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Yeah
Well shown each other six, but I realized we do it a little different you guys
Probably the same way what would you have what do you mean the same way? It was just too different. Okay?
He was going with the thumb. Yeah, well, we threw me out wild. Okay, that's a well
We guys I had a chance to actually be on the eml desk. I was hosting it
I got to see the least competitive region of all terrible. I got some news though. It actually was lies somewhat competitive
I mean it certainly was not didn't even close to what we have here in the NAL
But I don't know I mean it's very apparent there they're the weakest region so far
We look at all the regions across the board, so I'm sure you're happy to be back
I'm glad to have that because watching any ML actually had to turn it off because I couldn't really believe that you switched side
Yeah, that was the only time I had the volume up. It was great to watch
Yeah, and I also love that your first segment was talking about stomping and you just had to go right into
What's the best part of the ML? It's the American part
I mean, come on, we love to see it.
Well, in case you missed the action here last week during week two, crazy, week two of the NAL,
well, Intero's got a nice little recap for you.
Oh, hey there, look who's back.
I free you from Jesse J. Chick having to do the recap.
It's me, your boy, Intero, and we're here to talk about what occurred in the second week of the NAL.
There were only two teams that won both of their matches this week.
The first one, Cloud9, they stay undefeated, baby.
15 points out of a perfect 15 points who is going to be the first one to bring
down C9 the other team 100 thieves they annihilated Shopify rebellion 7 0 on the
Thursday match then on Friday 100 thieves took down SSG 7 2 not bad for the
thieves there might be a hundred of them but they only lost two rounds that's
efficiency at its finest who were the losers well unfortunately space station
and DZ went winless this week.
That hurts for space station gaming
as they came in this week in second place.
And while they're still in the playoff picture,
it's been quite the tumble downwards.
They need to start winning,
and they need to start winning soon
because they are leaving points on the table.
As for some other unexpected winners,
both Outlast and Five Fears
picked up victories this week.
Five Fears finding their very first victory,
and it came against M80.
As for Outlast,
Well, they beat Wildcard in a 15 round bonanza.
What is going on in these games?
What about Five Fears?
Well, they lost to Four Fun before beating M80.
How did M80 do?
They beat Outlast 7-0 on the Thursday match.
So where does that leave the standings
for the North America League?
Well, Cloud9 sits atop the standings.
Seems all but certain that Cloud9
will lock down their spot in the playoffs.
As for everybody else, well, it's crazy how competitive it is.
That's why you need to watch and see for yourself
four more play days to determine the best
of our competitive region here in North America.
Well, as we heard there from Parker,
things are getting a little spicy
on the standings right now.
Cloud9, the only remaining undefeated team here
in the NAL, they look down at the rest of the teams here
as they all clamber for playoff position.
Dark zero hanging on in sixth place.
M80 down there in ninth,
starting to get a little bit concerned about their chances.
And so with playoffs coming up,
I figured why not introduce the NAL Panic Meter,
a chance for us to dive into, well,
how panic should we be about some of these teams' chances
as we get into the playoffs?
So I'm going to ask you about five teams that I feel like are worth talking about, guys.
And I want you to tell me, is everything fine?
Are you keeping an eye on them?
Are you a little concerned?
Are alarm bells going off, or is it full-blown panic?
Lax, I want to start with you on SSG, a team that will start as strong, skidding a little
bit in the last two days.
How do you feel about them right now?
Got to say I'm a little concerned on the panic meter because they started out strong.
They were hitting everything that we wanted to hit on.
They were getting the players online.
They were getting the wins underneath their belt.
They went flawless in Super Week.
But then we come into that week, too.
And then all of a sudden, we're talking about their version
of the upper echelon.
We'll see what those competition, what
that competition would look like.
And unfortunately, back to back, two, seven losses.
It's not looking good for SSG.
And they aren't in a dire situation,
but I mean, they still can make playoffs.
But their job isn't going to get any easier,
I believe, with these next four playdays.
So for that, I got to put them into concerned.
Yeah, definitely not a dire situation.
I think they did a good job of winning the games
that should have during Super Week
and getting those nine points.
But exactly what I thought was going to happen
when I said that they weren't going to make playoffs
is starting to happen.
And they're now playing these stronger teams
and they are slipping a little bit.
And the games are honestly not even close.
I mean, we're getting blown out by 100 thieves.
So, yeah, I mean, I agree with them.
Definitely, definitely concerned,
but it's still in their own hands.
They still control their own destiny.
But they got to stop the bleeding at some point well dark zero a team that has been like it's bleeding surprising amount
I mean they're the major winners and right now they have a losing record Kyle
How concerned are you about this team? Yeah for me look? I think we should just keep an eye on it, right?
We just again what what you just said right there. They are the major winners
They won slc for anyone who just tuned in they won slc wow
I know it's a big surprise, but what the big surprise is it's the fact that they're now two and three
So they're under 500 and for a major
Winning team this year to be under 500. I think you just you have to be slightly concerned and now
I'm not saying that they're not gonna make the playoffs right?
I think DZ is definitely going to play off
But I think what is to keep an eye on is the fact that they've been struggling to close out games
If you look at the hunter thieves game
They went up five one and then what happened after that that these are able to bring that back and honestly
You can call this coping if you want
I think the thieves should have been able to win that game so much so that
Pamba says yeah, I think their chalet was a little bit fraudulent
We see cloud nine take dark seer to chalet and beat them and ended their 7-0 win streak on that map in a game
That again dark serial was winning 4-3 and then cloud nine went on a run and then their very last game versus SR
Again, it was 6-5. They should have been able to put SR away
But ambi 1v2 and then they end up losing the SR
So they're just having a finishing problem.
I gotta say this, there's two sides to the coin for me.
One side is this is kind of the DZ that you get domestically.
Even when you look at their previous days,
they aren't like the most flawless team by any means.
A lot of games went 7-5,
one round could easily switch into overtime.
Fact is they close it out, they got those wins.
Then you look at the other side of the coin
where we talked about them very heavily.
They've never lost back to back.
That completely changed losing that SR game.
Then going into that SR game specifically,
They have absolutely dominated SR, and then they lost to SR.
And then it kind of paints the question now,
what is the DZ going to be going for?
Now, is that really going to paint the entire narrative
and say that they aren't going to make playoffs?
Absolutely not.
But it definitely kind of changes some viewing points
that we maybe recently had before,
or maybe hanging on to, that we can't hold on to.
Keep an eye on it.
OK, so for SSG, you're concerned.
DZ keeping an eye on it.
Tell me about four fun eSports here, Kyle,
because a team that has been in sixth place
in the past couple of stages,
And all of a sudden, you know, things are changing a little bit.
For me, for 4 Fun, I think you definitely have to start sounding some alarm bells at this point.
Because 4 Fun, they've been a team that right now, they're able to beat the teams that are lower than them.
And currently they're outside of the playoffs, they're outside of the top six.
So they're looking to get inside of it.
And they've been able to beat the teams below them, but they can't beat any of the teams above them.
And that's kind of the 4 Fun that we noticed last stage as well.
They wanted to make that roster change with Serks to kind of change that.
But when you look at the strength of schedule, you look at the games coming up.
They're playing all those teams that I just described, those teams that they historically struggle against.
So for them to be fighting for points to get into the playoffs,
I think the alarms have to be ringing here.
Well, this is a team that has shown us some promise lacks.
Like, we've seen what they can do.
It's just not happening every single playday.
It's not. But, I mean, the reality is we have seen far better tendencies
and things that we can't actually focus on from them from the previous stage where they were in dire situations.
Like I said, they were playing that operator reled.
They weren't understanding their attack strategies where I would like to say they have a better grasp on things.
It's just similar to what you're talking about with Dizzy.
They can't close out games or they can't get close to that just yet.
But again, I think they are still in a very good spot.
Granted, they do have hard opponents, but what do we see last week?
We saw some big opponents lose to weaker ones, so it's not safe.
They can't get shaken up here in the best of ones.
Well, in the battle of big opponents, Shopify Rebellion has been also having those consistency problems, right?
They beat DarkZero, which as you said earlier, was something they haven't done ever this year, right?
So pretty much ever.
So are they also in a similar boat as DarkZero or like in terms of your concern?
Similar situation with DarkZero.
You definitely want to keep an eye on them, mainly just because of those inconsistencies.
I mean, you go from losing 07, where we saw a super tweet online that they needed to sacrifice
to lost to hot and cold in order to beat DarkZero.
And that kind of leads more to the point of keeping eye on it.
They beat a team that was dominating them.
I mean, what?
It was 18-3 in maps.
And then in series, it was 8-0.
To beat a team that you consistently
lose to time and time again, that
really creates an entire new avenue for this team.
And the sky really can be the limit now,
because you got over such a big hurdle.
And through my experiences of beating teams like TSM,
can't say I ever beat DarkZero,
but just being able to beat the strong opponent
so I can have that dominate for so long,
it really kind of changes everybody's mindset.
And honestly, what we've seen from SR
throughout this stage so far has relatively been good,
and I've been happy to see the comms be reshaped,
see her take a little smoother,
especially in those mid to late rounds.
But again, it more is a question
of we can't see those 0-7s.
So definitely keep it an eye on it,
but I do expect them to be in a good,
positive end by the end of this.
All right Kyle, let's wrap it up with N-80,
the team that I know everybody has been waiting for us to talk about the panic
meter was kind of built for this team right now because I know how I feel how
do you guys feel and how the community maybe should feel about where and maybe
stand was that ain't making yeah I'm gonna be honest that we did build this
for them because I am in full blown panic mode make the meter go as far right as
you can because at this point last week we were calling it the free week it
was the week that they needed to get some points going into their favor
They needed all six and they only got three of those after losing to outlast in red regulation
And if you compare it or I guess we can look at their schedule kind of coming up. They need points badly
There's four games remaining and they play the top three teams in the NAO currently. You're talking about undefeated clown or fun
You're talking about what thanks for saying
You're talking about wild card and you're talking about hundred thieves who have honestly been kind of heated up ever since they got
7 0 by cloud 9 they've started to figure out some of their consistency problems
And the other problem is yes
They need to kind of win all four for them to keep it in their own hands because if you look at the line from last stage
Right, that's where the problem is the the sixth team to get into playoffs was 14 points
They currently have what three so even if they were to win every game they get 12 puts them at 15 points
That would be probably in in their own destiny
But we just see how hard their opponents were at this point, right?
Like, we just talked about how good they were.
So if they were to drop one of these next coming games,
it is now out of their hands, and they risk not only not
going to Osaka, but SI, you're going
to have to play through LCQs?
Like, that's rough.
Yeah, I mean, it's definitely not a great spot to be.
And I will say, just being a former player,
and I'm sure you can attest to this as well,
is yes, their backs are against the wall.
But in some cases, that's exactly what
you need in order to play a perfect game of Siege.
Obviously it makes everything that much harder,
makes it even more exhausting once you're going through each
and every single playday to get these three points.
But all five of those individuals, coaching staff as well,
they can get through this,
but it is going to be a big uphill battle.
You practically have to play perfect throughout all of this
and also in hopes that other games go certain ways.
So yeah, definitely full blown panic mode for M80.
Yeah, obviously I think you guys are right to be concerned.
We have a little treat for all the numbers nerds out there.
This is courtesy of Justin from Wildcard,
one of the coaches there.
The actual numbers, if you look at 50-50 matchups,
and maybe does not have a very good chance
of making it 15%.
Exactly, and I'm more looking at the lower bracket.
The lowest point of them being able to get in,
and that's even at an 11%, which is why we're talking
about they almost need to be flawless goalers.
Actually, I think they do need to be false
depending on how games go.
So I'm heavily going to be watching the M80 games
for these last four play days as this shapes out.
Well, that M80 game later today will be against Cloud9.
Kyle, as you hinted at earlier, a game
that is not going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination,
and they're very tough schedule coming up.
But that game should be a good one coming your way
at 4 PM Eastern later on for fun.
And Wildcard will go toe to toe.
DarkZero will have a chance to get out
of that seventh place position
if they can collect some points over Outlast.
And we have a good one to start things off with 100 feeds and five fears are opening game of the day.
This one is the story for me of five fears because they just collected some points against M80 and kind of put M80 into this precarious position that they are now.
And so when you look at this roster and you see their potential, you got to say, well, last week is a great example of what they can do.
It is a good example of what they can do.
And we need to see it kind of going forward in their future games.
But what they showed was a lot of confidence and a lot of energy.
And it was very telling listening to JJ.
When we were able to listen to him,
and he kind of said that, there was a lot of frustration
in the team.
And what did they do differently?
Two hours before the game, Forrest says,
let's cut the sleeves off.
And immediately, the energy was injected back into the team.
We got JJ dancing again, thrusting, whatever it
may be, Hognation.
We are back.
And we clearly also seen it in their gameplay as well.
The fraggers were fragging again.
We weren't afraid to make plays.
J.J. or sorry, Forrest was jumping outside the clash,
making ridiculous plays.
We were hot dropping down a hatch
when we were in a disadvantage.
And really, that's what makes five fears, five fears.
It's the unpredictability.
It's not being afraid to do stuff
that might be weird to other teams.
Yeah, it might be a little unorthodox.
So that's what I wanna see them kind of getting back
to improving that we can not only do that
in a game versus M80,
where we're talking about the salary difference,
and we're getting hyped up in the chat.
But we could do that every other game going forward
that we don't feel any pressure.
And like you were talking about this earlier,
like as a player, you've been in that situation
where confidence and the mental play
so much of a role in this game,
and it seems like they have that confidence.
Yeah, and confidence is key.
I mean, you hear it across all sports,
doesn't matter, anything competitive.
You gotta have confidence.
You gotta feel that you are the best player,
that you are the best team in the lobby,
regardless of who you're going against.
And that's the exact four, I mean,
five beers that we saw in that series.
But I think even something to take away just in the comms
and them getting excited and getting animated,
even in the rounds that they lost
that we were listening to, they were still having fun.
They were still having a good time.
And then immediately, if they win the next round,
they would get hyped almost immediately and again.
And that's the exact same sort of energy
that we need to see and that Mint was talking about
that they continue to show back during kickoff.
I don't like talking about kickoff with this team.
No, no, no more, no more.
However, we do need to see that same life come from.
But I love that the sleeves are all,
this is a new jersey.
Black jerseys with the polo.
I didn't even see the jerseys.
The collar?
Conversation.
Sorry.
Well, 100 thieves their opponents today.
Also, it feels like having been building up
in that confidence we were talking about.
In part, I think, due to the man
that Kyle's mentioned about 100 times,
Spirits has been that engine leading the team.
We keep calling him the engine.
It's the little engine that keeps on going on.
He's going from a V6 to a V8 when we talk about them
building up.
And it's more so really on the attacking side for him
that we've been highlighting a lot.
His attacking prowess on that shield in comparison to the rest of the shield players, his EPS is higher than every other player's,
which is why we highlight him so much on the side of 100 Thieves,
because he's able to enable the rest of the team.
You heard him in that timeout where Hanekul says,
you need to be the shield, you need to be the force, you need to open up these rounds.
And since that time on, we've only seen spirits excel every single game, leading the charge, leading the NA out.
But the funny thing is, you have to look at that defense side of things.
That's the craziest part, because you talk so much about the shields, and that's being his brand, leading the team in through the breach, but on defense he has been very strong as well.
This is where he's actually dominating, and it's funny to think we're highlighting him on the attacking side, but on defense he is the number one rated player.
He has a 2.0 KD, he has one of the highest EPSes of all the defensive players, and then when you look at the operators, he plays the Yeager, he plays the Smoke, he plays the Denarii.
He is such a versatile and flexible player, where sometimes he can be stationary,
sometimes he's holding down a position.
Then in other games, like we saw in their SR game, he's roam around, he's elusive,
he's getting these opening kills, he's interrupting the attackers' comms,
which we know that's very chaotic for an attack.
You think you have the blueprint, you think you have the strat,
then all of a sudden you have a player that is flanking you, interrupts the comms,
and then the round completely falls apart.
So, realistically, Spirit is doing everything on every single front,
whether that's on attack or defense, he is absolutely excelling.
I mean locks if you would have told me six games in a spirit is the number one rated player first off
I'm so glad you're glazing him
But would you have been able to guess spirits is literally the number one for a ready player in the NL?
Because we haven't seen something like that since back on these coasts. I mean you're right and last stage
He was actually their worst performer
It was only Adam and I kept saying please somebody needs to step up case in it
He needed a little bit more experience
It wasn't case at that time and it was spirits who I knew could be be the engine that he is
Having worked with him on one of he just needed to get going and it's also interesting
that he's doing this in what's supposed to be not the shield man.
We got nor introduced and getting used a lot more in other regions.
I'd like to see NAL kind of picking me up
because I do think we're sleeping on that a little bit.
And maybe that's what's going to shut him down.
But I love that you're also highlighting him on the defensive front,
the vigil running around, smoke on the anchor.
He's such a versatile player and I'm just, I'm so glad he's back.
Well, both teams are coming off wins.
The one that really caught our attention was Five Fears win over M80 on Clubhouse.
Let's find out where they want to take us today
against 100 Thieves.
Fortress is the pick here.
100 Thieves ultimately deciding.
Lacks, how do you feel about this pick
for both of these guys?
I mean, 100 Thieves has really been showing their map pool
and flexing it a little bit.
Now, this isn't one of their best maps,
so I mean, they're one in three overall in the year.
On the side for four or five fears,
they are, this is one of their best maps.
They are four in one.
But what we've seen from five fears
haven't been the most comfortable five fears.
I don't want to get too hung up on Clubhouse
and talk about everything that happened there,
because again, it's a very default map.
Now they are going to be comfortable with this map,
but I want to see everything that we were seeing
on Clubhouse be displayed here, not just in the game,
but inside their comms, inside of their livelihood,
just how they interact with each other.
And then for the side of 100,
I just want to see the exact same consistency
and level that they've been showing.
Because if they can show that,
forget the map count at this point.
We just got to see the play from them.
Well, the players that have been on this team,
both of these teams, we highlighted spirits,
of course, being that engine.
Four foot, four foot, five fears
have been, I would say, struggling through the first four play days,
getting their frags to perform, getting that their own kind of engine going.
That fifth playday against M80, things changed,
and Kyle, you have to attribute that to the frags starting to perform.
It is the frags starting to perform, and that's something that you even mentioned,
I believe, right before that M80 game that they needed to step up.
I mean, we're talking about Fens, who was probably the most improved player in Stage 1.
He was phenomenal for the team. Snake, we know he's super consistent,
and gets his rivals right there.
Those are like the big three for the team,
but it's not only them being able to just get kills.
It starts with the supports.
It starts with JJ, it starts with Forrest
being able to hop back onto the double shields
like they were used to.
Is that Kizzy in a cowboy hat?
That is fantastic.
That's the energy right there.
He is posting up right now looking over.
First off, having a coach back,
that's another topic, having a coach back
into the bootcamp, probably another injection
of energy into the team.
But again, it starts with the supports kind of enabling their fraggers, getting them going.
And then just kind of fueling them with the confidence, right?
Not putting them down, hey, why'd you make that peak?
Hey, why are we dying here?
But instead, go for that play.
And we heard that in the comms over and over again.
When Snake said, hey, I think I could get on this operator and go for a free pick.
It was immediately met by a JJ going, yes, let's do that.
And then we can work this play off of that, right?
So it all starts with the enabling, but the fraggers, they're absolutely back,
but they just need to keep that confidence going forward.
We are hopefully moments away from getting into this and still waiting on a couple of players to hop on in the lobby
We'll get to the game as soon as we can after that
But I want to stick with you guys on a point that you mentioned that having the coach behind you in person in that environment because lacks
Five years, I think on paper. They're the underdogs here hundred thieves my third place right now five years still out of the playoff position
They now have that coach. They have the confidence as we've talked about it
It seems like an environment where a team that is trending
upwards could continue to go up there with the elements they
have working for them.
I mean, you can definitely feed off having a coach behind you.
They have the straff hook.
They're able to use those timeouts more effectively
being in person.
And something to just see, if we're
able to go back and just even look at the point system,
obviously, they're in a pretty dire situation.
But the fact that they got three points last week,
if you look at the rest of the other teams
and where their points are, they
can end this week with just two wins
and get those in regulation.
They propel themselves into top six,
depending on how certain games go.
So it's even more important to have the entire team
in the exact same place working together,
cohesively as a unit, just to kind of feed off
any bit of momentum, feed off any sort of camaraderie
between one another.
And for me, just as a former player,
having the coach in the background always helps.
Now, I don't know the type of personality
that Kizzie is in terms of what my coaches have been.
But again, it's nice to just have that figure behind you,
having that strap book behind you
to just kind of lead you to things,
start kind of getting derailed.
Well, good thing is Fortress is just about ready to go.
Mint, I'll spare you the coaching question
that I had up there.
What a love there.
I know, but we dive into this when you see, obviously,
where the community stands on this.
100 D's on paper, they're the better team.
The community is backing them to win this one.
We heard what Laxing said about how this map,
though, could potentially favor five fierce here.
Anything in the bands that could jump out
to indicate what kind of Fortress we're about to see.
I mean, it always kind of starts
if there's going to be some wall denial banned out
I hate it, I hate it.
Which we've talked about a good amount of times as well,
whether you should be banning out the wall denial
or banning out the like interior operators,
like Azami Wamai that we see on a lot of other maps.
We are going to go to the wall denial route,
but it is interesting,
I was thinking about this the other day,
even on my Streamlacks,
we're like, even if you ban out the Azami Wamai,
there's still so many good operators on defense
on this map that you can lean into,
Goyo and Smoke and Denari.
a lot of that I'm born to so many traps, so many ways that you can kind of play it.
And I think just in general, map wise, that's a big reason why pro players are
and especially in the NAL enjoying this map on fortress because it allows so
many different kinds of play styles to come out on attack.
I love what you said about for fun being good at this map.
And a big reason they are five years map.
Sorry, five, five years, it gets you every time.
But a big reason it allows them to be good on this map is because again,
They were a team that has so many different play styles
and they can switch on attack.
They can bring the double shields
and push from one side over.
They can play split because Snake is a really good lurker.
And I'm not talking about the operator,
I'm talking about the player right there, Snake.
It's a very good lurker.
And they have a bunch of good lurkers on their team
that are not afraid to make plays
and play extremely split and take the gaps
when they're not afraid, right?
So it allows them to kind of do all of that.
And it's a big reason why this map
has been banned on them so much
and we haven't seen them be able to play on it.
And now that they're back on their comfort
and they just took down M80, right?
They got a lot of confidence.
I keep saying the confidence word, but we got the sleeves off.
We got the coach in the room.
We're asking what kind of energy he's bringing.
I mean, he's clearly matching the energy of this team.
I mean, absolutely.
And that's what you need to be doing as a coach.
The only thing I wanted to really touch on right there,
when a coach kind of gets into the room,
it's less about the strategy and things like that.
It's more about the bonding.
Like as a coach, when you're just behind the screen,
you don't get to interact with your players.
You don't get to feed into the energy.
You don't get to be a part of the environment.
And people start to look at you like, you're just a coach,
right?
And who is this guy?
But when you're in the team, you're actually
one of the guys.
Your boots are on the ground in the room, right?
You get to have fun with everybody.
It's just a lot easier of an environment to be in.
Your timeouts are going to be a lot more casual as well.
So I think it's a big boost.
I mean, having a team house in general,
it's usually for the bonding.
That's kind of the advantage you get.
Living situation.
I could straight away we're on the other side with that. Yeah for sure
Well, a case since I think PC keeps crashing so he keeps dipping out of the lobby
He's loading back in and we're getting this thing back up and running
I'm hoping that means he'll be good to go for the remainder of the match lacks of being waving your hands
What's going on, but they're ranked the players rooms really?
Everything you know see that house is working the team house situation
I know some of the players in by themselves, but I do like that background. Are they where's this as this?
I believe, no, I believe spirits, maybe leaking here, but I think spirits is now living with Adam, I believe, and I believe Adam was in Vegas.
So, hey, spirits, then Adam, you want to hang out again?
I'm still in Vegas, you know, maybe after a season, you know what I'm saying?
I will say that is another nice thing about playing in a teamhouse or facility is you can screenpeak.
You can just check your teammates screen.
You don't have to ask for something.
We're really going down that route.
It's important.
You're telling me at LAN or even at home in the DZ facility house, whatever you want to call that giant place.
When you were living there that you weren't looking at teammate screens while the games are going on you're getting your own information
You definitely practice that for sure
Let's go I saw the standings back up real quick to let everyone know again
What's at stake here as we continue to wait for these players to get situated and back into the lobby again?
It is there's four days left in the race for playoffs today
And three more play days and you need to be in that top six right now
100 Thieves with the nine points are sitting comfortably in third and in that position
But as we've talked about that target number you're looking for is at least 12 points
Ideally 14 if you want to guarantee yourself a playoff position
We'll get into more of the numbers and actually locking that in as the playoffs get a little bit closer
But you see five fears there all the way at the bottom in 10
They collected their first points against and 80 last week and if they want to have any shot lacks
They need to start winning games exactly
And that's what I mentioned if they win today that puts them at six
They're essentially tied with for fun depending how that game goes and if you further that and again depending how all the other games
Go which you know, I can't seem to the future and tell you what these points are going to shape out B
But for them
Realistically they get to nine and they're in a very good position to possibly go into that last week of making it into playoffs
But again, we already said the road is a bumpy getting to that point. I mean not even that though like four or five years
I mean yes, they I mean sure there's an outside shot they can go on a run
They could somehow make play on a walk, but I they could go on a walk
But I also think that they would just have fun spoiling some other people, right?
I heard there's something in gatekeeping for sure something about gatekeeping and JJ is one of the gatekeepers
He loves it. He's always right like even when there's nothing on the line. He's always gonna go hard
I mean were you watching EWC when keg was beating everyone and he kept putting out this exact same tweet
Just like sometimes, you know, I can't I can't remember exactly what it was
But he was clearly referencing other teams can't beat keg worry. They could they did beat keg. They're the better team
It's always fun to see JJ's tweets
Well as we look forward to the rest of the day
Maybe we could take a look at our schedule to come because as we've talked about playoffs
hang in the balance and M80, the team that we rated at full panic on our NAL panic meter,
they have a very important game ahead at 4 p.m. Eastern. They'll take on the undefeated Cloud 9,
and M80 as we talked about need to go flawless. They need to win every single game for the remainder
of the stage if they want any control of their fate. DarkZero also playing later on against
Outlast have a great opportunity to collect some points there at 6 p.m. Eastern. They sit
right now outside of the playoff picture. But as these guys are talking about, you don't feel too
concerned about their hopes given the strength of their opponents they have left. And of course,
it is dark zero, the SLC major champs. Anything else that stands out to you guys in terms of matches
you're looking forward to, obviously we can hype up the cloud nine game and M80 game all day long.
Anything else lacks that catches your eye? Throw me out of the water here. Honestly,
Can you swim can actually need floaties I also can't write about all help. I'll try sick. Okay. What about you?
Honestly, I'm more so just looking at the in-game screen of a hundred thieves. This is not showing up
We're saying casey's
Now spirits isn't there. Okay. There's casein casein is there spirits isn't there like can Adam just jump on casein's computer
They need a little engine that could spirits good. Oh, he's powering up
He's power. Yeah, case in his name. We've mentioned a lot now so far as he's loading into this game
But it's an end I think some people at home right aren't too familiar with a recent introduction
Into the T1 scene we joined us this year and we've seen I feel like how some moments of
Brightness some moments of that talent and he is now back in the lobby
But it's like like are you expecting more from these young stars?
Do you feel like he's fitting into this lineup? Well like as part of this rookie conversation?
We're always kind of seeing who is the next big bright spot definitely fits
Yeah, I know I think he definitely says I think for the first stage
He was just getting comfortable and we're starting to see them get more and more comfortable in that hunter-thieves system
But the hunter-thieves system the hot and cold system. I know it. Well, it starts with spirits
So as spirits is having his his career season right now, and he's getting going
It's going to open things up for everybody else like Adam
I know he was the number one rated player in the LL stage
But or for them, but it shouldn't have happened. This is what should happen
He needs to get going and then Cason is going to eat up.
And he's already impressed me.
And I think he's only going to get better.
Well, we got some great news.
Our matchup is ready to go.
All 10 players in the lobby.
So we start things off today with 100 thieves, five fears.
And we pass things over to Intero and Jesse
to kick off the day.
Thank you so, so very much.
We are finally in the lobby.
And if my voice sounds a little bit weird today,
I am sick as a dog, so you're
going to have to lumber through hearing me.
Even more annoying than usual.
But what won't be annoying, Jesse?
of four games for 100 thieves. They play up against the bottom four teams from here on out.
So 12 of 12 points are very much possible. 100 thieves enter the day tied in second,
trailing cloud nine, like every team in the league is nine points. Wildcard,
100 thieves, Shopify, Rebellion and Space Station all tied at the same point. They're all of
course in action today. It would be intriguing to see how they do up against five fears who
are hot after their first victory last week. Do you think it's onwards and upwards
for five years. I have to hope so Parker and then so much their fans this is a roster have really
struggled over the last few months they've won just two of their last 13 games but as the desk
said they won their last game that's the most important one they beat m80 and they're trying
to bring that momentum here into the game versus 100 thieves they start on defense on fortress
Parker and the operative bands have come through relatively standard particularly I like that snake
from Five Fears, that's gonna inhibit Kacin a little bit, you know, he loves the snake,
he's very good on that operator, so I think it's a smart fan to take it off the board.
And we're starting downstairs actually in Cafeteria Waiting Room, a little bit of an odd
bomb site choice, but a lot of teams are preparing this bottom four site, compared to some of the
other sites. Just Snake, lone roaming up and above the bomb site at the moment with everybody
else playing in and around that bottom floor, so excited to see how this match unfolds Five
fears certainly a lot to prove in this one versus a red hot on a piece big on
about Kason's most picked operator by the way don't could be his second most
picked but you know in any map where there are narrow corridors and lots of
flank routes of course for of course this fortress has one of those you're
gonna want to you're gonna want to bring that nomad snake with the very
first pick he'll shut down Gomez Gomez playing one of the hardest roles
here on Hundred Thieves. His stats and numbers across the board reflect that and Forrest will
also shred hot and cold. So two of the more support players on Hundred Thieves now gone
from action. The league leading spirits who took a little bit of time to get him to the lobby
earlier so much so that the desk pontificated about his whereabouts will be commandeering
this black beard completely blinding Snake who's now under watch. Spirit's gunned down from
his position and oh my goodness there's a flank from the stake how are they not expecting this
case and we'll be able to retrieve spirit he's wary about what five years might bring that's
jj blast to step up 45 seconds to go this is just misery for 100 thieves now against the class
they might be able to get this pic but no support is on its way perfectly played on that first
defense from five years parker they shut down 100 thieves in a lot of individual 1v1 engagement
a little surprise to see maybe the lack of teamwork on the side of 100 thieves for that first attack.
You saw Gomez be the opening pick up on that tall floor dying to Snake,
who was the lone rumour up on the mutes, and then Hot and Cold, the captain with the fuse kit,
going down just in music room all by himself to Forest.
It's a couple of weird deaths that you don't expect to see from a top level team like 100 thieves
who have had so much success so far just through this stage.
Feels like they're just not really playing together.
They tried to go pretty direct in through the hallway just to get into into infirmary
But maybe a little bit more respect needs to be shown by 100 these in a round like that because five fears again
They're on a bit of a streak so far Parker
They got their win just last week and they're clearly shooting straight today
So you have to be on your a game if you're 100 these
M80 falling to five fears as was mentioned on the desk back in playday number five
Just a week ago a little bit under a week technically it was Friday
Five Fears also had a matchup against Four Fun last week, which was I'll be honest as a caster very challenging to keep straight
FF and 5F Four Fun Five Fears. Oh boy it melts the brain on a good day
I'm very thankful that today of all days is not
Okay
We nine seconds into action snake goes for the newer spawn peak and gets shut down by hot and cold
Okay
Let's see what you think about that.
It's a very critical fight for 100thies to win.
We saw Five Fears getting quite confident after round one.
We had a bit of a tech pause, obviously,
so we took a little bit to get into the lobby.
But I can tell you, I was watching the chat.
Five Fears were typing.
The whole time we were waiting for Kacen's PC
to get back up and join the lobby,
Five Fears were chatting things up.
So you combine the early chatter with the first round win
with the attempted spawn peek.
I think it gets you into good headspace
for what Five Fears are really playing like.
It's important under these can shut that down losing hot and cold and to one be once the first year round would have been
Devastating so a critical error that gets avoided there
But spy fears on their back foot newer and the newest operator from Egypt
Same continent as where fortress is based out of Morocco and very close by in proximity, but not the same country
No, it is funny that we've seen some branding involving him and this map an operator that
this drawing quite a bit of polarizing comments. Doki actually tweeted earlier
today. I don't know if you saw it saying that he's a pretty good operator and you're
trolling if you think otherwise. Now I don't know if that's Doki trolling himself,
but we've not really seen any significant plays from this operator. We
certainly won't this round as he was picked off early. Rival will die as
well just moments ago and Hundred Thieves now find themselves in a 5v3
situation that Five Fears found themselves in just around before.
Much better position for Hundred Thieves to be in obviously, up by two. They can
You can start to work towards this execute now and you start to wonder who's going to be the player that steps up and tries to get aggressive on 5 fears to equalize these numbers.
Because it's 5 fears, they're feeling confident, you know they're going to try to make some kind of a play to get things back in their favor.
100 thieves are going to slow things down, take control from down below with that demo.
Spirits can do some really good vert work or maybe 1v1 force if he makes his way towards these stairs in time.
That's going to leave Fens and JJ to stop the onslaught as the majority of these 100 players come from the north.
Forest off to a great start, 2-0.
Unlimited time left for the attackers to pull this off, though everybody is still up right.
Def Mark will go out onto Forest as he escapes from those stairs.
And Spirits will immediately take up that position.
Honkul finds a second, took down Snake at the very beginning of the round.
J.J. will die.
Kasin and Adam both shredded.
It's all up to Fens.
Is it Bevian aim changes on five fears?
Maybe give them a new identity, maybe a new hope.
Nitro-style goes out and Hot and Cold should be able to pull this diffuser off his two sets of eyes or watching fends in this position
He has to make his way through a door frame. He missed a golden opportunity
26 bullets in that vector mag disappear in a hurry and it's hot and cold leading by example three kills that round
opening pick
Diffuse kit down and closing pick what a round for him 100 thieves will equalize and that's a really fast bounce back Parker
That's what we had to see from 100 Thieves immediately. They start playing more together. They work together on the roam clear
They get themselves into that man advantage obviously stopping snake on the spawn peeks was great
But even past that when they shut down rival it was really this pinch look case it up in the north
You've got cotton cold pushing in you've got spirits on the day most finding a position
Really were able to isolate those roamers and make sure that even if they lost a gunfight
They were in a position to trade things out. They were playing way more together in that round than we saw in round number one
So it's good to see hundred teams addressing their issues and fixing them on a dime
It was really quick to see that turn around and it proves that we're we're in for a competitive game between these two teams
five fears and hundred bees
Both times these two teams have met this season. It was a seven four Parker and kickoff five fears got the victory in stage one
It was hundred bees that got the victory. So the question is who's gonna win seven four today
If M80 was in the match, I would be saying, oh, we're going to go all 12 rounds and then
move on with our lives.
But that is obviously not the case.
Fortress only played one time so far in the North America League.
It was M80 versus Outlast.
You and I casted that one last week, exactly a week ago.
The closing match, I played in number four and M80 picked up their very first victory
in that matchup.
Feeding outlast 7-0 not the first
7-0 in the league. It wasn't even the first 7-0 that day
The first 7-0 actually involved hundred thieves and they were on the zero side of that one
So it was a rough start when they got demolished by C9
But since that hundred thieves have looked pretty good and again
They have far in a way the easiest schedule coming up today five fears tomorrow
Tomorrow they play up against Outlast, then they play up against Forfun, and then they
close out against M80.
Now M80 can obviously bounce back, but those other three teams tend to be towards the bottom,
so to strength the schedule, 400 thieves looking pretty good, and I mean, unless they completely
drop the ball in two of those matches, you gotta think those six points, that'll
put them at 15 points total.
That's usually the cutoff for the playoffs, so fans of 100 thieves rejoice.
your team is in very, very good shape moving forward.
100 thieves, they're really interesting attack here on the typically primary bomb site on Fortress,
the office and the aftering site. They're going down below and they're applying a lot of pressure on these white scares.
JJ blasts on usually in that position, starting to feel a bit of that pressure,
but they're taking space as they go slowly and surely.
Gomez, the opening thick, does find JJ.
So that's a huge round to go over in their favor and then rival disconnects right after.
That is brutal. A player's already died too, so he's probably not going to get a re-host in the midst of this one, Parker.
A 5B3 for round three. A big hold to take yourself out of if you're five years.
See if that Horus Lance comes to be any effect whatsoever.
There's five of those gadgets in pocket for Snake now with the Alda in hand surviving a lot longer than he did in the previous round.
It's Hot and Cold to fight him yet again, though.
This man
He's a snake charmer. What can we say a real charmer in real life if you bet hot and cold as well
Fence fighting for his life. He got us down to Adam. He is there's keep a barrier for some good protection around that area
Devastating that five fears might lose this round due to an unfortunate
Disconnect now it's all up to foe in a 1v5
We'll wait the call from the admins on what happens with rival whether he gets back in but as far as we can tell
100 thieves will take this round to one is the score line and I mean
whether or not rival was there.
100 Thieves were cutting through that defense pretty quickly, Jesse.
Yeah, absolutely. I think 100 Thieves had the advantage, no doubts, when that disconnect happens.
So I would guess that the round will stay, but as you said, we'll wait for confirmation on that.
Just a really cool and again, kind of unique push with the vast majority of players trying to come in from down below,
work the verticality with the Zofia. It's not something you've seen too often on this map, certainly not from 100 Thieves.
So it was nice to see some of that play.
We also got to see Snake actually use that Noir gadget up against a shield.
It's so far we've seen a lot of Noir in EML and NAL and SAL.
You know, we've seen them mostly used for area denial.
They'll throw them on hatches or throw them on walls
and they'll use it kind of as like a mini Goya or Kachanka.
But this is the first time I've personally seen a Noir
stick one of those gadgets into a shield
and use a ton of damage to spirits
as he was trying to push in through the hallway.
nearly got the kill not quite enough for the frag and 100 thieves come out cleanly on that round anyways
But a couple of interesting things for sure happening in that round for for 100 thieves and both of these teams
I've been keeping an eye on the operators. They've been running. They've changed their strats up quite a bit playing on forces for the first time this stage
Laxing did a great job breaking down the record from each of these teams
But I'll repeat him now that we've gone through this a little while
100 Thieves, a 1-3 record this season, 5 Fears, a 4-1 record this season, so the map
certainly feels like it should favor 5 Fears, but all 4 of those victories came back and
kick off, and we've talked to Death about how different 5 Fears are between kick off
and now they don't seem to be that same level of team, so always worth taking that
data with a little bit of a grain of salt, and 100 Thieves certainly off to the more
dominant position three rounds deep up to one.
Brown obviously will stand, survival will just need now need to reconnect.
And he keeps in beverages. Very close position. Is that mini for him to also have a freezer?
