be really important.
I think it's one of the fundamentals we have in the team to have really good energy.
This is where we perform the most.
I hope we're going to have a good energy for the stage.
And you showed that with a shock win over Furia yesterday.
How much confidence has that given you coming onto this stage?
I think good confidence.
I think we're still confident before the match.
We just focus on our fundamentals, like I said, energy,
like what we did in practice.
And I think we're pretty confident in it.
It worked pretty well against Furia, even against Davi.
I think we had some good takeaways from the match.
So yeah.
Final thoughts on G2?
It's going to be a fun game.
Best of luck.
Thank you.
Oh, we hope so.
For Nature, it's pretty incredible.
And someone called it a honeymoon, right?
But who cares?
They stand in the Dickies Arena.
They stand in the playoffs.
But for him, of course, the stress is going to be on.
How is he going to perform on that big stage?
But enough about FaZe does.
I feel like you have G2's back.
Indeed.
G2 looking really strong so far.
A team that takes its success already winning
Blast Open London against the likes of the Great
Assault Time Vitality.
one of only two teams of Beatham Best of Five Grand Final.
It's been up and down ever since.
Hunter having to sit back at Rio and watch his team play
without him, but still do decent.
Nertz, a new addition to the squad,
coming back home to his old coach Saul
and his familiar operands, Son Pius,
looking to see if he can be what G2 needs
to finally take that next step forward
and get that finishing blow to vitality.
Welcome to Fort Worth once again, Huntshead.
You said that you were sort of grateful that you missed Rio because it gave you an opportunity
to see what your team can do without you.
How excited are you now to be back with them on a stage like this?
I'm really excited.
This is the first arena together with Nerds and I'm looking forward to play this game.
You've also mentioned that the atmosphere and the energy within the team is super
positive especially because you've got a couple of best friends playing together.
How important do you think that chemistry will be here?
I mean of course it's important in CS and when it's a team game overall atmosphere is really important and
Since I joined it we always had a good atmosphere, but right now I think it's it's pretty good as well
So yeah, I'm just looking forward to play more and especially in front of the crowd here
Did you prep much for FaZe Clan? Did you expect that there would be opponents here today?
I mean we didn't prep much because they are kind of a new team with a new player without the Cariga now
It would be a different team so we didn't have too much things to watch
we were mostly focused on ourselves and yeah we'll try to show our game on the
stage. Best of luck. Thank you. We'll see indeed. Yeah he says it there. You can't
really prep that extensively. It's not like a vitality where you have so so
so much tape right Maui. So it's understandable that he says we're gonna
focus on ourselves as always. Unfortunately it's gonna probably be
mostly platitudes coming out of Hunter for a game like this. You're gonna play
your own game. Yeah work work as hard as you can. As much as you can. There's
a little bit of footage of course that they can work with though. It is. I also said on
HLTV the leg isn't in perfect state but he really wanted to come back and thus he said
that he wasn't there in Rio but he said that it was nice to see that the guys could stand
on their own two feet right. How do you think that will come into play in an arena like
this? Nothing not needing the leg to play counter-strike. That does help out quite
a lot but yeah I think it allowed him to have maybe a third-person perspective that
he doesn't normally get of his own team to see what they're capable of and I think
can also force more players to probably be more vocal and be more involved in the game
planning and how they operate, which is nice for, you know, micro-vanaging later.
Sure. And we see those fundamentals and see how they can be built out with nerds. But
for FaZe, it's unquantifiable. Do you agree that it is a honeymoon FaZe? And is that
necessarily a bad thing?
It's not a bad thing. You've got to make the absolute most of these entry moments
when Twist is coming into the lineup, where you have a couple new guys around you
where the hierarchy of leadership is now shifting.
Now everybody just has to be respondent
to their teammates around them,
taking as many ideas, collaborate as well
as you possibly can.
It feels like the Brain Trust in TWIST and NKJ
is already finding some success.
I mean, they took down an elite fury to even get here.
So there's already some proof of concept.
There is.
We're gonna talk about the feeder a little bit
and we are gonna send you down
because you'll be helping, you'll be a helper.
Let's say on stage so you can go ahead
And we can start talking a little bit about that veto again for phase.
It was a question coming in here.
How much work can you really do in this week and twist that signal at the
beginning? Obviously we can't focus on everything, but their T sides looked
quite promising, right? Do you feel like in this overnight, they would have,
they would have built out a lot and what did you see from them so far?
I think the big thing for, you know, them is that they come in with that
mystery factor. We don't know what they're going to do.
Yeah. We don't know how much their map was pivoted with this, you know,
new system of twisting game leading with the new coach and all those things.
We already kind of saw them pivot what they were banning and picking and
just the games they've already played.
So I think that'll make things interesting for G2.
We kind of know what to expect from them.
On the other hand, for Faze there,
that's on a wild card here.
It's true for G2, of course, a couple of maps
that they really love.
See if we see that dust too again.
Some pious loves to play it on the other side.
You're right, though, for Faze.
Even when it came down to that third map
and it came down to Nuke yesterday,
we were really surprised that they were so well prepared.
And we even saw some of that vintage Faze bullshit
in the very last round.
It was funny because NKJ said, I'm German.
I don't like that.
I want him to save.
But I guess you can't argue with that experience.
Sometimes you need a little bit of bullshit
to get things done around here.
It's already rock bottom.
You've got to find a way to get back up.
Definitely so.
The longer we talk, it means the longer Maui
is taking to walk downstairs to the stage.
You know, listen, we don't usually get our steps on the desk.
But you know, he's out there trying hard.
So I'm looking forward to seeing what him and Ian
have cooked up on the pick band.
I think it is one of those pick bands
that isn't going to be as straightforward as they normally
are.
You kind of know teams, permabands,
and what they like to pick fully.
But with phase, you have no idea, right?
The only thing I know for sure is if he's probably not gonna let Nuke in, but other than that, I don't really know what's gonna happen.
Who knows? Well, let's see, because I think the Vito is ready.
What about the maps that you think are gonna come through? Is it gonna make it challenging for you guys?
Maybe a bit, to be honest. I think we know what we expect, what they're gonna play most likely, because they don't also have time to play all the maps in the world, because they also have a nature right now.
So I think it's gonna be maybe Dastia, Anubis, maybe even Overpass for a check, but we'll see.
I think they will pick either Dastor or Anubis. We are picking Ancient, and the third map is gonna be Dastor or Anubis.
Good for us. Good for them.
All right, we're back down on the main stage here, center stage.
And when I say we, it is an honor to be joined by the sharpest dressed man in all of Counter-Strike right now.
I know I'm putting it out there. Maui, how are you doing? You good?
Excellent, excellent. It's always great to be back here in Texas.
And I feel like if the trend continues, you know, we're painting all of the Texas Triangle.
Why not Houston next year?
year. Oh, I like that. He's got a good reaction from the crowd there as well, Maui. Let's not waste
any time for the first time here on the main stage. We'll be getting into picks and fans for
this first quarter final. Phase Fan Inferno. Expected. It's what they've been banning ever
since Swiss became the in-game leader. Next. T2 ban Nuke. Also their permit ban.
So far, everything's going par for course, nothing, no curveballs.
Steady away. Let's now move on to the first pick.
Phase picked, just two.
It's a map that they've already shown some success on,
but it's pretty scary to play a G2 with some pious on this map.
G2 pick, ancient.
This is their bread and butter.
They love this map.
Phase are going to have a lot of catching up to do.
Back to bands.
They're so good.
They spend overpass.
Too tall of an order to expect a brand new team to be playing that one.
Absolutely.
G2 Bant.
Anubis.
Okay, all right.
I mean that leaves us obviously here with Mirage.
This to me feels definitely G2 favored, but we're seeing crazy stuff happen every
day with Faze.
It's gonna be a bang of the right?
Without a doubt.
Without a doubt.
They started.
I mean, it's a really nice phase. You never, you don't need to think too much.
They will be good, 100%. So we need to do our best. We need to be in our A-form and yeah, try to win, of course.
I mean, they're writing some type of momentum at the moment. I mean, they had an event with our Hunter.
They played close games against Vitality two times now. I think they're in good form.
Like I said, we're here to be the upset team.
We have one under our belt already and we're searching for another one.
It's going to be a very good game, I think, and we know how space can play out of time.
It's good, even though they've been struggling, everyone knows recently,
but we cannot describe them out of this game.
It's going to be a very tough game for us, same for them, I think,
and hopefully we will take it.
It's Brokey Friday.
It's Brokey Friday indeed!
Well, all right. Oh my gosh. Yeah, you love to hear it though. You do. But hey, maybe
we'll start with it. The producers probably won't be mad that we put this
now. But Maui, this actually originated with you. What is Brokey Friday?
Brokey Friday is a feeling. It's a moment in time that he does not fail
to capture. Brokey's performances are wavering. They are indeed up and
down. You don't always get Brokey on any given day of the week. But
Some reason this guy on Friday is a different beast dust. Are they Fridays
there in playoffs though? That's that's my question. That's all I'm asking. I'm
just asking what Fridays are we talking about? That's all I want to know. It
just says Friday. True. I just feel like this man hasn't been a mini playoff
Fridays in a while. That's all I'm gonna say. It has been a while, but
these are stats for all of CS2. Remember at the beginning, win phase
were one of the best, if not the best team in the game. Brokey was a
main catalyst for that action. A lot of that action comes on Fridays. It's just a feeling
dust.
It's a feeling. You can't quantify it. That's how it is. Tell me a little bit about how
a Broke Friday par lays into the maps that's been picked that are any shocks for you guys
because it does seem like it's pretty G2-favored, but that could also just be because we know
what to expect from them.
Yeah, we don't know what the health is doing, right? I mean, they're kind of
just picking whatever their limited practice allows them to do. However, G2 is going
to feel very comfortable with these first two maps coming out. They play ancient
to a very high level.
We've seen some good stuff out of them
in Dust 2 and this tournament and just in general.
So I think they're gonna be very happy
about the map pull overall.
I don't think Faze necessarily gained any edges here.
No.
Have to concur with that sentiment
that Faze right now are flying by the seat of their pants.
Any map that they can play,
they're just gonna try to run with it.
Unfortunately in the second phase,
G2 did ban the Anubis,
which I, even though Faze lost that one
to Navi earlier in this,
they were showing some signs on.
So yeah, definitely G2 that is
has painted Faze into a corner.
Definitely so, but for Phaser saying it already like flying by the seat of their pants and also just showing hopeful things when nobody expected it
We have to remember just a week ago. This core was shook completely with Carrigan leaving
We heard it also from twist this this wasn't expected. We feel a little hard done by right
So there's a lot on their shoulders and the fact for me that twist has led them already to these playoffs is already incredible
Yeah, they need any little bit of help they can get at this point
you're talking about only the third team in CS history that went from making a
major final to not even making the major. That's 24 valve majors only three teams
have done that phase probably the most standing because in the BRS era where a
whole season of play defines who makes it to that point. So every when they get
it's so crucial to build a foundation for whatever the future of this team is
going to be. They need the points to get there for people who maybe have not
watched all the matches yet. Why Maui could you pay me a little bit of a
picture because obviously the main thing you think about is that
leadership is gone in Kerrigan,
but you are gaining other things.
You're definitely gaining firepower.
That's one thing that you can expect
with somebody like Natu coming in,
replacing practically all of Kerrigan's positions.
Maybe there's one or two that other players
are filling the gap on.
They have actually gotten an anchor
who has looked completely commendable.
Very respectable performances here from Natu
coming in with NKJ from that ens roster.
And this guy has definitely been touted for a while.
is one of those French talents.
When Vitality were scrambling for pieces,
a lot of people wanted it to be nature.
Instead of maybe somebody like Mezzi,
just so they could retain some of that French core.
Yeah, he's definitely that one name out there
from the French team that maybe people thought
that 3D Max would somehow spring forward
and get in with all the mess that they've got going on.
I won't say I think he has done really well so far
considering the situation he just walked into.
It's a very tough situation over there
and he's been playing very well.
I think Faze has also done a pretty good job
of keeping him pretty comfortable.
He mentioned kind of just taking
of them, the Karrigan spots, and some cases that was one for one, like Barachi T-Side, for
example.
So, in other cases, though, I feel like they have catered to him a little bit, you know,
saw that on Ancient, for example.
So, I think they're doing the right thing.
Yeah, Twist said that, said as much right in the interview we had with him.
He said, all we want to do is make him comfortable.
Also Jacob might also be a little bit more comfortable because of what he can do now,
and we're seeing it as a work in progress.
He did give a quote comparing Twist's IGL leadership to that of Shox, and me as
being not as like, who did Clute not me.
the good shocks, not as clued into what this might mean.
Is this good or bad, guys?
Well, first of all, you're a great shocks.
Thank you.
Second of all, arguably, in your role,
you might be better than what Shox was in his role
as an in-game leader there.
Now, I think that Nate, you probably just kind of
sees the way that Twist likes to call as the poppy plays,
the set pieces out of spawn, the quicker reactions.
Shox wasn't really an in-game leader.
Neither was Twist to really draw the round out.
They're not trying to feel out every side of the map,
trying to make the perfect mid-round.
You're working with a team that is just getting started.
So give them easy set pieces here.
Exactly.
I mean, you kind of talk about it.
You've got to be simple with such limited time together,
with Twist making this adjustment,
with Nate you coming in out of a crazy situation.
They are just going to play scrappy in your face.
Yes, they're going to make things best together.
Try dragging it on the dirt.
That's what you've got to do in Texas
sometimes to get things done.
And so I think we're going to see a lot of that server
today.
Yeah, speaking about Texas also,
It's like the Wild Wild West also in the comms, apparently, like NKJ was saying, yeah,
Broke was just saying, well, let's go on the exit frags and then they won the round and
stuff like that.
It's really fun to watch.
But let's head over to G2 also a little bit because for G2, when Hunter took off the
IGL rains a year ago, it blasts open London, that was great success and we thought there
would be more and more to come of that flavor dust, but it's been disappointing
looking at all things considered.
Yeah, went from being one of the few teams to be by town and invest the five grand
final in London to get a trophy,
which is rare to get as my Tyler
win the heck of a lot of them.
Fury as well at that point in time,
but they did it.
However, they didn't make the major playoff.
I think that was a really damning result
the kind of in the year this year.
They opened strong at crack.
I'll fix this place.
Finish right where we're back in order,
but they didn't show that tier two tournament.
Yeah, tier two events that they
should be bulldozing through.
So, you know, with Rio being kind of a little bit
of a handicap moment without Hunter,
they now have him back.
Dirt just had more time to get settled in.
And I do see that potential there
that they have the firepower to be dangerous.
to cope on behalf of G2.
Some of the Tier 2 lands that they were having trouble at
were with Nertz just joining the roster.
So a couple of those tournaments are gonna be difficult.
Also, you just can't count out the teams
that are playing in that circuit
because they're all fighting
with major qualification on the line.
So there's kind of a different level of fire
in those events like we see here at the Snake Ranked event
and the Roman Imperium Cup in the BC game champs.
All of those have teams that are just so hungry.
Yeah, when it comes to a big stage,
it was at I am crack out.
So that's, that's quite a long way again.
And it wasn't a great match there
when they stepped onto the big stage,
but we can talk about nerds a little later,
but I think there need to be some props
that go over to have he got into some pious particularly.
I have thought looking at some pious at a lot of times
like he burst onto the scene with the Movistar writers
than with Ensign.
I've been like trying to grasp
if he could get back to that level consistently.
Now he's having one hell of an event.
Don't hit him up, son pop.
All right, he's out there making things happen.
He's having a good time obviously towards the end of CS go.
He looked like an incredible opera and yes,
he did have his struggles in CS 2,
but I can tell you that he's having one of his career
performances so far in CS 2.
It's in the top five ratings of his career.
So he's doing a great job of AWP.
We saw a lot of that, particularly on that mirage
comeback against Vitaly that they nearly were able to get.
So that was really well done.
But heavy God, the DBA gravity himself,
just doing the damn thing every single time, bro.
I mean, this guy is such a great anchor.
He's also actually going from our openings here
and there as well on the T side.
So he's showing you that full range that he has.
It's just a Swiss Army knife to this team.
I'm glad you picked up on that, Duz,
because that's what I noticed about Heavy God, the T side,
where he's getting a little bit more activated,
because that's a complaint that I had about Hunter
as an in-game leader coming into this tournament,
even watching some of those Tier 2 lands back,
the way that he just wants to group everybody up so quickly.
You get one pick and you just five man hit a bomb site.
That's lazy.
You got to stretch the map out.
You got to stretch the defense then.
And so Heavy God has been pivotal in doing that.
Yeah, that one dimensional looking to add those dimensions into a stage like this as we get some shots of the players backstage like this is where it really sinks in for someone like nature. I'm sure right. Thus, you get that that speech you get the focus and you know that you're about to step on stage and then it's a whole different ball game. We've seen greater players crumble.
It's a long way from Birch Cub.
Come into this big stage up against the tier one opponent who looks fiery,
who's ranked very highly, and you're on a team that is at rock bottom
and trying to climb their way back up.
I mean, that is going to be some pressure for him, but so far so good out of him.
Yeah. You see there that G2, we're not seeing them yet.
Apparently, they're not there yet.
So, you can, they can't hear you, so now you can say whatever you want.
No, I'm kidding. We haven't delved too deep into the Nerds Edition, right?
Sure, sure.
has it paid off? I mean, it's it's very early days, but what do you think?
I feel like you see flashes of it.
Uh huh. Like, well, for example, when they played against Dust2 in the group stage,
you saw how good he is when you put him in an open space, you know,
that aggressive space taking role that he has.
It's not that of a traditional entry fragger, but he's so comfortable when you
just kind of get him in the pocket and let him cause on timings and shots.
And we have seen those highlight moments when he does go for a big swing,
when he calls a big play for himself.
But I don't think he's had that consistent
fragging power that we know him for when he was, you know,
of the rookie of the year of 2023
and is such a strong player in 24.
It feels like Saw and Sun Pius are trying to help
rekindle the flame that was burning so bright for Nernst
when he first hit the turtle on the face.
So we're getting some glimpses of that, as Gus said.
I feel like if you're putting him toe to toe
with aggressive riflers that are gonna be
in the server today against him, he should have the edge.
I don't think Jacob should be besting him
in too many situations.
I feel like that's gonna be one kind of edge
for G2 in this matchup.
Yeah, I think that's the feeling overall, right?
You wonder if it's gonna be enough for FaZe.
I do wanna also call attention
to kind of the situation and the crowd.
Twist said before this tournament began
because they also have Atlanta coming up,
this is a great chance to make FaZe fans excited
and perhaps make a couple of new FaZe fans dust.
And that's always something that you can't ignore
when it comes to situations like this.
Absolutely.
I mean, this is all about the future of FaZe.
We may not know what the long-term plans are.
There's been a lot of chatter about that around
and interviews and just online discussions.
But the reality is that in the here and now,
this is what you've got.
And you know that you're down in the hole
and you've got to find a way to climb back up
and every single win you can put out there
to climb the VRS, every single win
to give your fans something to finally cheer about,
those all mean so much.
We found them.
What were they doing?
What does that mean that they're late?
I think that they were just prepping too hard.
Yeah.
Yeah, they were trying to watch every single map
that FaZe has played so far with this five-man court.
Didn't take very long actually.
So get on our last.
They started this morning.
Yeah, they did indeed.
Yeah, so we'll see anywhere else we want to go that we haven't talked about yet.
We haven't talked about someone like Matiz, for instance, and for me, he has been someone
that's been so instrumental when they did go far, when they did have those great games,
even at I am Cracow in the group stage.
So what's going on there is that there's a new guy on this team, so it's a little harder
for him.
How does that work?
With Matiz, I just feel like when he's set up for some of the more aggressive poppy
plays, he's really good.
But now I feel like that he's kind of taking a backseat to nerds, being a
little bit more of an aggressor.
I feel like he may might lose his way a little bit at this event so far it has
not been the best form of Mattis because Mattis has been teetering on almost
being a top 20 player this year if you just look at raw numbers but this
event has not been a prime example of that and I think that's partially
because he's trying to fill into a couple more of the worst roles like
for example he's moved to be on Mirage as an anchor such criminal it's
yeah it's ridiculous to see a guy with that much skill have to play a
spot that's more about self-preservation than getting your own it is
is self-preservation, but also wanting to show the best
you got, an unbelievable occasion to set the record
straight for both Faze and G2.
Let's get him on stage.
["Blood Sweepers"]
But where Texas, how we doing?
All right.
I've got to give a shout out to all of the early bad fans
who have taken their seats ready for the first match-up.
Who's set and excited for this first quarter final?
Now of course, we've got Navi waiting in the wings,
in the semis, and they will face the winner of this one.
So let's bring out the teams.
Big Clash!
that refuses to stay down.
They're playing with house money here in Texas.
An afternoon to flip the switch in big arenas.
I
Things are clicking into place for G2. A rebuilding powerhouse that can trade blows with the very
best. This isn't new blood anymore. They've found their footing and now they're coming
from all. The legend of FaZe and the prestige of G2. These two pillars of Counter-Strike
are on a collision course, the Chaos. FaZe Clan are shouting from the rooftops that
they will not go quietly into the night.
With twists stepping into the ring
to lead this team to victory.
And G2, not in the habit of giving teams an easy path.
With Hunter at the helm, they are hungry for blood.
Both teams have something to prove,
and neither will go down without a fight.
What an entrance from our gladiators into the arena, amazing chills and yeah, the arena
is filling up and it's all coming up face as we expected.
So many fans that probably feel invigorated by what they've seen so far, led by twists.
We haven't seen a lot, but what we have seen has shown hits of life.
Something this team has been lacking for so long.
They need that spark, something to gouse gas on, something to make them believe again.
And hopefully on this stage today, they can take one step closer to doing that.
And I don't even care that it's a honeymoon.
Sometimes the best memories in your life are during your honeymoon.
That's not to say they aren't real.
So I want to see, though, if FaZe can parlay what they've done,
taking down an elite Furious Squad and beating G2 who theoretically
should be an easier opponent.
Definitely so, and it's also nice to zoom out
when you look at the story of both of these IGLs.
Twitz already got a stab at this before
when he was on liquid dust.
So in the back of his mind, there's also that,
not only having to step in for Kerrigan,
but also repaying the trust that the fans have had in him.
And what big shoes they are to fill.
The greatest of all time in the IGL
for many people's opinions, right?
And so we've all been asked on this before.
This is a different level of pressure
in a different environment.
Hunter, also a fresh IGL,
looking to try to show what he's capable of, get again.
On the other hand, I mean, I feel
like the way that Twist is calling,
he's learned from Kerrigan, but he's not
trying to just imitate him.
That wouldn't fit this lineup.
You've got youngsters in tow, guys that would rather just
say, start to finish, this is how we're playing the round.
I like that Twist has this more pragmatic approach
to his current five-man.
Definitely seems to be invigorating a lot
of those players as well, and that's a key treat.
You have to have as an IGL.
If we zoom out to Hunter's story as well,
it's been a long and fruitful career,
but he's gone through a lot.
Nico leaving that roster right,
Modesty leaving that roster left to pick up the pieces.
Maui, it's not an easy feat,
but this is a real chance to show what he's worth.
Hunter has already proven his worth here
by lifting a trophy last year in London.
This is once again a blast event
where he feels right at home,
and it's one that he is also gonna have to do
a lot of work for because this G2 team is still
putting the pieces together with nerds in tow.
And it's one that I feel like the ceiling
is incredibly high, but they have to reach for it.
It's been a steady climb for Hunter
as far as leadership goes from being a secondary voice
to now being at the forefront
and leading this quad forward.
And the G2 brand brings expectations,
expectations of lifting trophies,
thoughts of being an elite level team consistently.
And we have seen hints of it.
As you mentioned, the win in London,
We saw them start this year off pretty well in crackdown as well.
But we've also seen them struggle in moments where we didn't think we would.
But we know what they're capable of.
The firepower is certainly there.
It's all about wrangling them together here in Texas and
putting their best foot forward so far, so good.
Let's see what happens against Faze.
It's true, it's kind of a one in a million chance, right?
To get that opportunity again, if you do go up against the Faze, yes.
You don't have that much information, but you're a well-oiled machine.
There is a new wheel, a new cog rather, in there.
But you're getting him incorporated, or if you're G2, you cannot on the
estimate things and what that X factor might bring.
No, of course not.
G2 themselves have had to learn a lot.
And I think that just by looking at what
FaZe has done so far, sure there isn't the most footage,
but you're going to get a semblance of an idea of how
it is that Twist wants to call.
And when G2 get a beat on a team,
I feel like they play great CT sides.
They prod for information very carefully.
They make strong rotations.
And their counter utility, when they know that a bomb site
hit is imminent, has been impeccable.
So if they get all those beats,
If they get a read on FaZe, I think
they're going to be the favorites here.
You got one of the best anchors in the world
holding things down for you.
When the goaling gets tough and that speed comes at him,
which is what FaZe is bringing, he's
able to hold his ground, do very well.
Mattis is an overqualified anchor
in a lot of situations, in my opinion.
He's doing a fantastic job as well.
You're seeing Sumpias find his rhythm again with the AWP.
I mean, there's a lot of variables there
that really play into G2's favor,
and it's going to be a tough shot for FaZe.
It's almost like Sumpias is unshackled.
He said he had the IGL in Rio.
Now he doesn't have to think about any of that.
He said, I want to be less judgemental.
He really needs to unlock that next level.
Oh, without a doubt, they're going
to need him if they want to take down the guy that's
also wielding the big green on the other side of the server.
We all know it's his day.
Brokey Friday is here right now.
And so some pilots, he's got to show some of that group
stage floor.
They love you for that.
Isn't it going to be Brokey Friday?
Who knows?
I don't know.
The beers are flowing out there already, it seems.
I'm hearing.
That's what I'm hearing.
There you go.
All right, it's five o'clock somewhere.
It is.
someone we haven't talked about it was actually been in all the headlines this
week is frozen right we've talked about how this is a little bit of an
audition of everyone it's like he's the only judge and they really need to turn
up because is he gonna stay in this roster maybe this will be a deciding
factor it's either you take the red pill which is phase we think the blue
coach the big old bag of money man I'd be getting the heck out of there
but maybe he's trying to make something.
That's just me, I don't know.
I want Faye to prove to Frozen
that he should be part of the building moving forward.
They have a chance today to be another top team
to show Frozen that he should continue
to dawn the black and red.
He loves it, he says Faye's clan for the crowd.
Well, of course, it will be decided
who will be victorious today.
And with that, we got two IGLs and twists, and in Hunter with a chip on their shoulders.
Hunter has an IGL a year in the making, but since London, big stages have been far and few in between.
Twist was left reeling from Kerrigan's departure, stepping in, filling the void for FaZe,
reinvigorating the team, bringing them to playoffs against all odds.
Two captains, one mission, who will carry today?
One year ago G2 began a new vision for this team. A new captain taking the reins, a new leader standing behind him, a reinvigorated sniper. Players carving their place within this team. Badasses all. And the next G2 superstar will emerge from among them.
And FaZe, this team was supposed to be dead.
We all thought they were done, lost at rock bottom.
So what is it that makes this team fight?
Is it the frustration that all their glory is behind them?
Is it the anger, the shocking departure of a brother?
Or is it the unkillable drive to be the best?
Fort Worth! The battle for the Blast Rockles Championships begins!
Let's get into this one phase versus G2 through the biggest organizations in counter strike.
And like Jason just said, the battle begins phase gonna be on the T side G2 starting on
the CT side and we'll see what they have in store for us here.
I mean a lot of talk about the in game leadership for both of these teams.
Twizz is going to be happy to call first on this T side heading over towards B. Plenty of players already in the tunnels
We've got nerds who's pushed up into low with a Joe Barretta's after ready
And you've got heavy guard waiting in the site. Oh, he's waiting. All right
They're coming right at him now boys got that first headshot
Alive what had he got gonna be a twist response at least first in coming through and heavy guard does a good job with two kills
Coming in but for the most part phase gonna be a lot happier about this
they're in the site and now the bomb can be planted. Okay bomb going down can be a
tough retake though some ties close up the window. A little bit of utility he's
gonna push forward, drop by frozen and that shuts it all down that should be the
pistol secured. Yeah well Matt is straight through the window. Frozen is
dead in a really tough round ahead here for Matt. It's hard to see how he's
gonna get into this one. He goes out through the window. Undetected so far.
There's the head shown and now he should be taken down from down below.
Matt is out of bullets and soon the ball is dropped in and Faze will have his pistol round.
Man, you know what I can tell you, the whole lead up to this event, the whole angle with Faze is bent.
Can we stop talking about if this team makes it to the playoffs, but now they're in the playoffs.
It's kind of like, alright, let's see what happens now.
It just seems like every time it doesn't matter who's in Faze apparently, they will exceed expectations at the weirdest of times.
For Faze, obviously it's massive to get a win here today in terms of the VRS implications because
I'm obviously in freefall with all the losses they've been taking,
missing out on the major, but if they win today versus G2 with the number 12 team in the world on that VRS ranking,
they'll climb six places and everything matters so much to Faze at this point.
That's their goal, is be good enough to keep frozen here,
give him the vision that you can be that good and the VRS.
Here's the exit out the long cave, one kill for J.
The Madness is going to try and fall back.
Traits back and forth, and the round is still very much alive.
Some of the 2v2 out of the initial engagement, it's quick.
It's the right kind of tepid from phase,
but results in a lot of casualties.
Mechu going to fight against Nertz, going to back away.
I'm going to give him that chance, not trying to put
Brokey into a 1v2.
Brokey strolls up short.
It's all about the timing.
If he spots this push, this is the play that G2 wants
to make to get back into the round.
Grab some information, and it's looking just close to perfect.
So when will someone from FaZe consider the flank?
When do they turn around?
Broke, he's got the bomb.
He can't get caught.
Here's Netshu.
Looking right, right at the right time.
Does get back to it.
Hunters dies, and Nerts now 1v2.
They know exactly where he is.
And so winning this round becomes almost impossible
at this point.
We're taking massive mistake from FaZe.
And we smoke a bit short.
with no kit on his back nor any utility will concede.
So falling back, it's gonna be two in a row here for Faze.
Yeah, really admirable round out of G2,
unable to close it out,
but doing some good damage,
Faze won't be too concerned about that.
And one more maybe at the end here.
Notes is getting away his position
once the fight, he's got that.
Another exit kill, right in line,
but he's shut down,
and it's a two to nothing start for Faze.
When coming into this event,
Jase, you'd be very confident in G2.
You'd be excited about what they can do.
We've got to see the versus Vitality, yes it is.
We've competed on the first two maps.
Not so much here with us too though.
I mean, for G2, what are your expectations
now we get into the playoffs?
I mean, when I look at this side of the bracket,
I want them to be...
I just want to make sure, boys,
that we are not afraid to take initiative.
Not afraid to take chances, right?
Not afraid to take fights, to take duels.
Try to be the difference maker, boys.
I mean, with this side of the bracket,
I'm looking for them to...
huge but I'm looking at them to get through these quarter finals you know for
me this is a match that G2 can really make a statement I know phase has been
struggling I know we've kind of lost a lot of faith in them well maybe not the
crowd here in Texas but otherwise we've lost a little bit of faith in them but I
think answering with the good one here getting into the semi-finals and then
you have a tough task against Navi that would be a very cool game.
Well Matt says is pushed up to his top middle.
Neal Batal from Paul into the fight Jacob down first and Matt says goes again
wanting to get confident in their face and fight them as G2 come out on
top of two fights, leaving FaZe with three players in tunnels trying to go towards B.
Alright, well, having us tucked into Kaby, actually G2 has such a brilliant defense at
the moment, powered up by this push towards T spawn by Nurtz up middle.
He's got all the information in the world, and there's Sunpire scout lands, and FaZe
is whittled down to just two players.
Never able to progress into the bomb site, and now with 50 seconds on the clock,
thinking you have to reconvene, but will you clear this position?
Surely not.
Surely you don't check where Nurtz is playing right now.
I don't know, all day enough, I think they do.
They're very slow about it, so yeah, here they go.
Frozen gonna be aware that everywhere
is a possibility for the CTs at the moment.
All right, forward, all the way down.
Frozen gonna be taking the engagement.
Low HP, knows the position of Nurtz.
This is just two at a time on the clock.
Now Brokey's come back to help him,
so the round's done.
Facecat fight for this one.
I'm just gonna try and hang on to the AK-47s
or if you're G2.
Not a lot of money left,
but the decision to keep buying pays off finally,
and they get the break they're looking for.
Well, first round for G2, that's gonna be,
and this is part of the reason why
I've gotten excited about them,
and I've been excited to see them play
this kind of aggression.
They'll rebuy over the third round,
you've done economic damage,
you wanna try and punish it,
and then you still go up in their faces,
even with weaker weapons,
and they've got the players to pull it off.
I mean, you have to remember too,
like there's an element of this that gets me excited,
because one of my favorite teams at the end of CSGO
was that Encelina.
Saw as the coach, some bias, nerds like,
now that these guys are reunited,
I think you're seeing some bias gain that consistency,
and I'm hoping we see the same trend
out of course, now that he's reunited.
I mean, we have seen some great performances
in the G2 jersey so far upon his return,
but we didn't necessarily see that yesterday
against Vitality, so we're interested to see
if that progression that upwards swing
continues against the better teams.
I'm sure it will eventually, we've heard so I'm saying that he's done 80 to 90% integrated
into the squad.
Well he's going to get tested here in this round it looks like so far.
Frozen and twist are just going to have a little bit of fun in the middle and maintain
some presence, but with three players in the bomb and upper B, this is going to be
a split.
So Nurtz and Heavy God are going to have a challenge coming their way.
Hunters and CT spawn to help the pressure, and here it comes.
Nurtz going to be out first.
Right on the front, but Nurtz going to work out, Nets you take it away and
You've got to get away from the flames if you're heavy guard.
He has moved off.
Nertz has got a second in the meantime.
Heavy guard back with him up and heavy guard down.
But Nertz is still alive, still in the tunnels
and still a threat for Frozen, who's on 11 HP.
Nertz on 10.
Frozen goes into the shroud of the smoke.
Trying to find him, trying to spot him.
They're right beside each other.
Nertz, the pistol's down.
It's not able to get it.
A prolonged fight for Frozen gets by the smoke.
Madison's been taking his time as well.
He wasn't exactly sure how fast he could move over to the B bomb site to provide help now that he's gotten here though
And frozen attention to split. This is very strange
Bomb seal not planted so time for G2 to figure out how they want to handle this
Yeah, Matt says what to help. He's just killed because a lot of damage can't get the frag. Oh, he's a naked though
Frozen's very very low. That's gonna blast him away
And it won't somehow dodges it frozen with the awareness not to back into the cars through the way frozen and nerds are
immortal right now it's crazy how much damage they've taken still standing
another piece of utility but he taught his dad as well he goes for the fight
finally dead but it's a lucky one that Mattis will win here for G2 huge step up
for Mattis one of the players coming to this kind of pluck out of obscurity and
he is one of the players who showed very very quickly he deserves to play on
these stages beautiful clutch let's jump around all the way through those
Knurts and Frozen have like a 40 second standoff.
Absolutely crazy.
This round was so tense.
So many fights you thought, okay, that's the end of Frozen.
I don't know how Frozen dodged them for that long,
but eventually taken out.
Tanked them all atop as well.
Yeah, got really weird.
Well, does FaZe want to buy into this too?
No, they could have challenged,
obviously it would have been a huge risk,
but getting the CTs down to just one player,
you could have forced up the way G2 did to you,
but they're content to sit back early on in the half.
So, round five is going to be a little bit chill with unarmored pistols.
Sumpai is grabbing the opening.
I mean, there's big conversation.
Yesterday, cluster in the game versus Vitality,
but also from the desk today about how Sumpai's has been playing better counter strike
and how much more deadly G2 look when that's the case.
Yeah, so, I mean, a map like Dust2, obviously, we know that can pop off.
And obviously, on the other side of the server, we also know Broke's had some struggles,
although it is Friday, so we're going to see how that goes.
Sumpai is yesterday the better...
Oh, Jacob.
Don't leave him hanging.
Somebody yesterday had a better offer
in the Vitality G2 series as well, out-opping, out-impactings.
I released him the first two maps.
Very impressive stuff.
That's a feat he's been doing a couple of times
throughout his career.
Round six, off out on both sides.
And a heavy defense towards middle, and G2.
They're unrelenting right now.
What an aggressive game plan to open up the first map.
Just getting in the face, really trying to disrupt any of the calls Twist might have.
He was hitting the pause button here, Faze though, aware that this is a possibility,
but how far does Matt just want to go?
And he catches a great timing to remove Twist.
He's sticking around, he's gone back in for the second dip, but Jacob cleans up,
and both of the G2 players dead in middle.
Yeah, very necessary. Good timing on the grenade as well.
Those kills come out, the lower players are going to feel safe to turn the corner,
so tank a little bit of damage from the HG grenade.
One man down as G2, still recoverable.
Sampias out towards long, a little bit out of the fight with that ADVP, a very valuable weapon that's not getting you long range information.
Hunter's going to be playing at the rail towards the A bomb site in Heavy God.
Petrolling mid and B, he's got the most responsibility on his shoulders.
But look at the way he's reading this play.
Silence in middle, slides to CT spawn, now set up perfectly with Hunter.
Hunter keeping his head down for now.
Flash for Heavy God to be sent in to support him.
Hunter goes to the peak. What do you play about?
Blinded! And the Heavy God flashbang works out perfectly.
Hunter with three kills. It's just carp based up and both frozen into 1v3.
You can't win this, but some highs will deny any access to the site.
Really round out of Hunter.
How can you not love that kind of team play?
Heavy God the full rotation from middle just to chuck the flashbang.
Great comms, great communication.
And G2 solved the problem before it even begins.
Timeout taken from Faze, new coach NKJ.
A chance to have a word.
Couple of moments yesterday where Hunter looked maybe
a little lost, making mistakes that we don't usually
see from him, particularly on Dust2.
I mean, it was a couple of rounds where maybe he's
thinking so much about the calling.
He sometimes lets loose on his own individual skill.
And I think that certainly was the case yesterday
versus Vitality.
But if he can have a great game today
and step up individually, obviously
that just tightens the ship even more for G2. Yeah we all know we know that we
talked about the IGL brain and where all the attention just gets taken away from
the cross there so yeah they have we've seen them have a few moments where
seems like his focus is just elsewhere and that's that's not unusual for IGLs
especially with new players coming in but this is a thing of beauty you had
time to set this play up you got to move into position while heavy God
was rotating it was it was perfect at every sense and it's a two-round
lead.
They're way down middle already for Faze climbing up on top of the Xbox.
Going back for a little bit more. They're going to tank the utility, wanting to get up in Hunter's face early.
He's in a good position, not playing committed, so he can keep that range on the better weapon and throw utility in instead.
Block short again with the smoke. Yeah, I mean this is all about just stalling things out, you know running down the clock a little bit
There's you know, that's pistol so phase is trying to wait for but all this utility to go away and disappear
So they can actually attack in with some of the weaker weapons
There's the North's peek into me just for information a couple of bullets towards him
It was into the peak just changing up his position ready if they come through the smoke
Any flashes available for phase? No. So this is gonna be it.
Uncovered fight for Noob, so you can only get the 1.
And then Jacob comes in and the Beagle, and all of a sudden, that B bomb site wide open for business.
This is a disaster, and you're gonna want to go for this if you're G2.
3 on 3, you have the weapon advantage as well, but retakes at the B bomb site are never easy.
Broke, he's got an AK-47 Molotov to delay things as well into the choke points.
And no one from G2 is set up to go through tunnels.
through tunnels. So all three. Oh, it's freaky Friday right now in the
server with that kind of shot. We've got Hunter and suppliers setting up,
thinking about actually just repositioning through the mid-toys and
going straight up into the tunnels. They have been scared off by that. That is
just ridiculous. Okay, Brokie. I can't remember the last time I seen something
quite like that. That's a disgustingly crazy shot to hit. Completely takes away
any chance to retake?
Yep, out of that.
Okay.
Yeah, we're getting weird.
There's that face bullshit.
It's all coming together.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Absolutely mental.
Great trades from the pistols coming out.
Middle, beautiful shot from Jacob.
But this.
Yep.
I'm sorry.
Longly on a Friday.
I'm sorry.
What?
Oh, my god.
How mad will you be?
You watch that back. Yeah, that's definitely a popcorn player like that
Some of the co streamers we've got down on the floor next to the commentary booth
Thanks box smoke deployed out
Faze get a booth down middle a great round to find for them. It was looking so good
It's what after no, it's they didn't have a flash band to get him off the angle is primed himself
Coming through that smoke, but this is where the strong maps against vitality yesterday should give you some confidence in G2 to be able to stand something like this
They answered the call against vitality a number of times surely against phase they can as well coming through the doors is twice as
Combining
Okay, the OG phase players all finding themselves a lot of success
And that's gonna be Matt's with no chance you say you have faith the G2 to bounce back from that they get
annihilated in the follow-up round.
Yeah, they really do.
They still got money there to buy moving forward
in the next round,
especially Mattis is going to be desperate
to save this M4, most on cash.
So how much does FaZe want to hunt
out of these round wins?
Brokey's just waiting to punish
if he continues to push.
And this FaZe team with two rounds in a row
and a round like that that you win
with pistols and the Brokey shot,
that's going to build up some momentum for you.
This is still, despite all the struggles
They've had going to be a scary team if they catch momentum
and start believing once again.
We've set some elements of that towards the end
of the group stage.
And we're starting to see some elements of that here
in the first quarterfinals.
The nurse is going to be kicking himself out
back to background, but he placed that opening
by going down for face to move through.
He's going to have to tighten that up
as this game goes on.
So Pius into the orb.
We're going to see G2 start, you're
if they can get something around this as well.
It's actually kind of scary at the hero AWP,
so you won't have it in the next round if you go for the full by otherwise.
So really going to see if some pies can create you anything,
and if not, I mean, you're just going to look for the first opportunity
to save that and keep it alive if the round's out of reach.
