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I said I'd do that to you, I said I'd do that to you
to the game. So we return
Play Day five is upon us for
APL Oceania stage to as we are
now officially past the
halfway mark. The race for top
four is very much on and it's
is the wonderful James Dev Marder Stewart making his host debut for the stage. How are you doing?
I'm great. Special guest is a bit generous. I want to get people's hopes up. Jake, it's just a little
odd though. Nothing too crazy, but you're right. I am finally back. What I was, I feel like me and
Pager have been the Asia duo for this stage. I've been following that region very closely,
so it's nice to jump back to home. I did say yesterday it was a special guest, but it wasn't
just to make sure people didn't get their hopes fully up.
Obviously, as he said, you've been following Acha.
We've had A-Pack North, but OCE has been really fun to follow so far throughout this stage.
It's been ultra competitive. We'll go to the schedule, and as we enter sort of this point off the stage as well,
Dave, you kind of joined on the best night too, because we've got some absolute big games with the way this stage has developed.
Arcade vs. Shitecademy first up, this is the beginning of a last hurrah for Shitecademy.
to win every single game from
here seven versus team annuals
very much seven have been
really sensational this stage
looking to try and lock in the top
four place annuals again similar
to Academy last for our need to
pick this win up otherwise they're
done circular spheres versus
Van Alenfoe we're talking about
four versus five separated by a
single point. I think that self
explanatory as to how big that game
is and as well for the last game
you said. Yeah, and if I am
going to say the obvious anyway,
that's the best two teams in the
region and the two teams that went
from OCE to Paris for the
eSports World Cup cause we had
two slots back there. But
check now we only have one
because they couldn't perform as
well as Asia did. So so much
writing on a lot of these games,
but I think in particular fan
favorites will look to the final
two matches of the night. Let's
go to the standings to really
highlight how close things
really are so far. It's been
win. They're on 12 points. They will very likely be at packs. I think
that something strange would have to happen. So if you're a
Chiefs fan, make sure you get down to packs Melbourne in a
few weeks time. Seven close. We'll see if they can maybe look
to lock in the top four position tonight. Enterprise
storming home after that shock loss on Play Day two. They're
right in it. So that top three looks rather solidified. But
this is where it gets interesting. Now, James,
Circular Spears, seven points, Manila foe, six points,
and the last three points, it really feels like those three teams now will be battling for that full spot.
Very much. I mean, we kind of have a top five bottom three at the moment.
And yes, while you do have some teams sticking out on either end of that,
the battle is for top four, because that's the teams that will go to packs for playoffs
and be able to compete for a spot at the major in Osaka.
So yeah, very much a lot of the line, particularly for the teams in the mid pack.
I would say that there's a lot of pressure on teams like Enterprise to perform,
especially tonight, because whatever happens in that Chiefs EP game, either Chiefs go undefeated or EP might actually be able to jump back up over seven who they previously lost to.
So definitely a lot running on tonight. As you say, arguably the most important playday of the group stage so far.
Well, let's get straight into it. We'll go to our first matchup, which is Arcade versus the Chicago.
We'll look at Arcade first. It's been a rough stage. In fact, James, it's been a rough year.
They have not won a single game across stage one and stage two.
Maybe their hope will be to come back next stage and bring in iconic TV can help them get a win similar to Outlasted NAL.
I don't think that's going to happen. They're going to have to do it themselves.
But what's interesting is you kind of look at the stage.
7-5 lost to CS, 7-4 lost to Men LFO.
Yeah, they got beaten up by Chiefs and then 7-3 lost to 7.
They have actually been somewhat competitive in their games.
They just lack that finishing touch to go and get a win.
you're right. Look, these guys
have been kind of a victim of
lots of different roster
changes. You know, coming up,
they were Rock LFO for a while.
They've had a lot of their best
players poached by other teams.
In fact, most recently in the
most recent transfer window after
eSports World Cup, they actually
lost with it to go play for
Shrike Academy on the other side.
So we're going to have him playing
against his old team today for
Arcade though. I'm really looking
at the old guard, you know, the
old Circular Spheres players and
to hopefully have an impact here because for me it's nostalgic you see these
players that have been around the block a few times you hope that they can have
an impact with their experience and bring that into a group of players who
sadly haven't as you say had a lot of victories on the the APL stage but yeah
it's kind of the last-ditch attempt now because 0-4 down it only looks worse
from here if they lose every game from here and I mean if they lose tonight it's
pretty much goodbye to their chances of making top four.
Yeah, for physics individually set of really good states top 13 rated in the region
But as a team not working better their opponents shy cat of me
And of course they need to win out every single remaining game from here
And even then that might not be enough now they play arcade tonight then next week
They're last two games are against circular spears and men LFO
So they are fighting then teams that are also trying to get into the top four of course the maximum points
They can now end on is 11 so they're probably still then in that realm of needing other results to go their way
But right now it's just all about can they win out can they get the last three wins just to have a chance
Probably unlikely if we want to be very realistic just based on previous history
12 points seems to be the minimum needed to get into top 4 and considering they can only get to 11
It's unlikely yesterday. They did lose the enterprise. It was honestly a decent start
We're talking about a 3-3 half on labs
So they were competitive, but they just couldn't attack and that was the difference against certainly a team of EPs caliber
They, of course, were competitive against seven.
They beat annuals, and then they got a smash by a chip.
So a very up and down stage.
If you think back to stage one, James,
they had that little purple patch midway through.
I think it was playdays three and four.
They beat Enterprise, and they beat Chiefs.
And we thought maybe this was a team that could go to new heights.
And unfortunately, they're just never
being consistent in the ability to actually keep
getting wins on the board.
Kakin's had a very good stage as well, for his sake.
And look, they're still a good team.
And on any given night, I think they're
always going to be a threat.
And in this match, they should be the favorites.
Totally.
Look, if you ask me in one center, two Arsha Academy,
I would say whether the team, like you said, the PDP and Chiefs
in stage one, they're the only ones
to have taken about both of those teams.
And it's a huge feather in their cap.
Sadly, they haven't had to keep that momentum.
Funny enough, they actually have the lowest entry percentage
win rate of opening kills in this stage so far, even lower
than Arcade, who are unfortunately sitting next to them
near the bottom of the standings.
A very important game for both of these teams
tonight, particularly for
I feel like they do have a
performance in stage one that
you would want to redeem in
stage two. You know, like there's
there's been glimmers of hope.
We may as well see them perform
here, but sadly, it hasn't been
the case so far. So big chance
tonight. Let's go to the map
Vito's and see where we will be
playing our opening game here
for play day five. Best of ones
of course, as a reminder as we
had through the rule at wheel,
I'm going to go to Villa. It
was interesting because I
started off this stage really
wanting to go to Villa and new
map in the pool, shiny new
thing, and we didn't get it for
the first couple of weeks and
then men goes go to NAL and we
got it like three games back to
back to back. So now I'm kind of
I'm sated. My appetite is set.
We had it last on an ocean. We
get to run it back again. Let's
head into this opening match of
the day for Play Day five. It's
a big day ahead and this is just
factor and for Arcade on their side can they get their first points of the year.
Yeah, very much the case. Very important game for both of these teams, particularly for
Shycademy who have gained a lot of expectation, a lot of respect after their Stage 1 performance.
Arcade will be playing against Wizard, their old player, their old teammates over on the
Shycademy side and Villa. Yeah, really keen to see what these teams have cooking up on Villa.
You said that we've only seen this map played once in OCE, the stage since being reintroduced
into the map pool. I've seen it a few times over in EU, over in Asia. I don't think I've seen it in
APAC North as of yet, but yeah, played a lot in NA too. It's nice to see particularly players that
have experience from way back in the day when Velo was in the map pool. I think it was about three
years ago. They are still keen to play it, bring out those old strats, but I think the best teams
are ones that will actually go and look to experiment, look to innovate on this map because
it's a very different meta that we're in these days compared to what we were in back three years ago.
And what's more, there's an entire new bombsite on that basement, which I'm seeing actually quite a bit of hesitation to go to.
I've noticed that even just in ranked, like people don't want to go to the basement bombsite on Villa.
I've seen a lot of games at the pro level as well where people are instead going to AVG first, which seems to be the case here.
Bit of a surprise to me. I feel like the basement is a bit of a fortress. There's no vert.
Hatches are not super powerful and yeah this top floor bomb sites
They can be very exposed to outside the building and if you do it room clearing and covering flanks
Then you really can expect very strong pushes up to the top floor on this map
It's interesting kind of what you're talking about in terms of the old meta strategies and how applicable they are still today
But there's little twists and changes so you think about that battle towards nine
You want to open up vault well back in the day you have to bring a hard breach up to that
Well now you can actually bring secondaries so you don't need to commit a full hard breach to open up vault and put pressure in there on
ABG I think also the basement bomb site we saw it played yesterday in a very interesting strategy from chiefs where they brought the
Mirror clash combo to really block off that pushing the garage and
Unfortunately, I think upon seeing that from circular spheres perspective. They just didn't know really how to deal with it
And they kind of struggled so as teams can spend more and more time
time, relearning Villa, but then adding little new twists and new flavors to it.
I think it's going to be a really, really fun map as well.
And what we've noticed, all four bombsites are really playable.
Like, yes, basements been added, but we still see kitchen dining.
That trophy is actually kind of now not as heavily played as it was back in the day because
of the basement bombsite.
And I think Aviator Games is just a comfort site as Ronnie on the attack already in towards
China room.
He's got one very, very close by to him.
And the other thing too that I've been really liking about Villa is we're seeing a lot more
of the map played.
Yeah.
Particularly with the power of these days and the modern meta with Deimos in play, often
gets banned on this map.
Ronnie in a really precarious spot and Loyalth gets the timing on and finishes them off with
the pistol.
The trade tries to come through from Kakin outside of the window, but Loyalth has managed
to dodge him for now.
Yeah.
Really good start here.
A big pick from Arcade.
of the most pivotal operators in the current meta, especially on a vert heavy map like
Villa, is going to be that day more so much so that we see it banned very much. It was
banned by Chiefs yesterday when they played Circular Spheres on this map. And yeah, so
big loss here for Chikademy already on that run.
Yeah, just the timing there for Rani. It looked like he was in a good position to maybe find
that first kill and then just kind of flick the way at the wrong second and now put Chikademy
kind of on the back foot. They do still fortunately have Shaz on the screen to get some good
information. They actually do also have one solo remaining from Wizard. I don't think they've been
able to open up Vault just yet. I don't think they've really got 90 control fully established.
One still outside on the rappel. Physics top red stairs with a Nitro cell. You still got Jaybur
as well first floor along with Loyalty. So I mean Arcade are really spreading this map. Nitro cell
top. Wasn't quite hit. Fell a little bit short. Didn't at least get to explode it and now taking
the fight against Wizard with a bit of help from Syro to swing around that hallway position. Traded
by Shaz. Now they can finally start to put pressure into vault with that final
Selma opening it up. Very strong crossfire established by Arcade and even
though they do lose that pitch it's fine because they still have control of top
round stairs and their red player has managed to fall off and survive. Numbers
advantage remains for Arcade as K-Kip tries to get up close and personal. Wow
the fact he wins that with the pistol against physics but now not a lot of
time on the board for shycademy to look for an execute.
Jayper Loyal is combined though and that will snuff out this attack from shycademy.
Nicely done for arcade defending AVG successfully in the opening round of this game.
As much as shycademy still have small hopes and small chances of getting top four.
I think for arcade you come into this game and you pay sense and opportunity to get your
first win for the year.
You look at the next two games in the following week, Anios and then Enterprise, so you're
running out of opportunities.
on defense, good start over to ABG. Interestingly they'll go stat trophy for the next round
because we have been seeing teams that do like to go basement as the follow up to ABG
but we're going to keep a top floor in the next.
Dude I hate stat trophies if I could just read. Man this bomb site, it was so figured
out like this is the thing when Villa moved down to the map three years ago. It was a
little bit controversial because it was actually a very popular map, people played it a lot
But I think, as much as it pained me to admit it, I was a big Villa Stam, I think it was a good time to move out.
Because it had finally been kind of broken on the, like the attackers had figured out the best way to really kind of make every round of defense very uncomfortable here on Villa.
And because teams aren't as regimented, they haven't been screaming, dry running this map, as much as those attacks are a little bit more messy.
We see a lot more successful flanks, a lot more successful roams, like we saw last round.
But particularly on this stat trophy bombsite, like roaming is a real menace, and the ability to play from the balcony from master and go for astro takes, it's just so powerful.
And so defense does not have a lot of bases that are safe to sit, especially when vert is in play, which is not just the demos I was talking about last time, but also there's a fear, there's three big booms that we've seen so potent for flushing out positions.
So you combine that with U2, like the Capitao, the Grim, the Nomad to prevent flanks, and
a bit of hard breach, like we've got here from Chikademy on the ace, and it becomes
very difficult to defend.
I know that teams like going to start trophy, but yeah, I just think that once the attack
ends a bit of confidence, it's going to be very hard for the defense to find safety here.
It's all about just staying flexible as well.
You can't just play it in the same way that you would typically see it back in the day.
And this is where, you know, new operators, new ideas come in.
It's time for Rani who get a second go at that entry on the daemons over towards kitchen and he catches out physics
The good first floor pressure from Shai Academy instead of opting to play that sort of balcony across bedroom and go direct into stat trophy
They want to take first floor control get into the building that's going to enable shaz as well on the Zofia
And in the background you could see triple impact. It did get as as low but didn't find the kill
Unfortunately for Sairos he's creeping around on this first floor. It's Rani that was able to shut him down again
If you get the trade and then it's loyal if that goes down. I'll tell you what you wouldn't see stat trophy played like this in 2023
No, you wouldn't this is how you make a very difficult bombsite to defend defendable. It's you just lash out play aggro
It's kind of like the coastline better from back in the day Jake
I respect arcade for going for it because it's kind of worked out here
I mean 2v2 this is anyone's game even though aces is low all it takes is kind of make one mistake and give up that freebie and now
Kakin is in a clutch position. Very winnable. Two flashbangs. Not easy.
Kind of a lot of time, but Kakin will go for the first plant attempt. Try and draw out a defender. Not gonna happen. I mean, there's a minute left.
He's just gonna have to think his way through this about, do I want to take the next fight? I think that's got to be his plan.
Can't just think about going for the plant and then getting converged upon by the last two defenders. Still a nitrosault too from Aziz.
Hasn't even ripped it hasn't even shown that to cake and
Those are the peak later that could have been interesting cake and you just looking for this one be one
I think at this point, you know where one is try and go for the push
My name is at the only way cake in wins this is by taking the fights and oh my god
Talk about taking a fight that wasn't a battle
That was a slaughter 1v1 against Jaypa and he baits him out successfully Jaypa wins the fight
But wow very close for comfort on Nali one tap
But arcade win the round on defense regardless
Been a good stage so far from Kakin, but couldn't quite clutch up beds too straight now for arcade and I haven't said that a lot this stage
So that they've got to be now feeling confident that this could finally
Get that monkey off the back because I think they're not a bad team clearly
They've been competitive in a lot of their games this stage
But unfortunately just haven't really had that extra source to go and get wins against a better team
Now you got this 2-0 buffer and I start defensively on Villa, which we have seen, I presently seen mixed results.
Attacked defense have both been successful, it really just comes down to who's better prepared and understanding of the map.
So getting these two wins on the board, I don't think it matters whether it's defense or attack.
I think for a team like Arcade, this is just a confidence booster.
110%, definitely take every single round win and then run with it.
I think they're flexing three different bombsites in the first three rounds, but I don't have
a basement as well.
It sounds like a broken record, but I really think that basement is a very good site, there's
a lot of ways you can play fall off, a lot of ways you can roam and support Jankers with
that roam as well.
This kitchen dining bomb site was tertiary way back in the day.
Oh my god.
Spawn Peak.
Love that.
And a little bit of a see-it in the chat from Loyal.
That is dirty.
And I love to see it.
This is the game plan that Arcade want to go with.
This is the style they want to bring to Shaiqatemi today.
It's aggro.
It's roaming.
It's taking fights.
It's being silly.
I mean look at that from Loyal.
A second run out from the balconies.
This is now a round that Arcade cannot afford to lose.
Two spawn peeks, straight into Syro, getting punished early.
Shikademi are on the back foot massively.
Yeah, I mean, I just think for Arcade, Loyalists have started hot.
Japer has started hot.
These are the players that you want performing.
Physics has been a bit of a carry this stage, but he hasn't had to do too much.
So you're finally getting a lot more of the team invested and involved, taking these early
fights, high risk, but high reward to get rid of it.
That's where you find the kill on Tarana, who's clearly an influential player for Shikademi.
And now Shikademi come into this round a little bit stuck.
And going back to that basement in a proper position, I do wonder from Arcade's perspective,
before going there, do you want to ban out either the Blackbeard or the Monty,
reduce the ability for Shikademi to lean on double shields,
which I've seen a couple of teams do to push into basement.
So I'm going to keep an eye on that if we do go basement,
if it's maybe off of the back of another shield ban.
Well, Shields, Shaz, one of the really new upcomers in the region as a Shield play-up,
finds that kill to equal it up 3 vs 3 despite the strong start from Arcade.
Oop, Blackbeard almost gets traded by Jayper though, who still has a Nitro, decides to
go downstairs, wants to play that Nitro on the Ver, he's got info from his teammates,
you can see there's a Camry in Master Bedroom that both Loyalth and Zero are sitting on
at the moment.
skylight I noticed as well that Ciro swapped to for a brief moment so they'll
just know exactly where that night shows pinged out and give an audio call to
Jaypa at just the right moment when they see someone passing over it so you can
get the free kill that is the black beard that could be a round determining
kill rock cake
one thing arcade have actually looked solid in though has been their late game
scenario management even in the last round 2v1 yeah they lost one but then
Had the follow-up didn't lose players early you can see Wizards desperate to
if you can find something also
Only 30 seconds left doesn't mean you can sit there forever
Khyberdix though little double kill onto physics and as it's trying to swing together
They thought they maybe had him outnumbered and he gets them both in its own the Jaypa left into site misses on the first contact somehow and
their wizard
Catches him on the crouch swing a chicademy get their first round
Wow, that was a messy, messy round from two Spawn Peaks and then evening it back into
a 3v3, into a 3v1, I mean that is unheard of for Chicago to win from a 3v5 and not lose
a single player after that double Spawn Peak, very impressive from them, but also a few
question marks for Arcade, how are they letting that become a 3v3 in the first place, I think.
nice shots there from Kynavix, you can kind of, you can't blame Arcade too much for losing
that 2v1, he played it really well, he's got the ARX, packs a lot of damage and he baits
them out pretty well, but yeah, prior to that, a bit of a mistake there from Arcade, a bit
of a scary round from them, the fact that they can lose from such an advantage.
We head into a quick technical timeout and we get to see the final bands come through
in a brief moment as well, it'll give Arcade the chance to decide whether they go to the
basement or they go back to aviator games.
Yeah, I'll just for the Grim Band rather than doubling down on another shield.
So Grim has been played twice so far in this game, but I do wonder then if they're going
to bend the Grim they might look to avoid basement overall.
They might not want to go to basement.
And I think this is going to be what's intriguing to me about this map of Villa is I think you
will find certain teams James because all four bombsite are playable, they'll have their
preferences.
So some teams might not want to go basement at all.
Some teams might not want to go kitchen dining and some teams might not want to go stat trophy.
That's at least early days, kind of the way that I'm seeing it play out roughly.
I think Aviator Games is clearly going to be a staple, and then from there it just kind
of comes down to what's the preference order for teams when they're defending.
So obviously for Arcade, it's not being a basement focus so far through now the four
rounds as we head back over to aviated games
just comparing to the previous time
played this
resluice
yeah
no valkyrie this time as it's been
uh... solace that's the difference compared to the last time they played
that's a great pic solace
uh... really good
way to get information go for backstabs
I've actually seen a surprising amount of flanks be successful when teams are defending aviator games on this map.
Flanking was always a threat on Villa, but a threat that was pretty well nullified, not only by ops like Nomad, Gridlock,
but even just a few well-placed drones, even a little bit of VR.
A couple of lines of sight, you'll notice the reinforcement just in the skylight there that goes up towards Astro.
That reinforcement prevents essentially the map from being cut in half.
Once the attack has controller Astro, they can hatch anyone, bottom red or down that hallway, rotating out of living.
The fact that that's reinforced is of great help to these roamers from Arcade, but Shycademy, last round they brought tons of hard breach,
not just the ace, but also the Grim with the tin can openers.
Now the Grim's banned, they're not actually running a second hard breach at all, and an early spawn peek is not successful from Loyalty.
Should be able to be saved here.
Look at the risk that you run, like it works in the last round for him individually, but
now this round, like you don't want to give them an opportunity here in Aviator Games.
When they want it so comfortably back in the opening round, Loyalith has been so influential
as well for them.
I mean, he's kind of the one that's setting the tone early.
He's gotten two of the three opening kills.
He's already gotten a multi-kill round back in the opening round.
I'm very happy that they can get him back up, but now low on how effective can he be
from this point, especially with that aggression that he's already been displaying.
Yeah, it does feel like that aggro playstyle that worked in the first two and a half rounds
for Arcade is being read into finally by Sharkademy. They decided to really slow it down. I like this,
the double droning operators, the Twitch and the Brava, send it in, make sure to hack and
remove as much util as you possibly can, and then slowly make your way in the building with the
the Blackbeard, get your hard breach done, checking every single corner here from Rani
and the Nomad as well, just to lock up those flanks. It's a good setup here from Shakeademy,
but the Nitro here from Physics doesn't matter that there are no Valkyrie cameras, they've
still got enough information to go for that vertical kill.
Yeah, nice and done from Physics, gets himself on the board, he's been their top performer
at this stage. Just like this is maybe the first game we've
for Arcade. They're starting to get a lot more bodies. Having an impact in the server,
that's a nice little kill onto Shars. Again, controlling this red stairs position, similar
to the opening round. And that's where for Sharkatomy, you've got the Blackbeard, you
can get close, clear out these players red stairs, instead of thinking to push more so
towards 90, put pressure on the vault. And clearly for Arcade, they're just ready to
actually challenge. They're not giving them free space towards the hallway, towards 90.
They're blocking off this sort of landing position, they're challenging. But Sharkatomy
almost want to go this shortcut round. They just want to get straight into what they want to do,
which is clear out vault. Nicely done from Kyvinix, flash in towards vault, clear out,
and then goes to the back here. Nicely played. Good movement from Kyvinix, able to do that because
of the off-site play from Arcade. Tap on to Syro, now on for the ace and a one versus one loilip.
Will fall back? No! He then challenges, repeaks, denies the ace and wins the round for Arcade.
Holy crap, kind of VIXX, especially that kill on the player in 90, with the pistol no less,
you should never be making it close.
Valiant effort from him, but overall, Arcade, good lock up.
They know that Villa is all about crossfires, and they played them pretty well, even though
Chakadami did get their way into that bombsite.
It was just, yeah, another really messy, brawly type of round opening pick on the vert with
nitro cell from arcade which has really been something they've leaned into successfully. No
valkyrie, no worries, they've still got a lot of game sense and a lot of audio. It's something
that sets this map apart from a lot of others. It's very easy to get audio cues vertically if you
hear people running around upstairs. It's pretty, especially around where that astro doorway is
into both stat and trophy because it's such a small area with high traffic. You could say the
same for this doorway right here. Such a common place that people will hang out. Go, gonna drone
or or peak the next angle got a lot closer than it probably should have been thanks to some heroics from kind of x but
yeah credit to loyal for
Hacking it out in the last 1v2 there 1v1 technically
So Academy should be pretty happy with how this half has gone
I think first two rounds a little bit slow, but in the last two rounds a lot more competitive
I think that gunning for a two to three round series pretty realistic
very much realistic for them to actually end up coming back winning the rest of
this half I don't think if they can keep it up but depends on how much more
success this roam game will have I think Sharkademy have really started to
read into it quite successfully and I don't think they're just
gonna run into the building willy-nilly here I don't think Loyalth is gonna get a freebie.
