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We have arrived, we're gonna do the lobby, we're gonna go speak to some of these players and we're gonna have a good, good time doing so.
Here I am. Hello boys, how are we doing? Yeah, good. How about you? I'm very good, thank you. Snow, what about you? Very good, bro. Yeah, yeah. Ready?
So ready, bro. He's always ready, he's definitely always ready. You also yesterday, we're in the gym. Yeah? You working out? You getting yourself ready?
Yes, I started to go in Jin and three weeks ago
You knew I like you doing good. You're doing good. Ah, thanks, bro
I just started you know who was showing you who got you to go like who was saying snow come let's go Jim
Ah, of course, Lex
He him are my roommate, you know and how is he told me go to Jin and
Read some books.
Read some books?
Wow, he's really training you.
Yeah, of course, really.
Lux, why do you like the gym so much?
You're also in there longer than anyone else?
Like, everyone else that left, you were still there with me?
Yeah, yeah, we do some cardio.
You know, they skip cardio all the time, man.
He doesn't really need cardio.
He just needs the muscles.
For sure, for sure.
He needs to eat, you know, so it was going to the dinner, you know.
Yeah, the gym is really good to the routine.
helped me on the CS, like and the healthy routine, like reading and stuff, it's really
good, cool and I need to convince him to get this, you know.
That's good, it's like mentoring the young player into the right direction, I really
like that. You said some reading as well though, what do you like reading, what's that
kind of material you would be reading, because many people speak about health, gym, eating,
no one's ever told me reading, so explain.
I like to read some mindset stuff and like spark books, you know, and entrepreneur books
as well and this kind of stuff, financial, you know.
Did you read Mamba Mentality?
No, not yet.
Bro, you've got to do that.
You've got to do that as recommended.
I just saw the video, you know.
I read the Michael Jordan book, but not yet the Kobe.
Do the curve one next, that's for sure.
You do it together.
I'm going to come back to you another event and we'll see how it's going.
Bigger there?
Not my thing.
You were not?
Not my thing.
I saw him later in the day and I said I didn't see you in the gym.
I saw the rest of your team.
I didn't see you.
He's like I was watching demos.
I was doing work, working hard.
Yeah, almost all the time.
Plain CS, watching demo and this kind of stuff.
Watching football.
And also you spend a lot of energy being at that.
So you don't need to go to the gym.
I understand you.
Yeah, yeah.
I try actually like two months ago.
But when we go to some tournament, we have a different routine, so it's so hard to go every day, so that's it.
It's not so easy, right, for sure.
I want to talk about for you guys coming into Rio and also look at the Brazilian kind of tier system right now.
Everyone obviously talks about Fiora because of the name of the brand, but they might not be the best Brazilian team right now.
Where do you guys see as like the top Brazilian teams?
It's difficult to say because in Brazil's scene I think we all have an ups and downs
so now it can be us but tomorrow and then here it can be imperial, it can be furious
so we'll never know.
So it's not like set right, it can change the whole way through.
Is it a good sign for the whole Brazilian scene though?
Yeah, kind of, because I think it shows that everyone have a good sense and have a good
place as well.
So I think we all just have to be consistent, you know, is the word.
How did practice look for you guys?
I know before we spoke about you going to Europe and getting some more practice there,
but obviously this event is here in Brazil, so did you just stay here?
Did you practice here all the time?
Yeah, yeah.
We're actually just playing a lot of tournaments here, not a good time to practice and that's
it actually.
I think just playing a lot of tournaments because in Brazil our schedule is so like full.
So a lot of tournaments, you've definitely had the official practice.
How good do you think the team is in shape-wise to do well here?
I think the thing here, playing real especially, is the mentality, so I think if you have a
good mentality here, of course it's going to be an advantage for us, so we just have
to keep calm all the time, and we have to know that this kind of pressure is good
for us and now we have to like filter the pressure and keep the good things about it.
I like it. Now for you Snow, first big Brazilian event though, right? Does it feel different
to you than other events?
Yes, of course. It's our home, you know, and it's Adrien play in front of our crowd,
And the Brazilian fans scream our names, scream good things for us and that's so, so, and this
gives so hype for me, you know, and it's a dream.
And you're already hype enough so that's going to be real crazy.
And QZ, how are you doing my man?
I'm doing great in you.
You're always doing great.
You're always smiling as well.
For you coming into this event, where do you see your expectations as a team?
Like where do you feel like is the minimum you guys need to go?
I think it's like Bigel said, we don't have high expectations because we know we have to play our best
and not pressure ourselves a lot to play well, to play well to beat those things because we don't have any obligations.
So I think right now our mindset is good, our expectations are good and as Nol said, we are in front of home crowd
so we will try to do our best.
What do you think about the other teams that you've got to go up against here?
because it's pretty stacked for Ria.
Yeah, I mean, we got a lot of group, I have to say.
But I think in this kind of tournaments,
as I said for you in Cologne, all the teams are good,
so we cannot be expecting to face anyone weaker than us
because the level here is so high, so I think it's dead.
What do you think is the biggest thing you guys as a team
have improved on coming into Ria
that can make the difference here for you?
If you think right now, we are evolving and adjusting
micro-problems that we have inside the game so things that we were making mistakes on we are not making mistakes anymore and try to fix that
So I think right now that's the main point we're trying to achieve
And for you obviously snow touched that being like a dream to be able to play in front of this crowd
What it'd be like for you. Yeah, it's also a dream
I played the the major here in 2022 and was absolutely amazing playing from the home crowd back then
I was even I wasn't even a Brazilian team
So right now playing in the Brazilian team front of Brazilian crowd is going to be amazing.
So I really hope that we get there.
And what would you say is the best thing for people like the other players
who are not from Brazil to do here while they're here outside of the tournament?
For sure, going to the beaches because the beaches here in Rio
are specifically are so beautiful and trying some Brazilian food because the food here is so good.
I know the food so good.
What food would you recommend?
What specific specialty dish?
Actually here, because we are near the sea, the fish is so good, because the fish is fresh, so give it a try to the fish, and also the Brazilian barbecue is good anywhere in Brazil, so you have to try it.
That was us, we're done. Well, thank you very much for your time, guys. Good luck for the rest of the day. We'll see you soon.
Hello, Elio.
Hello, Mr. James.
How are you?
Doing great, Elio.
Woke up, yeah?
Yeah. Tired.
Tired.
A little bit.
Feeling good though, right? After the whole trophy lifting once again?
I mean, feelings are good, yeah, obviously.
Yeah, just mentally tired. Physically, I mean.
Physically tired? Okay, I can understand that.
Did you like this photo we just saw of you there? Is that a nice one?
Nice one, yeah. I like this one more than that photo.
Why do you like this one more than that one?
No, this one looks better for me at least.
Do you ever tell them like can you change the photo guys this one? I'm not happy with this one is also good
I'm more happy here. Okay
More happy here. You sure? Yeah, okay. I like that. I like that now
You have been playing incredibly well
You also now listed a trophy and we saw you get the MVP performance at the same time
You told me before that grand final you said I feel it like you felt like it was gonna be different
Can you remember why you felt like it was gonna be different considering?
Obviously, if we statistically look at it, you will always be having a tough match against
Na'Vi, but this time you looked like a completely different G2.
On the stage, it's always different.
On the stage, we always feel a little bit different.
I think also because of the crowd, I think the crowd helps us to play better, you know,
play individually better.
And obviously for me as well, when I play on the stage, I feel it's something different,
atmosphere is different.
Yeah, as I said, the stage gives some extra boosts or something.
How are we feeling for Rio overall as an event?
I'm just looking forward to playing in playoffs, but it's very early to say, you know, always,
but my goal is to make playoffs in Rio.
I think crowd is very good.
In terms of that, you're already thinking ahead to playoffs.
You guys have been very consistent with the playoffs run, so you have more confidence
now, considering you won four finals?
I mean, we have confidence obviously, but I don't think we should focus that we might always play off consistently,
so we just gotta focus obviously on every game. It's a very basic and simple answer, but for us it's important to focus on every game,
because you know you never I mean you know G2 you know we can lose we can lose
against someone after we can come back and snowball but as we did in the
Cologne you remember in group stage we lost against Mongols and we came back
yeah Cullover bracket run and after we lost again in playoffs but how did you
spend your time at home because I know you play a hell of a lot did you take
any break did you go straight back into grinding I know that Nico said team
practice didn't really happen, but for you what did you individually do?
I went in Belgrade, I didn't go at home, I went in Belgrade in Serbia, I met my friends,
I played some facehits, yeah and that's it, after a new update came out, I tested it
and that's it.
You liked the new update?
I do like it, something different, I think movement is different, yeah movement
is different, 100%, shooting is different and it's...
He's different explain. I didn't notice I haven't played it yet. I had a chance to play I've not been home
Yeah, okay, so shooting is different
Like people are running out like I don't know how to say
Even faster right now or slower. I didn't I didn't even understand right now. Okay, deal. They buffed deal
You can shoot and run. I don't understand. Oh, why are we going back to that? I don't know. It's crazy and
They changed a lot of things with graphics. So
It feels like if you have low graphics now, it was like
ultra or something like high you have higher rank graphic now you know so it
looks even better on a lower choices that's why your FPS guys is worse it's
yeah but okay yeah but I like that they do some changes you know and but I
would like to see that they make changes not only with something like this but
in like with maps you know like delete box for example Mirage or like delete
I don't know stage you or something. I don't know like delete something or make the game
I mean make maps a bit interesting
Delete window on the rough for example for fun
You spend most of time there bro James. Yeah, you never know how matter will go if they will do you know
But if they will do it, we will make use to it, you know, we'll get used to it
I mean, you know, I love you because you are someone who would get used to it
you know some of the other players would be especially maybe some of the older
players would be like no no no what is he saying no everything this guy is saying
right now I don't see this deleted because you know you want to see
something new interesting I don't know because I also play Dota you know
sometimes actually I don't know I think I played Dota last time two months
ago but it doesn't matter but they always change something with heroes
you know with like with ability spells but here they do something
different you know and I want to see something like on maps in
competitive so how yes sir how good are you at Dota I have like 3.8 K MMR I'm not
that good I mean no I have 4,000 hours first of all yeah I play Dota long
since a long time but I'm good at you know in Dota I'm good at clicking on
spells you know reacting fast yeah but yeah but I don't know any math or
something like that so that's why I'm poor in that who do you play for the play
I usually play meet or carry favorite favorite hero favorite hero I think
can call me it and I like before I liked Magnus as well on hard carry and on carry
I liked I don't actually who I cannot I cannot tell you okay okay okay so you
You want to change things in the map, would you like to see a new map come in, would you
like to see a new competitive change, but even before this major maybe?
Before major?
No, not before major.
I see you don't want that there dude.
Okay, okay, okay.
No, they can add some map but it will take a while to understand how people will play
it.
For example, if they will come back with train and train will be the same, then
we don't have any problem.
But I mentioned they will add cobblestone for it. I don't know and they will change everything
I would like to have some new map in competitive. I would go for train. I
Think yes over paradise
People will be scared people will be scared to play against offer on this map
Has train ever been in the competitive pool when you were in a tier one team on Navi junior? Maybe but not academy
Yeah, but never on a pro team, right?
Never know. Yeah, I played an academy. I played an Ivy as a second-oper. I didn't play main op, but after I changed
my main opera in Academy I played like for a few months I think
Maybe even more a little bit and yeah
We need some monosy highlights on G2 on train. I think that would be awesome to see jump on trains
I would jump from every train and not to another train and kill everyone in there
There's a crazy no scope some crazy flakes full yellow flash moment going have fun for me
full movement map I mean when it like when it goes in clutches I would I don't
want to say like it will sound is how say not too gaseous but arrogant but when
I was playing this map in Academy when I was I would say when I was alone in
clutches like I like this map just because I was out playing people with
these ladders you know and everything it was very yeah check if he's
defusing or something like bait him to kill your I don't know like I would I would be very good in
clutches on this map I think I love this map I think we definitely need to see minus you train
highlight selection on there any other maps you like cobblestone cobblestone what do you
fought on Tuscan no it's not competitive map no I think I think they I think a lot of players
not players but I mean people overrated this map. Maybe because of the nostalgia?
Nostalgia 100%. I mean they can edit in competitive but in casual in CS but
don't edit in competitive. It will be... how's the catastrophe? It will be, it will be, it
definitely will be. Okay on my final thing, my final question for you. I know
you played some 1.6 years ago with your brother, right? Did you ever play
Train on that side because I could imagine you movement style? No? Bro, go
go back and play it and try because your movement, your style and that would be so fine, especially
with the bunny hopping you could hit.
Into one-past-six seconds like this man.
Really?
Not because I didn't know what was happening.
Even you'd like it now.
I like it now.
Very good.
I enjoy it.
Oh.
You tried.
You tried.
I did, I did.
You acted like I wasn't there but it didn't work out for you.
I will always willingly run to find Nico.
I asked you this in the gym yesterday but your hand is good now.
Everything is good.
It's ready.
another shot. Did you keep the table? No, no, no, no.
Did you really like a memory? I mean, I didn't even ask. I don't think they would give it
to me and yeah. I wish it could go with me, but no.
Well, on top of that though, trophy came with you though, and that's the positive
right now. How good did that feel for you guys and the team overall?
Yeah, it felt very good, honestly. We had a couple of tough losses before that
and we were really fighting to break through, get some wins against the best teams in the world,
such as Na'Vi and Vitality. It felt good, even though when you go to Blast you don't really feel
that big of a hype like you do on some other events, but somehow the hype
kind of got created during the playoffs for us and it just felt even better lifting it in the
end. So it was a very cool experience. What happened for you guys to be able to take down
Na'Vi though, especially when we talk about how tough it has been against them for you guys?
I don't know honestly, I think many times when we played them, I think it was always pretty close,
if you don't count the group stage at Blast actually, they destroyed us, but usually we always
have a close match versus them, we always win a map and then we somehow lose, but I don't know,
No, we just kept believing, we tried to not care about it, we lost nine times in a row,
we just tried to know.
I think this is the first time that we showed a lot of energy, or more energy than we usually
do, and maybe we just believed more after we won Vitality and so on, and we haven't
really faced it too many times in the playoffs for example as well, so it's always a different
game when you play in a playoffs, especially in the arena, so I don't know, I'm
We're just glad we won in the end and that we managed to leave the trophy.
And I've got to talk about Snacks a bit here from your perspective.
How much was this needed for his confidence as well as like a fresh IGL to this team and making things work?
No, I'm super happy for him. I think he has struggled a bit with the way he plays and then with the community on his back, you know.
They're very harsh on him.
They're very harsh on him, but if you look at like realistically we didn't really lose too many games with him, right?
We're actually winning most of our games.
We won, I think we had like three losses overall this season
or maybe four if I'm not mistaken, and three of them are to Navi, I think.
Ever since we brought Snacks, we played pretty good in group stages.
We always got to playoffs, quarter-finals, semi-finals.
So I'm not too worried about the group stage.
Obviously, we shouldn't get too relaxed now that we won, as I said already.
But I don't want to...
Obviously if we see that things are not going the way we would like you to see,
we need to just react really fast.
If you start losing to Heroic at some point, we have to address the things immediately
because it's best of fun, there's no time for mistakes.
You have to be quick at adjusting.
I think it's important we obviously discuss how you want to approach before we start the game
the game and that's what we will do and it should be fine should be fine I look
forward to seeing it ma'am thank you very much I'm good thank you Scott you
asked me before I could ask you how are you thank you glad to be home glad to be
home yeah and where in Brazil are you from I am from São Paulo but I mean real
feels like home it definitely feels the home right it's the country you know
but it's interesting if I'm right you guys would have traveled from Malta to
comes to Rio? Yeah. So my home home is in Malta now. It's it's a mess. It's a mess.
Yeah, it's a clear life. Yeah. It's very confusing because it's like technically I'm
at home but I'm not really at home because I'm left home to come to here and do another
event but that's just the way it is. Yeah, at this point I don't know what's home.
But I'm gonna say this, your hair is looking real good. You've got the slit in the
eye by as well. You feel like you have to come back looking nice, right? Exactly.
Exactly, we got to look nice.
How are you feeling now?
We've had a good amount of time in the past few years.
How do you think things are going?
I mean, I'm going through the third month now with the guys
and I'm feeling pretty good at this moment.
We practiced a lot in this couple of weeks
and we had a very good practice.
So at this moment I feel like
we are reaching our true identity.
So I'm looking forward to this moment.
And that's what I wanted to look at
because yes, you've been here for a while.
We've now got, I say,
I say we normally say three six months right it's like a good breaking in time to understand where the teams at
Furious still has its struggles, but you feel like you're on the right path
What what do you think is the biggest struggle you guys have had?
I think we still need to fix like little things
Inside our game. I think the best game we ever showed like our
True power it was against spirit and we really had the chances of like winning the game
And I mean we just need to fix the little things and talk about it as a team and figure stuff
In terms of the little things can you give me an idea of what that is exactly or is it a secret?
It's like
Some micro things that happens inside the game like some decisions that if you want to win like we cannot
Like do it. We need to like see a bigger picture like so we can play like more
as a team, instead of just individuals, so it's more like that.
Nice, and for Rio, obviously it's in Brazil, so it's very important to the Furio camp.
Can you feel like it's something different when you guys have come here?
Like, okay, we really have to do well here.
Of course, since we arrived here, the fans went to the airport to get us there.
Really?
Tell me about that.
Tell me about that.
It was amazing.
I mean, I wasn't expecting that.
I mean, since then...
So you arrived at the airport, right?
You've come off the plane,
and they're just like in the arrivals part, yeah?
How many people?
I mean, 20, 30 people, it was like, yeah, it was amazing.
Okay, I love that first of all.
Back to what I was saying before,
because you distracted me of how awesome that story was.
How important then does Rio become for you guys
to make playoffs, to go far, to show the best for you?
Do you feel that in the team that there's a change?
I mean, we are definitely in the killer mode right now,
We all want to reach the playoffs and lift the trophy here because at this point the tournament is all that matters for us.
To play in front of our crowd and giving them the chance to have to feel this again,
of like falling, lifting a trophy and lifting a trophy to falling is something that I always wanted to.
So yeah, it's time to make it happen.
It's time to make it happen and practice for you guys.
Obviously, when you guys are in Malta, you're in a bootcamp basically all the time, right?
Yeah, we are in bootcamp mode.
So it's not the same as practicing online, you don't have that, you're always all together.
Did you change anything? Did you put more hours? Did you do a longer session? Talk me through it.
In the first few weeks that we went back to Malta, I mean, we were in Malta because of Pro League, yeah.
You went from Pro League to home.
Yeah, exactly. And we had like a lighter at the beginning and as soon as we were like getting closer to the tournament
we were like putting more hours and in the last couple of weeks like we really granded
And it's where I feel like we got the best evolution as a team.
So, yeah, again, I'm looking for retreats.
I'm looking forward to this.
Oh, you got me excited, Skulls.
Thank you very much.
I'm going to see if I can find some more of your team, wherever they may have run off
to.
He's pointing that way.
We're going this way.
Fallen, do you mind if I take the seat next to you?
You're waiting for an interview, and then I gave you an upward, I'm so sorry.
How are you?
How good are you?
Hello, everyone.
I'm doing very good and obviously we're in Brazil again, you have to travel to Brazil
because you're now living in Malta.
What's the feeling for you when you come to this event?
It's always amazing to come back to Brazil and having the chance to experience our country,
all the passionate fans, so I'm just hoping that we can play some good CS in this tournament
and make it to the playoffs so we can all see a lot of great energy in the arena.
Now I want to get your perspective and your opinion just on the recent performances for
Fiora at the moment. Where do you feel you guys are at as a team?
I feel we have been progressing, slowly but well. I think we have been getting some strong
results. It's up to a point where we're still not there yet in terms of beating the top
teams consistently but we are already making good challenges against them. So for us
it's one step at a time. For sure we would wish to be containing four titles,
in the semifinals finals but you gotta go up on the ladder and I think we have
been climbing it up so yeah there's another opportunity for us to do better
than we did before and I'm being I'm being satisfied with the improvements have
been seen. Getting those improvements though, how much more do you feel is
needed to see Fiora back at the top because when we look at this roster now
we look at Cayserado, we look at Uri, you know what Chenow can do and then
Skulls coming in now is the final piece. This looks like it should be the
ultimate team but there are some other Brazilian teams as well have shown
that they can fight at the same way. Do you feel pressure to like now we need to deliver,
we need to start showing something? I feel like the Brazilian code, the Brazilian level has been
rising up. I think none of the Brazilian teams are on the level we want to be yet, but at the same
time we're not too far. So it's at this point where I feel like both Fuiro and like MBR and
even Ping Gaming, all those guys, they have been close to reach this level where you can
start dreaming of winning the titles, but all of them are not there yet. So for us it's
It's all about getting a little bit better, a little bit more consistency and getting something
more spicy as a team in order to show up and beat all those guys, a lot of good teams
playing up there and you've got to have something to be at the difference for you, you know.
So we're working on that.
Last day I want to ask you, because people now wanting to grab you for this interview,
what would it mean to you, even though you've lifted some of the biggest trophies
in Counter Fight, what would it mean to you to lift this one here in Rio?
I've always been chasing to win a big trophy in CSGO in Brazil.
I felt short on the ESL tournament in Sao Paulo, I think we lost the finals for Cloud9.
So for me to win a big tournament in Brazil would be winning like a major for me.
So I feel like the level of this tournament is very stacked.
We have 16 of the best 21 teams in the world here and you know it's a kind of a level
expect on a major.
So for me personally because it's my home country that's my third major right here
and also it's a big chance for me.
So yeah for me it would be a dream coming true I would try my best.
I know when it comes to the expectations both internally and outside, people might not see
FURIA as a container for the title, but I know deep in my heart that we're not too far away
from where this conversation starts changing, so it's all about trying to find what's missing.
He always takes that one special magic moment and it can all change very quickly.
You know it more than anyone.
Gabriel, thank you very much, man.
ESL presents Intel Xtreme Masters in partnership with Intel,
Acer Predator, DHL, Hodea, Monster Energy,
the United States Air Force, 1xBet, White Market,
and Logitech G.
O-Team has won multiple IAM master events in 2024.
With G2, FaZe and Vitality all in attendance here in Rio, that could change.
Especially with multiple hometown heroes coming to try and find some glory here in Brazil.
Today we start our journey throughout the group stage.
16 teams, some of them eyeing at that playoff spot to try and find some success.
And I am strangely in the host seat right now, it feels very uncomfortable.
But I've got two guys who can carry me through this, Ijango and Pym.
Well, you know, James, it's sometimes difficult working with players.
It's so much easier working with a guy like Jacob.
There's only so much we can do for you, James.
You've got to hold on to your own end of the bargain, though.
OK, what is my whole end of the bargain, my friend?
I don't know. Talk. Talk.
You're a host now, as well. Yeah. True. True.
I'm surprised I didn't get the call up, but I guess I'm not good enough.
Yeah, you know, we need to work on your English a little bit more
and then you'll get there eventually. Yeah. No problems at all.
How are you guys? When it's the only language you speak.
It's very lucky for me.
How are you guys doing though?
how have you enjoyed getting here so far and getting into Rio?
Great, it's always awesome coming to Brazil, you know, for a CS tournament, so much passion.
We saw it, you know, the previous two years. Also, I think, luckily for them, the Brazilian teams
are on the way up slowly, but surely, you know, four teams in the top 20. At the moment,
right, we've got Imperial here as the last minute, standing as well. Maybe they can ruin
someone's day, but yeah, just excited. Yeah, same for me. It's been six years since I
lost the set foot in Brazil. So for my money, it's good to be back along travel. But as
Janko said, what did you do last time? I played? They didn't want you back? No, it was in
Sao Paulo. I think we knocked out Imperial by the way from that tournament. So they
never let me back in. But I am also very intrigued by the Brazilian scene of Counter
Strike. Right now I agree with you. There's a potential for one of these teams to make
the playoff. And you know, I've only been watching this tournament online from
home, but the environment inside this arena when it gets down is something that I
haven't seen before.
First of all, there's more people than it looks.
Okay, yeah.
Okay.
I'm excited.
I'm not going to lie.
We've got to say that, but I also want to talk about some of the past Rios and starting
with the 2022 one, right?
When VP came through and they managed to have that dream run.
I think Janko, when we were doing it, you even called it early on.
Yeah, I did.
People called me crazy at the time.
I guess they were right, but not for that.
But yeah, I mean, they had a great tournament back then to heroic down in the final.
was their probably best chance for that heroic line up to really lift a major trophy and we have
them back though now under Astralis who would have thought right life changes real quick and then
last year it was Vitality right before the Paris Major right the trophy here sort of building up
their confidence beating heroic again you know heroic losing in the final again so yeah we'll
see who's gonna get it this time around yeah it's been a couple of eventful you know events
inside Rio. I think the VP won back in the day or outside us as they were called. You know,
it was a big surprise that they were able to take down his work was for Vitality. You said that they
were leading up, building up to the Paris Major and that's the first time we got to see Vitality
establish themselves the favorites and be the best team in the world at a certain time.
Now the quality of teams here in Rio is top notch right now, especially we start looking at
Group A. There's no easy way for even for some of the best teams, right?
No, I think it's a hyper competitive tournament to be completely honest. We're only missing
a couple of teams, but in the top 16, top 18, you're looking at a no-spirit, which is the big,
big name left out, but apart from that you've got some of the best teams in the world. And
as Janko said, the Brazilian team right now on the up-rise, so Pain, Imperial, you name it,
maybe they can cause an upset too. That's so weird to me, the whole spirit thing. It's like,
oh yeah, we don't want our players to burn out. You have Donk, who's like 17, Zontics,
who's got 18, Shiro, who's not much older than them, Magisk as well, so about those guys
you're going to go take a vacation now, you're telling me they're not going to play face-it all night long
and have 20 hours a day in CS. Like, I understand people not getting burnt out, but for a team like
Spirits, like, who needs a break? Chopper, the coach. So, yeah, we'll see how that unfolds for them.
And I'm glad you mentioned that because those players you mentioned, they are just fully
grinding at the whole time, right? They're going non-stop. They're just well-compete on
LAN instead of just sitting at home in a dark room. And if anything, they need it right
now, you know, they've been struggling for a long time, they need some game practice,
They need some reps, they need to figure out a solution to the issues and not showing up to tournaments is not necessarily the best way of doing that
That's the problem and you know can't take anything for granted obviously you have to reply to the invite a couple of months in advance
Right, but you're thinking yeah, we have all these tournaments
It's gonna be fine
But probably what you need is like to play through some of these issues
Now if your spirit and figure things out because the major is around the corner and in terms of the major being around the
Corner this event is very important for that and some of you doing well here
in the extra points to get a better seeding as well.
How much of that plays into the minds of a lot of these teams?
I think this is a great testing ground heading into what's
going to be the final part of the season.
Obviously, you're looking at the World Finals in Singapore,
and then there are all so important major coming in.
The Armour qualifier as well.
I think there's a lot of teams that have gained a lot
of respect for that.
I don't think anyone feels certain that they're
going to qualify for the major,
given how competitive the scene is.
So I think the level of counter strike you're going to see
in Brazil is on the up-right.
It's only going to get better here from now on
and also in the rest of the season.
Whoever does well here is actually also going to be in a good position for the arm under me.
Yeah and the added pressure at the RMRs obviously we have it here as well unfortunately.
Hopefully for the last time in this circuit the best of ones in MRs. Well god bless you know but
it just brings so much stress because the margin for error is so small right. Like you lose one
anti-eco the game can slide out of control right. All of a sudden you're in the lower bracket
things become much more difficult. So it's about being concentrated to the max,
you know, being focused and minimizing the mistakes in these opening games.
Well, one team that we're going to look at next, right, is Imperial coming in as they've
replaced Rare Atom. It's a good thing for Brazilian CS and you guys were talking about it already,
but Imperial, is this a team where there is some potential for them to do some damage here?
I think we've seen glimpses of it, you know, and I think we've seen glimpses from pretty
much all the Brazilian teams that when they hit the stride and when they're playing
world that can definitely cause issues for pretty much all teams.
I think there's a higher ceiling to what we can expect from them.
I don't think an Imperial is going to cause issues to vitality, to mouse for that matter,
to the higher echelons, you know, but that middle pack of teams at this tournament that's
all going to fight for the players, but they're definitely one of the teams that,
on a good day, on a good tournament, maybe it's realistic to dream a bit.
Yeah, you know, it's like Jacob here, he rides a bike if you didn't know James
a lot and runs and his cardio is really strong.
I focus on the lifting, so I think between the two of us, you can probably have one good athlete,
right, if you merge us together.
Same thing with Brazil, if you merge all these teams together, pick a player from every team,
you can probably make a world-leading contending team, right, but we're just not seeing it.
And they always make these roster changes here and there, right,
but you don't feel like it's the one that's really going to propel a team into contender status.
And it's been like that for years, like it's been like that for years.
Ever since Fiora were relevant last time around and MIBR back in the days,
It's like all the good talent is spread out on three, four different teams
and as you said for some reason they can't bring them together.
You have teams who are not even here who have great players.
You know, Dumal and Lato on legacy.
Right, like they could be like the missing piece for someone.
Red Cannons, we just saw them at Pro League, you know, called Zaraka.
So definitely plenty of talent in the Brazilian scene
is just about putting the pieces together
that they haven't been able to do for a long time now
and haven't had a contender team.
Would you guys say the Furia is still the number one Brazilian team, though?
I think you have to.
A little bit is because they have more opportunities than some of the other teams.
Right, MIBR isn't here, for example, and they had a great run.
They're probably that team, of course, and a player got replaced right after,
which would make them even stronger on paper.
Payne, we're seeing a little bit more of them this year,
compared to some of the previous seasons, right?
But Furia is the one who constantly has the opportunities.
Sometimes they have the name value, they have a guy like a Serato on the team, they have fallen on the team.
So it's always going to sort of put them put a little bit more spotlight on them.
In terms of putting more spotlight on this whole event, we're going to look at the Intel Grand Slam.
What it means if you were able to win here at Rio, because we're looking at this in the races, certainly heating up.
Yeah, it's been a wild year in the sense that no team has been able to win two tournaments in a row.
No team has been able to assert any sort of dominance.
Of course we had Spirit in the beginning of the year, taking down Katowice in a very convincing fashion.
We had Vitality winning and Cologne. Obviously those two events are going to do them well.
In that regard, Maus picking up some of these smaller tournaments, so to speak.
And it does feel like there's a lot of teams right now who are all fighting to be that one team
that can maybe have a realistic shot at the Grand Slam for the next couple of months or the next year.
But no one is really in a prime position to nail it.
Yeah, it would be crazy if a team like FaZe all of a sudden right comes out of pieces.
nowhere here lifts a trophy, and then Katowice could be the one, right? We know how much
Karrigan loves playing there, and completing it for a team like Navi, it would go a long way
because you need one of the championship level events, right? Plus three other events to
complete the Intel Grand Slam, you know, for a team like Navi, making that extra step vitality,
has Cologne, right? They're in prime position as well to sort of
Eka had, but as Jacob pointed out, no team won two tournaments this year. We had that
that every tournament was different team lifting the trophy.
So, you know, you're thinking like, okay,
Furia, this is your time.
I'm winning here as well.
We'll also give a spot the E.P.T. Winter Championship
is all very important.
But when we're looking at winning here
and looking at the opportunity that's on the cards,
we keep saying this, many teams are winning.
We can never really see right now who it's going to be.
Is there some clear favors?
Even G2 won a tournament.
That tells you, who the hell knows what's going to happen?
I don't think there's a clear cut favorite.
I think there's certain teams obviously who
who have looked a little bit more stable.
Navi's one of them, you know,
you'd expect them to go into the playoff.
You'd almost expect them to be
part of the semi-final final.
But as you said, G2 came out of nowhere, won a tournament.
Faze maybe starts to show up again.
Who knows, they were looking slightly better
in Copenhagen a couple of weeks ago.
So I feel like we could look at a tournament here in Rio
where someone is going to win a tournament
for the second time of the year,
but there's no clear cut failure.
I think we have five or six teams
who can all realistically say,
we want to win this tournament
and we have a decent shot at doing so.
Are you guys sold on Faze here
after what we saw in the full final from them?
Yeah, is it too early to say?
No, I think for them a lot of it revolves around Brokey
because he is sort of the X factor in his style a little bit
and he plays well.
They tend to go deep in tournaments and lift trophies,
but when he isn't really there, that's when Faze struggles.
It's just such a volatile sort of playing style,
which is something you sort of live with a player like that.
Yeah, and I miss a little bit from Rups as well.
I think we saw glimpses of Rups in Covemaking do well again
and it does feel like when Brokey robs and of course,
Frozen, who's a stable player within FaZe Clan,
when they're all playing well together,
they have enough firepower, they have enough tenacity
on the server to get it done,
but whenever one of those pieces are missing,
they just don't have enough acides.
Well, they don't have enough, but we certainly have enough,
because next up is our one-expet power rankings.
Welcome to the one-expet power ranking brought to you.
My one-expet, and we are gonna be delving into
how we consider this ranking to look right now.
Janko, you're the man in charge
of where we're going with this.
Yeah, unfortunately.
We get to look at your hands and see where you're going to place.
Where are we going first on this?
Is there some easy ones to do at the top? Does that make it simpler?
Yeah, there's a couple of teams that we want to get in the top of it.
I think you're looking at a Navi, you know, you're looking at a G2.
I think those two teams, when you call it a power ranking,
are up there G2 number two.
I think they won a tournament in Copenhagen.
So as for a power ranking, that's fair enough.
Matelady, third team, I like that.
FaZe, Maus, fourth or fifth? Which one?
I think maybe Maus, even despite all the problems that they've had.
You're working hard right now for that one, huh?
Yeah man, it's fine.
We're getting there.
You just keep talking, Jason.
I like that.
I think that's a clear cut top five.
Next up, I think we should look at the bottom four, you know.
What are we looking at in terms of who is actually one of the weaker teams at this
tournament?
And I want to say something.
Payne is probably one of them.
I think Imperial coming in as a stand-in.
You can argue for those two.
I want to say Astralis is also with the current iteration and how they look.
I would place Astralis at 13, 14, 15, together with the likes of Imperial, together
with the likes of Payne probably as well.
Well, they also have tough matchups.
They have tough matchups and the bracket is not going to be
too good for them as well.
Nine C as well, yeah, I'll take it.
Heroic is another team that I don't really feel
is up there in the ranking right now.
I think if you place Astralis as 13th,
that'd be good for me.
Surprisingly enough, Heroic number 12,
I don't have high hope or high faith for Heroic.
I agree with that.
To be completely honest, Furia probably next up in line,
11-10 somewhere along those lines.
And then the big one for me is like this middle pack of teams,
you're looking at complexity VP.
I think VP at number 10, they haven't been really convincing lately.
Then you can put after them probably complexity.
Who else we have then? The Mongols.
The Mongols, I'll rate them higher.
The Mongols are number 8.
I'll take that. Now we've got to think.
EF, EF with the way they were playing in Pro League,
I think we have to put them at 6th.
Pro Ranking, they're looking good.
Probably in the playoffs, like that last team from that side.
Yeah, and then we need one team Liquid.
A little bit of a high placement for Liquid, considering how they played in Copenhagen,
but I guess it's a project on the up-rise, and if your kinder starts playing Counter-Strike again,
maybe they could look good.
I think it's also going to be very telling, mouse and phase, where they're at in this tournament.
They could easily be seven and eight, and Eternal Fire goes up,
or Liquid or Mongols go up, or complexity, right?
Like a lot of these teams are a little bit inconsistent.
I think the top three are a lock, and then probably the sort of bottom five.
Everything else is fluid.
So it's kind of crazy that we have Astralis down there, right?
I put them even lower.
Probably, yeah, to be completely honest.
Pain is above them.
We haven't had time to practice.
Kaden has to rifle anchor on CT side and in game lead.
I mean, that's going to take a while to figure all that stuff out.
A lot of adjustments needed from them.
But thank you very much for the 1x player power ranking.
Guys, we are going to head ourselves to a break
and when we come back, we're going into our opening games.
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This is a hard one because JKS won some big tournaments,
but at the same time, Nathaniel, he went on a streak, I think,
when he was on call night and gambit at the time.
So, because of this, I'm gonna say Nathaniel.
Oh, that's pretty similar, pretty close.
Now I'm gonna stage a cast, because I don't know the time that he played, maybe he gets
played a little bit more.
Okay, I'm horrible at this.
Lower than snacks, I would say.
Oh, okay, Axioblade should be higher.
I don't think Shroud played a very long time.
I honestly didn't watch much.
But I was a huge friend of fraud.
Yeah.
I'm doing better now.
Hmmm.
That's a tough one.
Because of the online events, I'm going serious right now.
Next.
It's higher than seriously.
Get it great on G2.
Hmmm.
Close enough.
I hope he can play tournaments again.
I feel bad for him.
He's a nice player.
I would say Nexa is still higher.
Okay.
I'm back.
Come back.
Now, I mean, GymFat is doing amazing, I think, GymFat is a siren.
Yeah, he's a very nice player as well.
He did want to tire one event, right?
But not as much as GymFat, so he's lower.
Yeah, I don't think siren played as much big tournaments as Nerds as well, so he's lower.
That's me.
I have no idea, actually.
I have no clue.
I'm lower, I think.
I hate you, climbing, climbing up.
He played a lot with Apex.
I'm lower still. He's higher than me.
Yeah.
Oh, 10 for...
Okay, I'm happy with 10.
It's FaZe going up against Furia as both teams are in the building and arriving at this stage.
Furia now on a rise, hoping to find some form, hoping to find some success.
And if there is a time for them to strike against FaZe, this possibly could be the time
to do it, when they haven't been looking their best.
Maybe possibly could be, hopefully, maybe not, probably not.
Where's the, where are the fans, where's the chanting and the songs for Furia, they already,
it's too early for them.
Yeah, they're not in here right now and it's gonna be tough for them to even get
inside this arena.
I think obviously they get to play in the arena now with nobody around them, but
to be completely honest for Furia at home turf, et cetera, I'll let you know a place
for them to go against FaZe in the opening game in a best of one. That's a nightmare fuel. I agree
with you, you know, if there was a chance for them to beat FaZe in a best of one it probably would
be now but still doesn't beat around the bush. FaZe are heavy favorites coming into this one.
And in terms of FaZe being heavy favorites we touched on a little bit in the pre-show, right?
They did start to show us that they look better but not still enough to beat a team within the
top five. Yeah it's a little bit strange, you know, when it comes down to FaZe because
we've heard, you know, around Cologne, Kagan talking about I'm going to be micromanaging a little
bit sure people aren't taking enough initiative then a month later rain interview in an interview says
well we kind of went back we went away from that again now it's a mix of both so it seems like
phase is just trying a lot of different things really to find those that extra five ten percent
that they're missing because you know they had this crazy streak of me making final after final
after final lifting the trophy in Chengdu right but it just hasn't been the same in the second
part of the year no one you can see the trend on the world ranking right here it's just
going steadily downwards and I agree with you Janko it's a bunch of mixed signals
they're sending out right now in terms of how do they want to lead the team how is
Karrigan leading what in phase you know are they having a lot of freedom are
they going back to being micromanage you name it I almost feel like they're on
life support in the sense that if they don't do well in Rio and if they
don't do well in the major something's got to change you know they
try to change the in-game leading situation they try to change the way
they approach the game the way they practice if that doesn't work for a
team that's been together for such a long time despite having that one
roster change with Trist for Throcen. At some point something's got to give, whether that's
removing one of the players, whether that's bringing in a new in-game leader, I don't even know,
but just saying that out loud to a lot of people will probably be like, wow, why are you saying that
Jacob? But that's the fact of the reality. If you're faced, you're not content with being the
seventh or the eighth best team in the world. It's not good enough. And you've also heard
them in interviews, right? They've gone from saying, every event we come into,
we should be in the grand final, we should be looking at the trophy, now their expectations
have changed as well. For me, that's a sign of where we need to maybe worry about
about the confidence right now which you would never normally say for FaZe.
Yeah absolutely, you know it's a team that needs to have their individuals play well to win right,
which sounds like that's the case for every team.
Well to some extent but there's not really too big of a system is put in a way where the player is just,
there's a fight being set up for a guy, you need to win that duel, if you do we probably win the round.
If you don't, we're in a bad spot, you can't see a team like FaZe fall back to heavy executes time and time again, right?
or sort of map out things for their players, they have to play off of their feel, off of
their instinct. Brockey probably the best example for something like that, you know, a bit of
a loose cannon, but when it works out, right, when he is in his element, it's incredibly
disruptive for the opponent.
It is, it is a player that has been thriving as of late. It is a player that in Copenhagen
just a couple of weeks ago had a very good showing. Raps for me is the big talking
point, you know, he's had a horrible year, to be completely honest. He started
off Counter Strike 2 by being one of the most prominent rifles the game had to
He was innovating the game, innovating the way you're playing, especially when CS2 was still brand new.
And as of late, he's just been lukewarm, you know, at best.
In Copenhagen, he had a couple of good matches, and when he's playing well together with Frozen and Broke, there's enough firepower.
You know, there's enough individual skill for FaZe to contest with the best.
But if Broke is lukewarm, then so is FaZe.
Well, I was talking with Karrigan just yesterday when we were doing the lobby, and one thing he said was,
as soon as they finished in Copenhagen, he'd gone back home and was back to his individual grinding.
So he believes that he's set himself a goal of his individual level as well
Then he's to rise right now. So that's even more time that they're trying to think about
Yeah, I'm sorry to break it to Kerrigan and to all the face fans out there
It doesn't matter whether Kerrigan is putting up a 0.8 rating or a 0.85 rating
It still comes down to the likes of Brokey Robson-Frosen
Yeah, and I think also you look at this particular matchup right on the side of
Fury you have Inner Shine who's their analyst now sort of they wanted to bring more Europeans into default
He was the analyst for Faze for a long time, so there's a lot of familiarity there.
He goes without saying, fallen, played Kerrigan many times over his career.
Even though these two teams won't play once this year, best of one at the Copenhagen Major.
For Furio, one thing I want to look at is the level of how much this event means to them.
We spoke about the thing that happened at the airport with all the players coming in,
and then everyone was just waiting for him.
These guys are the superstars of Brazil and they have been for the longest time.
Yeah, I mean, also coaching a Brazilian team, playing an event in Brazil as a Brazilian,
there's so much going on man, like it's crazy, from friends and family wanting to get in or
like watch the games and then you know you're just being back with them for a little bit to the
fans and all the hype around it and talking about how passionate the players are, the fans
as well, right? Sometimes it's a little bit difficult to focus on the game itself but that's
what they have to do and this fury ever since they got rid of art, right? And finally
have a sole captain in place and a fallen play style, they've been playing much better,
right? The results still haven't been there but even you talked to him James and he was saying,
you know, he feels, fallen feels like they're really close to sort of having that big result.
When we're talking about Fulund though, I want to play this little thing I got from him earlier
in the lobby, so take a look at this. I've always been chasing to win a big trophy in
CSGO in Brazil. I felt short on the ESL Tournament in Sao Paulo, I think we lost the finals
for Cloud9. So for me to win a big tournament in Brazil would be winning like a major for me. So I
feel like the level of this tournament is very stacked. We have 16 of the best 21 teams in the
world here and you know it's a it's the kind of level that's packed on a major. So for me personally
because it's my home country that's that's my third major right here you know so it's a big
chance for me. So yeah for me it would be a dream coming true. What I love there is that
despite everything he's won and everything he has had in his career sure how much this means to
him is still showing his motivated as hell. Of course and he should be motivated and everyone
should be allowed to dream but for now that's just a dream you know and it's it's very far from
reality let's be completely honest Furia is not a team many people expect to be in the playoff
he said it himself it's a very stacked tournament obviously on a good day Furia can't play good
counter strike you said yourself it's starting to look slightly better but the results have
not been there just yet for Furia just to be in the playoff for Furia just to be I guess
competitive in this tournament at least from an outside perspective would be enough for me to
to be happy on their behalf but winning the tournament we gotta we gotta wait a
couple of days before we can even start dreaming about that. I mean also this
group is stacked you almost feel like they have to win the best of one here
to give themselves an opportunity, a better chance for making the player
obviously just winning the first two games immediately right but we'll have
to see if they're capable of doing that against a phase that's been really
up and down lately. Do you think right now the stars of Furia are performing
and comfortable to perform on the fuller there.
I think it's starting to get better.
Kezarado obviously is an old quantity.
I feel like he's at a high level,
has been at a high level for a long time.
Uri has been the one missing out for my money
and it's been the case for almost a couple of years.
