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Everybody turn off that loose
I said hold in the groove
Go on and fuck your glasses shoes
Take a sip of the juice
Then report to the DJ booth
Tell him dude this shoe
You can't help but feel this shoe
Straight up you need this shoe
This is how my still this shoe
Got the realest scoop
This one come like breaking news
We'll be free if I'm lazy too
Do you know I don't but I'm breaking loose
I'm in the mood
me a juice, yo, cocktail with the fruits, yo, DJ pull up the
juice, so this one get rude, this one get lit from the root,
so I'm in the mood, so what's new, I'm rude, I'm life to the
mood, well, I'll tend to, pull me a juice, so this one get
rude, this one get lit from the root, I'm in the mood, I've got
to feed, DJ ween, this one's beating, I'm full up to the
Seein' good vibrations, bein' steady and makin' it
System bumpin' larger panther, mistwin' jumpin' on
L.A. to the UK, this restrict the budget function
Make no assumptions, told you, top sold out to the tonsure
Big fights in abundance, we got style and flow at 100k
Big fights in abundance, grab our evil strength and jungle
See I'm bumpin' humble, I'm about to make this video humble
I'm in the mood
Just in time
I'm in the mood
She'll be sick on the ground
Baby, I'm on the ground
She'll live for
Baby, hold your foot
When I touch your face
Oh, the moment I'm on you
Happy minute
Baby, hold your foot
I
I
I'll be Ali plays Phoenix is about to do a meet and greet, but I've napped him for
our own meet and greet first. First of all, what's it like to be here in London at Banffet?
It's incredible. The vibe is phenomenal, the energy is great and yeah, it's great to see
how the game's developed and you know, all the people that are coming out to sort of
just share and build community and play an amazing game.
It must be about eight years since you were cast for Phoenix. So do you imagine that the
game would have such longevity?
No, no, no. Yeah, so all of this is a surprise and it's kind of, yeah, it's really warming
because of there are so much going on that I get to be a part of this, so I'm very happy.
I want to ask you about Champions Paris though, because you were such a huge part of the opening
ceremony. When you were recording the films that they were playing, did you have any idea
of the scale that was going to happen on stage?
No, it's the honest answer, but what I do, what I was told in our recording sessions,
we kind of have a bit of a skeptical outline of the character on the focus and that's kind
of like my sort of job is just to make sure I can, you know, connect and be really truthful
and that everything else is a bonus.
So yeah, I had no idea that, you know, we're going to be in this massive arena and it was
so immersive, but you know, I think Riot and the Valorant crew, they never failed to
surprise.
absolutely true. I know you have played a bit of Valorant. You say you're not the best at it, but when you do play, who do you play?
Is that a serious question?
Yeah! Oh, I'm so sorry, you're always playing Phoenix, right?
Yes, yeah.
But you're saying you're not very good at it, so maybe you should be playing somewhere else?
Yeah, you know what? I do like playing the Sage, and also... Jet.
So, but I'm happy, I'm happy to sort of like just try and stick out of Phoenix and try and give it a go.
go. But, um, yeah, those are my sort of my main sort of people.
You're a typical British jeweler. So thank you so much, Afro. Go and
meet your fans.
This stream contains fast flashing images that may affect viewers who are susceptible
to photosensitive epilepsy and other photosensitivities.
Your discretion is advised.
complete the ultimate lower bracket run. Hello everyone and welcome to Masters
London's lower bracket final and of course we're coming at you live from the
Copper Box Arena right here in beautiful London, England. Ain't that right everybody?
It's good to be in the house with you all here today. Of course I'm Golden Boy, the
very loud bald man yelling at you right now. We got the goat with the brain. It's
It's Mimi, one of the greatest coaches of all time.
It's Mimi.
We're going to be, oh yeah, give it up for Mimi everyone.
Come on, I mean, fanatic fans, hello.
Show for your boy.
Muchas gracias, thank you so much.
All right, now folks, we started with 12 teams
in this competition, but now we're down to only three.
And here it is, the last three teams still standing.
And today, it's the last hopes for both the CN
and America's regions, because we have Edward Gaming,
Facing off against Levitan and the winner will move on to tomorrow's final to face off against W Gaming.
Paper Rex, waiting to see who is going to hoist that crown over their head.
But as always, let's start with our MasterCard fan.
Paul, make sure you get your phones out so you can scan the QR code because today in our lower bracket final,
you know what the subject is going to be, guys.
It's super simple to scan the dang thing.
Let us know who you think's moving on to face off against Paper Rex tomorrow.
Make sure you use those hashtags, Valorant Masters, as well as VCT.
We'll share those results in a bit and the fans are coming out.
We apparently have a packed house here today, so fans should be rolling in little by little.
It's going to be a good time.
I'm excited.
London, England, how are you feeling today?
Maybe do you think that was adequate?
Do you think we got what we needed?
I think they could do a little better.
Me, Me, Me, what about you?
I needed a little better.
We could do a little bit better, right?
I said London, England, let me hear you!
Exactly, that's exactly what we want to hear.
Make sure you guys carry that energy with you all day long and here's the good news.
It's not just hot inside of this venue, it's hype out there as well.
We got Frankie over at the Fan Fest, what you got?
I'm here at Fan Fest.
The crowd is cheering me on because I'm a one-woman army.
I'm gonna defuse this mic.
Cover with me, cameraman James.
So I've got to press this button, it's going to time seven seconds after I press the button again,
and then I've got to try and hit it. And if I don't, then apparently Fanfest will be over
because the spike will have detonated. So, in three, two, one. Okay. Oh, oh no, sorry, I had to press
I'm so sorry guys. It's time to go home. It's no longer safe to be here. I'm so sorry.
I ruined fan fest to everyone today, but apparently it's still standing. So why don't you come
and join us in London.
We just brought her on board the team.
She already just blowing stuff up.
Unbelievable, Frank.
You know, seriously, guys, we want to go check out the fan fest.
It's right outside.
If you're here in the venue, it's pretty dope.
Check it out. Get a pint.
Chill out. You already know what the deal is.
Let's go ahead, though.
Talk about this matchup at hand and get right into it.
Why don't we find out where we're playing?
All right. What maps? What picks? What bands?
Let's find out.
Hello, I'm Alkan, guys.
Let's shoot a map veto for EDG versus Leviathan.
It's going to be best of five.
and EDG has a higher seat so they will pick their side.
Team B.
Alright, EDG picks Team B, which means LV10 is banning first.
Hey, ban Breeze.
Breeze is banned. And what is your map ban?
Ascent.
Ascent is also banned now.
LV10 is picking their side.
Ah, sorry, map.
Hey, Haven.
Alright, Haven is picked and what's the site for Haven, please?
Attack
Attack and
EDG pick in their map
We pick Pearl
Pearl is picked and side 4 pearl please Leviton
Pick defense
Alright, defense
and Leviton picks
Pick
Split is picked, the site for split, please.
Defense?
Defense. We have fracture and lotus left, EDG speaking first.
Tracture?
Fracture is picked, site for fracture, please, Leviton.
Attack?
Attack is picked and EDG is picking the side on Lotus which is the side map.
Defense.
Alright, quick recap. We start with Haven, EDG attacks, then we have Pearl, Leviton defense,
for the third map we have Splits, EDG defense, if you go to fourth map it is
Fracture, Leviton attacks and if you go to fifth map which is Lotus, EDG
depends. Everything correct?
Alright, good luck guys.
I think it's a good idea. I
think it's a good idea. I think
it's a good idea. I think it's
a good idea. I think it gives
Edward gaming a pool they're
quite comfortable with. Yeah,
but I think that despite that,
I think love on those first
three maps is they're going to
look strong. I think in
particular Haven and split.
Those are definitely maps that
level are going to be
favored on. I think it's
further into that series where
EDG might have some fire
power back. Yeah, I think
what's interesting the later
we go in this series, that's
where it starts to get to some
of the weaker maps for love,
but that's also when quality
on in this pool is the pearl. It's something that Leviton has moved away from after kind
of failing to find success towards the end of America's. But they're playing in the region
that has the best pearl and I thought their approach and the comp they run on that map
is really strong. That I actually believe they have a pretty solid chance at a 3-0 today with
the pool here. Look this is going to be interesting with how that kind of how that played out. I do
agree with you on that as well but something that does actually play a little bit of a factor in
here, but you can see it right there. Yeah, right there. Kind of see the experience.
Did that's happening right there. I mean, it's insane. Yeah. So we verify that number,
by the way, just an FYI. So people are watching and the co streamers don't be like, yeah,
these people will be fraudulent. No, we verify it. Okay. 23 best of fives that this EDG team
has played in many. You played in the couple best of fives yourself. Yeah, I don't think 23,
But that's crazy to me. That is a long experience there.
I think that as the series goes further, like we said, the quality of play in some of those maps might be reducing.
That's where that experience might shine.
If they get left into the fourth and fifth map there, that narrative might start to appear.
Yeah, no, that's right.
And you saw that already yesterday against Payback.
They had no business winning that first map of Breeze.
They did it by winning four clutches throughout.
This is the ultimate team that steps up when things get more chaotic, when things get late,
and when that experience really benefits.
But so far, Lev have not been faced whatsoever by their own lack of experience.
Despite only having played one BO5 before, it makes you have some confidence in them.
But I think having questions around how they will actually perform today is still valid to bring up.
I mean, at the end of the day, right?
Like Sato and the boys are going to be facing off against a squad that have hoisted not just a trophy,
but a champions' trophy over their head.
So this is going to be a monumental effort for them.
but many one thing that we have taken from this squad here in London is that they actually don't really give a crap
They they're just kind of vibing
Yeah, they've given me no reason to believe that they're gonna crumble or fail under that pressure
Yeah, the first map they played they lost 13-4 and they bounce back against global e-sports and in this playoffs
They go on a lower bracket run you could losing the upper bracket
It's that lower bracket and maybe
They get crumbled away, but they haven't made every single game they're stepping up and they played vitality yesterday
They've got so much experience on that team and they didn't they destroyed them to Frank about it like so
I have no reason to believe that that is gonna be a narrative today
But if they do get into those fourths and fifth maps, that's where edg'd starts to elevate their plan
The other match that really proves it to me for love was when they played paper XC
The only team that they've actually lost to at this tournament what was so impressive about that was how badly they lost that
Ascent I think it was 13-1 in the end and then they bounce back and they nearly beat them on that low
This seems as incredible resiliency despite being the youngest squad that is ever really made it this far in a tournament
They are so inexperienced and it just doesn't matter. Yeah, two things to highlight there
The fact that Saturday keeps saying they got goldfish memory
They would just immediately just forget everything after a bad map
Which is great to see and I mean a lot of fun they're having on the stage if you can translate that they were laughing off
That as they knew they'd pay for X
I think if they can bring that attitude today if they go low in a map then that's a great sign for best of fun
I think it's interesting though, right? You contrasted that to EDG's day yesterday and what they went through in the loss against PRX.
We actually had an opportunity to catch up with nobody and get his perspective on what was going on as well as Jenny's performance in London for this HyperX player moment.
Hello, everyone. I'm from EDG.
I think playing against Peppers is a great experience for me.
and then we had a lot of players in the previous map.
There are many players in this game,
there are 10 players in the team,
and there are a lot of players in the team.
We also have players in the team
who are trying to give us a lot of pressure.
In the first three games,
when we entered the B-ball,
they countered our handbags.
There was really nothing we could do.
We had a lot of players in the team.
Something's sticking, he needs to defend it all down!
They're alive!
All right, now reflecting on EDG's journey at this point, they've taken out some great
teams to get here, right?
But, they have been showing some signs of weakness based on what we saw in the PaperX
game, maybe based on just the little things, right, that we kind of picked up.
Actually, one of those things was the pistol rounds, as a matter of fact.
It was kind of alarming to see EDG really struggle to be able to get those critical
rounds on the board.
Yeah, they've had a 28% pistol round win rate at this tournament so far, which is pretty much the lowest out there.
But I think what's so impressive is that they've won despite that, and despite what I think it's been some kind of poor approaches to some of their defensive theory,
for sure is a great example for me, where normally you see the best teams pushing through on flanks to try and play their retakes.
Here you watch an ADG who is almost always trying to rotate through spawn against a composition that has so many tools to stop that,
and there's problems manifesting on this breeze as well, Mini.
Yeah, they don't even play middle on Breeze at all. They play the same Saab over and over, two on B3 on A.
We saw Paper Rex just running up mid with something, just picking that apart every time.
I think that giving that this matter is a double-druidice matter. It is begging you to play active.
It's begging you to be aggressive. It's begging you to be proactive, and EDG on these defense sides are not.
If they had a bit more fundamentals on their defense side, a little bit more theory, they would be in the grand finals right now.
They should have won, honestly. This game yesterday against Paper Rex, despite these issues we're bringing up,
despite some of the defensive failings, the piss-around loss, they are still the
teams who have taken a map off paper, X2 have played them closer than anyone
else at this tournament so far. That is a testament to the experience, to the
skill of these players, to how they rise to the big days. It's not an issue of
this team being bad because they've made these mistakes, but that they're so
close to being the best team in this tournament in spite of that. Yeah, I think
that's the frustrating for a thing for me. Like the things they can control, the
strategy side of things, the things that I love to break that, I can see this team
team has the skill, they have the experience here.
But they're just little fine tunings
could make this team win several trophies.
Let's be honest, when you're playing at this level
and the competition is as good as it's been here, right?
It's those small mistakes.
That's going to be the thing that is the do or die for you,
right?
And in the instance of EDG, it certainly
was something that did hurt them in the end,
but it's a fantastic team that's surely
going to look to try and improve that as we get ready
for this lower bracket final.
But for more on EDG, let's actually
hear from Smoggy to what he has to say.
Here with Smuggy, I have EDG and follower for some translation.
Smuggy, what did you guys spend the most time on when it comes to prepping for today's
specified?
We went to find a lot of problems yesterday, and then went to fix some problems to make
some changes to the team.
What are the game content?
We find so many problems of our use today's matchup, and we try to fix all our problems
and try to adjust our game plan today.
Are you able to fix all the problems?
It's such a short time, but we have tracked our best to Sobo.
Hopefully no more problem for EDG.
Thank you so much for that, Jen.
Well, look, let's look on the other side of the scene.
The team that could give EDG quite the problem.
You know what I'm saying?
Because over on the other side, let me get down, right?
This squad, they have a lot of experience, but they don't have a lot of that big game-stage experience.
A lot of talent on this team.
You know, players that fought through Ascension, players like King who've been there since the absolute beginning.
But Mini, this is a squad that is going to need to just really rely on what's gotten them to the dance to begin with.
Their great gun skill and great strategy.
I think because they have such a strict style, they've got the kind of practice makes perfect style.
They've done the same kind of playbook over and over again.
They've got the fundamentals there.
That means the players only need to focus on their aim.
And when you've got a roster like they do,
stacked in talent from head to toe,
they are going to win games off of that.
They're not going to have to be put into positions
where they have to make complicated decisions.
They know from practice that they just need to do
the same things they've always been doing
and it's been working all toward them.
Yeah, love is so consistent in the way they play.
This is good, especially against Vitality.
They're defensive side.
They will just never play a player on the A side.
They're always flying for retakes, holding onto that space in heaven.
And you could see Vitality was aware.
They were trying to just contact plays into the A site,
play deep towards CT in the post fight.
Didn't matter for left.
They still won every Re-Clear on ramp.
They still won pretty much every retake in that game.
Even when you know what they're doing,
this team just has such incredible execution of their ideas
and individuals to back it up that it's still brutal to beat them.
Yeah, even if you could find the weaknesses,
they have layers on top of that.
They know that once you want to the A site,
They're going to have the perfect retake, perfect protocols, perfect everything when they're just in this flow state.
It's just unbelievable to watch them play.
As a coach, they're one of my favorites to watch right now.
I love the firepower and I love the system they have.
And to contrast them to EDG, I think something that Leve does very well that we were critiquing EDG for
is playing a very active defensive side.
They do a great job of having a lot of different trap plays to proactively refight into space when people are there
and also especially when they get the AWP online for Neon.
They're very good at actively rotating around now.
Oh yeah, I mean look, there's just so many great things you could point out with the team.
But one player in particular who's been to talk of the town partly because he can't stop yapping,
it's Sato. We had an opportunity to catch up with him with Jen earlier today.
Here with Sato of Love, how are you with chess?
Pretty bad.
But you're facing the kings of CN. Can you checkmate the king?
I think the reddit and checkmating them, I think it's better for us to play a different game than
You know, not trying to play on their zone, they're not trying to leave their comfort and play our own game.
Good strategy.
Checkmate.
That's my checkers.
That's my checkers.
How about that? I think that's better.
Well guys, I heard talking about chess and maybe Jenga and what else, why don't they came together?
I've never heard a player say they're playing chess. We want to be playing checkers today.
That's truly a line there, but hey, you know what though?
So, this team right here, they have so many great options, but so does EDG.
Two of those players in particular, Mimi, you've got Kong Kong on the EDG side,
you've got Neon, which we haven't had a chance to talk about yet, on that left side.
And really, both players have just been unreal in London.
I think a lot of what has made me upgrade this tournament is a mirror of what people loved about Kong Kong early.
He's incredible ability with the operator.
He's very fast style of play and he's incredible confidence on that stage.
Kong Kong has had a bit of a slower tournament compared to his norm, but in the biggest games in this event he has stepped up
He's had those moments where you can see the Kong Kong that won that MVP bracelet
And I've no doubt in a lower final when lights up right that's when this guy will be at his absolute peak
Yeah, absolutely agreed and on neon side of things
He has got an extremely good first kill first death 50 first kills this tournament second in the tournament 28 first deaths
He is part of the reason this team are constantly in those man advantages
Lev are great when known as 5v4s converting every time. They're not so good when known as 4v5s
But it doesn't matter because they're always in the 5v4. Yeah, they're very good at following through with the structure that they have
You know, it's super young
He was the player who just turned 18 this year to be able to get into the league was one of those members of the Lev Academy
Squad that was being built up last year
And now he's here against concom who's had those years to build to further himself up
It's going to be a great one and there you can see in our MasterCard fan poll the fans are behind EDG
But it does feel like it's going to be a little bit of a contention there as well
Right, you know, you got a lot of people here also support. Let me down
It's not as one-sided as some of these polls usually are which goes to show you just how intense it is now for us
We gave you the analyst. That's guarantee. I'm gonna keep it buck 50. I don't feel that confident, but I'm excited
But I don't know man. We might as good as Clarence costume spot
Oh, yeah.