That's also part of the site selection choice for Arcade because if you go
basement you do limit the ability to roam if you know we're seeing teams mostly
bunker and on the basement site to fend garage to fend the direct hit sure maybe
there's a little bit on the first floor but what you get when you play these
other sites certainly top floors the ability to open up the entire map
vertically and that's what arcade are kind of abusing
Ronnie's being pretty switched on and he gets himself back down pantry stairs
as if he had a died there would have been advantage arcade I think physics
played this really well, getting aggressive at just the right moment, coordinating with his teammate.
A good amount of damage. Oh, I like that name. It's a little bit off-piece there, and it actually
gets dodged again by physics. He's doing a phenomenal job, wary of the window, which by the way,
you can just jump into and take a hip-fire battle if you so desire. Problem is, physics is there
with the shotgun. Not a fight you want to be taking in close quarters. He owns the staircase so much
that Shikademi actually decides to fall off. Yeah, sorry, I did die elsewhere too, so this is a
a good opportunity now for Sharkadomy. Again, not really playing around the
bombsite here for stat trophy, which is exactly what we saw back in the second
round. It's actually been some pretty close rounds as well up to this point.
Clearly both teams are happy to kind of play into this room game, take the
fights, take the challenges, isolate and come fights around the map. It means you
get these kind of chances, old kaivitics. Quick to react, J.Clar missing the first few
shots gave him a window and then he takes it and more kill on to Aziz should solidify this round
now for Shaikademy to get this to 3-2 physics will not be afforded any chances as wizard puts it
into him we got a close game on Villa. Another round with massive heroics from Kynavix it's funny
you look back at how his stage has gone so far actually pretty shocking stats he's rated 34th
out of 40 at the moment 22 kills to 36 deaths that's a 0.61 kd very poor stats
overall not looking too hot this game 8 and 3 9 and 3 he's flying he's been
very impressive and yeah just give him that and that ARX put in his hands and
see what he could do with it he's so confident in those entries even the
quick reaction times I mean he did not shoot first I think was Jaype gone for
the flank shot him first, he won 80s in them, just flicks him down a high ground for Carnivics
and for Chikademy and now just one more round and they have well and truly redeemed what
was at the start a very poor start to this half.
And here's the thing there as well, so you've lost kitchen dining and you've lost stat trophy,
AVG's locked away, where do you go?
Well on Villa you get to go now somewhere else but they, I guess they'll go kitchen
dining.
They really don't want to play this basement bombsite.
It's really strange.
Not dry, right?
Maybe.
I don't get it, because look, this map has never left ranks,
and these guys are all playing ranked.
And the mirror's available.
Mirror's really strong on basement, too.
Yeah, I mean, mirror's strong on Villa in general.
Particularly on basement, because there's no vert.
Interesting to see that Deimos also not getting played here.
It's really stuck out.
Deimos and Snake have really stuck out.
As big operators that weren't in the game back in the day
an old villa, but a very powerful, especially with, for Deimos the vert capability and for
Snake just the ability to get in the map for free because it's a big map which requires
a lot of roaming and if you have the ability to have good fragging roamers like we're
seeing from Arcade you can maintain a lot of map control, that's exactly why they ban
out the solid Snake to prevent those quick lurks. But I really think in the absence
of Snake, Deimos, even Dockabee, just any operators that really suppress these roamers
I'd even be considering a line at this point.
Instead, Shark Hanemi want to go for something much more methodical.
They bring the Thatcher.
I mean, very uncommon that you see a Thatcher.
Like, what's the idea here with a Thatcher?
If it's not hard breach, it's just disabling a few traps here and there.
It's not very high value.
It looks to be a rush, though, onto the bombsite from Laundry,
and Shaz does find the opening kill.
Even though Wizard took a hell of a lot of damage, in comes the execute.
This is why you pick the Thatcher.
Trying to sit with an execute like this to try and prevent any nitro cells.
from denying your plan. However, Arcade show that the way that they want to deny Shaz,
Shaz Academy just comes down to the gunplay.
Another one from Shaz.
Gives an equal. That was a must win fight from Wizard, but a good shot from Loyalist to find the head.
Shaz is still to make a decent job to stay alive. It's found the two kills for Shaz Academy.
Needs help from Kyjonix and his Intimhot form, 8-3 on the move.
But he's just lost Shaz at a horrible time because this could have been a 2v2 with a Blackbeard up
and over a minute, just needed to survive a little longer. Got the second, but Arcade will
eke out the lead after the first half, four to two advantage, three rounds away from their first
points of the stage.
I can't let you go
I can't let you go
I can't let you go
I
Welcome back ladies and gentlemen arcade very close to picking up their first points of the state of the year
Two rounds needed to get to six three rounds to pick up the win
Which of course now it needs to reiterate arcade cannot make finals that even if they were to win out completely
From this point, they will not
Be mathematically possible to get into the top of you
But
I think for a team that didn't win anything in stage one didn't pick up a single point in stage one
I think anything you can get here in stage two
You take it and at least like you can walk away on the year and say well, we didn't get zero fourteen
Yeah
I mean doing the maths of the standings right now it sounds like you've done the maths jakey
But obviously three games to go including this one, which means arcade could get to nine points maximum in fourth place at the moment
Circles fears are on seven and enterprise and seven around nine
Shy Academy already have the two points so if they get full three out of every single game from here and out
They would end up on 11 technically possible, but still quite improbable that they would make it
But hey a dream is a dream
Well technically the first hurdle is actually already tonight CS versus men LFO. So for arcade
They would need a men LFO to one result
Otherwise
I mean like look it's not happening so it's not really gonna happen but yeah
I think that what matters more for arcade is exactly what you were saying
These guys have not got a single point all year
They did get wins in kickoff not maybe but it doesn't really care like very different format
It was a double-e-limb bracket also very different roster back then
As of recent history, I mean these guys have been through a bunch of different roster changes
You know, Jayper and physics have been playing down in tier two of the old Circular Spheres gang who are playing under the name Circular Planets,
which, by the way, like the Circular Spheres whole memeage, that whole team, it's just one of my favorite things about OCE,
just the memeability of the players in this region.
And yet so many of the players that have legacy from that those Circular Spheres rosters are now, you know, on teams like Enterprise and Chiefs.
So it goes to show you anywhere that you start, there's, the sky is really the limit for where you can finish.
Talking about kind of X-Men. He's hit 11 kills now. He is one of the lowest rated players in the league
And he is having an absolute life game
Well, I've an exit just keep bringing up
He's he's a gamer that's what I'm saying bro. I like I'm not having a go at him. I'm impressed
I mean, I hope he can keep this up because this is the the kind of young up and coming talent that the scene needs to have
teams like Shikademi break through into top four. If he can find another kill here, it might even help out to try and
solidify this round for Shikademi. 5v2 now as he holds on to Astro. Despite that solid snake spotting him,
physics isn't going to win it out in the 1v1. Now Aces and Japer find themselves in a really shoddy spot.
This is to try and clear that run clear as a step one for what would be a very tough execute.
And I think this is going to be the problem for Arcade in this second half,
that is just a lovely tap from Aziz is the way that they played in that first half on defense roam around the map
It's a lot easier to do that when you're on defense
Then it is on the attack when you have to eventually execute you deal with the roaming players well from shy Academy
And that's going to be my concern for arcade is their ability to attack in the second half
Can they do it as a team systematically the executing to site go through the checklist clear up room as to all of these things because again
When you're on defense and you just you know have that rumor on the basement floor and you've got boiler through and jump out plays
That makes those rounds a lot easier can't do that in the second half
You're right is a very different kind of a fish defense
Harbridge still available for aces so he chucks one on the 90 wall still good positions
and Chacademy can sit back and hold their crossfires with.
I don't have a peek here. I need to swing.
Especially while there's still utility like the gas and the C4 is available.
Aces jumps inside, traded by the C75 from Shaz, and now it's a 1v4 for Jaber.
He's being flanked, he catches a consolation pick, but Shaz will catch him out and just flicks him away.
Good stuff from Chacademy now that they're onto their defense, looking a lot happier.
I think this is going to be a pretty defender-sided villa. We've seen teams be able to attack this map pretty well
But I think when you've got two teams that are relatively younger players how much time they've spent on the map probably not as much
Compared to the teams that have been around or the players that have been around for many years now
I think this is just going to naturally lean itself into as they get more familiar
Way to kind of enter the building say far how to clear as a team all of those kind of aspects
That just takes time when you're coming into a new map and so defense will usually that's one when a new map comes into the pool
Prevail first
But what we've been seeing is the teams that of course have got a lot of experience on this map will find attacking success
I think it was mint on NAL said that he actually expects Villa to be slightly attack-asided and at one point
It kind of was leaning in that direction
But as we're getting more and more teams kind of get their first go at it. Yeah defense starts out well
But I think over the next year or two, it's going to slowly develop to be a really nice attacking map as well.
I fully agree. I fully agree. It was looking that way at the end of its life last time it was in pro play.
And I think that the defense of the basement is the one thing that I think could skew it in defense favor.
Like you say, we didn't see that at all from RK.
They didn't want to go down to the basement.
The teams who have spent time dry running and practicing these setups, like clearly
Chakadami has done, will find a lot more success on this map.
You just throw some curveballs and force the attack to stop problems.
Things like deployable shields, traps.
I really like the Denari lasers, the trip-wise on the staircases.
It's gonna not only stop a rush, but also just signal a push, slow down a push, and
those Denari lasers on staircases are very hard to find.
already a good setup here from Shy Academy as Arcade looked to try and take from kitchen across.
It's not a rush, just a run clear for now.
Now on basement it's pretty difficult I think to just rush into the site because of the full
stack that's typically employed by the defense. It's not like basement on, you know, let's say
player or labs where you can extend out far more of the map because of how big
the site is. On this it will play more similar to your five-man stack on
Clubhouse for example, where everyone's going to be in the site.
You shouldn't really have too many opportunities as the attack to rush in.
It's going to be more slow, it's going to be more methodical, more checklist
orientated. And this kind of backstairs position as well, very pivotal for the
defense. So Ronnie's got a bit of a bit on his shoulders here as he needs to defend
And he is kind of getting pushed back without actually taking the fight.
Usually you'll have the smoke player kind of defending either pantry stairs or back stairs.
I find back stairs better for the smoke, get those gaspapes out early, deny the ability for the attack to kind of take this space.
But they've got Wizard over towards pantry, and this is allowing Arcade to just slowly progress forward.
Oh, physics. Emptying fate with that ADS. If he dies here, that is it. Oh, wow! I love
the way he little bounced that back. The momentum from sprinting bounces the smoke
babe further away from him deeper into the bomb site, but Shaz takes down the solid snake
who is looking for a little backstab and thus Arcade find themselves in a much trickier
spot to be. Still looking for a way to actually crack into the bomb site. They need to pick
somewhere or other and Jayper, while he does do a lot of damage to Shaz, he's covered by
Kakin and now Arcade are really struggling to get their teeth into this bomb site, sink
their way inside. As Shokadami you have a pretty solid understanding of how to play
these crossfires. Eventually the, let's just try to aim down. So it's one, two many times,
Zero all alone shotgun in hand for Rani waiting
Made 70 packs a punch
It's hungry for him and that's the round for shy Academy a second defense for them now and Jake
I think you're right
This is gonna look like a bit of a defender's paradise here on Villa and the other aspect too
These are the two teams that really struggled to attack the most in fact while three teams coming into tonight
8 from 22, 8 from 22, and 8 from 23, which is Arcade, Annihilus, and Sharkademy.
But the biggest difference is that Arcade have got worse defensive win rates.
So at least they were able to do slightly better in that regard in the first half,
picking up the four defensive rounds. The downside is that clearly,
O-teams are kind of struggling to attack, but at the very least for Sharkademy,
they've already got those two attacking rounds on the board, now we're tied.
Arcade need to show that they have the ability to get some of these attacking
grounds and disappointing too because they got that opening pick they got that
backstayers control they didn't have the smoke to contend with as he was over
towards pantry stairs so they actually were afforded a pretty decent chance
they were in basement they had brought the blitz but it just didn't work and I
think this is a really good time time out just kind of discuss what's going
wrong what do we need to do we need to play more into the you know kind of
lurk entry game go basement entries and first floor entries and sweep around the
map take these gunfights or we lock in as five and actually put a little bit
more focus towards the site and the execute.
Yeah look if I'm arcade I'm not gonna sweat too much the attacks on to the
basement because clearly there's a lot to unpack here it's a new map you won't
have run through a hundred different strats in Shakeademy you have come
through with some creative ideas with the way they're using the traps and the
shotguns to hold specific places they clearly have a pretty good understanding of how to
cover each other with the crossfires and hold those power positions so if i'm arcade honestly
don't sweat too much attacks on the basement the top four attacks is where you're probably gonna
earn your keep and shakadami can only play the defense of the basement one more time is half so
like even if you lose that round like you can still win this game for the full three points if
you have good enough attacks onto the other three bombsides speaking of shakadami actually opting
to go kitchen instead of the stat trophy bomb site up above which is yeah I mean I think both of
those bomb sites probably lack a bit of defendability but I think it's a good start here for chikademy
the fact that they are confident enough in their tertiary or quaternary or whichever you want to
to spin it, to not go for stat trophy.
This is going to be probably close to my swim for RK.
First time seeing kitchen dining fans after this, they've now lost three of the last four
rounds, so momentum has gone the way of Stoicademy.
Pressure to kind of get your first points on the entire stage out of attack time now.
So you kind of put all of that into a ball and say, well, this now feels like a very
important round.
there's the down five four they'll lose another attacking operator who that will
be hard to say right now but regardless a minute into this round no early kind of
entry you've only got loyal at lurking on the snake towards living and okay kids
got so much intel like yourself shot out nice reaction oh I feel so edged by the
arm is so keen for that that position with the cardiac sensor man threading the
Needle as well. Thank you to the Previz, the Prezectiles. Great idea there from Kakin,
unfortunately for him. Arcaded just too sharp and shot that Nitro straight out of the air.
Kakinvicks now finds himself in a very similar position. He's been here before,
he's still got his Nitro as well. You've got to get into the building. This has to be much
quicker. It's kitchen diners. Top floor should be accessible, sweep across. That's better,
Loyola picks up the pace. Backstairs control, they get the opening kill, they deal with
chance as well courtesy of Jaype from the exterior. Ryan trying to answer back at outnumbered. Jaype
finding two from this window position is critical for Arcade and to be honest a bit of a misstep
from Strike Academy because there's a minute left into the round. Why are we at this window position
while we're giving them a chance? 100%. I think Arcade were very slow here but they spent so much
of their time droning, putting a little bit of pressure here, getting loyalth in the building
sneaking in, he's by the way 12 and 5 have been hyping up Karnivix but Loyalty actually has better
stats than him right now and he's still alive to deal more damage in this round as Japer low HP
is about to take a close range fire with the shotgun, Wizard takes him out and what advantage
Arcade had for a brief moment. It's three solo pushing. It is indeed and the shotguns are going
to make it very hard to continue solo pushing aces in a 1v2. This is the moment when Shikadimi
Retake this lead that has evaded them for this entire match. Yeah, I mean, he's not winning this round
I'd be incredibly surprised would be a massive blunder from Chicago me at six seconds has to go for the plant for the double kill
No, it's now has to be the double kill
I mean, that's a little disappointing from arcade
They had a really solid opportunity in that game had the numbers advantage
Just needed to take a tiny bit of time group up push together and instead it was three solo positions that were pushing around the map
So Jaypico solo into Sheets up against the shotgun dead as expected
But if there's a second one behind him you probably can get that trade
But then you have another one over to what stat another one's somewhere else
And so there's no real way for arcade to kind of string together a couple of kills trade pushing use that numbers advantage instead
It's isolated fights. So Academy as the two defenders versus their three attackers get given exactly what they wanted
You can really see the difference between Arcade's defenses.
Now you don't have the Soul of Snake.
That's a big loss that played at every round.
100% and the Soul of Snake was a large part of the reason why Loyal actually managed to
sneak his way up the stairs here and crack open that Astro Defense from Carnivix.
Arcade have lost most of the most important tools in their toolkit and it's just a completely
different team here we're seeing on attack compared to their defense and I think that's
because their defense they didn't necessarily played the map to the nth degree they really
just played aggro and they played it well the players were feeling hot they roamed they got aggro
and they won a lot of gunfights and now that they're on the attack and you have to have a plant
you have to have an execute a good fraggie here or there isn't going to be enough it's making it
much harder to crack into the defenses here. Chikademy also pivoting around a few different
ideas we're seeing wall denial brought out here again from the bandit I mean the
first time we're seeing it from the bandit a kaid was played briefly in the
basement but then it makes an appearance here just to try and really put a stop to
any push from the master side I mean it very unusual right typically you would
have a fill hole actually in that door from in a wall from master to stats and
you can contest players in there but try Academy of said why don't we just force
through doorways. I think it's a good plan. You know, Arcade are the ones that really have to
put that pressure on if they are to find their first points at the stage.
And back to Aviator Games now where Shaakadmi played this really well last time,
one round away from getting to six. Again, small hope to get pot four, but need to get all three
points in this game. Unfortunately for Arcade, while it was looking like maybe the chance to get
their first points this stage, it's been a rough attacking half. Mirror window opened up,
that's a better checklist work from Arcade. I think this will be their first real round,
where it's going to be site focus, groupers five, push together, sweep across, a little bit more
default kind of siege now that they've lost that solid snake in that sort of roam game.
This doesn't help them on the entry, it's Kyvenix finds the first pick and it's on to Loyola at the
top play of 4 Arcade, you lose the jug of payload call, so you lose that inhibited pressure,
90 control still there for Chicago me halfway through this 10th round defense looking in the better position and with Shaz over the
What's right? You get this good little cross between 90 and red although he does kind of slip back over to aviator
You can't peel back on a BG like especially with Ronnie with the shock wire batteries to block
Vault from being opened up if there's no way for them to deal with that and you can't open vault
You can actually play that peel back fall back to site
There's a pre-placed Nitro here from Wizard. Wow, what a long shot there from Karnivix.
Physics is gonna die in just a brief moment as soon as that Nitro gets pulled from Wizard down below.
Finally, Arcade rotate a player off the 90-window. It's the only way to realistically kill Karnivix.
You have to have that crossfire from where Aces is playing towards Trophy and that 90-window,
but it comes way too late. And even with Karnivix dying here, damage has been done.
Arcade only have scraps of a round left to go and Chikademy is about to find a match point.
And you imagine the mental, James. It's one thing to be a team that loses all the time and you kind of get used to it.
It's another thing when you get given that little hope, wall two up, you're two rounds away from first point
and you just get to go and get a couple of attacking rounds.
Villa's not the kind of map where you can take shortcuts.
It's a really, really good map. And I think Chikademy defended very, very nicely in the second half.
I mean, Wizards just gets baited into the long-angle peak, but it doesn't matter, because they've got the numbers.
This has been a really good defensive half from Chikademy, because, like, you kind of look at the four-round plate now.
They've only gotten two of the opening kills, so both of those on AVGs are the defended AVG perfectly,
both times it hasn't been a contest. And then in the other two rounds, Basement and Kitchen Dining,
Yeah, it was a little bit more of that scrap because of the roams and the solid snake usage and the blitz, etc.
Arcade were able to get a bit of a footing, find that first pick, but then defensively shycademy.
Just know where to fall back, when to fall back, and what positions to hold.
They've clearly got a pretty decent understanding as to what they need to do defensively on Villa.
Two round advantage. Hard to see how Arcade are now going to win two straights suddenly,
when none of these attacking rounds have been really that close.
Yeah, you're right. The attack is really suffered for arcade. Look, there's a world
where maybe they could have still won this game with weak attacks, but remember, taking
that first half, three rounds in, they had two spawn peaks, and then they still lost
the round from a 5v3 to a 0v3. If you're going to have mistakes like that on your defense
and you don't have much substance to your attacks, then sadly, you're just not going
to find any points. There's been four rounds in a row here for shycademy arcade to burn
their tactical time out. They've burned through round after round trying anything they could
possibly do on this attacking side and Shrekatomy have read them like a book. They have a much
deeper strap book here on Villa. They're playing every single different bomb site and happy
to show new strategies as well. Again, we're seeing this trap set up such a solid difference.
Look at the difference. We've seen double basement from Shrekatomy. We didn't see it
at all from Arcade. So the willingness as well to kind of explore the map, do different
things, how to play basement. That's unlucky from Clivenix as Aziz was ready very quick
to react. So another opening kill for Arcade. That's one aspect of this entire game that
they've been pretty decent at. I mean both teams are not good entry teams and you kind
of look at the stage stats. So I was probably anticipating it to be quite equal. But another
chance. Arcade have had their chances with these early picks.
Again though these power positions held by Chakadmi with the shotguns are going to be
very hard to crack open, though that early pick on the kind of it certainly helps out.
The bombsite does have a lot of entry ways and similar to a max like clubhouse that have
very powerful basements often one of the only ways to win against a good setup on the defensive
side is to have a good split push.
For example, five ways into the building.
If you have less than five defenders,
you can overwhelm one of those areas.
Arcade need to try and do exactly that.
We found a 5v3 advantage.
This is their way into the round.
But the problem is they're all stacking up
where two of the shycademy players are.
Ideally, you need some kind of a backstab.
We need Arcade to try and find the gap.
The flashbang likely comes out in a brief moment,
but K-Kids nitro cell will save the day.
And Rani, we'll get out alive.
Yeah, I mean, I love that little setup.
So Rani plays that first contact up close to the shot,
can't draw them in, and then Kay can throw it over his shoulder,
gets that kill and damage onto physics.
So that's a really good play from Chakadami.
Now they fall back.
So now they see him, they're not over-investing.
They've done that play, now fall back,
minute left into the round.
So still plenty of time for RK.
Dropdown doesn't work from Syro.
Trying to open up a bit of pinch pressure.
That gets denied.
Now it's all pretty one-way traffic from the attack.
Chakadami can keep themselves pretty firmly locked in
on this one spot that Arcade are pushing in from through wine.
That's exactly right.
The way that Arcade would have won this round
on the 5v3 is by putting pressure in enough areas,
bringing out where the gap is,
and then using the numbers instead.
They played a 3v3 in one spot
while two players weren't bouncing on the gaps elsewhere.
They're all 1HP.
Now all players on Arcade, low HP,
trying to force this plant down.
Shai Academy will let it go down.
Surely they should be favored here in the retake,
as it's just physics.
left to try and hold on for RK.
Oh ho ho.
Could he?
On one HP?
No, he can't.
And it's going to be another loss,
unfortunately for RK.
You have to feel for them.
I think it's only human nature, but Shaz does not care.
He's dancing all over their corpse
as they pick up the three points.
So Academy go to five points.
Looks still a very small mathematical chance to make top four.
They still need to win their remaining two games, which
will be against Circular Spears and Man-LFO next week,
but ultimately for Arcade, it's just more demonstration.
They still play Anios on Play Day six.
That will probably be their last chance
to get a win or even points
as then Enterprise on the last Play Day will await.
Sharkademy though, well deserved victory.
Really, really good on the defense.
The two attacks, all that was needed.
Yeah, a big chance for Sharkademy now
to really compete for that mid-pack.