A couple of years back we spoke about Kezarado and Uri
and you'd argued that they were almost similar
in terms of output,
but past couple of years it's been all about Kezarado.
So I still lack a little bit from Uri,
but they're still looking okay.
I think the problem is he still has roles on some maps
with a lot of responsibility, you know, he plays Yard on Nuke, for example, on the CT side.
And sometimes when you watch it, it's just that's the weak spot.
I mean, for Furia, and you don't want to see that happening.
And I think, you know, when you look at it, it's one of the easiest positions to replace,
just a rifle, right? Not the in-game leader, not the AWPer,
not necessarily the all-the-star roles, right?
And we were talking in the pre-show about all the talent in the Brazilian scene.
I feel like if he doesn't step up, you know, even though Furia very reluctant
to remove their players, especially guys who've been there from the start.
I mean, that has to be the next move for them.
Well, let's find out what Fulham is thinking ahead of this game.
He could have preferred.
Great to catch up with you again, Fulham.
First of all, you had quite the welcome party
when you arrived in the airport, right?
Yeah, it was awesome.
The Brazilian fans are already showing up and they came very early.
I think five a.m. in the morning to the airport to to receive us.
So it was amazing being back in Brazil for you.
What kind of memories does that invoke?
There's a lot of good memories here. It's been a dream for me to win a big tournament in Brazil
since the CSGO era. I won a couple in CS1.6, but not as big as CSGO came up.
So coming to Brazil is always relieving that dream that I want to lift a trophy here, so it's another opportunity today.
Kind of answers my next question of, you know, what does this event mean to you?
But also, what does the event mean for somebody like Skals, who's never had the opportunity to play in front of like a tier one Brazil crowd?
Yeah, I would say that once you have the chance to play in front of the Brazilian, completely
sold out crowd, it's something unforgettable.
So I would say that for us players, it's what we live for, it's what we play for, you know,
like those moments that you're going to carry all your life, even when you stop playing,
like you're going to remember those moments, you know, so for us to reach playoffs here
and give opportunities for players at schools, to live those moments is one of the goals,
I would say.
Has that given you an extra dose of motivation in terms of making it to the playoffs
to give him that experience?
I would say that it gives a lot of motivation,
also a little bit of pressure.
It gives everything, you know?
So it does feel to me that everything we live for,
it does come down to what we can do here.
So it's all about balancing those feelings,
all about making sure that those emotions
don't get in the way of really trying to make
the best plays you can, make the best reads
and also keep your composure during games.
So this part is all about that, you know?
Making sure your emotions don't get along the way.
Thank you so much for your time, Ful,
and best of luck in your game.
But he's talking about controlling the emotions with it all,
with the Brazilians' emotions and how fiery they can be.
It's something you look forward to give them a chance going forward.
Yeah, definitely. And I think if anything for Fallen and his playstyle,
you know, it's a lot about patience and actually having that calmness, right?
And being able to outplay the opponent in the late round, right?
Trust that they are going to be the ones to make the move
and then punish those moves, which is actually really good for the current
method to have that sort of a playstyle.
But it requires your individuals to be really sharp.
And that's why they need their guys to show up today.
That's also where I see the contrast between these two
teams in this game, which being about faces
being a team that relies a lot on the individuals,
especially a guy like Broke, when he's
put in a 3v3 scenario in a 1v2,
he has that explosivity to him on the server.
So even if Fallen and Furia were
to succeed with the game plan and get themselves
into 3v3 scenarios of 3v2, she
still needs some individual skill to turn around the rounds
or convert them.
And that's where I feel they lag a little bit right now.
So if Keisarado or Yuri can play at a high level
and if Fallen can get the troops together,
I can definitely see a competitive game here,
but they have to outclass Facer's individual skill
and that's a big task ahead of them right here.
Yeah, it is a big task and I guess so is the Vita as well.
Is there anything where you can say
there might be a handshake middle ground
where Furia can have some advantage in this
or is it just gonna be still fazed all the way
no matter where we go?
I mean, best of one usually ends up on the middle ground.
Although you never know with Furia,
They somehow played inferno against the old G2 lineup in the best of one.
So hopefully those days are behind them and we see something that's a little bit more of a compromise.
Yeah, I'd say so. In a best of one video, you know, it's always going to be middle ground.
It's always going to be a map that both teams are prepared for.
Always going to be a map that both teams are feeling somewhat comfortable on.
And I guess that doesn't speak in the favor of the underdog, which is very in this case.
In terms of how much of an underdog they are though, on a scale,
what chance do you see that could be for them?
Is there any hope outside of this because of what we've seen from FaZe?
There is hope, especially considering that FaZe is right now in a terminal period.
We don't really know where to put FaZe. Are they 6, 7, 8th in the world?
Are they potentially looking at roster changes if they can't get this to work out?
How are they calling? How are they approaching the game?
Is it micromanaging from Kerrigan? Is it more freedom to the players again?
It's just been so many questions around FaZe.
So yeah, I'd say there's definitely a good shot here for Furia.
You'd also like to imagine, and you probably know that from a coaching perspective,
that if there was a tournament that they would treat as a major right now for you, if there was a
tournament that bootcamp 4 and come in with a 100% focus it would be IEM Real, whereas for Faze Clan
let's be honest this is not the most important tournament for them. Well yeah but I think for
Faze where they are as a team every tournament is super important for them because you're trying
to find a way back into form, you're trying to re-establish some confidence, try to find out
what works, you know how do you get back to your winning ways and here we see Dust2
as the map of choice. I think a good one for both teams really and for us to keep
off I am real. Is it one that can get a bit crazy though because of how
open it is? Can you know it depends on how the game is being played out. I think
with Art back in Fiora, yes I'd argue that this does too could have been
hella fun but I think right now you're looking at a team that is, as
Janko said, a little bit more patience. They like to set up the stretch. They
like to gather map control and get a feeling for how the CT side is gonna
look like for face before they execute and then I think it's gonna
be slightly slower pace than what you used to see from Furia. That being said though, you still
have a couple of players within the lineup that likes to be aggressive in Uri in case Arado,
so they're probably a mixture of both. I think a key to playing against Furia on this map is on
your CT side, be aggressive. Don't sit back, don't give them space, try to disrupt them early
because that's where they will struggle. Fallen was always really good when given space
and when they have map control to make those later on calls, so you have to show some aggression if your face can.
I think for my mind, that's where the client is at, you know, showing aggression and being disruptive is one thing.
But for face, you've got to find that balance where if you do it early in the rounds, then maybe Furia set up for it.
They're waiting for it. You've got to find your moments.
You've got to find your timings. That mid-round aggression, you know, take Catwalk as an example.
Before Furia gets to set up and execute on towards the A side, flash in a player, you know, Molotov usually grenades in a good way.
They find the timings for the mid-round aggression that's really disruptive.
Because if you do it early on, there's a chance Furia is waiting for it.
There's a chance to set up for it, whereas if you do it in the mid-round where you're
hitting certain timings, then I don't think Furia had the individual players to respond
to that.
So, for face, it's all about timing.
And I think also, keep an eye out for Reign on this map, especially on the CT side.
I mean, towards the short area, right with the M4, absolutely a menace, right?
He won us a couple of games just on his own, really, from his performance on the CT side.
Looking at this one last time, though, do you feel like there's a world where Faze can
just run over them like they did with Liquid before?
You know, when they hit some flow state, when they feel confident against a team like
Fury, they can just walk away at this, and everything we said is like, okay, Fury is
just going to get smashed.
You can rule that out, especially with a team like Faze, because when they're
hitting the stride and when they're feeling comfortable, they had that ability to run
over their opponents.
However, there's nothing to me that suggests that's going to be the case today.
They haven't looked great for quite some time.
I think fur is on the up-rise as well so if I were to put my money where my mouth it I'd say it's it's rather
Gonna be a competitive game that a one-sided game. What are you looking for in terms of school here?
What do you reckon it's gonna be? I don't know you never know in MR12
I think it comes down to you know like we talked about minimizing some of the mistakes
Staying calm even if a bad round happens. Don't let it spiral out of control
After that point and yeah, just
focus full focus all the way full focus the stage has been set and fury do have
an uphill battle here but if there's one time for them to strike it is now
against phase plan and it's time for us to get into the game with sponge and
machine thank you very much James yes excited to get this started for
Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024 and it is stacked right ahead from fallen 16
of the top 21 teams in attendance in Rio no bad games and it starts with
the Brazilian hopefuls themselves the desk has cast doubt as to how deep phase will make it and not much expectation attached to fury or either
Yeah, look, this is tough for a lot of teams in World Counter-Strike at the moment
We've got our favorites our navies our vitalities no spirit in attendance
But phase they're the type of roster that they always have a puncher's chance right because this team is so tenured
It starts started if they're on their day, they can play some of the best Counter-Strike in the world
That's the question that we asked for I guess a few names
against Fiora on Dust2. Hey,
this would be the perfect recipe
for the Brazilians to start off
with a victory. And you don't
want to drop down to the lower
bracket with how studded the
rumble in Rio is going to be.
Oh, it's a rumble in Rio. I
like that. Yeah, I mean, the
amount of big names in Group A
alone. You've got Navi liquid
complexity. You've even got
pain and mouths duking it out
on our second stream as well.
So if Fiora were to convert
this best of one, if pain
were to do the same thing,
you'd have to do the same
thing. But if you're
best of one. If pain were to do
the same, we'd have a domestic
derby for a spot in the playoffs.
Yeah, and I think big user thinks
the pain of the best Brazilian
team. So I'd love to see them
locking horns for that slot
within the playoffs. And if we
get that, we know what can
happen in Rio. Everyone's seen
it. The fans turn out in
droves if their hometown heroes
are able to contend. Yeah, man.
I mean, the fact that there's
fans waiting for him at the
airport, five a.m. You know,
I mean, that's that's
anyone's waited for me at the
airport. Yeah, imagine if they
were rocking up to dog swamp
cheering for you, all the
the path boys, out in full force, but little like we're ready to get this one
underway. FaZe clan to start on the CT side of Dust2. Furia on the attack and we
can get things underway for them with a very tactical and technical pistol. Look
how many grenades there are. This has to be a BXQ, doesn't it? It's both doors and
window, molly towards back of plant. Rops is a playing back plays. Explain
big box. Frozen will be the support network. Five sets of Kevlar for
FaZe, but full information. Aggressive through mid. The only option is either
B all long and well that tells you it's gonna be B. Yeah huge star from Ross takes an early head removing cello a chance as well onto the second
Skull Push welcoming the fight Yuri's holding from the box. He should have one. He should have had two Karagin
And this to weather the storm of the urie glock Kcerato
It's off angle completely overlooked beautiful positioning and rewarded for it puts it on to frozen in the side
Can't get past Kcerato
Some quick clicks from him. I still feel like there could have been a couple of more
Bumps in the road if it wasn't for rops getting that opening kill made it a bit more competitive furious still pull it off
Yeah, and you can see how quick the support is coming
So we get it from this nice little cinematic angle the shadow spotted Yuri as you said probably should have had to
But because the uta was still being set up at the fight was already coming from phase k
Serato very slow a secondary element to be dealing with that push shots and down locks the round and puts a pistol round in a
Best of one in favor of furious. So this is fantastic for the Brazilians
Chelo got info, Skyrim on, on towards the mid-push and Karakin goes down long.
An important first death and one that we'll highlight here, I know that it's a full eco,
but it's more the position. Karakin is the long eco. So let's see if within the game plan they
return to late-longs, try and bully the in-game leader. I know Jacob was talking about,
doesn't matter if Karakin is 0.0 or 0.05. But look, if he's locking down his part of the
map, yeah, I think there will definitely be more than content with that if we're
FaZe fans playing at home. But let's do a little bit of history, Alex. We love some history.
I do these two teams. They haven't really played a lot this year
last time they played
It was on ancient six months ago Copenhagen major group stage art was still on the roster. Yeah, okay. Wow, right?
So now we've got skulls they've rightfully installed fallen as the commander in chief
their overall form looks more consistent because of the style of their plane is less variance and
Well, they now ban ancient so the map they played last time and lost not even in the pool between these two teams
So we find us up on dust 2 my current analysis is that not a single member of furia has
put a charm on their gun.
Ah, charmless.
They're charmless.
Whereas FaZe, I've already noticed two charms.
Charming.
Charming.
So, this is actually a battle of charm versus no charm, or of course.
Witchcraft, I believe, is the official terminology.
Yes, keep your eyes on that.
We're seeing how Ifuria, with the absence of charms,
can keep the win streak alive.
They do manage to get through the eco, just the one casualty,
and Rob's maintaining his charming eagle.
All right, well, that means the rifles for FaZe
are about to be purchased on through, so we get to see.
What did Yanko say? What did he say? He said be aggressive. Be, be, aggressive.
Well, let's see, because on the pistol round and the eco, there was light aggression.
Now, we are going to be having the likes of Robs and Froze and holding over towards B.
Rain's going to be the A rotating rifle. Cargantelock down long and broke.
He once he gets the AWP out, he'll be here there and everywhere.
They did the long-door smoke. Molly towards Bluebin.
They'll wait for this one to pop. Flash is there and there you go.
They're across. Perfect.
picture perfect and no other map control really gained during the the battle for
long you just got fallen casting a scout down mid smoke on doors is present
ksarato equipped with a molotov to take short control mob mid door smoke fades
there's a window of opportunity for frozen they're gonna crunch mid the
short players are coming to fight this where's that smoke going that's an
interesting lineup just to take the first stage of short ahead of the
hang ahead of it oh there's a big fight coming there is a big fight
coming frozen has this cross the flash will be a carry for a super aggressive to the expect the second bro key delivers one
You'd think a second was coming given case Serato's low HP but fall and providing the overwatch
Brokey doesn't commit the flames will force him to stand his ground though
Really hanging in the balance of bro keys decision-making here is the x-factor
He's gonna need to find another kill to make this one cheeky now
Yuri's been able to slink his way out towards pits along control completely under the remit of furia
You take a look at the utility. We've got some smokes with the cross one flash a he
Now Karagan's starting to pivot over if he goes too wide he might get caught off by the fact that Yuri is super deep in the pit
Now he's a cross, did Yuri see that?
Oh I don't think so, I think he's pulled it off just the most perfect of timings
Oh still aware something could be possible
Karagan
Oh let's it go!
Can he deliver? He does! A beautiful double from Karagan
Nice shot back from Keisarato
That's really in the round
Yeah he's definitely looking sharp
Six and zero right now and oh Keisarato gets a four
a fourth with the scout now it's up to Robbs. 14 seconds that bomb needs to get across the
smoke. Oh it's blown it open. It's going to get very awkward for Kcerato. Just has to
live Robbs. I don't know if there's time. 5-4.
No chance.
Anyway, okay, well that's a round. That's a round. Kcerato is probably going to want
to forget. Good god did he get close.
Well that's the thing. If he converted this round he had three kills on the pistol
and almost the ace here. That would have been huge impact within the first three
rounds of the game.
Who had the bomb? It was the kill. It was this kill here. We're rolling, right?
Karagin could take some down, thaw them at the bomb, bang, spews it out, 27 seconds, he nails that one.
And he did, I think he did miss the plant window, but yeah, Salt in the wound is a jumping in the hole.
It's still red for?
Yeah, I think it is just as long as the number's on the screen, but, well...
Finance is teetering, Alex. Look at this, both teams with some lighter investment.
Tech 9, MP9, that's what's the weaknesses on either side.
Another mid-door smoke scuttle's through and they're quickly gonna mount up towards short, so...
Oh, on the clear, frozen. Close it open, spots.
Sweet FA.
Xbox, I think you just saw the tip of the head.
Alright, well, they really want short control. If you're throwing that combo, right, you're essentially blocking yourself, but you've secured short.
Now, this is a late long flash. This is what I was talking about. Fallen to try and set up Yuri and Skulls against Carrigan. Carrigan needs at least one kill.
Does Carrigan have it in him?
This flash looks like it's destined for glory right in front of Carrigan's face, but ahead of the play, Yuri brings the fight. Catches Carrigan on the jiggle.
Empty-handed is Carrigan, and that's gonna be problematic for the defensive phase, Brody.
And there's nothing from the B players, Alex. There's no reaction from Robson frozen. They're not pushing up the tunnels, they're not rotating away.
So this really does just hinge off-rains, having a lot of dis-wacked. Oh, we nearly had K. Serato as well, Brody. You can't finish it off.
They're all not long. This is already looking like a good Furia third.
I just got some skulls as he advanced, and yeah, they'll just take this one comfortably.
Thought of it static there from FaZe's defense after Karagin goes down, right?
I understand that Rain was looking to try and get some control back towards Short,
but with that U2 set that we highlighted, they'd already lost it.
In that moment, I understand it's risky. There's not a lot of info.
Karagin called that they came out long, and they called that Short control was taken.
That's about all the information that FaZe had.
But the defense completely split. They couldn't help each other. There was no push for info.
So, FaZe will concede another period back into the winning way.
Skullland now reads 3-1 in favour of the Brazilians.
So, the two approaches they've had in response to that short utility, the smoke and the molotov,
one was to play in front of it, ahead of it. We saw how that worked out, which was, you know,
not the worst, not the worst, not the best. And this time they've respected it and
resulted in them being quite isolated. Obviously, the second car again,
it does look blaringly like a contributing factor to the loss of the A-style.
I hate it, long anchor. You sit and you have to focus on that crosshair the whole time and you are not dictating any of the pace of the round.
And the one time you look at your radar, the one time.
And then also, as a player that, you know, wants to push or either help, pushing long feels like suicide, right?
Unless you can get the best information off of your teammates, it's so tough.
But I want to point out that we're at four rounds deep, about to be into round number five, and yet to see an AWP in play.
So the full buy for FaZe is probably something they think is necessary to start securing some rounds here.
They have the Saved AK, the Saved M4, the AK and the M4 both starting over the woods long.
So fortifying and backing up their in-game leader.
Frozen and Robs now rotating back. Same control looking to be by and for.
This time, a different opening molly there, but very diligent for short space.
Like this is obviously part of the game plan.
And from there I'm sure there's different finishes.
This one is actually going to be quite a quick little lurk smoke.
This one I think is the waterfall. It gets towards CT as well. We'll find out.
Yeah, no. No. Gives, does invite Robs to investigate, doesn't it?
Noses got a nice, elevated angle of bait from Brokey, but Fury are not moving a
muscle. They're hoping for a reaction. The stack's in place. There's a chance.
Small opportunity. Yuri and Skulls can be testing the Long Duo of Frozen and Karrigan.
Frozen does have a rifle. Karrigan to the USP. Baits! Robs is just in the open on the fade.
Oh
That should be enough nothing for Carrigan's USB here
Jello hit a two-packing head shot into the A site and the job
Carrigan baits it at least for one, but out of these saved rifles very low value
So if you're here stuck in all the rounds now rain goes down trouble finds another finds his voice and yeah again
It's becoming a bit of a standard
We've got the players across from each other the smart guys in between we saw all the banter that would go down
that ESL pro league just a couple of weeks ago. So we'll see if that picks up. But this is a slow start from FaZe.
As mentioned, the full buy rounds with the AWP in the hand of Broke, that's who you wanted to. It's still not in play, right?
The loss bonus hasn't been able to get to a point where they haven't managed their finances. This is, Robs just, you know,
in the middle of nowhere, essentially. Opener goes down, no value for the AK, site given up, and cello just continues to find head.
So a great little round there for cello, confidence-wise.
I will say Cesarato and cello in shots like that early in dust to does both well for the Brazilians in the best of one
You kind of need them both to be online and they are
A little bit of a tech pause going on so let's hope that that one gets resolved ASAP just been notified
That is a keyboard issue. So, you know, they happen as long as you don't you know, spill sticky orange
I'll do it. That will do it tends to be a big issue
Now we can take a look at some spawns, right because dust to is a map where the spawns can have a big influence towards long
Fallen has the best spawn and it's not actually the best spawn but one of the assortment they've been given what they have right now
Yeah, so I don't think we'll see them going long on the other side carry in the long anchor does in fact
So I doubt we see them go for the smoke. They only have one Molly. They have to do the smoke combo
Yeah, they can't go for the double long Molly's never mind guys. Take a look at the uter work really. Oh, here we go
Gresh frozen into Lola
They actually start through B as well, so a lot of pressure on to Frozen the way he handles this.
Jello tasked with containing it on top of the box, powerful position.
Oh, this boost is very nice. We'll provide some cover in fire if they do try and switch through Frozen.
Frozen does. All the ripcord gets out of there. Really good read of the play.
The Flash, the Molly, they came in, but he was ahead of it.
But look at the U2, they haven't found a fight yet, and we're talking a couple of smokes and a couple of flashes to defend their honor.
furious still have an awful lot to find their finish. Now the call is to congregate over towards
B, Uri is going to join the party. Now there is information and it's quiet, right? There's
no pressure long, we aren't really hearing or seeing anything towards middle, so they
do keep that info. It feels like Frozen kind of needs to hedge, but he wants to spot middle
so that his short plays don't just get crept up upon. So this is really all on Robs.
They played this really well. It is all on Robs. And here they come. Big test,
big challenge, good find from Robs. Commits to the spray, but Skull's on notice.
Frozen. He's uploaded his magazine. A good AG.
Throbs does deliver bushes through the utility.
And all broke he only the one.
Yuri through. Fallen and Yuri have access to the site.
And now ahead of the flames, Ray, he clears his brother and goes down.
After the first, it all falls to Karrigan.
And he's wondering where he is. Why is he not?
He at Karrigan with the longest rotation has just joined.
Well, the rest of his teammates who are all dead. 1v1, bomb not planted.
And for Yuri, the absence of Kerrigan, it's really getting him suspicious.
Is he taking this long because he's gone tunnels?
He needs answers before he tries to plant, but Kerrigan's positioning is great! There's a sound cue!
Kerrigan, he seems to gather the opportunity.
Still tough.
Yuri, are you going to smoke on top of the bar?
What is the wait?
Oh, Kerrigan, do you have the patience?
Do you have the patience to just sit here for the whole smoke?
Will you give him a sound cue? Will you give him something?
I love the way Yuri's played this.
Would have been susceptible to this angle, but holding for it,
but upon the fade of the smoke, he loses his advantage.
So, thinking man's clutch here, fading.
Carragans patience! He prevails!
And a big exhale there.
A big exhale, but also a big round for phase.
That's going to get the cash flowing once more.
And maybe just to talk through what's going in Yuri's mind in that moment
and the reason he's so hyper-focused towards potentially tunnels.
Think about how many bodies from FaZe were there to defend or push through the doors on that B hit?
Which tells you hey they have to have some information from somewhere on the map. Have they pushed mid?
Have they pushed long? So the fact that Karrigan's not spotted in all of that 4a, you think okay
Maybe he's pushed long. Here's the info. It's B. The rest of the team will quick on the rotation
No, they just had a short setup right and Karrigan was still anchoring long
So his late rotation kept Yuri a bit skittish about things like well
He should be here the rest of the team is where the hell is he and especially because rain pushed through that Molotov
So aggressively it's almost like his teammate should have been right behind.
Yeah right. Alright well, able to get the rifles out again on both sides of the server
and there's the change the AWP for Fallen invested in now.
We are seeing FaZe start to throw out this smoke to give the question mark of the lower dark push
and that's going to be important because it will change the pacing of Fury as default.
So we have to worry about lower and Cello is investigating.
Skull's still passive outside upper tunnels.
So they infiltrating from a, uh, well, less than normal route, but regardless job done.
That's the most passive way I've ever seen long be held.
Karagan jumps spotting it with a smoke and can throw it out safely from the pit.
Kcerato makes no secret of his arrival through mid, gets out off the flash.
It's a lot of pressure for the mid to be and FaZe don't have rain in position.
So right now the FaZe setup is, well, look here, either side we have to defend.
Now Karagin's the one actually rotating back over so this set up.
There's no answers right now for FaZe.
I really like the way Kiri is design structured at the moment.
Every round has got his own kind of objectives.
Everyone seems to have a good idea as to what's required to attain that control.
Here comes a flash from K-Sorato.
Akano, Grunner, Dropsy, team fumbles the movement and it costs him his life.
Now Altenid, Frozen, missed shot from Fallen.
Yuri can't catch him.
How is Frozen still alive?
Finally, he's fouled by K-Soranto, cost him everything as he's broke in rain.
Raps will sweep the last under the rug clean.
Phase is third.
So, phase of play is not a standard setup there at all, but Furia have played the round as if it was.
So, that drop from Shelley towards CT spawn is meant to deal with the player like rain.
So, the A rotated when the mid to B smoke comes out, is drawn towards CT spawn, right?
His job is to work with the mid to B player, and the two of them, you know, either blow up open, a flash comes through.
There's different points of conversation.
So essentially, Furia wanted Rain to be in CT, right?
And then your AWPer would either play like car or ramp
and you can sometimes slip past to go from behind them.
Right, like the AWPer scoped short
and you kind of just drop in there.
Yeah, like it takes a bit of luck.
I see that.
You know, you get to catch a bit of a timing.
Or maybe, yeah, what's all the CT smoke?
Was it still supposed to be there for his drop?
I mean, it just seemed like he
had underestimated the setup.
Well, something else because us idiots are talking a lot,
right? Yeah.
But when they're taking the short control,
Big things that are being looked out for on either side is the steps.
For the T's right, hearing the CT run back and forth has to be quiet about a break.
Whack a mole, how many can he get? Only one and done.
Broke, he's picked up that AWP.
And they're gonna get in towards the side.
It's all about can they get that bomb down for Barber of Nakes, Skulls, Pression, Bomb.
Should be planted.
So you'll take that.
600 bucks after the Diffuse comes in.
Thank you very much.
That's a win.
And we tied things up, 4-4.
A win is a win.
Well now we will get into the point of the game.
Right, we're going into round number nine.
But finally, both teams will have what I consider by the old school definition, full-buyers.
Yeah, break the gates of all.
Like, as of how Dust2 should look.
Orps, full rifles, full nades, diffuse kits, everything, and we're this deep in the game.
How bizarre.
That's, like, I guess the nature of this, right?
And it's when you are losing, it's about doing more with less or making the right investments,
being the right place, the right time, the right moves.
One of the decoy trick, shot all fire up, even take one of his own.
same smoke from frozen interesting one from Yuri round to go it's interesting
way to look out it does make Karagan investigate he's just gonna wait he's
given him exactly what he wanted it feels like it's like a reaction from the
p-dependence but case rather than falling already out mid the fact that Yuri's
won that fight for free that is massive phase run to so much pressure frozen
He got two from this position last time.
We've fallen, Mr. Shopkin, and he does!
And Frozen bests him. No trade from K Sarato.
At least not immediately Frozen aware and on high alert that there is likely more bodies near doors.
And no support really.
He's got his own and peeking in to K Sarato will result in a nice headshot.
From the Brazilian.
Rops needs to move.
Now Molly's got his number and Rain might not clear his corners.
Oh my god, Yuri's on 2 HP.
The name oh the name could be perfect and it is just a little scrap of scrap not 33 be split into robs
He's playing outside of the B bomb site so a smoke doors, which is not available
Who needs it who needs it when you can hit shots like that cello finds the Bianca and now it is there round to lose
Complanted and comfortable retake rain and broke you will they give it a look it looks like they are having a search
Skulls his angle though very
I'm not ready for it was rain and now broke he swaps out to the AK tries to peep through but cello comfortable
Gotta feel good for the Brazilians there return to form after losing three in a row
They prove that they can still convert so how are you gonna deal with that lurk smoke towards long?
You essentially have to lock down the long doors completely the stuff around and then play close
But I get why is no one ever done that?
It seems like a really smart book right so the thing is even if that player gets out to blue bin and your long anchor is
I think it's a bit more. But
like Karen almost gave Yuri
exactly what he wanted in that
moment, right? Because after
that smoke fades. But the only
place you can be is blue bit
blue bit. Yeah, but they would
have already used their utility
most likely, right? So we're
the single Molly or double Molly
long, so we can't really flush
you out. So you could be in
that position. So it just
forces more resources. Yeah,
but it's the okay. Hold up a
second. Double or three
Okay, hold up a second double orbs for phase
So with the 1400 last they were still in a position they could bring up the double AWP
I think Karrigan's dropped one rops has been able to buy zone
See if they can find a difference with this flashes towards long so a little bit of a change pressure on rain and
Karrigan they have been able to smoke off the doors and this time they will just deal with the push with the boot
So cello post it up. He'll just chill here
I did make a sound. I don't know whether or not Karakin would have clogged that.
I fear to hear a wooden boot. Well, not a wooden boot. A boot on wood.
I think they're called clogs. They'll be here, yeah.
They'll be very loud about this, and now his boots are in the way.
Okay, testing Karakin. Is that the area he will force respect out of fall and sound cute given?
No pressure anywhere else. Now the door's smoke will throw now. Karakin, good timing on his own.
That's all this buys though is time. So if they can't really force fury into a position where they can find a fight with these double ops
Here we go. This is what I'm talking about
Nobody with rain to go for the pick clears the smoke gets him info does some damage, but one all towards be very aggressive tunnels one
Game help with what's past if they just follow them into brokeie brokeie needs to light things up
Yeah, it's about time for the or to stop filling the feed
Brokeie soul responsible really for the cross out cat. It's a bee pressure
They're just this is like classic dust to you always keep that a rotate a moving you want to keep them guessing
You want to keep them turdled and now it's gonna be the exact with very limited you till smoking a couple of flashes
Alright, then my least range is in position to try a
Aiden a safe bro key
Perfect gets a free beyond case of rato and now he can activate all rain clean headshot eventually onto fall and not
So don't get aggressive and it results in an opening or other a catch from Yuri
the game. I don't think they
learn about the double up set
up either. We didn't hear
Rob's fire shot. So I don't
believe that rops has been
noted in this, and I said the
smoke in a couple of flashes.
That smoke was on cello who
has boosted towards long so
it couldn't be helped over to
would short to give us a
metric space. It was just
kind of flash and go so the
that smoke was on cello who has boosted towards long so it couldn't be helped over towards short to give this a
Metra space it was just kind of a flash and go so the furia weren't given any of the fights that we're looking for in that round
They had to execute with no utility left and then it's a heads up play against phase who are happy to take these top of
You know raise an eyebrow to the two smokes criss-cross smokes invested into mid
They did a CT and like one or the other and you still have one for the AXEK
But who knows well they have a saved AK and the rest of the team on eco
He's got the lead by the looks of things.
Hey, I was thinking about going for a little early search after this incendiary. He may very well do so.
Robson, lower.
Okay, that does really limit their options. They're smoked, so Robs is ready.
Robs is ready, he's hearing all of this and he's sticking around.
Brave from Robs, results in a first. Not gonna get run down.
Raven support from the elevated position short.
And there's nothing for them to get done here.
Skulls, I guess he turned to him.
Robs though, just getting tested and comfortable with the AWP.
There's skulls put in and work puts in a good shift and finds himself the double might need a couple more of those
They want to win this one case or auto may have to pick up the open do some damage with that
On the cross broke he has it covered. I don't fancy skulls chances of getting across that line safely
hmm
Go on Chad. It's part. It's a puzzle. It's an interesting puzzle
Yeah, and I think just frozen position unless he gets absolutely destroyed by this scavenged AWP of case or rather
I don't think there should really be a way in.
We'll catch up to timing, and there you go.
So Frozen with the first should have probably had the second skull still alive on 1HP.
The walking wounded somehow dodges the bullet.
He's in towards the side skulls.
You wouldn't, would you?
You wouldn't.
Not the 1HP, 1V2.
Broke has missed his shot.
It's a louder plant.
And it swash all the spotted!
Broke is so brave!
But he just pushes it, keeps the cost there on him.
So Karrigan can get that follow up frag.
Good grief.
That look we've got about 1500 is the average across the board here for the phase members who are in the dirt
Right, so they are gonna get the round with bonus for sure
That's a huge amount of damage
They just had a double orbs set up with full nades, kicks and armor and everything they can't really run that again
They can pick up one AWP that we dropped across great
Is that carrying with two really important 1v1s within this game?
That is one against skulls and one against Yuri. Yes
We'll give him his impact that is impact right there and look at this the kills from top to bottom
Nine is Rocks, the bottom is Seven which is Ray and Frozen and Carrigan, so everybody contributing.
Final round first up.
More long centric, look at them. Just four of them magnetizing towards the long portion of the Mach-Chello is out.
Long smoke, just facility and they completely concede it. That is a lot of early control.
The fact that Cello is going further. He is pushing the issue, testing Carrigan.
And he doesn't have much support, he is all resting on Carrigan.
Oh he's got a nade in his hands! He's got a nade in his hands!
What's up Jello? Info now, Penny drops! Ramp is lost.
He needs some assistance.
Look at what the nades left him in the face.
Yeah, I mean sure, the retake's going to be interesting if the bomb goes down.
Pushing his car again. Didn't frag off of the flash from Rops.
Rain towards the Gandalf position. Has Brokie in support as well.
Looks good now for Faze taking shape. A case of R2 stopping on the double.
Frozen Flash, Uri Blind Flash, should be good for Traded Back.
KSR after will punch in the code, it's up to Robs.
He's been throwing the flashes, they know he's close and in the fade he goes down a 6-6-tack.
Right down the middle between FaZe and Furia and they're opening game for Rio de Janeiro.
What is a game today as he looks to try and get FaZe a strongest start.
Best of ones to open up the group stage here at IEM Rio 24.
And it's a 6-6 scoreline, got Chetty B with me.
What do you think? Who's the 6-6 favour more as we swap sides?
I think if you look at a few of the rounds in the first half, obviously Karr against Clutchers.
The rounds coming down to the final moment, but Fallen has yet to get started.
He only has one kill, 12 ADR, he needs to be online, especially on this CT side.
So right now I'm going to stick with FaZe. They are the favourites coming into this match,
but this is home turf for Furia. A skirmish over towards B and Rainne deletes Skulls.
That really helps. They're trying to fake B and it's going to force a rotation with Rainne's nice headshot.
taking down Skulls, forces Yuri, Chalob, Fallen, everyone over here.
The power of a smoke and a kill. They've got long enough of a free.
Now, the penalty drops. Wait, Dane's alone. Where is his friend? Where is the bomb?
And now with Robs' death, it does get interesting for Fury. This retake is on.
The phase of faking them out to at least get this plant, this post-plant, is everything.
Honestly, the fuse kit. So now the 42nd timer begins.
There is a bit of a pressure on Fury to get a move on.
They all focus three from short, one from CT.
They must seem to think that that's a better, more favourable engagement for them.
Cello walking up to a little bit of an elevator now.
Now the petty drops, long range gush, fall in low, but he actually hits the headshot.
Solid contribution on the PTK goes down and not enough from Frozen.
Finally the attempt.
Furia take the pistol and Cello and another multi-kill.
Had a couple of them already in the first half.
Alright, well they'll take both pistols.
And traditionally in MR12, that is the recipe for success.
The thing that is counteracting now is the clutches.
Right, so if they didn't lose those clutches in the first half.
Yeah, and also I'm just still thinking about that pistol.
You can't help but feel like you got everything you wanted there.
Exactly. Look, I was saying the trap that was set up,
I think the fact that the car player peeked first.
The players weren't close. You had set up a crossfire with Glocks.
You had Goose, you had Sari, you had Kha.
If you wanted to contend, then, look, USP would be great,
but they didn't have one of those.
But take a look. Fallen, given the AWP.
So he needs to get online. He's already found a second kill. That's great.
Didn't it take Brokie like 6 or 7 rounds to get his first kill?
Right, we were very deep. I think we were maybe even 6 rounds deep, maybe 7 rounds deep before an AWP came out.
Oh! Don't worry about orps. We got scouts. And we got in-game leaders on scouts.
Let's go, Karrigan. That's a spicy meatball to start.
Now we can just draw the line in the sand. He's jaming right now, you know? It's just...
Oh! Well, he was. He tried. But Fallen pulls out his own Zoom Bang-er.
That should be dead is rain nice composure with the Desert Eagle skulls however a double back bomb lost and now that opportunity for Brokey slips away it's still there it's still on the plate.
Oh but pushing in out your nose out of the door Yuri will kill him if he goes hunting so skulls just survival integral B site lost.
Look where the bomb is there.
Standoff yeah I mean that's true yeah they have to make the move.
Eventually.
Let's see if they can get something done if they fight doors and window at the same time and hit a banger there's a chance.
Oh they're holding for this.
They have to push at the same time, and yep, it's a shot, and down.
Oh yeah, Furio, they weather the storm, albeit threatening, thanks to the candy work of Karagin and Co.
Considering the investment, that's a huge amount of damage.
Faze were on essentially an eco.
Now we go into the gun rounds, and there was a lot of pressure just put on Furio's economy.
Want to give a big double thumbs up, Graham Messio, so pit-star, guess what, he's coming up next, for Skulls.
The fact that he gets a multi-kill in that position is huge,
Because at that point the rotation point for him was miles away if he goes down they get into the side the bomb goes down
Be bombsite tough to retake given well doesn't matter about the weapons
Carrick is on his way out on the wall path corner smoke
To help but no one contesting
Push that rain is spotted out. I can't believe he gets away with that
21 points of health fallen all pink up mid into Rob's
Lovely aggressive all pink here from Furia and important from the captain right the fact that he plays the role of being the in-game leader and
AWP, and he had a tough first half and now he's trying to activate.
It's beautiful right now. The fact that he's still playing with this confidence,
This is a captain's performance. You got Kcerado on 17. He's got his impactful moments
You know skulls with some important kills cello with a bit of eco bashing Yuri's here as well
But now Fallen active and that was the first gun round second half dealt with
Business take care of
Yeah, if you're if you're Robb's right now if you're Robb's you you can't quite believe an orp is pushed you mid like that
You're leaving long and already fallen puts you in the dirt. Okay skulls. I think you're about to be tested again here
So this is a piece of it. This is so many bodies
Fallen? That was dangerous. Goes looking lower. There was two heading his way with the tech nine.
Tuxin? They could test him any moment now. Fallen is playing a dangerous game.
Backing his aim, but the flash perfect in his face. Now he needs help.
Oh, he's a dead man, surely? Support from Jell-O for the very messy spray.
Skull talks to me to hear him again. An impactful bubble.
In back-to-back rounds, Frozen catches down. Leopold?
Oh, this is so uncomfortable. Brokey.
Hey, blocks the switch covered by Keisaranta, 1 HP left on Skulls.
Sure, the bomb's down, but how are you supposed to defend this?
No Kevlar on Brokey.
Coming in.
Nice clean headshot. Should be cleared out.
Here he goes, one and down.
Deltwith, problem solved. A 10-6 scoreline.
Playing with a good understanding,
great little surge through there on the push.
They're going back to pick up that AWP.
That's why the defuse is slightly delayed.
Brokey jumping from plat into site there without any armor.
like the skulls could have ended the round right there, but again you mentioned it impactful double yet again from skulls important work and
This is it
This was one of these poppy half by plays but now phase into the full bind if the comeback is gonna start
It needs to start right now
This could set furia on an amazing trajectory mouse versus pain they'll play the winner of that. That's currently on our B stream
That's pretty tight as well. It's the boost and down the joint so one spotted shot taken and they're swinging out for aggression again
Look at it! They're boosting! They're boosting!
That's cheeky! This is very cheesy balls on you, Ka-Fu-Lan!
Meet his fate at the Karaghan hands!
Chelo spotted out. Karaghan wants more, and crouching under is a very nice play for Chelo.
Don't get away.
Woah, look at the damage found there once you ring.
It's huge damage. That Molly's gonna force Brokie and Karaghan up, Kat.
Tense round now.
Yuri leaves long.
Brokie posted short.
Look at the activity towards mid. Yuri's down here, cello 2. Sculls just came to investigate. They need to fight and they know it.
I knew I had the edge of the smoke. Good angle for it.
Just block short as well, so phase half to pause.
The bomb's on frozen top mid.
Yeah, it's a little bit worrying, isn't it?
Something needs to move fast.
How are they not concerned about long whatsoever? Like, it's like they all know.
It's mid-centric.
Broke in his shot, Fury baited in by Cello.
Okay, Serato does catch Karakin as well on shot, shot no longer a problem.
Forced into lower with 30 seconds and now forced into B.
Skull's hiding out the back of the site.
And now Cello even contributes fast, it sets up Skull's.
This is looking fantastic from the CT side.
Oh Fury, it's perfect and it continues to be so 5-0 on their defense right now, running it home.
FaZe, not a single round to celebrate on their attack.
Yeah, and you're asking the question about, you know, what do they know, why they're not
expecting anything long.
I think that there's still tales of it towards mid because they're being harassed, there's
probably steps being heard.
And I think one of the other key details are Furia down a player, but they're in the
lead.
Let's take a bit of a risk.
Let's take a bit of a gamble.
We want to fight a certain area, but they just went straight for that mid to be
blocked, and it was absolutely perfect.
Really good push from Kay Cerato.
You can see Karrigan with the aggression out of the gate dealing with Fallen, who's
Let's try this crazy play with the boost over X.
Can we talk about that?
I love it.
I love it.
I love the fact that they're trying to just really be in FaZe's face.
And this is going to be the second tactical timeout called.
A conversation to be had, but one of the last, because right now this gap has grown.
Yeah.
Fury are two rounds away.
What haven't they tried yet?
I will say Frozen's got a pretty damn good long spawn next to Rob's.
It's very all in.
It is very all in.
And at this point, you just want something known, a known quantity, something you can predict and control.
Starting heavy in the defence, Ft.M. will be splashing up his teammates and all Frozen Tuts Deliver takes his spawn and delivers an opening kill.
Needed to convert around like this. No choice.
The BlueBin Molly is shot.
The BlueBin Molly hasn't landed. Fortunately, K-Tro doesn't stick around because maybe he wouldn't expect Frozen in this position with that Molly that didn't spread.
They will get the long control.
Now last round we saw them block for the mid to be we saw that you know everybody kind of come on over and worry about mid and be
Right now frozen just towards sorry fallen just towards car frozen is out long
The util for the finish three smokes a molly and a flash if you pick this drive fallen should have you should most definitely
But it's not something that phase of planning on there is only one flash
Lovely double from cello trying to keep the win streak running
They really have a perfect CT half this tea smoke. We're looking at it certainly limiting their options
But in the absence of a flash and the CTs will stack theirs on top of it. Thank you very much
This is like fury. We're doing a pro league
Well, it really limits your options. Yeah, they would just block them right and then if a team wasn't ahead of it
I'm not sure exactly it was against Falcons maybe but they would just continuously use the new spread of the smoke
Block long like this and nothing could happen. I haven't seen this this theory in look the handling long and look what it does to them
Well, Fauna gets a free beat, catches Rain walking through the fade, now it's just frozen
and broke, he had the flashes and the double swing.
They are playing solid Counter-Strike.
This CT side is something Furious should be proud of.
It is left phase looking, they just had an opening kill, couldn't even compare it.
Yeah, they're looking dazed and confused right now.
They're definitely not as direct, Faiza on the trajectory to the lower bracket.
Who on earth will end up there?
We haven't found out anyone down there.
No, so look, I won't, all of these people are home.
You can go and check it out yourselves, but Malus vs. Payne is awfully close, closer than this one, that's for sure.
Final round could be on the docket right here, right now, in aggression with the CTS.
Look at the radar, cello flirty with the mid-push, there's a molly in his face, so I'm unable to make the push now, but still just hangs around and goes, this is wild cello!
No, he's feeling himself.
I think the desk highlighted rain, you know, popping off. In the first, everybody from FaZe was contributing, in the second, nobody from FaZe is contributing, right?
I've just been absolutely stumped. There's been a few close rounds, but they're doing a mid to be fake smoke
So they're doing crisscross, but everyone is tunnels case of Rato's here. They've read them like an absolute book Alex
Yeah, it's this really gonna be the perfect finish
Release the crowd
Nothing from case of Rato either well
You nails a clean headshot onto frozen
But the job is done the round is one and phase posting their first
first. T side round on dust to
with just an army of gillials
and a good game plan. Now how
would you feel about this Alex?
You've just been read. Fury made
the perfect call. The traditional
be defender skulls and cello
were just there. They had
skulls cello and case Arado
holding B. But yes, one
that's a right. There you go.
Take that away. But you got
away with it, right? You were
able to secure the round. If
I'm fury, I'm confident that
I'm reading the game. Well,
like we made the right
execution, right? We just
shoot a shot. Yeah, like a
simple as that. Now the finances are still there for a fury purchase. Fallen can get the
AWP back out. You know, starting to get very light on now and with the lost bonus bottom
of the barrel 1900 going into the next we might see a save if FaZe make the correct
call. Couple of good long spawns again so they want to test the water frozen to fly
out first. We've already seen this work in his favour.