First few maps, they might be coming back.
Oh, I'm not super confident about this pick,
but I do think Lev have a better map for here.
I really didn't want to have to put on a clown outfit.
But anyway, folks, here we go, because Masters London,
lower bracket final is kicking off right now.
The Protagonist's match on a little important finish with their eyes set firmly on another trophy.
It's a safe place at all.
Squeeze me the back and go!
Oh my God, he's hunting for us.
Struggling player!
The moment! The ballads!
Oh my God!
I am the best!
Some people say that we are the first in the world to be in danger.
At the moment, it is what hit rough out here in China.
I say that we are the first in the world to be in danger,
and now we are still in danger.
I think this is the moment when everyone is familiar with the situation.
I think that they are now the only ones
who have been trained to hide their pain.
But you haven't seen them before.
I think that I am not exactly happy to be able to face them.
All of those teams are not very big anymore.
but someone who has been singing for a long time.
For me, it's a reason to be able to face him and learn from him.
We're definitely in one of our best forms.
Each match we're going to keep evolving.
My boys might be young, but they're explosive. Watch out.
So I'm your king. Definitely never gonna kill a one-eyed.
I crown and doesn't depict a king.
That people do. Let them decide.
They're a Phoenix Rising, ready to go their enemy!
It's the pride of South America versus the Kings of China.
The question on our minds is who is going to step up in the moment when it counts the
most?
Is it going to be the guy who's led his team to a world championship or is it going to
be the unfound Kings with his lucky group of bandits looking to try and he's served
the Emperor?
That is the question on our minds and it's now time Mimi to settle the score.
to settle the score. It absolutely is. They said they've worked a long time with this to be in this moment.
But it was immediate success for them, these players coming up from tier two, getting their chance this
year and immediately going on this run. For EDG they have worked so long to be back to this point,
the breakout for their region. The only Chinese team to ever hoist the trophy in this game,
the only ones ever to make a final. Looking for their second, looking for revenge,
I'm looking at these maps, Nini, that's where I think the questions fall.
EDG has not played nearly as many matches as Lev in this tournament.
And the questions are, is their map pool good enough today?
I think that's a big question.
I think I immediately look towards Haven's split early on in the series,
it's maps that heavily favour Lev.
But it's curl, fracturing, lotus, where things are a bit more messy, I'd say.
Bit more 50-50.
I think that overall, you see my predictions, I have Lev on this,
because I think they have their slight favorite maps in this pool.
Haven and Skull.
Yeah, and it's really true.
I mean, when you look at it, there's a possibility that, let me get on, you know,
they get that comfort.
They come up to a hot start in map one, Mimi.
You know, you look at Pearl, and if Sato kind of gets to do what he wants to do,
I mean, look at this guy.
The crowd, it loves him.
He's taking it in, which is exactly what he needs to do here,
because he's about to go out there and line up the server, and he knows it too.
But, but, on the other side, Mimi,
He's got to contend with some sugar knots in EDG.
Sato reminds me a lot of watching Kong Kong at his first big tournament.
Real talk, real talk. It feels a lot like the same thing.
Like just that energy, the way he's acting on stage, the way he's playing with the crowd.
It is parallel how this feels.
You can tell a player is special. When they walk onto a stage at one of their first tournaments,
and they're standing up, they're giving it to their opponent, they're reveling in the crowd,
Not trying away from it. That's what both these players have, what they've both shown.
But come come stand before, done it on a higher level. He hasn't had to show that level yet
at this tournament, but you expect greatness in an elimination match like this.
Yeah, exactly. I think a podium finish is respectful. Respectable for both these teams.
On their face.
The face is great, but they need to strike while the iron is hot.
I know in their souls that the Grand Final is what they want, to build their legacies.
Lev on the one hand, not being in a grand final before, and EDG chasing that second one.
Well, these teams have memories of losing in this spot.
For EDG, it was after lifting their trophy.
The next tournament in Bangkok, a disappointing third place finish, far below their expectations.
And it was really the same for Lev King, the only man who had gotten close, but it was
heartbreak for him.
In a lower final, in Korea, the tournament that EDG went on to win for owner, he is
run all the way back with crew and did early as well yeah it's been three years
since the South American team has made a grand final that's right it's so damn bad
it's gonna be intense the stories between these players the journeys they've taken but you're
seeing the agents get locked in i'm i'm drawing the neon man i want to see what he's going to be
doing on that chamber mini and then of course sato look for that explosive miss on the phoenix but
But of course, EDG, you've got Pan-Pang on that game as well.
Yeah, he swapped over from that way.
We had some criticism on that way they picked before.
They weren't running any of the trap plays at all.
The defense side was not proactive.
I hope that when EDG switched over from that defense,
we're seeing a lot more explosivity, a lot more productivity.
That has been there with this tournament so far.
I want to see an EDG coming in with answers sitting on top.
Once he gets that online, he's a beast on defense.
London, England!
Makes time for your best of five!
Makes some noise as we send it over to your gash of who better to call the freaking action!
Hit Britain!
Sigh Joe!
Let's get to it then.
It is a low bracket final here in the cover box arena between two foes that are hungry
for a chance to earn their spot in a grand finals.
For EDG, it's a chance to get revenge honestly.
They were just as spelled out as a lower bracket, but on the other side you got this Levitant
squad, hungry, full of rookies, willing to go that extra mile,
willing to strike while the iron is hot,
to see if they can take it all the bloody way.
There's a big difference in experience between these two
rosters, led with the beginning.
At the start of that hero's journey,
these players only just taking their first steps
onto stages like this, plunging into the deep end,
taking on the Titans, Paper Rex, EDG, EDG.
those protagonists of the Valorant story looking to write that second chapter.
Their theory on Haven is really odd.
We'll see it in a minute.
There's going to be definite questions about how the map pool is going to be tested for EDG,
despite the fact that they are more experienced in best of fives.
They've been in tons of them regionally.
19-4 all time, I believe, is the record.
Spike does the catching up first contact.
The stun's going to be a little bit better here, Spike.
Oh, he's just tearing them apart!
Door slam shut.
Garage is off.
Limits entirely.
It's up to Smoggy and Jenny.
One tight plays here.
You'll have to look for a couple of kills to go their way.
It's about the best idea they could have gone for.
Boombot to make it feel like they're coming through that
seagarrage entrance and looking to sneak into window.
Pressure's gonna be on blows here, but he's good with the sheriff usually.
This form is usually being point.
at least the last game and already head ripped off and it was small years now
tapping away whittling into pieces and a pistol round here for LaVietta and that's
an example of Lev's track play setups that they're going to have on defense so
often they are a very tactic driven team they've got a bait and switch setup
somebody breaks that first trailblazer and Kang Kang just doesn't think for a
moment the spike is here it looks like it's just a solo-playing garage not the
case at all. Listen, listen listen.
Let's go check where Panzi is, but she had to the building, we'll get into it soon enough.
I get some information as well to find out what's going on but yeah a little
take pause to begin as left tape at their first pistol. Sada was breathing in
the energy at this moment before he sat down. They are gonna be all reforming to
ridiculous degree Sato and Kong Kong in this game. I think it's a very scary
prospect when you have a player like Sato, he's so young to a stage this big,
but he is just basking in the presence. Doesn't matter that there's a lot of the
teams, a lot of this crowd are going to be leaning over towards the EDG side of
things. Just the sheer experience he's been relishing and he was smiling the
whole time. No sign of nerves on him whatsoever. I think EDG actually got
their first glimpse of what it would be like playing against the crowd when they were up against PaperX.
It was still split. I mean, the EDG fans have been coming out in force, but I do expect that most people are going to be rooting for EDG.
We've got some left fans in the building though. They are a very lovable team. I think it's very easy to root for both of these squads.
Yeah.
And I'm expecting the game to be explosive.
You've got shooters.
EDG proved it against PaperX that they can hang even in games
where they should have no right.
The resilience was no question here.
We are getting straight back into the action.
Short and sweet. That's the way we like the tech pauses.
Oh, not at all. Let's take that too.
Oh, not at all. Yeah, preferably.
Preferably, but getting back into it now.
It's obviously Ikarani for EDG.
And it's a map that they have had struggles on.
They're already showing signs that they are troffing and changing it up.
Kan Kai is on the neon now, so that a way later they were opting into.
Yeah, when we were watching that game against Foot, we're asking them to see the theory.
It didn't exist.
There we go.
He was holding down the ground. Nobody, what is that?
All leaping straight in.
Well, actually, it's doing a decent amount of job to stop at a connection, but neon, neon!
Oh, it's Phil Freeman.
This guy is a menace.
No slip in form.
Rookie of the year standout player to me. We're only just over halfway through the year
And he didn't even arrive at the very beginning of it
Oh, they have to play the first couple weeks and kick off without him
Because he haven't even turned 18 yet
I've been off
Could do it on every agent you put him on guys been worth the wait
On from strength to strength and they've been putting him on a multitude of roles, too. He's been having to do it
Basically all here, but EDG finally with some rifles in their hands.
Let's see what they can do with some real firepower.
There's two judges on the other side though. Spike and King, gotta be threats.
King loves playing close to the smoke. This is gonna test EDG's ideas.
There are ways of being able to get through these difficult spots.
Oh, he's all the way forward here. King, he's gonna be cut up.
Over the angle, but out of track and hard. Oh, no, no, no, no!
Oh! Spike! He's gone for even more, man!
Relentless!
Chichu was panicked there, but he gets the job done in the end and he cut out blows, leaving
it down to Neon in a 1v3.
Only a sheriff.
Eight bullets in the headhunter to supplement.
It was chaotic, but EDG came through.
Back of the journey, it's watching for the guns, who exactly would a game plan would
be?
The minute they dealt with King is what made the difference to me.
King's holding close inside of this smoke and you get the neon sliding through
and then Jenny spamming in. Yeah. So Kan Kan just happy to put his body on the
line. Shishi would have felt... Shishi would have felt a little bit silly if he'd left off.
Oh hello. Another tech pause. Broken leg. No we're good, we're good. We're good.
We can see an important element though to EDG, we're able to get past that.
Okay, here we go. Shocked us early.
Over the chip damage here, hearing a lot of noise.
Jews now being attacked up, so blows are going to have to retreat back and away,
but he's being squeezed here on either side.
So safety is starting to potentially get dead in the anchor position
that could be played for.
All up and over, nobody's going to be vacating.
Vacuating out now, the A site open.
You can go for this plant down with a sight line over to what's heaven, Neon, he's plenty for it.
My catch a glimpse of Smoggy before he's even ready for it.
And there it is, top of the box, talks back as the shot that does go wide
and Smoggy punishes the bullet to the toe.
Great shot.
Certainly is, post plant position starts.
I missed the sight.
There you are, might need to be dealt with here.
Saddest already taken out Smoggy.
He's just hiding.
He's with Adder, going to be friendly all the way out, still ready for it.
very reversed in terms of how to play this one.
Do you understand how level want to play their retakes flooding out of heaven?
Well, they also just messed up the retake pathing entirely.
I mean, Neon missed the post shot and Smoggy hits a great counter.
That's all excellent. But then Spike is supposed to land on the window ledge
and slide through to default inside that smoke that King's prepared.
You see the retake from these teams all the time, and Spike doesn't jump up on the ledge.
That's why he just slides inside heaven.
They completely cook the retake that they've been going for and EDG get a freebie
That's a great shot though. There he is sliding around
EDG feel pretty confident about going and hitting the A site if that's the level of lefts retakes I
Think they can work together some floods as well though mix things up
Yeah, but without the Omen in the composition of no paranoia it you know
No, it is a little bit more difficult to play the A-Retake in such an explosive way.
Speaking of which, Smoggy wants that C-Alt orb.
He's going to allow left to control A-Lobby.
But Smoggy really wants this to get his showstopper online.
If you're running Raze on Haven, you've got to be trying to use the Alts to secure rounds.
You've got to be in outer pressure, you've got to be on again.
There's split attempts all the way through Garage.
Conceiving control of it, King realizing you're going to have to give that one up.
I'm the way in, Sadov's running back, he's going to be popped now, we're going to see if he can set the mark, and really set the pace of where his team could lay down some ground, but now we're going to see just the one kill before he's eventually sent back, returned to the body, but still a player advantage for Lev into this retake drone.
Spotting out into the back, it's going to be broken, gearing up now.
Leav, you can see them fighting the time, waiting it out.
It's up and around at a weaponry.
They're going to be offering up for the overdrive now.
It's gliding to the side, close and quarter position.
Being played, Saddle just with the three, but the trade is there.
And Albus Cheetu is left alone.
1v2, hoping, hunting for signs of those lives.
Just a player to walk straight back into the concept placement.
Starts going to be late, and Tavadi needs to earn a jail or two.
Neon!
The Spam's down onto the line.
He's so good coming in and cleaning up those spots as the rest of the left makes space for him.
Great word from Spike and Saddo in this round.
Clear in the path and this pick could not have been better.
Smoggy for whatever reason did you pick up the freest ult orb of all time down C-Lon?
Maybe just wanted to hit the perfect timing with the C-split.
But because he did that, he didn't have a showstopper to counter the Phoenix ult with
with and just had to sit on an angle and take a duel.
Nevertheless, he'll be coming into the next one.
And he's only got a stinger, which seems pretty clear to me
that he's going to be entering with the showstopper instead.
He's not going to be too worried.
Neon's going to look to pick him off
before he even gets a chance.
High ground angle with the Tour de Force.
There it is.
Flash going to be dodged.
Oh my goodness, Smoggy, how has he brought down
Sattu in the midst of all this?
I think he's just gone for a flash.
Just had to double doors,
Spam down out of Seekers as well, going to be putting out a pretty clear pitch
over towards the seaside. Just a one move in towards it and it's pointed over towards
Garage. It's going to give peace of mind to EDG. They can make their way forwards
and critically at that, they've saved the showstopper, but King, hold on. Catching
time after this, anticipating. Jenny just trying to activate it at the wrong time.
Yeah, I don't know what Jenny was doing on that timing. Smoggy though, should be
enormous in holding on to this post-plot. Surely you've got a thing of a showstopper
and there it is. What a great place. Loose. Yeah, just with it. Fastly brought up.
Fates out, the refight! Oh my! That's so clean.
Protocols are nice but the trademark lay it down.
A slow field is going to be causing a bit of concern.
Still not glad, into the side.
Timing and trading needs to be intact and left was never in doubt.
Usually going to be perfect for this squad.
Fire it up.
And they are raring to go.
It's the squad that has not slowed down.
And the Swiss stage turned out.
They found that hot form.
The C retake ideas are beautiful and Sadov stuck around for a bit too long, but then the way that they bait out that showstopper and Neon's on an angle where he can not only get the punish but also escape even if he misses the shot, it is a perfect setup to bait a raze ult, which you never see on Haver.
This idea is a love of cooking on the fly. Zero hesitancy. They already know what the
right play is to make. This looks like blows is going to be set up in a position to use
his hand as fury. There it is. If there is contact. Sailing overhead there's plenty of
players outside a lobby. There it is. Post it up and there it is. Tags up on the multiple
on them! Oh! Desubated! And dragged down to the graves. All up to Kang Kang. 45 health
though, not much to work with. Not even reclaimed. Sporting out what his players might be, but
this is a net that is slowly encroaching and there it is, 5-2. No breathing room. Livia
that tactic is so sick it utilizes the Astra pullback star as they send in the
recon instead of full smoke this one's a pullback all of EDG are hiding inside of
it and so then the recon hits a full five players a beautiful way of maximizing
the value of that handers fury another set round another tactic from the playbook
Another reason why left are massively favored on this first map that is the bread and butter of Livia time
It's what paved the way for plenty of wins for them in the past. It's just that depth of the playbook
Come on, there's wing condition here for EDG genuinely. What can you do?
I mean, this isn't something that you can anti stress
It's any something that you can see before get ready for get the ball get the ball
I'm up to the best of five you do plenty of opportunities, but that doesn't seem
No, I mean, best of worlds for them.
Listen, these games, they're marathons. They are not sprints.
We've seen so many times before,
BO5s go away from the team that starts early.
You need to have that stamina to be able to outlast.
And this is not a map that EDG are favoured on.
If we could see some nice ideas of how to utilize the Double Juelist,
that would be great to see.
Maybe Smoggy puts himself in some aggressive positions.
Maybe we see him pressure a lot of unusual areas
with this boomboard. I don't know. The comp is with us. It's a very strange idea that EDG
have brought out on this map. But I think, importantly, the pressure is on left to actually
look great in map 1 because this is the most favourite they're going to be on any map in the pool.
It's definitely true. The pace of play that they took to Vitality and I game the other day was just
lights out. See a similar start here, King. Again he's gonna be pressured here.
Straight in there. Finally punching King Tarny IGL.
He's gonna be taking the backseat from this one. Saddle with a flash up towards the top.
That is a beautiful connection. What is this?
He waited out. The owner's being on the EDG and the game just comes to them.
comes to them, Leviton. Now, 1v3 for nobody.
Nice for the way he's looking to see if he can square up and find himself just a 1v1 fight
of the drone. Makes it even less likely.
Position scouted, it's a nasty shot to begin.
The blows is good for the trade.
And let's showcase their variants in tempo. This one not a set retake.
They don't want to allow EDG time to fall off the site because King is dead.
That means no smokes for the retake. Instead they flood, they pop.
Sado's there. Sado and Spike, push forwards.
Gigi feels desperate to make a play.
And Jenny, how many times have we seen her just wander in the garage without his gun even now?
EDG don't have a great grip on this.
Even if the first idea works, the depth is really showing for them.
In map one.
It's gonna be a half-buy for EDG.
The win-con is that they get those big entries coming out from Kan-Kan
And then extra aggression that individuals somehow power forward
Tough going though so far for EDG
We knew this was gonna be a potential question. Seeker's gonna be used once more
pretty rapidly at that
Molly though stunts any sort of push
Grounds will be gained over the wall's garage now. We're gonna see it kind of he's gonna be leading all the way forward now
I'm a pressure of a king this time this time you're evacuating this time
Standing is ground
putting a timing and falling out, the flood defence with reinforcements arriving to help out the monahut
and King plumbing those heads on a spike
a visceral warning, do not hit this site again
it doesn't matter if they have to play C retake or flood
or if King is anchoring
he's just going to walk down
there is no entry
there is the main
He did you were going to have to mix things up.