Oh the luxury. The European mind can simply not comprehend the amount of space that American
suburban living has. Jesse do you like getting in your car to be able to drive to a chain
restaurant that takes 20 minutes there and back because that's what real freedom looks like?
Absolutely, Parker. It's the greatest joy in life is getting into a vehicle and traveling around the roads.
Are these times just like to go get stuck in traffic just to pass the time? I don't know if you ever have that.
We don't really have that much traffic up in Emmitson, Parker. I'm not going to lie to you, but I'm sure in Toronto it's a favorite pastime.
Well, I happen to live in a place where people want to live, so usually that puts more cars on the road.
It's something that... had been Tonians? What is the term for?
You got it. Is it Emma Tony's? Yeah, it's Tarantonians the only time you say the second T in Toronto unless you're a
sports broadcaster
See
The game I was trying to think of a funny pivot, but I'm not at my best today
That's okay Parker
Eliminated from the playoff hunt yesterday, so my whole life is over
The Argonauts won against Edmonton last last week though. That was a brutal game
tickets to see them were $20 and you didn't go you would have had a great
time if they paid me 20 bucks I wouldn't have got we are just waiting for rival
to get back in the lobby a reminder for everybody as we said the playoffs are
about halfway away we've played five play days nine play days in total through
the group stages hundred thieves have a really easy go of it moving forward the
easiest schedule dare I say it of any of the remaining teams they play the
the four bottom teams for the next four play days to round out the group stages.
12 points on the board, very possible.
Hundred Deeds started the day tied for second, but there are four teams currently tied for second.
Cloud9, two full victories ahead of second place.
So if Cloud9 didn't play for the next two weeks, or two play days rather, and teams
won both of their games, they would be at best tied with Cloud9.
Cloud9 is in action earlier today against one of those bottom teams of M80
and then tomorrow Cloud9 will be playing against Shabba Firebellion and what
might be the most exciting game at least on paper. I don't know SSGDZ is gonna be
pretty exciting as well tomorrow. Today we have Space Station Gaming and
Shabba Firebellion up next if we ever get to that game. This has been about
30-ish 40 minutes or so closing in on since the match was supposed to
begin and we have only been able to play those three rounds. A reminder
that while Rival did disconnect it was too late in the round.
The admins have said that the round will stand under these,
the beneficiary of potentially bad internet.
I don't know, Jesse, if there's any problems
with Ubisoft Connect, but this stage,
for some particular reason,
has had lots of connectivity issues.
It has plagued almost every single region.
And now in North America, we are seeing it rear its head
again for the first time since the super week.
So a bit frustrating for the viewers.
obviously frustrating for the players as well because they just want to get these matches done and then
Go get in their cars and spend 20 minutes driving to again chain restaurants. So
Well parker, uh, I just want to stop listening to your voice to be totally frank
So I believe we've got a video that we can put on while we wait for the lobby to get back underway here on the nal
Hi, my name is kason. I'm a player for 100 thieves and this is fractures
I never want to lose. I always want to win. I'm a very competitive person
I still have very good sportsmanship.
Okay, case them back with two and that's man advantage for 100thies.
I knew I made it when coaches messaged me asking if I had any interest in a 2013.
Testing their reflexes.
Makes room for the victory.
Hi, I'm case and Lindsay. I'm from Smithville, Pennsylvania.
I got into gaming by my brother.
My brother led me into eating Siege.
siege. He bought me the game and since then I have my love for the games been
there forever. I definitely don't think I ever expected doing this. Being a programmer
was definitely just a dream, but whenever it started coming in reality I
still didn't even believe it until it actually happened. Growing up, I mean baseball
was just everything. I've been playing baseball since I was seven years old. I
played travel baseball, rec baseball, any type of baseball, honestly that there is. My
brother's name is Grant. He teach me a lot of baseball things and I learned a
lot from him growing up. After school I would go to baseball practice then
And after basal practice, I'd come game until 2am.
I'd have to wake up at 6am for school.
And it was a lie at the time.
At first, it was not a struggle.
But once I took it more serious, it definitely was.
Something that I brought over from baseball to gaming
was my competitiveness spirit.
I never want to lose.
I always want to win.
My brother bought me the disc of M6 huge on the old Xbox.
And at first, I did not want to play.
Eventually, he was like, you have to try it.
I've been playing since nonstop all day.
He was definitely the better gamer.
but after a couple years of siege,
I definitely got better than him.
We're two seconds to go!
The pro journey,
the up becoming a dream and becoming a reality,
I just had to keep grinding.
My first tier three tournament,
I did really good.
I had people looking at me.
So I was kind of playing the waiting game.
All I was doing is just playing the most tournaments
I possibly can in tier three
until I turn 18 to get my name out there.
There's a lot of people that wanted to see you succeed,
but also wanted to see you fail.
Whenever I was trying to go pro,
I always looked back at that
and I just wanted to prove them wrong.
I just wanted to keep getting better every day
and learn from my mistake.
I was finally turning 18 and I knew that Pro League was about to start again.
I was waiting for teams to hopefully start messaging me.
We talked, we set up a scrim, we practiced, and from there I tried out.
Then 100 Thieves messaged me, they really wanted me, so I just wanted to join them.
My parents definitely knew it was a big thing, I don't think they understood like how big
it was.
My dad and my mom always watched my I3 competitive streams, whatever it was, they'd
always watch.
Joining 100 Thieves as a rookie, I knew I had a lot of veterans and people that
been in the league for a while on my team. I was ready to learn from them. They
made me very confident in myself and just doing whatever I wanted to do. One
of my biggest problems I've been trying to solve here is on stage one in scrims
and practices whatever it was I play very confident and freely and it's let me
open up a lot of plays that I wanted to do. When it came to game days I came to
tense up a little bit become a little nervous and not making the plays I
wanted to. So on stage two my biggest goal is just to play how I
want and just play confident and free. I always need to other team no
no matter what who it is.
I never want them to get in my head.
So if anything goes wrong, it's my fault
and not letting the other people dictate what I do.
The role I currently play is a flex role.
I either can lurk, I can frag, whatever it is I can do.
And when my team is looking at me
and they think what I can do
is just to drop kills and kill everybody.
I have confidence in all my teammates
and I know that we are the best team here.
We haven't proved it yet.
So that's why we allow people that don't think we are.
But once we prove it,
people will see why we are the best team.
Quality prevailed here today.
100 feet.
They played a better game of Siege, and they came out on top.
One of the best pieces of advice I've got from them
was just to be myself, be confident, play your game,
and that's all.
I want them to say how good I was
and how they go of Siege.
Case them, wonderful headshot.
I want people to remember me as a nice, humble guy
that won all the tournaments.
Historically, in Rainbow Six, there's been one pretty safe assumption.
If you want to be the best, you play on mouse and keyboard.
Mingo, apparently, didn't get that memo.
I'm the Missileger, and I'm back with another season of Stars of Tomorrow.
We're talking about who the next top talent is going to be, so naturally, we had to start
with the man making history at every turn, and doing it all with a controller in his hands.
Now controller players switch over to PC all the time, Stompin, Raid, Wizard, Gavini,
but when Mingo made the switch from console to PC, he, uh, kept the controller.
Now Mingo had been playing FPS games on controller all of his life, since he was nine years
old.
He picked up seeds during the beta, returned to it in 2023, and made the swap to PC official
just 5 months ago.
And it has been a very eventful 5 months.
In the lobby you can usually find him fragging out with an F2 or a TCSG in his hands.
And when I asked him how he would describe his comms, I was surprised to hear that
he said he's on the quieter side until later in the round.
Because when the time comes, Mingo is not quiet.
But no matter how loudly it happens or how intense the competition, Mingo just seems to
rise to the occasion.
When he made history by qualifying to element as a controller player, he didn't stop
there.
He and Team Blackjack would go on to win the entire thing.
And in a field with seven former pros and top T2 talent, Mingo, on controller, was the
best player in the entire event.
So I guess the only thing left to do is try to make the NAL, and he'll get a chance to
do that in Challenger series in just a few months.
Who should we feature next?
Get in the comments.
I can't do this.
I can't do this.
It's cheating.
It's cheating.
It's just a burden.
Yo, what's up chat.
Today we're playing map recon.
We'll have one map each.
And all of us will pick a turn.
It's the clue giver.
They're gonna have a first guess,
which is if we get it correct,
then we'll get two points.
And if they get it incorrect,
we're gonna hit them and then we'll get one point.
My first clue is to be, uh, spunky.
What do you mean on one peak?
I'm gonna guess cafe yes
That's too easy may my protective that map would be
It's like kind of like a two-order into one exterior breaches. I guess yeah club. Oh
How long?
How would I say last?
I'm not going to say we're wrong.
My mini-play for Clubhouse is we're going to create this like the exit door, or the hallway door, and then go upside down.
But you can also recall against the building, and then recall upside down, and it's a better aim.
I'm going to switch up mid-game, so we're trying to get them to guess them.
Yeah, map it through.
Red and cart.
I'm thinking villa right we got a ton of animals on there we got a ton of stuffed animals on there
I'm gonna guess villa. I think what's villa, but I also got to guess the room. I'm gonna guess trophy. No
No, this bird bro, this bird is so hard to see. You have never seen it in your life
Is it in common areas? Like, yeah, common areas. Oh, yeah, we can go for the next tent. Stairs. All right
I mean, it's probably around that stairs probably that's my guess
I'll show y'all where it is
Pro tip for billy needs used to be really strong for the force and not just goes with you so you can replicate the damage
So got a kill from below
I got last one like you ready Cade. I mean the math fortress is it fortress?
Like in the art hallway, I think there's a pain thing in the main hall like that wait
That's okay. Wait that is art hall
Yo, can we get a talent this is
Okay
Is it bottom main hall can you show me bottom in yeah show them where that painting is exactly
What do you mean?
Oh, bottom main hall.
Bro, this is definitely what you were talking about.
It's the area.
It's still the area, sir.
It's not about this, it's not about this.
Main hall.
Look at the bottom of my screen.
That's not the painting.
Oh, this guy's **** cheating, bro.
I don't care.
He had a different painting of mine.
I guessed.
Is it bottom main hall?
You said, show me bottom main hall.
Thank you, man.
This is cheating.
This is cheating.
This is cheating.
OK, I'd say yes, I guess.
NOOOOOO!
GAMME UP!
That's like what we're talking about!
Any protests for Lair?
Get's the breach of law, if you run outside there,
and you go to the tower,
you can't get spotted for at least 2 seconds
and you get a first one.
I'm a protest for Lair.
What's your protest?
No, I actually don't know anything about this.
Oh, actually, I don't...
Look who's back!
I free you!
From JessieJChick having to do the recap,
It's me, your boy, Intero, and we're here to talk about what occurred in the second week of the NAL.
There were only two teams that won both of their matches this week.
The first one, Cloud9, they stay undefeated, baby.
15 points out of a perfect 15 points.
Who is going to be the first one to bring down C9?
The other team, 100 Thieves, they annihilated Shabba Firebellion 7-0 on the Thursday match.
And then on Friday, 100 beads took down SSG 7-2, a bad for the thieves.
There might be a hundred of them, but they only lost two rounds.
That's efficiency at its finest.
Who were the losers?
Well, unfortunately, Space Station and DZ went winless this week.
That hurts for Space Station gaming as they came into this week in second place.
And while they're still in the playoff picture, it's been quite the tumble.
Downwards, they need to start winning, and they need to start winning soon,
because they are leaving points on the table.
As for some other unexpected winners, both Outlast and Five Fears picked up victories this week.
Five Fears finding their very first victory and it came against M80.
As for Outlast, well, they beat Wildcard in a 15-round bonanza. What is going on in these games?
What about Five Fears? Well, they lost to Four Fun before beating M80. How did M80 do?
They beat outlast 7-0 on the Thursday match.
So where does that leave the standings for the North America League?
Well, Cloud9 sits atop the standings.
Seems all but certain that Cloud9 will lock down their spot in the playoffs.
As for everybody else, well, it's crazy how competitive it is.
That's why you need to watch and see for yourself.
Four more play days to determine the best of our competitive region here in North America.
Well, unfortunately, some bad news for the thieves.
There's only 99 of them left.
Kaston's internet is not cooperating at the present moment and because of that, the decision
has been made that instead of dragging out the process any longer that an act of God
is just that, it's not something preventable and fortunately for 100 thieves they will
have to play without Kacen for the remainder of this matchup or rather, I actually don't
know the admin rules. If he can reconnect, if his internet gets fixed in the next five,
10 minutes, I'll be frank with you. I'm not really certain what the admins say about
whether he can reconnect or not. I have to imagine they'd let him back in. But for the
time being, Kacen's internet struggles, unfortunately, a casualty of, I suppose, ISP issues.
And because of that, 100 thieves will now play down a player for the foreseeable future,
maybe even the rest of this map.
Yeah, it's disappointing, of course, for Kason and 100 Thieves fans, but this is consistent
with results that we've had throughout the league. Generally, you get 15 minutes to get
back in and beyond that. Rules are, we can't afford to delay the entire playday any longer,
so it is what it is. 100 Thieves, they have a one-round lead, but also a one-player
disadvantage, and losing Kason in particular is such a big loss for this team because
he is the primary entry fragger. He's such a good, aggressive young player. He went
10 and 2 in their most recent victory over SSG last week.
That was the second best game that he has played in his short career so far.
So losing Kacen is going to be a big blow to the firepower on 100 Vs.
They will really need to be relying on guys like Gomez and Spirits to pick up
the slack with Kacen no longer on the server.
I mean, anybody that's played this game with a completely useless teammate at
any ranked level knows how hard the game can be for a 4v5 perspective.
But typically you don't see a lot of matches where somebody just outright quits so the average player might not know it
And it's gonna sound very silly to assume because playing down a player is always a detriment
We really never a dime in any competitive gaming where being at a numbers disadvantage is better
But in this instance losing an incredible player like case and on that flex roll
Be able to back up a player like spirits to be able to help make space for some of these guys on the entry
It's gonna throw a lot of pressure on somebody like Gomez his shoulders to be maybe a bit more forward in the way that these attacks work on defense
It's gonna be very challenging as well
Honestly, I don't know which side of the coin is worse whether you'd want to play a 4v5 on attack or 4v5 on defense
That's something the desk can obviously shed some light on but this is quite a devastating position
400 themes again with how easy the schedule is there is
Plenty of time for them to fix this and sort it out
but this almost seems like a bit of a gimme today and it has
Unfortunately for fans of the team not played out that way
There's a huge blessing for five years to sit at the bottom of our standings Parker
They need this win to climb up and still have a fighting chance for playoffs
So this is a huge victory for them. They need to capitalizing on it now
And I think that kind of comes with just playing a basic standard slow defense
You don't want to do anything too aggressive early to give up this potential five before that you have
Even if it does go down to 4-4, you'd still favor 5th gear.
This is the least they can have a 5th guy on cams, but obviously they're playing this one slow and steady to start off with number 4.
Under thieves just inside of laundry now, again going horizontal.
They're actually going to block off the door to med band.
They're just going to rush into site.
Spirits was looking for maybe an entry point through that one door,
but one of the defenders sitting in that position will slow him down for the time being hot and cold there in reserve,
with Spirits rushing his way through the map.
Adam has a cross here as he hears the telltale sign of the scorpion held by
Snake as he did his best to scare off those hundred thieves. Attackers, Snake
will find hot and cold and for bad to worse hundred thieves will go. Adam on
the board shuts down foe and there goes Snake as well so Adam's starting to
fire things up. Adam's been a bit of an anomaly when it comes to this team
and the fragging potential in this particular stage. If he can find his
old ways it just might be enough to overcome that deficit that hundred
These finds themselves in yeah massive from Adam. We said somebody had to pick up the slack with case and gone Adam has said
I will do it. He's gotten things back to a 3v3 Parker and they can look towards the site now
I like that spirits are still up on this blitz. He's a huge space maker the best aggressive shield player in North America
I don't think that's up for debate. So they're being able to play behind him push forward with Adam and Gomez having strong guns
I like the position that they're at and all three of these players
They are just sitting on site and testing this the fuse kit. It's a bad play from JJ blast and a triple for Adam
Pick up from the dead and still able to frag out so effectively
Technically an ace if you only kill four people five years only kills all fours
Because it wasn't all five Adam and Gomez now last two standing Gomez very close to taking one of those kills
Adam will have to do it all himself, but rival shuts him down
down five fears just waiting them out and believing them dry, no case in down 4v5 tough
stuff and five fears do not bottle that round they tie the game.
That's a brutal one. It felt like Adam had done all they had to to get them that round
win. Getting them on control was absolutely perfect. Snake and force were the two roamers
that were trying to hold that one down. They broke it apart, but the fact that
they lost hot and cold and dropped the diffuser in the middle of the hallway
I think really limited their options to go for that execute they got the clean kill into JJ, which was great
He was the main guy that was protecting that diffuser, but it was instantly answered with a death from spirits again
They had earlier on used those those rower doors to close off the door to medical between laundry and med
But they'd open it back up fence had destroyed that doorway, and so he got a really good cross angle onto spirits in the midst of that
You can see here, Fence, yeah, playing just around that key of a barrier, gets them the opportunity to take down the shield, and without the shield, they just don't have a good way into the bomb site.
Some good confidence coming through there from Five Fears, particularly from Coach Kizzie, who of course is the former coach of Hunter. These, he's looking to get revenge on playing his old organization for the first time.
for the first time.
The attacker's objective is to locate a...
Started off in a cowboy hat.
Yes, you did.
Yes, you did.
It was very upset that he took it off.
He had a little bit more yee-haw in this server at the present moment.
Another round for 100 thieves to play from behind.
Didn't five fears have this exact same thing happen to them but in a positive
direction with four fun?
Remember?
Yeah.
kick off somebody for I think it was for fun disconnected in five years was able
to to win that matchup yeah I think so I think they were one of 30 at the time
they hadn't gotten sponsored but yes it happened earlier so one of 30 was for
fine yeah yeah same team different different name yeah they came ever so
close I'm gonna say one of the maps that they played on was fortress as
well but I could be wrong my memory is definitely not at its best today that's
for certain. Well, it's a tower take here, Jesse. Indeed it is Parker. The old tower
seems to be the point of entry coming through for a hundred thieves that would
suggest that it's a pretty direct take to come through. I'm very intrigued by Gomez.
Hot and cold is home to a free kill down here. Jesse Blast is playing inside of
old tower on that second floor so they might be able to work their way through.
The candels come forward and everybody falls back on the fence. Flash makes
killout spirits in pursuit trying to lock one of these defenders now to get JJ and
snake goes as well rival on the board for five fears is now with those two
kills from the thieves will equalize numbers due to the missing case and
still some good guns in hand for these five fears players a rush in from
spirits as he doesn't have mighty amount of damage but is unable to secure the
kill now still playing in this position in games he's got an open wall
next to him. So he has to be very careful about who might be over in that position.
Adam taking care of my rival, rival being very very good. There goes Fens to Gomez.
As Forrest is still deeply entrenched in this position, neither player from
100 Thieves have access to the Diffuse Kit. They have a good aid. They have
flashes or smokes rather, so there's still some opportunity here for these
secondary gadgets of 100 Thieves to do some serious work. Plenty of time for
both of these teams with about 45 still left.
Spirits can back up and pick up the defuse kit anytime he wants to, but they know these gunfights are just around the corner so they don't want to waste that time.
We'll go grab it now Parker, but takes a bunch of damage in the process till 2v2.
Everybody seemingly getting softened up by these bullets. Gomez the only one in pretty good shape and there's the defuse kit. Gomez and Spirits get the job done.
4v5 and they still win the round. They regain the lead and great bounce back for 100 thieves.
Yeah, it's a beautiful push Parker and what I like about 100 these is they're not playing fair. They're already down a man
So they say okay, we're not gonna win these favorable trades these 1v1 gunfights. We can't play standard Siege
We got to get a bit cheesy whether that's gonna be the Zofia down below whether that's gonna be the candela's coming through site
Whether it's Gomez trying to sneak up on somebody on the nook
It felt like they had so many different ideas just to try to make these gunfights unfair for 100 B
You since you know, they didn't all work out
But I think they had a good read of what five years were doing JJ blast particularly in old tower is something is a position
He used to play all the time back and kick off when five years were such a menace on this map
With that ying play coming out from spirits. It's very clear the hundred thieves had read into that
They knew what to expect coming forward up those old tower stairs
They got that early pick on to the captain and hard anchor four or five fears and from there had good site control to work
themselves into that position so really nicely done they take the lead back
three two and I mean hey if under thieves were the favorites coming into this
match Parker maybe the 5v4 is just kind of equals the scales a little bit this
could still be anybody's game I feel that we're gonna go deep into this one
which for our European audience is probably a small problem it's already
getting quite late over in Europe almost nine o'clock so settle in for some
some good and exciting NA games. I watched some of the EML matches earlier this week,
so you all, the viewers, yes, you, the European viewers, you owe me. I watched your region.
Now you gotta watch our region. That's just the way it works here. We got a pretty good
day of matches, too. Outside of this one, we've already talked about the schedule
it was shown as well on the screen, but for those of you that missed the pre-show,
up next we've got Space Station versus SR. Space Station is falling down the
standings can they write the ship if the thrusters working before they collide
with the earth third match of the day is C9 leading the league up against M80
M80 desperate for a bounce back performance as they find themselves in
the basement the playoff picture rapidly falling away for them fourth match
for fun versus wild card wild cards had some struggles this season as they
try to iron out those kinks for fun just on the outside of the playoff
spot looking in and then we wrap up with the battle of the purple logos
DZ versus Outlast. Outlast hoping to see some more modest gains. DZ at a rough week last week.
They've left some points on the table. They are hopeful to pick those up this week in their matches
against OL and then SSG to close things out on Friday. First casualty is JJ Blast, by the way.
Hundred Deems have equalized yet again. They've been doing a very good job of nullifying
this advantage that Five Peers have had for the last two rounds. Yeah, Bargain, he dies,
right? As you said the word hopeful and I felt that that was kind of a fitting word to describe
JJ's play trying to climb back up the ladder after his flank didn't find the
position he was hoping for so now in equal numbers hot and cold when the rest of 100 these have largely pushed the same direction that they were
Pushing last time they cut this below control under their thumb trying to take white stairs push their way in towards that office bomb site
It's gone really well for them so far just like around three. They've got a lot of space early
Down goes rival so hundred these will continue to amass a greater tall in here, but snake gets to for his trouble
Scorpion shreds at such close range and he makes it look real easy. Fens under fire, but the advantage is for five fears.
Even losing Fens puts them into a perfect position. Snake and other Fens with the final kill in five fears, despite sacrificing JJ at the altar of the blood god.
They win the round.
Well, unfortunate situation here. There is no way of sugarcoating that. Nobody wants to see a game played out in a 4v5.
But right now that 4 v 5 game is still competitive. It's three to three right now going into the half
Lacks, what do you make of what you're seeing so far? Yeah?
I mean like Jesse said, I mean it is a very competitive match. Yeah, unfortunately got to address the elephant in the room
They are playing for me five, but I really want to commend on the side of 100
These we were listening to their attacking has we saw them fix their around from round one to two
And what hot cold was talking about but again going back to their comms
They aren't letting the 4 v 5 necessarily get to them
They aren't focusing on the scenario that they are now having to be put in
They're focusing on the goal and that's getting to the objective and closing out that round and the second to last round
That was a great play from spirits and Gomez
You take that space to be able to condense that 2v2 force players into positions
Unlinable fights and then ultimately in that last round
I mean snake very good heads-up play there being able to turn that to a triple kill
But again, it really is unfortunate to be in a 4v5 situation
We know what it's like to be down a man
You're forced to play in extra positions. You're down utility
You're down a player.
It makes you work that much harder than what needs to be there.
So kind of curious to see how 100 things
are going to play on this defensive side
if they want to get early aggression to try to even
the man count, or, again, take that risk
and put themselves in the mood more than that.
Yeah, they definitely could.
And it's definitely not fun in the fact
that we can't even break down the match.
Necessarily, we got to talk about the 4v5.
But I think the biggest thing you said right there
is they're definitely not deflated.
And if we're going to continue the cope that I always
do with also the fact that they got three attacking rounds on
Fortress. At least he disconnected when he already had two.
That was another round when right there that very last round
they get two opening kills and they just didn't see snake. They
should have took their time a little bit there. I think they
got a little ahead of themselves a little excited. But that's
okay because now we're looking into the defensive side of
things for these words. You could win 45 absolute map. You
could literally win 45. This is already a defender sided map.
And the five years has not really been that impressive on
attacking side. So again, if we want to sit here and kind of cope a little bit, roof of the underdog,
that's what I like to say. If you do want to cope a little bit here as well for the side of five
fears, bring those double shields. Have that extra support and really force 100th Eve into
unlinable positions. Real quick, Kyle, I want to put you in the kind of coach's chair.
Kizzy's seat for a moment. Does this change? Like, what do you tell your guys,
even though you're up a man? Does it change how you approach things? Like, how do you
maintain your composure in an awkward situation? I mean, it really shouldn't change anything.
You can just treat it as like you got a spawn kill as we heard even from the the Eve side
They're just pretending that Adam got spawn killed every round is how they were joking about playing in the 4v5
And yeah, I think on the inverse side or the other side rather just you got a treat it completely normally
I think what Locke said maybe bringing the double shields and kind of playing
It keeps people alive it keeps the man advantage like the man advantage there
So you don't lose anybody you can probably take your time a little bit more than you normally would
because you don't have to really, you know, fight everybody and that they're
obviously going to be more gaps in the attack, but I mean, yeah, for five, five
years I would play the exact same. Absolutely. And like you said, you know,
being on defense, one of the more defender side of maps, and we had a
statistic on oxygen, we actually played better when we were down a man, so
they could be able to close this out. They're going to get a lot of
praise, huh? It might have been. Definitely could have been. It was me.
Not the underdog story you want to see. Nonetheless, something for the people
let home in the route for 100 thieves,
see if they can take on five years
in a 4B5 on this second half.
Five seconds left before insertion.
Thank you boys,
thank you so much for the optimism in particular.
Highling a lot of ways under thieves
could get back into this matchup
and I'll add one more to it.
They mentioned it,
five years, not the best attacking team,
but they are, in fact, the worst attacking team
through the North America League so far,
just winning 1-third of all attacks
that they've played this stage Parker.
If that happens again here, up 5v4, then we will be seeing a 7-5 win for 100 thieves.
They just need to do a little bit better to get overtime or the victory up against this 4-man team.
5-3 is moving over to the attacking side. Again, this is the map they have played quite a bit,
so they should be more familiar on this map than others,
but you're always worried about those struggles coming back to light.
I'll work it out for a hundred thieves here to defend.
One of the big things about being down a player on defense as well is just less utility, even
if let's say you bring somebody with a persistent gadget, a Jaeger, a Goyo, etc.
Even if they are completely ineffective, their gadget is still there.
That's obviously not the case for a hundred thieves.
Again, you can quarrel as to which side needs the gadgetry more.
The desk talked about it a little bit, and we've talked about it a few times
throughout the show, but just being down that gadgetry is really gonna hurt.
Might also prompt 100 thieves to have to change some of their default strats if
somebody say they brought the only nitro cell etc. They wouldn't be able to do
that. Five Fears! They heard the trash talk on the desk about how bad they are
at attacking statistically and they have thrown that in the bin. Adam once
again the only one with a pulse for this 100 thieves team.
Five years of lost snake
Adam will now fight for his life a Monty a black beard a Deimos
This is a nightmare to deal with if you have all five players Jesse
But one man standing against the hordes currently locked out by forest JJ blast gets the diffuse get down
And it's forced the Deagle into the hands of Adam as he is blocked out of this position. I
Feel for him. I really do but
This really seems like a hopeless situation.
Down goes Ben, so hold on!
Hold on, it might be winnable.
Two shields for five years now remaining as Adam is lined up a potential clutch who will have to shield break this Monty in this position.
His forest is playing it pretty well.
Adam running at a time.
They're going to give him some more space as he continues to deal with the Monty, but...
Yeah, Jesse, I think that's about all she wrote on this round.
Valiant effort from the thieves a valiant effort from Adam, but it's past the point of no return
Don't even know if they're gonna try to go for the kill here Adam will pad his stats and get a final kill
Right as the round hits zero and five fears
Successful on their very first attack
Honestly, I'm getting four kills that position is kind of insane
That was one of the least winnable 1v4 as I have ever seen
But the faculty pulls out the deagle hits a couple nice shots if only forest wasn't such a good Monty player
That might have just been doable for Adam, but yeah tough one
I think it was laxing on the desk that
Suggested running double shield and five years take them up on that idea when you have a shield
You know the best counter to a shield is obviously setting up a crossfire. It's getting behind that shield
It's making it so the shield has to look in multiple directions
But when you're already down to four players it becomes so much more difficult hot-cold the right idea with his flank
But they just had a really strong read on it great timing from rival to the shut that one down and again
highlight real clips coming out from Adam in this one but it was all for not
the Monty play just too strong there's nothing Adam could have done to break
forest in that position and it's good to get the spirit side for five years they
regain the lead now for three
you look at the standings and where five fears find themselves it's gonna be
long climb out of the basement. Five fears at the very bottom of the NAL
standings admittedly tied with M80 sitting at three points. A victory in
regulation here for five fears would vault them up to eighth place. It would
push M80 down into dead last, out last just above them. Four funds still
sitting in seventh place. Five fears and four funds would be tied on points but
four funds right now has that tiebreaker. Five fears, their plan of hope still
very alive seven points is the last playoff spot at the present point in
time of victory for five years to put them at six so within reach five years
played wild card tomorrow that's typically a top four team in the region
next week they play DZ that's another team that's typically a top four in the
region and they conclude against Shopify rebellion and depending on how
the next couple games go for SR that match against five fears might be a
win to make playoff situation for Shopify rebellion so a really tough
schedule for five years moving forward. If they can pick up all three points here
it will be a godsend because the likelihood of picking up three points
against any of those three remaining teams is a little slim, Jesse.
Yeah, I think it's safe to say if they can't get three points out of a four-man
Hundred Thieves roster, then playoffs are the least of their concerns. They
gotta worry about some bigger issues, but for now this game is going well for
them. They've started to take some space here on the top floor forcing
all these rumors back. It's important for Hundred Thieves, I think, to try
played together as much as possible. Hot and cold moves to the clash trying to counter the heavy
shield presence that has been played by five fears. It's double shield once again as Captain
JJ Blast and Forrest have picked up these shields trying to make some space for their teammates.
You combine the clash with the Thorn, the Goyo, the Dachanka, really four great anti-shield
operators that can stall out this round. While it's good space and obviously a mana
ban for five fears, if they don't get to this bomb site quickly, Parker,
They could be at a real risk of stalling out.
Two shields in hand yet again, so there will be some trouble brewing for this 100 Thieves team,
as they have brought lots of traps, lots of explosives.
Those razor blooms will blow up real big, the Goyo canisters blowing up as well,
and then of course you got the tachanka.
To boot, at this point you have to pick which operator are you going to get rid of,
I think Smoke, just being one of the odd man's out, just because of how quickly you can
maneuver through that gas, especially if Five Fears goes for a quick strategy. Snake takes out the
first one, Spirits will answer back 30 seconds to go and Spirits almost gets them all. He's gunning
everybody down that falls in front of his very eyes. And then Hot and Cold will need to hold
this together for 100 thieves. Five Fears with 20 seconds left, Jesse. They are in a position
where stalling out, very real possibility. No diffuse kit held at the moment. Five Fears
watching as the clock just tickles away. Snake somehow gets hot and cold, and now the two remaining
players will try to find spirits tucked into the corner. Running at a time, Snake gets it done
with two seconds left, and five fears lead grows. A really nice play by Snake there in the
midst, Parker. That is the perfect way to counter a clash. Take notes if you're watching this
and you're struggling against clash players in your ranked game. Seize hot and cold,
put that shield down and says okay there's no way we're planting because the fuse
getters across the map I need to make space even if he dies going for that
like if you can somehow manage to just destroy the shield that is still a
better position than standing there and getting zapped by the shield because a
pot cold puts this down and starts zapping you and you don't get there
in time there's really no way back into that round so a really big play
from snake if he doesn't make that play I genuinely think they lose
that round so a really critical one to come through again I like that they
had multiple dimensions on that push. We talked about how when you're playing against a shield,
you have to get behind those shields. It's the exact same concept with the clash.
They rotated a couple of players old tower, which kind of gave them that pinch potential
and made the clash just a little bit weaker in the midst of that. So I like it a lot coming
through from five fears. Of course, it's always going to be advantage in the five V four.
It is in some sense Parker, it is a four V four because JJ Blastill has yet to get a single kill
Throughout this game he is 0 and 6 after 8 rounds.
There he is.
Not even in his seat at this point, but as we've said, obviously he's playing on the shields.
He brings utility that Kason can't bring.
Remember back in the day, we're having 4v5, and then you only got 8 reinforcements as well. Thankfully, they get all 10.
It was a relic of a far, far long ago style of game where, yeah, you'd only get two reinforcements
and, I mean, in pro play it really didn't matter too much, but in ranked play, God, half
your teammates could run away and you'd only be able to reinforce two things or two.
Really quite miserable here.
Yeah.
JJ has seen his numbers steadily tick downwards.
It was only a couple of play days ago where he was in, I think, the top 25 rated
players, but I think there was some regression to be had there rival is the
big standout on this five fierce team. His numbers are well below what you
expect from a player on his particular role. It really does put a lot on the
shoulders of that man right there and he is having a very good game snake and
then's also having a good stage so far. The reason why we're in a tech pause
is because Cason is attempting to reconnect for 100 thieves. Now when
case and exited 100 thieves were up to one it is now five three in favor of this
five fears team so quite a comeback would need to be had and it would drive
this match even longer than it's already been we were set to start this game a
little over an hour ago and because of issues with internet because of tech
issues because of potential connectivity issues with players on 100
Thieves not named Kacen, he's only been able to play eight rounds so far.
We will update you if Kacen is successful in his attempts to get back into the lobby.
It will be a major boon for Hundred Thieves who've come very close to winning a couple
of these rounds.
Bless you.
Bless you again.
I know that feeling.
I've been doing a lot of that the last day and a half.
Yeah.
I mean, Kacen coming in surely will turn the tides here because it has been a
very close fight between these teams, even though Hundred Thieves have been down
a player.
Yeah 100% I mean that last round I think was the clearest example of it if that clash is able to stall them out
They're in a really strong position to win things out if they don't notice that your chonko
Riding in the corner that could have been a round win for 100 thieves as well
So that one was very close
There have been a couple of these rounds where it feels like five fears are on the verge of losing it
But then they come back and win it anyways
There have also been rounds like around seven where it is incredibly dominant and it feels like there's absolutely no chance for
100 thieves to get back into it
But Kason's at least got his cam on.
We see him here smiling, getting ready to get back into the game.
So this is good news for these and what comeback it would be to get everybody back
in to be able to bring Kason back and then come back from the five three deficit.
They could still get three full points here, Parker, which I can't see the team
get a victory like that down five before for most of the game, but they could do it.
All it takes for five fears is a single round victory moving forward
and it will provoke overtime, which means that when OT happens, that is of course if
100 Thieves win.
If 5 Fears wins the next round, there is a very real chance that they could escape with
all 3 points without needing overtime to settle the score.
But if 100 Thieves want to win, their main goal right now is prevent 5 Fears from picking
up a single round moving forward.
One more round and 5 Fears denies a full 3 points, 200 Thieves.
the best they'd be able to pick up would be two.
And again, with how competitive the playoff race is
and how far ahead cloud nine is,
these teams trailing cloud nine
need every advantage they can get.
I will sound like a broken record here
and I will say again though,
the easiest schedule for the remainder of the NAL
is hundred thieves schedule.
So it is not absolutely necessary
that they pick up all three points here,
even one point with the way that they have,
you know, remaining, but those three bottom tier teams in the NAL moving forward, there
should be opportunities to pick up plenty more points if today ends up being a bad one.
And of course it will hinge on internet issues because of these same issues, playing 100
thieves, moving forward, while that friendly schedule you have does you no favors if
you're constantly playing down a player.
So welcome back, Kason.
We have the lobby back up and running Gomez locking in the Egyptian operator up
Noor, who is the newest addition, we saw a couple rounds played of that operator in the first half.
And I can't say I found Noor very successful, but yet again, I sound like a broken record, because I've said that pretty much every time I've seen the operator.
Yeah, and I mean, you mentioned Doki giving the operator some praise back on Twitter.
He got into an argument with BikiniBody over whether Noor was a good opp or not.
I know.
Certainly nor has he's got his uses for sure. He's
Solid as a stall operator can counter shields if you get him in the right situation
So we'll see how it goes for Gomez the Alda of course
Just an incredible weapon as well to play with inside the site so many bullets in that mag
You can play around with so gives them some opportunities here on the side of hundred thieves
They're gonna need those opportunities Parker because as we've mentioned
They must go flawless through these next few rounds if they want to walk away with all three points versus five fears
On the defense it will be the name of the game of locking things down on the bottom floor
There is no roam going on for hundred thieves up above the bomb site instead
It's really focused on stalling things out with this snore
Slowing things down with the other stopping that plant with the echo feeding into to your teammates
Probably gonna be a slow round to come through as five fears start to clear this bottom floor of the map
But progress being made is JJ moves to the famous
Even being down numbers they were slower attacks than I had anticipated and I mean again
This is one of those things where it's it's 50-50 right if they go really really fast
They fall on their face we go you have a you're in a 4v5
Why rush it just do what needs to be done and beat them that way
But then if they pull off the rush I were like well, yeah, hell. Yeah, they took advantage of the weakened defense
That's so brilliant
It's actually really easy to be a caster. You just say whatever happened is genius and then you move on
It's the benefit of hindsight really helps you here, but I do agree with you
I think five years will be a little bit slower this time
There's a lot more utility to work through and hundred thieves have brought completely different operators to deal with this
Nice shut down of the yokai cam trying to enable some aggressive plays as hot and cold is looking for some of these attackers outside the building
I'm gonna target the yellow here of Adam trying to make your way in the building, JJ Blast.
Being the entry point for his team, he's gonna move his way over towards music, over towards
gun, and try to find some way to work a pick onto one of these players.
But everybody on our thieves, happy to sit inside Hamam, sit inside the bottom of the
site.
Very little map control that they're holding onto, but Kason, eliminated from the server
once again, as he's the first to die to fence.
deal. What do we say though? Even if he's dying and not providing a lot of value, he's still got some
utility, so I have to imagine those Kiba barriers are placed somewhere strategically to help this team.
Y'all does a great weapon, but Gomez won't find much success with it. Five fears cutting through
this defense, even though Kason is back in the server, it is not proving to be that effective
for the thieves at this point. I do wonder if the mental is affected, a little bit of
frustration almost certainly setting in after what happened whether it be case
a news frustrated or the rest of this team five years looking to exploit that
they continue to march forward taking no prisoners in the process Adam the only
kill but it might end up being impactless he's joined by spirits Adam
turning nobody on five years has the diffuse kid fends all on his lonesome
and it's him and spirits in a 1v1 and the clock will give it to the
thieves around that I'm not certain they deserve to win but they will take
Take it, Jesse.
Parker, they wanted, they played into their game plan.