Well, he's looking to plug that gap in middle
that's been such a threat against G2 here.
So let's see if some pies can find some success from this position with the AWP.
Might be the changeup that FaZe aren't anticipating.
Maybe the element of surprise, but they've got the information now.
No longer does he have that added advantage of surprise might make face a little bit nervous thinking that all of a sudden
Okay, this is this is actually a full by the office on the field. They might not realize that it's gonna be all pistols
They're up against so
Utility in a place and all the details still go and some bias mobile
But I feel like you got to maintain a little bit of aggression with the off
Which is a scary prospect has broke. He's around the corner some bias
Has to make this all same moving up towards short
Wanting to take a single step forward
forward. Slithers as he gets closer and closer to the angle, frozen utility out in his hand.
So, guys, now has the angle. Gives it up. Eventually, he's going to see that utility coming in.
He goes forward! Good shot! Got information as well.
On frozen, moving up. The G2 have players on the right side of the map here.
Could there be the release valve towards B, though? Nurtz is over there on the zone with a 5-7.
He's being spotted coming up the ramp, trying to take the kill inside of the tunnel,
But he can't get it.
And that bomb is gonna have to try and get into the site.
And Frozen hoping from the A bomb site,
he can caught them up from behind.
But that bomb needs to be collected.
And Netshu's got it.
Hunter's got a one on one.
Hunter's moving into the B bomb site.
He's gonna go forward.
Five, seven, and he goes.
And Gowdy goes to Netshu.
So it's some pious on the off, the hero AWP.
And the Spaniard steps up to try and go back
into the site.
Netshu waits at the window, out to the AK.
He's going to, and that's the way he walks to the window!
Crawl for the inner clutch, steps into the face jersey.
We wonder what he's made of.
What is he going to be able to do in this face jersey?
And he's clutched up for them already in the playoff.
I'll tell you what, scary sign for me is
Sampias dropping the 8 of these here in that 1v1.
I know it's a more real-day weapon for it,
but you're given the sound cue,
you're given information,
you're letting know exactly where you're coming from.
That's a big risk for Sampias,
and obviously it's punished for it.
Five to four.
Well clutch factor falls in favor of FaZe here.
Sumpias does so much in the round, but just that final kill escaping him.
That round got so scrappy.
So incredibly scrappy with the way the teams got spread out.
I thought Hunter might be able to push in and stop that plant.
Timeout comes to a close.
One round lead.
Full buys for both sides now.
The AWP is back in the hands of Sumpias.
I just figured out, get it into his hands for one more time here.
As a require, no kevlar. Though it's a glass cannon for some pious, but the way he's been able to perform, you want to get it out if you can.
Pays again, heavy towards the tunnels.
Well they had success with this before, they're just gonna let Baroky go for a bicker.
They're actually trying to tack in after the Molotov fades.
Oh, they're moving.
Yeah, here they come. Nurt's gonna wait on the car.
It's heavy gone, he's got that first kill on twice.
Nurt again going down.
He's got the ball up, so Pius is getting caught as he tries to go back out the window and Matus
moves out long.
A really important fight to keep this dream at least slightly alive, but Hunter feels
like a risk.
He gets towards the smoke of the doors and not moving through.
Okay, Malta's out towards the window.
He's going to take away his play as well.
It keeps him off the bomb though.
At least the plant has been delayed as long as possible.
Yeah, Matus has been able to rotate over because of that, so here they go.
Smoke again down towards the doors.
The plant is finally coming in.
The flash goes over the top and it sets off Hunter.
Broke he misses the shot and Hunter has both kills.
G2 finally breaking through in the retake of the B bomb site.
Hunter was looking for that play the entire time.
He was waiting for the moment.
That bomb being planted.
Great flashbang over the top.
Broke knew it was coming too.
Flashbang extremely effective.
Puts both players on the back foot.
I'll tell you what though,
that's a weakness at the B bomb site now.
A couple rounds they've been able to break in
and done it on an eco round with the mid to B split.
They broke it in through the main jump point with guns.
Now they're doing a gavel home.
Brokey had some nice shots today.
I'll tell you, it's been a fun start to this game, hasn't it?
Those 10 rounds have had the highlight moments.
It's been quick.
It's Paralli, isn't it, with this?
Yeah, with this base team, Twisted the Helm,
just very, very quickly.
Probably not a whole lot of time
to work with the coach, institute a new plant, so.
Now, Brokey.
The shot always passed.
close to a kill, but Jacobs just sent through, forced to fight, and hasn't been able to make much of it.
Natsus stopped him in his tracks.
Yeah, maybe trying to catch Mattis with the unexpected play.
Normally you just see the offer fall back and it's chill.
They want to send one forward and maybe try and catch him off guard.
So the round will slow down now.
Smoke towards the double doors.
All four players for a phase in middle.
Nurtz and Hevygaard starting to push into the upper tunnels.
Oh, and Netshu just turns his head away and notices out of there, he's like, okay, we've
got the info we need and we haven't necessarily been able to make that work.
Do not give up the advances that G2 have.
Sumpai is being patient, holding for the first of the doors and eventually frozen.
We'll provide that push.
Broke!
He nearly dropped.
and supplies, unfortunately, for G2, unable to follow that up.
That would have ended the round here and now,
but still a shot at this for phase 45 seconds left
in a 3v5.
Yeah, I just been thinned out a little bit too much.
This might just end up, I mean,
you got two options right now,
kind of walk into the B bomb site,
you probably want to go contact at this point,
or you just back off and save the weapon.
But with the way they've been able to break in previously,
Nurtz has played this position at car
in the previous round a little bit scared,
which allowed them to scale into the bomb site.
It happens again.
Well, heavy guard.
First head shot's good, but both of the B players dead again.
Nothing from Nurtz, and he's out of there.
That's the site taking.
Twists has got the chance.
He's got the information of that player
close to the doorway, but now he's
looking towards the tunnels.
Oh, the twists.
Could be a brilliant play.
Inside of the smoke, his teammate gets dinked though.
Broke low, 14 health.
But Twists, up on top of the box,
Sees the barrel, seizes the chance it's worth coming in for the second, so it's Brokey instead.
Look at the BAAAAAAAHHHHH!
It's what Brokey finds best!
It gets his second chance, same shot, same situation.
This time absolutely drills him to the wall.
And again, Faze will not relinquish this advantage, they just creep one round ahead yet again.
And that's a timeout cold.
That's more like it from Brokey. I mean, when he's having a curcane, when he's having a curcay,
phase obviously become a lot more deadly.
Four out of the last five rounds in the favor of phase
and Enkei's still taking a time out here
just to talk to the boys, get this last round.
I mean, if you're a G2, you're like trying to figure out
whatever you can do to help that B bomb site
depends how figure it out.
Because time and time again, through different variations,
phase are finding their way into the bomb site.
Look at it, Ami Luzok, the B defense
just hasn't been good enough in a couple of these rounds.
Not really a whole lot the rest of the guys could do.
You know, you can cheat a rotation over,
but that's going to weaken you elsewhere.
Plenty of situation nerds and heavy god should have been able to deliver a little bit more this round being one of them
One kill between the two players
Six to five and around 12
Nursing a lead is phase right before halftime comes
And G2 looking to tie things up with scraps MP9 57 from us
Interestingly, there's lots of nerds at the B site, Jay, so is this one of those rounds
where you think FaZe have hit B so often that eventually they're going to think G2 will make
the adjustment to strengthen that B bomb site?
I think because of the weaker weapons as well, you also want someone like Heavy God with
an M4 to be a little bit more mobile and give them the freedom to read the map.
So start to the A bomb site in case there's something there, but ship's back over now,
So defense all of a sudden is a little bit more standard again.
Hunter's kind of in no man's land.
I guess he thinks he'd see somebody, but I think he's about to just get killed.
If Jacob peeks.
That's an enticing gap in the smoke, but one that almost seems too obvious.
MP9, can he get more than one here?
And certainly, can he be?
Well, eventually does get that one kill,
but Nitu, treading him out, Hunter trying to move into position,
but he's been spotted towards the cart.
Here come Faze, moving forward, but Sampai is carving him up,
slowing him down, and still a threat inside of the site.
Broke and Nitu trying to come towards this A-bomb site.
There's a flank coming as well from Heddy God,
eventually outlawing, but it's not required.
Sampai has grabbed an extra round.
We've got a tight game here in the quarterfinals in Fort Worth.
Fort Worth.
Let's go back to check my be okay hunter still in a strong position has his cross to the site
Just lose his teammate in the meantime, but they line up and up to redeems three
Worryed that they're kind of tunnel visioned on breaking through this a-hole
Okay, that's gonna help dude. That's a huge kill like ultimate
He's not exactly top in the charts, he's not there alongside me.
That's the two top performers both felled by this Deagle!
2v5 back for Twist, enough!
Up close in the smoke, Matt, this Deagle continues!
He's gonna steal the deal!
Huge round for a Mattis, what a 4k!
Have you got a waiting some kind of an action down ramp?
He gets what he was looking for and he takes minimal damage in return.
return he doubles back to site as they're trying to chase down shiro he
strikes but shiro that is crazy looking to emerge around the side of the smoke
is donk is still a couple steps back and donk doesn't get the heavy god kill
right away in fact heavy god takes his head off man advantage in a clutch
they're gonna double swing the other way he makes loud steps they know they
slide right out and this streak of rounds keeps going look at this cat
presence coming out of bays they are tiptoeing closer to an unexpected gunfight for g2. g2 fully
focused here on doors if frozen draws their attention the cat swing comes over top and the
bomb carrier is dead heavy gobsaw the trades going three kills on the round oh that's excellent
now he's low oh my god they lock horns and heavy god rips range head off hunter's calling the
the correct move at 25 seconds, we've got to send the enemy down on short side.
That's going to make this problematic for Fiora.
And then we get this activation out of some pious boss down.
Oh man, again it's the multi frag.
Again it is G2 throwing a wrench into Furious Works.
It's been amazing to be back London.
Thank you for having us.
Let's enjoy this five map final.
This pistol is going to feel like everything.
Okay, never mind, no chance at catching your breath whatsoever.
It is immediately out onto the set of guard.
Mattis continues to tap players out of this round.
Oh, what a kill.
Hunter and Mobs within this bombsite versus three,
three of 2025's the very best.
The old bones of this new lineup.
Hunter waits for the present.
Oh, it's an instant head shot.
The Kovac blood runs deep, the talent knows no bounds.
But with Flamesy from the bottom of the board and the smoke on the bomb,
he's gonna just try to stick this.
You are denied and G2 do what no one else could.
Not Maus, not Falcons.
G2.
We're getting ready to go out towards A long.
There's going to be plenty of players with G2
about to round this corner, but no one from FaZe there to meet them.
No one home. They want to focus over towards short,
but they hear the footsteps now. They hear the sound cues
flashping out towards long. They're going to peek it all along the wall.
Everyone's flying. Twist and Brokey and Jacob all combined.
Yeah, shutting it down, melting.
This attack is G2 called to just two players.
Matterson's supply is waiting.
It's not a taking miraculous effort to get back into it, but that was the window of opportunity.
And now the door is shut in your face, and will be a pistol round for a face picked up now in the second half.
That's both pistols. They have a great advantage to have in the opening map of this series.
Dust2 is their pick, and they're showing why they felt confident on it with this patchwork lineup.
Led by Twist at 11 kills, Brokey and Frozen following up with 10 apiece.
The veteran's delivering here in this game.
And a very strong pistol round, a quick adjustment.
And also, Pius can do his chuckle to himself a little bit as we move into the second round.
No force by for G2 without the plant without even getting close to the site.
Right, they had the aggressive economy decisions, you know, that first half buying up, trying to get it back.
But don't have that luxury here. They want to get the buy round out as quickly as they can.
and be behind by two by the time that comes out.
Here we go, walking into the open.
Jacob is taken two with a permasse.
We'll see the move up.
G2 should get melted here, but I think one of the questions
coming into this event was,
are FaZe even going to make it out of the groups?
I don't think many people had them making out of the group
stage before this event started,
but it's so surprising to see them at this level.
You know, we were so positive about G2,
and now FaZe in the lead of the game here in the quarter-finals.
Yeah, that's probably the most surprising part about their run so far,
although actually the win over Fury is a little bit crazy.
Yeah, that's very crazy.
I'll take that back.
The win over Fury is pretty crazy,
because I think that's the one where you look at it and you're like,
well, they probably were one of the teams that shouldn't have made the playoffs,
but Fury came in and just for whatever reason gave them all the chances in the world.
They looked horrible.
Yeah, really underperformed at this event.
But you take those opportunities and you run with them.
That's exactly what FaZe is doing right now, up by two.
But guns are going to come out for the G2 side now.
And throughout this event, Hunter is called on the T sides, pretty defaulty, giving players
chances to make plays, giving two-man units chances to take space.
They like to progress across the map slowly, less of the grouped up style that we saw in
a phase in the first half.
Some players starting by going long.
He's blocked by the smoke so Sympyre treats back out of long and joins his teammates towards
middle.
And she's ready to break that smoke open, closing, fighting his time, ready to communicate
for that mid command and not spotting a target.
So let's go, Sacks!
Up he goes!
First headshot, good!
And heavy guy getting the trade.
Yeah, but the information was never gathered from middle. So that's surprise to us
He was wanting a stronger fight there one for one is not bad considering the situation frozen on notice now
Full mid control for the G2 side of things gonna try and block the smoke. It's still gonna pop and block vision
Gonna send frozen up on top of box
This is strong set up so far the face to try and deal with the mid to be yeah
But this is exactly what GT1 they've baited out of Molotov now baited out some utility
more pressure on the new guy, nature to hold on to this people on site.
There's G2 shape up to attack him, especially now that hunters changed the,
oh no, he's not, they've called it back.
Heavy God's a little bit between two minds watching the flank as nerd skits out
middle,
leaves only two players to attract directly into the people on site.
And that you can handle that.
Yeah, let's see if he can.
New guy in phase being helped out by frozen's aggression.
They're going to charge up to the B ramp to join them,
but heavy God might have just found the gap.
He's getting it together, he's got both!
Have you got him, Leisure? But so does Nature and Jacob.
On that long flight comes in to secure it for Faze.
Yeah, concerning seeing G2 go between a couple different ideas back and forth,
Have you got him seem like you wanted to join with the upper B push?
And then you'd have a three on one, which guarantees at least the bomb site essentially.
But two is something that you can handle, especially when he's got teammates distracting them in middle.
That was the way Faze just stepped through the smoke, froze in, here we go.
This is it from his POV.
That's also a kill that that nerds should have had I mean that round is like yeah
1v2 1 at the bomb site for nature but nerds should have had a frag that makes things easier
I think that's a perfect thing to bring up because in that first half how many times did we say that about nerds right?
That's a kill he should have had on the city side
If he was doing what nature just did on the B bomb site could have been a very different CT defense for G2
The nature proving that this B bomb size could be a lot stronger here for face and now just pistols for the G2 side
A three-round deficit, scaling up short quietly, no information gathered by twists in middle.
There's utility to spend, smokes and molotovs for the execute off short.
But a passive defense with rifles is what they have to try and break through with virtually nothing.
I'm trying to stop him, he's going to be a J.C.I.P.
Strew it away, a haircut towards NERVS.
I'm thinking for a follow-up kill, but Brokey's got that.
Sampias's Deagle does ring out into the kill feed
and make Brokey a little nervous.
Yeah, the fact that he forces Brokey back
is actually kind of interesting.
Now let's see what happens.
Over towards Short is going to be the retake
coming from Twist, but he's alone.
This tech line can do work, and it will!
Nobody there to trade.
That's a gun that can be recovered,
and all of a sudden, G2 has a chance at this two on three.
Yeah, Sampias and Hunter experienced between them
to try and win out this 2v3 opportunity.
Until when he had shorted the rifle out and unfortunately for G2
Unable to make the most of a broken frozen come right back in and face to another round victory up to double figures
Yeah, another value of attempt in a low buy round from G2
But another one of those value of efforts that goes the other direction
And starting to run out of a chance is to come back in this game for rounds back money's gonna come back under their control a
Full losing bonus means they can buy whatever they want
We're shocked and surprised.
I've already opened up the chance.
I'm going to take them to a pizza
and soon another decision, another question.
But surprise, absolutely making the most of his opportunity.
And G2 couldn't close it.
Time out trying to figure this one out,
is trying to find some way into this game now for G2,
because they're running out of chances.
I'll tell you what, though.
One of the reasons why I've gotten up
kind of grown a little bit high on G2,
and I'm actually liking the progress I'm seeing.
Saul, Saul gives me a lot of confidence as a coach
with what he's been able to do
and how he's been able to build this team up,
what he's been able to do with some of his past teams.
So give a timeout to Solve,
very, very good at making the adaptation
for the team to turn things around.
Let's see if he has that success here.
Yeah, let's see if there's a turnaround
from the timeout into play again.
You've got everything you want.
You've got some highs on the off.
You've got plenty of utility.
Everybody on an AK-47.
It's out of the boost early on.
It's only been one player to cross.
There's been four defenders at long.
Nature wins the fight versus Hunter, and instantly it's an advantage for FaZe.
Well, Nurtz is going to make the move out mid, but Broke is already prepared for it.
I need to shut this door and stay right away, but a missed shot from Broke.
And a perfect one from Sumpias.
And Sumpias, like we saw yesterday, against Vitality, just the engine of this G2 team.
Once again, he's in that kind of carry mode, trying to pull them through a tough stretch.
I think God's going to lead the way up short.
Support of the AWP behind him.
Jacob gets a kill off to his log.
They need this cleaner.
They got it.
Yeah, I want to kill at least coming in from some biases.
He's doing what he can here for his squad
to keep them going, moving into the site.
Plants going to go down for short.
Nurtz really quiet, opening map to this quarterfinal.
Can't afford to go down here with nothing.
There's Frozen, spotted.
Nurtz getting swung on now into the awkward spot
and Nurtz gets nothing.
Faith make it very difficult for him.
I put a lot of pressure on Heavy God to find a new position.
You still don't really fully know if someone's coming long,
so big risk now required.
Thankfully, FaZe isn't coming from that position,
so Heavy God's gonna have safety.
Yeah, well, that time is ticking on all the plants.
Hellbind the smoke now.
They've got to go through it here.
They come, they shot.
Sumpias, they know where you are.
The flash goes over the palm tree.
He goes into the peak again.
Sumpias connects.
So does Heavy God, and Sumpias is delivering here for G2.
Absolutely monster performance.
20 kills now, 4 kills in that round, a must win scenario for G2.
And how many times is he going to be the one to pull him through?
Kept him in it yesterday when they had a slow start versus Vitality on Mirage, right?
Even as the player who is only playing, who is performing long enough
for the rest of his teammates to show up and make that one a real fight against Vitality.
So good to see that form continuing into the playoffs here for some pious,
but it's yet to be seen if it's going to be enough.
The money's there for one more buy on the face side of things,
But it's gone if they lose this round.
Thankfully Brokey gets the opening kill.
Once again, Hunter, that initial player
to go down in the drop.
Yeah, Brokey just throwing himself into the mid-door
is actually took a knee to the base.
We'll see up here from his perspective.
Oh, just spawning a little bit of Hunter.
Brilliant shot from Brokey.
That's a crazy way to die if you're Hunter.
You're very frustrated.
Back to back 4v5s that G2 need to convert.
Got to be some pious again.
I mean, look at the right fliers.
Do you expect to show up here for G2?
You've got eight kills on nerds,
10 on heavy god,
nine for matters,
some pyres sitting at 20.
Well, this is where you're looking at heavy god.
He's at a relatively quiet game
compared to the rest of the tournament.
This shot from Broke, he's gonna back away.
So cat control over to G2.
Heavy god, the fourth highest rated player
of the event so far.
Today we haven't seen that impact.
And another mid to be split,
nerds throwing out the utility.
This time he's going to be alone as the lurk.
More forces heading directly through the tunnels and traded.
Yeah, I need to, the one-to-one take it, but some players,
there's the advantage, pull it back.
So it's going to be a 3D3.
They're saying that, man, yeah, that's enough to force phase
what you highlight the economy at the start of this round.
And that plays a factor in the lack of attempt for the retake.
And this kind of, this kind of lead,
you can sort of back away and play with the lead a little bit.
You don't have to risk all the weapons now.
You get a chill and just save them for the next round.
You can have a full buy.
The next round you can be dangerous.
That's you guys, a thousand in the bank?
They'll be getting an additional 1900 after that.
So they have the option to force up if they want.
That would be a risk.
A line up to grab some exit kills as the bomb explodes.
There's a really positive sign
that G2 have been able to put a 45 back
in their favor twice here.
I
Hanging on to the expensive weapon at least not going out to his death
Wasn't an upgrade available for a twist to get off that for mass
What's up Fort Worth? How y'all feeling?
You guys want to see G2 come back in this
I didn't think so so you want to see face spank him out of the server
All right, baby, let's get into it round 19 10 to 8
Faze there, he's definitely started to stall out here, let's see if that save can help him.
Happy God, going out long.
The corner smoke is being deployed, he's got the cover he's looking for, but here comes the push.
Nature and frozen, both over towards tunnels.
The weaker weapons trying to puff up the chest.
I don't really show a fight to his nerves, but he's going to handle it.
Nature goes down and advantage towards G2.
Finally an advantage towards G2. What a difference it might make in this round. Hunter's feeling a lot more comfortable.
Still alive. Got a man advantage to play with into the mid rounds. Long control is there. The base at the moment don't have the desire or really the resources to defend against it too heavily.
So focus more towards middle. Gonna start activating throws into pushing to the B tunnels to shrink the map, clear things out so they can turn and address the situation.
Miss smoke but they've got plenty left to redo it.
Well there it comes so...
So I'm going to be far down again, the mid push coming up here.
So Twizz, Matt actually moves into it and loses the engagement versus Twizz.
So 4v4, 45 seconds and the bomb now arriving towards the site but Brokey's here.
He's dropped down, he's going for the stylish maneuver, Twizz has died, heavy gone, this is more like it for G2.
Well how freaky can Brokey really get today?
goes for the jump shot, has him in at work,
and heavy thought over the top into the 3k,
and he's finally online.
All right, that might be heavy God.
Yeah, if he shows up, he continues playing like this.
If he just shows up and is the closer on this map,
that would be something special.
21 kills on Sampias,
and heavy God's gonna start closing the gap here
and with a triple kill in this round.
And FaZe can't make that defense work in the 4v5.
Good job closing the map down,
making it smaller, moving into position,
having the right read but none of the kills go in their way at the end 2400
dollar losing bonus so likely another buy in the next round for phase but that
four round lead has disappeared quickly three in a row for G2 and is that
the signal that they've gained control. It feels like it has shifted towards G2. I think
the attitude of like shifts in terms of being able to win back to back 40-50s, heavy gore
coming online. I mean all the signs are there that G2 have turned this around. They tie things
up here now then even better because they don't have the alt here at all for paroky.
It's gonna be full rifles. You have an advantage if you're supplies
And then you get the man advantage as well, so it's frozen dead in middle.
Wasn't super aggressive, but probably one of the faster-paced routes for G2 to get down middle and get into position,
which is spotted one, and he finds the equalizer. It's on Pius, just beneath him though.
Yeah, I've been able to react quickly here because G2 looked like he was going to be solo towards that B site,
so Twist gets aggressive, forces himself into a couple of fights down lower, and he's still confident to engage.
But now he's pulling Broke in, who's up next. Broke, he's going through a swing, and the two kills come in for G2.
At least Jacob was around him.
He gets a frag but he can't fall back.
Safely he will actually make it around towards CT.
Nerf is hunting him, but the utility,
looking to burn him out, he's so low on health.
Will it spread?
Jacob moves into the smoke and he dodges the flames.
The push from H2O.
Good clear though, good clear from Nerf.
He's likely gonna go down, can't win the fight.
Awesome biases here, 1v1.
Jacob's on 5 HP and this is the top fragger.
The best performer for G2 in this quarter final.
He's going the long route, he wants to win by timing, he knows what the HP, he's got
to be a little bit tricky about it.
Surprise, flash over, spots it, squares up for this clutch.
Jacob looking into the dance with Son, he's sitting at the elephant and moving in.
What the hell is going on?
He's going to win it!
That's incredible!
And it's shocked in the arena right now because no one was anticipating once he gets spotted
that Jacob is going to win it on 5 HP!
The hard clear of that position and some pious didn't want to take any kind of 1v1
He had the information, Kodafu Swung decides to play it a little bit more sneaky
What a punish!
Jacob spots him on the jiggle and just spams the position, but this round is provided by twist
equalizing kill maintains presence on catwalk
That's a superstar performance out of twist to bring this
That's the kind of clutch the fires phase back up because we were just talking about how that momentum
It was now starting to shift towards G2
Everything was going the way if they win that very likely they just round out dust two from this point onwards
but Jacob has kept Capface in this.
You can see the energy as well.
It gets pumped into the team
when you win a clutch like that.
Yeah, yeah, we've seen that.
And again, we've seen that momentum,
kind of building, building, building,
G2 has put a stop to it.
But FaZe has done a good job
of keeping things energetic on their side
and keeping this belief up.
And again, nursing this lead the whole way through.
G2 will creep it close.
And FaZe just extended every single time, 11 to 9.
And it's G2 who have the full buy in this round.
But actually, both teams really hurting for money.
This turns into a massive swing round.
Winner of this fits a huge advantage moving forward into the next one.
Bombs are back on both teams.
It's going to be a three starting long here for Paze.
Teal inside of the B bomb site.
Quick cat smoke here from G2.
These are not going to adjust the defense at all.
We'll just hold on.
They've got Brokie holding the line so that they're comfortable enough.
Not to change things up without one smoke being thrown out.
Control of middle. No presence towards long, but Sun Pai is watching for a push. Madness
is in charge of any push from the B bomb site. So they have options. Can Pai some short
pressure go mid to B? It's a very split default CT defense. 52 seconds as they take their
first steps out the mid double doors and the B bomb site will be the finishing
play. Smoke up in CT and now it begins. Coming at Netshu and frozen looking to
defend the B bomb site but frozen dead at the half of Nuts Mattis eradicating Netshu
from the site and there's no other option you have to save these three
weapons and the B bomb site falters for phase. It's almost too clean right?
It's almost like too clean to win of a round because now phase get a save through weapons
And they'll likely have another investment moving forward into the next one
losing bonuses a little bit light
11 to 10 now we've talked a lot about some missed opportunities for nerds throughout this game
So fair play give them credit where it's due that's an absolutely disgusting shot on frozen to crack open that bomb site
Yeah, because the people I've been good for phase you know that's a strength they've had over G2
Oh yeah, that's a great shot from Nurtz, frozen.
I think it's off, he didn't make anything of it.
And once he ties, you no longer have a strong hold from Naito either.
Look how nice of an entrance it was for G2 though.
There was no smoke in the double doors, no Molotov over towards the window,
slow him down, no flashbangs coming in to slow the progression.
Because the defense was so passive, so split, no eyes off middle,
that's the gamble FaZe took.
Without the information, you can't prepare for that hit.
Knockout blow and Nurtz was the can opener.
G2 whether the storm they don't allow phase to burst up towards 12th off the back of that Jacob clutch
Let's see what they can do if safe those three weapons as you mentioned they're gonna try and piece together a strong by here
Four phase or at least as strong as they can get it
This is what they've got okay USP
Renatio P250 for frozen
Yeah
So trying to just say we these three weapons are enough for us to have a chance to win this round
We're content with that level of challenge, but they're coming at the beast on I like that ball from G2
Just go quick. They likely don't have the best white bits on the site. He's dead
They joined the USP so he's gonna go down after one and that's it
So that's the B-bomb saga rap break ball from G2. I hit the week of bomb site
Well, that's that's that's a that's a pace change that phase never expected
It's been way way more chill
They're opening these rounds have been a little bit more conservative
and taking a little bit of time to gain some map control.
For this level of aggression on this round,
Cod broke he completely off guard.
Initial contact takes him low,
but he didn't expect the push afterwards.
And G2, two quick rounds in a row to tie things up.
This map's gonna go all 24.
We're gonna see who's gonna have a chance
to close it out in regulation.
Great to see the game delivering on this front, you know, we've had clutches from both teams, stylish moments throughout Dust2 so far.
That's exactly what you want, we can get FaZe and G2 into the server.
Well, here comes the buy for FaZe.
They're going to be missing the AWP on Brokey, which he's had a number of times, so...
Oh no, they won't! He's picked it up off the ground.
Timeout called.
Third and final timeout for FaZe and NKJ as a new coach stepping into this team, tasked
with pulling it out of the bits of despair that they've been in for the past few months.
Very very tough task for a coach who's got experience but not with a team with this
many eyeballs on it and a very difficult first test here in the quarterfinals.
Very very vocal during this timeout.
an issue for FaZe but not for G2. They've secured that side of the game. Five of the
last six rounds going the way of G2's offense so it very much feels like they've figured
out how to play this FaZe defense like a fiddle.
Off they go into round 23. I'm going to cross safely, get to that B bomb site without
losing a member to some pious a lot of B hits from both sides showing some
presence early willing to just send a few shots towards the B bomb site
defenders you see that lean from Broke trying to put the orb over towards
middle to defend not only the mid doors but also the B ramp if it comes to
We're going to wait.
Continuing to lay your smoke grenades towards the doors.
A minute time left.
Put enough information over on short so Twist had to give a position in CT to man the A ramp.
Broke, he's going to slide back as well.
We just passed the one minute mark and G2 really haven't made any kind of moves across the map just yet.
Xbox control. Now once again, pressuring middle. They've had success at the B bomb site.
Do they want to continue back? Does FaZe want to cheat someone over on a timing?
Rokey holds and connects. It's going to be Hunter with Edge straight away.
Rokey to peel away and play from long instead. 35 seconds. That's all cheats you have to try and get into the bomb site.
Long fight falls in favor of FaZe. Are they about to grab map point first here on Dust2?
Nurt's tapping away. No one from FaZe wanting to give up their life. They know. 20 seconds left.
Pressure's on G2. A missed chance for Sumpias as well.
What's if they just wanted to save? They said, nope, we got money. Let's go back. Nurt's with one.
Okay, Brokie, you need to land the shot. You have to. Jacob's giving you some space, and yes he has.
That's the round done.
Yep, Sumpias now with five seconds left before they go down. He's got cash in the bank at least.
And he's just gonna try and pick up the enemy peel the way out here as well.
And he'll secure at least into the next round, but it is going to be FaZe up to map point first here on Dust2.
Yeah, stalled out GTO, missed detail. There's Flashbangs.
No Flashbang thrown to take any AWPer off the angle.
They, I think, believed, one, either the money wouldn't be there, or two,
that they'd done enough damage at the B bomb site that Broke likely wouldn't be in that position.
to win this map and avoid over time long plenty of players for G2 just beyond those smokes
heavy guard the only player lagging behind watch any case phase with a center player
aggressive up middle no one from FaZe dare to do that just yet but you do have
that investigation now up through short. We twist and broke eat this fire on the
flash.
Here the utility being deployed from long. The fight for Dust 2 will end here on
the A site. The game litter with B hits but it's A and we finish and Jacob has
got the first headshot.
His supply is dead.
The big impact player for G2.
There's a gap in that smoke.
They can't cross it.
And they have to wait.
Flashes are coming in.
They're being delayed.
And this is only giving more time for Faze
to position themselves just a second.
Nurtz fires back.
Bomb moving in, frozen with the headshot.
And just two left from G2 in Nurtz and Mattes.
OK, well, the opposite hands now with Nurtz.
Let's see what he's got with it.
Madison's inside, the bomb site is gonna plant.
It's a long plant for the AWP.
All four phase members retaking through Catwalk.
Trying to continue this phase fantasy in Fort Worth,
looking to take the first map of the quarterfinals.
And phase one strike for F2 will fall on Dust2.
And phase one, one map up.
Brokey, what day is it?
Brokey Friday.
Of course it's Brokey Friday, and you're proofing it there in the server.
Can you just talk us through that shot, and you know which one I'm talking about.
Did you love it as much as the fans did?
The Skelton?
Yeah.
I just knew I could wallbang with the Skelton, take the AK, so I just got the easy killer.
The fans here, you've got a lot of phase support in the crowd.
Can you clutch this up on Ancient?
Of course we can. If we can, we will be finishing the third map.
Best of luck. Thank you.
You know what? I've rarely seen Brokie be this communicative in interviews and on-air overall.
The thing is, sometimes with stuff like this, like Brokie Friday and that's only the thought of it, the width of it, right?
Actually does help. I mean, how else can you explain how we started this map?
Broke he just needs a reason to wake up that's that's the thing when it comes to him
Okay, he only gets really excited for those big games the playoffs the qualification games the elimination ones
Obviously, he's looking back at some of them and wants a little bit more
But then the way he played in this one some of the shots that he was hitting does I couldn't believe my eyes
He's back on his bullshit Mali
That's shot is where does that?
Who does that is my question like when have you ever seen someone land a shot in that way with the scout on dust too in your life in the
Playoffs here in this big arena Matt. If I was him I throw my headset down
Oh, I'm right-clicking his profile. I'm checking how many hours. Is this like what is this account like?
I don't believe it. No, it's crazy. It's one of those things that gets in the opponent's heads
But the thing is
That site was porous like what was happening there for G2
I have to say, this is also something that came up when they were playing against Vitality.
Now Faraday is Vitality, but the point still stands.
Is it that BD fence, Nurtz being that new guy there, playing the rotator to assist heavy
guy, the anchor, they had their struggles up against elite opposition defending that area.
And we kind of saw that happen here again on the CT side.
It is, we're kind of folding to the pressure of those mid-B splits or just straight up
B executes.
And it's just uncharacteristic particularly for heavy guy.
It is really strange to see that given that heavy guy himself top three anchor in
the world.
easily for nerds to come up as empty handed as he did in so many of these hits
was really surprising and probably one of the few moments where you see some of
the weaknesses as he's joined this roster. This also around that shouldn't be
recoverable but it was in the end right and that's when it starts to dawn on you
that this might be your map. The 1v2 that Broke he pulled off here just
nerds a steal but the little play that Twist made through the door right there
recognizing that they're in a man deficit doesn't want to just send it
doesn't want to just play a really standard crossfire.
So very tricky stuff there from the new IGL phase.
Yeah, it's phase is map pick, uh, dust,
but G2 usually is pretty good on this map as well.
I wonder how much you can take,
how many like notes you can make of twists T side
because it wasn't exactly the best defense out of G2,
but are you happy with what you saw nonetheless?
Yeah, I mean, I like that they were playing
a confident style of Counter Strike.
I think when you compare it to the other side,
I thought G2 played really damn timid
through a lot of their T side.
We'll get to that in a moment,
but the phase was bold,
And that's what Broke is known for when he was in his heydays, doing those big moments
and being able to shine in them and Twist obviously knows that as well, being a guy
who's been there and done that at a high level.
So it's nice to see them come in confident.
The energy was insane.
Every round one Twist just screaming his head off, knowing that this was possible, but
then we head on to the other side and G2 ends up on the T side.
Now, first couple of rounds, a write-off, the first one where they get guns in their
hands.
What did that tell us about Hunter's T side calling on this one?
Because this was a mess.
It was.
I mean, I feel like it took a while for them to get activated into this one.
We see the four on four kick things off there with Twist getting the one.
But the way that G2 just kind of were in and out of this idea right here in middle,
you just see how the timid play that Dust was referring to,
how they're going for it, but then they're not committing.
And you could see actually as all of this is taking place,
you get the double swing set up from phase,
Jacob instantly springs into action on the flank.
So even though Heavy got himself found a great timing to get these two kills,
It was just so obvious to face what was happening here,
even if they let heavy God under their noses.
I think it's a combination of a simplistic playbook
that I think is plaguing G2 tactically.
And I also think that it comes down to the timidness again.
When Nersh was in those same situations
at that exact same location on this map
against Astralis in the studio environment,
the man throught.
He was talking to people down.
He was having huge impact frags.
Right there, he looked scared.
He did not want any part of that.
And that cannot happen on the stage.
Yeah, people, you make or break them
by playing on the stage.
I think FaZe wasn't as intimidated by the bright lights.
It does seem, but it wasn't all she wrote.
I want to talk about Sumpias a little bit
and how Sumpias give it and Sumpias take it.
We'll start first by looking at a round
that was completely on his shoulders
where he gets a 4K and which shows
why he loved this map so much.
Sumpias has just been delivering 4G2 at this event
so far, yeah, to get the double op kill
to kick this one off and to help close it out as well.
I mean, this felt like a crazy fumble from nerds.
What is he doing?
This late round position is hardcore ridiculous.
So for some pies to have as many opportunities as he can
and to work with heavy God to secure this post plan,
this is what breathed life into G2
to even make it as close as it was.
Yeah, I mean, some pies definitely had a couple
of really big moments.
Unfortunately, he kind of got one route with him,
as I think we'll talk about a little bit later,
but I really felt like he was doing the best that he could.
This is the some pies we've been seeing all of it long,
that's having one of his best CS2 events ever.
He's carrying that momentum into this match as well.
Unfortunately, this wasn't quite enough to get the job
Bellamy stack it up and get everything else to have.
It wasn't unfortunately for him.
It was also in round 20 where it was up to him.
This is a crazy round to me because Jacob holds his nerve.
He escapes with a sliver of health right through mid,
and then he has to finish a job.
And you think there's no way he's winning this round.
This round was so all over the place.
It was that scrappy nature that you sadly kind of expected
from both of these teams.
But so for Jacob here to just be
able to read, Sunpai is dropping into the elevator position icon so unlikely.
Elevator.
Hello, Ato.
Nice cover!
Let's go, bro!
Fucking important rounds.
You love to see it, right? Because this is a guy that's also been under a lot of scrutiny.
under Karrigan's tutelage and it was almost like well now Karrigan's gone is
he just going to be thrown to the wolves the fact that the pack is really
taking him in and that he can repay them thus that'll go so far in matches like
this. The fact that he made that read in that moment when I thought Sun Pius was
doing everything right he was slippery he knew what he had he got that bomb
down he knew that the long a flank timing was there he jumps to
elevator position that you probably don't expect if you're Jacob coming
up long you're thinking oh maybe he went to catwalk oh maybe he's
off. You know, not he's dropped down there. And so the fact that Jacob cleared it and then wins with
low HP, that is a big time moment for the guy who has had his struggles. Such a huge read from him.
You're still seeing moments here at this tournament, even on that Dust 2 where
he is sometimes fed to the wolves. Like he's a selfless entry, so not every setup is going
to be perfect. So, but the thing is that the way he's able to recover, especially on his CT
sides, I feel like it's so commendable. The Polish fans might have been right. There might
might have been something to this guy.
Maybe they were right, a couple months late, but who knows.
But yeah, if we take stock of everything now, right,
as G2 you're coming into this match,
you're like, oh, they're picking us too, hey,
we love to play here, this is great.
We don't have a lot of tape, but we're focusing
on ourselves because how good can they really be?
The problem is, I haven't really seen some of,
besides some pious, some of those X factors
that G2 usually brings into a game like this.
Have you got, didn't have the best time
holding onto that B side in the beginning?
That's not something we usually see from him.
He didn't get really activated, right?
Because I know you were singing his praises
at the beginning of the day.
Yeah, no.
I mean, again, they made kind of a mark difference
in how they used heavy guy too offensively.
They're using it more actively.
You even saw it in a couple of clips that went wrong.
He was actually still getting some good trade
facts on catwalk or finding some good kills
with an aggressive flurk middle.
Like he was definitely putting in his work on the T side.
I think G2 just got to it a little bit too late.
They started to tune it too early.
I'm used to that mob CS of conference
where they just gather up and they go.
They didn't just go.
They stopped.
They drained the clock down to the last moments.
They relied upon punches to bail them out and they didn't get them when they needed them also one of the aspects of heavy God that makes
Them such a scary anchor to play against is that he knows when to leave bomb sites
But when he's against a face clan that he's just flying in the dark against also the flow is just or
Heavy God when he doesn't have a
Guy on the team do whatever you can face to keep that guy on the team. You know they look so badass
I can't get over
get the life cycles out you're saying now the 3m goes crazy you know okay yeah
oh no the fact that heavy God doesn't have a beat kind of strips away one of
his weapons where usually as an anchor he knows when he can peel away when he
can rotate he does it so much better and faster than other anchors that's why
he has such great CT numbers but when you're against a face team where you
don't know what's coming next it's very difficult to do that yeah I've heard
you say in the past that maybe it was a little bit too predictable the T sides
coming out of Hunter or one note is the term that you like to use is this a
thing of okay we need to change it up a little bit and we need to make it more
multifaceted visit because I feel like the first T round they got guns in their
hands it was just like I don't know it seemed like there was no plan right and
that's what's kind of tricky because that does set the tone for a lot of
the map I think there's a plan it's just that I'm not always seeing the
most mid route adaptation and I'm not seeing the I guess autonomy from the
individuals that hunter could probably allow. It just feels like he knows they
want to run amid to be set and they're gonna do that and that's why they're
thinking is the smoke good? Should we still run it? Well, Hunter's just like
we're running it. We're running it and sometimes it's into a wall. Yeah, I think
at times you have to be able to make that call that, Hey, this is not gonna
work. We need to make a pillow. You need to throw a faint. We need to
maybe fake this out and try to do something else. But getting stalled
down to the same clock, trying to go for the same plan, even though you
know that it's sailing, that's not going to work. There's something to
be said about being on the same page no matter what. But when you're in
situations like that they're just unwinnable. You have to be able to find a way to get around and they didn't.
It's a rough one. It's a bad start but they are by no means out of this one yet.
Ancient is coming up next and G2 that is their playground but we thought a little bit of the same of Dust 2.
They have to recover here because maybe it might just be Rocky Friday.
phase is just one map away from making it to the semifinal here in Fort Worth.
It's incredible what they showed, but now they're up against G2 on their ancient.
Why is it a pick to fear from the side of G2?
Just like Dust2, it's such a big strength for G2 when they're on their game.
We didn't see on Dust2, we didn't see it on Ancient.