Another shaker that sticks, flashes are good. They force the AWP back. So long obtained.
This is great because if you went to be defense and then standard long got pushed off and then just drop back the round would feel very claustrophobic for them
But because they started forward and lower and cat they're already exploring information and that information is going to be flowing through that means
They don't need to use their utile to block B to block short to block mid
They can hold on to it so phase are looking if they continue in this path if they don't go for mid-control and go long
Fury will have a lot of utile to block that that same smoke if you look at the radars just come in flash over now
Fallen under pressure. Wow handles it well
well and the shadow is looking very deadly is shallow clean kills that their
control of Lola that control of cat it's resulted in two nice opening kills and
phase they are already faltering just one round to boast on this second half
and Rob's trying to change the script trying to give them something to hold on
to shallow re-aggressing in a 5v3 that is absurd is hyper-aggressive and he's
so quick with it. Cello nails it for 17th. If Cello and Quesarato are in form like this here in Rio,
that could be a run to be discussed. Smoke guys' Quesarato's cross for a wider peak to
once long, lovely angle, 4 at 30 seconds, they're being channeled, corralled into this.
And just one more kill. It's clean, it's sweet for Furia, 13-7 after rushing versus FaZe.
There they are, there they are, fangs in their Ogo and this is the best-case scenario for Furia.
A best-to-one against FaZe with the pistols going in your favor.
Sure you lose a couple of clutches, but you were in full control and the Rumble in Rio
wants to see Furia in the arena. That's going to be the hometown hero's face. Questions?
Furia start their Rio campaign in style and they look damn good while taking down FaZe on
Dust 2, getting both pistols, looking strong from start to finish, some clutches not going
their way and still coming back from it, there's a lot of positives to look at this game.
Yeah absolutely, I think also we touched a little bit on the CT aggression, you know,
for FaZe that should be the answer probably, I mean, it was Furia who was doing it really
on their own, CT side, cello, absolutely incredible, a couple of rounds there in
the second half that Furia was able to bring back being a man down, I think
was the difference maker in the end.
I very much agree. I was very impressed with the way Feria was approaching the game.
They came in and played like they were the favorites.
They came in and had a clear vision for what they wanted to do.
They wanted to be aggressive. They wanted to be fast paced.
They wanted to be the explosive players on the server.
And as you said, Cello, for my money, when you look at the scoreboard,
not necessarily the guy at the highest up, obviously K-Zerato having a great showing.
But the impact Cello had, not only in the second half,
but also in the first half, his entry fracking on the T side,
coming to the CT side, pushing in towards Lower Dark,
pushing up top middle, finding frags in the middle of the rounds as well.
Cello for me was the difference maker for Furia in this game and honestly speaking it felt like
Furia were playing like they were the favorites and FaZe were playing a bit scared which
you know doesn't strike me as a FaZe thing to do.
Yeah it's not normally something you say around FaZe but it was the confidence and the ferociousness
that we were seeing for Furia that was impressive.
Yeah absolutely I think you know we were talking best of one, both pistols right,
but it's sort of evened out in the first half with a couple of clutches from Kerrigan right.
So it ended up being a decent half for FaZe, all things considered, but then in the second half, those rounds with advantages, right?
It's just too much things happening where you really let it slip through your fingers.
So to speak, and they were in a position to sort of wrestle control back of the game in the second half,
because those anti-eco's weren't clean by Furia.
They were winning them, which is obviously the priority, right?
But there was only one or two guys left alive.
So your face is able to convert one gun round all of a sudden the half completely opens up for them
I think that's part of the story as well because I agree with you watching this game
It wasn't like Furia was playing picture-perfect Counter Strike
It wasn't like Furia didn't make mistakes and didn't allow face into certain parts of the round
Yet they still walk away with a relatively comfortable win
So even if you're Furia, there's certain things you could do better, you know more to be desired and for face clean
You know not being able to take more of an invention of the fact that Furia is not even playing the A game and still losing big time
And that's a bigger issue, especially you said, you know, you won clutches in the first half,
you kept yourself alive, rubs had a couple of rounds in that B-bombside, CT side to begin with that
kept face alive and yet it was all for nothing.
Did it feel like they smelt that blood in the water and they just kept going for it and going for it and getting more confident?
I think that was the conversation for them coming into the game.
Hey, let's just get in their face, right? And don't care about the score, the result, the economy, right?
This is how we need to play in this game if we want to beat face.
and they stuck to it and it worked wonders, right?
I mean, we saw a couple of those 4v5s,
but just in general, even the first gun round
fallen on the AWP, he has one kill, right?
In the first half, the team still showing faith,
right, dropping him the AWP after the second pistol.
Anteco doesn't go as clean,
but they recovered the AWP for the first gun round
and then it's just all fallen from that point on.
Yeah, that was impressive.
You know, Fallen didn't have a great game at all
from an individual standpoint,
was nowhere to be found in the first half.
And as you said, then he came alive,
you know, very first buy around in the second and I think the same could be said for a couple of the other players as well.
Skulls had a decent game where he did what he had to do and then as I said, just to refer back to
Kase Arado first half performance, fantastic, Cielo in that second half as well.
The fact that he was playing with so much tenacity, you know, constantly pushing in lower, constantly pushing up middle.
There was a round, you know, I think the score was 11-6 or something along the lines where he walks out middle in the middle of the round, you know.
He just walks out middle, finds two kills in lower dark and turns around around where FaZe have the opening kill.
When you have a player that has the balls to do that play,
and honestly get away with this world, at that point you just knew game over.
Cello on the scoreboard perhaps not the most impressive game in terms of raw impact on the server by Father MVP for my liking.
You're talking about Cello, I want to talk about our United States aim force at a high player of the match
and that's going to be Keisler after because he did dominate, but do you expect this from him?
He's supposed to be the best one on the team and he was having a field day and coming in to save the day sometimes.
Yeah, the curse of great players, you just get used to their output and their infight,
but early on on that T side, right, for Furia, absolutely unbelievable.
This is the round they end up losing.
He gets four kills, right, in the end they lose the clutch to Kerrigan,
but Serato, another incredible performance from him.
And he's much needed.
You know, we spoke about Furia, you know, coming into this tournament, coming into this game.
Sorry, but this second pistol, he's like still waiting for Rob.
So they think it's B, he's just waiting for that guy, that's a 4v4 that turns into a 4v3 from Furia, just getting rid of Robs and the info knowing Robs is that there's no lurker really made a big difference in the sectors.
Also speaks about the prep for them, they're well aware of it, they know Robs positions but to get back to it, you know, for Keisarata to play well, that's a given if Furia want to stand any chance of making the playoff.
But instead of yourself just an hour ago, the easiest way for Furia to get to play inside this arena is by winning the first two games and winning the best of one right here against FaZe Clan.
That's half the job already done now and obviously for that to happen, you need Kizura to play well and you had a fantastic showing.
They're going to be riding high off this one, but not so much of your face right now.
And I know it's just the best of one, but is what you saw a worrying sign to kick things off it?
I don't know. You never get worried about FaZe. You never get too excited about FaZe because it feels like every tournament that they win, they also start in the lower bracket.
bracket, whether it's this best of one or the second best of three they would have gone through and then lost that
Right, it's more so. Yeah, is it disappointing to see them lose some of these five before?
Yes, and then you can turn around and say yeah, but they lost both pistols as well
Right first game of the tournament or whatever
So I don't think there's really too much to say about this obviously disappointing that they're not able to pick up the win
But phase definitely a team that can make a run through that lower bracket and still make the play
They've shown us that time and time again, however, I will say face in the current state is a little bit more lacklustre that they have been in some of those lower bracket ones.
So I agree with you, a team that doesn't excite me right now, and it's not even like we're standing right here.
We just saw Furrier win a best of one, you know, quite convincingly.
And we're not even surprised, you know, we're not surprised by the fact that face is losing a best of one.
To me, that's also a sign of where they're at right now.
It's not really a team that I had going into this tournament, realistically winning it.
Mystic you're winning it, however you can never count face out and that's the one thing they can hit the head on right now, that maybe, just maybe they can find one of those miracle lowerpocket ones once more time.
But we'll have to wait and see later for the tournament, that is going to be possible for them, but next up for us now, we're going to take a break and then we're going back with complexity, taking on Liquid.
In the same place they're simple just jumping casually into the sides!
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My name is Roland Altimetomkovic and I'm playing for Team Liquid. I was a full-time professional player for about two years now.
Team Liquid approached me one month and a half from now.
It was kind of a surprise, let's say.
I didn't expect it at all.
They just watched my demos, my official games,
but I didn't have a regular trial period.
I didn't know that they were watching me during these games.
I don't think it would put pressure
if I knew that they were watching me.
I think I'm managing the pressure very well,
so that's not an issue for me.
Talked to twists and slip in the same time on the first call about the basics of the
game, how I see the game, how they see the game, is it clashing too much.
One thing that we had in common for sure, it was like they were looking for an aggressive
offer and I'm an aggressive offer so that sounded good.
I feel like my unique skill set is about making impact instead of caring about ratings, about
kills, like I just want to make impact on the game, that's all I care about.
Everyone is so nice, we just get along very well, it's like the best environment I could
ask for.
They especially wanted me to stay the way I was before they picked me up.
They know that the pressure that is getting to the rookies is very high and they changed
because of that, so they did everything they could to just make me the same as I was before.
My personal goal for this right end of the season is just to stabilize my position on this level of the competition on tier 1.
Make sure that I play as I'm supposed to play, get along with the players to try to learn as much as I can.
That's basically it for this season.
I won the Intel Grand Stam on Liquid.
It just happened so fast.
We went to like five events in a row and we closed it out.
Started with I am Sydney, one pro league,
one from pro league to Chinmack Masters in Dallas.
Got a great CS there, there to Cologne.
I think it was actually when we were in the playoffs
of Cologne, it's like when we realized
like what the fuck we're actually like,
it's right there.
Like the Grand Slam is like
on the other side of this event.
I mean, to win the grand slam on the final stage,
I think we're the only team to do that.
Yeah, definitely a memorable moment for my career.
It's the battle of the North American organizations.
It's complexity taking on Liquid.
And this is a matchup that they've already faced off
against each other multiple times on.
And it's been looking down good for Liquid throughout.
It's complexity, we had seen some highs for them,
but it wasn't looking so good recently.
While Liquid certainly does seem to be on the rise,
But it's how much they can bounce back after that performance in Copenhagen
where they got absolutely railed by FaZe.
This is the matchup where Liquid is complexity's daddy.
Yeah, they got that away first.
We just saw the first 8-kit being brought in by Liquid as well.
Not sure if they needed it or if they're giving it complexity after the game
because every time they face each other right now,
despite Liquid having sucked for quite some time, they still win.
It's for Halzerik's hand.
Oh, just in case, depending on how, you know...
You won that off again more than that.
Someone will keep it. I don't know who it was.
Someone will keep an eye on that, James.
But yeah, they played twice. I mean, this season already, both convincing 2-0s right for the side of Liquid complexity.
Last time they played a pro league complexity beats FaZe, right? Then they go up against Liquid and Liquid just hands it to them.
So yeah, definitely a lot of figuring out for complexity when it comes to Team Liquid.
How do you feel, Pimp, about Liquid after what they did in the full finals?
I think Liquid and Cologne was great. I think Liquid and Cologne did a good job.
Obviously the game against FaZe where they throw off 11-1 lead on Mirasta's last thing a bit,
but it showed potential, it showed what they can do together.
I think in Copenhagen that hype kind of died down a little bit.
I'm not going to say Liquid is not an interesting project,
and it definitely is a team that heading into the Armour in the Major could be a play of contender.
But we saw some flashes of something I could worry about for the future.
Ultimate on a stage, nowhere to be found whatsoever.
Completely crumbled in Copenhagen.
Jekinder having one of the worst tournaments he's ever had,
actually the worst play of the entire tournament as well.
So as much as I want to stay positive on the side of Liquid, there were some worrying signs.
Can I give you a caveat though, right on that?
Ultimate's first ever stage, and Yukindo was projectile vomiting during the games to have the worst performance.
He's not been looking good, but this was below him, so hopefully we should see a rise on that.
I mean, he's been struggling for quite some time, and sometimes you play better when you're sick, and that didn't work out for me though.
Maybe he should have done the veto, right? At least influence the opponent in that way if he can't on the server.
But yeah, hopefully it feels better by now.
I think the bigger problem for Liquid is, there's still a new team, right, like Twists
new in the in-game leader role, and they had to play like four tournaments in a row.
Even after Cologne, before Pro League they had to come back to NA to play the qualifier for real,
like they had to qualify for this event, so then you had Pro League straight into Fall
finals, straight into here, and they're a team that needs some time to sort of refresh their
playbook, see what works, what doesn't work, you know, you can only use certain
plays so many times before people get accustomed to them and know how to
counter them. So yeah, I think we'll... I don't think they'll impress us here in Rio,
but after that having time to just go back to the drawing board a little bit,
we'll see them rejuvenate. It's also really true because I feel like when I watch
Liquid and I watch Complexity and I think of this matchup, I still keep
Liquid to a higher standard than Complexity. Despite Complexity I've
had a time you know where they were going into grand finals and they were
playoff contending for certain tournaments. I still think Liquid is a
way more interesting project and I still keep them to a higher standard
than I would to complexity so it's easily a little bit negative in the
sense that we speak about Liquid but as I said you know I wouldn't be
surprised if they get their shit together as you said go back home
from here and figure some stuff out and then they could be a playoff
contender for the Major whereas if I look to watch complexity it's been
the same over and over and over again they've stagnated and they don't
really interesting.
Well, okay, I think for them it's just before it was a lot of complexity, look like they
can take down this team and win this game.
Oh, they're going to lose a 5-0-3 against pistols or something like that, throw rounds away,
just constantly lose rounds with advantages, communication breakdown, like clutches being
thrown away, all this stuff.
And then at Pro League they tightened it up, right?
Like we have to remember they beat Maus two times, Astralis two times, they beat
phase in the playoffs who came off of a week-long bootcamp at that point so it was a much better
performance from them and more importantly we saw less, we saw fewer of those mistakes creep up,
we saw fewer table smashes, James for anyone who's you know keeping an eye on that sort of a thing
idiot but yeah I think for them now it's building on that and showing some better
performance here hopefully making the playoffs and just keep adding to that
nice little platform. You say hopefully making the playoffs when I spoke to the
complexity boys yesterday they were saying like it'd be incredibly
disappointing if they didn't make the playoffs here. Is that correct though?
Because I honestly look at them and I think if they don't make playoffs it's
probably just another day in the office. I think they should aim for the
playoffs. Yeah I think it's the team that as I said they have shown quality
before. They have a star player in Elise as well. They have that one
gem you know who can at any time be the difference maker against the best
teams in the world. My issue is that the whole, you know, presenting of complexity you just did
right there, I buy all of it, you know, I agree with you, Pro League. Still don't care. Still don't care,
you know, because I've heard that story before, you have one tournament where they do well and it
looks like they're tight enough and then the next one it's back to the old habits, it's back
to the old way of losing winning games. So for my money I want to see two tournaments in a row
where they do the same thing where they look impressive and yes a player from right here
that would confirm that what we saw at Pro League was a step in the right direction,
however no playoff here or disappointing showing that would just confirm them one more time,
I'm complexity of stagnated, which they've tried so much before.
We speak often, though, about who should be there to back Elysia, right?
Halzok is probably the most inconsistent frantic, Prim's occasionally there as well.
But are we looking at someone like Floppy at this point,
where he needs to have some more output, even in his role?
Yeah, I mean, you can look to anyone, really, on that complexity team.
And the reason why they've been better is because the players stepped up
across the board, you know, everyone had their moments.
Obviously, Elysia is going to be leading the way there in terms
impact as well and then you rely on Helzer to deliver some of those big
moments from him from his side too which we have seen so you just want as Jacob
pointed out to see that on a consistent basis right not for it to be just oh
yeah things worked really well for this tournament and now it's back to sort of
going out in last place or winning one game and dropping off. But that's what
we're asking for because you said it yourself we've been praising complexity
a lot of times for the way they set up the games you know the way they
enter into the round, but then they find a way to lose a 3v5 or 2v5, they find a way to
to tilt themselves. So all we're really asking for, and I guess all the fans are really asking
for, is for them not to mess up rounds that should be easy, you know, not to mess up the
easy stuff. And that's why it's so frustrating to be a complexity fan and a complexity fanboy
that it's a good team, you know, it's a good team with decent players in roles
that makes an awful lot of sense, but they have a habit of messing up easy situations.
And I want to see that, you know, being eliminated from the game, because then
we get to see the full potential of complexity.
Well, let's see what map we're going to be seeing with this series here.
It's obviously the best of one scenario.
There we go, banned out by Liquid and we'll keep on moving through it all.
Yeah, they played three maps, three different maps last two times.
Anubis Ancient, Nuke.
So Nuke and Anubis already out of their ancient as well.
So it's going to be something different.
Inferno, most likely here.
In the end, Liquid deciding to get rid of Dust2.
And yeah, I mean I think no big surprises here for either of these teams
No, I'm a middle ground the both teams will be heavy with I'm at the twist as an in-game leaders will have an
awful lot of good of you know impact on in regards to having played with Kerrigan for a long time having been on face
So I think inferno is a good middle ground for both teams and hopefully we'll get to see the best of them
I just want to put an eye on you can I know he was feeling sick during
Sorry during Copenhagen, but for your kinder to play well in the position. He's in on banana boat
T side, C T side. It's vital that he finds some sort of impact, otherwise Liquid are
going to be in big big trouble. Oh my god, he's all over. It's all over. Jesus.
The timing was not good. Your kinder might still be sick, but hopefully he's recovered
enough to dominate in this game because Liquid will need it. Machine and sponge, take it
away. Thank you very much boys. Yes, the Rumble and Rio continues. The desk demands
complexity, replicate their upswing and form. We did see an EPL chat beating Maus,
Astralis phase and they're going up against the liquid with an alarming result in Copenhagen
Do you not care? Do you just like Jacob? Oh look?
They want this consistency out of complexity, which is fair enough
But they're going up against the team that they've only beaten once this year and that was with a different roster back
Exactly right so since then even the Cady in version of liquid has been able to get wind over complexity and more recently
What did yanko call them team liquid of complexity's daddy is yes
I believe that was the term and then you go even wider with your with your your gaze on this situation your 30,000 foot view
We've already discussed. This is a stacked tournament complexity. I'm sure you want to get to the playoffs
But so does everybody else phase ready down towards that lower bracket? Sure team liquid don't want to find themselves there
Yeah, well liquid off with the pistol around Alex and as Jason Lake would say roll CT bring me the pistols
Let's see if Carl can bring the CT pistol
starting off with the leaves going for a little aggressive jaunt and they actually put some
damage down range onto twists. Kind of a fake goosh. A fake goosh, yeah, it sounded better
than it was. The P2K representative now looks like he's joined the pack. Grim, he's drawn
this line. He has support as well. If they were to even step a toe into middle, they'd
be met by the crossfire of Floppy Grim and the leaves. Naph has this rotation,
It's all gonna be the biff towards mid of you just discussed now
I thought they were parking away to hope the CT info would come and I think okay
They've gotten off towards banana. Now. This is on the timing JKS will he slip away in time? Yes
So the info is for complexity now wins the fight that'll change the rotation. That's really awkward
That's gonna keep the beat the boots planted on a house. That's gonna have to cheat over JT is calling for backup
Screaming for it. You've got no nades. It is just gonna be this USB crossfire JT and house back and CT's about to be smoked
finding ultimate, removes it from the equation. Now JT activates. He does get put on notice, 10 HP, we're going to get run down by the Glock.
He's just anticipating trying to find one more on the JKS hug. Nice work from JT.
He finds Yakinda, Grim keeps his captain safe and now NAF left alone with 20 seconds and the bomb under the boots of JT.
Hopeless here for NAF. Nothing really available to him in time, so, so very much against him.
He'll be spotted, audible herd, 8 seconds and down.
Well, you really have to put a lot within Hauserk right there.
The fact that he swings out, gets that kill, makes that a 4v4.
And then unable to flood the site, Team Liquid can't get the space they're looking for.
The bomb doesn't go down.
And, well, the round just looks a little bit miserable.
This one right here.
Like, it was great from NAFTA to find the opener.
It allowed Team Liquid to execute into what should have been the easiest site.
But just not the case.
J-Cast deals with Hauserk, then Grimm activates.
So really good work playing off of one another there for Cole.
And the pistol round will go in their favor will be the eco for team liquid a flash a p250 for the likes of naff and
Eakinda, but that's it and they're looking for CT aggression
You see that type of smoke like sorry that flashlight for twist if they do the classic run down mid banana go full control
Or will flash will pop will fight
but this is it's so strange with the
world Counter-Strike because the complexity primarily North America. They've got three. Yeah, I'll be grammar league
Liquid another a North American organization
We've only got two. We've got Naph and Twist. So if we combine the two rosters, we have a North American team.
Think about other teams there, right? Wildcard.
Yep.
We've only got two.
Canadian in there.
Yeah, they've got Stan and JBA, but then they have two Swedes and a South African.
And a South African.
Yeah, okay, fair play.
Nouns are pretty American.
Are they the most Americanist?
Ah, good question!
I thought there's a few other names that are just as American.
But they'd be one of the most American.
Yeah.
I think that's a good idea.
Cool. Not Americanist for some
reason that sounds wrong. Yeah,
I don't know. We're leaving my
left, but we could get ourselves
situated into our first gun
round. Well, he got done nothing.
Absolutely nothing. Now, both of
these teams don't have great
records on this map. I think for
liquid side of things, I would
imagine there's this. Oh, yeah,
we haven't played as good as we
normally would in practice, and
that's why they're happy to
find it here in the best of
right. Okay, I hate and I love
that because they could be a
They're not as good as they think.
I don't know, I think they're pretty good.
Seems to be the general shared sentiment that...
Not from Jacob.
No, not everyone.
Nah, oh, he's done well. He's done very well to find the one.
How's that trade to back?
Really, it's an aerates down banana.
And now JKS is poking his nose up mid.
It's a good call.
Leash rotates through, but that motosmoke already blooms.
couple of opportunities here. But it is time sensitive. The smoke on Archfades now. JKS will
start his search. Searching. Grim does go down. A great cost to JKS's health. How's that responsible
for a long slip? It's not too late to go back to B and they are just pausing to wait for a
reaction anywhere else across the map. But if complexity just parked the bus, you feel they
They're gonna do enough that Nate Jks's name written all over a beautiful work now the sweep towards mid twist needs this
Just as he looks away
Lovely fine ultimate though. All of that patience seems to have translated into a bomb plant. Can he come up clutch?
Ultimates looking like a real star
He shines bright in Rio finds the headshot onto JT
And that is some impact right there team liquid get their first round off the back of ultimate
people caught that little content piece the word you just said impact is what
he's looking for doesn't really care about the stat lines just wants to be
impactful for his team so the team have been very welcoming of the rookie
wanting to keep the comfort there now look the information yukinda's given
through that there's a lot of aggression coming down banana that's
pushed naff into taking a fight towards calls now he's identified two
players hold I think the mid reaction was pretty timid from liquid right the
fact that they did work into that they didn't take the space maybe as
quickly as they would have liked. But economy, tussle, it's on now. Blocked towards mid-important
because the fight would have been coming. You can see all the bodies on the radar that
were looking to lure up mid with something a bit more poppy or execute heavy.
They can still flash Hauzark off of this fight. Ultimate's got one lined up and ready. Twists
as well. Flash goes through it. NAF with the Mach 10. We know what he's been up
to with that particular weapon.
Colt on a leash right now. So once initially spotted in middle two bad B players from Colt rotated then they got cancelled
They rotated back they pot flushed through mid more information that they could be pressure than the rotation again
So we find ourselves in a very standard CT setup two towards B three towards a but we spoke about this so much over the years with Inferno
You either need to have some banana control such information or brackets control such information
complexity have neither right now and that could very well result in a BX second to just the two of them
Good arch smoke, keep the bracket control away from the hands and eyes of complexity.
Grim, oh the pressure's coming, JT's been holding this flash for 30 seconds, will it work out?
It does! Gatches your kind across ball, does go down to ultimate, important trade!
JKS a team kill, but finds Grim.
And so the 3v3 takes shape into a post-plant.
Winnable though for Cole.
Certainly, NAF is actually going for a late lurk, so it is just the two of them.
Twists and JKS to defend this site and this bomb.
NAF starts to activate floppy considering the potential for it still looking at arch
Just turned around so NAF's doing it. Well times is to perfection still threats though a lesion house
I could progress through ruin. I see a kid. They got to go. I have to go now
Jks is low HP is gonna be susceptible to the swing from house
But still nails the headshot a little trade twist peeks out to find floppy
No hope for leisure that 10 second of use was just a step too far and it will be a liquid round
Now for real nuisance he could have been way too late to that party couldn't he but the fact he gets the perfect timing
He gets the final kill of the round with the Mach 10. Oh
Twisters actually carried through a MP9. Yeah, so I don't think you found exactly what he was looking for there
There was some rifles available
You know look sometimes you've just got to do it and the fact JKS is so low
He's literally just been left in essentially a 1v3. Twister said hey, I'll let him in
You play first gets another kill and even a smile from the savage
Well, financial control taken from Team Liquid.
Charging up Banana, ultimate.
I had this discussion just yesterday with...
Marix.
I know I'm like, that's your kinder for playing at home.
And I'm like, mate, you take all the map control,
and you're getting set up, and when it's time for the Ecos,
like, surely you should be like, yeah, it's all...
And he's like, well, you know, sometimes Roland buys a Mac 10,
and he says, I'm gonna run up Banana.
And I say, well, you have the Mac 10, I guess you can.
Fair enough, actually.
and also you're all but you know needs cash that's true and have some cash that is true
we all like eco yes we do yes some of the easiest kills but they really make that scoreboard a whole
lot more they don't don't they you know as to 30 now which is talking to one another the eco
is important now look alex if we were gonna you know compare eco kills to something can
happen like it doesn't do a lot no but it looks nice what would you okay i see you call you're
going doesn't do a lot but looks nice.
Is it like the paint on the walls?
Paint on the wall, it could be.
We'll have to think about this.
I don't know what you're talking about.
It doesn't talk.
Yeah.
What do you think about your timeout graphic?
I'd like to say I like it.
I also don't know whether or not two boxes is required.
But you want to win one box?
That's a one box job.
So we...
Yeah, like that.
You like that?
I like that.
Okay.
It's a nice box.
Pretty, but not very useful.
You get that.
Yeah, I've only got chocolate tea.
No potential, no potential, gentlemen.
Careful of those guys on the city side.
No, no potential, oh my god, I was checking it.
They're saying knife potential.
Ultimate patrol.
Knife potential.
Young man, this is the opening round of the group stage.
This is a very important game.
You really need to win this one, no?
It's a pain already in the lower bracket.
See, this is what Nav's done, you know.
He starts talking about potential knife kills
and six months later, Roland has found a new obsession.
Well, this is a round where Team Liquid got up against a gun round, but with three SMGs,
but there's only one sort of head armor, and that's...woppy.
Actually could be a very horrible round to lose.
Yeah, so if they can establish this banana control, which they're slowly going through
the paces to work on right now, Molly's nades, Flash is perfect, Sandbag is all theirs,
we'll just secure that info as you can, but it takes a lick of a nade in return.
Either version of an execute feels very strong because these SMGs are going to play for so much space.
Nice little smoke there from complexity, like that a lot landing on the half wall obscuring any boost over so
nice little evolution
and keeping up with cs2
again
lack of information for colt
No brackets control. Yeah, this is becoming a bit of a theme, isn't it?
I mean the top banana control has not been retaken. I say that as twist is doing exactly that. No
And twist is going to very quickly keep that B presence
present
So throw out two smokes B
But here comes the test. Floppy.
On the balcony.
Stazin' active and exposed.
Does it just quickly, but goes down, dies from JKS,
Elysse, the bait and sweat.
They're not gonna detect a second one here!
Ooh, that's his first engagement!
He doesn't get the clean execution onto NAF.
Howls her down after 1-8 seconds.
Where's that plant? JKS gets it in.
One versus two for Grim.
Comes in from library side, a smoke to get him out.
Oh, but a Nate to greet him 50 HP and he turns around.
It's like he's got on a landmine.
Excuse me, it was my mistake.
I'll be going.
I'll be leaving.
Let me save this in four, shall I?
You guys can have the round, and that's
going to be now a two-round advantage for Team Liquid.
I'm the most excited about if Twist gets rid of this MP9.
I'm sure he will.
He's been with him long enough.
He's got six grand in the bank about to have even more.
Well, maybe.
I know this sounds a little crazy.
He hold on to it because it's
going to be a partial buy.
I'm glad he did that, because at that point I'd be like, I'm just making excuses.
I'm just looking for anything, guys.
4-2, Team Liquid, that's 4 consecutive after losing the pistol as well, so cold.
I mean, you talk about the power of pistols, we talk about MR-12.
Right now, Liquid, they do seem to be flipping that script.
Nice trade here from JKS into the site.
And you really don't expect a second on balcony.
Would you expect more from a legion this situation?
It's tough though, isn't it? Especially with how wide they went. Look at the space that was taken, right?
It's not that they were like congregated and get a multi-kill. They drew the cross there wide.
Yeah, you're going crazy out of back to short.
And again, it's the back of a player's head. They're not looking at you, right?
I understand that it feels like it should be easier, but when you're under the pressure, you hit multiple bodies.
You want to be able to take a fight that feels favourable.
Well, talking of favourable fights, the league has gone for a very aggressive manoeuvre.
It occupies the bedroom. It seems NAF is like on high alert that this was a possibility, and he's actually felt all the way back.
JKS is also on balcony watch while this is happening. There's so much B pressure right now
You can already smoked of what's in the oh no the grim
That is unconfirmed damage grim is on absolute notice. Yeah, he's in trouble at least re-aggressing
He keeps flirting with this trying to catch a little window of opportunity, but JKS
Oh
And he goes down to now didn't stop him from taking down Jks though that is a big scalp to post
Is there anything more for complexity in this one? Well, you would what can they cook up? What can they rustle up?
It is just gonna be floppy on a and I don't imagine the rest of moving
Well, if we look at this B setup the bombers in banana right now
So now it's just gonna search maybe they send him in for info or do they just group up and execute?
We are in the 4v4 now if there is a molly towards new box, which is still available
There is a smoke on JT to extinguish you can see him holding that so grim won't go down
quick extinguish pre-aim though oh
The crowd from grim gives your kinder the jump on the edge. How's it could be the difference maker?
Forced into JT's what the that's all right
Had enough
I had to deal with it problem solve
That looks funny.
Now, Floppy might find JKS's AK unless it was disposed upon of.
Let's see, MQ is it there?
It is there.
Oh, a little treat for Floppy.
So Molotov, he's missed the Molotov.
Oh, OK, he's up for a review for sure.
Messi also is going to be timestamping that one.
James IRL and Messi also have taken notes of that one.
Yeah.
Pick up the Molotov.
Pick up the T-side Molotov.
Come on, man.
Well, there's now a three-round difference.
Yeah, getting a bit of a problem, you know what comes up next round
No, I don't know you do you do it. Yeah, the or exactly. I did it. I do it
He housed a WP. I forgot about that. I forgot he uses it and now they might be able to get either
graphics info or
Banana strong consistently. Yeah, that would be a big one
All right
Lovely shot from a leisure. I hope we get a JKS like face reaction camp. Yep
That's what you were waiting for.
I already saw that, right?
Like it just imprinted within my mind.
Oh dear.
Okay, thank you for the recap on the twist kill.
Here we go. How's it going?
What's he going to do with it? Starts off jumping across.
He will go for a leap.
He misses his chance on the strafe.
Here they come. Up the guts.
Look at Ultima.
He knocked himself off.
Hello.
What's going on?
Ultima, you brave boy.
Floppy. Floppy.
Dangerous game.
Right trade important trade JKS does cat floppy maintains brackets control for the T side ahead of the smoke forces out more you till incendiary deployed
From a leash the pressure. How's that? He's not considering about at this point. Why is he not considering about at this point? I
Mean he has no idea how close to death. He is swinging with the incendiaries cool
And it catches out JKS extinguish force now a leash will be allowed to live on flash as well to facilitate a
A relocation. Now Nafs potency is lost.
Halserk responsible.
Oh, he's caught away.
He's caught away.
Free frag for Halserk.
There's the orc. There's the impact.
Oh!
Uh...
It hasn't gone to plan for your kingdom,
but to a C should be able to get more stuff.
No, not to me, Aleige.
An important double.
Okay, there's Cole.
There's Cole winning a gun round,
and it does synchronize with the Halserk AWP.
There's a change of pace from Liquid.
Straight up the guards.
Ultimate is obviously called the fight that he's looking for.
They've pushed all the way through applied so much pressure. He dies gets traded
But it's a responsive complexity at fighting for that brackets control not giving it over not letting the quiver for free
Sparks they always come to me because yeah, they actually do
Magnetizing down there
Just for utility or is it for more alice is holding the nades to set them up flash
God, he's cocked and ready.
Here it comes!
You came down, should be a dead man!
When? When?
Wakes up, catches him eventually!
Was he hidden in the smoke, I think they...
Yeah, the HE smoke.
Halzok's AWP's been spotted balcony,
but NAF's actually gonna be just like a monster with a flame.
Throws out a light smoke immediately,
nice and sendy over to buy some time.
I think you can go, boys.
Oh, that's awkward.
NAF's pushing straight through, drops into the mini-bin.
Floppy, what can you do?
Floppy! He gets twists!
And he's got a good idea about Pip being occupied,
behind the smoke, regressing.
Oh, they're in trouble. They are in dire need of some frags, and Ultima's not been able to post it.
Start spotting, JKS starts. Catches a lead on the mantle of the Vespa.
How's that missed shot? Can't find another.
Ultima has leveled out the 5v3 into an even keel, pre-v3.
This cross gets awkward. Need a flash, a smoke even better.
Ultima will deploy that floppy-can-mantle up, trying to get an elevated position,
but Ultima brings him down. A safe plant on the Xerobox, and now JT and Grimm a boost back.
Overquad for this angle. It's a JKS! He's good!
Traded by JT through the smoke has a smoke in a kit. Maybe there's something to be said about the JT 1v3
That's been such a prime position though. You think the trade is a guarantee. I'll put would have to miss his shot now as well
I just don't think there's a chance of JT does go down to now fly with that Mac 10
What a kooky round, right? So yeah, I understand the reaction from liquid
But again, I think it's a little bit late because you know for banana controls given over with the death that you kind of
All the U2, the kill everything. So the response is okay, well if they're going for banana control normally you do that with three players.
They're late on it. Exactly. And is the AWP gonna be in a position we have to worry about?
But the fact that they still land on their feet, get full pit control, complexity messed up here.
They had them boxed in, but they took the fights not as a team. It was too individual, right?
It was way too individual. And you know the first player trying to help another player, you can understand that but it just gets out of control very quickly.
5v3 bro, and you know there's probably two in pit like you've got you at that point
You can see how the frustrations on Grim's face because you've had everything you needed
They're girls and you knew where they were you did your job as the banana defender by getting control
And you force them into an option because liquid didn't want to wait out the round
They wanted to shove and the fact they get away with that. That's a cheeky one from liquid
It's a three round difference and if they win this round
Well, the floodgates feel like they're open, right? This is where complex if they get wiped there
It's so much trouble. Okay. Well, it's even like some sacrifices before the round even begins
Look at a leisure famas and a single smoke grenade
Jks is dying on a rather aggressive stance another man's end in the mix deliver
That is beautiful indeed Jack. I think your kinder will actually be stubborn because if they're all a lot on these no
Crazy not again, man, you know, but you just have the number advantage. Why did you do that? Yeah?
Well, that's it a banger. I think you just saw the very tip of why you in boiler room. Are you there?
Play and then you get jumping Mac 10
And the floodgates Chad, I think you get your hand on the lever because they're about to be opened
Next the aggressive play we need some info pushing crosshair. Oh, there is you
Well, you can't just all grim that I know yeah
Pit that's awkward. Here comes great. Come on in. Oh
Oh no, it's really fallen through their fingers.
And they know the lost guy has the AWP because he found the opening kill.
Okay, well, this is very, very uncomfortable and unfortunate.
Look, look, look, your kinder's already playing for the save.
He was just heading back down Banana, but now headed towards B.
Now that could cost him, if how's that goes for this?
He is close.
Yeah, but with an AWP, what a nightmare.
They're assuming he's saving.
He gets this for free.
Here you go, look.
They think he's saving.
Yeah.
He just doesn't know your kinder's at B.
does it be if he did he'd go for naf and he could win the round but okay well the loser
of this gets to play the loser of navi vs imperial which imperial obviously the kit right there
And he picks up the M4!
I'll be honest, I looked away from the screen.
I was looking at the bracket.
I was looking at the bracket.
I was looking at the matchups.
Who's going to play who?
He gets the kill on Marek.
I can call him that because we call like that.
Oh man.
Suddenly he sees the M4, sees the kill.
He's like, yo, actually it's on.
Started the round.
He could have very well ended it.
Nice try.
I don't like it.
No, now I could see.
Yeah, oops.
I don't like that.
like that. He can hear him, you know?
No, but I'd die.
One headshot.
See, these are the floodgates.
I see. They can still close them.
But it's MP9 to Defender Honor, and you've just been molotoved into Elphora, and you nail it!
Guess the AK, can he get away?
I don't suspect he's going to be allowed to.
Smoke guys is his run, and he does.
Pull off with an AK and an opening kill.
Now, I will say, if you get five and a half on the CT side,
You laugh. You've handled the flood.
You're like Noah.
Noah.
Well, we're the Ark, the animal.
50 frags in Sydney.
Yeah.
Flagless one.
Can't believe it.
Can't not believe it.
That's massive.
I thought big were on the up and up, but that's big.
This is tough for Team Liquid to crack now.
The pace changes in the last couple of being more direct.
Now they're letting things simmer,
but complexity have full control.
I like that a lot.
That's beautiful.
You've got two smokes, a molly and two flashes. You can still execute B and win this round.
Still winnable for Liquid.
Hmm. I think, yeah, as long as your smoke covers the boost, otherwise...
This is key, Alex. Liquid's buy and next round's gonna be hit and miss because of the damage it did in the previous.
So, five possible. Here we go.
Oh, okay. Five taken shape.
They haven't smoked on top of the boost.
They tried to.
But it does have vision. So, if you could just stay in JT until you're absolutely out to baits...
It's...
It can't commit pull, and if you do,
you're gonna be sitting ducked for Grim.
It's a complexity round, and Grim,
four kills. Gold star,
firm pat on the back,
fist bumps exchanged. Grim has given them a fourth round,
and grounds for a fifth.
Thanks to Halzerk's handy work, as Chad has highlighted.
Alright, well the dam closed.
Okay.
I think they're starting 3B.
So, we got two MAK10s,
one for Nath, one for JKS.
Everybody else you two in the mid so Liquid is it 8 or will he be stuck at 7 complexity?
5 will be more than respectable.
Let's go Grim.
Heavy Verrage in the Halzog Peak.
Posts up.
Molly forces the fight, soar and extinguish, okay?
Ops for the latter, lives on.
Kindar, change your escape.
Playing a very dangerous game.
They know where the AWP is, look at this pivot, it's quick.
Yeah, if they can get this together quickly they could do Arch and Library Smoke and go.
But Pop Flash mid?
flash mid okay well you take your brackets he's got an invitation strike out some spam but Halzah
goes down on b that's a huge opening from yukinda four frags but he's taken down the orb and he's
forced a little bit of a rotation it's oh wait it's only grim grim on ruins this god flash could be
brilliant push it through empty handed is grim yukinda single-handedly has brought complexity
to their knees once more and Halzah doesn't slam the desk really if you didn't hear it or see
But he's gonna be feeling very frustrated after that one lot of responsibility on your shoulders hold be posted with an AWP
It's just a 1v1 you don't win
Maybe it's a 1v5 for floppy fun around of the half has to go for it needs to get stuck in and they take the jewel
Twitter take him down eight to four on the half a team liquid apparently they're complexity is daddy
They get some sleds. Let's say I was put
that
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
the
Pistol, then eco conversion, then that MP9 round.
Yeah, right.
So, their full gun rounds have been lacking, but that doesn't mean it's not enough.
This is only a best of one. They just need to show up now within the second half of play.
And if they get the pistol, wear this couple of P250s.
Oh, yes, indeed. A little ultimate magic sprinkled in onto Halzurk's face.
Oh dear. I think that was one of the P250s.
Yeah, and this angle from JKS looks destined for glory. They don't clear him.
And so an opportunity for a little late flanker route.
Ultimate.
Is he responsible for Bulk?
No, I mean he's gonna have to hear it.
Here we go.
Okay, okay, good idea as to what's going on, lots of bodies peeked through, floppy, from
the elevator angle does clear out short side.
JT down to JKS, still in boiler, still a problem, bombed to be planted.
Did this before?
But with rifles.
Yeah, how does it shape up this time?
Elige on pit side left.
Wait, now it's 1000 in century.
Good luck guys.
Oh, good luck in D.
gets awkward fast. HG's already found it. Two incendiaries about to be thrown out. No, the
site laden with flame. You get the catchers floppy forced down to the open, a leash though,
very low, and flashed off. All of that utility works out, and it does translate into a team
liquid pistol. Damn, that felt very, very controlled.
I wonder if that was the plan the entire time. Like, hey, look, if they do go apps,
we have these key pieces of U2 for the retake, but that couldn't have looked any
better really.
They picked up a smoke.
There was only one point that it looked awkward, obviously,
and that's where you see Ultimate,
who gets a banger of an opener,
caught between the mid-fight and the apps jump.
And then when JK has his boiler still,
twists has holes, they have to be side-side,
and their reaction is what?
Do we go back and take those fights?
Do we push forward towards library?
We need to get that bomb down and just couldn't fortify.
But the bomb going down was the key,
and it means the complexity can't force by in AK,
a little floppy has the ache at no head armor I certainly could be problematic
single bullets to the bone oh and a knee to the face Grimm's limited I think with
two rounds where we've seen Grimm get hit by nades he's taken at least an entire
life worth of damage yeah he's definitely a bit of a magnet for him
perfectly landing right on his toes we're still harassing his twists showing
The presence close to me, they have the boost, ultimate up, top JKS, under, for the bait, knees, sorry, JKS up top, ultimate under.
Okay, so Elise is gonna try and be the entry.
Working out boiler.
Their setup seems perfectly designed to deal with this.
Ultimate first clean head shot, tries to stick around for the full magazine, gets two, then the rest can activate and just like that, JKS hasn't had to do a thing.
Hasn't had to lift his finger.
to get the first half of the
game. Now they do. It was
straight on in a perfect set up
to collect. Jks gets the final
double 10. That's a four. All
right. Well, this one looks like
it's going one way fast. This is
our final best of one for group
pay. This is the group that has
Navi versus Imperial going on in
the secondary stream. Go check
that one out. That one's a
little bit more one sided. Then
this one right here. We had
The mouse vs. pain came down to a torgy, 1v2 for the victory.
We'll be dipping over to group B after this match comes to its conclusion.
Timeout check. That was nice.
That is neat.
It doesn't have to just be Chad's memory.
No, that is quite nice to see.
Okay, thank you very much MC.
Yeah.
Uh, typing.
There's typing, which normally means technical.
Yeah.
Yeah, that sounds like something.
Thank God, Alex.
Because I said to you, I had a technical timeout tidbit that I would like to use
at some point today and you said it only it's only pertinent today they are
still playing however no was damaged already taken not live not live anyone
take damage never mind damage okay okay well then I don't get to use it well
you could right now I thought there was gonna be this you know pause and all
of this anyway I go on liquid Peter and I check whose birthdays it is yeah just
to make sure cuz they're like getting caught yeah for rig on's birthday but
That's not it, but it also tells you like what happened on this day years ago in
2007 it was the WCG where emulate a French team one of the NOA which was a
Danish team with that zonic right and a member of that team was Matt the
Exactly huh so like and I remember vividly watching that tournament do you
remember watching on back end what was that when you would go on IRC yeah and
would watch on scorebots. But there was some type of streams, I'm sure Paul Redeye-Chalner was
going on. Someone would have been covering it in some form. I remember watching that tournament,
it was like the one big tournament that the French won, there was no one expected it to happen
back then. But this was back when Source existed at the same time, so it was kind of as 1.6
was coming to its conclusion, and at that time we had the Championship Gaming Series which
started in 2007, we also was in 2008, but you had 1.6 and Source, and that's when
when there was a huge division in the counter strike landscape back once upon a time.
