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Let's go!
I
I
He's okay when you are so sick like this
I know
Here comes the night
Don't lie, don't lie
Don't lie, don't lie
Don't lie, don't lie
I'm not looking at you
Don't talk to me if I'm feeling down
While that may say that the climb begins, it is well and truly ended for Turd and Brendo.
They claim champions of their own region which leaves one left.
The biggest question, Jay, to Shurek doing, is it the three-peats?
We'll find out today.
It will be quite interesting, obviously, well and truly ahead of the stage to get those
three in and all three to qualify, but yeah, what a weekend it's been looking to close
it off on a good night.
APEC North, what a way to close, but the most competitive region in APL that we've had, all two ones up to this point, it's been a lot of fun.
That's the thing, I think we've talked so much about Asia and OCE because of the spot changing hands.
Yes.
Asia, previously it's been Daystar and Wavo going to international events back to back, EP defeating Wavo in Salt Lake City,
stealing that spot away from them, now both EP and Chiefs will be heading from OCE.
Yep, APAC North sits in this strange place where we've been looking at CAG to be the main contender from this region for a while
And yet we know what D-plus is capable of they went pretty deep top 12 in Paris at 6th and rotational and of course
KineTrip sneaking their way in there as well
So only one spot is available and three pretty strong contenders. It certainly is but if we look back at kind of the action that unfolded yesterday
Obviously a huge day for Asia all things considered with a massive. Okay, maybe not massive. Let's not go that far
But a big upset.
Pretty decent upset.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And that lower bracket final there.
Well, I mean, most definitely would have backed in Daystar.
But team Orc had on the day.
I mean, this is what we were saying going into that game specifically.
We know that when push comes to shove, they can really last the occasion.
Yeah, this game really surprised me because I really did think,
Oh, sorry, actually watching the grand final now, which is Orc and Wavewood.
But the fact that Orc had got here at all is really impressive.
Daystar, arguably in their best form ever since picking up Yau, straight out of ranked.
And yet Orcid managed to topple them, a really banging three map series from them.
Orcid really surpassed expectations by making it to that grand final.
However, once they got there, they realized they were up against the dragon.
It really was like, you know, the dragon versus the bunny rabbit.
So, Wabo7171, they took no prisoners.
And look, as we take the focus away from Orcid and put it on our champions of Asia,
It really marks two years where Waco have been the champions every single time
Within Asia and also one time within the whole of APAC at the season finals last year in Sydney as well
They are the best team in Asia right now and no one can really hold a candle to no
They can't then that question gets begged. Well, what are they in the grand scheme of the entire region, right?
What are they on the world stage? Well, correct
This is where the conversation ended yesterday was go home
which is what do they look like on the world stage?
And right now, Jake, they feel like this is the best team
they've ever had to do it.
Yeah, and I mean, we're fortunate that they actually
played Enterprise back at the Salt Lake City Major.
So we do actually kind of have some glimpse of an idea
as to maybe where they sit in relation to others
within the APL region.
We know CNGs had a very good stage up to this point.
But we also know CNGs don't bring quite that same A game
in the international arena.
I think Wave was still the team that, to me,
has the best capability, James, of really making top four,
being in the semi-finals at a major,
or even at a six-invitational.
And while Enterprise may have beat them heads-up one-on-one,
I still feel like Waybo are probably the kind of team
that has a better chance of beating a phase on a given day,
or one of those top teams from EML and NAL.
Yeah, I think the big stickler for me
comes down to consistency,
and Waybo, of course, have consistently for the last two
been the best team in Asia. They don't just farm the bottom teams and then get pushed deep,
you know, they also farm the top teams in Asia and we've seen them at an APL level perform very
well. EP's been a little bit less consistent. Of course, they were knocked down to the lower bracket,
ended up winning the grand final, but it remains to be seen. Of course, OC has been a ripper this
stage as well with Enterprise qualifying for EWC alongside the Chiefs. EP, of course, making it
it to the top eight the first time that an Oceanic team has done so in the last six years
at the Salt Lake City Major and they have their sights set on a whole lot more than
that.
Well how's your question here James?
This Enterprise roster, you know, you think about Salt Lake City, SI now of course going
into these World Cup, are they better than the Bliss roster of 24?
I don't, I don't think we can say that yet just because of the longevity isn't there.
You know Bliss went to Copenhagen and then leveled up for Atlanta and then leveled up
even more for Sao Paulo. It was three events back to back. And then disappeared off the
face of the earth. Look, EP, obviously after their roster changes post-six-invitational
this year, great showing in SLC. If they could have two or three solid showings, it doesn't
have to be top eight every time. Probably, right? It's going to be, esports walk up, then
they're a good shot at the esports commager. Yeah, for Japan as well. Look, I think so.
Speaking of teams that have a good shot, I'm not sure about Chiefs here. I think that
of course, player and real is have a ton of experience and they did best EP and
that upper bracket going it through the grand finals the top seed. However,
you've got lunchbox, jikena and Neptune for their first ever debut on the
international stage. I think chiefs are going to have a tough go of it,
especially because they do have to play EWC through the play-ins. Sure. We've got
some incredibly talented teams. And lunchbox has to sit in his chair. He's going to be
standing up up there around as we know he loves to do, but look, yeah, they'll have
their work cut out for them only two teams make it out of planes they'll be
going up against Shopify rebellion who made your finalists the government's
fanatic who are really in good form right now in ML let alone half a dozen
other teams in that bracket. Do you want to know why I'm actually gonna go
against the green here and I actually think teams have a good opportunity when
they go international it's all in their own head if they don't take this as
international matches if they go in like they did against EP they're a good
well-rounded team they have good strategic knowledge the individuals are
probably the only part where I ask that question, if they don't turn up on the day, how much
trouble are they going to get into?
I want to agree with you, but player was rattled yesterday just playing against Redables when
he was stepping in for Zen Oks in the 1v1, so I don't know how much stake I'll put on
that.
That's different, there's more on the line in the zone.
And more on the line in the 1v1.
No, that's very different, but I think that obviously we don't play in real, we'll do
well internationally.
It's just exciting to see that for LUNCHBOX, Jake Kenner, Nat Tune to get that opportunity,
reminds me of when we typically send a nose team just when we have the one slot
for the most part yeah and it's that new top team and they and we begin their
journey of the international game so yeah it's nice that we kind of get the
best of both worlds you've got the roster hardened enterprise where there
are expect patients and they got the chiefs and their first journey as this
call five so I'm very excited to see what they can do and I think they'd real
goal would be can I just get out of phase one I can do that I think that's a
kick and that's a big success at the Esports Walkup.
Yeah look I don't want to go smashing expectations so they're gonna run deep but I think they
could do well. I think they could. They could cause a bit of a ruckus speaking of which
this is the perfect segway into our next segment. Thank you. Causing a bit of a ruckus.
It is time to get down and dirty with the Raman rating to the final time here stage one and I
am excited for this one. James is a little disappointed he doesn't get his favorite one.
I get my favorite one.
So this is, you were the one that got this one snuck in, even though-
Specifically.
Okay, so is this your favorite?
This is my favorite.
This is spicy carbonara bulldock ramen.
I don't know what country it's from.
Carbonara doesn't sound very Korean to me.
It is absolutely divine.
Now I'm gonna, if we want to get, let's have a look at the front.
So we've already had a bulldock bulldock bulldock bulldock bulldock.
That was the one we ran into, the spicy one, and that was a B tier, this one is the same level of spicy as this one, but more taste.
It's the one that you went for. No, no, no, this is more spicy.
I've had both now. Okay, you have had both, have you?
I would say for me personally, the other one is a little bit more spicy, but the other one that took you out for two days, I had two of them.
It took me out of different ways, it wasn't actually sick.
Let's welcome our very good friend, Pengui. Let's welcome him into this segment because
your opinion matters more to me than anyone else's. Even my own father's opinion, Nick.
Oh, how are you doing? How are you feeling for this final day of IPL?
Feeling good. I'm feeling a little bit sent today. Right? Very kind. One gear down from
yesterday stood it what was it laugh
It looks like I feel like you are oh, what we're going we're going you
Had a straight in Nick
Doesn't with anybody you need to catch up here because Jake's already started Rob. What are your words of wisdom?
What have you got for us today?
The daily words of wisdom a buck who is warm and human during the day a
A classy Muzzy who knows how to enjoy a cup of coffee, that could be James, a blackbeard
whose heart gets hot when night comes, and on my, with that kind of twist, I am a Blitz,
a sledge as warm as you during the day, a Thatcher who once shuts his coffee before
it even cools down, a pulse whose heart burst when night comes, such as duck.
Opa is Seach Town.
Namaste.
I gotta give it to you, J.
This one's pretty good.
It is very nice.
This one's very good.
It's spicy.
Yep.
It's more spicy than the one my favorite,
but I would usually add chili oil
to my like we did yesterday.
But taste-wise.
This is just...
How do they get it so creamy?
Do you wanna know?
No, I don't.
Thank you.
I don't wanna know.
Probably a lot of MSG.
Correct.
That's not a good idea.
That's just going on.
Um...
Okay, Jake.
Uh, look, this one...
This one is definitely a top contender for me, but I want it to be known that even though
this one is very good, I'm still upset that we aren't eating the whole thing.
Okay, I can't take that into the account.
We've worked this the entire stage long.
Well, I thought when we finally...
I would get my compuppets.
I
Will I will I haven't eaten anything since early this morning
So I'm very hate right now. I needed this. Whoa. I'm just burning my mouth. Oh my god. I'm so keen
You look like you had fun. This is this is kicking my ass this tastes
Spicey, oh, it's it's got a kick to it Nick. It is
I would say this is by far the most delicious one we've had, but the spice level of it is definitely starting to get into me a bit.
But I like it.
It's holy shit.
Alright Nick, as much as I want to keep eating, I actually want to get your opinion on this.
Hang on, one more mouthful.
I've already seen the box, I've kind of been eyeing it while you guys were going at it.
What do you think?
It's here for sure.
It's just pretty pink, man.
I feel like we're probably gonna all be in the grants for this one. This is a third run at home. Could be a little 360 at all
Wait, which one is that? Yeah, it's cute. I
Think it's really cute. I think that might actually be it. There we go. That's more in focus. I think that might be
The cutest ramen that we have but Nick you say ST
I see a stiff branding. Yeah, 100% though. Holy crap. I
Say ST for kicking my ass, right? I think it's I think I'm gonna be s
I think this is a unanimous vote. I don't think there's a single person on this panel right now.
Do we want to ask this question to Meagoring? Sure.
Is it above the Meagoring?
I think it meets it. For me, if I had both of these in my cupboard and I was hungry, wanted something in two minutes,
it would be about whether I wanted spice or not. Meagoring for no spice and this one if I wanted spice.
I feel like a dog right now, I need tongue out a mouth and that's not okay for broadcast.
I'm putting that one back in.
Keep that in there.
Oh no, I just coughed in a chili flake when I'm here.
Are you going to be okay to do the rest of the show and you're going to have a side out
like Guzz did?
You've never seen a world professional like me.
Hang on, hang on.
We've got clearance. We have clearance
Mr.. Venditti, I'm very proud of you in fact in fact Jake you're going
Are you doubling down? Oh, yeah, will you do the honors for us?
We don't even have to get up but I can't
Please don't please don't that one I think is
Maybe a maybe a we did agree unanimously on a beat
I don't remember that whatsoever, I don't think I cheated, I would never cheat.
No, that wasn't me.
Well now you've both cheated, so now you're both in my shipbook.
Sorry, not appropriate language, but this round is kicking my ass.
I'm going to make the executive decision as much as, that's my favourite.
Both of these are my favourite.
Yep.
And I agree with James, I think, when you think about like you go to the cupboard,
you're picking between Megering and the Bald Arc.
Spice. Not as much spice.
This one feels a bit more, but this one's more edible.
Because the Miigoring actually has a picture of a fried egg on it,
I would usually fry an egg and chuck it on top of the Miigoring, and then that maybe makes a bit more fun.
So as we kind of, I guess, come to the end of the drama rankings for the stage,
who knows if it will return, maybe depending on fan service.
Big day for Korea with Shin Ramyeon.
You didn't get this one James? No I did I didn't get the mushroom one. Oh is that mushroom? Yeah oh I thought yeah okay I didn't try that one. Have you had this one ever? Yeah maybe I have. Jake acted like a three year old child. Well I spat it out.
All legitimately, and then put it down in instant.
Yeah, I'm glad I wasn't here.
Spice Ramen, Bull Duck, so just a carbonara version with gone B.
Yeah, that one did not have any winning level of flavor.
The Laotite Tom was not my cup of tea.
I didn't mean to either.
But it had a little bit of...
It had more flavor, but it wasn't good flavor.
Meat Poc, which needed the chili...
I think what was the grade?
It was the noodle.
It was the noodle that passed that for sure.
I genuinely don't remember those ones.
Oh, I thought numbers was higher, but you know, I think that's mainly the name. Yeah, I
Think that could have been a detail if I'm being lost. I don't know what this one is
That's a detail that's an F tier for memory. So that just goes in the bench
The fantastic really did not have a good I was like beach noodles. I expected a bit more from as well Rob
Well, yeah, yeah, how much more did you expect?
At least a D. Yeah
I didn't expect to do that. In fact, production didn't like the fantastic noodles so much.
They decided to not show it. They absolutely blacked out the screen there because that's
how shiteful it was. It was pretty bad. It was pretty bad. But ultimately, we kind of
get to move forward with this now. I think, Nick, would you say that you're proud of this
Raman ranking? Do you think that... Oh, no. Bye, Nick.
See you, mate.
We'll speak to you next time. Wait, no. Is he coming back?
Oh, hey.
Hey!
You got the pizza, yeah.
Nick, I'm proud. Are you proud of where we went?
I think we were kind of hitting this for a while there
That that was one issue that I found and that was a lack of willingness to give James and I what we want to
On the very far right is like that the black
Branding ramen you guys were like you cannot put it buff to be no matter how good you think it is
It's like an S tier branding
So I'm like we can do better there and meet like a bit higher up next thing
I could have gone 80. Okay, you know what me I think next time we need to we need to build up an algorithm
that takes your opinion, Jake's opinion, my opinion.
But how much weight do you put into Nick's opinion?
No, no, no, it's more your opinion than I want it to be.
He doesn't even get to taste it.
Yeah, but his weight is just like, he's in another weight class to all of us.
He's knowledge on brandy correct.
Yeah, all of us here.
I have 3% damage, so there is something up here.
You did your answer too much.
Well, there's not too much.
I have a game to cast.
I got to prepare for the games, guys.
OK, so I'm going to get out of here.
You guys finish up this thing, OK?
I know some of you guys production did not want you to learn.
I was so sick of your bullshit.
But to be fair, I think most people are at this point.
It's been a couple of years now where I've waffled on for a bit.
But we don't need to waffle any longer because we actually have a debut segment.
This is the first time that we're doing it.
Maybe I should put this down.
Maybe you should. It's pretty delicious though, isn't it?
All things considered, it's absolutely.
Like I said, I didn't have one today. I'm very hungry right now.
Yeah, well, there you go. You just finished that.
And it's a filler. It's a filler run.
Speaking of filler, how about we fill this segment?
I'm not sure what we're, what is it?
Let's get underway.
It's does he clutch?
Oh, team.
Did he clutch actually?
That's probably, oh no, it is does he clutch.
I'm so good.
So the way this segment works is production
are gonna give us a little bit of a clip
and then they're gonna give us time
to quickly talk about it.
He is the big question.
Does he clutch this?
That's the big one here.
Dev, quick analysis on this.
Look, he's up against Foltz, Kino and NJR.
You know, all of which recently made your champions.
I'm gonna say no actually I'm gonna quickly catch myself. It's six to DZ maybe getting a little bit complacent
I reckon they're gonna swing him one by one. I reckon he's gonna get a little fed here
I reckon he wins this first fight against NJR
And they're gonna cost of this game. Oh, did you I feel like this is gonna be a joke. You can't say that
I felt like he is gonna clutch it. I think this is a yes for me. I'm pretty sure Trevor clutches this well
let's roll the clip let's see if he does I would say because he's already
scoped in I would actually back in here so there's the first you didn't trick
anyone you didn't even know did you no no no you didn't you bloody useless did
you cast it on that no I definitely okay that's great that's great let's roll
the next one shall we let's get on the way with it all right so obviously
Everything but the APL to make sure that it was fair. Now. This looks pretty undoable. This looks pretty undue
He's got a minute. He does have a minute, but it is a one-person clash
Impacts you've got you got your canisters in there as well
But the problem is it's ambi see if it was Canadian. I would have said no chance. Okay, very true
But you're not clutching. No and be Ken clutch this he has the ability and it depends on position
So you've got one sitting Lodgy, so Valsper gets picked.
There's no real trade potential except maybe Pacta, but he's shield up at the moment.
Do we watch it? Which one are you looking at this, James?
The easy answer is no, this is very, it's amy, though.
But it's easy to go.
So how do you clutch against the clash is my question.
Which side of the fence do you sit?
Look, I'm going to say yes.
Yes, I'm going to say no.
And if he does clutch it, he's just like, well,
Is he that guy? We've always known Ami's that guy. Let's have a look. Oh, okay
This is how you throw it if you're the clash though. Put down the shield a little bit too much
Okay, so I mean Ami can definitely kill Mike W here if he checks the corner. Oh, no way. He's been given that opportunity
He does not kick by the way. He doesn't but it does not. Oh that is how you throw it!
Mike W has completely
Fluffed it, kills Packer. That's the only question for me is like how does he get rid of the clash?
Luckily for him, his teammate killed him.
I mean, you wouldn't want to be anything other than Daimos here right now.
This is unbelievable.
It's funny, he actually had the kid outside Jacuzzi, he just didn't even care.
Embi is like, now I'm just going to go and kill him anyway.
Well, I guess when you have a Daimos, you probably just do that, right?
All my days. All my days.
A 1v4.
Well, the question is, did Embi clutch it? He did.
But he also, it took a massive throw.
If that wasn't that team kill he doesn't clutch yeah, I think he might have died to I think you might have killed Mike W
Picking around the class, but he wouldn't have then killed the class. He would have got refrains. Yeah, but it would have been well
It could have been just been a fucking time waste at what?
There's a time was just a time. We're just an absolute time. I'm way speaking of time weights. Let's get into one more before I lose my job
Got a little too comfortable there after the rough and segment
Now this one a one versus three
I think this is more of James's alley. Yeah, why is that?
Well, he might have cast
James out of the 10 days has been of you cast one of these days
No, no, okay very quick analysis Jake
There's a lot of time left one be three hard breach with kid
That's actually not a bad position to be in three cell numbers one flash
So he's got the ability to open up whatever he wants
Dump the flash and there's still three gas babes two impacts
Yellow stairs, and then you got too close to sight twisted mines are a pretty decent team as well
I would hope they wouldn't lose from this position
So you say no I will did just get a kill onto P9 so that would require one before clutch
Those are statistically quite rare. I'm gonna say no I am going to say I don't remember if we did cast this game
But it's twisted mine and these guys cannot help themselves peaking so I must say yes
Let's find out pack balls not that guy though. No, not usually. Let's roll it out
Gonna get this one cuz they're just taking all the fun. That's just a month. Oh, hang on
Kind of like music right now, I feel like he's gonna sit here for the entire
And it's a three stack above pushes up service
I think that's a very fair call there. I think it's a little bit too difficult to maybe pull that one out
But we have seen a lot of different matches in the APL where some big clutch moments happen
happen
Yeah, actually to be fair
Actually, we do have we don't have that
Let's not keep that from falling off the track it's time for us to have a look at what matches we have coming up in front of us
There's only two at the moment. That's right. Only two and the first one for me
KineTrope have a very good opportunity in front of them now
We've seen them do this before and maybe we'll see them do it again. They like to play spoils. However, D plus somewhat
I think that they're in a really good position at the moment Jack
I think maybe the upper bracket match didn't show what they're truly capable of but today they could
I mean at the end of the day every single match in a pipe north as soon as we've started finals has gone all three maps
Yeah, I think when you ultimately look at kina trope that had a very good stage and and I think for kina trope
What they can do in this match now is
Understand they're not really supposed to be here. It's supposed to be D plus and cg
Yeah, and it's a little bit of awkward and based on last night for me
I think that's the way I would kind of frame this game is kina trope go in underdog
But certain underdog that still has the ability to play for sure
I mean you look at the fact that kina trope beats D plus and the best of ones on cafe in the group stage
And yes, while they did lose in the best of threes, they managed to push D plus to a third map and
We get some replays from some of those games here as well
And you can see that look, KineTrope are a team that have stepped up massively this stage
D plus obviously for such a long time. We've had high expectations of them. This KineTrope lost on the other side
They haven't been to an international then
Since they were actually called Donuts Barrel all the way back
Donuts!
Donuts!
Donuts!
Donuts!
I'd love to say that I was going to be a less professional, but I think right now it's
going to be less.
But look, now these days they've got two former CAG players and they've still got the heart
and soul of what made this team good in the first place, which was Akayu and Karawao
and their ingenuity.
And then you've got Eklia, who's a really solid experience, kind of backbone player
on the roster.
It creates a very well-rounded team that has a lot more teeth than the previous Kinitrope Rostus.
Yeah, and that highlight package you just saw then kind of encapsulates the two teams that we've got going toe-to-toe here.
Kinitrope winning the best of one throughout groups and then obviously going on to lose in what was a upper bracket semi-final.
And I mean, D plus, look, you've got to give credit where credit's due.
these matches can be so close in APAC North.
And Jack, you did give the pretext very well
at the start of this show,
which is we have not missed a single three mapper
so far in this bracket.
And I don't think that changes today.
I'll be honest with you.
The last time these two teams played
was literally back on finals day one,
and it was two one and V plus one in the final map.
Everything says Rob,
today is going to be another two one, two one,
but expect the unexpected.
Yeah. It comes to APL.
And then applies even to APAC North.
Despite being as competitive as this region has been I wouldn't be surprised to see plus kill wake up today and become the dragon
Yeah, because they certainly can be I think it's a very best gen genuinely
They're very very best on the given day and if it is today
Don't know how many they win this and maybe win it to zero that they beat CIG
So it really is a testament as to which deep loss will show up today
Where they've been sloppy has been back in the group stage to me. They just didn't look in sync
They didn't look like they were following what they were supposed to be doing structurally with their strategy
They were going to maps that they really weren't that comfortable with and didn't really look like they were well prepared on
But as we've gone throughout the stage
It feels like they've started to find that flow find that mojo that
Convratery and they certainly got more out of themselves
But they do still find themselves in this world bracket because they couldn't beat CAG and they've still got some work to do
They're not head and shoulders in this region, but they're not exactly far behind CAG either
No, I mean we've seen that from the very first playday of stage one
They went 5-7 against CHE while they did lose they got very close and then in the upper bracket
They managed to push to a third map and actually got within two rounds of sending CHE down to a lower bracket
The thing that really sticks out to me is what you said there Jake about D plus on their best day
We know what they can do when they're at their best
They have a very high ceiling and that ceiling is taking maps off of what champions they took layer off of face
at the Six Invitational, they were only two rounds away from beating phase 2-0 at the Six Invitational.
They also managed to take down Black Dragons, which is a mid-pack team in Brazil and the South American League.
A lot of people kind of joke and maybe make fun of D-Plus because they took up what was a very brave move.
All of these players with all their histories playing within Brazil deciding to move over to Korea to compete in A-pack North,
they got a little bit of flak from the players back home people saying well
Yeah, you had to go to APAT because you wouldn't qualify if you played through South America
They wouldn't though and I think they know that
Not necessarily the truth though because like they beat Black Dragons who were the champions of the LCQ in SAL
And they were within two rounds of beating phase including taking a map off of them
I think we need to give D plus a bit of credit on their best day
They are a really solid top 16
maybe top 12 team in the world as we saw from them at our site top 9 best day
That's a lot more often than not they're not on their best day
That's where I agree with you realistically this core 5 like Jones
They should be almost permanent fixtures at international events. Yep. I don't I mean is you're gonna go through CH
Yeah, and that's but that that's where this conversation comes back in a pack north. It's not just CAG
It's kinetrope. It's scars its teams that have been here for such a long time
and we're kind of taking a little bit of time on this because being is ready now. Let's get into them
That's not stuff about but I do think that both of these points are incredibly valid one
They are a champion beating team to consistency will continue to be the absolute
Bane of everyone's existence in a pack but border bank clubhouse. We're club again
That's exciting for me
We saw 15 rounds between D plus and kina trope last time they played clubhouse kina trope just barely won it
That's our decider for today.
Border and Bank though, little bit of surprises to me.
Kinatrip deciding to pick Border.
This is a map that D-plus loved in the regular stage.
They beat both Trippy and Scars, notably Scars.
Yep, it was a close game, but D-plus did win it
on the Kinatrip side.
We actually haven't seen them play Border all stage long,
which tells me that they've been saving it
for a moment like this.
Yeah, I kind of look at this map beta
as a win for Kinatrip.
You look at their pick on board up.
Yeah, they've only played at one,
but they did beat Scars on it.
Two-four record for D-plus, not ideal.
And then Bank as well.
D-plus had a one at this year.
They've got a zero or two record.
Most of the CIG, most of the G2.
And actually in both those, one, seven, two, seven.
Whereas Geno Troop have actually found some success
on that particular map of Bank,
despite it being the pick of D-plus.
Clubhouse as the decider.
If we get there, James, that's the big thing.
I would back D-plus there.
The D-plus, D-plus need to find one on board or Bank.
And I think, and they win this, do you want?
One of my biggest concerns in any matchup like this
is a team like Kinetrope and the chaos they can cause.
You've gone to a map like Borda, which is a chaotic map.
It is a map that leans heavily into Kinetrope's play style.
And if people are not careful, I'm telling you right now,
Kinetrope may well be pushing this into a grand final.
It's going to be spicy, mate, but I'll tell you what.
We don't have to wait any longer.
it is time for pengu and gu... guzz?
what? hang on
where's guzz?
what?
that doesn't look like guzz
uh no guzz is unfortunately unwell today so i'm going to be doing double shifting
uh hello nick how are we?
hey!
hello there jiggy boy
we got one last moment of being friends before our 2v2 later this evening
oh i forgot about that for a short second alright
Okay, well, I'm not gonna break down any strategies in this game. They don't want to give any advice to them from that later on
That's okay. We're playing
Excited for this though, Nick. Obviously KineTrek D plus as we were speaking about on on the dashboard
We all know we prefer this purpose this enough and those who've been following the impact on
21 into 21 into 21 ad nauseam
I think we expected again today, but like I said, I don't remember that veto standpoint
There's not a lot here that suggests one or either of the two teams are very dominant on border or back
So this is going to be quite fascinating
Think Rob had a good point about the chaos in the server
I do think when you have Kinectro much lesser experiences are lost against you know the D plus here boys
You probably do want to play into the chaos into the unorthodox styles of Rainbow six seasons
It's gonna be a cookie cutter default round
I do favor D plus in this and but I mean after it by a coy on the maestro
We're talking about things being out of the norm. We got cow on the cap can
This is not the usual strats that D plus uses seeing especially in that like border
Honestly goes without saying it
Is a case of must win for either of these two in the lower bracket final the grand final the only way in which
From a bike ball must win it
They will have to win two best of threes, one of these two, they are to get to Paris.
It's a start of defense and it's Ayaket's towards break that will make first contact.
False take and low, very early on in the piece, Inetrep have had a very impressive stage thus far.
Be happy with their work.
Oh, a lovely shot, Ayaketa.
I thought he was dead to rights, his nears slipped in.
He had a really good read and a really good angle, but the shooting from Inetrep just even better
As Akayu also deals with that low health fall, it's a two-player advantage for the defense.
Guys, you can see that this is now from Kynotrop. Not give those what you want any longer.
Player on the crossfire is an information game because D-plus didn't know this too.
They have to go for broke. They have to force a couple of gunfights.
It was notably probably here in office on the triple wall from the window.
They actually used a Selma charge on this single archer's wall as well as it got a long last side in towards the bomb site itself.
I could find the people right into the east of you if you came from the north, careful.
Heading into the final minute of this opening round.
Flashbang!
So far so good for KineTrip, but this is probably the one site that they really should be winning comfortably.
A-Gate of Coase still quite low, does offer some kind of respite to D-plus.
Drone through, they'll get the fountain information onto a clear.
One and only nitro cell available as the jug of payload will go onto A-Gate.
He'll need to answer that or he will be dead.
Ooh.
I'll answer it immediately.
Hey, good.
The late rotate here for Mini as Levy is just watching but to be fair that's a lot of utility
They still need to get through you got the maestro cam too. This could be the kill
All into the sap impossible wait at the far place. It's been south. It's been a damage
I think worth there for Carlos stuck in the corner, but it does open to have a little bit here for D plus right?
Got a lot of a kid at both very low on health. It's still winnable for D plus
Yeah, they know though. They probably can't push into archives down
There's only 15 seconds left so down the hallway another saw your game. The runes been quite happily this round
message from that distance difficult to control, but as he did it, 3v2, time is the biggest concern,
love is positioned for a value in archives and LNG just goes nuts, midi fell as well,
and it's all 3 dead in the last second, KinoTro will hold on defensively,
in the end Nick, it was the utility that probably won them the round.
Yeah, I mean again, I love KinoTro for the single fact that they play a ton of
Maestro, the highest pay grade on this operator in the entire world of Rainbow Six Siege in the
in the tier one level of competition, and it has not been target banned away at any point.
And we saw it in the old Commissar when they won their previous game to get here.
He said, hey, you gotta ban the Maestro guys, it's going to be a problem.
Trying and forcing that kind of different approach to things, they also played Oppo
Loose like in all my, or the Yeager to protect those Maestro evil eyes, just doubling down
on that operator.
And that's the thing, if you ban the Maestro, you lose something else open that's quite
strong, and if you don't ban the Maestro, well then we're going to play it against you.
So it does feel like a lose-lose and not many teams these days have that sort of flexibility
and uniqueness that they can do these kind of sort of things.
While KineTrap they are one of those teams, they will pick it again.
Once more from Akai here and it's Helos and Bathroom Bomb site.
They get a couple of traps, the knowledge, information here with Dplus, shut down those
entry players.
And I guess the question of my guess is Dplus going to be able to play the killing?
Are they going to play Albrecht's like you see here, the Blackbeard, the Dokka, the
Dainmoss, XMF control, hunt down the roamers?
Or do they going to start worrying about going for execute because look at that.
Second, the last capital and the capture. This could very well be one of those direct plans, limited attacks, cannot deal with the roam.
Yeah, but Barthrup Talos, you're gonna have to clear above a few D plus K, it's very difficult to clear that direct.
Hey, there's a window!
They're gonna straight in?
There is a window, but it should be well protected with the amount of trap utility that's being brought from Kinetrap, and that's the beauty with this lineup.
Not only can they bring the trap utility for the side, but they can also bring it for 12-4.
They're also going to have bodies on the first floor too.
McLeod actually is probably one of the best operators for this, is the smoke can very much
dissuade the idea of going for that fast rush in through the window with those gas babes.
Interestingly, he does still have a deployable shield that he hasn't used yet either.
Again, the maestro played for the Hallyu with those cameras.
You can get a lot of information when you're playing vertical as well.
Second floor, first floor.
Having access to those evil eyes is going to be very important for Kinetro.
It's an awkward these days with the deployable shield
There was a time where you're always headed on the smoke and the you know the ward and etc
And you knew exactly where to put them down and now it's like what do we do with this shield?
I mean we don't need to have any on the board
Maybe Kawa having a bit of that right now all waiting for the mid-round normal to put in the perfect spot
We'll see. That's the way it goes out to kind of counter any sort of push here with the lion's scan
But there's none coming we know that
So waiting for first bit of battle and there it is moves and the Thatcher finds a Clare on level my
So it's gonna be like a full clear here 50 plus despite the operator line up when they get to that bomb side
That's when they're gonna be the strongest to enable the kevita on the glass
Yeah, really unfortunate for a clear he just got caught in the hallway on the top floor
He goes down without really
Be on my back. They lose that nut yourself as well
It was the only one that had available and two gas babes have already been expanded by Koala
So far so good for T plus just eating through some of the utility got that opening kill putting pressure both top floor and first floor
especially with midi now playing main lobby falls as well towards waiting. If they want they can actually go for a site execute
even though they're still a minute on the clock because they've actually drawn enough attention away from Kinetrope both above and below
You can slip in go for this plant midi finds the kill on to koa so that also deals with the one and only defender on the first floor
Sike is very vulnerable now for Kinetrope
No real time denial yesterday
and he can both be EMP'd, anything Doki be called at the right moment to deny it entirely.
So, Kim's are fighting in the dark right now, and it's gonna get worse for them.
And good trade there on top 4, still favorite in deep plus.
But actually the numbers, Karrada, Houston, Eastairs, 2v2.
Yeah, huge room, Karrada and Akali to win their respective fights, as you said, 2v2.
Now, heading for the last third second, and Akali threw the hatchcatchers out midi.
He wasn't prepared for the angle.
Okay.
And Levy's still outside the balcony, creates the 1v1.
Now he doesn't have the defuser up against the maestro and the guy who elects not to drop because the bullet hose is that strong up close!
It's the maestro again, two rounds to begin and the maestro is being the difference!
Oh, that's ridiculous.
He sticks around in the office, talks by the window and then white swings at the perfect moment because we saw Levy was kind of sweeping the room from the left-hand side to the right-hand side.
And as he goes all the way right to clear the final corner, he gets completely swung from the opposite angle.
That's gonna give you a bit of confidence here if you're Kiritrope.
All the players are working out in this round in particular.
You're playing with a two-man deficit and still somehow coming out on top,
finding a couple of the Romans there, got a lot of most notably finding two kills on the East Stairs.
And that nice drill indeed.
Do not underestimate it. No need to reload.
And I mean, what a shame.
Akane goes from Maestro Klawchee in two rounds in a row to now playing Mossy.
That is a huge switch-up, but I guess you gotta have different ways of winning a round.
Also, hold up, hold the phone.
Is this the first Thunderbird we've seen in our life forever?
Good thing Thunderbird, a ventilation pump to the border.
Thunderbird is usually played by Chef Jeff in OCE, but outside of that, I think, uh,
I think Wizard plays it in SAO.
Has he played at this stage though?
He has, yes he has, Nick.
But Chef Jeff, he has.
He has.
He has seen the fight.
Yeah, he played it on, I want to say console, but regardless of the map,
Oh, I think you're right actually.
And so for the Thunderbird, the fun part is whenever I do see it, typically by Chef-Chef,
I always try to keep an eye on whether or not the cone of stations actually make a difference
and I still don't think I've ever seen them make it.
They've basically never done anything.
They're so bad. They're still so bad.
And even if someone gets taken low and they go for the kill, it just takes so long that it's just irrelevant.
Oh, this is interesting.
He is on the buff, very, very quick and gets caught by the Thunderbird!
Hold off.
No.
Okay, I didn't just shoot the, uh, the alive body of the buck,
also the dead version of it.
I can't see the little mag there.
Hey, he can go heal.
The smoke can go back to the people.
Oh my god, he can do the thing, do the thing!
And they buffed the Thunderbird, but they're not too long ago.
They, uh, increased the healing speed by 50%.
And it's still...
So it is faster now.
And it... okay, it's still trapped apparently.
Okay, I still think there's a world where you start playing a brook and you play Thunderbird
and you get 150 health on those defenders and you can get his heal forever.
Come on now.
And where's your utility?
Oh, oh, you tanked.
Don't get me called.
You take the Thunderbird instantly.
Look, he completely countered the 3 damage.
I'll tell you soon enough already.
Boom.
That's a counter pick.
That's a counter pick.
Thunderbird's gonna be better.
Explosion.
Boom.
Heal.
Into the Thunderbird.
No, dead.
Yep.
use this.
Conestation is probably that one.
Midi gets the kill onto Eclat.
Now, here we go, there you go.
He'll eat the call. He should then heal up.
He absolutely will just answer the call.
That defeats the purpose unless he heals the
pressure from the solid snake and
it's going to be a 1-2 split now
for the D-Pantakina trope.
It's going to be hard to hold this one.
Now see, if you drop down,
They're going to leave one player above AIGator now falling back in a 1-minute mark.
So it's surrendering full top wall control, but deepers don't know that they fell back
just yet.
They're going to tank the call, wait for the recharge here at the Kona station, bomb back
to full HP in no time.
Good value, Kawa, Akai and AIGator.
That is three super people being healed now by a single operator, but it doesn't matter
because they can headshot right after Akai and now the very thing with 2v4 now for AIGator
and Kawa.
Also the other thing with the cornerstations, I mean the dplots are going to win this, but
you have to be very careful with the positioning because see how they crouch under the hatch?
It's like a double stack under the hatch there when you've given up top floor control, it's
not a good position to be in.
Thanks.
Not at all.
And with that they're on as far as we use the dplots to find all the kills and it's the
same argument you make for Doc, right?
Doc is a great operator if you have an injured player that you cannot go and revive them,
but with that being said you're not supposed to be in an injured position in the first
place so you need to become into a bad position to enable these kind of healing operators and
beg it back to even grounds it does feel a bit wishy-washy but i love when a good plan comes
together not to be in that one mystery plan immediately there from d plus we're finally seeing
is that's a respect ban though i feel like surely as a pro player nick that's going to be the
ultimate respect when you clearly know that ban is specifically just for you
Yeah, that is exactly right. It's something that you take a lot of pride in as a flex player, right?
If you can be so successful on one particular object, every team starts banning it, because if I'm any other team to nip it,
nor if I go into stage 2, or when I go into stage 2, I'm looking at banning Maestro against Kierchup in the majority of the games in group stage.
There's no reason not to. It's gonna be like their flair of how they play the game differently, unless you're really good against a specific playstyle,
which, let's be honest, probably nobody is, because it's so uncommon to see the Maestro in the first place.
Ban it. Go back to even grounds.
Pinch up a ban, while double shielding, don't give me. That's like super common territory for D+,
then I've got a struggle about, oh my god, what am I gonna do now? How do I get the intel game, etc.
Kirito and Akaiyo, they have doubled down on the intel game, from Maestro to the Echo,
so they do still have the information portion of the game.
You just don't have to even do damage and deny the drones and be a threat in the server the same way.
and worst comes
oh
can you hear me
set on the court all ok
I see what's happened here I'm gonna at some point need to
change headset it reminds me a little bit of an answer back in the day
shield play was not as prevalent like I'm talking like four or five years ago
where it was more than me yeah right so if you were really good on shields you
could obviously make a difference and it's someone in the 8-pack region I did
that and he got that banned away whereas obviously nowadays everyone just bans
away the Monty and the Blitz. Oh, I ain't got a court top waiting by nears, high versus four again another opening kill full D plus that'll be
We split it to a piece down the first four rounds.
To the top spot again, you're on board, right?
You're up against the ACOC, DMR.
You're like, I don't know, SNG's, Hologroscopes, etc.
It doesn't feel entirely fair.
Even the ACOC doesn't have ACOC any longer.
They're gonna be stuck in these corners,
stuck by the half force, trying to take it to half decent fight.
But as we see, the longer time goes on for the worse it gets,
the longer the force will fall on back,
trying to stay much closer to the bomb site itself.
Reinforce in the middle of the round. It's good of peeling back the layers here for getting the trope, but the issues involves the guy early
There's still half around to play and there are going to be some stronger players here
Like the game was admitted to get that information, you just have to grenade and go for another free pick later on
Hi, you. Can you beat a hero once again?
Get very different weapon, very different kind of operators,
as you get a lot more active in the shield and now seeking out those fights.
And Eclair's already taken a lot of damage as well,
Gatorade goes down, feels like D plus, they're everywhere.