What I love about them, normally on Ancient, is the pace that they bring.
They love to fight tooth and nail for middle.
This is a spot where Heavy God, as we've kind of talked about,
about, gets to be a little bit more activated.
He gets to kind of get in there with nerds and actually brawl,
not just lurk.
And so I just need to see them play with some confidence
and not timidness is what we really saw him does too.
And I feel like Faze, though they lost to Navi, their only
game, obviously, with this roster.
I saw them also play a nice, pacey style,
but they actually got frozen a little bit more involved.
I mean, the opposite side of the map that he normally
is being that B guy, but that's not something he used
to do.
Used to be kind of in middle,
but they're trying to comfort Knight U.
And they've done a good job with it.
I do think that Nate U.
was a little bit difficult for him against Navi,
But we've already seen some good moments here on this stage.
On his last stage performance back in Finland in 24,
he looked completely comfortable there.
That's one thing that I'm glad to see,
that he hasn't been swallowed up by the moment.
That's something that you need
if you want to be part of that phase bullshit.
It's true, and to be devil's advocate,
that's Nafi's ancient, right?
That's a completely different game entirely,
but you're right, G2 is usually very confident on it.
I'm just starting to think, is this not their day?
Because I'm thinking back to Krakow,
where they also got a shot at the playoffs.
It was a non starter.
That's what I'm afraid of.
How did it make sure that they can activate what they need?
They have to come out the gate swing.
And again, we know that G2 players
are the best when they're playing pacey up tempo stuff
and they're getting nerds in the pocket.
I think the big thing they have to worry about though
is that even though FaZe are new,
they're playing gold counterstrike.
They're playing very aggressive mid pushes,
sometimes with three or four players on defense.
So they're going to give G2 a lot of looks.
Well then, we will see if G2 gets it started
or if ancients will also go to way of the crowd of favorites,
will it be FaZe that kick it directly into the semifinals?
That's absolutely the question we all have right now.
Our FaZe actually going to make it into the semifinals
with the way they've been playing.
We didn't have a huge amount of expectations on them
whatsoever, but I do expect G2 to be much better here
on ancient than they were on Dust2.
Absolutely.
And then this should be a game where they're able
to rebound on a map that's going to be difficult
to put into your map pool when you have a new coach,
when you have a new kind of standardish player.
When you've made these changes,
not an easy map to get yourself acclimated to
very, very quickly.
So, if this bumps are out,
off the surprise, the shock of map one.
Off the map in the series,
FaZe enter agent with a chance at the semi-finals.
And they start on the CT side.
He's starting heavy towards B.
Now FaZe are very good in these pacerons.
They've seen that over on Dust2.
Fantastic for G2 to come into the second map after a loss and try to kick things off with the win here.
Frozen climbing up towards the top of the boxes.
Plenty of players from G2 just around this corner and it's a clean, quick, first-hand shot on Mattis.
Oh, they've got him boxed in now. This is tough. Hunter can't be involved with any of his teammates.
Nertz might have to help alleviate some of this pressure.
Hunter's even still challenging over towards Kade. Good shot. Frozen's going to be force-passive.
And that's the space that G2 needed.
And that was the block being taken out for a spin for Hunter.
He spotted the next target here as well, and nature is going to stand his ground
But no ground to stand on whatsoever hunter has swallowed him up
I like that hunter was so aggressive and making sure that he never let him get away there back to the B bomb site
G2 aligns themselves, but all the phase
Well two players of phase are here. Yeah twist
Up on the boss could be really tough. How was that as well?
He's finally gonna be dropped by Jacob, but the kills are coming in here for G2
And it's a 2v1 with Brokey required to clutch.
Yeah, some biases coming on the ramp now.
Any spot of information would be here to be can grab this.
Yeah, and he's got it.
He can stick around for the fight, falls to Brokey.
But the gush is the information passed over to Nurtz.
Brokey, a big clutch over on Dust2.
Looking forward again here, but Nurtz will deny a pistol
round available here at 2G2.
They didn't have any of them on Dust2.
So that's probably a conversation they had during the break
between maps.
First things first, let's get a pistol round.
Let's just start there. Hunter delivers you a triple kill,
can perk the 4v5, but it's all due to the aggression,
the fearlessness.
Once Nurtz announces that he's pushed him,
Hunter knows he's gotten advantage
and just presses the issue.
Perfect to set his team up.
US out to us, last night he fell off the box.
So he'll be a little bit frustrated out of that pistol.
No investment in the second round from Faze.
USBs, they just want to save and get the rifles out
as soon as possible.
I hope to see Nerds get a better start here.
Really struggle if we kick off Dust2.
Struggle again in this round.
Move that AK to it.
Pick it up towards Yelbo here if you can.
Those spots come in for G2. They lose a couple of players,
but regardless it's a couple of rounds.
Decent enough Starfleur.
We'll see FaZe now get into purchase.
That purchase is going to be in the way of FAMAS
and four MP9s.
So they actually don't invest everything they've got.
everything they've got. They go for the third round like half-buy. We call this the Brazilian buy.
MP9's in utility that can be damaging, that can obviously win a round, but then you save
plenty of cash if it goes the other direction. There's a way to kind of sneak an extra buy
around into things. Early utility out. G2, all four players are
the line towards the A bomb site and that is the player away from the action lurking.
You can't even get anything that's going to really weaken this defense or face so much,
but they have drifted nature over towards Donut.
As it is G2 now arriving into us the A site, they flood the site and there's no one home.
So smoke truck towards Donut, plant is coming in now.
What's the...
No world in which they actually pull this off now.
Well, I'm curious about the decision that they're going to make because if you save all
weapons then you won't get rifles into the next round so then you've kind of given up a buy round
it's almost like it's almost like you can go for this retake lose everything but you want to do
damage or you set up for the exit kills which is the choice they've taken everyone kind of
lying themselves outside of a main however unfortunately for them since mattis has never
encountered anyone across the map at all he's secured ct spawn so a very very safe as scoop
route is set up and fey's gonna go into this with four mp9s and a flamoson to the next
I'm really curious what they're going to do.
Yeah, well, it gives them more money, obviously.
Play with their bodies, get them even stronger once they eventually get to that point.
Yeah, but you're now extending into four rounds where you haven't really had an AWP,
haven't had the M4s, haven't really been able to get into the playbook.
So you can upgrade one of them now that Nechi's gone down.
Yeah, so with you two getting quite a nice foundation laid here
to try and build something on this T side.
You know, we're talking about Ayn Chinc and this team
and obviously the reunite, the reunitement of Nerds coming back in to play with some highs and so I really like that
Ents team and how they played back in the day right so those players obviously a member and the coach member of that team and I
Love watching him on ancient so if we can somehow channel that CS go and see into ancient
I would absolutely love to see that. At least the brief hints of a here's fast out middle elbow
They swing wide and B9 can't handle the puck. Jacob's gone down. Yeah a good start from Nerds
It's good to see him getting into the kill feed on the board.
And then the rest of the kills also falling in favor here of G2.
Fallen's going to be recollected by Heavy God.
And a 4v2 left.
And the round has basically just started.
That ends team had two real big X factor players on it
in the form of like Madden and Dihar, right?
Like Madden was kind of the space creator.
I don't think you have players that can really
match what those guys were doing.
Madden kind of can line up with Madden a little bit.
But no one's going to be having the play style of Dihar,
really. So fourth round for G2, four to nothing here on ancient, their map pick.
Strong favourites on this map with this 79% win rate in the last three months.
This particular phase lineup has only played it once with Netshu in the
lineup against Navi earlier in this event as the desk mentioned 13 to 11
loss. So this map for phase is going to be rough around the edges. We're
We're going to see them have to kind of improvise solutions.
They're going to take a lot of risks.
Well, rough around the edges, but also now a rough start
to the game as well.
It's something that's really a strength of faith
has been those past the rounds.
And so you don't win those.
You don't want to force by.
You let G2 get up to four rounds
before your real first buy comes out.
You have given yourself a very difficult start to ancient.
The map that we know is already
going to be rather uncomfortable.
Yeah, the test for them is can you break the momentum?
Can you break this streak and actually build your own
at the same time on ancient?
Can you win enough rounds straight to kind of wrestle control on an answer G2?
Good win for Brokie, good turn, even a little bit blind as well.
And that's an AK-47, he can hustle over to recover.
We'll love that upgrade.
The fourth round, it takes off for G2.
Alright, you've got plenty of cash now.
You've been saving for this rainy day for FaZe.
You've got the all coming out for Brokey.
What's he going to do with it?
Where's he going to position this start?
How aggressive do you guys want to be?
Plenty of utility, two kits picked up for the CT side.
I'm just interested in the call for G2 in this round.
They're keeping, obviously, 5 AK-47s out right now.
Looks like he's going to go out into the default.
Trying to get out to his elbow with more utility.
This time for Faze going to make that job a lot more
uncomfortable for Nurtz.
They're not gonna be charging out just yet.
I like the call to be passive in this round.
You know this is the round.
All the utility is gonna be there.
The phase is gonna have all the weapons they want.
So don't want to challenge that full blown utility
right into the M4s.
Brokey has his AWP over towards the A bomb site.
Oh, good find for Mattis.
Taps the smoke open, blows a hole in it,
sees Jacob and completes the frag.
Twists is pushed up as well.
He doesn't seem to have any idea.
But the hit now moving towards A
and Brokey's had to give up his initial angle.
And he's moved into the donut,
which means he's gonna be behind smoke cover.
Unless he takes the risk, that's exactly what Brokey does.
He goes to the Sardis, Brokey gets that kill on Heavy God,
and now a 4v4 retake available to FaZe Clan.
Alright, well, I'm not planning just yet.
A little bit nervous about this play over towards Donut.
Hunter hasn't put it down, they want to secure CT spawn.
There is a player there, it's frozen,
tucked into the corner.
The push out from Nortz,
it's gonna be frozen, who's taken away.
Look at Mattis again.
He's done the same move as he did a couple rounds back,
where he's just pushed up the B ramp.
he finds nobody encounters nothing.
A twist is coming in behind him.
Wishes around the back.
Can he get this killed out twist?
There's Matt is taking down the back turned.
You're not going to go for this retake.
Unless Broke gets a kill, you need one more.
You're still far away from the bomb site with only one kid.
They're going to offer up the kill and they do give him
the peak, but he can't get it.
So Broke is going to pay to wait.
And unfortunately, if a face plan,
it's going to be a five in or a whole.
They find themselves into kickoff ancient.
I'm going to keep my eye over on Mattis.
I imagine twists is thinking the same thing of having
to kind of, you really have like kind of late attention towards that B bomb site to watch
for that lurk is more than anything. It's just, this round is just chewing time off the clock.
Cool plays from Mattis to open up ancient. This is a really nice way to find an open
and kill if your notes smoke doesn't break all the way through for the one ball it
helps out. Brokey finds the equalizer, but he had just shifted. He had just shifted
behind the smoke so gives up any position to actually defend the bomb site full on.
time out from phase. But they need it right now staring at 0 and 5 on the scoreboard.
Okay, check. Having his say, trying to get his team into this.
Such a tough scenario to be down 5 and 0 before you really feel like you're getting going on the map.
Let's see what G2 call here.
So much money available to G2 as well.
He's starting with a few risky ideas.
You have five rounds available.
This is all the money in the world.
This is that additional issue with the fact
that like MP9 for Mosby came out two rounds in a row.
It wasn't supposed to be like that.
Just a great chance for G2 to rack up rounds
and build a ton of cash.
They've done both.
Well, Hunter getting a span of downy.
Will take a good amount of damage.
12 HP left, but Mattis has got the opener on Brokey.
Up, down for Faze.
Ah, the brutal loss to take this early.
We have follow-up there as well.
Sympires moved up to the donut fight.
Got Mattis on 1 HP.
So much damage done by Faze players,
but unfortunately not catching a break to actually complete
any of those kills.
Yeah, Mattis can just go passive with his 1 HP.
There was a small engagement early on between frozen
and nerts in middle, but it kind of both blind
and call a stalemate back off.
G2's looking to re-aggress and take the space.
Brokey's AWP was left on his body as well.
They've shifted over towards middle, but no one's recovered it.
There's the pushout from Neku.
Notes and heavy guard, collect both kills.
Faze are collapsing right now in this defense,
not showing anything towards G2.
Mattis always flying away in the late round to get some impact.
Now he comes through with the elbow and finds himself in a good position.
It's going to be 6 and 0 for G2.
It's not really competitive whatsoever at the moment.
Yeah, this map is going kind of exactly as we thought it might,
considering how much of heavy favorites and how much experience G2 have on this map
compared to this Stace roster.
I think you have the added problem when rounds like this,
you know, with Bayeson and an experience,
it's an easy T-side for Hunter to call.
If his team gets the opening pick,
I mean, you know that they're going to have to make a play
and you know that play is going to be relatively disorganized.
Just fight together and make sure we're on the same page.
Okay, things haven't been going all the way, but now that will change.
One frag is all it takes, boys.
Okay, let's step it off.
Keep it up, come on.
Trying his best to get the belief from Dust2 back into FaZe, boys.
One kill, one round can change it all.
This feels real good if you're G2.
Once you enter that A site, there's no one home from FaZe.
I think it is rotating over now, but he's still a long way off.
Yeah, he's rotating, but playing it very, very passively from CT spawn, right?
Not really any indication that he wants to step up into the bomb site.
The problem is he doesn't have any utility, no smoke to block the choke point at the A site,
no smoke to an extinguisher Molotov, so it doesn't have a whole lot of options.
So if you can't get a little bit lucky and kind of pick up a kill, although I'll say this,
G2 is now going elsewhere. Clear out A main and fall back towards middle.
You're gonna maintain his position. Doesn't matter. He's really giving up the information. It's just about staying alive and not being
negative, but eventually will be taken out and that heavy guard just shot through the smoke and had shot Jacob.
So everything's going well for G2. They're just gonna run it towards the A bomb site and that'll be another round for G2.
Stepping in a row here. Yeah, looking real easy. Looking real simple for G2 at the moment.
just such a tough situation on this map for phase to be in and if you look back
at that Na'vi game where they they ended up losing 11 to 13 on this map I mean
there are their CT side that are them seven rounds in that game even in a
loss so we're sitting in a position where this is just there's not really a
positive spin to put on it at the moment well there is but there is it's
from G2's perspective yeah but also you know phase one the first map so
They'll look at a chance of mirage. Yeah, they gave themselves the buffer. Yeah
Those feel like we're gonna have to go that out. This is a very very good start from G2
Their face could go back in time and they could redo that MP9 save round would they change everything?
That's why I was wondering like are they actually just gonna go for the upgrade is throw away the MP9 like it seems like a
Crazy thing to do but look at the consequences
This team's economy has just ramped up to a degree that you can no longer stop
Double maids, they're going through all the details, slow and calculated, that's happening.
And this is where, I mean, the lack of plans, the lack of coordination, the lack of experience,
they don't have those moves to make of, okay, let's pair up and do this, let's flash here
for me so I can get this intel.
And FaZe after getting battered for seven rounds in a row, probably going to be feeling
a little bit more timid as well all right another timeout bird just
desperately trying to get something out of this half is there a minimum amount
around you're looking at here Jason let's start with one okay that's a
minute on one that's a good start I feel like to have a comeback at least four
right at this point for face if there's any dream all that let's start
one big up now this is I can get it round 8 2 towards a mate to hang it out an
elbow and hunter the only presence for G2 on the B side of the map you could tell
phase feel a little bit sensitive over in the middle haven't broke you open up
around there breaking the smoke two three times trying to get some
information trying to pick somebody off and as soon as he leaves they slide
in the middle I'll see if broke you can drop
himself in to get some impact is gonna be Matt's death first so at least an
advantage here for face and brookie's gonna go back into donut slow down as
bro key it's waiting for next contact where's it gonna come from
likely to beat the donut here now I'm not sure what word for heavy-gut on this
faith because I feel like notes is gonna have a little now that a second
player is paired up and they show up a bro key need his teammate to follow up
and they just can't get it so cheats who loving this right now even
though the opening kill goes against them now you've got Hunter pressuring on the
flank trying to catch a good timing to get in behind there's no option here for
face is all going to crumble Hunter hurt the footsteps okay big win for heavy
odd now the retake is just not there and Hunter decides he doesn't need to
push forward he can be the backstab to prevent any kind of a save
Twiss and Jacob against four currently stuck in middle red room area with
No where safe to go. This is great to see from G2 being able to reset after Dust2 was so scrappy, so back and forth.
We're talking about we're missing on nerds, we're missing heavy guard.
The only player really showing up there was some highs and times Hunter, but now you've got nerds online.
Seven of one, you definitely got Hunter online. Ten and two right now.
And this is a much more positive sign to see the G2 that we were excited about coming into Fort Worth.
Yeah, I mean it's a very impressive response.
after probably a surprise map loss
against FaZe on Dust2.
It's Brokey with that initial shot,
but from there the pressure just kind of
stalls out and waits for the smoke to fade.
The setup breaks down on Brokey's next miss.
We can all read those lips.
That's a fair question.
It is a fair question.
They're not doing much right now phase at all.
Some players up on top of the boxes at the bottom of speed.
It's a chance G2 just individually starts styling on them as well at this point.
Break them down.
There's the system, but now Matt is confident to go for the keep towards the top of the ramp.
He was protected, not going to be removed just yet.
But some pieces of utility in place.
Really struggling to get that made out, nothing to his hand, didn't he?
Well, they don't pick up the pressure.
Merck's working over and clearing A main as all this is going on as his teammate just waits for this utility to fade away.
And now they can start making their moves.
I'll let you see what he can get down here. M4, here's the steps.
Primes himself for the fight. Goes into the open. It's at least Hunter going down first hit.
Turning back to try and deal with elbow. Good reaction here.
From G2, sending players forward, but then FaZe react.
And you've got Frozen and Jacob taking a couple of kills,
and you leave Sumpius and Nurtz in a 2v4.
Twizz gonna go down, spot the backpack of Sumpius,
and Nurtz now coming up last spotted towards Elbow.
So Twizz is gonna get that information on the jump.
Knows exactly where Nurtz is,
and he's just gonna start throwing away some weapons here,
trying to prevent FaZe, you can get in their hands on those.
So, it'll be the first round of finally coming through here for FaZe.
Finally coming through, but what does it mean?
There are more they can build upon it.
Nurtz and Hunter going into the next round have $16,000 in the bank.
There's not enough rounds left for FaZe to take the economy away for G2, so it's nightmare mode.
Every single round is as hard as it gets.
But a nice setup and finally one where they can come out on top of the first engagement.
So 8 to 1.
Quick again for supplies to get over towards BRAM, but no one from Faze putting themselves
in harm's way.
Fucking frozen.
Here comes the push out.
Faze is gonna fight them.
Trying to get involved in some of these brawls, but no success on any of them until
He's committed out of donut so the tracking commit immediately from Hunter and then followed up by nerds at least twist staying in the fight for face
But look at that a bomb site completely open right now some pros and trying to make it behind
Anything for face and he will overperform
That gets himself to and all of a sudden it's heavy gone in the 1v3 clutch
Yeah, that's way too much from frozen to get the two kills is crazy heavy God
Are you gonna play this you got plenty of time one minute plenty of HP. He's got a hundred
Now moving in towards CT spawn disappears on the map Jacob and twist about as
far away as they can be from each other.
Heavy God in temple.
I like this from twist the safety of a main it's a real thing.
Have you go searching for any opportunity any opening but then come in his
I think the play he's got left if he doesn't go to the B bomb site got a plan for CT spawn since you have this you have
This cleared. Yeah, it's got 30 seconds
They go back over to a CT spawn now
Taps tries to draw a twist to see if he'll push through he won't he's not making him busy smoke goes down
No pressures on try to buy time for the rotation of J. Kip to come back, but the plant is now through for heavy
God
Where does he go?
Heavy God looking to feast in Donut, Jacob, he's right there.
Heavy God, can he get this kill?
He's close and he's got it and now it's just Twist coming up.
God right in the clutch, easy for Heavy God.
Man Twist never expected to follow up aggression and
Heavy God was a basket it, a 1v3 shutting down Frozen and
an extended 1v2 clutch.
That's what he's here for and
And that's what he's delivered, is he's gotten better and better in this G2 jersey.
Oh, even the dink. Even the dink is so painful.
Final bullet, too, from heavy guard, immediately pulling the mag out and looking at that.
He's absolutely loving it right now, 9-1 for G2.
The score line just keeps getting worse and worse for Faze.
Any hope, any dream of coming back into this game feels completely shut out for now.
Jacob at least get in the opening kill here for face. Mattis, can you respond? Can you
get something back here? He's been searching for time and time again. Never really finding
that success. And then Jacob and Rosie roll over the top of this G2 attack and a second
row will be coming up for a face.
Alright, that's two now. So carving out what little they can in this half. But
obviously nothing voting well for the second when halftime comes in and they switch
So Hunter's just gonna chill maybe try and take a couple of weapons away money's not great
You could take some resources for the last round, but nothing too significant
50 seconds on the clock. Yeah, gonna be a long old save here, but Hunter's actually a shot.
Really fall it. That's all fake. He's got plenty of cash in the bank
So he steps into the open gets that one over and done with and we go into the last round of the first half
9-2 lead for Jitsu. They're gonna be extremely happy regardless of what it
up they won this next round anyway. Double figures though, you're gonna have to
pursue that because Jitsu won't see any reason as to why they won't pick it up.
To be honest we've got so much money obviously such great buys coming up and
gonna take the time out here in the first half. Yeah actually kind of
surprises he's taken a time out here to be honest with you with the score
line the way it is but just really wanting that last one and making
sure they keep maximum pressure up.
Yeah, let's beat them harder.
Yeah, obviously, yeah, win more, please.
And obviously, in a playoff game,
you know that they can bounce back.
You've seen it happen.
You've experienced it if you're any of these players.
In this elimination game, no mercy.
Timeout taken.
One call comes to a close, and we get
into the final round of the first half.
Feels like G2 just have a stranglehold on this second
map.
and more as a designer feels inevitable
and face pretty much like was
his first half
of
of
of
of
Well, a lot of space game by Twist, especially due to the damage on Matus, he's not there
to kind of stand tall and prevent that kind of a push.
Here's the flash though.
Nurtz and Hunter in middle.
Have you got him, Sympias, once again, push in to aim aim clear it out and then they
drop back.
Frozen dies.
Shred comes in for Nekchu and Jacob though.
Vantage, Fageclan followed up, looking to secure their third round, feels like
They started to get something going towards the head, end of the half, but too little, two-way at this point for FaZe.
Rookie holding, they cross into the open, supply sends one shot back, and is now attempting this clutch.
They're gonna run him down and deny, and a third round will be saved by FaZe, but a 93 lead from G2 leaves Mirage feeling like it's inevitable.
I don't feel like I'm annoyed by anyone, anything and anyone kinda in my life so I would say there's nothing at all.
Yeah, I wish I could teleport, you know, so I don't have to travel all the places, you know, that would be nice to teleport, you know.
My master and so on is touching it with like a glass of water or something and my cat is jumping on it, I don't like it.
But generally in life what just nice means to keep, like to save people.
What makes me really grumpy and annoyed is what people are in the plane.
They behind you, they want to exit quicker than you, so they just push you.
Obviously people are in a hurry all the time in the airport, then you decide to stay in
the middle of nowhere, looking at your phone doing nothing, that kind of stuff.
You will be out of the plane in 5 seconds more, but stop pushing your way.
Like you're going to just stand up and are just so focused on getting out of the
playing while they still have to wait anyway a bit so it's not like they're
gonna be doing 10 seconds is gonna make you win in life so just chill me.
If I have like early flight, like 6 a.m. or something, try to go to sleep but you know
I have to wake up with three hours of sleep and the whole day feels like ruined
because you have to wake up early and then you're like a zombie mode.
It's all the most annoying, it's always good to do a single luggage.
I think more than I have fingers on my hand to be honest I think I lost it too many times in my career.
Definitely hadn't been delayed like for media days and stuff and then I didn't have like jerseys and stuff with me
So I have to use the same jersey for like six days and it comes pretty nasty in him
So I would rather travel to a place that is too hot. I hate cold
If it's a little bit colder, I usually don't mind it
But if it's plus extra wine then other like I think the coldest location
So far has been Sweden compared to Denmark. It's like pretty much the same but that doesn't mean that I like it
So I stay inside, that's why I can't put a thing with your games.
It's pretty cold, the warm weather is already, so unless it's summer then there's not the
warm weather, so I don't like to travel where it's warm.
So when it's 2 o'clock, when we've been for example to like a Riyadh for EWC, like it's
hot outside, it's like 45 degrees minimum.
It's not possible to breathe or whatever.
I've been to places at minus 10, minus 20, minus 25.
I was not a pleasure to be there, but that was a bit easier if you are good clothing for that sort of thing.
Let's be honest, midi days are really annoying.
I had some times that I went for three hours of midi and then I was doing only things for maybe 20 minutes.
It felt like midi is making me mad, I feel like this wasting of time is maybe taking me a little bit of the edge, you know, there.
It's normal there to ask busy questions, but it's always the same person.
Now you feel about the game, why did you win this map, why you feel like that's wrong, why you won fun events in the world, blah, blah, blah, blah.
It's always the same, so sometimes it's been a bit boring.
After you've done it like 50 times, it's kinda like, yeah, okay, we just do it again, you know, like, cross your arms, take a photo, chill.
Like, so, yeah, I'm doing it like, come on, please, leave me alone. You know everything about me now. It's over.
Well, G2 stepped into ancient and just handled business.
No problems at the office whatsoever for G2.
They switch over to the defensive side.
It's a 9-3 lead.
Six rounds up over FaZe.
The magic from the first map has disappeared.
It's been knocked out of their hands.
And it feels like Mirage is coming quick.
Pistol round is live, and FaZe gonna attack out mid to donut.
Yeah, speaking of quick, here we go.
into it. Matt says, look at the defend, going up plenty of players coming towards him. And
the second headshot is there. Matt is going back for three. It's going to quite collect
it. This pistol is off to the races here. 4G2. A 4V2 making one, but his first is now gone
two. It would be a 10th round of 4G2. Both pistols collected and Mirage right around
the corner. Yeah, nothing really to talk about there. When Matt is going to sit
and don't give you two kills like that, you take the teeth out of the attack, you
take a good timing out of the attack as well. The speed of the attack no longer
matters. Mattis just delivers the goods here. Filthy, filthy shooting working
through donut both sides. Brokey and Jacob can't handle it and then you got
Nurtz ready and waiting. All the information in the world.
Feels like FaZe had such a slow start but there's just no recovering from it.
They just got themselves in such a deep hole. G2 had all the momentum built up.
All the individuals looking strong and sharp on G2 now which just wasn't
the case on Dust2, it's a real positive to see this G2 turn up in the playoffs because
it was kind of worrying on Dust2 to be honest.
Yeah.
I feel like the G2 would have seen in group stages.
Some individual mishaps at Felter, some individual missed opportunities.
I think the T-side calling was a little bit disconnected in rounds.
The desk highlighted that a couple of times.
Yeah.
It was a little lackluster for sure out of the G2 that we kind of expected to step
in.
But the reset between maps has done wonders for them.
Obviously the assist of having a map where you're just such a heavy favorite on top of all of it
It must feel nice for some players to be able to take a map off as well
You know, you know, you from the heavy carry. Yeah, he's been doing doing over the past two days. Yeah
He's right behind heavy God is the sixth highest-rated player of the event
So he's been doing very very good so far this week at the G2 jersey
Have you got a chance to boost their stats even more
First two kills are good.
Twist injective boat's gone and the finascale up for a skid.
Everybody wants a piece.
Everyone's thirsty for eco kills.
Well there they are and this is the half for Faze.
This is what they've got.
Chance to obviously exit after this map going to have a conversation
and try and have a reset of their own face to get back into Mirage.
Now you can see the official prediction market of Blast Premier
not having a whole lot of faith either. But this is going to be any kind of a comeback
poly market. 11-3 lead for G2. AK-47s, a Galil and an MP7. Yep, it's fast. It's straight
into the bebong site. Mattes moves through smoke. First kill in. Berkey trades and
and FaZe have B-Bomb site.
Gonna walk them out with smokes as well,
keep them back for the time being.
And you're just gonna call it off if you're G2.
So I'll clean entry into the site for FaZe,
happy about that round victory.
But plenty more required.
Step one.
Well then, at least the guns aren't knocked out
for the G2 side of things.
So they'll just reinvest in buyback up into it.
But do you like seeing a little bit of life?
How far can they extend it?
Three of the last four rounds of the first half,
what in the favor of Faze?
They started getting a little bit of life.
You players started showing a little, a few signs of heating up.
It still just feels too far away.
But at least they still have the chance.
So far, very fast, very grouped up,
very simplistic calling out of twists and out of Faze.
not trying to mix things up too much and I imagine we'll see a lot of that as
this half goes on.
It was a job being done right now by NKJ just to try and keep spirits high for
FaZe. They know they've got a whole other map to come up. If you're trying to
keep their spirits high and give them like a goal to aim for, right? Like
something that can actually win on this game is that the plan is you have
to you have to break this economy. You break this economy at 11-4.
That's where you can close the gap the most. Round win would set it up
perfectly, but there's going to be aggression in the middle from both
Yeah, Nerf's looking to fight on and try to get that opening, but he hasn't been able to do so.
It'll be some highs though, the collection process going on.
Phenomenal trade so far from FaZe.
Yeah, forget the middle one from Hunter.
Oh, he's got a second.
And just as you're starting to think, FaZe have a foot holding it around, it's Hunter.
It snaps two kills right back through the smoke.
Oh, that's absolutely wild.
Yeah, now you've got two, it's stuck up in cave.
It's just no hope really.
Yeah, OK, it all shuts down that whole conversation.
Previous about aiming to break the economy and close the gap.
That's gone. That's out the window.
Now you've got to win eight in a row to get to overtime.
A bomb dropped just at the bottom of the stairs of Red Room.
Bottle flipped out. Not bad. What the?
That's a great vintage.
American strain on the bottle, of course.
Twice now just hanging out, chilling.
Nothing coming this way. No reason for G2 to offer him a single opportunity here. Just take it to map point.
Yeah, look how disciplined G2's being. Just even in a three on one, even with this kind of a lead, they're just like,
yep, we're not even going to make a single mistake. Don't give Twist the opportunity. Even with a glill, it could still be deadly.
26 seconds and Twist is starting to realize the gun's more important than trying to win the round, but it doesn't matter.
He'd already been caught in the open on the double swing.
And that's 12.
So G2 don't relinquish any dominance in this map
the whole way through.
They took that timeout right at the end of the first half
on the 10 to 2.
I mean, just the way Hunter just melted him,
you see the corpse just littering the middle.
How'd that mate stand up to?
The flashbang's standing up straight as well.
That really is the most exciting thing about that run.
Let's get into it. Will it be a close right now for G2?
For 13 to 4 victory on map 2 of the quarter-finals,
North hold middle, spots the first target.
Can't do anything about it, though. Nature just walks right through it.
Advantage phase for now.
For now.
But here's their correction. It's this push.
Final kill. If you can't up towards Heaven, just one great response from Frozen.
heavy gods like I don't want to do that.
I'm the only defender here at this B ball.
So he's going to back away.
It does slide hunter over though,
which weakens the other side of the map.
So some bias with the AWP.
We said he's gotten to chill this game.
He's gotten to kind of relax and take a step back
from his hard carry performances
that we've seen the past few days.
This round is to be excellent.
Perhaps he's just been waiting for his moment on this map.
Some bias taking frozen away.
Who'd be the closer?
Final phase players moving into the A site.
Three via A main.
Now arriving towards the bomb site, plant being committed to.
Now they slip away.
Brokey getting into the temple.
He's done his best work historic with.
He goes into the fight.
He's wanted against heavy God.
Good shot from Jacob and FaZe hold on.
Some passes gonna retreat.
Try and hold on to the AWP, which he will be allowed to do so.
And all likely hook.
Unless...
This fight goes against him with shit won't sell.
Hopping into his cave holding on to the big green gun and there is another round to it for face
It's funny seeing the offers getting that engagement because as soon as that second kill comes out broke
He knows some pies isn't going for the retake so he sprinted through temple to actually cut him off
He had the they both had the exact same idea exact same understanding of what was the important play for the offer to make
Deficit it's got the seven, but it feels so much more than that at the moment
That's gotta be perfect for a phase.
You're asking for a perfect B-side from this point on,
was for a new roster with Wastes stepping into the in-game
leader role, which hasn't done for a while.
That'd be so tough to play mistake-free counter-strike
on this map.
But maybe you can play yourself back into the game,
you know, get momentum back going into map through Mirage.
Because for this way, it just felt
like you didn't get into the game at all.
And in that sense, I think this will be an easy one to recover from when you go off between the maps.
Easy conversation for FaZe to just forget it.
They all know how heavy underdogs they are here on Ancient.
Some pie is going to have first contact.
He's the one who gets forced back, and he's the one who gets dropped first.
I can't get away, but heavy god, look at him up on top of the box.
The twist ends and just shot back. Heavy god taken away.
And FaZe, thanks to twists, have the first two openers.
Now Mattis is going to move forward. Brokey is completely ready for him, though.
Matt has plants himself in the quarter.
It's all about patience.
Matt is not moving further.
It is interesting.
They do seem to realize he's there.
Frozen's even watching for him to fall back
through the double doors.
Right on.
Matt is in a trap.
And that's kind of, I mean, look,
twist if that's if that's the case,
which it seems it is.
Twist has an entire picture of the map.
You've killed you've killed two players.
You know, you killed the opera mill.
You killed the B defender.
You're still looking for the other one,
but you kind of know where he is.
It's just the bomb is the issue and they will so Prokey wins the fight against Mattis he opened up
That's the people so and that's the round that is the round
Nurtz and Hunter the reason for them to slide over money is an issue for G2
They might be forced back onto a safe so they do get that break
It just comes at a point where they can't go on any kind of a run to still keep the dream alive in regulation
Now it's playing for overtime
Nurtz and Hunter will take one at the end, AK-47 recovered, but more face bodies coming
to take these weapons away and they will succeed.
It's just Nurtz.
They'll fall into the winning arms and Nurtz will eventually go down.
So it'll be another round for FaZe, halfway there.
If you look at in the positive side of things, they're...
Well, one point during the game we were saying let's start with one, yeah, so you know, I have not better.
I was trying to feel a little more positive.
It's just my dream of a competitive game here in the second map, but for G2, you want to make sure you're close to salt right now, right?
You want to make sure you do not let FaZe at least start this fake comeback.
If it's going to be any kind of comeback coming the way, you want to make sure you're just dampen that straight away.
Well, I think we just kind of a lead, right? Players are going to kind of play and try and win it.
I guess the question is, when does Salt feel like he needs to call that timeout?
time out. What does he feel like? Okay, things are getting a little bit too close. Things are
slipping away a little bit too much. We're losing our grip. What is that time outcome
in for the CT side? It could just be before the next gun round.
Three of the last four rounds in the favor of FaZe.
A little trap set up over towards Cave and Jaguar.
It feels like Phaser just eventually going to end up marching up this V-Ramp with superior
firepower, especially now that they hear the utility, hear the footsteps.
We'll take it away, one of the pistols straight away.
Some pyres is out of there and Phaser's just being disciplined, not running straight
after that first kill.
We talked about one of the goals of this Phaser lineup at this pier, because they're
They're not going to be at the major whatsoever.
And that was a devastating blow to the team.
And it's a period of transition.
Obviously winning this series is going to be very, very difficult.
But it would be incredible for their VRS points, which
is one of the big fields of getting these changes
underway, starting to build up some of the points
for the second season of the year.
Start moving yourself up those rankings.
They're going to miss some invites.
And you want to recover and get back
to the biggest events against the best teams.
about those wins
second half of the year for face could be extremely disappointing
the furio win goes a long way to give them some points and catapulting them up
now it's all about can you actually upset jitsu mirage would be the third
and there is going to be the third in deciding map
yeah go from 28th place in the VRS rankings
jump up six spots to 22
Five rounds back and this is the timeout called by G2 talking things over
Saul has gotten to that point where he's just not liking that this game has lingered around that this team is still
Still competing and stepping up to them on ancients
One or two more on a couple more rounds for phase and you're starting to sit in dangerous territory as G2
You're looking at them like oh crap they're within striking distance. Yeah, they're back in this
Don't say that just yet, but
Let's see if they can take those next steps.
The utility flies down into mid.
No one deciding to push here for G2, so...
Don't watch UD being given over to us, Brokey.
the
conversation about ancient is
always that the midfights feel
like 5050s right and when you
only need one round that's the
part that scares me in terms of
feeling like this comeback is
possible right.
G2, truly they win one of the
midfights within that context.
We haven't seen really anything
has got to swing out and go for
those early on perhaps that's
why yeah perhaps that's why
they feel like it's too much of
a gamble to just throw too much
early on. I don't have the coordination of utility and protocols you'd like either.
Keepnade takes heavy god down a little bit but Sunpias cleans up Jacob. First kill with the AWP.
Man advantage for G2. And Faye's gonna realign Twist calling everyone, everybody back to the B
bomb site. One final push. Three players here for G2.
You're gonna try to break that up if you can. You know Matt this is in cave.
You've got a lot of damage to it, but that's a big kill from Brokey, at least sending one back towards Heavy God.
And you've got great damage to Mattis as well.
You've heard him burn in the Molotov. Oh, if you do, you're in trouble!
So much now!
Mercenine and C as opponent, Netu dropping him.
And now Mattis, they know where he was last spotted.
For 15 seconds left, Mattis goes into the peak. Brokey's got the kill, but Hunter could still play Spoiler!
That's the bomb! Can you get to it in time?
They go for the plant just in the nick of time.
It's gonna go down, but Hunter has done so much to keep this possible for G2.
He can't reload. He can't reload in this position whatsoever.
Can't even really trade weapons. He'll give away the sound cue. It's kind of an issue.
Alright, goes for it now. Now they're doubled up.
So they know they're gonna deal with at least one threat through K,
but there's two players coming in from this spot.
Can Hunter close it for G2?
The in-game leader has brought it down to a 1v1.
Surprise taps.
Nesta, Nesta keeps face alive!
Not dead yet, not giving up, and still some way to go, but a glimmer of belief now.
Uh-oh, it's an issue. That's a huge crush. That's going to fill this team with confidence and momentum.
Lovely shot from Proki, heavy guard, not able to find the clean fight, Nertz flushed out into the open.
Hunter for all his heroics not able to close it out and to us yet again delivering
Eight to twelve and
Phase is still alive here. They force G2 back to pistols can close the gap even further. Is this really happening?
And just a different version of phase be as like it happens every
you roster this would be more of it to come back in this fashion G2 at the
finish line on ancient but have they fallen flat
slowly making their way out middle phase will send three players through elbow
No one home from G2.
Well, Hunter's got his hero M4.
Gave you that triple kill towards the end of the previous round.
Now he's going to have to do it early on in contact.
Smoked off and what's that weapon to be able to have impact?
So going to rotate back around to CT spawn.
And G2 don't really have the resources to get too aggressive anywhere.
Have you got a supplies plane close up towards the ramp?
There's one single smoke on Mattis.
Oh, damn, that's nice from Heavy God.
Deagle to the face of Frozen.
35 seconds.
And the team is split.
There's three towards the A bomb site.
Twist is going to start moving in towards B.
Bomb coming back now.
Broke, he's going to split the difference.
And that's going to keep the AWP plugged on the A side
of the map.
Hunter is going to have a tough time getting involved.
20 seconds.
Bomb now arriving at B. So the plant
will be coming in from Jacob.
No utility to make it uncomfortable for G2, they move forward, Twist positions himself perfectly to deal with it.
Nature has fallen to some pious, but the rest of the kill is coming in from FaZe.
Leaving Nurtz all the way over towards CT spawn.
So another round for FaZe, 9 in the half.
Broke the under a lot of pressure here, always missed it, 5-7 goes in. AWP would be a great steal away here for Nurtz.
Yeah, that'd be lovely to get another round with that, at the very least.
And he will shouldn't be too much of a hunt. There's money if they want to go for it, but everyone's far far away
Jacob's getting towards elbow now
He's uh, it's time to go towards a so we're thinking that nerds would have fallen back into the A bomb side
So this decision will leave him too far away to impact that safe
So nurse making the most out of the situation finding an August to carry over
Yeah, but that's a
It's a still a rough consolation prize when you're when you're getting the sense that this map is slipping away from you
Now five rounds in a row for FaZe, six of the last seven.
Not a whole lot of chances left for G2
with the full buys as well.
They do have the complete losing bonus built up.
But the CT side has been a struggle to close out FaZe.
Twisted's got this T side rolling,
led by Brokey with 16 kills, Jacob with 14.
Foyding, Mr. Ittle, mid-fights, time and time again.
I wonder if G2 is starting to realize that, that they can just take mid, that they can push nerfs up towards elbow.
Full control for G2 in mid. Matt is trying to fight down B lane.
Matt is going to be sent up into the sky, activating Mattis' peek for information.
Doesn't spot anybody from FaZe.
Could stand on a twist. Tons of damage taken.
FaZe is getting softened up and that's a worrying sign.
They haven't even really gained control of a whole lot and they haven't picked a play.
And now G2 controls the middle of the map as well.
Madison hurts, pushing out Jaguar. Hunter standing his ground in middle.
Elbow still smoked off.
Well, it may not have picked a play, but the bomb currently leaning towards A.
That's where the AWP of Sampias currently is positioned, leaving Temple now moving behind the big box.
The weapon that Nurtz saved in the last round. Will it come back to bite face?
Losing that in red room in the last round from Broke. Getting into Sampias' hands.
Well, he's alone at this bomb site. He's got it delivered.
Hunter's sliding into donut right now. Perfect timing for it.
Scopes up.
Ready to go, Sympias nails his first opportunity, goes back again!
It's quick from Sympias, anything more, no!
Finally taken away, but Hunter has arrived. Impact found G2, 4v2, looking to finally close this map out.
Mattis is coming in on the flight towards A main as well, they're at no where to go for Baze!