These CSI execs are not working.
Going over and pressuring A. That was how they found that nice round.
Haven't really looked at it either. Not since Lev slapped them down with a hundred-spirit.
Cheeky set play here, blows again though. He's going to be feeling that heat.
Deep flash, he does have the peace of mind of at least having that trip and that deep TP.
Cheat you, hard commiting now on towards our Heaven angle.
Cuts this one up, blows nose to retreat.
They've broken the trick behind and pulled Genny's attention.
Very aware.
Still, Cheat you.
If we find a kill here, it would be absolutely everything,
but just trying to access it cleanly, it's barely there,
but it costs me divide now, I'm going to be cutting this one up.
It will force the issue for EDG, everybody has to play uptight onto the site.
Not like the opposition in terms of the post plan, we're going to see that flash forwards.
I'm going to fastline this time, McLeod!
I understand already and all!
Spike of two eviscerators and a moment's notice, moving forwards, spotting them out, it spun through the smoke, pinpoint accuracy of that mini-map.
There'll be a turn, out of their seats.
That's how they drew it up. A failure of the execution last time, but here, even Shish's paranoia could not stop Spike.
He's in, like a rocket, hops on that ledge, slide into the smoke, and honestly, it's like EDG had no idea what the game plan was.
It's the most common way for meons to be able to retake on the A site and I think you just see him
EDG are out of their depth on haven
The drowning right now
Oh signs of a lifeline
The consolation being that this is a best of five it's early days
energy will have chances to respond deep play happening over towards mid level
gonna be conceiving a bit of that space early on though energy again they set
the sights towards garage control curry neighbor the game for them stun no
back at IU. Tilling spike once that's over down, is he?
Whoa!
God almighty there!
Still giving him a chance!
How is he hit that?
It's just absurd.
Oh my god.
Having the miss on the first upshot.
The immediate snap to the side, Kang Kang.
What can you do from a spot like this?
1v3 but already Saddo on that line.
9-2, one more round left to play for N'zhar.
EDG's idea in this round was to try to lure them in, lure them into the mid-push, see if you can fight them.
Woah! Even in slow-mo, that's gonna look ridiculous.
That's filthy.
God, he's good.
EDG forced up to try to make something happen in the previous round. They've got that max
loss bonus. I think that's obvious. They're down 7 in a row. Last chance to do anything
on the attack half. Smoggy finally has that ult back up again. What is the purpose of
this comp? We still haven't seen the ideas from EDG.
He starts to take some grass control, trailblazer.
The Neon is smocked off with the Up right now, a really weird place for him to be playing.
We'll see, they're not potentially for the exec in 2B.
He's just fighting his time, waiting for it, and there it is.
Lane's going to be popped up, Tripp's still easy to be dealt with though.
That's going to be triggering, they don't get on to it in time.
We'll hold him down, hold him barely.
An angle, wind of opportunity for Neon to potentially strike.
Smoggy's ultimate has got to counteract the Levitan retake, but Lev had been so good at faking the retake, drawing it out, and then hitting the punish.
Very patient so far. Scattered to the wings of the Levitan players. I don't know if you see the overdrive pop off, and that's triggering the showstopper immediately.
Bits and pieces, signs of utils, Sun's going to be ricocheting off into the corner, and as a connection, nobody didn't have a choice.
And the Razer all wasted again move forward Leon. He's just holding this one close times anything without that smoking reveals a hand
Last few players are noted
Spam the spray down leviton
It could play control almost beginning to end
This opening map picket haven't has set leviton up with some phenomenal confidence
These players have been relishing the big stage, but had it been any other match with the ball, we would see a much more competitive opening.
But the fact that they get to open on their most one-sided affair, or reforming, really is basking in it.
The War of the Crowd, it's an unreal start here for Leviton, absolutely best thing they could have possibly hoped for.
hope for for now though we're gonna be sending it down to Frankie she's starting
by with sliggy in a new up-and-coming co-stream I'm sure it's a familiar face
we'll all probably recognize I have squeezed in between sliggy and my boss
it's Leo Farah aka the global head of Valoran Esports. Leo you finally made it
to London and just in time for a banger match. Oh yeah we're here we're happy I'm
also happy that we got to get this guy out of the house so you know we're here
We're always happy to have sliggy here is Leo behaving himself. Oh, yeah, he's behaving himself
I was trying to get some leaks. I'll try and ask about math changes giving nothing
I was gonna say also is he a little bit biased because we've got a load of Brazilian's on stage
Yeah, he's trying to I can see him throwing out a few fake cheers are here and there
He's a little biased today a little bit just a little bit
I mean the storylines Leo though the fact that we've got edg rising again at PRX not wanting to go for second again
trying to go to the first, put Santiago behind them, and now obviously Leviathan as well,
the four rookies and the king. What's been your favourite?
Look it's been awesome. I think again we've been blessed with one team from each league
and the top four, you know, that has happened many times and here again. Honestly just Chinese
teams doing well, helps with the momentum going to Champs-Chang-Ai, right? It gives them confidence,
it helps that community get excited and yeah, I mean it's just left on the run, we're all
me in love with them. So good matches no matter what. Can you manage our
expectations around Shanghai? Anything you can let slip? I can't I can't leak
anything but I could tell you it's gonna be completely insane because Valant is
on fire in China right now. We're going all out you know. Champions is always the
moment when we pull all the stops so it's gonna be probably one of the best
events we've done ever. I cannot wait guys get back into sliggy stream thank
Thank you for letting me borrow him, okay, chat.
Let's get back to the game.
The Chinese region is already for people on notice
with their performance at this event.
Our performing Pacific, getting two teams in the playoffs,
and EDG with a chance to be able to make another crack finals.
The momentum would be insane heading into Shanghai.
But at the moment, this map is probably not where that begins.
down 10-2. Leviathan just having fun out there. Absolutely outclassing him. Not feeling the nerves,
the pressure of the stage whatsoever. They're not too overzealous with it. They've shown
good signs that they can temper in the middle of these rounds. Take pauses in the right places.
Just like moments like this. Happy to contact all the way up and now,
Since it comes to respawning it, that's when the utility flies forward.
Jenny, again, you're going to be tasked with a hell of a job here.
There's no help coming.
No, not at all.
You're going to have to anchor against the might of Leviton and a serpent waiting to gobble you up.
Ship down.
Just one smoke to play around.
Reborn is finally arriving. This is it.
Signs of life here from EDG.
He's starting to float all the way back in, but he's going to find some kills.
But that came from Shakruder Smoke calling it Coordination.
It's good on online right now for EDG.
Still forwards, landing up these players.
The chip down to the middle!
And...
Oh!
Oh, does it go so wrong!
The pack of EDG!
Little down, chip down!
Shutting the toes in the dark at the end.
And left.
This first map absolutely dominant.
Jenny, unfortunately, does not look comfortable here.
completely overwhelmed by the defensive utile.
Gissu force of Joe Lassmove him to try to anchor around.
An acute idea, but they're not even going for the force.
They're down in a spot where they're giving their opponent
10 opportunities to close things out.
As walking, wading, straight out into the open,
risky business, BDG.
They wung in particular, I mean, you're gonna feel like
He means an individual, potentially having to step up and be the hero for his team.
To be honest though, I think, again, thoughts for them will almost already be on Pearl.
Yeah.
It's a B05.
You have so many more opportunities to come back into it.
The amount of mental effort it would take to run this one back, the one in a billion
scenario in which it happens, it's much more likely that you just focus all of your energy
and your efforts on these later maps in the series.
And certainly would be...
They're a difficult team to take out.
Especially if you give them such a boost of confidence early like this.
There weren't even rounds that really rattled the cage.
I mean, look at instances like this, Lev are so far in a lead.
A lot of teams that take the foot off the gas a little bit, they start making mistakes, but...
You forget that this is an owner team.
Oh, yeah.
And despite the fact that you've got four young players...
They've got the still level of discipline, honed in, sat up, handed off the gun from earlier, I believe, so he's just going hunting, see if he can build up the ult, still thinking about Aloncon, how they can close out the game despite the fact that they are up 11 rounds, about to be 12, and they are just playing with him at the end, aren't they?
Every shot going wide. I mean, just as we were talking about them, playing optimally. Making me eat my words. Which I think mostly they do. I think you've got a great point.
It feels like every time someone goes up against left they try to put the pressure on and see if they crumble see if they crack
But they do have discipline beyond their years, but they're I mean you're 12 to up a little 360 who's I mean who's it?
It's quite telling. I think you have one last time of EDG. It's not being taken exactly
They're thinking ahead to pull. Yeah, you don't get to save the time after pearl
But no you get to save your model hours on the earth
That's the first one.
EDG, they have swapped around their defensive set-ups.
Jenny was getting bullied on C last time we saw them play Haven against Foot.
Now he's moved his set-ups over towards A in these two big rounds that matter on defence.
They're not working me much here either.
But any time you've got me on chamber, he doesn't need a gun.
You've already seen that shot earlier, blasting away nobody.
Nobody. There's a phenom just with a headhunter.
Nobody. I'm sure you're guessing in terms of where these players could be.
You only saw the one.
Again, not rushing things.
Looking to work the map.
King.
He could be quite a methodical caller when he doesn't have a set strat that he wants to run.
Flash gets negative info as Neon tucks away from it over towards A.
Would be a good timing to return back into the A-pop, but King doesn't fancy it.
Leading the troops over towards a B finish instead.
And EDG just have no information.
No.
Makes sense of your fan trying to play towards the sense of their weaponry.
Wide-faced Smoky is giving up, trying to really square off,
and he has at least played in one life.
A spike going down, but a big reveal.
And to the back.
Smoky in a bit of trouble, but there's a bait and a switch.
Neon all of that pressure, all of that noise.
He's heard it.
Scurrying in a footsteps, and he's got full space and control over it all day.
Born for the movements.
17 seconds left, setup needs to be broken.
As well as any real pushback here, Kingsman left as an insert as well.
Reclearance, tepid here, but still. Life claims.
Good idea from EDG.
Now we'll see. Not favoured at all left here.
3v5, fully anti-guns to what we're buying there, bit of spamters.
Hit the mark. He'll online at the back.
More kits in. Steady hand and steady aim.
That blows. Not good enough to see if he can claim any kills.
He kills those quarters, actions, and for that Henta to rattle off the bullets, but he did
a deep, they survive another round.
Fending off a fairly weak bonus from left, nine more chances to convert here on Haver.
Smoggy going for a very aggressive approach to that.
Looking to take the game into his own hands.
If he were to hit the one in a billion, it would come from ridiculous individual moments.
That, undeniable.
But with Sado having a Phoenix ultimate, he's back hockey here ready for round 16.
Could all be over in the blink of an eye.
Neon with that attack side off.
Exactly right. They've got the ult, they've got the key here.
Had Neon, nobody does not have the help of Jenny anymore.
Oh, it's a deep flash, but I don't think he connected. He's going to take a peek.
Crazy play, crouching down.
Seen him do this one in China. He's walking all the way up. Hold on, he's found it!
Over the opportunity.
So nobody played for sure, but he's managed to find the goods, but potential to be punished here.
And how he realizes these players may be, it's Sato already on it.
A site now, there's gonna take him. Mckings gonna be put that out of picture. That was mid-Astra form.
There's no smoke start to play around. You're gonna see that all offloaded early, but it's a walking one at that.
Saddle not looking to give anything away creeping up onto the line a bit of tonight with a plan just from that need
So there's no way forward to walk around, but he's not got anything from it
It's good discipline and the patterns of the spike one step further blows
Let's get a kill on the smog even a 2v3
She shots down blows away
There was a chance
But he did you prevail
Another situation when they catch left in some uncomfortable positions
Going for the solo playmaking. Nobody with it. Quite a nice idea here actually, against the way that these chamber teams like to control a lobby.
Good understanding of the angles. Then of course you get that pushdown mid from Kankang. Catches King.
There you see the reaction there.
Jump scared in the Astral form.
Ten chances down to A.
And Lev on an eco.
Half armor, can't cry, tacked up though, you just have that outlaw, could feast here, absolutely, with Neil going down.
Good first kill, there's still pressure now, mounting, come on through garage, you're going to see Jenny attempting to help him outside, swinging by Smoggy right there.
Where it counts, that is a clean, almost clean sweep, just a one player falling.
Falling, EDG,
Spunting and stopping a bit at a momentum.
It's starting to build up a bit of confidence of their own.
These players get in the feel of the game now.
We've been waiting for Cancan to come online at London.
He's had his moments, he's had his rounds.
But he hasn't had a match yet where he has just taken over.
And he is completely capable of it.
Always has been. Every version of EDG that's turned up to these events.
about to death.
And he's going to take his off over towards A Longwood, Jenny in behind.
He's going to give you a chance for the slide to the side, just dodging the bullets.
Hang on.
Worse for the wearer as a result of it, but it has forced a pause into the step of the
nobody.
This is just, he's wild.
What is going on?
Sik is not even pointing out the complete pitch.
He's barely out of there.
He is one of my favourite players to watch.
There's no one quite like him.
He's not blind or good.
He's walking down C long.
Yeah.
I mean, caution to the wind at this point.
You really just have to take it one round at a time and wind off a neon.
Yeah, in the crux of it, style of play of EDG.
Yeah, I mean, they've got to make hero plays
because they're getting outmatched, pound for pound,
in terms of the ideas that team work.
But nobody goes a little too far there,
and that puts even more pressure on the rest of the pack.
If Smokey gets a kill, though, shows up online.
There are chances.
But surely Lev should be able to close this out.
The blind drone.
Okay, advantage now. 40 seconds.
Drone not broken.
She's just gonna be spotted out there and that forces the paranoia out early.
34.
How much time do we have left?
All, never just seen if they can cut noise entirely, but now making them move.
But what's this B site?
Spike in the back pocket of blows.
Gonna get down and get that plant online.
Watch for King.
Jenny being caught again on this round as a massive advantage now on left surely should be sailing away in two
He puts that on a punish by Scott is back smoggy
It's got her to it all would have to be a 1v5
One for the old but he's not even being given the opportunity of a kill status given the connection holds online
Sends us all the way to
Absolute dominance from left
The most one-sided map that you should see in the series, but that will give a lot of confidence to this American's team
We're gonna be stepping away of course up next GP and the analyst desk breaking it all down to don't go anywhere
You don't want to miss it. It's a lot of rocket fire
Fuck!
Ah!
Ah!
Let's go!
Let's go!
Let's go!
Let's go!
Tired of off-season blues once champs is over?
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E-Sports Nations Cup 2026. See you in November.
Inside the place!
KP's unstoppable for the win!
Hey there, my name's Erika or KP.
I'm a former pro player for Game Changers and I work on the game analysis team known
as GAT.
We work with the game designers to playtest and provide feedback on the health and tuning
of the game.
We're brought in super early into the design process for many different pieces of content,
including agents, maps, modes, and skins.
For agents, we'll work with the designers throughout the development process to help
them meet specific gameplay goals, and as development progresses, we'll focus on each
ability's tuning and balance.
An example of this is with Mix's M-Pulse grenade.
At first, M-Pulse only had one charge, but we did a lot of testing and discussing to
see how we can make two charges work.
There was some concern around how many you could throw back to back, but we helped tune
a lot of the health and duration to make sure it was fair.
Once the content is wrapping up, we assess the risks it will pose to the game and prepare
fast follow-ups with the design team.
As GATT, we pulse-check any shifts in the meta from ranked all the way to VCT.
We're always looking out for feedback on social media, engaging how the content feels
in our own matches.
And it's definitely not just GATT and design doing this alone.
We're supported by a really robust data ecosystem and work closely with our PM and Insights
teams throughout the whole process.
So while our playtests and player instincts are important,
there are also a ton of people and data points
helping us evaluate how the game is performing
and where we should make adjustments next.
Players stand.
It's so fun.
Bye.
Bye.
Go.
Here with coach owner of La Vietta, owner of Great Start.
What information did you gain about EDG that you guys should probably remember throughout the entire series today?
Honestly, not that much because both teams, we played yesterday and also Edward, so both teams didn't have that much time to prepare, to do scouting or anti-strat.
We are like we have like a small read on them.
I can't I can't reveal maybe if you have the same question at the end of this
day and maybe I can explain more but yeah we have we have like some detail that
they like to do that we are like adapting and they and then planning is like doing one.
Thank you for your insights on that.
Oh I think if you're a Levy-A-Thon fan the plan is going quite well indeed coach owner.
13-5 win for the South American roster as you see Spike leading the charge on that neon.
All the heavy hitters, but alternatively on the other side though, a little bit toward the tail end there, Mimi.
EDG trying to get a couple of those rounds, but at that point the golf was just so wide.
Levy and Thun, they were just running away with it.
This game was ended in the first half and I think what we focused a lot on the tactics of Levy,
what they did great in this was having an awesome approach to their strategy,
in particular how they were shutting down the sea splits that we saw EDG going for repeatedly.
They had really good approaches that have aggressively recleared space in garage and
play into these sea retakes. And that's what led them to run away with this first half.
I actually like EDG's initial game plan of doing the sea splits though. On left side there was no
open paranoia and the weak side was generally on the seaside of the map. I think EDG fumbled a little
bit in those post plans personally, not taking the back side control and letting left flood in
with those great retakes. Yeah, their approach to these retakes was certainly on point.
in particular rounds I'm remembering is the two times where this raise rocket was online in the post-run
Leve did a really good job of baiting it out here
It was sending that first kind of wave of the slide and the drone to pressure and then neon's just waiting with the off to kill
Later on it was a neon all popped in the next round with that raise off online to bait it out
This seems very patient and measured in the way that they approach these retakes and the execution is just to blind here
Something I do want to just kind of touch on real quick mini
You said that they were allowing them a lot of opportunities get through the back line
How was that happening? What were EDG not doing? What could they have done, I guess, to ensure that they at least did something to prevent that?
The seaside of the map is about getting that backside control before planting. It simply put, it's just the jewel is going up for that space.
It looked like they had a game plan of like not going for that space, which I disagree with completely.