Mithy, sent to the building, locking things down, tracking different defenders,
saying, hey, this is clear, this isn't, move forward.
Kyo, here he comes with the swing, gets the injured and the confirmation,
that's Deimos, just set off the board.
There's at least four other attackers,
looking still towards that top portion, archives and armory.
Not a good shot to prevent player changes things, traded right back when it makes it winnable.
Still, 2v3.
Yeah, 2v3. That's not a lot of time remaining in the round.
And a big bomb site that you want to win on defense here for Keena Troop.
The car you will have to stay gun up, can't probably rely on those yokas even if they are available.
Pushing up main stairs down, Muty is a little late because, wow, perhaps we're a big swing.
He does get there eventually and then turns around.
Bot main gets the second wonderful double from Muty.
Huge round win for D plus Kia on Armory and the Archives. That could go a long way in this map.
Yeah, they needed that. I think Niers in particular feeling a bit tense there at the server not finding
as much success as early on as he would like to. It does feel like when you look at D plus,
if Niers is having a great game, they're gonna run away with it and steal the show. Whenever he's
struggling, he often dies first early or they don't get to utilize your operators like your
clash your shield over in a block in some instances and he's sitting on 2 and 3 going
into that round. Not being heated up in the in-game chat either, Nierz does play his
best and he is also smack talk at the same time.
So two more rounds to go in the half. That musi's 7 kills has been the standout as Keenotrope
I've given up two rounds in a row, it started off supplying for them to go two nil up, D plus
down five back, and this just continues to go with the direction of this region that
we've seen basically since the start of finals, if not even really all the way through group
stage.
This is so difficult to gain separation, just when you think one team is looking maybe like
they're going to be on their A game, we were talking on the desk before about the consistency
issues of D-plus here. Maybe we don't always get to see the best of them when they do lock in. I
think their best is maybe the best. It's just a matter of how often we get to see it. Two rounds
straight. Now we go bathroom tellers for the second time in this half-defended last time
by KineTrope successfully in the second round, but that came down to a 1v1 with a car here.
And so far you look at the rounds plate here. Two alive, one alive, four, sure, but then one alive
another clutch. It's been a really close border.
Alright, to be fair, if your kill intro closes great, it beats getting destroyed,
so they're holding on for now. But uh, it does feel like they need to
just kind of really get on some of those like more neutral players, like I said.
Might as well be in Benderway now, it's meant to camp Ken, the Kaiji, trying to make it problem
solving here for D+. But they got braver, right? They have EMPs and
in capital they lose nearest early again this time on the Sophia again another bird operator
and bring heart destruction in fact he brings the only heart destruction because falls on
capital is playing secondary in peace so the kind is not going to be a problem at all any longer
they can't preach anything so it's very much going to be a matter of plan b which is going to be a
classic border style go for kills midi does it at that finds a claire have to keep this up
it since they cannot reach the walls all the hatches they have no other choice but to simply
play for as much map control as they can and just walk down the staircase and force the fights.
Final edge adpl by Muzie.
Hoping someone will walk into his line of sight but it hasn't quite been that sort of game.
Clearly won't see on boarder. Gotta go searching, you gotta go and force these fights.
That's going to be a successful plan and they catch him through the window.
That is a huge moment for D plus Kia.
I should just be the round. I mean, the position is so strong right out of the building. The
whole thing stopped mid-team, so I proved that's another one to Colorado as well. And
Kinetrope, they're standing still. They're still top four. They're not even going for
the push. They're still top four. They're not even in the right side. Come on now. Guys,
it's not like you can say... This is so strange to see. There's just a lack of urgency. There's
a lack of urgency from Kinetrope. It's like they realize they can't win this round. Maybe
expect him of course some kind of a retake towards that hatch and maybe hoping the d-plus
would throw bodies there. Aya Gator, he's started fountain, he will sit fountain and the round
will go the way of d-plus here. They didn't even try. They gave that up. As soon as the
plane was successful, Nick, clearly Kinetrope knew that they were not winning this round.
So this is not the first time that we've seen this. When I first was Kinetrope, I think we were
are playing chalet a very similar thing happened where if they were in a 1v2 or like a 2v4
something that's winnable but very difficult they will kind of just sit out of the building if
they're attacking and just like communicate I guess talk about the things that went wrong instead of
trying to salvage to cure it rather than front of them and we had a moment where I think kawa was
seven and one he wasn't there but he was seven and one and he had lost like every round because
because they were just like getting their couple of kills and his AFK and they keep getting entrance cracks essentially.
Neutral were like, no we lost this one guys they planted, that's the 4 miss, not good enough, go again.
And they will have one more shot here in the half, even up 3-3.
Which to be honest, if you get 3 rounds of border defense, generally speaking that's pretty damn good.
But with how APL is so different from the normal whatnot and how it came from a so very new team with this iteration of the roster,
I have no idea that she's expecting to do better than the attack of the defense.
Well, it's a small sample size, Border hasn't really been played much this stage in APAC Northnick twice,
but it does sit at a 68% attack of win rate largely though.
I just never really paid too much mind though when it's such a small sample size,
like 9 rounds plate of Armory and Archives for a whopping 90% attack of win rate.
Like we know that's a bit extreme.
That's a little bit, okay, that doesn't seem right.
60% for vent workshop and then 60% defensive win rate bar from Talos.
So that's the only data that we have for this stage.
But I would agree with you in large that
if Kennetrope can get a third defensive round on water, that usually does both points.
Well, Kaiu, while aggression here from D plus his nears,
may compete a contact with the Yalla, he's fortunate there'll be a light because of that shield.
And Kaiu, he's fortunate that he probably hannah shield up rather than a gun.
Otherwise, Akaiu may have comfortable to the head.
Final round of this half D plus half the chance to go four rounds up
Yeah seniors get in the action though
I like difficulties droning from spawn for such a long time over a full minute here and borders
Ensuring that he's not gonna get spawned people gonna die early this time because he's in
Like a pushing operator change. Oh, I'm right by the way. Just give me security
that's the glass down though and now the black beard what this is great for
kinatrib you've dealt with two very oppressive operators in the glass and
the black beard that do lose a car you on the other two music does give a hope
now deep lost during this part around and midi to get rid of koal the
Fenriria falls with that again falls in a clear taking a big battle a clear
wins it just though barely stays alive inside a fountain now losing a year
Gator the pace in the sixth round Nick has revved up massively
That's bad now being attempted you see how Mitch is playing on the outside wall here number close plan
He's gonna be stuck in the deep corner with midi be the one to clutch looking for
Potential run outside midi can just hold over towards the balcony does want to deal with the DPC can goes down and gather
Rather though captures in this from CCTV 30 seconds now for music to just hold on and try and ward off both gatorada and
he can get pinched, had the reinforced wall, but goes for the right side swing, loses it to the DMR of the Aruni Kina Trope
will barely hold on, but hold on they will, and no surprise in this region that's been so close for so long
basically since the beginning, in this last final first half, we're all tied.
Tied we are my friend, and despite D-plus's best efforts there, they can't get that far around,
would have been a massive attacking half for them and would have set them up very nicely.
It was still pretty good. 3 in a row is nothing to scoff at. I want to give Kino a lot of credit,
man. They started so strong in classic Kino Trope fashion as well, man. There's nothing better
than seeing Akayu run that Maestro. He's like scary. One of the only players in 2026 at a
professional level that is still playing Maestro. He does it back to back rounds at 3K, by the way,
at the end, which was just him hosing down the final players, trying to enter the side at 0 seconds.
And then it was a 1v1 clutch which a little bit too close for comfort
But the fact that he can even win some gunfights when he's playing such a util heavy operator
Yeah, and where he's a backline player and doesn't usually get a lot of the frags top fragging for his team by the way crazy
It speaks volumes. You can see why D plus bandit and then three rounds in a row. Yep. Yeah, that's when I got a little bit worried
It's why I felt like we have a lot of two three
6th round scorelines and that 6th round becomes so important when you're at that 2-3 scoreline
because either you even it up and now Kino going into their attack half which should be
favored from an evens playing field or they go down 4-2 that would have been very scary.
You know one stat I'd actually like to look into in the future I don't have it so pretty
much use it.
You're high up.
I know, I know, I know.
It's a final round because so many times we see such strong early games from teams
And then it flips in the middle of that half
But so often I feel like that final round of the half is just so crucial and I just said it comes down to a
I think it was a 3 versus 5 in the end by T Blaster then converts to 2v2
Yeah, for me KineTrope of that team that continued to surprise
Better teams than them on paper because there's no doubt about it KineTrope
Yes, they have some unbelievable players don't get that twisted by any means
But when you look at the likes of the CAGs when you look at the likes of the D plus
It's not alike you can't go one for one different teams like a very different ways of playing the game
Which is so cool. It's why particularly I love kina trip
They have quite a different interpretation of the game a lot of the time
Compared to a lot of other teams, but we can say the same for D plus obviously being Brazilian players with a Brazilian coach
It's gonna be a little bit different
Yeah water though a lot of it comes down to who can frag out even if you're in a 3v5 often rounds again again
end up in those 2v2s those sticky situations
Yep, and usually I would favor D plus to play that way but she showed this new look
We got a gatorada man
You saw it in that TV to got a rider on the Aruni cool and collected in that retake
Yeah, no stress whatsoever that gives Kino the three rounds of defense they need to be favored
I'll be honest my interpretation. This is favored for Kino trip from here on out now
I'm the attacking so that was gonna be the question that I was gonna pose to is about the attacking side
Do you think it's still favored in this matter? I think so and look I'm seeing well
I think so, it depends on the matchup. I think we're at the pointy end of the stage finals right now
Which means every team is really good at attacking. I think at the lower end teams less confident on the attack
Defense tends to be more favored. Both these teams confident on the attack and looking at the operators on the attacking side
D plus went to ban Grim and Ying both really powerful, but Kino are so deadly on so many different cheese ops
They are they're really good on all the shields notably. They're really good on glass
They have been for a very long time, and I won't be surprised if we see that come through
I'm hopeful that we will but no the crazy a bit of G's that we're seeing to start is the
I'm not gonna say the only so gets picked off of the KineTrope
I'm sure we'll be able to flex around all the other power meta ops that are available the way that I would put it is
KineTrope or what CAG were four or five years ago
Yeah, I think I think Kinnotrope are that team and especially in the in the APAC North region
They are so deadly. They are so good domestically you can never count them out and right now
I would agree with you
I think that phase is going in the second half that final round for me
That's a linchpin for them to win this map and well if you're a Kinnotrope fan
You're hoping them that comes true back to the boys
If you're a Kinnotrope fan
You're probably not happy with the fact that Rob thinks you're gonna do well in the second half because you know what that means
It's D plus Kinnobaby on defense border
We'll see what they can do though. Armory archives, deep flasks, bringing out the DeChanka smoke,
a lot of denial and late game denial. The play, the ploy, Newsy's had a very good half. Nine kills,
now playing the yellow, over towards security. Interestingly, Nia's down below inside a workshop.
People does have a nitro cell. KineTrip though, I do agree. I mean, I think that they're the kind of
that Karen very much do some good things on their own attack now here on border
it's a difficult one to kind of assume where we're at here Nick will this be
attack aside it will be possible to develop defense
I feel as if we're in the unknown here, I'll give you though some very early pressure
yeah it was smoking a very slow note trying to bait a planet here
4,000 burst fires a payloadation from D plus to keep up some of that map control for free
They did follow the OZer earlier which James kind of mentioned briefly and that would have
signified like an archivist that would attack most likely, but not to be.
So they're playing gapfinding, new era of Rainbow Six Siege, poke everywhere, see where
they can find a kill, but instead they go down, egg it on the IQ, taken off the floor
by midi.
Whenever you lose a player with this gapfinding strategy, it makes the rest of the round so
much more challenging because now you have less pressure points, but they're gonna stop
planting.
It wasn't the fake.
There's no desire.
He's gonna go down.
Yeah, that's it.
Pichanka, Shemeka, launch.
It was a little bit too late.
And the Nitrocell as well from Nia's was also late in terms of getting the kill before
the plant.
He did actually get the kill with the Nitrocell that was after the fact.
Now 3v3 post plant, and this is quite difficult actually to retake.
Holding it outside is usually quite comfortable for the attacking team and very tricky for
the defense to make their way over.
On top of the kit, Levy will stand and hopefully draw them out from the fall to then get the
kill he gets one I'm gonna need another one where is everyone oh he had a run on
a big angle of the road take and it falls he gets the head shot he got them both
falls will clutch off for D plus Kia by the slimmest of margins one HP one more
bullet that would have been the difference maker one more player outside
the building in a strong post plan maybe that's gonna be enough for Kiritros
they steal the plant they get into what should have been around victory but it's
It's gonna be a clutch for D-plus instead.
They waste no seconds, and it's bring into action.
C-Vogosar takes down the first player.
The fire is there, Fnaticianca right after as well, and they push 3-2-1 together.
Interesting though, the decision, I wonder what are your thoughts there?
Niigata right, it goes for a little bit unconventional.
The general plan is just directly outside, but he actually rotates out in the south side
balcony comes from East stairs down the hallway for what would have been actually I think in my mind a very
Surprise and clearly falls, you know, he's looking outside the window. He's looking outside the doorway
Yeah, I don't think he's expecting that around to push from you know beepers and top metal
Ultimately it almost worked, but falls hit some really good shots at a one versus two
Yeah, that I mean if you're gonna get very nitpicky I think intro
You know you send in a one player because when the time is so low you send in one player
He denies the plant. He dies the falls now false himself has a good idea future for a second attempt
And now it's going to be second and final clear from here trope and forces in the middle of counter diffusing himself
But I think because they were so stressed knowing that the counter diffuses getting very closely being confirmed
They are both just fully sprinting in there and they both got into that
I'm gonna go out of time position giving false to the gunfights at the same time and he wins both
recklessly of course
So there's the thing when you start planting kind of offbeat and it works out you might have a player go
Oh, I was not ready for this. I'm gonna sprint as fast as I can without finding any enemies in the meantime
so again, I want to praise D plus being so swift at the
Communicating how to a proper solve that because they've been just a two seconds slower
The host it doesn't fall so they've been insignificant because there would be no time left
They take the lead and they get the open kill on AyaGator to start this 8th round, pretty
early on from Levy, they've started to equal up the opening kill margin just a little bit
prior to the last two rounds, previous one plus this, was very much in favour of Kinnotrope.
It's AyaGator dead as well to begin two rounds straight and you know, you're looking at the
operators like IQ and VAR, they have a lot of value.
And so when you're the opening death, it's a big loss for Kynetrope.
How they lose a coyote? I mean, talk about value ops that are going out early.
Now the Capitown Nick, it's just looking really, really bad for Kynetrope, but again, they go into the quick plan.
It's just putting all their eggs in this plant basket that Kuao's gonna eat.
They have you covered. Stay close.
Nitrocell was from Falls, actually. I was wondering where that came from.
I had to double check the little icon of the century, but he gets down to half HP, but he does stay alive.
Oh
It was a last shot punish by a clear game beautifully
But there's no second plan being attended to all these kids this battle upstairs is often nothing
This cow was in the bum side completely sort of got out on the army balcony. He's gonna try and play with no cover
Yeah, right in front of Lenny by the way as well by by himself
I think at that point it's almost like like understanding that they're just not gonna be able to win this round
But you have to give get our out of some time if I'm going out it's all about staying alive get our artists
top floor, even clear a couple of players, and there's a minute. There was no need to go for that plan.
Well, I respect it, but two rounds in a row is not working out fully in either of those attempts.
Garro will drop and try and reclaim that diffuser in a private oppression site, but there are three
defenders waiting for him. They got the Val'Khems watching them. They're inside a workshop actually,
so they should know roughly where Garro had us when we came from.
I think that was always going to happen, falls eventually, it just catches the timing, it's
got a rider, sits still, falls, is able to creep up to the hatch and find an angle, spots
the feet, gets the kill, she rounds straight for T plus, okay so worrying now for Kinetropia
on their map picker border, do they think about calling a timeout because this is probably
the best time to do it. Alright, they too. Because you've now lost. When you kind of
look at the overall record here, Nick, it's five of the last six rounds. Like that is
actually quite significant. The form, the momentum is all with D+, they've done it both
on their attack. Now two rounds on their defense. Five-three lead. KineTrip need to lock back
in quickly.
It's very evident that they came into this game of border with a predetermined strat
on the attack on the side that the Gap find into a plant attempt where they're just kind
of trying to sell that hey we're trying to attack you in CCTV or we're actually planning
set of archives or armory and I like it and you know they found it the first time they
lost in the post, they tried planting it the second time but there was a Stryker C4 that
ended up being a different maker and it stopped them from getting that plant down.
But now the question is do they try and commit to this playstyle one more time here in Batham
tellers only immediately shift around with okumish calling that technical timeout the coach of kino trope
because like you say yeah it's time to start flipping the script if you lose one more round
you're gonna have six three it's match point against you and border is probably gonna be old
before you know it's but you've just done these two kinds of rush rounds i don't think you can do
the third it's gonna be predictable so now we gotta go back to basic like roam clear one end over do
You could avert, pop the hands, go for a default plan attempt, but D plus are so well versed in that sort of playstyle.
Because that's the thing, Kynetrop is the strongest when they play their own game.
And when the only game isn't working, they gotta go away from it.
Yeah, they still make up their minds the minute, at least for Kynetrop's side.
Well, for D plus, I think they're almost expecting Kynetrop to go into that run game.
You bring the Rx, you bring them to Lucy, you've got the pulse for intel gathering,
you've got the solos for intel gathering.
be a look and also you know for at Griswold month basically anywhere and
roam around the map but I think D plus a more than happy going to bathroom
towers here to understand we're gonna play largely top floor we've got the
orcs that can kind of switch between second and first floor pretty quickly so
I think in a trip maybe have seen enough and think yeah you know what maybe it
hasn't been working in terms of them off to use it but why not third time's the
Hmm
When in doubt double down triple down do it again see what happens. Well, it's exactly what they're doing
It's the third round with the Chloris. They bring the buck Monty again
They bring this over here. They bring the twitch instead of the capitao
That's basically a very similar lineup from what we've seen from them
Wouldn't mind whether months you go in for a rung here though
I know there's an orcs on the board here
but you can also try and bait him in, have a gun behind the monkey so he has proximity
when you hear him go for the dash and go for a counter swing
there are options
another joining security and armoury
meanwhile, gadawada is doing that phantom pressure around the passport doors
saying, hey, worry about this area, look over here
so I like this more calm approach from Kino Trope
the question is, can the kaios stay alive?
music spots out the fact that Akai is very much on this top four at the moment
oh is he coming for it?
he is
it's very very patient with this though because he's also going to be mindful Nick that he's not getting baited
into the charge and that there's someone around the corner and he's played that well
yes
But it's forcing back Akai on the entire two keynotes right if Munty cannot walk forward then no one else can either
So just near showing his presence gonna shift the entire attacking push right now
And if you can kind of follow the money one to one and kind of track his location
You can keep doing this and look at the timer. There is 60 seconds left
In the job don't have don't have a single car. Okay, they have one single player now inside the building ventilation
But so far which any of the real action happening if that they're back in spawn
Watching for what essentially starts a spawn peaks here in CC window in East window itself and somehow a cow is in the bombsite now
out of nowhere and then go over the slanted side of talents as well done
that pretty rapidly that yourself doesn't stop anything you call you those
shot down by levy he gets that from above inside the office 30 seconds as
well now you gotta go recapture this kid you don't have the multi and you
haven't got this top floor kawai will push from break he may eventually have
to be the one to get across the other side of this map and deal with levy he
still has that hatch control vaulting now as well 17 seconds a yee gate is the
one that has to go for the kick, Kawao pushes up to Levy, he gets his third kill, and falls
will go down inside the bathroom. Huge round win for Keena Trope, and third time is the
charm, Nick.
I do not understand what I just witnessed, that every attacker but one outside the building,
the Monty did not get to get top floor control, didn't get to challenge the roamers whatsoever,
he was AFK I thought, but he dropped down the balcony, walked in passport, just walked
straight in the bomb site get the kills starts planting and that creates enough chaos in the server
enforcing the rotations from D plus that the other members of KineTrope can get a couple of kills
and that's enough they get side control get top floor pressure and great job honestly the
bog and twitch pushing together to get that head control leading into bathroom as well
not the round I thought they were going to win but it was around nonetheless KineTrope
They lose the Monty that's been banned away. They target banding and losing themselves again furthering that gap finding play style
This could actually be shifting the pace a bit. This could be going faster
But instead of going for a direct plan with the monsters a bit more safe
It's gonna be about maybe the Blitz in this case or a Blackbeard going for kills and that could catch people by surprise
They're not ready for it. Yes, I'm good
That to me felt like map defining. Otherwise it would have been 6-3. Three opportunities eventually.
D-plus would have been put back on the floor and Armory Archives would have probably closed this out.
There was a few possible rounds for Keyletro.
This gives me that belief as well that this is still a close game. It's not the case that D-plus is just running away with it.
I was like they're gonna switch up again and also bending away the montagne is quite intriguing to me when
D plus have had success against it and you still got blitz and blackbeard both available which Akayu is gonna now switch over to
2 deblitz. Clearly Ganker wanted to double down on this shear plate. Similar line up again to what we've seen from D plus on this side though
Bring the Chanka, they'll bring the smoke, they'll bring the Alar, they do swap out the Wumi and the Leisure for the Solace and the Mute, so those are the two changes on Armory Archives.
But the Blitz is intriguing here for KineTrip, because you can use it in multiple ways, I push through Break Door, push a double pinch into a security, you can also use it over towards the actual site itself if you want to go really quickly, otherwise clearing out like Fountain or Office.
So as I said, I expect KineTrip to pick up that pace because of it.
I am expecting the same thing.
Maybe he can't get the intel on the Blitz though.
That's true. As long as the Blitz has the shield in their hands, you can track the gacha with the sword of Scandady the entire time.
If you want to do the counterplay as the Blitz player, put it on your back. Now that will no longer be the case.
Electrocentrum!
Then again, you're gonna know that they have a soloist probably not until it's too late because the scanner radius is quite long
You see it right here passport drone outside break room door outside the east stairs those are all airships. I believe
But it does kind of shape your picture of where that attack is gonna be coming from because there's no tracks across the map
Oh, fold up. I've seen this one before. There's no way to do is with a blitz by the way
Like surely there's a piece of barbed wire right through the window frame as well
Chameco Launcher, gas baves, nitrocell, impacts, solace, this shouldn't be something Kinitrope
should be able to be successfully
No, I think they're gonna change the plan
She dropped it in a huge of kids on the balcony and dropped down as the bits players who might be pushing these stairs for something else
Oh, what on is just finds the killer is down these days. Yeah, that doesn't work out. Kinitrope go for a
Change up they leave the case just outside the window of sight
3 calls eaten by the way for D+, so Gatorada's gotten value out of the token payloads, he's now gonna go call Levy, see if he'll answer this one.
Midi goes down, so the solo's, funnily enough, now eliminated anyway.
So 4 vs 4, all tied up, air jab placed, E stairs control, looking to be established again for Kierna Trote.
1v1 trade keeps things equal, adding into the last 35 seconds, no more call targets available.
4 Gatorada, educated downside, bottom waiting, 30 seconds, still gotta remember that kit is outside Archives.
It's really for a plant, that's a big thing, but the guys at Shankar for all the pentadol in the world to be fair,
default plant should not be possible, so the guy go for kills, they find Moosey,
and there's a solo on health, playing that Mutants out of offices, looking for the jump up, but there's almost no time left.
Oh, big headshot from Levy, top main stairs, gets the ping information, he gets all three of them!
It's that the chunk of 3k at the end of the round to now establish a map point scenario for D plus Kia a
Lot of fumbling around in that
Round from Kinectro Nick and I think it cost them in the end the way they lost the blitz for nothing
Didn't really get much value out of quite a lot of the team
A disappointing way to lose it and now two rounds down
I think they had the blitz there or gotten the kill on the east stairs onto Nears that
changed the entire story.
I will respect Kinnotra here though, like the way they're playing Border is quite nice.
Again, the gap finding the rotating back and forth, it might not have been the cleanest
game of every basic siege, but it has been successful, you can't deny that.
E plus either winning a retake, they're clutching up in a 1v3, or they're finding some heroic
moments individually in the server.
It's not like the intro was struggling and went around and they never had a chance, they've had a chance every single time.
It's just been that Nier has become that guy, Levy has been that guy.
Moosey kind of stopped getting all the kills and then all the players took his spot instead.
Now Nier is in a classic match point 640 here, goes under the clash.
Now that can stop any push from the attack.
So if you're shield or whether you're a gun, wherever the clash goes, they'll have full information.
It's going to be so hard to deal with and they only have Sophia as sort of a soft counter.
You can do the Sophia stuns, the teammates shoot their feet off the clash
and then if you get a couple of bullets in of damage then you can actually use the soft
destruction here from Akai and Sophia and use all three towards the clash and maybe get the
Q wanger. That's a lot of things that got to go right, it's a big investment.
Then workshop for this first of two map point opportunities, the way of D plus Q a reminder
as well there. I think a bank is after this, which spells a little problem for a human
worker. They can't find a way to fall server time on board a planet, get it damaged over
to a main lobby. A couple of counters here as well against the Velocru, with both the
doccopy and the IQ. You can either eventually get cameras hacked, or you can, with the IQ
scanner, deal with them as well. Well, by the way, just so we don't get confused, it does
nitrocell on the sentry and I'm not too sure if he has used his or not or if
it's a pre-placed but the very least for me was you still have one more available
in pocket it's been used yeah a small trick here right top left to see a C4
there is one X there's one circle because as an X means that one is dead so
therefore we'll notice that a pre-placed C4 we can deduct it that way that's the
only way that I know how to figure out at least I've stopped trusting up that's
ever since they've not fixed the drill down. Okay, that is a fair point. I don't know anymore.
Fair point. That's uh, maybe I shouldn't trust it actually. It might be right, maybe it's just drones, I don't know. But either way,
a minute, the pace of Kiertertrip, we thought we'd maybe pick up Nick after the launch of Band, but look at this opening kills, 49 second,
104 written, 109 for this one, as Claire does at least find the pick onto Levy. Don't have to worry about the cameras, just deal with the Valkyrie like that, headshot.
Aikaru though down courtesy of falls. He's had a good game so far.
Jokopelo Koko's out on to midi. He hasn't even got a chance to answer the goal.
Yes, here comes Aikaru charging through with the skeleton key.
And kinitrope now with the extra player advantage.
Nakarali, I think Niers can somehow find a way down this hatch.
He just shared the information on the bottom side and make it work for Valkalos.
That could win in the round, but the case is down the window frame off ventilation.
They're gonna rotate forward, caow on the Twitch, they're gonna one-spare as you have three smoke in each total between them.
So our plan is very much on the cards of the Q-Trope, but I think again, it's down to Niers to get that information to his team of where their plan is happening and then if you can go for a smokebang.
That's the final plan with the goal from Gatorada.
He can't steal that knife himself available, but over the wall it's luck as before, but I don't think it's gonna have any play in the ground, especially as he's out there.
Nice to dump from Aikata and got a rather, the old classic duo.
N'Claire did get off it by the way, so he's gonna have to now stick it here,
Musi stuck inside the office, expecting to get pushed, which he is.
It's actually a double push up from Keenatrope on this top floor.
Musi will get the chance against Aikata, but loses it out,
and we need all rounds of regulation on board.
Six to five, Keenatrope still fighting here.
Good job well done, I'm not gonna lie to you again.
They find themselves in the middle of the bomb site, they get that kill, causes some chaos and the IQ is over the solid's counter
And they take it nice and slow. I really want to praise Kynich for not rushing into bad decisions when they're overgun such an experienced enemy in D plus Kia
They took a good what 60 seconds of just kind of saying oh guys, let's talk this through
Okay IQ, you got the bomb site, hold the hatch, just make sure that nobody can be taken
Oh, you saw a guy in bathroom
bathroom, his thoracic urnate have just springed in and take that fight as well, we cannot
waste any time.
While that's happening, Kowler is outside the building, running around the whole area
to pick up the diffuser and take a nice and safe approach back into the site, go in stock,
costume into blue, then started planting, and he might have died to nearest to the smoke
grenade on the verticality, but then they had that same bug player that got into the
bathroom, he had gone back up the east staircase and traded his teammate in Sarvakars.
So Niers and Arkav skips the kill onto Waskawa planting, and then the bar gives the kill
right onto him shortly after.
It's really well done, lots of players and a ton of communication here for give and take.
I've got two fun facts for you, Nick, which is the fact that we just broke a record.
DeFrost's Kia up to that round had a 100% map point conversion
Which was five from five opportunities?
They of course lose that round that no longer is 100% and for KineTrope
They have an 80% round win rate when facing match point
deficits. So they now make it nine rounds one
Out of 11 it was previously 8 to 10. We'll see if they can do it again
But clearly Kinetrope are just the kind of team that are very difficult to put away. They could seemingly
Get themselves back into a series
One last chance otherwise overtime required. We're gonna triple down with the C4s for D plus Kia
bathroom tallers
One that last time as well by Kinetrope doesn't bode well for D plus Kia
They've not won this site defensively in this half as they get it gets a lot of early position towards office
This is really good. Early control for Keenotrope. Love his pacing.
It does feel a bit like D-Ploser afraid of losing a player early to those shenanigans of the gapfine,
so now they're playing just all on the same floor here downstairs.
They got the kite close to fortify the hatches, two rounds to stall it down,
to shank off a plant denial and a wide to help them play in those few critical spots.
So this is D-Ploser that changed the entire pacing of the rounds of playing a passive game of Siege.
KineTrope got a Blitz, they got the Soledad, they got information, Kawa goes down injured,
Mitzi and Niyu is booking an advance to Dukie, we call, and he can't go down too.
This is not looking good though for KineTrope. Well played, I love the adjustment from D-Blas Kia
playing, well, many would probably consider this a hit, or playing defensive, but if it worked,
who cares, you can't criticize or win, and it looks like they may just win.
The Clarence Gatorade, the loss to left for KineTrope, and when you still get a breakthrough
a 5 man bunker down defensive setup with a glass shield in your face. This almost seems impossible.
This seems frightening how difficult this really is. You needed a freebie on to falls.
He doesn't give it to you. He gets three in this round. D-plus here are going to take
border the map pick of Kinatrop to stop the slow bracket final. They take it 7-5.
All rounds of regulation were required. Bank is up next and now becomes
and both win the KineTrip or they are out of stage 1 finals.
Hello, I'm Rainbow Six's pro gamer Hopper, and I'm working in the A-Pang News area.
The first time I started playing this game was because of my family's influence.
Especially, my parents had two computers at home, and they liked playing games with me.
And I had all the games from PlayStation 2, 3, and 1 at home.
So I naturally got that kind of influence.
The first game I played was Metal Gear Solid 2, and I liked it the most.
I had a computer, so I had a lot of FPS and DPS genres, and I had the most fun time playing FPS.
I have a younger brother who is 8 years old, and I recommended him to my younger brother, and we did it together.
He was in 6th grade in middle school and elementary school.
He's better than I thought, and I only teach him game knowledge, and he has better reaction speed than I do.
I don't know if it's because of the blood, but I had a lot of fun.
I didn't get stressed out, and it's cute even if I can't do it.
I heard that my dad came to the club at the club nine, and I called him to think about how I would do it.
Rather, my parents like me more, so I said,
Never do this. If you don't do this, you're out of your mind.
I'm sure you'll remember that.
I don't have a special memory of winning the national championship.
When I said I was going to win the national championship or go abroad,
my parents would brag about it to the company people.
And they would bring my profile picture to the messenger profile picture.
It's a bit embarrassing, but on the one hand, I'm proud of it.
I don't think it's bad.
I heard that Boniacs is going to play as a sports player.
I think this is the only thing I've ever played with him in my entire career.
I think it's a bit of a combination.
I've never felt any competition in a game before playing Rainbow Six.
I've heard that people think that I'm weaker than I am after starting the game.
I think it's like this because I keep doing my best, and it's repeated all the time.
all the stops there D plus looking good toward the latter end of that game but
Kinatrate they won't let them go without a fight, unfortunately that fight was just
not deep enough. Yeah look I want to give a lot of credit to Kinno they're such a
fun team to watch because they always bring different unique stuff we talked
already about the maestro in the halftime and so sort of Thunderbird which we
didn't mention a bit of a weird one especially Thunderbird with shock on
bearing 9. I liked that they attempted to try new things but I was
disappointed that kind of stopped once they went into the attacking side. I said, ah Kino is so good
with these power operators, let's see the glass, let's see all this stuff. And yeah, they tried
Monty a few times, but it's a few times, but it was reasonably uninspired compared to what I expect
to see out of Kino. A lot of 1vx's from both teams and D plus just much better at digging their heels
in. Unfortunately so, you know, like I, it does suck for Kino Troak because they do have good ideas,
They had really great intentions. I mean like I would we were going through on the Taylor Strait of looking constantly at all
These rounds and how close they were and it was coming down somewhat to utility usage in the later round some players
Not really stepping up when they should be some mistiming some mis synergy
But I think ultimately this this is still one of those maps where this could have gone six six
We well and truly could have gone to overtime here. It's just it's not for a lack of trying
It's more for D plus locking in as you say digging heels and it's pretty important in this matchup
Yeah, for sure and look also it lends itself to the nature of the map right?
It's border. We're talking about the most aggressive map in the pool D plus really embrace that
It's just thinking about like a really small really aggressive map like this can be so hard to play against when you're defending because the attackers can
Play outside the building they can get to the building really quickly
they can rotate a lot, which is something that Pengu mentioned. Kino's actually pretty good at
having a bit of perceived pressure, having a split push. Thing is, it's very hard to actually
execute that playstyle on the attack when the defense is having a lot of success getting really
out of her. And that's exactly what D-plus did. They had their plant denial, they always understood
the win conditions because Kino were going constantly for those plants, often in the smogs.
D-plus were always aware of how quick they were to get to the plant. If there was a plant coming
down, always in position to go in and deny it. And they will also still constantly put
in the pressure on the Kinetrope. All green flags, all good. Thing is, with Kinetrope
losing that, without even taking it to OT, next up we go to Bang. D plus, I picked that map,
they haven't shown it. It's similar to Border in that as a defender you can get really aggressive,
but it's got this extra layer of problem solving you have to work into your attacks.
I honestly think Kinetrope are going to be fine on defense here, they're going to be pretty good.
They should be. Attack is what I'm really worried about. Yeah, which is their attacks just haven't
been up to snuff today. It's so funny because coming into today, if you had asked me where I
think Kinetrope thrive, it's on attack. It's on being able to dictate the pace. Like you were
saying with those split pushes, I mean, there's so many rounds that you can kind of look at from
Border. I'm thinking back to the first attacking round of Border where Kinetrope are throwing
the Monty in to get a plan and their split push is literally from three different areas of the
matter. Ultimately it comes down to a foals unbelievable 1v2 clutch right? It's it's unreal
but the chaos that they cause inside the server I don't know how D plus like consumed it they
absorbed it really well on a couple of those rounds and that really scares the crap out of me
because I'm no longer just talking about this series, I'm talking about next series.
If I'm saying D-plus be able to absorb what KineTrope are throwing at them on boarder,
if they have a really good bait, I mean, Sky's the limit for what they've lost to KineChief.
Yeah, for sure. I mean, Momentum comes into it. I think D-plus were probably expecting a pretty
tough fight against KineTrope. We were expecting three maps and I thought while D-plus were
favorite this is like a 64 years not like a 70 30 age 20 like this is not as
much of an upset if Kinitrop beat D plus they that's not as much an upset of as
awkward beating day star yes I would agree with that which is crazy to say
right I know right but Kinitrop have really shown a lot in stage one yeah and
a reason that we are believing in them is because they have beaten D plus before
but now D plus have landed the first blow on border and we go to their map pick
of banks and I'm scared for Kinitrop I think D plus might be able to get it done
Well, this is to contextualize how close this series is in particular.
Heading into today, it was a 2-2 map record.
It was a 1-1 split in the series.
D-plus had them in a BESTA 3.
KINATROPE had them at a BESTA 1.
Ultimately, splitting these two teams comes down to a microscope.
It really does.
And it's on the date.
It's what D-plus are doing on that defensive side
that I think is going to continue to throw KINATROPE out,
out which is why I'm actually a little bit worried that D plus do you get to start on defense here because what we just saw on
Border was then consistently repelling back Kina tropes attacks. No matter how well kina same bands
Well, there you go. Yeah leaning into the same bands. Yeah, sorry to interrupt. I really agree with everything. You're saying I think
D plus really starting on defense is good for them because you know when you know game to defense what we're gonna sit
We're gonna see more my story. We're gonna see
Classic Kinetrope stuff, but D plus on their defense, you know, they just got out the grim again
They've been at the end again Kinetrope haven't shown confidence using those shields successfully
They were pretty much go with the Monty in the Blitz and the you know the ability to lean into other power ups
It's just been disappointing like Kinetrope didn't play glass on boarder. I want to see that here
In the first half because they need to go big now
Like there's no second chances if you have pitiful half on attack of bank that I don't care how many times you play my straight
You're not getting more than three rounds of defense. Well, let's lock in there's some pretty critical operators being picked right now for Kinnotra
Let's not waste any more time to leave you in the capable hands
Thank you boys, and yeah, it's not looking good for Kinnotra
But I agree with the sentiment of James. It's looking like D plus they look switched on a very strong border
Now they get to go to them that pick a bank they get to also start on defenses well Nick
It's shaping up well for the blue and need I remind everyone but the last time these two teams met
You kind of look at the series as a whole. Yes
It was a 2-1 like all the others in a packed door that included a
73 in favor of D plus against Kina trope and the only map that Kina trope 1 was an 8-7
So clearly what we've seen from the full maps now played
D plus a 3-1 in the fall and the only one they lost was an 8-7 doesn't blow the ball for Kinetro.
No it doesn't. To be honest, the pocket strats they had on the border,
if you think that same kind of creativity to the likes of Bang, I think that could get them a good amount of rounds on the board.
We're gonna get the fewest and the most in their first round. The Twitch shotgun, by the way.
red flags okay red alert here we switch shotgun solely to challenge the
staircase here on main or server stairs the issue is if even if you are
successful in getting that one pick you can't take any future fights so the drone
goes in it's gonna pop the door they're not gonna expect it to a chuddy that's
why it's so genius so I'm keen to see what the outcome will be while this is
happening they're gonna be taking the rest of the map control over an area around
the main stairs, an elevator, down the hatch we go, that means full map control now, fully
attack the control point in the mid and 35 seconds to work with, that is actually really
good.
And to make it even easier, the defenders have fallen back from that server staircase,
completely surrender server control to the noble default plant.
I feel like now, you're in the spot where you have a sent air gator on the twitch after
using the drone of course, you're just defying main staircase as it backs that one with that
shotgun, always going to be able to, cowards is in the sights!
It's just in lock isn't it?
He's just in lockers how?