We said it was going to be a stall strategy.
We said they were going to play to deny that plant,
and while it didn't go exactly as they hoped,
there was no yokai stopping the plant.
I don't think the Nord gadget got too much value.
They did play that clock exactly
as they were hoping to.
Five Fears took a lot of map control early in that round,
but they had to spend so much time just to get it.
They took the north side of that bottom floor.
They worked a couple of picks in towards the mom,
but inside the site,
those anchor players were able to step up,
Particularly with Adam getting those important kills inside the site some really nice flicks and then just staying alive in the 1v1
So all you have to do in a position like that play the clock
You know that you're playing for a stall strategy. So lean into that late into the round
100 fees clearly a strong game plan
This is Kason's initial challenge where he goes down to fence fence has been excellent as a zone young entry fragger here for five
fears but
Ultimately not enough to win this round
I cannot believe this this game so far obviously it has not gone the way that we anticipated
for a you know myriad reason but it's it's been unpredictable it's been probably deflating
for a hundred thieves it's been likely very motivating for this five fierce team again
five fears have a really tough schedule moving forward you got to take every point as it emerges
they are right now on the border of picking up at minimum one point five fears just needs to
prevail one more time here in regulation hundred thieves again to get all three of those points
they need to go flawless since casein has rejoined they've already got one of those four rounds three
more to go i have a feeling though with the way that this bomb site or the way that this map works
with their bomb sites. I think 5 Fears will pick up one more round here just based on the map itself,
Jesse, and we'll go to overtime, which of course would not surprise me with the way that this map
is shaped up. Yet every time these two teams have met so far, it has been 7-4 for one or the
other. If that does continue, that means 5 Fears would go flawless through the rest of this for
their own 7-4 victory. But trends are here to be broken, of course. Stats are here to set
set up a narrative just so that we can knock them down.
And honestly, I like 100 views on this defense so far, Parker.
Snake gets a freebie below things could change,
but for now, they brought hot and cold in a clash
that really stops five fears
and being able to run this double shield play
that they ran last time they attacked this bomb site.
They weren't really able to easily get that
south control up on the top floor like you previously had.
So it's gonna make them problem solve a little bit more.
It's gonna make them hunt for some picks elsewhere,
looking for this kill on to Adam,
but Snake will not find it.
two more of those explosive charges down below.
Even has a good idea of where he's droning at.
So this is a battle of the mind games
between Adam and Snake at the moment.
E1Ds will go out.
Spirits and Kates in both spotted with that
is Snake is using those explosives down below.
Zofia is able to nuke operators from below.
All three of those shots are enough to fell
even the strongest and thickest of operators,
instead using it differently this time to open up the site this is something we
see every day with this Zofia operator. 100 thieves well spread out around this
bomb site holding those main arteries that need to be conquered by five fears
course watching over towards white stairs watching the window vault in now
will five fears be able to cut through this. Salma's going off, those E1Ds still
one remaining but five fears is mostly burned through their utility and
they're still just awesome a minute to go Jesse. Yeah I'm still worried with
this clockpark where they're stalling out a little bit over on this meeting side.
Case is watching for it. Gomez is watching for it.
The horse push is starting to come under way as well.
You can see how they're struggling.
Five years are desperate to get another dimension in on this push.
That's why they're trying to send somebody down below and up these stairs.
Rival needs to have an impact here on the floor as...
And there's spirits taking care of Rival.
Nitro's cell goes out, but it's ripped a bit too early.
Spirits fighting for his life now in this position right behind the desk.
Watching tower, watching light stairs. Adam has the cross.
down goes Snake. Five fears have picked up two kills of their own, so an even match now
for 15 seconds. Five fears still hoping for one more round to guarantee themselves a single
point. They are being slowed by the clash. Shield taking its time. Five seconds to go.
JJ has an abuse kit wandering right in. Spirits is on the ground. They'll give pop-up. Hundred
thieves will win it on time yet again. Two in a row. And we've got ourselves a tie
game.
This is what I'm saying. I'm getting worried for five fears. It's the clock over and over again
It feels like we're watching the exact same round where they're setting themselves up around into the bomb site
They're getting multiple dimensions in but when it comes to actually saying three two one and going for the executes
They're they're stalling out. They're not pushing together
They're losing these critical gunfights to players that are watching their angles feels like they're you so clear ahead of time
Is maybe not ideal in the way that it should be some nice shots being hit by hundred thieves
No doubt, but like just the fact that these guys are able to stand up and go for a couple of sprays
They're hitting the multi kills that you are not
There's Ophia completely unable to stop that clash from going down below you mentioned how he was using the
Zofia utility just to create some angles, but he was fishing for a kill
He was trying to get the depth charge frag onto Adam, but he just couldn't quite find the angle
He was looking for so he was forced to go back and just make sight lines around the bomb site that ultimately didn't do
them a whole lot of good so
Despite playing 5v4 for five straight rounds, it's tied 5-5 on fortress, and it's anybody's game in these next two.
It's a fascinating knock-em-drag-em-out type of game that we see between these two teams,
as they are just beating the stuffing out of each other, two rounds in a row where 100 thieves have just forced
an already sluggish five-fears attack into the depths of hell with good time management from the thieves,
gives a really, really challenging to slow down a team when you are at a disadvantage.
If you know that Five Fears is a slow team and you don't have five full defenders to slow
them down, whether it be utility bodies, map control, etc., Five Fears can change up their
strategy and go a little bit quicker.
Again, it goes back to what I said.
It was a little bit slow for Five Fears and those first two attacks, but much
better pacing than what we've seen since Kacin got back into this lobby.
And again, that's 5 Fears, and they're shot calling, determining that there's more work
to be done now, one more operator to find, more sets of eyes to find, map control that
you won't be able to get quickly, it's changed up.
Ultimately, the operators that are played by both of these teams, 5 Fears have yet
to adapt to the defenses that 100 Thieves have been throwing at them.
We need to see some action coming out from 5 Fears, Parker.
I think Hot and Cold in the clash has just completely stumped them.
They don't have a good way around them.
Even in this round, I mean, what operators do you have to really counter that flash?
Not much in terms of the utility, so they're going to have to find some other way to get
past Hot and Cold.
He's in the bathroom right now trying to support a couple of his teammates just playing in
the hallway next to him.
It's Adam there on the warden, but as the shield starts to look his way, what is the
game plan to get past this?
Even if you have like nades that you want to throw at him, and I think that might
be the game plan, he's got Magnus that are protecting his position.
It does not need to move any time soon.
Flash, shotguns, razor blooms, again lots of stall potential here for this 100th
Thieves team. Smoke back on the menu as well. An operator that was absent when
they were down a player, again largely because the stall from those gas canister
aren't particularly effective. The team wants to be really aggressive.
Kason will pick up the first kill of the round. Down goes Fens.
Forrest living on board time as well as the Monty is on a hair of HP.
Hot and cold making his final stand inside a bathroom and it has forced these attackers out of their position
as they have no opportunity to get ever closer to him, Jesse.
That's a great play from Hotten, really well constructed by 100 thieves to slow down five fears.
And immediately they have to call for something different, but they found themselves with very limited time to do this
and there's still utility in the pocket of the thieves.
It's just a nightmare. I mean they have to find some other way into the site, Parker.
The bathroom was a disaster, so they're scrambling,
but now there's toxic babes sawing them out.
The breach is barely open.
This is a rough round for five fears.
They find one.
Down goes Spirits.
The smoke gets flushed out in this position.
Gomez on the board, Snake trades it immediately.
The Monty taking care of as well.
And there goes Rival.
100 Thieves securing six rounds
and giving themselves one point.
One round away from pulling off the perfect comeback
and closing this out with a win in regulation.
Parker, they say the definition of insanity
is doing the same thing over and over again
and expecting different results.
And since hot and cold started picking this clash
back in round eight, I just feel like five years have no answer to it.
They're running at it, they're seeing it,
they're stalling things out.
They're trying a little bit in this round to clear things out.
They had a nice nade, they were tossed at it,
but a simple magnet deals with that utility
and it just feels like they don't know what to do.
up against this clash they're really struggling on the stall potential here
and all of a sudden this massive lead this almost foregone conclusion that we
thought five years had getting three points in this game the easiest match
up that they'll play over the next two weeks it has fallen apart it's hundred
feeds with the chance now to win seven to five just brutal that quote by the
way of of insanity being the same results over and over again doing the
same thing and expecting different results you know where that comes from
Parker I believe it was Voss from Far Cry 3 actually who said it for the first
time ever credit to the Ubisoft writer for claiming that boy what a an
incredible thing to drop in a video game a profound comment very true very true
shout out to Ubisoft that's not actually where originated from but it
was popularized largely from any gamers who don't read classic literature
Voss made that comment. There's a good one. Far Cry 3 by the way. Terrific game.
Far Cry series is good, but Far Cry 3 is a special place in my heart.
Five Fears might need to start new careers as Far Cry 3 players. If the season
continues on how it has been, this feels like a must-win round, Parker. Not
just for this game, obviously it is, but for their whole season looking
ahead, they have really no other easy opportunities to claim points. So this
This is a must-win game for them.
They can't get three, but they have to be going for two.
Here comes the lion's scans, clearing up case in here, and Hamam has to be the goal, but
hot and cold, continuing to stick this flash, and again, I'm not seeing any great answers
beyond maybe the ash to deal with this utility.
Whatever you are.
One minute now, as this round is played out much slower than you might expect, plus
the time we are gobsmacked and quickly those rounds go this time not quite so
fast. Kacen droned out in his position down below so five fears will now go for
kill shot as they hunt him down. Kacen can remain on the run since coming back
three kills one death for Kacen. Again providing really good utility as well.
Playing on sentries, got a nitro cell and pocky's already used as barbed wire so
again even if he dies with no impact there's still gadgets about, there'll
be its secondary gadgets that can help this team. 30 seconds eclipsed since we started
talking about this more utility from Five Fears coming out, those E1Ds to keep them in
place, but Five Fears haven't really done that much with it. Jesse and Kason seems
to be on the lurk. I think he might have escaped the vision of Five Fears.
Yeah, he absolutely has. Adam is not being droned out clearly inside of dining, so he's
going to fight for his life here in the doorway, missing just barely with those
shots and does go to Forest down below. Cliffs the pressure onto Kason who, as
As you said has not been drawn up on the top floor and it's in a position over towards museum to go for an aggressive play
But for now he's buying his time to cast a time this perfectly because if he doesn't keep you just throw his team into a 5v3
Losing Adam is such a devastating blow especially at close range
Which is where that scorpion will shine 30 seconds left on the clock lots of close quarters combat
That will be emerging case and will lose the reed as fake was posted up in that position
waiting for him to emerge and this perfect run from
The Thieves seems all but certainly set to end, as Five Fears could do this one flawlessly.
He's fear it's his dropped JJ, he'll secure the kill, but the French Canadian is finished
off by Fens and we will go to overtime.
Staying alive, Five Fears, they take the muslin around and it goes well for them Parker.
They again didn't have great answers to the clash, but they were able to work so
many picks up and around it using that top floor advantage with the ram I thought Forrest
was excellent in that round creating space for his team getting that opening pick and then case and walking down those
Those white stairs. I still don't know if they actually drone Tim out
But the very least five years were aware that they didn't have intel in that position
They knew that they didn't have good sites on dorms on bunk
So they thought there could be a guy who's pushing down these main stairs
Snake is watching for that
He gets a really impactful kill in the midst of that of course gets his team into this winning position
So good push coming out from five fears. They force the overtime. They get themselves one point
One more still on the board to be grabbed six six a full five man roster being played by a hundred thieves
This is the end of the match that we were hoping for
Two more rounds guaranteed between these teams and what is just our first matchup
Here in the North American League
guess if you are tuning in expecting to see SSG versus Shabba Fire Rebellion, or maybe you're
just wanting to see Jonah Mint and Lacksay looking and sounding so great on the desk.
You might be a bit disappointed, this game has taken a little bit longer than expected.
There were some connectivity issues at the beginning.
Kasen and Spirits had some troubles getting into the lobby and then after round three
Kasen, either his internet crashed or he lost his computer, we're unsure exactly
what happened, but we waited to see if he could reconnect when the ruling was ultimately
made by the admins that we could wait no longer. The game had to be played 4v5. Five
fears building up quite a big nest egg and I mean the frustration for hundred thieves
here winner lose now in OT with case it on the team they were trending towards a victory
in regulation against five fears. So it's a win and all three points that slip through
the fingers of hundred thieves because of an act of God and there are just times where
You can't really account for that.
So while it's a frustrating situation for 100 Thieves,
they're motivated and they can still redeem themselves
by picking up two points here with an overtime victory
but five fears.
Now they've got something to say about that.
Took him to low overtime,
but finally we have the best clash counter in the game.
Rivals brought this Cali specifically
to get past hot and cold.
Snake can do good work as well
if he can position himself under hot and fight.
Certainly at the moment,
he is just playing inside of old tower.
He's avoided those charges.
The Snake doesn't get anything for his troubles.
And I believe we're seeing a, you know, a similar style of defense to come through from 100 Thieves.
They can obviously be flexible with where they want to deploy Hot and Cold, but
spirits will be the smoke player locking things down on the old tower side.
If they do start to take that north side of the map, they can move Hot and Cold back over towards the bathroom.
Nobody's lurking down below, but once rival starts to get active, if he can find Hot and Cold on this clash,
he can be really annoying to deal with constantly shooting and knocking that shield back.
So that kind of has to be the game plan for five years. They worked their way through the map control
Snake using most that utility already on the Zofias were past the halfway point of the round
Snakes numbers have not looked particularly great from a kill department over the last few rounds
He has not been leading this team with such heroic numbers as we've seen time and time again
Why well because the rest of his teammates have been getting kills as well
That might be bad for snakes overall numbers, but probably good for this team
There's no denying that case will get flushed out of his position now as an operator not named snake
This one named Flores will send in a ratero drone gaining information gaining map control
It's the last explosive drone piloted by that Portuguese op now five years
We'll just need to come to blows as they are relatively starved of utility minus of course the doka be calls that will be coming out
I'm certain in relatively short order and again as you pointed out that Kali on the board
while they have to find their way towards Hottenham in this position.
Rival's done it, Hottenham is now off of his spot and they'll continue to knock the shield away.
Much quicker second shot now for Khali, and it's doing some serious work to 100 thieves.
Final 20 seconds here Jesse, everybody's still alive, the killing has to happen and it will.
Forrest taking care of Gomez, there goes JJ Blast.
Match point on the line is 100 thieves.
Fable to match the best of five fears at this current point and time rival wanders in
He's a one-man band at this point and time will once again run out on five fears three rounds now
One by the thieves on defense based solely on clock management
Now it's time for hundred thieves to go back on attack sitting on match point
It's the same issues once more Parker
It's gonna be this map control that it takes so long for five years to get a hold of and then once they have that map control
You spend a good bit of time moving their players around these aren't one-dimensional pushes. They understand there's a clash on the board
We're gonna bring operators like Cali. We're gonna bring operators like Zofia and we're gonna split our push up
We're gonna have a couple people pushing in through the bathroom side
We're gonna have one guy outside the main breach
We might pressure old tower a little bit like the push that we saw from five years was very spread out
but they had loads of different angles trying to take down hot and cold.
But again, it just feels like every time they try this, the coordination is a little bit off.
There's still a ton of defender utility that they haven't worked through.
The fact that they didn't ban the Wamai, I think it's really coming back to bite them
because there's so many instances where they're trying to shoot in a Cali land.
So they're trying to throw in a grenade or a flash and it's getting caught by a magnet.
It feels like almost every single time and it just makes 100 these positions inside the bombsite
So much more secure, makes them able to play a lot safer and a lot easier in these anchor positions, so
Credit to 100 thieves. They're playing a really smart style of defense and five fears
They just haven't been able to crack this nut. They take their time out. I think it was about 100 thieves time out
Coming into this last overtime. Indeed it was
So it gives them a chance to talk a bit
But I mean it's the attacks that have always been struggling for for five fears
and now they have to move on to the defense, win one round on each side, but it's not an easy task.
Language. You're not allowed to swear on broadcast.
You're not. The players get away with it. Sometimes we get away with it, but
I just, I love how subdued hot and cold is. It's just the most monotone, most light, you're the best.
It's praise. It's praise. The energy doesn't really need to be there. You just need to
you guys. Seconds left.
Hype up your teammates, as has been the case.
Spirith continuing to have a very good day.
He entered as the number one rated player in the North America League.
That is a career best for him at this current point in time.
Whether it stays for the entirety of the day remains to be seen.
He does have some stiff competition.
Namely from the three offensive threats on the side of Cloud9,
four of the five players on Cloud9 last eye-checked.
In the top 10 Jesse, it has been a really good stage for C9. They are of course in action today
Not up next so who comes out ahead here hundred thieves with two and a half minutes to pull off and execute
They were a little bit brisker at getting to the bomb site and what we saw out of five years
They must maintain that pace or else they too will find themselves tripping up with the clock reaching zero
Yeah, they have to maintain this case and there's especially in this round a lot of work to do Parker clearing out this top floor
That's gonna be goal number one
Forest is just around the corner in briefing Gomez needs to be careful with what positions he thinks are free
Lots of teams will not roam up on the top floor
But with these Valkyrie cameras it gives them good opportunities to play aggressive
Force and nitrocell in his pocket
He will get droned out and he's put himself into a bit of an awkward spot
Attackers are starting to close in on him now
Now he's going to take more of a passive position and try to bait for Snake to get some early picks, C4 in hands.
On the wall for now, this bomb side has been won twice by 5 fears, once was 5v5, once was 5v4.
down Kaston. In the ensuing fray, Forest has gone as well, and 100 thieves are now well positioned
to carry this momentum for the remaining minute of the round towards a victory. Two points.
The best that either of these teams can hope for, and for 100 thieves and the thick of the
playoff hunt, they need every point they can get. But hold your horses, Jesse. Down goes Adam,
and we're back at a 3v3 with a minute to go. Yes, huge from rival. That's such an important
kill after the Rome game did not go the way five fears were hoping for up on the top floor.
or the team play just not good enough between Forrest and Snake, but it's been salvaged.
The TCSG rings true, and now it's a 3v3. The problem, 100 Thieves have good time.
They've still got Spirits on a shield. They've got Hot and Cold on the Ram up above,
like the U2 really is favoring 100 Thieves in this round.
If JJ Blast installed things out with the Toxic Bade, they've got a chance here.
The time is starting to get low, but 100 Thieves putting together a very strong push now in the 3v3.
Now go the Nades, but Spirits isn't fighting anybody in that position right now.
He's inside of Infirmary with very limited information.
It would seem and he will have to wait as the gas lingers in front of him.
JJ will now use the very final gas caster with 10 seconds to go.
That's good coverage from the smoke.
JJ plays that one really effectively.
Now the Nitro style from the back, Spirits takes out Fens,
Rival and JJ to hold this together.
Spirits is on the ground.
Down goes JJ.
It's all up to Rival.
Unable to stop Hot and Cold getting the fuse kicked down, firing wildly with the TCSG.
Time is not on his side, numbers are not on his side, and bullets certainly aren't.
Gomez, the very final kill as we get an emotive Hot and Cold in the player cam.
Two points for 100 Thieves.
Well, Kacen didn't see half the game, but let me tell you, he wasn't needed for half of that.
down 5v4 for the majority of this matchup,
but still able to come away with the victory.
100 Thieves looking red hot here in week three
of the North American League.
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
The
the story about persevering over adversity that 100 Thieves face in a 4v5 they come out on top in
overtime 7 8 6 and walk away with two points you got hot and cold standing by after this win a
Mentally resilient effort from you guys Matt. I mean, of course we have to talk about this
Can you walk me through just the roller coaster that this must have been for you guys?
Well case and kind of been having internet problems, you know here and there
You know in practice all week, so I've made a joke saying that we're gonna play the match 45 and then it ended up happening
luckily, I
Think we won one round for the fives
I think the Lord that round came to came to help us and came to save us, but thankfully kason's internet came back
It was getting a little tilting when there's running two shields down a throat in a 45
But I mean that's the game, you know, I
I just I wish the rules were a little different on the 45s, you know coaches could just sub in I don't see why they can't
It's not like it's really helping us like coach is still freebie at the end of the day for
for the other ones at least you but
Really resilient and
You know we stayed strong
Well, I'm gonna take the easy question then thanks. Lux. I mean no as a leader though when you're playing 45
It's very easy to get tilted like you're saying right and just kind of throw away the game which we've seen in other 4v5
I mean, how do you keep the guys as a leader again?
How do you keep them like died and did you need to switch anything? That's the other thing
Did you need to switch anything in the 4v5 with how they're playing?
Well, we needed to switch just how spread apart we can play you know because there's just a lot of gaps on
fortress as is even with five people up so when we had four we kind of had to play
more compact and give a lot of map control so you know we're not you know
having a guy go out and shoot their their cut drones and they're just taking you
know as much as they want for free but in terms of the mental side of that I
mean my team's kind of used to me you know bitching and whining a little bit
the first round so I mean even if I bitch in game like it's not like affecting
them you know like there's a difference from me bitching and me being like me
tilting I feel like we always just go and focus on the next round usually pretty
well maybe maybe not a little bit but I don't know well Matt congratulations on
the win like you said great resilience from the team great bounce back I
kind of want to ask more of an emotional mental side of things I
I want to ask how you're doing, given the recent interview that we had in the passing of your grandpa again.
Deepest condolences.
I more so want to focus for players that they can understand the mental side of things like how do you stay focused?
How do you separate outside life situations like that that are traumatic that you have to be able to grieve?
But then at the same time, you still have to show up to scrims.
You still have to show up to practice.
You still got to be that leader.
I mean, how do you circumvent through that and especially for players that are trying to navigate through those areas?
It's honestly really hard.
I'm not the best example of that.
I've always been one that kind of shuts out other parts of my life
and just focuses on what's in front of me.
So I've been doing that for the past nine, 10 years
of playing this game.
So it wasn't really like anything new to me.
I mean, I just know my grandpa wouldn't
want me to just sit and sorrow over his loss.
It's more, even my family were saying like the passing there,
like, you know, everyone was at their house.
It was more like a celebration, like the way he went out
because it was just so peaceful.
It wasn't like a sorrowful thing.
Death is death, you know, it's coming for all of us,
but I just got to make the most of the time
that we have with each other and, you know,
doing what I love.
And that's, you know, beating on little kids.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, beating on little kids and siege.
Matt, thank you so much for your time.
We know what you meant.
We know what you meant.
You guys are able to collect two points here
as you continue to play off chase.
Thanks, man.
He goes, I don't know.
He goes, oh no.
What am I done?
100 Thieves, they're able to take the win here
after a wild back and forth series, as we mentioned.
The 4v5, a very tough situation to be in.
But they're able to recover with spirits at the helm.
Adam and Gomez close behind, all reaching triple digits.
This team is able to take the win in overtime.
It's a competitive series, it's a shame that this is how it had to happen, but I know the thieves are happy to collect those points and to do it with their backs against the wall like that.
It's definitely a shame, but goes into what he was talking about. The resilience from the team, they were still playing like they didn't have a chip on their shoulder.
They were still playing like they were in it to win it, and that's exactly what they did. That's the exact mentality mindset that you need regardless of the circumstances.
It's unfortunately out of your control. You have to be able to focus on that. But for the side of five fears, I mean, you should have just kept the shields going.
going you should have been able to keep things keep yeah all court pressing them
with the shield they were winning those rounds we even heard hot cold talk about
it but then you see rounds like these yes we're casing came back but they were
able to have these tremendous budget from who the engine the engine that could
lacks I mean it's also a great call he is for defensive ideal for anyone he
doesn't know all for the hundred thieves and honestly the moment he said
let's start bringing the clash and let's start messing with the shields
one they got off the shields but to even when they have the shields we
We switch to the boys come to five years and they were they had no idea what to do that kept saying we cannot push into this
Well, thankfully for them they get the job done
They get through the 4v5 adversity which leads us into our second matchup of the night and nine points each
For SSG and Shopify rebellion making this one a very important matchup for the playoff race both teams
Maybe different results in recent weeks, but making this one a six point swing essentially both teams
They need there's points a win would get them three and a loss
Would get them into a tough spot with teams from the lower part of the standings
Working their way up lacks we talk about this six point swing even though technically it would just be three just because
These matches are so important when it comes down to the wire, especially for a team like SSG Kyle
especially for a team like Shopify Rebellion who has seen
inconsistencies throughout the last couple of weeks SR for example, right?
They finally are able to get over the hump
They're finally able to take down dark zero something that should be huge for their confidence coming out of last week
Yeah, absolutely. I mean they've done the unthinkable. They just finally have beat DZ
The team that has been owning them was it 15 and 3?
map count 18 and 3. Sure. And then 8 and 0s of theories, right? And they finally were able to beat them.
There they are. They're free. Now, what does that do? What is breaking the curse? Breaking the chains due for you?
Well, one, pressure is relieved on the side of SR because normally they're going into a stage and they're not getting any points
against Arc0. That puts pressure against their other matches for them to get those three points.
And we see SR struggling to even make play-offs sometimes. They have to slip into that fifth, into that sixth spot.
And right now they're in a good position because they were able to get points against DZ.
Not only that, it's also great for the mental.
They finally, again, they finally got a win against DZ, which is going to make them feel, and we know this, as soon as you're able to continue, you've never been able to beat.
You're going to feel like you're on top of the world. You have everything figured out and you can truly beat anybody now.
But the question, again, it's not their feeling. It's not what they can do. It's their consistency.
We've seen them get 7-0ed, 200 thieves, and then we've seen them bounce back and break the curse, 8-7, right?
So we need to see a little bit more consistency on the side of SR, especially moving into the playoffs,
which again, I don't think they're going to have any problem getting into the playoffs, hot take.
But it's going to be the consistency when we get into those best of 3s.
I mean, that's what we were talking about with that Panic Meter, which, you know,
keep an eye on it, but we're not really worried. And that's the biggest thing that I'm looking at
for them is just the fact that they were able to beat BZ. I mean, again, the biggest thing
It's for the mental aspect, I mean that really can revitalize the synergy for any team to be able to give or get over a hurdle like that
So super excited to see what they can bring
I think we're gonna see a lot better results than we've seen in the past
Well, the opponents in SSG have to think hard about the map they are taking Shopify rebellion to because after three wins in a row
They faced back-to-back losses on the very same map of cafe
That is going to be a ban from them and taking us to border in the end lacks
What do you make of this map?
I mean, what do I make of it?
We heard Ray in the very early time in Super League saying
that their map pool is very strong.
You can play them all.
From their previous two matches, they played Caste
back to back, where I could argue that maybe could have
swapped the picks and bans around a little bit
to play different maps.
However, there wasn't really a map
you were going to land on here going against SR,
whether it was going to be Night Haven Labs,
whether it was going to be Fortress, two of their best
maps, and then you're going to end on border
another very good map for SR, for the side of SSG.
It's not a very pretty map.
So gotta be completely honest here.
I'm not too comfortable for the side of SSG
going into this matchup.
Yeah, I mean, and just to kind of further go into it,
I mean, this is SSG's perma-band.
The last time they even played this map was,
you know, 96 days ago versus Wildcard,
18 times they have banned this map
and they've also never won this map.
And now you're playing against the Rebellion.
You're playing against the team that broke the curse.
They're coming in off a high.
And this is one of SR's favorite maps.
I mean, they are five and two on this map.
They've played this 14 days ago, also 7 and 1 in that victory versus 4.
Fun that we highlighted.
And they were really good on the Ying operator that got taken off the board
right there.
So that actually, I mean, I like that ban from SSG.
But what it does leave up is the glass, right?
This is a map that's known for the ability to kind of cheese round
wins using those power operators, the Ying, the glass.
So that is something still up and worth keeping an eye on because Andy
is so prolific on that operator, but I mean, just in general, SSG on the defense here, it's
going to be a hole they got to dig themselves out of because the SR is so good on attack.
Well, SSG, you mentioned they're on a two-game skid. You said you were concerned about them
during our Panic Meters segment earlier because they got a tough opponent ahead. They take on
Shopify Rebellion right now on border. Well, thank you so very much.
The desk, really contextualizing this matchup, talking a little bit about it.
The playoff hunt is upon us. We see that the remaining play days get harder for some teams.
Easier for others. For State Station, it only gets harder.
SSG vaulting out to a great start to Stage 2, but playing ultimately against some of the
lower-rated teams in the league, and they were able to feast on them.
Nine of nine points against three teams that find themselves at the bottom of the
the standings but since then now they've gone up against tougher competition
they're averaging just two rounds a game that is a far cry from the seven that is
needed for victory even the six to repel them into overtime they will go up
against another playoff team here in the Shopify rebellion and this is really
where we're gonna start to get a good idea of the SSG here in stage two
were they the real deal or they just have a couple good games against weak
components to start the stage
That's gonna be the narrative. They're trying to break today Parker space station gaming
Yeah, as the desk said trying to break this streak that they are on
So this is gonna be kind of a battle of locking things down specifically versus SR on the border
I mean, it's a tough map as the desk said there were no great options for them
But this is what they have to deal with so stopping SR on this push is gonna be critical
Canadian here on the clash on a makes her on the month
I should say I try to make some space east stairs, but Giddy has not let up just yet supporting the rival on this room
Finally the opening goes the way of SR
Down goes rival the other rival by the way since we have two of them in this league
They did battle earlier in the stage when five beers and SSG is squared off split take it out by raid
It's a pretty devastating loss to lose
You are no matter we saw no matter a few times on fortress the map that was played before this and what did we say?
Well, they said she's really good on maps that are a little claustrophobic
Border is definitely one of those surf is taking no prisoners whatsoever both kills so far on the side of SR
In his hands and just a little bit over a minute to go with SR having a number of damage
Yes, East side clear has been clinical comes through from jobfire belly
And they've got firm control of the stairs now that you start to work their way into office and towards this bomb site for an execute
Dream inside of archives getting inside a fountain raid in the hall. I mean to position themselves
expecting this push to come in from the office side.
SSG don't have a whole lot of numbers to play with,
but they can use them to try to deploy them in positions
where they're expecting the attack to come from.
Raiden's security.
You might play hyper aggressive
if you're trying to utilize the numbers.
And she will, and Ambie might have some line of sight.
Here, what a shot from Raiden!
Ambie gets deleted from existence,
and Raiden has full control over this part of the map now,
as Canadian is attempting to wrestle it back.
It's not mind comically bouncing off of the fully extended Monty shield.
Rexon now taking up the position just outside of the door looking for Raid.
He's been taking care of 20 seconds to go.
Canadian putting the shield down, taking out the pistol.
And it's good night to Raid.
Dreaming a 1v3.
Holding down Metal.
One might come through the main hallway, the other now walking through a door.
Two actually through a door.
Surf still very much upright though, he's taking quite a beating.
The Rexxon and Dream will do battle. Dream wins that one.
Diffuse keep going down. Nitro Cell goes out.
And the Rebellion win the round is Surf on a single point of HP.
Finishes off Dream, a big 3K for Surf and Co.
And that's our take-round one.
Good idea with the Nitro Cell.
If he'd gotten Canadian, that could have been absolutely devastating.
But Surf shuts it down a huge round to come through from Surf in particular.
Felt like Raid was going to equalize things.
Felt like he was going to be the difference maker
and shut down that push from SR, but I think the bodies were just a little bit too low.
It was a great pick by Canadian after Surf gets these couple of kills,
then Raid ends up being a menace inside a break room.
This shot is absolutely disgusting, but Canadian does a great job of shutting this down.
Pulls up the shield and demolishes him in that moment.
Gets him into a powerful position, and Canadian specifically...
getting the kill over the youngster.
He's been doing this a long time.
Parker, when Canadian won his first pro league match,
Raid was getting ready for fourth grade,
so sometimes experience it pays off.
I hate the way you said that.
It makes me feel so, I'm closer to 50 than I am to 20.
Oh my God.
I know.
I'm double the age of the rookies
that are making their debut here,
that's how Wheel of Time continues to turn.
Really,
Yeah, really interesting, really interesting how old I am, eh?
Sorry Parker, I don't mean to make you spiral into a depression circle here on the cast.
It's fine, my mental is very good when I'm under the weather, so I don't have other things to think about at this present point in time, but...
It was a hectic first round that realistically could have been run by Dream if that nitrous cell connects with Canadian putting into a 1v1 with surf.
The dream needs to do is survive for a couple seconds longer and that is a round for Space
Station.
Again, over the last two games, now that they've been playing playoff caliber squads, SSG has
been unable to amass more than two rounds in those games.
They were very close to picking up one already here on boarder.
Again, this is a map very similar to Clubhouse where the best structured team doesn't
always win.
It is an unpredictable, chaotic map.
Hell in a Cell is how we like to describe it and that first round was a perfect example of how hellish the Cell can be.
Raid the best player from SSG in round one will take up the security position once again,
hoping to find some kind of an aggressive pick onto these players while we're going to clear him out.
The line gets fast to window and the flash comes through.
This puts him in a really awkward spot.
He has to back up a little bit, trust his teammate to hold things down.
down but he goes down to Canadian and instead dream falls to Hanby and these
roamers are getting picked apart another one for a serve it's all going down ill
for SSG. Two players left alive as we hit the exact halfway point on the round
and Spoit getting rid of Aiden and Gibby now. Look at the long face I think he
understands what the stakes are for this round. Maybe about 50 points of
damage have been done by space stations so far more now. The shot
and in hand is Giddy Attempts to kill Rexon. He falls short and SR picks up two rounds back to back
the second one one flawlessly. It's so fun watching a Shopify Rebellion attacking half right after we
finished watching the attacking half from five years because I just feel like the coordination
and the utility is so different and frankly so much better for the Rebellion the way they're
able to force players out of certain positions. I mean it was almost impossible for Raid to
to stay alive in security with the lion's scan, the capitol's, the flashbang, all of
the utile came in to make those fights as easy as possible for the rebellion, and even if
those fights aren't so easy in certain circumstances, I mean you've got some of the best gunners
in the game to back up your shots. So really nice round coming through from S.R. They coordinate
their push through break room and security at the same time. That gets them to bulk
with those kills. Ambi wins a 1v1 over Dream on the east side of things. That gets
from a massive advantage in the spiral things from there.
So a good lead to start things off.
A more dominant second round that we saw at the first.
And for space station gaming, you've now lost your primary
and secondary bomb sites.
Already, I'm getting quite worried for this team,
just two rounds deep on board.
Five seconds remaining.
Perfect.
Thank you, Depeche.
Attacker's objective is to defuse a bomb.
Oh, Q on in now for round number three here is.
Get out!
I wonder how much SR is going to read into that previous round, Jesse.
Do you think they'll be able to continue to bully this SSG team across the map?
Because, I mean, the kills didn't come as easily in round number one as they did round number two.
In round number two, everybody was just banging on all cylinders.
I will say that SSG were a bit spread out on their map control.
And, I mean, when you have an attacking team that plays like a team of individuals,
or a defending team that plays like a team of individuals with very little support or insurance there,
back up as a normal person would say if you don't win your 1v1s that whole
round goes to put and again I know that I've said this countless broadcasts but
it really does remain consistent sometimes you can have the strategy but if
you just whiff and two people whiff there goes the entire round strategy be
damned a previous round was a great example of that so rebellion and fine
shape one minute in discovery phase is still underway and nobody from
space station in harm's way early on.
Yeah I mean I think you're right Parker the fact they have to spread themselves up when
they're playing these bottom floor sites it makes things really difficult for SSG to come
out on top already map control being gathered by shopfire rebellion and be eventually deals
with that default camera and can set himself up inside of customs they want to apply pressure
on this east guy it's going to be rivals playing at the bottom of these stairs inside
of waiting desperately trying to stay alive on the smoke he will avoid shots for a
moments but finally goes down it's right after ambi falls to raid ssg you're
actually a couple of important picks back they'll have the man advantage we
passed the 92nd minute park second oh I might be sick here Parker halfway through
the round SSG have a man count advantage 90 minutes would be accurate if
we're talking about 100 D's versus five fears in the previous game that we had
that took almost twice the length that a normal match would take.
This one though, not quite so of the case.
Round number two was pretty quick.
This one looking a little bit more like round number one, plodding, maybe a bit lethargic.
Canadian will use his own instincts, creeping up closer to the bomb site.
One drone not far removed and the jig is up, so we spotted by a pull-up camera, find
some salvation over by the B-bomb chassis and is hoping for a lineup.
He has turned back the clocks 3 and 0 for Canadian.
My goodness.
Surf posted up outside waiting for the cross
to come in from either bathroom or workshop.
Nitrocell goes out.
It does not work.
It hits the bomb chassis, a fruitless effort
from Space Station, but the sidearm from Dream Connects.
Down goes Rexton.
He's hopeful that Canadian will be found as well.
Bit of a miss by Surf.
He doesn't have getting giddy, but at what cost?
He kills Canadian inside the site.
He'll grab Dream as the rotate is a bit belated
and now Aiden and Surf will go head
head surf sitting waiting ever so patiently eight and is sticking this eight
and is sticking this and surf will start off seven and oh a 3k in round number one
and I believe a 3k as well in round number three nothing's slowing this SR
team down they are a perfect 3 and 0 to start this map surf quietly cementing
himself as maybe the best player on Shopify rebellion I don't like the
point fingers there's too many talented players on this roster but
consistently this stage. He has been the guy getting the most frags, dying the fewest times,
putting himself into those positions where he finds so much success.
And that round in particular comes off the back of a really nice gap spotted out by Canadian.
He's able to enter in towards the bomb site. He's spotted on the default can, and there's a pulse inside site,
so I don't know how he gets so deep into a plant spot, but I think SSG, because there was so much time still on the clock,
They just didn't expect him to be inside the site so quickly.
They maybe thought that SSR would go for more of a top clear that didn't end up coming out.
In any case, it was an excellent gap spotted by the 30-year-old,
and it'll get SR now a 3-0 lead dominant on board.
All right, I'm ready to go.
It would seem motivating rounds for the rebellion here as they are,
just to be speaking having a great game against SSG. The question that needs to be asked is
when does this turn around for Space Station because they are not looking mighty good. They've
not called their time out here. There's very little good to show for this Space Station
gaming team at the present moment. Fun little quirk of the maps that have been played so far
today. We began on Fortress. That was the 100 Thieves versus Five Fears show that we saw
in the very first match of the day.
We're now just in match number two,
a little bit behind schedule.
Border and Fortress have only been played
a single time before the start of today.
Fortress now played a second time
because of that 100 Thieves 5 Fears game
and Border will find its second play here
with the Rebellion and Space Station.
Obviously very little to go from here.
Border typically a favorable map to the attackers,
but right now sitting at a positive defender win rate
in a bunch of regions,
which is a little bit odd to see for this map.
Again, just not enough data for us to go off of here, but I will say, this SSG team has shown some serious problems that Shopify Rebellion haven't been able to pick apart, namely their roam game.
Those opening picks, the opening duels have been looked mighty good for this rebellion team.
They're gonna go for an early plant here.
Canadian will hope to weather the storm.
There goes a nitro cell.
It gets him at the final moment.
I don't know if that was spotted by SPOINT or not, but it was just a hair away.
And now CERN will take up position amidst the smoke on a single point of HP
and he's shut down by 8 in both opportunities, falling short at just a second to go, Jesse.