I think it is very fundamental human theory to have that backside control, to make sure he goes crossfire as in, and disrupt that retake when it's coming in.
coming in. Yeah, no, it always felt like Leviathan had free reign. And you're so
right on that, of course. So there's more to talk about with Leviathan. Let's go
ahead and take a look at our HyperX Reflex moment of the matchup, because
this is another one of those plays where, you know, you know, you know, you
names are killing me over here. A Evil Cat. This was one of those weird plays that
they were able to trap their opponents with. They have a lot of variance to this
same C-fight here. It was a pullback star going behind that dog. That's the reason
the EDG players didn't break it because they thought it was going to get blocked off by
that smoke, which they thought was full. You see even this Astralpult going in to bait
that it's at closer fight and the execution is really good. We saw in their last game
with Phaven, they decided that they're throwing a shock dart and sliding through on timing.
This scene just has so many different tactics to fight you early. They seemingly have something
new to show in every match minute. Yeah, when you think you know that they're
going to do the same thing over and over, they'll bring out something like that and
you're like, oh my god, they got another thing. It's so much to keep track of and they're
always so beautifully executed. Yeah that is the part that really rattles me
where it's like they have so much in the playbook available to them and it
seems like the book just keeps making new ones. It's like the like self-writing
book. I don't know how they're doing it but they're doing it and it's pretty
dang cool. They're gonna have to keep this thing going. The drive needs to stay
alive as we get ready for map two. We're going over to Pearl to set the stage for
that one here. Now this is going to be an EDG pick but we were looking at this
series layout and we saw many how this these first three maps played out and
Levitan while of course his map is good for EDG there are no slouches on Pearl
at all especially with the compositions they like to run. Yeah absolutely I
think Lev lost some confidence in that pro like naming is highlighting earlier
but America is a very strong pro region and I think this is a dangerous map here
for EDG I think that this is a must win map if they want to take this series. I
absolutely agree I think that if Lev can pick this up it starts to really look
like a 3-0 for this young team. In particular, what I like about their pearl is defensive
side. A lot of the same things with Haven. I think they have good ideas to trap play
behind Neon's operator when he's playing the chamber here. They have really good approaches
early round of having variance in how they fight for space, especially towards A main.
So for an EDG, they'd struggle with some of those same problems on Haven. I think they're
going to have to quickly find solutions going into pearl here.
Yeah, I think on the flip side for EDG, this is the map where Kong Kong has the best performance,
I think on that defense side with that jet he was popping off like vintage conco
I think we're gonna need to see him do that again if they want to dance on this map because Lev been looking hot here too
Spikes out here trolled on us everyone. What did he hold her? He hovered over rena
It made me hope that maybe we do something wacky, but of course the stakes are too high. How could you?
It's locked in here. EDG they've made a final before they've lifted a trophy before but that was now two years ago
This team is facing down one of the least experienced squads. It's been to this point in a tournament is the map
They picked is the map that they're favored on if they fall here
It's a massive disappointment. You start to look at memories of Bangkok for EDG
I'm looking at the neon the con con heads head on different agents here
But the operator on this map for both especially on that belong on the defense is going to be pivotal for them
Well, you heard the desk and now you know exactly what the lookout for as we get ready for this matchup
the best of five is far from over. Let's go ahead and jump into map two. Shall we
look at England? We're gonna send it back over to your casters. Here's Brent,
hands-side show. We need to see your return of form here for EDG. As we get
into ball in our long bracket finals, it's elimination. The chance for a spot in
the grand finals for EDG, it will mean an opportunity to get revenge to reach the
prior peaks of the past when he was able to lift trophies. The Livia time that
already one map up and as the desk was mentioning Pearl, America's the region no slouches at
it.
And it actually used to be EDG's pergabat, only started playing it very late on in VCT
China.
Level 1, I tried to take this fight early mid if EDG are going for it.
EDG do like to go for this mid default quite a lot and Neon's posted on an angle where
he's walking forward.
He's walking forward.
He may get a freebie.
Yeah.
He's a rendezvous to play around.
He is full walking up here, creeping into mid.
Nobody poking, trying to see if he can pull players up and around because EDG are going
in a different direction.
Slow take towards A main.
It's a risky position for Neon but he's just relying on his fast reactions to get him
out and it's helping his team figure out the defensive setup.
They're going to be over here, especially if the trip doesn't get broken.
is going to have help and a recall.
Cinder starts to lay it down and that's going to be signaling quite a lot of flashes.
Send by full once, Kampang is all the way into that smoke,
but guess what, play has already held and the reveal is massive.
Molly doing quite a bit of work there, Sado.
Going to be burned for Cinder's.
The reason to a 3v3, an energy,
don't want anything to do with the A hit.
Full rotate.
Miles away from this mid-Av.
Usually rotates like this all the way from A-Main to B-Ret,
A-Main are a bit too slow.
But here, just setting up a faster...
Avenue or rather a more open avenue to get into the side, but King could play spoiler to all of this
I committed onto this line. He's worried about the lane control that they've lost this entire time
And I was gonna be hearing the footsteps still nobody
Great work by Cheechew blows don't know why you can't deny this
Bailey there the control but he did she did get a pistol round
He almost caught both of the duelists with utility hands.
The combination of that trip and recall ended up being a bit too much.
And nobody putting himself in the lurk position.
Instead of calling his teammates back through into him in B-Link, they wrap around.
Already a much stronger beginning, but this is a leviathan trap play today like to run we've seen this one before many a time
Up towards the B angle the wall is deep here
Swipes them all away and swaps them all down at me on
Trying to do any sort of work you can but the shots bring out they missed the mark
Somehow Kankai is still alive in the midst of all of this.
Blows the last one, traps him back,
EDG with guns trained and a jump peak to finish it.
What a double from Kankai,
Justus seems to be starting to run away from EDG.
That flash, absolutely caught them
and yet he spins around,
deletes those two players to relieve the pressure.
They need him to perform here on pearl if you're going to be running the jet on this map
You best be hoping the jet is going to feast
Bonus round here for EDG a lot of danger to it. I should bring a lot of the bulldogs forwards one of the rifles
They've been playing a very cautious game so far on their attack
Never very all in
Contacting as much as they possibly can, but as a prowler's going to be broken, flash round the corner.
It's like an extra there, still running all the way forward.
There's nobody basically taking point, it's just running with Utilizer's hands.
But down at that show, the mic blows!
Accounts for it!
Little shot in the dark there, straight into the smoke. It does remove Kang Kang.
Calling again, but the rotations.
Chichu finding all this space over towards B.
Again, it's quite a nice pattern from Kang Kang, even though it doesn't work.
He jumps onto Neon's rendezvous,
which stops Neon from being able to commit to a different position.
King, having a wonder, stepping forwards, taking that risk,
even though they're in a player advantage with rifles.
Spotted to one player, that's a spike drop down.
Has to be retained here by Jenny.
He can let the spike be recovered in this spot.
A 4v2 retake on B is more than enough of an advantage for Lev to be able to convert.
Jenny and Chichu would have to pull out something ridiculous to get this bonus round with.
Top of the round here, Jenny with the gun.
He's gonna be guarding Cheechu's back.
You can't be down, you're right.
They're gonna have to do something ridiculous here.
A lot of disaster, Jenny, consistently on this squad.
Here's the danger man, he's the one with a bulldog.
The Molly is good, pushing him back and away.
Lev usually gonna be disciplined here though.
You two are gonna be raining out,
waiting by the tie-hold in the reposition.
He's good, Spike.
Chopped down, taking out my bulldog and up glazed.
It's going to be a play!
And Jenny!
And so his play is beautifully still, Chichu has fallen, there's still a 1v2.
It's all going to be on Jenny now.
Nice fight taken!
Tabernon and a few as Kings hoping to see him get pulled away out!
King with the composure!
Wins the round out!
It's a great try from Jenny though.
Way better than what he was able to do on Haven.
He just looked so much more comfortable on every other map of the pool.
He's been massive for EDG.
He's just made that bonus round very expensive for Levy a time to deal with.
Considering that was a 4v2 and they knew exactly where both the EDG players were going to be as the spike went down,
Jenny did such a good job there of slipping into the fast lane and making himself a problem.
I really did. He's put them all on Light Armor, blows with the Guardian, Neon just working with a headhunter.
He's actually done a great job for EDG to keep this momentum going.
In for round four. Similar start, once more. No noise at all here until they walk all the way up.
Alusia in the flash, he's gonna be caught with that use ult, he ults, coming out, he's gonna head onto the shot, feels all the way back though, that nightfall, scatters.
He's gonna be tonight on the sound cue, he's gonna spam randomly to the corner, Neon does his best but eventually trade it out.
Cronkong now, certs himself into that pit position. As for help, nobody's required.
Well, it's indeed. I'm going to see it. Saddle.
Turn of the tide. Looking to see if he can make his own mark.
Here we're going to run it back forward to this.
We've usually taken up a knot before. Nobody goes down.
2v3 now.
Chichu Smoggy.
Smoggy with that cut up close position up towards D4.
He's hoping he won't be cleared.
Unaccounted for slight misstep and mistake.
The Molly sails up and over.
But times that and a tick.
Here in the jump up and out is a beautiful kill to be found.
Wouldn't be one now.
We'll talk once more.
King tonight!
A second chance at a clutch!
So our Cheechu...
They're gonna meet Cheechu to stand solid.
That duo, Cheechu and Jenny, have been, I think, the two most important pillars for the wrong that EDG have put together so far in London.
And in back to back rounds, they are both required to both do the damage and then converse.
And this is going to destroy every time told of the economy.
And start out EDG with some great momentum.
Their theory looks a lot better, their ideas are the way they're level playing look a lot better.
And they're scrapping through in these close scenarios.
Exactly the opening we needed to see from EDG.
Getting battered on Haven.
They're answering back nicely in their own way.
Even the maps that EDG are marginally favoured on.
Leather still good, and the map pool advantage.
You've heard the desk talk about it.
It does just seem a bit deeper from Leather,
but if EDG can come out with some strong performances
in crucial rounds like we've seen so far on Pearl,
it'll give them a lot of confidence to be able to perform,
be able to win.
win. They're game against
PaperX. It just felt like they were never down, never out. No.
It's an unbelievable level of resilience being shown by EDG.
They know that they're good for it. They've done it before.
There's a level of self-belief when you know that you are capable rather than just believe
that you are capable. Both of these teams are in very different positions.
30 seconds left.
Seeing open A site here, it's going to be a plant down with no problems.
Deep control over towards backside.
Just taking up.
These close one positions are something that Mini was critical of on Haven.
I think the theory is going to be a lot better on Pearl.
You see them get into this deep setup over towards secret.
Nobody can get the like loose player that gets the float around.
Yeah
Potential chances with the damage done but EDG they maintain it and take the 4-1 lead in this map
Now the round coming up that's gonna be critical
But let's finally have money to be able to work with
All of the damage that has been done on EDG's bonus step is the one round that Lead came away with, but it was a 1v1 clutch.
Now Neon gets to pick up his operator.
Players starting to get close to big ultimates as well. This cosmic divide is going to put pressure on EDG's post plans.
But it's the op they have to get through first.
Neon is posted, most here to haunt is going to be dealt with here, now already the angle
onto that perfect line, so Justin takes Jenny straight out of the picture, good way of dealing
with that Phoenix fall.
So that coming out from Global E-Sports, they can just shoot you on the left.
Okay, I mean straight from the trademark, straight to the toe, he's able to transfer that beautifully,
so that is taking out my blows, but ultimate just to reciprocate up through mid.
The revamp is still there for them, but the back side position now accounted for King.
Klaas from the down, just a spotting daily ahead, and that's more than a head cut.
Mion finally beats his match to be too still.
It's explosive as anything, nobody going for that wider.
Face-hold on, he hears the drone.
He's trying to take a timing.
Pure insanity.
Klaas and Alphors knows it's occurring.
Out of style and out of kill.
Foul, EDG.
Making magic of these moments.
Finding a way forward to now that this opponent reigns itself.
Double up together, not willing to let this one slide at all!
Great change towards the end.
Nobody has been so important in these situations,
but just playing this loose, carefree style.
He's willing to throw chaos into the rounds,
and he's more practised in it.
He can pull you into the mud,
and he's not worried about getting filthy.
That's really uncomfortable territory.
Slept out!
Never going to take attack time out here to try to wonder how they can adjust their set-ups to stop this chaos from happening.
It was a nice idea with the Hunters Fury and Spikes pressure, but it's the post-plant aggression that's really catching them off guard right now.
People slipping, making solo plays, and getting through the gaps.
Uncomfortable timings.
The kind of thing that was throwing paperbacks even off their game.
Leva normally a very disciplined team, and they've got their ideas,
they've got their approach super-drilled.
But EDG are finding those little moments to be able to allow the individuals to shine.
10 and 3, nobody, the RGL.
Coinbase Wing-Condition is for King.
to get his head around these timings and how they want to be fighting them.
It's definitely an orthodox.
These two IGLs have got history together as well.
Oh yeah.
Champions 2024 when EDG lifted their big trophy and became the kings of China.
They played against each other in that upper bracket final.
A 2-1 win where EDG came out on top and Lev ended up fizzling out of the tournament despite being favourites.
Sent straight back to the lower bracket final and losing out there. King would love a chance to return that favor.
Seeing all in here by left when they're on that eco.
What do you tell that mean? That's a lot of respect by EDG.
Ho ho ho!
Decapitated, playstorm in hand. King is not stopping there, he's not stopping down.
That's all! Finding every target!
Like a heat seeking missile.
If you allow Kankan to wake up in this game, it could be all over before you even realize
it.
Last player standing.
Neil taking out.
Last one found.
That trade is instantaneous.
He was keeping up on Haven, even though it was a 13-5, he had about a 1KD.
That's not bad, but it was nothing to run your home about.
Here, that kill on the spike just crushes any chance left to make a counterplay.
Delight by Rauten and the Neon-R is... it's everything for him.
Jenny's still got a really nice Ultimate in his back pocket to work around.
Steel Garden, opportunity to take everybody down in terms of the weaponry.
It's a fast lane, he wants to cut this one all the way up towards that top section, dissecting
and taking away to mid control, EDG fall for the fast reaction, they don't want anything
to do with that fight but it does force him into Neon's power, and there it is, head and
turn, potentially greedy but can't find that hot hand, and a fall now, finally, finding
his footing on the stage.
being inserted. Oh, King, it popped the back of the little Darwin, and still he has found the kill,
chopping them up now with a rifle spam. To plan his beam tonight,
deepest the drone, looking for hunting out these remaining players. Nobody,
he's way out to the open, way out to the open, but I don't mind, it's still King's there.
So swing up that pressure, first round in a long while to level everybody gets.
Oner in the tag timeout, seems to have just said to them, don't worry about controlling the aggression,
Hit them with your own aggro.
Get more aggressive, more up in their face.
Force EDG to play to your tempo.
This round was utterly controlled by Lev.
Phoenix all off the roof, mid pressure with the neon.
And they funneled EDG, shepherded them straight into their operator.
How many set ideas like that do Lev have though?
Might be running the same one back, but slowly.
Now, crowder sees it, it's a molly potentially for the running group position, but this is already set up squaring up, taking a fight forwards.
Spike went down earlier.
Matt Pressure on this mid default, EDG really struggling to hold on the last couple of rounds.
Player disadvantage once more.
You are defining vision!
Such a jiggle.
Hulking, crowding, sees the Utah that's going to be sent flying forwards into the signal quite a lot.
Calling for the team to back him up.
Plant down.
They need a prime position to use a steel guard to potentially take it once they're
permanent.
That's exactly the plan.
Olds now going to be popped off.
Walking even further past this one.
Must be defying going to be pushed past and beyond.
Nobody making sure to clear out most of the side but they've got one in their back pocket.
Those both ways are back.
Drone.
Going to be broken before he gets that tag on.
Line, force in the fight.
For what?
The flash on top of his Sano.
Already.
He's going to take time to fight.
He's going to make a hurry about it.
But already the high ground angle.
Both fruition.
a shin. Leviathan happy to wait it out and play that full retake. And this time EDG couldn't
find that little avenue to slip the gap. They threaded the needle into Spawn in previous
rounds when they were down players on a B post plan, but here despite being in the 3B4,
they just had to take the passing setups. Didn't feel confident in pushing through their own
like their own set up, and so they get to play their game.
Now, Taktainamout from Onur has made all the difference.
I think at some point here, we need
to see EDG respond with one of their own.
The coach battle between Orton and Onur,
they are massively different coaches.
Yeah.
It's an interesting one.
Big juxtaposition because of Autumn.
Modable finals appearance is a trophy lift in his cabinet,
but Onur, another trophies, but a lot of consistency.
That's what you get out of him all the time and neon neon flash to push him off that line
Very close. Yeah, very close indeed. It's just whistling class
It's one of the need to do before this you till you get them on the sails up and overhead sees alongside it
There's a full-on you till dump so about weapon in the storm shots forwards neon though with a peak
He's really taken out smoggy
Stopping this guy finally can't put the ball for the brain, but there is not enough to go around
Round, severe turn again, put it out on fast, loose, aggression being the name of the game.
Remember the name, Neon. You're going to be watching him on stages like this for many years in the future.
He has instantly leapt onto the global stage, performed just as well as he was in America's,
and taken rounds like this by the scruff of the neck.
As predicted, EDG are going to take attack time out.
Autumn needs to talk to them in order to figure out how to counter what they're up to.
This one was actually a slight move away from the theme.
Onur had been asking his team to increase the tempo, increase the pace,
and force EDG into these faster, faster hits.
Deny the mid control, force them into A-pops, B-pops.
Now he gets an opportunity to adjust again as Autumn scrambles to keep up,
Even though his team is in the lead, 6-4.
They're not...
Coinbase win condition.
Yeah, they're not really going to have the money here, but Kankang's won away from the Altor.
I think the Coinbase win condition for me, Brent, is that Alton puts some pressure on the outsides of the maps,
you force Neon to take that rendezvous, you push him off that deep line,
and then you return back over towards working splits through mid.