He gets two kills and with that opens up, but he has been dealt with and unfortunately no one else could really get in through
Surfer he gave a though was able to win his battle against nears. That was from the admin hatch music searching
This has gone horribly wrong for T plus a sneaky little dark could be as infiltrated the site and the rest have just completely
capitulated because of it they win the round because of it that is a huge round from koal
I know he wasn't the only one, but he was the big factor and I'm gonna go back and have a look and see how he's even got there
Yeah
I mean the master job the lobby has just walked into red right because his teammates were in server
That was going to fire the enemies a garage control couldn't have gone there
And I don't think you walk down the main stairs because they would have had walk past like two different attack or defenders
I just got to open the master job the lobby. He dropped open. He's got the core. He's walking. Yeah
I don't have like the the full camera of it but other than that I can see that he's gone open into hallway to read two kills
And that's enough that's that's a ballsy move to do because we don't usually see that because with five players
On-site defensively that really shouldn't be allowed. Someone's bound to hold it
Yeah, I mean I said they had a player on main stairs that a player in Garrus that a player in a red
That's three people were any of them. They're watching the hatch just for a short second
they hear the sound drop you should be a freebie maybe you do it for a one-for-one trade at most
but he found two kills and stayed alive for a good while after that can literally win you the round
i was about to say the big question for you was whether aekid becomes the planter with that twitch
shotgun because he cannot take a gunfight or if you send him to the main staircase to try and force
a close quarter engagement and as i was talking about that he said nope that's not even gonna
gonna happen at all. A soul player can do all the work there. Great job for
getting to them. And like I said, pocket straps. If they have those one-offs that
they did on border and apply that to a metal bank that is very execute heavy, I
think that's really good. Now D plus, what I think they should be doing
differently, is something that border makes you do naturally. On border, you're
forced to fight, you're forced to take some gun fights, you're forced to disrupt
the attackers before they reach the side itself. Banking can be very opposite. If
If you don't consciously make that effort to take early fight, you will often end up
in a 5v5, you know, 30 seconds left, off to the basement, off to the top floor.
I think D-plus needs to force some fights early to disrupt Kino Trope because if you
take away a couple of players or a couple of important operators, they can no longer
execute those pocket strats that they've been cooking up for this game.
So I want to see D-plus fight early and not allow Kino Trope into that space.
Yeah, I agree.
I agree, but if KineTrip is smart, they can also go quick to try and search and navigate,
but they're immediately into top square.
I like this.
This is a little bit old school.
Get to reach on this right side wall, top square, open this up, then put pressure towards
Janitor, and it gives you that kind of square control.
A couple of that with the repel game, the airlock later on, they've got the capitol
to claim out Janitor, and the clash right now is more worried about stalking this hallway
position, but KineTrip don't really need a fight for that.
The fact that the Brigadier's Square opened up, you can get the Carly on the rappel.
And this is so far so good for KineTrap, I'm liking what I'm seeing here on Bank.
This is looking much better than Borda.
In fact, Gatorade has got a really nice angle here.
And he has immediately gone down because of it.
Sadly, they can't activate what had gone so far across the state that it doesn't confirm
the kill, but they're going to start telling you the state against Kersen and Syrup, but
it's denied by the smoke.
And no more gaspaves though, so this is actually still something that, in front of Gen 5, you
get a good pistol action to kill, you get a rudder again with the Kali, and Musi still
injured means it's only Niers, Musi was injured at the start of the round, everyone else was
just falling around beside him, Niers trying to clear out top main stairs, but he's going
to get pushed on now into a ward's janitor, it's a double stack of aegator and deklair,
Niers is going to have to leave the shield behind, go for the kill, and Klair pops up,
This is a huge start from KineTrope. A 2-0 statement here on Bank, the map pick of D-plus,
and so far, Nick, they have actually set the tone on their attack. They are doing what
they want to do. D-plus can't get their defensive game going at all.
They have, and I really, again, I really enjoy the off-pace player from KineTrope. When you
get an injured onto the DMR player, Muzi, on their rune, often you're going to be thinking,
I gotta get a grenade in there, the cataphy, sending the blades, trying to confirm that kill.
And kind of work through it logically, building an advantage bigger and bigger and bigger.
Instead, they do a fire, smoke, rabble in, stop planting.
When the defenders and throw out a toxic bait to deny that plant, okay, now we gotta go for kills.
We gotta turn up the aggression, turn up that level, rappel down Lobby's Skylar with the sniper of Kali,
get another kill, walk up the staircases, work together, ice leg mirrors on the clash, make him useless.
It's again, really good shine of communication from KineTrope and everyone understanding all the angles to the round.
Who's holding the angle? Who's watching the flank? Who's the planter? Who's the cover?
There's not a ton of mistakes happening that D-plus can actually punish very easily
and that's how these rounds that look so solid from KineTrope. They don't make a ton of mistakes
but they're doing it in a round that is super chaotic and easy to make mistakes in.
It's very high level and it was at a close game on board right at a 7-5 victory D-plus
where a lot of them could have been KineTrups.
That's a very early death on to Levy by the way.
I was trying to get some stats ready for this third round.
I was going to mention that this slight nick in APAC North is the most effective sighted.
The other two actually very attack-cited for what is overall an attack-cited map in APAC North at 63%.
But you lose Levy, you lose the smoke.
This is supposed to be the sight you can find some success in.
Kienetrope can now actually circumnavigate the fact they don't have to deal with some of that delay from the gas babes
That's really good for the montaing as well
They'll still cost me to deal with two of these nitrocells
But Kienetrope so far have responded as well as you possibly can for a team that lost the opening map their banks
So far currently has been pretty much flawless
They haven't done anything wrong that made a really good power playing the opening round really good teamwork in the second round
And so far to start the third round a very sharp two-minute 49 opening kill
Like D plus at some point need to probably call the time out if they lose this round
I would take an immediate time out with the with the next ban and double down on that because then the next three rounds become
Must win. Yeah
Down the smoke as early as the half plus you got the Monty that could actually change Kino tropes attack
No, when the round begins, they're gonna want to do a certain attack when they take down the smoke
they go hmmm. Kouichi's cheese have planned walking in from bottom skylight into the bomb
side and plant behind that half wall inside the kitchen. Maybe. And I think KinoTrip right
now is just looking for what's going to be the like least path of resistance right now.
Doing some bit of vert, getting the hatches, throwing the bomb side, taking the center
here and archers and tellers. They are just pushing Deepo's key a further into a small
corner of the bomb site. Midi C4 takes down Mclare though, but Kouichi is right back.
and KineTrip always have a solution
when a small problem arrives.
Yeah, they get rid of the Azami.
Kairu are into open area,
so this is now where they're gonna have to fight this out.
Kairu can be defensive with the shield up,
not give away his position,
but he can also go for the plant at any moment.
No more nitrosols to contest him either.
His music does actually find the angle.
I don't think that's something
that really should have been possible against the Monty,
and it's not as if they had vert against him either.
He just gets a sideways swipe.
Koal's done it again. This is literally the second time now.
He did the falls last time, Nick. He's done it to Midi.
Every time, D-Plos kind of bring them around back to an equal advantage.
For some reason, they decide to go in peak and swim Koal.
And every single time, he punishes them.
Now, by the way, D-Plos have Kit.
Keep that in mind with 20 seconds left.
Muzie finally shuts down Koal, wins that battle,
one-for-one trade and leads it down to Muzie and Aya Gator.
He can play Kit with 10 seconds left.
Muzie knows that Aya Gator has to push directly towards him,
so he will move away underneath the hatch's stalk, and then pop up for a headshot.
So well played by Muzie, wins the round for Diplos Kea.
Comes down to the very tight details again, Air Gator.
He messed up the reload animation twice, so when he had Muzie get to his right,
pointing on the floor, he didn't have any bullets.
Goals for almost a full reload, cancels it last second by ADS-ing,
and again is looking at Muzie without bullets in the magazine,
has to go for a secondary load and moves to a reposition and then get around victory.
Bit of a hard breaker if you're a fan of KineTrope, but a well-needed clutch for D-plus. The bands
come out. Doke be actually banned away here on bank. Not the most, I was going to say a high
presence rate usually, like in the server. You can pick it every single round, but it doesn't always
lead to something. The Asami on the flip side is one you play almost in every single side,
every single round always has a very high presence you feel the power of that operator
and it does leave all the shields open for Kirito further which like you said it has
not really been successful for them on boarder nor here in banglican kakayu dying way too early in
this round but the asami and the dokubi will be the bands what can be played twice in the
opening two rounds the zombie actually just a once they're on staff in open area that felt like
it was really needed for D-plus here though after what's been a bit of a statement start here from
KineTrope clearly in this lower final they don't want to be bowing out yet they want that opportunity
against C.A.G in the grand final later this evening the lockers at C.C.T.V fourth round D-plus will
try it again baseman admittedly though Nick I mean everything in that opening round was kind of
going to plan in terms of when you bring the smoke to the tanker that devolved canisters
the denial. In fact, they're bringing the exact same line-up, so it's exactly the same.
Everything was working out. I think there was only about maybe 40 seconds, maybe 50 seconds left to the round.
So, the Kinatropin got servered, but then they still... they hadn't done with Vulcan canisters.
They still needed to... there were still three gas tanks, there were still nitro cells.
All of the denial was still there for the defense, and Tilkewad just drops open, gets double killed, and completely unravels the round.
This time, I imagine D-Plos will have someone watching that. In fact, they even start with media over towards open area.
I'm just looking right now at all the various positions.
You mentioned open area, if debush can haunt that for a bit and play server stairs that
can change a lot of things.
You can play to shangha and the smoke commonly they will see that exact thing kind of happen.
You'll play the server stairs with your life.
Shangha then plays the side.
You get a, you know, time to now on both areas.
Now the little kids are just slowly making good progress here. They're in lobby, they forced back to mid-sea from open area.
Yep. D-plus actually falling all the way back to broken smoke and the Tishanka. They again do not want to surrender any easy kills here on the staircase.
So, Tyler is very accurate here. They're of course going to be the Goyle Fire and whatnot when they get to the bomb site later on that they can clear from the hatches.
Okay, they don't got to worry about the server. I'm not sure they know about it just yet. They have it on the door or check with the drone.
drone but any gator maybe looking for a cheeky kill here on the main staircase
goes down very early to let me just originate some falls just simply holding an
angle
wow this thermal bit of lion rather than the doccabee but it just doesn't create
the same level of pressure with those lion scans it's like it'll be a pretty
standard default push through from server side for kinectrope oh wow this is
basically what he did last time Nick but instead of sitting here and watching it
He just dropped down the gap in the timing surely. He doesn't go for it again
That would be asked tonight to do the same thing twice and not expect a few plus
So of course right to find the issue this time he switches over to elevate double razor-bloom drop
He doesn't win one of them though. It felt like walking into a pit
He stays alive inside of our elevator and offers that pinch here towards the site a clear going for the plan
He uses the only one left alive get her out has found three huge kill from music
But the plant will be successful and there was a pinch inside
Elevator being held by Koal, and Claire immediately will go up blue stairs.
Music could go and get on this kit and stick it immediately, but no!
Obstacles get off that flash throw in, that's going to help Koal push forward from Lobby,
and Claire then gets the kill. KineTrip, take basement again!
Beautiful. Again the mini plays.
Understanding who is planting, who is covering, who is going to be that back step of Kala.
and they actually invested two razor blooms and a gruel fire just to stop that illigate hatch drop
he still gets down there, he still becomes valuable to the round and he also takes away the distraction of two separate defenders
so a job well done and it's the beauty of these basic attacks whether on maps like bank and clubhouse
we've seen so many roam clear, take server, plant default, and jupice, fawn as well etc
We're starting to see the intro of all the small details, backstabbing Red Hatch very quickly, second time, backstabbing Elevator very late.
And it's those small tiny switch-ups that I think are truly winning them the round because they're not predictable.
Whenever T-Pos feel like they're in control, they aren't.
Like they got opening, picked out a 5A4, they had good bit of pandenal, they had good bit of information, they still lose the round in a 2v1 fashion.
And it's not the first time.
And I'd also argue that, again, if Akira could have stayed a bit more alive than the Munchip open area attack, this could have very easily been a 4-0.
And, uh...
It might be the map pick-off D-plus, but it's been the map performance for Keenotrope.
Yeah, and I agree with you, Nick. I think you've pretty much put it there perfectly, that what we also see from teams is they maybe tried to do a little too much.
So, really, for Keenotrope, it's largely deep, but with a little adaptation.
Other teams will be like, oh, let's go a three-stack vault drop, and then we'll go double-push down mainstay.
and they try and just change it up a little too much.
I think he and the Trim have kept it pretty defaulty,
but also just that tiny little switch up,
and that's been the difference.
Three one up, but what I will say,
I think this would be pretty attack-asided
based on what the statistics say
for the region on this map.
So, each boss may only need two defensive rounds.
We're going to go back to the top floor.
Second time seeing this,
so we're back in the second round.
That was, of course, the blitz play
from Ayagata, but most importantly was the Kali play of Gatorada and he'll bring that again.
This is Levy, on the smoke, dead first, most of these rounds, 0-5 on the Skull board, the only
real plant denyor for this top throw hold. Yes, they have a C4, but you can't throw it far enough
on missions that are janitor's closet to actually get a plant in outgoing. So that is a huge pick
again and also from the mental side of things, Levi's gonna feel so frustrated, he knows right now
that he's letting his team down by playing that important operator in the smoke and not finding
any value with the gadgetry for this one. They breeze the CEO walls, they set their eyes towards
the bombsite pressure, but they cannot get baited into this. They don't have an easy way to go for
plant, right? There's no smoke coverage except for the two on the colleague who's very far away
right now watching the flank on lobby basically and there's no shield. So don't feel like you can
can just go for a cheeky plant that's probably not gonna work. Kinetro got to keep up the
pressure, but take it nice and sort of try to look for one more kill. Clear ability to
let's see, get rid of that shield, the narrow lays it, etc. Really bleed P-plus dry right
now before you commit to the play.
You just feel the pressure for T-plus the way that they're just trying to hold on to
these more back of side positions like Long Desk and Janitor. Kinetro, 50 seconds left
in this round, but they've been so precise and swift in their attacks. This is Falls towards
Lobby. Are they prepared for it? They've got the pin information. It is taking some time
and it is forcing Dada Rada to go deal with it. He pushed it through ATMs. This is what
you want though if you're T-plus. Provided Falls can win the fight and he does. Not only
does he get the kill, Nick, but there's now only 27 seconds left and they've just lost
another two players. Koala falls through to Muzie. It's only Claire towards CEO with the
kit in hand and needs to think about the plant while falls are still towards
Lobby but Musi still holds position in the hallway but he can't find the way
to swing in it will be a successful plant down from a Clare you say get out
does he even have the chance to get out challenge the Ward Square trying to take
the one versus one against the DMR of Musi who ran out of bullets and thinks
about the pistol swing oh the balls on this man two to three one more rounds
to go in the half as D-plus bite back on the top floor.
It's been Moosey serving the Townsend border, it's Moosey again here twice on bank, open
area and now CEO locking it around for his team.
But what happened on borders when Moosey started slowing down on sideswap, the entire
team started losing a couple of rounds.
There's been such a huge dependency on this star player, the former world champion to
really rise to the occasion.
They keep showing us they can find the gap they can make the play and it falls also not one that gone for as a phone instead
I've loved me taken down the Kali that would have been a huge man advantage execute there for
KineTrope. Oh man. So falls is one of the captains started off that push for D plus.
It's been a big performance from falls massive from music falls by the way 15 kills music 15 kills
They lead together the D plus in the series 17 kills from Chaturada is the leader for Kierotrope one round to go in this half
and
The start of this game has just all been Kierotrope at D plus
Two at the last three rounds. They've just found a way to keep themselves competitive and that's all you need to do
To defensive rounds I think they end up being enough
And they would love a third as we go to staff an open area of which they successfully defended back in the third round
Look at the survivor rate of this map of bank in the last three rounds.
One alive, two alive, two alive.
Multiple multi-kills.
We've seen two plants that's been closed, that's been back and forth.
Not a lot separating these two teams.
As border was quite similar.
A 7.5 margin, suggesting just that.
The one more to keep us as for right now,
just gotta get live in the action
and they're gonna be playing at 100% again.
he's back on smoke back in generous closet hopefully looking for a different
outcome didn't try but not showing us any kind of pocket style operators nothing
that they can use to really get an advantage that we haven't seen before
meanwhile nears his rat's here inside a CEO which might be good for a freebie here if the player with a wrapper on in
as you get rattled that's the question because sometimes when they open a window like that you might think oh my god they know that I'm here
I can't sit still but by breaching this wall they're showing us they do not know
who's hiding inside of the CEO's office
I don't think they've got the idea yet but they will
and they passed get to play a nice drone, Sneas is gonna be able to collect himself a drone
good information if they know what Steve wants and he does want to play but the
problem is he is in CEO Nick he doesn't have the time to go play with that drone
In fact, he just has time to just sit and talk and hide.
He's gonna let them run past him?
Well, this is a smart one, you kinda-
Now, instead of being an early kill player, he can become the flanker, right?
Taking my cover back.
Well, Mozzie passed the thunder job, and oh, Nia's a trigger discipline.
The highest degree, oh, but he's absolutely made a meal of it, no way!
Oh, no.
Nia's would love to have that moment again.
It's a travesty.
The trigger discipline to begin with, then backfires on the misfire spray, costs him
maybe, therefore, his team.
And it gives KineTrupp the extra player number heading into the last 50 seconds of this half.
Tough one, either you stand up fast and get that freebie, or try and clear the back step,
and use this a bit above, doesn't find anything.
Falls on the clash door, the bar should be at a space in the bones that you don't normally
have.
I was with freedom to deny any real pushes in one single area.
Levy finds one, he's fresh from the board now, he's alive.
Oh, he's got no idea, he doesn't know who's getting back stab, he's gonna get killed by a musi.
Easy kill, musi's not messing up with that one.
D plus has been able to wrangle it back again from the likes of musi and foals.
Levy's helped out too, with two big kills.
When he doesn't get ZovTec, look what he can do on that smoke, it's Kawhi.
Now pushing through Admin, indeed Levy with a 3k.
You give the chance to Levy, he finds three kills,
He doesn't die at the start of the round and he is the impact player all tied again at the half three to three
Oh, we're back.
Oh, it's jamming out there, it's jamming out.
It's the low bracket final map 2, D plus Kina trope.
Welcome back for the halftime of Vibe Check.
D-plus are going to go onto the attack now, Nick here on Bankus.
They look to lock up their second map, therefore the series a little bit of a comeback.
Two rounds straight to close the half.
It was looking really, really good for Kynotropa, created to D-plus.
They find the form when needed most.
Kind of crazy the story has been comeback story for D-plus here in Bang, and it's not what
I think anybody expected.
But that's very much been the case, Moosey as an individual has won probably 2-3 rounds
so far and there in the final 31 they had in the half, Levy also came alive.
Having a really hard time playing this smoke he was 0-5 going into that 6th round, now
he's 3-5, he really made up for the previous rounds.
So we go into Kiddos defenses, we gotta see something from them, right?
There hasn't been that Maestro pocket then, there also hasn't been him being picked here
in the very first round.
I will say it can be trade to fit Maestro unbanked, there's not a ton of safe areas
to go on to the cameras and actively use them and that's kind of one of the issues of playing
Maestro or the Echo even the Valkyrie times, unless a defender dies early on, which usually
is a bad thing, you can't really watch the cameras all that often.
In the current meta of Siege, with the gap finding, faster pace and seeking opportunities
in the moment, it's so dangerous to not have your gun up ready for a fight.
So again trope, play a bit more action to it here, the razor blooms, the mirror windows,
but I still get the information to Valkyrie for later usage.
Starting in the basement to no surprise, let's see how these guys will pick this apart.
What is a surprise is in that opening half five opening kills were not converted into
round wins, only one, which is a very very strange margin, typically it's the other
way around.
Oh, I just almost took the microphone out of the socket, I shouldn't be doing that.
I got a little bit too, uh, too high of a dancing before.
Oh, Midi, there is an OPK.
Well, we'll see if that's gonna change things in terms of the conversion percentage.
Onto K'A'Wa'u.
On the solid snake, finding the OPK is pretty much the job of the snake with that radar to get the information to then play off it.
I get an aggressive, blood-heavy lineup.
Throw the candellas in, activate the death mark.
Get the solid snake into a close position.
Gatorade up. Oh, there is one on the other side of the wall.
He's right there.
That's pinged out, though, so his position is known, and he just gets swarmed.
Falls, gets the kill onto the Wamai.
KineTrop running out of troops in this opening round of the half.
That first Kentella didn't even go into the elevator.
That's it, and one will forces out the swing of a Yagata.
Well played from Levy.
KineTrop, but we haven't... they're just falling apart.
Yep, one by one they fall, no trade whatsoever, that's a big switcher from their attacking
side where they are so swift at helping each other in those dire moments.
In fact, a guy who's hiding beneath the desk, all his team is abiding, a terrorist by the
side with that same exact fate, he's the last man in the 1v5, he's prone beneath the desk.
Well, I can't believe we made it, I mean it would be good for one, right?
We have seen a 1v5 from this position, his name was Wettables.
It did happen in OZ this stage, but this is a very different match against very different
players and there's a whole extra 50 seconds on the clock.
That's very, very different.
Kaya's going to get at least one, catches this, no more than that though.
Deplos are going to take the lead, they make it three straight rounds, Nick, they make
it four of the last five.
I think they were the ones that were probably jamming out at halftime alongside us as Keenach
Now look a little bit sorry for themselves realizing maybe this is getting away from them
He passed out three rounds away from the grand final
Oh
Man big praise to levy as well. I generally was a bit fearful
By this performance though if mentally who's gonna check out and just loses confidence
But first on attack is onto the yin good makes the interplay gets kills out of elevators and just doesn't slow down at all
For a skill trope, what you do in this kind of position is often exactly this.
You just switch to the bomb site, go somewhere else, basement wasn't working, you lost all
your fights, strategically you didn't have an angle to play.
But I'm looking at the defender lineup right now, I'm not seeing like a ton of different
win conditions.
Okay, they're playing the bandit, they can now deny the elevator walls from any range
to hard destruction, of which D plus 3 and D have none, that's not going to matter necessarily,
Then they have a single C4 and smoke bait on Akayu for plant denial and a DMR navigator.
It doesn't feel like there's a very clear wing condition necessarily for getting trope
outside the usual, let's just fight and kind of see what happens.
There is going to be an Hibana re-heating the very end now, so you could actually see an
interaction between Gara Wada on the bandit and Faust in the Hibana and then the question
becomes, can they deny all those six Kairos pellets from that elevator wall or will they
suffer maybe a death to a grenade while bandit tricking?
It's gonna be the mini game that should match the most.
That's even if D plus really want to play into that game.
I feel like in the mode mirror of C, if you don't really see Kanto get opened up all that
much, or at least not as much emphasis, it doesn't help as well that you can actually
just ban away the 2C teams, ban away the Hibana and the ace, which then you just can't literally
open it up at all.
I was really in this corner by the way, but there's no my yeah, or so row could be coached
momentarily glad to see
Clara boy, and he's looking to the crystal ball and he's bound for our death
We find that one perfectly. I'm lucky
Don't you love that feeling that you just call it out like that and it just happens immediately I
I love it when it's something cool, it's just I just cast a cursed coward basically, that's
not cool at all.
I'm trying to help my homies out here.
Well who's dead next dude?
Who's dead next?
I mean it's gotta be air gator right?
He's gonna be fighting that quad window position and either he's gonna get a kill or get killed
because this is very much an active position to play.
Gotta worry about the ATM rappel, the scatter rappel, the bomb site window rappel.
Oh it's got a rotter.
Oh it's wrong.
Got a rotter and bandit dies.
there is trying to help a getter who is now next to nine.
Yeah, we'll say they do bring a lot of bodies
over the wall at the front there to get the repel down,
as you mentioned.
And as well, planning a time still available for D plus gear,
their time gain in the second half so far, two rounds in,
has been really, really sharp.
They're not wasting any time.
They're pretty quick to converge close to site
and deal with these more outward defenders.
They're back in the corner.
Claire goes down to falls.
Falls now up to nine kills.
He's had a tremendous series, easy caught by Akali, he's out of gaspades by the way, Gator finally does dive front.
Theskit took a little bit of time, but Midi found that kill pushing up Lobby.
And 40 seconds down to 1 vs 4, I feel like Kinetrope are about to call Attackers from time out.
It may be quite literally after this round, because they're going to be 5-3 down and deep plus, it looks really solid on their attacks.
These two rounds, they have not even looked close. This is scary now for Kinetrope.
Yeah, I'm not buying the setup though. I mean, from the very beginning, if you have
like a top-down perspective, which we're very fortunate that we do, and I don't see the
op-ed lineup, I don't see the player positions, I don't see a clear way for them to win the
round, it's an FPS game. You can always hit five headshots and that's it, congrats you
won it. But like from a strategic perspective, Kinectrop have not yet shown us on defense
what their game plan actually is. And on their attacks, they have such a clear game plan,
And they're so good at changing it around, adapting the play, finding the counters, finding
the gaps.
On their defenses and both border and bank, it seemed a bit almost like solo QE, where
they can't just do their own thing with five individuals and maybe they win a gunfight,
maybe they don't, maybe D plus one console cap and trap, maybe they don't.
And you see a bit more foundation being laid out here from getting trooped.
Say, okay, that's how they're gonna play.
You look at the C4 downstairs fallback in the first half and while they
In the first couple rounds it wasn't working. You could see the identity
So sometimes you can have the identity and it doesn't work and sometimes you can not have the identity
It's true
It's not as if there's a correlation between the success
But it's like as you kind of pointing out you do at least want to be able to see
Some kind of game plan that is what we usually will see in the conventional sense
For what we're gathering in this round 9, for Keenatru, even this kind of lineup, to me would suggest you bring in the mirror, you can hold Janitor's stock, try and hold that second floor staff open area, based on the positioning though, I'm not feeling that.
I'm with you.
So the second mirror is going to go into staff. No, they're not going to do it, they're just going to play first floor and they're going to see Formax.
I love that from you.
there is a there is a strength here that feral jackal back on the idk days in
early european league days they would reinforce all the kind of the walls right
here play a mute put down a bunch of jammers you cannot bait them in with
the maverick bat then doesn't the maverick medicine many years ago new c4 max
downstairs the thing is right now can't talk about c4 maxing without having
anyone luring them in making them stand still make the top of the field one
Run around, do the vert.
Exactly, that's what I'm saying, like they're not having a clear way of basing how they're
intending to get the kill.
They're relying on D-Pulse to make a mistake somewhere, but Kinect has to get that timing.
And that's not reliable enough to do, but I guess it's such a good opponent as in D-Pulse.
They don't even have a pulse, they don't even have a Valkyrie, like if you had have added
those in, you can actually get a little bit more information to play off with those Nitro
cells.
And then that allows the Solid Snake to just push in, because Kinect's mindset is like,
can we get lucky and try and deal with these who are on the second floor with these Nitro
cells?
We're not looking sideways, we're looking kind of up, our mind is elsewhere.
Well the solid snake doesn't care what you're thinking, he's just gonna push in, you're on the radar, there goes the cap can.
And with that, they lose the middle of the building, that gives them a long, nice, then outside into the tightest of the bomb side.
They got the ultrasonic over the cavity, they can pop the hatches to the Hibana, like D plus they have every single area of map control they could ever desire.
And now it comes up with the team's trove to be stalking a couple of different corners, fight the side,
taking unfavorable gunfights with worse weapons and no zoom scopes and hoping for the best once again.
And these day have two A-cocks and they're clearing Kawa.
That just means that those TCHGs, they're gonna have to hit their shots.
This is an awful feeling sight to be stalking in corner.
When there's so many different ways in, they're just all sitting in corner.
All those Microsofts as well, Nick, they're pretty much unusable now as well because really for D+, they're playing long angle fights.
How you get it gets one, but it's irrelevant. It's nothing. It's now six to three. It's three match series points for D plus Kia
But this feels harsh
But guinotrope have just fumbled the back here on bank. They look lost
Yeah, you said it perfectly
It's you you have three C4s no way to utilize them only one even gets thrown out of pocket before the round is over
They do find two kills in the round one of them to a C4 in a 1v4 position
Again, there's no way for them to get back into that round. The moment it goes wrong,
have so much they walked in and then died to the Capcan. We're talking about timing, individual gunfighting.
That's fine. But strategically, we gotta see KeenanTrip now, and this upcoming round shows a bit more sign of life
and a bit more brain play, if you will. KeenanTrip called a technical timeout, surely with the support here of Orcumesh.
This can turn around. Guys, let's go for this strat. Number 24, ABC in the document.
Let's try and think about how they're taking the map space vertically. We gotta see a plan
Well, this this is actually a really good example
Nick if like when it comes to coaching you've got many different ways in which you can have a coach be more
Strategic-based or sometimes it can be more about you know the vibes and the energy and some of them are just there to basically book
Scripts and the players don't care what they have to say
I would say at this level that's not obviously going to be the case
But I think with this kind of time now oka much cannot just use this as a hey guys you're playing bad play better
That's just not going to work. This is a lot of flying all your three rounds down. You need to lay out the plan of we're not doing this
Right, this is what we need to do. This is what I'd like to see you guys do
Let's go to these sides play these operators play this way and like you said
These guys have the documents they have the ability to go and create these lines where they've got preset plays
They need to go into that lock a CCTV you look at this lineup
But immediately there's far more of a plan in play Nick. We finally see the maestro
We were talking about it back on boarder. Yeah, this is a good sight for Maestro
Add that in with the mirror and the smoke the one line with the nitrocell now past catch
This is the best-looking lineup they've bought in this entire second half, but it's no surprise. It's after a tactical timeout
I mean if I'm gonna try and keep it like big brain
Maybe can't you we're hiding the Maestro weakness third awkward up and didn't it bring out some action?
But do you really do that when you're down and map it a few three series and struggling on the second that this well probably not
But now we're here. It's happening.
Here is to see if there's gonna be a brava and assault direct counter.
D-plus does not care too much about the maestro and boarder
until they started clutching in couple rounds with it.
Then they simply banned it as the third operator ban.
Of course, as I said, not possible.
If the maestro becomes a problem, you gotta stop playing the counter-ops.
They do have a fair bit of sub-dissertion.
They got the demos on the board.
They can get Twitch stones, which can technically destroy the evil eye.
if you can make them open up their little eye
and then it's CBT Sebedy.
CBT Sebedy.
CBT Sebedy.
This is gonna be the wading game though for Kinetro.
This is the way they need to play it.
They need to be slow, they need to just five stack site,
they need to play into the line-up
that they've clearly brought, triple nitro,
mirror windows, you got the evil eyes,
you got the catch available plus the gas babes.
But I like this from me because you're on the side,
play the longer position angle,
someone to swing out and keep their eye on this. Love this drone as well by the way, again,
this yellow ping. He would have also seen the double push out. Gawaz is going to be careful.
He needs to stay alive there. He is the one that sends him back, put him tucked into a position
so he can still use his app. You can just about see what he's saying. He's going to spare either
line pocket still, I believe. That's a bit of a shame, bit of a bummer. Maybe in case of a brava
who knows what either way, now Moody gets full garrus control. It's kind of cuts the bomb site in
half. You can't see the red hallway thing because they've reinforced the wall
leaving from Garrick in towards the bottom side but you can see through the
B bombsite door. I just kind of walked through Garrick later on, back step and
safe use his Tristron as well from that position. There's a D plus. While we saw
Moosey take Garrick's control, they take an open area. They cleared the entirety of
the map except for Surgell where we do have A get a play, a spent one, toxic
babe. Now falling back towards the bombsite saying okay one minute 20 seconds,
We feel like this is playable, but look, there's almost no playable area here on the side itself.
You're once again stalking some very tight corners as a defender of Kingdom Trope.
You need to ensure that you know who's watching what exact angle, who's watching the hatches, and who's in charge of Flendenal.
Are you going to smoke it? Are you going to see Ford? Are you going to evil eye it?
That's up to you guys to communicate ahead of time.
The double stack red because they reinforced off the garage wall. You can see they're from music positions.
So the music can't actually get that angle just yet, but and with that double stack red
That's also two nitrosols that are at range of being able to deny so that's going to be the game point
If you can't put a second's left through this gas babes out then look to the nine of the nitrocell
Be sure to get it does get the kill onto music he pushed up garage because of that rain goes well
He needed to push through the doorway to create an angle where he could actually get involved for the attack of D plus
30 seconds, it doesn't leave a lot of playing.
They still have two more nitro cells available, plus the Gatsby, D-plus are gonna have to push forward,
try to get a little bit deeper into the site.
They are doing just that now, Levy at the doorway, into the site, straight through CCTV, they lose falls.
ADC has been so impactful to go down to Gatorada and to clan two up for both teams now, heading into red time.
Still controlling the doorway, is Levy out of Candela's.
By the way, on-cam this whole time in CCTV, courtesy of the Maestro,
as KenaTrope will win the round in the 10th and stay alive here in the lower final.
Constant red ping information, the pre-fire has come out and they actually so much charged the
mirror window on the bomb site leading into the red hallway which meant there was no playable spot
for the attackers to plant in. You cannot plant chassis, you cannot plant default because there's
no good spots, you're getting red ping the entire time so you're in a kill box effectively
and Moosey also wasn't successful in the garage flank, he might have gotten a kill amount entirely
certain but he died and then meant that there was more space now for Gintro to
utilize on their side of things and thankfully the Maestro stayed alive for
the entirety of that didn't die early on in Garrosh. So Gintro fight for one more
round now they're sadly off the Maestro. They got the castle that bandied the
two brow which again screams like time denial play down the clock but then they
have sentry and they have a Sami. It's not that they're doubling down with like a
Goyle or to shun girl or a smoke where they have more tools of doing the same kind of job
It feels a bit like you pretend you everything they are once again C4 Max and maybe this time
It will have a good more presence upstairs to enable at C4 from beneath
So they don't have the presence upstairs Nick
Isn't that just basically the same thing that we saw before and they haven't really learned from what caused them at the issue last
That's why they gotta have a presence
Realize it's in pocket, early positioning is like kind of around main stairs, it doesn't
look like they're wanting to play upstairs, they don't really have a line up to be honest,
that like really contends with top 4 anyway, I feel like this is a double downpick in a
race.
I think that you know what they're going to do differently, this time they're going to
throw them nitro cells early, because remember last time they didn't really throw them at
all, remember that push into site they all tucked into the corners and they didn't use
them, I feel like they'll just try and get a little bit more aggressive in this round,
them out earlier, wants to stop control and long desk and Jadad has taken and
trying to get a bit fortunate. But the problem is again you're relying on a
bit of luck.
Just feel that away once again. I was gonna say what I love the idea of a clash
you just walk around a shield you know in front of your face, paint the C4s, be
like hey look at me look at me I'm a free kill, not to be. Again, Q-trap not
Probably a shield team on the attacks, all the defences necessarily.
Boogie drones are going out, getting that bit of apparently talent,
they have the floors in the mix for a bit of soft destruction,
they have a DMR of living, lobby cutting off the main elevator hallway.
They are again, boxing team from step by step.
The one upside to the bottom side is at least.
Like this is the point.
You gotta, you also utilize the base with staircases.
Yeah?
Yeah.
For information on the radar for midi, it depends how they catch the team on the second
Floors like when these boogie auto breaches are going out and they you know
There's a lot of noise and you're not quite fully set and holding an angle try to disrupt
They're not disrupting again
They're just sitting back face side all inside of star foot open
Gatorada actually almost losing his life in our time because again the floorboards have been completely ripped up
So much information into our times nears then gets rid of a UK that that's one of the eyes yourself never even had to be
I feel like this is deja vu. We've already played this round
It happened back in the ninth round and we already saw the end result
They still haven't used these nitros. They're sitting in corners
They're stuck inside on an open site hence its name with 60 seconds left 5v3
This could be the moment with D plus the book their place in the grand final
It's got to hold on don't rush it boys
You got so much time to work with they will peak you right there news
It's a free begin and a four reads 5v2 rather well you're watching this right now
They can wondering how Kina trope are probably even in this position of a lower final because flawless
They absolutely gave it to D plus here on a silver platter
And on that platter is a grand final ticket
to take on C AG
For an all-time showdown between these two in the eight pack north region
They've been the best to all stage long
It's time to see which is the best and who will be going to these sports walk up
We bid farewell to Keena Trope, 2-0, the D-plus key up.
That's the performance that we need from D-plus, if they are to go on and win EWC slot.
That's the big talking point here, is that's the kind of performance that will
parry you into a grand final against them. We're still considering them the best team
in APAC North being CAG, but still, it does feel like there's so much missing for Kinetrop there.
We wanted so badly to see them push this.
Yeah, I mean, me and Jake on the pre-show talked so much about what D-class are capable of at their best.
Well, how about Kinetrop at their best? We didn't see that today at all.
We saw a few moments on boarder of that Maestro play. We saw one round of Maestro here.
Not that it was incredible. Let's be real, it was this baseman defense that Kinetrop eventually managed to win.
win the only defense round that they did win, but they were
sort of our class by D plus today closing with the flawless
round, the first and only two zero. Thus far in the APAC North
stage finals bracket that speaks volumes to how much D plus
really showed up today and sadly how much KineTrope did it and I
don't want to make this all about you know D plus only one
because KineTrope played played not to the regular level but I
think that is part of this conversation KineTrope. We expected
greater things than what we saw from them in these last two maps.
And D-plus, look, they hit their stride, and they needed that,
because they're going to need to go even more on the next series,
which is going to be our grand final, and the EWC slot.
Well, that's just it.
If you were to have two teams that could potentially go on to the CAG,
right now, if you had Kinatrope kind of limping through,
that just wasn't convincing enough for me for them.
We always see Kinatrope, they're always on the front foot,
They're always aggressive and they're always putting themselves into positions where they
could potentially win.
Sometimes based on individual performances, you look to your car allows and the agators
for those kind of moments, you know, two, three Ks in the round, unfortunately, they
could not find themselves in positions where they had the advantage.
And I think one of the most damning stats about what we're looking at there is just
the cost.
Can a truck struggle to get an impact in even 50% of the round steps?
Yeah, for sure.
It was, from the get go, a D plus look in that.
It was.
D plus picked boarder, Kinetrip were the ones
that wanted to take us to bank.
Coming into today, we knew the numbers
didn't look good for Kino, and they beat double RX,
which is a bottom level team in this league,
and then lost to Fear X, who didn't even make it
to the top four in the end,
and seeing Alumnus spot to scars.
Why did Kinetrip pick bank?
That's what I wanna know.
You didn't have much info to go up against D plus for it?
I'm not sure, but regardless, look D plus,
they're gonna be really happy with themselves right now.
For sure.
taking a win, but for taking the win in two maps. Now they've beaten in BO3's
Kinetrape twice throughout this bracket after losing to them in the group
stage and yeah while we did see D plus lose to CAG earlier they now have a
shot at revenge and I think in potentially the best form that we've seen
from them in quite some time. I would totally agree like you were saying
it's you don't want to give credit to a team that's not really performing to
their mark with Kinetrape you don't want to try to make it about them because
What we saw from D plus there and I met what I said on board or especially in that second half
They looked really strong
They looked really good and I think that ultimately this is the team that needs to go up against CAG
You cannot go into that game against CAG
Somewhat performing well in some rounds
Yeah, I have to be on your best on the day speaking of the day
Let's go ahead and have a look at this next matchup because for me
I mean with a two-way performance from from D plus this now changes the script a little for me dev
I think that it that had been a close match if those two teams had pushed it to three and it was a barn burner as we
Love to say here in the APL
I think maybe it might have detracted from a grand final at least the conversation, but this now we go poor
What do we expect now? I mean, it's a perfect amount of warm-up
I would say for 3d plus you get a 2-0 over kinetrape you practice
not only the aim, the communication, a little bit of your problem-solving skills,
you get a little bit of confidence because your prep worked out.
Those attacking bands were pretty well consistent as well.
Grim and Ying consistently against Kinetrope, and now going up against CAG,
you're going to be facing a team which has got more confidence in gunfights,
plays a more aggressive type of siege than Kinetrope,
and is a lot more regimented and regulated.
like these guys, CAG, right now, you know, they're approaching some of their peak form.
They looked really good in the BO1s. BO3s, they also had a little bit of strife, but
of course, D plus still fell to them in that upper bracket. D plus might have got one map.