Yeah, which is why they did that whole CSGO doesn't exist anymore. I mean, I'm guessing.
That's why they did this.
Ah, yes, to avoid exactly, right. And I also think that the skin marketplace probably...
Oh, good point.
Yeah.
Well made.
Yeah, played some type of a fixture there. But I wanted to talk about that because like
2007 to now is a long time. I don't know if people are doing the maths at home.
you can work it out, send me the calculations of just how many years that was ago. But Matt,
somebody who was like a player within that team, 17 years. Yeah, he's here. Is it 17
years out? Well, you were 2007. So I had it seven. I didn't try to do any at the match.
Yeah. And then you were seven. Okay. Seven plus 10 is 17. That does sound good. Are
you confident with that? I question it because I didn't think about it. It doesn't sound
That sounds like so much fun.
Can someone in production check the maths off?
2007 to 2024.
17 years.
I just think it's cool that we have such a crazy history
of Counter Strike that things like that.
Can happen, right?
So that was 17 years ago.
It's all around there.
That does make sense.
I am 35.
Yeah.
Yeah, that makes us about the right.
Why is Counter Strike just the go?
It's the go.
It's the go.
It's the go.
Yeah.
Don't need an answer to that question.
It was rhetorical.
we know why. But bloody hell the history. Where was that tournament played? That's a good question.
I don't remember exactly. Let's find out. Let's do some research what we see now just resolving
some tech issues. He's countered. He just joined us to score nine reads 11 to 14 liquid. Oh, and
of course, Los Angeles complexity, which the reason that we all had city names, because
with that source, there was they were the source team. Okay. So we were the Sydney
underground. There was Carolina Core. There was San Francisco Optic. There was London Mint.
There was Birmingham Salvo. There was a bunch of them. Mint sounds pretty cool. Yeah. Well,
underground. I mean, you guys kind of got the show ended this day. I don't think we like,
because it was all franchise and owned, I think they made it up to WCG. That's the world cyber
games for everybody playing at home. Back then WCG it was you could only have of your
your nationality. That was like the hunt. Yeah. EWC or ESWC. Sorry. That was three
out of five. And this one was five out of five. Yeah. And the French, the French won it.
Yeah. They won 55 grand. It's not bad. It was in Seattle. Seattle. Yeah. Cool. Some
things and stuff over there. Yeah. And that MIBR was there with FNX, uh, Gaulers. Gaulers.
No joke. Yeah. Fanatic was there with Forest, DSN, Khan, Archie, Inns, Pentagram, which
is Taz, I think, if people were paying attention, they might catch him. We just saw he's in.
We just saw he was in. We'll be playing soon. Yeah. G2 Heroic, their opening game. We're
back in. Let's get this party started. Twizz is going to be throwing out two smokes. That
is very suppressive. He's going to be throwing out the T-Stair smoke and the Phase Mid
smoke to start off this round. Well, you can't go banana. You can't go mid or
you can. You just push through the smoke and that's exactly what they've done.
Leesh takes some forward control, JT does the same up banana.
So that's a lot of early control for complexity.
And a Grim HE to the face again, Chad.
It's happened again.
28 health for Grim.
Off the back of another Grin A to the face.
Have you been on Charm Watch?
I haven't been on Charm Watch here.
I don't think anyone's in the Charm Club.
You can, however.
It's down JT and sticks around for more.
Supported by Ultimate.
So they do seem to have repelled the invaders and
JJS on his first position, it's worked out for a double again!
Oh complexity, gonna be left wanting after this one.
It's just too easy, isn't it, for Team Liquid here?
Yeah, it's a tough time.
I don't think this one has any more legs to it.
No, it doesn't, it's legless.
So that's a technical timeout, just extended the length of the game.
This looks like complexity will be added toward that lower bracket.
And again, it really, I know the scoreline is not competitive,
but if you then look at the rounds they did win,
pistol round conversion, and then that MP9-esque round,
it feels even worse.
So just hoping to save.
Like to die to just the same kind of setup,
to the same guy in the same spot.
Going to leave you feeling a bit hard done by.
Sorry, I'm taking a trip down memory lane at the moment.
You still on WCG?
Yeah, like I'm looking like,
So the Australian team at the time was called Sequential
and they were in a group with the French who ended up winning.
So I think that's probably why I followed the story.
But that's also probably why the Aussies didn't make a deeper run
because they were in the French group.
So in that team was a guy called Messi in Sequential
who's a good friend of Justin's.
Really?
Yeah, when we were back in Oxford City last year, he was there, we were hanging out.
That's cool.
Yeah, it is a small world, isn't it?
Yeah, 17 years ago now hanging out with him in Australia.
Alright everybody, thank you for coming to watch Team Liquid vs. Complexity.
This will be the final round. I hope that you've enjoyed your time.
Come on, Justin. Little aggression from Mr. Salve.
He's got two on his plate, gets away with murder on the first flop he needed.
Now, white swing into the Halzax.
Brave it, you can deliver a nice trade back.
Could be more nice back.
Again, Halzax's rifle seems sharp, seems prime and ready.
Turns out I'm a liar.
Ultimates actually might make a truth around you yet.
catches floppy they don't have the bomb chat in-game leader and all perversus in
game leader and all but they don't have the bomb chat yet how long that smoke got
on it ultimate it's gonna sit within it hoping for a sound key to be given away
but he's not gonna get what he wanted so now the bomb will be scooped up
twist will hear the CT smoke in the steps surely you Molly coffins and plan
I like that plan
Never mind. Never mind. Yeah, that's a CT one for the ultimate on the retake
Okay, what's your post plan boys work it out talk it through JT's just gonna take the fight head on it feels
Like the healthiest member taking the first engagement. It makes sense. I suppose ultimate should never mind. He's clearing up banana
Okay smoking kit available
I'm half gone, a clean headshot from JT who was locked into that angle just removed twist
with a quick one tap and time really slipped away from ultimate here no real chance we can
hit the wall bang on to the first but doesn't even hit that JT goes wide miss shot again
and down goes ultimate we will see another round of play chat is a liar after all sorry
everybody found out unless you're a complexity fan and then you're happy to get a yes they
Okay. Is that the first round?
In the second round? Yeah, it is, it is, it is.
All right.
So just a bunch more of those.
Alex, you wanna do the maths?
I'm going to do the maths alone.
Don't make me do the maths, man.
Leave the maths alone.
No AWP this time for ultimates.
That was...
Wow, that was more expression than I've seen from NAV in some time.
Yeah, I guess they know they should have closed the pair.
That's Team Liquid with a little bit of a fumble.
Let's see if they can screw their heads back on tight
at all if the financial woes can get worse.
Now, this residual for your kinder nap and JKS is now bound up with Anna JT
with a crispy opener.
Your kinder stuff.
They threw the kitchen sink in him and he still gets the opening.
Well, now they turn their attention on Ace right away.
It's up here.
Not that well.
Yeah, this time.
Someone's up here.
Someone is still up there.
JKS, he's throwing out his incendiary towards balcony.
He is kind of responsible for two positions.
He'll be trading ultimate as well as holding that balcony slip.
Oh, guess the info on the Elise jiggle and a very comfortable conversion.
Elise is going to be furious and now they overlook JKS!
Justin Savage delivers, Floppy will drop into the pit.
Finds the first, removing ultimate.
Another 2v2.
Another 2v2 indeed, but Naft just poked his nose out of the library,
goes down, tries to transfer Floppy low HP.
Twists can win this.
Halzek with the AWP running it through will have to pre-aim the shots
and oh my god, a missed shot from Halzek.
Now it's AWKWIT!
So damn scary and sketchy.
not even a sigh of relief at that point, just survival for complexity.
How many times has Aleige died to that boost?
I don't know, but if I'm him, I'm very, very upset.
He doesn't even feel like he's getting to play the game so far.
He's given away a couple of these,
and then you had that round with J.K. as close to his head out of the second bit window.
So Aleige just had a pretty tough half.
He's only got six kills to his name.
So look, if he can get activated, there's a chance to work back into this.
They win this round against Liquid, Liquid or Anika, or a partial.
So, two MP9s, three M4s, not the best advice, not the worst.
Elysia again, staying stubborn with this aggressive space taking role, and understandably so.
Ultimate JKS saying it's crazy to do the boost again, isn't it? Let's do something else.
That's good info.
Sanjiri, forced back. Good timing on that.
Just as they threw out the arch smoke.
Okay, this is diligent, and it still... Oh, doesn't work out fantastically!
Twist still has control of middle though and he catches out at by pushing through
that smoke rim. Why is to Twist's tricks does just continue to disrespect
just throw exposed by the HE clear. Well that's diligent stuff from Team Liquid
admirable aggression from Twist and it's resulted in JT alone. Hopeless,
helpless and the lower bracket locked in. Complexly sent down to the
the doldrums of the lower bracket in their opening here at IEM Rio.
Liquid throw that blow, a heavy one and a 13-6 scoreline.
Liquid just seemed to be better.
I think they make it a six-map winning streak now
against this complexity roster, obviously,
with the KDM version and this newer one.
They've now faced three times post-the-player break,
post-the-changes.
But Team Liquid, that was a pedestrian game.
They had full control and only a couple
little dots there, pistol round loss.
Some 2v2s that could have gone their way,
but the fist bumps come in and that will be
Team Liquid lining themselves up with what most likely will be a match against Na'Vi.
We'll have to see how the Imperial vs. Na'Vi game that concluded.
But I think considering how huge your favorite Na'Vi are in that fixture,
Liquid vs. Na'Vi, up a bracket, spot in the playoffs available,
and I'm pretty sure that's going down today.
Things may have started well for complexity, but that was just about it.
As Liquid ran them down and ran them over,
and it looked like they were in full control the whole way through once they got started.
Yeah, that was slightly disappointing. Honest speaking from complexity.
I don't want to take anything away from Team Liquid.
They played a good game of Counter-Strike, a solid game of Counter-Strike.
Very aware on their T-Side, I think we'll refer back to,
but the trading game from Team Liquid, the way they positioned themselves on the T-Side,
made it very difficult for complexity, but overall, to lose in this fashion,
you get off to a good start, you're on that CT-Side,
and at no point did I feel there was any nerve in this game.
There was no competitiveness.
You could argue some of the rounds were close,
but at the end of the day, every time it was close round, Liquid would win it,
and by then you left with a feeling that this was two teams on two different levels.
Yeah, Liquid definitely in control from the get-go in this game from the first gun round
and maybe a little bit surprising from Complex 10.
I mean, they struggled early on on the CT side because they didn't have banana control,
they would lose mid control, so a little bit of lack of information that they didn't,
from the beginning, put more resources into taking that banana control because we were
talking about Tiki Ndaho, he's struggling a little bit, didn't do a tremendous amount,
didn't have to really in this game either and I think once complexity started
doing that a little bit more I mean they even won a half by with Grim getting a
4k by being more aggressive in the B so yeah too little too late. I will say
right when it comes to complexity coming into a match when you start off like
that you'd expect a lot more from them and then quickly even though it wasn't
a terrible rounds going against them they were flat once again they were
quiet once again. Listen James give me round nine right like let's talk about
Let's get into it because this is exactly the stuff that we were saying. Oh, it didn't happen as much as Pro League, right?
It's it's looking way better for the side of complexity, but in this game, unfortunately, it would rear its ugly head back again, you know, a
5v3 situation in a reset round for complexity, basically a must win, right?
You can see the score is 5-3. Three guys are stuck in pit. Halzerk is in the side. He knows what is the leader doing?
Why are you jumping on top of? Why are you searching for that? Why are you looking for the fight in the 5v3?
Mikhajik, a little bit cornered, doesn't have too much to do.
And now they already know, OK, we got rid of these players.
They know about Floppy and the other two are B players.
So this is where things get even more awkward for complexity.
And they just, you can see how they're falling one by one
by one by one in a 5-0-3.
That's CS 101.
And you just can't have that happen on this level.
And that was exactly what I spoke about coming into the game.
I agree with you, Pro League.
It was looking much better.
There was some clear tendencies
that some of those mistakes would have been worked on
and probably ironed out a little bit, but at the end of the day it comes down to individual decision making.
These players are put in a golden position to win a round, and you see player after player making the wrong call.
This round right here, great example. You have three flashes, that's four, you have three flashes, you have a smoke,
you have all the utility you need in order to retake it, you know, or in order to play it a little bit more passive.
Yet you go for the five, Celisa jumping up, another player is going into it, and this has been a symptom of how the way complexity play counter-strike, I guess, for years now.
So I'm, as I said, I'm not interested in their project anymore.
I'm not interested in how they play Counter-Strike anymore.
In a sense, this just keeps on happening over and over again.
You know, this is a player problem.
It's not a system problem.
It's not a calling problem.
It's not a coaching problem.
This is an individual decision making from the player's problem.
And sometimes you just can't iron that out.
Maybe the skill ceiling is just a bit too high for complexity right now.
Well, let me give you the United States Air Force
aim high player of the match in JKS,
because that's someone we can be very positive about them.
Yes, and I think he was the big difference maker on that T side for Team Liquid.
I think at a certain point he had 11 kills, 7, 8 rounds into the game,
and I think 10 of those were trade frags.
You see this package right here, most of them are trade frags,
even killing his own teammates at certain points.
JKS, and I find it wasn't a valuable teammate, anyway.
Oh, okay, there we go. That's fair enough.
And that's good to see from JKS.
I think he...
You know, when you speak of JKS in particular,
he got into CS 2 a little bit late, you know?
Was signing to Team Liquid, didn't really get to play the first couple of months,
So, he's had some catching up to do.
Listen, you can't talk that way about Chad's face-it lobbies, right?
Like, that stuff out there, like, that's a boot camp.
If there's anything to prepare you for the grueling life of a professional CS player,
is those face-it lobbies.
I feel like that's more like Chad than Rush.
He has a way of breaking down a plan instead of building up a plan.
Exactly! Yeah, he's went through the rough patch, right?
This is like a piece of cake for him now.
He's just in Kyle's head.
He's ready for anything after going through all that
and we are ready for a break before we go into the next game.
And it's Rarik taking on G2 coming up.
Oh no.
Same place there, simple just jumping casually.
What was that?
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Watch it. Control it. Face it.
I'm coming, Gavin.
And I'm good.
Just hide, hide, Johnny. Hide, hide, hide, hide, hide, hide.
Oh, cross, cross, cross, cross, here.
Coming back in.
It's double.
You keep fighting.
One try.
The triple.
You got it, Johnny. I keep fighting.
He's like half.
He'll go for it, guys.
He's tough, first, first, first, first, first.
Just hide, just hide, just hide, just...
Keep fighting, keep fighting.
Nice.
Nice.
Oh my god, John.
I thought that we know this.
God, I was like, Johnny's fucking dead.
I can rest a little bit. I'm still on the line.
How many? How many?
Where are you going? I'm playing.
I'm playing. One big.
I could be in big. I can't see.
Nothing in lane.
He's in my player.
I can't see right now. I'm soaked.
There's too many. Too many.
I'm soaked. Flash.
Boost porch.
Got it. Boost porch.
Pull on this one.
I'm crossing.
Big.
He didn't see me.
F**k this.
Signed with it, signed with it.
It looked like I wasn't there, but it didn't work out for you.
I will always willingly run to find Nico.
I asked you this in the gym yesterday, but your hand is good now.
Everything is good. It's ready. It's ready for another shot.
Did you keep the table?
No, no, no, no.
Did you want to have like a memory?
I mean, I didn't even ask. I don't think they will give it to me and... yeah.
I wish it could go with me, but no.
Well, on top of that though, trophy came with you there and that's the positive right now.
How good did that feel for you guys and the team overall?
Yeah, it felt very good honestly.
We had a couple of tough losses before that and we were really fighting to break through,
get some wins against the best teams in the world, such as Navi and Vitality.
It felt good even though when you go to Blast you don't really feel that big
of a hype like you do on some other events, but I don't know, somehow the hype kind of
got created during the playoffs for us and it just felt even better lifting it in the
end, so it was a very cool experience.
What happened for you guys to be able to take down Navi though, especially when we
talk about how tough it has been against them for you guys?
I don't know, honestly, I think many times when we played them I think it was always
pretty close, you know, if you don't count the group stage at Blast, actually they destroyed
us, but usually like we always have a close match versus them, we always win a map and
then we somehow lose, but I don't know, I mean we just kept believing, like we didn't,
we tried to not care about you know, that we lost nine rounds, nine times in a row,
we just tried to know, I think this is the first time that we showed a lot of
energy or like more energy than we usually do and maybe we just believe in more
artillery, one vitality and so on and we haven't really faced it too many times in
the playoffs for example as well right so it's always a different game when you
play in a playoffs especially in arena so I don't know I'm just glad we won in
the end and that we managed to leave the trophy.
Heroic taking on G2, the opening game it's still best of
once and heroic I'm sure they're all still friends even with everything
Dexter's done to them after all of this and for G2 side of things well
They're coming off a high of Coburn Hagen, but Yankee you said it pretty well. What could possibly go wrong?
Surely nothing in this game
Yeah, right. I think G2
You know finally being able to lift a trophy a couple of finals in there a couple of deep runs with the new roster
Which is still impressive, but also the fashion in which they did it
You know, yeah as a grind in the semi-final against Vitality
Mirage, you know having to work through the
almost 1v5 from Niko and that rollercoaster of a game and then being able to take down Navi after
I just love how Hunter said no one beats G2 10 times in a row
That that's how comfortable it was for Navi in that particular matchup and yeah first trophy for Snacks and Malps
Yeah, they're coming into this tournament with a fair bit of the confidence obviously and now they got to see if they can build on that confidence
It's best of one against Heroic, I think on paper it should be a decent matchup for G2.
Heroic haven't really shown that much as of late, and as you said James with Dexter in
and out of the line-up, with practice constantly getting screwed over, with them playing tournaments
with different players and different stand-ins all the time.
It's been a little bit of a rollercoaster, and I think that's the main storyline
for me when it comes to Heroic coming into Rio and into the RMR and the Major as well.
If they don't find some sort of success now, then Sun Peas is out there and there's probably
other players that would like to join a project like you wrote.
I'm glad you mentioned that, because I feel like there are one more bad result away from
Nersh just saying, give me back my boy, someone I can trust and rely on.
They should?
I don't know.
I mean, he has a couple of his, I mean, he has his boy, his coach, right?
Like, I think I was definitely expecting more from this heroic roster in terms of them
having a higher floor, at the very least, you know, a playoff appearance here and
there.
in a tournament, but something, and even Nerd himself, I mean, you go back to the major
that was a really poor performance from him that, you know, he was, he took responsibility
for, for, you know, some of those performances, but at some point the team just has to start
playing better. I mean, you need to start doing something. I obviously understand the
frustrations of not having your fifth and your practicing winning, then you have to
play with someone else, whether it's Nico, those are your coach or all of that. But,
You know, we're past all that now, like this tournament is probably ideal for them to sort
of get something done and definitely a good upset potential in this map, not just because
it's the best of one, but a team always coming off of a tournament when it's like, you know,
hard to, for the first game in the next tournament, be like really zoned in.
Yeah, the laser focus may not be there right when you've just done on a stage and
it's all nice and you come back into this setting to try and get it done.
For looking at G2 though, and that success they had, it was so massive for them and
it was done in a way that was unexpected.
Do you feel like them right now,
they will want to be able to carry that momentum?
Should we be looking at G2 as a front runner
for the whole tournament?
I think so.
I think they're setting themselves up
to be a front runner for the remaining
of the tournaments of the year.
There's no team right now
who can claim they're the best in the world.
There's no team who can say that they are,
I guess now we could, but there's no team
that can claim they can win every single tournament.
And I think G2 is one of those teams
that have always been a winning contender,
no matter what tournament they go into.
and I think what Sugarlight for me during Cope-Macon was the fact that he had Monizy, Nekron, Melch playing well consistently throughout the playoff.
And obviously, when you have those three firing on all cylinders, it doesn't really matter whether Snacks is having a game off.
It doesn't really matter if Hunter is not playing up too well.
You have enough firepower, and you have enough players that can dig you out of sticky situations.
So for my money, Snacks had a horrible tournament in Cope-Macon, still found a way to win the tournament.
So G2 have a lot more to offer right now than we saw in Cope-Macon, and yet they were still able to win.
So, yes, I'd argue G2 is one of the predetermined favourites coming into this.
I want to look at G2 in a bit more detail, especially Hunter right now,
because he's been under a lot of criticism,
but I also feel like he's kind of the glue of the team at the time.
Are we satisfied with what he's putting out right now?
I think the problem is just inconsistency.
You know, at times it looks like the Hunter of all the right,
and he's having incredible maps, Nuke,
especially a couple of highlights on Sinti's side, on those,
but sometimes it's not great.
and whether it's the fact that Dust2, Mirage,
it's him and Snacks on the CT side.
And I think maybe they need a little bit more structure
in some of those rounds.
They have a couple of more set plays,
because they were rounds, I mean, even at Blast,
you know, the Niko 1v3,
I mean, that should have never been a 1v3.
They pushed Ramp, had all info,
three players are waiting for Vitality on B,
and they get the first two kills,
and then everything collapses, right?
because you don't know who has first contact.
How are we going to...
They're not good at playing off of each other, right?
It's only a guy stepping up and having a hero play.
And I think that's something they need to work on.
Well, let's hear from Hunter,
because Farah was able to catch up,
but I want to see what he's got to say.
Obviously, you guys have just come fresh off
lifting a trophy back in Copenhagen.
How much of a boost was that for the team?
It was huge boost confidence for this new team.
Like, we played good since the beginning of the season,
but we didn't leave the trophy.
But yeah, this event in Copenhagen was amazing and especially because we beat Vitality and Avi
who were the best two teams in the world. So yeah, it was very big boost confidence, I would say.
Does that change the view or the goals of this current G2 roster?
I mean, we are not talking too much about expectations and what we are supposed to do
for the future, but we are trying to focus for every next event and every next game. So our
main focus is for Heroic. We didn't practice after Copenhagen. We needed to take some rest
because we had Pro League and lost two events in a row and we needed some rest.
But yeah, this is the new event and we need to do our best.
Yeah, a smart decision because the calendar is just looking so stacked,
particularly going on towards the Major as well.
Just prior to Copenhagen, he talks about snacks,
focusing on his individual form.
Objectively, just looking at the numbers, that didn't happen,
but it didn't matter because you guys won the event anyway.
Has that changed that goal for snacks in terms of his individual form?
Do you think it actually matters that much for the team?
I think in playoffs he had some really important and huge rounds individually, and I think it helped us a lot.
But what I was thinking mainly it was like if he focused to try to make himself more comfortable in-game
and not talk too much about us and what we should do individually
and to have more set and structured things so he can just say the name of the strat
and we know what we are doing instead of telling the hunter, do this, Malves, do this and things like that.
So that's what I was mainly thinking about and I think it helped him a lot overall
and that was the one of the reasons why we left the trophy in Denmark.
Very interesting. You obviously mentioned Heroic, your first opponent here.
It would be the first time you're facing Heroic with Dexter on the line-up.
As you said, you went and had some relaxing time, well-deserved, after that Copenhagen victory.
Anything you particularly expect Heroic to be bringing to the server today?
I mean, it's very tough. We didn't play against them since a long time,
and we didn't play against them with Dexter at all.
It's best of fun. Everything is possible. First opening game,
so it's only whoever wins first 13 rounds, she will win the game.
So, yeah, two or three rounds can change a lot, so we just need to be fully focused on every round,
every kill matters in best of fun, and that's the most important,
full focus since the beginning till the end of the game.
Yep, anything can happen in best of ones, and best of luck to you, Hunter.
Hunter setting expectations there, I think.
He found the recipe, you know, wherever it's first 13 rounds in the game.
First of all, I get called out the most, like being a G2 fan and being biased and all of that.
You never, you're never gonna hear me sound like that after they've just won the tournament, right?
Right, so I think Khlo Kee Freya is the ultimate G2 fan, celebrated that win on a high level as we see the Vito ending up on Dust2.
Listen, I think at that best of five at Blast as well, that's the ideal map pool for G2.
Yeah.
No Vertigo, no Anubis, all these other maps gives you a chance, right?
Like Dust2 obviously with the space for someone like Niko on the T side, on the CT side as well,
Molest, CVDA, AWP, right? And that's going to eat Dexter alive.
That needs to be their focus every time.
Just focus on those maps that makes it easier for your players
to bail you out of those sticky situations like Jacob was pointing out.
Yeah, I feel like the one caveat coming into this game, you know,
being Dust2, Heroic have been able to prepare.
Obviously, they've been practicing leading into this tournament,
didn't play in Copenhagen, so as much as I want to say that,
obviously, G2 are the heavy favorites.
Heroic are coming in with the grudge that you can watch what G2 did in Copenhagen.
There's so much material, there's so much video,
untape in terms of how they approach the CT side,
how they approach the T side was for Heroic.
There's not a lot of tape,
so I think Heroic have a chance of making this game
more competitive than initially people would think.
Well, let's find out if Heroic have a chance
to try and take down the sunrise of G2,
but it certainly won't be easy.
Let's take it to Spongebob Machine.
Certainly won't be easy G2.
Coming in hot off of the victory trail
over to Rio for this their next competition.
Heroic up against them to start.
And as the desk we're discussing, you know,
I think the expectations have not been met
when this Heroic roster formed.
Kinda expected to see them make a deeper run
more consistently.
Yeah, when you look at the pieces, the puzzle, right?
It's like, okay, it's quite exciting.
Janko was talking about Nertz's missing performances,
but Dexter also is a player
that if he can go into the form
that we know him from CSGO,
he can be an absolute animal on the AWP.
Then you've got great roleplayers of Tessus and Shush from the heroic fame
and they're still within the jersey and then kicks on one of these up-and-coming in-game leaders
off the back of the Paris majors where he really gets the shine.
But yeah, the team has just felt like a bit of a hot mess, hasn't it?
And that's not necessarily directed to players, but Dexter with travel issues, not being able to practice.
I do agree with the sentiment that there is a chance for heroic in this one though.
Dust2 is a great battleground to take it and I think G2 live or die by their individuals.
Malm's, Monosy and Niko are all fantastic Counter-Strike players, but in MR-12, in Investor 1, if they don't hit their stride early, they're in trouble.
Snacks, Retake B, they're in. This is a retake out the gate for G2, and Snacks struggling to do any damage whatsoever.
Dexter still has a molly, there's still an extra smoke, and there's a flash.
You are not getting back into this bombsite. I mean, the amount of utility you've just highlighted.
Flash first. Honestly, coming lower. Kixer needs to hit.
What's he got? He's got none. Actually, really problematic.
That utility starts to be drained through.
Here comes the smoke and the molly. They actually smoke tunnels.
That's huge. That's huge. They have to push through this.
Hunter kicking up a first. Flash is in front of times four.
The nice kills from Dexter, Shush, Kessus.
Everyone contributes. It's clean as a whistle.
And Tessus, he takes down Hunter to lock it in.
You'll have to see it, don't you?
I really like the simplicity of that, it was so much utility, they had like a full smoke flash take
into a smoke and a molotov for the postmortem.
And they braved the block smoke that came out from G2.
Right, if you see that...
Remember boys, also bring energy from the fucking start, okay?
And Niko, look out for this table, this one is really fucking solid, okay?
Ah, table needs to watch out.
Ah, fuck.
Yes, Niko, what would have been the clutch of the year, no doubt.
And I denied that 1v1, the desk glow in the hard way.
Kixen is going to get a freebie here.
No, it's not! Turn around! Turn around!
Okay, it works out!
Actually, Kixen and Nerds, they win their jewels with their SMGs,
and nice shot from Monaz's scout catches the search of Tessus into B,
and they're going to test him first.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. They're testing him first!
Why? Why?
You know who this is, right?
That's because there was an AK on the ground.
And now...
Hello?
Oh! Hello?
Monosy heard something?
Yeah.
Two, he knows it's two.
Drops into the side, trying to save Haven!
Monosy's coming up clutch!
This would be a crazy round to lose,
and Nerds have saved them with one point of health in it.
Oh, it's a different round there, Chad.
It's a different round if he finishes off Nerds.
They just felt like everything went their way so early
that that should never have gotten out of control.
Now it's just Malbs over towards CT spawn.
He's somewhat boxed in.
I'm sure he'll want to try and show us
what the lobotomist has on the deagle.
He's got a good deagle.
But okay, there we go. Yeah, I think the G2, they're going to come into this event
oozing with confidence, but Yanko Tash on this on the desk, right? You're also just won the tournament.
So you have that big dump of energy and then you have to go straight back into another tournament
where you start with everybody else, right? Out the gates in the best of one.
At the time zone for everybody is going to be a bit of a factor based on the travel.
And I think Heroic are this team who, as we mentioned, haven't really hit their stride,
But they have the recipe to do so they have the players to do so
So I think if they play heads up counter strike kicks and likes to call a faster game sometimes if nerds is on form
Dexter hitting off shots. Tessus is sharp shush in the clutch. They can win this game heroic
Would be a really really big confidence booster to take down
Titan like G2 and there's that Malb's dig we were discussing around late to Nico's hit one as well. That's awkward
It's very very awkward. No, Kevlar just a couple of deagles
So this 3v5 it very quickly could become a non-issue for heroic. Well, they have utility to get into what's be right?
Take a look everybody has a smoke. There's a Molly. There's some nades of flashes to get back in for G2
They don't have anything at the moment. What can they pick up off of the corpses? Well, there's an AK
There's a Molotov they will give around like this a go on the retake
They're gonna buy next round so it doesn't really matter give this one a crack, but can you get across the line?
Dexter shows face in the window, tries to buy time on their approach, re-smoke thrown.
You want a hell of a good grenade if he times it right.
Dexter just gonna focus on the window position.
There's that molotov they did recover and here comes the flurry of SM of USPs.
Dexter sprays him down comfortably.
Looked dangerous didn't it, but just where they found the kills, nobody fortified them.
There'd be bomb sizes and good shots from the G2 individuals.
It's been like Saniko and Malves and two fantastic amers.
I don't know if people saw a little graph that came out with the,
what was it, dot graph?
I don't know.
It was a graph.
You were right.
But Malves's aim is to be, well, seen to be believed,
I suppose, from time to time.
But look, Herok could be happy to get through with that one.
Is an AWP available on the board?
That's the next question for either side of the server.
The answer, come on, is a yes.
The answer for Dex.
Also, so we get into a full gun round early on in the piece.
We can't say the same for the phase series
that we had first Furia earlier in the day.
Very late on the cross.
So they waited for the smoke, didn't want to risk the tag.
Well, Monosy wanted to risk his life.
And now look at Nico.
Oh, aggressive double kill from Nico.
Charges up Kat to trade Monosy.
Ends up giving him an advantage.
Tessus, this is one-man operation.
He is ahead of the smoke tunnels, and he's isolated, snagged.
Look at this game he's playing between two different smoke grenades.
He throws out a flash and he lives.
It's going to be a pressure point, right?
Like looking for snacks, you can take him down.
Now, I like the opener from G2 with the cataggression.
The trades from Niko were huge.
And I think we're going to get a lot of this within this map of CS, right?
Really, in your face, heads up counter strike, taking a lot of jewels,
taking a lot of chances, and then it's going to simmer into these mid rounds.
Shusha has the long push, Dexter's AWP towards middle.
Niko's picked up monosies Hunter Locking down beat and Malibus alongside for the ride.
Okay. Yeah, there's a new meta Molotov people are throwing from suicide to short to stop
that aggressive. I haven't seen that. I like I haven't caught the lineup yet. So if we
as a side quest for us today is if we could try and find the lineup for the short Molotov
from suicide, that would be great. Thank you very much. Rush Lee and MC. I'm glad
that you've given them an extra little bit of work to get if they can keep an
around there. Oh, there's something for Tessus, he spots two. Never mind that, kills Malbs,
knows where Niko is, and he actually recovered Monosie's Orc, so yeah, will opt for the rifle.
Flashing for himself to get across will have to respect the Monosop. He's also the screwed,
yeah indeed, but Tessus on the reload can punish him. Niko, you got no punish, mate!
A free frag for Tessus and a high impact round from him. Seven and one as it stands,
three kills from Tessus, and an unwinnable 1v3 for Hunter.
And as long as they don't allow this AWP to be salvaged, then the threats going into the
next are quite limited.
So, Tessus has scooped that one up, I think, just to make sure that if Hunter was to come
looking, he can't grab that.
Just need to be careful on the exit, so there he is, just throwing it away.
So we'll throw one of those over the fence as Hunter gives up his position, Shush goes
down.
Tessus could find this great timing, portable, and Tessus with another kill, massive round.
Four in total.
And that's just how many rounds heroic have on the board already.
They are running with some momentum.
This is a great start.
I just really have to give Tessus his flowers for the way he was so stubborn about this final game
They look at what snacks his options way was monotone into the fight
Tessus threw a smoke throws his own Molly Niko sure gets caught out as well by the
Aggression of Tessus pushing that smoke but punishing a reload Niko dropped an ad if you from on Wow, he did
Dedication to really see him keep this round potent for G2 Hunter is going aggressive. No, I fall
No, but I'm intrigued to see if they flash or if they're just gonna jiggle it. It looks like it's just gonna be contact
Hunter gets a chance. It was an opportunity. He was unable to combat and usp perhaps had they been softened up by MP9 to the head
Could have been a chance for Nico
This is his shot, so there's the imp. Just go away. There is an all just go away. Yeah, here we go
So what can Malz's Deagle do?
It would have to be the most disgusting thing you've ever seen in your life.
And missing the first and the second, I'm afraid it's not looking good, Nurtz will take him down.
And Tess is, oh, what a perfect hold for the Reeta for the rotations of these two.
Honestly, trying to keep hold of this ult that Nico so kindly bought him.
I think he'll be able to do so.
You want to be systematic about the hunt?
You don't just want to throw this away willy-nilly.
We saw what happened with the Housok situation right there.
Now, Shush has already cut him off at the passes towards T spawn, Dex has got lower inerts, has B doors, so at the moment, they know he's boxed.
He's either tunnels or he's B site. Can't be T spawn, can't be lower, and he couldn't have left and headed towards CT.
So, monosy, bomb, halfway gone, they are closing the gap. Shush has also gotten onto the ramp.
Oh! Okay, well, they weren't certain, Alex, that he wasn't in back yard.
Oh, yeah, a chance for a second as well. Dex just runs him down, not having any of that. No nonsense here.
G250, and holding W.
I mean, and yeah, in pursuit of the W, a round for G2.
We're still alluding them here.
Five and zero score line.
G2 do pull that ripcord, do call the time out.
Taz on the mic.
We're just reminding his boys of what's at stake here as well.
Best of one to start in IEM Rio,
and just letting this one slip away,
it would immediately put a bit of a dampener on things
after taking down spirit, vitality, and navi.
In sequence, like triple threat.
Yeah, toppling the triple, it's certainly a very confidence-boosting win, but as the
desk discussed, and as you brought up seeing that relief and the release of some attention
winning a tournament, beating these teams, you've been chosen to throw away.
Then you come into Rio just a week later, you find yourself here.
A couch right doesn't stop, does it?
And with this matchup, we do find ourselves in Group B on the B stream, we've got
by Tardy versus 9z and then we've got Total Fire Strauss and BP Mongols that'll round
out the day or at least the opening round. We have best of threes to round out the day,
mind you. Shush out long, double orbs set up and Shush is going to come through this.
Thank you very much. You know he's in the smoke. He's going to, he, oh, I thought he, he,
well, they're not communicating.
I think he's communicating there. Oh, that's a bit of a matter, isn't it? I'm unplugging
my keyboard. I'm just going to start wrapping it up. So I'm packing it up so you can play.
I will go home. Feeling too good after that one. Oh that's embarrassing. Yeah. Lucky nobody
was watching. No. I can't quite believe that. It's it's about this. Consider how they
started. Hello. Why is Tesla looking like he's always been sharp. Yeah. But this is
wild he's looking like he's a game. Next. Oh, they line up for Malves set up for success
gets himself to with one spray did his line up for a triple kill for Malves in this round
now next to on the war path and he find a way back in separated from nerds and keep
presence and trying to distract trying to get that short player looking his way so
his player here nerds can get of looking the wrong way. Malves he returns his aim
Nails the head. Four kills from Malbs in this one.
And Dexter, revealed by the Clarellis Smoke, should go down any minute now.
It's monosie to put the cherry on top, but that's a Malbs round.
That's all Malbs.
G2 finally get there first off the back of a time.
Now, maybe Taz just said go kill.
You're going to say shush again?
Well, you have to.
You feel like you have to because he knew he knew.
But obviously with the smoke didn't really know how to function around it.
Do I take space and backstab? Do I hang around and we try and find this kill and then right?
There's a bit of an issue as well with the flash and the fight
So trying to play anti getting caught between that was a bit tough huge round from Malm's and this is sticking true to the course with G2
Individuals are gonna be the driving factor now. I think it's good that saws taken this time out
It's probably just to make sure that they don't get too in their head about what, you know
Should have been there round the opener seemed perfect. They got the space. They just weren't able to convert what felt like a gimme
But it's been a really good start don't let that momentum slip away now
Sorry exactly what sorts trying to were instill into his troops
Apex shout was a pep was an apex. I heard some loud
Roars from the player floor
Miss shot from Dexter on the cross snacks and hunt to get away unscathed. Thank you very much guys
Okay, simple easy short molly contains Nico's aggression early. How do you feel like kicks and only having a oh never mind
He found the back ten. He's good
He only had a Glock for a while though, he was getting worried.
The Armoured Glock.
Oh, a chance from Honesty!
Not an easy one.
It's a B-Split.
Stacks might get over right now, like he's double all days.
I don't like this one, Stacks.
I'm looking away.
He's hit the shot.
I'm still looking away.
He's hit the shot.
And on the repeat, Flash, good, but Nerds while blind still connects onto Window.
Oh, B is gonna get really awkward here if I'm to can't be a hero.
now on the top forces him to respect it on the flash he's considered a push through
the doors the flash was brilliant two of them fully wide screened but now that
bombs being planted and shush this late little lurk short head spotted him to
miss this chance that's the dexter on the all this is an uncomfortable retake
for G2 monosy so convinced there's gonna be a lurker he's even looking
lower shush here's all of this and now he starts to attach potentially coming
for the flank four of them at the doors this is gonna be an all or
nothing play. Here comes G2, a wave crashing into the B side. Malphs does only get the one
nerd solid hold and nurses looking too damn good. Shush on the later rival and off the
back of a timeout, off the back of G2's first, heroic immediately returned to form.
Yeah, killer lurk there from Shush. After the issue in the round before, you think
maybe you play a little bit either too scared or a little bit too aggressive to make up
for everybody by his time and he gets the kill. That was the snack's own done,
but still the space in favour of Heroic and they're looking to bully this B-bombsite, it's not the first time they've found the finish.
I think any side that you're finding snacks on is a side that these guys can be looking to exploit.
They're going to do a long corner smoke from Shursh and some flashes, but it's actually a B-rush.
Players in lower hunts are coming up, taking the fight, the flash, it's no good,
Tess has it, kicks it with openers, now it is just the big man.
That's to do so much.
I'd reset.
Oh really, that's so, so cheesy though.
You just got two kills low. You know there's probably only one on B.
Now there's two. Malph's shoots over.
You will have to reset. The smoke arrives.
This has to be a heroic round. Malph's aggressing mid.
Testing shoooy spot in something, but clean, please!
They don't even have to go B!
Kicks and Dex to just play in deathmatch right now.
I don't know where Snex is.
Yeah, well, I wonder where he could be.
Moon walks into the cross as and Dex are unable to convert.
Not known to be a rifle.
Yeah.
9-3 scoreline though.
He's been delivering.
Ogden's lore has taken the orb out of his hands.
Tessus joins that one, and Snakes does steal another
a little on the way out.
A couple of exit frags, and he's not gonna hit the shot.
Tessus, low HP.
We'll think twice about re-peaking that.
Nerds is here.
Yeah.
It's not a knifer.
Nerds isn't a knifer.
Nerds?
Nerds?
Hello?
OK.
What?
I raised an eyebrow.
Ah, well, I did overlook that one.
So good a one. Bloody hell.
Well, I'm glad that the desk highlighted this was always a possibility.
I think that that was very fair by Jacob and Janko
because I think at the moment in World Counter-Strike,
Navi and Vitality are the two Titans.
I think Spirit, for me, they're more missed than they are hit,
but I think that the team like Spirit, FaZe and G2,
I would say all of those names always have a puncher's chance
because of the individuals and
what's possible. Right? If
Monosie and Nico play well
with Malmes, as we just saw in
the last event they won a week
and a bit ago, or a week ago,
they can easily win a tournament.
And they can break the curse against Alexi.
Yeah, that too.
But this is the inverse of that.
At the moment.
Yeah, punches chance for sure
for G2 in attendance in Rio,
but to be put into the lower bracket
heroic that would be quite the twist of the knife and the twist of the tail let's find out what they do here into our
knife round of play
Hunter didn't lower again
Yeah, he loves it. He self-flashed himself last round right or was that tea flat? I didn't make it flash. Yes
All right, well full long control taken right now if I was heroic knowing that I'm up against a partial investment
And I have full long control
I would probably just go for an a finish the biggest threat that you have to worry about is the timing of the layering of the
smokes and when a flash may come through. So if you can get the orb in the pit or on
the platform, platform probably better to overseas site, then you can creep up. You should have
one or two players playing anti. You've got heaps of mollies. You can molly the car. And
then once you are crossing, you either go silently or you can go noisy. Molly behind
the double stack. Molly Gandalf. Smoke or molly short, right? And away you go.
They have so much utility, they can do all of this.
Ash. No, just a push. Monty trying to puff up his chest. Niko's tested here
on the ramp side.
Clearly perfectly covered by the smoke, but Niko, he finds a way, he finds an opportunity,
Dexter hits his shot from bit, but Malph's is a problem.
How have they lost this advantage?
With 40 seconds, they are fully committed to this test, this late arrival short is everything.
Dexter, what?
What?
Doesn't hit the shot.
Makes up for it, catches him through the box, finds the head.
Monosy on site, down goes another, snacks clear down.
Now Monosy has to be distracted, it's too comfortable.
With the heroics of Niko and Malz's deags, there is just not enough firepower, not enough
frags, not enough bodies on the site, and Heroic's 8th imminent.
You can see how they make things threatening, right?
So they throw the defensive smoke on the top of the site, and that's when the individual
is going to have a chance to play around it, Hunter Delwit, Tessus finds that, but
they make good on it.
So important kills from Dexter, the clear of the smoke he finds the first, then
the second onto Malz playing behind the single box, and really running away with things
are heroic.
I think this just really does show you where we're at in this event.
We've said for the 16 teams in attendance, they all make up slots 1 to 21 in the world rankings.
We are missing spirit. They are the highest ranked team that are not here.
Opportunity for cakes in there.
I'm honestly working mid.
G2 always looking to harass, right?
I think if you look back at some of the CT setups we saw earlier in the day, it was a bit more standard.
There was definitely flavors of aggression, but G2 have started posturing that way in a lot of these rounds.
Even the one round they won, that was when Niko went aggressive short with the double, did they convert that round?
They end up losing that round.
Don't know.
Yeah, and that tells you the story of G2's half, that we don't even...
8-1.
Yeah, right!
Well, they're testing maps, Alex, this is his chance.
He's got monocene support, this could work out really well.
The timing of that, and then finding Kixon will flash in, map spotted, turns to flash and catches the spot to BlueBit.
That's an important kill, taking down Nerds.
Bombs spotted, frag found and now, leveled out by Tessus, spots our Hunter indoors, he's hit every shot he takes right now, it's so scary!
Tessus does bring down Hunter, Snacks revealed he's pulled off B and Shush and Dexter are on the relocation mission, running to spawn Dexter out mid and Zax...
Snacks goes forward into it.
2v2 quickly becomes a heroic advantage once more, Bombs hitting B, I'm honestly a hint of the play.
That's the kill! What a shot from Odyssey!
So things are safe.
He was heading short. You can see why.
Odyssey is going to assume it's A.
Just guess this bomb plant for free.
Now we get an interesting one on one.
Okay, well, let's see. What have you got for us?
He's watching the cross. Oh!
He didn't see.
No, the box covered the cross.
Now he gets the info.
He doesn't have a kid, Alex.
No, I don't know if he's going to have a chance at this one.
Like, he is giving it a good go.
Morning door.
Stingrush and peek.
Shush! Oh, we had a chance!
Just the tip of the head, somehow he's still alive.
Somehow.
Oh, and the repeat from Shush.
Modesty's a dangerous beast!
And he pulls it off the 1v1.
A 10-second defuse, no kit.
No problem.
Damn. Shush definitely feeling some pressure, right?