I'd like to see them if they're going towards an extremity and outside of the map to still have another layer where they can go back into
Either a mid-lock or a split. Yeah at the moment if the other takes contact. It's basically because edg are trying to run him over
Clear punishment as well for a lot of the contacting that edg are doing
But the same default though
King is usually be ready here to see if you can break the horn and you tell them drawing out of this respect being shown
Horns deep enough though and the arms waiting it out, but he was just aiming into the wrong location. It's a great punish from EDG that extra bit of patience
Pays off beautifully can't come now without trap here. We're gonna leave the charge the rest of his team in and king
Taking out
This mantle now since by leaving it all the way in front of our position
Scatters the stun just connecting us a bit of damage done, but still watch the util of the ultimate throw it all the way out
It's EDG still in control
A BlackBee in Pond and a BlackBee site, and it is their territory, their domain.
This team can shoot. Both squads have got exceptional firepower.
But you heard Alex talking about it in the PaperX game against EDG before.
You know, we are just losing out on some individual moments.
There are so many jewels in here that are actually 1v1, so player could come in and help.
like nobody just barrels through the smoke destroys King can come as you said
punn is flag on that high ground and winning every duel that comes his way
I've seen a fast play this is EDG haven't used a lot of youths off the road here but it might be punished for it
both both ways and Lairdville favour to this one
what a youths all sets them up for the beautiful gunfights here but an instant reaction of EDG
but never trying to get one step ahead and what he's making a move over towards that opposition
Jenny, Karim behind the box, but not for much longer.
Sit straight back to that spectator seat.
And nobody now has to stare at the round that he's been handed.
Final one and a half on V5.
Huge haymaker from EDG in the previous round, and Lev respond.
A gigantic brawl where Neon is not the tip of the spear, but instead,
it's the Phoenix Molly that just causes Kankang to have to take that step back.
Nobody's got absolutely no chance of being able to win this but 1v5. He's already had an exceptional half
He's 14 at 6. I think edg can feel very happy about putting together more rounds in the first half than they did across the whole of Haven
Yeah, right. This is actually them coming back into the game showing what they're capable of
But Levin are right there with them
Go on nobody
Give us a show
Last round might as well pop it off here, 32nd mark, you see the odds.
He's chasing him down!
He's not trying to give him any disease.
But he's no longer in the world, it will be our 7-5 finish.
EDG, as you were saying, can still be happy with what they've earned.
Both teams finding areas to excel.
Both coaches finding areas of impact.
And the individuals, nobody in Kangkang, shine it brightly for EDG.
Yeah, competitive half on point.
That's precisely what we needed to see out of EDG to just make this one an absolute banger
of a low bracket final. Don't go anywhere.
Here with Chichu of EDG. Chichu, you know how it feels to have that crazy momentum and
a lot of confidence. You've been there yourself. So how do you put the brakes on left with
the great momentum that they have?
Uh, just a way to deal with reds.
I think it will be a match of clutch of heavy heaters.
Okay.
Alright.
So clutch.
Clutch.
Clutch.
to see as we head back into the second half of the EDG. Sign to life and more. Grateful
for it. We want to the competitive low bracket final. We did not want to see this team go
out quietly into the night, but here they are putting up fights and putting up resistance.
That grit and tenacity that showcased his sound in a paper ex-game here once more.
He's been powered, honestly, by nobody as a player because he's been making the plays he's been making.
He's so willing to just put his life on the line, make the risky play that his team needs.
Sometimes he looks a fool, sometimes it works immaculately.
play, double flash set up, as they hear potential sound queues.
And it's left of it, it's it's going around here,
they're poking, prodding, trap's going to be sprung,
but nobody was home.
Dropping down.
Oh, what is that?
He's so accurate with those shots.
Not even 80 a stop.
Used to pull back to get into that position.
And now, Leva banking on the fact that EDG are
going to respond to that pick and start moving around the map,
leaving A a little more open.
King holding, nobody peeking.
Yeah, it's a slight off angle here,
but he's got it, the Astral Form!
It's a wrong timing for it, but Neon,
might get a chance to revenge at least.
He's spotted the plays out,
only four more bullets left into the headhunter.
He's gonna have one hell of a time,
but he just sidesteps it.
For now, the Utah come in his way,
crouched up, surely not long.
He's still managed to find a kill.
There's no chance for the tracers through,
but that's a plant into back side control.
Right reaction here from Livia Tan.
They're flipping the site.
They're really good decision on that one.
They've still got a Molly.
They've still got two shots in the stun to play with.
Contacting through to A with these three players.
They're in a good position here.
Certainly are.
Pack mentality though from EDG.
Now, splitting up, just want to take the fight together.
They've seen it where that plant is.
Util cycling through.
Molly's going to be the first point of contact.
Sato's still there.
That could be done.
He's repression.
The flash door.
It's good for it.
Stun ricochet.
Chichu forward! Chichu! Oh my! Almost a chance!
God, you see it all over Sato's face.
10 HP made the difference there.
Between left picking up a rounder, they were expected to come through with...
And Chichu putting on one of the plays of the match.
We'll see that again. How is this even close to possible?
That is almost absolute brilliance.
You can't give players the quality of EDG any chance at all.
The entire load are going to be securing up that pistol round.
Yeah, EDG only with two pistols across the last two matches that they've played.
It's in contrast to be honest here. Oh my goodness, Neon.
Not scared to use the bullets now, but he doesn't pull back in time.
the game, punished there, a bit
crazy. It's a good kill here for
EDG. Ecos, stack of bodies down
calling for the players to reinforce
up towards Beben now, backing away.
Yeah, I mean, when you hear that
Marshall, you know it's Kung-Kung.
I wouldn't want a piece of that.
And King's taking this space over
towards A. He's just walked in and
backfilled the spots that Neon took.
Nobody, walk about again.
guy does not have a Teva in terms of where he plays obviously an eco round is
going to be even more risky and taken and he's just saw it. Yep, signs are
lying down, but biting his time, might be punished for it. He's done a lot of damage.
Shippin' down a level opposition. Now down two players, EDG set up in a prime
position to potentially win this one on the eco. Their level are very greedy with
their buying this round. May end up getting punished for it, he's coming in.
Yeah, he is certainly in that.
Oh my, okay, shots hitting Sado.
Usually able to just at least get back onto a 24H feet over.
That's gonna be brought to Sado, Sado, finding the timing.
Run down by the classics in Hanidi G.
Beautiful work and risks at the right moment.
I think that's one of the massive things that this squad has learned
in the years of being up, trying to get to the top.
Globally, having already made it within their region,
trying to find the right moment to be disciplined and the right moment to take the risk.
That's a huge momentum swing round. It doesn't get bigger.
Two stingers and some headhunter bullets in the back pocket for Neon.
Meanwhile, Kankan gets to play around with the Outlaw again.
It's the perfect opportunity for EDG to make up for their poor pistol round win rate.
Cancan might be feasting here.
Pretty common position.
Hoping that he can hunt out sniff round potential players. That's knife out blows.
This communication.
The enemy really there with a punish towards that double doors angle taking up the space now
So the old pop-tops are always running them down these look like the rifle as well picked up
I was gonna be stealing it all the way back
I'm trying to make some out of pressure. It's brought down
insane
The ultimate out of Sanna. I'm just giving away so many of these guns as well
It's clever stolen the momentum straight back
How's that occurred?
So not feeling comfortable enough that they can commit to the plan
But at least they can pick up a gun or two. Oh, they're also just cleared so much space now full lane control
Just like you said complete flipper momentum when you thought the DGG
Could do it slide off angle neon is watching for multiple angles, but he just missed his chance hold on repeat get in there and they do
Peeled all the way back once more, but he's had to concede up that space and now it's edg getting a bit of a move on
They realize wait a minute the chance to win this nobody first want to step up towards it
The packers position needs to be accounted for King there, but the player searching on site
Jenny and nobody we time Sado prime position
Plays it perfectly touch himself back in a way not giving an easy fight whatsoever
They know that there's time to be played for an around like this
Nobody really work for it for kills the Sado
Litson pasted he took it on to that side it's all smiles for him
The Phoenix gap is just immense. It's another thrifty.
Neon picks up that kill across towards B-Link.
Saddle gets two inside of his ultimate, including Pankang,
who really, I think, should have been able to do more, even with the Outlaw in his hand.
And Lev have just stolen this all the way back.
Look at Saddle. Nineteen and nine, arriving.
He's been playing like a veteran,
And he's only been around for a little bit longer than the rest of his players on
left.
Dart and Phoenix walk. Space given up the saddle can get one step closer to
another alt. We've seen how pivotal they are. A lot of space though. Gonna be taken up
here by Cancan. Yeah I suppose there is a chance he could get his
Bladestorm online in this round and we could have thrifties going everywhere.
Nobody might be tested here. He's turned his attention just away for a moment, but that is perfectly played.
Off the sound and the noise, being made, Sato taking that swing and takes on a player too.
Beautiful timing on that, a knee-unwinning, a crucial duel against Kan-Kan in a main.
We might finally see the team with the better weaponry coming through with a round in this half.
And sometimes an overabundance of caution can be a bad thing, that's how EDG were able to get that eco last time, but
Willing to make a misstep over to making that sound cue, walking up steadily, EDG might be squaring up again
They're looking to take a fight, didn't throw a bar, but it's one small smoky, hold on
He's managed to, well he's claimed two, flashed to the side
Sting your hand away, he's taking them all on, now run it back though
Fax is gonna be exposed, might be getting squeezed into multiple directions here, but it looks like the space cannot even be taken up
King's making a mistake. Kingie could have, but it's not communicated, not coordinated.
King was worried about the other side of the light here, but the time is running,
bitzling now down to the end. 11 seconds remaining and guess who's in position?
It's Jenny, rightful in hand. 7 seconds remaining. This plan is to go down.
King, King, he's become a man, and it's not coming together all.
It's all Jenny, but teed up by Smoggy.
Beautiful rounds.
We'll see if he goes all over the bloody place.
I'd dat line up between the two-two list.
And then blows up, tends to be some flush behind.
Missy, is it?
The size of the stage.
The crowd, the base.
Another Red Bull clutch.
Clutch potential.
We were seen from EDG.
Kept them in the game against PaperX.
You cannot count this team out.
Doesn't matter how far down they are.
That round absolutely did not look like it was going the way of EDG until Smoggy decided to grab 3 out of nowhere.
They're putting an extreme emphasis on being able to build up the ult.
I think a higher priority in the game plan. Nobody steps up same position as Smoggy previously.
He's coming for it, isn't he? He's still out.
What reveals that our players close waiting in the wings you got a bit of
fear into the step but he just doesn't know the meaning of the word run a back
note leave the charge pay for way to victory potentially fruit art nobody
and a formulate up towards this main smoke just takes a peek out wide towards
the side it was traded neon right there behind him is fight towards the back
that is a big punish teacher taken out come on
Smog dissipating now, guns trained and ready, wide face and wide fight!
All taken out Smoggy and Jenny now left into a 2v2 but King with his timing is wrapping it all the way around!
But the wiser and the wiser!
Jenny removed and it caused a mass retreat rotation all the way through the spawn.
Smoggy can hear it, he doesn't want to get away too many sound cues himself but now puts pedal to the metal.
Starts sprinted, starts lay it down.
pull used early. Yes to give them a bit of space here but a flash forward to get one more for the extra trouble here.
Flash has got it! An almost there with a connection.
It's always a chance for these EDG players. You cannot dismiss them so easily.
That was a very, very individual round from EDG. Nobody is just running around making plays on aim.
Cancan takes a dry swing on his own, uncoordinated with anybody else.
And then these final two players looking to try to pick up timings too.
I don't know that it's fundamentally great defensive setups and gameplay from EDG,
but they're still making left sweat.
Finding the read on what timers are going to fight you is tough.
Such an odd series, at least map-wise now.
This is a full gamble on the A side, really is.
The IGL goes walking forwards once again.
Neon picks him up,
But I don't think this is going to be an easy round again.
Normally, King likes to pump the brakes whenever they're up like this, but actually, the level
of respect and discipline, it can allow people like Kang Kang to just take more and more
liberties.
And we've already seen it.
Right wrist taken at the right time on the Ecos, EDG, you're not going to make it easy
for you.
I think it's quite principled the way that Leva are approaching this, but they are just
ticking time off their own clock.
And Kan Kan is gonna be sat there with five blades
and five heads
and potentially be popped.
The sole recipient of this aggression
and might be about to come his way over the B site.
He's firstly interning, left guessing in terms of the map control.
It is pure contact by Levin.
Again, this could be where he shines.
Now what do you tell?
Season now with a drone, spores his tight dubbies,
fighting straight towards them to dash for the Columbus.
Potential for him to see if he can at least survive whoever the Stormbatter down the hatches!
Play Storm and as an instant trade!
Spike the dishes that straight out.
And...
I'll go and down.
Dengie there should have been handled, but Jenny still has a Vandal.
We divide to cut them out entirely. This is live showing respect again to the...
Eco.
Potential of EDG to win these rounds out.
We're going to play her up here, Smoggy from that high ground overdrive now going to be
popped off into the back wall position and for the lack of armour, they are being galvanised.
Smoggy just reclaimed at least the operator but I'm not going to chance to take it, yeah
he's going to be able to get it potentially all the way out of there.
Not the worst prize in the world, Spike might be able to hear this, might be jumping straight
into him here. It's important. He's loved to keep the op. He's loved to keep it. Yeah,
he's going to be able to. He's tucked himself into that safe little corner. And so Kangkang's
going to have a prize for the next round. But Sado's happy about it. It's an anti-eco,
but they convert it pretty cleanly actually. The big trade from Spike onto Kangkang made
all the difference. Spike's been brilliant in playoffs too. He's a player that I think
was up at the top of all of our ideas about who was maximizing Neon's, I guess, broken
kit you could hug you before the nerfs came through. But, man, he looks like he's touched
here in London and is not in any way looking like he's heard by the Neon nerfs at all.
Now, he just looked like he's playing exactly the same. And in fact, better, I would say,
compared to what he was doing, especially in terms of stats.
In terms of his util usage, it's been sublime.
Key part of the reason why they are such a good team is stunts.
It feels like he connects them every time onto an individual.
100% when it comes to the precision.
9-9 up.
EDG with his timeout.
Clearly feeling the heat and the pressure from the moment.
They don't want to let this chance slip away because
they have been in control here and there on pull but Lev are clawing their way back in.
Yeah, whoever wins here will have a chance to revenge against Paper X in that Grand Finals.
And a chance to be able to fight for a trophy.
Both teams have already done a great job of being able to get minimum podium positions.
But right now, he's on bigger prizes.
Kang Kang with that operator in his hand that was saved by Smoggy previously.
The score line tied. Jenny under pressure early.
Very much peeled back. Left to her own devices, typically the way the EDG play this on the defence.
Happy to see what Jenny can cook up when he's anchoring.
Same game plan from left though, just taking that B long control.
Leaving the insert of King, taking up the Orbs, making sure they can build up to the Orbs.
And here's the hot battle potentially over towards A main.
Neon heard that horn.
Knows that somebody's gonna be up deep.
He's calling for Utilitaro on a drone.
He's in the clearest position, out.
Tankang's making a go for a walk here.
They're gonna sit in the line.
It's not on my spike.
I'm gonna get the jump. I'll go back.
I'm gonna throw the grenade.
I'm gonna do one more thing.
I'm gonna take one more. I'm gonna flip.
I'm gonna flip.
I'm gonna flip. I'm gonna flip.
I'm gonna flip. I'm gonna flip. I'm gonna flip.
once more that plant will be going down with barely any time onto the clock but
that was his turn.
Kankan shot the wide bullets, rattling into the wall.
Blow seemingly unaffected, it's Lev taking the lead.
King crafting that strap, pulling his teammates back towards him.
Despite losing Neon, the idea of Blow's ripping this on his fury deals with
Smoggy, but how did they get the last two?
Just beautiful timing on how they step in.
They're remaining.
Taking the swing.
Bringing the fight.
And rinsing any on-site crossfire setups there.
Beautiful execution.
Going into the stack and still coming out on top.
Neon.
And just tidings waiting in.
Flash in his face, it'll be forced to respect.
Sadov is picking up these ult orbs freely around the map.
22 kills, ult after, ult after, ult.
I mean, how easy on that?
It's unbelievable.
They are not being contested, are they?
No, not really.
I mean, even if they are being contested,
he's got the Phoenix wall to just be able to lock that off.
It's really nice theory that we've seen here on London.
Normally, these A-orbs are the ones that the Phoenix
would normally want to fight over in previous letters,
But to be honest, the defenders, it's easier for them to challenge it.
This is nice though, Smoky pushing up over towards B as the Phoenix wall dissolves for the attackers.
We're forcing up towards this A site, a stack under Ecov, EDG.
Big ult, big tools to use if it comes to it.
Steelguarding could be beautiful.
He'll even up the fight that's yet to come.
From four zone, I'm gonna be broken. I'm gonna sit down and run back again.
I still got another storm in my flash.
I'm overhand!
Sidehands are getting taken out!
Spike having his once more play, and all the way forwards here!
Whittling and dishing it out with the pellets.
And all the way to fight some time, there's my finish just yet!
Overwhelming aggression is the day of the game, and left...
...it barrels straight over EDG.
A packed mentality.
Grouped up, deathballing.
No chance for EDG to be able to pull out magic.
Just sheer overwhelming bobbies in the face of Kung-Kung at the end.
What on earth is he supposed to do about that?
Why is that snap?
Yo, okay.
24 kills.
Across 20 rounds.
With the time of the Phoenix in.
One healing area.
Saddle is on one.
Keeps her hand as well over the top alongside her face.
Well, this time EDG looking like they don't want to put the punish on this constant orb grabbing.
These players have been split up now behind the box.
How the hell do you even get out of this?
When the Utah needs to come through now, but EDG is stacking up with bodies.
The flash is good.
But the anti-positions, they are walking right into their shots.
They just melted G.S.U. as well.
Molly at the back of the pillar.
It's a pick your poison situation for EDG.
They try.
more. The hardest possible challenge given up to Jenny.
Nia's already on top of him, we're up to 12, Nia Tan!
Everything EDG throw at them, every little counter idea.
Leva have already got an answer for it.
Nia hunts the angle on the left side, constant flashes being thrown out from Sato.
He's the bait, he's the one trying attention, plays a blind hit,
players are melting over to what pillar.
If you step into a fight with Lev,
it feels like they've screamed it a thousand times before.
It's so practiced.
How did they cook it up on the fly?
Manage it.
Losers bonus racking up here for EDG.
They're able to at least scramble to give us some semblance of a bite.