This will be it, G2 finally finding a way to play through a comeback from Baze Denied.
G2 bring this to map 3, Mirage shall be on your screen.
What a gripping quarter-final! This is turning out to be, and I'm joined up here by a couple
of people that make an event like this possible, the fans of course. I think it's pretty
evident who's supporting who here. We've got Logan from here in Dallas, and we've
got Tyler who's came all the way from California. Tyler, first things first, this is your
very fast at the CS event. You having a good time?
Definitely.
Good.
I'm going to go to an EU one.
Okay, that's what I like to hear.
All right, so Logan, let's keep this simple.
This is rivals, right? We've got a rivalry right here right now.
Tell your man why you're going to win this.
That and final map.
Well, first of all, we got Twist back in NA.
So the crowd wants to see him win.
It's Broke Friday, and quite frankly,
you guys chose a G2 member that didn't even believe
that his team could win at the beginning
of this whole tournament so.
All right, he came with the smoke, how are you feeling?
He's right, I didn't believe when I first came in,
but I definitely retract that statement.
After the first map it was kind of a little iffy,
but we'll have to watch in this one, we got it.
All right, well I'm gonna let you guys enjoy the rest of it.
Can we get a handshake here?
I love that.
By the way, Logan is on a day off, a rare day off.
He's a firefighter here in Dallas.
So thank you for your service, man.
I appreciate that.
Enjoy the rest of this matchup.
I'm not sure what it is.
Honestly, get those guys up here.
That was entertaining.
Oh, you'd rather have them than us?
Come on.
You're hurting my feelings.
Make it worth my while then.
Okay.
It was fun also.
They were interviewing the crowd and he was mentioning twist and twist was actually
walking off a needed boost, right?
Because, yeah, the talk to me a little about this.
What is today, Maui?
Jesus, I thought we were moving away from that one.
from that one. Hell no. It's still
Brokey Friday. It still is. I mean what
way? What has he done? Wait to do that?
Scoreboard. Scoreboard. Cosmetic comeback is
all I saw there now. Come on now. Get
out of here. Come on. No, no, he still had
some good moments. He did. He did. I'll give it to you.
Not enough still. No, not quite enough.
That was just a really, really difficult
T side from G2 for face to handle there.
You're not supposed to get nine rounds on
the offensive ancient. I feel like
for face, they're still picking up the
They were trying to go for some early fights.
They were trying to find ways to re-aggress into those rounds,
but G2 just looked like the more polished team,
and they should.
They've been around for much more time with this unit.
That's what G2 wanted out of the game.
You know, that's the team that inspires confidence.
You know, they do have some peace on that squad
that delivers some really good firepower,
and they play that confident up-tempo style.
They can do great things.
What I liked that they did here was they kind of knew
that they liked to just play those fast-ripped CT
defenses at middle,
and they actually kind of held back a little bit.
I thought they had some really nice timing plays there
place there that we're gonna talk about later that really just got them so far out in front
never really were in danger.
We can do it now because we're talking about round six and seven.
Hey.
Yeah.
But they're great examples themselves.
Okay.
We're not just picking it for jokes.
No.
The midfights were going extremely well for G2.
This is an example where we just kind of saw an early pick get converted for the
side of G2 where they are able to actually, well, okay, I guess we're seeing it again.
I mean, yeah, no, they get the early pick there onto Brokey.
And then we get them just kind of playing with Bayes
a little bit here.
They're able to just kind of play to punish a bit.
And then, of course, they just go for in the next round,
Dustin.
I think this is the one you wanted to talk about.
Yeah, I just thought that you didn't see the two-front nature
of this offense.
The fact that Mattis can be that B pressure point
while you have Nertz getting out into space
and doing what he does best.
We didn't see on Dust2.
We did see it here.
Great stuff from G2 on the offense.
Indeed.
I mean, it's one.
Okay, mate.
Batush, you wait a bit.
Yeah.
They're not smoking, but they're strong, I think.
They're smoking.
Full, they're low, full.
I need W.
I need W, about three, two, one.
Infult!
Dead!
Hey, guy, they're up on a shield.
Let me go!
I'm down!
Let's go, I'm down!
I'm down to the smoke, boys.
I'm down.
I'm down.
I'm down.
I'm down.
I have the pull.
Smokesity, boys.
Can you smoke, please?
I'm all in.
I'm all in.
I do.
It's mommy's first day on the job, don't worry about it.
I get scared of dead air.
I can't handle it.
They don't. They're yapping.
It's always interesting to me when we get to listen to them
because every team has a specific style.
To me, that just sounds messy, kind of, right?
But you hope, right?
That they know exactly what they're getting from each other
and that they love that there's a lot of information.
That's what it seems like.
It sounds like controlled chaos,
which is kind of the perfect blend for what this team has
and their lineup. But I think that what you kind of heard there is it's a
coordination of timings, you know, counting things down, but it's also like,
hey, I'm going to run through the smoke guys. It's a confidence that we just
didn't see on Dust 2, what they seemed a little bit timid. They kind of
fallen back. They weren't committing. There you saw them all come together on
the game plan to accomplish it. And that's what we need to see more of.
Flip the switch a little bit. Nurtz, of course, is being
incorporated here. He did have a better game, right? Tell me a little
bit of what we saw from him.
Well, we just see Nurtz in his comfort zone on this one. I feel like
You heard Moses and Dinko kind of priming it up.
The fact that the bones of the old Encelina are more than apparent.
When Nertz gets to fly out towards middle, he picks a spot ever so wisely.
The supporting utility around him is always going to also help him out.
Also the way that him in tow with heavy God.
I think that is just such a such a strong duo for taking mid control.
Not one that you see on every single map does work together.
But on ancient here, they were bulldozers.
Yeah, I think Nertz's strength is not necessarily entering bomb sites.
It's not the type of space taker that he is.
It's whenever you're able to get him past that choke point,
get him out into open space.
Let him just kind of work his time.
He's kind of run through his protocols
of what he needs to check, how he needs to scale,
and just give him the freedom to call his own number.
We didn't see that enough on Dust, too.
I felt like he kind of drew back a little bit more
than I'm used to.
We didn't go forward.
This game, he played a lot more confident.
And he showed you why this team wanted him,
why Saul wants this guy back,
why Sun Pius wants this guy back.
They know what he's capable of when he's set up properly.
It is.
Talking about seeing more of what they want to do.
heavy God had a beautiful clutch in this one and dust. I know I know you're a fan
right? I know you're a fan of what he can do and what he has in his toolbox so it
was nice to see that that shine comes out even though there are already eight rounds up.
Yeah, I love heavy God. Absolutely. I mean the guy is just such a Swiss Army knife. He's played
so many different roles. I like that G2 is tapped into kind of the old Clown 9 heavy God
where he's able to get out there and get a little bit aggressive. Love that stuff.
He's so valid by the time before we listen into them guys.
Well, I feel like the thing, what's so great about Heavy God in this version of G2 at this tournament
is also just kind of the late-round lurking ability has also just been completely activated there.
The way that he's following up with nerds in middle is one thing,
but I feel like we're going to need to talk about him more when it comes to Mirage.
Time to rotate. Time to rotate.
Just bend it.
Bend it.
Let's go.
You know what? That actually,
that tilts me so hard when I'm playing,
and when you're in the clutch, and when it's like,
2v1, and then there's like,
one left, and it's like, I know there's one left,
like shut up dude, I'm just trying to clutch it.
But I guess that's not a problem for pro players.
Sometimes you get lost in the sauce.
Sometimes you're kind of feeling yourself,
and maybe you forget, oh I need to reload my gun,
like that can sometimes help but I get your point like this little like the man
thrive knows what he's doing here exactly what he's doing okay and where do
we end up for phase them because after what was you know a tremendous first
map and what they show and how they really have the momentum in their
favor how much are we reading into this knowing that this is one of g2's best
maps well we just see the shortcomings as they're so apparent here on
ancient where they wanted to play one style g2 had a direct counter they
tried switching it that style up g2 still had more or less all the
for it. The T side got kind of interesting. You could see that they have those kind of
pacey plays that can catch even some really well oiled teams off guard there as it did
when they flip to that T side. But at the same time, I just think that this is kind
of when we talk about map pool, how it's just so obvious that G2 have this one down
pat. They're ready for a variety of situations and they can feel out things and they can
actually come up with contingency plans relatively well.
You can't freestyle this map as well as you can other ones, right? I think it's
something that takes a little bit more coordination and how you layer utility
to be able to take space that normally isn't as easy to get right now.
I think the other big thing is they just didn't get them so as much of a
chance when you're only pulling down three CT rounds.
I don't care what you do on your comeback on t-time.
Let's you go all the way.
You're just not ever going to be able to pose a real danger.
And I feel like they got right up to the edge of posing a thread.
If they could have gotten to like around 10 or something like that.
All of a sudden you start to believe maybe over time in the cards.
It is never quite gotten that striking distance.
That's true.
Perhaps they could have used a little bit more time on refrack.
Always nice to hone in on those skills and also on refrag. There's plenty of co-op modes that you can use to get better
Oh, yeah, without a doubt. I mean that's one of the ways that can you can take a friend into your refrag experience
Just the way that you can play the co-op mode and you can then also just play some of those single player mode
Yeah with your friend so you can get your duo you can play the pre-fire mode the crossfire mode
X fire I feel like all of these ways. I mean dust. I think we should be loaded up into that
Let's go some let's take some duals. Let's do some retakes together. Let's figure out. Let's figure some things out
We got to build some chemistry here. Our chemistry on the desk is bread
We could really expand that and to do horizons to kind of franchise out, you know
Rarely kind of a crazy call out right there shocks. I mean, maybe we should play a little bit more
Is this is this is like famous for not playing counter strike. You seem to be playing deadlock these days. I think
You can say that all this probably after co-streams, okay
That's fair. That's fair. A lot of podcasting stuff he's doing as well these days.
Little snake where he likes a lot of bantering, so you know, I gotta leave him alone.
Yeah, he was a guest again.
Yeah, maybe one day.
Yeah.
Anyway, uh, we are gonna take a little bit off the break because of course the decider
is coming up the spot in the semifinals on the line and it's all going down on Mirage.
on but the mood might be a bit dampens for face yeah that was a tough one you
come out the gate swinging on dust too but then you fall prey to ancient now it
all comes down to one final map of mirage to see who's gonna be moving on
who's gonna be left very disappointed this is a moment where g2 should see
themselves as the favorites you don't want to see any of that timid action
that you got on dust you you want to see their hits look decisive because
that's what makes space look foolish on this map if you're moving quickly from
one plan to the other. It's hard for this new look face to always keep up.
You have to be dynamic. Maybe it's too much. Maybe it's a bridge too far for
phase as we do see the players heading to the stage under of course still with
that injury. So it's a little bit slower, but dust. We've set that before
about phase when they went up against the earlier right and we got to that
nuke. We thought, Oh, this is it. This is all she wrote, but they still
came out swing. So you gotta believe it's possible. Got to. But
Unfortunately, with Mirage coming up next,
I'm just a little bit concerned.
I didn't really see too good of a game from them by Feria.
They weren't able to really do nothing.
I think the one thing that helps them is at least Nate,
you just, it's like a de-anchor up trade defensively.
You would think he could frag better there
and everyone kind of gets to stay the same.
But I think it's also to me going to be
about dynamic offing.
We saw so much of that from Sun Pius
on that comeback effort against Vitality the other day.
So mobile, finding so much impact with the op.
If it truly is Broke, E-Fra Day,
it'll be settled now because he's going to be called
upon to make a lot of good moves on this game
what they WP. And I feel like for the face CT side, sometimes it does just need to be
an individual because really when you break some of those rounds down for why it was so
difficult against Furia, it's that they don't, they just don't move as quickly as other
teams. I think they're still trying to figure out how they want to play the second stages
of the round. And so you can rely in the moment on individuals. Eventually you're
going to need to develop a system. But today, because they have such limited time
to work with this roster.
It will come down to people like Brokey.
And I want to see a little bit more from Frozen,
if I'm being real.
They're trying to audition themselves,
Faze, to try to secure his services moving forward.
But he also, too, should be owning it up.
He's supposed to be the best player.
In a way, he's also trying to market himself in case
this doesn't work out with Faze.
I love it.
It's going to have to be all hands on deck for sure.
Brokey already showed what he's capable of.
We have nature coming out of the better end
the clutch in that first game, right?
There's a lot, but a lot has to go right, right?
Four twists, it is a wonderful location,
but he has to grab it with both hands.
Yeah, I just think that they're fine themselves
with a more limited playbook.
They're going to G2 squad that, at first,
I thought they were kind of playing this map
a little too standard, like a little too,
just let's go fast splits, let's go set pieces.
I have seen them kind of evolve a little bit.
You're starting to see the mid control
get a little bit more fine-tuned.
Their mid-round shot calling
is getting a little bit better.
Merch is getting a little bit more comfortable
being in open space and middle and calling his shots.
So we'll see if you can do that again here in Closest Thing.
Or we're gonna get more face bullshit.
We'll see what happens.
We got a G2 that's gunning for a semi-final,
trying to rekindle that magic they had back in London.
But for twists, it's about turning a new leaf
and showing what he's worth up.
It all goes down on Mirage.
It sure does.
Mirage, the final map of this series.
G2 versus Face.
I mean, this is all about the fairy tale for Face.
Can they pull it off?
Can they get another upset win?
Or is it going to be the favorites G2
actually getting the drop down and moving on?
It's weird even talking about FaZe as a fairytale team and a fairytale run in this kind of a situation.
And it's weird even considering the fact that this third map could go their direction.
I think it's absolutely insane, but I like the point from Maui.
A lot of it is going to be on those individuals.
This team is going to run based off the performance of Brokey, Frozen, and Twist.
Will it be the four-balled fairy tale continuing for FaZe?
Or will G2 towards it?
On Mirage, we're about to find out.
T-side start for FaZe, G2 on the defense.
Pistorons are being split across the maps.
Very dominant as of late by G2.
We'll see if FaZe can get back into it.
Matt is going up into the apartments,
climbing to the side of the table to get an angle to hold for now,
but no one from FaZe is coming this direction.
Yeah, puts himself in a position where he can have an early flank as well.
Go for information if the map stays silent for too long.
Sampias making plenty of noise cues.
They know his position, but he would love a piece of intel,
and now he's got it.
Kostmo comes in from FaZe but two players gonna go into it.
Frozen ready at Palace as well.
Ready to pounce.
Third player rotating over for the G2 defense, also a heavy guard has taken the first kill
off the round and broke the dead, Nurtz clean head shot out towards Khan, FaZe collapsing,
Frozen doing his best on the Palace and will he fall?
Okay, Frozen.
That's more likely.
Now we're talking about how Frozen needs to start displaying why he is considered the best play on this phase team
And that's a great start to the map now they're grouped out three players coming down towards CT spawn
Have you got a way to them these two targets and so we'll see him off
It's got to be a wild feeling how quickly that round turned on its head
Nobody considered palace until it was far too late. What a round from frozen and
Mattis you don't even have time to defuse 1v3 you got to find the kills as well
It's a pistol round for Faze, starting this deciding map on the right foot.
We don't see that from Frozen's perspective, coming out of the palace.
Here he is.
The reaction is what was the ticket box as well, and the information was just flowing towards him,
and you get somewhat of a close state here in the pistol.
He's looking dead there for Faze.
So Frozen really resurrects them in the pistol round, and you have a frustration for Happy God.
Those are the rounds of G2 that you want to see them coming up as the major lose, right?
Those kinds of rounds where it's like, oh, you gave yourself a great situation, 5 on 3,
nailed two shots, you cannot let it collapse that fast.
That has to be a situation where you can recover the scenario frozen, gets one or two kills.
So advantages here in round two towards FaZe, second round buy from the CT side,
5-7s, MP9 on heavy god, MP7 in a scout.
And heavy God's got good standing in towards a main
He's gonna be very slow to move around the map
Who's talked about after the after the fury win in an interview just talked about the motivation of this team because it's a huge question
When you see all these changes all these fuss all the frustration building over months
His big statement was he's got great players who are motivated. He's a very motivated in-game leader at the moment
So everything for phase at least internally feels for them like it's editing in a positive way
Good start again frozen the top all nerds heavy guard
Tough spot now. He realizes he has to fight run away in that fight is not gonna be easy
Have you got unable to even get into it?
Brokeies extending the advantage here for phase and I mean a big part as to why
Ancient ended up being such a clean victory towards the end from G2. It's just that start right the fact that
It was just a massive hole that phase 7 7 0 in the economy for G2 was was mental obviously that's not gonna happen this time
No economic decisions that phase make it can put G2 in such a situation again
And then when you see phase come back the way they did in the second half over down in ancient
You start to think more about that so imagine if it was slightly longer more than anything
You know, even if you want to forget about the second map for a second just some of the shots have been so crispy in these first two rounds
So, you know this this shot for frozen just the smoke pops immediate
Broke it hard swing immediate headshot as well. Have you got can't even react
You had frozen on the pistol round with three quick kills with a glock where people couldn't even have a chance
So let's see if these individuals keep shooting like that
It's exactly the same scenario that we outlined on the desk as a win condition for FaZe and
what's going to carry them through these quarterfinals.
A two-round lead and a round against Pistols.
Oh, here we go.
Oh my God, an import.
We're bringing it.
Oh, let's go.
Your parents are very, very proud of you.
Right, just a accomplishment right there.
I like it.
All right, let's get back to the action.
Let's go!
Your parents are very, very proud of you.
Right, it's a accomplishment right there.
I like it.
Alright, let's get back into the action.
Fueled, hydrated,
and ready for round three.
It would have been good out of a cowboy boot.
It would have been great out of a cowboy boot.
That would be intense.
I don't know what we'd call it.
A booty.
Top mid control and up against the pistols, I mean, there's really not much you have a couple save from the previous round
But no firepower really no strength in this for G2
And this is the scary thing is not only like they're just the eye test of what the players from phase look like in these first few rounds
But also the momentum they were able to play with on dust 2 when they're able to string a few together
We're gonna have the economic advantage until you know if G2 don't win around 3
It's gonna be 5 until they can get the all-pout and some pious as we saw was a player who's carried through
carry g2 through a lot of flat stretches and if that's how this half opens up
It's gonna be a long time before he can turn the tides in your favor
Seven can't do much twist a bro key coming right through
For the flash John heavy guard. It's all shut down a single death and it's broken who falls
But everybody else from face feeling very happy about the saw hero mirage. It seems very comfortable indeed
And we get to see what G2 can start to put together now would be the conversation to shape up and get into this
Okay three Palace
It aids are gonna be a fake from twist
Yeah, well, this is this is kind of an uppercut style of ball, right?
This is a change of pace a little bit and we've seen it throughout mirage in this tournament for G2
They've had a lot of emphasis towards middle at times and setups obviously going up against base. It's an unknown quantity
And G2 do have defense in place to defend against this heavy god is going to be the point man on top of the balcony son pious
Is waiting like a ticket nerds of con
There's the mid smokes, but they're waiting they're waiting for this to fade and now is the time
It's away
Frozen the most comfortable player in Palace is his usual spot
He shuts down all three players in Palace. This is his domain and that's G2 showing some stopping power
I'm trying to say heavy jaw because he wasn't even didn't need anybody else. Yeah, it's a disgusting triple kill from heavy
God huge huge play. I don't mean just give you just powers G2 into such a clean win as well
Gotta prioritize life at this point. Senpais has eyes over towards a ramp 45
47 seconds left on the clock
If Twist can't create something, I don't know if Brokey really wants to challenge for this
drive, jumping to get the information of some pious but backing off and this is gonna end
up being a save.
It's Heavy God's triple to decide and get G2 on the board for their first round.
Good to see Heavy God come online here on the third map.
He's had a clutch earlier on in the previous that he kept G2 going and he's pulled
many chances of facing the first half and here he goes again.
Perspectively, one more time. Three kills from Palace ready for every single fight.
Crazy to see him not get traded out. Not even terrible timing is on the swing.
You know, like he just he just handled it. Not even not even the worst
facing or anything like that. They went for the trade. Just no one could get
the kill. So three to one.
And with five players surviving on two to money grows behind them immediately.
So they've already got that kind of buffer between them and a reset.
And let's see how twist wants to manage this next round that kind of surprise play out of palace doesn't work that small fake thrown in
Middle doesn't pull anyone away
And now like be looking at a little bit of a more standard rounds plenty of money for the face out as well
Finally get in seat both alps on the server at the same time here for us
Shingen some biases praises rookie a great start to the series
Pius looking down towards ramp searching for this opening kill
Jacob and net you about to come forward. It's hunter grab first blood twist the victim
So by it's going out to try to follow up here for G2
But he hasn't been able to connect the shot so some saving grace here for faces
They try and get out towards the A site.
Smokes are up in place.
They break up it.
Sampai is not able to connect any of the shots just yet.
As FaZe try to get that bomb over towards default,
and they will plant it.
G2 needs to get some of the CT spawn.
There's no one hopefully to ever challenge from that angle.
And now, control of the stairs goes the way of FaZe.
So it'll be Sumpai is backing up to mark it.
He's going to chuck a flashbang.
It is all on this turn of the corner.
Well, Sumpai is looking to blind them
with the sun sends himself forward.
We've got Jacob holding on, nursing Hunter with two kills in for G2.
They move into it. Broke he not able to connect towards connector.
He's down and leaving frozen one before the Tetris and he can't do anything about it.
Brilliant.
G2 able to organize themselves just in time and they get forward through CT spawn.
Yeah, absolutely perfect.
The double flash as well, knowing there's likely going to be someone anti flash.
Even though the first kill goes against G2, so many players swing it around.
Faze cannot hold them back fast enough. Here's that second flash.
Blinds the last player and from there there's no recovery.
Blinds the AWP as well. A very important weapon to take off that angle.
Timeout called. This one from Faze
as their money is dwindled. This is the last buy they'll have before falling
back into pistols.
The momentum they
built in the first three rounds disappeared so quickly couldn't continue
it thanks to heavy God has just ripped it away from them and KJ is trying to call
something that's going to get it back in their hands him and twist the brains of
the operation round six
and now you're also staring at your face at the kind of same disaster that we
just said you're kind of avoiding where yeah you start out with the
first three rounds but five players survive in round four four players for
G2 survive in round five. They've got a lot of money. You lose this one and it's a clean win for G2.
You're facing that same situation of just an economy you can't overcome.
Conmoly thrown out towards Nurtz.
Heavy lean for Faze.
Underpass, you've got one player top middle and twists.
But look at this, the group is moving through the underpass at the moment.
No one detecting it, but some pious is holding.
All right, some pious.
Here's your shot.
Nails it, Jacob falls.
Reposition as well.
Palace is smoked, so he's got safety.
Now a window boost coming in is the smoke box.
But Nick, you up in that, see if you can make the most of this position later in the round.
Well, it looks like they're addressing the B bomb site, right? Frozen is close up inside the smoke.
Twist is shifting over, so is Brokey with the bomb.
So he wants to be a late lurk through the murder hole. You can cut off a rotation if Twist makes...
I mean, if Nurtz makes too much noise, that you can punish him.
But it's all looking at Mattis right now as the smoke fades.
Mattis, with the first sprays right, couldn't connect onto a follow-up play, so frozen, and NetU
Starts to activate surprise, realizes, misses the shot, it's all Hunter now, over-pushed on his shoulders, but he didn't look towards NetU
Who finds the angle, Hunter goes down, and Heavy God now tasked with a 1v2
Where were the cobs? How did that not get through to him quick enough?
How did Hunter not realize Market was the next point of danger, it all falls on Heavy God
Yeah, and he's just walking into the market now.
Net you just not even playing for the kill.
He's playing for the information so they can position themselves in strong enough
spots to try and prevent heavy golf and getting into this.
No kill on his back.
And Jack at the hand of Net you who stops him coming out of the market window.
Quad kill.
Quad kill for the man who was brought in late to plug an open position on this team.
Yeah, and a great start for Net you in the phase jersey.
I mean, this is about he hasn't skipped a beat.
He's had some really good looking moments and now playing up in the stage
in the deciding map of the quarterfinals.
And he finds himself a quad kill in this fashion,
the playmaker getting him behind.
I'm not too imagine that that was not
called by Sun Pius, the frustration of the miss shot
surely, because I have no idea how Hunter doesn't react to that.
4-2, phase survive, a dangerous route.
Well, Broke, he boosted up.
Things gonna drop off.
Searching over the top of the smoke,
getting able to make anything off it.
I don't think it's stepped up or made lands at his feet slow down
My searching
Pretty quick to the shop, but it hit the wall
He's been so reliable throughout this event these two back-to-back misses really painful to see in such a critical moment in this tournament run
See if that AWP can heat up. Maybe the fact that he didn't need to have too much impact on ancient took him out of his game.
So plenty of the map left for him to come back.
Nerds goes for a peek with the flash. Missed the opportunity to stick to the fight on a blind Brokie.
Doesn't want the re-peak against the AWP either.
But the middle of the map firmly controlled by FaZe. Jacob Brokie and Twist all there.
Does Brokie get good timing? Yes, he does.
Hunter up on top of ticket. His is punched.
He's made his final destination reaction from supply stock to be accurate enough here.
So his nurse he has to, and he will!
Two from nurse at bottom stairs.
Heavy God's got a multi kill.
G2 back in the round all of a sudden.
The draw all broke he inside of card 25 seconds and nothing but a dream.
Nurtz and Heavy God, the two guys when Nurtz joined this team Hunter said it felt
like when Niko joined him in G2 just the enjoyment of those two guys playing together
changed the atmosphere entirely and it's those two who saved the day at 3 vs 5 and both of
them stand tall. Brokey backs off and FaZe don't get to extend that lead any further.
Counter-terrorists behind.
F**king cover!
Lovely shot from Brokey. Hunter getting picked off just looking for some intel from
here. Nerds inside the smoke. They couldn't find him back and forth. No chance they're
going to catch those tracers if you're twists and heavy God handles palace and
a ramp
it's looking like no way phase drop that after the start to get to the round
getting into connector look like that a bomb site defense is going to be put
under so much pressure fantastic work now four to three phases lead being
whittled away at and now they're down to pistols at least you've got the
up out for Brokey. There's gonna be a direct hit towards this A-Bomb site early into the round.
They want more of that A site. It's only heavy guard right now. He's the only defender here.
He's in trouble. Nurtz is kind of here. Well, he's been enough on his own before.
We've seen him deliver some ridiculous hold so far.
Ask that of him yet again. Very patient out of phase.
Hunter and Madison short, some pious and beat. No indication of what's happening on the map,
no sound cues, no T side utility until just now. Yeah, well, the signs are coming forward,
heavy guard goes in the palace, right past frozen, who was blinded. So,
heavy guard gets his kill, even better positioning, and now notes his guard too.
Heavy guard finally forced away, broke he with both kills. He breaks it open and gives
a chance to face the round, but they're going to plant in front of triple.
That exposes them to stairs, but Hunter doesn't make the most of the opportunity.
Form goes down, Nate, you go forward, and Faze have a chance at winning this again,
but it all falls to Brokey.
Waits at Tetris.
Piece by piece.
Brick by brick.
Brokey needs to build their way back into this.
waits with the AWP on the line, so Payas take it away.
Broke it going for it again, but this time it is Mattis
who sweeps in just at the right time for G2.
Oh, it's getting dangerous, really dangerous.
That's a great hold from Heavy God and Nurtz,
but a lovely turnaround from Broke the initiative.
Oh, what are they doing?
Oh, my God, he's not alone.
He got back to it.
And they didn't even realize.
You can hear them celebrate once the timer went off in a timeout for G2.
Oh, here we go.
Yeah, now it's on, okay.
Well, interestingly, phase with a 5-3 lead and out of the round like that of taking a timeout,
a surprise victory I think caught even the players off guard to a degree.
It's definitely that you hear them yelling when they realize they've won it at the end.
Okay, timeout taken straight away.
Let's see this again.
again. We count that as a clutch for Brochie.
Hemingham with his clear, a little bit strange.
You can't hold here from Nurtz.
But Hemingham can't double up on Brochie.
Can't find safety. Hunter backs away.
Can't stop the plant.
And Mattis just realizes it right at the end.
Half a second.
Yeah, that's the emotion roll.
It's the real one on right there.
3 phase 2 steady Galeel's out but look at the damage even though phase when
they're on it doesn't feel like a huge when you're sitting here on Galeel's
naked gonna go down straight in the first fight he's got it on nerds critical
kill this is a huge round both teams are out of money this is a reset for
whichever team loses it so it's a huge swing okay I can kind of pull phase
into a massive leap and look at the brawl back and forth we go and a 3
on three with a minute and 22 seconds of the clock. The consequences of losing this round
are devastating for the other side. I mean, Faze, if you lose it, G2's going to tie this
up. G2, if you lose this round, this three versus three, Faze just catapults into an
incredible lead. And hunters the man who's going to be called upon to contain this.
How far does Jacob go before a teammate arrives?
He just had down.
Hunter does a quick kill.
Looks out towards Short for next contact, but Twist isn't stacking out just yet.
Hunter is so focused on getting quick.
Hunter turns around, finally dead to Frozen.
But is it going to be another big phase clutch this time from Frozen?
He said he's exposed heavy guns got it. He comes in from short and frozen will fall on some of this site
So G2 they win the essential realm victory and it's hunter that does the heavy lifting
Yeah, and importantly, I mean not just winning that round and getting the economic benefit of it
But also kind of put behind that left round that just slipped away from you from the diffuse previously
You can move past that a lot quicker really early brawl with all the
Pushes that were going on both teams a little bit desperate with the low money
trying to catch some players off guard but it's Hunter. It's the captain who
delivers the critical two kills to set up the victory and now G2's just one
round back. I remember what phase came into that last round with right?
Khalil's coming out on the board not looking good economically. Decisions now
for phase they do not have much to work with. No and they're just gonna
have to mull it over as we got a tech issue on the stage so we'll get
that resolved as soon as we can. Then very, very quick to resolve all through.
Nursing this one round lead.
Well, I'm grateful that this final map has a bit more of a similarity with Dust 2.
A little bit more back and forth rather than face having to come back into a game that felt lost from the get-go.
This has much more of that brawl that it was the word you used in the opening map, Jason.
Yeah, I think I think we've gotten to a point now where this phase team like it on the map won victory.
Little bit of that comeback on Mirage, the way they start here, the comeback on ancient and the way they've started here in Mirage.
You see this team just kind of building a little bit of confidence each and every map that's been played.
So I think they're coming into this realizing that they can challenge.
I think G2, you're seeing some of the, I think the situation, the moment you're seeing some of the cracks that haven't quite been fixed yet in this team.
And we talked about the changing roster of FaZe.
Nerds are very new addition to this G2 side as well.
So we're gonna take some time to get him acclimated
and up to speed.
A little bit of meditation up on the stage.
Yeah, everyone going into the Zen.
I see Nerds just flew right back on the chat.
But I think this is such a critical series
for G2 to win.
I think, you know, even if FaZe plays
so like really, really well and you have these
Star players of Brokey, Twist, Frozen, who we know can be seen become champions, world
champions best in the world at various moments like you know they can pop off and just win
games.
But for G2 to face off against this phase in a playoff game, a G2 that has aspirations
of getting to the major, getting deep into the major playoffs that has kind of instituted
this change in philosophy of this team over the last year and is now reaping some
of the rewards, right?
This positive rise.
I think losing this two phase who's, you know, that's crazy over, like it's
insane over there.
that team has been falling apart if you lose this game to them. I think that takes a lot of wind out of your sales heading into the
major. It absolutely does. I mean these are two teams on very different projectories right now. Right. G2 trying to become a
competitive team at the World Championships phase for a free fall. You can qualify for the major lost their in game
leader who's gone to Falcons and now you're in a situation where you're sitting here as phase and all of a
sudden you're in desperate need of VRS points and their action a good spot. They get a massive win here in that
context so this year has been sorted the freeze time is counting down and let's
get back into this five to four lead right now for phase but they're going
into an eco so very likely now to be a tight game here on AK-47 picked up and
passed on to the arms of frozen they'll take that over towards middle the one
AK-47 on the board for phase some bias is gonna get aggressive and try and get
his mojo back but look at this boost oh he's in trouble if he falls back
Oh, he's just dead. He's just straight up dead. What a fine from frozen.
Alright, hero AK into the opening kill. I mean, that's a great start for Facebook.
What can they do with it from this point?
He's marching the way back through T spawn. Going into that strong combination of Nurtz and Heavy God.
Well, Nurtz has picked up the AWP from St. Pius, not wanting them to be able to recover it.
But that means he's going to take this deep angle. His ability with the M4 to kind of swing through a smoke isn't going to be there.
So he needs this pick.
Oh, he's got it.
He picks the dink on board as well.
Down to 62 health.
He'll go back out for a follow-up.
He'll be annihilated, so the Glocks actually outmatch him.
So Heavy God can't meet you enough.
He's under a lot of pressure, jumping past it, too.
And then Hunter comes in to make sure that this mess doesn't
get out of hand.
Yeah.
I mean, the deep spot with the AWP
is able to get Hunter in a position
where he can ship quickly.
And Heavy God getting his kills, staying alive,
being a tough target allows Hunter to set up
the crossfire as well.
Good teamwork from G2.
And now we're all tied up.
Open and kill from frozen.
Unfortunately, not able to go retrieve that weapon
or build too much off of it.
And phase back into a bind.
No, excuse me not.
Half bind.
OK, taking the conservative for project,
going for another direct hit towards the A bomb site.
Really trying to break through this one.
Newtale is going to go in.
They're actually going to play behind smoke.
You're gonna have a good shot at getting a bomb plant here.
Man, the round might just be on, because of how quick you've decided to go in towards this A site.
Smoke break is up, so far it's not going to spot anybody on the grass, so they make it through, no one going down to spam.
So the bomb plant in, and you've got players towards CT spawn.
Okay, Brokey burning down very, very low.
G2, this was the plan though. I think they're okay with this, saying we'll just play retake on the bomb site.
And once again, lining up for a mass number of bodies towards the CT stairs.
Nobody's home this time for FaZe.
Found success from this earlier for G2.
Nerd's calling out two players addressing his position.
There's Hampton that second kill making it the third.
Now it's a lot closer to G2 going for glory
and just not able to get enough going.
So a single kill from FaZe with a ballpoint comes in,
but that means G2 have the lead of the game on this third map.
Last round of the half coming up.
And FaZe would like to stop this streak.
They don't want to go into the halftime break.
with G2 running off four rounds in a row.
It's been three straights.
So trying to put a stop to it here.
Now Dubai does come back.
Five AK-47s for FaZe.
Frozen leading the way with 10 kills.
Nets you not far behind him at nine.
It's 10 for Hunter and heavy on the G2 side of things.
Jacob and Twist out towards middle.
Last one of this half does not involve an AWP for Brokey.
Just the AKs.
Nurtz has Jacob trade out for the opening,
and Nurtz able to find one more.
Matt is with the headshot.
At least Frozen's got the trade kill in,
but it's a 3v2, and G2 have the man advantage
that Nurtz is making a risk happen here.
He's going up through the underpass,
in behind N2, and spraying away for the kill.
It's all on Frozen, and that Nade just landed right on top of him.
15 HP looking like G2 are gonna take the lead going into the second half of Mirage
There's decisive map in the quarterfinals, and it's G2 that have to lead a
Nice close to this half that is that four round stretch
That's taken away so that if use comes in and G2 looking to close this out and move on to the semi-finals
17 seconds left so this is going to 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 fancy 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 bell but certainly ringing for a shot is right here one versus four and
he's gonna get a head shot for the... OH WHAT?! NO WAY!
He actually makes it work! That has to be just pure out just divine intervention.
I've never seen anything like that ever before if they're gonna 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 rounds straight and a dominant overpass CT side.
Yeah, you see definitely a big gap providing itself. They're gonna come through this,
They're on their way. Set up's here. Good flashes.
Ross, he is supposed to be the way in, but he's escorted out off the premises! Shush!
This is his sight, and he continues to lay down more and more from Shush!
Oh, five from the Dane!
Sometimes these work.
See if they hit the flash or not, they do.
Oh no, Zylo's blind as well.
Oh, rain the double, D-ball!
you're not good at what it rains it pours and then rain adds in that extra
secret spice gives you a round like this of course everybody falls at the hands
of rain
Spectations for phase were an all-time low coming into this event glass rivals Fort Worth, but all of a sudden
They're here in the playoffs and they're on map three
There's still a chance for face to make it into the semi-finals
But the favorites in G2 are in pursuit of that game versus Navi. So Texas. Let's listen in to face
They were a couple of rounds, you know, they could have either way either gone all the way as well
Unfortunately, it didn't that's the way it is now you need to focus up and we directly start with Christmas
If we win the pistol voice, we have a really really good fucking chance of closing this out, all right?
Well some believe that in the pistol round success
We'll see if they can get it down because you told he's flying in towards this A site and it's just frozen waiting for them
He was their savior in the last pistol round. He's trying to be able to get out from triple
He's got himself the first headshot and taking a while, but not able to get the second
So open avenues for these usb's before this bomb gets planted
But now what have you got shuts the door like that Jacob falls
So we look towards the flank to be the next impact.
Twist might be able to crack this round open.
Open up the chance for a retake.
Well, it needs to get a move on because the teammates are dying very quickly indeed.
Twist around the back.
Some pies waits.
Twist here's the staff.
He knows Heavy Gawd's coming this way and Heavy Gawd goes to clear.
Twist is going to get peaked on by two players.
And so that was your last hope.
Your last bit of faith in FaZe in this pace.
So on that will end up being G2 extending their lead further.
There you go, Brokey. Get some garbage kills. Get some money from the kills. Save it for
the AWP. Back off now. Eight to five in the favor of G2. A three-round lead. And we see
if there's going to be an investment from FaZe's CT side in this second round.
and get to one. Can't turn fast enough to handle a Mattis. Excuse me. A clock close
up. Heavy got out of distance was a beast. But you know what? FaZe is going to fight
for round number two in this second half. They invests in Deagle's. Julies are
back out. MP9's on the board.
Got to catch a break in a round like this.
I don't know why you might just get so much of a strong lead here for G2.
That's his spots out.
Twist couldn't take the headshot on the first opportunity.
The ability to fly into those spots and G2 would take a couple of backs and tracks.
They step away from these smokes, not want to get caught by any weaker weapons.
All relevant statters.
They did not get both pistols in this map as we just saw,
but it would go a long way to returning that they could steal this one away.
Almost better than winning the pistol. If you can pull it off,
four players stacked towards the B bomb site, one in latter room, frozen on short.
Netshu and Broke inside the B bomb site with Jacob handling the A side of the map.
And G2 slowly progressing with this mid control up Catwalk.
A scary prospect if they're just going to blindly call a commitment into the A bomb site.
Plenty of time still to turn their attention elsewhere if need be.
5-7, primed and ready.
The hands are back, can try to make some magic happen with it, but nothing to be found.
Just Matt is arriving.
Now frozen, short, and P9.
Good for two kills, but it's the stack, it's the trap.
No weights for them, it's not in the bomb site.
Still with you, the only hope for Faze to hold on is Netshu.
here on top of the boxes will you clear this clear he hasn't been checked and
now have you gone he holds the trigger he's got the kill time is ticking net you
hoping desperately trying to get this round for face and it's down to the time
he's holding on and that's you
Oh, he's got it!
That's a good one!
A suction for him out for Faze.
He keeps him going, at least.
Another big round for a player who never expected to be here.
What a huge performance as he steps into the Faze lineup at the lowest point.
Oh, he really needed that one.
Faze so desperately needed a clutch from him,
but quick composure off the top of the box,
Runs the time down, runs away, and just the final second.
Misses out, and Faze, two bang themselves.
Such an important round.
Now you get the AWP out for Broke, and he's taking it for a spin.
All right, uh-oh, now it's an issue.
Now it's a problem.
Now you've got FaZe with a round like that.
Gonna power up.
Nurt's playing behind the mid smoke at the moment.
Windows covered.
But that's heavy God.
Who's at the deck?
And you know whose name we haven't said much on this map?
Sunpius against Vitality, he was the engine.
Hunter's gonna have to get him going on this T side.
But a second round loss, unable to convert the pistol,
is gonna keep the AWP out of his hands for some time.
Twist goes out from Kaun, a quick double from Twist.
response is that from some pious who now has a galeo to work with.
Your face is going to afford to let it unrapple and Mattis
that Diego shot rings out loud on the server.
All right, opens up just a little bit of hope and another what
they're falling into the hands smoke actually might be the
most important if they want to try and cross to the B
bomb site. Right. You can see some pious moving up the
stairs at the moment.
That little resource could give Mattis the cover to clear and actually challenge for short.
Unfortunately, Brockey's now rotating over to the B-bomb side as well, so it makes this defense much, much stronger.
Much more difficult to task for G2 to overcome.
All time is ticking, so supplies doesn't have the luxury of being silent through the apartment.
So Brockey gets the information, looks right up there, and now Mattis moves in with 13 seconds left.
Not much of a chance at all to win this one.
He's got the cross phase half the round and now the gap is just one if Brokey's eaten up with his AWP
G2's in a ton of trouble down the stretch
If they're gonna see Brokey get some of that old-school confidence back the dynamic over these opening peaks be aggressive is sort of in his situations
One of the most influential ops we've had in Counter-Strike over the past few years
one round lead but G2 no that's gonna dwindle quick they're on just Glocks
not even upgraded pistols sitting far far back so eight to eight a likely scoreline
these blocks should get shredded a tight scoreline of mirage and we'll see just how important
And that round win from nature is that clutch time is his only teammate which which round
for many of the quad kill in the first half as well to see he's not he's got some huge
impact here on Mirage and critical moments for phase.
Good to see him step up like this.
All right, twists.
It'll be very effective.
Players down here in the underpass.
No Kevlar, A-tioning towards themselves in the mud.
And for A-tioning to land right on top of some pot.
Here they come, get his gun out in time.
And Tliss certainly will do that.
Nurtse Mattes poked that.
You guys in the crowd are crazy.
You wanted all of them to throw up at the same time, didn't you, man?