Like the type of peeks coming out there.
I guess not wanting Modesty to get on top of him,
but it's the AWP.
Boom.
Yeah, Shush.
A couple of moments in this one.
I love the fact that we had X-Ray turned off right there so you can see what Monacee's dealing with.
But it actually made things look worse for Shush.
Alright, well, Saw is taking timeouts.
Ah, the round they lost was the Malbus 4k.
That's right. Yes, yes, it was.
The KK double kill long.
Shush and the bag missed.
Yeah, that whole thing.
But Saw is taking timeouts on the back of both of those rounds.
Yeah, so round last sequence Saw timeout.
That only works for the first three rounds, he did.
I think he's gone. All right boys. Eight's good, but you know it's better than eight nine or ten. Yeah, 10 sounds great. And 10 is still possible. Purchases coming through the pipeline. Now if they go into the final round of the half and they have lost this round, heroic will be very light on with the purchases because the cash has been siphoned through MP nine for snacks.
Rifles for the rest.
Let's get into it.
Short-push again.
What the hell?
Heco, this is hyper-aggressive.
With Monacee holding his suicide,
he posts up here.
Now, Tessus takes out Malb's another individual adventure
that he profits from.
They've seen the mid-aggression.
They worked it out. Oh, peeks into the orb!
It's too comfortable!
Hello, heroic. They are cooking up trouble once again.
Tessus gets across.
Hunter caught mantling up.
everywhere and a missed shot from Monosy is taking shape beautifully for heroic.
Can't even throw down his incendiary to disrupt, made in his face and a nice shot onto the tip
of the head finds Kixen.
Should be nothing more for Monosy in this one now just a question of survival.
Victory no longer even a conversation.
The nurse has got the door locked.
has he? Snacks has a chance to get his AWP out of here but he has to nail this kill, has to nail it.
Getting close enough for a nice double dink and finds it, converts it,
wants to see how he has a way out. It's a pretty rotten knife, isn't it? Yeah, really done.
But we need to guys also, you know, breathe and relax because we need to fucking start getting
some rounds and it will be good. He's right. He is right. They
You do need to start getting some rounds.
And then it will be good.
And then that will be good.
So look, you can get one more round there's half.
And then next half, you can get all the rounds.
Yeah, they'll see.
Yeah, 10.
Tessus is the Terminator, and that was neat.
He is.
Danish dynamite.
16 and 5.
Absolutely hard carrying.
He's looking like so locked in.
They're worried about being ununderstandably so.
It's been a very common port of call.
all the heroic seaside.
You can see they're going through the paces,
they're going through the motions,
flash for the short player, getting them out lower.
Molly doors.
So pressure all around them.
Feels like a normal round.
Yeah, it's very modern.
Haven't had one of these in a while.
All snacks and shoulders sticking out.
Dexter, Dexter, you don't need to stick around
in the Molotov.
I understand that it would be cool to get the kill
in the flames.
monosy does have to stand and bang spots a little glimpse of someone. Oh, nuts. He commits
re-into the orp and now Hunter is about to be completely overwhelmed. A 10-2 off him
and no bullets. What? He had like six in the mag. There's no way you're getting the
multi-kill required there. Things have gone from bad to worse here for G2. Niko on
that box is only good for one. Nertz will bring him down. This is not what I had
at the tip of my tongue when I saw G2 Heroic opening round.
That is not what I saw coming.
Yeah, it's been explosive for one team, one team only.
Heroic, they will get 10.
Shush will find the final kill, and that's two rounds for G2.
Is that going to be it?
G2 fresh off of their victories in Copenhagen,
find themselves in Rio de Janeiro and down in the dumps.
Heroic have thrown some heavy punches,
tests at the top of the tables, delivering high impact.
Outlaw, out B, bullying Snacks,
to find himself with a bomb and having a rough day in the office.
Same could be said for Nico and Hunter, who are at the same, if not less,
in that first half of the play. Dust2 is looking like it could be
a Rhodes rather quickly. We're getting into our second half
and I must win pistol, as captain Obvious here on the mic
joined by Cheshire Sponge Virtual.
What's my superpower?
You are captain hindsight.
Ah ha!
Well, right now, it's looking good.
G2 are out long, with all five alive.
And they've got a good smoke that looks to be landing
where it's supposed to.
Tassus is going to be the one to be tested.
And interesting, he doesn't smoke site.
He prefers to smoke Gandalf and play back,
playing for the retake, playing to the long game,
long range, Niko Glock finds Shush.
Picked shot, necessary roundy.
I remind you, how is he hitting that one?
Kicks and nails, Monacy.
It's fallen apart for G2 already.
What can you do with this?
Good shot from Malv's knee to clean conversion.
He's doing it, nails the shot,
Snacks hits one, it's only Nerts.
And he doesn't have the HP for this.
There should be no way he can win this one.
Malbs has done it enough.
Snacks goes down and Malbs is low.
One bullet, one bullet from either of these players.
And Nerts can come up.
Oh God, he actually hits one through the sandbags.
Six HP on Malbs as he saves G2.
That's just tough, it's definitely exciting
because that's what G2 is through and through.
But again, for their third round, it's individual.
And that individual Malves is the one who put the first on the board with a 4k back within that first half.
Right now he's had to dig them out of a massive hole.
Heroic Foul either had them done like a dog's dinner, but Malves shoots straight
and grabs them at least something to work with.
Heroic immediately forced my back in.
Deagles 5'7", MP9 and a Scout walking to round number 14.
No one on B.
I mean, you're smoked off and you'd be crazy to be walking through it,
but does seem like G2's intentions are for a B finish.
Look at this gathering shot.
Do you think they activate?
Like, is it something that there's gonna be a timing and a go?
It might just be a save, to be completely honest.
If it is a mid to B,
you could waterfall behind off of Kat quite quickly.
They have to apply a bit of pressure short.
They'll respect that, they'll give that to them,
because they're still at this moment
hoping that they finish towards the A site.
But right now, unfortunately for the viewers,
this round is looking very over.
The only way that this could possibly go wrong
is if Heroic do contests and monesties
the late piece with the bomb, which he is,
but not late enough.
So there you go.
Let's call it fourth round for G2.
We'll do the double dip.
We'll save all the goods
and Heroic will try again next round.
So they'll roll the dice or shoot the craps
or whatever they do,
put it on the roulette table.
The reds, the blues.
In red or black, and there's green.
Zero and zero zero agree because the house always wins
Yeah I don't know they do make a lot of noise
Guys guys guys guys guys see how come on you want to you bought those guns you wanted to use it now if you hold on to that
Galil it's fine if you keep that Galil you can drop mr. Shush something in the next round
So good not a problem everyone will have a weapon have a little upgrade. Oh Hunter the water's warm
Tessus has been on form
Hunter it's only a mag 10
Burn three kills and that's his force blistering
Quick shot. Good kill.
And even a scout tag on the way out of the door.
So they have a Galil. Kixen can drop something.
I think he dropped a D.G. to Tessus.
Shushun, unfortunately, now probably gets nothing
unless he wants to invest in himself.
He has bored a smoke.
So the double dip on the force by weapons from Hurray.
Now, let's see if you can start bringing this back, right?
It's going to inspire some confidence with that maps pistol round.
That was nice to see. Another good individual.
But that was probably one of their better...
I want to say team-based rounds,
All they did was execute B and her again will stack a so I don't even know if that's a fair
Samhain's Alex. I didn't prepare a second tidbit for technical pauses
I only did the wcg 2007 bit, but I did enjoy that one
I'll prepare a few more. I'll I should come with the nugget as well. I'm afraid I came ill equipped
No fun facts for you. Uh, what am I going to my bag?
We're all chance bag my favorite game now that was chance box. Oh, yeah, okay
Yeah, there's a hoodie. There's a pair of trousers
They're hacking the mainframe for Niko here.
I did have a tennis ball, why did I do that?
So that's your handbag coordination, yeah?
I don't know, like I just like having a ball.
Yeah, I don't know.
It's nice to have a ball.
It is good to have a ball, yeah.
Well, let's know how you're doing at home.
I would say use the hashtag, but maybe Instagram us.
Oh, yeah.
I have opened it like I attempted to open it.
Obviously, I can't open it, but I have opened it just out of reflex like six times.
We don't have a mail bag here.
That's true too.
Still send emails to the same email and I will still get them.
That's true.
What else do we get going on?
How else could they contact us if they wanted to?
Technically, they could send us a telegram, carrier pigeon, fax.
How many different ways can we communicate?
Fax, telegram, telephone, smoke signals, telepathy, no.
Cans and string.
Okay.
Have you ever done that experiment as a kid?
Passing notes.
Passing notes.
Write a letter does that count as a note? Is a note a letter? Is a letter a note?
Like a passing a note I feel like I would maybe give it to let's say Rush who then might let us see you.
But the postal system that's separate. Okay cool. So at least seven and there's probably more. Let us know.
At least seven. Yeah. Carrier pigeon.
Blinking. Blinking I suppose. Morse code.
Ten four.
That means something in military speak. I think it means...
Hot hot!
I'm reading you loud and clear.
Cfg2 can't stop me getting in there clear because 10-4 deficit and a second by of the cherry saved
Galil took that off of snacks his body now it's to be tested and a clean headshot oh I don't think
I could tell you possibly how bad of around this is why are g2 playing five members again in
tunnels like that with no space no info they know what they're up against they know there was a
scouting others to save Galil because that was all telegraphed to them right and they just played five players through tunnels
They haven't done any map conditioning any map control of anything
They've just played what is to be the same round monosie maps dig them out of trouble right now
They have to I mean you're not going back through spawn kicks and made sure of that
The glaring gap right now in the setup is jumping up short, but of course, how are they supposed to know?
And so they walk into Dexter's domain. Nice shot.
Monacy is bailing him out.
Mount alongside.
Tess is forced to relocate.
That Molly should spread.
It's deep.
It's not too deep.
Oh, he's got vision.
And he's got a free headshot here.
If Monacy comes around this corner, nails it traded.
Now quick, he's not going to be ready for this.
Kixson's walking in.
Hang on.
Bomb will be planted in time.
Gets his gun out in time.
Kixson sprays through.
Long range.
A P9.
Nine HP.
Malves and Monacee saved them in a disastrous opening sequence.
That was a 2v5.
2v5.
2 vs 5 in a year.
You want to talk about RG2, it's about the individuals.
What a perfect example.
They fumble the entire opening
and then Monacee and Malves just put their heads together
and get out of that nightmare-ish round with the fifth.
Bloody hell, double orbs pulled it early here
and now Nernst doesn't even get to use his.
So that's a huge amount of money squandered early monocle removes it from the equation G2 win this one
They're back in the game
I know it's still a four-round gap and that's assuming that they do convert this but it's looking good with the number advantage so early
They can forget about the words the first half and just go through the paces the individuals get a little bit more autonomy
Right with the type of fights in the way they can go from there not being dictated to the other ones dictating the pace on
The T side so currently the CT setup shush on be kicks and close middoors dexter
Helping Tessus out towards Long. A lurk smoke drop, that's gonna apply pressure to Shush. His commas will be, well, exactly that.
There's a possibility for a leak. Mid-door smoke deployed, and space, ooh.
That, that's not well thrown.
Gap for the Octopeak Cryo, the Catwalk Cross, and your Xbox Jump Up.
Might limit one Niko.
That's probably exactly what Niko's saying right now.
Hey, that's exactly the combat there is, hey, the smoke's bad, they can see over the top.
But it looks to be an A-split, this is still loseable.
Yeah, I think Dexter would just have to have a crazy multi-kill, they are activating on B.
Is it too little, too late?
Find out.
40 seconds as they say, up is clear.
Dexter, Tessus, you're gonna have to activate.
Short is a threat, and now Dexter gets there in time.
30 seconds as they line up their utile.
Yeah, bridge smoke, they'll molly CT to cut off rotation.
And Mouth will catch one on the flank but they may overlook the second there was a second member there in shush
Dropping CT is a brilliant play Niko profits. Tessus. He's in trouble
They're gonna be swung down good frag but taken down by Snaggs. It's a lovely round for G2
Taz was right. Just did he get a couple of rounds. Yeah
Everything will be fine. Everything is looking fine. I know again. It's still a huge gap
But heroic are gonna have to go into a partial investment again
So it was a massive lead now is starting to get a little bit hot under the collar
I wrote me three more rounds to convert things
But how are they going to get there yet to find around in the second half and simple as you like from honesty
There's just steps on out offers himself up. It's a great shooting from Mount and the coach to close down the round even snacks
Getting involved in all the fun
Shush has company. He'll be patting out shushes
Had some moments I'd say I really like the combination of utile as well like that CT smirking combination getting
Niko to drop down.
It couldn't be any better to run down an Orpher as well.
He's trying to hold that Gandalf cross shot.
He gets away with murder there.
Four kills, he's doubled his kill count on the exit.
And kind of a big deal, not a massive deal,
but when you think about it, it was Monosie and Malb's
a couple of rounds ago that had to barrel him out of 2v5.
So there is financial damage.
There is the ability to purchase.
Monosie, if he goes for the Orp,
I think he's gonna have to go Gloss.
No, he's just kind of enough for Kevlar, but no utility.
So, yeah, it snacks down to a Galil.
A decent impact there, but not the buy from Heroic.
I dropped ult from Shursh, gives Dexter a chance to use it.
Niko's out!
Okay, okay, that's a lot of early control. What a gift that is for G2.
Just feels your best weapon is in the worst spot for Heroic right now.
Like, Dexter can be an X-factor if they return, but...
Okay, he's able to dip out a dodge, uses the smoke safely.
Retreat, Long fight coming.
Boost on Blue box.
No flash though.
Okay, no! Niko empty-handed! Malbs makes good on it!
A triple kill, Shush nearly finds a round winner there on to Hunter.
Nate won't find him, he gets away.
Malbs 1 HP, snacks the healthiest, we'll pick up the AWP, perhaps gonna give that option to Malbs.
What's the angle Shushes have adopted here? Just out of interest, out of curiosity.
Okay, so safe from the AWP, just holding that ramp walk up.
Say that as he actually does start taking glances.
I think you want to play in a position where you're less committed.
You can play for info and then Dexter can come play in.
Because no shush is low.
He's just in the open.
Is he having just to be kind of overlooked on this war or sweep?
Just like that!
Shush gets the frag.
Taking down Malmstrade is there and Orp is there for the close.
Dexter makes the 11th a reality.
And got that done with a little investment.
You know, shush with those kills had enough money to then drop Dexter the ADP,
which was the final killer of the round.
So, you know, it all works out.
Ooh, good point.
Well made.
That's now G2, they're wobbling.
They made a conversation for a comeback.
Niko's just been donated an AK-47 thanks to Malbus,
but Malbus is the one who's popping off.
He's the one with 19 kills.
Honestly, the next highest on 13.
Yeah, why?
Oh, there we go.
OK, so Niko gives it to Malbusy.
Can't understand that.
I don't even, like, I think they
had to make this type of a buy
because it was only 1,400 loss.
So think about how bad of a position you're in.
We had some rounds where we just won.
So our economy got beaten down.
Then we eventually do lose the round.
So it's essentially the hard reset, because you only get the 1400 loss.
So you have to force.
So their force spike was like, OK, well, let's hedge.
Let's get an AK out into the mix.
Now it still has a deagle shore.
But this means that if you don't win this round,
which is very unlikely, you only get 1900 loss next round.
That's the final round of the game.
So I thought the shush quad kill has had huge echoes and ramifications as well as that 2v5 you discussed.
Gosh your options are so null and void aren't they?
Okay that's the last smoke they have, they've thrown it for a mid to be split.
CTs respond with just a CT smoke and a very comfortable setup.
Dexter. Okay, flashed off of the angle. Maybe there's something to be said about this as they do get across to having the next flash another missed shot.
Monacy onto Kixson. Malb's unable to get anything done long. That's info. Too long. Dexter and Tess is spotted on long side.
So the bomb goes down. Hunter has just been completely overlooked. He trigger disciplines his way to the double.
Oh, yeah! Converts it! Dexter nerts. That's a massive round from Hunter. How he got there?
I'm not quite sure actually. I'm not sure how he ended up there with behind two players in CT
We were gonna do our best to find the answers for you
Did he drop jumped he could have dropped all right just like that I suppose okay, so
Out of the rounds that G2 of one we had a Malibu's 4k
With a monosy clutch
We had another Malibus 4k in like a 2v4 situation. We had a Malibus monosy 2v5
5.
Yeah.
God, you nearly hit 7.
Right?
Now we just had a round.
The Monastery gets an opener on a dropped AK, thanks to Malb's.
And then Hunter gets two kills.
So there you go.
Somebody else does not.
Malb's a Monastery.
Here it is.
Turn to the flash.
Bang.
And yeah, he just jumped straight down.
Okay.
Good decision from Hunter.
You can see his prey right here.
Beautiful.
The second one insane.
Like the way that Nerds is attempting to take that fight so desperate.
And so, somehow, the seventh for G2 is theirs.
Will they find any more?
Given on Long completely, see her out there, just evacuated immediately out of Long.
So they're sniffing that it is probably going to be a mid or a short type of map control rounds
as G2 haven't gone fast Long, haven't put pressure B, haven't just biffed down, they are just going through the paces.
Hmm, this angle from Dexter seems set for success unless it's flashed.
Niko outdoors calls it clear. That smoke, just as he chooses to respect it, it looks like he will.
Yeah, if he'd gone ahead of that, that would be massive information, but the time that it landed, he'd feel better of it.
So they need to work on short control now.
This flash should catch Dexter. Just don't go ahead of it.
It won't get kicks in there.
Oh, it's dropped off. Both. In unison, drop off.
He's the Dexter!
Dexter hits the shot!
What's that about?
Crazy to be re-peaking, jumping straight back up, catches Niko's search.
Niko's in his own molly or his teammates, right?
Right? Yeah, that's the one they threw.
Honestly, Kessus. Nice equalizer.
Molly onto Tessus. Good spam! Huge damage from Tessus!
Forced away, but getting Frank's every step.
24 in counting from Tessus.
The Dane delivers.
Hunter and Malves on a 2v4.
Hang on. This is perfect.
That was perfect!
The nurse! How has he gone down?
Hunter, quick flick, a massive kill from Hunter again.
Add this one to the tally.
Yep, that part of your list.
Unless Shush can come up clutch,
he's had a couple of tough days or tough rounds.
Is there a kid, MC?
Kid what?
He literally just did that camp.
So let's see. There he goes.
He found him.
Here we go.
He's coming up.
They've gotten to short.
And it is a short plant.
I don't think Shush has got any chance.
No, but he might be able to,
I was going to say, consider the AWP in CT.
doesn't look like it and well that'll be that thanks for playing so did Tessus get
Molly'd out of goose or did he just swing and spam no he got Molly'd out of sight
yeah two goose he got two kills and then yeah then he over committed yeah well
you're when you're on a here I know the blame I would say that this is bad
Yeah, what the Dexter Pete? Yeah
You got away with murder on Niko the fact that you go back for more
But then Kixen and Nert's not playing together like they're offering up individual kills
So if you want to play that type of CS against you today will gladly take it
So I feel heroic have given G2 away back in the game with how they played some of these scenarios
What information does that give you Malm's when you hear 2hg sound off
off. They're floundering a bit. Oh, beautiful. Peaks off of the flash pop. Catches Niko searching
and Hunter retreating. Could have lost his head as well if he's not careful. Did Hunter
manage to house keep that rifle away from retrieval? He did. Scooped it up and took
it away. Big play. Can we go X-ray off for this? I don't know if that's possible.
No, it might be a whole thing. No, that's alright. That's two. Rush can observe
us to without extra on here we fine just wanted to appreciate how much is hiding
behind these doors monocy posted and just like that there's a test this bag gets
the quick scope I don't expect kicks enough to try and go out mid to be their
pressure be now they're heading over towards that site oh they will consider
someone close sure she's pushing now it's two
kicks and deleted clean from now like slanks indeed sure activates is enough
of a distraction and the twelfth round is theirs.
Heroic steal one away on a half-buy.
Just 5-7's a scout in the mix and G2 after trying to claw
their way back into this game have let it slip.
Just the second round, but it's all after a 10-2 half.
That's all they needed.
Series point four of them.
That's a bit opener from Tessus.
He gets another here as well.
The fact he gets a second is huge.
The first was great.
The second is wild because at that point
Bay's being pressured.
So they think we need to start moving over to help in case it is going to be a V-execute.
Final round potentially G2, Brittle, AWP, Galilz and Pistols.
He pushed the molly-chad and it might work out for him.
He paid 60 points of health to be here and now the Nade comes through.
Overlip completely is Nurtz. A double kill.
60 points of health.
Finally goes down to the Nade of Snacks. That's the price he pays.
Ball to play for Tech 9, Deagle and a Galil.
Keep your eyes on Shush. How does he operate here?
He looks like he's gonna push through this upper tunnel smoke, which is fantastic for heroic because look the bombs coming back the long way around
Snacks and mouths through tunnels is oh clearing sure. She's gonna get caught by timing timings against you. He saw him
He saw his laggy nose. He knows what's up, but Malm saw him. Yeah
So they know that the be hanker has gone a little bit walkabouts
Confirm he's retreated to the site after that exchange of information
60 seconds. What's the call? What's the go?
Tess is completely disconnected. Is he flirting with a bit of long push? He wants the info.
And he'll slowly start to claw it away.
The fact that you saw the bomb right, you're not expecting him to rotate back the long way,
he's all going to come down to timing. They're pivoting up short.
Timing is over.
Kixon's just gone CT.
Tess is not going to catch him, is he?
No. They're through a free site. With Malbs and Nika.
Trust it. Trust the process. Trust the process. Tess is flanking. Tess is flanking.
this is getting spicy. 25 and they're all going to be looking the wrong way.
This would be one hell of a way to end an incredible map of Counter Strike from
Tessus. Revealed and just the one. Niko, immediate trade. Smoke on short,
plant safe. I think the smoke got a bit deep there. No, covered. All good in the
G2 hood. Can they close this one up? Disconnecting finish. Just going through
long. Kixson was going to be going short, but he's just called the
bluff of the smoke. He's going all the way around as well. So they're
both going to be trying to retake this from long. This is very tough for Heroic.
Yeah, it's not going to be easy. The Franks aren't going to come easy. Look at the setup.
Nico, safe shore. I'll save Gandalf. Just a hey cheese. All they have to work with this
is falling apart. It seems a clean one tap from Nico. Does what Nico does best. Flash
and swing. Malbs all collect and between the two of them, they get that ninth round
through.
These awkward looking buys, right?
Every time.
very necessary as part of the conversions due to continue to hold on they are going to have to take this into overtime if they want to convert this
Best of one the winner of this will be taking on the winner of astralis versus eternal fire
That is the last best of one on the a stream coming up next, but this one's going the distance
Complexity versus liquid didn't deliver in that department, but this one has it felt like it was going to be quick
10 to 2 on the half but the score now reads 12 to 9 and saw he saved this final tactical timeout
pretty good with the conversions off of the timeouts I think at the moment he's
at a hundred percent just need one more for the for the conversion this best of
one you're opening round MR 12 best of one just around this test I am I come
in so quick try to find the right moment to engage you had them like you did
have them in your crosshair then a little crouch a little delay in it got a
bit awkward in the spacing boost the monosy gonna set himself up with a
The Decoypate doesn't tag anything on the cross, they're erecting a boost behind the
smoke and he's already ready like a book!
Monacee swished on, turns Dexter off, Kixson ahead of the flash, will have a chance there,
Malskos wide with a messy spray from Kixson, unable to convert and now a two-man advantage
for G2 to seize double digits.
The Hunters outbid, they've cut off the rotations, it's just gonna be shush.
It's just gonna be shush.
He had the rotations completely cut off.
It's kind of sick from shush. Reveals the orb as well.
Or upon being doubling up long.
I don't think that'll cost them, but you could have just parked.
Look at all the nades available for G2 as well.
They should be pretty diligent with this. Make sure that you're using your mollies and smokes.
They're just a Niko contact. Alright, cancel that. They've got different plans.
Use the pointy end of the spear. Tessus.
Gotta be tested.
Get the clean.
Oh, what a shot!
That is from Tessus!
Gets two.
Just picks their brains out of their skull.
Now he's actually ready for monocies.
P, the flash is good, but he still does the damage.
Tessus is on mad one right now.
10 HP.
Finally brought down.
It's a double from Snacks to save G2.
Oh, Snacks, has he done it now?
Or can Shush come up clutch?
He has to do it all now.
Snacks in the clutch.
the clutch just was exposed fully flash but he keeps on moving drops down jumps
back up snacks on goose very clear where he is it's a snacks clutch triple kill
we play on let's go says Nico almost gave that one well Tess is almost stole
that one yeah dude stole that one Tess is the sharpest in the server right now
I don't think that's a mistake. He is hitting absolutely everything. He's more than them
He's just the laser beam in the silence them for takes down at Malb's and Nico bang bang
Well, so he didn't convert that one did he with the tactical timeout? Oh
partial by for heroic she to have lost one of these before
It's never easy for G2 is it never and the fact that's Nico and Hunter at the bottom of the scoreboard
Malb's monosie and well snacks has even had a couple of contributions important clutch for him
Yep, very important kept the game alive
Dangerous dangerous just a couple of scous shots from Dex to ring through gives them an idea as to what they're up against if they didn't have one already
Church can be flashed into the fire here. Niko
With the 5-7 a triple kill with just the sidearm what G2 surely that is enough
So much work just hunter remains. Just has done everything with a pistol. He grabs himself the AK trying to keep this game alive
dumping Util as he surges in towards the A side as he tries to get as hard as he might
to win the 1v3 and they're all going long. He peeks this once, he's a dead man, it's
Heroics map and Shush a couple of ups, certainly some downs but he ends the
game with that play on short.
It's a massive work from Shush there to close things down and G2 their lack of the
individuals showing out round after round to dig them out of these massive
comes to a close. A huge performance of Tess says he was the best player in this map without a doubt.
He was on point finding impact left right and center, but Damage got close 13 to 10 G2 down to the lower bracket in group B
and heroic. Finally a win and I think they can be proud of.
A 10-2 start for heroic but then a valiant attempt from G2 and making a comeback
But it wasn't meant to be. So many closed rounds, so many little details in that one.
It could have ended even earlier. But Heroic, they do pull it off and that is a win that they are going to be oh so happy with.
Yeah, I think that's where I want to start the conversation. You know, obviously saying that for Heroic this was overall a good showing, you know,
to take a win off G2 that put themselves in now a fair position to go to the playoff and survive what could be a horrible start to the day for them.
for them. The level of gameplay in this game from a team perspective was not that well.
You know, I gotta be honest, Tess has had a fantastic individual showing, Shoes shows
up with a 5-7, Dexter in the first half as well, you know, playing some of the best
counters, right? He's played one of the heroic choices, but in terms of, you know,
the team play, the cohesion, how they're working together, it felt like two teams
who just woke up, you know, and still hit by jet lag.
Yeah, a little bit. It wasn't a great game. I mean, even in the first half,
I think Hunter ended with three kills, he got two in the pistol and one saving a gun, right?
But he somehow managed to die four times or five times in lower B, right?
Or pushing out at some point, it felt like G2 was really forcing some of the aggression, you know?
They weren't letting the rounds develop, they weren't letting maybe guys like Malibu or Monosy
come into play at all in some of these rounds and Heroic was just running away with it
with a master class from Tessus.
Contestants' Masterclass was something to be holding, but I think that this for them, Heroic,
this means so much more to the guys G2, right?
G2 going into this, G2 has the best of one, they're only playing Heroic.
They're losing it, it's not really the end of the world for them.
No, I think for Heroic we discussed it coming into the tournament.
They desperately need a good result, as you said.
They don't necessarily need to win a tournament, but just get into the playoff,
or at least content for the playoff, which hasn't been the case for them.
And then also for Dexter, I think from him individually,
what's been going on with him and his visa situation,
for him to come in, you know, in this game and have impact and showcase that, okay, listen,
I may have, you know, caused you guys some issues in terms of the traveling, in terms
of the practice, but when I'm here, I can definitely deliver on the server and be the
difference maker for us.
So I think there's a lot of different ways of going this for Heroic, although getting
up is the one way against you too and put yourself in a position where you have a shot
and a chance of making it into the playoff is a net positive regardless of how ugly
it got at times.
And Dexter, you mentioned first half was really good, slowed down a lot in the
second half, which he kind of just got left out of many of the fights, right?
He was just constantly running around looking for them, then being shot down even way.
Well, I mean, in the second half, Kurok probably won this game, like 13-5, or
something, you know, the second antique over, they have the 5-0-2 advantage, and
then just basically third round, but what is it with G2?
How are you like two rounds in a row against pistols?
You start, but five guys going after B, like what sort of CS is that?
But then you look at the first time they do it and you see four players stacking shorts
or maybe like, okay, maybe this is something they saw in prep, but still, like the problem
is if you do get cornered, if you didn't get the correct read, you have no information
anywhere else on the map.
Like what does that leave you with your, what are your options at that point in time?
Luckily they got bailed out by Malbs and Monacee right in that round, so they were
able to win it, but how are you, what are these openings, like what's the thought
process behind this and they do it also back to back stack yeah I get it if they
don't smoke B and you execute full B and they're probably leaning towards the
other side it should be an easy round but what if you're wrong what if they're
baiting you what if they threw one smoke and are waiting then there's three guys
on B and you're going to go and that's how you're going to play against
pistols and dust too I don't get it. Well let's move on to some positives for it
because our United States yes there was on the heroic side not the P2 I'm sorry
Enko it's our United States Air Force A my play of the match and it's none
other than Tessus.
No, it couldn't be anyone else.
He had a fantastic showing here throughout this match and found an awful lot of impact.
As Jett said, you know, time and time again he would come in with a multi-kills.
He would be putting in those positions where he could make the difference.
And I think overall, you know, the conversation for Tessus, he's slightly underrated.
I think on the international scene at the very least, I don't think many people rate
Tessus to be, you know, a big no.
What do you, where do you rate him at?
I think he's one of the best Danish players, if not the best at the moment.
And I think that in itself is a statement of two things.
Tess's Counter-Strike sucks at the moment and Tess is playing good Counter-Strike and that's the issue.
So, if you were to tell me that Tess's a year ago would be rated as the best Danish player,
at least in that conversation, I'd say Hilna.
We have so many other great players to offer into that position in the device play,
if you name it, back in the days. But that's not the case anymore.
I think Tess has found his place in the Rourke where he's slowly but surely developing into being the guy that can make the difference.
And he's done that time and time again.
I know back at Blast in the group stage when they were playing with Sources standing,
he was showing up again and playing beautiful Counter-Strike.
but it kind of goes unnoticed because they don't deliver the results, they're not really doing it in play-offs
and I guess that's the next step before we can have that conversation.
Is the next step for Tess's then just to end up on Ashwars?
Hopefully not.
I mean probably him and then Sush right because that's just...
We create heroic under the Ashwars banner but yeah obviously had a great game here,
I'm really just thinking about the Danish country did fall off where you're like
who else can you put up their blame app for someone like Device who hasn't been playing
like they're definitely not putting stone in that conversation so maybe his iPhone you know
he's doing it something tier 7 with TSM. Well we'll halt the Danish conversation right now
because we're going through a break but when we come back we'll move into some more Danish
counter-strike. This is the strat I was taking on the server 5. What was that? Never miss a
play again. Let's face it watch you're in control switch between player POVs live and see the
the game through the eyes of any pro. Never miss a moment with replays. Relive each highlights
on demand from all angles. Watch it, control it, face it.
This is the game. I think the second should be Longstin.
One bullet. Nice! Take left.
Fuck waiting it, I need to press. I got Long corner. Long corner.
Two, three. Long corner. Long corner, so. One more, low, low, low, low, low.
Explosive.
He left.
Can't see it. Can't see it towards me.
No, but it's just going to end there.
He goes...
Oh, he's not.
He's insane.
He's insane, Rast.
He's insane.
Rugger as I've got a plan I know what's going on and you have a mind more for how you want to see it
so are you guys on the same page are you seeing some like okay we need to have some middle ground here
and as I said I tried to give him room to to settle into the role here in the beginning so
the feedback that we've been having so far is like trying to to find you know the middle
ground and then push to one of the sides to see which direction the team's response better in
And I'm not saying that it's going to be either his or my style.
I think we need to find common ground, so to say.
And also the more we get to understand each other,
the more I know which roles I need to help him with
and what he needs help with from me.
He is a little bit more freestyle than all the leaders I've been working with.
So for me, it's also about putting things into boxes so the players know,
okay, it might be freestyle, but at the end of the day,
we still have our framework of how we want to play.
Yeah, nice.
And I have to ask this, and I'm hoping
I can get a cheeky answer from you here.
What's Hooks the ever an option for you guys?
Everyone spoke about?
Not from my side, at least.
Obviously, when you talk about making changes,
not an overnight decision, it's a long-term thing
where you have names that you want to keep track of,
where they are, how does the team currently look like,
and what are the upsides and downsides,
and then you try to evaluate as you go along,
like which direction the team is going in
and which profiles might be there
if we need to make a change somehow along the way.
So, we never really, at least not from my side,
maybe management, you never know,
that's the good thing about being
in such a big organization that I'm only getting asked
about my core expertise, so yeah.
Like we obviously discussed Huxi,
but at the end of the day,
I think Kadeon was a better fit for this team also.
Well, only the future will tell if Kadeon was the better fit for this team compared to Hooksie.
And right now, Eternal Fire getting ready for their opening game.
This team looked damn good during SL Pro League.
And we have been impressed all year long about what they could do.
On the other side of things, we've not been impressed by Astralis for many, many years.
It's a long time since we could be positive about it.
And maybe with this roster, there is a chance.
But they're already setting our expectations pretty low by saying again,
They were sick, didn't have too much practice, so I don't know any more, Pimp.
Neither do I, and neither do Astralis themselves.
I think when you look at the player material, you look at the budget,
you look at the aspirations, obviously the team should be delivering.
Stown, Yabi, you name it, you know, device, great players.
They used to be the best in them, but...
You're telling me we were close to another medical emergency for Astralis?
Two tournaments in a row? Who would they get now, I wonder?
Who the Pites says, Pimp?
Should probably go me.
Yeah.
And I'm not gonna lie, you know, even us doing the power ranking coming into it,
we rate them as perhaps the 13th, 14th best team at this tournament.
It's a reality check as to where Stralis is.
For my money, it's a sleeping giant.
You look at Yabi, you look at Stown, you look at the vice, you know,
those three players in itself should be enough to constantly be within the top 10,
top five conversations, but it's just not the case right now.
I'm very much on the side of like, it's not the players' fault for the drama that's been
around it, right? It's a lot of the organization.
But do you imagine that Astralis is the most hated organization right now?
I don't know about that. I mean, I guess they're up there.
I don't I don't really think about stuff like that.
But it's just there's always something.
Yeah. And that puts pressure on the players.
It makes it harder for them.
Yeah, but also things would be easier if you were just playing better.
Yes, you're winning some games.
You would you would feel better about that.
And also just all device is going to be in game
leader for years to come. Well, not right now.
Actually, you know, we're kind of change our minds on that.
Actually, it was going horribly wrong.
So, when it comes to long-term planning and figuring stuff out,
it seems like the plan is just to rebuild Heroic.
Right? Like ever since they brought their director of performance from Heroic
to come to Schaaf first, they keep bringing Ston and Yabi.
Right? They can't get a coach fielded for the RMR qualifiers.
Like they don't make the major.
Then it's, oh, okay, the in-game leader situation.
This actually doesn't work at all the way we put this team together.
So, back to the drawing board.
now changing again, having Kadeon have to in-game lead plus play rifle,
play anchor positions on CT side as a guy who's very mobile.
Yeah.
Like that's just a recipe for disaster.
They had the exact same problem with blame on the team.
Like and you went through that and now you're coming back to their thing.
The only thing is now it's not Ston and Yaby who are like changing their positions.
It's Kadeon.
It's just a bunch of mixed signals.
You know, I don't even know what to begin.
As I said, I think for people, at least you know in Denmark as well,
when the fans are following them. It's a constant lack of belief in what they're telling you.
They said the same thing about Fali when he came in as an AWP. He's going to be an AWP for us,
you know, for many years. Lucky as well. It's every time they say something,
you're always taken with a grain of salt and you almost always feel like,
yeah, you may be lying straight to my face right now. And it was the same thing with
Device coming in for being an in-game leader for years to come. So I think from my point of
view, Astralis right now are just in a position where Janko has said, you know,
the only thing that solves whatever issues they have is by winning their goddamn games, you
Because when you saw something, if they start to play good Counter-Strike,
the conversations die down about, you know,
Jabi and Stam being brought in for a lot of money,
the conversations die down about Caden coming in.
As long as you're showing on the server that there's some progress happening around,
I wouldn't dis-line up.
Maybe we can allow ourselves to have focus elsewhere than the nest that is Astralis as of right now.
There's so much work to be done, and they already came here from BLAST,
then it's a couple of weeks, then it's the World Finals, and then it's the RMR.
So they don't even have that much time to really practice and figure everything out.
it will have to be done on the fly.
On the fly and on the server.
Well, let's find out how much preparation they have been able to do from Kadyn.
Or not?
Well, we did think they would let it in.
It's all a fire on the other side of things.
We love those guys, right?
Been together for a long time, had the best result error for Turkish CS,
making the playoffs of the major, right?
And from that point on, kind of had a dip in form.
And it all culminated with their performance at Pro League, right?
almost taking down Navi and was a heartbreaking series for them.
Yeah. But they were filing one of the cylinders in Malta.
You know, we can't run that interview now.
That's OK. Let's try and get it working.
Katie, and obviously now you've had a little bit of time between your first debut
and Copenhagen now coming here in Sirio. What have you guys been up to since then?
Honestly, we only had two days more of practice.
Maybe like the US can hear a fierce throat is a little bit sore.
And so was mine. I had a throat infection after Copenhagen.
Device was getting sick already in the Spirit game, Jaby was also getting sick, so yeah,
we all caught something. And yeah, that of course has delayed our further development of like
strategies and playbook a bit, but I think we're already leaning into some good stuff at the
end of Blast, and we hope to continue that journey here. So currently, obviously with you coming
in, taking on the man-loving game leader, what percent would you say it's Cadian's game
game plan versus the Astralis and Devices game plan of old?
I'd say it's a lot of my style, but I would also say that they already kind of tried a
little bit to do a lot of the stuff that we did in Heroic, but I mean, call it my style,
call it their style, call it what you want. I think kind of the important thing is that
the vision is the same. The approach of how you want to play, kind of, you know, set
rounds or defaults and how much freedom there is for individual decision making.
We are very much aligned on that.
So yeah, call it whatever style you want as long as we agree.
It's good.
Sounds good.
Obviously, let's not be around the bush the way
that Herak ended.
It was less than ideal for you guys.
What have you guys been doing now
that you've reunited with Stan and yet you make sure
that there's kind of no emotions remaining
from that Herak roster?
I mean, I think there will always be emotions, right?
Like you can't just remove all of them,
but I think, you know, sometimes you kind of focus
on the 5% out of the 100 where you disagree,
which can be frustrating and stuff like this
that goes for them, goes for me, goes for everyone in the team environment.
Where the important part is, the tenure and the journey we had in Heroic for so long
was brilliant. So why would we not focus on the 95% that we were doing really good
where we elevated each other and where we had a good time?
And so that's where most of the focus has been. Of course, we talked.
We tried to be even more honest with each other than we were in Heroic,
which was already as people who was around the scene could see a very united team.
So yeah, I think now I'm being thrown a little bit into it in the middle of the season with
long travels to Rio, to Asia, limited practice and we are drawing some pretty tough opponents
due to Astralis' secure and ranking, but these are also the teams we want to beat.
I think the circumstances around it right now is tough, but I'm optimistic with how
our development is going.
I think it's a very mature way to look at it.
Finally, you're missing the AWP at all, how's the rifle feel then?
Raffling is fun, Raffling is fun but of course you know I think there's definitely moments
where it would be nice to have the orb but I think also like when you look at the device
and you see him shining and doing his thing she's like alright let the man do what he's
best at and then we try to implement it in some scenarios with the double orb and also
think you know he's been pretty good devices saying like you can take it if I'm low HP
and stuff like that so we try to kind of utilize each other a lot but it's a new
role but I'm feeling pretty good about it to be honest so yeah should be fine.
Yeah, we saw the double ult coming out in a couple of situations back in Copenhagen.
Hope to see more of that here and best of luck.
So for Astralis and Fakadion, they've got a lot to prove
and they've got to deal with the hand that's been dealt to them.
On the other side of things, they're for eternal fire.
They're coming in looking hot, they're coming in looking good
and they should have everything that Astralis doesn't have.
Yeah, I mean, for Fakadion to see them drawing tough opponents, you know,
had you asked Astralis or anyone in Astralis
if you would like to meet eternal fire in the first round of a game,
you know, half a year ago or a year ago, you'd be like,
yeah, sure, that's an easy way to go.
but the fact of the matter, it's turned around.
EF is the one playing good Counter-Strike.
EF is the ones in the up-rise.
EF is the one who during Pro League did a great, great job.
And EF also have the best player on the server
and sent Terrors right now.
So I think when you match these two teams up
against each other, as I said before,
Astralis is a sleeping giant.
They should be significantly better than they are,
whereas for EF, I think they're getting the maximum
out of the player material they have right now.
So for my money, that's where it gets very interesting.
And the benefit for Astralis is, you know,
they haven't shown a lot as a team.
They haven't played a lot.
So for Majors, there's not much there in terms of preparation.
They'll just have to focus on themselves.
But for Eternal Fire, you just want them to see, show us more of what we've seen at Pro League, right?
Like, just show a little bit more consistency.
I think they put in a lot of work before that tournament.
It showed on the server in the playoffs.
Voxic stepped up a lot.
Santaris is Santaris.
He's always going to deliver.
But it was, you know, the step up from everyone else.
Voxic, Picadia, colleagues at times, some big clutches.
That's the recipe for eternal firing. They can do that.
I think they make the playoffs no problem.
And in terms of making that playoffs rise, is that definitely something you think is possible for the CFP?
I think so. I think the way they're playing right now, they're one of the main playoff contenders, no doubt.
Especially growing up against Astralis in the first game, it should be a relatively easy game for you.
Oh, a relatively easy game.
What we'll have to see as we're going into Inferno with sponge and machine.
Relatively easy, says Jacob.
It's going to be interesting to see if Astralis are putting up a fight.
I actually had kind of the expectation that this would be quite the brawl.
I think if we look at form within the vacuum, then it should be an easy game.
Yeah, but I don't think that's a real surmise of where they're at.
Like, because they've played well in recent tournaments, that's all good and well.
I agree a bit more with Yanko's sentiment in consistency and building upon
what they did at pro league is the more important part of this for a tunnel fire.
And if they can do that as it's touched on, then yeah,
I do agree that they can make their way to the past.
They're the favourites. There's no doubt about that.
Oh, for sure.
But they're a newer team to the tippy top of the Counter-Strike elite,
and, well, that's where they want to be.
I don't think it's fair for us to lock them in in that position just yet,
but they're showing more and more positive signs.
Now, Astralis on the CT side start.
Inferno.
Ah, they got 13-0 by Vitality when they played it on debut.
So, uh, we didn't get to see much of their CT side, Alex.
Quite literally just the pistol round.
A full 12 rounds this time.
That's nice.
and is a treat
now we'll touch on the uh... smoke this entire as throws actually magic rose
for some time so banana control
and how astralis can deal with that on the ct side a little bit later which
focus on the pistol for now
to smoke to flashes
molotov it's uh...
four sets of kevlar and well diffuse kit
for cation
up another go for free just yabbi on b
so i have to be a retake
Yeah, this is perfect. It's going to be perfect.
Just Yabi.
And he's got what? A couple of chances to tap through the smoke and they're not far off the mark, but Magus across and will punish.
Yabi, can't play for the retake if you're dead. Now Magus found the opening. Woxig handling business here. There's a lot of bodies.
Wox the burst. Good headshot back. Stare. Fighting his way through. By removing Zuntaris, they not only have the advantage,
But it falls on the shoulders of Kalex and Wakadia
And he's good for it lovely shot traded out stout hits the shot now Kalex unnoticed
Kalex does not have the health for this and they've even got a kit cadian ready to diffuse
He's gonna hold it Kalex doesn't have the health. He has to hope and pray
Now that bombs not being diffused the Stralis start off with the dub conceding a playing retake for v5
And successful I've got a round on inferno Alex. There it is number one lock it in
This is a round that I feel EF should have won every day of the week.
I don't love what's it going to burst fire.