That's heartbreaking for the Rebellion and well played by Space Station.
Perfectly done. They shut down that plant with a bevy of nitrocells.
Parker and now Rival will find Ambie for the 4v2 and Sploiten-Rexson will have to
regroup outside the building and try a different approach for plan B.
There is a player down here that's giddy inside a server. If they find a pick on an
M that'll start to equal numbers, but no, Rexing goes down instead.
Wait in a temporary 1v1 as he fights Giddy. Even if he's successful, three more will
wait for him on the top floor. That's going to be the scenario they're in.
He's got plenty of time to play with him, but if you just get his in the site, but
I'm worried about the body still up for SSG. Dream still has a nitro cell and some
Zodas, raids still with some L lines as well. The one saving grace I suppose for
this SR team is that there are no secondary vision tools. Valk obviously
not played, no Valk games that you need to worry about, no bulletproof cameras,
etc. So, Spoyt could have walked in and got the diffuse kid down. All for
not as he walks in and gets punished by SSG immediately and Space Station
picks up their first round. But I was gonna say it wasn't a beneficial
situation. There's usually a bulletproof camera tucked in somewhere on
those corners. Secondary gadgets brought by SSG that round were
nitrous cells and barbed wires so some information to be had and of course they
were able to save themselves from a bad situation. Hard press to imagine SSG wins
in a post plant Jesse if either Surfer Canadian are successful with that
diffuse plant so by the hair of their chinny chin chin SSG takes the round
and they're finally on the board. Yeah it comes off a really good nitro that
denies Canadian that first time and you might think okay well they've got
a thatcher how are they not stopping these nitrous cells but SSG just can't
throwing the utility through toxic babes, they threw three different C4s I believe. Trying to stop
Canadian on the plant and they just managed to find a moment where Rexon was in between shots
on the Thatcher EMP so they blow up the captain. Then it's a great move from Aiden. I think he was
so important on that pulse to spot out when the plant was going down, guide those nitro cells,
pick up the shotgun and take out Sturff as he's going for the plant that second time around.
It's really good Utilgain coming out from SSG and they stopped that cheeky rush that shop of Firebellion tried to pull off.
I know our desk was very worried about the fact that Glazerman un-banned coming through specifically for that reason,
but SSG is showing they don't need to ban the Glaz, they've got really good answers for it.
Also be surfs very first death is...
It was off to a very impressive 7-0 start.
SIRF has really been the saving grace of this team, and I just said saving grace, but we'll say it multiple times. Why not?
Plays a tough role, and he's the best-rated player on this SR team starting the day in 10
on this squad, spoilt not that far behind.
Ambi has really picked up the pace. Ambi was having a rough start to stage one, but his numbers have just steadily improved.
He's having a rough go of it here, but good news for him.
Those two players that we mentioned surf and sport have had some I impact kills
Spoil though also underwater in numbers
So a lot of this weight on the shoulders of surf and his ability to work all on his lonesome
And when surf is having a good day this team tends to do very well
Good news for a star fans. It's a good day so far for sir
Boxer bathroom bomb site same as round three Parker and the strategy is identical for SSG
They brought basically the same operator lineup similar strap for SR to try to find that same position
but Wrexen takes down Rival.
They still got this gap in towards, uh, waiting room.
With Rival down, it means they could go for a similar plant they went for previously.
Dream does get the shot onto Ambi, though.
So you equalize the numbers back to a 4v4.
SSG remain in control of that top floor.
This is exactly what they had last time, though, when it wasn't enough.
Canadian, the identical gap to what he had two rounds ago
and will go for almost the identical plant spot.
Ami, the only counter to be so far, surf gunned down from a nice angle from Aiden.
Spoight on the board.
SR, an equalized yet again, and the defused plant will be the bigger issue.
Spoight will pick up a second as Dream is in the bomb site.
He's got the control of the site, but that control might all be for naught.
As Spoight just continues to shred them, Aiden trades it back.
Wrexton says no thanks, and SR goes back to their winning ways.
They will take the first half for one still.
One more round to go for them to pad their lead.
Parker, Shotfire Rebellion are known for having one of the deepest strat books, especially on
border, a map they play so often, a map they love to play, they dominate when they play
border.
And so it's very rare to see them go for the exact same attacking strategy twice in
a row, but they do it twice in a row, they pull it off twice in a row as well, and it
maybe just speaks to an obvious gap that they saw in Space Station's defenses.
Once they had control of these scares, which they were very hard to get, they were successful
both times to shut down that smoke player of rival and take that control. Once they have
wading under their thumb, once they have E stairs, they're really happy just to send
it. And you know, we're seeing Dream on the pulse every time inside the site and still
you're not able to stop that plant from going down. I know we just really have an angle
with the C4 to get it quite there and Canadian is pretty far away but the information
has to be better. Somebody's got to be able to retake on Raptors or somewhere
to stop that plan from going down because SSG losing the exact same way on the exact same
site twice in a row clearly shows that there's some big problems and how they want to hold
on that bathroom site.
The fact is objective is to defuse the bomb.
Absolutely correct.
I mean the fact that SSG is letting SR, a team is not really knowing for being one
of the faster teams, get in the building so quickly and get those defused kids down
and speaks to some greater structural issues.
Again, we've already mentioned maybe they're playing a bit too separated, maybe their gunners
just aren't really hitting their marks. I say this well by the way SSG only has a single round but if
you look at the bottom right corner of your screen the kills are pretty good for space station if
we're being honest like rebellion are winning these rounds but they are close close rounds
doesn't really matter that much though if SSG are not able to overcome the hurdle of killing
five operators doesn't matter if you kill four of them a loss is still a loss and SSG
We are really still showing that they struggle against these top tier teams.
Again, two rounds is the average against a playoff team that SSG is currently sitting at.
That is very poor.
They're halfway there and there's still plenty of game to play, so I expect a little bit
better out of SSG, but nothing right now is showing me that they are a team that
can topple SR at this moment.
The one round that was not close for SR winning was this event's workshop at
It was flawless as SR got some really good picks, clearing the top floor, they didn't drop a single body.
So this is the one bomb site where it hasn't been so competitive.
If SR can put that together again, they'll be in a good spot.
But no flawless round win for them this time.
Raid inside of security will get that opening pick onto Spoit.
Last time he was that first player to go down with all the utilities.
So that makes a big difference seeing him get on the board.
Hurt the loose, sport. Hurt the loose, that nomad. Though I will say SSG's not really been
in a position to do much with retakes, so those airjohns haven't been anywhere near as effective
I think as they would want on the side of Rebellion, but they haven't really needed them. So if
SSG stands pat, just lost a good gun on the side of SR, but still breathing a little
bit easier for the astronauts, one minute to go, and Aiden misses an opportunity to
Take care of Ambi.
You've drawn the bee's attention.
That's never a good thing.
50 seconds left in the round.
And now Aiden's still under fire.
Rival gun down by Rexon.
I'll have to confront that black mirror over top of the bomb
saves the next step for SR.
Yeah, there's still so much work to do.
This is a tough spot for the rebellion, Parker.
I like this utility.
You're forcing Aiden to back off a little bit,
but he's still not dropped on that hatch.
And Ambi has just died to dream.
So now it's a numbers advantage coming through for SSG
once again.
Aiden will choose to drop the hatch.
They're starting to apply pressure
They catch Aiden on the aft drop, now all of a sudden SR in a much better position,
but they didn't manage to get top floor control.
Rexon remains up here, but everybody else has seemingly given up.
They're gonna have to hit this site and pray that it doesn't get denied from up above.
Passed that for SR with 12 seconds left to the round.
Not a lot of time to work with this thing.
You've still got your two best gunners upright.
That's your cell will go off from Giddy.
It does not connect.
He'll rotate all the way around and manage to evade the sights of these players.
Service been dropped as they swamp Canadian in his position.
He's done as well.
on the clock will give it to SSG.
Rexon was relying on the rest of his teammates
to be in position.
And unfortunately, Canadian left all to his lonesome for two
to first have SR leading.
Well, SR, maybe they falter in the end right there,
but their attacks were solid on board.
Or we got Coach Mint over on the Telestrator.
Kyle, tell us what they're doing so well.
Well, what they're doing really well
is their name is not Five Fears.
And they actually know how to attack a little bit.
So let me show you guys because I agree with Jesse.
I think these attacks have been very impressive.
Border is one of SR's best maps,
and they're very good at isolating certain picks.
One of those picks that is going to be
is the CCTV player that is going to be Raid on the Ella.
Now, his name is not Noah.
Noah's one of the best CCTV players that we have.
And SSG, their problem right now is they're so isolated.
We're going to see Capitale Firebolts coming in
from break.
Raid is going to have nowhere to play.
And then the entries, we see them walking along
the CCTV window.
There's nothing they can do.
And also the wall, it's got to reinforce on the side,
which is allowing SR to, again, isolate the player inside his ECTV.
So there we see those Capital Fireballs in to break.
We're gonna see a Flashbang on raid.
He's in the fire, doesn't know what's going on.
He's gonna die to Troy.
Ambie is actually bottom of the stairs,
gonna kill Dream, who's just walking down the stairs,
which also leads to lots of 1v1s happening.
And then we go into the very next round
and where, again, are they going to isolate that pick?
It's going to be the bottom-east player.
Again, SSG, we're too spread out.
There's no one here to help.
And so what are they going to do?
Troy on the captown is going to smoke Blue Double,
isolating the smoke.
Look at these firebolts as well.
It's forcing Rival out of bottom east.
And once they get that pick,
they're then able to walk into Luggage
and start planting the bomb.
It's really impressive to watch
just how SR is able to isolate SSG
and they're doing nothing.
Yeah, and you were talking about,
you were worried about,
aren't we gonna see the inconsistencies from SR?
We absolutely aren't.
We're seeing the consistent attacks across the board.
But not only that, I mean, to even just highlight in the comms
that we hear from SR, specifically Serp,
he was talking about he loves the way SSG is playing.
They're so scared, they're timid.
And that's exactly a team that you want
when you can just capital bolt them,
force them out into position, force them out into crossfires.
And for SSG, I mean, very little reprieve from there.
And I mean, yes, that last round they did,
they did get around, which is great to be able to bring back.
But now you're going to be on attack.
And if you're already playing very timid on defense,
that's going to be kind of a risk factor
going into attack where you need to be able to make moves.
You need to be able to take space.
You have to fight for space very early on,
more so than any other map that we have in Siege.
Border, you are going to be contested
right from the get-go.
They have to get aggressive.
And the only thing, honestly,
that's kind of helping them here,
just based on the bands.
It's the fact that Montaigne does exist.
Montaigne can allow you to kind of walk around
east stairs and get inside the map.
So for rarely seen SSG using those shields.
We haven't, but Dream of Dream is known to hop on it
if he needs to.
And I would love to see that,
because you're absolutely right.
I mean, they are playing scarder now.
They're playing very isolated.
It's just not how you want border to bring it again.
I wish they would have played more bunkered setups
because normally when border's kind of going that way,
you get off the traps, you run the bunkered setups,
but again, SSG, we're having a lack of adapting right now.
SSG, they have some work to do clearly.
SR feeling good and a two round lead
going into the second half.
A two round lead here on border in particular
is so tough for SSG to bounce back against Parker
Because since the eSports World Cup,
Shopify or Belian have yet to play border
and lose more than two rounds.
They beat CAG, whose skin is on your screen right now,
in Paris, 7-2 on this map.
They beat 4-fun 7-1 on this map two weeks ago.
And now another potential 7-2,
if they can be flawless through one clean rotation
on the defense side.
We've already seen Canadian jump straight onto this clash.
So no shields being brought out by SSG.
The desk is right, and the space station played their least shields of any team in the North America League.
19% of their attacking rounds would be played on shields, which is far lower than most teams who sit somewhere around 40-50%.
Now we're gonna have to see them get creative to problem solve. How do you get past the clash on these stairs?
How do you get past the Wamai being played by Ambi inside the hallway?
How do you get past the security position being played by Spoi? There's a lot of tough spots.
They're gonna have to find ways to clear.
Watch as this unfolds, information galore being brought by SSG as well, though I'm with you,
I'm a little bit worried about potential counters to the Wili and the clash if I'm on the side
of space station.
SSG starting this stage really strong, they were a top two team for a number of playdays
that's super weak, treating them oh so well, it's been a rough go of it ever since.
walking in and showing off some of that new Zofia tech that we have seen at an
increasing rate which is using all three of those explosives to try to do
damage and get a kill from below. His target was Canadian as you can see
Canadian suffers very minimal damage and DREAM is completely out of explosives now
for it. I guess at this the side of back tears that it will open up some of
that floor but that's not really a high-profile spot where you need to have
visibility. We're actually Canadian now together inside of office. Surviving for longer than usual.
It is nice that you force the clash out of that position, but Canadian does still stand.
Giddy will find Rexon, that is, either through the verter, maybe on a half-strop, so we get that number's advantage going towards SSG.
But I'm still worried about the util being lined up for the rebellion.
A great drone inside a break room will spot out, spoits position insecurity.
It might hear Canadian as well being here towards Fountain, so they've got really strong positions that they're still playing,
but you've got to find ways to break through it.
SSG, committing themselves to an office push at this point,
it seems they aren't really looking like they want to rotate over to the security side.
I think that's the fine play.
This is where they've been doing most of their work.
Dream's trying to bait out a C4,
but the only one that was brought has already been used up,
so no real concerns for this.
Dream will start to work on the wall now,
and this is going to get really tight for us all.
Here goes the wall, Ambie hearing the sounds of Dream Sofia in that position.
The flames will buy him some very valuable time, popped it about 30 seconds, that'll be
20 seconds of full coverage here.
Kitty with the only kill so far, this has been a very slow attack from Space Station.
Boy oh boy are they digging in.
Ambie trapped in this corner fighting for his life.
He's found two kills, bites off a bit more than he can chew and now Surf will need
to clutch, but Rage shuts him down better than average. A third round won by SSG as they
are a single round away from tying SR. Huge round. Ambi nearly steals it right from under
them, but thankfully we have Giddy who is the extra angle to that push, Parker. He
walks up Mel's stairs. We're focused on all the pressure office and rightfully so.
That's where every other player on SSG is trying to apply pressure, but Giddy comes
in from the back, he finds Canadian taking out the clash, opening up the avenue for a
couple of players to get inside a fountain to start providing that second dimension to
pressure Ambi. It was really well constructed from space station gaming and frankly it feels
like a better round than we saw from them on that then through the whole first half
really. I really like the goyo canister Ambi was playing around. I feel like we
haven't seen that before just on the radio position. He can pop it after the
breach gets opened. That's what enables him to make these crazy plays. It's
ultimately just not quite enough though. An SSG, frankly a really good push to
come together there in the end, get themselves the execute, and keep themselves competitive in this game.
That's how border works, right? You find your small foothold and you climb up to victory,
and you grab the, you grab the, I don't know, what do you usually grab?
The bull by the horns? No. Grab the ring, grab the trophy, I don't know.
and drop whatever you want. You got your own hands.
If you can't reach it, then get one of those little claw things.
I have some pretzels on my desk I've been grabbing for a shoot today.
You're just eating raw pretzels before 20 in the afternoon?
I've got some hummus.
What?
It's not really the pairing I would expect, but I could down with a good hummus.
Let's go ahead lead off three Rovers top floor here, but I don't think us this year that interested in clearing them out
Aiden is getting ready for explosive entrance here in the passport might open their opportunity for them to Russian for the custom side
And then you walk their way towards the bombsite exactly what they're going to do stream through the rotate will get his way straight towards the site
And they will not be aware of this early on the side of SR
are.
Down goes Canadian, that's the smoke, gone, Ambi fighting in his position, now pushed
back deeper into the A bomb site as he was on a collision course with Dream, but the shield
would have easily won in that regard, so Ambi throws out a Gouche-Matte mine and scampers
off to the wood pile just behind at A site.
Dream calling for his team still to see if somebody may be anybody, can get a good
read on him through those soft walls.
He can't do much for a vertical sense because there's still control from the rebellion
above.
So a pretty tough spot to be in for SSG as they look for a quick and linear take.
They've done very little work to clear out this top wall, and that might come back to haunt them.
Yeah, that's the thing there, right? They try to go quick into the bomb site,
but they stalled out not being able to find Ambie, who's just perfectly playing this, right?
Wraths himself, prone behind the desk. He makes sure that he doesn't die.
If Ambie goes down, they can maybe flood into the site and try to plant with a shield on their back,
but they can't really do that as long as they don't have the kill on Ambie.
So now they'll have to readjust SSG move their push towards the top floor. They're trying to dodge nitros
But Rexon's arm is true. He takes down dream and puts us into a 4v4 and SSG
It's just getting even more difficult
How long do they commit to fighting up above before they try to go back to that site?
This boy goes down at the hands of raid get he traded out by Rexon
Neither of these teams able to shake one another at the present moment
Back to a stalemate
Up floor control wrestled away by space station as you asked how long until SR
moves towards the bomb site? Well you said it and then they did it seconds later.
Ambion the floor hiding as SSG are for the time being just on the outside looking in
in bathroom up above that hatch drop can be quite precarious.
SR have largely moved out of the bomb site so they have forfeited this ground
I think it's just Ambi sitting inside the site everybody else waiting for SSG
SSG to make a misstep.
Those missteps will come with only 10 seconds to go.
That's cased down.
Rexton and Ambi get them.
And Ambi picks up two for his trouble.
No tie game.
SSG falter in the final seconds.
And SR's lead goes back up to two.
Not an easy round for the Rebellion to win,
but they do just that.
They lose their captain early as Canadian
goes down towards the bottom of those East Stairs.
The rush play tries to find its mark.
But I think Ambi and Rexton really
put the pieces together to win that round. Of course, they got all five kills, but Andy
stalling things out in the bomb site, again, playing passive, understanding that he doesn't
need to step up and get an aggressive pick. Andy is one of the most aggressive players
in this game, but knows when he needs to sit down and play it slow when there was
last 10 seconds. That's when he gets active. He's very excited about his couple
of kills. Rex and the top floor at two, I thought
His skills were almost more impacted, Parker, because they got that advantage back under control for SR.
He roams the top floor, gets two kills, and then instantly drops back.
It's just good decision-making from all five players on SR.
They were all spread out as well.
The headcross is established, but it was still a pretty spread defense.
The fact that SSG went for such a linear take.
Now, they get into being quite a boon for this rebellion team.
They were able to avoid some nasty early gunfights.
Space Station and their credit are doing a much better job than SR in drawing blood first five rounds of the eight SSG to strike first
They've been unable to capitalize on two of them
SR have been successful on all of their first bloods
Transitioning those into one rounds
Canadian doing a pretty good job on attack as well from an objective
Perspective now he just needs to keep it together playing that same style of utility around the objective on defense
His numbers aren't as bad as usual, one of the better games statistically for Canadian, most of those kills, coming on attack at this point in time.
Lots of discovery work now for SSG as we are at a point where if the rebellion are able to win this round,
they will move to match point and secure themselves one point in the process.
Again, playoff hunt, very alive and SR is in the thick of it.
Clarkson takes a little bit of damage on the bathroom hatch, but he's gonna be just fine, just playing the position up above, so full top floor control for Rebellion.
Space station gaming, look like they might want to do a very similar push to what SR were doing, where they get control of waiting, they try to clear up that East Stairs player of Canadian, and then they go directly in without full clearing the top floor.
So far, the rebellion have done a good job, I think, of reading this.
Canadian's actually gone back to site inside of Teller's.
Ambien inside of Customs is going to be in a really strong spot to stop them
if they do try to walk their way in through Passport.
Rexon seems aware of the positions that might be pressuring him towards the top floor.
So, SSG, work on the information.
Take your time.
Find some free picks.
There's player insecurity.
They look like they really want to hunt him down.
So if they get an early pick on a exploit,
that could change things back into their favor.
Like how you say early pick when there's about a minute left of the round,
But it certainly would be early with how sluggish some of these that takes have been from SSG
They lose eight in so rebellion will draw first rex in holding court Robon will shut down rivals
So SSG losing two players in very quick succession does not bode well for the final
60 seconds of this round
Raid has been by far and away the bright spot for this team
Leading the squad with eight kills and he's gonna have to do some serious work here against a full rebellion squad
only one of whom has taken any damage and that's Rexon leading the way on his team with 11 kills.
He's been so good. He falls back to site once again. That can see it's possible to his opponents,
but with how little time is on the clock, that's fine. If they drop down,
you can maybe try to place some angles from workshop, punish that position when they try to get in towards the site.
Still clock management for SSG a bit of a problem. It was in the previous round now down two bodies.
I doubt it will get any better. Dream dies at the hands of
of Spoyt Gettys made his way into the building
with 15 seconds to go.
He was not connected with the overall push.
Raid jumping on in, the only kill so far,
the only kill SSG will find.
They moved to match point guaranteeing themselves
at worst a loss in regulation.
One point on the board for SR so desperately needed
when all these teams are jammed up
hunting for the playoffs.
Hunting for their sixth win on boarder this season. SR, the desk talked about it, incredible on this map, but SSG didn't have a lot of other options where they could have tried to go against the Giants that are SR.
They go forward with the glass band to take that off the board, and the smoke band will target Canadian, making his life on E stairs a little bit more difficult.
Attack time out from head coach Coma will try to right the shift as they need to win three straight just to force the overtime.
A lot of 1v1s in this round that didn't exactly favor SSG, I would have liked to see maybe a bit more team play clearing out those top 4 players.
When you're going up against a guy like Rexon in particular who's playing on that top floor, you know, you want him to force multiple people at him.
He's having a hell of a game right now. You mentioned, I think, 12 kills after that round.
Because he's gonna drop down, right? If you don't get that trade immediately onto him, he's just gonna fall back to site and play passive with his team.
use the numbers to their advantage, you really have to push all at once to ensure you get that kill.
Even if you trade one for one, it's fine. Like, you get the space. That needs to be the goal.
But they're sending one player after him. He goes now, and now you don't have the space or the trade.
Needs to be a little bit better on this team play.
That's probably what's being talked about by the coach here in the timeouts, and with three opportunities to close this one,
shop Firebellion in a very dominant position for the fourth quarter.
been a while since you referred to them as quarters at least that I've
consciously picked up on maybe you've been saying it and I've just been
tuning you out more frequently I said at least half a dozen times it's broadcast
you talk about quarters using the times abroad I don't believe that it's not
just me other castes are starting to happen on it's not unlike the cold that
I've picked up on it seems like you are spreading your
Your mental quarter germs
I've often been described as contagious I
Don't know if that's a good thing
Yes, you wow you're really contagious. What does that mean? I have no idea
Maybe child will be able to sound off on it
Rebellion securing themselves a single point tomorrow's games for the rebellion will be tough. They play C9 leading the league right now
Cloud9 a perfect 5-0. All five of the games they've played have been won in regulation
So C9 has yet to drop a single point. They are screaming their way towards a perfect stage
But it will be a tough go from here on out for C9. They are actually playing in our very next matchup
Rebellion win here, we move on to game number three, Cloud9 and M80.
The polar opposite ends of the standings will be the next contestants in the midway point here in playday number six.
As for this SSG team, as we've said, they've been steadily tumbling down the standings.
They've been averaging two rounds against playoff caliber teams.
They've beaten that here, but three rounds might be all they get.
SSG's time does not get any easier. Tomorrow they go up against the major defending champions of Dark Zero as DZ
They're hungry to put up some points to keep themselves in the playoff hunt as well. First minute of this round
Completely gone SR very mobile in their defenses hoping for the knockout punch to secure all seven rounds without being overturned
Custom supplies are bombsite Park is not the first time we've seen SR go to this site
They love playing Customs supply there five and oh defending this bomb site this season
Going for the perfect six for six
They're gonna have to hold on to the top floor dream making that very difficult pushing forward with the black beard trying to take control of fountain
It's a nice pinch from Aiden, but immediately answered by spoit
He gets the kill on an AMV, but spoit just keeps hitting the shots
It might not matter when he's shooting like that dream will now try to address the problem by moving just dirty himself
But there's so much work to be done spots him up now and he's got the high ground
Canadian the long angle gets it instead willy for three and one more is all they
need to win this game
Gigi's already typed out by Andy
Raid just prolonging the inevitable here. It's been a good game for Raid.
He knows where they are. The wall takes care of Rexon but this is just him
twisting and turning in the wind shop of our rebellion right now. I'm all but
certain to be pick up all three of these points for SR that will bolt them into
sole possession of second place but still plenty more matches to be done.
Ray's really giving it a good college try here. He's picking off two of these players.
One shot for the body on both these guys this is winnable. I just fear that they
know where Ray is and now he's gonna stare down that bulletproof camera.
tons of information. Spoint and Canadian still on the board. Canadian has an
opportunity to go positive, or well, even. 6-6. Running out of time, no diffuse kit in
hand. Do they get him before the timer runs out? Canadian dies, so it starts to get a
little bit worse, but the point survives. That's all that matters. A bit of an
intriguing end to that one, but SR walks away 7-3 and they pick up all
three points in the process. The Kings of Borders stand undefeated still
in their fortress perfect on customs and supply now six and oh dominant over s as
G that's two games down here in play day six of the North American leader
Well, the skid continues for space station gaming as Shopify Rebellion moved them up
into second place after a nice three points in this way.
I know a man that everyone wants to hear what he has to say.
Spoyt is standing by after the victory.
Spoyt congrats on getting nice three points here.
You guys are looking good.
I mean, you guys really seem to have been rejuvenated by that win over Dark
Zero, does it feel the same for you guys and the team cons right now?
I mean, we're feeling good.
I mean, we've been focusing on ourselves, fixing some small errors that we had in
practice. And yeah, I mean, right now we're looking good.
So he's going to keep pushing.
All right. Well, I wanted to ask, do you think that sacrifice
was very important for this contest today as well?
I mean, of course, you know, we had to like be set on the stream.
We had to sacrifice a set, but no, so we could be DC as well.
And I don't know what we got to do to beat the Cloud9 that are undefeated, so we'll see.
But no, in all seriousness, back to the more serious question, the addition with the new
coach of Phoenix, now that we've been more into the stage, has he really been paying off
than what you guys were expecting getting him already?
Yeah, no, like I said in the previous interview when I was on here, I've been enjoying
working with Phoenix.
I think he's a cool guy.
He's been helping us with some small stuff, whether that would be mental in-game stuff,
name it. It's just like an extra guy that helps us with stuff. Yeah, looking good.
Well, we're gassing up the staff. I kind of want to give you a chance to gas up one of your
teammates, Rexon. I mean, Rexon popped off today, had a great game. I think he unfairly gets some
hate sometimes in the community. I mean, I feel like everyone kind of already does.
But we're giving you a chance to kind of like, I mean, what makes Rexon so special?
And why was he able to kind of have a pop off map on a map like border?
I think it might have been the the haircut got 30 minutes before our game
Yeah, so it got delayed and he was just sitting there on the in the disc of us. He's like, okay guys
I'm getting faded right now. So
I'll be there in a second guys. No warm-up scrim. No world's good for him. I'm afraid and we don't ask him
I got I got one more question before it bounces to you
We also heard in the comms very early on we heard sir for me to be all I love the way these guys play
I love it. Can you give a little more insight on what that meant?
Well, our prep going into today's game was like we just look back at the ball
when we scrimmed against them and like it was just us giving picks after picks, you know, being antsy early in the round
And you know border so all that's a type of map where you know one wrong peak boom 4v5
So we knew that these guys don't have balls they take forever to do things just forcing the clear stuff
And yeah, they couldn't do it. So the defense is pretty easy for us. All right, boy
Thank you so much for your time and I speak three points from you guys back to second place right now in stage two
So I'm sure we'll talk to you a bit more down the road. Thank you guys
Well SR as we said close it out
relatively quickly playing against in sports words an SSG that well
They're happy to play against an opponent that kind of rolled over for them here and allow them to make this happen on
Border not too bad. I said going into that second half
We needed to see SSG be a little more aggressive take a lot more space and it really speaks into exactly what
What was I they don't have balls. They were playing scared
They're gonna be a very timid yeah, and you're gonna go against a team like I saw any of these upper echelon teams even
Internationally they are going to abuse the fact of you playing a slow game and looking lost and even in the comms
That we heard from SSG again very chaotic
It's certainly not worth seeing and giving them praise for those first three weeks and I mean the first week
I definitely think the losses from last week are kind of rear in their ugly head here even in today's match
Yeah, I mean and it was obviously a really impressive game really impressive attacks as well that I highlighted
I mean Boulder is one of their favorite maps and they're able to isolate picks super easily
So I would love for us to see to kind of give them some fits. I mean we heard from the scrims, right?
I mean it sounded like the scrims were going a little bit better as you were getting in their face and
You know love to hear that from Swaype. They were able to kind of fix their issues and things were so much easier for them
I mean they were able to have everything that they wanted and that's really what again
I wanted to see from SSG is
We're not taking fights and none of these games
Honestly in their three games a skidlax have really been impressive. I mean
Look, I was calling for them to lose a bunch of games. I'm gonna be completely honest
I was calling them to lose bunch of games, but I think it was gonna be this bad
I mean they haven't even looked competitive since that very first week
I mean glad to see raid on the board 12 and 6 but I mean after that really no one kind of showing up
We kind of highlighted we needed to see the other fraggers Aiden. Where's he been rivals? Well, yeah
And it's nice that you were also asking spoil
Why is Rex unable to pop off the way given some of the roles that he has taken again?
Surf one of the best if not the best in our region at support and again
When you look at a map like border of this is gonna be a this is gonna be a hayden for support players
Because you don't have to play a traditional support role
You don't have to be waiting around waiting to open up a wall waiting for a take to happen
You can be right with the push.
It's maps like Clubhouse, maps like Oregon back in the day,
where your support players really can shine
because they are able to flex around
and actually be let off the leash
and play the way that they want.
Yeah, a lot of the kills happen outside of the map.
I mean, we saw Troy in that very first round
at outside break.
That's typically where that first entry happens.
You don't even have to get your entry into the map
on a map-like border,
which when you start asking why are maps attacker-sided,
why are the map defenders-sided, that's why.
A lot of engagements happen before you even enter in.
Well, they, as we said, move up to second place, SR2,
after that victory, which brings us
to the conversation about our first place team, Cloud9.
The only undefeated team remaining here in stage 2,
they take on what is now the last placed team in stage 2.
And maybe somehow this is happening.
Five fears now above them in the standings.
It's a first versus last.
It is an undefeated versus team
where you guys said we are sounding the alarm.
We are in full panic mode for this team right now because M80 need to play this game well.
But Cloud9, you're Kyle, I mean this is a team that just has been that good.
And like we've been wondering like, oh, is it real?
Are they are they just playing weak opponents?
It's real.
It's real.
And it's crazy because if you would have asked me and told me that this is a first
versus last, I would have thought the complete opposite.
Exactly.
I would have thought M80 first place, Cloud9 last place, but it has been the
Cloud9 has been dominating everybody, currently 5-0.
And when I say dominating everybody, I don't have to say that lightly.
I mean, if we look at just the statistics,
and I know we got some statistics lovers out there,
I mean, we have them first place in attack win percentage,
74% blacks, which is out of this world.
Hey, we were questioning that.
We were questioning what their attacks were going to look like going into this stage.
We were questioning, but that's out of this world.
Defense, 70% entry first in the league.
Entry conversion, also first in the league.
And it clutches.
Like every single major statistic, Cloud9,
is on another level.
It is on another level.
And it's exactly why we have to highlight their attacking
prowess, because it's the reason why they're number one.
It goes back into the interview that we talked about with Pamba
that they believe in each other, that there is trust.
And when you look at round nine right here,
you have three players inside.
One set, master, one side, bathroom,
and then you have a player inside Colton
for player inside Khan.
The other player is hiding somewhere over here,
and CC is blocked off by that screen.
But what you're going to see here
is you're going to see V Monti be able to drop the hatch
and is going to pull the pressure away from the goal player
realistically over extends a little too far.
But from there, they immediately
get this pick onto the player inside goal.
And from there, you are going to see the collapse
from the side of Cloud9.
Once that pick goes down, you are going to see Munk
come up from bottom main.
You are going to see a player outside the breach,
pushing it through hot tub, you're going to have Pamba
that is covering all of Khan, covering that control.
And then from there, it's just a collapse onto site.
They're gonna be pinching from here,
wall cross, Pamba crosses, holds this onto master.
Player comes through here,
and it is just a giant collapse onto the players
inside site here.
As you will see, one player pushing through goal.
Pamba goes to that master window, grabs that pick.
It forces the player inside Khan to readjust,
focus on the Monty, they collapse then
onto the player inside bathroom.
And from there, it's shut case closed.
You literally have the glass coming down,
controlling all the con from there.
There's nothing on that side of M80 to be able to bring.
I mean, not on M80.
On the side of, oh, was it four fun?
I'm losing track of it.
Exactly.
Four fun of being able to bring that round back into it.
But it's the reason why Cloud9 has been so convincingly
well is, again, it goes back into that trust
on their attacking process.
Everyone is doing it together.
The coordination is there.
And there's a big reason as to why they are number one
in the league going into today.
And the scariest part about this matchup for M80 is exactly that.
They have to go against a team that has been defying expectations at every turn.
And now the expectations for Cloud9 are that they are the favorite team right now
by all the metrics this stage.
M80 are now the underdogs.
Not something we thought we'd be saying.
They have their work cut out for them here, Kyle, because they need so many
points to get into playoff.
They have to go, what, flawless for the rest of the stage to get there.
Yeah.
I wish we had that panic meter back.
Because again, I'm ready to hit the panic button.
But I mean, realistically, I mean,
we were calling last week the free week.
They needed to get the points.
They only got three points.
So now they're in a position where they have to go flawless.
They have to win the next four games in order
to keep this in their own hands.
I mean, we can look at the cutoff to reach playoffs.
Last stage, the sixth place team got 14 points.
They're currently at three.
So again, if they were to win all four in regulation,
that gives them 15 and still in their hands.
And let's talk about the teams that they have to play to get those 15 points.
Well, it's going to be cloud nine, the very the undefeated team in the NAL today.
They also have to play wild card, whose second place right down the NAL and
and also one NAL in stage one.
And they also play 100 thieves who have been heating up.
And honestly, that game kind of a fluke game going back to that.
I mean, they should have dominated five years.
They looked really good spirits was still the engine.
So three, four of those teams, I know for fun is still in there.
And I'm sure you want to throw that in there.
But I mean three of those teams are arguably way better than M80 is in current form
And it's going to be a very tall task to go flawless and all of those teams are above them on the leaderboard
Like that's the reality that is the reality and but that is something that I mentioned in the pre-show
It's yes
They are in a very dire situation, but all five of these players have to gumption they have the resilience to be able to bring this back
Yes, it's gonna be hard, but sometimes that's what you need you need to have your back against the wall
There is no room for air. So it really does emphasize everyone having to play as perfect as they possibly can
And we've seen miracles happen in seeds whether they've been in domestic success or they've been in international success
It can be done. It's just a matter. Is it going to happen because right now? There's not a whole lot to believe
We're talking a lot about what they need to do from here. I want to talk about how they ended up here
I mean what is going on with this team like obviously there's not one thing it has to be quite a few things
We haven't had a chance to talk to them very many times to get to the bottom of it when you look at the numbers
They're like in the middle of the pack attacking in the middle of the pack defending
Statistically they're in the middle of a pack, but they are the worst team by points in the NAL right now
What is a problem that stands out? It seems to be a couple problems
But I mean we talked to Gunnar in the one game that they did win they switch roles before EWC
Why did they switch roles before EWC something went wrong there something obviously went wrong as well
Gunnar also told us they seem to be having problems inside the team that maybe we're not aware of and we're seeing it
Also their maps, they were testing Villa in the beginning. They're not a good Villa team
And now they fell behind because they wanted to test their Villa now there again now they're way behind now
The pressure is on and the other thing we didn't talk about pressure and maybe is the one org
You feel pressure with right that the team that makes the most roster changes and they're definitely feeling it right now
What's out of doubt?
Well, let's see like where with their backs against the wall
Where and maybe want to take this one because as we said the pressure is as high as it's ever been for them
And as they take on the number one seed in the NAL they will take us to fortress
I mean the thing is we haven't seen this new cloud nine attack fortress
And they aren't a bad team on it two and two for this for the year so far
But again completely different cloud nine outside for M80. This is an okay map for them
They did get the most recent 7-0 on outlast, but again, are you really are we really holding on to that 7-0?
I think it was a great
Showcase from them in order to that it was great
But I also contribute a lot of that success to outlast just not playing very well
I'm looking very lost on it and cloud eyes a completely different piece
You got to give them the respect and a lot of the fundamental areas that we were seeing from the side of MAD
Was a lot of the shot calling there was a lot of mistakes being had even on that clubhouse on a very simple map
We haven't seen a lot from Savage in comparison to the previous day
I believe he ended what that game on that half at least on clubhouse 0 and 6
didn't shoot the default came didn't shoot the default came I mean there's
clearly been a plethora of issues it's not just on one player it's not just on
one specific thing there is a multitude of issues for M80 they have to be able
to focus on one thing at a time to get over this and the reality is I mean it
sucks to harp on the issues that a team is having for the course of the
stage but we expect more from them they expect more from themselves and
it's not just Osaka it's not just playoffs that are on line Osaka's on
the line and the six invitational is on the line and from a team of this caliber you expect
them to make it they expect to make it and they are a loss away from realistically not
making it and that has you got to feel that pressure as a player when you want that so
bad.
I think so personally that's what I'm going with to I mean again you're on a team that
already has a lot of pressure because you're technically a contender organization.
It's an organization that has I mean let's be honest more money than other teams
and you're able to stack your roster with the best talents that NAL has to offer and they're going to demand success, right?
You're demanding with what you pay for. We should be able to at least make playoffs. And right now, again, the pressure is there.
I mean, all players, it's not even just one, like we're saying. All five players are playing pretty poorly, except for the outlast game,
where we're able to stat pad. But we haven't really seen the Ash in NAL MVP. We haven't really seen Savage have a pop off shield game.
And we haven't really seen, where's Gavini?
Yeah, that's that guy.
That's kind of the more puzzling one.
Gavini was definitely a staple in their success
from the previous stage.
And we just have not been able to see that yet.
And I was fascinated to see the social prediction there.
It looks like 60% of the people
are siding with Cloud9.
So still, M80's got a good base of support.
But even their most loyal supporters
are starting to realize, maybe this team
is on the struggle bus.
I think we got some smart people out there
that are making some real educational guesses.
I mean, absolutely. I mean, I think everyone's kind of jumping on their bandwagon a little bit lacks. I know I would me have been absolutely
I think majority of people have been having a ton of fun also
Watching cloud nine play and I mean on a map like fortress
I know you don't like the wall denial bands, but that's exactly what we're going to be you don't like the wall
I don't like the wall now bands either, but it defenses. I mean unless you're playing a 45 defense is pretty tough on this map
Regardless really nothing notable besides maybe a glass band there and I mean on m80 ashen is known to kind of break it down
down with the glass, but they were all interested.
I mean, we got to see if M80,
they got to be able to get three here on this attacking half.
Cloud9 is one of the best,
I'm sorry, they are the best actually,
defending, let me put some respect on their name.
I mean, coming away with three attacks
has to be the goal here if you're M80
or this is going to be a difficult one.