All right, Fort Worth.
Faze is about to tie things up.
How's that sound to you?
And there it is.
A to peace.
Looking to exceed expectations, even with this version of face.
Cheeto is kind of surprised, I think, to be in this kind of a fight, aren't they?
Yeah. I mean, this is a Cheeto who, yesterday, we were watching compete with Vitality.
I know, yeah. That's the curious, that's the head scratching part.
But I feel like watching them individually, I feel like there's been a few moments
where they're playing a little timid, a little scared,
making the conservative instead of the aggressive decision I feel like it's
punished them a few times throughout this series
Broke he's up now in con and has no challenge sometimes doesn't have the
money to get it out right so he's gonna have to play the 8k and I mean after you
use some utility in the mid control if you're if you're g2 smoking window
smoking con however you want to progress down it's gonna be very little
to actually execute and take them off angles when you want to move into the
bomb site in the late round.
So G2's got to be very careful about utility
and how they play this.
Still just pause and waiting.
Another smoke and con.
But G2 not scaling quite yet.
Happy with Nurtz's position underneath the window.
They see no pushes.
Heavy God watching for something at eight.
Hunter now leaving his post at the B bomb site, going to head through underpass to join
up in middle.
Frozen and Jacob defend the A bomb site, twist and window for FaZe.
Nort's into the window, we're starting to back the way, the possibility that Nort's
could have climbed into the smoke.
It's starting to fade soon.
30 seconds on the clock.
Twist gonna back to a different angle.
Maybe even backing through the murder hole as well.
B is being challenged.
Okay, well, I can't watch spotted.
That's the fight Twist was looking for.
But Nurtz wins it out.
For long fight, but G2 on top.
The position of Jacob give the X Factor 13 seconds.
That's all they've got.
Hunter going into a CT.
Frozen wins, an important fight.
He gets out the bomb plant.
The X Factor is taken out by heavy God.
and the plant is here, it's down for G2,
and not looking like there's any world
in which they can win this.
Heavy God, once again, the savior of G2,
just at the right time.
Yeah, it's good to see the star power of G2
step up in these moments.
We've seen it from FaZe, we've seen guys like Twist frozen
and Brokey deliver big moments.
A huge win condition for them,
and it's the same on the other side
with some Pius and Heavy God.
even Nertz as well with 14 kills in this game.
So Bob will go off of Molotov to be sure.
They don't want to have any surprises again.
Yeah, this game's been going to make sure.
G2 back in the lead again.
This is the
building for a while and eventually it was no to one.
This is the most important kill obviously.
heavy guard.
Still would have had a long way to run to get the end goal
comfortably.
So heavy guard might have been able to react in time,
but regardless, Nels, the shot as soon as the chance arrives.
9-8, G2.
Still no off-out.
Going to play with the rifles.
Prevades it's still a strong buy.
G2 going to be going pretty heavy towards B
to kick things off here.
Yeah, and actually, there's still no off-out for G2 quite
yet, and Broki's the one position here to start.
Oh, here's the execute.
Brokey's backing off, Flashbang training in.
You know they're coming and Brokey, first shot is good.
Has he got anything else?
Is Brokey trying to after all?
What kind of show has he got?
Just the single, nurse to the smoke connects on to the offer.
G2's flood into the site, they committed play
and it's paid off big time because G2 now up the double
figures enforcing the safe call out of phase.
Yeah, there's not enough money to attempt that retake.
Dicey situation, low percentage as well, and FaZe just back off.
They know the economy is going to be such an important critical part of this game down the stretch.
And again, a change of pace. Hunter busted out one of those on Dust2 right towards the tail end as well, catching him off guard.
The difference here is that, you know, on the opening map over the series, we're talking about house.
Much of a struggle it was for Nurtz, how little impact he was able to have.
Different story now on this deciding map.
16 kills for Nurtz, head to guard just behind on 15.
And that combo is very scary in the right floor department.
Yeah, Nertz has been very, very dynamic and aggressive in this game, especially with his openers.
So has that blundership, he lost 1v1.
Broke, he nailed the first shot.
And it's about this point, you think Broke is so good in chaos,
but he's just got no room to operate in and no vision with which to do anything.
Nertz able to shut him down and secure the round. Timeout taken, third and final timeout from FaZe.
Still old is why most available for G2. Saw's been confident probably liking what is here and in the team speak
But NK knows he's got to provide a little bit more for his team. That's just come together and had this miraculous run into the playoffs a
Great fight so far against G2
But now staring down these last four rounds of play and they're
Disadvantaged two rounds back money's not great
and
Sunpias finally has his AWP AWP in the field of play
to get away with the save has kept them competitive in the fight for this round. But if this to
be the point for G2, grab control of the game. Very well could be. Oh, good. Some players
can be on the T side of Mirage out towards top mid. Taking up position already, peering
down short. Well it depends on the information FaZe get to. They have two players on short,
two players playing TopCon, Jacob and Twist. FaZe can actually set up like a mid round trap
here. If they feel like that mid control has come in, it's quiet. They feel like
G2 maybe just kind of camped out on the ramp. They can push forward with some flashes
and execute some kind of an aggressive play to try and catch them off guard. At
at the moment just looking to see if there's gonna be any kind of challenge whatsoever.
For some pious gets the peak.
Come shot to land. Need to be very, very quick indeed.
45 seconds. G2 running this down very, very low.
giving any indication of where they want to head to.
Man is making his move.
Flash comes in, throws against the kill.
Thank you, and throws his back!
Flash goes down!
Got to be a rightful face, and it comes in the blink of an eye.
That's the trap.
That's the trap laid and sprung.
And how beautiful it looks.
Two coming off short.
You've got players, Twizz coming out window.
Man, G2 just get completely caught.
Caught, slow playing around, and can't make any progress.
And that's the first round we've seen some pious with the AARP here, they've been a part of good use.
Back to the AKs, back to rifles.
Money gone for G2 after this, important round for them, they're broke.
And then FaZe regained the advantage.
Well, keeping it simple. Direct hit towards the A side projectile.
Unleashed onto the first, some buys comes in.
We're an essential trade kill.
Stuff behind the wall for now though.
As after the break it open, broke you can't find a green shot.
Into the bomb site we go.
And now this cross is over to a CT spawn.
Utility goes deep.
G2 will maintain this control for at least a little bit longer.
FaZe are going to try and position themselves.
They're ready for this retake, but it's a pause to let Frozen make his move.
Yeah, and G2's not playing for a CT spawn.
They show it with Molotov, they show it with Smoke, and they back off.
No one's on the stairs. It's only going to be some players holding this.
What can Frozen do? He's being spotted.
Now they know.
So Frozen realizes he's got to draw attention.
And Hunzer, an important trade kill coming in.
One to FaZe go.
Fuse is running short, Twisted's got to kill.
Time is the problem, FaZe.
You don't have enough of it anymore.
They're gonna back away.
This one will go off.
And it's G2 with a direct hit towards the A site
and they'll let the trial picked up.
They just never pulled the trigger on the retake.
Nobody ever moved. Nobody ever went for it.
They had two kits in play.
That, oh man, that's a rough way to let a round slip away,
to just not even attempt the retake whatsoever.
I think that's going to be something they're frustrated about.
That's going to be something they stay away thinking time
if they lose this series.
Strange, he just never got going.
And he also does a great job of stalling out Frozen.
Frozen gets the info on the position off Hunter
and there's never a reaction from the other face players
to decide to go to commit back in.
At least the Silver Lions, they still are really solid by,
but you've got to win this round.
And everybody died for G2, which puts them in this situation.
It's Tech 9 to the P250, and they're coming at the Frenchman.
Let's see what he can do.
What a wild turn of events this is.
Tech 9's coming in, that's you, backs all the way off.
What's nothing to do with this exact until he's got teammates here?
Yeah, it's time for the French resistance.
What did they do?
Nothing!
Oh, God.
Okay, Hunters just run right through.
The French do not hold on at all.
And now Broke able to get one kill on that AWP, at least keeping the dream alive here for face.
That is not it.
He would have the power of a crowd coming in the market with him to chase down
the AWP, and everyone else bailed out of the fight.
Still G2 stand a chance at this, but Jacob taking Hunter out is important.
It gives face an advantage, a step closer to this retake.
But it's that man Nurtz on the right wall.
The only hope really here for G2.
It's heavy guard as well, suddenly doing way more of that tech knife.
It's down to heavy guard.
He's got a kill.
No way.
He's so close, but denied, but the time, it's gone.
It's just goes down low.
Oh my God, heavy guard.
He's done it again!
He's done it again!
The unthinkable for G2 being done by this man time and time again.
The biggest stars in the server and the later stages of the series have been on G2's side.
Phase opened hot, but heavy god has arrived, nerds is delivering.
And G2, one round away from the semifinals.
Oh my gosh, the tag nine.
Again, delivering at a crucial point.
G2 with Faze on the ropes.
Navi waiting in the semi-finals.
G2 trying to meet them there.
They move into middle.
Broguee stands at the top of Khan.
The AWP does chime in straight away.
It's Matt's is dead.
But is this advantage going to be enough for Faze
to prolong their play?
The timing, it looked like it was gonna cost Hunter.
but he got back to it.
He found the success.
All right, man down though still, not out of it just yet.
And look at this little piece of information.
Unfortunately, he's moved out of the B bomb site,
which opens up the avenue for Sun Pius to slide in
and froze it only as an MP9.
He's not gonna challenge for this whatsoever.
Nurtz has the bomb too, stepping away from the bomb site
and stepping through the smoke.
Two on four for the semi-finals.
into the open, broken to the kill, and now just Sampias off and out the window.
Lots of targets, all of a sudden a chance.
Sampias, good post this here and now, but Netsu keeps Faze alive.
Once again, is Netsu getting an essential kill, but
Sampias starts to make the impossible look very close to possible.
Yeah, without quite he's been throughout the map.
It feels like that would have been good.
What a crazy moment for him to have just stepped up and delivered it.
Very good pause to making that a doable round.
Double kill as they jump out window but could never find that shield.
Well done from him recovering that push, falling all the way back and being able to recover the situation.
Yeah well FaZe proven this is not going to be an easy finish for G2.
Two rounds left here in regulation. Will this one go to overtime?
Having to burn their first time out here over in the G2 department.
And that's because of a money problem.
That's because they don't have a whole lot of cash.
So they had to kind of talk about how they wanted to manage this.
It's not going to be in full investment.
They get a little bit of a break here
due to the situation of the money.
Tech nines, Deagles, and Utility brought out for G2.
But they're setting themselves up for one final full buy.
If they can just survive against the Pistols.
Well, they couldn't earlier.
That was the problem, right?
The fact G2 got their 12th round off the back
of a tech nine from heavy guard and the heavy B hit.
It was a direct hit towards the bomb site
that was successful for G2.
They're hoping they can get the same result
but towards A this time.
Oh, little jiggle broke his mission.
Shot comes back blinded twice stays in place.
Close up.
Oh, Jacob's burning the ring.
Nuts is in.
Jacob's dead and his face about to fall.
The clash is gonna come with the CC series.
Now they're gonna play for it behind this smoke
with the pistols close up.
They don't want to back off and give the rifles an advantage.
Oh, God, it's heavy God again.
The tech nine enters the kill feed,
and an all familiar stand,
Pace Clan are gonna lose to Pace Clan
unless frozen to twist the OGs from Pace Clan.
Looking to deliver some light for the P250.
Oh, my God!
It's over, it's over!
The hit and face are in the game.
They're still here, they're still in in play.
And the fairytale forward is not dead yet.
Oh, this is wild.
What more can Frozen do for this team?
What a beast.
A disgusting retake that felt you had no business winning,
having to come through a smoke.
Frozen triples him up and shuts it down.
Just full sending it back in, and it is the OG players.
That's the difference.
This is why Faze want to keep Frozen in the team.
That's why they want him in this roster still.
Yeah, that's what he lives for.
moments like that. He's got Fort Worth on their feet. Second time out now. Force out for G2.
Just burned him at this point. Last round of use there.
And one more time. Fort Worth, do you guys believe it over time?
Is this gonna be Faze pulling off another comeback? A new version of it,
but it was the old players to make sure that it's possible.
12 to 11 the finish line up for G2 is still here and they're back to weapons
back to the buy back to the AWP out for some bias
Nox walking down the stairway two players away this is such an important
fight let's get the side of the map and it's going to be G2 coming out on
top all right well broke he's got the angle can he punish flashbang out
Brokey turns, wants to get the angle back, and oh close!
Yeah, Mishaw from Brokey, gets to stay alive, gets to fall away.
How do you readjust this? What do you do now with your FaZe?
Three players, you have no information on the map aside from that jump from Hunter over in the B halls.
That tells you nothing about the endgame.
Bombs and T spawns, so G2 still haven't really committed to anything.
They centralize this FaZe defense.
Brokey and Frozen and Khan twist playing on short.
They want to control the middle of the map, fast to react to the extremities.
have you guys got utility at the A bombsite but matters hunter and some
pious go elsewhere hunters have you guys gonna try and be a fake is broke you
gonna bite on this he's not moving until I call numbers
Oh, Blakey connects, goes back in,
and he goes and he's breaking down, breaking down.
And Faze Claren about to get this one into overtime
on what some players who has been their star,
their shining light, can he close it?
Thank you, Faze.
Faze, Faze, Faze, Faze are in it again.
And it's frozen to close it out.
What a performance in these last two rounds.
Broke you with the AWP.
It's had so much influence here on Mirage.
27 kills for Frozen.
Coming into this game with her mouse next saying that Frozen need to
shop himself out, show that he really is the star of this face team.
And man, he has kept them in it.
Relief, relief that finally.
Faze had to win three in a row to get there.
Dig deep.
And now the money issues all disappear.
Sumpias on the up, AKs across the board.
Broke, he's got his with M4s flushing out the lineup.
up
to reset and so over time g2 see struggling over time over the last three months here hoping
that it can change that stat to favor them a little more we've got notes into the window
fight that we've seen already in this half. Nurtz versus Toys, Nurtz won it. See if it happens again.
Let's keep our nerve here for a word.
Toys waiting patiently, looking for the cross over towards Calwalk. Sees
nothing. He's got a hint, an inkling, an idea. Hunter and Mattis looking at
Conn, heavy guard waiting at the A-Ramp.
Jacob blinded slightly, keeps his head down.
His patience and twist will it pay off.
Worrying about window late into the round.
Can Jacob do anything?
Twist is gonna make it happen.
Goes back in!
Backing off the Mirage.
I am fighting out as well in overtime.
It's Jacob trying to deliver.
He's gotta suck it from that.
And so again, it's some pious in a clutch.
Asked to deliver.
He's been asked to deliver so many tough clutches
throughout the series, bomb planted, foot steps being made in CT spot, some pious still
not reacting.
Denied the clutch in the last round but this time, oh it's another clutch, it's an interesting
decision and then you accept him in his tracks.
So Faze will win the first round of overtime.
This is where Faze lives and eats and overtime in the highest pressure situation.
Yeah, it's a new lineup but you got that old core and you got frozen and broken,
Twist delivering for you in all these moments.
That's gonna give belief to the inexperienced players.
And for G2, it's causing so much pressure.
Unrelenting and never giving up, 13-12.
Facebook resurrected here in Fort Worth.
holding the lead. Hunter down to 61 health.
But no real threats yet on the server.
Still very conservative calling out of Hunter spread out in the slow pace.
Conservative defaults.
Now going to readjust, but again that mid trap is set up for phase.
All five players are here to con too short.
Frozen's up in the window.
The twist moves up to his top middle, well Matt's catch a good time in here on him.
From the back twist is looking the right way.
No, the twist is lost, COVID.
Matt's is gone.
You're doing nothing on the map.
FaZe is going to long end the initiative.
If you're letting them control the map, this is how we're going to punish you.
Yeah, now the final play.
The thrust forward from G2 and towards the A site.
Got heavy going on top stairs.
Not getting a kill.
on a single player of this phase defense.
The bomb getting planted twice.
Look at this.
It's actually pushed around the ramp.
He's got the flank going on.
Head shot from high power.
And twist is delivered another one.
Surprise, you ain't winning this.
Oh, holly, you're not winning this one.
A nice break out towards CT by Faze.
Continue to roll forward again.
14 to 12.
Faze rising to the occasion.
G2 shrinking from it now.
sitting back afraid to make a mistake,
not influencing anything on the map.
Twist is able to gain way too much control.
Feels like there's so much breathing for Faze
right now in this overtime.
Get in there, go wherever they want.
Jake is peeking into the underpass.
Twist pushing up top mid, flanking around to ramp.
Nice shots and some pies, but it doesn't mean anything.
14-12, couple rounds away.
Faze going for the win here in the quarterfinals.
Twist pushing his team towards that victory,
hyping him up for this final defensive round
to note, this time, not a spread out from G2.
They call it a little bit differently.
Two players directly towards the B halls.
They wanted to see if there was going to be some mid aggression.
And have you got slides back out to his usual position?
Three defenders at the B bomb site.
I think FaZe are thinking, we've stuffed you at the A bomb site.
We've stuffed you in middle.
You've got one other option if you want to go for it.
So Twist slides out towards middle
when B doesn't have any attention towards it.
Plays in ladder room.
Tons of information on the window boost
can help defend short, paired up with frozen.
Strong, rifling duo.
And Hunter wants to finish here.
Nerds in middle might be the first play
in aggressive lurk.
A distraction, a presence that FaZe have to consider.
Frozen is moving off, but he now realizes he's coming back.
Going to help out his teammate, NetEar with the distraction.
Successful, off the bench.
Splendid away though, NetEar's missed.
He had a chance, but unable to capitalize.
Now you're alive while Frozen...
How does he got that as well?
Jacob steps out!
FaZe Clan are going to be up to series point.
Can nerds stop it?
The bombs down, no way!
Faze and body back all the way!
Absolutely spectacular that they still had this left in the tank.
Nobody expected this coming into the event.
Not a positive conversation surrounding Faze for months.
We thought entertainment was dead in Faze.
The last event they played crashing out of major qualification,
Carrigan leaving, you thought maybe the entertainment of Faithland is dead,
but they are showing a new version of it here.
Everything falling into pieces, they're falling into place.
And now again, that momentum, that story of momentum,
too straight to force overtime, three in a row once you get there.
And the task falls to G2 as they take their time out
to figure out a way to put a stop to it.
And a sea of FaZe jerseys wishing for G2's demise here in Fort Worth.
Their blast rivals campaign right on the edge.
For G2, it seemed like they were on a different trajectory to FaZe coming into this event.
There's potential finalists who looked at them challenging vitality in group stages.
The positive things to say about G2, but a loss in the quarterfinals to this version
of FaZe would be disastrous and it looks like it's going to happen.
the fashion that's happening that's the most headscratching after we saw the
game against FaZe as you talked about earlier, or actually against Vitality.
Taking the best team in the world the distance, but here against FaZe just
falling apart. Now in that Vitality match G2 did have a game where they had
to come back you know seven, eight rounds in a row so we know they can
dig deep. We know they can plant their feet. But who's going to ignite it? For
phase it was frozen at the end of regulation and back to backgrounds.
Which G2 player is going to step up?
to give a neck you stepping forward with broky twist coming out towards top made no one here
to challenge from G2 not that first half it was Nurtz who was so strong towards the
Well, goodbye. Jacob is taking the opening frag here. First blood drawn. And it's G2 being spilled over the floor. Jacob with another step in the right direction. 15 seconds though.
They need some bias in the liver right here. Player of advance. Not a single lie. They can't play. There's no safety.
Time taking. Can Faze get it done. Matches stepping up. They have to play it right now. There's not enough of it. It's done.
John, the rounds won by G2, they're still winning, they're still here.
These rounds are just being drawn out so slow to open up.
Nobody wants to make too aggressive of a play and put their team at a back foot in
overtime.
What a scramble to try and shut that attack down.
Sunpai is saving the day, that reaction shot.
That's a three versus five conversion with the bombsite falling apart and
crumbling, somehow they just barely hang on.
All right, some light left in G2 yet.
Quarterfinal is not done.
If you phase have the killing blow in them,
you couldn't have really asked for a better start there.
Jacob really stepping you up.
Okay, well that's better.
Okay, that's it.
Surely there's nothing left in G2 now.
We came into this event and we expected nothing of phase plan.
But once again, the players within this team
are all about to entertain us in ways we never thought possible.
G2 came into this game today as favorites of Team
trying to get to the grand final to try and show us
what they're capable of, a team that competed against Vitality in the group stages.
But there's a space squad adding in Neju,
a surprise move of Karagin leaving the squad,
but twist once again having to in game lead.
What an incredible moment this will be
when FaZe get to celebrate this victory
in their passage into the semifinals.
For Twist, who had to step back
into the in game leadership role
for all the scrutiny of Broke, NKJ,
highest profile coaching gig.
He's had in his whole career.
He got an upset over Puria earlier,
now an upset over G2 and a semifinals birth.
with all the departures in face.
There's one I should kill for Mattis.
So let's see if they can do it.
Can face close herself.
They swung the people on site.
Mattis moves in.
Now dead.
It's just heavy guard.
And all the story line around face
has been negative lately.
But finally something to celebrate.
They know they've won.
with them dropping the Molotov
Rosen is going to end on 30 kills.
There really is the core of the face team.
They proved to be enough in Cal-Town.
They make it through the quarter finals.
They step off, they're back in their way for training again.
They eliminated G2 in Texas.
I'm standing by here with twists feels like Bay's clums kind of back this is I don't want to say back but we're on a good good progressing right now in good direction.
now in good direction. I'm so happy with the fucking team man and man this crowd is amazing,
huh?
You're enjoying this. I can sense it. It's been three years since I got to play in an arena in America
and boy I'm happy to be back. You're happy to have him back right?
Is it IGL? You must have had to be so incredibly vocal there towards the end especially going
going into overtime. Your team must have been tremendously reliant upon you and your calls.
How did you keep the fight going to win this one?
Listen, it's a team effort. Everyone played their part. Everyone did the right things.
Specifically, David is such an insane player. I think Frozen deserves the biggest shoutout.
But yeah, towards the end of the city side, they put a lot of trust in me to make the calls
and that's what I kind of just took over the game, both of you.
I think you've got to keep Frozen and the team, right?
Yeah, I think he I think you should say yeah, you need to be here
Everybody's talking about this phase rebuilds that you're going through at the minute
It's been a long time since we've seen you in this kind of form
Does this feel like a huge step in the right direction not only securing your spot in a semi-final
But taking out G2 in the process
Listen when we got to this event I said I want to get one or two upsets
We've just got two of them, so I feel like anything else that we do here is a cherry on top
But I really think we can make a push for that trophy. See this is
Why believe the fans have been helping to hear from you because there's been a lot of talk from yourself about
Taking every matches it comes every matches and learning experience
But at some point surely you're going to start to believe that you can do this
Why do you believe that this phase clan this version of you could raise that trophy?
I think everyone in this team believes deep down that we can always win trophies.
We've put in so much work in the past week.
Getting into this third map, me and NK told the boys we deserve to be here.
We work to be here, so now push it and give it everything.
And, you know, we came away with the win and we want to do the same thing tomorrow.
Just a couple more from me before we wrap this up.
I want to talk about your opponents as well tomorrow, but as IGL,
how much are you enjoying this role? Does it feel right for you right now?
For me, I believe so. I think this is where I belong. That's where my career is going.
But you know at the end of the day, it's up to the teammates, how they feel, and up to the org, how they feel.
But right now I'm doing everything for these players. They deserve the best. We did this.
Org deserves the best. And we're trying to push.
Final thoughts on NAVI in the semifinals tomorrow?
Is a guaranteed. Oh yeah, true. They played the semifinals right away.
Yeah, I mean, every match is really important for us.
I think we have a good feeling of how they play.
And to be honest, the first time we played them,
I think we were very nervous and we just played scared and it wasn't us.
And the past two series, we played more like, you know, phase.
This is how we should play.
All right, Fort Worth, one more time for Twists and your semi-finalists.
There is Klan!
I'm here with NKJ. First of all, NKJ. Congratulations. Huge, huge way in there.
Thank you. Thank you.
Not the first time, though, that I've seen you win on a stage all the way back at ESPO.
That was crazy. Okay, I'd say first impressions with the victory. Did you expect anything
like this from what you foresaw from Fort Worth?
From us?
Yeah.
Or from the enemy?
Do you already feel like you've exceeded expectations at this tournament?
Most certainly. Yeah. For me personally, I was coming into this tournament just to get a feeling for the players, how they operate, how they are, how we can develop, how we're working together, what I can do in the future to help them, what I can do at the moment to help them and all these kind of things.
So yeah, I definitely would say that we have exceeded expectations as of right now, at least my personal expectations. I mean, there's obviously some Delulu fans maybe out there who might think we are always going to win trophies and all these kind of things, right?
right. But at the end of the day, I think two dubs in the last two days really, really happy. And
yeah, just the cherry on top tomorrow against Navi. Pretty sure actually before phase this season
started attending those local lands, they only had two land wins all season. So you guys have
already matched that with the new lineup. That being said, though, I have a kind of probably
a difficult question, but one where I really want to pick your brain on this one. So take
your time. It's that you worked with glaive before. Okay. Obviously extreme, I mean,
legendary in-game leader I'd still consider him my go in general
How does he compare to twist and what do you what kind of good stuff do you see from twist as he's taking the role on?
they have actually quite a few similarities when it comes to how to prepare for games how to
approach things
strategically not only on
Our game plan and our playbook, but also like what we could be doing what we could be applying against the opponent
I think there is actually like the biggest similarities besides that I mean only from my time that we clay I can say that
Russ has a higher individual level, but I mean Gleith was already when I was within 31, 30 or 31. I don't remember actually.
On the wrong side of 30. Unfortunately, yeah. I would have loved much rather to be with him on this time on Australia obviously.
But yeah, the similarities are actually in preparing and the approach when it comes to our playbook, like I said.
In-game leading itself, there is a vast difference, however.
Because Glaive is, okay, I really want things to be quite methodical.
I want things to be, like every piece of utility needs to be accounted for.
And then a lot of times there was way more micromanagement coming in from Glaive.
I don't want to say we were kind of handcuffing or he's kind of handcuffing his players,
but what we are currently trying to do is that we want to be giving our players as much freedom as we possibly can,
so that they actually feel most comfortable in their positions, not only on the server, but also off the server.
And it has been working really well so far, maybe not so much against Navi on the first day.
Russ just said in the interview that maybe there have been some sort of jitters.
and we haven't collectively reviewed the match yet, however I have, and I mean this could have also been a 2-0.
It might sound a bit delulu, right, because it was a storm that we kind of encountered on Anubis,
but they were at least of the first 12 rounds, there were 5 rounds where we didn't have an advantage that we didn't close out,
because we were just stagnant, we were not moving around.
Right, I remember Jacob got a lot of the wine.
Yeah, exactly, and we were just too complacent, we were just like lazy-ish, sluggish,
Like we were not doing anything to kind of catch a mouth guard and we caught fire a bit too late, unfortunately.
Ancient was a completely different topic.
There we were just not good enough to close it in the end.
Okay, we have the last round of that game though.
I just want to hear from your perspective, what were the comms like in this kind of one?
You guys got a couple opening kills, I'm sure that was a lot of excitement.
But then there was a really long pause.
Who's calling all the stuff?
Because you think it's twist, but are other people chiming in these moments?
Yeah, 100% everybody's charming and especially the experienced players like the bro key frozen and obviously like you mentioned twist before
But we were all on the same page. It was actually quite chaotic after the second or third kill like everybody was screaming
We have we have especially the specific keyword that I'm not going to mention here
but everybody was calling this specific keyword and
Everybody was luckily on the same page because they're how they have been a lot of times where we've called that keyword
And we were kind of
suspecting it unfortunately. But in this one, it was very obvious that what we
needed to be doing right as soon as we got like one entry in the second one was
just kind of following we knew directly all right we need to be freezing
play the advantage out by sending one guy in on one side and the others are
just packed group up ready to react either corner short and it was just
basic counter strike in the end. One more question. Looking forward to your
match in the semifinals versus Navi talking to twist earlier at this
event. He said that he's trying to just build a game plan in general
build the foundation. It's not for him yet as much about
anti-streading, but I know you're quite good at that. So how are
you going to find a balance going into tomorrow?
We'll just full send it. We'll just full send it. There's
going to be definitely some anti-streading, right? We'll
look at our game plan that we did prepare for the first
question three that we played against them. We'll adjust some
things. But honestly, I would much rather want to use the
time with the boys later today to rewatch that game one
more time so that we are all on the same page because for me it's coming down to
just reminding them like hey we actually were in a lot of times good
positions right we just need to close it out what can we be doing to close those
rounds out and yeah when it comes to anti-straining we do know that there
are some tendencies that they do have but I'm also not really really that
dumb I know that they very likely going to change some things they're
here in there as well so yeah let's see how it goes.
All right, well, thank you and congratulations.
Thank you for having me.
Yeah, great to hear from NK, but also amazing to hear from Frozen, who's joining us right
now.
You went super staying on the last map and also you got a little bit of like Joker tendencies,
the way you're looking into the camera in those moments.
Tell me a little bit about how you felt playing that, right?
Because overtime situation, never easy.
All these fans behind you.
I mean, I'm just happy.
had a good game on the third map because I don't know, first two maps were, I think I was underperforming, I was letting my boys down, so yeah, happy that I had that performance.
Yeah, as a follow up we've been talking so much about it's almost like an audition for you, like everyone wants to show that you guys and the group can really make it, but that pressure then is also getting to you a little bit, is that what you think or?
I don't think so. I mean there is always a face pressure. You always have to perform.
You always have to, you know, people expect us to do good even though we're in a
little shit spot at the moment. So no, I don't feel like I feel extra pressure
from anyone else, but myself. Let's be honest, it's been a minute since
you've been in a situation like this, when a playoffs in an arena with the
crowd that's chanting your name and hoping that you're successful, what
was it like to finally get to do that again, you know, after such a tough
season. I mean I'm happy that we made it here. I mean as you said last time we're
in the arena was boot up as major so it has been a struggle this year you know
and yeah I mean we are on the good trajectory hopefully now at least we are
showing it yeah I'm happy to be here happy to be in the arena happy to see the
crowd. Yeah so with that said I mean obviously there was a point in that
third map where things looked a little bit dire you know there was a moment
where G2 it seemed like y'all were getting hot starts to the house but
then they were able to kind of collect themselves until the economy got
sorted and kind of control the game but something kind of clicked in that last
few rounds of regulation what do you think was kind of the big thing that
turned the tides in your favor? I'm not sure I mean they as you said they started
to come back it happened on the previous maps before as well that you
know we kind of maybe let the game you know be a bit and they will let them
come back and yeah I think we just looked in for the last rounds you
know like towards the overtime it it felt pretty I don't wanna say calm
because we were really fucking stressful on TeamSpeak, but, you know, we locked in and we pushed through.
I mean, I had a lucky round on like the 12-10 where they had the Tech Nines.
I don't think we should be winning this round, to be honest.
I killed two people, full W, running through the smoke.
And yeah, I mean, sometimes you need a luck on your side.
It's a bunch of decent phase bullshit, right?
Oh, of course. Absolutely.
Well, there's a lot of question marks around phase overall.
One of those was Brokey as well.
We heard from NKJ there that he was also like very vocal, etc.
Well, for you, as someone who's like hearing that,
what did you notice today about Brockey?
We were meaning that it's Brockey Friday, right?
But it's clear that there's been an uptick in his performance.
Is that also translating into how communicative he is
and how it generally feels in the team?
I mean, he's been definitely stepping up with the comps
and the whole energy that he's bringing,
which is great to see.
And as well, Brockey in the arena
is a different Brockey, I feel like.
So yeah, happy for him.
I have a question for you.
Obviously we had kind of a deeper interview there
with your coach with Maui in the back stage area,
but I'm kind of curious from your perspective,
obviously a new guy coming into the coaching role.
They'll have to change coaches for quite some time.
What has he been able to bring
in such a short amount of time?
I know it's been limited, but what impact has he had?
I mean, lots of output.
He's very, I don't want to say strict,
but he has everything planned, you know?
German.
Yeah, yeah, of course, German.
So lots of scheduling, you know,
Everything has to be in order.
So a lot of clarity, a lot of discipline
that he's bringing.
He's not afraid to speak up if someone is fucking up.
Yeah, just holding us accountable.
You like it?
Of course.
That's what we need.
It's kind of fun because it seems
like there's a juxtaposition between let's
make sure that the things that we can arrange
are all in place and scheduled so that you
have the most space to do your face bullshit, literally.
Is that kind of correct?
Yes.
I got a question for you real quick.
You said you were supposed to 2 on Navi yesterday.
What do you think?
Yeah.
Do you agree with that, Tate?
Come on, I know what you said before we went live.
I thought he was talking about the G2.
I mean, Navi, I'm not sure if we should have 2-0ed them.
I mean, on other ways, we started very slow.
I mean, they were playing well, but I don't think
we played to the level we can play, at least what
we were shopping in practice before.
And on the Ancient, we had pretty good CT side
against them, and we were winning.
It was them five on the T side for us against Navi,
We just didn't close it out.
It was the first game for us with this lineup.
I think we learned a lot from that game.
I mean, people would say, or like, you know,
we can say that we could have beaten 2-0, but we didn't.
But we have another chance tomorrow, right?
What happens tomorrow?
We face Navi, and we're coming for the revenge.
Let's go.
I love it.
Thank you so much.
Congratulations, Frozen.
We're going to let you go.
Thank you.
You can get your headset off whenever.
Bye-bye.
Really super excited to see him tomorrow as well.
There's just such an absolute wealth of stories about this phase,
like you don't even know where to begin, right?
Dust, but always nice to hear from him.
Yeah, it's awesome to hear from Froze.
And I mean, he's one of the leading figures of this squad now, right?
One of the veterans that have been there for so, so long
and done so much for FaZe over the years.
And it was cool to get the pickest brain of it.
It is indeed.
But where there are winners, there are unfortunately also
a team that exits the tournament
and Ian caught up with G2's coach, Saw.
So, I mean, losses don't get much more brutal than that.
Yeah, I mean, we had the chances on Mirage.
At 12-10, was it a 5-2, and then 12-11, 4-3, and so on.
So, yeah, we had our chances.
But when you lose those rounds, and then they basically
take four rounds in a row in the OT, then that's it.
We just dropped the ball, basically.
When you say drop the ball, do you think mental was
a problem towards the end there as well?
Could be. A bit of maybe discipline problems overall in the series, I would say, not only on Mirage and Depad.
It can be, because it's a bit of a pattern for us at this point where we get it so close, we have these match points.
Not necessarily many match points, but overall when you look at the pattern, it can be a thing.
How do you fix that?
Yeah, that's like the thing. We just need to figure it out somehow because
Of course getting into that position getting in at that point
There's many positive things leading up to it, but then like what happens in the crucial moments
especially
Yeah, when it happens multiple times like just gotta figure it out
But it's not an easy one but need to take a look and try to come up with something
We've seen some great things as well from your roster of course including pushing team vitality the best team in the world
in your in your previous series
do you think that this result here is a bit of a setback or do you still feel
like you've seen enough positives here in Dallas? I wouldn't necessarily call it
a setback it's just it's our first year one tournament with NERS basically in
the lineup so it is gonna be a learning learning curve we need to take so I
think it's a good experience and we can take a look at the matches we
played here and then continue into Astana and the Major so it's
basically one step closer to the major but it's for sure something to take a
look at and try to improve one from the things we did here. Well thank you Finsan,
appreciate it. Thank you. Respect to Sof for giving some explanations but I do
think he is disappointed quite obviously right at why wouldn't you be to
lose in that fashion but he didn't like hide under yeah just like all the end
of the game or whatever he said there are actually more problems
throughout that entire series and he said it's becoming a bit of a pattern
that you feel? There's a
couple of things that I think
have really been plaguing G2.
It's the lack of diversity with
their tea sites, and I also
think that even I can't
remember it specifically how
many anti-ecos they lose, but
they take a lot of casualties
almost every time. You see a
lot of choice, Deagle shots
from their opponents a little
too frequently, and that's
not something you can always
make a perfect plan for, but
even when I was looking at
just who's good at farming
eco, there's kind of
weirdly no eco farmer on
their team. It's kind of
on their team. It's kind of a weird stat. Yeah, that is a weird stat. Well, we're not going to
be able to see more tape of it this tournament because unfortunately they are out. So let's pull
up the playoff bracket to see where we end up. As said already, phase is continuing their run
into going up against Navi a match we already saw actually in the playing stage. I didn't go too
well for them, but perhaps it's better tomorrow. We're going to have Astralis versus
Gamer Legion later and they will be playing Vitality tomorrow or whoever comes out on top
of that one. That means after
that first message three, which
honestly guys, it was really good to watch.
It was super, super fun.
Amazingly back and forth.
We can only hope it hope the same from this one.
It gave the fans everything they would have wanted.
It was no secret in here that everybody
was a phase fan. This one.
This is where we're ball knowers
are really going to arrive for the real true
CS fans are going to get a nice little taste
of some vintage players, some throwbacks,
a couple of rising stars.
I'm happy because I've got like the most massive weight. I'm not going to finish that line. I've got ball knowers
I'm gonna say it like that and Dustin and Maui so you so you're teasing that you're gonna go like
Analysis is gonna be super on point for this next one's gonna be
You never heard before I mean whereas phase plan we can always just talk about Brokey Friday phase bullshit
There's all these little strings. We can pull there. This one's more nitty gritty dust coming up
Yeah, I mean the fact is though with phase were quite at least I gave us something entertaining again, right?
I mean, we haven't seen anything like that in such a long time.
It's like if you can just get him here, they can provide so much for us.
But yeah, in this next game, it's an interesting one.
It's like a game-religion squad that gets to kind of, you know,
after dipping in Tier 2 for a bit this year,
they get a chance at Tier 1 yet again.
Great for that organization.
And then obviously, for Shrout, it's like,
let's see if they can take care of business
because they've been a little bit shaky lately.
Have. Don't say too much.
I'll be here at all after the break.
We will take a quick break in just a little bit,
but there's going to be tons of arena interaction
for those of you who can't be here.
You're going to get to see a little bit of that.
there's a mic doing an absolutely amazing job here in the arena,
and we'll be back after the break, but Astralis, game or region.
Welcome back to the ROG Laboratory.
Today we have on hand the ROG HARP 2 and the ROG Falcon.
Now, back in Hong Kong, we used these launderers
when we were testing the OLED monitors.
And, well, today I was thinking,
we've got to find some kind of way to put them head to head.
Yeah, there's only some kind of scientific way to try this out.
You think what I'm thinking?
Gives on a keyboard.
All right, Launders.
Pre-game talk.
What are your thoughts on the falchion?
I have lowered the actuation point
so that I feel like Santaris right now.
I've got two sets of WASD.
It feels like I've got like an N64 controller.
Okay.
Spacebar helps me shoot.
It's a new wave of minimalism that we've got for Counter-Strike players, keeping it very
simple here.
You're like a Formula One driver right now.
Okay, so that's one thumb, six fingers.
What?
What?
What?
That's a lot of mousepad you got there.
That's because, Mohan, I plan on hitting you with the flick whenever I need to.
You know, this harp is so light, but I think that's going to play to my advantage
today.
Oh, what are you doing for your keyboard buttons?
So I have gone A and D on mouse four and five, okay,
because it's all about the strafe.
Left click, still shoot.
Right click is forward,
just in case I've got to close the gap.
And then M wheel up and down, both jump,
so that I can hit some B hops while I style on you.
All right, Mohan, you ready?
I'm ready.
I'm ready.
And the inaugural ROG Cup games underway.
Oh my gosh, a head shot.
Woo!
That was a good shot.
Thank you.
Here it's on.
Yo, you know what, mercy.
It's hard to aim with just the mouse.
Oh!
Oh, no, the switch, but I hit you.
You're going to be jumping right now?
No.
Wait, I can't jump though.
I'm closing the distance, dude, like a shark in the water.
Whoa.
The one thing I have to remember
is I can't actually pull down my recoil.
I can see you doing this, I just can't stop you.
Winner takes all.
All right, winner takes all.
All right, congratulations off that round, you win.
Thank you. I am the big winner.
And to be honest, I had a hunch.
I had a hunch that the mouse would be the victor here.
This might seem like my serve are more important,
but I've honestly been impressed by the utility
of just using a keyboard.
They didn't even know I could do all that.
And so, at the end of the day,
we've learned two things.
that I am always humble in victory.
And secondly, that when it comes to Counter-Strike,
AIM remains king.
Can you play with just a keyboard?
I guess.
Should you?
Nah, probably not.
Thank you guys for stopping by the ROG Labs one more time
and, well, crazy idea.
How about next time we just combined it together?
How about that series for a worth?
I got two gentlemen with me.
We had a serious duel in the server.
Now it's time for a duel here on this stage.
Why don't you contest this here?
What's your name, sir?
Juan.
Juan and Will.
Could you talk me through these fits right now?
We got this from because of the monkey business
from the Five-Seven, which is still one of the best skins
out there.
You like a monkey business?
We're getting up to some monkey business here.
So, Juan and Will, how do you two know each other?
Well, actually, it come from a friend from a friend,
But we got into CS, you know, since CS Go since 2012.
The good old days in my opinion.
But you know, we kind of just stick together,
kept playing all the way to CS2.
So that's what, 14 years of friendship at this point?
Pretty long, yeah.
It's been a while and counting.
That's a serious bond.
Do you think you could shoot him?
Hell yeah, I could shoot him.
That's what 10 plus years of friendship
gets you shot in the back, because it's time for a duel.
It's high noon here, gentlemen.
Please, if you could take this firearm.
Yes, sir.
Now, these are two fully loaded dart guns that we've got here.
And the way this is going to work, gentlemen,
is I'm going to have you stand back to back right here.
You could stand on this side of the trophy.
Juan, and Will, you're going to be right there, back to back.
Let's touch it up.
Come on, get close.
You guys have known each other for 14 years.
On my count, you're each going to take a step.
And that's number you're going to take another step.
At some point in that count, I am going to say draw.