Their next teams up against them will be CS
and Man-LFO both teams,
They will be battling for a spot in playoffs against them if Shaq had any can keep it up
Especially with some well-formulated strats like we saw on the defensive villa there
They actually do have a good chance. I wouldn't put it past them
Arcade started strong with that aggro here on their defensive side, but Shaq had me even then they won a 3v5
on that attacking side and
Yeah, I just wouldn't put it past them to really compete here with the mid back for the rest of the stage
Yeah, look for okay. They definitely tried some things and in that first half
I liked seeing the jump outs the runouts and really stretching the map and playing those sort of lurk room defenders and well
It was relatively okay four to half is fine
Unfortunately, then when it came to the attacking side James
They just really just lacked any kind of understanding as to what they needed to really do that
They want to play into the room game
Did they want to go checklist base and go direct decide it just all felt a bit messy
And I think that made it quite comfortable then for Shrek had to me in the way that they played it kept it pretty default
They didn't do much. We didn't see those jump outs and runouts from Shrek had to me
They kind of kept it more towards the site played that peel back defense and in the end
I think they kind of just said if we if our kids gonna beat us
They're gonna have to play a lot better on the attack
And I think that was clearly their strategy, which they knew arcade probably won't get to be able to play much better on their attack
Yeah, I think Villa back in the day when it was in the map pool was one of the maps that just before we entered the
like the split push everywhere type of meta.
It was the map that suited itself mostly to that team,
stopped running hard breach,
and they started pushing particularly on the aviator games
from every direction at once.
And sadly, that was something that RK
just couldn't do on the attack.
Shai Academy, really an impressive defense from them.
I love the strats, especially down on that basement.
They're looking very solid.
Let's go to our interview with Wizard from Shai Academy
after beating his former team.
Congratulations, Wizard, on the result.
an interesting old villa first half clearly aggression coming out of arcade the jumpouts the runouts the way that they were kind of stretching the map
How quickly did you kind of clue on to the way that they were playing it?
Look seeing as I was on the team last stage
We sort of we had a bit of an idea how they were gonna play we were really expecting that early aggression
But maybe not to the extent that they were doing it. They were just fighting us everywhere
We went every step of the way like to give him credit. They did play that defense really well. They didn't let us get into the rounds
Well yeah, congrats first regulation win for you guys this stage after a very hyped up last
stage before you joined the team. What was it like joining shycademy and what was it like
playing against a real team today? It was a bit of, I can't lie, I had the chat muted for the whole
game. I was not leaving that open because I did get dropped from the team. I didn't leave on my own.
So I thought there might have been a bit of shit talk going on there, but you know, with
oh well they're good boys, I'm still good friends with them, so it is nice to get a
win though, super important in terms of making top four, there's still a slight hope there,
so.
Whether you care or not, there was no shit talk, so I can confirm that for you.
That's fantastic here, they are a good group of boys.
I do want to speak defensively though, because for you guys going into that second half,
I thought you played that really really well and played it very differently clearly to the way that arcade were playing it where they were
As we were talking about very aggressive
You guys kind of looked like you kept it a bit more compact default
You were happy to play basement. You're happy to play that sort of peel back defense
Is that what you kind of pride yourself on and want to build and bring that to other maps?
Sort of it was a bit of a
Pick against them to play like that because we know they're just bringing that raw regression rather than the slow methodical
execute style of play. We thought they would really struggle with that, which obviously they did.
So against them, I think that was a really good call. It was Kakin that set that up.
But we'd like to be able to play a bit flexible, because yesterday against EP, we would get a bit in their faces on the defence.
Trying to step it up. So it just depends on the team really.
How do you kind of look at the stage now as a head? Because I feel like for you guys, it's been a bit unfortunate in terms of the scheduling.
like you had to play Chiefs straight away, play day one, you got Enterprise, you know, yesterday,
which I thought you guys were quite competitive, but clearly there's naturally going to be a bit of a gap when
EP against 7, you know, a 7-4 game, that's pretty, pretty upthreatened close, but ultimately to get top 4,
how do you guys now find the way to sort of
get back into that contention? Because you beat Chiefs, well, you didn't beat Chiefs, but the boys beat Chiefs in EP last stage,
clearly there's a lot of talent on the roster and you're not that far off it
But you're also now to point in the stage where you probably have to win your last two games and then other things go your way
What are you guys doing behind the scenes to sort of stay in touch with those teams in finals?
Yeah, it's like we we looked at the we looked at the schedule at the start and say we were sort of like oh geez
That's a bit that's a bit of a rough start
But we sort of figured out the end of the season would be a bit on the easier side, not that any team is easy, it's averse.
But it's like, we just got to keep the vibes up, keep the mental up, because we can pull through still.
Like if we beat CS on Monday, that's another three points that'll put us at eight.
And then it's really going to come down to that man game on the next Tuesday.
So that might be for the back spot if we win on Monday.
It could be really nice.
Yeah, I mean, and hopefully you guys can gain some confidence from this win and then going into those games with what's on the line.
Hopefully you guys can get there. It'd be awesome to see a lot of young talent on your roster and in some older heads like Haken.
Anything you'd like to say, Elizabeth, before we let you go?
Not much. Well done to the boys. Well done to John T. He's our coach, off Sean and chance analyst.
He's always putting in big work. And if any of you are looking to pick us up, we'd be interested to talk on that. Thanks.
the next year. That's was it
best of luck next week. Thank
you, man. So I went for
Chicago. He keeps that flickering
flame of hope alive. James is
he's alluding to some big games,
and that's kind of, I guess the
difference maybe to last stage is
that for these teams trying to
get into the top four, a lot of
It's not a case of all this is done because it's just the top teams playing the bottom
teams like Shackadamy as it was just saying, they still play Circular Spears and Manila
Void.
You win those two games, not only are you picking up the points, you're denying them
the points, that might open up a spot, say, for that fourth position.
Totally, there's an obvious top two here in OCE, but the thing is the top four teams
get to go, not only the playoffs, Jake, but most importantly the Pax, this is a LAN event.
This isn't just like stage one where you go to some online double-ealing playoffs, you
actually get to fly out to Melbourne and head to this event, it's like third players like
Wizard if he manages to make it. That's a first ever maybe only ever lifetime opportunity
in eSports. So there's so much more to play for specifically in OZ and specifically this
stage around and there's so many teams who are still in that conversation.
Shakeademy definitely one of them.
I think it's being realistic. Not everyone's going to get to go to a major. Not everyone's
going to get to go to a six-invitational. But you actually have a decent chance at maybe
you go into a Pax Melbourne land.
And if you do that, and anything can happen on land,
anything can happen, right?
It's only a couple of games, and who knows?
Maybe you suck, I could've waited.
Now we tore our attention to that next match,
seven versus Team Annihilus,
and that discussion about Pax, if seven win this,
that should be enough for them to probably get to Pax.
And we put them to 12 points, still two play days to go,
but now then play enterprise,
that's gonna be a big test on play day six,
and then close out against Circular Sphere.
So while a win against Annihilus wouldn't be job done,
kind of one foot in the door, but I add this caveat.
You lose this game, then you play EP, then you play CS,
and suddenly seven could find themselves
going into that last week with their position
in the top four, not locked in either.
Yeah, very much the case.
Seven have been a bit of a surprise,
a bit of a dark horse pick for me.
I mean, fifth place in stage one,
they just barely missed out on playoffs.
Now they have a real chance,
and after the surprising wins this stage,
anything is possible.
Anything is possible, that's the venture.
As we head to the break when we come back, we'll see if 7 can continue their hot form this stage or if Anios and their flickering hope of top 4 can stay alive.
I think we know our first BO3 against WSVNM, and we went all 3 maps with them, which is
already like, even though we lost, we lost 1-2, that's a good sign to go 3 maps with
the team that just won two majors in a row. We had M80 and we beat them 2-1.
That one's a barn burner, but we kind of had like the mental advantage over them
too since we had just beaten them in Atlanta. We both liquid and we beat them
2-1 as well. Their team was like falling apart at the time. You know, it was kind of our
game to lose. Like they were just fighting amongst each other and stuff.
They ended up making a huge change after that. And then on our final game, like we
were 2-1 at the time. We had just won against two teams. Our final game
against VP, we were coming in super confident. And that one, I think we lost
1-2 and on the final map we were done like 1-6 and we came back to like 8-7 I think.
We nearly won that 1-2 but even though we went 2-2 we ended up going to the lower bracket I think
because of like we were like fourth in the group. We ended up winning against loss which felt amazing
like beating a Brazilian team and then we ended up getting smashed by SSG very shortly after that.
At the time I wasn't really surprised that we were playing my first two events a major and an
invitation because I kind of knew how good our team was just based on like how we were
smashing everyone in practice you know after Atlanta as well we knew we could beat some
intentional teams who were scrimmage intentional teams and smashing them too.
So for me it wasn't really a surprise until I kind of looked back at it like a few years
later and I kind of counted like how many APEC players have even been to multiple SIs,
have been to you know every SIs since I started playing.
like APAC players total that have gone to events. The list gets shorter and shorter the more filters
you add. I kind of look back at it now and think that that's quite impressive but at the time I was
certain that we were one of the best teams in the world so I felt like yeah I wasn't surprised by
it at all. I felt like we we earned um what we were doing. I think something that I had the most
anticipation for was probably more recently like SI 26 the the most recent SI we played at. I was
super excited to play because we just came out of winning our regional finals
where we smashed everyone like with a full upper bracket. We knew our group a
few weeks early and we knew our group kind of sucked too so I was super
excited to play SI 26 as well. I think we went into that event with really good
form, our bootcamp was great as well. Just like the team environment as well we
could kind of just tell that everything was close to perfect for us. Winning a
trophy at regional finals I think subconsciously and a lot of like APEC
players' minds, including myself. As you're getting into the scene, you're maybe watching
Pro League, you kind of know that just being in APEC just lowers your chances to ever win
like an international trophy by default. Just because of, you know, how the region is, you
kind of go into it knowing it's very unlikely that you're going to win a trophy. I mean,
no one from APEC's ever won a trophy before. Being able to win something, even at just
a regional finals, it's something that I'm going to remember for the rest of my life.
I could have finished my career and never win another trophy, but I got one trophy and
I put it on my preferred picture everywhere, so it's immortalized.
The people that showed they were happy the most was definitely nothing on my team, to
speak easy.
The other three of us tried to act cool and like hide our emotions sometimes, but inside
like everyone was definitely super happy.
You know, like there's nothing better than winning a physical trophy and I hope to do
that someday on a real international stage.
What separates me from other players in APAC?
I don't think I'm mechanically the most talented.
I don't think I'm the best, the most genius,
smartest player here in APAC.
But I think that surrounding myself with other great players
and learning from people that are better than me,
having a good coach helps as well a lot
in terms of your personal development
inside and outside of the game.
the
the
the
the
They get bigger as we go on now heading to seven and an EOS for an EOS must win James
They're on three points you win this you go to six points
You also then deny seven their chance to get to twelve and they've got some big games coming up as well
So as we head into this match through a die for Sheffield jeffy and his ability to get to land because it
Admittedly when we announced that we were going to packs I thought chef Jeff. He is the master at getting to land somehow
Surely he'll get an EOS stairs will go and have a look at their roster
but the truth of it is now they need the three points from this game or they will not be going.
Yeah, very much the case. Anios managed fourth place in groups in stage one so Playos seems very
achievable for them. They had a lot of big wins. They even took Chiefs overtime in the stage finals
on one of the maps. They had a lot of Dominic games in stage one. Unfortunately, just not enough.
They lost to Chiefs EP man LFO and so far in stage two it's been mostly talk about both games.
I mean 5-7 to EP so close to taking points away from them over time lost a shy Academy over time win
To circular spheres and then just getting absolutely slapped around by manual foes
So this is a redemption opportunity here for Annie os up the manual foe got their revenge against them
And yeah, you're absolutely right. I mean for chef Jeff
He seems to be the kind of player that sticks around like a batsman. I just can't get rid of him
He's so elusive the way that he plays is a big smack talker as well
Yeah, he was a real joker.
And yeah, it would just, it would make a lot of sense to see him at X here if Anios could make playoffs a second time.
But as you say, today's game matters more than ever because they lost in regulation to Manila Fo and EP,
because they lost that overtime game to Shark Academy, they find themselves in a very tough spot.
Well, you know what? Just, I'm going super early here, but if Chef Jeff's in a good mood,
the boys look like they're in a good mood and they're coming in with the right mindset, they could easily still win this game.
win this game. Seven's been great, really, really good, and arguably should win this game,
but one of the most notable things with this annual roster, and I think you actually ended
up seeing the interview we had a week or so back when Chef Jeff was sitting there with the
kit and all depressed, that was after a win. Like, they have not been having a great time this
day, and yesterday, especially getting Smash 7-1 by MenAloFo, I actually am surprised to see them
rebound mentally already prepared for tonight,
knowing probably they must win this game,
but in some ways trying to relieve that pressure,
go in with a more positive mindset,
we'll go to their opponents, those seven,
which are gonna be a difficult team.
So far this stage, day seven won.
Man, I'll vote back on the European Play Day.
Competitive against Chiefs, five, seven.
That was the game actually, I don't know if you saw it,
James McRae's got a 1v5 pace clutch.
It's the second time this year
that's happened to the Chiefs
and Wettables did it back in stage one.
Seven-four of a Chicademy, seven-three of an RK.
They're going through the business,
but as we get to the tail end of the stage,
their schedule does start to get more difficult.
Firstly, now against Anios, fighting to top four,
then they play Enterprise next week,
and then Circular Spheres.
So we're talking about,
this is what I was mentioning in the pre-show,
a team that's going to be playing against other teams
in and around the top four.
Yeah, yeah, you're right.
And look, Prez, you mentioned his 1v5 ace clutch.
He's not even the best player on this team.
In fact, he's quite far down the standings.
You've got Walsh, who's a third best player in the league by stats,
about 1.7 KD, which is just insane, by the way.
1.21 kills per round.
Pinko has also been a really strong fragger,
as well, as he has been for a very long time.
Pinko's a funny player.
He like appears every few years to join some mid-pack team
and suddenly just clutch up and go massive.
As he tends to do, he's been doing it for a few years,
running daily, also really high up in the standings,
as well, 14th best player in the league.
at the moment. So yeah, seven have really surprised us. They're looking like a much more formulated
team. And under the infamous leadership of Prez himself, who's been around the block a few times
now, I still remember back at the day when he played for tier two and qualified into tier one,
this guy is a grinder, like he is the kind of player that sticks through it thick and thin.
He doesn't always have the best stats, but even at the very young age of 23, he is a leadership
figure for this team. And he's got a good eye for young talent, Walsh and Tuck, newbies,
and certainly created quite a dangerous roster here. If they can beat Anios here, like, yeah,
they're looking so hot for playoffs. Let's go to the map. Vito's for this best one,
seven yesterday played on clubhouse. Anios on left. I feel like Anios will definitely
not want to go back to there or will we in the roulette? No, shall I? Yeah. Okay. Well,
They do get to show a they of course, I would be I would be very surprised if they had gone back to layer after getting beaten down
Seven one yesterday by men a la Rosa seven will start on the defense of
Chalet, I don't think they've played this map
In fact, no they haven't because they started their stage backs about autrus then into bank now
Then into clubhouse now into Chalet
So at least for separate showcasing that they've actually got a pretty decent map full as we head into the game
Anios actually were very competitive against the enterprise on this map back in playday one.
That's when their stage was looking pretty good. They led 3-1 over EP back on the opening playday
and ever since then it's been unfortunately down the hill. You can see here on your head-to-head
three points for Anios, nine points for seven. A win here would put them in a commanding position
for top four and packs. A loss though opens the door to Anios and others. Black Shite Academy who
We probably would be hoping Anios get the win here.
Proxy has been a standout for team Anios at this stage,
top five rated player, and on a largely losing team
as well, James.
And it makes me kind of want to bring that conversation
quickly back to Walsh,
because you highlighted that he's top three this stage.
Don't forget, he was top four last stage as well.
I mean, I think he debuted in kickoff from memory,
but kickoff was pretty short,
like you only played a couple of games.
So now that he's put together stage one and stage two,
top four and a top three. For someone that's basically just started this year, how do you
kind of rank him? Like, is he a top five player in the region or do you need more body of work
going into next year? I want to see a little bit more, but he's certainly like one of the
promising young rookies who are in the conversation for rookie of the year, for sure. And if he can
keep that consistency, which is the biggest problem, typically plaguing rookie players, then
yeah, I mean, he'll certainly become a mainstay. And if he's in a good system, I think Prez is
looking to build a good system with this team, then anything as possible. Sky is the limit
for 7, but yeah, I'm interested to see how Chalet specifically goes, because like you said,
we haven't seen 7 play Chalet. They also didn't play it in stage 1 as well.
Anios on the flip side, we saw them go 12 rounds against EP on this map in the first playday. So
clearly one that Anios have a few feathers in their cap for, a few notches in their belt,
Also very much a map where you have to have a good attack. I noticed Anios ban up the Izami. I saw the stat run through our
Feed at the start 70% win rate or something with Izami for Walsh
So very powerful operator on this map not having that is army is going to be a challenge
There's far fewer places you can sit safely on Shelly
Well, I guess if you pick everything you don't need the key to barriers to hide behind
Yeah, the mirror loss as well. So you think about like mez position and holding that later on you know a game site
That's gonna be weakened for seven. I think it's gonna be a really good test yesterday
When I was cousin with Guzz and I were playing arcade seven for the first time
This has actually looked a little bit sloppy at times and certainly against an opponent in arcade who have struggled
This is Walsh though doing Walsh things doesn't find anything on the solar repel
He'll get back into the building on the solos
I think this would be a really good test because 7 will come into this game giving Anios far more respect
I just didn't feel like they gave arcade a lot of respect and in the end they won at 7-3
I think on just sheer skill
But this is the kind of match knowing and this is where the outside circumstances play a factor
Anios need to win this game
So they're gonna throw everything they've got at this match proxies being
Sensational and I said yesterday chef Jeff had a really bad game
But when chef Jeff plays well, he's confident and he gets kills early the whole team rises
He's like the barometer, even if Proxy's their best player.
Which is another young gunner who has, you know, put together a really solid year.
I mean, he was top 13 in stage one and Proxy's now top five this stage.
So really good to see how lively the Oceanic region has been this calendar year.
Halfway through the round, ACOG's going to be the ones to take a first bit of
damage over towards this office golfing position, towards Ego, machine pressuring
from this men's position.
I don't know if you were aware, but Mishim was a very last second pick up to fill out the annuals for Osta
And he's just been trying to plug the hole as best possible
Playtables previously, but Walsh finds the backstab onto proxy across fire as well from the snowmobile flank
Support pink you good first kill there for seven
As you said proxy very strong player both stage one stage two also massive shout out from chef Jeff in that very depressed
interview after her team Arneos beat I think it was Circulus Gears really
proxy just got a lot of praise for Chef Jeff in that game clearly something
he said is the best up-and-comer in the region
well she's gonna run through his money
and little stalled out now though so this is where your next step in this
plan is Chef Jeff. He's library stairs throughout the smokes layer those try
and see if you can get a bit of power play off the glass
That's just unlucky, but at the same time had to do something Bailey well set up
And now through versus five twenty seconds and unfortunately Fanny us as well
Not really in a good position to actually even still hit the site
They're still kind of in the clip towards the site step of the plan machine got one
Numbers are still though with seven a razor also got one here comes chef chef
Little too late to the party will not be given time or space to win this round seven
We'll take the opening round.
We have a quiet start here on Chalet.
Very much. I mean just a patient around there from 7, a little bit of a
pokey roam from Walsh. He's looking to be all over the map at once, not playing any specific position,
just looking for ways to disrupt going for that early run out. Doesn't find anything. That's fine.
Go back inside, keep doubling back around and then as Anios took control of Mez and looked to try and breach and execute,
he was just there for a quick backstab, but not overextending, not getting greedy for a second kill.
He finds his one he falls back and then lashes out for a second later just at the right moment a good team right there from seven a
Little frustrating moment for me with seeing the way that a cove just had a little love tap on the balcony here before he went for the
Kiwanhive he just
Once and that was so unnecessary
Bailey was actually holding a pretty off aggro angle and if a cocky peach that he might have found the three beat feet seen the barrel
of Bayley's gun so unfortunate moment there for ACOG. You mentioned machine a recent addition to
the Rostown in machine and ACOG were quite the duo back on that old rock LFO TSG roster last year
so I don't doubt that ACOG probably advocated for machine said guys I know we've just lost
wetables to chiefs but I know a guy we should get him in ACOG and machine were a pretty strong duo
as well back in that day that thing really punched above its weight for a team that kind of came
out of nowhere. They didn't have any experienced tier one players on the roster. It was like
purely just tier two players that came up through open calls. They really made a name for themselves
so much so that the remaining players from that roster are now on top teams in this region.
I think the most important thing for any of us here in this first half is don't let this
game get out of reach. You know, it came in with good vibes as we saw in the games,
But those vibes can quickly go away when you go 2-0 down, 3-0 down, 4-0 down, and then you start to hang your head.
So they've got a good setup in this round.
A kitchen dining bomb site, but you've got really good execute utility off the ying, the glass, you've got the sends as well with the REUs, the blitz.
So clearly the kind of composition that with the anios, it's all about, well, what's the overall strategy of the round?
All five need to be on the same page and execute.
And if they do that, they've clearly got the lineup to be able to follow through.
Is it going to be top four clear? Is it going to be direct to the site?
That's going to be the main question, because it's a 3-2 split set up by the defense,
and it's a double kill immediately on the entry towards West Main.
7 looked pretty clued on, had good presence, direct close to site.
It wasn't a full stack up above.
Sansara used, really didn't offer much in sort of cutting off these lines of sites.
They went for a bit of a split push, didn't work.
best hope now would be somehow can you get this plant down without then losing proxy so chef jeff to cover no immediate response and
So they will get the plant down to be for now the post plant positions are absolutely critical
Problem is this diffuser is in a very awkward spot in a place
There's a lot of ways that you can defend this as a defender who gets on that kit
The chef and proxy both have to have a big impact chef expose himself now proxy in the one before post plan
I asked him to do all the work himself whilst we'll find him.
A nice idea to set play there from Team Annios, but it really did not work whatsoever.
Seven saw where those ROUs were tossed out, far before the execute happened,
and that gave Prez the space to just call out, okay, I think they're going to go for this.
I think for the most part it was seven just on vertical angles,
killing these Annios players as they entered.
So a little bit undercooked there from Team Annios, and not a lot of levity on their faces, unfortunately.
as you say, gotta be careful not to let the mental get away from them.
That's what I'd like to see teams adapt a little bit more with the RAUs because as you said it, perfectly.
When those RAUs go out, shields go out, it's like, oh, they're attacking.
But what if you have everyone set up for a top floor hit, so you throw the RAUs first floor,
simulating that sort of West main push, but everyone's actually set up to go and hit top floor instead,
with the Blitz, the Glaz, etc. You can catch teams then by surprise.
surprise because it's such an easy read and on a bombsite such as that where
there's a 3-2 split it doesn't really matter whether you go top floor or
second floor you should have the outnumber. If you go second floor you
divert play becomes a factor as well and there's no pressure on those
defenders on the top floor they can quickly rotate back down either through
hatch or back over towards solid stairs. So they had to go on top floor clear first
catch them off guard win that maybe becomes a 4v3 then you've got top floor
control you can maybe make something more of the round but I wonder if the
anios is that too much of a strapped foot play and there's a lot of
complications that go into that. Unfortunately you can't take shortcuts in
siege and that looked like a bit of a shortcut kind of round. Go for direct
hit, hope for the best, didn't work. If I'm anios, I don't think I'm gonna be looking for 5D5X, I think you've got to hunt some of these around this time, find a few picks, even if you end up going for a 3v3 or a 4v4 execute.
ideally a 4v3 but I think it's worth it like these set plays aren't going to
work against the 7 especially when they bring a lot of plant denial a lot of
anti-execute arms I mean you look at this you got clash you got smoke you got
two nitro cells plus the traps to prevent the rushes from the Lucy batches
this is the perfect kind of setup to prevent you from going for a set play
execute and you also need to be aware of that they need to make sure that they're
doing the job of peeling back the layers of the defense rather than going for a
make it or break it type of exit.