Well M80, we've talked about it enough.
The backs are against the wall
and Cloud9, well an undefeated team
stands in their way, guys.
I'm going to be taking over from
here, but still joined with the
wonderful Jesse J. Chick. And
what a treat, Jesse. Obviously,
I hope parking gets better. Well,
selfishly, I'm quite pleased
because this is a massive game
right now. M. A. T versus
cloud nine. Who would have
thought that he would have
please because this is a massive game right now.
M.A.T. versus Cloud9, who would have thought
that Cloud9 would be top of the pops?
Not me, that's for sure.
No, I think absolutely right.
I think this is game of the day.
I think Cloud9 are the most fun team
that we have in the North America League.
They've been so impressive.
The way that they choose to attack,
the way that they play,
it's really impressive so far.
So I'm super excited to see them go up against M.A.T.
and what is for M.A.T. a must win game.
I mean, clearly the audience still thinks they've got a good chance here.
I do as well, 40% of fans either not tuning into the NAL before this very broadcast,
or having confidence that M80 can bounce back after the rough start that they've had.
Either way, they kind of need to thrive on that support
to find a way back into this stage because they are so dangerously close
to being eliminated from playoff contention.
Starting here on Fortress, Ollie, we just watched this map a couple hours ago
when we thought 100 of these get the victory on it.
But on the D events for Cloud nine,
it looks like it's going to be a stall focused setup.
It's got the Chonka, they've got the Keybuzz,
they've got even the North ready to slow things down for M80.
Not only did we watch it a couple of hours ago,
we also watched it for a couple of hours.
It was a bit of an unfortunate one, wasn't it?
I was starting these guidelines, sort of taking it all in,
but hopefully I'll be allowed smooth sailing from here on out.
M80s, we've said, starting off on the attack,
The most difficult side of Fortress, it is to be said, you know, it can't be understated that.
And when you add on the pressure for this fixture, it really does add in.
That's a little bit of an unfortunate one for Uzi there, as he's trying to get rid of those Hibana pellets
and obviously then utilizes the mirror window as well.
But unfortunately for him, his placement wasn't ideal, and that window will now be open.
So the path should be a little bit clearer on that side.
Cool idea to get some diet with a newer gadget, but it's not quite good enough for Uzi.
He's gonna lose his teammate of Pambazu as well as Gunner finds that frag in the new tower.
So let's just get that from Worst for Cloud9.
They lose another one as Gunner is exploding here, finding Uzi up now 5-3 on the Nankant with 45 seconds.
Difficult position now for the rest.
Cloud9, low flow around the corner, but I should guess the better of him.
Sensor takes him out, mugged back in things up as well.
Just like that, everything's flipped.
Diffuser now taking a little bit of chip damage
and Sensor is framed up for another.
All he's gotta do is pre-fire the angle.
Diffuser eventually shuts him down
and it leaves Eddie in a very winnable one versus two.
Look at the HP available right now
for both Kaveni and Diffuser.
The Vector, fast fire rate, rips through these opponents.
Deathmark track her out,
but a double swing there from M80 will cement round one.
Nice finish, gets a little scary in the end there,
but I like the pressure they were able to apply
just in that 2v1 collapsing on Eddy at the same time,
making sure they closed that one out.
Some mistakes, certainly, I think in the utility,
it was he again with the Noor setup.
It was such a smart idea to counter that Habana,
but it bounced off the mirror window,
which forced him to give up a lot of that map control
I think earlier than what Cloud9 were hoping for,
and then Gunner hitting the back.
I mean, it's a completely unexpected play for him to just pop up those new tower stairs,
catch them off guard on the side of cloud nine and really find that gap that M80 loved
to look for so deeply.
So a promising start for our, I guess, underdogs here in M80 bounce back.
They get that first round win.
A couple of early picks that enabled them to get this win as well.
Finding that early one into Pambazoo was so important to get that powerful player
off the board.
As soon as you take Pambazoo down, especially with the freedom that he's going to
allow himself playing on something like Ella, Grisma in his pocket or whatever it might be,
especially with the way that Pam has been playing recently. I mean, Cloud9 in general
have all been having fantastic seasons. And I'll be honest, Jesse, I don't know about
you, but I saw the sort of look to the start that Cloud9 had. And I was thinking to myself,
discarding the Hundred Thieves game, a 7-0, like they do just happen every now and
then. And I think you've kind of almost got to eliminate them in some instances
from like your overall stats just because it is a bit of an anomaly, we look at the other
fixtures, I was like, okay, out lost, okay, five fears, hang on a minute, dark zero, now
I'm a believer, now I'm starting to think, hang on a minute, this seems the real deal,
like they're beating a couple of teams that are maybe underperforming at the moment versus
what they have been doing, but there's nothing wrong with DZ, let's up the tree.
So that's where I start to think about this Cloud9 roster and you start thinking
to yourself, hang on a minute, have they all just blossomed?
know, we got to a point where they have just this imaginary like teleported
got themselves to that position. Yeah, I mean, it definitely feels like they are
there are a new team, you know, their attacks have been so good. We heard the
desk talk about it. We'll get to see it after half time. But the way they're
able to work picks in the early game, figure out the best way to attack the
late game. They're so spontaneous. It feels like the positions they're
able to push. I mean, it's a really fun team to watch now on the
They've been successful, they're the most successful defense team here in the North American League with a 70% of win rate, but it's been a little bit more standard, I would say.
They're kind of closer to other teams' level when you look at their defenses, stats, and results.
So this is the opportunity for M80 to kind of bounce back and get themselves an early lead.
Right now it's still Gavin who's working his way down below. He's playing on this bucktron, force these players out of position.
the old tower, a heavily contested area in this round early.
Not a lot of MAD players going north and clearing the rest of this map.
Yeah, they're trying to chew through that utility, aren't they?
And there's a lot to chew through.
Both fire operators have been broken, got the Goyo, and we've got the Tachanka,
so area denial is abundant right now.
Gonna attempt a bit of a walk up here, get the idea.
Seize Pamba's shoulder just peeking on through Pamba.
Don't want to get caught first blood again,
They're going to be playing it close with the shotgun, but the fuse is better.
Nasta 1-2 there from M-80, Sente will take Ashen down.
A much earlier recovery this time from Cloud9 as they keep a level 4 vs 4.
Munk's position on the main stairs is so critical if they don't check for him.
He could be a huge thorn in their side.
They will hear him now, so this is going to be good information for Munk.
He can distract this Munk just a little bit.
It goes with the Nailies.
Actually, all alone, no, he's not.
Good support.
Munk goes 1 for 1.
That's a crazy flick to take down diffuser now 30 seconds
That's all cloud nine have to do to hold on not only that but he's put some points of damaging on to the Monty
Which when you factor in the one nitro cell the two impacts the eight
Poxy the eight unique launches that could do something savage all alone trying to get this plant down the impacts now starting to come out
He's got ten seconds. What is he gonna be able to do his team is just
capitulated around and there's still a mirror window up for goodness sake
He's on the swing to clean everything up and cloud nine lock in a point. I
Like that so much from monk. I mean you said it doing the damage extra on to the Monty as well
It's crazy
He got away with one kill before dying the fact that it's onto the fuser it makes it oh so much more valuable
The fuser took a lot of damage early in the round when he was battling Pambazoo
Of course lost that gunfight did Pamba
But he did enough damage that the fuser was low
Opened the door for monk to get that kill and at every moment, you know
So I think Cloud9 compared to round 1, did it a much better job at wasting time, stalling
things out.
They didn't actually lose a body until we were past the 60-second mark, so that was massive
just to take more time off the clock.
And then Monk's able to make this incredible play, again, the user's already low from
his fight with Pamba, 15 seconds, they try to barrel into site, but Uzi is really strong,
Center is really strong, they just hold their angles and lock it down.
Really nicely played from Cloud9 to answer things back a couple of big individual moments
for sure.
Also, I think just the patience to keep yourself alive and in the game for so much longer than in round 1, they make a difference.
Yeah, Cloud9 definitely staying alive and the round actually being pushed pretty much to its conclusion anyway, based on time.
There was only 10 seconds left when Savage was trying to plan that diffuser and his teammates started to die around him,
so it wasn't even as if they had the time to sort of take that reset and really utilize the tools that they were bringing to the table, you know, the Monty.
Yeah, it's great for just walking in, it's great for trying to bear down on some of these fenders,
But didn't really have the desired effect and I think that's maybe one of the reasons why we're seeing savage go for something a little bit
More aggressive here in the blitz instead of being on the Monty and not really wanting to take gun flights
Not really on his dropy shield
I mean that's that's place to fall all game all day of the week blitz is designed to run through and be very aggressively
Challenging from behind that shield you can over getting that pistol and putting it to do a little bit of work
So Rome's on cloud nine just needing to show a little bit of caution here in the early portion of the round
I imagine it's going to be a fairly slow-going game just based on the utility that Cloud9 are bringing.
Yeah, as with most teams, we're not really seeing a roam on the top floor. It's all going to be spread of horizontal.
So for the early portion of this round, M80 will not find any resistance as they push their way through the top floor.
It's going to allow Ash and Tiducin to work here with the ram drones, start to rip up these floor hordes.
They can start working on the hats. It looks like the user was just able to get that.
In Cloud9, they're a good team. Foot of Pamba gets exposed momentarily, but they shouldn't
be exposing themselves to these angles. They're perfectly comfortable giving up this space
to the attackers, knowing they've got the long angles they can play safely within the site,
so this is just how this bomb site tends to play out. I don't expect them to get any
aggressive plays through these floorboards, but they will hunt for them nonetheless.
Keep an eye out for somebody to maybe make an aggressive play. Go for a flank, either
up those main stairs or maybe even the tower stairs or the white stairs in the north. That's
why Gunner's still playing so aggressive on the north side. Always an opportunity for
somebody to flank so you gotta keep an eye on that. But Cloud9 I think Trunnel leans the
same strategy that won them the previous round to Ali where it's slow and steady,
stay alive as long as possible and force MA to burn out this block.
Absolutely, I mean, look at Uzi, he's still got three QB arcades, he's not about
to place things so that they can be destroyed. Vertical control on this map, it never
really for me leads to many kills it is much more about getting rid of a bit of
that utility and just making the defenders uncomfortable below it's very
much a checklist thing but if you keep hold of your utility and you haven't placed
it and uses is a great example of that keep barricade look at him go boom you're
not going in there savage oh you've got a teammate pushing me that's fine
savage eventually does manage to bust it down and this time Uzi will all
first blood of savage now with a little bit more control here inside of
and his team are wrecking apart as well, sent in next play to fall, probably the least ideal
to lose, especially if you're going to be saving Keebas to try and block up a few holes later
on.
No will be deployed onto Savage and it's going to stop him from pushing for a brief moment.
He's really relying on the rest of his team here to give a little bit of action and to
almost take a little bit of the pressure away.
That's attempted there, but Gavenny shut down by Pambazoo.
He's going to will find one back.
Savage now trying to get this plant down and things are looking far more comfortable.
Pambazoo in the clutch, but no! Surely, cross the pistol! Get blinded out by Savage!
It's a pistol jewel to the death now!
Savage needs to wait for that blitz to recharge, needs to keep himself alive,
TRYING HIS BEST! This is as scrappy as they come!
Savage, how have you won that one?
Unbelievable in the 1v1!
So many missed pistol shots from both players!
It's a bit of a mess, but in the end, it's the European Savage!
It gets away with the 1v1, a nice play there to clutch things up and you know it should have been M80's round
It felt like they were in control from nearly the very beginning where they get their pushing through infirmary
They get that early pick on Uzi. Senter actually did die to the vert play
So we were talking about how you don't see a whole lot of vert play
That is definitely true here on Fortress
But the fuser was able to get some kind of an angle on to Senter
Which gave them that 2v or that 3v5 that allowed them to go for the plant
just chaos in the midst of it and it's it's nice seeing Pamba get active with
three kills in the midst of that he's gonna be kicking himself that it's not
four because he definitely had the opportunity to shoot Savage in the
midst of that have the shield break for a couple of times there but in the
late round when you're panicking when both players have the pistols that
it's a mess sometimes and even the best players in the world it's which I
would count Pambazoo as one of them they're gonna have some some
struggles in those moments for sure so tax I'm hoping called by cloud nine
Maybe try to calm things down a little bit after that previous 1v1 chaos
Absolute chaos. What about what I signed up for tonight?
Probably the best one-on-one duel I've seen in these little last 12 months
I'm a lot sold so short by the ammo count as well didn't they?
Yeah
Any other gone and he gets that he's got the vector is already killed to like you very rarely
see anyone get three kills with one clip of Vector just because of how quick it's
firing, how few bullets you've got. I mean, sigh of relief there for for
Savage and I guess the rest of M80. It's a big round, you know, and for it to come
down to a 1v1 like that. Blitzes don't tend to lose one versus ones. The only
time that you do is when it's very scrappy, very close quarters and you're
getting shield broken a lot and there's no there's no space you've
not got any buffer. If that defender's right up in your face it can be a little bit more difficult.
If you've got a little bit of space to work with, you've got a little bit of a buffer,
you can usually play a little bit better than that, but both players just, just, just haymakers.
But the good news from 80, it's two rounds and even better news is Force Cloud 9 into a tactical
timeout onto the perceived easier side of Fortress. Yeah, it's really nice to see
M80 taking this lead, getting the advantage over the timeout as well, and you're right.
The deaths that M80 had to get at least three rounds, that's looking quite likely at this point, just one away.
And a little bit of 4-2 for themselves, or in theory, a 5-1, very much still on the table for M80, so really strong start to come through from them.
Cloud9 go back to their primary bombsite, they go back to office and command.
They no longer have the Azami, so Monk is gonna switch off and play the Ella instead.
That's an operator that he's taking away from Pamba, so Pamba goes to the Castle.
The defense strategy is really quite different from Cloud9 as they're trying to use these
Kiba Barriers, not Kivas, but the Castle Barricades to extend more farther south.
No longer do they have the mirror window, they're not trying to snore Strat anymore,
deciding it's more valuable just to hold on to map control. And I think that's the right
call from Cloud9.
Got it positioned in below, ready to send up the Zephia lifeline. Now a bit of a trend
we've seen lately is because the fear now has three of each three impacts and three conclusive
is they'll tend to chain them all in one spot and kind of attempt to sort of down a player
take him out of action all in one go. Let's see if he does try to use that. He's just waiting for
a little bit of info at the moment. He's going to go in now Eddie. He's playing close either the
SMG or the C4. He does have the option there. But again, we're more than halfway into the
around now and it's a very slow start for me too. It's similar to what we've seen them do previously,
but there is still a threat of the C9 utility that you know they've got to get through that.
There's 18 shimikas here. That's a lot of time that's done to combine provided that he's alive.
PambaZoo this time gonna get the opening pick for the first time that we see Cloud9 and getting
the opening pick in this fixture. It's a really nice pick from Pamba. He runs out for that
actually but he jumps out the window in the hallway to punish those horse players so it gets them
the early lead the aggression goes all their way another one will fall now too as they're going to lose
Gavin right afterwards so it's a 3v5 technical monk down for a technical 3v4 just having to run in
now they're desperate to pay up but keeps racking up the kills. Lord if you've done well to get that
finisher onto monk pay for it though very low hit point stuns now going to go in pambit just
going to reposition he slides that flash he's caught out here he should surely be taken out
It'll get one before he goes though. How does he manage that? A little bit of a trade, but
plenty of redundancy. Plenty of Cloud9 bodies still alive.
Really good defense coming through from Cloud9. To start off with, they're quite passive.
They're quite reserved and they're specifically trying to avoid DeZofia from down below that Gunner was trying to make work.
They throw bees from Grim into the horse door trying to get a ping on somebody, but they're playing it very reserved.
They're playing on hard floors inside the bathroom and he's doing everything he can to make sure he doesn't get pinged out and
Instantly died to the Zofia and then while all attention is on horse what happens?
Well, we see a bit of a run-of-hamba makes his way outside of the door of horse finds a couple of those plays
He jumps out the window gets that kill monk is with him trying to make the aggressive play
That's where my gets downed in it
So it's a bit costly, but it's all together and that's what matters, right?
You're making these aggressive moves as a team
Everybody's trying to get aggressive at once and as I made it you're stalling out outside the building trying to work a pick-in through
Horse there are things happening around the map that just catch them off guard and get that man kind of managed back over cloud nine
So this is the tricky thing with this team. Oh, you know, they're not just finding a strat and playing it
They're not like the old team Empire where they're just gonna run their strat down mid and pray that it works and believe that it is
The best strat they're really adapting and playing quite flexible in these games and it makes them so difficult to read
It's so difficult to counter.
And being honest, I think that's maybe one of the advantages
that you get when you've got someone like Pamba
Zoom with his skill set sitting in an IGL position.
Because he can move the chess pieces,
and he can assist the rest of the team.
But look at what he's doing now.
He's roaming out.
He's on mute.
He's playing on eagle stairs.
He's very loose.
He's very passive.
He's been across a ton of different operators already
in the five rounds that we've seen so far.
He's not static.
He doesn't stay still.
Whereas you've got someone like Sensor who's always played this janker or, you know, Mon Canoesey have kind of been, you know,
sort of swapping back and forth between a little bit of his army play.
Pample will be that one that flexes off on Twinella, on something a little bit different, and he's just whatever that team needs in that moment.
And that's one of the advantages that they have.
I mean, this is both to say in a region of the Faults, Canadian, Hot and Cold, Spiker,
but Pample might be the best IGL in this region.
I mean, the way he has taken this young team, gotten creative with them, really redefines
finds certain parts of the meta. I mean, it's been so impressive. Now in a gunfight on the
white stairs, as T4 doesn't land, he takes some damage, but it's all munkfire siding together,
they nearly escape. Ashen will find the head of Pamba. Maybe a bit of a cast occurs from us,
Ollie. That might be on the out. We were glazing, but we spoke about him a little bit too much.
We flicked too close to the Sun, Jesse. We'll have to pick someone else to talk about on
the other side, maybe, and then even it out a little bit, but making that a bit the next
round. A good opener. Savage, again, different round, different shield. We'll be trying the
Blackbeard this time. Savage of course capable of playing all three shields to a very high
standard so it isn't too much of a hardship that he's going to move around onto them
and Cloud9 have chose to kind of allow that shield play to happen and they've got a very
good plan to deal with that. They haven't really struggled against the shields too
much obviously we've got them really scrappy 1v1 but that's, you know, that just
happens that's just gonna be something that you're gonna see every now and then
I'm worried about here again it comes down to the time
Sensor is gonna start to try and put those shimikas out. There's still mirror
windows up it's not gonna be easy this.
Fulma is so powerful and gorgeous we're not seeing teams ban it but multiple times today we seem to get huge value
now they can start to pressure on the mirror window the nades go in as do the Grimby's so good
information but Ashen's gonna fall or Ashen gonna take down Uzi that's gonna
going to get a 5v3 cloud 9 suffocating a bit in this bomb site.
It's a big pick there that M8s are able to find, but they've got to find more and they've
got to push through.
Caught with the launcher in his hand, Gavetti swings in with the bailiff and takes Fentah
down.
A lofty C4 attempted, but it is not meant to be.
Monk will find one back, but he's going to have to do more than just that as the
diffuser gets planted.
Savage can now come off, he can start to harass, take a little bit of ground.
that Blackbeard Monk isn't going to get over the first obstacle.
Got it! Takes him out from the stairs,
and that is the third round on the attack here for M80.
Deskabit believed that's mission accomplished.
Yeah, absolutely. They're going to be thrilled with this result
now leading 3-2 versus Cloud9,
and once again is what is a must-win match for M80
if they are going to hunt for those playoff spots.
I like that they didn't panic there as well.
They didn't stall out after they went up in the 5v4.
You're going against Cloud9, a team who love to hunt for gaps, a team who love to play aggressively.
It'd be easy to stall out in the 5v4 and try to wait for some aggression to come your way,
but they were constantly working on map control. They were taking control of the briefing room.
They were working their way closer towards that mirror window, closer towards center,
playing on that Tachanka as well. Cloud9 never ended up going for anything too aggressive,
but because there were four players pushing this path inside of the map,
trying to push in through briefing, it just meant that the numbers were so favorable for N80.
They pushed in together. Gunnar was this one player not pushing with the rest of his team.
He was pinching in from old tower stairs, including he found some good success as well.
So, I like that push quite a bit, and maybe now 3-2 up.
Looking probably the best we've seen from the Molesage.
I certainly looking good. I'm not looking good against a good team as well,
which is always nice to see. We've got to put Cloud9 in that good team category now,
just based off what they've been able to do so far inside of the NA L.
You know, this game itself isn't over just yet.
Cloud9 still have got this opportunity on the defense,
and then of course, whatever their attacking phase will bring,
it makes you just sort of shifted the odds a little bit.
They've stacked the deck in their favor
by picking up these three rounds.
Don't forget, one of those did come down to one versus one,
so isn't necessarily something to hang your hat on just yet,
but we will see what comes.
Ashen, just gonna be looking for a little bit
of an early angle.
Cloud9, I've got that tendency to jump out nice and early to press their face right up against a window.
You can see if you can just take a little bit of an advantage of that, because the opening kill so far
and fairly dominant for M80 regardless of how the round has gone, have usually been pretty good at sniffing out that first player.
Yeah, I've gotten four of the first five opening duels. That's consistently been putting them into a strong position,
capitalizing on it or not. They're gonna try to capitalize on this top floor that they have gotten for free
just like they did back around three.
I thought maybe Pamba would lurk around here and who knows he's playing under him right now so they could work off walk-up light
But maybe we see some wrong presence from Pamba decides against it
He'll be back towards the rest of his teammates
They've changed up the defense setup quite dramatically finally moving center off to Chonka for the first time this game to a wildly different
operator of smoke that
Does the exact same thing of course?
Maybe a little bit better after the way he died in the previous round
I think it's probably better to switch to an operator that can have their gun up a little bit more of the time
Yeah, it's what you need and you know sense a very capable of getting the kills is still sitting five and three
Yeah, it's not like that's a department that he necessarily struggles in and I agree get him with something that's
He's got a little bit more of a fighting chance to try and defend himself with especially with the positions
They're clad and often find themselves in and the sort of scrappy late now
late round nature some of the M80 pushes that we've seen and this again it's not
looking like it's gonna be too different approaching that final minute now we've
got Savage starting to move through Ashen still trying to make something
happen here he's looking down central gonna stun out look at Pambazoo such a
gray man right now I don't think they've got a single clue about him
Jesse he's so far though we kind of need to start making a move on it
there's no other players are even on the top floor the fuser has just
walked up the old tower stairs so they do have them here. Thankfully, Sensor's buying them a lot of time,
stalling things out with these toxic babes, not allowing any of these attackers in towards the site.
It's made things a lot easier, but they've just tracked him with a deathmauk.
They'll know where Pambazoo is as they start this push.
M8T's mission objective here is to get the plunder, and that is often how they are very focused,
but Savage just goes to DP, overplays his hand. That's the defuser cold. Regardless of what happens now,
M80 needs all of the kills because they are not getting that back.
Holding from the hatch, Monk picks up the final one, and Cloud9 lock it up.
They level things up here and equal 3-3-1-2.
Well, Ollie, we appreciate you stepping in to cover for Parker.
I know he's feeling a little under the weather right now this game.
I mean, it's a good one to jump in for.
It's Cloud9 and M80, and it is a dead heat.
Three to three, Kyle.
You said that M80 needed three, but that was the place to start.
And so far, they've done that.
They've done that, and they've been very impressive.
I'm really liking the attacking plan of M80,
because when you're playing against Cloud9,
they're the best defensive team.
What makes them so good?
Their ability to help each other on the defense.
M80 knows that, and they're using operators,
such as Ying right here, defuser from above.
And he is spamming the candelas.
They also smoked off the infirmary player,
and they used all of that utility
to kind of isolate the fights on a Cloud9.
and this 1v1 was absolutely ridiculous.
This could have went either way, absolutely.
But they're using operators that are isolating
and not allowing Cloud9 to fight.
And then the minute that Ying gets banned out,
what do they switch to?
They immediately go to the Grim.
Grim's another operator that doesn't allow Cloud9
to come help each other because you're constantly
being spammed with the pings and the bees
and everyone that's playing against Grim knows.
Like it's just wall hacks
and you feel like you can't help, right?
So that is what I love from NAD.
They clearly read into what is Cloud9's strength
And they're countering it, right?
From the side of Cloud9 though, I mean, I will say
their game plan of kind of waiting
for like these last second ex-shoots have been pretty decent.
I mean, three defenses is also nothing to be upset about,
especially when you're the number one attacking team
in the world, right?
I mean, in both cases,
ending a 3-3 half is great for both teams realistically.
And for Cloud9, they didn't get a lot of the opening picks.
That's definitely a contention point
where they were doing very good.
I mean, we even saw in the entry stats
and they were able to convert all those opening kills
very at a very high success rate into rounds
when not this time around.
But again, I still want to give praise for the side of M80, specifically in Savage.
Yes, that was a big clutch from that round, but he wasn't a big factor in the previous
games.
This game, he's really been the head of Han Solo.
He has an 80% cost, 4, and what, I mean, 5-1, I believe, right now in KD.
I mean, he's looking far better than what we've seen from him.
But for Cloud9, even on their defense, it was kind of Eddie struggling.
Eglise, Eglise.
Eddie has been one of the strongest players on the side of C9, at least on the defensive
side, seen with Uzi.
So it is going to be curious on their attacking side.
I want to focus on Cloud9's attacking side, because as you've highlighted many times, it's their micro play.
It's not so much the strat book. They try to find an open.
They create an opening, and that's what M8 is really going to have to focus on here is.
What is Cloud9 going for? How can they slow them down?
How can they get that opening pick in their favor, and then close any sort of gap that Cloud9 or Pamba is going to try to expose?
Because that is where we were highlighted in their previous match on Clubhouse.
More so specifically from Pamba was being able to find those gaps, open those gaps, and then take the site from there.
they need to be and have a keen eye on what's happening around the map.
The reality is that this could go any direction at this point.
I mean, it's the turning point of Fortress.
It's the half, Cloud9 move over to the attack,
and M80 now look to lock things down on defense.
Thank you very much, guys.
It is all about the M80 defense now.
I mean, it seems a shame, doesn't it, Jesse?
Because it feels like this game is largely about M80
because of the qualification issue that they've got ahead of them.
And the fact that they now need to go flawless,
that they want to have a chance at making it to Osaka.
But for me, there's still that Cloud9
and so storyline that's bubbling along,
like, when are they going to stop?
Who's going to shut them down?
Are they just going to continue?
There's only Attack Fortress.
Like, stranger things have happened, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, Cloud9, we know they're an incredible attacking team,
but this feels like the most elusable game
that they have had all stage long.
I know their DarkZero game was quite close,
But M80 had played a really strong first half on the attack. They'll move to the defense in cloud nine
I mean look at these operators. We've got the ying. We've got the bingo. We got double shield and a buck
This is gonna be a crazy explosive round straight in towards the site ollie
And maybe have to be ready for it. I like their operators for this right
They've got gunner on the thorn they've got Gavin on the Ella
They've got good traps to try to slow this down when it does come through
But it's always going to be scary when you're placing an operator lineup like this
I imagine they want to get in through horse maybe the museum window maybe the white stairs
But taking a time to set it up before they commit to any specific push
Absolutely just because they have explosive operators doesn't mean that they need to go too early or you know jump the gun in any way
They can still be explosive and a later point into the round and for the meantime
They're just gonna drone they're gonna get a lay of the land figure out what's going on on this top floor
Pamba spots the fuser out their way on the other side. It seems like that could be good enough.
Elise Freddy to start throwing some of these candelas in. Roll the first, the second caught up
inside of a magnet and it's going to be Ashen with that opening pick. Not for long. Pamba
suit there for the trade. They may be going to try and leverage this a little bit more. The
finger stem just wearing off now as kills continue to tack up here all the side of M80.
Uzi taking out there and look at the HP, Pamba Monk, they're both one right now, Gavenny!
The Mitzting Man, welcome! Final three kills are yours!
Eating good here, Gavin, well done! I believe they asked at the start of this playday, you know,
where is Gavenny? That's a direct quote from Mint, from Gabe even. Didn't quite see him
for the first couple of weeks, but here he is ready to play a great couple of kills
come through at the end there and specifically I think catching that read early was so important for
4n80. The fact that they immediately took down Senter as he jumps in the museum window,
it was Ashen close on the shotgun who was playing white stairs. Yes, he got traded,
but the fact that it was traded by Pamba who got brought down to 1 HP was absolutely critical
in the midst of that. I think it was a was an m590 shot that brought him down to such low
HP it might even been a thorn trap actually that is what happens center jumped in the window first
Activated the thorn trap can be jumped straight into it here and eats the majority of the damage
That's why he was so low
Gavin again cleans up on all three of those final few players largely because of the low HP
Yeah, absolutely one players at one HP is quite helpful
But you know even then you know he's still gonna be in position
still going to have the shots and he's still going to execute in the moment. But coming
into the day, you know, the 35th rated player inside the NAL, it's nice to see Gavenny having
his moment in the sun. Because as you and I both know, Jesse, a very capable player,
but for the most part of the stage, the same can be said for a lot of the guys in the
MATC. I think, you know, they've been having some troubles. It hasn't been the start
of the stage that they would have been hoping for. But it doesn't always matter
how you start is about how you end them. If that's a taste of what is to come then I am excited for
the rest of this match. Again an interesting point to note here is that Cloud9 don't have their tactical
timeout, they burnt it in the first six rounds. That could come back to haunt them a little bit
here if they're not able to find a solution just in between round themselves when they're going
from one to the next as they are on their attacks now. First round not working out that
more explosive style and already we're seeing a little bit of a sweatshop.
Okay, Uzi gets one back. He's going to be four and four now as he takes down the M80 captain.
And I mean, Uzi's a player we have talked about nonstop over the last few weeks. He's been
the highest rated player at multiple points throughout this age currently sitting with
the highest KD ratio in the league of 218 has really been able to get active so far on
board or on fortress. But we know how deadly Uzi can be when he gets active.
Now he's given his team this man advantage. You start to look at players on M80 and maybe get aggressive and force that one back
It's only gunner playing on the tall floor and you will rotate back down as he gets caught by both the
Lion and the demos just making sure he can play inside of the firmware
This will be similar to when we saw M80 take full tall floor control here
All either gonna work the floorboards are gonna use this ram
But M80 are fine to just sit inside the site. They know they're in a strong position regardless
The big difference for me is that Cloud9 haven't brought a big sledgehammer to burst on through
and I don't mean a sledge, I mean a shield. They don't have anything to really mount an
attack through a single doorway off, later on in the round. They've got Uzi and he's
used his Selmas so they're going to have something they're going to be able to look
to work through. But we all know it's likely going to come down to a single doorway
pushing. I suppose some of these M8s players are going to thrive, Gavenny currently
dueling on both fronts inside of her man, but will be taken down. Monk spent another
the death mark and trying to secure that. So the decent man count advantage, Cloud9 are
in a good position here, but the deny is there. Two C4s and the North.
You've got to be really careful with how you put this one together. 35 seconds, that's
all we have left on the clock. So if they aren't able to close this one out, things
could get scary. Uzi gets another straight onto Gunner though, so they might need to
be a little bit more active in getting these kills back.
We're going to have to ask for this Alder to sing action, need all five kills, he's got the mag count for it, but he hasn't got the position.
Flooded there at the end as Cloud9 and pick up their first round on the attack.
Nice to keep things patient there, they don't overreact. I think they recognize in that moment, Olly, that there's 35 seconds if they go for a plant, they have a potential to lose it, so they just kept all five guns up, they tried to push deep, hunt down those last few players, they knew they had the time for it.
It's exactly what you have to be doing later on in a situation like that, so good from Cloud9 to recognize the position they were in.
It was really well-coordinated as well, to get any out of Hamam, the faca they used to deathmark track to find his exact position, and then pinch him from multiple angles was really, really well-coordinated.
And then Savage's death early as well, just sitting on the white stairs, ended up being where he went down.
That was a simple 1v1 to Uzi as Pambu was trying to pressure him from the window up above.
they got that pinch. Mint talked on the desk about how the defensive side for Cloud9 is their ability to help each other,
their ability to play together that makes them such a threat, and it's the same on the attack.
When they're well coordinated, if they're putting themselves in 2v1s, 3v1s, it's really tough to battle back against that.
Yeah, not an easy position to find yourself in at all.
Cloud9 level it up now, 4 rounds apiece.
Again, going for quite the considerable six-pick there.
Everybody changing things up.
I don't know if it's the bomb site that has tripped them up a little bit there, or if it's
just a bit of a change in the call from Pambazoo.
It seems to be airing more on this information-based side, which did really well for them in round
eight.
They've been trying to isolate some of those M80 players.
Don't have to lie in this time, swapped that out in favour of the Dokerby.
Uzi, stick a decent gun in his hand and watch him go.
He's 5-4 right now, he's kinda getting outpaced a little bit.
I just think that some of the kills that Uzi has got have found themselves to be a little bit more important than others maybe.
Obviously Monk and Pam are still sitting on 8 kills, but for me it's Uzi the player that I think of at the moment in this roster.
Yeah, no doubt. Uzi's had an amazing last couple of weeks.
Of the five best games Uzi has ever played in his career, four of them happened in the last 15 days.
So you know how good this guy can be when he's playing hot, and he's been nothing but hot since stage two began.
In on that bottom floor right now, he's got his teammates with him, more or less.
They wanted him to try to take some space here on the north side of the map before they get in towards the bomb site.
No players roaming down the bottom floor, so they should be able to work their way up white without too many problems.
I haven't gotten much map control given how much time they've burned out, but a lot of these bathroom players will start to retreat and they'll happily give up some of the space for free, a little bit of damage from the thorn, and this might slow down center a bit, but it shouldn't be too big of a deal, he should have recovered from that by the time they get into these next few gunfights.
Especially with how late these rounds have been running right, we're only at the halfway point, yes, we've got a minute and 30 yet until we've got a conclusion in this one.
It's going to be no different to the way the M80 were running things either on their own attacks.
We see the Selmas nicely opening up the wall and we can open the wall further from that as well.
Fuser thinking about getting a little bit late on the old bandit trick there, pal.
We're going to be there in time and instead left with a hold cover.
Venny? Isn't it a position to try and do something about it?
Ace position is very interesting though.
He's waiting for a little bit of commotion, waiting for a time that it can be appropriate to jump into that old tower.
Brilliant swing by Monk there!
This is just takes gunna out of the game.
That was a C4 that was lurking from below.
Still a C4 in the hands of diffuser.
Senter with that kit in his pocket as well.
Pamber grabs one onto Ashen.
Always a bad day to be, Venny, as he gets taken down.
Pamber on for two.
Sensor getting that planned down diffuser. You've got a lot of work to do here and only with the pistol
It is not going to be possible. That's one of the best attacks we've seen all night
Really well coordinated they work behind their shield
You were just talking in the previous round about how cloud nine didn't have that hammer to play behind
But I think you saw the value that center brought in the round there is able to make space for Pambazoo
Pushing in through briefing getting in towards the bomb site after the Selma charges went off
Of course they had perfect lines of sight diffuser on the bandit not quite finding the value that you were hoping for you
Said it a little bit late on the bandit trick
Most teams on this map will ban bandit and kaid because they feel it's too strong on the map our desk has to have their
own opinions on those operator bands, but clearly
Cloud 9 not believing that bandit and kaid are worth banning out and proving it in the server now
It's they get a really good round despite the bandit being on the board
I don't know. What's the
question? What is your opinion,
my friend on the hard breach
bands because we've had a bit of
a bit of a game of two hours
here, haven't we? Obviously it
was something that made to
removed. And it's something
that cloud nine of let's slip.
The hard breach bands like the
wall denial bands like the
band, the wall, the wall
now bands like the heart
breach denial bands if you
If you want to call it that yeah, I think you get so much value out of banning other
Operators, I mean cloud nine banning up the zombie in the mirror
We've seen how good those ops can be a zombie for holding on the horse mirror at all points really in this map on the top floor
She's so good. I really like my bands on this map as well
I just feel like he is so impressive in the last couple games we've seen on this map in particular like
Like, the Wamai Magnets have just been a nightmare to deal with.
It doesn't get taken out in this game.
So, status will be allowed to play it through the rest of these defenses.
But, yeah, I'm kind of on the side of our desk.
Like, I get why teams ban it.
You know, it's...
Every team can counter it, but you do have to bring certain tools to make sure that
you counter it, and a lot of teams just don't want to deal with those tools.
But, I think we've seen more success from attacking teams when they don't have to
play against Amira, when they don't have to play against the Ami, when they don't
have to play against the Wamai.
Yeah, I agree.
And the nice thing about Bandana 1, my now is you should buy a C4 as well.
Which, you know, and a 2 C4 lineup is kind of standard, and it's something that you want,
especially if you know you're going to pick a system that likes to get the plan down.
You're going to need a little bit of denial in your pocket.
So it forces you then onto something else, it forces you onto something that's maybe not got as much utility,
maybe something like a warden, for example, that situationally, there's nothing that does it better,
but overall, if no smoke gets thrown, you've kind of just brought a C4 and some fancy glasses that you've not turned on.
So yeah, I'm kind of with you. I think I think I fall in a similar camp
That's a good time out then used by M80
If you did early, you know, it's not you know, it's not panic stations just yet
We don't need to press any big red buttons just now. I've taken a brief lead so far
But with the way that they've orchestrated the last couple of attacks
If you're a cloud nine fan, you have a lot of belief right now
And I'm wondering if 60% of you out there in Twitch chat are going to start being right in that prediction, because, let me tell you, if they can continue to attack like that and M80 continue to not be able to find the answer, it could be a rather quick conclusion to the rest of this game.
Cloud9 doing what they do best, taking the first 60 seconds just to drone things out.
They once again got an explosive lineup with the Blitz, the Ying, even the Rara being brought
up by Pambazoo, but they're taking their time to find out exactly where they want to push
with this one.
The first line charge comes out, but it won't prompt the execute.
I love that drone and bedroom, by the way.
I remember Wildcard running that drone back at the Sixth Invitational in Paris and
just being amazed by how much value it was getting.
Now Cloud9 doing the exact same thing.
I'm not going to lie to you, Ollie.
I do this every single time I play Fortress in ranked.
What's that?
Just background right there?
It's just a drone in bedroom, it's so good.
Yeah, yeah.
I did do some really nice drone spots on Fortress.
Yeah.
It's definitely one of those that you were,
you get a lot of satisfaction out of utilizing that utility.
One for one trait to start things off,
but Pamba gonna double down Gunna,
there for a rebuttal, three versus three,
and to be honest,
that shouldn't all the toxic babe canister's gone
with only one C4 and these Rouradors.
Could be a little bit of a problem.
I love Ashen's position right now, though.
This is exactly where you want a player like that.
Gunnar also could be said to be in a little bit of a hot seat
as he's got a couple of players just to his right
and nobody is looking at his direction.
Eddie, still with three candelas.
It's gonna be fairly blinding execute here.
Center shaping up to try and craft walk his way in
but the angle is being watched.
One for Gunnar, one for Gevenny.
The triple on the round and somehow manages to get himself away, draws for the pistol.