It was in overtime. Then they got seven out on the second map when CAG and D plus met
last time around. Yeah. I think CAG, regardless, are going to be the favorites going into this,
but you're not by a lot. No, no. There's very much of where D plus could steal the spot
away from CH. Yeah, the margin is definitely shrunk and due to, you know, sometimes the
overall team, but sometimes individual players step up and right now falls is going mental.
Let's welcome him in for the interview. And I think falls, we always like talking to you.
You give us a lot. I love you for it. You're going to be feeling hot off the back of that
series. You were going off.
You know, hello guys. Yeah, it was a pretty crazy, crazy game. Like, you know, troopers
like have like a really aggressive play style like just running around it's kind of hard to
understand like strategically speaking what they're doing in the map who makes kind of
optional counter because like we are playing in our selfless position just like there's
some one might running around the mess and get to Q and already I guess I'm ready but yeah
always good to look at us play against these guys and I'll see you. Yeah for sure I mean you
said they're aggressive but every now and then we see them do something very passive
with the Maestro, one of the few teams in the world that we see want to run that Maestro,
and Akai seems to do it all the time. He did it just the one round on Bank, but he did a lot on
Border. What kind of prep goes into playing against Kinatropes specifically once you've
read their playstyle, once you see what kind of operators that they decide to pick and play a lot
of? Does it come through in the bands? You know, I noticed that you banned Grim and Ying a lot today
for the attacking halves, and then you did ban Maestro as your third ban on Border. Talk me
me through a bit about like what the prep was like coming into that match today.
Uh, yeah, Maestro is kind of a really different operator.
Uh, I don't say, I can, I can, I don't think I can say he's like meta, you know,
if was really, really good, a lot of things would play it, but it's also kind of the
way he plays kind of really boring because he uses actually Intel and it's a
Intel that can shoot.
So actually we need to step things up.
Like basically we just said, we're not going to bring some, some brava or anything
to destroy we're just gonna like I maybe to like how's the word in English I
forgot the word in English but surround them you know I get them surrounded so
the guy cannot be on camps so he need to actually shoot because if he doesn't
he's not gonna be able to play oh yeah basically as I did. Now obviously Falls
you have a pretty big game coming up next and I don't want to hold you for too
long but I just want to know what your feelings are going into this one against
obviously you two teams are I mean you're the best that the region has to offer right now we know a pack north is close
You know this game is going to be close. What are your thoughts going into that one?
Yeah, like for me individually, I think it is the moment we need to step up, you know, we need to prove themselves
Basically, we are struggling still a little bit in some points some details
We definitely know we can beat CIG or that's not the point
But basically, if you want the AWC spot, we need to be them, and now it's the moment.
So, yeah, pretty confident, man.
To be honest, also, like previous experience, also really hyped, because it's good to have these competitors, you know, like some hard task.
Because if it is easy, like, and it doesn't have like emotion, you know, we need to be hard.
So we can say that we actually earned the spot.
Yeah, I love that.
Earning a spot right now is pretty big.
Obviously we'll give you the final words here before we let you go, Falls, anything you'd
like to say?
Yeah, just like I say thank you for our fans and friends, especially our family also.
And yeah, now we'd prefer to see you again.
Oh, believe me, we're going to do the exact same.
Falls, best of luck mate, and I hope to see you on the other side.
Perfect.
Another great game from Falls.
Yeah, top fragging.
I was a little bit worried there in that one round.
Notice he was stopped fragging and he was had the diffuser and he was attacking the basement
He drops down the hatch right after they'd breached open the only wall that he could have planted in the hidden behind
But it's just moments like that where you're like look I'm fucking forced to do anything like even if he ends up in a bit of an awkward spot
He has a prone on the ground and I hope that he doesn't get exposed. He's still gonna go crazy
It's great to see even the supportive players on the team fragging out like crazy
It's just, you know, falls as a hard plan on to fall in love with when you force like that
And you see him play the way he does and especially when he shit on Jake
We do have a grand final coming up before that this this one right here real grand final
That is the grand final where after it is the conclusion of Xenox goes pro will he beat penguin?
That is the big question. There's no chance. I mean, you know what?
There's some there's some allegations being thrown around right now. Obviously. Yeah, he cheated but the allegation. I want to look into
Are we playing on those servers or are we playing on fair services?
I hope that we're playing somewhere in the middle of course it wouldn't be fair to play
on those servers also wouldn't be fair to play on European servers.
There's no Pengu's all the way over in Denmark.
I don't know what is halfway between I know that last time I played on Southeast Asia servers
I got maybe like 80 to 120 ping depending on the routing on the day.
I think maybe Pengu would get like 200 to those.
180, 200 I think.
Maybe that's a little bit fairer.
I mean, it's fine if Jake has a bit of a ping advantage.
No, no, no, no, no, no, not fine.
He has to have a ping advantage.
Look, honestly, he can have nine ping.
He'd be inside the server in Australia.
He's still losing.
Yeah, I totally agree.
Well, that's one you can't afford to miss.
Obviously, CAG.
Yeah, it's a pretty important matchup against D plus.
But this one, I'll just marry the teammates.
Are they like, well, that's the best part.
Did you know when we find out then right after this break?
I
I
a grand final to behold one of the greatest games that could ever happen. It's not CAG
I'm more excited about one thing, gentlemen. Do you know what that is?
Got something to do with APL, man. It does have something to do with APL, man.
For everyone at home, before we get underway with this grand final, we have agreed on mutual terms to become friends again.
I can't wait for this. And not only that, but for you at home, you get an exclusive look at who this is.
for you at home, you get an exclusive look at who this is. Let's rip the mask off. Are
we ready, Jake? I'll make you to count us in. I don't know who it is, but I can't wait.
All right. I don't know. Five, four, three, two, one.
Breaking news. Jake Xenox and Diddy has been caught cheating in his 1v1 match versus
player, Wettables. Key9 viewers noticed his hands were off the keyboard while his operator
was still moving in-game. Mr. Venditti did then reveal that he was actually in cahoots with a pro player.
Hengu, an acquaintance of Mr. Venditti, had this to say,
it just totally undermined the integrity of the Xenoxco's pro segment. I'm absolutely heartbroken.
We apologise for the interruption, now back to regularly scheduled programming.
I've been paying attention.
It's been revealed.
Yeah, it's done.
It's done.
Don't have to worry about it anymore.
It's a weight off our chest.
Oh, like it's just unbelievable.
I feel like everyone at home.
Nice bit of relief.
Nice sigh of relief going into it.
We're all on the same team as well.
I know.
Now we're all on the same page.
Yeah.
You know, we know what he looks like.
He knows what we look like.
It's just this beautiful synergy bringing everything back together.
Speaking of bringing things back together, let's get this bloody band back together.
It's time for the Xenox Ghost Pro Moment.
But this time.
This time it's big. It's a two versus two.
However, how we got here, Jake, a little bit interesting.
I won't lie. You performed absolutely horrifically.
Unfortunately, it's been a rough road in the Xenox Ghost Pro series.
And as we near the end of it now, it comes down to one final opportunity.
Two versus two. Look, yesterday, I lost my colours.
I lost my colours yesterday.
I didn't need to cheat.
Genuinely, I felt like going into that wetables game,
I should have just played it myself.
I should have backed myself here.
There's a thing like you look back to some of the first games you played.
I know you actually had a pretty solid performance
It was once you played labyrinth that like we got to confidence just got sucked away
And that's why I'm disappointed like man
You have to be able to pick yourself up from those moments without going low and cheating
I know I apologize look I want to say this right now
I'm gonna look down the camera if we want to if we want to bring it here zoom in zoom in bring it in, baby. I
Apologize to everyone at home
Paulie, misrepresentation of the APL region.
Does that not go pro-segment?
Has obviously been much loved.
And I've obviously ruined it for everyone.
And hopefully I can get a win in this game.
And hopefully everyone's still behind me
in trying to get that win.
No, unfortunately there's no amount of apologies
that could make up for the fury that is PENGU.
Let's welcome him in.
PENGU, I need to mediate here before we start.
We're back. We're back. I need to I need to talk to you, Pengu, because you got a little sideways over Jake's
Cheating allegations, but now you're back to normal. How do you actually feel about it? I?
Feel heartbroken, you know, I'm a big competitive and so quickly kind of guy and I feel like you're right you did it
You were trying your your hardest you were losing will make it fun if you're having a great time and you say you know
I'm gonna fit the script. I'm gonna start cheating on your second final
What actually should have been your final match?
You've let down literally one of the greatest I know and someone that you know, I share very fond memories with me
I can't speak
Once upon a time
Co-cast is at one of the greatest grand finals ever to take place now in the grand final
It feels poetic, but I mean I'll be honest with you
nothing would be as much poetry and motion as you revealing who you're
actually going to be bringing into this. Well it's time to lock in because this
is happening so I love you Nick but I do need to beat you so I've gone and got the
best in the region from Australia I've already thrown him under the bus and you
know what it's time for redemption I'm going back to the world I know what this
man's capable of I trust in him I want player on my team player what do you how
you feeling after yesterday I mean we expected a lot from you but he's using your buddy
uh I don't know uh I was just like uh you know but it was pretty lucky guys so
for me on a day off but like Timo was there I think all he needs is you know there's a voice
behind him yeah yeah that's his yeah look where he stands no demos below
play on the guy I just I don't want you to feel like roped into you know the controversy
because there's been a lot of drama recently. Me and Jake have been good friends for a long time,
but I was really heartbroken at what happened the other day. It's not on. And I don't blame
you, player. You were just getting wrapped up in the moment. Jake reaches out, he's like,
hey, mate, can you help me out with something? I don't hold that against you, but I do feel like,
despite all of the friction that this has caused, there's a way out. You guys just need to stand
up valiantly, play this 2v2, and look, if you can take down Pengu, I'd be genuinely impressed,
I think we can say that we can water under the bridge, you know, we know that by going to be by no
No, I don't want any water under the bridge
I think cheating allegations are the most disgusting kind of allegations Pengu. I'm with you. Who do you hit in your side of the ring?
Well, since you brought the good of those I brought the butcher to the montage
Oh
Oh, no, like, welcome to the APL night.
How are you feeling in this 2v2 instance?
Do you feel like you're up against an evenly matched opponent,
or are you well and truly a bomb?
Well, I've never been on this side of the league,
but I'll be excited to test the waters out.
I've never played with this hive of ping ever in my life,
so I'm going to be testing it.
The first two rounds are going to be some testers,
and then hopefully we'll get into it.
I love the humility from you, man,
but like you don't need to hold back.
No, no, no, it's already going to make you a star.
This guy is just all off.
I want you to wipe the floor.
He's also going to be player.
Yeah, very true, very true.
He does have to be player.
But Nick, why no, why did you get this guy?
Why did you have to get one of the greatest players
in that game right now?
I mean, it's pretty cheerful.
It's a great gift to you, Al.
I love food that you know.
And then Noah, he takes my McDonald's orders.
I was going to give you a delivery for him, basically.
He's going to get in here, serve me the food,
and serve me a victory.
Let's not bring that stuff into this. Let's keep this on something else. Let's just focus on the game, us, you and me taking out some ox.
That seems fair.
This is a good warm up for players, isn't it? Chris, this is a great way for you to prepare for EWC.
Yes, we're a little more fun. It's going to be a really good match up.
Oh
I'm on my a game today. I'm ready to go. This is it locked in no more time. It's all on me, baby
I'm bringing it downstairs right now. I don't think it's all on you Jay
I'm just I think it's all literally all on player how you feel about one be doing, you know
One of the greatest European players of all time and one of the greatest European players right now
It's like please we go service
Anything different, anything different, I understand.
I don't know, like, are you like, I got Xenox, like, I don't know.
I don't know if that's fair.
Hey, I'm watched, okay?
It's fine.
Two watched players against two current pro players.
I think it's pretty fair if you ask me, okay?
We got 300 ping over here.
I might play a shield for 1-2, you know, no big deal.
Don't worry about it.
We'll see what happens.
Mike, did you just call Xenox a watched player?
You can't be watched if you were never good to pick him.
Can you
Come on
We need to lock in now because guess what for everyone at home. Let's not waste any more time
Let's get underway with the greatest 2v2 matchup of APL history. Nay the world's a we're going global, baby
By a locked in he locked in
I can't say anything because they can hear us, so this is a little bit tricky.
Look guys, I see you, I see you, I see you.
We can hear all the comms.
Are we just open comms?
Yeah, open comms.
I don't want you guys to hold back here.
Oh my god.
You know, coordinate as much as you can.
But it's open comms.
I see you, little.
I see you, Jake.
Thank you.
That's biased.
We do have team chats.
And we won't be able to say team chat, father.
So it's fair.
It's fair.
Thank you.
It takes my boards 30 seconds, by the way, to fly.
So let's see how this works. Okay. No practice by the way. No
Make sure you get a crisp on the white staircase no gaps no gaps
Wow, I think we've seen people reinforce in this place. That's beautiful. Oh
my god, oh
Service we own by the way guys can I have a pink check, please? Oh my god, I
Feel bad for you to thank you and know it you guys have been falling windows here
Hold on a second there's like 15 yicks flying in my ears.
Okay, why are there all the saves different on this?
Oh!
Oh boy!
Oh!
Get some kits, kits, kits.
Come on mate.
Try to smoke him.
Thank you.
No pressure.
Jake's in on some Divi in a 1 versus 2.
Possibly the biggest moment of his career.
Okay, all my saves are going to kill him.
Oh my god, it's 30 seconds to kill him.
That's crazy!
Look at Jake, he's not happy.
He's not happy.
Oh am I on player settings because he looked into this account
Sorry quick quick quick check
TAC pause is that what you're asking for? Jake attack pause?
This is TAC this is TAC pause?
That's their one pause
I'm trolling, I'm trolling
I'm trolling
He's gonna take that off
No, I only just know this the overlay
No, no, no trust us trust us trust us trust us. Oh, okay. Okay. We're hiding some strats here. Are we
Can I get you two cents? No, uh, how's the ping feeling for you?
Um, that was probably the worst siege experience that I've ever felt
I've never seen an Aluminum fly 40 seconds after I press the button.
You're still going to lose this one.
You're still going to lose.
I don't know about that one, I'll be honest.
Think what you want.
Chris, we're like, I'm the counter right now in your program.
Let's go.
This is a decision from you.
Is that us?
I learned this one from Chef Jeff.
Oh, it's one of the Chefs of all time.
Oh, hello. Listen, Kess.
Oh, don't mind it, play it. Don't mind it.
It's fine, player. He's only one of the greatest shield players of all time.
Well, used to be.
It remains to be seen.
I'm not sure how the thorn traps work on this ping, by the way.
We're going to find out the hard way, I think.
Yeah, me neither.
Alright, now let's see what she got there.
Oh my god, oh my god!
The lanes are not flying like they're supposed to!
The lanes are not flying!
An attic, right-hand side.
Okay, hold up. We're gonna go a little smoke here.
Okay, one's attic, one's top-way, top-way.
Ah, yeah.
Keep smoke.
Top-way still.
Oh, oh man.
Oh, here we go, Jake.
You got him. Come on.
I don't got you, I don't got you, Jake.
try not plant
oh the trade
oh why
i'm about to die to a healing trap here by the way
oh chris
oh fine play smart
smart football from pengu
is it young?
oh no
oh here we go 1v1
two left sides okay okay okay we got to the pink here okay we got to play the
player oh you are playing the player right now oh here we go here we go
watch out that's a straight he's washed come on Chris
That's one Jay, let's go, let's go, we're on the board!
I can't believe you guys are trying to kill me!
Nah, there's no way, there's no way!
We should have kept up the pace there, that's my bad!
Jay, did you actually kill player? Did my eyes deceive me? You guys trade?
I killed no one, yes. Sorry, I'm in no one.
me which is you know not surprising considering the email stage but yeah
I have never won the sport walk up no I have cast the sports walk up grand final
That's close enough.
Oh yeah, that's as close as you'll ever get mate.
Absolutely.
That's not close enough.
So look, if we end up seeing Chiefs Esports Club vs Team Secret at the Esports World Cup,
this is a little bit of a taste test room.
We might end up seeing.
Don't think so.
This is definitely a team match.
Oh my god.
What are you thinking about, Jack?
I'm not thinking
Me okay, this is your opportunity
You deserve to be you deserve to be a project
You felt the thing and yet that is a good thing.
I'm sure I know, I'm sure, I'm sure.
That was a last one.
We're locked in now.
Yeah, I don't know, maybe we should go up here.
I would have to do my circumstances.
No, well maybe we should hit you up for a 1v2, not a 2v2.
Wait, is that Shaded Nick?
Whoa!
That sounds like J.
I would have to rotate, I put down my barbed wire, I was doing stuff like back in the
PENTAG 2 days mate.
He just fell on both sides all the time.
I when you're in a really good team, that's all you need to do. Okay. That's the benefit of being the best
Okay, well, I'm not a really good thing. I can't do that
Don't look it. I need you to get focused
Okay, I have a two-time world champion in my team. I can just I can do whatever
Let's have this conversation right now actually thank you. What do you think about that? Yeah
well I beat Bolo back in his prime so there's that and you're using his skin
right now so you know he's still famous
you literally don't want to go to championships against a Canadian
I wasn't really in prime
how many, how many is a Canadian with you?
a couple
they're not applying phantom pressure everywhere right now
oh my god, speak about phantom pressure
I like this staff for you
Let me get the big one as well
Oh, they got a formula mind
Well, I know when you know, you know that when you know, you know
Oh, yes, I traded I traded nice
I'm not gonna lie players prone button is my crouched button
It's just excuses
heard heard heard yeah I know that's the one we can't just plan like this is
just chaotic like we're just we don't have anything set but yeah please tell
us your plan all right yeah well that's on you to say we have confirmed to
everyone at home it's first of all the WWE script has been thrown out it is
I just finished the whole rank rule set, just a reminder, player and Zenox, you guys have
like 9 ping that have 3 hours, but I absolutely can't hear anything right now, just a reminder
here for you guys.
Here's an audio player.
Maybe I don't hear anything on my side.
Oh yeah, bottom line, oh my.
Maybe I'll read up the staircase.
I'm on this from player.
I love the comms from Pengu.
He's shoving me from shower hall.
stairs
there's your buddy
there
can't believe they're playing the clash here
oh no i'm dead
thank you brother
fuck
oh yeah you got this
you got this
oh fuck
i'm sorry player
you got time here
you can chill
oh fuck
oh no the trip fliers
last night
beep beep
Come on play, you can play the ping, play the ping.
The rain of terror from below.
Dang it, there's a lot from out here.
You got this.
You got it all.
Hey, what?
Jake's redemption is not looking good.
Do you have the case?
Oh, you do.
Well, hold the phone, play.
That's a good chance here.
I only have American.
Oh, I didn't get one.
There we go.
That's the butcher.
He's quick.
Oh, there's a game right here.
You and the float hook up.
So, you know what?
Do you have some of the videos on there?
30 a.m. I will have a 10 30 in for a five round match
Was a lot of fun it was good to see what finger could give right now, you know have to see his
his forum as he lost it yeah it was fun kills yeah I love that so no the whole idea
behind everything we've been doing is you know trying to see what it takes to go
from zero to hero and we maybe didn't start at zero me might have started at
negative one negative two correct with Sennox trying to go pro yeah I think he's
about to come and join us on the on the couch but I'd love to hear what you have
to say about him I don't know if you followed but like he's played against a
a lot of different players and 1v1s.
This was meant to be his redemption.
His chance to really have a little bit of help,
have a bit of coaching.
He's about to go on.
Jake, I'm just asking Noah about.
Walk of shame.
I mean, come on.
He's coming.
Yeah, walk of shame.
Walk of shame.
So as I was saying to Noah, I want to ask,
what do you realistically think about this guy?
Has he maybe got a chance if he keeps practicing?
Not against Leverent.
I would say Lebrunth is better.
We were actually talking the other way around.
I was asking Noah his opinions of you,
but now that you've thrown some shade his way, Noah, please.
What do you reckon about this guy?
Well, you know all of that.
Do you want me to be like full for real, everything that I believe?
You can swear.
You're allowed to swear on this broadcast and say, yo.
OK, well, I would just say I've never felt less aura
from a singular player than I've just played as.
And you died to that less aura.
That's kind of concerning.
There was no intimidation.
He traded.
It was like when you play one of those tier hunt bots where you accidentally die and you're like,
oh man, now I have to restart the game, but it doesn't really matter.
Oh man, thank you Noah. You don't know how much I needed to hear that.
And player, after you were caught up in this cheating allegation scandal that we would call,
it's not allegations anymore, it's been confirmed, it's an absolute scandal.
Do you, do you still back in your, your, I'm gonna call him your colleague here, do you actually give Xenox any props?
Honestly, like, nah, like, honestly I'm done with J, honestly.
What? What?
No, no, he's let me down today, honestly, like, what, what's with all those 1v1s for, like, there's just no comments from you, like, let me down today, you've tried to head down my image.
I'm sorry, mate.
So yeah, I'm not with you at all anymore, but I just like it.
I think I was gonna buy him a beer at the next event, but that's not gonna happen now.
So thank you very much for joining us, Noah.
That was absolutely tremendous.
Somebody's gonna take your time, Noah.
Please go and get some sleep before whatever it is you've got to do later this afternoon.
See you in a minute.
See you guys in a minute.
Oh, God.
Absolutely.
Fun though.
Good fun.
It was great fun for us, it was fun for you.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean I killed Noah, I mean that's a, that's a accomplishment.
It was a trade because of the 350 ping difference.
Do you reckon if there was like 200 ping, maybe 150, you just don't get your kill in that and you just delete it?
I mean there's a lot of things James that we could nitpick over.
A lot of moving parts.
We could have our mouse keyboard, 60 FPS.
We could play our sabbaticals until the cows come home, from the cow.
Like tiny little mod, I don't even think that was 9x20x1080.
No, it wasn't a 24-inch...
I thought we had him on the IMAX 70mm screen down there.
No!
I gotta say, the props to you, Nick, as well, for getting in the server and giving it a go.
Looks like the old bog still got some tricks.
I got my two kills, you know, and then I think both of them...
Oh, actually, I got player one time and you one time.
I got one of each.
Yeah, you got a 1v2 clutch.
That's about my moment.
Reminded me of Coastline, 6-1-2-2-1-19.
He was injured.
Okay, not quite the same, but I think the 300 ping-o-jiggle picked the corner, and I'd have to find out if I can die for like 5 seconds.
Speaking of not the same penguin, that grand final, hopefully it's not the same as what we're about to witness, because it is time for us to get out of the way with the A-Pack North Grand Final.
We've been building to this moment for an entire stage. Some could say for almost a year now between D plus story and
CAG's kind of back rising the dominance and
Continuation of what we used to know them to be Jake. This is the best opportunity for both of these teams and there's an
EWC spot on the line
It's a great way to end APL in general let alone for APAC North CAG D plus clearly both of those two teams have
Had a very good stage D plus
Maybe a little bit more shaky to begin with where a cog up to this point have looked pretty much undefeated
James they've been the best but D plus Kia they looked switched on especially on bank
And I think that was kind of with a messaging we had in the pre-match discussion was like if on the day they were out
They're on their game
They can beat cog and so far from what we've seen today in the earlier match
They are on their game the question is will that translate to the grand final against cog?
Yeah, 100% and we've said it when they're on their game D plus capill of so much
I said it earlier, but they took a map off of phase. They beat Black Dragons at 6-in-vitational.
They looked like a really solid team, ended up top 9-12.
But it has been a hot minute since they managed to beat C.A.G.
If you look back at it, it's been almost a year.
September last year in stage 2 of APAC North.
But, funnily enough, they actually beat them twice throughout that bracket.
2-0 is both time around.
Ever since stage 2 last year, we had the APAC Major Qualifier.
we had a bunch of different tournaments after that every single time the last four in a row
CAG has had the better at D plus but there's certainly something to be said here for the
Brazilians it's been a miss for them for Salt Lake City unfortunately they're still looking for a
return to the international stage since Paris and it would seem fitting in a way that they would get
to go back to Paris this time for NWC. I think they just continue to take steps into where they need
need to be. And that's for me, that's what happens when you give a roster longevity. And
if we're talking about longevity, you can't look past CAG. I mean, they have been titans
of this region for literally my entire existence in this community. It's always been CAG at
the top of our talking points. Whenever it comes to APAC, Jake, this is the roster that
we always look to and say, what are you going to show us now?
Yeah, but the problem is, once they actually go overseas, where does that go? You know,
like outside of reload a pack nor their aura is whatever max or similar to you
outside of a pack north and they go international I'm probably similar I'm
the opposite of CIG internally no I struggle but you know get me overseas
I'm gonna frag out but no for CIG clearly there that's been the storyline
attached to them for how many years now like they do so well domestically and
it's funny you brought up that start regarding D plus here I can you can put
back-to-back SI final winners phase in APAC North, and CIG would beat them, but as soon as you
stand outside the APAC bubble and CIG just wouldn't have a chance, that's the kind of way I'm framing it.
So look, in the grand finals such as this, I think CIG clearly you've got to give them respect
in space on the stage they've had, they've been so so good, so talented. DD has continued to just
be a really solid performer for this roster. There's just no real slight on them what you
you can look to and say, well, maybe this part of their game isn't working.
Yeah, they did drop them out to D plus, but ultimately they're still the best team.
And one of the things that we always talk about with this roster, they are phenomenal.
They can beat some of the greatest teams in the world.
But the biggest hurdle in front of them is themselves.
OK, I mean, looking at no, I'm looking right now.
You're looking at the next game.
That's exactly what I'm looking at.
No, no, no, not the next game.
I'm going to say looking at yesterday's game against D plus
how you beat them 7-2 actually who do you think is your biggest adversary now in the region who do
you think if you stop keep tossing because you beat them who's gonna be then ourselves
okay makes sense basically says into you as well
well
just call him a horse he's a stallion he's an Italian stallion is what he is
That's what I'm talking about, but genuinely, the number one comment we always make about
CAG is their consistency.
It's about getting over their own hurdle, and this time it feels like we're sparky.
They're starting to do it.
It feels like the dots are starting to connect.
They've got DD Man on the server who can really take a much more leadership-based role, and
slowly and surely looking real sharp. Yeah, I mean, I kind of, you know, have analyzed
the approach of Sparky this stage back when we were doing those interviews during the
group stage for them a couple of times. And you know, how hands off he was throughout the
group stage, they go seven zero. Now he's hands on in finals and two, one, two, one.
But as we've seen, I don't really put that two CAG to clearly just being what the finals
been about. Hey, back door, all the games going to three maps until the final. So I think
I think that for CAG, they've got a good, healthy mick.
They're not overly reliant on Sparky or their coach.
And clearly, they've got their own weapons available
as the Core 5.
But then he's like the, what do they say?
The cream on the cake.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The cherry on the cake.
The cherry on the top.
And so when he comes in, he's going
to be able to add that little bit extra,
but the team don't need him.
But clearly, he just adds a little bit more.
Yeah, I mean, look, CAG are in great form right now.
within this region, Chibusu, the best player, 1.74 KD, by the way.
Shireed, not too far behind him.
Akuli also in the top 10.
And let's never forget about mentioning Aniston and BD now.
And even if they are not popping off on the stats,
you can never undervalue the value of the support players,
especially Aniston as well, as such an aggressive and unique
shield operator, a disruptive player on the team.
But if you look back at tag, if they are to qualify
That would be the 15th international S tier tournament that this team has gone to and they haven't won a map on the international stage since Rio over a year ago.
Not a map, not a single map.
So if you discount that, when was the other time?
The last time was at the Six Invitational in Boston, which was trying to try it to that.
Well you look at two years, it's been two years man.
And the Munich Major, they got groups zero and three.
Salt Lake City, they got groups zero and three.
Of course, they failed to qualify for the six
in the national in Paris.
So the last time I had a big international performance
was reload all the way back over a year ago.
Yeah. And like right now, the storyline for them,
great domestically somewhat, no, you know what?
We can just call, sometimes maybe good.
We can call it up to you.
Sometimes maybe good.
And when we say sometimes it's always domestically
and then sometimes maybe the other word,
that's always international.
Well, we got the Vito, Jay Rowe.
Jokes aside, mate, jokes aside.
This is where real teams are defined.
We always talk about good and great teams.
The separation is about when it matters,
and CAG, when it matters, they turn up Jay Domestic.
Interesting, so with the Vitos,
two of the three maps that D-Post had in the pool
for the LOL final against Keynetrid,
Bota plus one, that's seven, five,
Cloudhouse, we didn't get to see it,
which was the decider.
Ultimately, it will be the decider again. So night haven labs comes in to this game robb now
This is where it gets a little bit intriguing with that even lab D plus Kia and see if you've got the history on this map
You want to know the last two times they played it? These are the score lines the last time was three days ago
They got seven oh
CHE seven oh D plus on this map those three days ago three months ago, though
D plus one in an eight six barn burner. So which one are we gonna get tonight?
I can't imagine we're gonna get a seven zero
You know what happened the last time a team in the eight-pack region got seven
I played the same map again a couple days later
You remember which one it was as in bank like literally two nights ago. Yep sure did there's a good example
So I think the impossible come back into this and one thing the Brazilians do really well
They work prep their attitude to responding to defeat etc. Yeah three days ago
They got given the blueprint of how CHE want to play this map
They're not scared to go back and try it again, and then if it if all goes wrong
Then they get to go to a map themselves in border that they quite literally just played just one warmed up and ready to go
Well, I can tell you right now there is no better opportunity for D plus Kia than right now
Coming into this match
They had an unbelievable lower bracket final against a team that is constantly on their heels
Constantly nipping at them trying to take a chunk out of what is the D plus armor and they held so strong
They looked so good. They denied they deterred and at this point in time
They're gonna have to do one a hell of a lot better
This is the mountain that they must climb as we go to Dev and Pengu to decide who will be going to EWC
Thank you so much on the line for both of these teams
At the very top of APAC north there's only place for one to progress onto the international stage
CAG had to watch D plus go to the Invitational without them and then D plus had to watch
CAG go to Salt Lake City without them. And I have no doubt whatsoever that both of these
teams will be desperate to go to the Esports World Cup in Paris. Pengu, do you have an
inkling either way? Of course, coming into today, I think most people would have said
CAG by Varela that the favourites, but after D plus' performance earlier, potentially there's
there may be a bit more of a chance here for the Brazilians.
I actually would still favor CAG, but not necessarily by like,
oh they're gonna beat them 7-1, 7-2 fashion, but you know like the 7-5, the 7-4 is maybe a
locational overtime in one of the three maps we get to go the distance. I also think CAG are just
they are they've been playing a different style of siege this stage. I think Spark has been a big
part of that, all the interviews we've had with them, you know him mentioning during the death
there is no their own biggest enemy, how they use the group stage to get practice and adaptation
and not doing external analysis. All of that has been leading to this very moment. The final
challenge, the D-Poskia. And I think CT themselves were expecting that opponent from the very beginning
and they're well prepared. Shereeb on an early come to Levy. Levy was shropling earlier against
KineTropin the exact same fashion, playing the smoke and dying early way too many rounds to count
and he starts off the exact same here against CIG. Especially in the lay-round with Anatoin
on that Monty, you don't want to be lacking your smoke, D-plus. We're not going to see
fully the ramifications of that loss until the late round comes by. CAG, they don't need to over
accelerate, slowly take map control, make sure that they can breach a lot of the walls, somewhat
impeded by the fact that this bandit is brought to the table. Yeah, the Maverick. We spoke about
this a while ago, how teams can bring out the Maverick, don't need to ban the Kaido, ban
didn't just kind of get through it regardless. Now they have banned one of those two operators because
there's a hatching enablement for the basement, that's the kite of course, but DD men has made
quick work of the IT wall, the con wall as well here not being cleared from the enemy of the bandit.
That's recent meeting and this is CIG taking a sweet, sweet time for a good reason. They've already
dealt with the smoke. That buys you a good 30 seconds on the clock with those toxic babes
along with being active in the round. Of course you got a man advantage that also counts for something.
So the number one thing with CAG is that you shouldn't throw this one away, and the best way to ensure you don't do that is to just take the time that you need to get the right pieces together.
But as I say that, the AD goes down on ITBs from Niers, a great swing there to even back the score 4-4.
Yeah, it feels a little bit like CAG didn't capitalize on that early advantage, they've been very slow.
Okay, in theory, oh, hello, that's a Montagne.
Neus has a great way of slowing him down, but Chibisu says you're not gonna escape without me getting my word in
And now CHE have completely pivoted. They're going for a rafter's take they have full control
And this is the advantage of having Annie on that montane
They just move forward to trade their force into this worker for CHE again
They got the month you can keep chicken control and there's no real pen to now a single receiver for midi
He's now dead. He can just move into 1v3, but no, as I say, if he goes down as well,
CAG, they don't plan, they don't go for that passive play of win-the-round.
They swing out with confidence and take their first round.
Yeah, wow.
Very fast pivot there from CAG, credit to D-plus, finding back after losing the opening kill,
but I have to be honest, I didn't know where CAG were going for their push for a lot of that round.
They just pivoted out of nowhere. Alright, let's take rafters.
And it's in jumps in easy peasy
Butter Bing butter boom
Round is theirs
D plus immediately say okay, not ideal. Let's change things up go to the control room bombs
I usually a tertiary for most teams
It's always a bit of a gamble here for D plus like when you're playing against CAG by foul
Do you get rid of the Monty? Yes or no? It's kind of like we talk about against wayboat
When we casted them yesterday, Peggy
You kind of said you just have to ban that montane against speakeasy. Do you feel the same way against anaton when he's so happy to
Pivot off to literally any other shield
This one is tougher. I I do think
If you're gonna rank all the one-off pocket strats or pocket operators rather than cg
I would rather say that the clash might be a must bang. I think that's where it gets very tricky to go up against anaton
Monty's probably gonna be second or third in that priority list. It's definitely a case of the map.
When you play Nighthaven, I think Monty's very high in value. When you play him up like Clubhouse, I think Monty can also be very high in value.
But then there are also certain maps where maybe it's not gonna be the end of the world if you leave it open like let's say a lair perhaps.
So it depends. But they left it open like you said. But even if they were to bend that away, you got the Blackbeard, you got the Flage.
You got everything else teams nested about anything. He is a huge kind of flicks player the ying the glass all the sorts of shields
He does not care what you're gonna bend away. He's gonna just pay whatever you leave open
Yeah, so one of the scariest things about an anton
His ability to change things out. I'm not just
And his quads man. Have you seen those quads?
Broke it up. What was it black peed and montane at the same time?
Squats insane amounts of weight. I'm just gonna look up his new PR that he said right before they played at the first
Last time I got here
230 kilogram squad personal best the day before the beat let you on here last
This is guys a machine that you and I combined and more and almost double it
Yeah, wow that's insane from him.
We're gonna see some Anderson Gym content at some point.
Maybe at a future event, we'll see.
That's early pic though from Nears with the Reaper, and Chibi goes down.
It's funny, oh okay.
Chibi was just in the building and he's found a double!
Yeah. Wow.
I don't know how D plus managed to let him slip inside of course. He's playing that solid snake
He can take a lot of ground for free, but yeah big
Problem there for D plus losing their pulse while he had a scanner on and then losing me
He was pushing for that refrag and
Problem all the smokes maybe a bit of panic here fearing enough push is gonna come
But did you just flip the script boom for a full roadsheet bombsite window they can scan from the outside
And if it's clear they could just jump on him
He goes for it and Dili will fall as he takes him down and it's intended to go for a plant
But he sees two players needs to protect his feet so it looks down
But guess what Zach are able to make sure that Moosey will go down
Plant needs to be denied here. There's nothing much as I'm close my god
He's very close and it's and takes the fight with the shield on his back. This is so messy
From the plus key it falls as the last one completely picked up part shuri
The nominal round with that solid snake, Anerton on the Blackbeard, they are a
devilish duo and CAG by Varel seem in lockstep with each other.
Such a well played free versus Tula. I know like on paper that looks like such an
easy round to win if you're CAG but if you look at the player positions it's
actually very challenging. There's so much that can go wrong. The player who was
afloat above the bombs with the verticality had a very limited amount
of self-destruction, so it couldn't really watch all the angles.
Anaten is planned in with the Blackbeard shield, but very importantly, put the shield on his
back first, then he will hop off the defuse and go for a fight if he has to, which actually
didn't let him kill.
To us, the last minute is outside the window, but almost no line of sight to help Anaten.
There was pretty much any fighting alone, having to win his gunfight, and the guy on
the verge could not risk dying by over-committing to a swing.
Very well communicated by CSG, very good problem solving, and it started off with them recognizing
Hey guys, we can just rotate over use a solid scanner
I just saw it's going to solid snake scanner and if it's clear immediately jump on it
So really well done. Good read the plus in the back foot that bring out falls now on the clash
That's gonna be their operator. It's gonna be a huge counter
We'll just start shooting maybe for the gap funding downstairs or wherever editing goes with the money
That's currently being locked in
We talked a little bit about that clash from CAG. It's being brought now by D-plus.
They're a team that does quite like that clash and they share it around a little bit as well on their defensive side.
It's Fools bringing it this time as Anderson goes back onto that maintain.
Monty a little bit safer compared to the Blackbeard going against that clash, but still the clash a little bit of a hindrance regardless.
The question for me is how would CAG end up dealing with the clash in the lay ground?
The only real util they have to do so is that Nomad.
Arguably that sledge, it's not an interaction we see very often but if you can hit the clash
with your sledgehammer you will mock her down.
I don't know if I've ever seen that in the pro play.
I would love to.
Oh, it's happened once.
I've seen it.
I'm not sure if I cast it but I have witnessed it.
quite a rarity. He's doing his best of fighting back and taking different angles, but it's
being haunted down by two separate attackers. A good mind gives him information, slows down
to Syrup. They're not going to take the fight.
Oop, Addy is not alone up here. He sees two players. Time's an inferno as DD is on the
retreat as well, waiting to catch these players, but actually loses his life. Nia's gets aggressive,
down the support player there from CAG, Anderson wants to go for that ADS, but he thinks better of it.
Smart move. But great job from Chibisu, he was watching the flank the whole time. The hammer
of Anderson into the anvil of Chibisu as CAG out of nowhere, steal the show, it just comes down to
falls. What good is it clash when she's the last one standing? Not very much, she'll retreat back
towards that bombsite but there's a whole minute left C.A.G and not gonna let this one slip by the
not whatsoever the only kill that D.P.O.S. found was the first in the round. When Shubh is having
this kind of performance finding all the gaps getting all the gunfights I mean that is the
scariest version of him as an individual player but on the other side of C.A.G there is the teamwork
they did the good old hammer and annual strat what that means is that you're gonna have a hammer
kind of shoving away the defenders. Are you pushing them in a specific direction to then connect
with the Anvil in the middle? The Anvil was Chibisu, the flank watcher. They only went
in towards his location because Anitun was shoving them in that direction by choice with the Monty.
And we saw Anitun there thinking, do I go for the ADS peek? Do I maybe try and get the Asami?
But what if I die? Then we lose the hand by Anil because I'm not going to be scared of my ace behind
me. He's not a Monty, he's not a shield. So he stays alive and it looks like it might have been a
a bad play because they need to get a kill but it was so well communicated once again
because TPSU was literally just waiting for them to get the freebies.
Sotus Nick banned the way, that's a specific ban towards Syribus 7-1, I think that's justifiable
and CIG banning out the Wamai too many, maybe more utility now, not just like your Cabot
Tau, maybe a glass, maybe again, those kinds of operators because they love to bring them
out but only when the time is right.
Sometimes I forget how beautiful this room is, just the vistas surrounding my haven labs
love it.
So many opportunities to just soak up the scenery, it's like when we had coastline
and pro play man, just really given abyssa vibes, love it.