And in that moment, you're going to turn and fire.
And the first to hit the other one with a dart
will be our champion.
Now before we take those steps forward,
can I hear you?
Can I hear it for Juan?
Who thinks he's gonna win?
Who's feeling well over here?
Who's gonna take it?
All right, we have our champions.
And now gentlemen, all that's left is to be seeing
who will be standing when the dust settles.
Are you ready?
I'm ready.
Are you ready?
Bring it.
Starting to count. One. Two. Three.
Two. Did someone hit? Keep going! Keep going! You know he has a knockdown! There we go!
Quicker on the second run, not the first. Shirt shooting right here.
What happened with that first shot?
I went just a little behind to the right over his head.
I was aiming about sitter mass, but, you know, a little bit of as it goes.
Well, all that matters is who's left standing when the gun smoke settles.
So, Will, you are our champion!
Well, let me hear you! Let me hear it for Will!
That's more like it.
And now we've got some new fits for you to wear under those suits.
suits. You're walking home with a wanted shirt and with your snark sharp
shooting we also had to get you a rifle. So here's a little IRL hyperbeats
coming on through. Put that on the shelf behind you. Congratulations on your
victory. Don't worry Juan, we're sending home the t-shirt as well. You're now
walking away on empty-handed. One more time forward. Let me hear for
You wanna...
Would you say that you are a grumpy person?
I'm definitely, yeah. I'm very much a grumpy person.
I think that it's not even a week ago that my boss told me that I need to stop complaining so much.
So yeah.
I had teammates and people around that have been way more grumpy than me, but we are a bit grumpy in a way.
These FQA packs used to be fun at the beginning, but now it just...
I'm like, change and come on guys, it's been two years now.
I could be a grumpy little bit about the China food.
I actually eat a lot of stuff, but sometimes it's annoying.
I find it more harder to find something good.
We go a lot to Copenhagen, and they always make potatoes, like everyday potatoes.
For example, when I was in Japan for vacation with my wife,
their food there was insane, and in China it's like 50-50 I would say.
You know, you have pasta, you have rice, you have a lot of those stuff,
but the inside you think you only know potatoes.
Going home and getting your mom's food, it's like, there's no really specific dish,
But just in general, like that homemade food is, uh,
you're not missing it somehow.
But I think something that is so underrated for us
is the bread, like baguettes.
Like when you travel, lots of the bread
are not as good as our bread and cheese are.
Just, I mean, one thing, folks in general,
I think the worst thing that can happen to me
is when people just throw random grenades
and they don't say anything about it.
Communicating really bad or not saying when you die
or what you see is pretty annoying.
and then you just randomly have to like touch a flash or like you just die because of it.
Not listening?
Like one of the first rounds everyone buys and one of them is going to go somewhere.
That's maybe a bit triggering.
Being just alone, like people, you just play face it to play on the sides
and I'm like, yes, it's a team game, let's try to play together.
You get bad habits from it and it's much different than on official
because you can get punished and from punished you pay.
If you lose the match you are out of the event.
I feel that my face is whatever, you just lose some points and you can play more.
People play so bad in practice, they don't care, they just push, they do individual moves
that they will never do on matches etc, it just annoys me.
It's not giving you an adrenaline game, you know, and maybe because I'm a little bit
older and I'm playing for quite a time, I feel like there needs to be a stake in
the game to enjoy it more, you know.
I tend to complain about when I have to do other people's jobs for them.
Players like should be fixing his lineup for a grenade, but instead I have to
go do it for him.
my teammates forget the boss tracks and they don't have notes. It makes me really hungry
as well about them.
The one thing I've complained about in all of CSGO, all of CS2 is how accurate you are
when you're jumping.
It feels like 64 to get much better before the chance to sub-tick. I used to play so
much back in CSGO and you could tell that the bullets are not going as same as 128
tick and I don't like sub-tick to play in.
is fine that some pistols or SMGs are a bit more accurate but it should never be a thing
that you can like jump and it's good for you, you know, which is like interesting a lot of
cases. So yeah, I would say that thing.
Now we're back live from the lobby here in Fort Worth in the Dickies Arena for our second
quarter final as we have game religion going up against Astralis. Now I'm gonna dive straight
into it. Dust, you are choosing the side of Astralis for this one. Tell me about it.
Once a Danish powerhouse has now had to go international after such a long drought, and
what I like about Astralis is that with this new lineup with Hooksy at the helm, we have
actually seen them get some pretty solid results throughout this year. A hot start
at Cracow, all things considered. Really done at EPL, and even at Bucharest, while
there was a bit of shakiness, they made the finals and took a second place trophy
So, I think for me, Astralis just represents a team that does have that potential.
Steyr is that star. Yavi has had a resurgence.
Fuzi has been a true offer for this squad.
Love to see this team in action.
How lucky is Irina? How locked in you guys feeling today?
I'm pretty locked in. You know, we've got a good night's sleep.
It's a late game, so we like that.
How important is that? A good night's sleep ahead of a quarterfinal like this?
I mean, going across the ocean and having a bit of jet lag, I think it's very important.
and yeah we will see how much the crowd will bring.
You had a brutal start to the tournament but then you came back swinging yesterday against
Ft. That was a very impressive win. Do you feel like you might be coming into your stride
here coming into this matchup?
It's hard to say, we've played a game where we were underdogs, now we've played a game
where we were free wits. Obviously Ft. with the situation with the coach is a bit
of a leg loss to winning away. So I guess we'll see today where our level actually
Your opponents are going to be looking for revenge from Krakow.
How big of a threat do you feel they could be here in Texas?
I think that depends more on us than them.
If we go out and play our game and we play to win, I think they don't have a chance.
But if we don't show up, then of course it's going to be tough.
Thanks, Gigachat. Best of luck.
Thank you.
That's true. Showing up is pivotal when you play a quarter-final.
And on that sleep, actually, we were on the flight together and he was behind me.
and I saw him sleep for the entire flight.
So I don't think that jet lag,
which is some insider info, wasn't business class.
I was gonna say business class must be nice, okay.
Yeah.
What can I say?
Anyways, Maui, you're taking the side of Gamer Legion
and this one, tell me about that.
Well, you've got all of this unbridled talent
that it's up to snacks to try to harness.
You have what is probably the best offer
that Gamer Legion has had in the last three years.
You have PR, a rising star who recognize
It is his true place here on Gamer Legion,
and then you also have Rez, who's consistently
trying to roll it back.
But how could I be remiss to not bring up tossing?
This guy has been a steady rock for them,
and I'm sure he's going to be locking it down.
And he's studied the Astralis Playbook.
He's ready to eat it up.
Welcome, Hypex.
How are you doing?
Good to see you.
Look, it's a big day for your team,
but it's a big day for you personally as well.
Your first time here on a big stage like this.
Welcome to Fort Worth, how are the nerfs?
So far so good, I'm not really feeling much of a thing once we hit the red and we'll start
setting up and see the people around, it's going to probably hit me a bit.
Do you think that that might play a part in your performance here at all, or do you think
it's all about team play and making sure that you secure the W?
I mean, I think it always plays a part, but hopefully I can turn it into a positive
and more than a negative, so yeah, I'm excited.
Do you feel like underdogs again here today?
Because many people thought you were the underdogs against Fury and you proved them wrong
there with an impressive win.
How do you feel coming into this one?
I think we're still kind of underdogs, we've only got one win so far but we have to win
against more teams to prove that we're better than that.
So yeah, we're seeking some revenge after Krakow, so yeah, that's how it is.
Revenge of that too, do you feel like the fact that you are underdogs takes the pressure
off you a little bit which means that you could potentially cause some damage that no
one's expecting here?
Yeah, I mean, I think so.
Some people don't really feel the pressure as much when they're underdogs because
we can only prove to people that we're better, so I mean, for me it's better.
You only ever get your first stage one time ever, so enjoy it, alright?
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
You sure do, yeah, Hypex really excited to get on to that stage accent, it's really English.
Really British.
Yeah, really British.
Apparently he moved there when he was really young.
Yeah, lived there at some point.
So I mean, there's no question that on an international team he's going to fit just fine.
And they're going to need his chemistry with the rest of the guys on game religion
because as Ian already brought up, they are indeed the underdogs in this one.
They are we're going to be going into the veto pretty pretty soon.
Of course they have that tape from Krakow, but of course a lot has changed.
Maui, where do you think this is going?
Well, I feel like the couple teams both have picks that they're a little bit more comfortable
with.
We've got the Astralis side who really like ancient.
I've also really liked their nuke when Hooksy has been calling on it as well.
On the game religion side, I've seen snacks also like to mix things up there on Mirage.
So should be seeing a few of those into the mix.
I feel like the things though should probably lead or lend to the side of Astralis.
I think they're going to be lightly favored after the veto.
They have a couple more places they can go.
Alright, we're about to find out because the veto is indeed ready.
And what about the veto? What do you think about the mounts that it's going to be?
How do you think that's going to go?
I think it's going to go good. I think it was pretty much the same.
Last time we played them over this Krakow.
I think it's a few months ago now, but yeah.
I think both of us, us as a team in the region, and them as Astralis, they knew what Vito is going to be, so I think we are both prepared and we'll see maybe it's going to be one side to one of the teams, maybe not.
I mean, I hope so. I think it's a good lead for us, I would say so, but I think they don't too, so I guess you'll live or not.
We'll find out, good luck.
Thank you.
Nicky the arena, how we doing?
You know what, just, I think that maybe some of the FaZeCon fans went for a drink.
Maybe the G2 fans needed a drink as well after that one.
Absolutely, it's 5 o'clock summer, isn't it?
That's right, that's how you do it around here.
Absolutely, absolutely. It's always great to be in Texas.
Such a rich history of Counter-Strike here and to be back here for this event.
It's always a good time.
Absolutely, look, we've already locked in one semi-final spot here today.
There's another quarterfinal still to come and it is Astralis versus Gamer Legion.
Should we get into the Vita?
Why the hell not?
Astralis banned Anubis, not a shocker here.
Astralis not leaving anything up the chance going with their permit then.
Gamer Legion banned Dust two, two times we've seen him play it.
It didn't go so well.
So despite it being a weakness for Astralis, they don't want any part of it.
On to Picks.
Astralis picked. Overpass.
The pocket pick is back. They wavered away from it a little bit, but now they're going back home to where they feel comfy.
The crowd called it.
Gamerelegion picked. Inferno.
We haven't seen it that often lately in this tournament, and I think it's a vulnerability for Astralis.
I like to pick from Gamerelegion here.
Interesting.
The Stralis, they've banned Mirage.
No real surprise there.
Real vulnerable on that one I like to call.
And Gamer Legion banned.
Ancients.
And so it will come down to your 40 new.
Always a good time.
And these two teams should have a hell of a match
if it gets there.
Well, it's always nice, isn't it?
To kick off an event like this with a best of three
that went all the way, not only all the way,
Over time as well if it will get a similar sort of set of circumstances here
We'll have to see game religion when they last play them they got destroyed
So we're gonna have to see them come back packing a punch if they want to try to pull off this upset fix the bands done
Thank you very much. Just appreciate it
I think they are a strong team, obviously they are also like kind of the top tier 2 teams
like us, but I mean I don't think they have this much of a arena experience as some of
us has, but yeah I think it's going to be a good game.
We've played them a couple of times and very often it's... how is it called?
Even, yeah, very even, so it's nice to play them and it's going to be a funny match, I think.
We smashed them once, they smashed us once, so it'll be like the desire of the day, I would say.
I think they're a good team, and we faced them last time in Kraków
when I felt like we were not ready to play at a good level.
I think right now it's a little bit of a different moment.
We had time to train, we had time to practice some of the stuff and we'll see.
Okay, welcome back. We are not wasting a second up here on the stage at the Vickys Arena
in Fort Worth, Texas. Everybody ready for our next quarter-final?
I keep forgetting to look over here. You guys all right up there? Yeah, over here? You guys good?
All right, good stuff. Now a reminder here, of course, we've already seen FaZe Clan, any fans? Lock in, lock in their spot up against Navi tomorrow.
Now the winner of this next matchup will go against Team Vitality in the semi-final.
some booze here and I think that ultimately comes down to the fact that fans are starting
to want to sometimes see these guys lose because they are just so incredibly good, they cannot
be beat. What do we think Ft. Worth will vitality win this one again? Well we'll get to that
Tomorrow we don't see them compete just yet. It's time now for our next quarter final
Redemption is on the line for this story, Sporch.
It's a new era for Astralis.
They have been battered and bruised, but here they stand,
and they're back swinging with bad intentions.
I'm not sure what to do.
Gamer Legion!
No holds barred, the underdogs are here to fight to the very end with their raw firepower
and unfiltered experience.
No one's expecting them and that's exactly how they like it.
One of the oldest dogs in the fight, Astralis carved an era that few have matched, an organisation
that put fear into the heart of every team they played.
Gamer Legion showed us in the past what synacity and ferocity can do, and now they want their
next shot at Glory.
the invigoration of Huxing.
They dismantle Futs and now they're hungry for more.
Game of League 2, Silenced Furia.
It is looking to cut down Astralis next.
These two teams have laid everything on the line
for this chance, but who's bold enough to seize it?
who's strong enough indeed.
Hootsy versus snacks to see who makes it into the semi final.
And yeah, Gamer Legion, they were muddling around there in tier two,
then they come back and they beat Furious straight off the bat.
Why are they still underdogs?
It's a crazy story for them, but everybody knows that that tier two
land circuit is no joke.
It is so difficult to actually even survive it.
Game religion, they've done just that.
And they keep on surviving.
That's what Snacks has done with his career.
He kept on surviving.
Two guys that have been chewed up and spit out by G2,
but they're still here fighting.
Yeah, I love that you called that up, right?
They had that stint.
They've been vilified.
They had to crawl back up.
So talk to me about Hooksy and this really
being his Astralis, that also means
it's his responsibility.
He is the one that was brought in to save Astralis,
a team that once struck fear into a punch
with a fully Danish lineup with international.
And who better to wrangle a bunch of people
from different countries than Hooksy,
a man who's been there and done that.
While they've had a couple of bumps across the road,
they've also shown us some really good counter-strike
at times.
There's definitely some talented players on this squad,
and they should be the ones moving on tomorrow.
We'll see if they can live up to that.
Just who's your eye on on Astralis?
Who has really had a resurgence?
Who has been surprising you that can step up
to the plate today?
Stare has been the exact star that we've
been wanting for a long time for Astralis.
He's been put in all the star roles,
and now he's flying delivering in those spots.
I think for a time he was kind of just solid.
Now he's for real legitimately one of the best players
in the world.
So we'll see if we can live up to it again here on the stage.
Sarah has been fantastic.
But I would say that his right hand man has been fozy.
This guy has been a journeyman.
He's played in three different continents for teams
in Asia, in North America.
Now he's back to Europe, dawn in the Astralis Jersey.
And this guy is fighting with some of the elite operas
in the world now.
But he's been hot and cold.
Today he definitely needs to stay hot
if he wants to take care of G2 or, sorry,
game religion that is cleanly.
Yeah, from a life game versus spirit
to not really making it count in some of those games here,
right?
But he's up against Hypex.
And yeah, we heard from him before.
This is the first time he's going
to step into a stage like this.
And I heard the words, finally, game religion
has a real offer.
It's a good offer.
Do you agree with that?
I agree that he's shown some signs of it.
I do think that there has been for a lot of operas
who take that step up to tier one.
You kind of get run to the blender for a while.
They're trying to figure out who you really are.
where you really belong.
And I think that Hypex has survived going through
a couple different game leaders, coaching changes.
It's been a tumultuous environment,
but I think he is the guy that has shown at times
that he's capable of looting the weapon
with really nice precision.
The problem is that I feel like
Astral's playing around Fozie so much more.
They set him up with boosts,
they're breaking smokes for him on the regular.
Hypex on the other hand,
sometimes he's just gotta carve out
his own fate in a round.
I don't always feel like he's the focal point.
And I feel like because of Astral's interest Fozie
with so much in terms of resources,
He is more frequently going to deliver.
Gamer Legion, they're definitely the underdogs coming
into this one, but they did take down Fury.
It does any final thoughts on what
you need to see from them, because it's a new era.
No more ash.
We've got snacks in the IGL role.
It's so different, but it might just work.
I need to see the stars that want shine for them
come back again.
PR was almost the rookie of the year at one point
last year and faded away.
I want him to see him at the forefront again
in this squad.
Same with the Reds.
We know what they're capable of.
Let's see them deal it out and serve it today.
Booksy trying to lead Astralis to the stars once again,
but maybe it's Gamer Legion.
Underdogs have reigned supreme today here already.
Can they do it again?
And so the stage has been set.
Tonight's second match is a battle between the underdogs.
But when wars are fought over inches,
it means the world to both of these teams
to have a chance to swing at vitality tomorrow.
if Fort Worth is to have its Cinderella story.
Ladies and gentlemen, it starts now!
To see Astralis and Gamer Legion,
they're going in for the rematch
and Astralis not wasting a second.
It's gonna be the full B attack straight up.
Lot of CTs here waiting.
Kallus is with the first to the stoppage,
but immediately two trades back.
Now we're into the thick of it.
They don't have short control.
They wanna make sure they get the ball planted
and extra kills to ensure that
maybe they go down all eliminations,
only Rez left standing.
Bombs off the site as well.
Push for the A.
Yeah, it's gone, right?
Hooksie's not gonna waste a second here.
Sees the bigger picture.
And Rez, I mean, go ahead.
Find your kills right here right now.
Maybe it's chases on.
A little bit labored for the first one.
Still has a bit of a chance.
Bit of a duel.
a long run all the way up and I love that Hooksy comes back down to the fight.
I mean there's no way for Rez to do anything except go this direction.
He wants to get this kill, but he's playing it so slowly there's almost no chance he can
win.
First dual gets taken down and oh my goodness!
Run!
No way!
Run!
11 HP!
He can make it to the site.
It's a 10 second defuse.
Run for the hills!
Run for the keep!
Oh it's landed right there.
Right there.
You could have just played time
To the final seconds and the res is gonna pull this one off, isn't he? Yeah
Robbery and bra daylight classic
Out of the gateboat there there is no excuse for taking that fight
I mean you have he doesn't even know you're there waiting for it
Just feels like you wanted to be a nice guy
to come down and try to fight in the trenches with the troops right no one
respects a leader that hides in the background but hooksy puts his head on a
silver platter res piece and that's a pistol for gamer legion to kick off the
CT side and the plan is literally as close to him as possible and that's how
res will pick that one up so I mean there's a lot that comes into the
stream match because let's draw this piece them up the last time around
single-digit losses on both maps and the game religion so far we've seen
them this event actually pretty impressive. Snacks right then in the pregame interview
saying we just weren't ready yet for that last matchup. They got the practice, they got
the reps in. It's an open B site again actually. No one on short either. Bomb's coming in a
little slow but it looks like it'll get planted. We've got four sets of feets on
this bomb site. A little pocket though for Towson to still play within fire, nor
the smoke really affects him on this one so he'll find Ooc Pooksy trying to exit
the site. Flash to try to get the retake going on his turn. Straight frags found by Rez. Stairs
got the rebuttal back off the pistol and now this Mac 10 makes that repeating push a bit
of a troublesome situation. Still the kills come through. Stairs missed. Deagle shots
drop him to 77 and he's got a quick reposition but we've already got Hypex's hands on the
farm. Take no, no kit. Won't be a problem. They've got it in spades. It's a second
defuse here from gamer leaching consecutive. Yeah. He's scoring the play. It's one
I think there's definitely was a spot where a little bit more utility would have guaranteed that situation
They had a big line coming in they moved pretty quickly
They didn't leave too much up the chance and finding a spot to stand between the smoke of the molly
I think was key moment
To make sure they had the man advantage all the way to the end
Oh, they'll be reeling off of that first around it's such a clear mistake for a straw list
They're gonna be buying in that last one and buying in this one as well
It's just ground all day for them as they set up for another beat-hit.
Flash is a really good.
Right to it. He are barely working with any vision.
It's Jaby and Fuzzi to come through with the triple.
Fat sequence for a straw-less man disadvantage for Gamer Legion to face,
but I love this sly reposition out of Rez.
Back turn to him on top of it.
This could be perfect.
Rez could be.
Oh, he's just on the edge of the smoke, he's cooking correctly.
Stair finds timing on it, shoves a deal to the side of his head
and pushes Hypex to the 1v3 clutch instead.
Hypex, I think, just a day ago came in to his last match
as the most clutch player so far at the event.
He was really racking him up.
Now, this one's a hard sell, but I think it's definitely
possible that some mistakes get made.
Strauss have so much time to work with.
Already seen them blunder once.
They would love to have a smoke, but they still have enough utility to get this bomb down guaranteed.
Oh, there it is.
Highpacks playing in the first arena matchup.
Wanted to bring up Crackdown, the shortcomings to Astralis last time around.
Well, now we've got that bit of an asterisk above his head.
Not spotted, actually.
Yeah, clean first one.
Oh, and...
Oh!
Does it stack again?
Oh, great.
Cooksy's got it this time. Cooksy's not gonna let this one slip out of their hands.
Astralis, it is the third round that they put on the scoreboard.
I would have loved for that just to be clean, having three players up.
They'll take the round one in the end.
I'm sure they've accumulated some salt after all those first two have gone.
It's really the play that could have made everything happen there.
Rez walking through that smoke, it felt like he was gonna...
I mean, he had a great idea. It felt like he had a good timing, but...
It's just the position of which he comes out looking does him no good.
And so shortcomings here for Gamer Legion immediately in round four.
Awkward of promise in hand. Pistols for the other trio of players.
See that? Hypex. Damage actually mattering here.
Three golels.
Alright, play for the T side.
Trying to get tricky with it already. I mean, make the most of the little you have.
A good gimmick in when you're around.
Just a little witchcraft.
And Hunk Dex actually still, he hasn't revealed his presence so far with this op.
We hit 45 seconds.
The Shrall is playing with no map control outside of what they're sitting on.
Open lines, I mean this is that kind of classic comfort zone that you feel like you're starting
to establish and then all of a sudden, gamer legion are on top of you so you're gonna have
to be careful when you're here in 35 seconds.
Unfortunate unscope here for Hypex, Rez is this one still in a dangerous spot and
it's that shadow advantage that really cues him up for the clean one.
gets grabbed right back and PR's Dez and Eagle leaves a little to be desired there so Astralis
they put that slow squeeze on the bomb site but it bends and then it breaks.
Damer Legion again awkward little bit of timing there with the unscope and Rez only able to
get it one with the 5-7. Yeah it was just such an important moment when
Hypex he revealed his presence it also just needed to be a kill and he was sort
of between two ideas whether he was going to peek on the outside of bathrooms or
the inside and he had teammates to get a 5-7 kill but they just became hyper aware of the spot,
the threat of the AWP, that all just worked against him. So not bad spots and it's not like they were
just playing in bathrooms without someone watching long but Astralis were super careful about
how much map control they took with also without showing themselves either so
game gets tied up.
Three fast rounds followed by a slow play here called by Hoeksee.
The trade-off is they never found that floating Thomas. That's right. Yeah,
That doesn't keep that.
Try to pull down one out of the hat in a later round or just try to time this boost to perfection.
Again, when you're playing with so little, it's got to happen here and it's the perfect time to count.
Spam is finding Ryu blind.
And all of a sudden Desert Eagle headshot comes out from the B site too.
And all of a sudden the Strollers aren't going to be afraid of this, but rather come running right at it.
Booksy wants blood.
Sure, there could be a FAMAS out here on the field, but he knows damn well everything around it has to be weak.
He really wants them to try to retake B, so it seems like he's trying to pull off. They have Fuzi watching this line.
And the swing will come.
Oh, but no shot in. Three go for it. Two get away.
A lot of bodies confirmed.
Game religion kind of stuck in this position for a second. They're going to assume that because they've all been spotted, there's going to be a scrawl of scramble over to the A site, which may or may not be true.
Yeah, they're selling into the snake. It's really smart here.
It's there with the double flash.
Bomb carrier, solo.
Would've been very dangerous had he ran into anybody, right?
There's a fourth piece of Gamer Legion unconfirmed in that situation.
God forbid they lose the bomb possession.
But it's not gonna boil down to that.
We hit 35 seconds of utility over the top.
Yo ho ho ho!
Prevents with the WSP, Tink, onto Hooksy.
You're kidding.
He keeps the numbers advantage here for Gamer Legion.
What a robbery of a round this would be.
Could be still.
Fommas creeping up that ramp and stairs switching to a grenade in that moment.
This Fommas wants to get going.
This one should set it up, but instead it takes its dry duel and Calvin finds himself slain.
Boosie's going to gain control of the situation.
They've got Hypex revealing himself to that USP and all is good in the end of the round for Astralis.
Sketchy won considering how little there was to work with and props to Gamer Legion,
making the most of a single idea with that flashed Fommas peek into short.
That was a great tactic to use the verticality on this map to find your opening kill and make the most of Pow off WC1 Falmas for USP.
Crazy that Reds gets the strike. He knows he's going to get clear as they come out long-term.
They saw the triple swing there, assuming that everybody had escaped at the same time.
So I think they kind of got the most they could get out of that round.
I'm liking how Astralis are moving overall. Again, apart from that one decision for mostly to peek in the pistol round,
They all look like very confident in how they're scaling.
No.
30 dual to win there by Javi.
He could die so easily. They drop one HE on a set. A Molotov even touches him.
It's a rough duel for Rez, who is off to a great start so far.
Seven and five, despite that fight right there.
See what his life lost inside connector.
30 damage from the first made, 53 from the second.
Another great opening moves here by Astralis.
Like you said, the confidence in their timing and the changeups
and now in that utility placement, dead on and hard to
criticize across the board.
Puzi Skaras the field would have just heard that one boost
get dismantled. So in case somebody else is going for
something a little readjustment within it.
As we get this timing from snacks as well towards long, caught out by stairs, so a bit of a lurk fight in this one.
We got three CTs coming up to the A site. They really don't have an idea of what's happening.
They've just done that boost over on short, and they're getting out. And now they're dying over here as well, so.
As we get to the 32nd part, the CTs don't know, but this round is over. The T's are attacking the right site. Nobody's home.
time expanse we'll do nothing, shrawl has really just remained two steps ahead in these rounds
and that goes beyond what was previously the thomas in four pistols so straight up guns in
hand for gamer legion and unfortunate that they lose two duels straight up the jabby turn
that one's drastic the lurk kill towards long on snacks unfortunate but that's what's going to
to be kind of, that's the feeling you're going to have to settle, right?
It's like you're going to find Stair doing his thing on the opposite side of the map
and that's a tough job for Snacks to try to do.
That was a nice call out because Snacks is on that one minute timing to go and peek
that and then he can tell his BT mates, all right, time to look alive but he got held.
And again, all of Astralis' squad in these defaults is like another good kill for
Hookseats.
He absolutely carried Astralis in their last series.
You know, that's grueling as well, because of 93 damage.
You know half of those bullets come spamming through the metals, like through the metal fence, through the wood.
Javi gets away with it.
Props to him to keep the return fire clean, but we get a game of Legion pause. First of map one.
Astralis T side, but the comfort zone I think is clearly on display in the first six rounds of this map.
Fuzzi's the second highest rated overpass player the last three months.
Only behind Shiloh, and it's like, uh, now he sets so well supported to go and look for a lot of opening duals.
So many boosts in floor, so many smokes getting broken open for Fuzzi.
Topping really isn't a job done alone.
I'm going to be impressed if kills can game-relief you get with just pistols.
Got that one loop.
See ya.
Beautiful tap.
High-packs down.
One of the pistols, but not that M4, which is still unbeknownst to Astralis.
And so this caution justified.
And you know the game religion have been up to antics in these kinds of low by rounds.
I think it makes total sense to see this sort of a starting move by Astralis this lean back
in anticipation of something what they don't know yet, but something's afoot and 45 seconds
there eventually going to find this out.
Stare stomps his way off.
He's up res for impact inside bathrooms, but his untradable dual upfront versus there
goes south.
53 and he tries to kick it into gear a bit, but just meet snacks as Desert Eagle.
Curiously now, Puzzi could get cut off by that deagle shot, but instead PR unable to collect the kill now has an offer peeking into him
What you think would be his end instead the bombsite
Grounded and these deagle kills continue to come through they still don't know about this F4
And so Towson collects his and we've got hook see back to another club deny
That is four pistols and an M4 not seen until the fourth kill needed
always up to antics or gamer legion.
Yeah, definitely and that was a choice to go ahead
for Fuzi to try to peek into the offer.
Obviously, he felt he had a huge advantage, he probably did.
But it was an instant headshot.
He could have held back a couple of decisions here
and a couple of great Digo kills for snacks, of course.
All this while being 4v5.
I mean, yeah, it's a bit outrageous, isn't it?
Yeah, it's a great shot.
I mean, Boozy knows that if it's not a first bullet headshot,
he gets the kill, obviously, as the off,
but just didn't need to necessarily take it.
And there's been a couple of moments like that for Astralis.
So far, I think in terms of the quality of play
and the rotations and the ideas,
the game's not really close, but numerically,
it is because of mistakes.
Astralis are both choosing to win and lose rounds so far.
We can pinpoint two mistakes.
Unfortunately for a shrawlist, those two mistakes have cost them two rounds with it.
So that'll have to be tied it up as this game goes on or else you leave the door a jar for
Gamer Legion to make this interesting.
But they're also going to have to show us something in their gun rounds because we
have seen examples of Gamer Legion fall totally flat with rifles.
Do not afford another moment like that over to a shrawlist.
They're kind of clearing the wrong things sometimes.
They're not aware when it's going to be a monster hit.
They almost always are never playing two on the right side of the tunnel.
So they're getting caught in a position a lot.
There's a lot of fog of war for them on the map.
They're picking the wrong timings on their pushes, so...
There's a lot left on the table.
I explored right now for game religion.
They're going to play three players towards AB.
I think they've cleared out a lot, but they really haven't seen anything.
Very passive setup.
Wow, kill break again. Time to kill's been fantastic.
Jaby's gonna find that deep angle on the Towson once more, but we're talking 20 seconds.
And PR has slipped the net in the middle of all of this.
Oh, the bomb has to go.
Hooksy knows this is dangerous for him to make a move, but he feels like he's got to off that Jaby entry.
entry. Unfortunately for Jaby, he had let PR get beyond him. And so now we can look at a third
critical error here from Astralis. And at what point are these errors going to start racking up,
costing them more and more rounds and putting them back onto the safe. You've got two players
surviving. Oh, after time. Jaby dies after time. That's tragic. There's not a ton of cash left
over for Astralis. Honestly, the wings of change start to blow towards Gamer Legion as they
finally find two more consecutive round wins. Yeah, it's less so a clear mistake in this
round more so really nice move from gamer legion obviously snacks picked his angle
there in this passive setup there is no appropriate flash on the site for the scaling but because
they weren't cleared on long he thought he could just go ahead and swing it but snacks is sharp
right now hit those two eagle shots gets this one on the cross and while that setup was really
passive they did call pick complimentary spots they made sure they had outside of bathrooms
getting control what he played on the left side of the default box there
I don't blame the straws for trying this, I don't blame that I want to give credit to
the game religion for this setup again, because Hypex is so wide, Snacks can stand in that
position, that's what gives them that easy kill.
They're kind of dismissing one more flashbang to disrupt that setup.
This is right to it.
Save.
Cool.
Towson clipped. How many times has Towson just been toppled inside of this B site without even a chance to shoot back?
Whether it's the double jabby headshot back to back.
And now this ought pluck off.
5v4 for Astralis.
Again.
I say again, but to be honest, this is only their third successful opening duel so far
this map.
It feels like Towson has been that repetitive victim, so we're going to get this clumping
of a shrawl is and a silent move towards a to set up once again for game roll agent
and sort of just like they don't they're gonna just let what happens happen they
could walk into this but I mean even getting spotted here that's only gonna
speed the T stop they see high-packs leaving his position going across bank
they can't let him out again he's gonna try to rotate back around but he's
He's gonna call for help.
Fire to speed, smoke right behind him.
That's just a sight taken over.
Yes, sir.
Just neutralized by utility and utility alone.
Although he does still find a deep angle,
they don't have to cross.
He's playing, you know, they're playing spots
that are a little bit too passive for what's happening.
I mean, even look at the pie here for a straw
is they don't even have the utility to go forward
with a full exact.
Like you said, kind of just letting whatever happens,
happens, and then trying to play catch up.
But playing catch up in a four versus five
is already just going to inherently require
some kind of a mistake out of Astralis. And look how far back this reposition is.
Three players all the way into the far sides of bathroom.
Boozie's gonna have this bomb walk down and yeah, no utility to cover this.
So you're gonna be a sitting duck for this off.
Boozie with the back-to-back shots is really gonna just shove GamerLegion,
what's left of them, back down into the doldrums of back-to-e bomb site.
And Astralis will find themselves back in the lead.
Naughty! Damn! GamerLegion gets swept away by the bomb on top of that tank.
What was that worth?
No, it wasn't worth anything. I'm just seeing so much discomfort for them right now.
It's actually kind of crazy that they've beaten the straws on this map.
They look totally lost at the moment.
No, we seem to be able to play a lot better on some other maps, but...
But it shouldn't have really even tried this without a smoke.
They're going in 4v5 on the retake.
They've already given up the site, which was, you know,
because they played just patrolling two angles with an AWP.
It sort of felt like an ego where they didn't mind going back to stage, but they didn't do that either.
It's very embarrassing for Astralis to be honest to lose this match.
We've already seen some mistakes that resulted in rounds.
like the religion really haven't shown us much on his rifles to you know makes
believe that they they're a serious threat
Javi's also faced no real resistance in terms of trying to take this duel how
many times is he just looking to the bomb site even when they lose the round
He always gets his when he walks in to B.
I'm sure if I'm a Scrawlist right now, it feels like we're doing as we please, no matter where we go.
It's a couple of hiccups, but now you're starting to yet again tap into these consistencies.
Jaby is deep outside of this monster push already, and this scramble that comes down into the short side is going to be met by a smoke.
What does Jaby do about this now?
Well, he'll open.
25 seconds, PR finds stairs head, and now that smoke's going to get popped open.
Towson's had a chance to reposition back alongside PR but then Hooksie steps into both of those M4s and PR is on a quad kill
He has single-handedly shut this down. He lets Towson be nothing more than a distraction as he finds all the kills he has
Inside the B bomb site like it's nothing. No way the straw is actually slowed down. It might have been a different round
But instead it's PR
Basic, obviously, by himself. Every single one of those kills on the defense.
This smokeout on the site was massive because Javi was over in the corner.
They weren't ready for that kind of defense. This just set up a lot of good angles for PR.
Last bullet in the gun. No more magazines, no more bullets. Last shot for the ace.
Man, after Hypex misses over towards A, they have that lead for Yabbi.
They think this is the time to go B.
One rotation might come out.
I think what they really were hoping is maybe they try to re-clear monster.
They just never have done that.
It's a messy start to day one of the finals here for both of these teams so far.
He's got a lot of damage.
Deep angle by highpacks, but he just misses the clean shot.
That's fine.
Boosie plays around and finds out.
That's nice and proactive.
I mean, it might even get crazier.
No one to stop him from doing this.
Done.
On top of that, we see in the picture in the picture, the B push is well coming
through.
PR has slipped the net again.
They're at a minute 20, no utility at all.
They've just got three rifles.
Check this out.
Right there for the taking.
PR, back stabs.
Javi and Hypex trying to get out of long
will eventually go down to the hands of Stare, who
gets a glimpse into that A-bomb site,
sees more contact, grabs it off.
2v4 here for Astralis.
I still should be totally fine they have this impending flank coming in on slow timing just
what they need no crazy shot comes up to kickoff and the snap is trying to reposition.
Hang on 35 seconds left this was a 2 vs 5.
There's no more mistakes.
Oh, get planted. Anyone in CT to watch this?
Flank comes through, drops the AWPer.
Real with one kill already, three to go,
and finds position on the sign.
He's going to look to check that long.
Beautiful tap down!
Oh, dang it!
And the cover's right here to work with!
The PR over the top, over the lip of the ledge.
The same as back on the B site.
Another moment to put Gamer Legion on notice
as a 2v5 damn near comes through.
Really incredible. I mean, very nicely done from PR.
Jumps up on top of that box right away.
Raiju was HOT!
It shouldn't be, but dude, I mean, snacks is trying to reposition onto the site off that flash.
People just doing a little bit too much right now. Two on five situation.
He's HOT.
Insane.
That's also great.
He had five bullets for that 1v3.
And so another round where a Stralis find themselves with limitations, find a round of the half, five on the T side of Overpass, nothing to scoff at, but it's just the nature of some of these mistakes.
Yeah, they have to just kind of make it all right when they switch over, but in terms of their quota, it's sort of been mad.
Just felt like there was a whole lot more possibility for a Stralis in this first 12 rounds of play.
And Hypex really doesn't get support. He's been playing even when he tried to back up from long that last round and got killed
I feel for him
He's been going out there to try to be proactive whether he gets a shot off or not
He should always have a way to get out whether it's someone flashing for him
But it's almost always him trying to find utility for himself. Just pick a new position to fight from
Doesn't pull the trigger, but Rez, that looks like full line.
Connects on the stair, missed off chance by high-packs down to 3 HP.
Pistols gonna best him.
Desert Eagle up from long, only the MP9 left up,
and Gamer Legion's players on side just can't get the job done.
And so Astralis kicked down the door,
plant this bomb for the bathrooms,
and will look to tie up the T side of their map pick.
We got PR in Taos and alive and fighting.
We've seen PR's capabilities back down on that B site.
So now retake inbound and he's gonna have to do it entirely on his own
Still pistol out there on the field for Jaby, but everybody else locked it on this angle
And so a strollers will tip toe their way through this t-side this minefield of mistakes that they still get through with half the rounds one
Hey guys, I'm frozen this is folks from Astralis. This is a picks and
And I'm gonna read some of your bad comments. Here we are.
Big vitality would get demolished by Prime Na'Vi 2021.
My only answer would be a big lol.
SMB7DeFar says, Never take your VRS point for granted plan ahead.
Worst of wisdom, I mean. Worst of wisdom.
KRJAM says, Poor Starenhooksy. Routing for them, but maybe it will work.
What is this? Twist NaNiko?
You mean like, he's the goat?
I agree, man.
Sport?
What the fuck is that name?
Can't wait for shifting teams.
Vitality is so good at this, boy.
It's good.
I like that.
Xaylar says,
At least you stop fucking over him.
He can't be the part to save his life.
He positions like a headless chicken,
scribbling on how bad his eye taste is as an helper.
Maybe we need a Xaylar in a team.
Maybe Xaylar sounds like a good little bit.
Oh, here we go, I should do it.
It's always the best on the show too.
This is why S1mple is better. Even when he was dominating with Lurie, at least he was entertaining.
S1mple can be better for your heart, but as I was still the ghost.
There are no good IGLs available, man. Hooks is free. Good IGLs. That's just me.
Immediate call 7981 says, let's just hope the shitty overfades are also getting a new team and it will be a dream come true. Amen.
also from Finland says, Fuxi retire all the way to Jupak
what is all this Fuxi for you?
chips, 1709 says
Fuxi, good hour, take you on the railing road, what the f**k is it?
we didn't even stop caring about the f**king railing at all
what the f**k is it?
enthusiasm west, 4481
says Sweden is us in Astralis
it's over
that's how we felt when the vice came to NIP
I'm just giving them the treatment back.
I wear a cartograph of 46.
That's the second one.
We are witnessing the funeral of Benz.
Fun fact, four out of five of the 30 members of director Z
in the ceremony, representing the organization B, Femi.
Apex is not included, because bees have short life spans
and don't usually live in the village.
That's actually really fun.
X-Blow from Finland, a fan of PC games.
It says Astralis, Downfall Continuous, and I'm all here for it.
The vitality is normal.
Makes sense.
Can't believe they made Apex keep playing a 50-year-old elder abuse in there.
I'm actually 33. I still have great years ahead of me, so fuck off.
This was mostly like... Cruxy playing?
You can think whatever you want. It's okay.
Bro, I'm surprised how many, like,
how good these people are on heavy duty, you know?
Like, we should just take few of you guys
to fix and grow again.
I don't think that's gonna be the proudest
Astralis have ever been of a T-side,
but six rounds, still the quota, swapping over to a defensive half
that we know they have legs on.
This should still be where the game really gets going.
for Astralis.
Yeah, I mean, they got what they needed to out of that.
I honestly, looking back at that half,
that was one of the weaker from both of these squads
so far at this event.
I mean, for Astralis, they actually
had the potential to basically win every single round.
I mean, whether it was pistol and to eco,
the egos that they ended up losing.
It was gamer Legion playing from behind.
But they capitalized on all the mistakes.
They set themselves up for a hard but still possible game.
But you're going to need players like Hypex to step up.
It was slow in both of the previous maps.
They played when they needed him.
And T-siding.
This one comes down to Kent Snack's call their way out.
A while PR will look to lead the charge and continue in.
But he'll be the first to fall in the second pistol
of Overpass.
Boze working around the back site.
Second victim collected by Rez.
He's the guy to find space inside the site.
There's the triple kill for Rez now.
On top of that, you've got Javi sitting
19 health should be a dead man already, but snacks somehow doesn't get away with the kill
So a little left for jabby to offer not long for this world res collects his fourth and that there is him
Cued up for the ace. Yeah, go hunt this one down res
Right he's gonna deny it and then leave
Come back around for second servings with Towson a roof and act revenge give him a quick tap
And that'll be gamer Legion T side pistol victory and a lead on overpass
I mean good for them and you look at this lineup you go yet they have great pistol in place like there's so much potential for that
Lovely round-out arrest
Obviously, I could say that and it's just a res getting every single kill
But he sort of epitomizes the style of play when you look at thousand and you look at PR. They all kind of play similarly
Just calm down because I think it's been very hateful
Yeah, just tell me like the good thing is you're fucking shooting hot boys. I
I think that is true like they again they caught themselves opportunity we've seen the one that sort of yeah
Be when they he walked into the B site when Ryu almost got that one on three
They're so proud of themselves
He's going to collect the opening one on long and you know, I love these hooks he listened
into that in the last week or so.