But again, the owner's being placed on the star players, the Horde.
Finally, Delacan can.
Oh, I'm feeling like you could take the peak of the back of it.
And Sada's gonna grab that orb again. He's one away from another Phoenix ult.
Just ridiculous!
Shots landing, at least onto Neomino. Kill claimed.
A warning shot.
There.
Change on either side, drone. Steps forwards here.
Clearance, peace to mind ground, and at least onto the site.
A five-side as well. It's gonna be chopping this one up.
Sada with a molly.
Well, feet over towards the lane position, forcing EDG to concede a level up of this base second wave
Even level towards it, smogging out with his arm on the back.
He wants to see if he can step forward to it,
healing out and helping out Jenny, but he's shocked again.
They rattle either way.
Loze is kind of isolated here.
He is, but he's still fighting the target,
still fighting his marks.
A player advantage here for Leib.
I'm going to plant out just yet, Cheechoo.
What's he going to fight?
They're pushing him back and away,
and the space is going to be conceded here by Leib.
But they have 35 seconds left.
They have no other options than they realize it.
Reasserting themselves now, taking up control,
But this is shoulder to shoulder, this could be everything, this could be the map.
For God's sake, Chichu takes the peak pass and looking for the info.
It's all up to Kang Kang and Smoggy now.
Kang Kang's left.
He's going, Walkabout's running to the opposite side of the map.
It's all down to Smoggy on his shoulders,
flicking the wrist line after the dodge and he carried by lander shots.
Time barely played down, but it matters not.
The two old lead and a long back in finals will be a turn.
are taking no business.
Yeah, that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up here. It all started when
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Are you getting the free Verizon ticket still? No, I am with amazing seats.
I'm sorry. Okay.
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Are you David Beckham?
A Verizon customer.
This used to be for players.
Now it's for Verizon customers.
No one gets you closer, only on Verizon.
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Tired of offseason blues once champs is over?
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See you in November.
Great time is the perfect excuse to put the kettle on
and make a cup of tea if you're British like me.
But if you're here in the arena at home,
you might want to grab a cup of water for this one.
It's important to stay hydrated so you can lock into the game.
I've got some volunteers to show you how it's done.
My friend James, I met her earlier.
You're going to kick things up in three, two, one.
Get drinking.
Oh, I love this. We've got two people to the right, James.
They've already decided to get a head start.
It's turned into a little race rather than a wave of water.
Look at it. There we go.
Down, down, down.
Say the star of the show.
How delicate. We need the crystal to stay on the face.
Beautiful. We've got a little pinky up moment here.
We've got Cat's Eye on the head now.
We've got Killjoy.
We seem to be doing this two by two.
We've got a race between Piper and Killjoy.
Looks like Piper's one, but that's okay.
Killjoy for the lovely, delicate finale.
Landon, please make some noise for your agents drinking water.
Water! That's a reminder to you guys. Stay hydrated, enjoy the games.
by hooker by crook leviathan managed to climb back and win map 2 and it seems like things
are only going to continue to heat up for edg and leviathan but the fans are certainly
enjoying outside here at the fan fest and at the copper box arena. It's a little bit of a of a warm day outside
I I I sweat and pretty much all conditions, but I had a little hustle this morning
And let's just say your boy was leaking out there. So it's very very warm
Yeah, I know better time to be in an air-conditioned arena watching this series that is that's right
Hey guys, do you like being in an air-conditioned arena watching video games?
Not bad. Not bad. All right, friends, let's go ahead and dive into what we were observing in that map 2 because, I mean, look, the reality of the situation is, right, we came into this one saying, Pearl is the map, map 2, that we need to pay attention to here, many because is a good map for EDG.
But one of the things you preface was that
America's teams tend to be quite good at this map because the region is quite good
It seems like your hypothesis came true
Yeah, of course, and I think that's highlight early on it was Neil getting those opening picks that was really crucial for that
But EDG bounce back at some of these ranks despite that in the 4v5s and we're able to close out some of these
Tight situations. Yeah, I think what was an impressive was that after the first round this series looked like EDG
honestly needed CPR. They were completely out of that game. They couldn't get back in. But here
this looked a bit more like the paper. It's good. The late round team fighting, even kind of stepping
up to the big stage, taking some risks. The eco round where nobody, for example, is pushing up into
mid and being able to get that one across the board in the second half. But at the end of the day,
Leves took a time out in the first half. They switched up how they were approaching these
retakes and they looked excellent in the team fighting to be able to bring this one back into
I mean, unbelievable stuff there, of course, big plays as well were necessary in order for that to be the case.
And then you can see the fans kind of losing it out here, but that takes us to a Verizon high speed moment from Neon.
Because again, yet another multi-kill from this incredible player, but more importantly, just giving this Levy at Don team,
meaning everything that they need in order to build up these rounds.
Yeah, this was one of those rounds that came right after Lev's own timeout.
Notice how they're flying back site here while players playing close together after Neon takes contact
Edgy will try and swing into back site and punish him here
But he's just continually getting moments within this to find it's that shots just ridiculous with the head under
By the time he's done the work the rest of team arrives with a spike on the neon and then the Phoenix utility to flood in
Frontside and shut it down
He did you really wanted to fight deep and get into back site in these post plans and once live started fighting much heavier for that space
They found success. Yeah, instead of just letting EDG into the sights and just playing very passive
It felt like there was an active approach to fight those backlines and yeah working. Yeah
It looked like they they were like hey
We're gonna we're gonna peel back a little bit
But at a moment's notice we're gonna push forward like we're not just gonna only peel back
And I really like seeing levy it down just throw some variants and how they held a lot of these areas and also
It just helps when you have a guy who's just out there shooting everyone in the face and just getting all the kills
Who is, by the way, the youngest player on that stage?
Could not even play at the beginning of this year.
How can you, bro? Doesn't care. It's incredible.
Yeah, they started kickoff without him.
Finally turns 18, steps up, places first full stage to qualify to make it here in Neon.
That kid who was just on your screen a second ago.
Now a map away from going to the grand finals.
And Mini, they're stepping into home territory here.
This split has been excellent for Lev at this tournament.
Yeah, it's not only attack site here.
Every time they're doing that they're just snowboarding people over like I know that we silk about this team and the amount of just like
That's bullying they can do but this map my god
They do it the best here and on the defense side
There is a weakness in the fact that they they put a retake a while on the time
But no team has punished them yet and it's gonna be down to EDG whether they can find some of those roots
All right, folks
We need to see if EDG can keep us alive in this series
Can they force that map for or does leviathan make history for South America here?
And now let's set it back over to your casters brand and sideshow
On the cost now is the pride of America's the last one standing against the last hope of China
The DDG will have won a hell of a road ahead of them if they want to run this one all the way back
You have to do it. It'll have to be here on splits one map one round at a time
The Levitane are looking at primed ready to go.
This is one of their best maps.
This is one of those areas where Lev
have been able to come through time and again.
You know roughly what they're going to throw at you,
but it's so damn hard to stop.
We've seen that individuality
rimming from these Leve players.
Don't get me wrong, EDG, no slouches.
They've been punching back, answering back.
Here's a strong start here on Split-Lev.
Little access potentially gained.
Overdoors is A.
Side of Horde's going to be clearing out all towards the back of the side.
Come on.
Time may potentially miss.
To 1v1, the trait is good.
G2 is on top of it.
Now we're clearing overdoors at ramp.
Yeah, they're looking to push over towards screens as a reaction to this though.
King watching board.
A walk up into mid, but two shots to the chest is all it takes.
Sheriff in hand!
Sat a straight there.
That's just with the bandit.
Long range.
King and taken out.
One to the dome.
He's gonna have to be careful about this one, she chewed alongside him, trying to find a way past all of this pressure.
Loving up towards screens, the crossfire setup that you just do not want to wade into.
How the hell do you even win it out? You have no heavy control shots, still there, damage done Masado!
A blanket insurance policy just swings out, snaps up the pistol round for their squad.
They've got such great ideas about how they want to play post-plan situations on attack and defense level.
They're a very difficult team to play against.
Look at that swing.
They get set up to run a trap play over towards screens.
Realize the rat retakes happening.
Saddo just slides back in and he's been utterly phenomenal today.
Over a kilt per round in the series.
It's just crazy.
There's been no pressure on his shoulders.
So I'm skipping into that course just after that last map there, forwards is the fight
that he's taken.
At least one kill claim and that C's is good for the follow-up, set up getting ever closer
to once more and have a run it back and he's been earning these ults up like they are nothing.
Now Lev have got such a great focus on the fundamental building blocks of what's going
to get you consistent results from round to round.
The defaults are practised, the post plans practised, the idea of building up these little
micro objectives like the alt orbs they just never let an edge go unexplored and of course
this level of discipline too always expecting the counter play when they are up it does
offer opportunities sometimes for their opponents to stack an area to get a play happening but
broadly speaking this is how oner wants them to control the game Kings attacks like calling
It is really difficult to penetrate.
He's got that explosive firepower.
Surrounded by young talent.
Very different king this time around with the squad that he is with.
He's looking for his chance of revenge, not just against EDG, but to go all the way to the finals.
Last time, nobody and King were eye-gilling against each other.
King had Aspas on the team.
huge names, players that you build entire styles around.
Now it's very much them taking new talent and crafting them into whatever style they want.
And it was back in 2024 when King ended up losing that match against EDG.
Obviously to rest his history, we all know that one.
EDG going on to lift that trophy.
I've seen it. Have you stacked your bodies looking to see if they can do a bit of damage?
as a rifle, but he's looking to see if he can get a clean exit out of here.
Damage being a name in the game for EDG.
Nice step, but no. Just gonna ban this, couple of shots now, but at this point Leve realized that they are pinned in.
The snakebite of the nade is actually quite nice.
He's gonna keep them growled, collected into the corner.
He's gonna sidestep into that snakebite.
The shot's so high!
Oh, they can't even get the damage done.
That's ridiculous. How the hell?
Hell, EDG not done more there.
Bobbin and Weave in the left players survive.
The round was always going the way of Lemmy and Tan, always.
But at least EDG could have taken some of the sting out of this bonus,
especially for a team that is so tactical, that has such a deep playbook.
It is dangerous to let them keep a lot of rifles.
And Sato's one away from the orb.
What is EDG's plan? Can they even contest this?
Whoa!
It's Jenny on the line.
You already know how this defensive setup is going to be looking, Kang-Kang.
He's playing here.
Sorry to know last game...
...puts a priority for EDG to try and hold on to that B Heaven control,
because he will be isolated if they lose control of it,
but they don't seem to care about mid whatsoever.
They're just hyper-focused right now on B Main,
because it's such an area that Leves like to play around.
But when you lose it early on and then Neon breaks the trailblazer,
this could be a B-re-pop, this could be a B-split.
They can go anywhere with Sato's ultimate.
EDG looked to take the fight.
And it's just Neon.
Snipe out, spots two players there.
Sounds like for the re-exploration and now
Maddash and Scurry away from EDG.
They already have the protocols,
they already know how they want to play these situations.
Flash though.
Gigi's used his snake bite.
Nobody would have to hit a shot here as they take Garage.
He would be planning for the full rotation, but now he's left alone.
37 seconds left, flash round to the side, nobody...
Hoping to get lucky here, a little bit of spam onto that line, another flash of his own.
Doesn't make the play to push this one forward, so he's buying time as well and making the...
...stew over the moment, a bit of spam.
I'm not gonna do the trick, still it goes counter-balance towards the other direction, spikes in though,
that spike of angle counts it for...
...Chicoseca, come on!
He's gonna do his best!
Swift couple of kills there, over 13 seconds left to plant, we'll be able to go down, 8 blastpacks, none of them in position.
No, Smoggy not in the right place there to utilize any of that abundance of utility, so steps forward, it's a good timing to take that fight.
Kill disrespect showcased, but now how does he get past King? Slightly onto that punch, that's a nasty shot to hit.
But it's all contained in the end by Spike, a 4 piece for him. What a round from Spike.
Look at that opener! Perfect crosshair placement!
And then the second kill he gets to spamming off the Phoenix ult, that regens another slide.
Destroys Chichu, crosses him up, no chance.
And cleans things up before they can get too dangerous, disrespecting the boombot to help his IGL.
I'm clean, I'm clean.
Yeah you are, bro.
He has been more of the neon than neon at this event.
He's been exceptional.
There were other people that we were looking at across this tournament.
You know, Koshmuras, is he going to turn up and take London by storm?
That's the issue, right? A lot of these teams, they leaned into the neon.
They didn't change too much around it.
I think Lev have come into this very aware of what's different about neon this time around.
movement got nerfed, can't shock in as much.
You don't see them lean into that as much,
maybe for a bonus round, maybe, you know,
besting into the Deans, Yiko, but they've found their footing
and their stride.
Model players in this L'Vietan squad
that just come alive, take over rounds,
time and time again.
Makes it difficult to even hunt for any semblance
of that win condition, the coin-based win con.
Yeah, I think EDG will just be looking...
I mean, their initial plan right now
of refighting over B-Main
is failing entirely. So you've got to try something else. We've seen teams look to take the B main
fight against Lev. We've also seen teams try to push down mid as Lev take B main. We've also seen
teams try to push out A really heavy to punish King who's often holding in that area. Coming out
of attack timeout though, Lev love to go A. Yeah, looking like a potential fast hit all the way
through. It's going to be a fast lead to cut this one out, but nobody, it doesn't stop now, four
No one's with a Bucky in hand, teaching from the top ropes.
Neon head rolling off the shoulders.
It's lebbed in a heavily punished, heavily slapped down to Irv.
The gravity of their situation finally settling in.
One of those spots where Lev should have mixed up what they normally do.
The timeout into the A-pop, we've just seen it so many times before,
and the EDG were ready.
The snakebite, the Bucky, torn to pieces,
and now they're in a 2v5 levitant trying to recover this.
Lack of hesitation from nobody to just immediately take the fight bucky in hand.
It's paved the way here.
The weaponry being exchanged across the board.
A couple of shots are fired off towards that B-Heaven angle,
but this is EDG in a lot of control.
Both players missing the timings on each other there, though,
as blows and Jenny cross paths.
Let's see how that goes though. 38 seconds left. It is an open B site for the plant.
You can't give in's here for Livia Tan.
They're going to expect that B main is compromised, but with that haunt, they know that either Jenny's not there or he's pushed incredibly deep.
Kings forwards, not stopping whatsoever. Watch four here. Lucky to be alive as the shots just whistled past along with those bullets.
We're going to see him put to the reload. They are being surrounded slowly, surely at that.
trying to lure in that B main player that they know is there.
Sitting out blows, ready to set himself out towards that hell angle.
Hold on, the damage to be done. Players picked apart, picked the pieces.
But the composure just not quite there. Leads into King, can't do it all.
Nobody with a four piece. Continuation of that form.
He's the one who set that round in motion. He's the one to close it.
The IGL's clashing swords towards the end.
Nobody putting those four kills on the board.
first floor on split and the Mastercard Drifty comes through. I think mostly this is a really
nice read on what Lev like to do coming out of timeouts. I don't think this is the kind of thing
that you can normally read into too heavily because Lev, outside of those anti-eco timeout
moments that you like to mix things up at time. So now we get back into the bread and butter rounds.
What is EDG's game plan? How have they adjusted it? With the tag timeout that Autumn took,
They were fighting B main now can't can't takes he's off over towards a ramp and level a fast up mid
All the way forwards is going to be applying pressure to this ramp control can't come to anybody off
The trouble is immediately broken King posturing light is potentially more of a presence
And that actually is putting a bit of fear into this step and you main control was considered in the process
Now we're seeing it overdrive offloaded spike leave this one for the rest of his team
What's gonna be carrying a significant portion of this woman as well even oh
No way! It's the Rocker! He whips away!
They're going to see this one, not to come at all!
Jenny! Eichel's being broken!
It's Neon running a mockery on the round!
Running it, Johnny! There's a stroke!
Forces them to bow!
EDG has just been torn to pieces!
And the crowd!
This whole event has been on EDG's side, but you can't help but love what you're watching here.
As they get ripped asunder, this entire plan, built to try to put pressure on Neon as he's holding B main.
And he outplays them, utterly.
You can see it on the face of the EDG players.
Holt is fading.
But they've got the right read again here.
Not all is lost.
Nobody was able to do it for them before.
This time they're left not willing to
straight down the Colots.
It's another anti-eco. Another A push.
Or at least an A side default.
But King hits the brakes
and decides to back off as soon as they realize
EDG have gone for that same
defense side read.
It looks like the prep is there in terms of stopping
Lev's A hit.
But it's the normal B main default
splits with that mid pressure that EDG have no answers for currently.
Steady walk up through mid.
The read is nice though, with them cutting noise and starting to gather over towards B,
Khan Khan will have a chance to influence the round.
Stack is in the right place.
Yeah, shot with a sheriff and Bladestorm activated.
There are chances.
Definitely are.
So if this goes poorly, it's going to be that proud of the lead
forward.
Spike it up, deep dash to the side.
He's weak as anything.
Stunner, ricochets, rebounds.
Let's get the connection they were looking for.
Sees what they're going to be utilized,
but King has that control over towards A-Mane.
He's calling for a trip step.
Reinforced, go back up towards his A direction,
but it's hesitancy in their step.
I mean, it's beautiful calling, though.
He's got the complete A-Site open.
20 seconds.
Now, we're seeing it.
Satchels across all the way.
ZDG's trying to catch up to what the state of the round looks
like.
The paranoia is good, but the rifles even better.
All the way onto the side door, 30 seconds remaining.
This plan needs to be denied at any chance,
any opportunity, but Bows for committing this one with a plan.
Kangang goes to the top now, right from there.
He's been away and around.
A spike, finally, Delwiff, Kagan coming alive.
The final hour when his team needed it.
Guns to be handed off and over the heels.
There it is, still blows, blows.
You can't count them out.
And as that smoke blooms and blossoms,
it's nobody's life that's removed.
Jenny, Ghost in hands, barely any event at all to work with.
He's got to find a path forward,
so we've had a great fan rifle now, but a DTP.
Jenny!
Finding his mark, finding his footing now,
but time's starting to get away from him.
He blows his side, stepping it all.
There are too many threats on this Levitan team
for EDG to navigate, even with Conker.