It's a moment of peace and quiet between these teams brutally murdering each other
As we go back to the top floor now
We're gonna change the area there
Yeah, well, funnily enough, that's kind of where I was heading with that
D plus going back to the top floor
Oh
After losing three rounds
We've had the operator bands come out
And D plus sadly like not really
I don't know
I'm just a bit scared for them like this momentum is really starting to brew here for CAG
Imagine you've been the one to hunt and now you're getting hunted. Can you win on both sides of that coin?
John being tossed out it's risky, but I think he has an inkling that hmm. They probably have a flamethrower as well
It's so scary because if Mickey thinks that they know that he's down there
He could be fearing a flank happening again. He doesn't have almost any intel in the server
I don't think anybody can comfortably sit in the bombsite right now, chicken all the default cameras and trying to help him with information.
And defaults are playing so far back, they're popping the Goya canister without any pressure in the server.
I think they're running this round completely blind in the defense.
Any constrictors for school with the Blackbeard? Easy as you like.
Love seeing the Maverick brought out by GED.
You just know Anato knows exactly where every little piece of utile is brought. They're doing such a good job of
Getting in there with their drones calling out for that info
We're in a bit of a trap meta at the moment D plus Charlie into that Fenrir, but
somewhat nullified
Anato just as scary with that black bit as he is with the Monty
You know what else is scary is seeing Shureep on the severe down below
He wants to find those three big booms. He's actually very close to me right there. Ah
Ah, he didn't quite have the info, unfortunately for him, but in the nearest years those explosions
and things, oh crap, I didn't realise I was vulnerable to that.
And Trurib actually finds a kill down below into Midi regardless.
Ah, trying to flank him.
The recent World War shoot actually went for the big boom, one team needed to go over
the flank pushing as different teams were holding camp for him.
Well, I'm entirely certain.
Now they got 50 seconds, and the Blackbeard on that, it's a near knock, looking for that
spearhead of a backstep, musitex, saccabown, elsewhere on the ace, not the end of the world,
but Levy is stalling out the round here and slowing down the push from CAG.
Now patience here from Shuret. You can get those concussions out as well.
No more smoke means that Aniston has a lot more free reign.
Like, you throw the nade to give him space to rotate back.
It looks like CAG, a pivot. Oh my god! What a shot there from Nears!
A quick flick on Darniton's head, that might be the round in favour of D-plus indeed, it seems to be out of nowhere.
C.A.G. by Varel Collapse, the first round on the board, with the Brazilians.
It very much felt like C.A.G. just had a very different style of approach into that round.
They weren't doing a whole lot on the server, maybe thinking that D-plus are going to be acting out and trying to go for some desperate plays,
but they were holding on pretty strong despite having no information.
They never used their catwalk control, Nier's kept retaking it, didn't die to the vert of Shurepe and Blackbeard was shot out by the toxic babes off Levy.
So there's no real push there that came to fruition for CAG, but I think there's just one of many approaches that they have up in their sleeve.
So I'm not too worried about them to be fair, and D plus will go to Terrier once again.
This might just be the biggest challenge in the first half, because D plus, ideally, they want the 3-3 half.
and winning the next bombsite after this going back to basement maybe might be a little bit easier
but the tertiary can often be tricky for the defense and when you look at the current defending lineup
they're just trying to make their fighting a little bit easier. The lesion mines, the thorn traps
that's going to help you in the fights, the smoke can stall out the plant and the solace can make
you play vertically with more accurate information. So they're trying to say hey if you're going to go
for a plant rush we sort of have to cover it, if you go for the fighting of the room upstairs we
They're not excellent in one particular area, but they're pretty decent across the board.
But I see a Thatcher.
And a Thatcher often means a simple, direct take.
Yeah, I love a Thatcher.
Definitely, like by far, my most underrated attacking operator in the current meta.
I just love it.
It lends itself to creativity.
It lends itself to teams that have a good plan.
And yet, it's actually quite versatile, right?
You've talked before about how you can use that to like a budget IQ to just check the things like gadgets for example
Contracts electronic gadgets you can check for
Also just shout out anotsin and he's just doing what we know and love he's playing a third different shield operator in five rounds
We might see a few things on as well. It's completely possible this basement
We'll keep our eyes peeled for it
Upnears looking to be the playmaker on the solace in the middle of the building can kind of scan with the blitzes
Go in because you can constantly see the shield whenever you have that in your hands
You're not go talk a little bit of grenade. I think there's a distraction play while the push aqua instead. Yeah, they're just covering sound. Oh
Wow, wait, I'll die. Okay
Before you know it midi has just erupted and CAG
Letting this half-slip away from them, there was 3-0 up, D-plus looked very rough, but
quickly they get back into it, especially a big 3K for Amidie there.
Deity and Zaka should not be able to win this.
Shotgun in close range from Nia is a great shot from Deity, and he was on camera as well.
Just maybe there's a chance.
Taking the winnable.
As long as you keep making steady progress, because you don't want to get locked out by the toxic babes in the final seconds of this one, right?
Right, for now, timer's completely fine, and they're taking out solace, I can see where the plant is going down, so yes, super playable.
Ideally, they'll find one more pig, or just go for a rush plant.
Yeah, hard to plant there when you have no control above the bomb site, or below the bomb site.
What was a small hole in the floor?
Round is done. Yeah, nice little vert there, from the defense.
Levy looking happy, waiting for his fist bump as he gets it, D plus, and now within
touching distance to catch up the CAG, now I really thought three rounds of attack in
a row was pretty much a done deal, I did not see D plus bring it back, but look if they
can get to a 3-3 here that's a dream, then we go to border where D plus already looked
so good against KineTrip earlier today I don't know it's a strange thing to see CAG leave
a gap in their attack like that I'm not sure what the exact trainer thought was again they
made it in the cargo window springed up into aqua and they were gonna go into garris catwalk
at the same time but I think there was a small mistiming yeah because uh they never opened up
of the bottom garage door so anyone exposed to the window and get shot in the back mid
who was 0-5 they got three kills in the other area, you see a 4 at that point. They got
three kills really having a huge moment. Levi's still not found the scoreboard as of yet and
since that solid snake ban onto Shuri it has really weakened the ints you keep abilities
from CDM and Shuri's been on Sophia every single round since now on the day most in
the final second that's maybe a little bit better because think about it those first
three attacking rounds if sure it doesn't drop eight kills it just gets in
gets two entries every single time that's not gonna be as easy as they were
so maybe there's a lot of reliance you and sure if more than we realized holy
nears that's a long run out and a half getting unexpected from nears look if
there's anyone on D plus Kia that plays like they have any ego the size of the
elephant it is news he talks a lot of smack he loves it he loves to play
aggressive he loves to get in their face and look he does have the chops to
pack it up I will give him credit so much so that Shereep is targeting him
with that daimos to make sure that it suppresses any form of aggression
I found out something starts in here with the box makes quick work of the
softwalls upstairs and that's the difficulty of being a roamer you don't
have a ton of reinforcements to work with usually. So when you're up against an upper like a sphere,
a bog, an ash, that software gives you a little bit of cover, it gets popped immediately.
And you're seeing Mitty being a bit, uh, ants in his pantsy. He's rotting around,
he's stuck in a bad position. And as the pressure is mounting upon them, Moosey sticks around,
but Mitty falls back, falls down, and after is Moose going to choose to stay on the corner of
I see I should just risk the biscuit. This is aggro
Yeah, look I'm surprising from Muzie. He's been one of the best players in the league and
Certainly a standout since he joined D plus after that six-in-a-tational
But here's a long way from home all the way on that top floor of IT D plus still roaming very aggressively
I think Neers is hoping he'll meet Anton on that blackbeard
But look even if he does I don't think the oryx is gonna be enough to take him down in a 1v1
it's smarter than that. Hang on a second, look at this from C.A.G. They're sending it.
Doesn't seem to work though. Zaka will find one. It's just Niers though, who's one of the
roamers. That means the side is still well fortified, falls trapped in the corner, but
Midi wins his fight against Zaka. C.A.G struggling to sink their teeth into this bomb site,
and there are still defenders offside. With Muzie falling, that's one of the roamers.
maybe it is possible after all still one rumor upstairs that's levy and now
midi has fallen on the bomb site leaving falls to be the last line of defense for
d-plus he must try this well plus a knife it has a couple of knives lost
and I didn't know I was in trouble through the wall I think that was from
falls shoot goes down now it's all up to DD man and he will go down big clutch up
from falls on the bomb site. Levy on the smoke up above D plus lock in a third round at the end of the half.
They're looking so much stronger, so much better than they did to begin with. We were a little bit worried for them.
I was very worried. I mean three straight attacking rounds were large. You don't see that. That's unprecedented.
And then three straight offensive rounds gives them hope. And yeah, honestly, even if it had got to 4-2 there at the end in favor of CAG,
Which it was almost looking like great falls and and D plus we're able to hold on and obviously get what was a much needed round
Yeah, I think of it had have been a fourth attack for CAG this map was just completely done
And I don't think the second half is gonna change it even still at three to three
I prefer the position of CAG by barrel going into that second half
I think for the plus they left their run just too late. You can't give up those three rounds like that
They certainly didn't I think as well one of the talking points that we had
actually might have been in the best three before this for CAG was around
their opening round conversion rate they were absolutely honking in the very
first round of nearly every map that they played throughout stage one they've
now gone in and locked that in but now this is where things get a little bit
tricky right CAG are not used to letting round slip round after round after round
in fact I do have a statistic here which I think is a really fantastic
statistics 78% of the rounds where they've so they've lost the first two
rounds or they've just lost two rounds anywhere the third round 78% chance
likely to actually win that meaning that no teams can really get on a roll
quick enough they can't find momentum in a mental game they can't get on a
roll and for me right now D plus is bucking that trend and they're starting
to look more dangerous yeah that's actually quite intriguing I mean I
Again, you have to also back their external practice, which is the fact they're playing defense laps
So it's on point. It has to kick in that they're gonna get round
Yeah, and that happened as soon as they went back caught floor round four and then the floor one effect that happened after that
I think that also getting rid of the solid snake probably helped
So you think about the opening three rounds three round wins for CAG
Shereeba playing the solid snake eight and four half. Well, you take that away from him
He doesn't have the radar anymore and so a little bit less ability to you know, he had two opening kills in the first couple of rounds
clearly there is maybe a correlation there, not completely entirely on just that, but I would imagine had some kind of an impact.
Also intriguing, it wasn't until the very last round that we actually got a close round between these two teams.
I mean, every single round, in the first five rounds, was very one-sided for the most part, three and four alive.
So we didn't really get to see any kind of clutches, so there was no clutches in the half.
There was no plants in the half by CHE either, although it didn't really need to get any plants.
Certainly in the first three rounds so dominant on the attack and only two multi kills to ensure even midi and strange way to kind of
Start the grand final, but I think right now as I said heading into the second half much prefer the position of CAG by Varyl
Given the fact that they're going to be going in with a lot of confidence
I am curious to see what D plus do with this momentum. I will be honest with you. Yes
I do agree CAG probably looking the more likely to close this out right now, but I
I don't look me as a non analytical kind of person when it comes to momentum when it comes to swinging like that
It is such a pivotable pivotable pivotal
Moment for D plus to be able to take this gain that momentum into the second half and ensure that there is not a flat line per se
But there is consistency and right now they're looking pretty good for it pivotable capable of turning on or as if on a pivot
Is that pivotable or pivot table?
No that's pivotable. I can't read the pivot table right next to it.
Oh I'm taking it away from us please, get it away from us.
Yeah let's pivot straight away from that, thank you very much Robin Jack.
I think Jack is a little bit lost in the sauce after fumbling that TV2 to you, thank you.
I don't know what's going on with that couch man.
It's uh, you never know what you're gonna get and that's the beauty of the APR this.
That catch does things to a man. I can say that first.
Well, well, well.
I'm moving all the forces in my head.
Look, one thing I can...
No, I'm not actually. That's just you, man.
Sometimes the Insani sets in.
Okay, let me sort this.
Look, I feel like this game has really delivered a lot more than the first three rounds promised.
CIG looked like they were just gonna dominate D plus have now brought it back. They found their three defenses now
They move on to the attacking side
We've seen them
You're so bad they're bad out the double electrobros CIG got rid of the Monty and the Grim
Does mean that CIG have mirror they have a zombie of so many powerful defenders. I like the denies
I brought the denari out in the 2v2 earlier and while I did just get destroyed by a player
in a gunfight, three of my later tripwires did go off slowing down for like 20 seconds
combined so I owe my days good bye saika boom boom boom from down stairs to metti that's
the use of v-attack right there there is no counter play you are not gonna survive it
Nobody why you are dead can I get three big booms in the chat ready fangirl?
Very smart though, but the way they did it was like mirrors just walks in a baby and just pings the road
It says now do it now
Oh! Oh!
Oh!
Oh my god, right there, DD.
Agro inside of electrical.
Look at Hungry for more.
SMG-11 in hand.
Force goes down to Chewie.
Levy!
Look, mate. Your team was looking rock solid at the start of this round.
But now he's gone a little bit limp.
1v4.
Don't think it's gonna happen with 45 seconds left.
Left and DD man here to close it with one more big boom
There it is from DD a little shake of the head and a sip of whatever he's drinking
Hmm
There's water
I was thinking about I should I make a joke about a third drinking a job not sure I'll just say it's water
But I was thinking the same, but like I'm just getting I'm getting up for the you suck a major
Suck a for everybody
Now that would be alive
I'm not sure
Exactly what shifted but obviously the conversation about the health and longevity sports has been a very big talking point for
I don't know. Let's say that's five years here. I take right people working out eating healthier drinking a walker
We're seeing a lot more hydration during the games across all regions. We got the nose breathing ships as well
Trying to look more towards like conventional sports perhaps
Yeah, the lifestyle of a sports athlete is extremely unhealthy nature is sitting down all day
And because it's not a physical physically requiring a demanding job
So you can sit down and play your game of choice for like 12 hours in a row
No issue because it's all mental whereas in a physical sport your muscles will give up before your brain
Therefore you just naturally take a break. That's so true. Yeah, it'd be hard to find that balance. So true
What's funny though is genuinely like the most jacked people I know are all eSports players
There's something about being a competitor. Yeah, that really happened drives people to
Better themselves, but we see that obviously with anitson. He's one of the most jacked people I've ever seen
I in yeah, and crying is the other one
You know crying is just a professional bodybuilder now like that's it like I follow on Instagram still
I just see his posts every day. He's not just he is a
Sorry, well, I mean just is like that that is his thing like he's not an e-sports athlete
That's already decided. No, he's like he's got a lot man. I don't
Smack talk that guy. I'm gonna eat me for breakfast and still have room for seconds
but look
Like huge man is like that is that is his thing man. He owns it. Oh
Don't don't they're not crash bang. No one knows
She read lucky for levy he's had a hard time today
True true, but look sherry. That's just the name of the game for him ten kills so far in these eight rounds that we played
Good info from the solid snake
Not quite the same value as shrew was getting when he was playing that operator, but you know it's a start
It's still early days with D plus on the attack.
I don't know.
Uh-oh. This is it.
A complete exodus here from C.A.G.
On the ground floor, you're right. They all fall back down the exo stairs.
I don't know if D plus have confirmation of that.
Midi was trying to get as much information as he could with the solid snake.
I think it's safe to assume at this point that most of CAG has fallen back.
But critically, the one operator that debuts most early was the vertical operator in the ram.
I need to double down. They got the buggy and the ranny, so they can still do that destruction.
But it will take a little bit more time, and nearest we've been more exposed to is one C4 from Shuri.
Boom! They have that C4 Lance, who's all over the counter, and C does do a little bit of damage, but the tiniest bit
does not do any sort of real threat towards nears.
We're going to try and fight back and find you with this fall-blake in the park.
Thanks, Wobby Ritty. There's less in this playable spots here from CIG.
They're super limited in where they can play from.
Yeah, this comes down to the fights now.
But look at the way CIG have fallen all the way back deep,
but they even have a castle back here, fortifying their position.
Fools. Tries to breach that castle now.
Once he does so, that'll be another player exposed.
It's now up to Zaka and AnatoN, somewhat separated as D-plus, need to look for a plant.
That Keyboard Barrier from AnatoN might actually slow them down.
There's no plant position and the kill comes through for any trade from Mitty.
It's now up to Zaka, he needs to take the 1v1 with Midi, but the F2 serves him well.
Big round for D-plus to tie the score back again.
So close, talking like less than a second on the clock and it was very smart there from
D plus because they had two players in that small hatch room where there's a
go-to-fire and they keep a barrier and falls did not go first. Nier's dropped
the hatch behind him and Nier's walked in, tanked the bullets, then you had the
solid snake swing from the side and get the kill. And it's very important that
that's the order of the sequence because if Falls goes first with the diffuser and
he dies, even if they win the gunfight after, now they've got to turn around,
sprint towards the diffuser, pick it up and go for a plan. And there wasn't enough
time of the clock to do so so it's really well done there falls having the
ego play in a correct sense saying I am too important to fight please nears do
it for me
yeah D-class credit to them they really didn't have a lot of right to win that
round after they lost the initial pick after the CIG waste as much time as they
did on that run but they very quickly converted it and there's also you get to
see the value of having redundancy in your operator roles, right? Yeah, we had Ram, but
we also had Buck, just in case one of those operators was too busy or gets picked up early,
you have somebody else to help out with the vertical game. And if it wasn't for the verticality
that round, Deepus wouldn't have won it. That's a very nice drone spot, by the way. Deep upstairs.
Good info in the late round. Even the mid-round when it comes to that roam clear. Bombsite
is on the ground floor control room which typically means you need to clear out the top floor and the
basement below before you go for it now as news is turn the shields he's on the blitz
Paul showed us a little bit of a clash earlier we've seen of course and you have his different
and shoot operators, they have three of the four.
Not necessarily sure what the plan is going to be
but with a double bird operator of the sledge and the ram,
it could be a similar fashion of D plus going
step one, step two, step three,
and that's going to start here.
Oh, with the top floor, trying to attack it.
Oh, perfect read!
He knew that the runner was about to happen,
it just stays there, takes down Sharim,
the top fragger from CAG.
Similar play now on the Aqua Door,
popped by the Ash Breaching Charge,
with a blitz walking on him,
so you can't take the fight of your Qibisu.
You're just a former shotgun. That's not gonna be a winnable fight
There's a crossfire here at the bottom of the stairs. However
These will rotate back upstairs grab that diffuser
Exothermic charge from dirt. I was open up a lot of the floor and Annie's gone down
That's your pulse. Mitty on the hunt down in the basement. DD man tries to find him in response
And does so. Nacho so comes in as well
quickly detonates. It does pop that Vulcan canister. As DD finishes off the kill, Nias has made his way into the bombsite.
Send people to go for a plant here. I don't think there's info here for CAG.
I don't think there's a good bulletproof camera, just one in the lounge hallway, but that is not close enough to get info on where that plant might go down.
B-plus should be able to force this.
Just waiting for the rotation, Niers needs cover.
He's planning on no understanding, dies, that could be the entire round, but now they're
watching from the vertical angle.
Stopping to defuse, CG has to stop it.
Well, they could go for a retake here, but it's going to be harder now that DD is going
down, especially now that Chibis is going down.
1v3 with the Blitz still alive, Zakra obliterated, Fools has a massive round.
And before you know it, D-plus from 0-3 down at the start of this game, they've taken the
lead 5 rounds to 4.
They're doing it in a very stable fashion, right?
They're not doing anything like super crazy, nothing really out of the norm.
It's just a solid consistent style of siege.
Step one, get the top of control.
Step two, get the vert.
And then get down to the bomb site.
And again, like I said, the patience from Nier is waiting for his teammates that are
saying, we're not ready, we're not ready.
wait for us. He has that play in mind. Okay, I have to respect that call. I'm just gonna sit here
and wait for the right moment, then go for a plant and guarantee that round victory.
C.A.T. call their technical time, but we know Sparky. He can get a bit lippy with the players
and saying, guys, we had a plan. We're not following it here. Listen up. Yeah, this is time for Sparky
to really spark up. Get in the ears of Kack by Varyl. Let him know what's going wrong. It's two
two defences in a row, they have fumbled two big 3Ks from D plus players. Top floor bombsite
is now unlocked again, CIG will likely go back to it, they defended it successfully last
time, only lost a single player. But now D plus have a chance themselves to discuss what
went wrong just two rounds ago and what they can do better this time. CIG can't afford
to lose another round otherwise it's the right point for D-Bus on CAG's pick.
I do think that CAG are in a good position all things considered because the things that are going wrong in the round is that D-Bus are executing.
And there's two things you can do about this. Either you disrupt them, so you go for early aggression, which to be fair, they tried in a previous round.
round shoot impacting the top gared store for a runout he was shot down but he was attempting to
go for it or you play the denial of the execute we're talking about you know your your smoke your
the shanky your pantanal your gullio it can also be about you know a bit of a wall denial if it
all wasn't bent away by the cross bend the creating mirror they also have the clash i think up their
sleeves still being saved for a rainy day right now they're hiding the finery of all operators
We're also playing you know to get the Nari so this may be a CG saying hey
Let's get them closer to those the bombsite right around the canada lasers right around the finger traps and then tick the
Fives to them while they're weakened or they can toss them also outside the building of course
I would see some times and go for some more early swings
I'm not sure about either
And I'm all for it, especially because the Twitch from Levy, the D-plus are a big Twitch team, not unusual to see that, between the Twitch and the Flores.
It's a lot of the ability here for D-plus to clear out stonks of UTIL when it comes to clearing positions as well.
It's got the cap down in the glass, it's a bit of a dream here for D-plus.
The only thing going for CAG is something that I know you love talking about, PENGU, which is the value of any pick here.
kill that the CAG get takes with it a lot of utility away from B plus. It's true but
I do think there's been an asterisk here that value goes down with every second
that we're waiting for right once switches on the droning which we're doing
right now you're just a gun for hire once someone has popped the two external
walls you're just a gun for hire once Flora is finished he's doing his self
destruction same exact story so right now there's a lot of high value in about
30 seconds or so you're only gonna have glass and the capitals still would
stuff in pocket and this is giving D plus a really a depth of the way of playing the game
there goes right now they're often important to do and they can do it they're setting up for the
late stage and then when they get there they're gonna have people that are important and people that
are just bodies you can throw at the opponent and within that moment right here falls with this
first smoke grenade look at his IT for a deep angle they want CT to go out for a lash but they're
not but now that the nine of them reminds well there's the one that's stealing actually but now
they've gotten them all that means they have a free access to IT that's the first point of a three
headed spear that they're trying to build here on top floor yeah and CAG are just letting these
layers of defense be peeled away from them flashbang can be withstood by DD but he needs to win this
fight I don't know if I fainted him to win it as Neers has taken down Zaka goodbye to the Denari
Neers is hungry for more good lash out from Shuri with the MP5K the recently buffed were my
stands tall. Mitzi also standing a little bit of bullets from D.D. deep on the
bomb site with that SMG-12. It's been a close-range weapon however and now it's
up to the glass and falls to take the fight on to him. Now they got two points
of that sphere. They got a Garrosh connector and I'd say it's missing that
back step between Aqua or Meade's team but they get a kill here. Fall as long as it was D.D.
Shots down the warden. Jump up punish as well. Yeah so well read here from Levy.
the Anerton shutdown on the aggression. Now it's time for D plus to just
restabilize 20 seconds to play and they punish Shibusu. There's a third.
Shiro-Reep in a 1v4 he finds absolutely nothing. D plus dominate after the CAG
tactical timeout. It's three in a row from D plus. Now one round away from taking
the map pick of their opposition. And again they win the round the exact same
Wait step one step two step three and they get that triple spearhead right the first one as you get it control
That's the glass. That's false also found the pig
Then they have the capitol rotate to Cal rafters to use his secondary hot breach to open up the rafters wall for a deeper angle
That's the second point of the spear and the third is what we've seen at the very end
It's gonna be the back step from meeting slash connector where it seems to die is right here to Mitty
When you have all those three airs in your control as an attacker, there is no way you can exist as a defender.
Nothing is safe, you have no way to win the back into the round unless you're hitting a nasty shot.
And this is CAG kind of giving the space up early, thinking that they can figure out the problem on the fly.
I think CAG needs to take that strat hook right now and put it down and stop challenging D-plus.
Because like I said, high value attack and operators.
If you kill the capitol, you kill the thermite, you kill the glass before they use their primary gadgets fully,
super high value pick, and CIGs, they must realize by now how strong D plus they've been at the execute in the late stage of a round.
Don't let it go there, lose or win the round in the first minute 30 seconds.
I think you're right. You got to embrace that aggression, you've got to play disruptive,
Especially when D plus is setting up for execute. Look at this
You've got thermite and florist to open up the walls and clear you to long sight and then it's just very real estate for blitz yin and
glass it's the trifecta of smoke and flash ability
CAG are in for a world of pain if they don't take the fight to D plus early
But I got to be honest D plus have been pretty good at reading when CAG are going for these jump outs for these aggressive pigs
They've been punishing a lot of them and it's and died last round jumping out the electrical window now
He's on the pulse. He's upstairs. He's gonna be trying to call for these positions
But I don't know if he's gonna be able to capitalize on on much of it for actually going for kills
I feel like at best he might find a vertical C4 on the lake round by which point it'll be too late
Also, I gotta say, I actually love how deep does the band all the hardwall denial operators
here on Torz defense, then just playing it very slow instead of the game.
We often see Torz band, you know, the bandicoid and playing too fast and dying early, but
maybe the curse is real.
I say how slow they've been playing, how disciplined they're nearest, but that was
C4 great toss there from cg
So it's got the glass in the blitz this look up those power brace available
Yeah, I'm loving the way that Hamilton is using that pulse. I said before I don't know how he'll get it killed
He's not necessarily getting kills. He's just feeding info to the team and now he can from relative safety continue saying guys
It's okay. There's no one pushing it or there's one pushing it. We see that smoke. It's probably the glass
We can just sit back. We don't need a challenge him
It's also running out. There's still not a set here in the pocket of living on the boots on the rooftop right now
Not really an area to help the glass push further
Missing here. Oh guys be careful. It's a guy like a hallway. Help me. There's no help at all though
Let me should not be able to win that fight in a 1v1 DD man takes a mini but musy finally comes back from the other side
It's now all up to musy. Hello and goodbye to one. It's indeed must save the day
Three kills so far as the former coach hits double digits musy's got the defuse
is their info. The CAG to feed to their teammate of DD Man. Plant going down. Does
Muzi fake it? No. He commits to the bid and now he's got the superior weaponry
and he's got the shots to match. Big kill for Muzi. A 1v2 clutch and D plus.
Steal the show on Night Haven Labs. They take CAG's map pick and are now just one
map away from the eSports World Cup.
When I saw the trailer, I was like, is this real?
I was so happy when I found out that it was real.
I used to talk to the people around me because I was angry with the characters I used to like.
But as I enjoyed it when I was 5 years old,
I didn't know much about the young players than I did recently.
So I'm a bit sad, but I'm having fun by myself.
The current team has a more free atmosphere.
My role is just an OP character.
I just choose a good character.
The atmosphere of the current team is much closer to each other.
The language is also comfortable to communicate in Korean.
I think the environment itself is good.
My role as a jungler is to play as a head coach.
I think I'm about 24 years old.
When compared to Cloud9, the meta has changed a lot and the times have changed.
If I had to say that I'm a bit of a physical and hard-working player,
I'd say I'm a bit of a free player now, so I've changed my pick to a free player.
I think I used to play a lot when I was in the previous team,
but in this team, I've been through a lot.
I'm a member of the team with a high understanding of the game,
so I think it's okay because I'm doing well.
The team I want to win the most at this stage is DPLUS.
And I'm the best team in the world, so if I win, I think I'll be able to go to the top of the world, or to the level where I can't go to Brazil.
the
god damn the warm-up is real that buff there's no two ways about it they looked undeniable
there james cag were just they were like headless
what happened in the first three rounds by the way yeah cag wiped the floor with d plus
I don't know where D-plus straight back to it.
Even at the end of the first half,
moving into the second,
yeah, I really didn't expect D-plus to be the more creative
and more aggressive and more in control team
on the attacking side.
How often have we seen a team win it?
Attack labs, three rounds straight to begin with
and go and lose the map.
Yeah, very rare.
Yeah, very rare.
Well, because I feel like most teams,
yes, the attack can have its place on labs,
but I feel like most teams struggle to get their mojo
on the attacking side.
to go three in a row and then still lose the map,
especially losing three in a row after your three streak
and then to move into the second half
and see a much more inspired attack from D plus.
Like I'm talking about, we're seeing like flies.
Yeah, we saw Aniston play a million different shield
operators, but that's cool and all,
but where's the depth outside of that?
Look, one thing we talked about in the half
was a fun little stat that I threw absolutely originally.
Okay, I put my hand up and say that stat,
I did not want it well.
Look, when, when, when, when CIG,
I don't know, when CIG are facing three rounds in a row.
Oh, I get what you're saying.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But specifically against D plus Kia,
they win 80% of their rounds on that third round
where they're losing.
So if they win two in a row,
they're gonna win three in a row.
No, no, no, no, no.
If they, yeah, if they lose two,
if they lose two, they're gonna lose the third one.
No, they're gonna win the third one 80% of the time.
guess what? Both times that happened this game, they lost it. Both
times the momentum continued in D plus's way. So for me, CAG, who
are usually great at what we were talking about earlier, kind of
absorbing that, that, that pressure and that kind of forward
momentum, it's not there today. And that's really unfortunate
because what's on the line right now is an EWC spot. Paris is
just around the corner. This is one that they cannot afford to
me a CAG have not won a map in how long was it James two years on the
international stage not since Rio which is over a year ago my god well you know
what I say it's time for change D-plus are going to Paris not just yet we'll
have to wait and see our six S 15 to 15% off at check out and of course that is
running pretty much from I think the third or fourth of August all the way
through to the 15th we got a lot of action to get through but a CAG lose
today, then that is the second time in a space of six months to go doing a CIG fence.
Well please hit me with a J.
I'm desperate.
I'm helping the Cogun right now.
So in the finals thus far, it hasn't been quite flawless for CIG as it was in the group
stage where they quite literally went for the 7-0.
In their series against Scars, they dropped the opening map.
In their series against D-plus, they dropped the opening map.
In their series against D-plus, they dropped the opening map.
Also apparently, Liquidpedia says, we're casting them, alright?
Nice to be with you.
Did they get this one, right?
Oh yeah, they did.
Honestly, what's happening with this one?
Oh, okay, so yeah, CIG lost the opening map in every game so far of the stage finals.
What is it with them in opening matches, opening rounds, they just don't seem to convert them?
Yeah, I don't know.
Also, I don't have my...
I thought that was going to be the moment, but when I did check before,
The last time that we saw CIG and B plus play or not haven't land.
7-0?
No, really?
Oh, crap.
That's not what I thought.
We're completely that way.
I was looking further back.
The time before that, B plus 1-8 overtime.
You're kidding me, it was 7.
That was an upper final.
Holy crap.
Don't ever let this desk ever exist ever again.
CIG is cooked, man.
That's not good.
I just told you they're not cooked.
They're not.
They're opening maps.
Yeah.
I just told you they're not cooked! They broke the opening maps! And they've done it again!
But they go from 7-0ing D plus to losing it pretty convincingly. I'm a little bit worried for them.
That is one element I left out was that the maps they did lose Rob in those other two games were very close.
D plus were very good on board earlier today.
They were pretty good.
And one I wanted to highlight as well quickly before we get into the game is Vols.
What a day he's had today, I said, because in the lower final, he was sensational, sensational again on labs.
If we were to right now crown an MVP, I'm going for it.
And the thing is James, as well as you go for a walk and you can answer me when you get to the desk.
His falls were statistically wrong.
The lowest rated player on D+, I mean, the kids today, he's been their best player today.
Huge turnaround.
We spoke about it at the very beginning of the day.
If you're plus or on the right game, it's going to be hard to beat.
And evidently so, they're not only on their A-game today, but they're on their probably S-plus gap.
They're at the top of the Raman rank.
We're creating a new category for them, which is S-plus.
But this is what we continue to say for the teams that are in.
It's typically in APL.
You look at Chiefs, you look at Team Orca, you look at D-plus.
And right now there's only one team that's doing it.
You have to be on your very best.
And not best behaviour, best performance going into these matches.
because at the top end of all of these regions sits quite a very strong well
experienced roster if you don't bring everything that you have to offer on that
given day you are going to fall short and right now it is actually CAG with
their backs against the wall but Jake how many times in a row is it that they've
lost the opening map twice so this well three now actually this could well and
truly be well no but they were on the window last two so this can be third
time lucky for D plus lucky for CG. Well let's hope it's not third time unlucky I
want to see a third map I demand a third map it is time for us to get into
border with an EWC spot on the line for D plus Kia. Sounds like we're pretty
split between us about which team is favored. D plus are looking good today
I can't deny it I'm always gonna be huffing a little bit of that copium
though for CG. Where does your heart lie and where does your head lie on this
game thank you it's hard man it's you know I'm gonna get a PBR a curtain okay
I saw a twitch chat message from production somebody 73 TR4 said I feel bad for
CAG but DK seems to be better than winning international matches so I hope
DK goes to EWC wins it and increase the Osaka major slot for APEG North I feel
like that's the real win because then they get two spots and DK qualifies now
But COG will qualify then a major in their home country. That will be a huge win
I think people forget that in order to increase the number of slots that you'll reach your sub region gets you have to do
Better than the other sub region. So in this case, which ever of these two teams from north goes through the magic
I have to do better at EWC than Weber EP and cheese and they have to do so much better
That then the aggregates of the last couple of bang
Oh, sorry. The aggregate performance of that region over the last couple of events exceeds
vastly both of the other sub regions. Right now, A-FAC North is looking like the weakest
of the three sub regions. If you just look head to head between EP, Weibo, and whoever
the best team out of this region is, I think that they would sit behind EP and Weibo at
the moment. And it's up to COG and D-plus to prove me wrong.
I think it was the strongest by far and I think it could be oh second maybe a pack north here third but also domestic play
versus international play is a whole different beast and one thing that
the CIG actually have above any of those teams is they have more experience
right yes they had TD man coming from close to playing position but the core of
CIG has so much international experience in history over the last
many years went to the redo of grand finals as well and got clapped by
furia not many teams get to get clapped by them in a grand final but they are one
of them but of course that gives you a lot of experience and they did beat wild card in that
semi-final, right? So, yeah, that's credit. Credit where credit is due.
And Wildcat won the rise, CDO that will stop them. So far, I was going to see a 1 for 1 trade early, but
Amateur finds Levy on that ace, from a faraway angle, there's NG11, so now CDO is on the driver's seat,
the guy will smoke grenade and the injured are falls, and ethos are not progressing the map,
but DD gives a free peel by swinging out unnecessarily on the window, maybe fearing the
and downstairs and meets you in the Demos and here comes the Jago payload from
Muzie. Once you go deep, Aniston is going to take the damage and well he won't even
get a chance to. He will fall to the quick to trade thankfully for CAG. Just up to
Midi now 1v2, winnable but not when Zachary is swinging him like that. Great
start there from CAG. Recomposing after a rough night haven labs border defense
They're looking a lot more gun up
Which is a very different pace here between night haven labs and border and then later on clubhouse
Which means there is a pretty good chance that we're gonna see very different outcomes, you know
Yeah, not the strongest night haven earlier from CAG and the only thing that I would point my finger at wasn't that you mentioned
James there was no ton of depth when CD when the attacking side
in terms of the Operator Pool and their Wing Conditions, right?
And if you play two different Shields, that was in the conversation.
It was DDoSKIA playing Ying, playing Shield, playing Glass.
So, when you get that side swap, I do want to see a bit more of that creative flow there from CAT.
But now on defense, I got to just do what I do best, set things up, create a maze of problems
and have that coordination together at picking the fights in their favor.
The spotter is a map where you're gonna have, you know, SMGs against ARs, Holoscope versus ACARs.
If you swing the wrong angle, you're gonna have such a low chance of winning your gunfight.
But if you pick your fights in the right area, the right moments together,
that is how you can win more rounds than you supposed to on this defensive half, on a very attack or favorite map.
It's true, but if you look earlier today when D-plus played Kinetrop here, they won three of their attacks and then four of their defenses.
So D-plus actually seemed to exceed expectations on that defensive side,
which maybe means that the pressure is a little bit off now that they're on the attack
you win maybe three rounds and i think they'd be pretty confident moving into the second half
okay that's speaking of crazy swing sacking with the elisapodian swing the tower outside and spawn
that's a noa news with the blades looking for that push it's that is the noa special he was the king
of cctv both at si and at the dwc when they were victorious he is one of those guys
He's damn good at it.
Wow, he's actually getting around it with the smoke.
He wants to try and take the 1v1.
Straight into Uffery!
Goes for a flash, premature, but falls is there to help out with the shock on the sledge.
Reaper comes in, with a bit of suppressive fire.
Deep on in to try and take the top floor with some explosivity.
And Zaka has decided not to overextend.
He could have gone for a flank.
I think they're somewhat aware of it.
And now he's been drowned on out.
Surereep though, does eventually put that shield to rest and as Zaka gets tracked by the Deimos he will fall back as well.
Oh, never mind, he then goes back forward again and everyone from D-Pas is down.
That was a very strange way to lose the advantage for D-Pas and it's just going to go from bad to worse.
Levy caught in the crossfire, Zaka eventually goes down, falls now as Shukon and Reaper on Sledge in a 1v2.
start with D plus but this found was not to be another crossfire not necessary
DDM would shock and be shocked and will be the winner he has been pretty good so far
and she'll be getting fired up there's a great hole by CHE denying them that aggressive push
straight into armory yeah love to see that oh sparky man grows on his phone
oh just organizing his flights TWC i reckon ah okay okay okay sure maybe he's like you know
I can't believe these guys last night him and laps I picked this map and did all the right calculations and they somehow just didn't play
You know, he's like the far been approach
I've already seen the five in the wind on the fresh in friends podcast
Fresh the EU analyst really and he had a little words to speak about his
PhD talent team at the time. They were still coaching them. What did he say? It cost a little bit of a
the controversy that a coach could be that hard and hotheaded towards a curved roster.
But I mean it was like a justifiable like obssity spaghetti, but it's still like most
players and most coaches wouldn't speak up and want to cause any, you know, tough feelings.
Never easy when you work 24-7 together and language failure and culture differences and
You know, at performance it's not really out of expectations, and that is ultimately what all these high-level teams are playing for.
It's about meeting expectations and agreeing to a certain game plan, agreeing to a culture within the team that everyone has to obey and respect each other's boundaries.
I mean, spending this much time together in a highly competitive environment, that can be tricky.
Okay, here you are liquid of this it was way, but
Yeah, okay, I would never guess that
Look D plus looking to try and take customs control. It's a two for two trade
But good operators from the defense that gets shut down there
I could say good operators on both sides that get shut down. This is just classic border and the early skirmish from both sides a
5v5 plant no longer possible
This will be a late and messy execute here from D plus, but they're about to find there a couple of players on that bomb site
Just not think about the playable spots you I don't think this is so easy for CAG
You know the demo shiner being active
It was upstairs getting a complete free beyond to the demos that changed everything now
They can stay beneath the verticality don't get a word about staying on top of a mid jammer. They're safe
Yes, it could be can call their phones, but you just can't that take the 40 damage and live on
Yeah plans near impossible now here for D plus
They don't need to contest upstairs to CAG as you say. There's no verticality
Still love he does have some Jaguar payloads in pocket, but keep in mind that with the new patch the
The cooldown is independent for every target, so he's now activated it for AnatoN.
He could immediately activate it for Zaka and then Shuri, assuming he has scanned those
operators.
But he can't now span AnatoN after his phone has been picked up.
Flashbangs to him.
Oh, how low and goodbye!
Absolutely nuclear C4 comes from way downtown.