Oh, I agree. That's better. Finally.
So first opening kill and onto the clash.
So here you go. This is your first real opportunity now.
Good early start to the round.
And then they immediately lose machine on the Daymos to Walsh.
By the way, now it's a 4 and 0.
Just below the ACOG, Pinko catches Chef Jeff.
Nothing, he was looking up and then gets a razor to splite the Candela spam
towards mezz, Pinkoos found two and that immediately offsets the push from team
Anios trying to go again pretty direct and quick. Jeff Jeff just pushing through
the main lobby wanted to get into the bar but they still hadn't cleared mezzanine.
So it's again back-to-back rounds now where they're just trying to take these
little shortcuts these quicker avenues and it's costing them.
Need some utility here to kill Pinkoos but it's gonna be tough when LoL is just
supporting him from behind. 1v4 now for proxy. All the praise in the world won't win him a 1v4.
Pinku finds another pick. This guy man, how does he keep dropping into OCE and having standout
performances every single year it feels like Pinku is back and man today he is really back.
That was his round for sure in the bag. Three in a row for seven as it's a chance now to go for
an op-band. If I'm anyos like I don't know what you go for here there's so many different things
seven have shown but just pick one thing stick with it. It's gonna be the thorn okay. He'll
away at the traps. Anyos now take their tactical time out straight away. And Pinkwood top six in
stage one top 11 here in stage two so I mean as you kind of alluded to he's just got that ability
pop up being impact player and a big reason why the seven roster just looks really fleshed out now
especially with the addition of Tarkas, another new up-and-comer. Walsh continues to improve.
Prez is also having a solid surgeon. Five kills in this game from Prez. Five and zero.
Like, he just looks really comfortable with this roster, what his role is on the team.
And Bayley as well is that kind of player that two can perform. He was top seven
back last stage. He's top 14 this stage. So they've just got good consistent performers.
And I think when you then throw on someone like Walsh, who's clearly got so much talent and has been able to now do it back to back stages.
So you've got your high end, which is Walsh, then your Pinkoos and your Baileys, your Prez, you're going to typically get a good performance out of them.
Taka's a rookie, brand new this stage, has shown good quality, hasn't quite maybe had the same level of consistency,
but you're expecting that from someone in their first stage usually.
Green will start out of the timeout and unfortunately now for Andy, he came into the game with the right mindset, but the actual gameplay, you've just been beaten up.
Seven are looking really strong. And this looks like a seven. And again, respects their opponent. I think went into yesterday, maybe a bit sloppy, a little bit sluggish.
We spoke to Nebsi after the fact. He was quite happy with their clubhouse. I felt like they could have done better against an opponent like Arcade, but this kills me with more confidence that not only will seven make top four,
but they can actually be a threat to your chiefs and your EPs.
I mean, that would be the next level, right?
That's the thing that we haven't yet seen from seven.
We've seen them dominate teams like ManLFO.
We've seen them put close contests against chiefs,
but we haven't seen them actually look to battle those teams.
And of course, after and loss...
Seven-five loss against chiefs is, you know, respectable.
It's not bad. It's not bad.
It's not a win yet, but there's still time for that, right?
like EPs their next game.
EPs are really in a spot where they need to be,
because losing that game with circular spheres
on an EP, they're very much killable.
They lost 7-2.
If you find an EP on a bad day,
7-2 absolutely beat them,
but they have to prove it to themselves
and to everybody watching.
I just think it would be fantastic
to see these guys at LAN.
Bring back Prez to LAN,
see the young gunners actually in a LAN environment,
playing in front of the crowd and see if they can do it.
That is some range on that Ryora.
Yeah, I mean, oh, Walsh just,
he's had another garage run out, I think, on the Repel.
This time he actually found two.
We saw it earlier in the half,
and he didn't find anyone.
This time he runs it back, finds two,
and the round is over.
And that's not what you want out of a timeout.
Minute into the round for Anios,
like you just again,
heard the damp in any kind of spirits
that maybe you had coming into this game
didn't really get to go for this,
They don't play with the Reora here on this top floor.
Round is over.
And like that's just the moralizing as a team.
If you lose, but you try,
you can maybe walk away with a bit more content
than going into the next round.
But you lose like this.
You didn't even get to actually employ your strategy,
get a foot into the building.
It's just a horrible feeling.
Yeah, you're right.
I think Annie is just showing us again
that they really want to go for a set play
to have a really specific plan in mind
and they want to execute it
and seven love to play destructively. Walsh going for a run out, Bailey peeking a window.
They also play together, they time this aggression. They have layers to their defenses, they also
pivot to play crossfires off of each other when the situation requires it, so they are
looking very solid here. And unfortunately for Anios, I don't know how to bring a solid
back into it. Yeah, I mean, maybe not. This is just consolation
frags. There's surely no way that A-Gog actually clutches this.
I think that's a little moment there from Tark when, you know, you're on one kill,
you're watching Walsh run around the map, do what he wants.
Prez has got five kills. Yeah, exactly. It's like, get me a kill.
He was attempting fate there at trophy stairs for a while,
and then he wanted to try and catch a timing on the end of that spray,
but just walks into the bullets. Look, four nil for seven.
And they've been really, really solid.
I think this has actually been their best four rounds that I've seen from them
this stage, like genuinely. Because even in that game against Chiefs, that was on Fortress
back on Play Day 2, it was competitive, but Chiefs were, you know, like when a team is
always ahead, they've got largely the control of the game. Yes, it's 7-5, but Chiefs were
always that 1 or 2 rounds ahead. It's that kind of game. And that was also when, of course,
Prez got that 1v5. So that's a stolen round, really. So I think for me, this has been the
best first four rounds I've seen from seven this stage. They've just been so clinical, ruthless,
three opening kills, whilst just playing run out simulator, eight and zero start,
two zero on the entry, further solidifying what a top talent he is that he just knows the right way
to be aggressive. I feel like any else in a way are losing to themselves. They're spending so much
time as if it's a dry run. Guys, okay, you're gonna stay here. I'm gonna put a railroad. You guys
We're parallel up there and the idea is this and you get the whiteboard out you draw a diagram
And there's some nice little arrows and everyone's and then you're dead because wolf run out exactly and then you know
Everyone's got a plan to get punched in the face with seven of throwing punches
Annie us I don't care what the blueprints say. I don't care what your straplessness is
You gotta play the game that's in front of you and sometimes
Overcooking things a little bit too much on the strats means you get a little bit distracted and as soon as that mental starts to slip away
way than it's GD and I don't know if that's approaching here for Anios, but they sorely
need an attack. Like even an attack that just looks close. The problem is we're going for
a one and done type execute as soon as the plan goes slightly awry and the round is done.
I would much rather see Anios do something messy and sloppy but makes it close and maybe
the players think hey that's okay. You know we have a chance, we've made the best of a
bad situation. But these rounds are just ending before they even begin and it's-
It's the same case here, I mean even just sitting on rappels, a kill here, a kill there, and 7 are already in a winnable position.
That's kind of like when we spoke to Wizard, right? He had a pretty good read on the way that Arcade were going to play.
Look, the team had a good read. And it's like, but Anios coming into this game on a map like Charley, Walsh, and he's aggression and the run out potential that we see from him on any given map.
You've got to be more switched on more ready. Where are the claymores? Where are the air jabs?
Where are you know, where's the read into the playstyle of seven and the adaptation is the rounds have gone on and on
Chef chef gets a nice kill on to talk 3v3. So a little bit of stabilization for the first time in a while
I'm just going to play the slow game here for Amios, never mind, double peek there from
7.
That's insane from Prez, like a pop-up shot like that and from that distance of the UMP,
I mean he's in some fine form.
He wants that land.
It certainly does, it would be great to see him back in land.
and machine now need to work together trying to cook with the riora these
angles though that machine is approaching dangerous deadly nice work
impact grenade this is the most dirty thing I've ever seen the shots through
the floor there was a bulletproof camera as well to help seven along with it five
rounds in a row this isn't the contest this is just an annihilation team any
ass looks so checked out right now yeah and look the only downside of this game
is going to be the fact that you can't officially say seven they're going to make
finals because they're going to be still on 12 points but they're round differential now as
well it's just going to get a massive boost so look they're effectively going to be one foot in
the door they probably only will need one more point and technically could lose their last two
games and still get through based on ground differential and the way other games play out
I kind of don't want to go into the interview and say congratulations you've made packs but
But the way that they're playing in this game especially, and the stage now overall,
I mean, they've got to now consider, they're not just scraped, they're not one of those
teams that are scraping into Pax James, fill out the numbers, oh we made top four, cool,
we get to go.
They actually will have a chance to go into a second major.
The way that they're playing, if they just rock up at Pax in the best form of their life,
catch an EPR chiefs on a bad day, get into a grand final, play the other, they're not
that far behind them.
I like that's the way that they're playing the level that they're playing they've got a top player in prayers in
Press is also playing really well. It clearly got a solid team
And also after speaking to nebs yesterday just seemed very clued on as a coach, so they're just
They're in that position to make this league go from a two-horse race
Or maybe two and a half
and another round and chef he is dead first I would pay good money to know
what the team comp sounded like as chef Jeff right there because I tell you right
now I don't think things are sounding pretty in the team any of us voice chat
right now down out the traps you ban out the hard anchor operators nothing
seems to be working I'd almost rather be playing against a zombie and nearer here
because you've just given seven a license to run amok and that's exactly
for what they want to do.
Ailey was killed first, last time that Seven defended this bombsite, and Annias was still
unable to convert 5v4.
Surely they won't be able to steal a 4v5?
That's it!
Good control!
Problem is, Pinku on the mezzanine is the single player that won this bombsite for Seven last
time around, and he's looking very well fortified.
No presence from the mezzanine balcony itself, which we're exposing right now.
If there was someone in that position, he'd be a dead man.
And no candela's left because Orazzo used them all to just get library control so it didn't save one or two to also then clear push mehs
Quad and hive launcher with the bees not quite pinging his location, but they should know that he's very much stuck here
The real watch is gonna be can Prez get through this game without dying 7 and 0 although as soon as I mentioned it now
I'm also expecting he will probably die
He's still alive, and now they'll need him to stay alive. 3v4, that's a bit of clear. Huck also falls,
and so suddenly Adios might find their first attacking round in the final round of this half, down to Bayley and Prez.
Well, if Prez can stay alive through this game, it's going to take a big round as Bayley with a double kill inside a bar!
2v2, and Prez still has three gas babes in bar stock.
Yeah, Prez still hasn't died yet in this game, by the way, and I don't think that's going to change.
Jake, I have a very bad feeling for Anios here.
On the 4v2, I don't think that they're going to win it.
I have a good feeling about Bayley and Prez in this position.
30 seconds, you set it with the gastus delay time, and Bayley is looking hot with this SMG.
The problem with Bayley is kind of stuck here towards bar.
So, if Anios are clued onto this, they can go double swing with ACoC, pushing in from fireplace stairs,
go through the doorway, proxy through the other.
other and yeah that's basically kind of what ended up happening prez will finally tie and he also
get themselves their first round five one down heading into the second half seven though an
absolutely faultless half until that last round they're looking really strong and imagine they
should take this out into the next half.
Well, President's up dying and Anios also get the final round of the half.
Are the tides turning James or is it just a one-off?
Anios go defense down this second half, needing to string together quite a few rounds to make
this competitive.
Seven also one round away from denying Anios the ability to get all three points, which
to be honest, they probably need all three points as well.
Seven do have the second best attacking win rate in the league above enterprise
by the way by 9% 9% higher than enterprise 63% attack win rate that's
12 out of the 19 attack rounds they play of course you got to take into account
the fact that they played some dominant games like against manual phone
fortress for example but yeah the stats don't lie and one good round for
The Aniosk does not allay an entire half of woes in my view.
It's nice for Aniosk, they've done the first step, but it's a very much a long uphill battle
for Sisyphus from here on out.
Aniosk on the defense though, notice Seven actually gets rid of the Wumai in the Thorn,
leaving in his army, leaving in Mira, a lot of power positions to be created by Aniosk,
but those power positions will not be defended by that Wumai.
Yeah, look I agree, I don't think one round is going to change the landscape, but for
Adios now as they go on defense they could have clearly continued to just try.
They can't just probably play this in that sort of defensive mindset.
I think they're going to have to go for these kind of plays like Chef Jeffle and the Orcs,
can they get early picks, really weak in the attack before seven, really get into that
set position to go for execute, set them up on the attack as you mentioned have been really,
really good this stage.
They're a very instinct team, like Walsh might have the freedom to kind of entry and play
these solo left positions, but it's almost similar to like Jigsaw back in the day when
you can afford certain players, they get that license because they typically win their fights
more often than not.
Walsh is that player at the moment, the way he's been performing this year.
So Walsh can kind of go to his own thing, then the other four all going to systematically
be looking to set up for the overall plan.
And that's where I think the 7, it sets them apart from a team like Anios, when they've
got that extra trump card up their sleeve, whereas for Anios it was just all over the
place.
I'm really curious as to how 7 are going to attack, whether they're going to keep playing
really aggressively or whether they're going to play a much slower, more methodical style.
Anos tried to go for a methodical execute-focused attack, rather than lurking, which is much harder with that solo-span.
Typically, when you see teams get really aggro on that roam game on the defence, they want to go for a lurk on their attack.
Run out from ACOG, Annie also can get a lot more comfy now that their sides are swapped, and Bayley gets picked off for a 7.
seem a little bit lost here. Both teams seem to struggle with this aggressive defensive style.
Looking for the top down, this office clear. They've got still some good numbers. You got
Chef Jeff by himself first floor. The good news for Anios though is they're really defending
this top floor. So good reading to the attack from seven. So they can kind of meet seven head
on on this top floor. Worst case, it ends up being a bit of an equal fight. That's a win now
because they got that opening kill. I think for 7 they're gonna need Walsh to
sort of make the play, but where's that play gonna come from on the Deimos? He's
just been kind of sitting around fireplace for a while now. That's just not
offering enough and you got Chef Jeff on the roam basement too, so you could get
caught if Chef Jeff actually goes towards fireplace. I don't think Walsh will
be ready for that. Now machine, nice kill as well from Office on to Tarkus. This is a
little too stalled out from 7. Too much posturing, sitting here not doing a
law, not a lot in this round. His death mark has been going out, but not really playing
off, but no one really wants to push forward. It's really fizzled out. I mean, they haven't
really done anything in this seventh round to test defense of Anios.
Yeah, very much so. The breach on the wall is not really providing a lot of...
They're still waiting for Anios to just run at them.
Yeah, and Anios just sit back and wait. It might be a trade here if Walsh is lucky, but
No, he falls on back. He's just gonna try and find a few consolation picks. He doesn't find much.
Anios, yeah, a few smiles, especially from Sheffi there.
I think he's starting to realize, guys, these guys have nothing on their attacking side.
They might have gone 5-1 against us on defense, but if their attacks continue to be like that, we can absolutely come back here.
And I think if you any of us you're happy with that round for two reasons number one defensively
They didn't slip up no one over peak no one was out of position. No one kind of gave freebies
Number two is that I'm playing in that way seven also just got stalled out and didn't really know what to do
And so that can build that confidence of hey if we can continue to play in that sort of fashion
And we don't feed them pigs. Yeah, they're a good attacking team
But we're not gonna make them a great attacking team and give ourselves the best chance
In this second half to stream together some defensive rounds similar to what seven did
Sometimes we get these kind of games even on a map like Chalet, which certainly has really good avenues on the attack
and and typically ends up being a kind of 50-50 map, but sometimes it just ends up being defender sided because
teams
You know defend well on the day other teams may be honest great at attacking into it
and it's just the way it plays out so if you're any like you've still got a bit of belief here
you gotta have belief on that defensive side if you have confidence to go for spawn picks like
that from Sheffy also just loving the fact this guy's on the plumber torrents still continuing to
do so he can run amok both of these teams on their defense want to play hyper aggressive hyper mobile
and what my chef does find himself up against the shield in a 1v1 he's pretty slated to win that
with that oryx so it gate keeps these how operators that any other selected not the band
Jeff running back the oryx here for bedroom office again i like this though because i think
from the perspective of adding hysterics probably anticipating seven especially
like the Walsh or Binku I hope for these sort of lurk entries
Chef Jeff will back himself in the Walsh is that made a little tumble off the top of the roof
the best brookie of the year it happens look it happens to everyone
that is the best of us for sure
unfortunate it happens caught on camera and unfortunate that seven just looked so pitifully
lost on this half compared to what we saw from defense I mean look if if
Annie else really lock in here and seven don't find much else here this is a very
long game. Well it didn't overcommit and it's just kind of like inadverted
pressure really there from Chef Jeff opening up this run out potential for
those that are on the solar repel it's like well now we've got to be mindful
So there we go, there's the runout. Didn't quite catch the timing.
At least they get into Solar, so no longer that rappel threat.
Chef Jeff will rotate back through Basement then into the site.
Sevens do have the extra player alive until that moment from Proxy.
Crades come back and forth, leaves us in the 2 vs 2.
Chef Jeff still roaming around first floor on the Oryx towards Kitchen.
Tux just made his way up Profi's stairs to group up with Pinku towards Solar.
I'll find you.
45 seconds, a raise inside a piano.
Chef Jeff will make the move in from behind.
Chef Jeff needs to get on the move,
unless he feels to see if he can play or make a play from
his kitchen position, even come up through the hatch.
There's no info on site.
There's no bulletproof camps that any else is spectating.
This is just a planned retake here.
Chef tries to make his way up, solar stairs.
to crossfire here for seven, they're going to have to duel and they successfully do that
with Tuck finding both of them. First round on the board on the attacking side for seven,
a messy one, but all that matters is now their own match point.
Yeah, it's unfortunate for Anios because I think as much as we were hoping they'd breathe life into
this game and make a semblance of a comeback and keep their hopes for finals alive, that pretty
pretty much puts a line through it already.
Like the max they can get from this game now
is two points, that would put them to five,
they can only get to then 11.
You already got a team like Sharkademy
that's still needing to also get to the same point tally.
Round differential's gonna play a factor.
You look at the last couple of games for Annie,
I said, do still play RK,
but then you're still gonna play Chiefs.
I just don't see how they're gonna beat Chiefs.
So even if they could get to 11,
which I don't think will be enough either,
I think they're beating Chiefs and now unfortunate for Chef Jeff on the rotate back up trophies. There's that was the moment there
Hit those shots. Maybe it's a bit more doable seven hit to six
And it's the Thunderbird time he is your favorite, mate
He is the best Thunderbird player in the world. It is statistically proven
They're best Thunder player Thunderbird playing the world finally enough actually as much as we kind of joke and mean about it, right?
And it certainly can be I think it was against circular spears back on plate a three
They actually got some really good value out of the Thunderbird like a couple of times
The corner stations they heal up a bit quicker now ever since the previous bar, but it's also based on the playstyle
So when chef Jeff brings this Thunderbird, I know it's get a little bit more aggressive take gunfights
They get wounded, but then they go back and heal up and it's like nothing happened
Yeah, look
A lot of people are very skeptical about the value of the Thunderbird
Don't you have a skepticism about the value of the TCSG, though, from Proxy?
Massive spawnpeek there. Tuckman, never go on the rock.
Rule one of Chalet, never go on the rock.
That's kind of what I was also speaking about.
While Proxy doesn't end up taking any damage, you can go for some more of those plays.
And so you imagine if you had to take in a bit of damage for that kill sometimes even down to you know
Five HP or something like that you go back corner station here. Love so look
I'm not trying to say that the bird should become better
But it can have some value
Also is impersonating jigsaw here the jigsaw balcony position
If you love Thunderbird you need to go so thank you. He wants to see Rook become better
It's a similar profile of Operator.
Well he also thinks Maestro is like the best off in the game, so I don't know.
He's just love seeing Maestro, he really does. He's a bit addicted to it.
Here's finally the entry from Seth, and when planning doesn't work out,
what's the entry look like? Well, Chefy will go down on that Thunderbird,
no amount of healing will take out his headshot.
Yeah, no corner stations kind of bring you back from the grave.
Haha.
Well, Pres is very low on HP, he's shifted a lot of damage to his feet, and Bailey is
now snapping him back in the chat.
Pres is very low on HP and now Walsh is on the floor.
This looks pretty winnable here.
Oh, never mind, maybe if Pinky wins that fight, it might be a chance here for seven.
I think I'm going to go back to the base and see if I can get to the base.
Machine nitrocell? Yeah, connects. I mean, press was already quite low.
Pinky, then falling nice double kill from machine to just keep Anios in this game a little longer.
Walsh is great.
Is he this great?
No.
There's a little crossfire there. Yeah, I mean, very solid crossfire from the Jager and the mirror there on Anios.
You can bob up and down from the staircase and peek from the doorway.
way, they just have full information. Credit to Anios, but again, very close, very messy,
around that quite in contrast Jake to when Pinanios were on the attacking side, these
seven attacks, they're much more chaotic and we end up in 4v4s, 3v3s, really early, rather
than it being about one singular set push that either goes big or does nothing.
So Ella Deimos Benz. Ella Benz, huh? Really want to lean into that Monty.
Well, the Racer has been also playing at every single round so far, so you take that away
from him, helps the Monty. Look, I mean, three rounds is not impossible on defense,
So I mean, Arneos have just got to keep hope alive that they can get back into this game,
get some points.
That would be a big depth for them.
For them, they would clearly like to get all three points.
Especially considering big matchup next week against the EP, Jeff Jeff I think just letting
loose now.
Yeah, he is successfully getting Rageblade 5-7.
For Anyos here, like one round at a time is the only way you can play it.
The problem is, 7 have all of the shields still up and they've banned two trap operators, plus the Wumae.
So yeah, Anyos have the Azami, they have the Muradakrey power positions.
But they're also running a bit of an odd comp here.
You've got traps in the form of the malusia, but that really just slows people down with denies that look pretty well counted.
And then, you're trying to make work of the Solus and the Oryx, but they're both very loose operators.
A lot of active utility in this defensive setup, as Jeff Ailey dodges those bullets.
I love the persistence though from Chef Chef to have a bit of fun in this second half.
Oryx Thunderbird back to the Oryx.
It hasn't been working for him and it's been a bit of a rough stage for Chefy.
Jeffy, first start of all, back in the opening playday against Enterprise.
He ran right on this map and I think the Oryx actually played a big factor in it but ever
since then it's just been a very difficult stage and again as I said I think he's the
the barometer on this team when he's up and about.
You can't just be proxy and ACOG.
They need Chef Jeff to be performing.
He sits 30th rated, actually the lowest rated besides a Razer
machine, which one's a last second fill in.
The other's a bit more of that supported player.
So you need Chef Jeff, bit and firing,
around to see if he can have an impact on this oryx.
How many seconds to go in this round?
It brings into action and Pinky falls as well.
The seven struggling to recompose after that initial pick would lash out from Anios.
Still this top floor, very much the place where the sausage is made here for Team Anios.
You win or lose this and you win or lose the round and therefore the game.