I imagine it's because he doesn't know exactly how many players are pushing up,
but burst fire Glock, it can be a cruel mistress.
Wakadia with a bit of an overpeak, Magi not able to trade,
and Stown finds his triple by putting down Kallix.
Bomb planted, Finances available, Zintara's with an AK.
Big retake.
Dropped from Magi, and they're not actually going to be sending him up an Ana.
We can still see the smoke, if you look at the radar you can see it here.
So, Yabby's gonna have to be tussling with this.
It was quite difficult for a lot of teams during this whole pro league
to have to deal with the ways Entiris is able to manufacture this banana control.
Yeah, and Infano's been a real, you know, strong weapon in their arsenal.
I think the fact that Yabby was just jumping over the half wall for Info
and not like, helping any bullets or anything coming back his way,
it's very good in front, probably what helped us draw a block over towards top mid.
So now as Entiris has gone back, applied a little bit of pressure,
they will be going A.
Smokes are sailing through, this is a set piece from EF.
Hey, Ned.
They delay going long side.
The device is not holding this, and the smoke will obscure, so there is a gap.
That's an important kill!
Magic can't convert it!
Yabi lives on, and it seems the jig is up.
Kadeon, aware of what's up, what's cooking.
He's holding onto his smoke for as long as he can, and he smokes them off.
That's beautiful, not Kadeon.
Well, now what?
It's down to a very good corner for this.
You're gonna overlook it.
You get a free frag, and a trade from Wox, it could be tough with the AK and the wide-swinging to Stound.
He continues to farm up, Stound yet to die, multi-kill in both rounds, so far he delivers back-to-back multis.
Double kill from Stound and this one, they find themselves all of the upgrades they could possibly desire,
and Eternal Fire's 4-Spire goes nowhere.
Yeah, beautiful. Really well handled. I love the kill from Kayle, and the fact he's able to get away,
segregate them with the smoke, just stall them out towards CT spawn, and then force them back over towards this A site.
the force bite from a ton of fire extremely flat and now they will just have to stomach a bit of a save
one of the key features for this form of a ton of fire which is why there is respect put on their name
obviously Zintaro is the living but for me the bigger difference maker was Wachsen yeah and he
was in some of his career best form you go back to mouse sports when he was in that team with
likes of Chris J Robbs Carrigan right we were talking to tail end of 2019 unfortunately for them
than moving into 2020, everything kind of changed.
But Woxic being in that key form,
I think is one of the different makers.
Initially I thought it was gonna be Wakadia,
another plucky rifler alongside Zintara's.
I think the problem is for him,
still young and inexperienced,
definitely not completely inexperienced,
but when we initially saw him,
it was like, oh wow, he's great on vertigo.
They set him up towards ramp, he's very sharp.
That type of pressure to have to deliver
should probably fall more on your all-time
and your star rifler who are both getting on.
Right, Zintara's, I think was talking about a bit of podcast of the day, and the age was mentioned as Zintara's
and I was like, I know he's been around forever, but I didn't realize he knocked on to 29.
29?
I know, right, but he's been on our screens for such a long time.
Yeah, that's true, too.
But I guess that just tells time's been getting away from all of us.
Ah.
That's lovely.
Crazy nice son of a device.
And now, what kind of manages to catch one from the balcony position is somehow, some way,
this has gotten a little bit uncomfortable for Astralis.
step trying to stop that bomb from getting across. They know he's pit. He's just swiveling
around us very well to isolate Woxxit without going down to Wiccardia who now jumps into
his death.
Okay, is Yabi able to get away from this MP9? Yes, he is able to find himself a Silent
Stand 4. So, okay, 2M4s carried through and going to be more than enough money to
get the buys. Now it's down, it's not it's down actually, it was Yabi who dropped
AWP across. So device will have the AWP and Woxig the same and that's important we were just talking about Woxig
but T side Inferno not always the easiest to be finding impact. Let's see if he's able to do so. Magillining up that smoke
You see that lobbed out top left-hand side of your screen
All the CT's missed there but on a control smoke. You can see they're just wafting into the linoa
Device has
Mestalves window of opportunity on the calyx cross second mid
Halfwall smoke drop but not like a reenact retake approach more so just
Giving something for yabi to hold
He's very suppressive isn't there but they wasted one early did astralis so i'm gonna be curious in zantara's he's not afraid of no smoke
Another deep halfwall smoke so they know that there's the b anchors
have used two already and they're still a minute on the clock so this is going to
fade it probably about what the 52nd mark and at this point I think that's the
tell for Maga hey look as soon as this fades we get sound back and troll we
execute but Katie and ready to spring the tap the trap with Yabi this could be
round defining yeah they even called Stownover so an extra flashbang will
arrive Yabi didn't swing so many people blinded
oh the whole team's there he gets two and it's on McCarty and Zintara's no
less massive scalps to remove from the equation
Accelerating now is Madger and Sendier. He dropped Cady and this is looking very tight.
Limited options in his positioning towards the fountain. No ops for first orange. Flash is good
again. Stound activates the Woxics there. Catches the push through on coffins. Calyx punished by
Cady and over the top throw hard axis to cover. Now a 2v2. Eternal Fire have managed to make
this look very possible. Spam it away with the dig hoping for a stray bullet to find Woxic,
but now it looks like it's all about the device. Woxic fills the feed for the first time.
A double kill in this round once that AWP found its way into his grasp.
Deleis wants to save his.
What does he?
He peeks to him. Yeah, Woxic collects triple kill from Woxic.
Kind of keep the energy high there.
Yeah, Favour wants energy.
Yeah, he wants energy.
I don't know if Madge agreed, but regardless, I think that that counter from Astralis with the flash and the fight, that was beautiful.
Like we were discussing Altra, ESL Pro League.
How do you counter the way that they're taking this control?
And they got everything that they would hope for and then maybe more and still couldn't win the round
So this B defense really flubbing the lines down ahead
Katie and gets one but now came towards the side up and over from magic great work from the in-game leader
And then Woxic just gets to post up with the big green bang bang bang. Thank you very much
Yeah, I mean for you know if you're being critical stown pushing that smoke into Woxic
He's not to know that there's an AWP
Holding his smoke push too far away as well from the God flash
Stairon apps is about to be tested by a Mach 10. Calyx considering his options
Well, Kady might go down here on this default progression. Thanks to devices all
That's an aggressive offline
catches him in bedroom and
Forces Calyx away with these little tweaks, right?
So you're obviously looking for these gaps as part of the default progressions where they're not using all the
U2 and you want to be able to try and take this space so
Device gets a cheeky one for free gets to reset completely and I think it's just gonna send a ton of fire towards be again
It's Yabbi on the boost, Kadeon on the jiggle, Kadeon with a lot of Utah remaining as well
So let's see what he's able to pull off with this
Just a flash in the hand at the moment
Oh Kadeon, Kadeon deleted, Maga runs him down, Yabbi's a trick of discipline, Messi spray gets away
4 on 3
Yeah, if they have the sight they cleared it out calling it clear now the bomb to be planted
Kalec's responsible for that. They just team-made it.
Ooh, they did.
Centaur is left on two HP after his exchange.
Very, very hard post plan. You're blinded into the flame. You lose half health for it.
Oh, God, this is a tough one to hold on to.
This one's going to get wonky.
Feels weird already.
Okay, Sendiery to buy a bit of further time.
Centaur is given the orb with the low HP.
Tugs in new bugs, and...
Oh, he's actually leg shot them, but goes down to devices.
Now this is all on to Cali, excuse shots!
Jumping SMG, wants to win the round,
but long range from Starr, the kids!
I don't see a kit, I don't see a kit.
I think they've just got it.
10 seconds, I have to find that immediately.
Starr, I think getting onto it just in the nick of time.
Gonna be down close,
I think they get across the line only just,
oh no!
Oh no, no, no!
What the minute?
I can't go on low!
Oh wow, what is that?
A fraction of a second in it.
Eternal Fire take the second round.
I can't believe that. I mean, really, really close.
Down to the wire. They're my new sure of this round.
So leg shot converted, jumping from stairs, turns around,
and picks up a guy. If he didn't pick up a gun, he defuses it.
You have to find it as well. And the fountain is that stuff.
That's huge. Well, there's the energy Barbie was looking for.
Well, they haven't broken them yet, though, have they?
They haven't, sorry.
The wire up again. Zintaro's going to try and waltz on through.
Kissing them. It's going with Yabi.
They're going to waltz on past each other.
They have to know this is a possibility. It's a tire. It's actually backpedaling into you. Abby. We just got straight past it
Okay
Well, no one can see a thing. I think he knows something
Hit him in the smoke right easy like a bit concerned a bit thrown off. I'm not worried about logs though. He's not right now
You push the smoke you're a dead man. Yeah, oh free frag
Trigger discipline. He wants them. He wants the whole team
Woxic is hidden in the corner. Oh, hello. Oh God, it's gone wrong! Yavi gets once, down
at least finishes off Santarez during the distraction, the hubbub.
Oh, that flash was late. Yeah, very. Why can't you rate it?
If they win another round with a disadvantage like this, it's going to be a miracle for
EF. You can see where the opportunity is, can't
you? Looking at the minimap. And down, he has a deagle.
Yeah. Good. Good go wrong. You can't lose another one.
You're about to...
The needs go, they're pushing.
Spore them enough time for the device rotation and the banana push.
Okay.
Or has it?
Well...
Kadeon's around in this corner and they are still there.
Gosh, hard to do with an MP9, does do significant damage to Kalex.
He said, Holly, I was there, what can you do?
You just need to live.
Living is great.
And it leads to the double-dump from device!
Core on the cross!
Lovely orping, and a big smile on the Dane's face.
Look at the fives!
Five check is five!
They're remembering the 95%.
Yeah, right.
I did like that interview from Caden.
Yeah, well that's the thing, Caden's a great speaker.
It's like a killing.
Well, it's just going to be the EK3F.
Flash in Madge's hands, couple of upgrades, Deagle, P250s, and well, all in all, what
should be Astralis's fifth round of play?
Suppressive utility, slowest down any boiler control, more than ages in case there is
a pop.
Considering a Charlotte they play under the controversy of the four finals
Lots to unpack there, but that's definitely for another day another time
But they got to play with their full roster which is I great guess great for them great for the orc wraps in yeah
But that's it. They played two series. They did win a map right and I think that's a positive
But it's so early within
having a new in-game leader who's
Previously in all fire now is doing right fling in all these different positions. So it is gonna take time for things to start
landing as they should. So what are the expectations for Astralis? Any wins I think is a great result and the best of one is the best place to find some of that confidence.
Yeah I mean to be in the upper bracket coming into the second bear plate.
Against Heroic.
So they could lock themselves in for the playoffs.
Oh wow.
G2's upset loss.
That's a delectable tree isn't it?
And the air flus that's also an upset loss.
Two upsets could lead to a heroic Astralis, up a semi.
And I think this returns to a sentiment of the death saying there's extremely limited tape on
Astralis for Maja and Faber to be able to prepare for this match up today, which preparation is
quite key within their game. They worked very hard in the last couple of tournaments. They're
on a decent screen back to back grab finals. Heartbreaking loss to Navi, that could have
easily been theirs. The maps that they won were the blowouts, right? And the maps they lost
were the mega close, like 13-11 type scorelines. Yeah, man, my heart bled for eternal feisty
in their reactions to being so close to glory but that's I mean that's competition isn't it.
That's what it's all about. That's what it's all about exactly. It has to feel terrible to lose
so it can feel amazing to win. device gonna be in a second minute I think yeah he likes this
and they've flashed it doesn't that do diligence not gonna be punished yet
device that's staring apartments. Talix oh wow great crosshair placement as well
Well, they didn't have far to adjust.
They've kind of punished this default twice now.
Yes.
Wiccardio went first in the previous round,
got picked by the AWP.
That's right.
And now, Stair Forward ready for the Calyx crawl.
So really harassing the map control for EF.
Like early doors.
KDM freed up to rotate backwards B.
Maybe in quite a passive scenario,
they will have to tuck somebody inside side.
So things will have to change with this B defense,
boost up MP9, powerful position.
Where's the smokes at?
If they burn through four smokes already,
Oh no sorry, I see two. Stair and Stown have them.
There's no one on B though.
What is he off to? Well back and forth he goes.
It's gonna be an absentric commit.
Two smokes aflash and a molotov. They really have a lot of options EF.
You have a lot of space though.
Smoked off of the balcony is a very well timed smoke at a second one.
Oh that really limits your options. Actually kind of lucky.
A little bit suboptimal.
He has to go out of porch though.
Stale prepares himself.
Here's them coming.
Reddies his aim and loads his mag.
Puts one second of the cardio and half health for the spray of stair.
Lovely work from the Danes here.
Triple kill from stair in defense of A.
And Magic doesn't have any time, any chance of winning this one.
Desperation, doesn't it?
Yeah, of course.
Crazy Halmery spray through a slope hoping to find stair in transition.
Now he might even go down after time on this device.
Now just wait.
Just keep him there. Just keep him posed in.
Oh, well.
All right, all right.
Four round difference for Astralis now, things are looking good, looking very good indeed.
Yeah, can you bounce back on this T side? You will have to wait another round before you get the buys out.
There's Stair with a great round.
Opening and closing.
Business.
It's going to be the second tactical timeout, so either the conversation could come to its conclusion in time,
or Faber doesn't like what he's hearing.
Yeah, two timeouts already burned through, just eight rounds in.
Yeah, and it's going into partial buy.
So you want to be discussing the bigger picture right now, right?
You don't just want to, oh, guys, all right, let's get some Deagles and search.
Or this is more like a philosophy style thing.
So maybe Febber noticing that this default over towards Boiler and Halls is getting exploited early.
Do we need to try and do something a little bit more direct?
Why are we moving away from going towards B when we found good success over there?
So there's a lot of questions.
And what are the answers?
That's what we're...
I would I just wanted to sprinkle on top that this is more than it it looked like from EF
Little bit more on the NAID department
I mean perhaps Faber did have some idea as to where they could find a half-by-victory. Well, you're the lost one is working for him
Yeah, I mean, this is quite threatening tech 9s Mac 10s a bit of pace and good players flashbangs or stout
Just runs at you and guns you down before you even get to start made on the face walks it down good catch
How's that? Think about the pilot of information you just got there.
You take down Makadia, who traditionally is the boiler defaulter,
and you take down Woxic, who's the support of T-Stairs player,
and now you've just seen Maja and Kallix.
So, Zantara is actually the one flirting over towards apps and boiler right now.
But this investment gets absolutely nothing.
They've just been stunted once more. Stralis.
They are looking in some very good form.
Now, Maja, he likes to look like all the players, doesn't he?
You know he's a shape-shifter matchup
Which one is he today?
I was trying to think of any X-Men character I could other than Wolverine and the only other one was Gambit
Gambit's a guy
Who was the guy with the
Cyclops?
With the laser beam. Yeah, Mary Jane or whatever her name was. There was Jean. Jean that's who I was thinking of
Professor X. Yeah, Magneto. Was he an X-Men? He was in it
Well, once upon a time he was, he could used to be a good guy and then he became a bad guy.
Yeah.
Spoilers, by the way.
If you want to have to watch the X-Men franchise, what have you been doing?
Yeah, actually, what have you been doing?
Well, very suppressive utility uses there from Australia. Deep incendiaries, down the guts of middle, down deep banana.
The speed guy. The speed guy was cool.
Speed man.
Yeah, speed man, but it's McMahon.
Well they're not doing their patented half-war banana smoke. What's going on
EF? It's a clear changer game plan. Astros get you rattled. I love that after
you know that time I was there starts with an early ab smoke spam strap. Interesting
ideas. Oh my god. You don't know what to expect from them right? They can do
whatever they want. They get to play quite literally their game. Calyx
cannot catch a break. Bruv just got brought down to 7 HP random smoke
spam from stairs. Maybe you should get a Kit Kat. And a vise. Oh, caches the 1, 6 search.
Lovely angle held. Punishes the rival AWP up. Obviously got an opening kill watch right
now, it ain't feeling good. Oh yeah, good idea. Stound powerful angle supported and executed
where Cardia goes down. Nice trade pack. Kalex an important frag despite the low
HP from stairs spam. Researching stairs on a mad one here. They've had some
dames in good form. Day one of Rio, Tessa's first. Now stairs, stepping up to the
plate and down alongside with him. Nothing here for Kalex. Where's Zantara?
He's working up short. Does go down to Yabi searching out. Come on now. There it
is. And I'm glad we're getting a nice performance out of stairs, right? This is
someone who is in very small glimpses. Yeah. And obviously on the come-up
when he was in Sprout. That's one of us the most exciting. But with an
Astralis thing, okay, he's in the best Danish organization. Surely this is
where he gets to put on his best work. But unable to do so, I guess, based on
position changes, roster changes, the instability, device thinking, getting
game lead. But now, Stair, he's just absolutely pumping them. Stair and
Stown, 12 apiece. Eighth foot device, nine for Yabi, caddy on seven.
Everybody contributing in a six round differential right now in favor of
the Danes. And, uh...
The piece time sucked, didn't it? Right? In that 13-0 you talked about?
Yeah, they lost 12 rounds.
OK.
So just as far as, you know, reminders go,
it's like a slip up here.
You lose a silly, deagle headshot
you shouldn't have given away.
And suddenly it's 8-4.
It could get awkward for Astralis.
Right now, the vibes are an absolute premium.
You know, you're just chilling.
You're laughing.
You're having a giggle.
I think I'm going to say something wild.
Go on.
I think they probably win 13-5 unless they lose this round.
Oh, look how we out.
All right.
Well, no pressure, Yabi.
You just got the whole game in your hand.
How's the Molly?
How's the smoke?
This extinguishes available for EF, 100%.
So if he Molly's die extinguishing still go through.
Check this out.
OK.
Got to be pacing.
Oh, fanning around with his weapon.
Hold out his rifle for two.
And they don't know that there's no one else home.
Cadian, chance to spam on the cross.
There's opt against it.
Instead opt for HE to clear.
Chance to try and line up for the spam.
The cardio tests him.
standing in the open like a sitting duck was wakandia.
Woxic does well to catch the Cadian, push through another HE, another frag through.
Just Woxic, low HP, doesn't really have legs for this one.
Doesn't really have a chance in this one. 27 points of help, one versus three.
They have got kids, and they could all the time in the world,
taking their sweet time with this one, flashes them from device.
Woxic not gonna be revealing himself just yet.
does want to try and isolate a dual and commits to the spray unable to convert a ninth for Astralis.
Yeah, we'll never know what could have been. It feels like Wakadia may have had some issues there.
It looked like he was just stuck like Crosshair wasn't moving. There was nothing on those lines.
And he's not in the server right now. So yeah, it looks like Wakadia had some technical issues there.
And look, to be fair, we never know what the outcome of that round would have been.
But the two rounds they did win were on B.
So, that one really hurts, but it was already bad for EF.
This just kind of makes it worse.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Something happened, it didn't.
Definitely.
I think that highlights it as well as possible, and yeah, you're helpless in that situation,
but we're back underweight.
That'll be the third opener.
There you go.
Third opening kill for EF.
Maybe they can make their third round off the top of it.
Will the 4v5 percentage take a leap up?
Look at this one, Kali.
progressive at a chance on to stare back into device that gets punished for a
chalice trying to do a lot of work there early and look Zontaro's is low I
have you the same one point a healthy device is confident isn't he yeah he's
feeling himself right now locked in on the short angle they found a gap on the
long smoke fade stairs actually giving things up so if they crawl in you won't
expect it to be open so how does that play into things and this is very
heroic as gamble stack yeah it's true the combination you need to call it
you want as long as you think it's good says cadet. Match up, flashed into the angle. Ooh,
isolate the stairs. That's a different player. That's a different player. Right, that's a bit
suspicious already. The fact that there's another body there. Get the bomb, go away boys.
Look out here, he's searching. And he's going to be in a prime position. Stout's noisy.
He's heard this. Just the info safely. Stout, that's a big move. That's a crazy play.
smoke to get himself across from the library angle now makes it really clear that this
is a mistake you shouldn't have left your side but yabby catches him won't be able to
stop the cross bonk gets across match it will be punching in the code as we speaks
and tares 11 11 they can make the smoke okay won't tell for them last time looks like he's
dead trying to get it for new box this time made all the money's and tares is
12th death. One frag to boast. Devices only now, just joining them. Bombs halfway gone.
Take this sweet time, worried about the lurks, I suppose. We got Magir and Woxic left to try
to close this one down. Nice forward presence from Woxic. The AWP's there, Yabi down. Canna
third round become theirs. It's a missed shot from Woxic, but time is against Device.
He needs to hit the eagle headshot. Woxic closes. Three to work with. Three opening kills
and three rounds as we swap sides. Astralis needs to start winning some T rounds to close
this one down. Matt Fritano firing Astralis and a nine round haul from Astralis' CT side.
It's not looked pretty and the typical win conditions, Wiccardia, Wadsik and Zintares,
two of the three yet to really show their presence in the service. Zintares absent in these opening
game here in Rio. He's had the short end of the skit. I'm talking about Jasper and
Churchill, we're getting to the second half. Astralis have had trouble on their T side in
the past. Yeah and a very small sample size so I'm sure we're about to make a little bit
better today but this is the final half of the best of ones for i am rio 2024 maybe maybe alex the last
best of one we might see in this type of format but who knows definitely not me silent but violent
most definitely up into the apartments to danish oven i see what he did there let's see what this
Flash is going to be destined for. Woxix on the boost. Does it catch him too? No, he falls off and goes down.
Yabi down too though, Wakadia. With those Yobarets, it can farm himself on the triple.
Could be more bullets at the bravery peak. Just call your jets. Relax for a second, Kalex.
You know, have some support. Wakadia's there and it's an eternal fire pistol.
Alright, the beginning of the Turkish comeback story. Wakadia, one of those names you were just laying out, needed to get activated.
it definitely did, Zintara's it is kind of a worrying son the only has one killer
that's so below his standards the only one if you remember it which I do was
the Diggle Killer outside. Remember that you got this Diggle Killer into trash that he was like transitioning into? Yeah, that's his only killer.
So it wasn't even on a gun round or any form of impact, there's kind of been
Magi and Woxy that have been the two delivering in that department but feeling
themselves they get into the bias, Astralis are gonna take things as
conservative as possible. Stay with the Diggle, Katie with a flash, and the
rest with some glocks so right now we all know how these rounds work you milk
up the CT side utility a kill or two a plant that is fantastic a round win
highly unlikely unless your opponent unplugged their mouse their keyboard their
eyes
plugging their eyes the future is now we're always in VR are we everyone's
got on a headset or some variety right now that's right it's all the
simulation step jiggling our boiler with the deagle in hand couple of
stickers print stream obviously we need to talk about skins it's a big part of
Counter-Strike no charms for Astralis charmless do you remember the TV show
charmed oh the witches fell was a witchy one there was like three sisters never
witches I think we did have charmed you would have a telebot American so we
all had it right there's entire as three eco bash kills feeling good in
the horde now we can get activated the CT side can't believe it
Zantara is always props his keyboard on the actual monitor stand. I find that to be so unpredictable, but he must be I think this is the thing right?
Everyone has these unique setups and people ask about oh, why does this guy hold his mouse this way or whatever? It's like a
Lot of the time like not talking about mouse grip, but I guess keyboard orientation
Yeah, it's just probably the setup that you had when you first started playing literally
I used to play a LAN cafes where the desk space was like like this
You could just put like the keyboard on right and the monitor was here
Yeah, the fact the players get like 1.25 or 1.5 meters, that's that's the guarantee of the death space.
That's the depth of the death. No, no, that's the width. That's the width. Okay. All right. In terms of the depth,
I'm not sure exactly what the depth is, but the width is all. So, you know, like coming to these events,
you're always going to get the same type of, you know, the deaths that go up and down the chairs, etc.
But like, yeah, this is what you're talking about. Everybody does things a little bit different,
right? And I guess it's just circumstance. Some people maybe started playing on a desk that had like
like a pull-out little tray or yeah these little things just having like no
forearm on your people keep on arm it's a yeah it's a unique one I think twist does
the same recurring theme is controlling the early apps progression
okay at all they just want to go straight up mid which has forced out of
defensive city smoke he's feeding himself the fact he's this far ahead of the
play already in bulk or thereabouts it's gonna kind of wait for for the
mid-friction first and a powerful angle you can see we've held for him with
cardiac if just a full banana control yeah okay so they've got they've got
nothing right now you don't have top banana and you don't have brackets the
problem I suppose for if is they only have one more spoke themselves so magic
can block bottom banana at about that 50 second mark and that's about it maybe
he saves it and uses it defensively might be the better call because they are
starting to pivot back over so Katie and stender show some presence oh
Oh, leg spotted for Calyx!
Pieces out.
Oh, there's that smoke that Madge saved. It's an interesting one, a conundrum for Astralis.
You feel you have to gamble, but Madge does these things as an in-game leader where he stays quite stoic.
And I feel that...
Oh, I hope Zantara's been called over.
Calyx is so loud about this, does very well all the round.
In the palm of his hand, he converts it.
And they even went out in the Jules cleanly on B, not a single casualty.
This has gone horribly wrong for Astralis.
Oh, five alive, it's a Calyx round, and he is alive and kicking.
I wish I spoke Turkish, I should be at a comms piece there,
because I feel like it was, they're coming B, they're coming B,
Calyx is going, I'm coming, Calyx.
Oh, Bum's down mid.
Everybody's here.
Yeah, definitely fell that way from his in-game body language.
He was moving like, I'm coming and suddenly,
there was someone in his crosser.
Thankfully it was placed correctly.
And Morsantara's action for one kill to six blinking your miss at three round game
It is worth noting Kalex didn't pick up the AK of that person he killed in apps
Why would he? Yeah, he dropped his MP9 and brought a USP through. Oh, okay
Ideal
Rockin' a name for anyway
Get out of here!
Alright, Zantara, he's found Stown
He's continuing to start putting his name in the feed chat
Chad, he's caught up with Madge, he's caught up with Calyx, one frag half, but Zantarez,
he's making it clear that it doesn't happen two halves in a row.
Giving those eco-bashes to start getting him feeling good as Cady and has dropped the
AK over to Yabi who does have armor, knot of the head variety.
Which would be useful up against the M4A1S and the M4A4A1S.
I feel like when we're doing that stuff, you know, people will go on aeroplanes
And please fasten your seat belt, open the window blinds.
And with a light to attract attention.
Yeah, your life vest has a whistle, it's like, yeah.
Can you see if your phone is on board?
And people are like, yeah, we get it, idiots.
You have to do it.
But I've got my headphones in.
I want to listen to music.
Good idea, Abbie.
He's got himself with a one.
And he's going to be searching for a few more.
Kalec's Pip, Le Cardia, tucked deep in sight.
I mean, they're just hoping and praying
that there's an overextension from one of these CTs, but it doesn't look like they're going to get it.
They've cleared and pushed Banana now.
Twenty seconds, the contact comes in.
Riccardia. Oh, wow! Stare hit. A lovely wallbang headshot there.
And now the bomb goes down.
Kalex should have the round in the palm of his hands here.
Bomb needs to be retrieved.
He has the cross across fire on that bomb.
There's no way in for a strahle.
It's what's going on.
They can't win.
Oh, they can't win.
Oh, my God, they're actually going to get the bomb down.
How has this fallen apart?
How has this gone wrong?
Eternal fire, a crossfire on the bomb with 10 seconds left and somehow it falls to Maga.
Made, would have been perfectly placed towards Pit, would have isolated two 1v1s instead he
opts for sight and now this crossfire again going to be difficult to break.
Hoping for that little overextension from Yabbi, does it be true?
He does and they deliver a 10th for Astralis, they've stolen away with their powers combined.
and yabby five kills fumble of the day fumble of the day without the bomb was
down sure right yep I'm almost certain it was I don't know if we can catch that
in a game or a replay right that'd be really great to highlight that who was
it who piped so this is great really good kill calyx doesn't have any survives
he buys time so there okay so at this point who is the the guy running up
It's unfortunate.
It's a target.
It's a target.
Why?
I can't explain that.
You saw the clock, you saw the bomb, and you saw your teammate's position.
Devices put nature on notice, just clips in through the wall, and they shot on the
retreat.
Maybe you clocked the bomb.
Yeah, maybe.
That's the only answer.
Why are you surging in for that type of thing?
Fine.
I can't explain that.
Yeah, right.
As soon as you see that bomb, your main instinct is, hold it, tuck in.
It's a good fight for you, especially with Calyx and Pit, they always have to worry about that anyway.
Double digits, Charles, fumble of the day. New segment we started.
I could actually.
Bought you by spec savers.
That's good. Okay, so I'll put that in a PDF.
Salda here, level word.
Oops.
But with Gamble 3B, they can right their wrongs here EF.
Still gonna be a tough game at back.
back. Zintara's on the boost, we're cutting towards spot, match towards coffin to the big
Nade down Yabbi's throat. They're not budging on B though, despite Yabbi's presence. Invested
into this. Naja, last of the Nades, a flashbang as all he has left and he's actually just
thrown down prematurely. They don't have a flash now for the defense. In San Diary
28, it's as awkward for Astralis, they have to nail this. Everyone ready, guns on.
Because the fights come in their way match of the bait Zintara is the switch gets himself the double with Magis help
Can't finish off Gaby and they're here. They're gonna overlook him completely
Oh a lovely clean kill and the round baits out the shot from device. He has to get out with the ore
And they do right there wrongs as you astutely pointed out eternal fire do manage to completely resuscitate hope good call
to have the gambles stack and Wakadia traditionally one of those a defenders right just
to provide this time in the site.
Matt just trying to bring the energy, right?
And I think this is similar to the conversation
the desk was having regarding G2 and the high of winning
the Blast 4 Finals, right?
It's the same kind of thing for EF.
They're still hungry to win and be good,
but going so deep within these tournaments
is going to end up a lot of their energy.
They want to come in, they want to back it up,
they want to go deep here, but at the same time,
you're at this high.
There's that emotional high and the energy
and the focus and the ground final and the emotional dump.
And it was a couple of weeks ago now, sure.
But then to come into this best of one,
other side of the world, we need to bring this energy.
It's tough to make sure, and I used to talk about this
when I first transitioned across,
it's like, if you're only giving 80%,
because you expect someone else to pick up the slack of that,
but everyone down the line is only somehow bringing 80%.
And right now it feels like Faber through his early,
that he tried to bring the energy up early,
within like the first three or four rounds.
It's like he could tell, he could sense.
Madge is the only one trying to bring it now still.
They think they're the favorites, they are the favorites,
and they have to battle back into this game.
Astralis by looking rough, but it's gonna be about the eternal fire decisions because I think Astralis have enough to contest
AWP for device
All right
How'd you get the most out of a T side? Oh
Ouch, Cadian. He's very brave. He's obviously got a game plan here
He wants top banana early and that's what he's not gonna achieve it. That's what he's not gonna achieve anything
There's some info for them device spotted out. They know where the orbeez
They can make informed decisions based off of that info smoked off flash that's going smoked off half wall
Potential to flash through it. Yeah, that's the thing. It's like well, we have these pistols
Why don't we just pop and fight the sandbag player? You can't anymore managers dipped
They're too fast to taras right now. Woxic from Archside has decent mid control. Wakadia has also bolstered the defenses
So stick to your guns quite literally you're gonna need them
Go ahead bushing the taras tested
commits to the spray. No one's dead. Stown does go down eventually, trying to
park through the smoke. Match it as well to get away after the dink. And it's all
eternal firefrags. A bomb plant? Pretty good going, and now Stairs pick
himself up the AWP. A 2v5 that there should be no conversation about. All
opting Bruins side. Say that, Calyx might have a little look.
Mkhardia cautious as well, he know there wasn't an AWP in the mix.
Now it's revealed, now the Molly forces the main line up, Stare gets the shot, gets away, gets the G!
This cannot be happening! It should not, will not, needle this face, Kadeon can come up clutch!
15 points of out and doesn't hit the first, he will not get a second chance.
A valiant attempt from Stare with that collateral nearly spiraled into an impossible round for a town fighter loose getting a little possible.
Walking on eggshells and all these rounds are there.
They get three kills on the way into B.
It's a 2v5 retake.
The smoke starts to fade and the line-up from Stare makes us believers.
I was thinking in my head, hey, you know what?
If Kadean had the AWP, we know this guy's crazy in there clutch.
Stare's the one who's putting on the display.
God, I can't believe he gets that close.
He's molotov-ed out of position.
Triple swung and he leaves with three kills.
And imagine he hits that one in behind him.
Definitely possible.
Well, it was an eco. We're back into device. Locking horns. Two round difference. AF on the comeback.
Double Molly, double trouble. Traps, Traps! H here and smoke required. They're trying to retreat. I love this.
Wait, oh, Magi went through the flame. Does that mean they overlook the Guardian? They're going to completely ignore him.
They have no idea the smoke covers him. He's got the whole team in front of him. He's got the whole team in front of him.
A load as Mag gets one. 3D3 though. This is still awkward. The bomb is on T steps. They've got the B side, but they don't have the B plant.
This is weird now what happens to if Calyx gets activated towards middle he's still so so passive and concerned about the bomb finish
I think they will just finish towards
Be the smoke the smoke on device they can resmoke CT once yabby gets there and
Look at the damage you just took in the previous round if you're EF you probably save right now
You probably have to save right now. Yeah, especially now the smoke on the cross like there's no way you take one
pot shot you hope you hit Yabi if you don't you get out of there
Actually on the loss of bonuses only 1400 they have to save they don't have a choice
They do not have a choice you need to be getting out of there. He's still thinking about it
I guess cautious of the ruins push
But if he gets a kill then maybe there's a chance to 2v2 right so hanging around fair enough going fish and no dramas with that
But you really need these rifles going into the
Next round of play and we can do a quick little bit of maths here
So taking a look at the residual cash right now you're gonna have match and you're gonna have Wokardi with 1400
coming into their bank balance. I was going to pull Wakadia just over 3k.
Magyot, you know, 3.4.
Can't do maths. Don't worry about it. It's going to be somewhere in the mid-3s.
So, not enough for a, uh, per chase, I wouldn't say.
Actually, well, Calyx can drop, uh, Silent Stone 4.
I don't know, I feel, I feel, here's the problem, here's the problem.
You only get 1900 loss next round.
You might have an AWP next round if Waxing dies in this one.
So, if you don't bolster behind what you saved, you might never see it again.
And you will have a gun round next round, but it will still be a little weaker.
Like, right now, they've got 2M4s, 2MP9s, and it's winnable.
It's definitely a winnable round.
Okay.
Wow, so yeah, actually Calyx, the $2,950 has actually facilitated a very threatening looking buy around that AWP.
100%.
So what can they get out of this EF? You've battled back, you've given some hope to the Turkish fans watching back at home, but this series, or this map, mind you, it is the best one, has not gone your way.
We switched the pistols, but it was a very light T-huff, one that they just felt frazzled, right? They didn't look like they had a game plan that they wanted to follow, Astralis had thrown them for a bit of a loop.
Yeah, and this is EF's Inferno we're talking about. They've beaten Na'Vi, Vitality, they've been big names on this map.
And Astralis, the first half to be proud of, but there's T-Side. Is it gonna have any more twists, any more struggles, any more woes?
Maja, tucked in half-war, playing a dangerous game with that MP9, but remains
persistent and
smokes off half-wall to buy time.
Yeah, it feels...
Obviously we get to see everything it feels early though right at this point with the limited utility that they have remaining
We're talking almost nothing. That was the last smoke. It might be some dropped for Madge right in it. Yeah, you go
So I don't see a smoke dead
Well, so it is it is it is crazy unless one's floating elsewhere four towards a just Madge a B
Better hope if you're after they do come knocking on the fortified site
That's a brave swing, Wokardia catches Cadeon. Swing with the incendiary.
You can't be.
Nice little touch of aggression.
Where are they?
They've been walking into the lion's den of A. Wokardia and Woxic about to be tested.
Wokardia fails, Woxic passes, finds Yabi. Stare will activate taking all of that
long space, but Centauras holds a very tiny narrow gap on the cross.
It's going to be a save the other way, or do they attempt this 2v4?
He's left the bomb so we can try and investigate.
Device to 20 seconds left is just running and gunning.
Info, that trajectory of the flashbangs,
they know where Madge is.
Molly forces him wide, device hits the head,
but Zintara's is there!
Lovely quick double from Zintara's
to secure a ninth.
We go again.
Okay, well save on the T, so I'm not necessary.
The loss bonus is playing into their favor.
And I just saw them buy up,
then a tactical timeout called,
then everybody sell back.
So, I think we'll see what Raga
has to say about this one. Just two rounds. The difference in two rounds necessary for a
Stras to get across the line. Important for Xintaras to be finding these
key kills late within the piece, but I think Wakardia in mid with that kill on
Akkadian was huge. Wax extending tall on the AWP, also sending the packing elsewhere.
Rugger with a lot of talking right now on how they want to try and finish
this. Does he think that they need full guns, full utility to try and close
things down? That could be the discussion that's had right now, which
does leave them with a device hero AK. He has the absolute most. Everybody else could
upgrade in partially. Tec-9s, Mac-10s, and they could still make a round out of this, especially
after the round we saw EF Fumble not that long ago. And there it is. So, bunch of smokes,
couple of flashes, pistol upgrade, some armor. But you want to allow a device to work.
You want to put it in position to take a flight, just like this. So much space
early. So blind! That's perfect for Maja 2 flashes as well, really diligent stuff. You
could see just how blind he was, just a victim. Great reaction. Yeah. And Device did get the
space, that's it, right? The player gets negated and they take it back immediately, it's
all for naught, they lose the biggest investment within the round. Maja lows, Zantara's on
point. The only way that this goes wrong. Zantara's dies without a kill, and Maja
and then just gets blown over because of his HP, but they've dropped back a bit.
Magic lining up a Nade.
Come on, man. Give it to us.
I wanted to see it.
He's a utility goblin, isn't he?
Oh, yeah, it's official.
But also this is a flash that everyone should be learning.
He's gone from, I'm gonna do a Nade to, I'm gonna do a flash.
Now I'm back to doing a flash. You have the Nade.
Bang!
Meh.
There'll be one hell of a flash.
and Taris has got the whole team by hurling towards him, flashes in, blinded and executed.
Both of them doing the dance there. Yavi completely isolated at the back of banana, pushing up now,
but Ricardia has your cross. Yeah, we're going to be seeing a 10th round. This is going to be
a one round game here. Are Astralis really going to let this one slip away? A 9-3 half
and currently 10-11. Eternal Fire putting up a fight. And one of those rounds, as we described,
Fumble of the day eternal fire could have had an extra one
Okay, well they took a hold of a second. Yeah, I heard Mac daddies
Is he talking about the Mac 10 device has a Mac 10 to see if the best form he does
Device could have bought an AK everybody still is 1900 left over and a cake could have well been in his remit
He's bought a Mac 10 so is he gonna charge a banana again?
Are they gonna try it's full man be start for me. Yeah, or it's just donation. Okay, just donation to YouTube
They're going up in
They're gonna pop through this they're going out. They are going a and the site is open right now the rotation needs to get in place
Walk six somehow catches device perfectly placed on that sniper crosser
Ricardia flashed off look at this cheese sound spinning around like a bay blade
Gets himself into the site gets the frag necessary
Lovely patient offer timeout right? Yeah, uh, did rugged just take one of my trip. I went in the previous to make a late-in force, okay
Hey, what a lovely change of pace.
Completely catches the air off kilter.
They're going for it as well.
Yeah, Kadeon's in a prime position,
but Woxy will be holding this.
Can't help but feel that this is a risk from Kadeon.
Are they calling it off?
They're not going for it.
They're counting.
Okay, help the smoke as well.
So yeah, all good in the hood.
I know the loss bonus is only gonna be quite limited,
but they would have had the funds
trying to do damage on the way out of the door.
Woxy's grabbed one,
might be going down the bomb here.
No, it'll be Stown who takes him, the AWP removed, he can get dropped another one, it's not the end of the world.
Kalex can drop one, but that type of a call to Astralis have another one up their sleeve to finish things off.
Missed out the retrieval of the Woxy Corp, so there will not be an AWP in play for Device.
Final tactical time-up from Rugga.
So save these for the crucial moment, and it looks with the U2 you see flying in, and the bodies, that they have enough to do this.
But just the spread, that can record it quite perfectly, the CT incendiary, right, it's not really threatening whatsoever,
they were able to path through it and around it.
They did smoke off apps, they got the Molly in time,
but Astralis followed through, and I respect that.
They lost that opening kill, but they followed through,
they believed the call, they didn't just stop,
they actually, that was perfect.
And Eternal Fire trying to get tricky with it.
Two players extra towards B for utility donation.
They are high-tailing as fast as they can
to fortify that A site,
because it is so rare that you just see an all-in A rush,
especially on a full gun round.
Yeah, for real.
And especially in a game that's as tense as this one.
And after so many rounds of what's been more default, to suddenly just throw a big blast
of pace and at such a good time as well with your teammates, or rather your opponents, starting
4B.
What device throwing the magic smoke to use against EF?
Oh, there was a little window of opportunity for us down one tap there, but the Nade right
on his doorstep.
That's him down sub 50.
Conversation being heard here about the a finish and the a utile art smoke from stair and we're gonna get to Katie and Stam
And Yavi potentially against heroic shush and tessus
Could be golden
Okay, so they get smoked off at early doors
It's not the end of the world
We did just throw out a moto smoke so that is quite indicative of your intentions
Stout has another one, so if they want to just hit it at a later tempo, that is very possible.
Batting down the hatch is REF. Three players on A. Xantara is not too far behind.
Here it is. Another motosmoke thrown out, the CT utility to defend, light on.
Could be a well-tended sentry. He throws himself one out onto the bow, forces him into the fight.
Good flash! Oh, Yavi! He couldn't get this cross there that time.
Magardia covers the stack on A rewarded eternal fire repel the invaders
Send those Vikings back on their boat saving I have to save now
Sure, the loss bonus is still marginally in their favor right do a token 2400 into the next round
But that means they're not gonna have any AK's right if they just throw all of these in so the biggest issue is the residual cash
Kaden can buy one made so he probably buys a smoke into the next stone can't buy anything stair will be able to buy a set
Device for 2400, Yabi's gonna be in the Galil territory, so I think Device would probably go for like a little bit lighter
And they're out of time out. I think Rugger just called it the last one
So they're gonna have to solve this as a unit right now. It's probably what they're doing right now as they save
All right one more round we go to overtime MR3
But just important little dribs and drabs of moments from each EF player in terms of like massive crazy like impact clutches
Not really, but just important kills when necessary as we send them trickle back up to this point just a one-round game
So device yeah heavy utility with a deagle yabby galil couple of nades and they've got enough to work with here Astralis
They try the a rush again
Or are they making it look like the a rush?
And this is what that pattern calling sign that worked in the past. Can we replicate? Can we use the weakness?
Be careful with that. You never want both players spamming at the same time if you only get two behind a smoke
You never know what could happen
Combo you till presents everywhere wrap
Look at what are you cook finds Cadian just before the smoke does plume
It could be set for more. He's hearing these audible steps. He's held by stout
That's set up is potent and all hang on as strong as if it's a heads now what's it's a lot of
Oh, did he hit so quick scope in trouble those down a 2v2 emerges for the game
Strahlers can take it here in regulation just between the powers of stout and yabby
What can Madge and Centares come up?
Clebbi's behind Madge, this is insane, Madge is dead, he's booked!
Astralis will take in a regulation of less than Centares, can save them, a quiet start.
But it could be a very loud finish!
Stal will close it down, regulation conversion, Astralis taking Fano and take down EF.
A huge first half for the second god Dicey, it got tense, but Astralis will get themselves
across the line they will win the best of one and they will lock themselves in for a
best of three against Heroic the old org for the trio for a spot in the playoffs
that one's got some source a fantastic start on the CT side for Astralis but
the T side it took a while for them to get going it probably got too close but
they did pull it over the line at the very end but this was at times very
awkward for Astralis yeah just some details you know while that last
Last round is still fresh, we Cladia finds the first kill, then sort of wants to go CT immediately but his teammate had a flash for him.
So by the time he gets back, he doesn't have the time to really push through the smoke and utilize the flash. Both players were blind.
And then he plays way too early, right? I mean, before Astralis first, he started pushing the bomb site.
He dies, Kalex gets a dink, but he gets immediately traded, Liman walks it alone in the site and the A site collapses.
Astralis, by the skin of their teeth, win that final round to pull it out in regulation.
Yeah, a game dominated by two great CT sides and two equally horrible T sides, you know.
And you've got to give credit to Astralis for pulling up in the first half and dominating
Eternal Fire.