CAG are looking a lot better on board than they did on the first map.
D4 piece and yep, that's it. Very nicely done. CIG playing the peeling backstrap while still having Aniston flank and other balls to take down that Deimos
Operator that could have been so instrumental and finding those few kills all down for the vert
Operator bends
Question mark. I don't actually know what I would go for here on either side. So let's see what they choose to go for
Valkyrie and Deimos, okay
You just see not bad.
You know, Damo's ban's good.
Give CIG a bit more freedom.
You can see they have a lot more confidence now.
But will that be a little bit less now without the Valq?
I don't know. They had information from Pulse in the first round.
They only played Valq at round number three.
Still got Solas up if they want to play that.
You can always run bulletproof cameras,
but even go up something crazy like an Echo if you feel like it.
You'll forget, but you don't have to play Echo in that traditional way these days.
days and you've got so many old guy drones you just treat them like Valkyrie
can put them around the map if you never actually get a chance to go and use
them and go for stuns then that's fine just put them somewhere and then play
like a Valkyrie go for a home
if you pass all I need is one good moment in the round and swing that
back in their favor and I'm looking towards one individual. It's gonna be
Lucy. This guy has been on fire today also in the earliest series against
Kynotrope. He was fighting so many 1vx touches often last a lot for making that
magic happen. Levy has been the one guy that's been on the opposite side though.
I mean he still has not really found himself today. He had a very very poor
starting against Kynotrope and a pretty rough start to bang against CAG and he's
now 1 and 3 on border and he pluses a team they're losing when I'm down
your 3 rounds score, but still it has further bit like how much more can Levi's mental
handle before it's going to be breaking point.
The guy's not going to have much on the server for the last couple of hours, that's with
them, sure.
Well, now that the operator bans have come out, it's time for D-plus to repeat what
they did on that Haven Labs.
It lost the first three rounds and then they flipped into gear
Earlier today D plus managed three on the attack against KineTrope. Wow, that's a nice electric lawn. It would be hard to clear
You don't often see a lot of kaiji here on boarder, but I quite like it
Really fortifying position time and a place for it
I like he's been read into well. Why'd you got calls from the bathroom?
True, but I don't know what the idea was but I heard the EMP come out didn't get it so oh wow they're going for the hatch
Here's an idea the two very quick from Jimmy suit
They really want to hold on to this position from sherry for as long as possible
Time to lash out you know, she's got to be cooked in about 12
He's on top of the freeze so it actually in piece and they can't pop it early enough. Oh my god
The cover was out somehow he gets out alive just as me is on the Blackbeard makes his way inside
Finally we see that hatch detonate, but it is way too late to get that kill
the one-eyed from Shuri
Fresh into the meta and already CAG are using it very well
Next step I'm gonna be sure every D plus you gotta find a kill somewhere
They almost do so in the main staircase and makes it downstairs, but not to be
Neyerson and Anca hallway pushing solo, that could be quite dangerous, and Moody falls behind him.
Peril is a whole lot grim-beast, nobody intel, and Neyerson goes down too.
Great elevation spot there from Saka, who finds three kills around.
Yeah, Nitro himself from Chibi, wow.
Very quick close to the Cag.
As falls as the last one left, hyped up on the desk by Jake.
Yeah, he's had a pretty good day, he fragged out a lot, but
you're not going to win a 1v5.
Deity man finishes it up.
What a great strat from CAG.
So rarely do we see full anchor strategies on this map
But no CIG said hey, we're gonna pick the entire top four except for East stairs and we are gonna hard hold all of it
I think Jake's been having a pretty good day this guy's been spot on you know
They lose the first map and then the win the second one
Form up a mental everything else
You know Jake Jake saw those guys where he shoots a lot of shots and your bounds are hit one
dead in the center eventually right and I feel like that's today right in finals
he had the 2v2 where he couldn't hit a single one but in the disc afterwards
he's locked in
time for hell to get right in the year of the D plus core you can see he's
clearly got a few words to say that's a couple of handwaves here yeah
Final chance to muster up a redeemable half here. Even two in a row
Might not be enough to take them out. You know D plus are good on their own defense
So when we swap halves, it's not the end of the world
But how many rounds will they have when they do swap halves one maybe two?
D plus I having a contender with a couple of different
I'm gonna give him a trophy by the way
Oh shh
For the 2v2 I just, I remember
I was gonna be handed a trophy from Rob and I brought a prop
And uh, we never did the bid because he never gave me a trophy
I think that when we go back to the desk at the end of the day
Maybe with my closing thoughts, maybe you should uh, you should ask him
We'll see
Okay
I'll go to the boss
Do you feel like you earned your trophy?
I won, didn't I?
You did win
I did win. I got my two kills and I won.
Oh man. Nobody has ever looked at an Olympia gold medalist and say,
do you think you deserve the victory?
I disagree. Have you heard of the story of the famous Australian speed skater?
I believe his name was Stephen Bradbury, famous Australian speed skater.
speed skater. I would highly recommend going at typing Steven Bradbury gold medal.
Is it when when the people all crash in front of the motor? Yeah yeah so he knew
that he was never gonna win on pure speed but he knew that the entire like
everyone else he was competing with were really gonna push hard and might
stack. He goes for like five laps just skating behind everyone else by like
ten meters and then it's on the final lap half a lap from the finish line
everyone stacks it and he gets gold. Iconic. A little bit of Australian history.
That's brain play. He deserves that. He was a smart individual. Come on now.
No, like I agree. One of the Australians is great pride and joy at that moment.
Hey, let's see what we can get. Okay, a win is a win. Sometimes you'll remember how you won,
usually most would just say yeah we did that that's all us and at CET right now
they've been doing great job in the server for a zero and if this is a very
one-sided affair on boarder no one's gonna remember oh my god TV only one
because he plus give him to do this whatever no TV they want in the story
that's it right now so be sure you get a ton of pressure here beneath East
stairs and the on the passport though as well and so there's a key on back and
give up that space and get shut down right before it gets back to safety
Yeah well done. Very well done from D-plus.
Takes a lot of time, a lot of utility, a lot of coordination, but they do get in
and they manage to take down one player.
However, Zaco's been unbelievable on the elix.
Guy only died twice by the way in these five rounds and he's hit double-digit kills.
Monster of a man here on boarder today.
D-plus have slowed down.
Losing the ace is a massive detriment.
Now they need Falls of the Tin Can Openers to breach open the site, but it's not safe likely to do so instead he's snuck inside the objective.
But CAG know about it. How comes that brava?
I'm not sure it doesn't really find anything.
Falls might be out of nowhere for a plant.
I think he's very likely to have started down right now. The cover has to be good, but there's no C4.
No, Zaka finally put to rest. Falls has to fake out the plant. Good eye from him.
Good Spidey sense, it's all up to Chipposuit out to flank.
In the 1v3 he'll only find a single kill, D-plus, finally on the board and a bit of energy from the Brazilians.
They took their tactical time out, after four rounds in deficit, they finally get their first.
Hold on strong, I mean that C4 was to land from CAG, that could be a different conversation but as I said,
No remembers the small details after the fact so D plus around the board. Yes
It's nice and steady, but this is a tag on boarder. I mean ideally this is where you're gonna pick up the majority of your rounds
Well, I have to see what happens at the sides. Well, but I'm still very much favorite in CED in this one
Then I mean if you gotta go there it's clubhouse, which
To be honest, I think is anybody's map even before the series started. It's very much favoring both teams's strengths and weaknesses
So I would love to go there. Yeah, I think clubhouse is so iconic as well
It's it doesn't get much more iconic than clubhouse in the modern era of rainbow six
It's just it's the bread and butter of siege like you've got hard breach. You've got power positions
Somehow we still have new methods and changes to the way that sites are set up and played even this deep
Even though clubhouse hasn't really changed since it had its map off
when was that was that like 2018 or 2019 I'm gonna say
Cobhouse has always been in the pool right like even old club was in the pool
back in the day it's never enough shit in the map pool
there's a bit of that it's true it's there's a bit of trivia for you is that
one of the only maps maybe carbon cafe the only maps that have always been in
the map pool cafe was out of the pool then I was getting reworked I'm pretty
sure really I want to I want to say it it was out of ranked so I am to his old
cafe was very bad whatever reason I want to say can't it was out for a single
season but I have no proof to back it up I'd like to look back in the history
books chat from the house was always in yeah that's it we said in here I do
think I was always there because back in the day we just got everything to
predict media there's no quarantine for operators there's no ban system there's
Every map got a stupid shit then we have for villain probably yeah operation come era
Good times operation camera changed a lot of things in the future
Lion did
Generational damage to the balancing of every season we handle the quarantine
Even blood we got yin lesion and Ella in the same season by the way, how insane is that?
Peak lesion peak Ella and pick yin in the same bloody season
Oh man, good old times.
Border has also been there for a very very long time.
All the experience to be had on this map and not many changes, so if you've been here
since the beginning as a pro player, it must feel kind of funny to still be around an old
school style map in the modern siege.
Anantin is good for another swing there.
Judging out D-plus, this entire tag is kind of, I don't know, fangless. Not a lot of pushing power happening.
Very uninspired from D-plus. A little bit over-thinky here.
And finally they find a kill. Desperate to find one. Mears wants to swing inside. D-D goes down.
Maybe there is a chance after all, Zaka covers his sound, but he doesn't realize that Levy is watching his position.
This was a 3v5 for D-plus. They brought it back to a 3v2.
I wonder if Chibisu is able to find the kill here. The timing is not on.
He doesn't realize D-plus have actually sent it deep just at the perfect time to dodge his position.
I think the D-plus might be out of form on the plant here.
There's another diffuser that's on the ground. I think he can kind of fire away from most of the attackers.
So it might be a matter of going for kills, unless he doesn't make a big rotation.
Oh my god, he knows!
He's outside the sentence window and sure he knows about it actually.
He could be on for a freebie here.
Does Niers know that he's being watched indeed? He does!
So smart there from Niers, now it's all up to Chibasu, gets the Injure onto Levy, not sure he's aware of it.
Niers now has the Defuser, there's no lot of time on the clock, he finds Midi!
1v1 now, down from the 1v3 to the number one player in APAC North, and he does go on the verticality.
He knows exactly where Niers is, he can get the info, he can deny the plant, oh hang on a second, it looks the wrong way.
But thankfully still recomposes. It's a dominant half the CHE
Five and one on a defensive border
Yeah, he was laughing almost as much as we were then we were a little bit worried for a little bit like oh hang on
What a what a half CHE? I mean we I said before they dropped the first map
Yeah, I like to do that and then they respond and they don't boy
Boy, in the same vein that I said to James on the count for four, I said how often do
you see a team get three attacking rounds on Lads and Conor and Lucid?
How often do you see a team get four straight defensive rounds on Border and Lucid?
We're about to find out.
We are.
Stay Lucid is an all-time Grand Final throw from CAG.
We should be, should is the keyword, be getting three maps here and going to Clubhouse.
For all intents and purposes, across the entire series, I genuinely believe CAG's been the
better team, outside of some minor issues, but overall the bigger body picture is they've
just clearly been better, but they've just got to be cleaner.
Yeah, I'm really disappointed for D-plus actually, I think on the back of their lower bracket final
playing on boarder, I expected a lot more on this map, I won't lie to you. After watching the way
that they dismantled KineTrope on those attacks, I thought, hang on a second, D-plus are on here,
They've got it figured out. Obviously. Yes, it's different side, but it still felt as though the attacks that we saw
Versus Kinatropes just completely different outcomes and yet different calibre of team. We're not
Absolutely, I mean that's the problem really is it like for
If a D plus you playing border against Kinatropes now you got to play against CG just because you've played the map already today
Yeah, you're playing a whole different team with a whole different set of strategy and playing it far better
So it's a CG versus Keenan Trope.
Yeah, that makes it very difficult.
And obviously, having looked before as well during the game,
the last time these two teams played on-border as well,
D-plus ended up, sorry,
CG ended up winning 7-2.
Yeah, so I'm pretty sure CG's beaten them
on all three of the maps.
This is a case of D-plus just can't seem to get over
this hurdle of CG.
It's happening again here on-border.
Labs end up being maybe the anomaly.
And if we do go to Clubhouse,
I mean, it's a way in which it shapes up to be quite a
societal and you look at their records for 241, both clearly
having some very good time on club. I think we get there. I'd
be very surprised now if D plus were able to bring this back
and it ends up being like the most defensive side of board I've
ever seen. I just don't think they have that in them, but I
would at least like to see D plus keep it close just so it's
not a total blowout. I'm fully expecting we get to clubhouse.
Yeah, I would love to see the D plus can kind of come back in
this series and really show us what they showed us earlier against Kinetrope on
border. They are a phenomenal team. Right now it's like the wind's been taken out
from underneath them. Like it's just it's not the rug. It is absolutely the wind.
They look breathless. They do not look like the same team that we saw. And again
it's super important to keep the context here. They're not versing the same team.
They're versing a CAG that used to be like the Kinetropes of the world. They
used to be really aggressive and chaotic and and since the addition of DD man at
the end of last year since Sparky's come on there is a real element to CAG
that we've never seen before they're far more structured they're far more
dangerous I mean I can't think of a single close round from that first half
that wasn't converted outside of that 1v3 from Chibisu which I think is gonna
prove to be absolutely pivotal I got it that time Jake but it is time you have
something else to say? No, I haven't got any pivot tables, no. No, no pivot tables,
no. No, no, no. But I do think ZG will win this. Well, D plus, look, they're not on the
ropes by any means, but they are down. They need to get back on their feet here. I said
it yesterday in one of the series that we had, if you're D plus, this is such a massive
matchup for you. This series contextualizes that really the last 18 months, I don't want
to put that much pressure on this game for them, but it really does. It's been 18 months
of building slowly, slowly, slowly getting better, getting more consistent to a point
where they could beat CAG and could really look like the team that takes control of this
region but they have to do it here, they have to do it now, they've got to bounce back,
they've got to look like the D plus KIA but we know.
they do but of course you're an update for you James oh hit me with it so would
you believe this? Sprabbuni was in Twitch chat and said yeah Tophouse is the
only matter of always being in the competitive map world. This guy is always
watching, always listening, always watching. I don't know what's up but hey that's a good
vibe check from me huh? I'm gonna give myself a little pat on the back for that.
What do you mean? Wait, what do you mean? You said to Feyo was also in the map pool. I said it wasn't. It's on the cup house.
Look, it's me who gets the back. Again, great team effort from Devon Pengu. I mean, what can't this duo do?
Honestly, like, we've got two six-in-vitational championships between us. However many pro league finals.
Yeah, I like show match victories. You should know by now.
I just think, you know, what can we do? Nothing can stop us when we're together, Pengu.
that's it next time we're gonna get you set of Noah for the 2v2 against Xenox
I'm confident against player I'm confident against Xenox though
well you take on it's the next I'll take on playing we'll see what happens and I'll
get to to Melbourne for the miss ping as well right we need a revenge absolutely
we need to see that look diving back into this game for a moment as that is
what we're here for look it does seem to be a little bit of a trend between these
two teams CAG they really know how to take the fire even after they lose that
first map of course when these teams met in the upper bracket CAG 170 on the map
that they took D plus down on you can never count them out they are a force
to be reckoned with even when they lose the first map second that tends to be
much more in their wheelhouse. However, as we flip the halves, D-plus...
Off! Okay, Niez.
What?
How do you win that fight? Sure, he'd shot first. He had the peekers advantage, and he still gets shut down
Niez though, forced to answer his phone. Otherwise, the Jego payload would deliver a killing blow.
Muzie though is the one who suffers as such. DD man hunting him down the XK23.
3 vs 3 now, D plus holding on it's nearsie yet again, so deadly and falls!
Bink you with the FMG9, EDM1, V2 and Levy, the real Levy will stand up in fountain and rain down upon CAG!
D plus, not quite out of this yet.
Well, not just yet, gotta hold on because just every single round that goes against you will also sway the momentum, the confidence, and you're getting d-plus and giving them a chance back into the game.
It was a round where CIG, they wanted to make it a convincing and quick round victory. They were straight into armor balcony, into the door, wanting to get a plant down as quickly as they possibly could.
and then just got smoked banged by falls losing two members they could have
accurately slowed down done something differently but they want to aim this as
fast as they can also mind you longevity wise and yes four seven five two right
now it's not gonna be the longest you a three of all time but there is always
always going to be the aspect of how long can your stop player play the best
for how long he stay at 110% focus because even shuri who was so hot and I
He's been kind of cold since defense on Night Haven and all the way into Border.
Yeah, and he was the player that lost that free kill against Miers that round.
He was swinging his stairs. He gets damaged to Miers first and then Sharyf gets counter-degree flicked onto.
I don't really know what to say about CAG in terms of like momentum, fatigue.
Like this isn't the longest series like you said. It's D plus we'll play in the second series of the day.
of the day. I can't really comment much on CAG, but I feel like I know Brazilians well
enough and we saw the reaction from D-plus when they got one round on the board here
on the border and we know that they're all playing in the exact same room in that boot
camp facility in South Korea as well and I know for sure that these guys will not be
fatiguing at any point even though they've come off of taking down Kinetrope in the
lower final there's just something about that Brazilian blood it pumps so so hard when teams
are playing Siege but hey you never know what will happen on map 3 even if CAG when convincingly
here we saw it in the upper final CAG and D plus had a very long and grueling first map which D
D plus one and over time. Second map CAG 170. Third map at CAG 175. So even if this ends
up being a quick affair and D plus fumble it, I won't count them out on club. However,
at the moment the only fumbling is happening by the top fragger from CAG. It's Zaka to
go down early on that twitch. However, a quick response nears a little bit too aggressive.
Look at that spray through the wall from Levy. No info whatsoever. But a refrag for
the ages. Pick on the 3v3. This has been a bloodbath.
So quick to respond right now. D-Buzz covering each other excellently in the server. And right
now, fighting is sort of all they have. I mean, yeah, they got 2C4s, but it's not going
to be about the verticality right now. It's about taking the horizontal fire to try to
stall for as much time as possible. Only fall down those hatches when you absolutely have
to. Now, if you have a Lucy on the orange, you can also get back up for a flank later
on but it's gonna be a high-risk high reward sort of place they hear that
so you might get a free kill. Nice DD man walking down that 9 to hallway get
info on one player it's gonna be Levy and there you see that Monty got to get on
her way and then the wall bang almost it's an emitting as well so much pressure
applied upon CAG. Oh and that kill might be the killing blow here the CAG D plus
Just dealing with that Monty, great kill from DD, gets picked again!
DD on the Monty embodying his teammate of Aniston!
And it's all up to fours now, 1v2.
And now he's spotted quick pre-fire through the wall, out of nowhere!
2v3!
And it's a pop-pop from DD, and then a finish!
With the boot on the throat from Aniston, it's match point, the CAG.
What the hell?
This DD going crazy on bottom main Starrick is with two huge picks and a wall bang from
Annie before the yellow ping even comes out.
Such a good read on the situation.
And it was D plus, maybe a little bit overly eager, a little bit over-egoing.
C.A.G. in that fight.
You had Orcs right on the corner, the perfect Munty counter.
You had a crossfire, you could fall back towards Costance and you just play safe.
No, they wanted to fight the 1v1 pistol gunfight against the Monty and they lose it
But look at the chain reaction here. I killed downstairs. I wanted to treat it back
We go upstairs you did even turn around so many back and forth moments
Damn the read there the energy I love how did he is just never surprised
He's like that old sensei sitting back
he spent plenty of time watching the game from the coaching stand and now he's
look he was called on about a year ago right after he coached his team to a
grand final in Rio at reload and then he was forced to jump in play for the team
after not playing since the days that he was on the good old Donuts Varelros the
way back in the day he went to Copenhagen with them he spent a long
time coaching. He jumps back in the server as an emergency sub and he never left. I think
CHG realized, hang on a second, I kind of like having a dedicated support player on
our team and getting the rest of the squad to be more aggressive. I mean it's enabled
Shibasuda to just become a killing machine, Shureep to take every risk he wants and Aniston
to have the freedom to not have to be a support player. Aniston, he's a great support but
He's even better when he has the freedom to play however he wants to flex between a hundred different operators
Few players are as flexible as Aniston and it's the secret weapon for CHE
It's all enabled because of DD standing on the back line and yet he can still frag the hell out
We've seen that more and more from him
There's even work to it
It also gives
CHE more structure more ways of playing the game in general like even DD playing the monkey versus Aniston being the monkey
two very different play styles but also as a player in the server who wants to play the game
a bit more slow paced times and you can kind of reel the presence of guys slow down step one step
two gb goes down and this is d plus going hunting with nears on the clash and looking for these
opening duels he demand playing the month he has a response has to be careful because the
clash finds him he too will get stunned and got broken and that could lead to dd's early death
Ooh, almost a freebie there from Shurey.
They're a little bit too hot from Shurey, so I don't know how he got caught off guard by Midi, but
now D plus, ooh, they're just gonna send it inside. Look at this Shurey going deep. Surely gonna find a freebie.
He does take down falls. Worried though because the clash is coming his way and he needs to get out of dodge.
Full reinforcements come to support. It was DD falling. Yeah, it looks like CAG may be falling as well.
Midi traded by Shereeb, maybe we're just having a Sheree Brown.
If him and Zaka can piece this together, Defu's not been taken here. Problem is,
how on earth do they deal with the clash? No more nades there for Zaka, but if Shereeb can come to
support, Shereeb almost finds Levy's head and does take down Niers. Way too aggressive from the
clash, he leaves his shield behind and gives Shereeb a chance to find four! Make it an ace!
It's not one, two, three, four, and they get seven rounds for CAG.
Wrap it up, boys.
We're going to Clubhouse.
What was your first impression of the team?
I was the new team member.
I was the most advanced team member in the team.
I was good at the team for a few months.
I got along well with the team.
I won all the local tournaments.
When I decided to advance to Invitational,
Everyone really liked it, but it wasn't that surprising.
It wasn't because of the coincidence, so I wasn't quite confident.
And even when I went to Invitation, I even went to play-off.
Everyone was happy, but I wasn't really surprised.
I arrived at the 8th place of Invitation, and went to the practice room to scream.
In Asia, when it comes to tier 2 and tier 3, there are a lot of differences in skills,
and sometimes it doesn't help much.
I tried tier 2 and tier 3 scrims in Europe,
and they were better than us, and they were all so good.
So that was the first surprise.
And in our other group,
I tried scrims with that team,
and the first thing I felt was that there was a wall that I couldn't see.
So it was really interesting and fun.
When we were on the flight,
it wasn't a problem that was on our hands.
I remember that when BDS won the CAC,
we were on the flight.
At that time, everyone was gathering together.
I mean, in the hotel room, in a small room.
All six of us were gathered and praying.
And when I was on the stage, everyone was screaming and loving it.
And on the day of the playoffs, the main stage was really well-drawn.
So I was really excited.
When I did the scrims, I thought,
can I win the game with such a close-up?
It could be just me, but if I just go into the tournament,
I tried my best to win, but I couldn't win.
So I think I did well when I was not nervous at all.
I remember cheering for my friends and family who are still in Korea.
I didn't explain much about League, so I think I should say a lot.
I didn't explain it well, so I didn't message my parents or close friends.
I think everyone is very grateful.
Honestly, my parents don't know much about games, but I think it's good to watch them on TV at home.
First of all, I was very happy to be part of the group stage and playoff.
It was the first time I played in a playoff stage, and I felt a lot of difference in skills.
I went back to Korea for that reason, and I studied the experience and everything, and everyone was more passionate.
The most disappointing game was the group stage.
I think it was 5-0 against Dark Zero.
I remember I used it for 8-6.
That was the most disappointing game.
I don't know why I thought that because it was a game that I was more active.
I played G2 in the same group stage.
I think it's a shame that I didn't do a clutch once.
I think I won the game with 7-4 in the clubhouse.
That was good.
That's the swing!
Cyber and Poole are able to get one of these with the kit so far away,
and Canadian down upstairs.
Wow, that was special.
It's a one versus three to hold, and they're pushing from behind.
He's found one. He's got to get the vertical as well.
They get pulled off, and we're down to the last three or four seconds.
Ryder's got another. He's held off.
He's going to do it, and PSU takes a two-on win.
Both players spotted, but the Ranskin, he makes excessively.
Oh, but it's more of a subtle information from the bees.
He goes deep.
Oh, there is cellar eggs.
They cement themselves as one of the greatest of all time.
He's starting to get cooked alive all the way,
but he's using the stem pestle.
Look at this from the dark.
Surely not.
Brilliant.
Let's play the year in my book.
He plays the game, hits the old body, doesn't quite catch it.
There's the answer.
Oh, he got sent.
He's going back, he's not quite sure, he has a few seconds to stick it, Nassal's sticking.
This is an angle that he might be able to contest, no, unfortunately he takes just a bit of damage there.
The walk I guess is the second one, he clips though, we'll get one.
Turning it into a 2v2 9-day push in on the side, the bandit will lose out on this.
He clips the last alive on the Ella.
Spots the head, tip up, the ace for Walker.
He will down BC Canadian positioning to pick up, but that's gonna result in a double
Necrox the final defender against vertical the absolute domination
Team what does as they win the Mexico major
We're out of time.
Let's put them in the ground.
Fall back!
Team one.
Report.
Alive in where's they?
Will have come with the other team.
They have their orders. We need to go for Nix.
Go to me.
Be my idol.
You just cover her.
Fuck!
I'll start setting a payload.
Your corner, Nix!
Surrender!
I see one old man.
One old man about to die!
I'm sure of your seven. Three wrong now.
Hack my phone!
Huh?
What is it with you?
We're thinking very thick.
We trusted each other, and it paid off.
We were unable for extraction, T1.
Well, we kind of expected that, although the Jackson Oaks and Biddy is the one that actually
expected it.
Somebody called it.
I hate you, I hate you.
Someone called it.
Hey, it pains me to see you being correct.
The worst part is there was such a great storyline for D+, can maybe the ones that disrupt this?
Jake, does the answer?
Well look, a broken clock can be right twice a day.
And I want to take all of the credit for this, clearly a lot of other people have put the work in.
So I'd like to thank Des, my CNSTP, and Likipedia.
Likipedia, shout out Likipedia.
No, but obviously, I think it's important that CIG had to have at least got back and made a competitive
on-border and considering a grand final and what's at stake that they needed to win.
And I don't think not qualifying for these boards to walk up for either of these two is acceptable.
One is going to be bitterly disappointed at the end of Clubhouse and that's the way it needs to be.
Yeah, I feel like that's the one thing that sets apart APAC North and the other two subregions.
Ose varies very much in its own case because we get two spots and we've got two teams.
obvious picks for it. Asia, you've got one team that's an obvious pick for it and only one spot
in APAC North, even though we would have expected CAG to be that team to make it because they've
been dominant with SLC and also at the end of last year they were more dominant. Only one spot,
both of these teams have that expectation. I hate to say it, but we start talking like if
Weibo, for example, didn't qualify for this, you'd probably be talking about cross changes,
You'd be talking about why like if you didn't make cross the changes
If either of these two teams or which one of them isn't gonna make it right and what does it mean for that team?
That doesn't make it like if CAG fails to make it then they start sweating and thinking okay, I'll start a major coming
Are we better make that?
Yeah, that's GG
These guys just got picked up by Varyl as well like huge investment into the organization on the flip side of that
D plus, 9 to 12 position at 6th Invitational, great performance, don't make it to Soul Lake City, if they don't make it for a second event in a row.
The whole reason they're here. Exactly.
Literally the whole reason they're here. In this region because it's an easier pathway, easier pathway, because clearly it hasn't been that easy.
Look, we've got four chances in SAO. I mean it's very competitive but you have to, you have four chances. Only one chance here in APAC North.
If APAC North always got two spots, I could say, yeah, it's a little bit freer and they can get that whoever wins this
It goes to the Esports World Cup. They can earn it. Can they earn it? Because I'm gonna be honest
I look at this region. I think boy, they almost deserve two. Yeah, and only two
Historically, we didn't have three sub reason we had four right? We had OZ, SEA, Japan and Korea
We combined Japan and Korea because they can find the same servers they do anyway, right?
Yep, and also Korea maybe doesn't want having its own region at the moment unless you import some Brazilians
Drive by but once you combine them, right you only give them one slot
Yeah, it does feel a little hard done by especially with how good chemotrope and scars and even fear X or some degree
Whereas when you look at Asia at least right now as greatest day therapy webbers look one clear stand out
Yeah, and then in office we've got the two slots and it's the two teams that want it
Yeah, really a pack north is and beauty that we close on this third final map two teams that both need it
Both deserve it only one's gonna get it and that's the thing like when you look at okay when you compare it to Oce right now
Right, I'll be honest
I didn't expect chiefs to be as competitive as they were in the series that they played right they pushed EP
They beat EP and then they pushed them to 15 rounds on both maps. I didn't expect that however in this kind of series
I won't lie. I do expect that from T plus
I do expect CAG and D plus to be going to a third and I expect like we just saw on board of them for
Individual performances to make the difference in certain rounds and I mean like you look at the three rounds in particular
Realistically, this should not be seven to this should have been five four in favor for D plus
If it weren't for Chidisu in round six if it went for DD man with the shield
But the two kills we got with the shield and then if it wasn't for shoe rape going one two three four
seven
Ultimately though, like this is this is the difference maker in games like this because yes, holistically we look at both teams. We know that both teams aren't going to be the greatest technically speaking in terms of the
Tactical knowledge, but by God we know that their individuals can perform James and right now going into a third map
I mean, I really don't know what to expect clubhouse is just for me. It's up in the air
It's it's left with the gods. I mean clubhouse is just the most classic siege in 2026
You've got hard breach mini games. You've got trap mini games
You've got Rome clearing you've got mini executes all of the meta power operators on attack and defense are relevant on this map
It's open season. However, you want to play the game you want to run shields
You want to run glass you want to go through a warm ice trap or you want to do the opposite
You want to ban some of those operators lean into something different wouldn't be surprised that we see where my dance here
He is so powerful for holding rafters, especially now that he's got that nitro cell or that shield
As well, it's just so many options here on club that like it comes back to another thing for me
Which is had to rest by deciding. He's usually not
Did you see that he was on his phone earlier when we got to him as well
Oh that was a good one.
He was stressed.
I mean wouldn't you?
He has reasons to be.
Both of these teams so dearly need this.
I mean going to a third map,
both of these teams have such high expectations
out of themselves, but I really think
on a map like this, it comes down to individual players
having their moment.
Like obviously you'll have some guys who are on
like 10, 15 or more kills.
I care more about DD getting that 1v2
like we did at the end of that last one.
I care more about Chibisu going big
on around when it matters.
It's not just about the staffs, not just about the kills,
it's about the impact players.
It certainly is, and look, as far as impact plays go,
I know we haven't seen impact plays from Zaka,
and I'll kind of flip the script a little bit there,
but talk about consistency, talk about a player
that just through and through has been there
for CAG over the last two years,
continues to perform in moments where he's really needed to.
Like, I really, I must say, I think that he has stood up
in a region of phenomenal players.
Don't get a twist.
An APAC North is full of unbelievable gunners.
And Zaka seems to find consistency in us
when it's most needed.
Yeah, I mean, I think that clearly when it comes to CAG,
they've always been the kind of team
that's had quite a lot of talent,
quite a lot of quality.
And Zaka is no different to that course.
Normally our college just as a reference point
for those a little bit unfamiliar
when it does come to Zaka.
But you know, I think that what he can actually offer
is he doesn't need to be the main man.
He doesn't need to be Chibisu. He doesn't need to be Sharif, but what he does need to be James is
There has that third foil and you look at the previous map. Chibisu goes 10-6, Sharif goes 10-5, Zaka goes 10-6
That's a good little even spread. He's helping out just as much as the top guys. Yeah, and Zaka is a very smart player
He's happy to sit on the more back line. He, Sharif's the guy's making the plays, taking the risks
Yep, Chibisu has a little bit of a license to do that as well
But sometimes he gets real in Zac up much more real game much closer to DD in Aniston with the main push a lot of the time
He's got some hard breach responsibilities
He's also clearly like such a big community Kata such a big personality on the team as well
He knows how to be consistent
Which is what CAG need to deviate from that CAG of all where they just threw anything at the wall and see what's stuck
No now they have like a real backline. They have a real
team that can achieve great things and
And the only thing that stands in front of them right now is not just deep assets themselves.
No.
We talked about it a lot.
We've talked about it extensively.
CAG, there's always been about that man through a conversation.
I think for a lot of APAC North teams, it has been, Jay.
I think a lot of the conversation around these teams domestically, but more so internationally,
is their phenomenal teams.
They're champion-leading teams.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I look excited for this one.
Clubhouse talk about a classic map in terms of what we've got in the pool right now.
It's not quite Oregon, it's not quite coming down to kids' dorms.
But it's still, you know, Clubhouse is a really good old time of map
and a good way to close out a Grand Final.
Some would say there's something on our hands Rob, what is it?
Um...
Err...
Are you holding it?
Like, can we bring it back to Rob quickly?
But I should say...
No.
Okay. Never mind.
But, but, but, but, but, but, but Jay, the point still stands.
No, the point stands. We have a series on our hands.
We have a series on our hands, ladies and gentlemen.
You better strap in.
Throw the series.
Why don't you do it?
Oh, you've got it in your hands.
I do, James.
Catch, hit.
Got it.
It's time to take this one and run away with it, Pengu.
It goes down to a third map.
CAG by Varel and D plus, bringing out all the stops.
And the stakes couldn't be higher.
For CAG, they know that the Osaka Major is not long away.
Before then, EWC in Paris.
And after failing to make it to Paris for the 6th invitation or CAG will be desperate to not miss out this time around as for D plus.
Well, they will put down, kick down in kickoff and fail to make it to Salt Lake City.
If they go six months without qualifying for an event, that's disastrous.
Both of these teams so dearly need this qualification to the Esports World Cup.
2 teams in desert need only one spot as a brosal position to be in, but at the same time,
a game of high level competition where you go into the third and final map, I mean that
is what any great player would like to achieve and go to, is you begin, it matters, it takes
a while to get there, and you can also get through all those nerves and all that adrenaline
in the server, going through the various plays, the options, the strats, the counters, and
If you reach that send like state, you can start seeing all the pace happening in front
of you.
You remember the talk with your coach before the game started, oh they like to go for this
kind of push.
You share that with your teammates, you go for a counter play, it's beautiful when all
comes together.
CAG may be trying to take down D plus in a way that KineTrope tried to as well.
Maestro on the board here, it's always KineTrope that tends to play as an operator.
My god, Annie, it's CAG, and it's going to be a bit of a bunker down here in the base
the top house that's been solved with the hatches being soft wait it's not a fact have they only
spent five reinforcements is the top left telly correct there's no way they haven't reinforced
anything right they must have reinforced everything soft they must have reinforced a lot of offside
very strange very risky and they're doing it now two more just went down
they did i think it's just late reinforcements yeah they're doing bottom lane right now
And blue hatch was soft, dirt was soft, the entirety of the B wall is completely open.
Okay, little bit of a win for us, but it's nothing.
Well thankfully for D plus they have plenty of soft breach, particularly in the shotgun from
Muzie so they can open up a lot of that. Right now we're in the early phase of the round for D plus,
it's run clear, take map control, start to push into dirt apparently, but Mini's taken a hell of a
a lot of damage, VD detonates the fire to keep the Blackbeard at bay, Nitro is self-prepared,
he wants to keep taking the fight against the F2, it's a dangerous game, but he has
the HP advantage. Pre-ripped C4, just waiting for him to run towards him.
Not sure if he has a second canister or not, but that C4 is only saving Grey's F1's fire
ban issues because this Blackbeard of Nishin is pushing on him, take the space, C4 on out,
does a little bit of damage but doesn't stop the push entirely.
He's gonna have to fall back from this Blackbeard.
Wow, tries to take the fight with Midi.
And loses it as well.
Levy from above will find Zaka.
This is now a very dire position for CIG.
His deep plus pounds on the gap.
They go deep inside.
Mere's finding so much ground.
It's up to Anderson now in a 1v4.
Makes it a 1v3.
I didn't know how to take down the Blackbeard.
Surely not.
Into the 1v2.
Pipe down from falls.
Bruzy's already low on HP.
Should be information here.
It is a very long reload, but now he's got 80 bullets in this hose to mow down D+, and
false is trapped alone on the bomb site.
Muzie reveals his position up above, and it's a 1v1!
Not like this!
One HP now for Muzie, has to clutch up.
He will be forced to drop down, and it's in!
He is the king from Japan, and he's made an ace happen in the opening rounds!
1 vs 5, he flexes his muscles on D plus.
Holy hell, from stalking the corner of Trips Triple to being on the Maestro E-Vibes, watching
his teammate die one by one as he rushes the bomb site and he comes off it with a single
magazine, finds three kills, one reload, finds the final two, displacing, forcing the one
everyone gunfire says look at how he played that by the tall box he's shooting
towards AK's making his position known he flicks behind him looking towards the
kitchen hatch he knows the play that's about to happen they clicked for him in
that very moment and Anton he doesn't waste any time he gets to kill towards
AK's immediately hops onto the defuse knowing that Lucy's only choice here is
to drop down the hatch and I can catch him mid animation he has literally one
One point of health left in this very moment, yet he still goes mid-swinging.
Pro's too fake.
Oh man, I need a translation of what the hell he is saying in that moment.
Was that a 1v5?
This almost never happens.
It was effectively a 1v5, yes.
You got all five kills and the first kill happened when all his teammates were dead and he was stalking the basement like, yeah, that's a 1v5 clutch for the ages.
Up against a Blackbeard, no less.
And even at the end, a 1 vs 2,
Muzi made the call to go all the way upstairs,
leave his teammate alone on the bomb site.
I can't believe it.
I mean, with a play like that in the opening round for CEAG,
how...
Goddamn.
Do you bring this back for D+,
I mean, to be honest, the only saving grace about this is that it's the very opening round.
Imagine it's like approaching overtime or in OT or it is CG stealing around that puts you through a huge advantage
This is the beginning of clubhouse, but on the flip side imagine what kind of map this could become if we're starting off in such a high notes
Now the only thing for Aniston is that that adrenaline
That's gonna be soaring through his veins for a bit longer needs to set to like relax down or kind of reset their intelligence
Because he's no longer in that fight of flight mode
Yes, so just kind of what camps is my store once again here
Can you give these teammates and try to figure out how they can stabilize this round and not suffer that same consequence?
It starts off poorly. Gb2 is there early again.
Zagre tanking the hook because taking 40 damage to his health bar trying to stay fighting,
but it's so hard against his DMRs. They quickly disrupt those and some of their heroes.
Breach about to be
appearing on the con wall as well.
Forcing, cacked by Varo back further, deeper into the bomb site.
But look there, ready to play active, Shuri prepared with a C4 in gym, waiting for a player
to peek his window, pre-ripped so there won't be a sound cue, as the breach from D plus
on jacuzzi.
Well poised now and a number advantage for D plus, tons of info from Niers as well with
the solid snake, starting to ping out some of these player positions as the Jago payload
exposes and does a lot of damage to Zaka. He wants to go for a swing, now actually does find
falls as well. Just swipes on past him, DD's fallen, but Anton's on the main stairs, pushes down
deep, goes through the nape, finds the kill, onto midi. Now he's trapped off site for a brief moment,
Nears and Muzie decides the moment to go deep, could kill with the F2, but Anton is there with
the bullet hose! Seven kills! Looking for number eight, but he doesn't need to make a move.
Shuri, just around the corner from him as Muzie is forced to clutch and guess what?
CAG have plenty of info from the evil eyes, they can fall back down, they know the defuse
is not in Muzie's hands and now they're just toying with him, can't even go for it, can't
even take down the evil eyes.
At this point they're just toying with Muzie.
Now they need info, where is that plant going down?