3v3 I mean look they've been some pretty close rounds in this half press going to go for the plane side of dining
That's to be a quick response love the lion's game good timing on the move from machine and chef chef
So press goes for the plant they pop the lion's skin to catch them out get the information
One for one trade, but that's also planted down hit on the floor top. That's just not gonna be safe
Adios they keep things going. I think chef Jeff with a little what was that at the end to on the camera and it's six four
Two in a row, but most importantly you look at the wider scope of this it's four of the last five rounds now
Yeah, indeed it is and seven are gonna take their tactical time that much needed as well a couple of rounds there where they had the advantage
They had the picks but they fell victim by going for something a little bit too predictable
And any or still had control to go for those retakes and deny the plan from up above now
They've got to lock in they've got to step up to more attacks left
But this is their best chance yet because it's going to be master bedroom or basement bar games and kitchen dining
I'll both blocked up. Nebsi can get in their ears and say okay guys
We know the bomb site we can talk real mind you should hear of the strats for this next up coming round a
Good time out from Nebsi six ball game hasn't quite gone the way you'd like at this point
This is also the bomb side that they've won before Jake as well on the tracking side.
That was Tark going big with the 3k, getting the plant down.
Anios ran again a very loose setup. This time they don't have the LR. I wonder what they're gonna go for.
We've got the Nari, Amira making her way into the top floor for the first time.
Wonder if the intention is to extend towards the library side.
Perhaps a mirror on the bomb side, I mean there are some of the sides that work on-site itself.
Chanko as well, that's a nice one.
Two deployable shields, Azami and Mira, this is a lot of power positions.
I think if you're honest, you probably feel like you win this round.
Overtime almost would be inevitable. As you said, this is the side that 7-1, it's the only side that they've won.
I've been largely in control in a lot of the other rounds starting to get more influence from chef Jeff
He continues to have fun as he brings out the nor we saw it yesterday for the first time in O's I
Was on that haven labs little tube around nor
Combination on the IT wall don't know if chef Jeff is
Gonna be playing it in the same fashion
He just wants to run around with the Commander-9 and have a bit of fun, bailiff as well.
Always play this identically to the oryx.
There we go.
Very strange line up here.
I'm very keen to see what they're planning on cooking with it.
I'm seeing the Sands being used to try and prevent these windows from being peaked here.
I'm seeing these quite a few different ways to cover each of these two windows.
They're going to bait out the swing.
There's 7 R&D preparing for something.
Everyone's still outside the building.
I don't think they're planning on taking map control,
killing away the layers.
This is smelling like it's going to be a hard execute on the solar
with support from Big Window here.
Does that destroy the...
Actually, that doesn't destroy the edge of it.
If he's practised this and that destroys the air jab, that is actually a really good use
of gnaw.
I think it must, it probably does.
I don't know if chef jeff knows chef gnaw.
I mean that's the only reason he could have put it in that position to specifically destroy
the air jab.
cool idea, meanwhile Walsh tries to find a bit of aggro, I think he was the player on
solo window, groxy takes him down, traded though by pinkoo, he actually doesn't get
into the solo, before he gets taken down, I don't think there's anyone on big window
right now anyway, oh, are we on different beans the way you're casting this, I'm just
watching Chef Jeff play around with the Horus Launcher. I've got the kill feed and the stuff
down the bottom of the screen for a good reason. And there's a shanky here. It's going to be
good. Oh, okay. Finally, Chefy comes out from the big garage and takes down Tuck. Now Bailey
and Prez are in a really rough spot, but if they find a pick or two, we should have done
so. It's now all up to Chefy. He has to come back for the flank. Yeah, can't play around
with the Horus launcher now 30 seconds.
Prez didn't quite get on the plane straight away
and that gives them a chance onto Bailey.
But Bailey puts an end to the Chef Jeffs
shenanigans of Chalet.
After four of the last five rounds went the way of Adios.
A little comeback, seven snuff it out
and they get all three points from this match.
They go to 12, a little scare at the end.
But these boys are firmly on their way to Pax.
12 points on the standings for seven.
They're right up there, right up top, and well on their way to making it to playoffs.
And that means a land debut for a lot of these players.
Chesapeake go back to land for the old Prez, a big win for them today,
especially with such a dominant first half.
Five rounds in a row to just barely fumble the final defense.
And then all it takes is two attack rounds.
It can be the same bombsite twice, and indeed it was at the end.
That final round, though, certainly did not look like it was going their way.
after chef got that run out it felt like seven had nothing left couple of sharp
shots and the game is over any us a disappointment for today no doubt about
it I think particularly because of that 0-5 start it can't just like that you
can't afford to go down 0-5 no you can't and I said at the start of this
world the first four rounds of seven I think the best four rounds would seem
from them this stage and well eventually any of us did respond it was a little
through late, but at least they did respond. I think for
Anios' sake, it was a good way to close the game out rather
than just saying and conceding after a five-nothing start
that, okay, well, boys, we're not gonna hit the backs. We
don't care anymore. They at least kind of dug deep, gave a
good chance, but in the end, seven-two, good. Deserved a
win. I mean, again, there's just a fantastic start from seven,
five-nil to begin with, and I think that's probably my key
takeaway. Well, it did get a bit scrappy towards the end. The
the larger part of the result was done earlier.
Let's go to our interview with Prez.
12 points, mate.
You're very much close to Pax and a land appearance.
Obviously the job's not done.
You still got next week.
One more point, we'll 100% lock it in.
How are you feeling?
Yeah, we're stoked, we're stoked.
We've been working so hard over the off season
and during the season.
And it's good to see that all that hard work's paying off.
So, to be proud of the boys
and to be proud of how we're playing
and hopefully we continue hopefully
through the packs now.
Yes, speaking of, I mean, you've had quite a long career
press starting as a sub way back in the day.
Yeah, and then re-qualifying into pro league with your own
team and for quite some time, I mean, at the young age of 23,
which is still pretty young to be in those esports,
you've been playing for such a long time on so many different
teams and you've been a leadership figure in a lot of them.
You've also led some teams on LAN.
Now, last year you played at the tier two packs event,
or so I'm not actually was the right one a lot of us. Yeah, that's right. The lipstick to your rivals. That's right
What would it be like to go back to land? Is that your would be a second land like third land?
I'm trying to think you've had such a long career on so many teams
And wait, it's only been a second length
I mean I've been around for so long now, but second one
So it's good to be the first T1 land though is obviously the wrecked on his T2
So, I don't know, personally for me it's good to see that all the years are starting to finally show.
Obviously I wish I could have made a lane earlier than what has happened, but I don't know, it's kind of just
keep working, put my head down, ignore the outside noise and just act myself really.
Well, you're guaranteed to stay in the top two at the end of today's playday as well.
How does that feel for a lot of the players on your team who are making their debut into tier one this year?
one this year? Haven't played a lot of comp before? Yeah I mean we haven't really been looking too much
at the standings because I think that's where we kind of went wrong last stage. Just kind of after
every playday we're looking at standings like oh we got to be top four so we can play close we'll
be top four and I think mentally going into that final playday against rival last stage
whether or not that affected us mentally knowing that we have to win this game to finish top four
So we had a major focus this stage and I mean it's cliche, but generally just game by game and
The wins will come if we play if we stick to what we know and we stick to our gameplay and then the wins will come I
Guess in some ways then going in the packs provided
You guys get there and it's looking very likely
Do you shift that mindset then to a soccer or is it does it stay game by game?
the game. Because it's very
easy to probably start thinking
ahead to what the overall big
possibility is and then stay
grounded and just another game
and things like that. But it's
probably more difficult to
maintain that mental approach
when you actually there in
Melbourne packs on the stage
with all the fans and what
you're fighting for essentially
is a soccer. Is that now a shift
from maybe coming into this
stage where can we just get top
four to Hey, we're actually
pretty good. We could even get
Yeah, uh, definitely definitely, I think
We're still gonna try our best to go into that as a game by game thing, but like it's a major
That's what we're all here to fight for that's what we're here to play for it's the majors
So it's definitely gonna be in the background lines, but we're just gonna make sure we stay composed and we don't
Let that influence how we go into those games mentally
You started 7-0 in this game press and at 8-5 what happened in the second half?
I don't know I don't know the attack half is a bit weird. It's it's kind of in the last two nights
kind of been I know if it's more like nerves of the team is like we're getting like good advantages
but I don't know I just make sure I do my job and I call my drone I try to get a plan going and if
I'm doing that then I'm happy I don't really care about the stat line give you the floor
any shout outs shout out seven is always the really good behind the scenes always supporting us always backing us
And shout team, you know, we've been working our asses off the last
eight ten months now, so
It's good to she have something to show for that
It's definitely showing inside of the server mate. Congratulations on the win and it's looking like we'll be able to catch up at packs
Can't wait. Have a good night guys
the game. I'm not sure if
it's going to be a good
game, but it's not going to
be a good thing, but a lot
would have to go against them
to miss out from here. Very
much so. And the circular
spheres will be one of their
contenders trying to steal the
spots. But yeah, it's very
unlikely they don't make it. I
the only universe where seven
failed to make packs as if
chiefs, EPCS and many sports
LFO overtake them and
funnily enough, CS and man
LFR actually about to play
each other, so they both can't
probably hoping a man LFO win, because then circular spheres, seven will be playing them and have their fate in their own hands.
That's the thing, maybe not James, because if man LFO beat circular spheres, circular spheres can still get to 13 points by beating
Chocademy and then seven next week, that would leapfrog seven and so if man LFO win this, they go to nine points, they then play Chiefs and then Chocademy.
So look, again, there is a world in which seven have their fate in their own hands against
they do. This is the last play they do. There is a word. That's all right. Look, it's 100%
locked in. I just want to reiterate that for seven. But, you know, they're on 12 points.
They're the first team to get to that sort of finish line for packs. It's just a matter
of they can cross through the barrier and get there. Still a lot to play out, not just
for today, but also the stage where we'll go to a break on the other side, though, this
This is when the games get really interesting, as you just alluded to James, Circular Spheres,
Man Alaphote still fighting for a top 4 spot, two teams equal on points, and then after
that, it's EP and Chiefs, so we've got some big games, don't go too far.
I'm 21 now, and when I think about my future, I want to be a world champion in Siege.
I think that careers in eSports don't last very long, you know, a lot of people retire
before they even hit the prime age of their life, you know, a lot of people retire before
they're even 25, before they're even 23.
Being 21 now, I think that I saw a few good years left in me.
I haven't even thought about retirement once.
For me at the moment, I want to go as long as I physically can, you know, if the accolades
and trophies come with it, then I'd be happy to.
I think that after I finish my time playing and I physically cannot play anymore, I would
I would either want to try my hand at coaching, I think that's something that I'm not sure if I'd be good at,
but I definitely have a passion for like teaching other people what I know and instilling a system that I would want to play in,
either that or go down the line of like some sort of content creation.
Mostly staying within the gaming space and probably within C as well, because that's where I have my community I have a following.
For me, there's a few things. I can content creation, I can kind of still scratch my competitive itch,
whether it be like co-streaming games or grinding ranked. I started from grinding ranked to the
top of the leaderboards. Content creation for me that's almost the same. It's like going back to
my roots. I really enjoy the community to get out of content creation. I was streaming for
probably a year and a half in the middle of like the bleed era and I built up a really nice community
of like people and I haven't streamed in like a year. I still have that community. They still talk
My discord and my Twitter community and stuff like that so building a community of people
That can support me and support each other talk to each other
I think that's definitely an awesome part of content creation
I like the idea of of being a celebrity basically first time I signed an autograph was in
DreamHack Japan in
2023 I had like 200 followers on Twitter or something so I was nowhere near like a celebrity status, but I remember
like a fan or something, probably someone I smashed and ranked at some point, they came
up to me and asked for an autograph and I had the biggest smile on my face but I was
trying to hold it down so I looked like an idiot. I was like half smiling and half trying
to be serious. Someone got a photo of it as well, one of the photographers and I saved
that photo and I looked back at it sometime and it just brings me the biggest smile.
The spotlight is definitely somewhere I like to be. My girlfriend says I'm a narcissist
I don't really know what that means,
but like being a star of the show.
My girlfriends helped me in many ways,
like emotionally, financially as well.
Like I said, you know, when I first started playing,
wasn't really making much money.
So she was helping me heaps like on that end.
She would even help me with like ideas
for like content creation and stuff like that.
I always talk to her about everything like related
to my job, so she helps me make like important decisions
or just helps me think and be a calm presence in my life.
So I owe a lot to her in terms of like where I am now,
she's a big part of my life.
Having a support network of friends, family, fans,
just having people to rely on and fall back on,
that puts me in a calm state of mind
so that when I'm working, when I'm playing at events,
stuff like that, I'm completely focused on the game
because I know that if anything goes wrong,
I have people to talk to and I have people I can rely on which is the most important thing for me.
I
I think it's over, I think it's over
you lose this in your spot at
packs. It's a little bit more
volatile. So certainly an
important game. CS of course
started the stage in some
really fine form. Then I'll
vote yesterday showcasing their
best game with that 71 win over
Antioz. It's a bit of a tough
read on it, but Circulus fears
one thing that they've got in
the back pocket is again it's
this compensation of the new
kids on the block as we're going
to have a look at their roster.
It's been the Nezarati show so
another high-impact young Gunner making his debut currently sits as the seventh rated player and then when you
Surrounded and this roster too is really nice than that
You've got goofed and karma been around a long time so with guppies and so the young gunners of Nezorati and sword don't have as
Much pressure on their shoulders
Yeah, for sure. This is a team that has a lot of promise. I think the circular spheres
Rostar's gonna say organization for a second
But the brand, as we can call it, has always been a bit of a funny one.
They've been known to be a bit of a meme team for a long time.
But a meme team that has produced an incredible talent.
I mean, you look at most of the players that are on Chiefs and EP.
Many of them have come through the Circulus Fierce Maker to catch a lunchbox.
Once upon a time, it was kind of a bit of a joke.
It was a bit of fun.
But now they're actually contenders.
the old six targets team that kind of was the continuation of this roster they didn't achieve a lot
and I think the circular spheres brand in stage two making its free debut has certainly changed
that conversation already as you said 75 arcade and then a 72 over EP barely losing to anios but
then suffering quite a significant loss to chiefs on villa in our last match that's really where
things started to take a downwards turn for cs but there's very much a real possibility they can
So, they've had a bit of an intriguing stage, very often down, getting to this point, but
to their say, hopefully it can remain more upwards.
This is a test now against Circulus Beers, because they can still play Chiefs next week,
along with Enchicademy, so arguably the three points in this game is most important, not
just for them to get the three points, get to nine, but also denying Circulus Beers.
you lose this CS go to 10 points then you have to play cheese I just don't see how then they would
actually get the packs without the three points from this game. Yeah very much that's why Manila
Fo who by the way in stage one with third place at the group stage they find themselves in a tough
spot now because they are on the outside looking in the in fifth at the moment as you said because
CS got overtime loss rather than a regulation loss manning sports are also one point behind
then. If it ever comes down to a round difference tiebreaker as well, Manila for in a tough spot
because they have that 1-7 and 0-7 loss strike on their record. So as you say, today it's CS,
next match it's Chiefs and then Shakademi, realistically you can't afford to be losing
more than one of those games and even a loss, it kind of needs to be an OT here. Men have the
pressure on them with EP and Chiefs being the obvious favorites in the league and 7 having
such a strong performance. CS having such a strong performance. CS might well be the
only team that actually beats EP in the regular stage. I mean it was similar to that with
Chiefs last stage. Chicademy being the only one to beat them in the group. So Manny and
LFO are in a bit of a sticky spot and it just puts all the more pressure on this game.
You say that but the Chicademy result last stage. You know they didn't really then go
and beat everyone else. They beat EP and Chiefs and that was it. So for Circular Spears it's
just because you've beaten enterprise doesn't then mean it's going to just
suddenly work for you every single time after that. In fact, I haven't won since
that game. And so I remember back on play day two and I think it was maybe
sword who we had as the interview. Can't recall like they were obviously very
happy as they should be. It was a great result at that point you know two straight
wins. Since then 8-7 lost to Annie Oste, then they get smashed by
G7 too. So they're in that similar boat here to Manila Fo. We're coming into play
day five who's the real CS is it the game against the EP or was that the outlier so if you lose this
game to men now I'm sorry to say but that ends up being an outlier if you win this game against
the men now a 13 also fighting for top four yet that maybe they are the real deal for a spot at
packs as we head into the map videos yeah and that's the thing like cyclist fears don't want to be
branded the same way that chikademy ended up being branded in stage one which is you have a
flashing a pan win against some top teams. Do you want to be the team that upsets a few big ones
or do you want to be a team that's in the conversation to actually make it to the top
four and beyond? Like Man, LFO have been for quite some time now. We've got a lapse,
stayed here for both these teams this stage. Actually, we haven't seen it from either of
the male or foe. We saw a few times in stage one, same case for circular spheres, but
what to take away from that? A few roster changes on the CES side since then, quite a number actually.
But yeah, this is going to be a great chance for Manila foe to really break into that top four where they should surely believe that they rightfully deserved it to live in that
All right, let's get underway Manila foe circular spheres
Well, this is not a knockout game or even the promotion into the top four game because we still got two play days to go
It will have big repercussions
This will matter a lot. The three points on the line for two teams separated only by a single point.
Similar kind of stage for both. They both had good results. They both had some bad results.
They both got some really good young talent on the roster as well.
I think in terms of, and I remember saying this yesterday on last night's broadcast from NLFO,
dominated only us. As a Core 5, where they sit in the conversation of our sort of top four, top five teams in the region,
they're a very solid Core 5. They go back to that sort of more traditional route,
Well, coached by Sally, like they've got they've got really good executes. They're usually very very solid
They win based on all five performing
They're not the kind of team that needs like a wall to go and drop 20 or a Nezzarati to have a big
You know 10 to 15 kill kind of game if they win
It's because everyone is playing well
They don't need one to stand out above the rest getting to start defense on labs to typical bands in terms of around the wall
be at wall breaches you can't you banned it your ace you thermite hard breach is
unusual yeah he's a lot left to play him in all the shields for both of those
snake game are scrim all the power ops are in for the attacking side so this is
a bit of a risky play for man LFO I mean yeah I guess but you could also say the
same to for I think then circular spheres you know kind of just banning
way the Kaede in the Bandit then leaves up your Azamis, your mirrors, you know, the shark
can get pulse information. This is, to me, the kind of band where both teams are just
gonna say, yeah, we're expecting IT pressure, we're expecting that wall to get opened up
from both sides, but then let's let the real battle then happen around the site. So by
being able to have the mirror and the Azami, you can go out and rafters hold. It's so much
stronger.
Yes, the big difference here is when you ban out the bandit, he just frees up the operator
line up a lot because you don't have to spend any utility to counter those ops, whereas
for Manila Fo like, banning out the Thermite and the Ace, you're now going to have to
be really careful about all these operators near attacking, so that actually won't have
a screen, for example, doesn't really have a counter.
And yes, CS have left in the mirror, the Azami, but run a few DMRs, run some explosives, run
the Kali or the ash for the mirror and you actually have a good chance of being
able to peel back those layers counter every single item individually but it
does come down to how much CS we're actually able to do that it's one thing
to pick Kali it's another thing to actually successfully counter those
mirror positions destroy those keeper barriers as well and Pluto already has
killed the Kali and that's yeah goodbye to the main operator that was meant to
be used to counter the mirror windows yeah and poor timing I think
Eventually CS we're hoping to set up maybe goof with the Kuala Lumpur. Once you get information to site karma then played from down below
Look for a triple impact. That's one way to destabilize the defense. Now. Luckily they do get a trade it is onto beers
Obviously also then catches Pluto so you have now really weakened this rafter's home
So quick turnaround despite the opening kill going away may now a foe. This is now a very vulnerable defense
So, another thing there about the A-Span is that with the mirror in play and the A-Span
out, it becomes much less safe to go for the hard bridge, any melee hard bridge, like a
thermite or a tin can opener, and I think that part of that aggressive mirror window
on the IT wall is why Nezahrii fell early.
But CS have now just used the advantage that they've gained by opening up a few avenues
and the pressure is now on all sides of the bombsite that once karma makes it 4v1
poor hunter is about to be the hunted and beautiful finish him off very swift finish there for CS
yeah it's a really good attack especially when you lose the opening death there's a
righty on the kali which is going to be helpful in dealing with like the mirror window and certainly
on a site like top floor labs you can get some of those longer angles certainly around it but most
Importantly the fact that Ben Elton defense get that first pick 5v4 and such a good defensive site for CS
To then still have good avenues back in the abyss just gets caught trying to play an aggressive position inside of IT
Just don't think you need to be doing that in a five versus four
It's all about just sort of locking down the key positions. He dies that puts pressure on Pluto towards rafters
He dies and that's the way the snowball can happen in Siege now
We go basement not a great start for men alifo perfect start there for circular spheres
especially when there's a rider who's been their best player as a rookie this stage,
you know, dies early on, but I still have a good team around him just as much as you want him to
perform. And luckily you got like the karma, you got goofed, and we know with karma and goofed,
like they're the kind of guys that can have a three-seven night or they can have a 17-three night.
There was a hot minute there where we're talking about karma about being like the next
like God's gift in OCE sports like he was insane there for a real hot minute like when
his karma getting picked up by a top team and then he never did and then we kind of stopped talking
about he stopped getting 20 bombs I still can't have that potential to have big rounds I mean
last round big 2k the impact now manila foe let's walk up the bomb sites all the way down to the
basement not much of a roam game though actually I must admit it's all on that first floor
Nothing on the top floor usually teams start all the way at the top floor also nobody on the bomb site
Usually there's kind of one that will play a bit more about hard anchor in sight the other four will then play around first floor
But you can extend all five hours as long as you've got the stairways under control
But you will certainly at this point in the round, but I would imagine at some point men
Manila foe will send one back down to site just in case
Really good work and see yes, that this is quick very quick into the Rome game of basement
Yeah, particularly because those are breaches at the end of this only tin can open is on goofed here
So Manila foe have really changed the story of what basement looks like because obviously you have reinforcements down in the basement
Protecting the external walls. You've also invested quite a few off the bombs as well. Here's a risky play from Goofy drops down
misses his chance
As Elements does run away, good gas though from Hunter will keep Goofed at bay and he'll look to rotate back outside again
Yeah, I mean it's an intriguing
Choice because though it does then leave the solid snake available
So you want to play this roam game
But then also because the solid snake is up it does kind of then weaken that hole so much easy for CS to be able to get the
Information but naturally you're going to be playing it anyway
At least they've got the comfort of being able to then fall back to site and because they got that kill on Takama
Who's the only one that can really open up the four ports?
They feel very confident and safe now with a minute left in the round
I just go full full stack back down the site. I think this is a really good read for men LFO
Are they aware of guppies though?
We'll be now
actually no reinforcements
Used on that single wall interesting
So he's shocked and opened back up. He's here strike so valuable and rounds like this
But I like the way that circular spheres are focusing up most of your executor an exo
Soul player to passively cover he has it onto elements looking for another one now, but
Forward the plant is indeed denied by Sharky. Yeah, that's really unfortunate for
circular spheres because Guffiz was in a great spot got his kill but Sharky was
just able to slip in through nano and then Pluto catches Nezorati so it's now
forced on for the plant Guffiz will still look for the cover. Sharky that's a
wonderful head shot, solid four-stop first, Sharky what a round, big round from Sharky.
Guffiz is successful even with the kill on to goofed which it was about I think
half a second left. I still think CS win that round, but as soon as it's denied, it forces
sword to have to go and rush in, pick it up. He's now not in a good position. Circular
spheres were in a good spot to play the post-point if that was successful.