Utilizing the Guardian, a historic weapon
in big moments, in big matches, he picks off three, spinning around, no help, no support.
Again, very individual from EDG today, they are really finding it tough to sync their ideas
up together and play off each other.
Even the best moments have been on the backs of those individual rounds.
Left him for a bit of a fake A-Ramp control here, Spike not committed, he's all the way
up.
We've seen this play before, it was a domain control towards Ichichu, he's hard committed, well he's stuck in the open.
The fundamentals have left still reigning true.
Finding these kills, Kankan feeling the pressure, knowing that they've lost that mid control, he steps forwards, wants to take a fight in towards B main Jenny.
Again still hard committed to paranoia, sweeps and Kankan capitalizes, already with that swing wide out, he's gonna be backing himself up and away to smoke to potentially play around.
He's gonna come down to the reactions here, just sweating out the players, but blows!
Just straight there from the side, high ground!
Walk in a catwalk
Bullets into the bodies of the EDG to find a weaknesses now, but this is all up to nobody
The pit-up gives them a bit of space but it's still up to nobody in a 1v3
It's going fishing hunting spraying and praying hoping for the connection
Nice to play it quietly for now makes the sea of Lev will make that first move the first slip up for them
Drops the gun, tries to bait the swing.
I don't think that he's saving that operator, but still the bullets fiery now revealing it.
But he picks up the operator precisely the wrong moment.
This is all Leviathan.
The Brazilian fans here in London are having so many opportunities to taunt and cheer these
EDG players like the lone in 1vx's.
It feels like every round, lever-finding opportunities to just put the squeeze.
Look how isolated Kangkang is there, playing for his own values towards B main.
Jenny hiding inside a smoke. There is no attempt to play off each other, to hold angles for each other.
Purely individuals. At some point, halfway through Pearl, they just decided solo plays were going to win the game, which is wild.
against Levitane. As we said, they've been tempered, honed to a deadly edge.
Coach Bayona, he's not one to let any sort of lack of discipline slip.
I thought we were going to see Kang Kang rip the bladestorm in the previous two rounds
and try to convert a situation where they might have been able to find it winnable.
Here he pops it on what's essentially a full eco.
It's a deep insert through mid. He's going to be the first one to see signs of line potentially trigger the parallel air.
Orb up though, ported to the flash. Trap play set up straight off of Kangai's contact. Right clicks.
It's an up-java to Dash though and he's backed out and away. They don't want to overplay their hand.
But the right click. Now he's got no knives to work with. Where's the threat out for EDG?
They're gone at all. See Ports.
Trailer's going to be pointing directly towards potential players here, but they're classic. She can't get it done.
4v4
Still danger here when the time gets as low as it is and nobody's gonna be hearing this many footsteps move in the water
Run it back though utilize now to lead it forwards
Nobody at least takes it up and right for gonna be scattering across cuts away quality sound cues
Nobody still sidestepping is dancing around the pillar. He's making it work
Time ball for the rest of the score to get in you till flooding and flowing straight overhead
It's gonna be slowing and stunting it nobody somehow
Crowning it up over the Shubbles, and surely, surely that's enough!
EDG!
Back from the brink in at a massive half-thrifty.
To read the stack. Bodies in.
But these rounds are coming few and far between.
And a lot of them are coming through on thrifties.
Across the last two halves. Hello.
That's a win.
30 seconds left.
Not where the orb was supposed to go, but I don't think it particularly influenced the outcome of the round.
around. Might have allowed EDG to stack bodies a little more confidently over
towards B, I suppose. Yeah, Kanko's trying to get the energy back up. This map is not
felt winnable so far for EDG, but they need a bit of belief. What they needed.
It's gonna be blocking out that access to B main. I like that idea from Chichu instead
of using it in mid as most people would go for. Yeah, I mean, Leve put such a high
priority over all that B main control and their attack. Farmin' up the Orbs, taking
control early. And you have Kang-Kang's up on the other side of the map. Getting deeper
now with the trailblazer. Creates a timing where Smoggy's got to try to put a little
bit of pressure in mid. Just walk all the way up. This brave, brave, but he just misses
his chance. Fly jiggle. King surely not gonna be stepping straight back into this one Kang-Kang.
Oh my goodness, the nerves. And nobody left to defend it all really from the spot like
the flash is good to start to be missing the spike still leading it for us for his team
we're delighted to side backs turn though can't go potential for him to feast destroying and
decimating them and once more that time bought king for to domain these deals are one of the
challenges spikes gonna be picked up she chances to pivot with only 30 seconds remaining which
direction do you move into it's a noise bait sound being made as they jump down into the
but the actual goal is going to be towards the A-side and that leaves it up to Jenny.
Jenny can stay hard-anked here, he's always got the ult to be able to play off, but the play is coming into us.
He's just walking straight into the line, he's not ready for it at all, and that's the anchor blade that potentially could have played spoiler.
No paranoia, level left guessing, where could his players be?
Small game, he's found it, quick shot straight to the top, oh the time, full seconds he's missed it!
It's not the time at all, she's just running it down, but unless it's going to be a round one for EDG.
By the finest of margins neon they're deciding to take the fight into smoggy
It's two rounds by their skin in their teeth, but the edg are putting them together putting them on the board
What a miracle round from Kangkang to
Step it forward to the snakebite down the 30 HP and then down to one inside a seed
Always confident to take the refight
I love really needed to put more focus more attention on him
I see Kankan activating and snapping up here once more. Nobody has ever seen a repeat of
the play. We've seen a repeat of the god damn blade. Shotguns are teaching you from that
high ground. Seen it all before. And Lev once more punished as a result of it. Paranoia
is good. Stop some for now. We're going to need to see sharp shooting. Lowe's and King
into a corner, forced into unfavorable positions,
and Kills are not being offered up as freely
as they were before.
Smoggy plays with a bit more discipline,
gets the information, backs it up,
but this is very individualistic.
Now blows, looking for it, hold on,
he finds his one!
The trade is quick and Jenny secures a spike for his team.
EDG look a lot more comfortable
defending over towards A.
And Kangkang's up, he's just filling the gaps.
King shouldn't be allowed an easy kill here.
Hilo set up for Jinny and Chishu.
There it is.
Confirmed.
Spike was dropped down into their laps.
EDG looked quite nice with a level opening on the A side of the map.
Nobody could have been reading those rounds beautifully, by the way.
He always seems to be in the right place at the right time
whenever King wants to start on the East side.
And there's a strong correlation too between when Kangkang
has been able to get the op in his hands
and the way that EDG have found success.
It's not always because of him,
so much as he allows the team
to stack in the opposite direction.
They've just got so much faith and confidence
in their superstar jet oppa.
Let's take a time out, though.
On up.
He's looking for that coinbase win condition
to get back on top of the game.
They've still got an advantage of two.
But it was that B-man control into mid-pressure that was working so beautifully for them.
He also has lots of fast rounds in the bank.
So if Spike's money is not looking great, they absolutely could just keep the bucky
and send it.
He's got the overdrive too.
Altern's got many threats waiting on the other side of this time-out.
Whoever is going to be playing over the wards at B-heaven area, I think he's going to have
absolute task on their hands. If Kan Kan finds himself in the right spot, maybe the
Gen Opa could do it, but he's going to pick up a ramp instead. And this, this to me, does
look quick.
There.
Yeah, I think heavy emphasis placed onto mid. I think the Snakebite and the Paranoia
are going to have to do work here for Chishu and Jenny.
Let's rank this one up. City ball is going to be used at the final few moments. There's
some reveal to hand until now. Now, galvanizing opener. Let's see it from Spine going away
It's a down run straight pass that U-Till forces the issue for Smoggy.
He's going to fight his way forward, but the extra element of that deep-tp neon already
took a back side control.
It's the power of Lev.
Even when you think you've seen everything from them, attack timeout and a fast round.
Massive advantage here.
He might even think about saving you in round 11
Cancun's got an op that he would really love to have it's been working out for them in the slower pace that Kings brought to the game
But the strap book is just such a massive asset for this squad filled to the brim
Whenever they're in a tough spot, whatever they feel like they're losing control of the game three rounds. He did you win?
Panic button hit
I want to cause it for them
fast little B split play
Alts on line for them to really make sure it hurts
You have to be set up to deny them some level of B main control in case it's slow
You have to be set up to stop a fast A hit in case they're going that direction out of attack timeout
Then you also have to be ready for these kind of set plays up through mid B heaven your defenses just stretch too thin
Chichu and Jenny trying to do their best there with whatever tools they had available
But you see Jenny's inside of his smoke animation
The tempo just runs him over and he gets bulldozed.
Ken Stuns is just picture perfect.
Exactly where they needed it from Spike.
Sato is one away from having his ult online.
I think you would expect Lev to go B main.
But EDG have not been able to deny them this area.
See it. TP's gonna be hurt here.
She's gonna be thrown out.
I'll just cut some of the angle here to never want to cut this one up and down forward, making sure to clear the way.
You never know what timing they're going to pick on the B-pop. They can go fast, they can re-hit.
Maybe look at it go for an hour. Here it is, all in explosive style.
It's a pathing up to the inside of the pit.
Damage, definitely done. She's just going to try and dismiss and slap them all down to the high ground angle.
The trading immaculate still brings it into a 2v2 very much.
One more position here for EDG.
The bots, Neon backed up and he's just left King completely alone.
I sit onto the site now, Nate's gonna be pushing him back and away.
Just spotted out his position and Kang Kang dropping it down.
He's begging for Neon to speed up here through mid.
Need some assistance, need some help.
Guns are swapped around once more with the rifles.
Now they are putting the squeeze.
King needs a bailout, needs some assistance.
Spam through the box, chemistry shot.
Shots when they're winning by B, Smoggy turning them all the way around in a showstopper.
To finish exactly EDG needed on that half, five to seven, just down by two.
But it's a very much winnable scenario, very much gives them significant chances to take this a little bit further.
It's the first round where we see EDG setting up these high lows, trying to play off each other,
Holding hands with Kampang and Smoggy.
They're finally relying on that teamwork and team fighting.
It's a wonderful end here for EDG to just pull it back
to that seven of five half.
Still gonna be down, but for now,
we can see what happens on the other half of this one.
Gonna send it out to Frankie, she is hanging about.
We're at now with Leviathan's biggest supporters.
The Leviathan fans have turned up in London,
so we wanna hear the kind of noise
they can make it. First of all, Boa, how are the team feeling this morning?
Because you're their manager, you look after them.
No, the boys are well fed, they rested well, so they're very prepared for today.
Let's go.
And you can see that on the stage, if they're able to win the second half,
they're going to the grand final.
Fernando, as the owner, the founder of Levitane, please teach us the chant.
OK, let's go with, vamos la Lebianeta, all together.
I think I'm going to be hearing that when I go to sleep at night tonight.
I feel like that's definitely going to give the boys a boost, but they are their own cheerleaders,
They're always hyping each other up on stage.
Who is the main hype man of this team?
Actually, Sato, Neon, all of them.
All of them. Sometimes here, people think it's just Sato,
but all of them, they scrimp each other,
they go crazy with each other.
And what about backstage, when I get...
Are you giving the team a pep talk?
No, I don't know. They know what to do.
So are you not making a precious or...
Are you showing now? They have to win now.
I mean, no pressure, boys, on stage.
Your boss is watching you.
I think it's going to be incredibly emotional if this team makes it to the grand final of this map
But you know what? It could go the distance because EDG are looking fired up one more time
We'll be in town all cheers all smiles for this team
They know that they're on the cusp of something great
They've been able to take it down, multiple teams already at his event.
They're on a lower bracket run.
It would be one for the history books and BCT if they were able to close it out here and now.
They're also the Kingslayers. They seem to be coming for the teams that have won the champ's trophies before.
Eliminated NRG, EDG Leclerc on the chopping block next.
They've all been all over them in this game.
Last few rounds, EDG have managed to pick something up.
But this defence side is normally strong for a left.
Neon.
The double-duelists are gonna have to go crazy for EDG.
I'm looking towards Kang Kang and Smoy.
I've seen it before.
Even at this very event,
everybody get it done on to Split and now looking to see Ticket.
Set this one one step forwards,
tossing it to Ticket towards the top and it's out of the scene.
They can make himself a bit of a nuisance.
Neon to fade away, shot but already in the kills.
Played EDG with the advantage.
The plan now to go down, so he forwards it to the smoke.
Punished!
Cunner's got it.
Watchful eye, Dominic in a position.
Random shots in here, I'm just going wide.
Waiting it out.
Not too many more, the two teams can be fighting themselves here.
Kan-Kan and Jenny.
Quick clean up, and that's a pistol round for EDG, as we were saying.
Makes a lot to take this team down.
Gang gang's great in this round. Steps forward, dominates the smoke, the Neon throws. Shots
down any attempt. That's a ridiculous shot. But one of the few that they landed. Otherwise
EDG got it. Found the pick that they needed. Stopped any retake from happening. The retake
protocols from level A are really strong. If EDG can focus in the rifle rounds around
getting into B with their double-dullist comp.
I think that can be a big wincon for them.
They need this map.
Hello.
They need every map.
What's the screen down?
Neil trying to do his forsaken cosplay.
All right, forwards here.
Might be able to put the players on the T-tune
because those shots are going wide as anything.
Snakebite.
And if it does...
Oh!
There it is!
What's he done?
He's got a shag him in the face,
hoping that they'll run him down.
Let's give access to EDG though.
Get the plant down onto A,
funneling the Orbs into Smoggy,
and he's going to be looking to see if he can collect a couple of eco-kills himself.
EDG might have an idea of where these players are going to be hiding,
waiting to die to the spike.
Ideally, it would be Smoggy.
Spectre in hand, these are looking like three tasty alt points down here,
if Smoggy can find them.
I've been placing an emphasis on how to get down into the vents.
Not being punished for it.
That's a nice way to do it still.
Mr. One, quick clean up, neon straight on top of it.
It's a gun picked up, time running out.
Everybody go down here.
Nobody looking to see if they can reclaim some of the investment.
Yeah, he grabs the spectre towards the end.
It's pretty decent for Smogidibur.
This is too away from the showstopper.
I'm not sure we necessarily need to see this again.
I mean, are you gonna include a knife too?
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, it's a long replay.
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
He thought he had a sword?
Yeah.
Thought he had a pike to be able to work with rather than a blade?
Out of options.
Put Master's luck in a bit, you literally.
7-7 up.
I think that the B side of the map is where EDG are really gonna thrive with this composition.
Here comes that lurk Viper orb that we've seen teams run many times before.
He probably wants to try to work for the orb, if he can, the ult orb that is.
But any pops out through this are going to be hard to let go of.
Yeah, we can see the bollywood going to be used as a pre-emptive.
And I know he's being caught out, but he's so good for the flash spots and flogging.
Caught forward, and I don't know about smogging, I don't know about G2.
Running away with it now.
EDG bonus idea.
My god, the blow is still going to be making a good go forward.
It's a barrel, it's completely caught unaware.
I think he thought it was a dropped weapon.
Yeah, potentially.
That's crazy.
This round is brilliant, though, from EDG.
It shows you what their best idea of being
able to convert these rounds are.
They've got that Viper Orb, they can always
be threatening some kind of slow take-through B main.
But if they get in position of pop with a jet raise comp,
they're just all over you before you even realize.
Smoggy took position into what's new box.
before Neon was even thinking about having to deal with an entry player.
And then Chishu is so fast into hell, Spike doesn't think about that.
Doesn't even cross his mind.
EDG have done what they need to get back into split.
And start that long road to the Grand Finals.
It's Kankang taking a stand, empowering it for Kralz.
I took a 9-4 this squad, yeah, the pathing is just sublime.
I'd say that is the bread and butter V default from EDG.
You get a campfire with his car, but he wants a new stand.
A smoggy either goes to the new box or even passes it in this situation.
Let's go!
And if you've watched the Bolts of Legs...
Let's go, guys, let's go!
Neon wants to teleport out of his hand position a lot
and will go over towards where he assumes there's a smoke towards CT.
Well, that time EDG didn't even use a smoke in spawn.
Neon just TP's out, smoggy.
Knows he's got a free kill.
Yeah, it's normally, he's very good for it.
Anchoring, he knows when to push the limits, overstay.
Just fully evacuating.
Tactical time I've taken by left here.
This is their time of interjection.
And they realise it's because EDG,
they've got a time I meant to behind them.
Clearly they've looked out something of an all to be sight.
Seven of the last eight rounds have gone the way of EDG.
Some early fell like it was based on individuals,
but later on they'll see more and more of their ideas and their teamwork shine.
The timings in round 12 defence and round 13-15 on attack, they're really tightening it up.
Put the screws on left.
The obvious play here for EDG.
EDG, he can try and earn up small results.
Go stop it.
But I think the obvious reaction from Onur
is to fight much more heavy over towards B main.
And that'll work even in the rifle rounds
where EDG don't need an ult or...
I'm here though.
TP, it's a fake, into the corner near the flash.
It's good!
K-Vance is walking all the way out, but he's got a dash.
To get back to safety.
What a nice edge.
Good positional awareness, even when he was blinded up there.
Like something they've got the heel in the back pocket.
King has the rifle.
Snatch him, spots.
The player could potentially do something about this round.
You know the blows is going to be on heaven.
Exact same spot he holds, in about 90% of the rounds.
Here he's going to drop into an A anchor spot,
anticipating the ADG gearing up for that A exec.
And instead, nobody has pump faked it beautifully.
He's drawn all of these defenders away from B.
They've caught a phenomenal round here, 50 seconds left, the Prowler doesn't see anything
and they've realised, wait a minute, I'm here being...
They're all too hasty in terms of the rotation, so they are getting closer to position while
Energy are walking up.
Oh yeah.
They have the controls there now.
It was a nice call to do the AFake but they missed the timing on it.
Still looking towards that mid angle and Neon's going to be able to delay this for quite some
time, 30 seconds left.
30 seconds left.
Paranoia is there.
The smoke dissipates, does want to take the timing now with it, Util sailing up overhead, TTP cuts it up into the corner, it is a counter-fault, oh nobody's straight down, we're going to start our rifle play, only the one backing away, the satchels, some are playing him into safety, 13 seconds left, time is up, the SSGVG, they're going to get a move on, they're going to go towards his sight, the plan is to go down here with no real problems, defended in time.
They just love to make the fans sweat a little.
Oh yeah.