It's a game of cat and mouse upstairs.
Shuri still up above, Muzi trying to chase him on down, but yeah, he will tank the calls.
He can't actually get on his cameras anymore, it's just up to the team mates now to continue
being in that position.
Muzi has to go for kills, doesn't get the chance.
Shuri and Hamilton are simply playing with him.
He'll save the KD, but he can't save the round.
It's another heroic moment for Manitzen, too straight for CAG.
masterclass once again in positioning and decision making understand that they don't always have to play for kills in that 2v1
They just fade away. They play downstairs in bar. They got the spam red pings
They have his teammate play acro on the side itself while he can just kind of play as a backup
If his teammate dies its hackers forcing to planting and are exactly where he can walk off a freak at the killer shooting down vertically
It's beautiful and before it becomes a strategical masterclass
It's any finding the clutch like in those two huge kills
Famous downstairs in bar and they'll walk soft edges one taps the player on the bombs that was found a minced meat of his teammates
There is a hero for CAG two runs in a row now. That's emitting
Every player um CAG is capable of having a game deciding moment
We saw it on board it was DD man with those two pistol kills on the Monty and then the round after it was
Shureep with his ace up when things look dire when it looked like D plus was starting to bring it back
Chibisuz had his moments Zaka has been fragging out like crazy and Aniston
Typically on a shield operator, but even as well on the maestro on these defensive power houses
He could do the same D plus
Have been suffering on these last two maps nighthaven seems like a fever dream from weeks ago
And now they must play the game that they have before them. O2 down to CAG and clubhouse attack.
He's off the maestro unfortunately for Anitzen, but the difficulty of playing those camp operators is finding the space to go on them,
in the first place and watch them and look at the current fans and pressure all the walls opened up
the windows the barricades if you're anybody from cg you gotta have your guns up and ready for a fight
despite d plus losing the first two rounds they've been quick to get the first opening pig and quick
to take that map control and this round is no different they're doing a lot at the same time
moosey working with nears and mainsters and scruzzy breach once they get that scanner out
if he got exactly where anything's paying from, they're gonna come for him.
Another opening kill for D-plus.
Second though, and it's Adamton who goes down.
Got him.
As the player you want to target in a big moment like this.
And this Cache CCTV bombsite is, yeah, not a favourite of defenders in 2026.
It's not in the current meta of Rando 6.
The Wamai is still alive, that's one of the things that makes this bombsite a little bit more playable,
but not really impactful whatsoever when you're fighting from this far behind.
The midi goes down, as I say, well my, Shuri decides to be aggressive.
The only way that D-plus moves around from a 5v3 is if C.H.G. start pushing and winning 1v1s.
There's a player outside the main breach of C.C.T.V.
So, let's go to the second player there. There's less backstep pressure now on towards C.H.G.
themselves, and they're actually abusing that. They're playing outside the breach,
waiting for a drop down expecting a little freebie and ladies kind of
struggling with that falls on the shotgun so limited to what kind of fighting
you can take as well he still might be getting more and more value not making
those magnates or sorry those cadillacs go too far inside the bomb side
oh I think that went down again. Yeah, let's get a pull back down. GD man swiftly makes it a 3v3
both hard breeches now down for D plus as CAG have regained control of the
I hear a candela ringing into the bomb site and falls is deep inside
The breach exposed in nears will double down. It's up the zakan now in a 1v3 finds falls
That's the deadly shotgun eliminated. He's to make it a 1v2 now around the corner comes nears
He's hungry for more with the AK a third on the round for him and a first on the board for D plus
still way too close for comfort is a five versus three position that could have
easily become a two versus two of a couple of gunfights still hit their
shots you know this is gonna be deep as feeling that pressure in the server and
what even ban you've lost two rounds the energy on my store just clutching in an
ungaveled way against you like what do you ban here I'm very curious to see it
if you're gonna go for the target ban or the band it okay so just back back to
base here. Walden, I'll operators. Kite, we were abandoned. No target specifically here.
And then solid snake and responsive things. Excellent from CAG. It is such a limited counter
operator. You can stand in a mid jammer or play individual or whatever, but I guess the
only options that you have and it just gives you so much intel and rung in there. He saw
two separate defenders that was roaming in master bedroom and in offices all the way from
I don't know how I feel about D-plus consistently banning Kaeyi Bandit Mirror.
They did the same thing on Nighthaven Labs.
I'm not big on it.
Yeah.
Look, they didn't do it on a border.
They got rid of Mirror Valky-Clash, but yeah, I don't know.
I just feel like when you ban Kaeyi Bandit, it's kind of like saying, hey, I just don't
want to play this one mechanic in the game.
I don't want to play Walden Isle.
But it means that you're leaving it so much else.
Instead of playing the opponent before you, you're just altering one fundamental part of the game so that you don't have to think about one aspect.
I think the best teams in the world are able to adapt their bans to their opponents and instead say, okay, look, if they do bring the bandit, it's fine.
That's an opportunity to use one of our ten different counters we have.
What about with the triple Zofa buff that we had recently, we Zofaed the bandit?
Or what if we use Capitale on the bandit, you know, like so many different ways to fry a bandit player and actually turn that.
Same with Mira, into a free kill.
So many different ways you can counter these setups.
I don't love that from D+, I feel like it just exposes a weakness.
Also mind you, when the enemy is playing abandoned on defense,
they're playing an operator whose sole purpose is to do something
at the very first step of the round, denying those walls.
And if you attack, there's an opening on Jakuza Wall,
and nobody realized, not us, not Levi, only Shuri.
So he gets complete free, he falls on back,
to play the round 5v4 because they realized they killed the ram, the vertical player.
First opening kill for Kayc by the way in this game.
Yeah but yeah you're making them play a bandit operator and it only does one thing in the round
unless you're first step so once you pass that point it's just a guy with a c4. That's all bandit
becomes all of a sudden. By banding the bandit you are giving them stronger gadgets that have
bigger impact. They can play in different power positions. That's like the most simple and not
not fully accurate we have describing it, but there is an advantage to leaving the bandit open.
As you said, if you go for bandit tricking, you can get a free kill.
So Fiat for low, Kautal, Maverick, whatever, and it can give you an advantage.
What I'm really scared about here, if I'm deep lost, is the Azami setup.
We've consistently seen the Azami AKs, which if it's just playing right now, is so hard to clear.
Even when you do get dirt control, Azmias has just the Chief.
He's supported as well by Midi.
Chibisuu is forced back, but being that Azami, he's also the perfect operator to fight this.
Wow, good amount of damage there onto Niers.
Meanwhile, Chibisuu, Shireed, has actually snuck back upstairs.
He's going to answer his phone as well, so he won't even take the damage.
DD Man finally finishes off Niers with a Nitro Cell.
D-plus are falling to pieces.
Tatted by the wayside.
Kag, look to dominate.
As Muzy desperately tries to retake upstairs, he'll finish off Shireed.
get that diffuser back, but that ship has sailed.
We flanked the Flanger, but the A-round doesn't make it easier.
We've got to drop down the Kissnatch, walk into the third tunnel, we've got Val'kem's on you,
we've got a lot of crossfires and staplers, we're just swinging around, we're doing solo HP,
Moosey finds one though, opens things up.
Oh! Moosey finds another one!
A second!
Hang on a second, this guy's won a world championship.
If Aniston can 1v5, let's see if Moosey can respond with an ace of his own.
It's just Aniston and Zaka left. Zaka exposed.
Survives, but just barely. Pigs out again. Quad for Moosey!
Aniston! Last time you made this bomb site your home. Now Moosey must do the same.
He doesn't have to defuse. He's no... Oh, he has no time! The round is done!
Hamilton catches him in 4k on the cam, Muzie can run all he likes, he ain't getting that
defuse back.
Nice valiant attempt from Muzie but the round belongs to C.A.G.
Oh, such a small mistake.
So the hibana who died in the kitchen earlier that I got flanked by Shuri or whatever must
have had the defuser right?
And Muzie went for the retake of kitchen, he forgot about the case.
So if he had it that would have been a postman for sure right?
the gorefire got popped, the buyer should 20 seconds of time, you can easily win the
round off of that. And at the very least, you know, CG, they were running away, they
were sprinting out of the bomb site.
And they caught him on cam as well at bot main, like that was the nail in the coffin.
That camera can be destroyed from safely above in the hallway, by the way.
Small things, ultimately with a huge consequence. Also, when is the last time anybody has ever
flamed into kitchen from the main stairs and that never happened and there's always a guy
sitting there having no job right, complete unemployed or a guy on a drone who's dead early
in the round. Neither of those things happen at that time, that's such a rarity.
Well there's a guy repelling outside on that cheeky little one-way angle.
Yeah that's the unplug guy, that's the guy I'm talking about.
He's got no job for it.
Look at me guys, I'm not playing on the train.
Yeah I get a job for it.
oh man look yeah this game is really run away from D plus they gotta get the
what's what are they what's the same you gotta get the there's no way to get the
chicken back in the cage I feel like there's a there's a phrase there I
forget what the game is the cat's out of the bag we can't get the cat back
into the bag at this point man this half is completely decimated D plus
Good luck getting this one back. I mean, ideally they'd be gunning for three rounds here
I don't know if that's possible
That's a second opportunity that D-class have had to win a basement attack
Keep in mind they had a 5v1 the first time they attacked that bombsite and they had a 1v1
Yeah, both fall away from them. The only bombsite they've won so far is Cache CCTV when they had an early 5v3
Now CAG go back to the master bedroom bombsite
And I think that D-plus is starting to feel the frustration set in.
I'm not sure about the ying in this series.
It's been played a couple of times now from D-plus and usually from our point of view, pretty unsuccessful.
I mean, I guess right now they are getting map control which you cannot be understood that is valuable.
But a demo striker downstairs really would achieve the same thing.
You know, playing an operator like Cavitile could also get the same thing.
Regardless, they spend two Kandilas, they get CCTV, that is pretty good.
Now that 5v5, they buy the bombsite, somewhat ready for an execute,
it comes down to how well can they actually do it. Right, get the timings and find the gaps.
A lot of teams recently have started attacking from the outside windows, jumping in and also just losing the round.
I would like to see D-Pulse try and attack you at the office portion of the map,
because that's the back one of the entire site, or get a flank up the main stairs where Anantin started that spot previously.
previously because you need to have multiple points of pressure and you
gotta have an away deck to fight back against CAG. Good control though from
Nia's BD so in this fight he does, yeah well played even though he is limping. The
backup is AnatoN and he's lying on the floor snaking in secret stash. He finds
a kill. There is no backup for Nia's that's for sure but the fire has Muzi
and falls together managed to get that kill on to Amit and however D plus have fallen
apart right when they had their gap and now midi oh he's burning in the fire
all right that's full on track completely puts a stop to his push and falls has been
playing outside watching that window for so long takes a lot of damage rather
deals a lot of damage on the shuri and now it's time for me to try and hunt him
down deep into the bombsite he goes CAG say look you guys can have the bombsite
we've got the diffuse 10 seconds to play come and get it lads midi and falls
have realized that the jig is up CAG have the diffuse and they don't plan on
giving it back anytime soon zacka swings again a big round for him big
moment the CAG they're up for one is the third time that they have won because
either denying them the diffuser because it's cold on the ground or they have enough planned denial
vertically that the bomb site doesn't matter. It's ridiculous. I mean the basement route that we
just witnessed right the 1v1 clutch the diffuser was in kitchen Moosey couldn't go for a plant.
The previous energy clutch on Jim's bomb site they had evil eyes all across the bomb site and
they're playing in bar and the enemy can't plant and now we see the diffuser dropping
inside a construction and nobody can go for a plant despite having bomb site control.
On the second note, there are two major blunders in the back of my mind.
First of all, why is Nier solo in office when that gives you everything you possibly want?
It gives you construction, it gives you a master bedroom, you cut off the rotations and you
can just sit there and be a sentry turret.
Nier gets a kill, then he dies, nobody retakes the spot.
They have the demos right on the hatch who chose to run away rather than dropping down
with Nier and finishing the job.
Secondly, Falls was outside the building the entire round, watching the Main Stairs window.
We know what's also watching Main Stairs window?
The Jacuzzi Bridge, where they most ran to from Office Hatch just seconds prior.
So they had two people doubling down the same angle for the majority of the execute, meaning
the CG actually had numbers advantage, despite not having more players alive.
Because B+, simply had people in useless positions.
It is such a rare mistake for them to make, especially for us as a very smart player.
He will often be in a high value position.
He's outside Mainster's window with 30 seconds left and a 1v3.
You gotta be in a higher value spot.
You gotta help me to take off.
You gotta have a cleaner attempt of a plant.
If there's anything going for D plus, it's that we're going back to cash CCTP.
I can't believe that the scoreline is 4-1.
When you look at the opening kill scoreline,
Yeah, the opening kill scoreline is 4-1 in favor of D plus, by the way.
If now, it's insane.
Look, if CAG managed to win the opening kill this round,
this is the most important round of winning the opening kill
because it's the bomb site that they're least, that is least defendable, right?
It's the hardest one to make work.
Last time they tried fighting back from a 3v5, it's just not gonna happen, right?
If they get an open and kill here, or if they stay alive and play off of their anchor positions,
the world is their oyster.
It's also a crime if I'm wrong, but Geepers have not called their tactical timeout, have they?
Uh, good question. I remember them doing it on water. I don't remember them doing it here. That's a scary one.
Why has Hell decided not to rain it on down?
So the only thing I can think of is that the way they've lost the rounds is just small player mistakes, right?
And they know that like it's been CG clutching. Do you do you call attack when you're doing?
No, it's things right and Amy's just better or do you call them and you're actually generally making a huge mistake you got to address?
What's how gonna say guys? That's not good enough play better. I guess not gonna add anything but frustration
It depends. I feel like you're just holding on. I
Guess it depends though if you're getting the coach in for a strategic reason or for a mental reason
Because clearly, CIG is running rigs around D+, and there's that opening kill!
The thing that they were waiting for, the thing that we were worried about for D+,
if you can't win this bombsite in a 4v5, and that means it's going to be a tumultuous half for D+,
they're going to need to be impeccable on their defences.
Otherwise, you can kiss your ticket to EWC, goodbye.
It reminds you of this score line, this clutch potential from CG has happened with Chibisu
being 0 and 5 on the scoreboard.
That's how hard Annie has been clutching and the rest of you scored.
They have a player who has yet to reach the scoreboard.
That's not the case with D plus.
It's also their usual tech fragger.
Chibisu is the highest rated player in the league by the way.
0 and 5.
Doesn't matter.
Well, there that's it right now.
until his weakness is beautifully.
Toxic Bed goes out and it's gonna soak up
the utility response.
There was all this Sophia concussion mines
that was getting eaten by a DSS,
and now they gotta sit here and wait for 12 seconds
saying, okay guys, what are we doing?
Well, they have nearest outside the CC breach on the roof.
We can drop on the platform
and take that backside approach later on.
They have nearest downstairs with three big booms
still in the pocket that could maybe
net them that opening pick.
But you need to find it.
There's such little time.
If they see it blind, there's no info.
Yeah, no info whatsoever.
It was just to enable loser to jump in the window, but he loses his fight anyway
Now Zaka wants to try and peek it and then quickly realizes hang on a second
I don't need to eat this I can just fall back
I can just try and buy as much time as possible and I'm gonna run for the hills
Rude spacing get the crossfire and with that get the flawless round. Why don't you?
It feels like this might be a flawless grand final for CAG. They are putting D plus to sleep
Well as one of my favorite cartoons in the world once said rock roll raggy ah yes that
one I'll do very trouble well I mean look I think right now deep loss here I look like
they're in trouble as well yeah needed to get at least two rounds they had the opportunity
I said to you here on the couch as we head into the sixth round need to win this if they
It's got to be some troubling times and they didn't win it did they?
They most definitely did it. I mean James brought up the good start which was you know 4 out of the first 5 rounds.
The Opium kills go on the way with D plus. Had so many opportunities.
What about the Aniston 1v5 opening round? Do you think about the fact that, you know, Neers gets a 3k in round 3.
They win that. Well Music gets a 4k in round 4 but runs out of time. 1v1 time runs out.
genuinely feel like after the first four rounds D plus should have been almost
three one up. Genuinely could have been. You have to ask this question and we
have to ask it globally. If Anatom doesn't win that 1v5, if D plus stops
swinging him and force him into a 1v5 as a maestro post plant, this entire game
is completely flipped on a 10. I agree. I think you demoralize CAG straight out
of the gates in that first round. You show them that you're here to play
I don't I don't mind the fact that they are trying to absolutely crush them into the ground at a 1v5
But that is every every 1v5 starts with a sweet. I mean it does
I
Mean so where to for D plus because it's one thing to sit here and talk about what's happened now where to well
And so you go that's the thing you go defense if you D plus that's the most important thing
Yeah, you look at the players that are performing right now falls one six now
He has been up to this point tremendous today. He has lower bracket final MVP and across the first two maps being their best player
You look at the summary of the series so that encapsulate encapsulates the three maps
Yep, still positive in fact the only player that's positive for D plus 2018
Look at just clubhouse one and six
Yeah
It really highlights how good he's been in this series if they're to come back if they're to win this they need
Balls it feels like they need their captain to really drag them over the line get involved now
They are getting a little bit more from using this game six and three
They'll need more of that
But they also probably need is Chibisu to stay irrelevant one and five zero and three and yet CHF five one up
That's insane. If you're Chibisu, you'll think sitting back thinking. Oh
The one bad map that I have grand final map three, but you know what my boy's got me
Anitin's got me. Anitin, my boy. Exactly. Look, I'm CIG 5-1 up. Usually you would, they're in the driver's seat.
But I've seen enough clubhouse in APAC to know how incredibly defendable it can be.
And I'm not completely going to write D-plus up here. Do you reckon D-plus could bring it back from 6-1 down?
I mean, yeah, I mean, they absolutely could. But I will think if they do not win Paceman here, I'm quite sure they're going to back from 6-1 down.
I think the really important context going into this is actually how close so many of those rounds were in that first half
I think you don't want to discredit what D plus were doing but we're getting caught dropping the key in places that
Irretrievable and CAG played it perfectly like pinpoint perfect. They looked great
If anything, I think CAG won that first half not D plus losing it
I think you have to put the pressure back on D plus now for the second half
Yeah, last one as well before we throw this back over to the boys because it's the last time we're gonna get to speak before
We reveal who's going to be these what's woke up
If D plus gonna win this second half to get it to probably over time because I don't think they're gonna win
I'm not gonna be very surprised
Opening kills must maintain that ratio that they had in the first half might even be easier to do that on defense and
Certainly must be better in the in the cloth and get a lot more out of force if they can tick off those three categories
I can see them definitely getting this back to that five three five four and from there the series returns to our hands
Well basement defense to kickstart here is make no mistake make absolutely no mistake D plus must win this if they are to take that
EWC slot James. It's all on you, mate
Hopefully not hopefully thank you
Little bit worried
I mean I looked I looked at the TV next to me thankfully thank you. You're still here, mate
Look, thankfully for CEAG, they're up 5-1 and they got the Monty.
Look, I want to spin a yarn here for D-plus, but you're not banning Monty, you're going for Maverick?
Maverick?
Yes, okay, so I looked at it and I thought about it, okay?
They saw the mirror ban first, they know they can't ban the kite and the bandit,
so they changed their on the fly and say, if they don't ban the bandit or kite first,
we ban the maverick's counter, now we get one of the two walled-night operators and two brawl on the board,
and we can force them to stop them solving and fly them for the first.
No, but that's what you want to matter.
I totally agree with you.
I think you've got the right read.
My problem is I feel like D plus are focusing too much on hard breach on both sides.
They ban out the Kaiden Bandit.
They're overvaluing how important hard breach is on these maps.
Firstly, there's certainly other ways to deal with hard breach that isn't Maverick.
Like you look at this lineup, we've got one Hibana.
We've got no Tinkan Openers.
We've got no Warriors whatsoever.
Yeah, there's a bandit brought to the table.
I don't think CIG are going to care.
when I said I'm against them and say like I'm with you I also think it's
too much focus on it you're giving a shoey for sack in this case a solid snake
that you talk about the way a knife will not give me an instant money getting
in the money that it is a big of a concern they're gonna go hunting fun
years speaking of the bandit has to see for can't with him you want to do it
and now it's just a matter of time truly awkward oh nitro comes out that's not
Not bad, Anderson takes quite a lot of damage from it, and now Nios just wants to deal as much damage as he can, it's a free kill for sure.
And that is why you do ban the Monty against Anderson.
Yep, really good play, but timer is taking 30 seconds, got to go very fast, maybe public future natures struggle on down, try and get a planted stab,
there's only one C4 but also, I'm actually lying, there's three toxic babes in Pug from Falls.
Oh, he's in the wrong position, he's in dirt, he's being aggressive.
Yeah, but the problem is, as you said, for CHE, time is ticking away, and yeah, you're right, it may well be too late, four falls to rotate back to the position.
As I say that, he gets deeper, and now under the bombsite, Aniston will drop, he's being gassed out, already low from the C4 earlier.
Now he just needs to try and take some fights, before he goes to the plant, he is being covered, but it's up to DD Man alone to try and prevent this plant from being denied.
And Muzie will fall, Levy now trying to cover. Aniston confirms that plant, it's there with 1v1!
Down into that one versus one with levy and the tcsg the impact grenade if it lands well could finish off any oh
But in steady 360s and deals the shield himself
Levy has clutched up big
It's the gene that we said was there present for cag but has not been anywhere to be seen for D plus finally
Levy shows us a bit of individuality and a bit of clutch potential for D plus
And they replayed it so smart. There's almost no operas that can beat a Monty post plant
in a 1 vs 1, but there's a rare moment here where you have the perfect tool for the job.
Annie was so low on health from Duke and the C4s and the gas and the Poonis earlier that
he would die to an impact grenade. Levy had one spare in pocket, but instead of throwing
it out and kind of risking it all, he ripped it, he showed it to Annie and let Annie make
the decision on how that was going to play out. Annie's an unextended shield, recognizing
that Impact Queen's going to kill him, and he wants to close the gap, go for melee, ADS
and get the kill. But because let me think it, look at this,
fix it here, kills us, he turns around, he's ready for the fight. He baited Annie into because
he showed him, if you extend, I will clear you with this impact.
So smart there from the lady. Love to see it, love to see it. Finally,
a little bit of fire for D-plus.
It's been completely lacking for them.
But aside from that clutch, a little bit scared.
CAG, they cleared the roam, they won the opening fight,
they were not taken advantage of by Mears on that bandit.
The only real weakness for CAG,
that round was leaving it to only, what,
20 or 30 seconds left in the round
when they went for that execute,
which is what enabled D-plus to whittle down the numbers
and put Levy into that clutch position.
But it does show that look, CIG, they're not all go here.
You know, they're not full pedal to the metal.
They are a little bit slow and a little bit cautious,
which you can't afford to beat
when you wanna keep up that momentum.
Keep D plus guessing.
Honestly, faster attacks here from CIG
can't afford to have a 5v5 so led into the round.
You know, I didn't realize why last round flew by so fast,
but it's because the desk spoke for 60 seconds
interaction phase, I was like, what the heck was the timer?
I lost track of it completely, but I realized now what would happen to me is they're trying
to steal our job, James.
Robin sent us the thoughts on the couch, trying to do both of our jobs, I say no, we'll do
all the talking right now boys, sit and watch, meanwhile, sure they'll join them on the couch,
sitting and watching these teams struggling against the cap of the clash rather, and losing
the cap at Tau makes it even more challenging because that fire could be one of the few ways
you could do it with this operator.
Operator you could kill for sure that said we have zaku with three concussions people often forget
But one zoe concussion will guard break the clash knock that shield back and make me as vulnerable
But this bomb site if you have a good setup
Can be very proficient. No one might hear no catch whatsoever in fact from D plus instead. We've got the clash
But you missus his chance. He's finally off the donut two kills to his name
And Levy is gonna take down Arton. Yeah, he's continuing his form from last round, giving D plus a lifeline and perhaps a couple of defenses to pad the distance between them and CAG.
Hmm
Mind you is Levy who has been so quiet and we've been no I've been at least critical off of the instant high view of three
He is now really stepping up and giving him a lifeline
Go start as I say it feeding and finds betrayed right back
So it's still numbers saving deep plus by two and they got the class you got the good
They can completely lock out CHE by veral
We see the fine the ground right now starting to do that and there's a clash doubling down
It is not a good time to be sacked her right now
No, no, because he's completely run out of util. No big booms, no concussions, one flashbang for Chibisuu, oh, he's straight into Muzy.
Balls at the top of red stairs prevent Saka from running in. Second round of defense in a row here for D-plus.
They just need a little bit more of a runway to catapult themselves back into this game, before we can confidently say that they are here to play.
And just in time for D plus to do so CAG with still two rounds in the lead and just two rounds away
From the e-sports World Cup they take their tactical
And it's also this point you start recognizing that CG they have won a lot of rounds off clutches and
I think sparking more than anybody else is able to recognize that he's usually very
Very good about you know us playing well
Well, they're playing bad, you know, the round going close to the plan, or us coming up with a clutch.
And when you're a coach who's very neutral, not like as invested in the server and all the emotions and the single opponent of you,
you can also catch that, I think, very, very easily.
So now, you can have the top down and say, guys, these are the problems.
These are the big focus points.
This is where the enemy is weak, and this is where they're strong.
I'm expecting a bit of an adaptation here after the attack timeout,
because you just don't want to keep things the same.
Now the ploys have kind of figured it out, they have Levy really stepping up, and they're not allowing CT to get either early picks for a man advantage, nor to get to the bottom side with enough tools in their pocket.
You know, losing Capitale as the first member in the first like 60 seconds, that's always gonna be a super big negative to the round. It cannot happen again.
CIG need to be so careful not to keep leaking these early picks, look, maybe it was possible
on defense when they could come back and play disruptive in the mid-round, fight back,
trade out those kills, and then clutch up, but on attack we need form, we need a structure
to these attacks, especially on this coming bombsite pangu, it's going to be about clearing
from Cashside across and looking for an execute on Jacuzzi or onto Jim or Bedtrip depending
on the way that CAG decide to play it.
This is the final round before we get the extra bands to come through.
It may be the last time Aniston gets to play with that Monty.
Time to make the most of it and claim match point right here and now.
versus their might in the big 2026. What will happen next? I'm sorry to say it falls, it's
not even on the wall, but now he will be. He has only one battery in pocket, so if you just breach
two sides of the wall at the same time, one is guaranteed to be opened up. They're waiting.
They have shrewd downstairs going for a floor bang, I think, or maybe not actually. I think he'd
also trick the wrong side, yeah, he did. So, ban it in the big 2026 teams. Not a ton of value there,
So much for the Maverick Band.
Yeah, that Maverick Band, man. Oh my God, it's so big.
Staring at us, straight in the face.
And we don't like it.
No, I do not like it.
Maybe though, continues the unbelievable streak here from D plus.
They only lost three opening kills in this entire game.
One-five of them.
Six, I should say now, with this round as well.
The next time it's gonna be seven.
what now it's six it'll be seven that's so that's what that's very true man I saw
the stack come up for the defense of in written a tag outside wait a second I
support my statement but no it's about the wind rates and it's not gonna hit
me funny number is unfortunately that's patience from CAG in the 4v5 but look
from levy rewarded yep heard as he made his way up the stairs shuri kimi listening
good map control taken hey thanks for that that monty i mean d-plus have really fallen back
given up the whole this ground to cag i think levy got a kill from blue windows new york
somewhere in the basement for the main staircase blue stairs or garage flying
so shrew just stood there for a long time straight i killed finds a second now it's
as Anton is at an office, can you push back?
But he's gonna be fine.
Shooter three for kills.
Uh-oh.
Shereeb coming up the main stairs
has been the main event for CAG.
He's proving ripped apart.
Right when they thought they built
a little bit of a safe haven.
And now Levy, thankfully, from the grave,
will help out with his razor blooms.
But DD Man from outside the breach is ever so patient.
Huge round from Shereeb.
With that, it's match point.
CAG by Varro.
Guess what?
Give Shereep his solid snake and he will find the gaps every single time.
I'll say it once more here.
On Night Heaven Labs, he got 8 kills in 3 rounds, then they target Bender Solid Snake.
But now because they banned the Maverick King, do they ban the Monty?
Do they ban the Solid Snake?
What do they go for now?
Because it feels like no matter what, they'll leave a huge issue on the table.
Monty will get counter banned away.
my in response so now we can also lean into the grim the capital obviously still the solid snake
we're still gonna have three other shield operators and then since utilize the fuse the blitz the
blackbeard i feel like the biggest problem has been d plus's operator ban approach for this
third and final map and it would suck if it actually ends up having this big of an impact
that they're just going to lose to give all of it.
If D plus Arta show that they warrant an invite to the international stage,
they're going to have to get through CHE.
If not, now when?
That's my question.
You're telling me that if they don't make it to EWC by taking down CHE right now,
then their next chance on the international stage is going to be trying to beat CHE
for a squad of the Osaka Major?
Come on! In what universe is CAG gonna let themselves miss out our spot at our first ever major in Japan?
And if it's not then, then what about the Six Invitational next year in Brazil?
I'm sure D-plus would love to be going to that. How on earth do they expect to qualify for that?
If they can't make it to any international events prior, they won't have enough SI points to qualify.
They'll have to go through the APAC LCQs, and I do not like their chances.
With the backs against the wall, D plus Stig and Matt's point with three rounds to win in a row,
Levy on the smoke went for a spawn peek on construction window.
I don't know if that's acts of desperation or just D plus Stig.
We're gonna throw everything we have at the wall and see what Stig's, because they need this opening pick.
And they lose it. Levy goes down.
Smoke first, member, two sidekicks, LL in the chat, Obelisk solo Stig and the Blackbeard.
Another one!
Another one falls, the star players of CAG really showing up when it matters the most.
And it feels like D-Plas is one almost every single opening engagement except the ones that matter the most.
They took a map off of CAG already at the start of today.
It's been a marathon. They dismissed Kiritro.
It wasn't even a real battle. D-Plas which is warming up for the main event.
But it has been a disappointing showing from them today.
They might have stolen Nighthaven away CIG's map pick, but then we go to Border where D plus are meant to be at home
And they only find two rounds now on Clubhouse. It just hasn't been enough. That's a lot of damage onto Anitzen
But you can't count him out until he's on the floor
Now the only other sort of damage they were gonna have that's not a gun
It's gonna be the race of them that all people
Pre-positioned on the map. There's a good chance the answer will be fine for the remainder of this round plus to get a two-man advantage
As I said, they can just hit this bomb site from five different angles.
Main stairs, kitchen edge, dirt, blue, motor door.
And they're going to be finding a gap somewhere.
All they have to do is win this single or unified.
And with that, they'll get a plant position later on to utilize.
And they got 60 final seconds here to set that playoff there.
60 seconds is all the time in the world that C.A.G. need.
They're just biting their time.
They're waiting for the opportune moment.
No need to rush this.
C.A.G., this is your moment to get back onto the world stage.
for a shot at a championship and Shereeve's got all the info he needs to swing on Midi.
Ill-advised of Midi to continue fighting this, Aniston takes a little bit more damage,
D plus is just waiting, biting their time, great shot though Shereeve has been dispatched with,
the DD man quickly takes down this, Midi is doing everything he can to keep his team in the
tournament and it looks to get aggressive down the bottom of main stairs but DD quickly piques,
Zaka will finish him off!
A storm is brewing in the north, and Muzie is the only one that stands in their way!
And with the Osaka Major on the horizon, Japan will rise to the occasion!
CAG by Varel, to the Esports World Cup!
Well, it feels like it was inevitable.
What a performance from CAG after losing the first map, Jake.
By God, did they show us why they are the best that they've packed North has to offer.
Yeah, congratulations.
What a tremendous effort for CAG.
And luckily I did my homework and saw that.
Yeah, they like to drop the first map
and then make their way back.
I will say to them, if you go to the Esports World Cup,
you cannot be afforded to drop first map there.
You might not quite get the second chances
that you do locally back home.
It's a testament though to their ability to not give in.
LAMP was a pretty decent win for D-Post.
You look at the streak from round four to 11,
they won a single round.
They got absolutely decimated
and then obviously turned it around on board off
and their clockhouse was really, really solid.
I mean, they've matched D plus here, 7-2, board up, 7-3, clubhouse.
If Nightnabers Labs wasn't in the mix,
we would have said this was a one-sided grand final.
Space today on the ladder two maps at least.
The thing is, there is still something hanging over,
which is back-to-back events that they've been to,
both the Salt Lake City Major and the Munich Major,
not a single map win.
Munich, I think, fit in an asterisk.
They had some really hard games there,
but people are gonna look at the numbers and ask questions,
and nobody wants to see the best team out of Japan dominate in 8 Pack North
and then fail when they go internationally.
So this is a huge achievement for them, but the real work is still to come.
Well, let's start phase one, right, at the Esports Walk-Up.
So they start...
You're the one with the little iPad.
iPad kid, before we go into that, you can save that one for after this
because, Bon, you don't want to miss.
Sparky.
We know what they say, and I tell you that much.
He's always here, he's always ready.
Sparky, a huge congratulations on making it back to EWC and obviously, you know, I think that
many came into today expecting CAG to be the favourites. Mat1 gave us a little bit of a heartache,
but how are you feeling now that all is said and done?
Good, good. It was a good game.
Yeah, yeah, I think one thing I want to get out of you here, Sparky, is the overall mentality
going into today's matchup because I think, is it fair to say that you think you're the
favourites here?
In this league?
Yes.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, I think it would be obvious.
I think it is, but still, close match has nonetheless.
I want to get your insight as to kind of what, what is it that's ticking right for you at
the moment?
I know that you've had your comments in our interviews about, you know, the things that
are going wrong, but what's going right for you in the team at the moment?
Oh, it's just very very good individual players winning rounds that they're not supposed to win.
But that's part of... But no, but that's like, you're not going to have a major winning team, even that they're not a major winning team.
But there's no major winning team that doesn't have players that cannot win rounds that they're not supposed to win.
To have twin rounds, you're not supposed to win, to be a major champ.
So, I think that's going right for us and then just the standard improvement process is low, but certainly, you know, it's working.
Yep, certainly is.
Aspaki, congratulations to you and the team. A tremendous effort, 7-0 in the group stage and then 2-1s across the board throughout the finals.
the finals. I do have to actually kind of ask a little bit. We mentioned it on the desk
after you dropped the first map tonight on that Haven Labs. That's become a bit of a
common theme through finals. In fact, in all three of the series played, you actually do
drop the first map. Do you think there's something in that, or is it just a coincidence?
No, it's just that DK is a heavy counter-strattling team, so they probably saw our strats. We
just did some questionable things. Like, I knew we were going to struggle a bit more
on defense because they are a heavy counter-straighting team and we didn't really have like strats
that I thought would work better against them so I just think we did some questionable choices
on the last three rounds on attack I think we should have sticked with Monty but it's okay I mean
it gave me like a way to like communicate with the team and also gave me a picture of
DK's game plan so I know after border they wouldn't like our bands from point or we pick Monty like
I knew it was over after border. I knew like before border started
I knew if they didn't get the bands right it would be over
Yeah, you mean the the map bands or the operator
No, no when they when I when they didn't bad mountain it was gonna be over like
He felt overconfident after cuz they saw we didn't pick it that much on labs
Which was our mistake we could have gone 60 in the tap
Yeah, and so it was just over we won a lot of rounds
We weren't supposed to win but see like I knew our border was better because we had most rats and they don't did well
We do strats
Same for club. So I knew it was over. Yeah, I love that. Nothing much to say the no strat buff
Yeah, thank you for talking about that when the Maverick came out a band came out instead of the the Monty
That was GG right there
Look, I want to ask you a little bit of a different question Sparky firstly, of course
I want to give you guys credit congratulations. You guys are clearly the best team in a pack north
I hope you weren't offended with us asking that but like deep boss have showed that they are really good
You guys are clearly the best team in a pack north a pack as a whole remains to be seen
Maybe we get a chance to prove it at the e-sports World Cup
But we've been speaking with some of the other best teams in a pack of course webo e p and chiefs have qualified alongside with you guys
So you wc and speak easy from webo and gohan
They've all talked to us a little bit about the way that they've approached these these games here in the APL as a
method of preparing. For example, I think it was Waybo who said that they were preparing
in the same way that you would prepare for a Swiss stage where you only start prepping
for your opponent one day prior to actually playing them. What kind of things have you
done to prepare CAG to actually make a return to the international stage and start taking
games off of international teams? Because we know that you guys are very capable of
it, but it has been a long time since we've seen CAG win a map off of an international
Yeah, so there's two main things which I think still needs to be worked on, but with the new
world we'll get new resources, so I'm sure that EWC is not really the stepping stone right now
because we are yet to get some upgrades in terms of getting an assistant coach and stuff like that,
which I think can help, but mainly just individual improvement of the players,
which I expect to speed up, you know, once we get the assistant coach, so I can do some one-on-one,
hopefully in Japanese, and getting the players to be smarter, just overall be smarter, not to rely on my
timeouts. They are improving a lot, but there still needs to be some work done. And secondly,
just the mentality of like, not getting overconfident, and we did a bit of that today, so I made sure
that we didn't really suffer from that too much, but there still needs to be work from that. It's
It's just these two things and we can get like half ranking in EWC if we had these things fixed before it, no more than that, I don't expect but yeah.
And Smarky last one for me, I just wanted to mention by the way it's locked in there you guys will be playing Fnatic to begin at the Esports World Cup, what are your thoughts on that first matchup?
No, I think Fanatic is a good team. They made it, so apparently they're good.
But I also think the new IGL, I think the Samesis IGL-ing, if I'm not mistaken, I think
he's apparently working well for the team, the team is winning, and Citizen is obviously
a very good player, Citizen was not the problem apparently.
And so yeah, I think they're good.
They can make it maybe halfway through, just like us.
Obviously Sparky, you know, a massive congratulations
to you and the team and nothing but well wishes
for you heading to EWC.
But before we let you go, is there anything
you'd like to say?
You know it already, thank you for watching the game.
We don't have a game next.
So thank you for watching EWC, and thank you for the sponsors.
No, it's short and sweet, Sparky, I love it, mate.
Thank you very much for joining us, and you know what, mate, go celebrate with the team.
Go and enjoy.
We'll do.
Thank you very much.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you, Sparky.
Legend.
Yeah, it really does give us some in-depth answers, which is really nice, but speaking
about depth, how about Anatom?
How about Anatom?
He was absolutely incredible.
He was here. He was there. He was everywhere. He was winning one B flies that he was causing absolute habit creating space
He is absolutely an unbelievable player on that. It's in behalf. I'm so sorry to everyone else who played today
Because there was some real standout performers, but after he got that one view five
I was literally just putting the chance like that's one of the greatest players. I've seen like yeah
He's the guy for sure read
Honestly, but that's a thing he's shadowed by some of the best players not just in ATK
But why don't Jake and yet he still manages time and time again to make incredible plays like this two clutches
He got a count of defuse that positive 70% cost like he brought in a really really really good effort tonight
I mean again. I do want to give the flowers to sure if you're from 33 went
83 on the entry they can share the trophy man. I think they I don't think they care about the individual accolade
I thought they were just happy to have a Chibisu clap for him at the end of that one.
That's a funny thing, by the way. Chibisu went negative tonight.
The highest rated player in Greenland, averaging above a 1k PR goes negative.
Because that goes to speak about what Sparky's talking about, right?
And that's the one. It's not just one individual player to pop off. It's every single player.
And if you look at every member tonight, Bar Chibisu, who got them here,
they had a clutch from him. They had a huge rinse.
And just to go further on, what Sparky was saying,
Right, like we had a 5-1 half on Cloudhouse, but probably should have been a 4-2 in favour of D-Closs.