Yeah, and Justice for the C-75, by the way, that gun, if you know how to deal with the
really blocky iron sights, which has been buffed in the most recent patch, a little
bit less lucky than it was before, then it actually has a ton of damage. That's why it's
a very good gun. Really low recoil, really high damage, decent fire rate, but yeah the
iron sights are not great. Really good hit fire as well, so good for a close range engagement
like that. I totally agree with you. I feel like that plant going down, I feel like Destiny
for a moment, I feel like Circular Spheres had the round dead to rights. If that plant
is confirmed, there's almost no way the retake comes through. Post plant positions are really
strong but even just that is a great example of where sometimes having no
thermal and having a small breach in state of a large one it's so much
easy to fight someone hiding behind a small breach because well yes more of
their body is protected there are less places they could be so you don't have
to flip as much you can pre-aim a much narrower area you know that they have to
be coming from that spot. The credit to Manila foe they're leaning into the
Bands well
Because if the plant was successful then how do they go and deal with guppies just trying to go through a secondary hard breach holes
And one one look I'm hoping this is gonna be a close game because admittedly yesterday was very one-sided matches and
The close game that I thought was gonna happen yesterday between men elephant Annie. I'll send it up being a seven one
Both teams are looking quite lively to start back-to-back opening kills haven't been converted
And so back to back rounds as well where to be honest, I thought men alpho look pretty good in the opening round
Lose it CS look good in the second round lose it
I'll spin that in the positive way and suggest that this is going to just be a really competitive match and it's going to come down to big
moments, it's going to come round by round
Onto gets tagged up heavily the one thing circular spheres are doing really well to begin with those just getting into the building
Right on the bubble swing, love that, that's good teamwork.
Really good there for Man LFO.
They were also positioned at the bottom of the stairs for quite some time,
holding that crossfire with the double swing, covering each other's back.
And then they decided together, okay, let's go for it, let's hunt him down.
That's the first kill for Man LFO.
Now their defense is looking a lot more rock solid.
Circular spheres need to gain a lot of map control.
They go for an execute on a bomb site like this split bomb site here.
Because the back could be denied from the bomb site itself,
The floor above and the floor below gives you a lot of checklist items to work through here.
Remaining in the round.
Oh, it's lovely clear from Goofd into Rafters. Finds a pick on to Pluto.
It has to be an answer back here quickly from Ben Eliforn this top floor and it's going to have to come from Sharky.
And he didn't the previous round. He holds and bides his time, not making any sound.
Just to catch him around the pillar does eventually win the battle but taken quite low 40 seconds
They'll still have two gas babes
I think you'll just use this to the nice base on this top floor and hope the others can defend on the first floor
Sharky seems
Uncertain that he can drop back safely, and I think that just below him there's a rarity has been injured
So actually sharpies is clearing top floor with kid. This is really bad for circular spheres. I've only got 20 seconds
They're not in a plant position
Yeah, Manila foe win this round
Well, like it was gonna happen eventually there was also vert watching that position
Manila foe set that up very nicely and the roam clear not quite thorough enough there from
Circular spheres they got a little bit lost in the source after the goof found one of those picks on at the top floor
So while they win the first attack Jake doesn't look very good on the tank bomb side or on that ground floor bomb site
Only winning on that top floor now here come
The extra bands, are we going to see Mira gotten rid of to make Heart Breach a little bit easier?
Yeah, and the Solid Snake is what I was expecting as well, to be honest.
Like just to kind of go in with the lack of Heart Breach available so Circular Spears have been leading on the Solid Snake to help with this roam game
used in the last two rounds. I think both bands actually were pretty expected after the initial bands.
Command server the only site where the solar snake wasn't brought by circular
spears is necessary to be honest but I think going then into rounds five and
six is going to be a bit of a loss. Expect them to lean a bit more onto the
Deimos maybe not in this round but certainly in the rounds to follow.
Deimos particularly good for the top floor as you can go below create a lot
of pressure on the anchors but the thing about Vert that people often forget is
is vert alone very rarely gets a kill, because as soon as you start shooting holes
upward through the floor, or downward through the floor, the person they're receiving
can fight back, especially if they're expecting to have the read.
But as soon as there's a lot of pressure as well, let's say you're trying to vert players around the P-barlet
or around the site, rotate into con, at the same time as there's someone peeking con,
at the same time as there's someone peeking at you before, U2 is coming in, pressure is coming in,
that's when the defenders really feel under the pump.
And that's why, Vert in itself, it needs teamwork.
We're actually going to see it at least from Daymos, but we might see it from the Zov, which is just as important.
Yeah, for a lot of players. I mean, I've seen some very successful Zofia play on this bomb site with three big booms from down below.
It's like aggressive, isn't it? Because naturally with like a Daymos, it's maybe trying to push someone into a worse position.
You don't always get the kill, but Zofia, you know, the playing is not to actually open up a floor form.
You're playing that to get the kill and if you don't get the kill and then you are losing a lot of the overall power from the Zote feel
It means you actually don't need the lateral pressure as much as you don't because you're planning to get the kill
But you need really perfect information
The Demos that is what typically gives you that information or the grim lacking that or the grim actually grim Zote is a great combo
I'm just surprised if this haste does slow down in this round now, no solid snake, no mirror,
it's certainly to close out this half. Close game, no one wants to make a mistake, man,
I left her last time in this top floor while they got the opening kill, they then fed picks
in IT and rafters. So you gotta make sure that this time you're a little bit better
and there's early contest fights to deny the ability for circular spears to then flood in.
What harder to hold this now though is they're not bringing his army without the mirror and
Nazarade then gets to kill on Pluto. At that point you just think about playing that entirely
differently but Pluto just stuck around a little too long. The sword dealt with but
elements beers very low. Yeah you really don't want to be low on HP up against the Zoph. Even the
first of the big booms will take him down. Well he's already used all three so I
would imagine it must have landed on one of those two. Yeah I think probably
years I'd be like yes I assume elements of damage when he went for his peak
against sword in IT but now karma and circular spheres are taking control of
the rafters but must have player in amongst it and now really taking a lot of
damage there from the fire that was detonated just behind karma through the
Tronehold nice idea there. Sharky is actually vault over just to try and escape
he's gonna leave the diffuser for the rest of his team and Nezarati finding
that pick really opens the gates here. Where's that CZ-75 from Sharky? He's on the
move on the thorn. Down onto Nezarati, elements it's with the SG-11. There is a
razor bloom as well still in block for Sharky might not be needed. He's watching
for the blue Porsche which is where Karma is coming from. Seven seconds even if
Karma finds this kill. He will run out of time, Manila Thote and Sharky makes the
right play. He just stays tucked in. It's elements that will get the free kill.
Manila Thote go 3-1 up here on the defensive labs and a long way to go
here in this game. Another round that looked pretty solid there for CS for a
brief moment. Finally enough that's another third of four rounds that we've
played, where the team that's won the opening pick has actually lost the round.
So a lot of 4v5s being won out here and it's because it's very challenging to capitalize on those advantages
even when you have that opening kill. CES, it was fine on the kill off the rafters player very early,
but swiftly after they got refragged and elements pushing out into IT and the damage was not done
adequately from karma on that vert. Didn't find a kill from the zove and look if you can't find
the kill and you can't flush players into getting killed by your teammates, then you're not going to
find a lot of success there on that Zof. But oh well, I mean that's the top floor done for
this half, it's not going to be played again. ManLFO can now go to the bombsites, it actually worked
out a little bit better for them in storage control and tank assembly. Thing is this assembly
basement defense actually was only one after Sharky got that 3k with the C75. He really probably
shouldn't have done so, so he has had a very strong hand position. Also only going to run a single
set of encounters for hard breach this round as well. And one extra reinforcement goes out this
time, so all of the hard breach is going to need to be used by guppies just to breach an entry
of minus side onto the sides of the basement. Yeah and it's important too because you need to have
that sort of pressure so that they can't just flood the back to the basement and just sit there the
way they did last time. But also for circular spheres I think they're going to get more value
out of karma on the on the ram. Get those boogie auto breaches first floor so you've got to then
still play into this room game set up by men on the floor but have to do it better. This time you
don't have the solid snake to kind of lean on. As expected there's a ride that goes on to the
the Deimos that needs to be a coordinated effort. You can leave guppies if you want in and around
that bridge with the other four just play together, clear out these roamers and get
this first floor control. So many chances here for CES to find PxManyl if they're exposing
themselves to the windows outside just unfortunately haven't got the timing. Looks like it's once
again a push from reception and cafeteria across four CS which man LFO puts them in a fortunate
spot where they can easily peel back just closer and closer to the bomb site and that eventually
drop down the hatches without exposing themselves too much. Elements though he's really under the
pub now. Doesn't seem to have a new chairman nearby strangely enough that would have protected him
against both the Ducati and the Deimos but instead he's really battling right here the open above him
But Beers supports from the side, and Throoth on the grim will go down.
Finally, the trade comes through, as Karma gets aggro.
There is a second player, Shaki, with Shotgun in hand, hiding away inside a storage.
Got to try and outnumber this position.
There's two here, swing together at the right time.
Can't give him the isolated fight.
You can tell they're very much closer, so swinging around this corner,
knowing that Shotgun's on the other side.
actually backing off at the moment or maybe just trying to draw him out and draw him out the shark
makes his appearance but there's a righty quick with the vendetta 3v3 honestly i think if your
circular spheres you're okay with this position 35 seconds that doesn't leave you a lot of time so
you can only sit here on this first floor and play the burp for so long in fact i would already
start to suggest they need to make their way towards the site.
If CS can afford to keep Nezarati upstairs while they go for the execute with the rest of their
players, I don't think they can. He is in a really tough spot, but no, it looks like all together,
CS will start to make their way down the stairs, because that Daemostrak is coming through here,
knows exactly where that push is coming from. Saw is now got the defuser, wins his fight from
outside the breach, this time around Nezarati to cover with the Vendetta before he's traded back
by Hunter, the plant needs to come through from Sword.
Oh no, oh no.
But there's no way he can kill him while he's still tucked away behind the door frame.
That's a huge clutch up there from Hunter and with that, Nabila can throw around straight.
That's so unfortunate for Sword, but just the position of the plant still being seen
so that Hunter doesn't have to push through that doorway.
If he's in any other position where Hunter needs to push through the doorway, he basically
can't.
Because Guppy's is watching it.
Hey, that was a great shot as well from Guppy's at the hard breach as well, where he just
got a flick headshot and that opened up the round, Nezarati then just as he does running
around with the Vendetta.
Well, you can see what it means on the live standings if Van Halifur were to go and win
this game, they will jump into the top four at the moment, 4-1 lead looking pretty solid,
but it is Nighthaven Labs.
A second attacking ground for circular spheres
keeps this game alive.
It can end up pretty defend decided,
especially in this region.
And as we head to the tertiary site now
to determine this first half,
this feels must win for circular spheres
because the thing is,
you can ride the hires of that EP win,
but you lose this and it's three straight losses,
then heading into Chikademy in seventh next week,
where you are no guarantee.
And suddenly you go from a hot start to the stage
you think maybe packs could be very very likely then ending up in a scrap
Yeah, and to put that pressure for CES really on to this round
We saw what happens earlier today when the team goes up 5-1 7 despite having a little bit of a comeback against them in the second
Half they still managed to to lock the game in pretty convincingly
And that was after winning five rounds the road and then losing their final round on the defensive side here for Manila
but they lost the first round. If they go five straight, they're going to take that momentum straight into the second half.
And their defense on control room was very convincing. They only lost two players.
It really came down to the circular spheres struggling on that top floor to find that roam clear.
You can see CS are droning everywhere all at once. They're almost out of drones completely now.
The Manila foe have still fortified themselves in some very powerful positions on the bomb
site, off the bomb site, still heavy presence on the top floor yet to be cleared out.
A shock turn from Nezorati was over towards control side, so they are at least kind of
keeping options open.
It does still have it available.
I think too often teams just get tunnel focused on this storage plant, go through that checklist
of trying to clear out IT because that's going to be the only way you can actually
plant storage, they never really then control too much of a thought, but I've seen plenty
of teams that have found the ability to slip into control, get plant down, be successful.
I like this from Pluto.
You can just sit here and hunt to get rid of Goofed. Back to back opening deaths for Goofed
on the Grim which is played every single round.
Nezarati, okay, didn't completely forget about control.
They clear out Hunter and it looks like it might be slightly more control focused.
So hard to go for a plant here while you don't have top floor though.
Like you need to have someone push top floor.
Man, LFO should be able to maintain control.
Pluto still has another impact rate in pocket.
Sharky's got a shotgun, so you can make him prop to that.
is neither plant in the late round and at that time, Ceclis is looking up to the vert.
Elements can go for a flank. Even if the fuser goes down, there's retake potentially here
while Manila Foe have numbers on that top four. Nazarite knows that he needs to take
this battle to the players who are defending upstairs, but Piers lashes out. And now CS,
what advantage they had seems to have fallen from the wayside.
Yeah, as soon as Nazarite spots that player, IT, it has to reload, needs to go back down the stairs.
you have to be anticipating the swing from command. He didn't expect that Manalapho now
should win this round. Guppies and Sword will need to make a very heroic play. 9 seconds,
so just throw the smokes out, go for the plant inside of the smoke, pray that this is a successful
plant with cover from Sword. Those who have one behind him, Bishaki with the shotgun from above
does catch him. They deal with Guppies to begin the post-plant before it really even begun. It's a
a five one half for Manila
for after yesterday's performance.
A seven one against any of
they're running it back here on
plate a five demolition job on
defensive labs second half
coming up shortly.
I'm just going to call you now and tell you how I feel, maybe I'll get lucky somehow,
And you'll come out tonight
Let your father say he's doomed
Come out tonight and baby
I just need to lose
Come out tonight
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Love is all
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Love is all
I'll tell you what, maybe I'll get lucky somehow. You'll come out tonight, so I'm just gonna
grow now. Tell me what, maybe I'll get lucky somehow. You'll come out tonight, so I'll
come out tonight.
Manelofo have been on a hot streak this week, 7-1 yesterday against Ann else, that was also
a 5-1 half on Lair, but that was a tack aside at half on Lair that got them to a significantly
5-1 half here on Labs off their defense. Looking really solid. I think sometimes we can easily
forget James that back in stage one Manelofo, they were the team that finished in third.
They were kind of like the next best up behind Chiefs and Enterprise. And while it was a
different landscape back then certainly compared to what we've had this stage with the whole
host of rookies, you know, rising, making new names for themselves. Menelofo started a little
bit quiet on the stage, got beaten up by seven, bounce back game against Arcade as expected,
then beaten up again, but then bounce back game because they've kind of been all over the shop
and they've had zero consistency, been easy to kind of forget about them. But as they're putting
this performance together and if they can close this out dominantly, it puts them in a pretty good
spot still to try and contest to get into finals. They win this game, they would go to nine points,
next week they play Chiefs and then Shaikha Tabi. So one winnable, one unlikely, that could then
get them to 12 points and who knows, that might be good enough for fourth, especially with this
result against circular spheres. All they can do is play the games that are ahead of them and right
now they're in some good form. Yeah and like I said before I think that I wouldn't be surprised if
the top four comes down to round difference and Manila Fo have lost to 1-7 and an 0-7 so far now
they're helping redeem their round difference a little bit yesterday with their 7-1 over Anios and
number 7-1 and 7-2 type scoreline here would certainly help out then it's just about putting up a good
fight to Chiefs and maybe even a 5-7 loss even if you come away with no points the round difference
might keep your head above teams like Circular Spheres and Chicademy and the other ones that
was battling it for the mid-pack. But before we get too carried away talking about the standings,
it looks like Man-LFO want to go get a little bit carried away with his execute.
I don't mind early aggression when you got double shields playoff, go for a quick plant,
deny the ability for CS to play that room game, knife assault won't connect,
and sharky gets the plant down I don't know because that didn't look like it
shot out maybe it did very last second explosion I thought it was an explosion
of some kind I don't know what it was from was it the grenade was it a hunt
grenade from Hunter that is the replays hopefully and get a bit more
idea good just trying to take this place after the reinforced wall it won't matter
up beers and sharky both connect man
LFO gonna storm basement karma got the
impact on the bushing blitz he's only
got a couple of seconds though and
elements will deny him the ability to
cross six on the board a six one lead
for man LFO means for circular spheres
they cannot get all three points from
this game and for man LFO carrying
yesterday's form into this game giving
them a lot of hope that they can still
get to Pax. That's right. Hell of a bounce back from Manila though after going 7-0 down
to Enterprise just a week ago. Now it looks to be back-to-back 7-1s for them. A rush
in the first round of attack after a 5 in a road defense is amazing. This is a nice
case scenario. Basement allows it though. Why are we going
basement first round? Why are we not going top floor? Basement's a good bomb site now.
Not a bad one. I'm not saying that. But of the two sites, which one is more susceptible
or fast hit basement yeah you know well I think that they felt very confident
because the fact I had three C4s a mirror watch this back so it got all it
wait see fours destroyed each other did that yeah it we see this again so look
at the bottom left your screen definitely this one didn't explode throw
their C4 so guppy throws his just before oh yeah so guppy's C4
It was so just before and it lands more shallow, too shallow to kill the Blitz, but just deep enough to destroy the other C4.
And that was my confusion too, because the timing of it looked almost as if it blew up, but it was a part of me that was like,
No, I don't think that actually exploded, because otherwise he would have been dead.
I thought it maybe got shot out, but the fact that it was the C4 that blew up the other C4 is just...
That's so...
So unlucky.
That's just...
Well, you could say it's unlucky, but also like why is this C4 being thrown way too shallow?
Like that's not achieving anything except in this case losing the round by destroying the C4 that was the winning shot
Tiny details like that make the difference, right when you're down one five rushes like these rounds
I rush you get a one tap throw a barricade and a rush is dead
Now because we're feeling it. It's one six down. So we're peeking we want to get that first kill
And then that just opens up the doors and you're now getting into IT. I said early F not mine BPC
dealt with
Goodness, it's gone for the triple. This is gonna be it done. Wow seven one and and a
Back to reality few weeks now for circular spheres ever since that win against
Enterprise on playday two lost to annios lost to chiefs and now seven one loss to man LFO
CS have got some work to do. They may still be on seven points. They play
Shackademy and seven in the last two play days. Win those, you go to Pax. Bates
still in their hands, but they need to get to work in the week off, because
Manel LaFau have taken their spot temporarily in the top four. Back to
back, seven-one wins for Manel LaFau. They're peaking at the right time, James.
That they are. I feel so bad for Guppy's in that round. The guy is trying to 1v4
for the game and two of his teammates called Gigi in the chat. That's a hard watch there,
a hard game for circular spheres from the get-go. They hit such an early peak, they won their first
match in an easy warm-up against RK, then they beat EP. Since then it's been all downhill and
man, Esports, LFO, quite the opposite. They've really built this momentum back to back seven ones
and so many rounds that were just won by a hair's breath and Man on LFO, they'll take every single
one of them. The rush that was saved by an unlucky double C4 that ended up sabotaging CS's own
plant denial. Manila foe having the confidence to go for a rush after a 5-1 defensive half.
So many of these little things add up together. Even moments like this from Hunter, that should
not have been a one round. But a clutch up for Hunter in the plant denial, it speaks volumes to
to Manila foe they are really in flying form right now and as you say Jake they've just
stolen CS a spot in that top four.
This is one of the closest seven ones in hindsight James if you think back from round two to
round seven it was either two alive three alive or one alive it was only three alive
once and only one alive once which so most of them were two alive which means the rounds
themselves were a lot of that first half were quite close which means that from circular
the spirit perspective. They
weren't that far off it, but
they just couldn't actually
string together the round wins.
And in the end, that left the
door open. But for men, I'll
throw to close it out just bang
bang in those two attacking
rounds. What a statement. Let's
go to our interview with Sali,
the coach of men. I'll throw and
Sali, you must be very, very
pleased with this week's
performance both yesterday and
today, especially considering I
think up until this week, you
guys have been a little up and
down. Certainly you've played
some good teams, but even you
would probably admit it's not
quite being the stage you would have liked after last stage top three but now you must be happy.
Yeah absolutely. I'm really happy the boys like sometimes with these year ones you can lose
you know control of the team everyone sort of explodes or gets frustrated and then there's a
lot of like issues that people start having with other people the way they're reacting things like
that. And I think it's not like we don't have those times where we're pissed off at each other,
really annoyed, but what we try and do a lot of the times is like be really honest with each other
and just make sure we have those conversations. So after getting the first 7-1, we weren't even
happy with the 7-4 against Arcade and then the 7-0, it was really tough for us to really make
sure that this week, you know, we got back onto the saddle, we played like how, like how we usually
played and how we knew we could play and put up a long answer.
Well, in that game, which was a very important one for you guys, as you said, after
rough start to the stage, there were five of the eight rounds that were played just now,
were either 2v1s or 1v2s. And as Jake said, it looked like a close game. If you weren't counting
the rounds as a whole every round very tight and yet it was a 7-1. Why do you think it was that you
guys managed to clinch out so many of these very close very even rounds? Yeah I mean look they have
a lot of gunners on that team we saw what they did to EP in terms of losing control of the game
but what we knew is they weren't very good they know well practice that they execute
through the late rounds. So for us in comms, we're actually very aware of what we wanted to do to close out the rounds.
So we're very on top of what we were able to do in those late rounds. And while he went down in numbers,
because again, they have some shooters on their team, but we just played it objective, played it well, and kept it consistent.
It's obviously job done for this week, Sally, and as you've been alluding to, very happy,
but now shifting the attention, because the job clearly is not done with next week and
still packs to qualify for, massive game against Chiefs as the next game, and then the last
one will be against Show Academy.
So two big games still to close out the stage.
What's the messaging going to be, not only for that week, but even throughout the week,
during scrims, et cetera?
I think it's going to be, you know, same as usual, right?
we get back into our practice,
trying to really figure out ourselves,
really focus on where our gaps lie
in sort of some of our map balls,
how we can improve things like that.
There's not anything special we're gonna be doing.
We're gonna try and do it like we usually do.
We see that our system's consistent
and we just try and make it work.
And if you'd like to say, Matt,
before we let you go.
Yeah, hopefully that week was a real show in a manlfo.
So we are a lfo, so check this out.
We are looking for organizations.
And yeah, thank you guys for casting.
Thank you guys.
Thanks to all, like to my players, they're just really good.
Sharky, just amazing today and even Jaden.
Gears was really good.
Yeah, but yeah, that's all I have.
you. Thank you so much,
mate. Congratulations on the
weekend. Obviously best of
luck for next week's big games
coming up. Well, man, I'll
afford finished top three last
stage and with this win now,
James, they returned to the top
four. Now the question will be
for them next week, and they
stay in the top four after the
last few play days and get to
packs. Good question. One thing
make it to PAX, will be LFO.
I mean, the current contenders,
Man-LFO, Circular Spheres,
Chacademy, they're the real teams
that we're looking at to potentially make it through
to PAX.
If you don't go to a LAN without them,
or come on guys, someone pick these guys up,
maybe wait until they qualify
that big hole which everyone goes through.
I didn't put even more pressure on qualifying for that event.
But I think particularly for Man-LFO,
because these players have stuck together,
no roster changes coming into this stage.
They've stuck together for a very long time.
Manila foe is a very well known name in oceanic e sports for Rainbow six because they've just played so many stages
They're in that top four and better very consistently. I think that they're putting their best foot forward
And yeah, I think Sally said it
Well the man on the floor we saw today and in the last match is the manila foe that they intend to keep bringing back week after week
For those that just joined the stream unfortunately. That was our last game. No, it wasn't we've got one more and it's a big one
the last five years in the
sense that there's always that
one and two team in the region.
James where they go and have
these battles in this case in
this current era, it's EP and
chiefs and so much more around
this game outside of just who's
going to win it. We're talking
about Nate taking on his old
organization player up against
his old friends, where the bulls
and odor and what a resurgence.