Eddie, in a horrible position now, yes, the candelas are going to buy you time, he's trying
to use that sound to cover the plant going down and draw some of these defenders out
because time is running short.
The plant will be allowed, but it's a quad for Gunnar on the round.
Beautiful round for Gunnar, it plays the rat style of siege that he is so well
known for. It gets a quad kill in the midst of that round to give M80 the 10th round and
keep this game close and competitive for all the praise that we were given to Cloud9 for
their drone game, Olly. It was that lack of information late that really did come back
to bite them. I don't think they were fully aware of the position from the smoke flanking
up towards that north side. Ashen, of course, on the smoke did shoot a drone, so they
might have had some idea of his general position, but they kind of had to stall
out a little bit there the fact that no actions position they certainly didn't know about gunner
made all the difference in the world for that round so credit to uh credit to m80 for recognizing
that there is the opportunity to get into some of those rat spots late stop that plant as it
comes down nobody expecting on the side of cloud nine and because of that you're in even more
competitive five five after ten it's nice to see m8 to play a little bit looser isn't it
you know i like to see action in a bit more of a rat spot i like to see gunna really tuck
himself in and you know just find in a bit of an off-corner and again annoying
because we've credited the drone work from cloud nine but both things can be
true right you can still have good drone work and you can still have players that
find good rat spots that's part of being a good player is finding those spots away
from the drones where it gets more difficult is when they start bringing
things like the dole could be they start bringing things like the Deimos
and that's where we've seen cloud nine have the success here tonight but
all the times we've seen them go through the explosive lineup the two
Two rounds that they've lost on the attack so far, two rounds that we see them bring a lot more information gather and potential is where we start to see them succeed.
They're going to struggle in this back half because M8C quite rightly banned out the Deimos, but they've still got the dog, they've still got the lion.
They can still do that to a degree, it's just going to have to bolster them back up a lot more by the drone work.
Yep. Yeah, I mean, there's a snake band is so common on this map for exactly this reason.
It just provides so much of a shortcut when you're clearing this top floor and
obviously it's not been available, so you've got to make other things work.
Here's another great drone. You'll spot Gavin sitting on the main stairs.
His thorn got banned out. He pretty much exclusively plays thorn on this bomb site.
So he's gone to the Ella instead. I like that switch up from him.
If you're Cloud9, you have to be so perfect on these drones
because they came back to bite you in the previous rounds.
They weren't even able to use his sword themselves to free me.
The Nitro Cell actually almost comes back.
Kambitix has a lot of damage from that one as he walks in the horse,
but he's OK now and he's still hunting for the pick on the gather.
A lot's going to be defined by this opening pick,
and there it is, Eddie on to Gunner.
It's a matter of action there.
Cost him a little bit of HP, but you can't devalue the removal
of the Wamai, massive piece of utility that has now
been taken away from M80.
Flockhams can now start to be flicked as some showmunk has moved in and done his work as well.
Uzi, just on the periphery for the time being, I like this style from Cloud9, get that opening pick and still not really rushing into anything.
Still just trying to work for that second, not over-extending too much. Even Pamba now, just hanging out at the midpoint of the stair.
Yeah, I like this from Pamba. He's feeling the exact same spot that Gunnar was in previously and for good reason.
Savage is in a position to go for a flank now. He just I believe dropped back down to the main floor
So he's unlikely to go for it
But was thinking a spot where he could have been threatening it if he goes for it probably Pamba shuts him down
But now they're gonna have to refocus with less than 60 seconds on the clock
They've got to find a way to get down in towards the bomb site and maybe have chosen not to go aggressive for a flank
They're just gonna play their positions inside the site if he's got a really tough task ahead of him
No C4. It's just gonna be trying to play there inside the medical
Ashen utilising North, sending a few down range.
Pamber, big kill there, on to Gavenny.
It's another one down, but look at the HP available for Cloud9 at the moment.
They're all extremely low, and they're going to start to fall,
but not before Monk and Pamber buy it back.
Savage now with it all to do.
Everyone won HP, and there's nothing that he can do about it.
He can't get anywhere close,
and a dope will be phoned called to add insult to injury.
Challenging him now, really aggressing for this final kill.
They don't need to be able to go to be anyway monk to grab the last and cloud nine to be on match point
Yeah, the timing just a little bit off for a couple players on a matey there
Allie, of course
We saw gunner on the top floor going down on the window position
He dies first on that top floor room and then right before they go for the execute right before they get in site
Gavin swings them from the art hall. They're walking down the old tower stairs Gavin goes for a swing
He gets his head blown off by Pamba Zoo who is playing incredibly well today as he does
because every day it feels like Cloud9 jumping the server.
They get themselves inside the site, they're in a powerful position there.
The Fuser from Medical as well, from Infirmary, he gets smoked off.
So he's not even really able to help his teammate on that swing.
Once they're inside the site, they're in a really controlling position.
This is this pick yet.
The Fuser trying to get back into site, but he can't really coordinate with Gavin
due to some of those smokes.
So it's a great utility coming through from Cloud9.
They set up the execute exactly how they want it.
now one opportunity to keep their perfect stage alive and get another three points in the NAL.
Big round for Cloud9. Big possibility to make a statement here. And for M80,
you know, we're bordering on must win territory right now for them. You know, if they want to
to make it slow soccer and even then isn't it that they need three points out of all the games?
It's not even that they can do like an overtime win.
It mathematically they are not a limited from playoff contention at this point nor do I think
they are in a loss but don't quote me on that but the realistic path really wanted them to get
all three points the fact that they've already dropped one point here has made it significantly
be more difficult for them to make it into playoffs.
Yeah, it's going to be a very difficult task for M80.
And again, as Mink was saying, the pressure that comes with playing on that August, that
isn't the expectation.
The expectation is playoffs.
The expectation is majors and main stages.
You're expected to make those sort of events and to again be falling short here, does
feel like a bit of a missed opportunity.
So, M-80, can't leave anything in the server now.
They've got to really give us all they've got.
Amber, just going to use a little bit of sound
to try and drop himself off.
Squeeze mouse one and you may have yourself a kill.
You at least hit the shoulder based on our outlines.
It's one of those occasions where you just desperate
for him to do it.
It looks like he did.
Yeah.
Oh, Amber, maybe just waiting for the drone.
Maybe a little bit of information came through
but whatever it was, it's open and pick
and action is out of action.
We'll find one back on to move. This is a much quicker pace round than what we've been used to so far
It's party time Ali Pambas firing on all cylinders
But he's got to be careful. He's losing teammates finds a third straight onto the fuser and the captain of cloud nine
Wants to end this one in regulation Gavin and savage both inside a museum Pambas holding the cutoff
He's making sure they cannot get back to the site if they want to get towards that position where they can hold
on to the bomb site they're gonna have to cross right past his angle they go the
long way around and make it back in but Panda's ready for him and he gets all five!
Come on, Panda! Party in the NA L tonight wins at 7-5 up against M80.
What a finish for that game for a fortress that has been fairly
fortress-like, a little bit slow, a little bit steady for this speed and the pace
that we see in that final round and for Pamba to end it on an ace, the cherry on top.
What is it?
That is giving me a call to bring it to break the rule
So that something could be done
You're on my way to get it
Give me the ass shit
Give it to me
Who are the ass shit?
What is it?
That is giving me a call
Give me the ass shit
Who are the ass shit?
the game. I mean, this one
brought us everything we were
hoping to see out of this
match up a close first half a
contested second half. But
Cal cloud nine just pulled away
pan by dropping 19 closing with
an ace. I mean, showing us
that they are the team to be
right now. I mean, it's
I mean truly are you not entertained right now? I mean we have a team that was not good at attacking last stage
I go to much at all frankly not doing much at all last stage
And now they're the best at attacking the best at defense in and how can you even hate like how can you hate watch them anymore?
We said we were talking about like maybe they haven't played the best opponents
We now took down DZ and we took down on matey and I know you can say I made a struggling mint
Of course, they were able to beat M80, but M80 still has five of the most mechanically
gifted fraggers on their team and their attacking game plan M80 specifically was really good
against Cloud9.
So for Cloud9 to be able to adapt and bounce back and have a game like that, all the young
fraggers coming alive, Pamba Zoo dropping 19.
Party time.
It's just so fun to watch.
How crazy competitive the NAL is.
It's wild.
It's wild.
numbers that actually M80 have dropped from a 15% chance there is at the bottom
of your screen from a 15% chance to a what like a 4% chance now I mean
absolutely insane I mean one shout out to Justin for the results from wild card
but yeah I mean absolutely insane it is completely out of their hands at this
one is totally relying on other gains and how those shape out I mean
realistically they still need to get wins and even to make somewhat
Make it a possibility. It's it's not great for a matey and honestly all of our predictions right now or our hot takes rather
Coming to fruition and BVB, baby
I mean, I think my I think mine with SSG SSG missing it's still like a pretty high percentage they make playoffs
And I hope they do. I'll see. All right. We'll see. All right
Well, we get to talk to mr. Party time himself hand by after dropping 19 pills closing out the game with an ace already time
I mean, you guys are taking down every team that we've historically considered a behemoth in the NAL,
you guys are undefeated and it continues to look good. Like, has it set in yet just how well things
are going for you? I mean, yeah, the results have helped with that, but like even, you know, with
last season, the scrims were going pretty bad. We were losing more than we were winning and we
were tying more than we were winning, but in the off season, the weeks leading before, like,
Or we're really competitive now, so I definitely expected to have a better season obviously. Yeah, I think winning every game
Everyone hopes for it, but it's definitely hard, but honestly like I don't know
We're just like playing the game really well. So how much to say?
Rob, I'm gonna know why are you not on the AK 12 and the R4 see every round?
Yeah, honestly, I don't even like the R4 see but the AK 12 some snake. Oh my god. Oh my god
Yeah, we already saw what you did with the AK-12 in that very last round to be able to get that ace
That was beautiful. I kind of want to mention what separates you from all the other IGLs in the NAL and being able to lead a bunch of rookies
Drop a nice team. Lawless stage so far
Um, I don't know. I think I think experience is a big thing. Obviously I have more time as a player than not every IGL but
More than my team so that helps in terms of leaving the team, but also having team with other, you know
better, you know, some decent IGLs, but like, it just experienced from them knowing what went wrong,
what went good, you know, because a lot of the times, I've been like the last two rosters,
I've been given a lot of like input on what I think we should be doing. So like, I've kind of
always been in that mindset of thinking and like for that game, like that's out of the game for
the last like two years. So I think finally being able to do everything myself helps, you
know, with that and then the performance side, like, I think roles is a big thing. Like,
I'm a flex, you know, I'm not really support. That's like Eddie, that's obviously Dev,
you know I'm so a flex player like I still get to do what I want running around the map so like that
helps with the performance as well. I was gonna say you gotta give a lot of trust in that regard
to being that flexible because you can't always visually see what's going on in terms of like
being a support role because you're always on the move so you are given a lot of you know
credibility to your teammates to relay information for you to then be able to double back and
set up and execute. Yeah no it definitely comes with learning the you know the attacks
But also everyone knowing their their zones the steps and like more importantly being able to relay the information
And then like I just you know, I try to think of the best thing that I can for that round. Oh shit. It's looking good
I mean you got flawless. I mean it I knew he just got wanted to ask about attacks
But I wanted to ask about the defenses real quick because the speaking of things that kind of went wrong
I mean you guys are the best defending team, but we're able to kind of give up a few against M80
What was kind of the what was kind of the switch for you guys because you guys went down
But again, you're the veteran you're bringing a lot of different ideas
How are you guys able to kind of bounce back and get three against M80 there?
I think like the first two rounds, maybe even three, or I think it was the first
one in the fourth. I was in digital trolling. Like I was just dying.
Like I was just being stupid.
So I think that definitely hurt.
But I made it clear to the team and like everyone also understood, like,
bro, it's been a 45, I think, and it came down to the last 20 seconds.
We almost won.
Like all we need to do is be a little bit more composed, make him do something
like before I flank before I do that, like just literally make him do something.
And then as a team, we're in with the round, like it was close every time.
But yeah, I was wrong. There we go. There's the trust again. Well, Pamba, this is if it wasn't official last week, it's official now you guys will be in the playoffs 18 points to your name still undefeated. Thank you so much for your time. Congratulations on making the playoffs. And we'll talk to you down the road. I'm sure. Thank you. Thank you.
They're loyal, they're loyal, but Pamba, I mean, what a show from this guy.
I mean, we said it, I said it in the hot takes early on.
MVP of the stage is going to be Pamba Zoo, and he put up an MVP performance today.
Hey, take the credit, and I got a, I mean, I'm really impressed with Jonah.
With Jonah as well to be able to call that so early on, but no,
Clodiron's really, really impressed me this stage.
I mean, their attacks, we saw the defensive side,
and honestly, who knows how many, they did a great job as you were saying,
Great job, as you were saying, being able to cut them off, use that utility, use that ying,
blindside them in a sense, but close out on 3-3, and then the attacks.
I mean, this is a very hard map to attack, and we were seeing time and time again Cloud9
just being able to create that gap, being able to utilize those shields, take that space,
play out for each other. I believe Jesse, who's also talking about it on the cast,
how well and coordinated they play out for each other,
that's what we were seeing on their attacks almost immediately.
They were doing a good job with their step-by-step and getting to those late-round ex-kills.
I mean it was really a beautiful game of siege from them.
Yeah, I agree. I think the most impressive thing with Cloud9's attacks is just the fact that like they're so good with their timings, right?
Sometimes they don't even have the operators to make it execute happen. They're walking into a site.
I mean, M80 was giving them the map playing fully bunkered up.
But yet they're just so good on like pulling the attention of the M80 defenders in creating different timings.
That's what's honestly most impressive because because they are such a young team for them to understand. That is such a high level.
I mean, Pam is you. I mean, I'm with each other. I mean, he for me is the MVP.
And like I said, just also him giving the trust and the players to relay that information, newer players to read the situation, read what's in front of him.
Because I've been in a situation where I don't make a call or a call isn't made and your IGL is trying to figure it out.
But for everyone to understand their roles, understand their zones, give that information for them, Pam,
to be able to go for a call. And again, back to that trust everyone commits.
Yeah.
And he's doing that and still dropping 19.
Yes, that.
I mean, that is invaluable from an IG album.
Cannot replace a player like that.
I mean, all of these guys looking up to him in that leadership.
But let's look to, from the team to beaten stage two,
to the team that was the team to beaten stage one.
Wildcard, the stage one champs,
now look to recover from a loss to outlast last playday.
For fun, their opponents today will be looking
to give them a good bit of a fight.
Wildcard, not the loss they wanted to take last week.
certainly not against a team like Outlast.
It was competitive, but it wasn't meant to be.
And even they admitted it.
Lagonas, after the fact, put out a tweet
and said we did not play the game that we wanted.
Specifically, he said we lost to Outlast
and we didn't deserve to win today
because of our behavior, a week of learning ahead
to approach the next matches with more maturity
thanks to everyone who sent positive vibes.
He's talking about behavior.
He's talking about maturity here.
Kyle, not what I would have expected
from a team of this caliber, what does that mean?
I mean, to me, it's a big wake-up call, right?
I feel like a loss like this is kind of a good reminder
to where you want to be as a team.
And when him talking about maturity,
with him talking about behavior, to me, that's just,
they didn't prepare hard enough for this match.
They saw outlast and they thought,
hey, this is going to be a free win.
And you never, especially in the NEL,
where we're the most competitive,
you've got to throw it in there.
You never want to assume you're going to get three points.
You have to prepare for everybody the exact same.
And that's where you're truly going to be a top team.
And for me, wild card.
I mean, in stage one, I felt like every single time
that we talked to Spiker in an interview,
he was so hungry in admitting the fact
that they wanted to win regionally.
They wanted to prove to everybody, and most importantly,
themselves, that they could dominate regionally,
not only internationally.
It had no trouble making those events.
So honestly, this again could be a great wake-up call
for them, losing to Outlast.
No more.
We're going to go into every game, prepping the exact same,
and get back to that hungry version of Wild Card.
Could that mental mistake, could that shift in mentality,
maybe some of the immaturity, have contributed
to what you deem a map ban mistake?
100%.
I mean, you're not taking Outlast very serious.
The preparation clearly isn't there.
And when, again, you look at the three maps that were left up,
you have Villa, arguably, their 2-0 on it.
Why wouldn't you want to go to it?
Outlast only beat five years.
That's not a great sample size for them.
Then you look at Fortress.
It easily could have went Fortress.
They were the one who pioneered Forges.
They understood this map better, where Outlast is 0-1-4.
But you go to Clubhouse, where again,
we talked about this time and time again,
you don't bring a weaker opponent to a map-like Clubhouse.
You're giving them a leg into the fight.
And sure enough, that game went all 15 rounds.
And it wasn't to say that Outlast was playing bad
by any means.
They were playing to their advantage
of getting a very easy map that was just
more fundamentally base.
And they overpowered Wildcard.
So going into today, I definitely
think it's a big wavecup call for them.
Having that week off to really
happen, re-illustrate what is the means to win and what's the focus is going to be going forward.
I have no doubt they're going to bounce back, but they can't make simple mistakes against a team like
Orphan as well. Yeah, Orphan here. You mentioned like that you guys on the NAL Panic Meter
alarm bells are ringing for this team because they are starting to one slip from what we know
and they haven't yet shown us that they can beat a team that is above them on the standings.
They're beating the teams they're supposed to beat. They're losing to the teams
they're supposed to lose to, and their schedule ahead is not easy either.
It's certainly not, and it is important that they get those wins against the weaker teams.
However, you do got to beat some of the stronger teams to at least get you into the playoffs,
and that's going to be the most important thing given the position that they are,
is that they can still get into playoffs. It's not out of their hands, which, again,
another big thing. They don't have to rely on other teams, they just have to rely on
themselves. And we've already talked about the mentality, we've already talked about
taking the pressure out themselves. That still needs to be implied and implicated here as well,
But you still have to focus on your game.
You got to focus on your opponent.
You can't keep losing matches to big opponents,
because eventually, it doesn't matter
whether domestic or internationally,
you've got to be heavy hitting teams.
Yeah, that's a big reason they even made that change for Serks.
They kept talking about it over and over again.
They feel like their ceiling was kind of reached.
So they made that roster change to bring on the entry
fragger, the missing piece.
And again, we're still not seeing it.
Now, obviously, we've seen glimpses.
We've seen glimpses, but the stage is young.
I mean, we still have plenty of other games to play,
but as you just highlighted right there,
I mean, the schedule is not getting any easier.
I mean, those glimpses need to turn into a full game
before decent.
Well, this is a team that has relied on Packer as well
for a long time, right?
Like, these guys are not performing up to the level
that we expect them to.
But Packer is continuing to lead the way and get kills.
Like, he is way up there in terms
of the overall stats in the league picture,
despite Four Fund's lack of success.
Can that be something that they have to change
that something that they can seem to rely on?
Can we rely on it?
I said, no, you don't want to just single,
you don't want to just rely on one single player on your team
to carry you through and bring that momentum.
Unfortunately, he has been that for the team,
but everyone else has to step up.
Again, we haven't seen a whole lot.
We've seen glimpses where it's like, okay,
things are connecting, we're working,
but is it going to be enough against the big teams?
And so far, it realistically hasn't been.
However, that experience can shine through for Packer
if he has enough or multiple moments
compared to the last stage, that he talks to the team
and really gets them on the same page.
Because Vino, if you even saw in that stat sheet
where we're looking at the Shields player,
Vino had the highest cost out of all the Shields players.
So clearly everyone is kind of performing
where they need to, or at least the experienced players,
it just needs to happen from everybody.
A wild card, looking to avoid another map ban mistake today.
Oh, find out where they will be headed to now.
Villa is the call here, laxes was a map
you just piloted a few moments ago.
This is where we're headed against Forfun.
I mean, yeah, this is a great map.
2-0. I don't think that, you know, it's kind of interesting that they're still willing to show it,
nevertheless, but for the Staff of Four Fun, we haven't seen it from them just yet, so that
does kind of help them. They do have counter play for Wildcard, but again, it's gonna be important
for every single player on their team to be together, to work together, do what Cloud9 is
doing, just believe in the system, even throw the strap book if you need to. Just focus
on the play, focus on the coordination, and go for these executes, get these wins, and get
Points on the board especially with SSG losing they can squeeze into top six. I mean, yeah, but this is this is honestly
It's gonna be hard
It's gonna be tough because this is honestly a map that I've been very impressed with wildcrab that lost consulate
Obviously with the map pool change and consulate was their top map and they needed a new top map and as you highlighted in the band
Phase I do think this is becoming a top map for them
Not only are they 2 and 0 but they also just I mean they need the eye test right when I'm watching them play on this
map. I've just been very impressed with how they're structuring their attacks, the prep
that they've had when they're playing other teams on Villa. It already seems like they
have a very good grasp on this map and I think that just goes back to the experience Lagonas
has. The Brazilian meta of Villa has been very impressive in the past and we're already
seeing Wildcard kind of pick that up very quickly. Also very quickly, I do want to
mention the ban right there. The Thatcher ban is going to be the interesting ban here
that's going to go. Maybe a little bit on notice, but Thatcher is a great operator for
any kind of execute rush that might be happening. This could have been a scrim call with Wild
Cards scrimming for fun. We noticed this a lot of times on the sometimes the kitchen
site if teams want to rush through the pantry wall. But not only that, I mean, obviously
because they got rid of the Azami, because they got rid of the Wilmai, Cade Bandit are
going to be up a little bit more. And I would expect that to be abused, and especially
We're seeing I believe it's gonna be the bottom floor site you guys are seeing it
But the bottom floor site is going to be a tough one to crack with without the thatcher
Well wild card looking for a bit of a bounce back game after their loss to outlast last week
Let's see if they can take down for fun here on villa
Thank you very much indeed Jonah we had to villa for our third map of the day
a little bit of confusion amongst them in my second,
but nonetheless, we are going to Villa
for fun and wildcard, battling it out here.
Jesse, if the previous game was anything to go off,
I can't wait to see what this one's got in store.
And with it being wildcard,
and the way that they've played this season,
you almost don't know what you're gonna get.
That's fair.
I would say on Villa in particular,
you kinda do, they've been very good on this map,
But you're right, I mean, losing to Outlast was a huge surprise.
Wildcard have shown up a couple of times throughout this stage
and really not plates the level we've come to expect from them.
Again, I favor them quite heavily on Villa.
They've got a six-game winning streak going on Villa,
and I know what you're thinking yourself.
Jesse, they've only played five games
since Villa entered the map pool.
How could they possibly have a six-game winning streak?
But the old Wildcard in OCE in 2022
was also very good at this map.
The current core, of course, 2-0.
And look at the opening picks
with Tanzin finding the first frags straight on the hatch taking out Packer to start this game.
Big opening pick there, Packer down on the Zafir.
Kanzin paid for it though.
Down at around 10 HP.
I must admit, when Mint talked about Brazilian dominance on this map,
my mind was cast back to just how good NIP used to be on this map back in the day.
Now that is even further back than your statistic.
Just then, you know, we're going back to like 21 or something there.
But they're an incredible win rate on this final and they lost it for like well over a year and
And an incredible number to go along with that. So
One teams like it they do tend to like it and they do tend to get a very good understanding of it
And of course now we've got this, you know
Partially reimagined Villa because maybe a polite way of saying it and that the basement is now a lot more relevant
And has been changed whereas the rest kind of remains the same
The regression being attempted here is, you know, will be getting rid of that barbed wire.
Just needs to buy himself a little bit of space for the Camdellas to do so.
Yeah, 60 seconds left to go in this round, and of course, they're trying to work their way down the pantry stairs, down these astro stairs as well.
Hands have eventually finished off. You notice he was on low HP after that first fight with Packer.
So, Mike Pelby takes advantage of it, and as soon as these socks and babes go through, they'll use their own smoke and try to work a pick with the squad.
One more Totsibed canister left as Bay sends that one out.
Sturks will take Baby Shark down.
Any terms of denial, you're looking really to walk that clash on Spiker with a C4.
He's going to rip that and get it ready.
Vulsper will be prowling behind him, but he's fairly tucked and safe for the Tybean.
As are the rest of Wildcard.
It is fair to say.
Lodzibon phone call now starting to linger as Vulsper will make his entrance on to Bay.
They've been spiky with a lot of work to do here, Spyro find one, AGM falls on the clash,
9 seconds left, but too much is asked, Serks, last couple of kills there, lining them up
quite nicely, but in doke beats a good work.
Well, for the first time ever, Wildcard lose a basement defense here on Villa, they
were 3-0 previously on that bomb site, beating Dark Zero twice and the Rebellion once,
It's just for those keeping track at home the OCE team never played this site because it didn't exist
So that is a full 3-0
Shattered and a loss on the board for wildcard for fun a great push
they worked their way through those through those staircases again astra stairs and
Pantry stairs were really where they mounted their attack. They struggled a little bit losing Packer
So early on and with the desk talking about how dominant Packer as an individual has been for this team
That was a huge loss, but I love the way they use their utilities to continue to work themselves into a good spot
We watched Valsport get a great pick on that glass
And certainly this kill here was important
But I thought Sirks and Vino were really important as well using those $10 late to get themselves into a strong position
Sirks out dueling a couple of really strong players in the midst of that
I moved to triple kill for the rookie on 4 fun
Indeed it was as he got the opening pick earlier on or one of the first picks on the baby shark on the on the
pantry stairs so I like that a lot come through for fun you don't see a team's
breaking that site too often but they go only vertically and they walk away with
a victory big start for for fun thing is big statement to win around on it on a
very you know a new map it is said to be you know a new site let's be more
specific and the rest of the map remains largely unchanged but to work
to be able to work not one off there it can start to ask the question is to
you know maybe the maybe the map choice maybe the map veto did kind of
work out for them a little bit here while as you've mentioned that they've
played it quite a bit that's a bit of tape and there's not you know plan a bcd
and so on on this map just yet it's very much just you know plan one or two and
work from there and if you can kind of navigate and get yourself around those
do stand yourself a decent chance of little bit of counts play here so
all fun clearly up for the fight tonight we're gonna be trying that
again on this top floor side gonna go to statutory and try and work
something over this side yeah and you talk about having tape this is the only
bombsite they've played more than basement running at five times over the
last two weeks and winning four of those times so again this has been a very
successful bombsite for wildcard expect them to play all four sites on
villa that's what they did both against dark zero and SR when they walked away
with both of those victories so we know they like to be creative they like to
change up their bomb sites quite a bit for now valsper is fishing for a
free kill onto a player inside of master but it doesn't look like he's
getting any opportunities for it. Bay has just moved his way into statue so he's trying
to play passive here without giving up too much space to the opponents. At the minute
we've got asset 90 second mark ollie and they haven't done any frags just yet.
Fourth one I've got a pretty good idea as to where everyone is though. That maid in the
sort of catch down below is kind of testament to that right. Volstra's now still alive
and kicking by the way with a full complement of lifeline below. That's deadly. He's
easily going to be able to displace whichever player it is that he chooses to utilize that
utility on provided that it hits. Just looking to work off the back of the drone now, but
the info, it's just slightly stale. We have seen a little bit of a reposition. Unfortunately,
Bino wasn't up and aggressive enough to try and catch that out and Adrian is making
them pay. The C4 lands as well, Spiker lands one of his and as if by magic, Switch
has been flicked and Wildcard are firmly in the driver's seat and leading that charge
is Adrian. Might W now that's a big ask for Cali, bait to clean up that final kill.
Adrian, strike over the massive 3k from the Polish superstar on Wildcard. I love the
angles he had there. You saw the setup just playing inside a trophy and an extension
into Astro. He's got a great angle down to the Astro stairs that Forfun were not
aware of, and then it's a perfect C4 playing around that reinforcement.
That's a good little setup that you can steal for your ranked games if you want to copy
Wildcard and be the best, but really nice just to stop that push.
They conceded a lot of space to them.
You know, a lot of teams on that bomb site, Ollie, they'll fight you when you try to
get into bathroom.
They'll fight you when you try to get into closet.
They'll try to contest master a little bit.
A lot of that space, we didn't actually see Wildcard holding onto.
I think that's largely because of the position Bulsper was playing down below on the
Zofia, but it didn't mean it was a weak hold.
really funneled for fun exactly into position they were hoping for and they
got some great crossfires set up on those pushing positionals it works out
really well didn't it like you say Astro is there was the Astro play baby
shot was playing on Astro stairs it was just that for fun had a really good
idea of how to deal with that but that's kind of where the plan sort of
ended in a lot of ways I'd have loved to a steam vino much more pushed up
on that doorway from bathroom into Astro and I think if he had have been he very likely picks up the kill on Adrian
because Adrian only moves because it gets drowned and if he doesn't get drowned then maybe the the lifeline from below works and
Really tiny little you know differences there in sort of Adrian's path then and that round is is drastically different
But that's what separates a good player and a player like Adrian who for all intents and purposes is having a fantastic stage
It might be one of his best stages so far on this wild card roster
He's really starting to flourish really starting to find his feet, and it's great to see
Yeah, 45 and 40 through the stage before this game began so you can add his current total to that
48 and 41 feeling very confident with how he's played
It's gonna go to kitchen and he'll lock the pulse which is the only operator
He's ever played on this bomb site talk about showing some tape while kind of certainly played this map a lot
They've not played kitchen with a clash before though
Bay is usually either on a smoker or a zombie. Seeing him on the clash is brand new and it won't
be something that Forefund will have seen from bot reviews unless he played it in scrims.
Again though, the pulse, that's something they play every time and it's perfectly read by the IQ
up top. Serks feeds that information to his team. Packer capitalized on it for a free pick. That's
a great interaction with the IQ. It gives the advantage over to Forefund. And that's
one of the dangers, isn't it, of doing the same thing over and over again. We're not in that
day and age of siege anymore, you have to be willing to adapt. And a doubt that we'll see Adrian
play pulse on the site again, because if the IQ's up, so X is going to play it because that opening
pick is priceless. A little bit of damage being taken on to Bino, as you can hear some of his
candellas going on elsewhere, but it seems to be a pack around. He's taking Kansan down as well.
A hefty advantage here, with still around a minute and 15 seconds. Might be looking to make
and then half and just walking up from the basement.
Hacker, seems like he's all over the map right now.
He's going back inside almost for the third time
at the minute.
He's deep in the site, Ollie, 65 seconds
and he's ready to take these fights,
a freebie straight on to Spiker,
looking for the ace potentially.
He's deep inside the bombsite,
but Shurks gets one and leaves Bay in the 1v5.
Some spot for Bay, isn't it?
It's that diffuser will be confirmed.
Might be taken out.
The barbed wire, just selling him a little bit short there.
That is the first step
in a much more difficult journey here for Bay isn't able to get past the second.
Vino takes him out, pack it.
Just strutting into site.
Two kills on the periphery, gets rid of the Cade, gets rid of the pulse, all of a sudden
the information game that we were hoping to see out of Wildcard and the information
that Agents specifically was going to provide on that pulse has been ripped away from
them.
you know, full-footed just running roughshod over the entire defense.
Packer had so much information fed to him from his teammates too. Obviously he had some brilliant
shots, gets himself into a very strong position with his positioning in his gunplay for sure,
but the IQ of course above feeding intel onto where the pulse was at and then even some drones.
He moved through library, he moved to red stairs and then he used his Zofia charge to destroy
the softwall into bike and so he pushed into bike avoiding any utility that might have been
on that door between the hallway and memorials so he managed to work his way
and a little bit sneaky in towards the bomb site they clearly didn't have good
intel on that it's the problem with the villa it's such a big map it can be
really hard especially when you lose that pulse so early to keep track on
every player's position they could move so many different spots you've
got to be aware of where they're at all times and they just didn't quite have
the information they needed in that round so great movements from four fun
and as they take a 2-1 lead here on villa they will force a tackle
time-up to come on quite early from Lagonas.
That is an early tactical time-out, isn't it? Alarm bells are starting to ring a little
bit potentially. Lagonas, he'll know what he's seeing. He knows that he's seeing players
get kind of predicted, counted, some tells. I can't have to leave the charging, but
of orchestrate in that counter as well.
Don't want to let Fofun get too many rounds here on the attack.
Back around Zonvilla.
I mean the easiest thing to come across so far.
Back down to the basement we go then.
It looks like Adrian is trying to hide the clash away this time.
Well, he played it last time so it's...
It's not the film we're running back.
It's not going to be the biggest surprise, is it really?
Let's be honest, like, Clash of Basement on Villa, you got me.
Yeah, Adrien of course, known to play this operator,
played it all the way back in round number one.
It was also something they employed against Dark Zero the second time they played this bomb site.
So it should certainly be known by 4-1,
but maybe trying to bait them into running a shield of their own,
think okay, they're not running the clash this time,
whether they drone at the clash or not,
it has worked for that purpose.
Bino's going to jump on this blitz and he's paired it with a ying, a glass coming through.
There's potential for a fast rush here, Ollie, if they want to go for it.
But you also saw them use that glass earlier, and they were going pretty slow with it.
I think with the positions that they currently occupy though,
we may be able to do something a little bit quicker. Straight on in is Bino
taking advantage of the side rotations that have been made by the defenders.
gets corework in the wrong way but not before Packer finds one onto Baby Shot. Make that two
as the clash will fall. The key to any good rush is removing the heart of the defense and the clash
is certainly that. Whatever happens now, a reset, a little bit of a foot off the gas,
a slight break in proceedings is just going to amplify the pressure that Kansan and Bay are
both feeling. A double man count advantage right now for Four Fun after an incredibly
successful burst of energy at the start of the round.
So massive and now, I mean, defuse kits down, Kansans holding it, but they have got so much
time that the biggest thing to find these last couple players, Bay and a 1v1 shotgun out,
not what he needs. Kansans setting shots inside the site though, didn't get blind by the
candela so he's hitting a couple. Two go down, Bay, another, but it's going to
be a 1v1. Vosper and Bay with over half the rounds still to go. Vosper could work
a plant here, Ollie. It's going to be tough though with Bay having so much
information on the Solis. Yeah, Bay really oughtn't let this plant even go down in the
first place. Can spot it out there on the scanner, but he's a little bit too late. Vulspa's
going to be going up now by the time he knows to rotate that he's coming in from. Doesn't
look like there's a drone available. Bay will be able to reposition, pushes up past the
deployable shield, trying to take a really narrow angle, but needs to be careful that
DMR hits like a truck, and Vulspa only needs to land one more shot. Desperate for the
pre-fire, desperate for the one tap as Bay draws for the shotgun. There's something
a little bit more close range can start to try and bait out now.
Vulsper, forced to back up a little bit.
Bay, can't afford to stick right now, needs to bait the engagement,
but Vulsper plays it perfectly, anticipates the bait,
anticipates the swing, and cements a full fun round.
Nathan Myers, better known as Vulsper,
has been tearing it up on the glass all day long,
and that round in particular has to be his best.
It gets one kill in the midst of that chaos
When we were focusing on Packer getting his double kill on the blitz that died in the middle of the site
He was able to work through on the smoke and find a frag in the midst of it
And then the fact that he gets the 1v1 kill straight on to
Kanzin before it becomes a technical 1v1
This frag after Kanzin annihilates his own team if he doesn't get this of course they lose the round
It's such a tough shot, but he manages to land it finds those kills when he has to and then even this moment, right?
Notice his opponent has the shotgun so it takes the longest angle possible
possible. He's playing on the glass. He's always going to want the longer angle, but
make sure he doesn't swing too aggressively, baits it perfectly with a defuse kit and perfectly
times that one out. So, nice job by Valsper, Packer, both of them on five kills now, and
a 3-1 lead against Wildcard, who previously undefeated on this map. Ollie, that might
change if this game continues to go in the way it is.
It's a big possibility, isn't it? You know, we talk quite a lot about thresholds,
and I think we always love a team that can get three rounds on the attack.
It doesn't always pay off, and I think a good case in point
and one that could be fresh in our minds is going to be the previous map.
M80 were good for three on the attack of Fortress.
It wasn't enough for them to win the game.
Cloud9 on the day were better.
Now for fun, they've already achieved the difficult part
in that they have won the same site twice
and they've been able to go back and they've been successful upstairs as well.
So you kind of got to look at it in the balance things and think well, they've got a pretty good understanding here
There's still two rounds to play here for wild card wild card now in my book a scrambling for something
They want to try and pull around out of somewhere and they're gonna be switching over to AVG to try and make that happen. I
Promise you they'd play all four sites and deliver on that promise in round five
They've seen all four of them now for wild card, but haven't had as much success as we may have expected
Already some good hard breaching coming through they're gonna make that bar position so difficult to play now
Thanks to the hard breach being used by Mike W
There was a question on this bomb site
Do you try to take below with a Zofia a lot of teams have tried that with great success?
But it seems like the pushing strategy for for fun is going to be more horizontal
They want to try to take some control here on the
Master side of the building packers below here on the IQ
But unless somebody hops on their phone while they're sitting on a soft floor
He's probably not going to be able to get any freebies down here
multi-kill right now, and Spiker with a whole minute left with everything to try and hold!
This four fun team are electric!
Ridiculous the way it's going. Just for some context, Volsper has not played Glaz all-stage
and is bringing out for the first time here on Villa and just makes it look like the best
operator in the game. The way he's able to entry with it, catch some of these wildcard
players off guard. Again, Villa is a big map so there's lots of different opportunities
for a while, for 4-fun to drone things out, find a gap, use that smoke grenade and work yourself into a free pick.
Valspers has been doing such a good job of getting aware of these player positions, using these smokes to his advantage.
And it just opens the door wide open for a 4-fun to take advantage of it, get a bunch of free map control,
start working themselves into even more picks after another 1-minutes of that.
Serks are starting to really find his footing on these frags as well.
6-2 from the newest player in the North America League.
I mean all players seem like they're finding their footing. They're doing exactly what their rule needs to be
But Valsper for me has been the main star just opening things up on the glass
It's what you need out of glass players well
Sometimes there is a place for a glass to be more of a flying box
Flying box more of a flank watcher or a mailbox is what I was gonna say
There is a world for that to exist and there is a world where that works
But, you know what's more exciting?
A bit more of an entry glass, like someone that's going to go in and utilize that powerful
DMR to get yourself some good entry picks.
Baby Shark, looking for a little bit of confidence right now, 0-5 at the moment, Packer was almost
his first victim and still could be, as he feels like something could just be amiss.
Oh, somebody was on the camera, maybe somebody is on the window, maybe we're trying to
I mean, they're doing the best they're putting on a good show, but baby shock is not biting right now. I mean, even if you just blow the window down like Packers got a name in his pocket. If they had perfect information, that's a free kill. I think they must have drone him earlier in the round.
Maybe that drone stairs on go downwards, but you'll spot him going back up towards his bomb site as well. So no harm no foul from baby shark trying to get himself back into this game.
It's gonna play the bathroom position. It's got three toxic babes still if they do start to try to push him
Be know on this month
He is gonna be the spearhead for this push but not a lot of other angles really being gathered by for fun for now
They're just posting themselves up outside of master nobody in on that bottom floor
It was a false pair that really opened things up on the Zofia last time they attacked the site
I'll also know this is the only bomb site where wildcard were victors
So a for fun witness. It's a perfect world tour winning all four bomb sites attacking on villa
And to be fair, aside from a really good round from Adrien,
there wasn't much that was standing in Four Funds' way.