Yep.
If you look at the rounds on paper that were won by D-Closs, most of them.
But CIG clutched up. Rounds like that from Annie. Rounds from Shuri.
Annie, do you know him like that?
Yeah, I'm sure that's how I like that.
Yeah, we go to the gym together, like I watch.
I think you can lift you up and snap you in half, I'll be honest.
I've seen him hit discs that have more stability than you do.
Sorry, that was absolutely brutal, I didn't need to do that.
Don't laugh, that's rude.
Cameraman's just telling me out of the bus a little bit.
Look, I think it is pretty clear at this point, you know,
the question I posed to Sparky there, Jake,
which is, do you think you're the best?
If the answer's no, then there's alarm bells ringing.
What I was hoping to get out of him
is kind of give a bit of context as to why.
Because I think that for many of us,
outside of the individual moments from this,
I don't think that there was a standout moment that I go,
that's why they're the best in the region.
I think the reason why they're the best team is something that we wouldn't actually have accessible knowledge to.
I think when you're at such a high level, they know themselves what makes them so good.
And those that play against them probably know what makes them so good.
We can look at numbers, we can look at stats, and we can know what maps they prefer,
and all of the more external things.
But I genuinely believe that at that top level, it's like, well, what makes Bayes the best?
Again, you can just throw numbers at everything and say, well, they win everything.
They want Socrates, I mean.
I know.
It's true that it's true about it.
There's the longevity, there's probably the camaraderie, the way that they just flow and how people understand each other.
Sometimes it's as simple as you make a call or a comm and you have that communication and understanding of what your teammates talk about.
Which you did not have earlier. I couldn't understand, I should be fair, I could barely hear you.
Look, I want to credit Sparky as well, like it's been a long time that CAG have had a few different coaches, some Japanese, actually, funnily enough, not the first time they've had an Italian coach, they had a hybrid for a while.
So, yeah, funny little fun fact for you. But it's been a long time since we've seen them have a coach that feels right. And Sparky, he can be a bit of a controversial figure because he's so confident.
And I love that from him.
Good stunt card.
I think that he's really bringing something to CAG and the comment that he made about how CAG really just have a few little things
They need to work on with that new support. They can do that
It makes me very hopeful that this is the event Paris is where CAG drew a line of a sand and say get about Munich forget
About Salt Lake where he took that. You know what you guys are starting to leak into our next segment
And what is that be? What would that be? Well? It was gonna be five guys after dark
getting a 5 guys after 5 guys, it's certainly a lot better than 5 guys, it's 4 guys, that's right
for the very first time ever, the APL is bringing you APL after dark, which means we sit around here
armchair experts as we are, we sip a drink, don't know of what capacity, I've now thrown myself
under the bus, and we will get down, we'll get dirty, we will break down all of the individual
pass that we think will make this. In fact you call it a podcast of sorts. But that is
coming up right after this so please do not go anywhere. We'll be back in five minutes.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Oh, it's going to be another one, where is everyone?
Fouls, he got a rider.
He's got a right up.
He's got a right up.
He's got a right up.
He's got a right up.
He's got a right up.
He's got a right up.
He's got a right up.
He's got a right up.
He's got a right up.
He's got a right up.
I am a blitz.
Oh my god.
Rotate back. It looks like CIG.
Oh my god.
He can get the info. He can deny the plant.
Oh, hang on a second. It looked the wrong way.
But thankfully, still recomposes.
D plus, just dealing with that Monty.
Great kill from D.
Get pinned again!
Muzi has to clutch up. He will be forced to drop down
He is the king from Japan
Oh
Welcome back to the very first edition of APLR.
of APL after dark. We are your crew to run you through it. Manic, Xenox, Debmada and Pengu.
We now get to chill out. This is finally where we get fake one hat off. Put another hat on,
Jackie boy. How many hats do you have? I have a lot of hats at this point. Too many hats.
But look, obviously we kind of wrapped up toward the end of that and probably wanted to talk a
little bit more about CIG and deep dive into that. This is where we'll get to do it in a far more
calm, far more relaxed manner.
Pengu, can I ask you, mate?
Just just your overall perspective on APL at the moment,
because we've now seen kickoff.
We've now seen group stages for stage one, and we've now seen
the grand final for each of the regions.
How do you feel?
Tired.
That's like my completely, you know,
six days in a row.
Six days in a row.
We had three mappers, a ton of our time, a lot of long work hours,
but honestly, it was worth it.
We also have some games that delivers some exciting grand finals at once that a grand final would wave off boys taking their victory
And you guys all make the show what it is. So thank you run on pause
Actually, we had an idea for everyone at home and we'll bring it to you in stage two
I'm not gonna leak it too much, but we have a couple of ideas on what we want to do
I feel like pink is a little out of dress, uh, where can I grab my jacket? It's just behind you over there. Can you chuck that to me?
I mean, on the dress, they got a nice hoodie on.
Maybe I could, yeah, I just, no.
I want to try it, man. It's Grand Final Day, Jesse and Jane.
It's Grand Final Day. I feel like you really should be wearing a blazer.
I mean, see, the name change is a little bit better.
I can't do it properly with a blazer.
That's crazy. I don't ever want to see that again. That is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen.
You look gorgeous, man.
But gents today the first talking point that we actually had for everyone outside of Nick being really really well dressed
I'm dressing down a little bit. Yeah, but you feeling APL today. I'm feeling very APL
Why don't you flip the jacket inside out? Oh, yeah, come on mate. It's it's lower lighting
This is after dark
You guys weren't expecting to see this on the rainbow six. No, that is true
Are we still in representation? Yes, we certainly are still on the rainbow six channel this time with no delay
So if you're at home, I've got the twitch that up and you want to get involved in this conversation
Please feel free to give us some comments because we'll be reading through the twitch chat and by we our designated Jack Zenox
And did he will be reading through the twitch channel and we'll be able to interact with you as we're going through this
So I do want to kickstart the conversation guys. We're gonna take it back a little bit here to Oce
So we're gonna talk about day two day three specifically
Around the chiefs EP storyline and one of the comments that we made on the desk and kind of went back and forth on a little bit
and then stopped. And James, I'll let you kind of have your opening remarks on this.
He's around the fact that in OCE, for whatever reason, the best team decides to look, they
decide to make upgrades or they decide to change things. And what then spawns from that
is a very, very dangerous roster that typically takes their throne. I feel like how many times
has this happened? Like if you've rolled back just roughly, roughly three, well, first one
that comes to mind. 2022 the Chiefs, 2021 the Chiefs. That digital era of the Chiefs
that were the best team in the region, they dropped two of their best players through their
long-term plays including Fischoguy, right, who went on to forge his own mark with Bliss
and then got overtaken by the next team. Fischoguy's team went over to them, that team ended
up disbanding. What was the next time that happened? Was the next time that happened
with blizz i guess i believe with gg if you really want to dive into that blizz obviously got picked
up by gg they went and made that import roster got immediately overtaken important if in the corners
is not happy about that and they're tighten on the roster oh he's got him i'm thinking it's
Say the T-word.
You guys get to scream, Oz, you'll be grateful that we're here, battery, and they're gone.
They're making very fast.
That clip, that clip lives right free in my head.
It is, it is in it to me, it is in it to me.
And then what's the final time, Jones?
Ah, well, I guess we...
The current era.
Yeah, we had the current era, right?
Yep.
You know, what did they say?
Kept what matter?
Yeah, the rest of them.
Drop the rest of them.
Look, to be fair, to EP, I know.
They love playing their villains, so they're easy to rag on, but they did win that grand final.
They lost the Apple bracket final though, and you can't deny it.
Like, there is a little bit of a contest there.
Like, even, you know, Waybo can easily say they're the best team in Asia.
No one can hold a candle to them.
Like, EP don't have that much dominance in OCE, not as Waybo have in Asia, not anymore.
Yeah, yeah, and I think that's where the conversation kind of starts,
and where I want to get your opinion, Jake, is around, I guess,
for such a long time in the region that the comment was always about
the upper teams going stop dropping your players because you know you're never
going to make a roster that can compete with us and then when they do it
it comes back to Pine. What's the question?
Just you are shocking. I'm reading what I mean with this chat. Sorry.
Well Nick I'll go to you then. What do you think about the theory?
This to drop or not to drop? Yeah like what do you think around like the boys?
the question look we can obviously put this within a context of OCE and APAC in
general but I guess the question coming in is to drop or not the job yeah
here we go yeah I think Nick you did your fair share of dropping no we did
at a point with it. So I can speak and experience that the biggest mistake that we were made as
PinterG2 was dropping Goga. And it happened behind the scenes for private reasons, there was
between dropping Goga himself, they spoke in a bit about it, etc. But we didn't want to do that.
And after doing it, it's like we never recovered. I think it's so common that a team in any region
will pick up a team or pick up some players, give them three months, if they don't win the
ASI at that point, which is possible by the way, they get dropped again. It's like guys,
Let them brew let them cook look at you too right now. G2 didn't make you WC, right?
They didn't even be financially low bracket
I'm gonna drop some shit home and now everyone's like no no
People want them to drop players down doki's watch they didn't go
Dumb in his American
He shouldn't be in Europe signal let them go let them try and play for a bit longer before you make these massive remarks
That goes for all regions. What are you saying about this? You've got the opposite kind of thought
Well, feel free to call me that at any point.
Do you want me to talk about CNL?
No, no, we actually do.
That's what I wanted to kind of cut in a little bit.
MonkeyDaisy says, do you know anything about CNL?
Yep.
Sorry, do they know anything about CNL?
That's a great question.
Sorry, L2000P said, why wouldn't they?
Correct.
Exactly.
Simity wise I don't know if anyone's got a map out there. We will be talking about
CNL. Yes we will 100% address CNL and talk about where they're at right now.
I think you guys probably aren't as prepared for it as we are because we were talking about
a lot of the dance. I mean look it's easy to get confused. CNL have a beautiful dragon logo.
We also have a beautiful dragon logo. If you are a little bit colorblind the purple and the red
do look very similar um what's that this is one this is one the isack uh oh we call
Douglas oh uh is this music in the background the move but it's bad makes no sense we are
not doing a tutorial or cooking food i can't i can't hear the music our production team has
some choice words for you twitter chat he actually sorry he doubled down and wrote it again oh i'm
He's not happy.
He's not happy.
Can I get the music up in my ears?
Actually, that would be great.
We're now going to read every comment that you make and we are going to be watching you
with absolute scrutiny, buddy.
But obviously, I think, look, the context is always going to be, do we don't we drop?
And I think that in both contexts, that was shocking.
In both contexts, you kind of, you know, I don't think there is necessarily a right answer,
but Pingu, I think what you said is pretty important there, which is you've got to let
roster have time to brew. Now, personality clash is near now. I think might come under a completely
different category though. It is. You know, we speak a lot about the team atmosphere, chemistry,
the culture, and if two players do not gel together, it can either be, you know, kick one player and
part ways with them. Maybe the entire roster is going to blob into pieces because when you start
suffering in your day-to-day life, you don't enjoy scrims or practices, which is every day, by the way.
You hate cheering hotel rooms at LAN, you hate going to the tournament, you hate traveling together.
That's not going to last for a long time, so you gotta be nice, you gotta keep a nice working relationship.
Like whenever I see discourse on like Twitter, Reddit, social media about stuff like this,
the thing I always think about is people like look at stats, they miss the point of like,
it takes five different ingredients to make a loss there. You can't just put five big
swords on the same team, I'm sure if five big swords existed, someone would do it and give it a go.
It wouldn't work, right? And like you've played on these super teams before, right? Thank you. But
Often it really comes down to having the right parts and sometimes an individual player can change their role change their specialty
Like for example, we talked about EP right like they made a big gap by getting rid of fish a guy player and really
Particularly fish a guy right now because an entire team functioned around fish a guy. I talked to them extensively
Morgan told me
That he was leaving the team. He told me he was probably gonna go to coach, which obviously ended up didn't not happening
Yeah, but I was like to them how are you gonna do that?
He just I'm guessing you're just gonna pick up like some big frag is right
What are you gonna do about it? And he said well, that's okay because too hard is taking on the leadership of the team
And he is gonna be on the back line going negative on the kills because he's doing a lot of the calls
I think that is something the missing ingredient right like this is two things to consider one of them is roles on the team
Second thing is what you were saying about personality clashes. Now, this is an APO one, but I am massively in favor of the Falcons dropping Shaco.
I think it was a massive upgrade for the team because they needed to change something.
They were in a rush and clearly Shaco didn't want to be there. Like clearly the team didn't gel with him.
It was a personality clash. It doesn't mean that Shaco is a bad person or a bad teammate.
You know for certain Shaco didn't want to be there.
Yeah, he said it in his interview.
Those are documentary magazines.
Falcon's documentary about SI and Apple event everything by the point of the
documentary maybe they already decided to kick it was a fly on the wall of their
post match after the event finished like for the match that they lost and
Shiker says look guys to be honest maybe this just doesn't work maybe we're
just not meant to be on the same team maybe this isn't working I don't know
if I can play with you all right cool out so monkey says very important is
Xenox Ghost Pro segment gonna happen again in the future. It's very funny to watch.
Apollo Locust says well guys will dev go pro next.
I've already got it.
Already there.
Look at this. Look at this hat. You don't get this hat for no reason.
That's an exciting.
I'm pretty sure you did.
Can we get a Pingu Ghost Pro?
And now that would be fun to watch.
That'd be great.
Oh thank you.
I tried last year.
I wanted to do the final.
There wasn't anything coming up.
Oh thank you.
That's pretty nice.
It's pretty cold guys.
What is it?
It's hot too.
It'll gray.
I'm not interested.
Nice.
I actually, oh, it's hot tea, everyone, I'm very interested.
That's why it's hot. That is very hot.
I do want to flip the question call, Jake, because obviously you're the one doing the
Particle Pro. Yes.
You're the one that we're meaning a lot about, but how did you find the experience when you're
in, like, the centerpiece of it all? Well, how did you take it?
I thought the segment was very fun to be a part of. It was unfortunate that I was playing on a
very small screen with the equipment that was at mine, locked at 60 FPS, not in the most comfortable
chair, all the excuses that I possibly could throw out there, Nick, I could definitely
throw them out. But you know, it was just a lot of fun to be a part of the ecosystem
and get absolutely doomed.
So you're signing up for the Challenger Circuit?
No.
No?
Well, I mean, tier 2 is obviously probably more my ballpark.
I feel like we need to do a tier 2 blog, left to a tier 2 blog right now.
You said that the Challenger Circuit, Sylas are actually live right now.
Yeah, they are.
And if you go and you sign up for the Challenger Circuit, you can actually make it to the tier
You could be playing in the APL next year if you win the Challenger circuit you could have shot a qualifier
You could have, then I wouldn't have a job
I mean do you have a job right now that is the best thing I've ever seen
Let's see if that's going to challenge us a bit
Come on live
Free me, free me
Is APL there?
Where is APL?
I haven't seen him for a bit tonight
No, I haven't seen him
No, no, no, he's busy, he's busy at the moment
He's busy at the moment
Time to knock off though for a little bit. I mean like I think it would be hard at work
He's he's hard at work winning the show as much as possible
Someone said Fern says go Trident
Let's go try it. That is a very old
I remember Trident eSports when I started playing in 2017. Oh, can we clarify that's actually Trident eSports?
Harrier 2001 says if you four were in a Rainbow Six stack, who would be your fifth?
Well guys
No, it's not God's God's has been been I will say one of our observers who I saw was flirting around here
He's not a bad Ash main. Yeah. Oh entry. Yeah
Next to us about the same guy
Why don't we bring him on? Can we actually get
Downstairs if you're gonna be a gig a Chad and you're gonna come and speak like an absolute legend
He actually went on to Six Invitational.
There was a segment we did once between one of the shows.
Yeah, but those who don't know, obviously, we talk about the game,
but we're not the ones controlling the spectators.
We have dedicated observers that do that,
and we have quite a number of them.
We're lucky enough to be here in Melbourne, in Australia,
and talk to you.
You can look up where this place is.
67 to 69 live on this ground.
Do not look that up.
That is now an audio visual store.
Actually, I've got confirmation. We are getting the greatest observer of all time
outside of medics, outside of easy, outside of red light.
He is going to join us here. He does have a hand held as well.
So Alex Sky McCallum, Alex, please come to the floor.
Oh, you want to come sit on the back?
Come sit, just go straight down to the top of the deck.
Don't go down.
Yeah, just crash down here, mate.
You can't go around, yeah come sit next to me, come sit next to me.
This isn't already off to a horrible start.
Oh Alex, how you doing mate?
Yeah, it's good.
Yeah?
Welcome to the cache.
How did you find the APL last couple of weeks?
Everyone that doesn't know, so Alex Skimer Callum, not only is a world-renowned observer,
but he has actually been producing some of our shows here at the APL, how has your stage
been?
Yeah, it's been really exciting, it's been interesting that Rob's trusted me enough to
get on the producing sticks. Who's Rob? It was a mistake. Which hat is he wearing?
Yeah, it's been a great time being working with lots of new observers. Big shout out to Andrew
and Kyre and Spartan. They've been doing a great job behind the scenes. Oh yeah, they certainly have.
Alex, what's your take very quickly before we move on from this O-segment? Do you reckon drop or
don't drop? Who? Yeah, okay. Instead, let's move to the next segment where I can get your thoughts
on this one. Weibo the Dragons. Alright this is a big one. On broadcast this is a team for
everyone here. On broadcast we are very political about you know how good Weibo are in their region.
We still try to hype up the other team whilst not destroying on them but every time we watch
Weibo perform they are by far the best team in Asia and it's not close. So Nick I might just start
with you on your thoughts here, kind of unfiltered to an extent. I guess what's your thoughts as we
look at what Wayboe have done in the last two years? And what are those incredible, right? There
have been expectations time and time again, they keep kind of pushing the boundaries. Every little
change they've made, you know, getting Gohan as main coach from VP, they're also big switcher
positively, minus Arpe plus Goff, it's the first stage four, but it all seems to have to be an
upgrade already. I think when you're casting them you have to be like these guys are supposed
to destroy your opponent you know 7-0, 7-1, 7-2 and if they're not there's either Wable playing
for it or the enemy playing a softer means and it does make it a bit one-sided but look at the
last two grand finals for both kick-up and stage one. 7-0, 7-1 galore, Wable is that good a nation.
How crazy is it that the worst result that Wable have had in any specific map so far in grand finals
this year of OSA, AFAC, Asia is a 7-1. That's the worst result APAC.
That's pretty crazy.
3 7-1s in the 7-2 room. Jake the moderator.
The struggle really is, and we spoke about this whole fair, now that we're in After
Dark it feels like we're in the...
We're in the mood.
Sorry, I couldn't...
You couldn't...
Talking hat.
Yeah, no, that doesn't work.
We have to be kind to the teams?
We can't just walk around and say, well they all suck in Wayboe, but on APL after dark we can sell it really well.
But in APL after dark we can kind of maybe give a little peek behind the curtain.
Then what makes Wayboe so good is every other team in Asia lacks in certain areas, right?
Sure.
And those areas are all different depending on the team.
Yep.
And it's not as if they all like in every area, I think it's just a case of, you know, all good or often a couple,
and that days there are often a complex setup. Whereas Waybo are the only team in the region for me
that is pretty much the best at every single facet of the game and could do it consistently.
I think the big thing about Asia is that like if we use Waybo as like a litmus test, a reference
for the whole region, Waybo like start at 10, right? The next contender is like a 7.
Unfortunately you have to agree. Whereas if we do the same thing in OCE, right, and we say that
the EP at 10, honestly like Chiefs are pretty damn close.
Yeah, they're at 8 or 9.
And I think you could say the same thing in APAC North as well.
If CAG are at 10, G plus are only one or two steps behind them.
And that's the thing about Wayburn, it's honestly, it's no shade on Asia,
because like Daystar is still a great team.
Orcid is still a great team.
If you had Daystar and Orcid play against you, Nekina Tropes, or even your Chiefs,
I think they would give them a real run for their money.
Can I just say as well one thing I think we actually maybe fail to do as much as commentators a lot of the times is really to
The right word I'm waiting for it
Highlight to the audio
When we talk about teams being either bad or struggling that it's in relation to the other professional teams
We're not we're not saying that teams suck because we think they're yeah, you guys at Twitch
Yeah, every day Joe and Alex over here, right?
Well actually I think it'd be like you and your... Exactly, or me.
Cause like when we say that maybe Orc could compare to Wayboat, aren't a great team.
Which is I think fundamentally true.
Compared to Wayboat, that's not compared to the Silver Five Star running around in ranks.
Sky, what are your thoughts? Because you've watched the region at the exact same rate we have.
Yeah, I mean I heard in the interview today you guys obviously giving Sparky his flowers.
I know yesterday you spoke a lot about Gohan, I think.
He's been such a big addition to this team.
I was thinking back to when, back in the day,
when they were in bleed and they would burst fury.
And it was kind of the same story you saw now
where they were dominant in the group stage,
but when it came down to those really important matches,
they faltered.
And that's just not what we see from Weber anymore.
I think going such a big push in that area.
Which is funny because I don't even think
it's necessarily a story of like,
you can compare coaches, right?
You said this coach is better than this coach.
This coach would lead this team to a better result.
These guys used to have Julio in them.
You know, like literal monty was now in the
particular boys' world champion.
Now he's the coach of people.
Exactly.
I think that's really what it came down to.
Like, remember back when Julio was coaching those boys?
Like, Terzter was essentially dropped and then brought back
because that was Julio's way of trying to, like, get him,
you know, looking into shape.
But can I just fix you a little bit?
Yeah, go for it.
Stay in your lane, mate.
Gohan, in contrast, like, I've heard the interview with
Talking about gohan like the way that obviously turd has matured likely in part thanks to julia's support
But like the relationship between turd and his coach now. Yeah, it's clearly so different to what it was before
I think gohan being such a strong
Figure is really helping out way though. Yeah, sure Nick kind of to I guess cap this one off before we move on and I
I just wanted to take the coach.
Get him.
I want him to be a fine nut, Nick.
Yeah, go for it.
Well, Fabian is a perfect example of that, right?
Like, Fabian's not everyone's cup of tea as a coach.
Like, the way that he will instruct the team or coach the team
and get the team to try to respond to what he's teaching,
like, for PSG talent, maybe it just doesn't work.
But he would work for an EP.
He goes on that team.
Well, would it?
I don't know.
I think it probably would.
Probably wouldn't work for a CIG.
Why do you guys think that Gohan doesn't sit behind the players,
like, like the other coaches,
and it's actually the manager.
Nick, do you want to take a stab at that?
I, it's interesting, obviously the coach's position and role differs from every single team,
and I think it was Jackson earlier, it can be a management role, it can be a coaching,
strategy, whatever. I think the coach has to be hand-solved sometimes,
and be like, my babies can fly, they can leave the nest,
and at all the time, she has to nurture them.
And one thing that I noticed is that you're right,
Goan is not behind the boys and applying that pressure like a father watching over their sons
either feeling or succeeding, but the moment the game is over, he's very attentive.
In the very first game that we saw, with Gauti on the roster, I noticed that when the player
of Kams came on, they were celebrating, Gohan beeline straight to Gauti.
It was eye contact, it was praise, it was great job, and probably giving some words
of encouragement, and Gauti did play well, it wasn't a fact or anything like that, but
I'm sure that Gauti doesn't feel the pressure because Gohan isn't there, but he does feel
the encouragement after the fact.
you're separating your game face versus your practice phase and you can kind of
become a learning figure behind the scenes and then a warrior in front of the
camera when you have to perform and I think that separation can really help
some players especially the younger ones. Yeah, it is a very very iconic
Australian hat. Look I have to say though it's it's funny though because we say all
these great things about Gohan. I don't know if you guys remember Six of
rotational 2019 when he was playing with Team Liquid. Yeah I'm sure you would
remember it very, very well. He was the most toxic piece of crap we've ever seen. He literally,
yeah, he got Corrie in Park and receiving death threats because he was talking so much
smack on Twitter to his community because there was a Calve exploit that Corrie and
his team used. And yeah, I just got to give crap. I'm not trying to like start crap or
whatever. I'm so impressed. It's been like the nicest guy I have ever met at events.
so mature now and look it gives me hope that anybody can be redeemed no matter
what kind of crap they've said in the past. The thing for me about Gohan is
we got to chat with him obviously when there was a land right like we get to
see him in person and interact with him and one of the things he said I'm not
just gonna dox him completely but he was training to kind of be in like like an
elite task force if you will so I think a lot of perspective would have been
given within the years that he kind of retired quote unquote to figure out
Okay, real life is gonna hit you and you're gonna be ready to bounce back a little bit of twitch chat here
A good question from Aqua Poseidon
I love Aqua Poseidon
The CIG had us Sparky communicate with the players in the team, L2000P to the young jobs English to Zaka translate to Japanese
I'm pretty certain is the
Zaka is the food
From what I've been told, yeah, from what I've been told the way that they translate is 100% that way
Monkey is similar to other regions as well
Monkey says favorite APAC place last moment this stage so far
Oh, might have been the end of the two ones.
I think the end of the two one V5 genuinely, I think that absolutely caps it off.
And it's actually a good way to...
I haven't run us up, which is the player reactions of Chiefs beating Imp.
Oh, yeah.
In the V3.
Yeah, that really meant something to me.
The player reactions of like, player in particular, and the other boys making it to their first international event, that was a huge effort.
No, it certainly was.
I think Gengeng says, Hat Club.
Yep.
Pengu is left out.
Oh, Nick, do you have a hat?
I actually have the APL hat somewhere in my suitcase but uh, well yeah, of course I do it, so uh, oh
I can't wait for Alex to mess the screen up
It's better
Oh, I tell you what, Alex!
He's crying right now, he has his crown
That's unbelievable!
Geez, you're looking real good over there, Nick
You look great in my suit jacket as well
That is actually your crown for the 2v2 championship
I don't know if it's importantly, DRGN says, will we get the ramen session back from the stage?
Well, yes, because we're still missing my favourite ramen flavour.
No, we're not. We're moving on to Ice Cream. I'm sick of this.
That's not so bad. I don't mind.
That should be good.
Yeah, I don't mind Ice Cream.
You're giving me something down in the direction.
That is crazy.
Are you moving yourself up?
No, I think that's why it's okay.
Well, actually, I don't know who that is doing that.
Last one, I'm not through. It's to Alex.
Yeah, please do. Please do.
Adler 40 says there were my buff changed a lot the playoffs. Do you think Alex is the question?
Yeah, I did. I mean, I think that the C4 edition has been pretty huge
I mean, I know it's caught a lot of us out on the observed team was like, oh my god
That's an extra C4 we have to look out for and I know there was a player
I want to say was in Oce. It was June who could have potentially pushed him up three on the last
But they forgot that he had a C4
No, he had it, but he just basically sat there. He was prone on the floor in staff room in
On bank and yeah, like the plant was going down and he was he tweeted afterwards and he tweeted like goddamn it
Forgot my head C4
There was someone as well who I think it might have been that night
Came back into the server with the book mine still epoxy
Drawing dropping crazy. That's the drop or not. That's drop. That's it. That's a straight drop Nick
Well, I'll give you this one just because I kind of want to wrap up this bit before we actually move on from APL to CML
But I just I want to get your thoughts around CAG
I know you didn't really get a chance to be on the desk at all and give your thoughts in this capacity
Yeah, the big conversation
I was having was the fact that they haven't won a single map since reload last year, which is now well over a year
What do what are your thoughts on the roster at the moment as they now prepare for EWC?
I think on paper the roster is really good. I do think that when you're playing in APL
subregions you can have some individual performances, overtake some games and I think maybe even
looking at today for CATG right there are so many rounds on clubhouse they have no business
winning against D-plus and while they are an input team from Brazil and they are quite
a high skill level if they had that exact same match play out against an international
team at EWC I don't think they would win clubhouse. I don't think those matches happen
because a skill level is that much better, that much higher.
But given their international results, I also think it's a little bit of a...
If you look up who they've been losing to, they haven't been losing to all the bottom tier teams.
They haven't played your FaZe, your Fury yet, they haven't had those really tough opponents, if I recall correctly.
And that kind of shifts the conversation from, they're not actually that bad,
but they've certainly had a bit of an unfortunate with their rosters or their brackets rather.
Yeah, actually someone in chat literally just made a mention about the fact that,
CIG had some really tough opponents in Munich, but Salt Lake City was pretty bad, so I think that's a pretty relevant comment
I think that encapsulates what you're saying there.
Who did CIG lose to in...
I don't have it on me.
I don't remember.
Salt Lake City, they lost 7-3 to low 7-4 to Falcons and 2-0 to 5-5.
So the Craven of Five Fears actually had a really good Salt Lake, right?
But the only person in this room physically who was actually there, is that what you recall as well, Alex?
Yeah, they did they had a really good stage one for the good Salt Lake and they
Stinker
Giving anime character right now
I was thinking Nicky's anime character.
I'll tell you what, different anima's.
I saw Jake in an Octopus suit.
That was definitely a good anime character.
I think we've only had a taste test of Jake in the Octopus suit.
I think we need to bring that back.
Yeah, that's a top five moment of the year so far.
True.
We can kind of start to move across to CNNL,
because that's a pretty big conversational thing to consider now.
I don't know how many people are actually aware of this,
but at the moment in the CNNL,
There's about five or six alumni from the APL, three of which are in the top five best
performance for the CNL.
They are the gentlemen on your screen right now.
This is where they've come from.
This is absolutely one of the hardest graphics I think I've ever seen.
Wow.
CNL, just do it differently.
Don't they?
Do you know who they are, James?
I'm looking at the Lycopedia page of all the CNL players right now.
No, I'm not looking at the graphic.
I'm looking at the liquopedia page
Um, and as I was saying I recognize quite a few players from here. I can see MC on all gamers Momo Rin from King Zero
Leviathan has shadow and bim-bim. I was recently bim-bim played for Daystar. Not a great performance for him
And we've got Jackie Wu and Sunlight as well on Tide
There we go. Yeah, so Mingarang, Kochen
Oh, yeah, Mingarang and Nardo. Nardo as well. And, and, and, come on, and don't forget
the greatest coach to ever touch the game in APL, Titan.
I think we're gonna say Enigma.
Well, true.
He's not here anymore, he's not.
We've actually got, I'm going through the staff now.
My God, we have so many like familiar names
on the staff of all of these teams.
And not just from OCE.
Like I'm seeing, I think it's Raaz,
is how you pronounce it, the Brazilian coach
on Edward Gaming.
You've got Odin.
Wait, Odin?
You got your direwolves, right?
Odin is coaching.
Oh, that's such a, and Rando Sando as well.
Yeah, definitely.
He did his research on C&L coming into the game.
I was doing the couch and casting
Hey
There's a lot the thing is there's a lot of players
I wonder if it's because potential language barriers or just regional aspect as to why cnl clearly
have maybe gone as much will say email players or NAL players and yeah coaching
there's support staff yeah yeah yeah you want to input you want to import the
coaching staff to speed up the learning pace of the region seems like AP has
been doing the last two years or so but you don't want to take away the player
talent because language bearing the server no one speaks Chinese from you and
a very few people do at least right look I don't think anybody wants to see a
a CNL that's just, you know,
what about getting Reaps over there?
Game port regionally.
Look, Reaps is different because he's
Well, he could become an iconic Chinese player
for the longest time playing in the APL.
Look, if Reaps one day decides to move over to the CNL,
good luck to him.
However, please don't leave us, we need you.
Yes, we definitely need you.
Speaking of, this is how things are playing out.
Now, this is right now.
This is live on Billy Billy.
It is Edward gaming versus all gamers.
Now, this has just gone to a third map.
So it's a pretty big matchup in the grand final of stage one.
This is a great opportunity.
If you have not watched the NL before,
this is the time to watch,
this is the game you want to watch.
Don't miss it.
Don't believe it has any repercussions besides the SI points.
I would imagine SI points and maybe stand out
and where you start in EW.
So it's not a scene.
No, it doesn't.
Okay, there you go.
So both teams go through to phase two?
Yeah, there's another one.
These two, Edward and Norgan is correct.
Yeah, so starting in phase one will be Tai Lu
and King Zero Esports. So King Zero Esports and Tyloo will be phase one, and Edward Gaming and all gamers will be phase two.
There you go. So, I mean it's nice to kind of see that, uh, yeah, we have the bracket locked now.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, is it entirely locked? Is that a...
Well, according to Liquidpedia.
Well, yeah, well, according to Liquidpedia?
To be fair, Liquidpedia is almost never locked.
I've got to say, the people behind Liquidpedia...
So, at least.
The people behind Liquidpedia...
I think it's given I have a lot.
No, I mean threatened off-camera by our staff members.
Look, so yeah, for phase one, I mean this might not mean a lot to you guys, if you don't have the visual aid, but we've got Alula Club, who came from the Nenek qualifier.
Kag, of course, who came from APLA Pack North. Chiefs, who came from APLOs.
from EU, King Zero from the CNL, Loos from SAL,
Shock Firebellion from NAL and Tyloo from the CNL.
That's your phase one team.
Keep in mind how that works is that will be divided
into two groups.
We already have the groups according to Wikipedia.
I don't know if that's right.
And then each of those groups of four,
boil down to just two teams each.
And then we get the top two from each team
to just play one match against each other.
So the winning team from one group
plays the second place team from another group
and vice versa.
And then whoever wins those qualification matches makes the actual major, makes the group stage.
What a great point here from Crazy312. This one's for you, Nick.
They're not specifically, I'm just passing it to you because you are Nick.
But the C&L playing on LAN helped with their development.
Oh, I'm going to say yes for that one.
And I think the biggest example is Lugendorfer's S.A.L. or Brazil when they first came to the scene.
They had a lot of domestic Brazil only tournaments that wasn't covered on the RIT01 circuit.
They play a lot more games. You should have a high frequency and you're playing that land adaptable environment every single week
Because at home you have the perfect high-to-desk ratio the mouse setup the right chair and the right environment to thrive in
Then you go land all that gets tossed out the window now
You're in a hotel setup or practice then your stage for the real matches and it keeps changing
So definitely an answer to sure. Yeah. Also if i'm being honest like I feel like this, you know
Probably had one of the best debut
performances at their first international event in Salt Lake. Out of like an APAC back when we got
introduced was really poor. CNO had a really solid showing at Salt Lake. Yes.
Brazil made a grand final there first of all. Brazil is different. And that's leading
into what we're just talking about. Also as well Dev, importantly the CNO is best of three
the entire way through their entire tournament. It is to start to finish on land best of three.
Is that is there a small very very small negative when there may be tournaments internationally that have
Segments of be a one so I have to be a ones in group stage and in play-ins for
Esports World Cup and we are typically have them at majors as well
We have none at six in the text. I would say frequency is more important than quality right now for those teams
Well, I'm not saying it's a bad thing
I do think you get into say a swiss stage format where the best of ones do have some level of importance not
Overly important end of the day you either qualify through a best of three or you are eliminated through a best of three
It's I bet it is an element
I had one thing I just wanted to say because I know we love arguing here on the desk and Nick
I think you made a really great point about the land giving thank you an advantage
What I would love to disagree with you
You use Brazil as an example for how land can help teams really elevate and increase
the speed of them getting better.
Okay.
Why didn't that happen for NAL?
They had land league for like three years.
They were still terrible.
They won one major and won six invitational and it feels like NAL is in a better spot
now.
Exactly.
They don't have land league anymore, right?
Like it was Brazil.
The fact that Brazil was so good and had land, the variable there is that they had land, the variable there is that they had Brazilian.
Like if they had Brazilian, that's it, that's all that mattered.
Exactly. Yeah, that was what I meant.
I disagree with you when we end up agreeing.
Well, look, on that note, I think it now is a good time to start to wrap up this one.
Which has started.
I know we have. You've got very good time to finish my cup of tea.
Oh, should we?
Yeah, I think we should.
Well, if you're in the Twitch chat right now, we would like to see more, if you want to see more APL after dark.
Comment, like, subscribe.
Maybe after every playday of like, EML, NAL, CNL, we just get asked.
Yeah, yeah, we just get asked.
And we haven't watched the game.
I also think we get paid to do it as well.
So that way, you know, like, it just evens out, right?
We're here for the love of the game.
That's why I said we should get paid.
Nick, obviously we're wrapping up here and this has been a very, very entertaining stage
all things considered. Any final thoughts from you?
Yeah.
I had a great time. I'll do it again. Hopefully we will turn for stage two and if we get feedback
from chat and from social media what you guys liked and didn't like and we can talk about
production amongst each other and ourselves and think, you know what, how do we make this
product even better for stage two? We'll try and do our very best again.
I know.
Thank you all.
No, you're not talking.
Yeah, no, I think I'm the remorse of Pengu sentiment. It's a pleasure to get to work on this product
Yeah, no, it's it's a pleasure to get to work on the APL and really excited for stage two
I think the entire team has done an incredible job
Big shout out. I mean couldn't shout out everyone big shout out to Isaac who is our lead producer for this product
Um, he's really kind of led the way in terms of the creative side of this. So yeah, yeah, absolutely
That's that's a that's an applause all around that we'll do later on when we're off camera. Yeah, no good fun
Thanks for being here. Thanks for watching cuz like genuinely like we couldn't do it if you guys didn't watch it
Hope you guys enjoy it and yeah, let us know what you loved and we'll do more of it
Come on. Jay here. Well, you thought says it best in
So I'm just gonna read it out loud. I think I'm bringing it bring it even outsourced. We don't even need
I'm gonna give you that while you don't say it.
He's not sourced his outro.
APL had better production than every other region.
We also have the best viewers in the chat as well.
That is very true.
Shout out Lima.
Shout out Lima.
By the way, yes, Swift underscore Lima one.
If you're watching right now, you're an absolute king.
All the Reddit threads, we see you.
Yeah, genuine goat.
We were actually talking about it off-stream.
Genuine goat.
You're an absolute legend of the game.
Look, I think that if you're going to use that comment, I would like to use another comment, which is APL is my safe space.
It's my safe space, too. This is where we go to have fun. We're back there one after so many years and obviously everyone's just make you want to sign up for the Challenger Circuit.
Oh, you know what? It does fit. If you guys all sign up for the Challenger Circuit, we can have more budget and we can get Nick here and APL is even better.
Oh, my god.
Good place to sign up right now, guys. Please sign up. I will be there to watch you guys play. I'll commentate either.
Oh, hey, I'm actually commentating, you know, Swift Lima, Monkey Desi, all this boggy dark, all these people.
I would lose my mind.
Good time.
You never look.
You too.
Might get absolutely smashed by pro players.
You could learn a lesson from Jake, but look, I think it's time to put a wrap on stage one.
We'd like to thank you very much for joining us throughout all of groups and then into playoffs.
It's been incredible watching all these teams compete.
Jake, come into the shot with me.
But ultimately, it is the wider team that bring this together, and we love all of them
downstairs.
There's a big crew behind this one.
They really put a lot of effort in to make sure that it's as good as it can be for everyone
in chat right now.
Thank you very much for joining us every each and every day.
It's been incredible.
But that's all we have time for.
EWC is literally two weeks away.
That's something you do not want to miss.
But right now, what is on right now?
The C&L Grand Final, baby. That's right. You want to go out and check out on Billy Billy. Otherwise, that's it from us
Please thank you very much for joining us. Take care stay safe and wait for it everyone at the same time
Not delay I'm so good
Have a great night, guys!
Good night, everyone!
I actually had a great stage.
This has been so much fun.
You're not so bad after all.
Hey, this is you!
This is you!
Alright, bro!
See ya!
Hello!
Got the keys, right?
I'll give them to you.
Anyway, see you in stage two!
Actually, so much fun.
Yeah, yeah.
Where are they gonna come to fail us?
I
I