It's been tough. It's been
and what a resurgence it's been for those two and that chiefs team undefeated up to this point so many storylines in a game that
Well won't have probably a lot of repercussions because I think we're going to see both teams make hacks
Like they think that's the likelihood is it does give us a little bit of a teaser ahead of maybe what we will see at pack
So we're gonna have a short break stick with us when we come back. It is hopefully going to be match of the stage
I need a favor from you. Okay, this next question. I don't want any of this. It's just another game. It's just one at a time. Tomorrow, the old team.
Oh, we've got some change tonight.
Oh, is there a part of you that goes into that tomorrow really wanting to win or like, what are you feeling?
Yeah, obviously in my head, I split the Org from the match.
When it obviously comes to the game, I want to destroy him.
I don't know, I had a bit of flame to the fire. I don't think I've ever lost an official to realize that.
So the battle of the Titans, the two best teams in this region over the last 12 to 24
months, and certainly all whole heap of those players have been some of the best in this
region, enterprise versus chiefs, but it's not just another Titan battle, James, considering
what happened in the offseason.
Oh yeah, there's rivalries, there's so much going on between these two teams, particularly
because of what happened at the Esports World Cup. Both of these teams went over there thanks to
EP earning 0s a second slow with their performance at Salt Lake, top 8, but they did not perform
when it came down to it at the EWC itself. Now these teams won a game and they went home with
their heads probably full of a lot of negative thoughts thinking what went wrong. This was our
chance. They lost that second slot, which means now they have to battle it out. Only one of the
teams will be able to make it to the Osaka Major. Not to mention all the shuffles, a player from
from Chiefs going over to EP.
Let's have a look at that EP roster
because they have done what every top level team
in OCE Sports does, they get on the poaching,
they get a little bit of a flavor for it,
and what do they do?
They grabbed player, the number one player from the Chiefs
and obviously ex-enterprise himself.
We did it up only being a couple of months
that he was away, Jake, and what's more than that?
Not on this screen, but they also stole Chiefs' coach,
very long-term coach as well, Nate, reuniting Nate with a lot of his ex-players from back
in the day as well, EP continuing to keep the best and upgrade the rest, as they say.
And I want to highlight Tuhan. His last stage, I think Tuhan probably had one of his quieter
stages for a player of his level across his entire career. And what a bounce back stage
he's had second rated player in the stage with a 152 e-guess, he's only behind a single player,
which is relays, and we'll get into him when we go and talk about the cheese, but two hunts
being exceptional, 10-0 on the entry, I don't know if it's roll swaps or whatever it is,
it's working, and they need to keep it going, because when two hunts playing to this level,
you're a jigsaw still, pot four rated player, and player now finally kind of getting into his own
to get going. He was great
yesterday, so and he looks very
much excited for this match. We'll
go to chiefs, though, and their
roster and they've got their own
big positives. Firstly, undefeated
this stage. Secondly, the man
middle of this screen is in an
old-time tier. Wettables, top six
rated player in the region. I
raised my eyebrows. I've said
this publicly when he got brought
into this roster alongside Oda.
I thought, yeah, rival Wettables
or is it old bliss Wettables?
old bliss wettables. We're getting old bliss wettables. Yeah, he's back baby. He's here with
the vengeance. He's here to prove that he should never have had to play on teams that
are not in the top two. I mean, rival Piddecretta actually ended up third place at the end of
playoffs in stage one and he was always eagerly looking for a chance to get back onto a championship
contending team and Chiefs have very much proved themselves to be that now. I mean, despite losing
arguably one of their top players in player arguably, you know, losing their coach, the most
esteemed coach in OC sports at the moment. This team was looking on fire. You mentioned
Wettables, he's in the top 10, so is Lunchbox. And sitting high on number one is Relays. 50 kills
and only 16 deaths across four games. That is unbelievable. That's averaging 12 and a half kills
per game, only four deaths per game. Relays is having the stage of his life and he's about to
to come up against his greatest challenge yet.
Well, let's go to a special little pre-match interview,
shall we, someone who's always been happy to do these.
It's Oda, the coach of the Chiefs.
Oda, it's another one of these big games.
You've been in many of them.
I haven't had them.
I did notice in that little pre-game video
of the IP highlights.
No CS highlights.
Why was that Zanox?
Well, because they got absolutely destroyed
in that game, didn't they?
Absolutely smashed.
Absolutely smashed.
But you know what?
That was a long time ago.
a lot changed since then, mate.
And obviously, we've seen this game once since then.
So I don't know.
It's some bad juju going on.
Oda, firstly, thank you, obviously, for coming on
and having a chat with us pre-match before the game.
Obviously, for you guys, clean slate so far, 4-0, 12 points.
Probably very much likely going to go to Pax.
How do you then assess this kind of match?
Because clearly, we know the stakes are only
going to get higher when we get to Pax.
So do you kind of just treat this as much
like a normal game as possible?
or do you put a little bit of fuel into the fire?
Um, to honest, you kind of play it like any other game,
because the way I look at it is, yeah, we could sit here and save strats,
but I'm more playing it for the mental game.
If we can get in here, by the underdog story, get it up second CP,
it plays into their mind, God, it's that period, right?
Yeah, you've always been one for the mental game.
I feel like digital taught you way back when you're around.
Oh, no.
Second to cheese, way back in the day, but you learned that
and you then use it to dominate OC for such a long time.
What's it been like for you transitioning
to actually standing behind the players?
I mean, metaphorically, so to speak at the moment,
being in a coaching role, because very new for you, right?
Like you had a kind of a transition period.
What's it been like now that it's all on you for cheese?
It's definitely different.
Like I still sit here and get like,
honestly, I still get like nerves
or I still get hikes when the boys are like clutching.
It's definitely been different,
but I still feel like when I was a player,
I tried to bring a good team culture
and a healthy environment.
So I guess I feel like more focused on that
and to be honest, I'm kind of just focused
on mentality kind of a lot.
I'm letting you realize kind of control
like the game sort of stuff,
because it is like insane mechanics,
but also like his brain is massive as well.
Low-key could be the new Fisher guy,
just had a good mechanics though.
But like, yeah, I'm kind of just like in the background,
just making sure people are comfortable
and kind of using my experience
I hope that whatever way I
Don't recall the last time fish ago. I started a stage with 50 kills and only 16 deaths
Averaging a 3.13
Certainly internationally fish I was the fragger internationally you guys we go overseas your suck with fish ago apparently just turn it on
What's what's been a big part of it for relays this stage individually was it because player
who was such an influential key for the older Chiefs roster before you and
Weddable's join was a frag. He was the one picking up most of the kills. Has
Realeigh's kind of stepped into that role or is it more than that?
Well I think after they played EWC they came back and they did a few role
slots and they tested out a few things. So I know he did want to be in more of a position to be more vocal.
So I think even though he's kind of been like a frag a role, he's putting himself in
positions where you can kind of like look for the gaps or like initiate on those roles.
So he's just pretty good positions and he knows how he wants to play the game.
He knows like how to read the defense and put himself in good spots
and he's constantly just amazing seriously.
Um I got one for you Oda. Stage one Chiefs in EP played bank it was a very tight 12 rounder
but Chiefs actually beat EP then they rematched in the upper bracket and Chiefs won then they
they rematch in the grand final and EP proved to be the better team and especially when we went overseas
It felt like EP's experience did way more heavily and I saw it in the faces of the chiefs guys when we were actually in
Paris at eSports World Cup
It's really hard to get over that mental hump of like playing at a completely different echelon of siege
Now you've been there from the first time you went overseas getting like destroyed in Copenhagen by the best teams in the world
to then make the top 86 Invitational. It's a journey, right? That only experience can
gain for you. But what experience can you impart on these relatively green and young players to
help them exploit that process? To be honest, I feel like kind of the main teachings that like me
and like when Nate was coaching them for kickoff and stage one was kind of like how to take things
more serious. I feel like coming into OST, like a lot of teams are like, I'm team, so they barely
script. So it was just like getting these guys into like healthy environments and environments where
we want to improve, we want to be the best. And then kind of like transitioning that into like
international, it's hard because you know, you go to these events for people you are watching and
like loving, and then you're competing against them and getting slammed by them. I remember like
Bessie Kurtz first, I was like, oh, this does like insane. And then you keep going to these events
and events and you kind of get more comfortable. So like, comfortability, just like learning to play
outside of your house and learning how to like deal with all these new play styles is just something
that my experience comes with. Oh, obviously we've got a game to get to. You've got a game to go
coach. Thank you so much though for coming on and having a chat with us. Any last fighting words
from you? Any last fighting words? Look, Brenda's played really well this stage. Player as well,
slotted it really well. Kyra is having a top stage. Mag was right. Kyra should be going to Mag
to be playing tonight guys. We'd love to hear you play and what's going to get you going.
See you in 40 minutes, Oda.
Alrighty, well let's get underway into the map videos to find out where we're heading.
Bank or Chalet, that feels very fitting. It's Bank. The two maps, James, I think that
are just, in Consulate, these two teams love Bank and Chalet. That's the point I'm getting
to and we go to Bank.
Yeah, oh, this is so exciting. It's a rematch of stage one as well. I'm gonna just fish to gigs
I'm gonna grab up the the match tracker from what happened in stage one so I can go round by round for these teams
I love banks such a good map. It's so iconic, especially in
OCE a great chance to see what these teams have to show for us and as Oda said there's no holding back
No saving strats neither of these teams have shown bank this stage neither of these teams played bank at the eSports world
which means the last time that they played it would have been in the grand final and funnily enough that was a
7-0 if I'm going back so there was an 8-7 on bank in favor of EP in the grand final prior to that
Chiefs 7-0 EP in the upper bracket final on this map
So Matt there is so much bloody history between these two teams on bank
specifically
There is James there certainly is let's add to that history as we head into bank chiefs versus enter Bryce
not to put a dent in there on things, but it's not the B and all for this match.
Although the Chiefs win, Hax is locked in 100%.
Enterprise win and you get to 12 points and you probably have also got then one foot in the door.
Lose though and they do still kind of find themselves on the outer edge of locking in finals.
They play seven for the next game, back-to-back losses, then put EPs full focus into Arcade.
Yeah, and they will probably then win it.
So I don't know how else to spin it, other than this is a precursor for probably many more battles between these two teams over in Pax Melbourne in a few weeks time.
And a chance to go back to the map where we saw these teams clash in the grand final in stage one, a 15 rounder.
It was 8-7 enterprise barely winning it in the final round of overtime and we make our way back.
But this time things are different.
Oda is coaching the Chiefs boys.
Nate has jumped ship to E.P.
Player has gone with him.
Weddables has returned to the top echelon of OCEA.
They play well.
O6 and he's playing in peak form.
Now he's playing on the North as well.
E.P. have arguably more pressure on their shoulders.
I would say here, Jacob, whoever loses this game will just say, look, you know,
it was just the B01.
We'll see what happens in the upper final, presumably.
and then whoever loses the upper final will say what happens in the grand final when Asaka is on the line.
But EP sit in this uncomfortable spot of Oda waving over them the result that they had against the circular spheres.
I mean, a 7-2 loss is a real embarrassment for EP and it goes to show that despite the power on this roster,
the mental game is not a given and I think Chiefs Oda in particular wants to play that.
And I think also for Wettable, so you think about his career, firstly Retired after the whole game in Gladiators fiasco, Retired and etc.
Then comes back to his rifle, but let's be honest, he didn't really perform that well.
And on a team that really wasn't that amazing either.
He must have been thinking, am I ever gonna get back to this kind of point?
And as he kind of loads into this lobby and his team's undefeated, familiar faces and names on EP, he's probably in the back of his head thinking,
thinking, I'm back. I'm back in these big games that matter.
So he's had such a good stage, top six rated player.
I think he's going to be very, very pivotal for chiefs if they're going to
continue to be the top team in this region and certainly can hold that
mental if they win this game going into finals.
But a big test has enterpised themselves.
These are the games that they're ready for and they rebounded really
nicely as well after that loss to Circulus Fierce since then 7073.
It got back to work. The minute in here, Basement Sight not expecting a lot of action. Chiefs are going to keep it rather compact.
Also curious to see for Wettables with the Horus Launcher bringing the gnaw.
Now I said yesterday they played it on Nighthaven Labs and they played the two-round gnaw combination
and it looks like they want to try and do something similar here but on Bank.
There's a lot of info there for the Solid Snake scanning almost every single player from Chiefs.
But yeah, they're nor being used in tandem with the Tuber Al, a bit of fire and ice to try and deny this hatch for as long as possible.
Trying to slow down EP, whittle away at the timer, Neptune's doing the same, holding on to blue stairs, now falling back into server, actually back into the bomb site.
So, Jason decided they'd burn enough of the round, it's time to consolidate.
Yeah, and that's the end of the game, when you're playing Tuber Al, enhance it with the nor,
And you've already still got two gaspates to make a launcher Vulcan canisters that need dealing with I think this is a really good setup right now
Pitchy's it's forcing you to be in a bit of a pivot. You know go vault side sends are you up can dollars one for one trade
As jigsaw did get the opening kill on the relay is he finds a second on the jacada?
That's the to check it dead the power of EP in the way that they can just flood and get these kills courtesy of someone like jigsaw
Lunchbox knife to sell snuck in a land jigsaw another one to hunt gets involved and what looks like a strong start for cheese
and surprise just so they've still got the firepower they take the opening round
For that was such a weird rounds chiefs were defending it so well delaying that admin hatch that side hatch
EP flipped to a vault take and chiefs credit to them in lunchbox
Use the spare Zodo canister from the super out to actually freeze up the sends light wall
Which then allowed him to get that freebie. I believe it was on the Brenda immediately got refragged and then pushed deep from
They're great at being quite, sir, baity.
Something that has evolved in the international meta in the last 6 to 12 months has the best
teams in the world, don't just pick one strat and stick to it.
Neither do they pick one strat and then pivot to another strat.
They will deliberately bait and make you think they're going for one thing, learn your U-Tool,
distract you, draw your firepower away, and then they completely pivot.
And sometimes individual players, in this case Jigsaw, take it upon themselves to find
the space for their team, EP did that, and they've got the firepower to deliver that
playstyle.
Like a heavyweight boxing match, someone's going to learn the first blow, it's all about
the response now from Chief, so they try the bunker strat, didn't quite work.
I think they'll be ready for it next time.
It's all well and good to have a good defensive structure set up, and they did, but Enterprise
are probably the one team in this region that can break through that setup if you're not ready for it.
And at no point did Chiefs really get on that front foot and looked to try and
disrupt that attack before it was then ready to go. So EP get afforded that space and time to
actually throw out the ROUs, throw out the candellas, go for the execute. There was no disruption to
that. And so if you're going to beat Enterprise here defensively on bank, you've got to get a little
a bit more active.
The cheese brings the table and that Carly just the gun itself is good for
really suppressing that clash knocking the shield back same can be said oh look
at this from Jigsaw. Never seen a Jigsaw entry before. Never.
I saw three of them last round.
James again just kind of playing this as default as you pretty much can play on bank.
So a stack basement, then as we go into the second round top floor, you know, elevator
hold, long desk, front desk, down it up.
Well, that's an intriguing little angle.
Don't mind that.
Jigsaw and then he pushed forward again rather than pushing back.
It's just completely outplayed Jay Kenner and in Cairo the Carlier against the Clash.
Launch Box and Wettables both got one each, but then two hard there with the outnumber
and it's only Wettables left.
Enterprise two rounds in.
Yeah, flex their muscles early.
Easy entries and again it's the same kind of setup though from Chiefs where it's all
about the structure, sit back, hold these key positions.
It's not going to work against EP.
Got to get a little bit more on the front foot.
It's all backfoot fighting.
That's right. Chiefs are coming into this like they have strats to show,
like they are trying to set out these really strong positions
and force EP to problem solve.
Thing is, EP don't have to do it conventionally.
They can play aggressively, and we need to see Chiefs responding kind.
As they take their tactical time out, Oda, this is what you get in the years of the boys.
That said, as Oda-
It's his second one of the whole stage, by the way, just his second tack.
Well, I mean, I'm not surprised with the results.
It's been 7-1, 7-5, 7-1, 7-2.
So, if Chiefs lose even one more round here,
that'll be the second closest game we've seen so far.
Well, here's the thing. So, two rounds in and Enterprise have clearly shown
their attacking power, but we already knew that.
You've tried something, you've tried to just go defensive, default.
Let's see what they're bringing, let's see what they're doing.
Timeout perfectly called by Oda here after two rounds,
because you've clearly seen enough.
If you don't intervene here, you're just not really,
you're just gonna allow it to get to full nothing
before you call it, so go early.
Go back to basement,
let's try something a little bit different here.
And I like the fact that they're willing
to try and Neptune on the vigil.
So this is not conventional basement,
the way that we saw it basically in the first round.
They're gonna offer a bit more fighting on the first floor
and try and take it to Enterprise.
Now this though is the problem as EP are probably going to be expecting a change up because they know Chiefs are good enough that they're not just going to play the same thing again.
So they'll be ready for it. I'm expecting EP should have counters ready to go and what better team to go for a room clear than Enterprise.
Yeah, solo snake blitz. Look at that straight away. So Jigsaw too high and will enter and they'll run around.
And so for Chiefs, can you then be one step ahead with this room?
Well, I think it puts a lot of pressure on the opportunity of being the vigil, because
it's one of the only counters to the solid snake.
And what's more, you've also got the mirror, which is actually on for the roam, one is
being placed on the bomb site and one's being placed here in Teller's office to look into
lobby.
You're going to need a couple of different players going for a loose roam here.
I mean, traditionally, in the meta in recent years, it's been your roam and open area,
maybe elsewhere on the map.
All back to the open area hatches, you drop down maybe after you found a kill, maybe after you shot a few drones, and clearly Chiefs can't afford to do that.
Enterprise are happy to go for an unconventional take, they're happy to go for a Voltron.
They can go direct as well. I think they can go direct. I wouldn't be surprised if Enterprise really assessed this situation, especially after the droning and just think we can go site.
But based on the top floor entry from Brenda and to hum that might not be the case and this is one of the downsides of
Kind of playing this full first floor room except for just wetables now if enterprise were to go very direct
You can see the positioning of like relays except very easy to rotate rotate back down main stairs and go down blue stairs
What harder to them win the fights, but when you bring the solid snake in the blitz you're very much looking to you know
They're playing the roam game. So they start top floor, top down.
Okay, no roamers on the top floor. We know they're first floor.
And they've got a pretty good setup.
Archives well defended, staff open area well defended, but player has just slipped in.
He's found a gap.
And they've got a live drone for him as well.
Yeah, lovely kill. That's some great teamwork.
The drone, Neptune, Core, they knew, and like, this is the problem with this setup.
They know exactly where they're defending.
Well, you just find a gap, finds the first kill,
and now it starts to unravel for cheese because like, what do you do from here?
can't just go back to site but then if you over invest looking for kills you're
just gonna run into jigsaw. He's actually trying to peel back they're
saying we've done all we can on this run we have to fall back now and yet they're
still buying they're still being caught on their retreats and now really the
only way to win this round for Chiefs is just to find some unbelievable shots
like win some 40% gunfights and that's not like that to happen when you're
going up against Enterprise in the 4v2. They lock in. I know that Relays is here in Blue
Stairs. They got a, they got a, yeah, in Valken as well. Yeah, so Valken, so Cairo spotted.
Easy swing for Relays. That's Kit, 40 seconds to v3. Really good awareness from Relays to
push up Blue Stairs. Has another peek. This is Wettable now. Wettable's still inside
a vault. Okay, drop down from player. He has been able to grab the Kit. Now they're hunting
the wetables. Wetables must win these next fight wherever that is and whenever that is.
Well, next way from Jigsaw, place the mirror window the other way and then get to wetables.
Gigi's on it tonight and EPR as well, 3-0 out of the Taktai. Now, defense not working for Chiefs.
They're just getting absolutely torn to shreds.
Nine minutes ago our production team asked us, Jake, who's the current MVP frontrunner,
maybe kind of these, maybe loyal, and you just said Jigsaw after round one where he got that
3k and I think that you're on the money here Jake is looking like it's one of those nights
He's getting jiggy with it tonight
He's looking hot on his shot and the solid snake ban had to come eventually. I mean that was inevitable wasn't it?
Now roaming is gonna be a little bit more achievable just because they're going basement again Wow
I think you have to I think you have to hear I mean, it's it's the best bomb site on this map by far
Would it consider cafeteria, but hope for I definitely wouldn't be wanting to go to
I think the reality is with the way that finals is structured because it's double elimination
There's a fair chance these two teams will play at least two best three's
So what are the odds that we see another bank?
I'd say pretty high because both teams like bank and when you lose the map as well
Enterprise aren't going to show away from it. So they'll be like, okay. Yeah, we'll happily go back
So if you're chiefs, you're almost using this as an opportunity to get as much information as possible
What's working for them? What's not working for us?
And what can we try differently? And so this is why you go to basement again, and you're trying something different again
I mean just look at stage one Jake Chieftain EP played bank in the group stage and
Chieftain 175 and then in the upper bracket final they played bank again Chieftain 70 what happened in the grand final?
Enterprise one enterprise actually need them just barely eight seven on this very same map the third time in the same stage
They played it against each other
And I know that there was a bit of a banter in the text chat before the game started where the teams were talking about, you know,
oh my God, why are we playing Bank again?
It just feels like inevitable.
Some things are El Clasicoes and between Chiefs and EP, this is the home turf.
And in theory, while Enterprise are winning this game, Chiefs also gain a lot from this because if clearly there's a big goal from Bank,
they just will then not maybe want to go back there.
But you also go back there like you did.
Exactly. Or you counter strat it, you get information.
And that's why here you just want to continue to try some different things,
figure out maybe what works and doesn't work, add that to the mod review session.
So in the long run of things, you can lose this game and it's pretty much meaningless if you're your chiefs.
But as long as you learn from it, then who knows then what could come from that then going into packs.
But right now it's all EP. And that's a little bit disappointing from chiefs because it's three straight,
straight, three opening kills, the rounds haven't been close. Jigsaw, two multi-kill rounds,
two Han and multi-kill round. If you're enterprise, this is exactly what you want. Two Han and
Jigsaw, right now this stage, they're that dynamic duo. Two Han was a bit quieter last
stage. It was Batman and Jigsaw without Jigsaw and Two Han. And it's Two Han again. Cluster
charges on the lunchbox. And you store it in the camera. It's like, how is he dying
to that?
Yeah, this is Graham. Fuse is one of those rare counters to Tuber Al. It's a very rare
thing to see, but the thing is the Tuber Rao cannot freeze the first park that comes out of the fuse charge.
That first park is guaranteed to detonate and explode, thus destroying the Zoro canister and cantering Tuber Rao.
Good drop down from Cairo now as Chiefs are really feeling that pressure while Blighted
Wettables finds the kill on the Brenda regardless, taking a hell of a lot of damage to both the fire
and his phone. The Nade will finish him. Now a very low HP to Kenneth, never mind he's gone.
Kyros on a heater with the Blackbeard, it's Neptune who got to a bloody thing. Dominance
again on the attacking side from EP4 rounds in a row. The tactical timeout already burned
by Chiefs and this is not a battle at all worthy of the top teams in OCE. This is just
EP showing us their true form. Oh it is. I mean there's no other way to put it. These
four rounds have just been completely one-sided, hasn't been close and that's great for your
enterprise and it's terrible if your chiefs and it's also terrible because of
how one-sided it is to lose it's whatever it happens I mean EP as you
mentioned earlier lost the chiefs back in the same blader in the same game on
the same map and in the end they won the grand final and you know before that
even lost the upper bracket final so yeah I mean it's a strange one I mean the
7-0 from chiefs against EP on bank and then of course EP peaked them back on
like these two go back and forth on this map. Sometimes it's the day, sometimes someone's working
up on the right side of the bed, it's Jigsaw and Tuan. Clearly for Chiefs starting on defense,
it's allowing Enterprise to get active in the server early. If it had have been maybe an EP
defensive start, who knows what the scoreline would have been, it could have been a whole different
game. But the unfortunate reality for Chiefs now is they find themselves in an absolute hole,
and mentally would have been very switched on coming into this game, ready to test themselves,
the undefeated achieves versus Enterprise. With only one slot in this region for Osaka,
you want to be the big guys. So while Enterprise are showing you that there's still levels to this.