It's a nice call, but they missed the timing, had to go into a full stack of bodies.
Again, it's nobody, the IGL, who takes first contact.
Just making sure that these players are on the entry, they're not going to get caught.
And then Spike gets put down in the floor.
So lucky. So lucky.
Hello, Smoggy.
It's going on here.
That power line is going to be following up right behind it.
That's a running bike.
Utilize my stat.
Always going to be able to at least absorb this ult.
Nice idea.
Evens out.
It's a fake though.
That luring blows out of his normal position.
Trying to take up space.
Oven was a sign as a result of it.
A double fake, actually.
They're going back to Smoggy.
Let's take a listen to EDG.
Come on.
It's far away.
I'm going to use my flash for 2 seconds.
Someone's on the right.
He's on the right.
Flash.
There's a guy on the right.
He's on the right.
He's still left to spend.
Openees almost out of time.
A little bit of an exp from him.
Still Niel won't go down.
And now he's the last one left.
Time ticking though.
Love him being pressured.
And the man has just lost the round entirely as a result of it.
Nobody plays with a reflection.
Waits it all the way out.
and Kim can't even escape!
What a round!
So many layers to what's going on there.
They rip the showstopper off barrier
because they're expecting Lev to fight to be made.
That's the most obvious tactical adjustment that Lev would have made.
When Smoggy gets all of that position on B,
they cancel.
The idea of going back over towards A
had to be better planned out and then there's walks on walks on walks
because of that double flake setup.
Nobody individually, and in terms of the calling,
getting one up here.
Putting the pressure back on them.
China's Kings, they're lead by three.
They really are not done yet by any measure whatsoever.
That's gonna be prime, brought them ready.
Flash, hells into the half for the ref,
by Gormor, Blythe trying to get ahead of all of this.
Kepka finally brought down Jenny.
Which is kind of quite now, is it?
Rightful M was in backboard towards the end, but that trading again
Earns Lev one more chance, it's King rattling out clans towards the end
rattling out support
Any time there's a big teamfight brawl like this, we saw it on Pearl as well
Lev, look for practice
If it's a giant 5v5 fight, a big skirmish
The trading at the U-Tilt does tend to favor the American squad
One enemy remaining
But if you create chaos, if you slip individuals into little gaps, EDG, they've got those opportunities.
And if they can find a big exec, this time going over towards A, this blows good for it.
They know where he's going to be posted.
Spongy, start touching half, hold on a little bit more, forwards!
Just want to be a nerve and not that much.
Come on, go straight down and place over the right click.
He's going to be dismissing them completely out of his grasp.
Left, peeling back and away.
I don't know if they've lost control of this one.
Here.
Give them control of the space inside. The smoke is just backing out. He knows the internal
time at ticking. So, it's just amazing. Here's how it goes. Let's get tracking. Well, there's
the Neon Nerfin action. Straight back at you. Neon can't do much about this. 1v4, EDG,
final way to 11. And this is a very nice game plan from EDG. The ante, we've seen a lot
A lot of teams try to beat Lev, and they struggle a ton on the A side of the map.
We've seen most teams that know that they can get the plant down on A.
So they go into A, and they end up playing these post plant situations that Lev are mega comfortable with.
Instead, EDG are going up ramp and dominating Heaven,
which takes away any opportunity for Lev to play their classic retakes, where they're fast down ramp.
EDG dominate that space, Kangkang bulldozing his way through and setting up on much more
aggressive angles.
It's a beautiful idea, they look very prepared for what his lefts might pick and an astonishingly
successful match for them.
The Desperate saying, if you need to push things towards map 4 and 5, experience scrappiness.
It could start to push things more and more in favour of the Chinese team who's won a trophy before.
The face is on, Lev currently on that stage. Playing like they've realised for the first time exactly where they're playing.
You see the same smiles, the same energy.
Well, it's also the first time we've seen them struggle strategically.
Yeah.
It was this B exec that first posed the problem.
And since then, EDG have actually shown a lot of other stuff that's worked nicely.
The fakes from nobody.
Now they have an exec, and now Kang Kang with the AWP.
Looking to try to get a punish on Neon as he goes through that jiggle peek at default.
default. But at some point here as the tire ticks down and we see that Neon
isn't wanting to give this peek away, they're gonna have to go for the exec
and surely Kang Kang's gonna pass the oppo over to somebody else.
It's a good setup there for Lez, Sanna, slide off angle parking here from this actual forward to Neon.
Something where the bulldog gets still, gonna do his best.
Here it is QQ faster than the timing, just all the way up through mid-bass, gonna be hurt!
It's a well-laid trap at EDG. They walk straight into it.
It's an absolute own goal from EDG.
They've just done an exec with Kangkang opping,
dashing over towards Newbox.
But Newstand, sorry.
There's no way of recovering this 2v5.
Jenny.
Smoke.
Prompt up.
Something to play around.
I don't want you to pull these players out into the open.
We'll spike watch at that angle.
Nobody's already realized it.
It's a little victory so you're playing for it around like this.
EDG, even domestically, do struggle on anti-ecos.
And we've seen a lot of 50s, not all of them for
Lev, they've been planning on both sides.
But this one I think is extremely avoidable.
They did not have to play the round like this.
When they realized that they weren't being given a pick over to what's been named.
It's pretty simple to just pass your operator over to somebody else.
at the back of the pack.
Just out as well, just rushing into the V-Exit.
Difference maker being Spike, Saturn, Neon.
They could put their full focus on Domain.
This King, he had that pit up the entire time for him.
Yeah.
Didn't have to worry about me, Heaven.
It's the pressure around the map that's actually
worked for nobody's calling.
Slower rounds, where you just let Lev have all the information,
are going to be a disaster.
And EDG can't afford to let opportunities slip.
They weren't in control of this game.
Up until the last week or that they failed,
there still are two rounds ahead.
This is nice though, again, they take me mainly,
put the pressure as if they're gonna go for the B-pop.
And it's such an extremely difficult thing
to stop with those double-G lists
that Lev have to respect it,
have to pull bodies over towards B.
That means that blows comes off his normal position.
A gets a little weaker.
EDG don't have been missing the timings a bit.
They've had about 20 seconds here
to get over towards A and instead nobody's calling a fake afterwards like he's gonna make
it feel like it's ending A but the spike's heading towards B.
It might not have lagged at the horn. I don't know, the horn really didn't clear my trouble
towards A heaven. Well here comes a prowler. I think nobody wants to be seen by this to
make it feel like it's going A. Since trouble is now going to be used with a wall up on
top of it to try to pull players over towards this A side but reinforcements still here
Is Smokey gonna play for the AWP? He is. Showstopper on line.
Now it's gonna be ready and waiting. Just the one Sator gonna play for as he dashes into her.
But that rocket has got wide to the back row.
And King, Neon, they combine them by once more.
Sator who will go down with an instant pivot TP.
Hold on, evacuation.
He doesn't want it to get cancelled. He's worried about blows.
He asked, didn't know if he was still gonna be anchoring over to all that spot.
But he goes both ways. Neon has an ult of his own.
Reinforcing over to all the A-shite. 13 seconds remaining.
This could be it. Playing spoiler and more.
Despite picked up immediately reclaimed but nobody's gonna be in the order of pressure. They know the win cons
They're gonna run him down and deny the chance for EDG to get anything more
It's a wild round called there by nobody over cooked
He had a brilliant fake play set up a few rounds back
But this one they lost control entirely
Missed their timing to go back into a
Over anticipated how many players would get pulled off. The thing is, Lev are never going to stack bodies on A, thinking that it's going in that direction because they're happy to play retake.
They will stack bodies B on their defence side, but they're not going to pull defensive players off the B site very often.
I think that round demonstrates a bit of a misunderstanding of how Lev approach their defence side, and so Autumn's going to hit the time out.
Time out.
The Brain Trust pulled over from T1.
Now tasked to keep EDG ahead.
Two rounds in a row, the Lev have just picked up.
When it looked like all the momentum
was in favor of the attackers.
They've also lost the economy.
Yeah, it's gonna be tough going, isn't it?
From this point on, they could force up potentially,
but it won't be ideal.
In order to push things to fracture, the coaching staff is going to have to come up with an answer here.
The B exec was potent, but Lev figured out an answer for it.
More bodies on that side of the map.
EDG's A-Heaven, it was such a nice strategic response.
But it seems like they've forgotten all about that.
No longer relying on it, leaning into it.
Again, all eyes set towards this B site.
Now, a lot of are assuming that there's a level of conditioning here,
because they were stacking their heavy replayers, but they hit the utilt.
Now, you caught here and there.
I'm going to see the Troubles with Klaus already forwards.
It does pull out the paranoia.
The Molly going to be used to reciprocate.
Saddle just wants to stop them, stop them in their tracks.
They already double dash. That is a lovely entry.
Smog is all the way forwards.
Vulnerable jump, bad as not.
There's plenty more bodies than I came from right now.
behind it, transfer, can't be hit in time,
and they don't know about this, they don't know about this,
dang!
Tucked in the smoke, 24 kills.
An immovable object.
An invisible object as well,
by the way the EDG started moving forwards there.
But look at the adjustment.
Levelled up such a good job adapting to the way
the EDG want to pop it to B. Neon, instead of TPing out, TP's deeper.
Sato's there now for a Molly on the choke. You have to get through the Molly,
you have to get through the snakebite, the paranoia.
But surely this is the round that Autumn had crafted a plan for.
They fake as if it's B control. They pull bodies away from A and now are they going
to try to hit the timing. This is the moment where nobody has been hesitant before. 11-11.
Two tights, one on the line here for EDG.
Seekers set to path forwards once more, but that sees a connection. Slingshots can't go all the
way back. Spike is all the way in forwards, but again the right flank blows. It's straight on top
They come up in a flood of fakes, ordered up.
And with the reinforcements again, they slam the door, shots.
Leaving a ton of burrowing back into this game.
A match point for the young America squad to clear EDG out, 3-0.
They knew what was coming.
even missed Karkang at the midst of all of that, hunting it inside the Cardinals with a shorty.
When EDG look out of answers, four in a row for Lev.
Money is all over the place, but EDG have to pull it together.
They have to drag it to OT.
They want a chance to survive in this tournament.
They want a chance to go all the way.
Oh, damn, wrong!
Flantic is the energy!
Desperate plays in the 2v3, but Levinel's stopping whatsoever.
They call for the pause.
The calm before the storm.
The Leviton, it's all in the palms of their hands.
Leviton are going all the way!
It's an uncrowned king that is coming for a throne.
They have earned their chance all the way through the lowers.
The sole last remaining representatives of America are now with a chance to go the distance.
Three-0 domination.
A team that's won champs before dismantled.
But a great run from EDG nonetheless.
Building that momentum towards Champs-Changalai.
But this will not be a trophy that they are allowed to fight for.
It is Leviathan who have earned the right for revenge game against Paper Rex.
Stavabo still went around the world as squad.
He exceeded everyone's expectations.
a squad that was built on a long-term plan, trophies obviously to go, but they're giving
a chance much sooner than perhaps anticipated.
Take a good look at this squad.
I doubt it'll be the last time you see them on a grand final stage, but remember it because
this is the first time you'll see them.
a team absolutely brimming the talent they were the better squad today in
terms of the prep the teamwork the team fighting and even edg's incredible
individuals could not power them through to even win a map it looked like
split be the first but left was simply too good
He stood up to the test of resilience that EDG offered and that one more
challenge awaits them and one more opponent already been bested by them
for EDG. Chances and hopes scattered away for now are we gonna send it down to
the floor. Frankie standing by for that Verizon post match interview taking away.
Blows last year you're in the Vitane Academy now you're in the grand final on
and the main team, how does it feel?
Since back from the academy, I knew that this team had a potential.
really happy that we could get to Tier 1 all together to here and I always needed
potential that we have so I'm really happy to be here with them.
We did see that EDG were fighting back against you on the split, the map could have gone their way.
Was it a case of nerves for your team?
I think we started to get a little bit anxious to close the map, but then we managed to calm down and close the map.
that stage, how do you stick together as a team and raise that trophy?
So, there's not much time until the big finals, tomorrow against PRX, and when the nerves are on your skin, you get on the stage, to the point of almost lifting the trophy, how do you keep calm?
Man, I think we already had a good run this entire championship, we already have a lot of experience playing on this stage, and I think tomorrow we'll just give it a try as if it were another game, and that's it, we can get out against the trophy.
Well, I think we already have a really good run so far up to here
So tomorrow we're just gonna treat as another game and see if we can actually lift the trophy
Part of ends. Thank you so much for congratulations
Go and meet your fans as for the rest of you. We'll see you here tomorrow for a grand final London
Thank you so much for that Frankie and wow all I could say is Vamos Leviathan!
Unbelievable performance! We're joined by the man who is very close to getting his next crown.
It's King. Pleasure to have you here my friend.
We've talked now a couple times in this tournament and last time, what was it the other day?
You were like, I'll talk to you later on but now you actually have a chance to do it.
But to do it in a 3-0 fashion like this, and also that, you know, map one, map two, the way you guys played,
I guess the question is, how proud are you, not just of yourself, but also of those four boys that you're coaching and you're guiding on that stage?
I mean, first of all, I feel like I'm part of the desk already.
Yeah, he's part of the analyst. Albert, get him a gig.
Nah, but like, I'm just so happy and proud of my teammates.
I'm very happy with how I performed today also.
I was lacking a little bit that far power I'm known for.
So, very happy for that.
And yeah, I mean, I'm actually, I'm overwhelmed with emotion right now.
The first time I'm going to be able to dispute a grand final international.
And in front of this incredible crowd, it's just an amazing feeling.
So yeah, my boys are just, are the best.
I love their energy.
They push me to be better every single day.
So I'm really happy with them.
It wasn't just the boys today though.
On that map three, it got a little bit hairy,
a little bit stressful at times,
but you were the one who stepped up as,
I think people forget,
you're one of the original fragging IGLs.
It has a good feel today to do that, to close out.
I mean, I felt so happy.
I was kind of doubting myself in a way,
just the last couple of days.
I didn't tell anyone,
just something I kept from myself.
I'm like, okay, no crying,
I just gotta keep grinding, keep grinding.
So I've been playing the game just trying my best because I feel I'm a very good state at Agile.
But as you said, I'm one of the OGs that's fighting Agile.
So I knew that for us to be champions, I needed to be back in this form.
And I'm very happy it was today.
And I'm hoping to bring it back to our team.
Hey man, listen, little by little, right?
One thing that I've loved covering this team has been your attitude about it, you know, the whole way through.
But I did feel like it was a significant point in that match on split.
I think you knew that you had it and it was a 3k back side, you know the all comes out
You're like wait a minute. He's just crouching behind the box
I shoot him at that point when you got the 3k there you got up
You're like whoa, whoa, whoa like is that a moment where you felt like we're right back in this
We're gonna take this thing. Yeah, definitely that that's one of the rounds that you feel like you have the whole momentum and he's just
Doing all the things you were doing now. It feels like everything's gonna go your way, you know, yeah, so yeah
I mean, I met a little adaptation on the work.
I just thought it to be because they were like just slamming that side.
So I'm glad it worked very well.
And yeah, that run was just crazy.
Good reposition, man. It was good reposition. It was crazy.
Yeah, it was crazy.
It's been a very long tournament for you guys.
You will play the Swiss stage.
You lost completely in the upper bracket.
You've had an incredible lower bracket run.
Is there anything that you've learned as a player about your teammates, maybe yourself,
after the amount of games you've played?
Honestly, the most I've learned is that our skill gap is just...
I don't know what it is, it's just...
I feel like there's more to show.
Every single match I play, I just feel like we're going better and better and better and better
and I just feel like all the run we've had through this tournament,
It has helped us to discover this left where right now that is just
Wearing and I'm incredible from right now. Yeah, I mean it looks that way, right? You beat edg
30 I've real quick before we move forward. I just want to ask you just why your opponent, you know
And I know you guys have some respect for each other and stuff like that
So thoughts on that and also thoughts on your upcoming opponent as we take a look at this bracket
Well, you know, that's just fly the graphic. Why not the king? Why do you go ahead and tell us man?
What do you think about both of those squads?
And yeah, PaperX, I said as soon as we lost against them that we learned so much from them.
They helped us to bring this form for us in the lower bracket and I said it back in the day and whenever it's somewhat, I think it was either one of them who I want to face is I want to face PaperX because I think they're going to make it to the Grand Finals.
Yeah, you did. You did say that and now you're making it to the Grand Finals, buddy.
What do you think is going to change because obviously before PaperX started strong, what do you think is going to change this Grand Finals this time around?
I think whenever we played them in the upper bracket, in the playoffs,
they grabbed an incredible momentum and we were just like...
We felt like we were frozen, like we didn't know what to do.
Stunlocked, yeah, yeah.
The peer exchange is all over us, you know?
And now it feels like we discover a new trend thanks to them.
Like we are the people that are just going, rolling people.
Track by track in the upper bracket.
So what's going to be different is that now we have another trend
to face them in Grand Final tomorrow.
I love it. It's going to be a full on train collision somewhere.
Mimi is mad at all these references to trains, but you know, it is what it is. Hey,
we're in London, you know, take the tube. But of course, though, folks,
that's not all before our grand final tomorrow.
You don't want to miss the show match.
It's going to be between team calm and team chaos.
You're going to see the debut of Valorant's new map,
which is going to be played live on stage.
You should see some familiar faces there as well.
It's going to be a good time and we hope you join us as well.
If you're in the house as well, make sure you check out the fan fest.
Have a good time out there too.
But that's going to do it for us, King.
Congratulations, man.
Super proud of you, brother.
Thank you so much for your time. Appreciate you.
And of course, folks, that's a wrap.
We'll see you tomorrow because we're going to throw down
for the grand finals.
It's going to be Edward, excuse me, Paper Rex.
You have to steal Paper Rex versus Leviathan.
It doesn't get any better than that, folks.
We'll see you then.
That was almost a beef bit.
Next chapter in the e-sports history books is finally here.
And he falls into turns yet again!
He snaps up to the plate and he can knock this one out of the park!
And Armey shall be engraved alongside the graves!
I
I
I
No!
No!
That's for coming here in time!
They don't know about this! They don't know about game!
The crown for the storm, and the real time, it's all in the bottom of their hearts.
The real time, I'm going all the way.