You got three kills in that round.
That is enough to swing around and then some.
An ability to try and deal with that,
it might make things a little bit easier.
At the moment, it's a Cadeclaw that is really tripping them up.
Placed right at the top,
and with the Faggivan and struggling for secondary EMPs,
you've not got the same level of radius,
you've not got the same ability to get those things open.
Bino, both of those EMPs have now been used, and that from wall, it's going to be even more difficult to get open.
Yeah, one was placed up top, he then threw a second one on the bottom, so I mean, super smart from Spiker to juggle these electroclaws.
If you've just got impact EMPs, you're knocking the openness. Great shot from our observer.
You see the one at the bottom and the one up top. Packers on the IQ, so in theory, they could go below and clear this,
but he's nowhere near that position, and for fun, stalling out a little bit after their hard breach,
this planet doesn't really go the way they want it to.
Spike are watching for the flank from Patrick now.
Walsper is also down below,
but again, this Walsh is knock on their leg.
You know, just gonna be zoned out there
a little bit by the Razorbloom Bay
for the first kill in this round,
and you can see the confidence now on Wildcard.
He was looking for a second,
but Mike W was there to take him out.
Spike finds one onto Walsper.
That's the danger man right now.
What a great shot there.
Baby shot, credit it with the kill on Tobino.
might be now 10 seconds, multiple targets,
but isn't able to grab too much.
It was Adrian to close things out there.
It was the star of the show.
Last time we saw trophy in Stactury,
he's done a pretty good job
of securing the back line there as well.
We'd head over to our desk for the halftime.
Wildcard finally find their stride
a little bit in that last round, but for fun.
I mean, four very impressive attacks
to get the lead here early on on Villa.
They look like they're having fun out there, Jeff.
They look like they're having fun.
Why are they having fun?
Because we're finally attacking the right way.
Lax, you've been begging for this.
I have every single attacking segment.
What happened?
Wildcard, they get rid of the information operators,
which is normally where for fun,
they just kind of corrupts those, right?
The snake, the goat could be.
But they got taken off the board.
So they have to rely on the utility operators.
And that every single round, we
see the glass, the ying, the shields.
If you watch Cloud9, that is why they're so impressive.
They're using those to create a ton of space
isolate players and cause panic against wildcard and that's exactly what we're seeing and it's so beautiful to finally watch these guys
Incorporate that is beautiful to see I mean look at round five for example
Look what bulls prayers doing and Jesse already talked about me
He clearly is the MVP of this half great job locking off the line of sight here for smoke to be able to jump in and
Force the player on master
alleviating that pressure gets this kill and now it forces the team to be able to just push through without ease you have
Packer coming up from bottom red stopping the player peeking out from a b to go for a cutoff to go for a kill
And then from there they isolate camp here
They keep them stuck here and they never get the kill and they're just putting so much pressure
But this is the for fun that we need to be seeing this is what we can believe in these are the glimpses of
Success and what this team can look like and I think the biggest thing is they're having fun
They don't have any pressure on their shoulders and bullsburg has been a performer today
And I've been loving what I've been seeing on their attack.
And not only that, I mean, Packer, you highlighted him as their number one player.
And he's having field day.
They're giving him so much information.
I mean, the one round where we got to see them on the IQ scanner,
tracking the pulse operator, getting Packer inside quickly.
Like, they clearly know what their win conditions are in attack.
And it's causing a lot of pressure, not only with the meta operators,
but also enabling their X-Factor player.
Packer and getting him into the map as quickly as possible.
And knowing their opponent, you know that Wildcard loves to use information, loves to use pulse, and you are countering them.
You are bringing operators not only to make your execute easier and playing with it,
but you're also playing with operators to counter their play, follow that pulse,
and then lead up to a round win because they're doing everything right from the prep, from the start, and to the finish.
This is the four fun that is fun to talk about.
Well, the reality is we could talk about their attacks all day long, but now they move to defense,
and wildcard have a chance to do the very same thing.
How could they mix it up?
I mean, I don't know if they really need to mix it up.
They have, again, we're switching sides,
realistically, is the answer here.
And wildcard has been pretty impressive
on the attacking side in the two times
that they've played Villa.
I think they've gone about it the right way.
And if we look at the operator bands,
nothing is gonna really change for them.
I mean, only taking out a so Havana,
the other range breaches available for them.
And I mean, they also are able to adapt
And that's what we've seen them do really well when they are struggling.
Yes, they have some information operators they can use.
Yes, they can also use that glass and the ying if they want to go the for fun route.
And then most importantly, and we've seen it the last time I played this map,
if they need to hop on the montane, that's where we want to see spiker, right?
He said not an opt that he likes to break it down on, but if he needs to get activated
and get them inside the map and get some map space going,
there's a ton of options on the board for them.
And if they're doing a good job with their prep and countering,
That's also something to look at even possibly going into that third band
If you realize that they are bringing that shield of Monty to take that space open up rounds get rid of it
Don't leave it on the board a wild card two rounds down, but they can see if they can make a difference on the attack
On the attack is where wild card go and I want to reread you a quote that they showed at the beginning of the broadcast
It was Lagonas, the head coach that tweeted,
we didn't deserve to win today because of our behavior,
a week of learning ahead to approach the next matches
with more maturity.
That's what the head coach of Wildcard had to say
after losing to Outlast.
And to me, that talks about being able to capitalize
on advantages.
In the eight rounds they lost to Outlast,
they had the opening pick in five of those rounds.
They had to be better at converting entries.
Today, though, it seems like that's not even
in front of mine because they're not even getting the entries.
Only two of them in the first half,
and only one was converted on wild card
and needs to get better at getting these advantages,
as well as getting better at capitalizing on them.
The attack is always a good opportunity
to put the entry engagement into your own court, so to speak.
You've got the information,
you can chase down those defenders,
and you can really start to pinpoint them on the map.
So on the defense, sometimes you're just kind of left
the cards that you dealt, but on the attack you can really go and seek out that opening
pick. So hopefully Wildcard can put a bit more of a focus on that, and we can see the Wildcard
there. We've kind of come to expect on this map of Villa, we expect a certain standard
from them so far, and I'm not sure that going 2-4 on their opening half of defense
is exactly where they should sit. There's a lot of pressure and a lot of focus right
now on this first floor. We have Asian in underneath on the Zephyr spiker, providing
a little bit of assistance, and it seems like everyone's sort of framing up for
bit of a main stairs walk but that is going to be a very tough task we're going to have to try and
bait out a little bit of utility before they go ahead with that. Just hear the bees starting
to dissipate here from Bay, the toxic Bay canisters from Bino, all of which have been used in just
about the first half. Yeah try to stall things out in the main stairs you're right it definitely
feels like they want to walk through right up here, Spyker and Monty. He hasn't played this
before usually you'll see him on the blitz or maybe the Grim but he's changing things up
a little bit trying to use the Grim upstairs to find some of these player
positions and that opens the door now for the Monty to walk up these main
stairs. Spikers getting some space for his teammate still fishing for frags down
below but they don't need the Virk play. They gets one spiker another and the
horizontal push is getting them a two man lead.
Sturks down as well at the feet of the Monty and Kanzen ready to collect and
clean up just behind him. Bulsper being called out on the doke we draw a
a dope recall he's not gonna be able to answer just gonna have to tank that damage
He's trying to pre-fire and find himself a lucky wall bang here just to keep his team in it
Packer he can start to try and move up now and play a little bit more aggressively, but he still needs to be careful
Wildcard have got the numbers advantage right now
And they've still got bodies committed outside the C4 in the hands of packer looks great when everyone's alive
But at this point it just falls and is pretty flat lots of shots being fired and those will be good for a down
But other than that it's a flawless round here from wild card to kick off their a captain attacking campaign
Yeah, just beautiful the way they play with that one of course Bay gets a 1v1 duel over Mike W for the opening pick
We said we wanted to see more of that out of wild card and they do get it on this first round of attack
So your theory seems to strike true Olly they're finding more ways to get that opening duel
But even that main stairs push it was really well coordinated by a wild card
We just saw spiker getting the kill in the kill feed
But it was Kansan behind the Monty who tossed a flashbang up and fully blinded Bino that allowed Spiker
to pull out his pistol and get that frag onto the smoke.
They get another one.
Pushing in behind Spiker on the Monty as they clean up Thurks as well,
who's trying to play close on the Warden.
Like they had a really good team play up those main stairs.
And while it was read by the defenders,
Porfun clearly had a good idea of what was going on.
It's much harder to counter that.
They didn't quite have the right bodies in the right positions.
The Warden made me a little bit closer to counter that, but it's just really good utility play for Wildcard.
It's the start that Wildcard wanted and it's something that they can now try and build off.
They're on the trail by one round here.
For fun.
Downstairs we go, in toward Kitchen.
It's the bear bones and the rough recipe that Wildcard used in round one of their attacks, round seven of the game.
It's being brought again here. It's still that same level of explosion.
They're still gonna have to be that shield present.
You maybe haven't got quite the amount of vert that you would typically bring for attacking this site,
but as we've already seen they could make something happen by just walking up main stairs.
They don't need to over complicate this necessarily.
No solace being played. They don't need to worry about anything really going on from above.
Instead they can focus their attentions pre-horizontally onto the site.
horizontally is where it is being defended. Pretty much all four defenders there with
one just on the edge of the screen, the fifth, almost caught inside of the same frame.
Fuck, you're going to try and play quite aggressive mirror window here downstairs.
I think reading into where this push wants to come from, there was a bit of pressure on that
garage early, which is forcing him to put up that mirror window now and commit to a specific
spot. This attacking lineup from wildcard, exactly the same as round 12 versus the rebellion,
Last week and they did lose that round so again if you've been doing your vaudeville on the side of for fun
You might expect what this push could look like but they've got a couple different ways
They like to attack this my eyes are of course gonna be on the ying for Adrian. They've compared it with the thatcher
I have to imagine they're gonna try to blindster so they can't use those goggles and then go for the candelas
But the coordination has to be good. We know wild card are a talented team
We've seen them coordinate utility in the past just last round was a good example of that
The half you will put it together one more time take these positions on the stairs and start getting kills before it gets too late
Spiker just get rid of the barb wire gonna wait for that gas to dissipate
They will can see if there's anything we can do with that toxic babe canister and spiker just gonna chase him down there
He's gonna get the batch on swim. We'll do so be no out of action
There are gonna be other defenders kicking around down there as well
You see the candela's starting to get dropped through
There's big control the wild card have got over the staircase at the moment agent
Sending in those candles just trying to buy a little bit of sound coverage for spike to continue moving with C4 sent
It will damage him, but it doesn't deal the finishing blow agent on to volce for a spike
He gets the confidence as backers in a reload is able to dome him right there and then oh nearly an unfortunate team kill
But might do you beat him to the punch?
But it's all aging all day once again on a double kill two players down at the moment
One of them just finished off might be effectively in the one versus two might find a great time in here as well
But the candela is gonna buy a little bit of space that and of course the blitz is always gonna be a tough
Combination final kill found and wildcard level things up
Spiker just an incredibly clean round on the blitz there. All yeah
I loved every single decision that spiker made in the midst of that round and he had to make a lot of tough calls
It started with that push, of course, on to Bino playing on those
Astro stairs. They started to move down and Bino thought he was safe because he had the toxic baby thought okay
I can stall out this this blitz. It's gonna be okay, but Bay behind the
Blitz on the Thatcher was able to EMP one of those toxic babes
Spiker ran through the last one that was just wearing out
So it made it a really nice kill for Spiker actually took zero damage to the toxic babes
next to the Thatcher behind him. Then he moves in, plays that 1v1 so perfectly, and then even in the 1vX,
when Mike W threatens to win the 1v2, he stops picking up his teammate because of his
year's in approach, knows the close-range gunfight favors him. Spiker top the bottom,
winning that round for his team. Tactical time out here for 4-4-4. They try instead of the
shape, they had a great time in the opening half of this game, and since the sideswap,
have struggled to find the same level of momentum, very often getting run over in the early portion
of the round, struggling to deal with some of the heat and some of the aggression and some of the
coordination that this wildcard roster are bringing. Warfung were very well drilled on their own
attacks and they had a very good idea of how wildcard were going to defend, how they were
going to set up, which operators were going to be used and where they were going to be
played since getting on to the attack. It feels like we're watching a different team defend.
Yesi, it doesn't feel like this is the same fall fund that was moving with confidence in
the opening half of this game.
Yeah, it feels like their defenses are being pulled apart by a lot of the tricks that Wildcard
are running. I think specifically they've struggled to deal with Spiker on the shield.
Both rounds so far that's been the key unifying factors. On the Monty backed up by Kansan
in the first round and then it was just on the blitz backed up by his whole team in the second round.
He will move off of the shields and then grab the Grim for this third round and attack on the kitchen.
But you have to imagine that's largely what was being talked about by 4Fun.
They brought some great shield counters. They brought the Thorn from Packer.
They brought the Legion from like W, which doesn't see a whole lot of play these days outside of specifically countering shields.
So, Spikers deciding, okay, you know, you have this chance to talk about it.
Let me try something new, let me go over towards the Grim.
Set themselves up really nicely to keep this trend going.
And they've actually brought up the same thing that countered them.
It's the IQ from Bay this time, hoping to hunt down Bino on this halt.
The opening pick has been very kind to Wildcard since getting onto the attack.
It was something that you commented on, Jesse, that they were really struggling with that opening engagement.
Since getting onto this attack inside and the two rounds that we've seen,
they've been very good in both.
I'm just going to try and make that a little bit more of a trend here.
Agent, starting to move through this top floor.
Oh, got a chance there, bit of an engagement there onto those red stairs.
No one down ready to catch potentially.
I'm going to make sure Agent is still going to be swinging that sledgehammer around up
here.
It obviously feels relatively safe right now.
Still a little bit of work to be done upstairs though and I do like this focus
on the vert right now.
a bit of an oldie but a goldie to bring just to be cautious. There are some C4s kicking around
and the threat of a bit of a flank up those red stairs. Adrian again finds himself in the top
spot while flying one of us back and make it a second. This guy can't get a single kill tonight,
just see everything's a double kill. Adrian, he's putting them together just the way he needs
to. Now he can go back to his job, back to the floorboards where he'd rather be focusing
his attention. Could get himself a third pick as there is a player stuck on Astro stairs.
It's Volsper. He doesn't have a good way out. They won't exactly know his position thanks to those dream bees being shot out
But they know he's around and those ones won't get shot in time good information
But Mike W's just hit a flank takes down Adrian and equalizes back to a three on three
I mean, I don't mind that my W's got a kill, but he's got five goomines in his pocket
He's fairly not big tip for the utility. I see obviously feeling himself for the T5 right now Volsper
He's put down to pretty low HP
Adrian did manage to make quite a few holes before he was taken out and bait will capitalize on one
It was an attempt a bit of a hack job there as the still a little bit of flaw that needed shooting out
But teamwork makes the dream work
Mark, I'll get themself another pick
20 seconds two kills to find spiker with the kit or my W
unknown man at the moment.
Vino just needs to try and hold on for as long as possible here.
Let my W get himself into position, but that might not have been enough time.
Bay finds one, the plant's going down and baby shark to clean things up.
Another player who's come a little bit more alive since getting onto the second side.
Yeah, it feels like the whole team is playing as a unit now, Ollie.
They're playing with exactly the gumption that we're used to seeing from them.
I mean, we mentioned it.
We mentioned it, Adrien at the top, I think on the sledge played so perfectly and the
only other time we've seen Wildcard run that attacking strategy on the kitchen site of Villa,
they ran double soft breach, they ran Adrien on the sledge and they ran Bay on the ram,
but I guess thinking the IQ was more valuable, they foregoed that and just went with the
single soft breacher.
It meant there was a lot of pressure on Adrien's shoulders, I mean they had some
breaching charges, but if Adrien dies to one of those two players pushing him
on red stairs, it could be an entirely different round.
because he wins both of those gunfights, I'm sure we'll see them here.
Wins this double kill right here. I mean, it's so beautiful.
It allows him to do so much more work than on those floorboards,
and as you mentioned, helps contribute to Valsper's death right here
as he goes down, lying inside the site, and just makes it so oppressive,
opens the door wide open to the bomb site.
The Wildcard, happy to find it down the astro-stair, straight into a plant spot.
Wildcard, take a lead then.
The first time here tonight, they'll be fighting from in front, entirely different team since
getting onto the attack.
And it's good to see that they've, I mean, it's wildcard, right?
We know that they are, for me, they're one of the heavyweights inside of North America
and I don't necessarily mean that in terms of, you know, where they stand.
I think, you know, they usually stand sort of middling to top.
But they always have long games, just, you know.
You've slept here, you had an early night, you didn't watch NAL, you wake up in the morning,
you load Likipedia, you have a look, wildcard87.
No one's surprised, doesn't matter who they're playing.
Like, this is, I don't know what it is about this team, it's just seem prone to long games.
And this one, maybe looking like it's not going to be too different.
Obviously, 4th one needs to show us a little bit of something to start truly to believe,
because three rounds in a row, wildcard have had the read, they've had the answer,
It hasn't really looked too difficult for them.
They've been finishing those rounds with plenty of people still alive,
no fewer than three people still alive on that wildcard side when they win the round.
So it's a fundamental problem at the moment for Fawn,
and hopefully it's something that they can get themselves around.
Go back to that comment from their coach, too, about staying more disciplined.
And on the attack specifically,
wildcard have the worst conversion rate in the league,
winning just 53% of the rounds where they get the opening pick.
They've been flawless, now three for three on these attacks with the entries and the conversions.
So it definitely feels like we're seeing the best version of Wildcard that they've shown so far through the stage,
at least on this attacking half where they've been phenomenal.
Trying to get into your study once again, it'll be Spiker on the Blitz with hands in false first to be,
now it's Spiker's left all alone.
Not where you want your Blitz to be, you always want your Blitz to be a little bit by their side.
Spiker does make it work though, with the support of his team it's just devastating.
Baby shark Adrian everyone getting involved in the action spike and nailing that diffuses the floor now
And it's 30s turn to play the lesion
blocked off by his own and go yo
Tap firing his way through gives away his position
Not a lot that he can do
He can't really hope to be sneaky about this one. He's gonna have to be bold
He is going to have to go big just waiting for that fire to dissipate
It's terrible when the attackers use the defender utility against you but that is the game
That's what happens when you lose control of the side call out on the drone
And that is not what you want to see around the corner
He'll deal with the blitz though
He's got 15 seconds to find the next two and disable that diffuser moves through into the opposing side into games room now
Can he land the shots? Yes, he can
We all know that time is too short Bay tucked away on those main stairs and Sirks will just offer himself up
Another brilliant round. They really need the opening pick this time, Ollie.
It's a perfect push from Wildcard, and I love the coordination.
This is a great round that if you get the chance to watch it back,
see if you can find a POV from it in a top-down perspective,
because so many different things were happening in that round.
We obviously focused on Spiker on the Blitz as he took down Bino on the main stairs,
but at the same time, Adrian swung in 90 and killed a player in the hallway
that was looking to 2v1 Spiker.
They pushed up into study and was sitting in the smoke on the glass to work a free pick in the midst of that onto Mike W
We saw baby shark sitting on the red stairs
He was holding the cut so that when ball for truck to come back to the bomb site from his master room
He got taken down as well
This is the thing with wild cards attacks. It's like every single person knows exactly what position they need to be
They know when to swing in they know how to coordinate even if they're not near each other physically on the map
They're still timed perfectly with their movements and that's made all the difference so far in this game
It has the coordination from wild card has been second to none and I think you know you can
You can almost let the map slide a little bit and you can go
Yeah, we know that people are gonna counter us on our on our defenses because you know, it's fairly telegraph
What we're doing is it's not refined just as of yet, but attacking principles and attacking fundamentals
They the transition across any map in Siege. It doesn't matter whether you're on villa whether you're on clubhouse
Whatever you're on you still need that same level of coordination
You still need that same level of confidence in your teammate and wild card just proving that here tonight
Yep, I'd be a bit predictable on the defense. I'd say so. What have their attacks been great?
Absolutely and both things can be true now set on a match point right now an opportunity to take a full three points away from this fixture
They're gonna be looking to try and convert onto it as they attack the basement here once again
Yeah, and the strategy is very similar for Wildcard. They want to take full top floor control
They want to push behind spiker on this blitz and get down those astro stairs
It's almost the exact same operator lineup. They've just swapped the twitch out for a nomad on baby shark
And I thought we might see a bit more of a roam game from for fun to try to counter this
But it's just Sirks all by himself. He's here on the red stairs
He's about to find the blitz which should just send him straight back down towards the site
Indeed it will. It's gonna need doesn't get caught on the railing
So, you know, it's not too aggressive to come through from for fun
When they get to the bomb site they will have to deal with Packer on the clash
I don't know if they've got the perfect tools to deal with that
Of course the Nomad and the Capitow are good operators to counter it out
But you've got to make sure you can position yourself properly
So keep an eye on that utility getting past Packer might prove to be the most difficult part of this round
But may not come until the last 30 seconds or so
It depends on what happens around Packer really doesn't it if everyone falls around in there
It isn't going to be too much of an issue
but if they can play safe and they can play tucked and play a little bit more
conservative maybe keep themselves alive. A lot of these rounds have been going by
quite quickly from the first kill to the last kill there isn't a great deal of
time because Wildcard have had that confidence they've had those kills
flowing in. When they say go a lot of things are starting to happen. I haven't
said go just yet here. Minimum 15, Spiker. Just gonna be taking his time
to try and clear a bit of utility on these back stairs. Vulcan Pact gone.
barbed wire removed as well just clearing the way for future thinking about
maybe a little bit of a drop here with a couple of players stacked up on the hatch
candles will start to go through just waiting for the drones to further gather
that information discovered package location now as well which is the all
important one I do wonder if spike is just gonna try and get it down under
the cover of the smoke and he absolutely is there is that you so we
can start trying to deny but package is gonna put the shield on his back it
It won't stop the plant from going down though.
There's a big, big retake on the cart here.
You might have to shield, but with the hatch above,
it's borderline useless.
It's all about how Kansan plays this angle now.
It's just so difficult.
I mean, for fun, they have to win this.
Otherwise, it's GG, but I just don't see a win con.
The Capitow Bolts in particular,
you can still get one more Firebolt after this.
I don't know if this is even possible to win.
The Firebolt is gonna buy enough time, isn't it?
Ferx finds one onto Baby Shark,
but they immediately there for the refrag.
Might W try to maz into his own hands, getting himself upstairs.
He needs to find this kill.
He's doing a great job at distracting packers on the disable,
but it's just not going to be enough ultimately.
It's a one versus one, but time is going to do the rest.
Wildcard maintain a great victory here
as they stamp Villa down as one of their show matches.
That's 3-0 now with this roster.
Wildcard looking like the best Villa team
in North America, and they ended up
with the YouTuber Rush Strat on the hot.
They don't go for the repel, but hey, it's a beautiful execute anyways wild card very dominant on this map
They'll take down for fun in our fourth game of the day
You can catch me
I'm breaking next to the party now
Check the city, I'm number 90 now
I'ma keep it going, so there ain't nothin' left
I'm breaking next to the party now
All my elbows stuck in my money now
Cause I can't get down, so I'm just running up
I'ma keep it going, so there ain't nothin' left
I'm going to layin' in the night
the last week's loss to Outlast, they take down 4 fund and continue to climb the standings.
We've got Adrian standing by after the win, and we can talk to him about how he felt his
team performed in this one. Adrienne, welcome. And it's good to finally hear from somebody
else other than Spiker.
Yeah, about time.
About time, Adrienne.
Oh, God.
Talk to me about the difference between last weekend now. I know like it's not something
you want to talk about, but an overtime loss to Outlast is not what we expected from
you guys. You bounce back today against Fourfun. What changed over the weekend?
I think we just improved on some of the inconsistencies that we've been having over like the
two weeks. I think Outlast just kind of exposed us on our mistakes and what we're doing and we
tried to just affect it for this week coming up. I think that was the biggest difference why it was
a lot better after we lost a couple rounds this game and we're able to bounce back on the side
switch. I kind of wanted to talk about some of those flaws you guys are having against the
Outlast team because we kind of pulled up the Lagonas tweet talked a little bit about
your behavior, your guys maturity, I mean what was that kind of all about? Like what were some of those
things that we were working on? I think it's making sure that, I mean I like the quote,
it's like how you do anything is how you do everything, so I think it's making sure that you
do everything to the best of your abilities at all times, whoever it is against and always having
that drive to do it and not slacking, I think at least in my opinion that's the thing that
that kind of brought us down.
And it kind of felt a little bit emotional in the game.
And I think that was also a bit of, like, why not?
Now, obviously, the team was having issues as a whole.
How do you bounce back?
I mean, obviously, I just heard your quote
and what you talk about, but, like, you as an individual,
what are you doing day in and day out
to make sure that you come into the next day
to be as revitalized and refreshed and ready to go?
I mean, for me, the biggest thing
is actually looking at what happened
on what was wrong, because sometimes you don't actually need to change anything to what you're doing.
You can just keep going with the same routine,
and there will be a different result, because different teams just play differently,
and you might have gone unlucky with some things.
But most of the time, the most important part is actually realizing what's going wrong.
I think the biggest thing for me is seeing that,
and then making minor changes, or not making any changes at all, for personal stuff.
Oh, I like that.
I like that real quick before we let you go Adrian if you were to like sum up like what you feel your team's biggest strength is right now
Like what's wild card super power?
When we're really on the ball, I think we can be super unpredictable and fast of what we do
We can just play how we want to play
And it's like many different ways, and I think that's what makes us great
Amazing great answer Adrian. Thank you so much for your time a big three points for you guys
And I'm sure we'll talk to you bit down the road. Thanks man
Thank you very much for having me yes sir wildcard they take the win they get
the redemption they were after and for fun despite a strong start we're not
able to keep it going wildcard a second half team on this map of Villa and it
made it look good yeah first off I love that he said like when they have a
problem they don't like over adjust I think a lot of people they hyper fixate
on certain certain problem and that does cause issues I've seen that
happen so many times on so many different teams with man advantages you
start hyper fixating again on on those man advantages and then you just start
throwing more rounds but I mean for fun we were having so much fun talk about
during our time for the attacks but on the defensive side of things it was I
mean they weren't having a lot of fun it was wildcard that was abusing the meta
operators really well we saw spiker on a lot of different shield operators
including this one right here how that guy didn't know he was right behind
them but we saw him that kind of having his way they opened up the man
advantages as well was very impressive on the side of Wildcard. I mean five out of those six
rounds in the favor of Wildcard which was a huge reason. I mean Fourfun was just kind of giving
bodies for free. And again that's where they were leading in a lot of their series is just having
that man advantage. Their opponent always kind of being on their back foot and there was no
different once they started on that attack in Half-Life. He's got five of those opening
kills swinging and it's their favor. And I think for Fourfun again, a lot of praise for
their attacks. We saw a lot of good stuff, a lot of good use of the meta ops. However,
I said I wanted to see a shield op band and I think banning that blitz might have paid off a little bit
Sure, the Monty still had been up, but you can't get as aggressive as an individual and that's where spiker was really thriving
Was getting in their face flashing them and then following up with a frag
Yeah, and just because we talked about it in the pregame like it was another glimpse of for fun
What they could be right and we keep seeing those glimpses, but they got to be able to put it together for a whole game
just I mean now their season is kind of online realistically that leaves SSG in a breathing room
They would have been surpassed if or fund won this series. So again when we're getting closer as these
Matches finished these play days finished. I mean it really is going to come down to these numbers
Yeah, the wins matter and the losses matter for these teams as they're kind of
Evaluating their opponents
But we wrap up our night with another one that should have some pretty major playoff implications because dark zero or
or SLC major champs sit outside of the playoff picture right now.
They don't sit within the top six, but an opportunity today to get some points over Outlast.
Outlast don't have proven to be a team that can compete. They just beat Wildcard last week.
It was a close game. DarkZero have this opportunity here. They cannot sleep on this,
but DarkZero have not played the stage we've expected. They're not the major winning
team that they weren't seemed like. Yeah, I hate to nitpick here, but we consistently
we glazed these DZ guys and they have so many weapons, but they are the SLC major champion.
So I'm going to nitpick. They are currently two and three. They have less than a five or
a point 500 record, what you would call it, a winning record. They don't have a winning
record in the NL right now. So look, we got to start raising an eyebrow. We got
to keep an eye on it, right? Going back to the panic. Look, look at their results
right now. I mean, in that Thieves game, yes, they won 7-5, but it was a game that they were
up 5-1, and they left the Thieves back in that game. Cloud9 as well. I mean, I know Cloud9
is impressive, and they went undefeated, but that was another game that DarkZero was
up and winning 4-3, and they let Cloud9 come back into that game. And then Rebellion!
They're up 6-5 in a 2v1, and Ambi has to go on and make some magic happen, and
then they lose to the rebellion.
So for me, look, I get it, but I have to say,
something feels a little bit off.
I'm not saying that they're at risk
for not making playoffs lacks.
Don't come at me.
I know DarkZero's gonna be in playoffs,
but this is just something to keep an eye on,
come playoffs, there's a little bit of inconsistencies
and they're having some problems closing out games
that could cost them in the future.
That's all I'm saying.
That's all I'm saying.
But again, I wanna look back at the results again,
because yes, this might not be the SLC champions
that were used to seeing, but I would argue
when you look at these results,
fact of the matter is they're winning these games.
A lot of these games in regulation,
sure, one more game and puts it to overtime,
but they've only had one game where they did not.
Three!
Oh, okay.
They're two back to back.
They're two and three.
Regardless, I completely missed that one.
Yeah, little bit of a slip.
Yeah, okay.
Fact of the matter is they're still winning games.
They're still got points, they're still in a good position.
And when we look at their regional matchups anyways,
I would argue those are some of the hardest
when you come off of the international matchup
of going back into your own region
to win, especially in the best of 1 series.
We know that they're going to get fast.
I'm confident that they're going to get fast.
And we see what they do in best of 3s.
That's the most important thing.
And when you even look at their attacking wins,
yes, that's definitely shifted.
However, their defense, that's a thing I'll let you take.
That's the problem I wanted to get at, Lax,
because, again, third in the NAL, that's great.
I mean, EWC, they were having a problem with the attack.
So to see them come in regionally,
like you were saying, third in the NAL is great.
But on the defensive side, ninth in the NAL,
That is kind of criminal for a team like DarkZero,
and you've got to be questioning it.
Well, Lacks talked to me about their opponents today.
I hyped up Outlast a moment ago.
They've shown us some potential against Wildcard.
What did you like in that game?
Listen, I was a little bit of a player-hater
throughout all these past couple of play days,
so I got to kind of dial it back a little bit.
Give them a little praise in their match versus Wildcard.
Now, we're talking about clubhouse.
I was already kind of a blunder for Wildcard
going to this map.
It allowed Outlast to have a foot in the door.
And when I'm looking at round 13 in particular,
Sure, it's nothing super crazy, but what I can appreciate
for a team that's been struggling on those fundamentals
is just playing their positions.
You have two players inside of gym playing together.
You have one player inside Khan.
Now sure, it's not the prettiest spots
you want to be in this site, because you
have a Blackbeard that is holding the default bomb
chassis, but it still leaves Wildcard in a situation
where they aren't safe to go for a plant.
If you try to go for a plant in gold,
you have a cross from gym.
If you try to go for a plant default,
you have a cross from gym.
If you try to go for a plant master door, you have a player from Khan being able to keep that player master door.
However, what's going to happen here, Joystick, don't care to see him get too aggressive,
but he had to alleviate that pressure from the black group.
But this is the next piece that I love about this Outlast team right here,
is the fact that they understand the positions that they're in.
You will see Tyrant ends up taking that master control on Metal,
and they force this map now to be played in lanes.
This leaves no room for wildcard to be able to find any room of getting a trade effectively because when you look at this
Effectively all three of these players are now able to trade each other. You have the player able to hold
Jim you have the player able to hold master able to hold con but all of these players
Jim is able to hold master play with that trade you have con able to play with master
You have master able to play with Jim and con again
no situation for Wildcard to be able to squeeze into the site.
And because of this, if you are going to get aggressive,
do it together.
Coordinate that aggression.
And that's exactly what you see.
Both players take the fight onto the player top master
and get this frag.
And then it falls into a 3v1.
And we've highlighted this time and time again
with Outlast is where they've been struggling the most
is in those core fundamentals.
And it's going to be the most important thing
for a brand new team.
Doesn't matter the caliber.
Doesn't matter where their position is.
you have to focus on those core fundamentals.
And that's going to be the teamwork,
that's going to be the communication.
And that's exactly what we saw throughout that entire series
first wildcard.
However, it was on a very simple map.
I have to see something more going into this matchup
and where this map will lie if they can replicate
that exact same amount of success.
And I love every time we can talk about outlast again,
and we can highlight things that they're doing exactly.
Listen, I don't want to be a player hater.
No, it's good.
You got to just bring facts and bring reality
into conversations.
That is where they're struggling, though.
And when I did a total station earlier,
it was similar on a different map,
but it was in the sense of like,
they play the late rounds a lot better
than the outlast in stage one, right?
And that is the, again, that's the maturity
that you have to be able to reach,
because defense is so important into this game, right?
That is where your freebie rounds kind of come from.
That's your base, and then attacks,
that's where champions are made.
That's where contenders kind of come from.
That's where you get to see
how good of an IGL you have
and how well you understand the meta.
So at least for outlasts,
That's where we need to see them be very, very good.
It has to be on the defensive side.
Well, the individuals have kind of been a driving force for them,
at least in that wild card game.
We saw double digit kills from Millie, joystick, iconic.
From a stats perspective, those guys set themselves apart.
We were highlighting Millie specifically,
because he was the MVP of that series.
We have never been able to highlight Millie in his time
in the Pro League so far.
So it was nice to be able to give praise and flowers
where they need to be given.
But even for a player like Tyron,
I really critiqued the play that he was performing
throughout these past few play days.
And the reality is, everybody stepped up.
And that was also a big difference maker in that series.
Everyone was able to perform.
Everyone was able to play together.
And just in that talistration I showed you,
everyone was playing their position.
No one was getting over his else.
And if they did, they did it together.
Yeah, I love that we got the highlight, Millie,
because I got to coach him.
And I knew that he was one of the better players, right?
When they qualified for Pro League,
he was top-racking every single game.
and to see him finally have his first game
where he's going positive.
I mean, that could do wonders for your mental.
I mean, you just went a whole stage of getting kind of destroyed.
I'm not going to lie.
Like, he was a bottom five player in the in-ale,
and he might even still be rated near that bottom 10 area.
But still having a good game.
Having a good game and finally proving to yourself that,
like, hey, I can belong here.
I do belong here.
I can play against some of the better players.
I mean, that was wild card, right?
That's not against another bottom tier team.
That's against the NAL Stage 1 champions.
That's huge for the mental for the young guy
and I just, I wanna see him keep that going forward.
Right, that's the challenge today.
Can they keep that mental up
against a very difficult team in Dark Zero?
Let's find out where we're gonna end up
for our final best of one of the night.
It'll be Villa here, so we'll get some back-to-back
Villa action to close out the night.
Do you like this pick for Outlast lacks?
It's, again, not a great sample size.
It was against five fears.
It was a close series
and what did we find out in that series from Iconic?
It was Gap City.
They were able to exploit five fears.
That's not going to be the exact same game plan,
going against Arcadeo.
They're going to have to work a little harder.
But again, it goes back into what I was talking about.
It's that coordination.
It's the communication between one another
and everyone being on the same page.
I mean, I love it for Outlast, just in the sense
where it kind of seems like Villa is becoming
kind of a simple map for teams.
I don't want to put it in the step-by-step map
category, like the clubhouse that we watched
before, very simple.
But a lot of teams are having a very good understanding
on how to attack this map.
Last was one of those where they were
Using a lot of pulling pressure onto the study side and then taking the master side, right?
Which was something that I highlighted with iconic moving around and getting a lot of free space
And this is a big map this allows iconic now because of the basement rework and everything
There's a lot of room for the X factors their lurkers on this map specifically
But when I say iconic, I mean you also got to look at the other side of things
Newers is a top three rated player
especially as a lurker and for what he does on DZ.
So you're also going to this map.
It's allowing him a lot of free room as well to move around.
Also, we're thinking about Dark Zero.
They had never lost two games in a row,
also never lost three games in a row.
So who knows what could happen here against Atlas?
I don't know. You cursed them out.
You're planting the seeds a little bit.
Anything could happen that much is clear this stage in the NAL.
For the final time tonight,
will pass things over to Jesse
and XR Troy got to get this one
underway.
Jonah, thank you very much.
Indeed, we are going to be headed
to Villa for our final game of
the night.
Little bit back to back to close
things out.
And hey, I'm not mad about it.
I quite like Villa and I quite
enjoy watching what these teams
have to show on this map for
us.
Dark Zero versus Outlast.
A real battle here, Jesse.
Dark Zero who, let's be honest,
I feel like they should be in
in the lead of board right now and outlast two I think we're still trying to figure out
Yeah, 100% I think dark zero have not really been playing to their expectations now a couple of those losses were very close and
One of those losses on villa to start the stage was played without their full five-man roster
Of course DZ opening day versus a wild card
They had to sub in Koshy instead of Jane I know and they ended up losing that game pretty badly
They bounce back when they won this map the second time the plate at the second time and one of the first time versus and 80
So one-on-one on the map and an opening duel
Why not going for newers as he catches tyrants on a spawn peak finding the lion player before you even into the building?
It's not really where you want to be is that I'm going to be honest
DZ showing aggression right out of the gate here, and it's not going to end then
We're still happy for a bit of a wiggle onto that main door too, but we will back off from it Millie
Play the desk has recently been highlighting
We're playing Rora
Looking to try and block some stuff off
For me one of the more exciting things about Villa coming back as a map is seeing it with all the new operators that we've got now
That's not a new operator though. Warden is able to take our treadmill because he just got lost as soon as he got into study
caught looking the wrong way. Oh not a great time to be iconic either as he's
likely gonna get shot in the back. No does make his way to the safety of this
90 corridor but he too is on one HP now and send out a drone and see if there's
anything for him to find. But Dark Zero have done damage and they've done damage
early. This has been a brutal start to the game for Outlast. It doesn't get
much worse than this. Millie least has study control. He's got one more
Roura in his pocket that he can use to try to lock this down, but no 1v5, that was optimistic,
just tries to go for a walk in. It's a flawless victory to start things off for Dark Zero and
Oli, I think around you just have to immediately try to forget. It felt like every single one of
those deaths, you know, they weren't looking the right way. Outlast weren't able to have a fair
gunfight. They were just caught off guard by a position they weren't expecting. They're
going to have to be a little sharper than that if they want any hope of taking down the
the major champions. Yeah, bit of a beat down really for round one. And I don't want to say
that that could be, you know, foreshadowing or a little taster perhaps of how the matchup
is going to go. But if DarkZero were pulling these kind of tricks right out of the gate,
it's not going to be great, is it? It's not going to be an easy day in the office
before outlast. The flawless round to kick things off here. It's DarkZero barely
have to break a stride. And you know what? The opening pick is great as it is to see.
I don't know that without it that round changes too much. I don't think that Dark Zero will
play it too differently if they don't get that opening pick.