Sometimes he's keeping it incredibly real.
I think he just nailed it.
Guys, calm down.
P-side was crazy.
Things did get exciting.
Now, let's settle into the CT side.
You're going to have to forego the early momentum that gamer Legion get with the pistol
win, especially when they come into this one.
To be honest, the calls were great in that first half.
It was actually just a micro. Ironically though, it was also Hoaxie's micro. That was an issue.
Swarm right now, or the CT stuck inside the bathrooms. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.
Reo's been found out on the flank and PR collects yet another multi-frag. This time just versus unarmored pistols, but clean rifle work keeps majority alive here for Gamer Legion.
They're pulling ahead on this T side. They've got tons of money in their back pockets for their efforts.
Little bonus round here in this next one with an MP7 and three Galils still in the mix
Yeah, up comes out right away here for foosie. It's maintained a pretty good score line
And this will be the first test and establishing shot in the second half
By is not that solid obviously for gamer legion
It's a map where there's tons of long angles galil's are at a disadvantage
But rough beat that might close the gap
That sprays on some lights and choppy!
What a frame!
Clean up much better!
Oh, he chewed him up!
That's incredible how to do that blind too, and Ryu did as well.
He got a lot of damage after that first kill.
I don't mind the call here for game religion.
Again, you close the gap.
You make the leil into an AK when you make them get that close to the site.
But those are the protocols that game religion didn't have to stop them in the first half.
Every time they tried to come out monster,
So no one was protecting it, no one was swinging on the wood wall.
And that's why Strawl has kept overtaking the site, getting involved down.
We had to be critical of them for dropping those rounds.
Ryu comes through with the damage assist. It's hooksy with the double flash assist.
And just protocols in place.
Shows you why we expect 15s from Strawl is here on Overpass.
And a damn near close timing for Ryu to have to stomach.
He'll be down to 22 HP at a minute 30, and the proactivity continues here for Gamer Legion with this boost over top.
Now they hear that stomping on Short, and it's all about collecting.
I mean, they're not looking super aware of this right now, but it's gonna come down to Hooksy.
He's gonna walk up the headshot or stay down there. I don't think he needs to.
They really are hoping that Jaby falling back from Short was gonna take a peek from Killer.
Jaby then spots the side of PR as he's preoccupied with Hooksy's retreat.
Nate comes over, good on that to have dismantled that boost, but the wallbang's good for 87.
It's a lot of damage, and I think they even hit Ryu with an HE on top of the spam earlier.
Get this re-smoke in. That's a creative way to use two players who are low.
Really like this.
Strollers try to lean back. Minimize risks, and then snare sent into the dual versus res.
And, but they're gonna come back to the B site. Look at all the CT's here waiting.
And there's no reason to disassemble, especially considering how low they are. Neither of them hold utility either.
This might not be a done deal for game religion.
That headshot outside of bathrooms that could have made a difference winds up being the clear of the B-bomb site for GamerLegion's 9th.
This is like pure salt inducing if you're a straws.
The amount of players in the right spot that could have got the kill, boozey off the left side of the pillar,
then boosted up, had a few seconds to get that spray off inside of the pit.
Rez denying a second kill looks impossible and it's him with the triple already providing so much value to the second half.
And they walk into the stack over on the B site, I mean, Astralis, they play that again.
I think it would do the exact same thing.
They just pray that they actually hit their shots.
I'll call it genius when I see it, but for now I just see Astralis just fumbling all
these easy moments throughout this game.
It's one thing if it happens once or twice, but now we're talking about a gamer legion
9-7 lead, a CT economy that's going to betray Astralis in this one, either in the form of
lackluster guns or low utility.
So it totally justified chance to take a second time out here, Astralis.
it signs early on the Astralis CT half. We go back in.
The one great kill I think the turn was here. Flash dodge, instant headshot, Stare hits
into the head too. That's just a powerhouse that Rez is right now. And again, the 90
second kill, insane turn around to me. Yeah, crazy.
Remember, that's a player back turns, 11 HP.
11 HP.
Not one bullet from Javi lands to the back.
Sign me up.
Yeah.
Just removing both.
Listen, you're going to need all the reps you can get on this stage, ahead of the
game, versus spirituality tomorrow.
Enjoy it while you can.
Oh, creativity pays off.
It's a big find.
It's a gun to be grabbed as this is not retrievable by Gamer Legion.
It's like a huge risk by Hypex.
I mean, he's the bomber.
But yeah, he's got to watch it.
He's got the bomber.
I mean, he can't move.
It's been a great spot.
There we go.
Rewarded.
Lots of time left on the clock.
to make that go to worse, but a little too early.
Now if you're straws, you got to come up with some kind of
other idea, right? The first one was that 5-7 boost. You get
your kill, you grab a gun off of it, put it in stairs hand
and have him reposition.
That's great and all, but it's still relies on gamer
legion coming this way and the rumbling of this long
presence, probably going to keep a straw is preoccupied in
wrong direction. We can tell by the map, Jaby's going to have his hands full soon.
Who's it could go and find this out, right? If he finds this fight towards the front of
bathrooms, you'd think, yes, that one long player is trying to lead. That's going to
indicate B bomb site. So now Jaby, keep your eyes on the prize. Stare at your shoes, brother.
Is he going to do the pop-up? How long does this go on? Notice, not much longer. Rez again.
Trans and clears. AK in hand for Boozie and Starr. And an over top.
to save it once more still fighting with 100 HP health advantage here for the side of gamer legion
We've got PR collecting headshots on hooksy. So it's a late scramble down by Fuzzi
12 and 9 is his score at the moment
daunting retake attempt has to get to do it but then gets blindsided by res
Dude alongside the wall between res and PR right now gamer legions firepower is enough
I guess his third I think multi so far this half he had an incredible yes incredible t-side from res just straight up
One second away from turning around and that's not going anywhere press if he doesn't have
The awareness to clear this get that headshot has to be so precise from him
Everything is going correctly right now for res. This is real amazing stuff
The more that happened, the harder it gets to contextualize each situation and tell yourself
to keep believing.
Here's another opportunity for a free kill.
Sir, well positioned, Javi pops up, element of surprise pays off.
And that's one of the not two players on short.
But Rez not worried about this.
Rez is going to go and get away with it.
This time Rez can't turn fast enough.
Bramble down though.
And there are lurks on both sides of this site.
Snacks collecting one.
Just step forward.
You'd think it would be his end.
Stare tries to cue this up.
Who's he walking into this angle?
Oh, oh, oh, oh!
Oh, blasted off of it by snacks.
Three versus one post plant advantage,
and a daunting retake ahead for Stare.
Oh, this is just from disaster to nightmare here
for Astralis.
Now I'm still holding out.
I hope that they can actually close this game out,
but now it just feels like no.
They are starting to just fully crack.
The shots are coming in from the other side.
There's more and more heroes appearing here
for game religion.
Rez is on 20 kills.
getting the six rounds they did in the first half is one thing having a closeout on T side
is another.
There's going to be a lot of egg on Astralis' face after this.
pushing to graffiti is worth its weight and gold.
Off or down?
Yep.
How many times that's at least twice this poor guy's
been blasted off his angle?
PTSD from that Desert Eagle kill earlier.
Now we go back to that pistol round decision.
You see the gap here?
Oh, no.
That was just all supposed to be fine anyways.
guys stop fucking doubting and commit to things we cannot keep saying three times in one round
that we want to like not do something that we already committed to okay it's like it's
so annoying that we have to shut it down on time like this
definitely blame to go around in this uh in this match it feels like some of it's
Just shots getting missed. Some of it is weird decisions, but it is a lot all micro. It is all micro.
Indecision completed, giant killer.
Off with an MP9 up here for a Strawl. As this time PR happy to take that dual.
Got the advantage over most of these guns. Just all about worrying about the AWP,
but you won't find it down here on the B site.
kills back momentarily. Things go quiet.
Brezon overpass just like the old days.
He's granted his team so many chances now to lock this one up.
Who's he getting real aggro?
It's a pretty flimsy looking sight outside of this.
No long controller. They are going to walk up into this, but yeah,
Boosie falls off the angle. No rotations just yet. He might want to save this off.
I don't think you'll have a chance. So, has to fight tooth and nail for the bomb site.
Goes down after just the one. It was a simultaneous, like, monster push going out for a straw.
So, after just hearing Hooksy talk about how we don't want to have indecision creep in,
that if we're going to go for something, we'll commit to it.
to it.
Unfortunate timing that that execute comes out
from Gamer Legion at the exact same time.
They decide to make that move forward off of B,
slows down the rotation upwards,
takes even longer to get up here,
and suddenly we've got a straws with even less
to say about this.
And so we are looking at an incredibly flimsy CT side
out of a straws at this point, a singular round win
in the third map of this CT side.
That is it.
That is all.
That could be damn well everything
They get in the second half of play because we've got gamer Legion establishing a five round lead and
Five chances to shut down their opponent's map pick and that's up PR with an ace this game of 4k here to get to 22
Two handsome score lines there between him and Rez so far this map
Individuals for gamer Legion, I don't think they care. They know they're going up against the straw son overpass
They're happy to take it however they can.
It looks like he was a hero in their last series.
You can't always expect that, but...
Double long play for a Charlis here, potentially on the deathbed.
It feels like Rez has got the right idea to unravel this play,
but met by Smoke as he gets to the front of bathrooms.
How ballsy is Rez feeling at 2014?
It feels like risk can be taken.
Yeah, they have that front-side smoke.
It does get countered right at the moment.
He's about to push through it, so very aware,
but they'll walk into this kill.
And this could be the beginning of the end.
A curtain call here for Astralis on Overpass,
a 5v4, and they're about to find another.
Yeah, blindsided by Snaks who decides to just double back
and clear it. And so when we go back to the first half and we identify a couple of key
mistakes that let the game get away from Astralis, never did we calculate a totally
flashed second half. And so maybe there is still something of a resurgence at this distraction
from behind Dice. Boneswell to the player on Optimus. Javi strikes. That's res down at
the hand and dears out of this one too. And so Astralis will keep on fighting. Towson,
1v3 still yet to get that duel.
It's a 3v5 pieced together by an A defense
that I was ready to write on.
Yeah, it felt like in this moment,
this is going to be the last round.
So many kills coming out in favor of gamer legion.
They had the setup to do it.
They couldn't finish off those last couple of kills.
A sign of life here for a straw list
after a couple of flashes get missed
towards long, large come down.
And thanks for once finally go their way.
This one gamer legion is looking to pass to try to finish blood in the water and they
want to slit throats.
PR quick decapitation of the player on the barrel's double knee to open smoke and they
And they've shut it down once again.
It's an arrival from Heaven out of Stair that does look to set up this retake
already made on the bomb planter dropping Hypex down to 65.
This is still doable because it has to be do or die right here right now for
a Stralis's map pick of overpass.
Would have spotted the player to the close left wants to deal with it off
of the flashbang.
Here they both come.
Lucy's done for, but there in the mud will be slain by hijacked.
And gay religion sees an opportunity given over to them,
as the strollers' errors are costly in the corners.
All right, standing by with Rezner, take map one here, gamer legion coming in as underdogs.
like 100 dogs are all there.
That almost feels a little bit too easy.
Yeah, a bit too easy, no?
You've been putting up numbers alongside PR as well.
Looks like you're in the zone out here.
Does it just feel like it's clicking?
I mean, it's stage and all and LAN.
I feel like I have a lot of experience like this.
And I just feel very comfortable here.
That's why.
Yeah, I mean, you've been doing this a very long time.
And do you think that your composure
and your, I guess, your relaxed approach
to big moments like this, rubbs off on the rest of the team.
I think it definitely helps with me and Snacks of Force as well.
He has much more experience than me, even.
So yeah, I think we gave that kind of feeling to the other guys
that we, it's just shielded beer.
It's fun and we're here doing what we love.
It's good to see you're moving on to your pick next.
Can you wrap this up in two?
Yeah, hopefully.
Best of luck. Thank you.
Well, if they do, it would be the inverse of what happened back in Krakow because it
was Astralis that 1-2-0 on overpassing on Inferno.
Now we're seeing the first building block to possibly dust the inverse this time for
Gamer Legion.
Talk me through how they grabbed this game back because Astralis did get off to a lightning
fast start.
Yeah, I mean, it was one of those things where I, you know, Gamer Legion obviously
won both pistols.
That's huge.
The biggest thing for them is after you go 6-6 in the first half of the season side,
you're not feeling good about that one on overpass.
This is a map where you need to be, you know, hitting eight, hitting nine rounds,
and that's where you're going to feel more comfortable.
But they were able to shake it off, and they just, they never really led up in the second half.
I feel like the shots never got in the game defensively in any sort of way.
It was very, very troubling to watch.
This game exhibited some of the aspects I really like about the way that Snax has been calling
with this five-man unit, that he allows his players to pick and prod sometimes to their own detriment.
and saw a couple of his guys even in man up situations die by themselves,
but he allows that sort of freedom.
And when he does that on a map like overpass where there's so much movement
and there's so many pieces that are hard to keep track of,
you sometimes get the better of your opponents.
We saw Rez especially towards that A site doing a pretty good job.
And so all in all credit to snacks and his mid rounding with this one.
Yeah, absolutely. So we did talk to Rez as well.
And I asked him like, what is it that makes you feel so comfortable with snacks?
calling he said it's more like old school it's more calm it's exactly the system that I like to play
and I think we have a round to exhibit exactly that where gamer legion leave it quite late
but still pull off the hit yeah with this one we we saw actually res himself did get the entry on
the stair who's having a really tough time towards a but in terms of the hit itself
just kind of want to remark on this is a really kind of crazy setup that they went
for here because a couple of the players were tagged low from Astralis they played as
this really far back boost setup and even though yabby had a chance there to get
get a double kill. That was a pretty tall ask of him in order to get that to
bring things back. But I just think that the B hits here were quite ferocious
for the side of game religion when they wanted to convert on that bomb site.
But also Rez finding the opening pick in that round was instrumental. Yeah, I
think it's kind of the dual pressure that Rez and PR are able to apply
across the map. Rez is such a comfortable A player and he's been
kind of able to reinvent himself in a bit on this game religion team
compared to his days on NIP where unfortunately your time doesn't
count there anymore. Right. I mean, it's all about what he's able to
to do here and I think for me, this is the PR that got us excited last year, right?
Before Mahalo, I rolled around before dog got our excuse me, Kiyosuke got going PR was
a guy that was like looking like a rookie the year can at the first half of 2025.
But any kind of tapered off as the team did, but this is the PR that gets you excited.
The guy who could just be a playmaker on the extremities play his own very well.
And he really showed up in this game.
That's interesting to see it's both Rez and PR right Rez who as you say he's
had a long career already and he's kind of he ended up in some dead end streets.
just put it like that and to pull yourself up by your bootstraps in a new system once
again right it's very very impressive and contrasting it to PR Maui where we obviously
had that big news where he was like oh am I going somewhere am I not like what's going
on that seems to have settled. It does and you see that he is even more focused now
both of these guys topping the charts in terms of rating here really though commendable
from Rez to also be that guy that left no stone unturned for PR on the other
hand his lurking prowess was noticeable too when he was on the T side for the side of gamer legion
I felt like he was also just that kind of extractor player for them just looking for openings
I mean I think as they were trying to close things out
He did have a little bit of trouble like nailing when to reel it back in but I'm glad that's when probably snacks
It's just saying guys. Okay, we get picks. Let's just group up. Yeah
It's interesting to see because of course Astralis picked this map for many many reasons one of them being that they had the upper hand over
game religion in Krakow but we also saw that stat line in the last couple of
months. Boozy is the the second highest rated offer on Overpass behind Zywoo and
we saw it come to fruition in the beginning some of those rounds you
said of really setting him up. Why did it evaporate? Why did Astralis's entire
setup evaporate on CT? I think this is unfortunately just a warning sign of
what's been kind of happening lately for Astralis in general. I think
unfortunately when people look at the results they're like oh wow Astralis
came second on the tournament not bad. Oh this day he came third in EPL not
The problem is when you get to an integrative and you watch the games, they've let this
map slip.
This used to be their bastion.
Like this, when they were having their success this year, they were one of the best performing
overpass teams in the world.
It was kind of like them and mouseports funnily enough.
But we have seen it slip.
We have seen them get sloppy.
We have not seen them have the same precision that we're used to seeing, but particularly
on the attacking side.
And even this game, yeah, who's he supposed to be able to have impact with the
offer?
What do we know about the east side overpass?
It's about controlling the levels, leveling back slowly but surely, but trying to
get information and picks on your way back.
You never had any impact at all.
I mean, this is a tough look for his style.
So we've been kind of seeing these cracks for a while.
I do feel like for Fosy, some of the plays
that he's been running are maybe getting a little stale.
I didn't know when I wanted to really say that until basically
the fact that a lot of the entries he was going for,
we do have one in round nine where
he does get a really nice entry for the team.
But in terms of some of the boost that he goes for,
and even some of the con shots,
I just felt like game religion were actually too ready.
They kind of knew what was coming this time.
And I feel like it's probably
time for us trawlers leading into the major and other tournaments to say okay
we need to really shake up our playbook a little bit more because gamer
Legion just looked a little too too on the ball and understood what foes he was
doing. Yeah I will see how this of course plays out if we look into the
entire series maybe this was just a blip right maybe they bring it home in
three maps but what you said they're about their view on the major right
they talk about it so much Hooxie talks about it so much also in terms of
like yes these results but it isn't enough we really want to be work on
all our fundamentals make sure that we are as ready as we can be when that
comes but it's starting to feel like dust. It's a bit of a hollow shell. Yeah, I
mean, I think that we're starting to see kind of a regression to the mean almost.
You know, again, I've seen them have some queries off about their debut. I
crack I was good. Everyone was playing very well, but you kind of seeing them
really slow down. I feel like, you know, you have it right now that the
playbook is maybe getting a little bit stale. Players aren't performing at the
same level that they used to be. I think Reeves kind of one of the guys
who we were excited about earlier in the year. He's kind of tapered off as
well for being 100% honest. So I just think that you're starting to see
some real issues hit at just the wrong time.
I also feel like this is a really,
really poor outing for Stair.
And that's such an unfortunate sight
because he has been ramping up to be, in my eyes,
one of the 10 or 12 best players of the year thus far,
but he was nowhere to be found in this game.
He's so imperative to the success
of Astralis on this map, but on that CT side,
he was given up opening picks,
which I really don't expect from him now,
because if there's one thing I could say about Stair,
even when he was coming up as that support player,
is that it was always really smart.
He didn't really give up just easy debts,
but that happened all too frequently here on Overpass,
and I hope that he's able to kind of reel it back in
and just recognize,
it doesn't have to just be this constant aggressive force.
Yeah, because from going to being so stalwart
for your team to having almost like,
I don't want to say negative impact,
that's really, really harsh, but not having, okay.
You can have negative impact.
I won't say it, Maui will say it.
I mean, when he's dying that many times
to rez or anybody on Lurks, then that's a problem.
Yeah, it is.
We will be talking about Inferno a bit later though,
but yeah, General's thoughts also,
I think like it's natural for us to focus on when wrong for Astralis because they came in as I want to say the favorites
Yeah, for sure specifically with these map picks, but for gamer legion
It's like the Paris scenario although it's of course completely different people
But for snacks to bring in kind of a system that works to clearly be calling something that absolutely works
Like it when you talk about redemption
It's such a big one the thing is that when snacks was on gamer legion the last time before he got on
to overpass was his favorite map to play. It was their perma pick. It was a map that he loved in CS2 because he kept breaking the smokes.
You could see it in some of the E-takes that they had. They're never afraid of going for a B-exec, a minute left in the round because even if there's a good counter smoke,
he has lined up specifically to throw HEs to break smokes at the mouth of Monster in front of the barrels between the pillar.
Those kind of choke points that people so frequently throw for counter utility. He has contingency plans ready and he showed that in this game.
I love when you know it out and say that I like talk about things like this like the details
I think this is like a perfect opportunity for snacks right because let's face it like things on g2 didn't go
Well people are calling for his head and I think that some of that criticism was indeed married it
But I think on a team like this he probably has a little bit more buy-in
You know yeah, there are a couple of veterans on the spot like a rest for example
But there's also a lot of younger guys on the team like a high-pitched
And so I think that he is able to have a little bit more influence on this team and he's doing a good job with it
Yeah, I love that you use the word buy-in that that makes a lot of sense
We also, before we have a break, let's take a look at some calling market props.
This one I'm throwing away is, is there basically a chance that Zaewoo is not going to be MVP
of the offense?
Oh, there's a chance.
Is there a chance?
There is absolutely a chance, Shox, because already waiting in the wings in the semi-final
dust is a man by the name of Mikaze.
And he's coming in hot right now, okay?
He's looking good as ever.
Wonderful has also been playing incredibly well.
And to me in some ways the way that Vitality have shown themselves so far in forward is a little bit more vulnerable
So I feel like if there's anybody that's going to take it from him
It might not even be just one of his teammates might be the eventual actual champions of this level
But we also know that even if they do win, which is what we think they will do
There are teammates on the team that could actually take it, right?
Obviously Rocks did win the official MVP occlusion
I thought Flames was the MVP there if I'm being 100% honest
I think you could argue it either way
And I think either one of those players with a good performance the rest of these playoffs good challenge to you refer in DPS
Well, you know just team lens. Yeah, we'll see tomorrow, of course vitality. I just want to call out snacks has a lot of fans here
Yeah, I just walk back also during the game like I know they have my headphones on and whatever
But maybe something bleeds through someone was like you can't beat by snacks
For a loud. Yeah, it's pretty intense in here, but we're gonna take a quick break when we come back
We'll talk all about inferno
around the server that still all of those players say these are our chances.
We're going to take them, we're going to get into into this match and
having a phenomenal first showing versus Astralis.
Indeed, that was quite the upset on Astralis' home pick and I like their inferno pick.
This is the least played map for Astralis outside of their band of Anubis.
It's a map that game leads and have a lot of reps on and they have a lot of
strengths on it, kind of kicking back to the players that we were talking
about over past those same players do big things for them.
you know res offensively as a banana player in PR defensively as banana player that combination really does let them control that real estate quite well on those sides of the map.
I'm a little bit worried though about gamer legion because when they played fury earlier at this event they had a really difficult time dealing with banana and they also didn't really have any contingency plan.
They have to go one for one because if they're able to find those four on fours I love some of snacks as mid rounds once he gets that open space.
that you called it back, but then we saw a nuke and they had so many contingency plans,
so you got to hope with what they've shown already that snacks is going to have those
notes at the ready. Yeah, I do think that they're going to come in with an explosive play style.
They like to just kind of mob up and be scrappy. I think they have a lot of firepower to do it.
First, let's look at they want to hang it in the series and force the third map.
We're going to need to see their stars come alive. You know, obviously stare,
being banana both ways. That's a guy that they rely upon to go up against PR,
go up against res and try to get them an equal stance. And I think the other guy I
I come on to call out here and so we haven't really mentioned already.
Yabby, this guy's had a research this year on this squad is because they've
given him more opportunities to be a, you know, more impact player.
They've moved them away from being an anchor to being a rotator,
to being in the action defensively.
He's also a guy in the apartments who doesn't just lurk it.
Like he's a guy who can make plays out boiler, find timings on the balcony,
just really create openings to help this team just have a little bit more,
you know, options, I guess you could say across the board.
They need the options or for Astralis, it'll be the end of the road here
and Fort Worth and for Gamer Legion looking to make an epic upset and bring it home on Inferno.
Gamer Legion looking to just set themselves that much further ahead of Astralis, but that last map
was a great reason is to maybe take over past out of the map pool. What do you think Fort Worth,
should we get a little crazy here on Inferno?
Thank you guys for showing up on a Friday evening. I know you all came for FaZe,
But you guys stuck around to see which of these teams dies tonight and which of these teams dies tomorrow when they're inevitably up versus vitality.
No pressure in tomorrow's matchup, but big pressure now for Damer-Leach.
End it here, end it now. Finish on your map page.
They got a gift when it came to overpass.
So many mistakes came into that. You know the team talk at the end of it for Astralis was ugly.
I'm positive that hooks he had some choice words for his teammates leaving that last one
they know inferno is not going to be easy and again the strong pistolers here on gamer
allegiance are going to show up but with this move actually three players are going
to be ready on the B site a actually looks like the better spot to go clean as high
Just around the edge of the wall gets tapped out of this one. Sure. You've got a bit of coffin play
What are you gonna do here? I mean you've got this bomb site in front of you stacked up
Yeah, this is a weird one. I mean the CTs aren't gonna be exactly comfortable. Quad is the key position
Oh, man, we threw around the word mistakes a lot back on overpass
This is starting to get into one of those squirrely situations where something bad could happen for a straw list
There you go. Put res to rest and let it go in place.
Jaby spliced your CT.
Spawn's going to give Astralis something to be hyped about.
A CT pistol to try to get this game going.
This one's like, you know, less of a punish here.
I mean, when the last one should have been a punish
towards game religion, we come on to Inferno.
The stats for Astralis are also great,
and that's why this has been,
this was a good matchup the last time
they played against each other.
What was weird here though, is I think that Taliesin knows there's two more players even
after that first kill, but they still decided to split through into them, where Hooksy catches
them off guard.
That should go in the mid-grounds, even with an opener there for Gamerall agent.
I don't know if that Furno couldn't get slower, it got a tech boss.
I keep thinking back to PGL Bucharest when Hooksy said that being third in the VRS was cool and all,
but he was expecting to get humbled once they got to IEM Rio and the tier of competition took that step up.
He kind of expected struggles to come through and, you know, we'd kind of seen that since
And it made sense because it kind of fit within their expectations.
But I think such a daunting loss today versus a gamer legion with a player that's never even played on a stage before.
Like this was supposed to be Astralis's chance to get something more out of players who have been higher than they are at the moment.
Barring Fuzzi, right? Who's now trying to get like a career high momentum going.
This project was starting to bode well for Astralis.
Lost Tonight would really put a dent in that. It would propel gamer legion beyond them.
I mean, yeah, they'd spiral out right because this is supposed to this wouldn't even be a win that we talk about in their run
If it came to that the fact that they could lose and
Sit out the rest of this playoffs and have to look back on it and think man
A lot of people believed in us and we were seeing a trajectory that would lead us to believe we could take bigger wins
And instead let gamer legion tell that story
I mean that would be disastrous for them
But still entirely possible and wouldn't be the first upset of the tournament for gamer legion
They have been good at punishing mistakes.
Stereo remains active over towards the B bomb site.
Got that rifle advantage in hand for the defense.
Little bit of utility to try to section off the pack,
but Gamer Legion are gonna be brave.
Try to charge through it, and they'll pay the price.
Stereo-Fozzi just melts them at the top of Banana.
No bomb plant, no nothing here for Gamer Legion.
Barring that singular kill.
And that was some momentum behind it with the pie.
So now they're going to have to take a knee,
give over this three-zero start.
We could see some confidence from Astralis that M4P
down through the deep-sea smoke.
Just pressing yourself into a risky spot,
but one that Stare is happy to step into, clearly.
Snacks comes in with an AK on this round
that got no utility to work with.
Yeah.
I mean, I'd be more critical.
Red dropped that.
Yep.
He armored up.
Hero AK for snacks straight up fifth time snacks is playing against the straws in North America
One Wow zero one in major finals. Yeah shout out to Atlanta
And then I think
One of the others would have been the clash for clack what clash for cash excuse me when they play against the straws
It was supposed to be prime for his program. They were already falling off at that point
Hey, man, it was not easy back then listen, I try to take him out
I think counter strike needs a retiree league
Let all the old dogs still do get out.
I don't know.
Oh, Hero AK.
That's the one.
Yes, working out a little bit here.
You can go back to Overpass.
A couple of these buys worked out for gamer meetings.
Whoa, Hero AK.
It comes in again.
Snacks on 10 HP.
But he's almost finished the whole job.
I mean, there's weak guns.
They picked him up.
No armor to work with.
Ah, the lineup.
He commits.
Could have just been the tune.
That's a third kill.
Back into the cover.
Snacks instead able to trade that one with 10 HP.
Rez invested in his leader, puts the Klashnikov to work,
and will force an awkward moment here for Astralus.
They await Hooksie's arrival for the retake.
There's no kit on the two players still standing.
No depths inside the bomb site either.
At AK hits the ground, M4 for PR still.
Towson's MP9 also picked up.
It was over towards balcony that that kit remains.
Time is ticking.
MP9 from the back of the site strikes.
Gonna need to be the 10-second defuse.
Kep's on top of it.
And he should be just totally fine here.
Hooksy will pull out this clutch.
And it really is just to deny that.
OK, just to deny that by from snacks on the 8-get.
But he got what he was looking for.
That was the best case situation.
A bomb plant is pretty huge for that one investment.
But still, it draws one the round.
Makes up for going into the force by last round
and walking away with one kill, no plant.
Just charges him down, I mean bravery to jump onto that center box.
But he actually knew he couldn't play any time games.
Yeah, exactly.
And just go around.
Get it done.
If that guy crouches behind the box as he tries to go around or if he swings to the other
side, yeah, no, don't play games, shut the barrel, down his throat, get on bomb,
get the job done, go up 3-0 here for the CT start.
They have some gamer legion fans in the house.
They pay them.
five gamer legion players. Bet you can't.
Everybody with guns in hand. The threat is now real. Nicely placed grenade.
Although we've seen Reds do worse with Blast HP than this. PR nice slice down into the
short side but this was a triple CT snack. They forego the pit control in
order to have this setup and if Towson doesn't give them anything to
Shoot at, oh he goes in, wings the duel.
And now they found out this third piece.
Bomb is all the way in the back corner of this bomb site
and we already have a straw list breathing down
gamer legions next to get this retake going home.
It's crazy.
Boosie goes down to Rez, we get the push in through Ryu
and now as he looks to get the player off the graveyard
it's his two kills in this retake.
His two kills alone.
Dude, how you gonna find snacks?
He is in the perfect spot to really delay.
Riu has to wait these smokes out, 46 HP and three kills,
and he comes in to clear this.
Here's a pullback.
Oh, Snacks nearly gives him a chance to win.
Snacks still a master in those moments.
Plays the clock perfectly.
You start to see that bit of pressure slip through,
needing to cross back over into the bomb site.
I think it's the multiple smokes on top of it
that really lets Snacks get away
with any sort of reposition.
It's just that, you know, ghostly idea that snacks could be anywhere.
And it was super solid. I mean Ryu also gets himself in the spot by taking over it.
He throws a flash, tries to get in the big pit inside of all of these smokes.
It's a crazy move, actually works out pretty well.
But finally an answer here for Gamer Legion.
First series for snacks in an arena for over a year. I mean Twisted the same, he said two years of things as he played in America.
Ah, so yeah, some playoffs in the NBA.
So playing on liquidal due to a guy.
Well, what about 1v1?
Grants, Gamer Legion.
There are three MP9s here for Astralis.
Grenades are a little bit low, no kits at all.
We've seen a high frequency of bomb plants
It's a three-layer defense for a strongholds here, frees up that second empty nine to swing out. Nice nade placement
PR is gonna try to test the waters, gets down into the pit at least. This is still a man disadvantage to fight back from
Boosie, wild line. Hate that. Damn, finds that headshot
That's a bit of a wild spray down
But he collects it as he collects it and right now bomb still on the ground house and tagged down to 50
And that just makes the odds of him winning this one versus three
evaporating
Send the area's really gonna send a message. You will find no space for free here, brother
I mean, that's the thing of notes. He calls his setup, you know, this G2 mid setup where they're all playing
Surely it won't matter but they do that race them back to the B site. He does not have a smoke for the cross
So I'll have to do all this or fight versus stare at least him versus stare
That's it. That's all a little awkward on the climb up that is every on the other side
You can try to commit to this money's money and he's got it. They have to forego it
Towson now hands-free back on the AK
Stare still hasn't pushed beyond coffin and we get Towson creeping back at the corner of banana
Wow, he actually got totally off the site
But he had to think that he pushed CT.
They must know he's here now.
Surely not.
There's just nowhere else he could have gotten off to except Banana.
But which of these corners does he peek out from?
That's the question.
And he doesn't like just yet.
OK.
Puxy's going to keep that MP9 pressed in on the corner.
All's good.
All that really is money.
They have full control squad.
They know no one's oranges.
They know no one's pushed CT.
So it's money in gamer legions pockets.
That's it.
That's all.
The most important round of the game.
But yeah, the setup that he calls considering they have no kits
This is kind of perfect, and you can always see the top behind the set up when it comes to Hobsy, like, I like that it matches all this call for it.
That was a scary one, they barely survived.
Not the trades they were looking for, it was a nice 2k from IPEX, but that's about it.
You unleash PR, the headshots can't come rolling through, but nobody steps into that
duel.
You'll find some free space instead, but I say free.
This is a very much defended bombsite by Astralis.
Those of you about to move over.
He's chucking grenades in the meantime.
The interst attention's back to short.
He's actually the guy that gets clipped first.
Oh, he's dying.
Pulling from the sky, collects one,
jabbing all the sudden, peeks into a sea of tees.
What a call here.
And that is just a credit defense, which
was stacked only moments ago.
And they didn't give him enough notice
to start pre-nading everything to make sure
that they had Halls protected.
So Astralis really get caught off guard in this position.
It's a very clean victory from Gamer Legion.
A nice contact explode.
Just the right amount of utility,
right amount of presence, and highlighting their aim,
which is really what they want to do
and what helped them win on overpass just a map ago.
So Noxie with this full kit of utility
is just going to recede back into spawn.
I think they'll be perfectly comfortable
letting them live in this spot.
I
Could alive it's not how I saw that one unfolding. No, but Fuzzi stepping back into the crosshair PR
I mean PR was given a lot of space on short, right? Definitely, and I mean they're playing mini obviously instead of big fit
That would have been
No one to really stop them from jumping out of balls
They were just in transition into trying to get comfortable with in the moto smoke on the side and then
Think it would have felt a little bit better. So perfect timing there for gamer legion
That's got the makings of overpass again just in that like you've had close moments
Did a straw is still picked up at the beginning of this half, but now gamer legion are creeping back in numerically
That one impactful as well in terms of building up some cash this just
Gold to lean on for Gamer Legion if this one goes south.
Getting kind of shades of nip when it comes to Astralis.
At least when we saw Overpass where we've seen how good they can play.
They just didn't show any of it in the last map.
And when you hear the interviews about our performance when it's on stage under pressure or whatever, that's just not there.
You know, that just could have been a real off map.
But they have it all to prove now in the series.
They still have lots of time to be able to close this out.
Just a touch nervous for them based on what we saw.
Then also the back of your vines is just remembering that a straw once they switch sides over on
Overpass fell entirely flat.
Like they just flopped out of that game.
Oh yeah.
And so stay glued to the screen because at a moment's notice, Gamer Legion may break
back into this.
map in their back pocket, a map they're not supposed to win, and now their pick to set
them apart in the battle of the underdogs. All for a chance to swing at the Kings tomorrow.
I think Vitality have sat back in the hotel watching that first map between these teams
and just looking their chops at the idea of another grand finals.
Yeah, just pour me another beer, you know?
Is there activate firsts?
Will they anticipate a second?
Absolutely not.
As that M4 could have actually come into the engagement as well.
Posey decides to fall back.
Rio takes it all into his own responsibility.
And this is interesting.
Jaby pushed up through the apartment.
But surely goes second window right now.
He's actually got this cutoff from boiler. There we go. There is time to clear this and
Razz is making a little bit of noise
But surely he gets cut off
Okay. Yeah, that's what we're looking for. Jaby locks it in bomb hits the ground snacks can do nothing about retrieving this
Sure, he'll reveal himself to hook see but that's a 5-7 to the excuse me wayside
And that'll be gamma legion foregoing a fit
Well, it's a great play. I mean obviously it's the fact that he didn't clear
Logs right there for the second player, but hard position to read who doubles up in that position
There hasn't been a lot of that early sort of banana back and forth that we're used to seeing on this map
You've been really spreading the love on the attacks
Yeah
You know, where the Astralis fans at?
Oh.
Oh, back in Denmark, I guess.
We could do a game religion chant, right?
Never in all my days.
The fans are up for grabs here. You just gotta show us some good rounds.
Flash through to fast challenge into short.
This is a lot of bodies coming at the short side.
Jaby meant to have his hands full.
Oh, the wall bang from Red.
Clinical shot.
Pit Peak denied.
5B3 made comfortable as game religion just for go antics.
They keep that one simple.
Three players up mid, challenged down the smoke.
One player joins them through Boiler
to make sure they can't get sideline.
And then everybody's ready to just steamroll this site
and it goes to perfection.
It's crazy again. It's just like the way that they're not even participating in bed
When they played against fury of the other day fury was hitting them with every single grenade
It was just so brutal no matter where they would try to start it was every timing was perfect for fear obviously
That's high level inferno high level timings a lot of obviously great HG's they could use and fear can do that to vitality
They could do that to anybody right but right now game religions say screw all that let's try the A site
No one likes to go a on our attacks. We've got the entry fraggers to pull it off
they're calling it fast and simple and it's working out brilliantly on these
quick splits
all got a glimpse of them there Javi just gives a shoulder away yeah and that
That sitebox just made a paper so easy to get to kill.
Why he's stuck as well, kinda fired his feet, smoked to his left, eats a flashbang as he finally goes for his challenge.
So the utility sequencing there just dooms him.
Now we will get a bit of a challenge going over towards Banana.
Is this something you said we haven't really had a back and forth for?
well right now bodies for gamer legion stacked up behind the smoke. Stare get a glimpse of it.
They should be throwing nades at this right. I mean they know snacks walk through it.
Sendieri down, snacks goes into the challenge, Cobbin players start to chuck out blast bangs
and then Stare jumps on it at the perfect moment. You push PR down to quarter, that's 40 HP.
Man they didn't even have CT smoke in this position. I like they were they just I don't know.
I felt like that kind of rush this little yeah the Molotov lands on their feet it forces them into the duel from that point
There's just like no more utile because it's guns out looking for the fight
Yeah, they're kind of lucky to even get that far and the flashbangs to perfection
And so a straw list I feel like this bit of a rope a dope kind of draw them in with that Molotov
And then just feed them the flashbangs for what will be an easy six PT round win
Oh
Oh
I mean right here you just see all the protocols coming to play oh, yeah
And it's game really didn't like well if they make one mistake then we can go ahead and get a kill but oh my goodness
He wouldn't do it. Well, what's he gonna do?
I guess I don't like it really meant it.
I heard pain.
Just saying there's two.
Okay, Thanos.
right.
Should we remove inferno for cash?
Obviously, he knows the smoke still being watched.
That's a kind of game of religion, playing right now.
They just want as many raw duels, any 50-50s they can find.
They're happy with that.
They know they've got the shooters to be able to convert a few of those, and they have
proved that.
It's their fast and simple plays that have been the most effective.
And then just that moment in the round where they group up into the death ball and hit
this bomb site.
I mean, they have actually gotten through a four player defended A site in the past.
So this one should be chopped liver.
You catch a player with a knaded hand, that one's a bit awkward, you've got Javi in with his and Rez is nullified.
That one's shut down, Snacks 35 seconds, picks up the bomb and is given a bit of space to at the very least secure some funds here.
Malotov on his belt, he knows they won't peek him.
Thing is, Hooksy's gotten eight for days, oh!
No way.
Right there for the taking.
It still stands on 60 health. Snacks can't convert the spray down and that is a gamer legion bomb plant, but an Astralis round win.
Again we see all the right moves from Astralis. They make it to A in time. They have three players going there.
It's game religion. They threw one site smoke at landed front site. The hooksy doesn't fall for it.
He knows what the next move is for them. After that crazy situation here at top of Banana.
But their capacity walked through small pits as a real double-edged sword.
Insane 2J here from Red, really giving their only chance at making this close.
And the straws put together a very strong half now, 7-3.
Great lead and unfortunately for gamer legion not a great buy single AK on Towson
We're gonna get one of those brave looks from a shrawlist down banana this round they've had
different levels of aggression on this half of the map this is just such a pain such
a thorn in the side of gamer legion if they have any expectations any desire to go hit
this A site, you're constantly worried about that flying down banana, but Hooksy just drops
that smoke and then decides to give back up the distance.
GameReligion hadn't already showed us that they have the ability to crunch through a
stacked A bomb site, you'd think that this stack that Astralis lean on again would
be enough but it always boils down to the hit.
The Dickies are in on the edge of their seats.
Here it comes in 35 seconds. Not hiding it as they stop on the short side.
Into the bomb site, he'll go. This time Javi affords space on the tall box.
And that's why it's worth it.
Finds himself two kills as he just mows down Gamer Legion on the attack.
A smoke grenade in the middle causes this frantic spread of the assault.
And from that moment, it all comes up a straw list.
It's kind of a key test for them to pass because they have this A site problem where the execs have been so strong for game religion they come through so much conviction
You can see that everyone's ready to attack on the same stage even when they have to run through that site smoke but the shot finally pays off
Yeah it looks exciting about it
Turn around after going one forward opening duals on overpass stairs 4-0 on inferno
for the straws converting each of their 5v4 so that's the impact
Free opening kill, so, man, advantage in the final round of the half goes to a straw list.
Stare's been a real burden for Gamer Legion over towards this B site and sometimes just
so freed up to make moves on his own like that round where he fights snacks on the half
wall doesn't fall back.
So his bravery will be on display again set up by the flashbang.
Two players peek up front.
It's gonna cost snacks his life for that duel and then they're met by smoke
As soon as they look to try to ride that momentum forward at 44 seconds
There are still options here for gamer legion, but they remain adamant about getting in on this bomb site
And they take damage the entire time looks he leans back
Rez has got players down beneath him with 30 seconds not even on the bomb at the moment things get awkward
But as they do does that open another door here for Rez final 20 seconds of the half
scoops up the bomb and a shrawl is just let him have space that tap comes through and they recover a
respectable 9 3 CT side
Hello
two two six one six
nice bro
left side left side
Zeku down
one more
Zeeb bro
so fight
one more side
You're going to the left
I forgot what it's called
Infantry
I think it must be
I'm waiting bro
No way, I have an AK, I didn't expect
I'm in play, good
One more
Nice!