Plenty of time here, right? There's to be one of the more attack-decided maps.
I don't want to throw the tail in yet for Chiefs. I still have hope that this could be
Close game. I will say though the Relays who got 50 kills to 16 deaths so far in his first four games has been absent
one and four.
Jakenna, Owen four, Neptune, Owen four.
Not all the kills found and Jigsaw. He goes from one from us to the other. The Solid Snake Band
he gets out the F2 on Twitch. He is yet to die himself.
The drone comes up likely sees wetables in a brief moment.
If this ends up being ultra one-sided though to EP, they will actually flip chiefs and
go straight to first place.
Not that it really matters, there's the one and two seeds obviously on the other side
of the bracket in the finals anyway.
I mean, maybe seven, end up jumping up over.
Relays finally jumps up and takes down Kyro, big kill to take down while he was fired out
from the Capitale.
First opening pick but also first round where it feels a little bit slower tempo from Enterprise and you can even see it with their lineup, James.
Like the whole lineup has changed from this more aggressive attitude with the Yings, the Blackbeard, the Deimos and the Snakes.
Now they go a little bit more set up based.
Chiefs get the first kill, minute left by V4. It's the first time really seeing Enterprise just look a little bit more flat footed.
More time on drones, more time setting up.
More hesitant too, like two-hunt backing away from stalk and wary of the potential threat of relays.
Relays are just waiting as well. No need to get aggro just patient.
She's maintained their advantage nitro gets the injure
Kenner finds one almost to kill there as chiefs look to lash out keep that pressure on to hon at the top floor
Just sneak his way down below as a breach towards the bomb site and she saw finds his gap
This is very winnable 20 seconds though. You pee need to find every fight. Oh
up close though
The contact was made from where the balls didn't at least get the kill onto to hon 2v2 closest round without this
Far into the game must win for cheese. It's all pistol 1v1 by seconds Neptune
Oh, jigsaw has him pushing but he beats him out
Naturally with a double kill at the end of the round for chiefs to finally get their first round here on bank
Yeah to face the final boss of a 10 and 0 jigsaw in order to do it in the 1v1 a
A big sigh of relief for Neptune at the end of it.
That did not look like a man who just won a 1v2 clutch.
That's where Chiefs find themselves.
Now, one round left in the half,
and they desperately need to find this second round.
This could very easily be...
They get it though. 2-4's not that bad.
In fact, it could be that Chiefs come out swinging on their attacking side of their own game.
Two rounds is enough to win this in regulation.
So, very quickly, the story could flip.
See just a tail of two halves.
And EP, as you said, that's the first round where they lacked confidence after they lost this pick on the Cairo.
They looked very much slowed down. In the mid to late round they found a few big picks and a couple of good entries on the execute just because of the frag capability of these players.
But in terms of having a solid round convincing from the get-go, that was very much an outlier compared to the four that Enterprise had won prior.
There's two reactions when you clutch like that. There's the hype, and then there's the relief, and you can clearly tell that was the relief for Neptune, because when you four-kneel down, and you're the one left up in the clutch, and you've got the rampaging jigsaw pushing you, like you said, 10 and 0, it's easy to freeze up, and then, you know, then suddenly it's 5-0, and the game's probably done.
done. Big moment from Neptune. Now final round of this half. Win this, you get to two rounds,
you get to talk with Oda again in the halftime break. Oh, man, who's Relays? And that's been
a big factor in this whole game as well. Relays up until tonight. You actually asked me when
we were off air, if the numbers were right in regards to Relays, 161 EPS, 50 and 16 up
to this point. 2-6 though in this big game.
Yeah, 50 and 16 isn't saying because it's an average of 12 and a half kills per game and an average of four deaths per game
Which is just unbelievable like if you get that score in one game
That's an impressive thing that average out of the four is next level. That's consistency which is lacking here because as you say two and six
Very disappointing. I mean he's he's already got 50%
and more deaths so far. Here comes a very close, a very pivotal gun. Five jakenna finding the finish off
as well on a two hon. He gets traded back, but that's worthwhile taking down the black
bit. However, because EP already had that early pick, Chiefs will still suffer being in a numbers deficit in the 3v4.
I mean, the fact that Jake is able to get that kill onto two hon, I thought it was in some real
strafed there but reacted quickly at least one for one for the blackbeard I'd rather
get that kill onto the blackbeard.
Oh, Neptune just losing the battle.
Player, look at Spine, raw stage for player up until this week yesterday he finally had
his first really good game and now against the old team, against his old friend, six
and two really putting the pain in insult to injury and now they're four versus two
up in this final round of the half.
Down the launch box note, well he's dead too, player's on a rampage himself.
And this is EP at the peak of their powers. You get Jigsaw, Tujan and player as the core three main fraggers,
Brenda and Kyra to then flex and support alongside them, and they're going to be such a difficult team to stop.
What can Waibles do against two of his old Blitz teammates?
Oh, a lot of seams.
Bit of damage through the wall, but he is being hunted down and finished off.
It's Jigsaw to finish it off. Unbelievable half from Jigsaw.
Really punching up numbers today.
And for EP, a 5-1 start to this game really casts a doubt over whether this will be the 1v2 that we were hoping for.
as we saw on the camera jigsaw on fire not just outside the server but inside the server
and 11 and one half Tuesday on the entry puts him bang on to one 200 EPS.
So my MPP call looks great at the moment.
Five one lead for Enterprise.
Let's see if they can close this out in a dominant fashion.
You highlighted to be James and I just noticed it to the multi kill column
on our stat tracker is all blue for Enterprise from that first half.
Six rounds, Jigsaw, two on Jigsaw, Kyro, Jigsaw player.
Those are all 3k's in each round one each
Insane set of three case
This is an annihilation that first half was sadly not very close not none of the rounds were close
I mean sometimes you have a 4251 split
Then you see a little bit of life from the team that's losing and some faith that they can come back in the second half
I'm not convinced and as we can see from the standings if
If E.P. win this, they rock it up to the very top of the standings.
If Chief win, they just stay right where they are, remaining undefeated.
E.P. come through, and this is what it's going to look like.
Jumping up over 7, jumping up over Chiefs as well in a regulation when that would be massive.
I think the standings here aren't probably showcasing the round differential.
So coming into this game, it was plus 19 for Chiefs, plus 8 for E.P.
So you think about what that swing could be if it's a 7-1 game, it's clearly a 6-point swing,
which would be plus 13 for Chiefs and plus 14 for EP.
So that's the metric to get them up into first place.
In consequential, doesn't really matter, but an interesting note.
And it's just, it's good for the Mario, isn't it?
Like, you know, to EP to win the game and take their place at the top of the standings,
to spike it in 7-2 by CS, I mean, Oda can talk all the smack he likes,
But really what matters is who's putting their best foot forward to qualify to the Saka Major.
Step one is root stage, step two is stage finals at PAX.
Of course it would be insane to see a grand final between these two teams with the Major on the line.
At the moment though, Chiefs need to wake up, otherwise this is not looking like the contest that we had hoped for from the best of us.
Yeah, and I think sometimes you get that once early in the stage, the team, like Circulus
Fierce, who have got clearly some young talent, and so they kind of just got shown up on the
night.
But it's how you respond, and they've responded emphatically ever since, and that's the sign
of maturity.
And also, I think Circulus Fierce probably caught them at a bad timing.
Like the first week, or the first two play days at least for Enterprise, they were still
gelling.
Like, the player hadn't got his feet set.
They struggled as well against Anyos, like it was not clearly a good start to the stage.
But I think when you lose like that, it's that wake up call to kick into gear.
And now that a bit of time has passed, they've spent more time together playing officials,
scrims, etc.
They're just looking really, really solid.
That's the first time I've seen the Horus launcher used at a shield target.
And he actually landed it as well.
I thought for a brief moment I saw the B-Golf effect.
I don't think so.
I think you landed on the floor and you kind of walked over it because I saw the depuff
Yeah, the UI but yeah, I mean this is the thing to keep to Ken at Bay is that Horus launcher from Cairo
The goal here for EP is to target that or get that kill as soon as possible
Take him out of the game so the Cairo has the ability to get aggro Cairo takes the 1v1 first
He out comes the Horus launcher and this is the enemy of shields the shield meta getting kept at Bay by plays like that
That is a really good play from Cairo, the round is not over but he's effectively almost
won them the round off that.
I mean, Alivator can be really tricky to play when you've got a Capitan on the other side.
GigSaw's not going to allow CapTunin to the building.
Yeah, lunchbox dead from player, E.P. just on another level tonight, 6-1 lead, wrap this
one up, it's done.
But Cairo, what a round.
In that Alivator position, you get Capitan pressure, people pushing up Banani, you don't
always get a lot of help and the fact that he was able to be the aggressor
against that Monty with the Horus launcher initially when they were trying to
push up Banana then rotates nicely to front desk and instead of thinking
first and foremost launcher shield no he goes for the player behind the shield
gets the kill then at that point it's just the Monty and so when you think
about what's maybe the downside of the Horus launcher is what you go pull out
this launcher you got to shoot it you can't do that if there's someone behind
the Monty because he's gonna die. So he kills him first, here's the replay, immediately look how
quick he switches this and immediately now J.K. is like well what do I do? Dead.
That's right and if it was a Blackbeard or a Blitz then as soon as you see him swap out the launch
as soon as you see him taking the 5v2 teammate you just have to ABS but because the Monty was
fully extended there was no way to do that. So arguably the Monty trying to be defensive and
protective is the thing that made him lose it and I do wonder if maybe the
play for Chis was to try and hold Jakenna as vape while the second shield
player the Blackbeard could take the fight with the Nor but in the end it
couldn't happen I mean Enterprise are not just I mean not just one player I
mean they had elsewhere a lot of pressure and they managed to distract
that Blackbeard for long enough now EP 6 one up
Despite going to the top floor first man, that's still just bewilders me.
Look, I think the Chiefs, if you want to kind of bring up the narrative of first loss of the stage,
probably a good time to have it, because you get the week off and then come into the last week against
Manelopho and Anios in preparation then for PAX, which they will still be there.
You'd rather have this lost now than at packs in front of you know
Hundreds of people. I don't know how many people fill it in the hall. Maybe up to a thousand. I don't know
Quite a big space. It was a big space last year when we had the
Major polls there
The only disappointing fact is the score line. That's the most disappointing thing 7-1 if EP taught us anything in stage 1
Jake, it's that the group stage result between these two teams is not necessarily an indicator for what things are gonna look like in the grand final
Because sadly for Chiefs, it's not looking too crash hot at all
This is definitely looking like a 7-1 for EP a chance for this roster
That has taken a few weeks to really find their footing to show off their true form
Nobody questioned that this EP roster
Had five of the best players in the region had one of the best coaches the region has ever seen
But can they find their playstyle? Can they find all of the the correct roles for these correct players?
The problems that play to them in the lead-up to the eSports World Cup?
Can they shake those off and lock in a spot in a soccer after they lose their parachute?
And if you cheese you're hoping that you can get angry from this you've got to get angry you've got to want redemption at PAX
Second time jigsaw's called you
Just cut his KD in half with that death as well.
Heading to 1-30 and 2, it's washed.
A little bit too greedy there.
But it was an option now and we'll credit to Matt.
He's going to drop down, try and find the pig.
He's here playing extremely passively here.
He would be happy to let this plant go down and play for retake.
They still have very strong positions. They can also retake on the top floor
once they get confirmation that everyone is executing.
Barra says, hang on, somebody is pushing me very aggressively.
Brando goes for his flank, kills Redables from the hatch now, it's Neptune.
Vaptum vault.
And it's done.
A 7-1 beatdown in the 1v3 battle, and Enterprise are now very much the one.
They jump and flip into the top spot heading into next week,
and they look absolutely sensational.
On fire was Jigsaw, was too hard, was player, was Kyrie.
We didn't really get to see it, but it didn't really need to do anything in that game because the boys had it done from the beginning though
James the first two three rounds, I guess in hindsight were a very clear indicator that enterprise was switched on
They wanted to make a statement and boy they did
Yeah, we lost one round only lost one opening pick and Jigs only died twice only once a few just counting feeding at the end there
Jake, what is going on? I have casted more 7-1s in the last two weeks of stage two than
I think in the rest of my casting career for fine. It has been unbelievable. All of these
games slated to be close affairs. I've casted a lot of Daystar vs. Sharper, Daystar vs.
other teams at the top echelon of Asia as well. All of these games ending up 7-1. Enterprise
really bring on a clinic showing us what they're made of and giving Chiefs a run for their
I mean, this is not the chiefs that was running flawlessly through the bracket closest game chiefs is how I mean
It was seven zero seven ones and seven twos aside from one close game against seven ironically
EP now looking like they're bounced back well and truly they cruise through chiefs and I think I'll be pretty happy with themselves
Keep working through the group stage and then get to stage finals and enjoy playoffs
well
James you haven't had an eight interview just yet, but he'll play it down
Don't worry as we go to our interview with Nate fresh off of the win with enterprise
Congratulations, Nate. How are you gonna play this one down? Oh?
Mate, I don't know. I'll say I'll start talking
No, it was good. I mean like I'm not gonna like to Aaron home
But like there's a reason that she's so good at banking. It seems to be the reason why it's transported over
like
Bragg or is that player?
Who was getting the kills on the server today?
Yeah, it wasn't dying either.
No, it was, we obviously came in today with a really good mental.
We've been working really hard on killing the egos and doing all these stuff outside of the server
because you guys are well aware and you'll say none of these people need to fix, none of my teammates need to fix their mechanics.
It's not a mechanic problem. Some of the best shooters in the region, some of the best shooters in the world.
So I think definitely going into today, it was a, I said to them before the match, literally five seconds before we started,
I said, I don't care what the result is today, we lose OT 7175 as long as we're happy with the standard of play that we're bringing into the server.
And today, they may, oh sorry, today they may, Chiefs may not play to their top level and I'm sure that wasn't their top level and I expect them to beat better next time we burst them.
But we brought as good as the game that we could and if they weren't ready for it, then that's on them I guess.
Yeah, for sure. Look, Nate, of course, you've been with Chiefs for a long time prior to
joining EP and EP, as you said, have the best ingredients that you could possibly ask for.
The best frag is the five best individual players, but clearly what went wrong around
the Esports World Cup and in the lead up to it with their bootcamp and everything was
the roles and figuring out, like, what's the direction of the team? Where do people sit?
How do they function as a unit? You can have the best five players ever, but if they're
functioning as a unit you're going to lose every game you play. And that's really what kind of the
story was for EP. What was it like for you coming in to try and fix a team that had been a little
bit dysfunctional that hadn't had many player changes? I mean just bringing in one new player
isn't massive. I think I'm curious because it feels like what's going on behind the scenes is what
ended up making EP struggle so much at the Esports World Cup and what's going on behind the scenes
seems to be the reason why they're performing so well today?
I think it's comfortability to be honest of. So like
I don't know how other teams treat situations but we had to have a lot of
tough conversations where people are always happy to be like yeah I'll do
that you know I'm happy Matt Vito's I'll play whatever
map. We had conversations before this game today where
people were not arguing at each other but we had
conversations where someone said you know what I haven't felt too comfortable
doing this. I haven't felt too comfortable doing that and that's been the story since I've joined.
I came in and I said we need to be a team with good culture from step one and we need to be
comfortable in speaking to each other, being like let's drop the ego a little bit. I might not be
as good as this role as I thought I was. Can we switch things up and test it? And we saw our own
like I'd say it because it's the only game that we really struggled against CS. We had a conversation
right after the clubhouse game. We said you know what maybe we're not as comfortable in these roles
we didn't really like the way we played so let's just fix it and we've decided like yeah when we
go into these next games obviously I don't really want to speak much about what happened before I
joined because I don't think that's my place necessarily but from the least what I've joined
yeah it's been a big culture shift a big killing of the egos type of thing and just like focusing
on doing your job if I can get jigsaw and Tuharn and Kairi Brando and play into a seven out of ten
every game I don't think we lose. I think it's funny because EP got quite a reputation especially
in Salt Lake City for the egos for the smack tour so... I don't know what I was doing against me
the stage before. It's interesting to hear the evolution that you saying you're bringing to the
team. I think that maturity is certainly going to help for us for a long time. Obviously they
were chatting a little bit and chat today but I don't want it to be like a... I don't mind my players
talking trash to other people as long as that's not a problem. Well there's levels to it though,
isn't there Nate? Like there's probably Salt Lake City which is probably too much and then there's
the little things like at the end of the game Gigi will play it or Naisuurai and those kind of
comments I think those are fine I don't think there's any issue with that and is
that kind of where you come into it and say look I'm not gonna ban it outright
you guys have got personalities you guys want to have some fun as well but
there's levels to it. 100% I said to them I do not care if you trash talk as long as
you back it up so if you're going to trash talk make sure you come into that
game chest puffed out looking to you know take take the control of the game.
But if you're going to trash control the game, then yeah
Take control of the game you guys did from the onset
Obviously bank has been played between chiefs and enterprise as you're aware when you're on chiefs etc for many many times now
Where where is it kind of sit then ahead of something like packs?
Well, we're gonna likely have a couple of best of threes between the teams
Do you think it'll feature again?
Do you think chiefs will look at this and think we don't want to challenge them on that?
They were so good or you think they'll go back for review and come up with some new strategies next time
100% I think they'll go back to a world of you and they'll be like hey guys
We can't do this yet
So we have to like they can pick it against us all they want. That's fine with me
I don't care how much they want to improve because I see bank as a
You come get it from us map and if you play better on the day then you play better on the day
That's gonna be very difficult, I think
All right, Nate well, we won't keep you for too long obviously
Congratulations on the win still one more week to go next week before packs
But now on 12 points you guys are virtually there by every other metric outside of the 100% locked-in status anything you'd like to say
Yep, shout out to you guys obviously nice to have a dead interview. I haven't I've been talking to in a while
Shout out enterprise shout out all the sage mum and dads for supporting us letting us do this weird hobby slash job slash whatever you want to call it so
Yeah, much love
Well to the tax people it's a job. Sorry
That's all right. Yeah, sorry. That's my job
Thanks Nate, congrats again on the win scene next week.
Well in the end James Whitting, we did quite get to-
Sometimes when it's EP taking on Chiefs it feels kind of like shoddy whack.
We didn't quite get the match we were anticipating and hoping,
but what we got was an absolute highlight reel from Enterprise and certainly from Jigsaw.
I think I've been saying it throughout this stage because he's clearly been still one of the pop players in the regions
in the region sit, who sat coming into tonight,
fourth rated, he'll probably jump up now
at least into the top three.
The consistency of this man's career,
the fact that he still has the ability
to just dominate it a game.
We've seen it for many years now.
I still view Jigsaw as arguably the region's best talent
that has been in the region as long as he's had.
Obviously there's others that have maybe gone overseas.
I know he went overseas for a very short brief amount of time.
But when you kind of look at the last at least six years,
it's been Jigsaw's region and he maintains it to this day.
We've had some great players in oceanic history
that have been like the best player for a 12-month period.
Think about Worthy back in 2022, I think.
He went like what, three or four MVPs or something at a point?
Of course, yeah.
That year, he was just the best player ever.
But he unfortunately had a slow peter out.
Jigsaw has been so good for so long.
And I think that in a second to virtue,
and we can't discredit Virtue, world champion.
Best player that Ose has ever produced,
I think Jigsaw would sit behind Virtue
as the second best player that Ose has ever produced.
And look, his career is still, it's still going.
You know, it's just a start.
And I think he's been through quite a few teams now
from Bliss overseas, back to Bliss,
and then to Chiefs and now to Enterprise.
And I just really hope that he can continue
to go into these international events.
Kosozaka is calling for November. It'll be the first APAC major we've ever had.
Also exciting to see Nate, if he goes back overseas, it'll only be his third ever event
after he's gone to two with Chiefs. So yeah, exciting times ahead for Jigsaw and the boys.
Well, let's go and recap today's schedule and have a look at those results, which ended up,
unfortunately, being, oh no, the standings first up and the schedule, my bad, that's my bad, but
the top four standings, it's Manel Afo that have now slipped in. This is the very first
night James by the way as this was your first night that the top four has actually changed because
ever since playday one it was the same four teams until tonight with Manila for of course
beating circular spheres that now puts them into the top four and it means in terms of the pathways
to get into the top four so you think about with two games to go what are the most amount of points
a team can get to well any else can only get to nine and their round difference was horrible so you
can put a line through them. Chicademy can still get to 11 points but would require Manila first
obviously to stay below that
threshold. And for circular
spheres, they can still get to
13. So there's still that wild
card team that has been on a
downward slope. It's been a
string of losses ever since that
EP win. But if they come into
next week, win both their games,
that should be enough to probably
get them into the top four.
Yeah, big chance for CES. They've
got Chikademy and seven up next.
But for me, it's seven who very
much a team to watch because they
are still a very young team. They
They are not proven to be able to actually be a competitive for the spot at Osaka
Even though that they are obviously looking almost guaranteed to make it to playoffs their next matches against EP
And I think EP will be looking to take no prisoners
So I think we'll have a much better barometer of how the stage is looking after that match next week
Obviously next week's gonna be a very very big week as that's pretty self-explanatory with only two players to go top four looking quite close
And that's what we wanted from this stage James was a nice close competitive region with packs on the line is that sort of little extra
You know prize for teams that maybe
EP or chiefs caliber and have the chance to go to a soccer you think about that maybe third and fourth slaughtered
How much it means what my takeaways? I remember watching that a third
Little interview that we've been kind of rolling and how happy he was even just to win an APAC regional final
You can imagine then if you can win at packs and go to a soccer how much it will mean to these teams
Yeah, and every single day of LAN experience that you can get is huge for these players.
I mean, you look at both Chiefs and EP, they went to the Esports World Cup, which had a very savage format, right?
It's double elim, so they lost two games, both of those teams, and they were out.
Technically, Chiefs actually played more games than EP because they won a single map and a B or a 3.
So the LAN experience of playing at Pax, even for Chiefs and EP, guarding for that spot at Osaka,
it means everything and it's hopefully the start of what could be a good boot camp that then happens
when they do qualify for that major. So it's just such a fantastical opportunity for OC sports and
for all these teams and I'm really keen, really nice to see that again back in us.
Well it's my third favorite region. It's your second home, EML up next James. How's things
been over there? Drama man. There's always so much drama this day. It's really EML. It's very,
very juicy, very, very fun. I think yeah similar story to always for me the most exciting unusual
team that I'm keen to see a little bit more of is Twisted Minds because of their roster upgrades
with Mowgli and Blaz. I feel like that's really turning a new leaf for that team, you know going
in English, getting in some foreign talents. Yeah, really keen to see what they can do. Also
Shifters did something similar. They brought in two Brits, so we'll see what happens because I think
We arguably have more competitors for the major than usual in the final stage.
All right. Well, we are going to wrap up shop for tonight, though, but it's been a pleasure.
James, thank you so much for joining me tonight for what ended up being a pretty one sided night.
We didn't get the game that we were hoping for the EP Chiefs, but it's building nicely into next
week on the road to PAX. Thanks everyone for watching. Of course, Asia will be on tomorrow
for APL, but for Oce, we'll see you next Monday.