You know, shutting down for everything they had to offer, we started coming into the
game as well.
The best player on the server is called Santeris.
He went one and 12th in the first half, so not necessarily helping EF to get into
the game, allowing them only a couple of rounds.
And second half would be the same scenario, you know.
Fanta is coming alive, starting to play well and all of a sudden EF is on the server.
So for my money, it's a fantastic win for Astralis.
It really sets them up well now for the tournament.
They go in against, was it heroic?
I said in a best of three, you know, almost called like a domestic matchup in that regard,
but also a huge opportunity for both Astralis and Hero to book a spot into the play-off
by taking down teams, you know, that they on paper obviously had a chance of winning,
but weren't favourites against.
I mean, definitely a garage match there, no matter what you say.
I mean, you have the core of three on Astralis
and then Schuchus and Tess is still on heroic.
So that's going to be interesting and eternal fire.
Well, they're going to go up against G2
in the first round of the lower bracket.
One player that had a fantastic performance
and he does get our United States Air Force
aim high player of the match is there.
He was lights out in that first half
and he was shutting everything EF wanted to do down.
To be fair, I think the best way I can frame Stan
within Astralis and I think Chad and Alex
broke about it in the cast as well is that
It's a very interesting player and a player that we first saw on Sprout.
We had high hopes for him and that obviously coming into Astralis,
you know, given all these changes, roster changes, in-game leaving changes,
it's been hard for him to find his footing.
However, whenever Astralis are struggling, whatever the Indies transition here,
you know, going from play-nest to device now, from device to KG,
I feel like he's the only stable player, you know, he's the only player where I never look at him and be like,
okay, you didn't do your job, you didn't live up to your end of the bargain.
We look towards Stam, we look towards Yabi, we want more from them,
But Starr is, you know, in silence all of a sudden, becoming more and more stable.
And he does feel like a player that has the ability sometimes to pop off.
And at the very least, when he's having a bad game, he's still doing his job, you know?
So for my money, it's one of the few signings that I actually made an awful
lot of sense for us, and one of the few signings that live up to
to whatever potential and whatever expectations we had to him coming into it.
I think also a very grateful player, you know, in whichever role you put
him in, he's going to just try to do his job to the best of his ability.
It feels like a good teammate from the outside and doesn't see him tell it or get frustrated really all that much
Just keeping his head down and playing. How would you rate this opening performance from the start?
It still worries me that the T side was so lackluster
I think that's something we saw in Copenhagen as well where the CT side stays show glimpses of
Potential and I think when you have players like sthoun, Yabi device on the CT side
You're prone to get some rounds once in a while
But for my money, it's still the T-Side, you know, having to KD and find the impact on the T-Side, having him calling it around with device on the Orb as well.
There's still some question marks in my mind and that's probably going to take time before we get to see the full version of Astralis.
But regardless, you know, them taking down EF, maybe not in the most pretty way, but a win is a win and that's already massive for Astralis now.
For EF next though, they're going to be facing G2 for elimination.
That is, it's just not getting easier for them.
No, definitely not. And you know, it's going to be rough because I feel like both Eternal Fire and G2 could have won their games.
If it were a best of three, not because of the map, but just to have that one map to get into the swing of things.
I mean, Xantares with a 1-12 half, I don't think I've ever seen something like that in CS2.
So, yeah, it's going to be extremely difficult for Eternal Fire.
But again, if they play on the level that they showcased in the playoffs of Pro League,
then they have a really good chance to still make it into the playoffs.
Well, in terms of making it to the playoffs, now we're going into the elimination sort of things.
of things with teams who might not be able to make it through to the playoffs, so we're
going to a quick wake and when we come back we're moving into the best of threes and it's
going to be FaZe taking on pain.
Bugs in the same place there, simple just jumping, catching in to the side!
Wait, wait, what was that?
Never miss a play again.
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How are things going, Mr. Sorrentis?
Things could be better, Hugo. Things could be a whole lot better.
I sure hope it's nothing serious.
No. Nothing serious.
Just a little problem with the old keyboard upstairs.
Nothing that I can't handle, though, Hugo.
Thanks for asking.
Stop talking.
Can't live without it?
Can't live without it.
Words of wisdom Hugo.
Words of wisdom.
I didn't enable it.
God damn it.
I wouldn't use it on official servers.
I wouldn't risk it.
My face is ranking.
I'd do anything for you, Hugo.
Any fucking thing for it.
That damn song I lived
shall never let me forget what happened.
I did use it once, okay?
It was an accident.
Completely unintentional.
It could have happened to anybody.
It was on the day of the valve ruling.
This little...
This little fucker was taunting me.
Making fun of my entries.
All I was trying to do was help the team.
Bumentary loss.
A muscular coordination.
I mean, just a little help from the keyboard.
He used just a little help.
Trace! Trace! Thank God you're here.
Test-A-Shoot Snap-Tap, it's Pro League.
BSL, over-tender map, then.
Test-A-Shoot Snap-Tap, it is so pro league.
The fuck was he thinking?
Hensie? I'm scared.
It's just like Mr. Richardson said.
It's like Bob Den's law. It isn't real.
Well, if you can't believe it, we are in Rio,
and it pleasures me to bring you all back into this game.
game one that we didn't really see coming right out of the gate but it's gonna be
featuring that of pain and phase and what would be known as an elimination game
that's right the first one here on the ground that we're gonna be featuring at
least this one's a BO3 for both these teams having started the day in a BO1
neither of them curiously where they want to be especially if you are that
Brazilian side now joining me here on these sofas or I should say that sofa
that will be pamp on the very end we have steel down here you can close
your knee what's up gentlemen's what's all trace yeah you know just just
taking in all the sites that Brazil has to offer.
And pretty soon, probably phase doing the same thing.
It seems like it's really easy to pleasure you.
That's what it took from that opening monologue
that you did there.
Yeah, why was it pleasurable?
No, that's what you said.
I'm just taking your words out of your mouth,
applying it to the situation.
You don't have to take them out of my mouth.
I will give them to you regardless.
So let's talk a little bit about what today constitutes.
We started with BO1s, and it's a grueling format.
It's a grueling system up to that point.
So if you look at some of the stuff that we've gotten already attacked and established today,
Jacob, what does your wisdom tell you about what we see?
I mean, it's a rough format as you said.
Best of ones are never nice, especially when you're a favorite.
You're coming in after a long travel as well.
A lot of these teams have base in Europe.
You're traveling in, you're maybe a bit jet lagged.
Your first game is the best of one.
And I think that reflects in some of the results.
By no mean am I giving face any excuse for losing to Furia.
Saint could be said for G2 going down to Hebrovik or Astralis taking down EF.
But it sometimes is a little bit rough to start off a tournament, you know,
far away from home in a pistol-gun scenario.
On the flip side of things, I'm sure all the underdogs out there
are really enjoying this type of format.
Whenever I played in the B01s as the underdog, it was always like,
oh, we can steal one of these maps away,
one of the maps that might not be one of the stronger maps,
and get ourselves into a really good position.
I think we've seen that on a couple of different instances today.
Yeah, it's always very motivating to be that team, you know,
that comes in and ice and opportunity.
And I think as I said a couple of those teams have done that today and in particular, you know
The face game versus Furia wasn't even close
You know it was very dominating Furia playing well
And by all means face didn't deserve to win that game or weren't even close winning that game
So for them to be in the lower bracket, it's they they kind of got what they deserve. Is it concerning?
I mean we look at phase the world being a world-class team not anymore
But but where are they what is going on with phase right?
So one of the things that we look at with phase is that they are a playoff team
They usually level up and during the playoffs
That's when they start to play and all of them are coming out of like whatever slumber they're in and usually if we are
Going to see them going down early in a tournament
It's gonna be one of these opening matches where they lose like a map or a series against a team that they shouldn't but when it gets to
Like the real
Big dogs Navi Vitality G2 those are the only really big teams that they lose to to actually go out of the tournament
And that's true that that used to be the case and and I would buy that argument as well for for many many
Yes, they've been very tough to put away in tournaments, but as a recently face
I just not looking like the normal face there currently ranked number 7th 8th in the world have been struggling for quite some months
You know at Cologne they spoke about the alice changed the way we call now care again wants to micromanage
Take away some of the freedom then a month after it's apparently changed again
So now there's a lot of freedom within face plan
I think they're struggling right now to find that identity that you described right here that that used to classify them
So I'm worried on behave a fire face
I'm not gonna like going up against pain in a business we lower bracket
I'm smelling that the a potential disaster could be on the menu. Yeah, and you do hate to see that if you're a face fan
Yeah, us we're impartial right guys like impartial ways completely. Yeah, which is why you know when it rains
It snows at least for the pain side. I don't nice. Okay. Actually. Yeah, and we're way that does work out
Let's talk about this pain gaming and snow himself
One of the more vocal gentlemen in attendance. I mean despite his inexperience his age as well
We remember doing Cologne that he was very vocal, not gonna lie.
He was doing a fantastic job trying to hype up the team.
And despite him having a struggle from tournament from an individual standpoint during Cologne,
he kept the mood up, you know, and showed that despite him, you know,
being inexperienced and being a new player to the team,
he's still one of those difference makers in terms of the mood when in, when in the team.
I'm still thinking with pain, they still have to get over that hurdle.
It seems like every time they go up against a team that's in that top five, top 10 category,
They just get completely blown out of the waters, whereas, you know, if they're in the top 20 or 30,
they could be scrappy and take a lot of either maps or even take a series away from some of these teams.
FaZe, I don't know if that's going to be a thing for them.
Yeah, and you the question marks really around the FaZe side as the favorite in this game.
But for the side of pain, you know, there's still a lot of growing opportunities.
Where you want to do it though is right here in Brazil.
Yeah, and that should be a motivating factor for for pain, you know,
in order to to be able to stay alive in the tournament and maybe pull off what
would be a massive surprise and knockout face as one of the first teams of the
tournament. Again I agree with what Josh is saying here. It does feel like pain
have an upper limit so to speak. They have a ceiling where they can be
competitive against some of the teams you know just around top 10 but when
you're facing some of the top folks someone like face usually it doesn't
bounce well. Yeah usually it doesn't but in this case in this case in
particular we're gonna learn a little bit more about the gentleman known as
Snow.
First time hearing all seeing Snow
was probably two to three years ago.
I saw some tweets come out of his gameplay
and how young this kid was
and the type of organizations that he was getting signed to.
And to see young prospects,
people who are growing up with the game
and flourishing at such a young age,
I think it was an interesting storyline.
So I actually started following him on Twitter
a couple of years ago
and now he's paying for pain.
When it comes to the way he likes
to express himself during games
and how he likes to shout out and things like that.
He probably was dreaming of playing those kind of games.
You know, he was playing at his home, on his own computer,
having to develop himself as a player every day.
I think it's completely normal for him to behave like that
because he must keep the fun as long as he can.
I go there, I like my competitors up there.
And I also feel much better screaming,
I feel the game better screaming, and that's it.
in the way people play Counter-Strike and also in the way they behave outside the server.
Maybe if he goes international too fast, I don't know exactly how it would be because
I have been playing for international teams already, I've seen some other players and
there is a big cultural impact that happens, the difference, there are some clashes.
So for him to develop himself as a player, have some good leadership within, I know
he's playing for Big Zero, he has been developing a lot of talents before, so
he's doing super well within.
So I think he's in good hands and I think having someone like Big Zero to
help him shape his first years of Counter-Strike is going to help him a lot.
I grew up watching Brazillero Coldzera, I really liked his highlights, his clutch movements, he played very well.
And at the international stage I always liked this Donk, because I think his movement is very good and his aim is very good.
And I always learn a lot from him.
doing super well. And I think on my mind, I remember Fnx, for example, Fnx, since he was 15-16,
he was already playing the best teams in Brazil. He won the first title international-wise in 2006,
but you know, if Pan is able to win like a real, for example, like that, if he's not too far away from Fnx,
he might not be on the Fnx level yet, but who knows, maybe he can even surpass him.
I would like to play, if it were to choose a player to play in the same team, it would be Manese,
because he is very young, certainly he learned a lot of things from him, and he is very good,
I think with the modern-day Counter-Strike players, for them just playing online CS late
into their quote-unquote online careers, that's not great.
The adjustment to LAN is important, so the fact that he's been able to play LANs from
such a young age I think gives him a bit of an advantage over some of these other
guys.
He's playing some roles that are very difficult to play, and at first when I saw that
they put him on those roles, I was kind of interested to see how he would do it.
He's playing B on Dust2, for example, it's a lot of sites where you have to hold
put on an arm, a lot of time to have to decide things for ourselves, so it's very
cool to see him developing those things and I think I can't really say which
role is going to be best for him, I think it's the one that he likes the most and
probably the ones that the team needs from him the most and as a young guy I
know that he's probably very willing to learn a lot of new things and be
the best player he can be for the team.
When I came here and I was just being sad, it's everything I'm
living now was just a dream and now I'm living what I always dreamed of
With my teammates, every day I make another dream and now my dream is to go to the arena and play in front of the fans.
fighting for survival, they're fighting to stay alive in the tournament and maybe
still have a chance of making it inside this arena which would be a great
opportunity for them whereas for faceclan as well it's for them to win the game is
almost a must-given you know it's the fashion I want to see them win the game
in you know even if they were to survive against pain in this game if they make
it clumsy if it's close if it's not clean then I don't really believe
face have a chance of winning this tournament so for my money it's two
different outlooks of this game pain just fighting everything they can
to stay alive to have another chance of playing a game at this
tournament was for Faze, even if they were to win, they have to do clean, otherwise I lose faith.
I'd have to agree with that. When we look at Kane losing to some of these top teams, it's like
double digits in two maps that they're able to post up. It's not, it's 13-5 blow-ups at,
you know, worse. So Faze, they need to continue this fashion, otherwise it's not good.
Yeah, try to hit the ground running. That's what both of these teams are going to do. Thank
you very much, gentlemen. It would appear as though we are ready to get into that game.
We're going to be doing it with Moses and Tito.
Thank you very much, Trace.
And yeah, it's day one, and it's already due or die, Jason.
Illumination on the line for FaZe and Pan Gaming getting into this.
And obviously, the desk gives up the storyline that Pan Gaming coming in as a Brazilian team
in Rio de Janeiro, this has got to mean much more to them as well on the line at the moment.
There's so much to play for and for FaZe, you can't go out on day one.
No, you absolutely can't.
If you're FaZe, you've got a rough run of events, a rough run of finishes.
You're not happy with your placements going out on day one would be just the next in a line of embarrassments and perhaps the most embarrassing
But you're right for pain
I mean getting through here and being able to play on this stage that is the dream and the problem with that is
It can be such an intimidating dream to chase after that that idea that you can run through the group stage
Qualify for the playoffs and then you're playing in front of a home crowd
We've seen a lot of teams over the years a lot of the top teams and players in the year struggle with that kind of
mentality coming into a game in front of their home audience
So Payne's gonna try and bring it forward on this pistol round out of position for the moment
They'll have to rotate and that's a nice start one tap from Lux but trade it afterwards
Yeah, I can show off from Lux rain able to make sure that it's traded back quite quickly
So phase clan get up on planted
They've got a decent post plan to deal with this rain looking for the short offensive
There's also a flight coming in but it doesn't look like it's gonna be required clean from phase three players stay up
And they've got themselves the first round of the game
Yeah, just so many perfect crossfires set up in the post-platform phase. They get started at one to nothing.
Very good job on the pistol round, nice and simple. Super interesting to hear the content piece that we rather watch, the content piece that we have before this about snow.
Obviously fallen talking about snow as a new prospect, a new player coming into the Brazilian scene.
And you think about all those years ago when Brazil were coming on to the international stage, the lights are falling, bringing those players out through the Gamer's Academy.
It's so crazy to see how many generations you've gone through already
Yeah, it has been and a lot of turnover and I think the Brazilian scene is needed that it feels like these last few years have been really kind of the going away from
Recycling the sort of you know, luminosity the SK guys the old guard of the Brazilian counter strike and shuffling a cup of them into rosters
Now it's about the young Brazilian teams coming up and if they can repeat the success that their predecessors had
And snow is obviously a big piece of that we can get more on that a little bit later when we get into a save run for now
Rain is going to lead the way out long one more close-up big use error shuts him down AK hits the deck and phases committed
Could open a kill from big is there, but will it lead too much?
They need to get aggressive here. There's a player rabbit in the A bomb site
They need to actually move forward on this defensive side because Karen begins just ruining their day
Yeah
There's another player in from short rops with him and it all falls apart so pain get the initial kill
But couldn't quite make the most of it they had too many gaps elsewhere
And now Snow left at the double doors in mid to have too much about the outcome of this and phase up to zero
Yeah, I mean that just had to be paying just that they didn't have the realization when you have three your three a players all focused on
Towards long a and that sort of gets stalled out
You have a player behind blue box in like a very very precarious position and you you have to get aggressive on that
There's a timing coming up catwalk where you have to know it's going to be tested and they never caught guard of it
win. And Kerrigan's able to be there undoing it range with a Mac 10. Let's talk a little
bit about Snowdenko because he's an interesting person to think about. He's just a force of
nature, isn't he? Screams, his yells, passion. Even his whole career has been pretty crazy.
I mean, he's been like the most sought after Brazilian prospect in recent years. Initially
kind of breaking out in 2020 streaming some of his games and some of his pugs. That
caught the eye of a team, I believe, boom, when he was 13 years old, signed him to like
a temporary, I think, a single event contract.
Three years later, he's picked up at the age of 15 by Case, full-time contract signed because
it's just so promising and things are looking good.
And then obviously, earlier this year, if you think back to it, pursued by a Brazilian
team wildcard, pursued by wildcard, and then Pame just said, we actually need to
see if we can just grab this guy.
They actually kind of snaked the entire negotiation and got in there before the contract
could be signed to pick them up themselves.
And it's an interesting conversation, I think,
because it kind of piggybacks on so many
that the scene had been having recently
when it comes to roles and how people slot
into different positions and how you're gonna play these things.
Snow on his early rosters is a more aggressive player.
He liked, you know, taking openings.
He liked taking space.
CT sides, he's playing positions
that you get to be aggressive and you get
to hold onto positions and kind of be the guy
pressing forward on the defensive side of things.
Picked up into this roster,
you heard Fallon talk about in the video.
He's put into more, you know, anchor roles
on the CT side.
He's put into positions that were held by a lurker previously.
So kind of just forced early in his career to take a more passive stance.
So as much as we want to see snow develop, it's a lot going on when you don't just get
a develop in that role, in that style that you played coming up and now you have to
switch things.
So we'll see, you know, over time over the rest of this year if that's going to be
a problem for Snow to adapt into.
But there's a feeling that he is exactly where he needs to be if he's going to
continue to learn.
Right?
He's under Big O'Zara, one of the best in-game leaders in Brazil.
And we know Big O'Zara isn't going anywhere.
he's gonna stay in this team, stay in Brazil.
So, pretty comfortable team to get his career start
at the top level for Snow.
We'll see how it continues
if he can get through phase today.
But, it's gonna be a very tough challenge.
Phase already three, zero up.
Finally, Pan came and get into the by rounds
and QZ on the AWP.
I mean, you heard the desk touch on it as well.
The last series, these two played against each other.
Two-one victory for phase,
but the maps they won were blowouts.
It was the 13-fives.
It was a single map victory for Pan in this matchup.
in overtime other than that they just got deleted.
Phase is already shown once they can outclass him.
And I think that's part of the reason why we're seeing
two new maps in this veto process,
Dust2 and Nuke being entered into this one,
not in the last.
Because Payne's trying to find a map that works against Phase.
Once takes the first fight and it's Karrigan
to lose most of his health.
Look, look, Rainman's gonna get the chance
to take Lux out of the server,
but he's just gonna accelerate up through shore
using his own flashbang to create space forward.
Rain eventually pushed back by some of the grenades thrown out by Payne.
Good control though so far for FaZe. Now you have to be worried about Catwalk.
You know the mid doors can be attacked. You've got utility being sent over at the B bomb site.
So most parts of the map outside of Long are being challenged by FaZe, showing presence.
And that would be a hard read for this defense to figure out where exactly they need to be.
There's a lark smark thrown out at B for FaZe and no one intends to use it.
Because the only player that was in the top of the tunnels is Robson.
And he's come out lower now to join this phase attack up through Short because they're spotting
out numbers and not able to deal with it.
Rain flashed, phase slowed down at 40 seconds, rops a little bit more pressure, applied to
her lurk position, he gets out through those mid doors, Lux is cut off, and now the supply
chain of Reese approaches the CT side to make these rotations happen, starts to dwindle,
it's all about the players within the site because they're only getting one NQC missing
his.
Remember, they still won at long, and that's Coway's, he's not really getting
much of a chance here.
also look at Robs, he got that fill in middle and now he's wrapped around to the B-Bomb site.
Surprise, and he goes down. If Cowellis could win that fight really quickly, he's going to
try and press the issue, force the fight so he can try and get it and isolate Robs away,
but I think there's just no time with the kit.
Smoke play as well from Reign is incredible. Just throw the smoke down into the site,
make it very difficult for Cowellis to get any opportunity to take Reign down.
And Faye's able to get the first gun round. 4-0 start here for Faye's on Dust 2.
Yeah, really good job from Robs, lurking in those mid-double doors during the Catwalk
Execute and phase just get a bully their way trade their way
This is a huge trade from care again on the off as well swapped out with low HP
very important kill to trade off over towards the railing and
Phase yeah for nothing looking good so far to start dust to this is Payne's pitch
So far it is painful
It's a bummer it's our I mean this is a man is just looking at the statistics at the very least
This is a map that's supposed to be good for pain obviously with a level of competition that you know phase plays
constantly. Stats might be a little bit misleading without the contacts. Lux almost able to grab
a second. KQZ over the top drops down, traded off by frozen and still a man advantage for
FaZe. Yeah, even after all that chaos FaZe still a player up. Gotta feel like kind of
has to take a risk to push through these long doors to get in behind them at this point.
You're so many players down, you don't have the weapons for the job. Perhaps
a risk could be something that could make something happen here for them too. We've
We've got Snow inside of B at the moment, just playing it behind cart.
The question is, is the MP9...
Yeah, and Snow kind of has to stay parked here.
I imagine with that utility, this is when Callis makes his move out towards Long.
He's really the only, you know, between Snow and Callis, he's the only one who can play.
He's just moving out of Long right now, calling it clear.
Obviously, utility being thrown into the B-bombs, that is a nice warning for Snow.
Yeah, let's not underestimate the MP9's power of taking players down very quickly.
It can rapidly melt its opponents, but Brokey, well, all he needed was a jump up
on top of that Tech 9, and Snow couldn't stand a chance against the elevation change.
Now Coway's walking his way down the middle, has found himself an AK.
That's a really nice find, and that's a nice little save to try and peel away with here
for Coway, so he's going to start backing up towards top middle, and he's got away.
So he'll carry the AK over, FaZe will continue their flawless streak, and it's a five to
zero lead.
Nice little consolation prize, bringing the AK-47 forward.
That's an extra money down the stretch that can help out, but Payne still need
to get around on the board.
long as long as they don't keep pushing long here if they there's still a chance
that they could take the AK away for a moment everything would disappear I don't
think phase is gonna be super motivated up raps I have a ton of cash so maybe I
take that back but yeah they seem pretty content to be happy with a fifth
round victory a shocking it is a shocking start to the day with the
with the phase loss this morning it almost I woke up and you know had a
little line coming in the last shift Jason I couldn't believe my eyes that
It was so quick
It's uh, it's over
Putting themselves in a tough position facing elimination immediately
Man, Keisarotto just just handled in the business
Dude, there's something about Furio though when they come to Rio no matter how bad they've been playing the rest of the year
There is just that extra motivation that seems to get the extra percentages out of the players
And Keisarotto in particular in this very arena
I just remember some of the guys on the level of performance from Keisarotto
Yeah, back of the major when he was in his prime.
So, Payne want to take back some of the control
and hop with a deep angle towards middle.
A minute and 37 seconds on the clock.
There's the pick. The first hit, down low, Kerrigan.
Good adjustment.
That's Lux to go down and we find ourselves equal in 4 on 4.
Here comes the say-kate for Kallis
and it doesn't really get too much done.
Frozen, very patient.
Just waiting for an aggressive maneuver from the CT side.
And he gets it.
So, now Snow playing off the back of the B-platform,
Karagin low, running in first.
Now he's actually just annihilated because
Snow can't really see anybody.
He's not getting an opportunity at all here.
The flyer tickling at his feet,
and that's a terrible round for Snow to have to deal with.
And FaZe haven't really committed their full forces
in this round.
That was a two-man take of the B-bomb site.
Now they've spotted out the position of the off,
so Bomb's gonna back away, head to the B-bomb site.
But the other two players are gonna leave their position
and already start getting aggressive for a hunt.
Now you do have to be a little bit careful.
don't just give a kill away for free very quickly and turn this into a 1v2, but
FaZe in the back of their minds are saying, we want that AWP. At the end of the day,
we want to take it away from NQZ. And this time, they will hunt. This time they'll put
the pressure on them, but QZ spotted, they know exactly where he is now,
and they've got the whole fuse to play with. Yeah, I was gonna say, as soon as
Kerrigan gets that spot and that shot rings out, that's when Rop starts
moving out towards Long A, he's gonna lurk it up, two players gonna be
coming through the long corridor. So NQZ, good luck. And up on the platform, really limited
safety.
Man, just trying to find out the perfect way to deal with him. NQZ has now been spotted
to a move down to the pit. He's got a deal with players in all fronts and he just won't
get away with it. Carrying him with a huge round here. He's had a hot start, Jayce.
He's 8-3.
Yeah, let's see that second kill. The one on the big Yuzera entering into the B bomb
site. Just a little clean headshot through the double doors. This is the opening
kill from the up, lower be traded in that setup and here's Snow just getting mullets
off and naded out of the bomb site. He was hoping for a fight and FaZe just let him burn.
At a time out taken by Pain. It's really, I'm really excited for the America's RMR because
we've seen so many Brazilian teams through the year like pop off and have their good
event, their good run, right? They're not able to build on it. MIBRs had one,
Panes had one, Manzies had one, Imperial has shown some good things.
And when you try and kind of figure out exactly where in the hierarchy these teams fit in terms of Brazilian,
in terms of South American, in terms of America's counter strike,
it's so hard to tell because we haven't seen that consistency at the top level.
Yes.
And Panes a weird one because Panes beat all the other Brazilian teams, all the other South American teams.
Oh!
But then just three days ago they lost to Bestia, who isn't even on the radar.
Yeah, it's true. It's strange.
Pain can get right to the brink of making it into the playoffs at big events and have results like you've just mentioned.
You've got Karrigan climbing up on Xbox, you apply pressure to Big Azera.
By the way, important to note as well, that AWP is picked up because Kawa is able to save the AK-47,
so there's that extra funds he didn't have to spend coming back into setting NQZ up with a hero AWP.
He's got them an opening pick.
Flash goes up, they're peeking into short, two pistols await them, and it's Kawa's on the double,
the 5-7 coming in with two and he's going to get himself an AK again.
So you'll pick that rifle up, you'll re-smoke short, and buy more time here for Payne's defense.
Yeah, but it's time to back off. You're in a 4-on-2 and you've got it all behind you.
You don't need to be risking yourself in this position, and oh wow, he turns back completely blind.
How's he gonna get away with that? It's so huge in Cowboys that he's able to get away with the kill.
And that has shut down the entire phase attack from one man at short.
Rops yet to die, the immortal on the server. He's gonna slip away. He won't be attempting to win this round.
No, but when you have zero in the kill column, you want to preserve your life.
You want to save your life?
Yeah, you say that as long as possible.
Yeah, you got to make sure you do that.
Well, when does snow and luck start moving out of the B bomb site to try and go salvage some of these weapons?
Catwalk has a plethora of AK-47s available to be salvaged.
Have you picked up any charms yet, Jason?
Uh, I have not. Actually, now that you said that, I did just notice Rops has one dangler.
Yeah, look at that little dangler.
I'm not a huge fan of the charms. I'm not going to lie to you.
Yeah, they don't make a massive difference for me.
I don't really have a massive opinion on it
I have one of those opinions where like I
It's distracting?
No, I dislike them to such a degree that it doesn't really make sense
Cause it is, at the end of the day, it doesn't actually change anything
Makes money
Just for me in my head I'm like, I hate it
You're just old
You're just old, Jason, you're just jaded
There's too many changes
There are a lot of changes in that recent update
And turns out people like, they call for changes
When the changes come you're never really happy. Yeah, it's not the changes you wanted. It's always greener
Well pain do have their first round of the board out of a timeout out of a hero AWP from NQZ
So that's a good start, but they got to go on a bit of a run here to get some energy up
To close out this first half
Well, that was close. That was very close to broke you open up with the first kill of the round
long presence from pain pressure with three players
being applied in towards the longhouse. Obviously can't keep three players there
so they'll send Biguzera further back towards spawn.
Basically mind just slowing this one down. Keep getting short control, apart from the last round.
Actually I mean even last round towards the end. Probably should have had that kill on Calwess
and then you have a two on one against the AWPer over at car. That could have been interesting.
But yeah, outside of the previous round with the 5-7s doubled up on Calwalk,
FaZe have had new issues taking control of this.
Once again, it happens, they leave Rain here for the moment.
Little bit more utility to show a mid to B split.
Rain just hoping one of those bullets catches the player out, peeking from Goose.
Not to B though.
It's all silent on the server with 45 seconds left, the mid smokes go out to mid to B again.
And this time they're going to activate with it, so Karrigan gets his way through those mid doors.
FaZe keep players short.
And two, making their way through CT spawn.
It's going to be an A-split in fact, with these smokes being used, rain dives down, biggest error, got a double!
Luck steps up as well, and suddenly Brokie and Frozen, the only two remaining players here for FaZe, are 25 seconds left.
Not a whole lot of time, but nice shot from Frozen.
And he's going to go back again, NQZ's got this angle.
Oh no, Lux is the next up, Brokie trades it out, and now with 14 seconds left, the AWPer is looking for this clutch.
He's going to go over the top, speculative, no scope, not connecting, and they're looking to run him down.
Broke he will not be the hero in this one is paying finally get in our second
I think that's actually a really really cool idea from phase
It's two players sliding out mid with the smokes showing a mid to be split the attacks coming up catwalk rain dropping down
Maybe just mistimed maybe just miss pathing from Kerrigan, but he walks right into this double from big use era
Perfect positioning very fortunate, but a cool idea from phase that almost worked six to two
They've got plenty of money for another by phase, but they're out of it after this
They change
It's much faster start to the round here from phase at least
I think Harry didn't wanted to get out mid that flashbang slowed him down and made him a little bit nervous now
The upslides over towards double doors. Yeah, well, they all for broke. He was holding
Get back to the angle just in time and broke you actually took damage. He took a leg shot on board
So he's down to 21
That was an awkward fight, but broke he fortunately gets back in time
It's a great kill and I mean now if your phase you really do go back to this just slow it down.
You have the man advantage in the first 30 seconds of the round so make them wait,
make them get a little bit nervous. Defense is going to spread out again showing a mid to B split.
This is a nice play from Snow and Lux. Clear out the upper B, get an early push on the flank.
Now here comes the attack for phase very early so Big Azara swings into the open.
Just a single kill for Big Azara getting traded out by Robs.
And now Callas, he's got eyes on Long. So Frozen's just being patient again.
I'm FaZe now. That's all the prep work.
K-Cab, Kalas still alive. Still gotta be worried about Long.
Nice kill from Kalas. Do they want to go for this in the three on three?
Does that walk just got smoked, which might dissuade them?
Yeah, that smoke could cause problems that they can't find the answers to.
Although they're still going for it.
Cut utility of their own to allow them closer and closer to the bomb site.
Time will start to take that grenade going in on Broke.
He certainly helps matters, but carrying him with effective training.
Kalas on the follow up, but finally going down to Robbs!
Oh, the turn back! He is 11-1! Robs is ridiculous today!
Yeah, that's filthy. Nice shot and Robs could just sense it.
He's like, no one's coming up CT. All right, let me check Catwalk real quick and perfectly in position.
A 5-round lead and that hurts.
That was Payne's chance to just decimate the economy a phase.
What a round from Robs.
Closing it out, providing the opening trade.
And a nice little 1v2 at the end.
Three back 10s.
And if this ends up being a play towards the B bombsite, which FaZe haven't really done throughout this whole half
simply because they have those three max ends, there was a moment where it was only Big Euzera.
Snow slid over towards the A bombsite by Spawn to help take control of Long A.
But as opposed to every other round, there's no utility being spent in middle or around Catwalk for FaZe,
so Pain might have a really good idea of what's coming.
But will this be enough to stop him? Lux at the back of the platform with an AWP and Big Euzera close.
the tunnels exit with a FAMAS. They're blinded, they're held back, but Bigazella ascends above the smoke, he only gets one.
But the rotation is swift, it's immediate from paint, flying through the window, but headshots connecting here for FaZe, it's a 2v2,
bomb not down, and Coway's still a long way off, as Brokey makes his way through. That is an instant trade from Coway's, that is a nice shot.
Yeah, I think Brokey's gonna be a little bit sad about that, that's perfect, that timing to push through just before the smoke plumes puts
Frozen into 1v1, but he hasn't been able to upgrade to an AK.
No kit for Coway's nor any utility and he has to worry about the smoke because Frozen could have got into it so Coway's is going to waste time
just waiting for that smoke to fade away and then there's a Molotov as well for Frozen so the lack of kit is very likely now to cost Coway's this round
If that Molly goes out, round's pretty much over here Frozen goes down, didn't get it out and Coway's?
No kit.
No kit so he can't win it so he's going to have to run away, grab the AWP and try and sprint to safety, Faze will get their eighth round in the end.
Nice try from Payne. Good call from FaZe. Nice job trading your way into the bomb site.
I mean, you gotta say, Payne had the right breed. They shifted Snover towards middle.
He was here really quick. Look how much time has bought for NQZ inside the site.
He gets two kills, the volatile expires. Payne did everything they possibly could to hold
onto that bomb site. Really nicely done from FaZe. And his T-sides looking strong.
That's okay. Very comfortable. And even around the
but Payne won previously, he brought the point to the fact that it was a beautiful round from
FaZe, just went a little bit untorsure for them, because they're always able to get a
lineup of two players, but a very strong first half from FaZe, let's look at it to get better,
Rops clearing out the lower tunnels, couldn't stop NQZ.
Well NQZ couldn't stop Rops, I think that's what Lux was counting on, he's peering
straight up, he's thinking the AWP is going to have the angle, however Payne
once again have put themselves in a man advantage four on three no players over
along this is okay you're clearing up mid as we speak you're not losing
everything because you're taking control elsewhere on the map now coming
back no one's gonna be on catwalk despite taking control of middle
so you're gonna set up a boost because there are to be the foundations for
cowboys is rightful just a little bit late for that to be effective as rain
had eyes on that possibility and you see hopping up needed to land a very
difficult shot and couldn't do it. Now Payne lose any sort of advantage that they had in this round
and it's fallen apart for them. I'm so surprised that they that they took took over mid pushed out
the double doors and no one went up catwalk. Everyone came back towards spawn and fighting on
that ramp when they're already in the bomb site is such a tough battle. So Payne gets out with
the AWP and the M4 but really getting outclassed overall here on Dust2. I'm very intrigued
about the the game currently going on of fury versus mouse that's happening on the
B-Streak
have a look at that so spoilers so anybody anybody who is gonna get spoiled by
this I'm gonna get five seconds to mute that's a generous amount of time that's
a lot of that's that's a good amount of seconds all right fury I have in fact
won that first map okay that is very impressive I felt very underwhelming
I thought you were going to be like, oh, Fury of Malz, locked in overtime, triple overtime.
No, they have Fury of 1 and 13-8.
Okay, cool.
So, they're looking good and that's for progression.
Yeah.
To the playoffs.
Fury of the playoffs.
You can't mess with that run.
It would be a Asian hero.
Yeah, if you take down FaZe and it'd be a 1, Malz and a best of 3, those are two
very nice scalps to open up I am Rio with.
Last round of the first half here.
Matt pick has gone the complete wrong direction. What direction would that be?
Bad that's usually south is no falling
Yeah, but you know I
Don't like to just label a direction dad
Let's try it off Jason sounds like you've gone
This is being terrible though sadly for pain look how much attention
and face him.
Because of the pressure at the B bomb site, there's the SWAT drop, and this time it works.
And there's even a lurker over at the B bomb site.
Rops is knocking on the door.
And he's gonna come on through, Lux has him.
So information is there, but when you have Rain and CT spawn, if you're pain right
now, you're like, how the hell do we retake?
How the hell do we actually get involved in this round in any way?
Finally Rain taps away enough for Lux to go down, and Pain will see this half
close with FaZe at double figures. Not the start to this first half that Peng would have
hoped for on their map, it is just getting worse with every step. FaZe will exit the
first half of Dust 2 with a 10-2 lead. Snow will charge his way in long but he's caught
by a flash and it's just a moment before he's taken out by Frozen. FaZe have come
to play and Peng Gaming have a lot of work to do as we come back for the second.
They wanted the Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024, and already we're here at the elimination stage
for one of these two teams.
We've got FaZe, we've got Payne, currently looking like Payne, they're going to be going
home at, what is their home event, Jason, 10-2 down on their map pick versus FaZe, it
is not exactly the greatest start from Payne Gaming here.
It's a trend that we've seen in some of their other series against other top teams, and
even against FaZe is you have like one map in the series that you can be competitive
on and everything else feels like kind of a blowout.
It's repeating again here.
very tough first half phase, worked them on the T side, now they get to be the defenders
as pain attack in.
Big Yuzera and NQZ out towards Long, they're going to shift towards middle.
There is Smoke Flash on Big Yuzera, Smoke Molotov on Snow, who's in the upper tunnels.
I would imagine maybe show some presence on Catwalk, see if you can get spotted, give
away the position, Smoke mid to B to try and take some attention away.
deployed. And now Payne set their sights on this V-take, frozen, and Rob's looking to
combine and eventually they will get their first kill. And thank you, see nice
shots on the P250, Coway's coming in with him, and Payne with a dominant
pistol. Rane can't do much about this. That's actually a sick pistol pulled off by
Payne. Really nicely done, they had utility for any position they might
have had to worry about the smokes, but the Molotov towards back platform
perfectly executed from Payne to get started in the second half the right
way. And eventually we're gonna get the classic snow yell across the hallways. I don't know man.
Eventually it's gonna be a moment right? Not a whole lot. Not yet. Not a whole not yet. He had a really
rough first half and I'll say 2-10 looks horrible for a player that we kind of had hyping up as
one of the big Brazilian prospects. He didn't get a lot of love in that first half. Faze went
A most of the time. They went B once when he wasn't even there. They kind of played not
intentionally against him but just found so much success away from him that he never
really had a chance to have great impact on the first half but on the t-side and
on the t-side they could choose but it puts no let's find out when they've done
it what they need to then when the pistol the start of the second half that's
the first step in the right direction yeah especially when it's this kind of
a scoreline exactly and but it's a very long road back into this all starts
with the first step and also getting headshot of the rain on the USP and
damaged up by utility they can win this phase oh no they can win this
They've got two players very low Lux and Cowez do not have any HP to play with big user has got to have a huge impact here moving down
surely not
Because they're up
Oh drops. He's a zoo specialist. Oh, he's a master with a taser. Oh
God, it's just so wrong
Cowez shoots him through the doorway garrigan coming over the top not like this came not like this
Two players left for pain on low HP, but they fended off Garagin and Brody.
A leaf just frozen, but there was one hit from death.
Oh, he was open for an AK-47.
Go-go gadget arms couldn't reach it.
This is huge.
Frozen full HP and a USP.
And now he's got time with that smoke to try and grab an AK inside.
I could be watching for this surely though.
He's got the AK.
Hasn't revealed his position.
Imagine how nervous you are if you're pain right now on this two on one.
Low HP.
Oh, is he gonna make the wrong play though? He goes over to the B bomb site.
He's not gonna see anybody coming out of the tunnels, and this gives time for Payne to get comfortable on that A site.
I was gonna say it really doesn't matter that he's out of position, but he's now so committed to the B bomb site.
Does he go for this? Like even the fact that they has got the plant, like you could actually still win it if you went for a considered HP,
but he can't know what we know. Probably called out someone from FaZe that, you know, at least one of these guys is red HP, but...
Yeah, well, FaZe watch this back. They'll see how frustratingly close that was, but Payne...
Oh, they needed to recover that one.
You gotta give some credit over to Kaleis and Lux for helping to stabilize this round.
The job they do on Xbox and Double Doors to negate that stack in the mid rounds.
I thought when Biggie's air got taken out here, I was like, it's over.
It did feel like as soon as Rob's got the Zeus kill, it was just done.
Yeah, but somehow, somewhere, Lux and Kaleis are able to stand tall.
Fights from Kerrigan could have been cleaner, I'll say.
If I frustrated that kill, it took him a little bit longer than he would have liked.
Could have transferred it over into a second.
But, FaZe have got plenty of other chances, and they're going to take that as a positive
that they're able to come back close to USPs in a couple pieces of utility.
Ten and four is the score, line face, heavily in the lead still, they'll get their first
buy round here on the CT side.
AK for frozen save, Dover is nice, leaves extra money in the bank for him later.
Yeah, which we saw in the first half pane had a similar situation that turned into
an AWP later on when they needed it.
NA to give himself a clearance to push.
Deep Molotov to prevent the CTs from pushing forward.
It looks like we're just gonna get a B execute.
Four players outside of the tunnels.
Here's the utility.
Frozen gonna spam away.
Rocks, turns, first is his.
Second is traded off.
Three players here at this defense.
Ooh, big Azarak getting out mid perfectly onto Brokie.
Rain will fall off the B ramp.
And it's all gone wrong for face.
Damn, dude, they just kind of got lost so they get the number of fights.
Broke he goes down to Big E's era in middle and then the B players one of them turns one of them fights tunnels that defense just got
Discombobulated yes, it definitely got discombobulated there
We'll go with that's one of my favorite scenes in movie history is the Sherlock Holmes the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes where
Yeah, Robert Downey Jr.'s playing Sherlock and he calculates his next moves in the fight and he discombobulates his opponent
you have the entire world of cinema available to you and you are a great
senior as Sherlock Holmes as your great cinematic moment it's not my
favorite it's one of my favorites one of your favorites I have many favorite one
of my other favorites is the when when Heath Ledger's Joker walks into the
fundraiser okay that's a lovely scene
I want to do a Joker impression of course because no there was a lot of
those the prolet. We did, we did get a little weird with that. It was a day where the Joker
impressions were everywhere. And we've had enough of that. 10-5, phase. Well, they don't
have a lot of money, so this does not look like a very pretty purchase. We know what
they can do with the little. They could have even gone a little bit further all in. Errigan
could have dropped another M4 over, but playing it smart with the economy, the
The utility is out and this is just that long brawl.
Who gets blind first? Who catches the stray flashbang?
Well done from pain.
Locks with a double kill, they control pit, and this little half-bi from phase goes nowhere.
What's your favorite, Jason? What would be your favorite cinematic moment?
Uh, when the T-Rex shows up for the first time in Jurassic Park.
That's pretty sick too.
Yep.
That's not bad.
A lot of that is theme music as well.
That's a beautiful stuff.
Nice and clean from Payne, step by step, they're walking their way back into this.
This is so weird, like if...
I don't know, it's just by nature of FaZe being up 10-2 after the first half, it feels like this is so unlikely,
but this is a close game now all of a sudden, with these wins from Payne.
This had been like a 6-6 half, and FaZe had shot out the 10-6, it'd be like, it's fine, Payne's, you know, they got another chance here,
but see, when you're down 2-10, it's like, ooh-hoo.
Yeah, it doesn't seem like there's a way back in, but certainly, there was one way.
I'm paying to taking it at the moment.
I got a leg shot on Robs as he crosses over as well. That's your B anchor.
The banker.
He's down low.
Now the plate. Long.
That's a real possibility.
My grenade landing on Coway's though.
It has weakened.
That prog to the approach.
And now Lux has turned from short.
Keeps his head down.
Oh, this is a sick timing.
Oh, it is very sick indeed.
He just tells everyone to wait.
Out of that towards Long. Nobody go.
You guys can even fall back. As soon as this defense shifts to, I mean, they can go anywhere they want.
Lux is about to infect the phase defense. Broke he had showing around the corner a little bit too much and frozen unable to cover him off.
Eventually he'll swing into the open and take bigger Zera down after the initial damage the bigger Zera received.
And now, well, it's all about taking their only opportunity. And that's through short as Lux has taken so much space here.
He can cut off the CT rotation through spawn with that smoke.