Here we go!
Let's wait for Morgan, wait for him to show together.
Let's watch Morgan's.
Let's go.
I'm gonna play a game
I don't think I can hit him
These guys are telling us to die fast
They are shitting him for the full map bro
Bro how can I play with this game team
I don't understand
One is clear.
lead after the half for Astralis putting a dent in gamer legion on their map pick
But we saw the flop that happened half to half back on map one
And so we watch with tempered expectations here as Astralis seemed to be in total control of inferno
We saw kind of the same
Yeah, fuck fuck all this talk guys just play the fucking game that we do we are so much better than that
agreed
I'm not gonna lie like hooks he comes across sometimes a little bit whiny but everything he says
I just kind of agree with it. It's just like the rounds that we saw in terms of again the macro and all the positions the call rotations
Couldn't really improve on that just some of the decision-making the commitment that he talked about it's it's true
That was missing a bit. We have that now on inferno. It's a much better look and it's definitely not too late
One tap out of PR the only guy here
Not that Astralis know this just yet, bomb floating down towards T-Ramp with Hooksy.
He scoops that up as PR will find the first kill of the second pistol.
And then he swaps.
I love that from the USP into the Dual Berettas.
There's no attack.
I mean, it knows another USP was right.
I guess it should have been.
It should have been Dual Ace.
Jay Razz, get on it.
Yeah.
A pair of Berettas.
He gets them closer towards the coffins.
I thought I was tripping
Triple set up. Oh, they see the guy up top as well. So
Two kills come through from the set up to bit late on the balcony
Oh, Zach, Zach's in the middle. Oh, he knows how clean that was dude. He had some good kills back in overpass
He's 13 and nine now definitely shooting sharp
Is that a TR1 tap?
Well, a jabby exit, and Snacks turns right back on us to stare.
Quick flick of the wrist, and that's a Stralis done for in the pistol.
So they'll come through with the force by not having a bomb plant to bolster this.
It is Tech 9's and some utility with what looks like this opening gambit over towards Banana.
and a head of the first frag is Stare,
only taking 17 damage, tucking in onto the half ball.
Like that, getting aggressive.
But that Tech 9 is within the lethal range.
And PR gets blasted out of this one
with the Tech 9 as well.
Now you've given an M4 over.
Snacks has been playing well,
but he's gonna have to go massive
as it is fire in front of Astralis.
They can afford to hit the pause button here.
Total control you'd assume in a 5v3,
but things start to get straining.
Oh, he got that.
This is the issue.
Comes away with a second kill.
Joints forces as well with another player
and heads over towards coffin.
I don't know how he made that whole rotation.
Totally blind plus this great transfer.
He's going through again.
But that other M4 is going to find him.
Snacks maybe one step too far.
Is a no-kid retake.
Respeak from both sides.
Nicely tied by Astralis.
Fommest lineup.
And it's a health advantage here for Fosy.
He'll do this.
21 clutch, four Astralis, right back to winning ways, and double digits to yours.
One too many smoke pushes that they're willing to go with, and it was already a miracle he hit that spray transfer.
Maybe it was just impressive. Snacks obviously, he's really shown what he can do.
He can pass smokes really consistently, but...
Two mistakes made for Gamer Legion to kick off. Great positions for those technines to be in, and...
Also, strong shots being hit. You can see Hypeback's got really scared for a second when he missed that first little burst with his MP9.
Gonna straw us now. Looking to be back in the driver's seat.
Two MAK-10s coming in from the T side.
Great heatmages.
These are very meaningful AGs, especially when it could just be a B-pop.
Now, Hooksy, when he gets car control, he doesn't like to turn it down.
I mean, this could be a longer round that, you know, you pretend you take brackets and stuff,
but oftentimes he's gonna full commit.
This is rascal up to again.
Snatch, up through!
He's up over them!
Back-to-back headshots on the utility lineup.
Stare just let his teammates die.
A matter of millimeters.
He got both of them and there are still two more players set up for this.
He didn't notice Rez, he didn't notice until the second bit of vision,
but the flashbang finds his target and hikes it up through.
The eagle head shot collected.
Closes over the top of the boxes with a double kill of his own.
They've lost track of him, but he'll catch it.
Third kill collected as he clears everybody off of the bonsai,
but Kaussin has timing.
He's so fast.
And as he climbs up, he's with another savior of the day.
An 11th round for Astralis, not looking to make the same mistakes that cost them on overpads.
That's a massive play. Four kills for Fuzi.
An 11th round for Astralis, I can't believe they survived losing two on their exec.
By the way, these players both lining up utility, neither getting them off.
2v4, 4k here for Fuzi.
It's just another nail-biter moment, but this time it all comes up a straw-less.
Those are the sorts of rounds that's going back and forth on map one.
This time not the case.
Substantial lead and total control so far on this T-side.
Nothing since the pistol for Gamer Legion, and they are basically right back at it.
A Zeus for snacks.
U.S. keys and the rest of the pack.
Again, he doesn't like to overthink this and he understands the...
I mean, when G2, when he called for G2, when they were at their best, 70% win rate on Inferno,
T side, and it was just all B place.
No one's more confident than there'd be exact enough, see?
I want someone to find this skinless usp
There we go. Oh, see?
Hey, you key upgrade. That's why you work hard, kids. Take a sweet time. Life works out.
At least for a short while, then you die. Keep it real.
Just one long round.
That's life.
Dora, you respawn.
Just one long overbath.
And the honey, it rolls over.
And you even switch sides.
You might even spawn in Italy.
When I die, I hope we're going to CT side.
Who's ready for nuke?
Oh yeah.
It's Friday night. What else do we have to do?
and
everyone putting in an effort here
over on a straw this
really making up for some lost ground back on that one
full control of the situation
might stop them from taking over banana. It's something that shawls have been doing well.
Running a bit more of a risk in this one to extend off of the site, but not sticking around
for too long. Thinking about it, flirting with it. PR drops another smoke for the time being.
Just kind of kick the hornet's nest, quick climb over top of the car, see that there's
nobody there, the fallback has already happened, and it's going to be a confident reposition
here for Astralis.
Number strong out middle, you can see some indecision coming through from Rez, they're
not quite clear what's coming, and that's going to put pressure on Hypex to deliver
from a 5 and 13 score line.
Now or never, for Inferno, he will find Hooksy right before he's forced to fade
back with fire to speed sends out utility of his own skill has the support of the
balcony player and that's not gonna be tausen pushed off of balcony either so I
feel like this is a confident lean on short side for the time being there
they're now just trying to threaten that they could walk back to be and it's
really good to come down to if res takes up around over here in library but
they're gonna have to start running this down in a second I mean they have
to go now. Let's draw this. 40 seconds.
Of course, Hypex to miss, the flashbang,
Towson gets up his position,
and this bomb site looking rock solid.
Goes a little late to the party,
has run out of time to plant,
and with B players alive, all's good.
So, yeah, a little slow to pull the trigger.
It's a good shot from Hypex.
Noxie steps out one second too early.
If he had waited, there's maybe a choice there
to fall back instead of stick around inside of it.
They're gonna have rounds to play with right now.
Still worked the map very well here.
There wasn't actually any pushes from Game Religion.
Two fights back for information.
They weren't going for a late mid-clear.
They didn't have a double arch set up
to punish anything inside of mid.
They certainly weren't looking down banana.
They do back too many times.
They will lose.
Stare is already recovering this round from a 3 versus 5 disadvantage.
She will take to the top of Orange Box.
Highpacks on the hunt.
3-0-3 must be a retake, and they're still sitting on A.
They aren't for sure that it's the B site right now.
PR set this round up perfectly for GamerLegion with the 5 versus 3.
Couple of small missteps, costly.
And GamerLegion will have very little to be proud of throughout map 2.
If they can't make this retake happen, you've got Hooksy leaning back on Newbox.
on new box smokes in front of him soon to fade a tee inside of that CT cross smoke
hooksy will collect one losing still in the process second teeth and hooksy may
have burned out but jab plate this inside the smoke res gets him is there a
kid he has to go get it does he find it in time jumps on top of it five second
defuse all good gamer legion fight on wow it's so close and res barely picks
that up if you didn't find yabbi inside that smoke right then it was over
wonder if Javi regrets playing a position where he can't support back
site I mean I feel like it was pretty lucky that rest could even get this
guy couldn't see anything
one half second more this is over or so
Crazy close, but just enough to keep them in it, moments back on overpass as well, we
just felt like it's enough to keep you in it, so fight on.
Half of the round counts of the straw list, but versus pistols this time.
For all Miz, there was early momentum for Gamer Legion in the second round, just half
before Tech 9, so rattled them.
This would be a great time for PR to have a bit of a recovery.
Incredibly flat first half of play.
Deagle on-stair.
Finally down.
USP swapping.
Of course, Snack spawns into the action on cleanup duty,
but a mistime switch puts this 1v3 into the realm of possibility.
How is there always a chance?
And he's sticking on Deagle.
He doesn't have a head armor to work with.
Whoa, shot comes in.
That goes for the plant now.
Just needs the money.
And he won't even get the plan.
Burned out.
Five rounds to overtime.
I want to believe there's just too many small mistakes
that are happening on banana versus almost nothing
that, you know, eventually straws just break through
on the default.
But even when we go into the mid and late round,
I'm not seeing the protocols in place
for game religion where they're really playing to win.
Instead, I feel like they're a little too static,
just floating a bit, hoping that the round comes to them.
You know, oddly, I think we drew that same parallel
back on the CT side of Overpass,
but that's where we thought they would be lost,
where they should be lost,
having only played it once in the last three months.
Oh, they definitely should have lost.
You've been jarring to see it occur again here
on the air map pick.
For now, they fight on it.
We are under terrorist, we are.
that's a damning stab that's why hoaxes laugh it
only the third time a team blows this lead and a shrawl us would have done it
twice just saying
math guy always finds a way to scare you
He's looking for that malty.
Oh, great first shell.
Full-butters on the jump.
All the utility landing in behind him.
He doesn't touch any mollies.
Tried to keep it clean, but no trade on that one.
Fuzzy pack on the third of his health.
Yeah, yeah.
No one really to support his exit.
Stare sticks around and affects it well from this position last time.
Oof, doesn't pull the trigger.
That's not the way to do that.
Snap over to the guy coming up from Boiler as well. That's a much tougher shot.
And still he gets it on the fadeaway, but remember Stare had stayed over towards Banana from the very get-go.
So he kind of poised with the idea of testing that smoke.
Are they anticipating this much defense in position for Gamer Legion?
It is no utility for the defenders.
Rez is going to be over top of that.
Yeah, he's got a free kill.
I think this spells disaster.
Sure enough, bomb planters stopped in his tracks.
Ryu gets the recovery kill.
Seven seconds.
It's going to be hands busy by stare, but no push, no risk.
Run by Rez, and now bomb planted.
Ryus from the top of the orange collects another.
And it's that kill back from Towson
that will make the difference.
GamerLegion's comeback continues.
Here they are putting one foot in front of the other.
Trade's looking very nice here.
Solid again.
First kill out of PR, holding on that half wall.
Just a touch more support for him in some of the spots
that we see sometimes that is the offer that
doesn't get a lot of support.
But just an escape protocol, something
to help him malty even, but no flash behind him,
just what you'll get when you can.
Whatever you can is enough.
It allows the straws to get to the site.
Get a chance to pull off a 2v3.
This smoke on the CT cross.
Yeah, I think it was Fuzi who ran back to line that up for spare, excuse me.
A little too quick.
One Galil on the field.
Over time, suddenly starting to feel like a real possibility for Gamer Legion.
We can't get ahead of ourselves and neither can they but I really like PR holding on car control
and just playing a bit more active here. They don't feel comfortable on one side of the map as
long as you got someone like PR who is just entrusted with it to be honest. Whatever it
takes to not be too passive. Careful with the smoke sucker. Okay yeah dangerous game but but
But again, because he gets this, they have bottom B control.
Now they can play more freed up on A.
Dropping another smoke in front of the apartments as well
at a minute arc.
Oh, worst thing that could happen to the straws, man.
They get better by the round.
T-smoke drops over towards the arch side.
We'll see if this sudden pop out
can just ruffle the feathers of Gamerlidge
and cause some kind of panic.
Create the mistake that would unravel the entirety
of this A bomb site, like maybe letting that player pass.
Ryu goes back, res wings the duel to the distance,
Fire at the beat of Tausen forces him away and Rez is going to continue to get this critical cover.
Hooksy has closed the gap and managed to take control of the bomb site. 72 health and he collects snacks.
Then that library challenge but now it's Hooksy's hands on and off.
If they want to swing him they can just let him plant this bomb.
15 on the clock.
Into the bomb site.
He's not charged down until it's at least been planted.
That's a little more money made by Astralis but at that point Hooksy, you know, damn well wanted that quiet.
It was, yeah, very close.
Oh, this game actually becomes three rounds,
and now we're actually seeing Gamer Legion
really take advantage of the situation.
I feel like they got away with a couple there,
but now they're starting to make some improvements.
They're fighting for a bit more space.
The aim is looking pretty good.
The strongest let go of too many chances.
Snacks is quiet, they can climb that scoreboard. Now 20 kills to his name.
And we had a lot of conversation about PR and Rez taking over Overpass.
You know, we even set back at Overpass. Yeah, there's some sloppy rounds, there's some messy moments,
but ultimately in that map specifically, game religions just want to take round wins as they come.
And so you take them off at the individual levels, and as PR had struggled throughout that T side,
As Rez also looked like a shell of himself from map one, here we are CT side, things start rolling, and you've got snacks at the top of the board.
It's not the carry you can always count on, but absolutely once in a while.
What's the difference between an asteroid and a meatball?
I don't know.
What is meteor?
I think we should start finding people in the crowd with lots of hair and make fun of
them instead.
Who's got the longest hair in here?
If you've got long hair, put your hands up, we'll find you and we're going to make
front of you instead. Not the ladies though. Y'all are safe.
hair hair
Bob's got a flow
On the top and bottom of his head
Yeah, that's right. All right,
we've got through it. Yeah,
headsets back on. We can talk
about the game. Yeah, let's get
it back underway. The only thing
now I think for game religion
high facts, he's got a he's
got to kind of contribute a
bit because he had a really
bad series last series and
you know, I think there's
stuff to prove over past the
you know impact was there,
but it wasn't super
Overall output, I feel like definitely leaving a little bit to be desired
But he really does often go unsupported
At least we've seen a couple of nice shots from the short to mid-hold. Yeah, that's that's definitely true
There are a couple of quality kills there.
It's just that that's the only spot that's basically been played.
Emphasis on the couple.
Yeah. It really was too.
We'll see if you'll be able to collect anything this time.
Okay, again, they leave PR with B.
Sure. It has worked out for information.
They get the lean that they're looking for.
It's a Hall's play.
This is exactly the set if you want versus a play like this.
High tech.
All hit the ding.
Protected.
Insta shut down on Javi.
All the mid delays for the next ones to come out.
And then they eat their flashbangs.
Sequence it took see in with a single kill stairs got the second
But we have now damaged the straw as players outnumbered within this A site at the very least
It's still bomb in their possession with 40 seconds left. Those are pretty incredible trades
I don't know how res saved that one again, right second time in the middle of all this kind of frantic stacked a game play
It's res who's coming out as the difference maker seriously
But at 30 seconds they hit that pause button and the uncertainty of a rotation back to the B site has caused gamer
Legion to peel a player off. It's also afforded them this double stack. This is somehow still within reach
But a double pit setup could be that they needed Towson to get a kill without taking too much damage back
There's gonna let his guard down and that little pit pop up. Our red is enough two rounds at the difference
Are they gonna do it?
It was those gamer leader change guys you got the fired up
He's got incredible cover on a Reds, totally saves the day with this one.
Obviously, super solid performance here from Kowson.
This starts just to become so real.
Oh, he gets away with that.
Oh, somehow, man.
Oh, he gets away with that?
Oh, somehow, man.
Just wanted to make sure he had full vision.
Max, 30 damage off that nade.
That's just such a key player to get down, though.
He was winning these rounds by staying alive on beat.
It wasn't necessarily even fragging,
but they're not going to be quite as comfortable.
I feel like pushing down in this case.
So, 4v4, a PR out of the picture.
And a third rifle offered over.
And again, we know what hooks he can do when he's got car control.
The gamer legion are going to try to go for that full lead towards B.
He's got to hit something.
But actually, it's up here. It's kind of nice.
Full utility as well.
Hypeback's in this moment, right?
There's tons of nades still for gamer legion
to put the pressure on the clock.
He's just got to hit his shot.
Simple as that.
Sometimes easier said than done.
He has landed some over towards that.
Oh, well placed nades.
Going to soften up three.
That primes the three other rifle players of Gamer Legion as the round goes on, well-timed utility in front of it, hit the shot, and he will.
Oh, so much support.
Send to Util.
Lance perfectly timed at 40 seconds, frazzled the strollers, trying to just beat their way through this B-bomb site,
but so much pressure by the utility to just completely come on each and every member un-rawless.
The counter-util was perfect, and they did not let PR down after he got his kill on Banana.
That was the best looking hold so far. Everyone was full blind snacks dipping
in and out of that smoke but with the cover of a flash and the full right to do
so and now with Drosser on the road. PR, excuse me, high-pack finish shot that's
all they needed. Can't believe they actually might make the full comeback.
Round 24 we go.
There, winning fans live.
Boozies on a deagle.
That's that recovery from PR in the second half.
In numbers.
They want him dead.
They just want that out of the round so badly.
Snacks need to coordinate damage this round in the last.
And they get nothing in return for that bit of a risk out of Gamer Legion.
They'll drop the smoke at the half wall.
Marie, come back straight and all.
But it only counts when you push it to OT.
It's gotta be completed.
And even that's only half points.
Desert Eagle here for Fuzzi.
A re-aggression out of Gamer Legion.
They're so tentative about it.
A little lead comes into play.
Snacks take it so much damage.
Here's PR.
PR again.
Once more with the opening duels in this half
Yet again the utility damage lands at a smoke grenade in front of it
You do not have that high packs off to bank on instead
It is snacks and reds two of the best performing players of gamer legion in this map
Stationed on that piece. I'm gonna give Gabby an opportunity to go for a lark, but he's not peeked out yet
Uphalls. He's here waiting holding off brackets. He's not gonna find that operant in front of it
And this might be the final test for Hypebacks.
Is this round comes back to him?
They pushed off here.
That's the bomb.
That's the bomb going back.
With the shadow.
Making noise.
Nax might want to run at this.
I mean, surely he doesn't want to make noise.
But my goodness, the opportunity ahead.
Now he goes.
That's the bomb.
The bomb dropped.
15 seconds.
They've got to come back and recover it.
Somebody needs this bomb.
How are you getting this?
They're going to try to and Snacks denies it.
Perfectly timed flight.
He's won the round.
Assaults from the back end.
And a stroll is absolutely fumble.
this regulation attempt, an overtime challenge awaits them.
This is the game of the Legion of Inferno.
Man, back on Overpass.
This series, it was looking like some kind of gut.
Astralis somehow have blown the chance
to resolve that bitterness.
To actually take it to a third.
The full comeback has come into place.
And Gamer Legion have gotten better by the round.
At first, is even the first few see you around?
Oh my god, yes sir.
I feel like they fairly straight by.
Honestly, if they don't lose to the force by at the start of the second half, Gamer
Legion have already won this series.
Right, I mean.
But let that remain in the rear view, focus forward on what awaits overtime for semi-finals.
And Hypex is now hitting them all.
As every piece of gamer legion starts to find better form in the second half, the CT side
has been good for them.
Hypex collects an opening kill.
There is a whittle down to 50 HP.
Jaby's gonna catch Townsend.
There has not been a lot of duels inside of the apartment here for Jaby to find.
That was crazy risk to take.
There were a 5v4.
He pushed forward through that smoke.
Poke Abby's been lurking there. They have not really
surveyed the halls at all to get that information, so a real get.
Now the final boss though. Towson, or sorry.
PR when it comes to his opening duels is basically indomitable.
Alley though.
Gonna displace PR.
Oh, he tries to dodge the flash.
Great, he's still here.
And it's gonna be a straw us to try to quickly move on this,
but they will have to force their way through smoke.
Snacks on the other side of it.
It's a lineup where he sees bodies,
but Hooksy's going to collect the single points of health
there for Hope C as he gets his kill.
And after all those rounds for Gamer Legion CT half,
Astralis strike first than OT.
They tried to do something a little bit different this time.
They tried to play a little bit more free.
The Utils a little bit better on Astralis coming into banana,
but you can see a lot of this is mental.
They freed up.
They found the protocols to actually build big brick
by brick towards solving their main problems,
which was PR on banana.
I'm sure there's no chance of a splash right now.
Who's you will get this kill?
And a straw's breakthrough.
The first round of overtime is theirs.
I think you too much.
I think Towson pushed inside of Towson, I think, you know.
I mean, they pushed through so many smokes in that first half
That just makes you look make some look like they're uncomfortable that they're just willing to gamble every single time
Their t-side was basically we'll take what we can get. Hopefully our
Entrying players can multi-frag
When they switch over CT much more disciplined much less running through the smokes, but my goodness
This last one here
There's some pressure on you when you win that many rounds in a row
You don't think you're gonna win doing the same thing again, so I get that right change it up shake it up
But in a bag before also you help to the half to be a smoke bush in a fight before yet a five before does it have to be a
smoke bush
That's a nice stat line to drop. Okay, so they'll let it go over time, but they're fine there very much unlike
You get early damage here on stairs hook see
They'll get vision on banana. That's what they want. Oh
Awww!
Damn, both players down to 40 health off two frag grenades.
Another smoke push, but this time at least it's supported with utility.
You've got that half wall smoked off as well and dismantling a Stralis off of the half wall boost.
Gave them enough space to try to put a Hypex on the angle instead.
Smoke spade, he reveals himself. They're gonna know damn well off on this B bomb site.
How does that change the moves for a Stralis?
I don't know.
But uh, yeah, Hypex shot at nothing.
was trying to sort of pre-fire that and the flash wasn't effective either.
That's psychologically going to change the approach and also Hypex might be a little bit more
nervous about what kind of utility is going to come his way.
We saw GamerLiz doing a great job of fighting for a banana into the mid-round.
But this is where Astralis for most comfortable. Full car control 5v5.
A little bit low, but three players here waiting for him.
AWP still back site.
Let's see about this exact. And Hypex is one. Dave could actually matter, but he's not using it.
Ah, he's gonna stay trained in surely with the AWP.
That's two players cross, kills his counterpart.
But they're already now up on top of him. He's blinded in the process. PR is repositioned.
He's gonna get flushed out from the back of site.
Look at the damage that's been done and the cover on the bomb plant non-existent
snacks a slip the net and as he speaks inside of the corner stairs gonna come out
to clear him just enough time bomb to go down they're not ready to move on this
just yet walking up for the retake could be a critical moment here for
game religion in this series big move big move for the top-performing
Astralis player but caught all too ready was Towson totally called out
and Ryu now reveals his position.
Stuck in the back of site wants he off to work with instead.
They're coming in for the dumbest way.
They're just flying his flood, right? Hit him at the same time.
You'd think somebody will glance him,
but he gets that first one.
Oh, Alexa!
Getting your chance, but not enough.
D.Fu's collected, game-tied 13 rounds all.
Oh, he had a clasp of his hands for that one.
That was a very formidable hold on the site
and the third rotation to show you
that they were really thinking about what Hooksy would do.
Honestly, we were solid stuff in from both sides, but that little bit of damage helped out a lot.
Yeah.
Close call.
That one leg shot could be the difference from winning or loss, but it did have to be
a no scope.
Yes, sir.
There was no time for anything else.
The downside of swooping over to the AWP, but almost doesn't often count and certainly
not in overtime.
It's their place on the edge of the smoke.
Alright, that's what we've been missing on Banana from them.
Someone to support PR on the peek.
Someone to complain from Auburn and swing off of him.
Hooksie with the clean headshot rebuttal.
Wow.
That's PR down, not giving a chance to get out from behind the sandbags.
Oh, they're getting crazy.
Give it that, snatched the room, and it pays off.
That was so sweet, because they just dropped the smoke too.
You think there might be a pause in the play, but no.
This is newfound and earned confidence as the CT half has gone on.
It's the team that forces the issue into overtime,
that has earned these kinds of moments to play ballsy.
And so from pit, Towson cuts down another,
foes he 1v3, and he's got bomb in his possession with 57.
The council's had a knock.
The site 14 secured for gamer league.
Oh, their confidence is boiling over.
I'm really liking a lot more of the moves
that they're making at this point.
The cameo from Rez is a beautiful idea.
The shot in from Hooksie in response was also great.
Wow.
Totally blind for that kill.
And this, this tactic is excellent.
I think we're seeing snacks play fearless too,
but also supported.
They're making the smoke pushes just their signature style, but at least now they're doing it with flashbangs.
Snacks on 25.
So we know what worked for game religion on the C side. It was the past 8th place.
Immediately though, it's quite a different route. But again, it's just not what you
see often on this map. The team that's comfortable trying that.
But sometimes as they try to tap into it and they will find open space
It's perfect hooks. He has no idea that this could take place. Ress has found killer
Now B for sure
Yeah bomb goes back you got the CTs wrapped
A site is done for doomed and dusted off a 15th round secured by gamer legion
surely
The shot's got an AK breathing down, and that is two map and match points secured!
Gabby's staying inside a moto, Hooksy rotating around, they weren't ready for the speed, but
that's what we saw at a game religion on all their A attacks.
This time it feels more like a default than it does some of their pops that they've tried
in the past, so...
Ooh, send them home chance here at Fort Worth.
The straws have disappointed a two round gap for Gamer Legion and overtime their last time out used
This time
Just even having the you know possibility to reopen the site. Oh my goodness
Such you know kind of this like haphazard decision to jump on a and to pounce the stack site
in the first round of their overtime T side.
Snacks is leading on kills in this map, but Prez on this series, it's just been fantastic.
Overpass and here.
PR1 bad half here on Inferno, but we saw his opening kills stand still very successful, particularly in the second side.
And they're going right back to again, let's work for them.
Why not?
Are you flash in front of him?
Flash in the north side, they'll go in!
Oh, and that is his quad!
Oh, wow, what a shutdown out of Yabbi.
They try to tap back into what worked in regulation.
Ashralas have different ideas.
At first, the flat blinding guy.
Bull blind.
He's off the balcony.
Oh, what a great transfer.
Damn, that's one hell of a clip out of him.
Nobody's cheering, though.
This is the first time in a while that straws are playing from behind.
I think there is more frustration than joy
until they lock in another overtime.
The overtime of win streak as well on the line as gamer leeching a single round from semi-finals.
I
Could have been his for the taking radio
Oh
That's down same set up different result drop the hammer on a busy up to the play and that offer is gonna get pinched from the balcony
So I have to get the kill he's gonna watch your mouth with fire
Closer down to 20 health.
Snacks still playing with his spirit.
Everything out of him.
Nade hits him.
Up shot misses.
Snacks gets down in the end.
Howdy still alive.
Library player misses a chance to strike him down
and now snacks within this bomb site.
But the bomb still gotta work its way out
through the apartment.
Library blindside.
Towson's got this.
Dead to right.
Snacks got the ball.
And in the 58-24 lead on Inferno.
But Cholest will drop it for only the third time in CS2 history!
What a f*****g!
Look at that.
That was crazy!
I'm not gonna lie.
Thanks, you've been doing this a long time,
but I imagine you've still got something rushing through your veins right now after that combat.
I mean, I'm probably hungry, I would say, something to chill out a little bit.
How do you do, nice to go to such a nice combat, or not?
Did you always believe?
Of course, because I played pretty good CS on the Inferno, so I believed.
You really grew into this map here, just kill after kill after kill.
It feels like you were leading by example.
I mean, I felt like yesterday we had a little bit pushed it out when we played on Mirage
and I was tilted on it, so I wanted to show that we can play aggro as well.
Did you enjoy the fact that you really started to get this crowd onside here in Fort Worth?
There were even chances to send your opponents home.
You really won them over here.
You know, I love USA every time I'm coming here, as usual.
I love everything about it. Food, people, it's so nice.
You had to be flawless towards the back end of that map there
if you wanted to get the job done in overtime.
You are definitely going to need to be flawless for the entire series tomorrow.
Semi-finals against Team Vitality.
You've been the underdogs this entire tournament. Can you stop them?
I mean, I'm gonna repeat the words from Milan from from from our opera. We are here to stop them
Another cheer from the crowd here in Fort Worth just before I let you go. How proud are you of this team right now?
Very proud. I mean inferno show that even after like pretty bad t-side when we lost like some forces against them
Because they gamble a little bit. We show resilience to the until the end. So I'm very happy how we played
Congratulations and see you tomorrow.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I can feel the grudge shaking, I'm charging up on the ledger, if you better come at me with all you got, cause I'm ready, I'm ready, power up!
Well, the man himself is with us, Tawson, congratulations!
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That was crazy walk us through overtime a little bit
Well, I don't remember. They were so crazy
I mean, I just remember I did like a crazy 3k. Yeah, and then that's what I remember
I told him like it's okay like like what can they do against me? You know
That's what everybody felt like we talked to the snacks on snacks on stage rather and yet that hero AK
Do you remember? And he got three kills and you let him down, man.
Yeah, we did. I was in bit shock when he said he won the AK in first place, so yeah.
He did a free kill, but we didn't follow up, so that was kind of sad.
But everything else was good. Sorry to call you up. Maui.
Yeah, excuse me for asking, but were you with Snacks the first time he was on Gamer Legion?
Or you came right after that one?
Okay, so compared to what ZTR provided before for Gamer Legion versus Snacks now,
What's the difference in your eyes? How does it feel in the server?
I mean the differences that we played a bit more loose with CTR
I feel like we have gotten like a bit more structure now
And we have like clear ideas on what we want to do in the runs before it was kind of like up to the players
How we wanted to end runs now is really like I wouldn't call it set set, but it's a bit set
Yeah, rest said that he really vibes with snacks is calling because he's like a little bit more calm
He can let it go sometimes a little bit late, but you still really know what's expected of you
Is that also how you feel yeah, definitely like you can feel like this man is 30 32 years old and has played the game for
I don't know 17 years. I think he said well what was going through your mind when he decided to go hero a.k.a. I mean
I'm the banana player was like is it not to be about the yeah, he took it himself and he did a freak
Yeah, I think so it worked. I mean it was one kill away from working exactly
Yeah, a lot of damage to the I think he's very good at like taking space and creating the search
situations pretty good for himself so yeah you guys have a lot of support staff
I mean you've got your coach IMD got Grashog also I mean what kind of stuff
are they helping you do in order to prepare for these games yeah I mean
they're doing a very good preparation before every game I think we had like
I think they prepared five maps so that we were ready for everything they
did so yeah we were ready for yeah whatever happened at the veto it
looks like it also like you're taking on these these formidable opponents
after going to VRS route like playing a lot of tier 2 teams and we heard
from Hypex before he said like actually it's not that this is easier but it's
more comfortable because people prey on your downfall so much in tier 2. Can you
tell me a little about how that shift has gone because you guys look amazing
versus tier 1 competition? I mean I think it's easier to set yourself up for like
bigger opponents than I don't know some Russians in tier 2 but yeah I feel
like we are just playing better against these top opponents and I think we're
maybe doing better preparation because it's easier to prep against these
opponents because we kind of know what they do. I guess how would you explain it
then when you because you guys had some kind of mixed results I would say in
the the tier 2 Lancer. You did one that one in Copenhagen. Yeah. But for the
wins here against I mean Astralis and Furia those are just kind of wildly
impressive. I mean I know you kind of said I guess you know what to prepare
for anything else that even maybe makes tier 2 even more difficult. I mean I
I think people just play a little bit more careless in Tizu, so I think that's like the most...
Just random swings?
Yeah, kind of.
People are a bit random.
Okay.
Now, tomorrow, it won't be as random, it's vitality, it's vitality.
Tell me a little bit about how you look forward to that, because I know that for
a lot of teams, they all want a shot at vitality, so it's going to be a little bit...
I mean, we won as well, so let's see tomorrow, but I think it's going to be a tough match,
of course.
the best team and the best team of all time for the last two years I think so yeah it's going to be a tough game but we look forward to play.
Okay do you feel like this momentum like it's complete it is real right and there's been a lot
I want to say around the server and stuff like that right but you guys you show up because this is your opportunity to show what you've got
do you have that instinct of like this is the momentum that we needed this is something that we can parlay and something big even if it's not necessarily making it to the final here
here and that run-up to everything in the second half of the year.
Yeah, I mean I think we're just happy to be in the semi-final right now and then
we'll see what happens tomorrow to the honest. That's awesome. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Thank you for frame-hogging Maui also and we're gonna kick it over to you.
Nox, I'm Dustin with me. I do have res and I know that you know your
teammate there had an opportunity to answer but I kind of want to get your
take as well obviously is you know crazy comeback obviously on for him. We
were actually kind of chatting a little bit. They showed us down screen on
It's only happened like three times in 60 something games this year where someone's lost that big of a lead on Inferno
At what point in the second half did you really start to believe it was possible?
I mean
These camps are comebacks usually if you start to feel it like four or five runs into it because I feel like that's when the opponents
Start to change the game a little bit. They're like it. They don't seem as much
Confidence as they were before so yeah, it definitely felt it after that
like in how they definitely executed and how they took peaks like they
hesitated a lot that's what I could feel in the end so yeah like already there
I felt that we kind of have this game like we felt so comfortable and we had
a lot of confidence going to the last rounds so yeah I mean that's what I
take away from like that the Inferno. Yeah so you know obviously this started
with the I don't know if you call it an uptown overpass but they've been a
pretty good overpass team this year and they had a pretty solid first half
in that one what do you think kind of allowed you guys to pull that one back as
well to you know give yourself a chance to go the series I mean I think they are
definitely like one of the strongest overpass things teams I think that
especially this a team that we even looked at before like that think they
destroyed us in pass games on the overpass and I mean I think they have
a really strong T side I think they got like six rounds still and that's
where the strong part is I just think our city side kind of shocked a
little bit against us and I don't think they were ready what we had coming for
them because we had to change something right because they we couldn't play like
we did last time against them we definitely knew that so we had to
change something up and it definitely worked this time and I think we shocked
them a little bit with that yeah I think the the reference you're making is
of course the I am crack out play and where they were able to stop you
from being able to progress to the main event the first year one event of
the year was there some type of extra sense of like motivation or you
know something that kind of drove you a bit more in a game like that one
or this guy had already gotten one on you so to speak?
Yeah, of course.
You always want to revenge right when you lose the team.
And I think this is the perfect place to beat them on,
in my opinion.
Going to play on stage and going to a summer final
is super big for us.
And I think it's the first semi we have in this team
if you take away this parking land and this.
And so yeah, this is huge for us, in my opinion.
It's a big step forward right now in the game of Lydian.
and I'm super happy to do it with these guys.
Yeah, my last question for you is going to be this.
Is obviously, Gamer Legion kind of had
a solid first season in 2025.
You had a couple of good results there,
but things kind of tapered off towards the end of the year
and coming to this year, mostly playing tier two events.
What do you think has been the biggest difference
in the team now compared to then
that's allowed you to have success in an event like this
one?
I mean, a big part of our success here is probably,
or in the recent time, it's probably
with Snacks, what he's doing for us and IMD as well.
I think they're an incredible duo together
and we're working super hard and we're practicing
more than ever before, I feel like.
And yeah, we're putting in a lot of hours right now
into fixing our game and all the mistakes
because we want to be a top tier team.
We want to beat Navi, we want to beat Vitality
and all these teams, like that's where we want to be,
right?
And that's what we're striving for
and that's why we're working so hard right now.
And yeah, the big game is the corner
of against Vitality.
Yeah, so a quick follow up to that.
This will be actually the last question I promise, is, you know,
Snacks is an in-game leader that's actually taken a lot of criticism.
And I'll admit it first hand, I've been the one to do it.
Obviously, it's time on G2, you know, you can have that date for a different day.
But I feel like on this team, you know, he's been able to do some good things,
kind of maybe give your take on Spacks to the community, you know,
what he's been able to bring to the game of League and, you know,
to silence maybe some of that criticism.
I mean, I definitely get some underserved hate, I'm opinion,
because obviously people don't know what he's doing in the background
and always going to be like that.
And for me, he's one of the most hardworking players I have.
And he puts in a lot of time into putting the pieces we have
into the right places, kind of.
And yeah, I think he puts a lot of effort
into trying to give this team an identity, kind of,
and all these things.
So yeah, and I can definitely feel
that he is a tier one caller.
Like, I play with a lot of ideas,
and he's definitely one of the best I've played with,
for sure.
no bias in anything that is because he's my current teammate,
but he is definitely one of the best I've ever had.
So yeah, I'm super happy to have him in my team
and you can really feel that he has experience
and he knows what to do and he always has a call
and he always has a plan and idea
and I think that's super necessary in all games.
Any final thoughts to anyone out there
and fans or anything like that before I let you go?
Yeah, I'm surprised.
I actually saw a lot of fans here.
Yeah, I'm super happy that a lot of people came here.
So yeah.
I appreciate you so much for taking some time to speak with me and good luck in tomorrow.
And I think congratulations to making the semifinals and yeah, it's going to do it here for us.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
He's right.
There are a lot of people yelling like good things to game reliever.
Come on, game reliever, Lee John, let's win.
So yeah.
They really hate Astralis here.
Let's just be honest.
I don't know.
I mean, I think that a lot of American fans still have it out for Astralis because
of what they did to Liquid.
and over and over again and some people never get over that stuff. That's why the British
people still don't like Americans. Okay, we're not gonna get into that. We're not gonna get
into that. Well, we are gonna get into the West started here. Well, we are gonna get
into it. Unfortunately, is that on the other side, we also have Astralis who lost their
chance here to make it to the semifinals and we got to catch up with Hooksy.
Hooksy and incredibly frustrating series and an incredibly frustrating end to that
second map. What went wrong? Everything dies and all. It's like amateur. We cannot play
default. We cannot play start of the round, middle of the round, end of the round. It's
just immersing. Was it a collective issue or was it individual
areas? I mean, where do you think the fault lies here? I think it's just more of the
same of first map. Like we should have won the first seaside 10-2, but we do good
for 90% of the round and then we just run around like headless chickens without communicating
or just even doing simple things so it's just incredibly frustrating as you say.
So do you give the credit for that win to them or do you think it was more for you guys
falling apart?
I think we could have lost to my dead ground more five times, so I mean we could have played
whoever, it does matter.
Any positives you can take from the experience aside from here to there?
Not a single one.
Thanks for your honesty.
I have a lot of respects for IGLs and for players in general when they, you know, do say the harsh things, you know, and are very introspective and honest.
But fuck, that is a hard one from Hooxie. I mean, he looks dejected, right? And you always would after a loss, but does it almost seem like a different level, bro?
My issue is, this is the same thing I heard him say at Bucharest. It's literally identical.
identical and I think that you saw the cracks begin the format that event yes
they made the finals but people will forget very quickly that yeah second
place looks really good on the list but they almost got eliminated by eyeballers
in the quarter finals very nearly got O2 there and you could just see throughout
the rest that playoffs that they had their struggles and didn't look but they
played foot yeah they took them out they got bulldoze the other three they
weren't even in contention really so I think that I'm seeing some of the same
signs I saw there like just the sloppiness as he kind of indicated
in some of these mid to late round moments and there is a there is a
choking issue now it has to be said when you cough up that big of a lead it's
unacceptable I mean it has to be a mental game thing at a certain point as
well and it's the second time that it's happened to them listen I am a registered
EMT in the state of Alabama so I can transfer over if you need a hind link or
something like that you're sending them he said coughed up also was that on
purpose yeah nice you can administer shots I don't think you would we're
not gonna get into that that does mean is this Paris or is it for
the game. It's not that it's
not worth the Paris major of
2023 had this matchup. It
wasn't the final, though.
Gamers versus vitality and
then phase versus not be. I'm
game religion is winning me
over, man. Like the way they
play with so much like so much
grinta like so much heart.
It's difficult not to like
what snacks is pulled off
with this game religion team.
I love that dust dug into it
with Rez how important snacks
phase is up versus Navi that'll be our first one. I'm actually so so hyped. I mean how can you not
start to believe in phase right? Because even in the the runs of the past it's in the finals that
they dropped the ball. It isn't in the rest of the playoffs or in the semi-finals but that's
we got to be realistic right? This is a Navi that's the second best team in the world.
I wholeheartedly agree with your opinion. I do think Navi is indeed the second best team
in the world right now. I think they've more than proven that. I think that for phase
as Twist kind of indicated in his interview it's like cherry on top at this point. Like you've
You've already come here and accomplished your mission, right?
You've gotten the upset that got you into the playoffs.
You've now scored another huge one over another top 10 opponent
that's going to help their VRS going forward.
We don't know what the launching future phase is
going to look like as far as personnel.
But whether that's going to be the same or different,
what is needed is a foundation to build off of.
And being sure that you're in the range of being able
to get invites is huge for no matter who's
going to be on the server next.
So big stuff in them already.
Yeah, that's true.
Future-proofing for sure.
It is Saturday tomorrow, so we'll get into it then.
Where's the drop off between Friday and Saturday?
Yeah.
Pretty, pretty steep.
Okay.
Pretty noticeable.
You gotta celebrate the Broke Fridays
because you don't always want to stay awake
for the Broke Saturdays.
I see, I see.
But we're gonna be here
and I'm sure all the fans will be as well.
In fact, I'm just hearing them buying tickets now.
They're like, I can't miss this.
Chiching, chiching, chiching, chiching, chiching.
Thank you two very, very much.
This was a long day,
but I think a fruitful day
of the first day of the playoffs I've had.
I learned a lot, was tremendous,
and we're gonna do it all again tomorrow,
so good night.