Yeah, I agree 100%. I mean, you take down Tyrant thoroughly. It's nice. You're always
going to take those picks, but one way or another, Tyrant was not really going to
have too much impact. You have to imagine playing there on the line. Tyrant unfortunately
our lowest rate of player here in the North America League, so needs to find
some way to get back into the action, the former Eminem star coming over from
Europe. He's now in Mexico alongside Joystick playing on this Outlast team,
hoping to make a comeback out of the retirement home and into the North
American League. It's been okay, certainly better than I think the last
couple stages for Outlast, but maybe not quite where the expectations were
hoping to be. Well I mean the expectation I think was was fairly mixed right you know you kind of
look at the look at the roster and think to yourself well you've got essentially three players coming in
all of which have gone on and previously done great things have been on brilliant teams but
basically coming out of retirement and and saw bringing the band back together I think there
was always going to be that sort of adjustment period for this roster and where it you know
sits in the end is kind of anyone's guess right now.
But I must admit, it is nice to see an iconic,
it's nice to see, it's great to see
an entire and all back in the server.
Villa, of course, being the map that they kind of
made their entrance onto the stage with really,
wasn't it, in a lot of ways.
That big first game that they had,
so kind of fond memories of sort of,
you know, of watching this team on this map,
even if it is just, you know,
sort of so recent sort of thing,
But the task that they've got today coming up against the stars there or stay is nothing short of
Monumental keynote what a position for a smoke to be by the way like who expects can just go for a stroll
That's the source of the keynote does three times your favorite this time
But no he's going upstairs and he's gonna grab the opening pick on to iconic doesn't fancy a challenge
Doesn't fancy going to assist falls downstairs instead might just doubled it might recommit to this little float upstairs that he's on
Did he just shoot the can opener off the hatch playing from that upstairs position?
I mean he's having so much value for his team Kino gets so much done on this smoke position
He's played through the whole round by the way. It's not like he late moved into that spot. They just didn't get a drone on
The kill from nervous is joystick will be the next player to fall
We're still yet to the outlast get a kill inside of this game
And it doesn't like it's coming anytime soon Kino did indeed go for the double dip upstairs kill on
to Millie through the wall. A great angle to find and a problem that Outlast just never
really dealt with. Tyrant will find the first kill here as he will be able to take Neuers
out but it feels like a consolation prize. Caught outside in the cellar, all the proof
camera looking at him, clashed with a shield, barbed wire at his feet, which he will
get rid of, and three Dark Zero players are ready to swing at a moment's notice.
is not going to be a very
tough situation that he finds himself in.
It could have been any one of the remaining players.
It just so happens, NJR
was a bit quicker to the punch.
It's another tough round for Outlast
to be frank with you, Ollie. It doesn't really go their way.
Again, Kino is playing on those
Astro stairs the entire round
and he seemingly never gets
droned out. The information just isn't there for Outlast.
Fault is trying to protect him
towards the bottom of those Astro stairs, but
It's just a Mistro not reading that there could be a player there.
He's not on the vigil.
He's not sitting on a mute jam or anything like that.
He's just on the stairs and they failed to drone him out.
So it loses them a couple of bodies there.
I thought maybe he was able to destroy the can opener on the hatch.
I don't think he actually did as it did get opened up, but even still,
the fact that he's calling player positions for the rest of his team is
massive as well, because if he's upstairs and Astro,
they're probably not pushing down those stairs.
He can keep an eye on the hatch.
You can focus more of your attention over towards pantry or red, wherever
that push ended up coming through. So I really like that from Dark Zero.
They're staying aggressive when they need to in first round.
It was newer than the second round. It was Kino. But then inside the site,
you know, they're not overreacting. They're not panicking.
They're just playing their angles and waiting for Outlast to walk into their
demise. So can't ask for much more out of DZ.
It forces the attack time out early to come through from Outlast.
That'll be control short for controller.
The head coach of Outlast tried to get the team back on track,
But there's a lot of work to do after getting just one kill through two rounds.
Yeah, this is where the work starts really, isn't it?
You know, you can't afford to be continuing to go down and down and down.
You've got to just sort of reset, hit that mental reset and just go,
yeah, round three would take it one round at a time.
Dark Zero, not really struggling in the kill department on that side of things.
Between Newey and NJR, they've got six.
And Gino, well, I mean, the two that he got for me are worth 20.
just because of the way that he's able to get them.
He's a beautiful player to watch at times.
And he plays some really nice siege,
so always a player that I have a keen interest in keeping up with.
This time, we'll be rocking the cave.
So looking to try and play a little bit on that statuary wall,
but the C4 has piqued my interest.
She'll go now.
Just going to be going for the little spawn peak.
C4, what a throw as well.
Lines it up perfectly.
The timing on to Treadmark.
I mean, if you're a Trevmite, you just sit there and you go, what can I do?
Like, just realistically, what am I going to do about that?
There's nothing that you can do if someone's going to see you for you like that.
Yeah, we got a shot of his player cam from over there too, and just the arms above his head.
Like, he's having a bad start to this game.
The whole team's falling apart and you have to imagine that's tilting.
But as the captain, as the IGL, and a team full of veterans being kind of the rookie
who has to be a leader, you know you have to keep your head on straight even when the
round starts as poorly as it has. They're still in this round. Running many of the same
operators that they showed against Five Fears, you mentioned it back there opening game of
the stage, they played on Villa, but they're bringing Tyrants again on the stands, they're
bringing Nilly again on the Rams, Trevmak again on the Ying. Like these are the same
attacking operators that we've come to expect from Outlast when attacking onto the kitchen,
but does pay off, they kill Kino, Iconic finds an angle as he's worked his way
into 90 so there is progress being made from Outlast Dark Zero there's still plenty of answers
go inside the site.
Oh, big kill there from Fools as he catches Tyrone just trying to walk himself in.
It just feels so disconnected from Outlast right now everyone's like opposite ends of
the map and no one in a position to trade themselves.
Iconics gonna drop out and hop himself outside.
Kind of fancy NJR for the C4 there but fancy footwork above Milly is gonna be
able to evade it briefly. Call going out onto NJR as well, but he's got space and he's got
time. He can answer that phone call and avoid the damage. Still a whole minute in this round.
Everything that's been happening has been happening, you know, quite quickly in the early couple
of minutes of the round and we sort of hit this mid-round stall where we've got a bit
of utility. We're trying to make use of it, but you know it's going to end with
a stairway push. You know it's going to end with people just eventually going
to the shotguns that NJR and Neuers both hold on these angles.
Ooh, not able to dish out the finish and blow.
It's iconic.
Slams a couple of bullets onto Neuers as he scurries away.
Millie with a diffused skit's going to shut a flax swing
towards the site.
There's a couple of players he's got to worry about.
Most notably, you're close to shotgun.
That's NJR just inside a dining.
It's Neuers, though, from Pantry.
They hit the long angle.
Jane, I know one more joystick in the 1VX
is only good enough for one outlast,
unable to put the pieces together once again. It's 3 o DZ. Yeah. Dark zero showing no signs
of struggling here tonight. Obviously the shaky starts this season, the fact that they
weren't able to feel Jane. I know Jane. I know of course, making up for it in the subsequent
play days, just going absolutely mentally. He's been one of the quieter members so far
on this dark zero austere side. But I'll be honest, Jesse, I don't know that there's
been room for him between the top performers. It's just been back to back, hasn't it?
We've really not been missing a beat,
we've not been missing a gunfight, an outlast,
at the moment, ah, I mean, is it gonna be a 7-0?
Like, there's nothing that indicates to me
that they're gonna be able to pull this back
because we're just seeing,
we're seeing five individual players right now
on our stream, we're not seeing a team.
I have to agree, I mean, I didn't want to be the first
to say the word 7-0, but I was thinking it,
and you know, you're right, 100%.
Like, they're not playing as a team,
they're playing as five individuals,
And if you're playing as 500 rules, fine.
But I also don't take any of the individuals
on Outlast over the individuals on Dark Zero.
Like if it's 1v1s everywhere,
but they're winning at least a good chunk of them,
that's something.
But all of these gunfights, too,
like the 1v1 engagements are consistently
going the way of Dark Zero.
You're seeing a couple of bad fights
come through from Outlast,
and it's been tough to see them try to pull it back
so far yet to find any success.
On maybe a lighter note,
it is nice seeing Iconic and Jane I Know
in the server together once again.
These two actually made their pro league debut together
back on June 25th, 2020,
when J9O subbed in for Sonics
when Sleb and Golfy were on the roster.
And they played their opening match together
against DarkZero.
They won that game in the best of three.
And I kind of set the stage for J9O and Iconic
to form this duo that will grow on the strongest,
get to a major finals against DarkZero, make top four at S.I.
Have a very long career together before
a strong scout back bought by SSG and iconic's risk got injured.
Almost a full circle moment.
Yeah, exactly.
Doers, doers found it funny.
So I think back to, you know, players and rosters
and different sort of combinations that used to be very prevalent
like way back in the day, obviously, you look at someone like Jada
I know now he's incredibly established on this dark zero roster, but you know, there is a time when it was, you know
This first game or you know, he's finished out himself thing or very early to stage
It's just just feel like such a long time ago when it and it makes me feel a little bit old and some ways
That just is what it is
Newest fancies himself doesn't he? He's four and one right now
He's got the commander and he's taking a cross map engagement
But folks is gonna beat him to that opening pick taking down iconic
might be able to even answer the phone down there as well, it's going to be able to get
away in time. Very impressive. Targeted by Outlast, phone call, engagement, but no follow-up.
Iconic, no expecting the engagement or not ready for it in whatever capacity, but no
teammate on his shoulder to really back him up, make use of the phone call, and of course
take falls down, instead he's just gone to the wind. Now, bootied up with Jane,
I know as they can both just sort of trade this position one can hold the stairs the other can run down and out and sir
It's teamwork, and they just it's brilliant to see
And even at this point like they're stalling so much time out lots are so worried about red stairs
They're worried about still the door outside the building like there's so many positions that they have to be concerned about
And they're still unable to work back a pic
This is what happens every round dark zero
They'll get themselves an aggressive pick by fighting aggressively for the opening frag and then they just sit back in site
They force outlasts to waste their own time and they hold good angles inside the site. It's the same story on Dark Zero
Millie he's gonna find one eventually onto me as we saw numerous he was playing a little bit loose and fast in this round
This should be a layup right now and Tyrant will make a bit of a meal of it
But does take NJR down a bit more site control here as Treadmark is gonna join in on to the action
Claw looking the wrong way Jaina on the stairs will be taken out. What a shot from Force!
No way!
He's only got one more to find, Treadmite's come off the diffuser, he was trying to plan
that, he's now got himself in a sticky spot, he could have maybe got away with it, but
Fools is going to have the information, the sound cue, the solos, everything working for
him right now, what a rotation, utilising the impact, Treadmite's got no idea, finally
gets a clue, little bit of a prefire from both players and now it's a ring around
the rosy, Fools is one HP, but it doesn't matter, it's the ace, plenty of time,
time to disable that activated diffuser and a clean four rounds for Dark Zero.
Oh, Fault, one of the most brilliant clutches of his long and storied career.
The major champion, the world champion, puts the pieces together for the 1v4 ace and clutch,
perfectly played by the Dark Zero captain.
He's running it on the Solus after getting that opening pick down on the mid-floor and
and then just finds all of those kills as he's hitting perfect shots, he's positioned himself perfectly.
There's always going to be an element of like, did the enemy team play poorly and in a 1v4 you have to say yes they did,
but you know, it's panicking, there's 20 seconds left, they're trying to get the fuse get down, they're in the middle of an execute.
What's so impressive is that like he gets active, he doesn't waste his own time,
he gets active while the execute is happening so that those players cannot regroup,
They can't get themselves into a 2v1 or 3v1 where they play with themselves or they play
with it if use gets down.
The only diff- I won't say the only diff of the kill, but the hardest kill was the last
kill in the 1v1 because before that he was able to really capitalize on the chaos that
was happening in the execute.
Just so perfectly played by Faults, a brilliant round to come out from him, and frankly
a mental boomer on the side of Outlast.
I mean if you thought things were that before, they're even worse now.
Yeah sure you've lost three rounds fine, but now you've just lost an ace clutch
essentially as Fulcher's just waddled in and picked up. I mean the shot that he hit
onto the player that was inside of vault was just yeah beautiful. The second shot
I mean the guy gave him a joystick game himself away you know he prefired you
could see the tracer boom he's ready and waiting and Trevmack's gone from
thinking this is a layup like we're three versus one and I'm gonna get the
plant down to now oh my goodness I'm in a one versus one what do I do? He's
still had a phone call as well. Jesse that was the thing that kind of wound me up a little bit.
Somebody else needs to plant there, the phone call needs to go out, you need to make it as
difficult as possible but Fultz counted all of that with how quickly he moved and like you said,
just how active he was able to be. Speaking of being active, Treadmite gonna try and take
Mars into his own hands here as we're seeing a double shield be brought. Millie will fall,
Tyrant grabs one and I'm sure that we see Jane I know go down but not before he takes
He's treading my down completely, going out the nikes!
He's dumb-balled shields with the shotgun, Jesse!
This shouldn't be allowed to happen!
That was an excellent rush attempt from our last,
and he's just fallen flat on its face!
All right, all right, I get it.
Funny joke, you thought instead of playing the game,
we're just gonna make a highlight reel.
We're gonna get a bunch of clips on Villa.
We're gonna show Dark Zero hitting some nasty shots.
This must have been pre-recorded
in like a ranked game or something,
like Dark Zero are just making magic over and over and over again in Outlast.
They're just not able to find a response to it.
I appreciate them trying something new there.
Nothing else has been working for Outlast, so they go for a rush straight into the basement.
The double shield makes it happen, but Jaina I know with the Thorn shotgun goes so huge
to shut it down.
Newers get some big kills in the midst of that as well.
Every angle is being watched.
Everything is being covered.
The push is read perfectly by DZ and we are speedrunning the final game of the night
I'm almost at a loss for words Jesse
The thing that annoys me the most is outlasted a really good job there essentially they got into the side
They got a lot of control and they just I don't want to say they failed on the mechanics of it
But that's where they fell down and it's been the same story all night. It's been the mechanics
It's been the gun flies. You put any two shield players. You put two good shield players in that position.
There's no way Jane Inao gets to be. There's no way.
You get someone like a savage on one of those shields. He's not getting two kills.
Now, I know Savage made a bit of a meal of it before he gets Pamber, but we'll kind of...
We'll overlook that. We're still going to give him this credit, you know?
Of course. The fact that Jane Inao is able to get away with that is what
Dog Zero are getting away with in this fixture that baffles me the most.
I'm not going to get any easier, Mint showed it before the game started, Dark Zero the 9th
best defense team, they've really struggled on this side of the map, but what Mint didn't
tell you as well, which makes this even worse for Outlasts is that the 10th best defense
team is actually Outlasts who will have to play defense, they seemingly will have
to go flawless on their defense half here on Villa as well, I mean even at this
The job is oh so tough the best they can hope for is one round to give themselves some breathing room
And they swap these sides, but it's not gonna be easy shutting down a nitrocell from njr
That was the pulse feeding some information to himself, but doesn't quite get that kill
Kinos has been wasted as well
So they don't have to worry about any of these nitrocells for the rest of the round, but so much work still to be done.
Oh good the nitrocell is gone, show it, that means we're gonna win.
It's been a part of the problem, hasn't it, but it has by no means been the full picture.
They are going to be able to start to move through though, can be utilised in rounds
to just give themselves a couple of inroads into the site.
I don't even feel available for NJR right now, kind of worried about below, but this
is pretty one dimensional on this top floor, everyone's in at the moment in this master
area.
Thirsty. Can you play that now, might try and lock off and secure some of these flanks?
Should be able to get the ram moving as well and start spacing out, but there it is. Open and pick it again!
TREVMAC running the fuse. We saw Canadian running the fuse earlier in today's broadcast.
TREVMAC before today was the only player in the NA who had run fused and he will die
as there's a flank from FALSE who is 9-0.
9 and 0 looking to go double digits before he fights his finds his first death in this half
5v3 is tired to trap back up now both fallen numerous like pick on two iconic and it just looks so easy when you're dressed in purple
There's a lot to do isn't there
There is a hell of a lot to do another occasion where we find ourselves five dark zero players alive false
desperate for his 10th but doesn't want to overplay his hand. Just always got to do his
sit there and hold the angle. Two kills on the round. J9 out to finish things up. Another
flawless here for DZ. What an opening half this has been. Desk. I mean good luck.
I mean I think Jesse said it best. It looks so easy when you're just wearing purple.
These dark zero boys are absolutely rolling over outlasts right now. Lacks. I mean
this seems as open and shut as it's going to get. Last time I said anything to
any player hating towards outlast I got a whole compilation made on Twitter so my hand is up to you
well wait the last time I keep hyping up a team they just completely blow up and can't win around
so I'm gonna let you handle it I'll just do your job that's yeah exactly I will then let's talk about
fault I mean this guy had an insane performance I mean he drops what the most beautiful clutch
we saw tonight in this game he's putting up insane number two is eight no in the midway
through that round. Yeah, we'll see it again. I mean, this guy has been performing out of his mind,
guys. And he just continuing to put up the numbers. I mean, here it was the 1v1,
and he gets the ace and the round win. Listen, we were highlighting IGLs in the Cloud 9 game of
Dama Drop and 19 kills. Now we're highlighting folds again again, 10 and 0 for the half. That
was a beautiful ace. Great way to handle that 1v1 in that situation. I know as hard as
was to have one kill this man.
We saw the player cam and you could tell.
Moments like that, you don't want to pick up anything.
Your hands are shaking.
Yeah, I mean, he's definitely costing the team right there
with 100% cost.
I mean, he's having what you would call a perfect game.
And from the IGL, like you said,
he's stepping up in the big moments.
But other than that, I mean, for the Darkseer defense,
previously the ninth best defense in the league, guys,
I'm sure this stat is going to move them up.
They're going to move right in there somewhere.
make a compilation of you being there would be a lot of slips on that there
would be a lot of slips on that but anyways I mean it was a great defensive
half I mean yes there was a lot of meta operators being brought from outlast but
they just couldn't do anything with them there was constantly what they we would
call cheesing right you're going for spawn peaks or they're throwing C4s
towards the spawn they're not letting outlasts get in to the building and
right now they're not even letting outlasts stay in the lobby it looks
like joysticks said nope I'm done cap city definitely wasn't a thing for
I really have to know what happened. I think was it round five or round four were it was basement and the shield players
Someone got knocked to the ground and was able to recover and still able to kill someone
I don't know what happened in that round in basement, but it was chaotic and
Yeah, I got I got to go. Yeah. I mean I will say there has been a lot of good moments for Atlas
But besides, you know not being able to get an opening kill or killful
There hasn't a lot of good moments, but I kind of agree with what the cast was saying.
I mean, there's kind of just a little bit of a kill diff.
You know, we're just not able to press our left mouse button today.
And right now it looks like DZ or just again, it is three.
It is kind of a highlight reel.
Who has three?
Oh, let's go.
We got a clap for the guy.
I mean, that was their bottom rated fragger getting three.
You know it's not going well when Tyron's getting three.
I mean, we were just saying, Millie, you just went positive, man.
But I mean, let's be honest.
Yeah, the other thing for our last to that's interesting real quick
We were talking about inconsistent teams. What's going on? I last did it just get seven out
Then they somehow beat wild card and now I I'm gonna be honest with you guys
I think we're gonna be seeing each other real quick because I think this is another seven
Yeah, this one feels like just one of those games
I know we're pause right now as we're waiting on someone to get back into into the lobby
But this is just feels like one of those games that barring this delay
I mean we will be jumping back right here to close out the day in just a few minutes
What are you doing in this situation, John?
Like if you were the coach of Outlast or a player like that,
what are you doing to get everyone back on the saddle?
That is a great question.
I think I'm telling the boys to just throw everything out.
And you got to hit the reset button.
Oh, that's what I don't like to hear as the coach.
You don't hear that many times when the player is nothing's working
and you're like, guys, throw out the strap book.
Let's all just run around.
But genuinely, like if nothing's working, you're getting out frag.
You have to look in the mirror and say what we're currently doing.
Well in the strap look if it disaster we're now switching over to the defensive half
Do you just go in with your game plan and just say all right guys? I guess we're well prepared enough
Let's just do what we prepare. I mean their game coach Kyle. I mean we'll first off their game plan
They can't even get into the building so well now they're in the building
They are in this I mean first off I would probably check my attachments we're on the defensive side
I mean I would probably make sure I got the the Richie barrel on
Primarily if you have the Richard barrel on you're guaranteed to get a couple kills and clearly if we look at the kill department
That's where they are lacking. You know besides that I mean just like the kill the case here. Look at the opening kills
They're not getting any they're not getting any
I mean if we're being serious there for a second on the defensive side of things
Again, this is what you're highlighting in your in your in your illustration, right? This is a chance for them to be
mature, lock in, get a couple rounds,
get some man bandages hopefully,
and lock them out.
And even if you only get a round or two here, right?
You need to build on something for the next game coming up.
Tomorrow, you can't get seven out twice in two weeks here.
I mean, every comeback does start with a single round one.
So let's not say can't happen.
We might be back here pretty quickly.
Lots of cope over here on the desk, boys.
I think we just closed this one out with you guys.
Take it away.
Thank you guys. Yes, we'll see how long this one lasts before we head straight back to the studio
I've got a couple record watches going on here, Ollie
And I want to preface this by saying my numbers only go so far as the blast era
So I don't have any numbers before 2023
But with that in mind, Fox is currently on pace to have the best EPS of his career for the first time ever
Currently sitting at a 203 EPS. The first time he's ever broken 200
If you can keep that up to the rest of this match,
an outlast on pace to have the most dominant loss in NAL history.
With just eight kills so far in this game,
they would tie the record that they set themselves last week,
getting only eight kills and a 7-0 loss.
You don't want to be tying the records for worst or, you know, least good, do you?
You want to be tying the records for best?
So, yeah, it's a struggle in to see the improvement, really, I think, for Outlast in the first half.
And, you know, it's, 7-0 is a really awkward one, because you can't just go and, like,
dog on one team, like, you know, super hard, but you've kind of got to say what you see,
right? And from what we've seen so far, things haven't been looking too good.
Dark Zero, couple of flawless rounds thrown in there, false, you know, his numbers
speak for themselves right now. It really just feels like, you know, a when not really
an if, you know, for the conclusion of this game. That isn't great though. Oh, that's
even worse. Oh, we will recover though. Iconic finds one. Kino will be there for the refrag.
Kino himself is to count his lucky stars. Tremac finds one on to Neuers. A bit of
advantage right now for Outlast. The iconic's opening gambit has worked to a degree but they've
still left up Kino on Netflix.
Yeah, still a 3v4 for Dark Zero. I kind of favor them in this situation, but NJR's taking
some early damage and J9o's in a tough spot. He's got a player on Astro stairs that's
going out at any point and taking down Kino. We'll fall. There's J9o and we've got
life! Outlast, one kill away from getting around.
NGR, tough spot to be in.
Sidearm out.
Ooh, lined it up perfectly, but the recall not being too kind.
Joystick on the other end of it.
And the player that you want to be missing your shots against.
Outlast.
Find themselves around here as DarkZero.
Kind of tried to just walk in.
And to be honest, Jesse, it was maybe a little bit sloppy.
They didn't have a lot of information.
They didn't really know where anybody on the side of Outlast was.
Listen, I'm not going to say that DarkZero aren't taking this seriously, because
I don't think that's true. I'm not going to say that Dark Zero aren't playing their best because I don't even think that's true
But do they go for that style of an attack if they're playing in the SI Grand Finals against FaZe Clan?
Probably not. They're probably checking their corners a little bit better. They're probably watching for certain positions
Maybe they're playing a little bit more as a unit so they can get some more trades
It definitely felt like a bit of an ego round from Dark Zero as they tried to push quite individually for multiple different parts of the map
Iconic and a rat spot get in the opening pick. I mean that's a tough one could have had two
So thankfully he missed his couple of shots and you didn't walk away with too much damage from that play
But even still DZ looking to close this one out
Plenty more chances to end this one out and get yourself three points if they can do that all they will jump up in the standings
they will get themselves up to
ten overall points and
Bolt space station for fifth place overall
I was looking at that before the game started thinking, you know, you know where DZ gonna gonna land after this
you know, pending a limb, pending it all the time,
pending a loss, whatever it might be.
Um, still only good for fifth.
You know, still a lot of work to do really
for this DZ roster, obviously.
Not as down and out as some in the league,
but it's, you know, I know means a guarantee.
Um, and they've got to be careful there.
They've only got five chances against Outlast.
Um, just to see if they're going to be able to.
I'm joking, I'll have to, I'll never get you with that one.
I've seen more 6-0 streaks than I have Ace Glutters. I'll say that.
True.
True.
And we've already seen one of those tonight.
Yes, we have.
These have got a lot of room to work with here. And like you say, sometimes, you know,
a team that is incredibly disciplined, it's nice to have a little bit of a relax round
every now and then and just sort of, you know, try to look at a bit of a hopping, but I don't
think that that's going to be the idea here, not with how slow instead they are taking things.
A little bit of control going on inside a kitchen.
Sforz is going to try and start to move his way through.
Oh, Joystick actually just walked up the red stairs.
He's tall floor now all of a sudden.
Great position.
Something that Neuers has got a pretty good idea as to where he could be though.
You know we'll start to walk through and try and get a little bit of control of bottom astro
Or bet belt and braces check but didn't check the roof or the grids mark
I'm just be concerned
I'm gonna challenge it too heavily on that barbed wire knowing these stunned out as well
I like joysticks position though. You mentioned it earlier
You talk about Kino flanking on the smoke and it's fun and games and it's great when it pays off
But it's not many better than vigil to do it
Certainly not. When he strikes, it's gonna be so critical for the result of this round.
Joystick has the ability to win this out for his team, but he's gotta be careful. They
seem to be aware of his spot. For now, they've kinda given up on worrying about him. Most
of their players still sitting inside a kitchen. NGR will hold the red stairs. There's probably
some eyes on Astro as well. So they can take their time with it. 45 seconds approaching
on the clock. Dark Hero will need to make some kind of an execute quickly. They've
got the hatch open and after control, Kino's in the site.
Just gonna burn one of those razor blames and joystick has made his play will
teach a 90 down and being positioned to fight on the site. And it's a good thing
because that's where his team need him. You know, they'd be trying to battle
through trying to buy his team a little bit of space right now, but nothing
he's able to do is really working out and caught up by ADS with the utility
that he's throwing. He's got players on the stairs right next to him,
needs to try and push and find himself a kill false. The next player to fall
here to Outlast continuing to dominate here on this defensive side. Joystick ended up with
two and Millie to get one at the end as well. Outlast doing a much better job of holding on here.
Yeah, a couple of nice defenses now as Dark Zero are just being picked apart a little bit,
their attention's being pulled in multiple different directions. I feel like they had so
much time on the clock and they had some idea that Joystick was up there on the
roam because they were flank watching him so hard. I would have liked to see them maybe
maybe just commit to clearing this guy. I mean, Joystick is all alone. His entire team
is in the basement. If you sprint up those stairs, take the 1v5. At least you don't have
to worry about him when you are going for that execute. Maybe he gets a kill or two,
but it would have been something to just take their mind off things so that they can
focus more on just getting down towards the site because when they went for it,
they lose Jaina and O on the Astro stairs. That really forces them kind of just down
red just into that arches hallway where they're trying to push in towards the
site and it ends up becoming a little bit one-dimensional. I think it was Fulton
Newers that were still kind of playing over on the garage side. So there was
other dimension to that push, but because Outlast were able to get that early pick
and then coalesce around the bomb site, hunker back in, play around their trades,
play around their positions, they're just in a better spot to win that one out
with the guns and the positions that they had. So credit words do, Outlast,
making this far more competitive than I think we were giving them credit for
after the halftime and putting an idea in this head that the two worst
defending teams in the league might be able to go 12-0 on defense.
It's a stretch, but it's definitely a might, isn't it?
It's there. The line is there.
OK, I can see the line.
For me, the telling thing is,
and I'm not sitting here suggesting that dogs are in hot water
by any stretch of imagination.
But the telling thing is that we saw the timeout.
Now, call out is quite particular with this timeout.
is very clinical in those timeouts as well. The information is usually quite direct. So the fact
that call out is felt the need to call that timeout after only really seeing two rounds,
one of which I think we're all going to sort of chalk off as Dark Zero didn't really just drone,
they tried to walk in that in round seven. Round eight, there was some genuine stall
going on. There was some genuine indecision on how they wanted to try and deal with various
things whether it was joystick on the roam getting himself back to site or whether it was just taking
the site apart itself so the fact that we've seen the timeout and especially before we've seen
three bomb sites played you know it's a telling thing in the fixture I don't think it's gonna
you know I don't I'm not sitting here and suggesting that Outlast are gonna come back
and reverse sweep entirely but there's obviously something there that needed addressing let's
Let's see how DZ reacts now, after that timeout.
Wow, here on to the third bombsite.
I guess it's gonna be aviator games to lock things down for the rotation on Outlast.
They will have to be perfect, of course.
They stay alive in this game.
They're gonna have to keep things moving.
It's always the difficult part of this, right?
When you're calling your tap-timeout,
you don't even know necessarily what rotation Outlast are going to play.
They have played every bombsite on this map, so we expect them to be running all four sites in this game versus DarkZero.
But J9O taking in control of down below, he's playing on this Zofia, he's looking to get a kill with these depth charges,
he's looking to be able to find a freebie onto one of these anchor players.
These Astro guys as well, they're still just being held, they're not committing to full clearing them.
Milly Big C4 on to NJR, Kino will respond though. Takes Iconic down.
He'll prime them ready for a second here as he's trying to hold his position right now
on this 90 corridor. Faults. Yet to find a kill on this attack inside.
Kino big pre-fire there. Oh just a little bit above that crouch level though.
Trev's continuing to try and walk up on him but Kino's baiting him beautifully there.
is just done a little bit too much for me.
Yeah, he knows done so much and now the movements are being forced because all the pressure's
coming forward.
Joystick has to move.
Millie and Tyrant the last two alive.
Tyrant in the 1v4, he will take the fight on study.
Wins the first one.
Three to find.
I'm now going to go down.
Tyrant, very low draws to the shot and anticipating close range engagements.
Still has the smoke, the death mark on him.
It's going to be a very tough spot for him.
Christmas will give him a bit of information, but it is not going to be enough.
Final kill coming in there, an inevitable end after the dominant start that DarkZero had.
They take a full 3 points here on Villa.
Huge credit to Call Out, recognizing the issue, is putting the team back together for a solid win here to close things out.
Another full 3 points to DarkZero will vault them up the standing.
We've got our desk standing by with the full implications of this dominant win.
Thank you, Jesse. Thanks, Ollie. I mean, what a way to finish for DarkZero. They close things
out confidently over Outlast after the tech, after the tack timeout. Really no doubt in
that first half. And a little bit of life there from Outlast shown in that second
half, but wrapped up pretty quickly. Into playoff position, go DarkZero. Something
we didn't think we would have to say at this stage in the game, but they showed
us why they are well the one of the best teams in North America they're not
gonna lose three times in a row they're not gonna lose to outlast confident win
over their opponents. Well you were the one trying to jinx with the three in a row.
We just know it's not gonna happen. We knew that was not gonna happen. Come on now.
Finally able to take down outlast. Never thought we'd have to ever say that but
yeah I mean we are not we're not worried they're not gonna miss. What am I
They're not going to miss out on playoffs. There it is guys. Oh, it's it might be a little late
We're not gonna miss out on playoffs we know that the question is the finishing and against that last
We're not really gonna be able to see anything. I'm gonna be completely honest. We need to see them against some of the other opponents
yes, and
What they were able to do though at last was able to take down Fulton that was keen he finally
This is what I mean. It's 2 AM. We completely lose.
Can we pick a small tier?
And a room on EPS.
I got some questions.
I don't know if the interview is ready. You're going to have to keep talking. We got to wait for you.
I mean, I do think it was important Alas was able to ruin Fultz EPS.
We heard Jess talking about it.
What was happening is lifetime career stat performance.
The small wins that account.
Well, I think it's important that they get two rounds, that they didn't end on a 7-0.
But, again, for DarkZero, four and three points, I never counted them out of possibly being out of playoffs.
I mean, this is the team that we know and love and that we highlight time and time again,
which is why we go back to SLC and how dominant they were.
And, I mean, they didn't fall to your prediction of possibly, you know, losing three times in a row.
So that's important.
Well, we got results today to look back at what was Play Day 6 already here in the group stage.
only three days left after today 100 thieves they opened up the day with an
8-6 win if you didn't catch that one it was a good one against five fears but
unfortunately was played out in a 4v5 for the first half of that SR cloud 9
stay undefeated I mean a great way to round things out for them so the 18
points cloud 9 cannot be touched they will certainly be in the playoffs that
much is for certain, but down below even 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, anything can happen there.
Finally, we see four fun drop out of the playoff picture, outlasts close behind, and M80, the
biggest loser on the day. A loss today. Three points to their name, and they no longer
control their own fate.
It's kind of crazy to see the round count do last place, only minus five, but I mean
the big story that it's going to be is that sixth spot for playoffs because I think it's
going to be that for fun team and that space station team. Right. It's going to be between
one of them, but both of them losing and both of them kind of continuing to lose. I mean,
at some point someone's got to break that. Someone's got to earn the sixth spot and
you know, hopefully for my prediction, SSG kind of turned some things around. But right
now we haven't seen any, anything good at the beginning of the stage. We had that
call your shot segment. You said SSG, even though they're in first place,
couldn't miss the playoffs. He said, we'll, we'll miss the playoff.
He said, and maybe we'll also miss the playoffs.
And both of those things could certainly be,
give yourself some credit. You said,
that will be the MVP.
Well, on his way to doing that,
definitely as well as way of doing that. So, I mean,
talk to me about like just real quick before we wrap things up,
like SSG hanging on.
You still have some teams down there, including for fun.
Like from what you've seen today,
Who do you think could be in those last couple of spots?
Like right now it's looking a little more normal.
Like you said, I think it really is going to be a big point
between whether it's going to be for fun or it's going to be SSG.
But that's where kind of everything comes into play here
is that they had a great super week.
They were able to win out and which
is why they're still in a comfortable position.
They still can control their own fate.
But they definitely won't be able to control their own fate
if we're seeing the exact same performance from one week
to the next.
Things have to change.
And as we said with their schedule,
still going to be a tough schedule.
It's going to be tough, but I think the only thing they have in their favor is I do think four funds
Schedules a little bit harder plus are those points behind? Yeah
Well, we got real quick before we wrap things up for the night
We got full standing by after this win we talked about during the game folks
You had some pretty impressive numbers yourself, but as a team you guys played well
I mean after back-to-back losses did that light of fire under you guys today?
Yeah, I think it's many you saw in like the last week of practice
we've had. We've probably had the most productive week of practice. We've had in like a long
time. You know, we don't take like these setbacks lightly. Our practice only get more
heinous. So yeah, we've been taking it very serious. I'm just trying to get better at
what we need to.
Foltz, congratulations on the win. I was thinking about it right there. I got two questions
for you. One, I mean, what the people want to know first off, what was the pre-game
song for DZ coming into this game?
Justin Bieber song they're playing I'm kind of like getting sick of it a little
Wow I was kind of like bring the vibes down yeah no there's a little turmoil
Is it just the songs that they're choosing or is it just the entire thing?
Oh it's just the songs that you know.
That's right.
I don't have any personal thoughts.
We gotta miss some breaking news.
I told you a pregame segment the beef in the DZ camp anyway just kidding.
We hear all from you guys all the time,
you know, very, very professional culture
and everything over there that obviously losing
is learning, it's good to lose.
But what does that specifically look like for you guys
when you are dropping, you know, two games?
I mean, how does that change in how you prepare?
The first thing is like not throwing everything
out the window, just because you're not doing good
doesn't mean you don't do anything good.
So not losing your mind when you're,
when you're not finding the success you want,
But mainly it tends to go back to the fundamentals, usually,
for us.
It's easy to just get lost in strategy or XYZ
when really a lot of the things can
be fixed just by the fundamentals.
Well, even a follow-up question to that question
is for yourself, being the IGL, you
take a lot of responsibility.
You lead a lot of the charge.
You lead a lot of the calls.
How do you go day to day to make sure
that you're coming in as fueled as possible
to be able to get through every single match
and every single opponent?
Yeah, I think one thing that helps is being grateful,
not taking my job for granted.
I try to do everything that I can to be the best caller,
whether it's watching VODs,
like when everyone else gets off for,
just doing the right thing in the moment
for the team, really.
And just to be the best version of myself,
I think it's easy to kind of make excuses
and not do really all you can.
Um, yeah, that's that's how I was gonna say that that ace was looking beautiful.
I mean, you're you're looking pretty pretty damn good out there today.
Second.
I looked young out there, didn't I?
You did.
You look like you were 18 again.
Another world championship.
I mean, here it is.
I mean, take us through these moments like did you did you think you had it when
you were in that one be one?
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
I mean, I saw you take a big breather.
Yeah, right there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Let out some steam right there.
I saw some light on the screen.
you press tab solid was trev mac confidence started flooding through i think that's what
yeah that stinks i wasn't nonchalant after that all right well up go back to the drawing board
be more nonchalant next time false thank you so much for your time a lot of respect for what
you and the guys are doing over there at dark zero and hopefully we will see you guys a bit
later all right all right see you guys thank you have a great night man dark zero they
closed things out. Hopefully not later. Hopefully. Why is that?
It's 2 AM. I didn't mean to. We're getting done until 4 AM.
All right. Well, let's take a look at what we've got coming your way tomorrow in Play
Day 7. Again, there are just nine play days in the group stage. So we have three more
after tonight. Tomorrow opens up at 2 PM Eastern with five fears and wildcard. Ooh,
JJ and Spiker baby right off the start of the day. Plundered Thieves and Outlast
Dark zero in space station and maybe they'll be looking to collect some desperately needed points at five and to close out
The night lacks. We got cloud nine and SR. That's another test for the boys. It's seen out
Honestly every single playday from one to the next. I'm always looking at cloud nine
They've easily been the most impressive. Yes. We're constantly glazing it. Well, I believe so. I
Don't want C9 to win. I just want to watch their match and but
You won the other hand
I like about you hundred thieves your favorite game. No, I think for I think for fun and 80 gentlemen
I think that's a that's a do or die put a James Bond movie poster up because that's it like at maybe loses that I mean
We're already scratching them out was what 4% scratch them out for fun as well. I mean they lose that I mean
They're just hoping space station keeps losing so I
Like I like watching where the teams slowly start getting eliminated. All right
We're gonna get to answer those questions tomorrow to all of you who joined us tonight
Thank you so much on behalf of lax and men and our entire studio crew. I'm Jonas millinger saying thanks for watching and have a great night
I did give a life, bring it back up and let me back my name
And I'm gonna get it right
Are you in a tank?
Moment of change, I wanna revive
Switching the game, they know their name
I'm gonna get no money
I came back to get it right
You win, it's the human life
It's time to turn it to see the light
Let's give it life, let's give it life
Let's give it life, let's give it life
Let's give it life, let's give it life
Let's give it life, let's give it life