Okay, well if they don't produce anything FaZe from long, this retake might get called off.
You've got Robslow, you've got Brokeylow, those are weapons you don't want to lose.
So despite the fact you have a mana advantage and the post plant, oh, you might change your mind now.
There goes your long player.
Brokey's going to shift over with the AWP and now they're setting up for exits.
No reason to go for this.
You don't have the HP and FaZe will concede a 7th round over to Pane
so they can continue fighting in the future.
Doesn't be a good day for CT sides on Dust2, has it?
Two rounds won so far, combined on the CT side for both teams.
Alright bro, give me some on the exits.
Oh, nope, never mind.
Never mind.
None of those available.
This is huge though from Pank.
We're now looking at five rounds in a row.
Very close to tying up the scoreline now.
I'm likely going to a little bit worried for the first time here for a phase.
They're going to call a timeout.
They're first used so far.
so far. Yeah this is that time out of where Nio's just like okay the boys have
been punching them out it's been five in a row we haven't gotten anything going on
our CT side people are starting to get a little dejected comms might be slowing down
a little bit might not be as clear as free-flowing the ideas might not all be
there so just talking to the guys and get them back in shape I'm sure they
have a good game plan that they probably don't feel like they need to go
away from quite yet but they're real and at the moment of this come back
from pain in the second half. Cowell has got 15 kills Lux has 14. Well few of the
CT rounds within that five.
And the FaZe have lost.
They haven't always had the best of buys.
They've got themselves everything they want now.
And they've had a timeout to talk about things.
Breaking open the smoke so Brokey can get a peek with the Opsies.
Nothing along Catwalk.
Because they're climbing up on Xbox.
That is quick from Brokey.
Opening kill for FaZe and no presence elsewhere.
They're all in the tunnels.
It's a tough kill to swallow because, yeah, Big Euzera is meant to be the lurker through probably a mid-to-B smoke
to keep some defense there, cut off some rotations, harass them, none of that's available.
Rops off the site, it's a double alpha in a barrel and then he'll tuck back in.
And because of so much utility available for FaZe, Painter locked in the rest of the tunnels,
it's just nowhere to go after they lose the first kill.
They have one option that has Attack and To-B, and Rops just sinks them.
And FaZe playing Discipline after that kill, after stopping the attack because the money is so important.
Robs no more repeat 16 and eight top-fragged inside the server lovely day for Robs who
This might be the first year of his career where it felt like he really hit a struggling period
Which is weird because I think at the start of the year at start of CS 2 he was considered one of the best
Right. He had a really good purple patch of form when we first transitioned from CS going to CS 2
One of the great early adopters and then yeah, we just seen the I think when frozen came into the team
It just I don't know what happened, but I don't think it maybe it's even related
It's just that then around the timing it might have been I mean it's hard
It's hard to tell kind of what caused it
But I think more than anything at some point when it was extended for a while
You could just tell individually off of his game and we sort of saw that resurgence from raps back at ESL Pro League season 20
Where he started having more games were like, okay raps raps still got it not not time to pull the ripcord just yet
Nice double kill from him here 11 to 7 phase on the board in the second half for the first time
Well, that's the end of the streak for Pain.
Time to start a new one.
Next map in the series will be Mirage Phases Pick.
Last time these two teams played, Phase 1, that map, 13 to 5.
So a map 1 victory phase is looking very comfortable heading into map 2.
Frozen swings out on Pick U-Zera's Peach.
So much damage done towards Lower, Lux has to bail out.
One for one.
Barely.
Wok's still on 7 health.
Broke he about to peek.
Just snow actually gets splotted by NQC and then crosses into the open snow. We'll take him down.
And Broke he gets left in the open.
There's no one left on the B side of the map for FaZe. The closest is Rops playing Double Doors.
So he's gonna be listening for someone to drop down. He'll be playing those Double Doors for a fast flank up Catwalk.
If Kerrigan holds onto Long, which he's not budging, his bomb site's gonna be in some trouble.
Maybe a utility of Molotov exchange.
On Catwalks, that's Rain is reliable, and he'll stand inside of the site.
Notice they're coming at him now, Karagin has long locked in.
Lux is down, Rain is just playing his perfection and destroyed.
Destroyed in the instant, as soon as he pops his head up, Snow is there with a headshot.
Rups now has to jump up short, and he's here quite quickly.
He gets the first kill on Catwalks, Karagin's moved up a car and NQC's gone down,
leaving Snow alone in a 1v2.
We talked about him having a big moment here in the second half, and now he's got a clutch in front of him.
Carrigan dead first, and Rops on the other side.
It's been two very different games from both of these players.
Rops is having a great one, and Snow looks to try and stop him, and he will do it.
Snow finally steps up here for Payne.
Quad kill for Snow as well, and there it is, that trademark hype out of him as well.
You love to see it. It's been such a tough game for him,
But when he's called upon he steps up with a critical 1v2 that smoke that he's playing around as well at the end of that round is
Ropsis rops throws that to help himself get some space to make a playoff of cow walk and it really came back to bite him in the
ass
Because snow use it to buy time
to find some safety
And stood tall against one of the best cultures we've got
Well keep changing it up going for an aggressive play
peeking into the longhouse and catching out Calwares.
Bombs all the way back at T-Spawn, so someone from Pain is going to, you know,
Poma have to pump the brakes.
Yeah, that's a whole other problem now they've got to deal with.
I'll send Snow back to get it.
Oh, because Zera, the timing. As soon as he walks out those double doors, he's
giving a grenade to the chest. He'll lose his health. He's down to 42 off the
back of that.
minute left because they are now wanting to fully get out through the
mid-doors. He's got backup with him as well. NQZ's all peeking in towards CT spawn.
Rain's tucked against the boxes. There's a deep flashbang for the peek. How
perfect is that? Text work play from FaZe. Because they're up gets a second
kill that is quite massive from because they're all things considered 35 seconds
though and Lux is down. So at least the bomb carrier has a chance. It's snow
Again, this time 1v3 and Robs is in front of him inside of this B site
We'll go out into the open nice elevation but gets caught by the flash and now snow this looks impossible
Stuck behind the stack bricks
They give him a chance at snow sinks two lives in an instant putting himself against
Karagin with ten seconds left
He has to think about a plant soon
He leaps into the bomb site Karagin's moving in ever closer up against the youngster and Karagin will prevent even the plant
12 rounds from FaZe, they're on map point, but Snow brought that close.
Yeah, that would have been insane. Back-to-back clutches from him to keep them in contention.
Now they got a fight for overtime, 8-12. Really nice attempt from Snow.
I wish there's an alternate reality in which we could see if he gets that fight against Robs
without that flashbang popping. If he's able to get that kill and then bring it into a 1v2,
could have been a very winnable situation.
Yeah, that's a stress relief.
I think they're probably going to be wondering how do we actually let him get into a winnable position there?
Pretty crazy 1v1 when you think of the context of Kerrigan, one of the longest tenured professional players we have
going back to like 2007 against Snow, who's been just a young phenom at the age of 13 picked up
Let's say, let's say, we have no choice
Holy fuck, you're only one
How are the bullets not connecting?
I don't know
Good idea, though
How much did you get open?
That's my favorite Italian dish
What's that?
Holy
It's pretty good
That went heated a little more time to you work on that one. It's it's day one. We can bring that back on day three
Yeah, okay. I was just thought we're gonna drop that kind of joke with what day one's probably okay for you
Yeah, there's there's an argument for sure
I like the
What's going on my bullets aren't hitting it's true. They weren't they're just like us. Yeah, they really are
So that happens once for them.
Double Catwalk set up from Rain and Brokey looking to punish basic Catwalk control from
pain side of things.
Good Molotov though forces Rain to drop and Brokey to shift.
Quite a shift it is as the AWP wheels its way towards Long A.
But in Kerrigan's AUG take the business end of Catwalk defense.
Oh, good work from Tary, you're using the AUG, but he took a dink on board, he's
low on health, and so he's going aggressive, he's going into the fight, and he goes
right into snow and gets taken out by the AK. Nice shot on the cross here for
Brokey, he's gonna go back to Long. He's being a real nuisance with Coway's.
Actually gets unlucky on the on-skip there for Brokey. Coway's able to come
through with it. Bomb is now down for pain and there's in search of a ninth
round. The player is tasked with stopping that from becoming a reality as
Robs and frozen. There's an AWP over at Long now though. Picked up, had
spotted and that first kill not coming in quickly here and it's decreasing the
chances but frozen is getting ever deeper into the site.
Dink will finally land. It's not planted for them it's planted for Catwalk. If
frozen sticks this he can get on it and he can have cover from his team. He didn't get on it.
He gets taken out and yeah this is over now so Robbs will grab the AK he'll
slip away and we'll see a ninth round for pain but you're certainly right
Jason there wasn't opportunity there for that to be a possibility. I think
that was the game plan get one kill go back stick the bomb and just trust
that Robs is going to be able to cover you on the swing. The long player was never going
to be able to be involved in that action. I don't know if that communication even came
over to him because he was still parked over in pit. The plant was actually default for
Catwalk. So scary intense, but a good lurk at long for Cowez. Finding Brokey on a timing
where he's not exactly sure where he wants to be positioned for safety. And Pain
continue to fight just three rounds away now. And FaZe take the economical round.
Yes, a moment to breathe and recuperate their funds.
Rain is going to walk up top mid with a 5-7, and this can be often very effective.
Rain is kind of close quarter combat.
He wasn't intending to take down with a big asero.
And okay, Robs using this AK to perfection!
Robs is ravaging them, and Coway's is left in a 1v3.
This was around the face, did not expect to close on, but when you've got Robs on this form,
You never know what is possible and Cowboys has left so far away
I just noticed the decision making a pathing raps goes immediately to beat tunnels and pushes along that wall so we can hear footsteps here
Information he gets this fight. It's a one tap. What a close from raps who steps up right at the end of the day
13 9 map 1 in the books map 2 is mirage and it's coming up next
Probably, yeah
I'm fast
I'm pretty sure
I can boost it, I'm pretty sure
How long is he?
10 for you
10 for you
10
Holy fuck you're only man
How are the bullets not connecting?
I don't know
OP here on Dust2.
Don't you worry though, because this is a BESA3
and it is an elimination game.
Mirage sitting on the other side of us speaking to you
about it.
That's right, us.
I talked about Pimp on the end.
Josh in the middle, known as Steele, and my name is Trace.
Gentlemen, look like Pain wanted to get their feet off
the ground a little bit, maybe perhaps a little wet,
but then that ran a little short.
Yeah, first half was not looking too bright
for pain gaming to say the least.
Couldn't really get much going on that CT side.
Then they must start a comeback in the second one.
Some may call it a cosmetic comeback,
never really felt that the win wasn't
danger for face-climb, but at the very
least we got a competitive map at the
very end. Yeah, we're happy to see that
it wasn't like a 13-5 blowout, which is
what, you know, we come to expect from
pain when they go against those top five
teams. So putting up a few more rounds
on that, getting that pistol in that
second half, which looks really nice as
well. You know, the P250, a couple of
smokes in Amaliy, getting on that B
exec, and they gave us a game. It was
Payne's map pick. It was a little bit
more competitive than we had hoped,
than we expected. So maybe things are
shaping up for that second map, too.
Maybe, but in that first map, Josh, I mean, if we look,
if I just run these numbers back, which we normally do,
we start talking about what we got in front of us,
tell me a story, Josh.
I'll tell you a story.
So right here, pain is trailing.
Phases up six to one,
and all of the rounds have been basically phased,
setting the tempo, setting the pace
of everything that's going on,
doing a really slow pace,
and actually punishing pain
for when they wanted to go aggressive.
For example, cows try to walk,
push through long doors on certain occasions,
and he got punished for it.
So here, this is just layers from phases attack.
So the first thing that we got to see
was this lurk smoke coming up on short,
and this is going to allow rain
to get into that position behind that smoke,
and it really keeps pain honest.
It makes them keep their A set up towards this A site,
the ramp, the goose area,
and it doesn't allow them to actually move anywhere.
Then the second layer comes,
and that is in the form of this smoke
coming at the CT spawn,
and this is going to just bait out any more utility
from the CT side of pain to see what else is going to happen.
Now here comes the final layer.
And then we're going to see another, a re-smoke on CT spawn,
another smoke onto the left side of middle here.
And then we're going to see how FaZe decide
that they're going to come out and actually try
to punish pain right now.
So they've kept them honest towards A,
kept them honest towards B, and here comes the real fight.
And this is when it all falls apart.
So right when this player drops into spawn,
Kerrigan's actually walking through that spawn smoke
at the same time.
lineup and Big Zera is able to pick up two kills. So this was the second round win for
Pain, and it wasn't really at the, at the, you know, Pain doing anything crazy special.
It was FaZe in control of the situation, and bad timing allowed them to get double killed.
That opening going in the favor of Pain really allowed Pain to steal this round away.
And this was only two of what? Three rounds that they got on their CT side. And it
was basically a gift from FaZe. Poor timing, unlucky, not really poorly played by
either team just unfortunate yeah and if you want to be a little bit critical
against the spacing between I think it's frozen jumping down towards CT spawn and
Kerrigan coming through the smoke they're kind of choosing the same lane you
know so big wassir is getting the easiest double kill of his life had Kerrigan
gone through the left side of the smoke frozen dropping down CT spawn he
would have had to readjust you know and make the kills slightly harder for him
but that's diving into the details I agree with you you know face T side
wise this round they didn't end up winning but but they were in control
felt like big wassir and the boys from pain didn't really interfere or
to rob face too much. They're allowed to pretty much walk all over the map. We saw a couple of
B executes as well, you know, almost being called out of T spawn on a map like Dust2 that is known
to be 15 rounds in a row, back in MF15, 12 rounds in a row now, doing default every time. So it felt
like face could do whatever they wanted to on the T side and paint in an answer.
Yeah, which is exactly where we find the Ropsicle, doing what he wants to yet again. And
you know, there are questions sometimes about what is Ropspring the table? Is Rops falling
off? Where's Rops gone? Well, now can you smell what the Rops is cooking? Stop.
Well, on the cast, Moses and Dinka, we're talking about this a little bit as well, about his
form at the start of CS2 versus where he is at now, and part of that conversation I think
has to go in the way of the maps and direction that they're going with, Kerrigan's calling,
his micro management style, I feel like they're going in the way of giving the players
more individual freedom, and when you're doing that and you're picking maps such
as Dust2 or Mirage, Robs has a little bit more options, especially on that T side,
be able to move around and pick where he wants to go as opposed to a map like maybe like a nuke where it's like
Okay, do I go a squeaky door?
Either this 2x4 doorway or this 4x4 doorway at ramp and especially if his teammates aren't able to get anything going
If they know exactly where he is here
Gets a kill mid doors walks back through tunnels goes up or B gets another player in the back working through spawn
Really easy. Nobody nobody's denying the quality of rubs for his issues
It's been consistent, you know because these pop-ups you want to know while he's still having them
You know, he still has that ability, as you said, to be that.
I wouldn't call him Hardcore Lurk anymore.
He's had to innovate himself a little bit.
He's been figured out in a way, and I guess the Lurker position in modern days Counter-Strike
is significantly harder to be successful at consistently.
However, there's a big difference between when Rups is playing well,
what FaZe looks like when he's not playing well.
We saw it in Coke making as well.
Whenever they look good, whenever they look like a team that can actually go on and win games in a playoff,
it's usually based on Rups having impact as a Lurk position.
because if he doesn't find impact, they essentially are playing 4v5 and obviously that's an ogre.
Yeah, 4v5 is not ideal, that's a little huge race, you know.
Yeah, you know, I knew it was coming, I kind of put myself out there for that one,
but also putting it out there into the world would be what's going on in the B stream,
just a quick update for you all in case you have not been able to keep track of everything that's
going on. And it's Furia versus Miles, the first map went 13-8, the way of Furia,
like we all expected.
Ooh, they're about to potentially book a place in the playoff all the way.
Not yet, that's where the plot twists.
Miles had, you know, if we can see them actually from where we're standing, they did just win that second map over on Mirage.
So they're going to settle that score on Dust2 and for us, we go to Mirage now.
So let's kind of kind of put this one to a digestible package.
Jacob, give me something here to buy into if you're paying.
I mean, we spoke about a pain.
They they remain slightly competitive in the second half.
Hopefully they can carry over some of that momentum.
However, for face to pick Mirage, it's also a comfortable pick.
You said to yourself, it gives a lot of freedom to these individuals.
We highlighted Brokey coming into the tournament from an individual standpoint.
He's been looking great as of late.
So I'm not really worried on behalf of face.
If anything, I hope the pain can replicate sort of the same performance
that they did on those two where they at the very least at the end of the game,
game of a competitive game. Josh, you're paying gaming.
Come here. You're one map away from being eliminated on home turf.
What are you thinking? What are the emotions?
The emotions are probably like, hey, we give it our best.
But, you know, it's not good enough.
What they really need to do is figure out how they can convert both the pistol rounds.
That's going to be the best shot at taking this map away from phase.
And then on their T sides, just sick to their explosive playstyle, and if they're able to catch even a few rounds together against FaZe,
maybe that's when FaZe is going to start maybe tilting or making undisciplined plays and give a few more rounds up to pain.
That's, I guess, the train of thought pain should go in with to see if they can get anything going.
I also think that's one of the few weaknesses that we have seen from FaZe, that you can quantify the fact that whenever the player team that is explosive,
fast-paced kind of strike where they are willing to dare to risk a lot early on in the rounds,
Faze sometimes seems to struggle a bit with that because they are exposed, you know, some of these individuals like Brokey, like Rups,
they play very isolated positions where there's no trade potential.
So if you allow yourself to be a little bit explosive and risk a lot early on in their rounds, then pain may be have a way into this game.
Yeah, and if Faze get off to a hot start leg, we just saw on the first map this could be a done data, a finito there for the side of pain.
However, only time will tell which is why we've got time to go to a break.
And so that we can come back and we can settle the score potentially on what could be this last map between Faze and pain.
and elimination on the line. Mirage next. Nuke if we need it. You're watching the Intellectury
Masters Rio 2024. The same place there, Sid will just jump in casually into the side.
Wait, wait, what was that? Never miss a play again. Finally. With Faceit Watch, you're
in control. Switch between player POVs live and see the game through the eyes of any
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Watch it. Control it. Face it.
So Frozen, aim-wise I would give him a 4.
Probably the best aimer I ever played with.
He can easily one-tap from Deagle, one-tap from AK, do some highlight.
I don't think he has as much impact as he has had before, so maybe I'll put him on a 3 for now.
I mean, he's a type of player like me, like he's always going for opening kills.
I see his impact flow, so I'll just say 4.
They changed Frozen for Twist, so they're kind of different style of player.
Yeah, I would say Frozen is a more passive player.
Game sense, Frozen, I would say pretty high.
I would assume that he is a pretty smart player.
He also came from kind of a Karrigan school as well.
I would say probably four or something.
I think Game sense is also like four.
He is good in closing rounds, which I think requires more like
where do you go and the rotations in the same rounds.
And I think they're pretty good at that.
I think that I look side with being the best aimer,
the smartest player I played with as well in my time.
So, yeah.
I have five for mental, maybe.
Seems very composed.
I think he's pretty chill dude outside of the game
when I talk to him.
So, yeah, I don't think he's a tilter.
I'm remembering the one moment
that I killed him on another pass through smoke,
and he was smiling, so I think he's strong mentally.
I think that he's very strong mentally,
but I think that he obviously,
just like everyone has some frustrations also at himself
when he's not playing well sometimes,
but he understands what needs to be done there.
So, I would give him four.
4x4 because it's a good mark, so... because I don't know him.
He doesn't look like he's still thinking teammates and stuff, he looks very chill actually.
Setup looks very clean, frozen, like normal setup, so I'll give him a 5 for the setup as well.
I guess 5 as well. Like simple things, you know, nothing special.
I know that he always accused large crosshairs, I've never been a big fan of it.
I would put a 1, like I tried to copy him on the bootcamp or something, I remember and I was like how do you even play like this, so...
I know how he's sitting basically.
He's like putting like this, his hand, like keyboard here and like, yeah.
So basically I'll put four because it's the same, good to air-run, you know.
Would you play this?
Oh no, no, no, no, no, I would not play this.
I think your hand is pretty good like that, right?
Like when you stretch it fully, but it's not like a...
Yeah, I would say five if it's comfortable for...
Ah, wait, he's really close to the monitor.
Fuck it, two.
His eyes are fucked, movements.
Just give him five.
I'll put him three, because I cannot remember something special.
I will give him a four.
I think that he has really good movement and counter-strafe and all of that.
I think five for me is for a very special player, so I'll give him a four.
Like Raps, yes.
Raps, Raps, five movement.
It's not quite that, maybe.
Welcome back to the Intel Extreme Masters, Rio 2024.
We've got paint gaming, a Brazilian squad, and they are one map away
for being eliminated, Jason.
It could be disaster today.
Yeah, it could be.
It could be an absolute calamity.
It'd be a bummer coming into this of your pain,
and you're looking forward to trying to play in front
of that home crowd, and you've had some positive runs
and some positive games and matches that make you think
that you could probably do it here,
and then just put right back on your ass by FaZe
and map one.
A good comeback, but that's all it was, falling short.
And now you've got to do a mirage, a map that you were
just deleted in the last time you faced off
against FaZe on it.
A really tough task.
Robson Brokey back at Blast on this map, destroy Payne.
The two of them in combination on the T side just prevented Payne from doing anything useful on the map.
Let's see what they come in today with, what adjustments they've made.
Elimination on the line and you mentioned Robs just mere moments ago.
He had one hell of a dust too and now we go to Mirage.
CT side start for Payne Gaming and for FaZe Clan they're hoping Robs has another hot start.
We've got all five players your face ready to go in towards this a bomb site
Callas will play up on top of wood and QC below him and big is there out towards stairs
Oh, they got five guns here though one for each of them and cow is first kill traded
Good job from rocks over in Palace those dualies can't get the job done and now big use air is stuck behind smoke one player
Going around towards ticket, but other than that phase is in complete control until there's the ticket player
All the way! Snow just landed! That is so sick! Snow just landing every single shot that comes into his crosshair, this silent assassin from CT spawn.
I just want to let that sink in.
That's fair.
Oh, dude.
Oh, he's here.
Yeah, and the Clive map point is like, I'm not playing another map like Dust2 ever again. Like, I don't like that.
I didn't do it. I didn't even see that coming. I saw him rotating over. I didn't know it'd be a sequence.
Welcome to the series, Snow. One to nothing for pain.
Oh, Faze looking too. Just trying to dust that one off.
Here's Carrigan coming through short snow. Okay! There was a chance for Carrigan.
I'm able to take Snow out of that. He goes to the tech nine and...
I'm not ready to deal with the rest of the Faze players coming out of the apartment, so Lux has to do that from the bench.
the bench. Oh don't run with ammunition young man. Oh deep on MQZ this is dicey. Broke he's
going to clean one up and now he's got to find Lux. Robs is hustling in through but Broke
he's got to take a risk inside the smoke. Broke he's backing out into the open Lux with great
repositioning now Robs is so low that he's going to be dealt with from short side on Coway's.
And Pinkham able to recover it but yeah like you said it got dicey. Yeah it really did.
Actually Kerrigan had such a sick timing on that play up Cowak never slowed down whatsoever
He just doesn't expect snow to be to his hard left when he's turning that corner up, Kat.
If that kill comes out, that bomb site's definitely overrun.
So Pain just barely hold on.
And I think in a round like that for Pain, you gotta look at him and be like, okay, you
only get a few of those where Kerrigan's allowed that kind of a space and that kind
of a timing that we get away with.
That might be the one where they're like, okay, we've used our one.
Let's just be very cognizant of that moving forward.
Hero AK-47 on Robs, drop by Rain.
Kawa's already getting information there's no one top mid he's pushed all the
way up so FaZe will be spotted elsewhere and that hero AK gets to work really nice
bait from frozen as well half damage then back and away the last round of dust
2 showed us exactly what Rob's capable of when he has the only AK for FaZe he
was able to win the round on his own he's gonna kill here already Kawa's
is about to walk into the pack of players he's done pretty well but
that robs even killing his own teammate, he's got a double in this round so far.
Yeah, what is it? Look at this play from Kerrigan.
Okay, there's a couple traps here. First of all, it's Lux coming up these stairs.
The timing on this for Robs, because he's trying to hustle and get to this B bomb site
quick and he goes, cool things! Oh, he almost gets it.
Almost reacts in time, but Kerrigan, he had to push forward and try and take some space,
so once again, this round gets scary and dangerous to a certain extent,
but pain withstand.
No, carry it. Look at him make some money of his own but also do damage to the CT side
but he couldn't get an extra kill.
That's nice we didn't hear Snow at all in the first match.
Yeah we didn't.
No, now we're getting it.
Yeah there was no real reason to hear him.
He's getting the boys fired up.
For the first time in this series not playing from a deficit is pain. Not trying to
dig themselves out of a hole.
Get a play with the lead, the momentum and the economy.
Up on NQZ.
Kerrigan takes the Mach 10.
Reng with a flash in behind him.
Can confidently be the solo spearhead on his campaign down middle.
He's got a lot of support in terms of utility coming over to help him.
He's now stuck at cherry. Here comes the peak because they're charging in towards him
and Reng couldn't deal with that. Not one bit.
dead at the top boxes to the hands of snow, Karrigan's up next, and dead to snow as well.
Minute nine seconds left, FaZe really going nowhere, and they're going to try and come out of A,
but the bomb is down at top mid, and it's completely surrounded by pain players.
All right, frozen.
Missing his chances. Two versus five.
And this feels like, eventually, FaZe is just going to choose to save this round.
That's a really nice mid-round piece of aggression from Paine.
The late takeoff, Catwalk, or any even sod coming, saw the utility dump from Catwalk.
hard fight to be prepared for.
Well...
Now, Rops knows he's been spotted, so he just steadies himself and goes out for the fight
and wins it regardless, but it's not around that it's obviously going to turn into anything.
No, and unfortunately for FaZe, you don't even really do economic damage.
One kill from Rops is nice, but that doesn't really dent this economy in any significant way.
So you can't even really set yourself up for the future.
So all of these two AK-47s, maybe half-bio pistols and utility around it,
but pain is in complete control in this early going.
Now, speaking of the future, if we need it,
map three is Nuke.
If pain are able to beat FaZe on their map pick of Mirage,
I'm gonna send this to a third deciding map of Nuke,
and that could be pretty exciting if we have to go there.
Now, the first time up for FaZe took a long time to come out on Dust2,
we had to wait for the second half until we seen the music,
It's a different story here, very early signs of meeting his time out for FaZe on Mirage.
You have to imagine that little comeback on Dust2.
At least gave Payne something to talk about between maps, right?
At least gave the coach, gave Big Euzera something to say, look at how he came back on Dust2.
Look at how when we actually started playing the game we were able to compete with him,
able to stand up to him, grind that game back into a winnable scenario,
And making sure they come into Mirage with that very same focus, they're up by four.
And they got plenty of money.
Brokey is going for a quick peek, but he'll be stopped by the fire.
Now if he does peek, the AWP is waiting and reying to still taking NQC off the top of the stairs.
And he knows where his next victim is. Cowards cowering under the wood.
It does very well to get one out of that. It looked like he was going to have that with nothing.
The phase collapse upon this A defense, and it happens so quickly that Pain unable to catch their breath.
Such a good read of all the shifts. Obviously the player in dark underneath the balcony, they knew that the whole way through,
but Kerrigan timing on that push through con just when the player is going to have to turn around.
Bomb plants not stopped, excuse me.
Plant a default on the other side of the boxes.
And with big use there as HP, it's time for Pain to back off.
I don't want to lose these AK-47s or any more of the money that you're going to have to spend in the next round.
Well, money is still very good here for paying despite losing this round.
I'll still be able to have a great buy going into the next, especially with these two save weapons.
Faze will have to deal with that.
But out of the timeout, into the first round win.
Rain just confidently peeking against the altar on the stairs.
Now winning the fight.
And NQZ maybe is swinging out a little bit too wide for that shot.
It misses it and there's nowhere to go after the fact.
First round for Faze.
There's some nice claps from Neo. Yeah he had solid clap. I remember that clap
after the timeout on Dust2 as well you know he called the timeout they won
the round after. Yeah they got a nice steady clap. He's got a really good connection.
Yeah great rhythm. Yeah it's wonderful. How's your clap? Not as good. Is it
fixed yet? I like to think it's good. Yeah.
All right, we've taken that in a new direction.
Thank you, Sarah, for putting out the Molotov out of the window as well, down to 44 health.
And FaZe spread across the map as they set up in a default.
Window smoke leaking down to the bottom off the underpass.
Bomb recollected, put in the pocket of Karrigan, and he's going to drift his way back over
to A. He's got a job to do, he's got some utility to throw.
And uh, I think that bounced on that very well, has he?
Yeah.
That's bounced right back.
And that's actually.
Mission failed.
That's actually quite an issue.
Uh-oh.
I think that's meant for what?
Jungle, the Topcon, to be able to activate the mid
portion of the attack.
So the idea that you have to do this now without that
smoke has got to be a little unnerving.
Carrying guys.
Not bad.
Just kind of missed that smoke.
So you're going to have to kind of go in dry.
Well, sound cues on the Molotov on Snow in Ladder Room, so Ragnos is not one trap, but they can't find him.
An action elsewhere is underway. Good entry. Brokey gonna provide support with the AWP. I'm still waiting at A ramp.
Well, doing very well. Getting himself some space to play with here for FaZe, but Big O'Zara eventually chiming in on Frozen.
But Big O'Zara has a bigger part to play. Another kill. This time on Brokey leaping into his crosshair.
14 seconds, time is off the essence, and it's only Rob's left. Too many targets, not enough time, and it's 5-1 for Payne.
That's going to be Karrigan just tapping his chest and saying that's my bad. Even though that missed smoke at the end of the day, they still are able to get up Conn, still able to find some kills.
The round kind of descends into a little bit of chaos. Combs get a little bit disorganized when that kind of a smoke misses as you try and recover and come up with solutions to that problem.
And Focus just slips elsewhere. Very missed.
most miss smoke. That's a high degree of miss.
Soundboard of snow. We'll broke you back on the AWP. A couple of weaknesses here for FaZe.
Deagle for frozen carrying on a back 10, but Rain certainly not one of those weaknesses
with the AK charging out and taking a kill on Kawa is off the top of the wood.
There's two rounds that they're going to have a victory in FaZe where they've just
bullied this bomb site with no real finesse to it. Just kind of deciding very quickly
We're going to attack up the ramp that round is a cow has a tough job. He's getting spammed from palace the prefire
To allow rain to get out the ramp is perfect
And these are nice wins for phase and you need wins like this right very convincing out of the gate
You get the opening kills and there's no reason for pain to think about a retake whatsoever to stick around
But you're not taking the money away
Still gonna be another full buy in the next round for pain and fours will be dropped over to NQZ and cow as
And phase really looking for that knockout blow
It's got to be the point where they start getting consecutive round wins here though for Faze.
But also to start thinking about it from Faze's point of view is like tactically,
when you look at how this half started in the first gun round or two,
you know, Pain was able to shut them down in mid,
with heavy retake, heavy utility, multiple bodies.
Now if you're Faze, you've just waltzed out a ramp twice to find openings
to get you your two round wins, and you've just been able to bully the defenders at this bomb site.
Now, all of a sudden, Payne has to really, really second-guess.
If putting resources in middle is the best allocation of them,
because if they keep losing A in this fashion, it just spirals out of control.
And they're out of money to find a solution.
This is the last buy they would have. Biggie Zara's got 30...
It's he just bought up. 2800, excuse me.
And the mind game of the adaptations now comes into play for the two-in game leaders.
Round 8.
Hane's gonna allow Kaleis to play retake at the A bomb site back towards Ticket.
NQZ, Snow and Big Euzera. Looking, they wanna find it and show some aggression in middle to open up this round.
Karagin applying pressure at B and just kind of falling away after he's been a bit of a nuisance.
And now Snow will have a little peek out mid. Not seeing too much Karagin going back down into the underpass.
Just being a lot of A successor phase so you would imagine they wanna finish there again.
and they are going back over to the A side with a bomb now joining them.
Yeah, this time just later on in the rounds.
But I think Payne had that same kind of idea,
because look at the way their defense has shifted.
Big Yuzera towards window room and jungle,
player close up at a ramp.
You've got NQZ's AWP back at ticket,
so this defense is a lot more powerful than what Payne's
had seen previously.
And this time, Rain doesn't win his fight in the ladder room,
and he's been very solid at getting those picks to go his way.
Now Broke, chiming in, getting the trade kill,
but NQZ out from ticket.
Rob, Rob! Second shot is good as Carrigan's off the top of the stairs and now he's burning.
NQZ jumps up on top and how has he got three?
Frozen's left at Sandwich, he is stunned.
His teammates have collapsed since all of FaZe go.
It is NQZ with a hero moment on the off.
It was Brokey double scoped for the box swing rather than the jump up.
It didn't seem like he reacted whatsoever.
Like all credit to Pain though.
That's a really, really good start to the round in mid-round rotation.
To position a third player back there when A's been abused a number of times.
What a round from NQZ. Perfect towards Palace.
The shot on Kerrigan is very nice. He knows what lurk is coming next.
That's the one where...
Yeah, you're probably right there.
I asked her, you're just looking at the right side of the box instead of the jump up, yeah.
Well, left himself a blind spot.
And ended up costing him.
Faze have to make do with this utility that's already out right now.
because they don't have a whole lot, they only have one smoke to replenish towards Conn or Window if they want it.
So they've got this positioning, hit the brakes.
But that smoke is gonna start clearing.
Oh, jump spotting.
Not going back into Broke's cross out, Lux taking the safe for jump spot just on that left side, not exposing himself to short.
But Rain...
Oh, he's got Broke to clear out the site instead for him.
Do you really want to... Oh!
Okay, Carrigan getting caught from NQZ's peak.
Now Rain's turn.
And they know that he's inside of the connector, he's done damage out of the default player,
but with the dust thrown up by that grenade, Brokey's scope allows him to get the advantage
over Rank QZ.
Now Ray, getting deeper into the site, Snow, low in HP but still standing regardless, has
now moved his way out to default and is trying to dance with death.
He gets inside of the smoke, and Frozen and Brokey are close by, Biguzera needs to
help his teammate, and the kills are coming out for Faze.
It's all Biguzera, he goes big or goes home and Frozen hits the headshot, it
is a third round for FaZe.
I think he was spotted.
I think Brokey actually spotted him
as that smoke was clearing.
That's why he backed off to prevent the plant,
to hold off on it for a moment.
And Biggie's arrow just way, as you mentioned, exposed.
Good round from Snow, though, anchoring that bomb site.
That's a really tough scenario to be in.
I think the real issue for Payne
is just the constant peeks from the bomb site
towards Catwalk.
NQZ gets one kill, goes back for Moore,
gets picked off.
First check towards what's going on Catwalk
is an M4 that Brokey's able to pick off.
Those kills just came so simple for FaZe, and it's pain out of money.
Straight up hit into the A bomb site here for FaZe, execute out of spawn, and they're up against nothing.
And now it also is the next layer of this, because that's back-to-back gun rounds,
where FaZe would have noticed that the AWPer, NQZ, gets rotated back to take it back to the bomb site, right?
that seems to be the adaptation pain was been rolling with these paths few
rounds and if Kerrigan's caught on to that he can work with it it's a piece of
information to let him know what what pains deciding to do the winner of this
game would go on to play the loser of knobby versus liquid brokey brokey just
cracks me up just he is so close up he just sees the pistol and it's just
like tech nine but instead of like talking against the wall and trying to
make him swing into his team he's like no I'll just kill him for a man of a few
words he really exhibits so much personality inside of the server yeah
he has get a little chuckle about something phase within two last time
they played this map I mentioned it 13 to 5 win for phase so Payne's already
done better than that they only managed four rounds of their CT side in the
last matchup now six and a chance to add more on top of it silence on the
server. Yeah, FaZe is usually thrown way more utility than this, and Pain just doesn't
have utility to throw.
Biggisarra walking up middle, ever closer to the first fight. The first blood is for
rups. Biggisarra dead. Rain throws the grenade in on the follow up at short, and FaZe are
going for a B finish this time.
And Biggisarra had one of the few smokes that Pain could have utilized, so that's
hit the deck.
I was wrong there. They're going back to all faithful
Going back to their X at a
Look at Coway's over here. He's the only CT that can do anything about this
Honestly at this point, that's a that's a great find to carry and just kind of lurking in I was gonna say you have three players
The B bomb site
This is just you you call the save if they hit here now because of that kill
They have a chance to move and shift and see if they can create something to be in the right place
Oh that gap. That's a huge gap. Oh, that's that's tantalizing to play with but
but land is taking snow out and Talwa's really didn't get any of those phase players crossing with it.
Just tantalizing enough to draw you in to have everything taken from you.
That could have been a really nice save with three, maybe four weapons on board.
It's like falling for a beautiful scam, you know?
Phase should hunt this. There's one round left in the first half. They've got plenty of money.
Go take as many of these weapons away as possible.
I don't know if you realize the op is you do. He's gotten a kill on QZ.
Well, deep in the apartments, it's far away enough that it does feel like pain will get these weapons into the next.
Well, I don't know, Ray.
Ray is the closest.
Yeah, it's not hustling whatsoever. There is a player-
If you just spam, though, Jail, okay. Oh, God.
Oh, my Lord, that's the AWP.
That's the fastest way.
Well, the AWP can be-
Recovered.
Recovered here from Lux, which you'll obviously have to sacrifice as beautifully as 47 for it.
Oh, never mind!
Okay, Ray, that is so ridiculous!
Okay, well, that's one way to deal with it.
Yeah, that's one way.
Never mind, Jason.
They were hidden behind a paper-thin wall.
I'll talk about it kicking the dick.
That one.
And they're not recovering from that one.
The summer cake starts coming in.
It's going to fall off.
Oh, God.
This shot is just something special from Rain at the end.
Just that last second.
Ah, zero reaction, of course.
Yeah, it's rain.
Well, that's a bummer if you're pain.
So now you're fighting with MP9s and a scout.
One last MP9.
Robs is turned to clear out ramp.
It's cool, you can see this though from FaZe.
Like once they've gotten control of the money,
once they've taken like the economy aspect of the game,
they've been more than happy to go back towards middle.
Pain hoping they can't extend their lead into a 7-5 score line at the end of this half.
They've fought hard to bring it back to a 3v3 and a miss shot from Brokey
has put Pain in the powerful position.
But it's a phase finish on his B site and a dink on Karrigan on the crossover with a bomb,
but he will make it regardless.
Okay, and he gets a Molotov kill. That's someone trying to come out of the market,
tries to extinguish the flames just not in time.
third made, then GZ shot down to 60 and dropped to the nicely placed headshot.
Lux to leap out of the window, but not a lot of chances for Lux to make something happen here.
He'll take the first player down. Now it's on Karagin, but Lux is always going to find him.
That is sick from Lux, so it will be 7-5 at the end of the day.
Payne will take a two round lead as they need to win Mirage if they want to stay alive here in Rio de Janeiro.
The lead for the side of Payne is they have to pull this back versus FaZe Client.
Dust2 went against him and now the Brazilians need to do a lot of work.
The second half of Mirage to make sure that this keeps going in real.
Yeah, two-side looked good on Dust2 though.
That's where they made their comeback happen was when they switched over to the offensive
side of things and when you consider this first half went really well for them.
Even soon that last round with the MP9s and a scout away from FaZe, things are
looking much better than Dust2.
It feels like this pain gaming team, individually the players are here fighting back.
Let's see what they've got for us on this T side.
Big clash coming at the A bomb site.
Yeah, it's gonna be huge here.
All eyes on A.
Smoke's deploying for pain.
Now the flashes ring out.
Rops yet to reveal his position, but now releases the first bullet.
It's a headshot on Coway's because Aira trades it out immediately.
The rank going down in behind triple without much of a fight at all. Broke he, dropping back into CT, only getting one kill out of it, and Payne stay ahead with one player.
It's on frozen. These Jules all can't control it. Big Euzera shuts him down. Kerrigan left in a 1v3.
Get a step up to the plate for a clutch. He knows the location of all three players. It's about finding them and finding them in time because there's no kit.
Yeah, they're moving. They're making it very difficult for Kerrigan to even think about an opportunity here, but he's got himself his first head shot.
And as soon as he exposes himself to take it to second player on the follow-up has him locked in eight to five scoreline
Pain extending and that's both pistols the way of pain. They won the first half as well generally a very good recipe
Yeah, and they're CT side so huge to have those two things underneath your belt as long as you can convert the second round
You got to feel like pain to the driver seat to force that third map
Not bad on the defense from phase
They would have loved it obviously one multi kill but letting this be a kind of a three-on-three as the bomb sites overrun
Just good shooting from pain from that point on no investment from phase no armor
No utility picked up just one flashbang for Kerrigan give them a timing to pounce on middle
Well, I did mention in the first half of the third map would be it's nuke. How do you feel about?
Pain chances if we go into a third map of nuke Jason
Yeah, I actually thought about that this morning when I was looking at what the when I thought the veto might be
I thought for a moment their pain might might pick it's not a great map statistically for phase
But again the level of competition that they're playing I
Feel like phase is always gonna be the one of those teams like whatever the stats show on a map like nuke
They're still gonna be very dangerous on it
We're gonna make it difficult and I don't necessarily mind it being the decider
I'm kind of glad pain didn't pick it although fair play their pick of dust to didn't
I think it would have been better, but at least you have it to fall back on it.
You know that your Mirage is decent enough here, and it's great to see Payne being able
to put up a fight, and I think a big difference has just been Snow's elevation and performance
to me.
He was missing for most of Dust 2, and the fact that he's had a huge step up here
on Mirage has changed the game for Payne.
A lot of damage done to Rops, carrying him low, but he's gone away.
He actually made it around that corner.
Hazy, Hazy, locks.
Oh, good job slowing him down from the frozen.
Little angle through the smoke in the window.
Make sure he cannot hunt Kerrigan down.
15 health on Kerrigan.
22 on rups.
It's a very busted defense for the moment.
They're running out of nades in utility
with a minute and 20 seconds left on the clock.
Strong position from Brokey, though.
Two smokes remaining for Payne.
And a moment for everybody to breathe.
Well, they have to give a moment
because the bomb was at top mid.
You don't want that traversing of Catwalk to have to worry about connector to have to worry about winter room
It's gonna have to position you come back into the B halls drops the sides of standard fight inside the Molotov goes down
So Broke he needs something
Well, this is a show opportunity and smoked out now
So can't get the follow-up paint sprinting into B and Karrigan is so low on health
This would be a massive step up with Karrigan is able to make something happen here frozen with him
So he's not alone any longer, and Brokey has made the rotation over.
Carrigan still fighting, still alive!
Positional changes keeping Carrigan in the fight!
And they'll pick a Zera taking damage on board.
It's a 2v2, bombs not down!
Another kill, this time for Faze.
15 seconds left for Lux to make something happen here.
Oh, nice shot. Beautiful as rain steps into the window.
Around the smoke, Brokey's off.
Time is everything. He's gonna have to stick this plant inside.
No, he fakes it out. Brokey's not gonna go for it.
Calls his bluff, and the smoke protects him!
attacks him as Brokey wins the round for FaZe in that six.
Likes thought he had the opportunity that goes for the fake and Brokey doesn't buy it.
He knows he could probably just rush the planter anyway after that, right, and catch him in an awkward situation,
so it wasn't obviously the right decision for Brokey.
I mean, dude, that's a really hard situation in that one heated moment
that you have to figure out exactly how you want to play it.
Smokes down in the bomb site, six seconds on the clock.
Hard to be super critical of any decision in this situation, and Lux, those smokes, just
stayed up just long enough to prevent him from having an impact.
I'm probably getting the last second just trying to get away.
But you have to say, even out of the loss, you get four kills.
Unfortunately for you, money's pretty horrendous also.
Both sides fighting with scraps in this round.
Low on utility right out of the gate, weaker weaponry.
The X factor being that AWP on Brokey's hands, although a couple uncharacteristic
misses.
Yeah, there were a few.
There's a few moments there. Still on the round.
I'm hoping just to shake that off.
Let's see if he has.
Double scopes. Make it info.
Yeah, there's an op-up there.
I don't want to peek that. I've changed my mind.
I'm broke. He realizes that. It's probably the decision that's been made.
We'll change his position completely with 59 seconds left.
Yeah, it makes sense because they don't actually have anyone playing jungle or window room.
So I mean, at any point there could have been a boost up.
There could have been players wrapping around through CT spawn.
So Broke he's got to be cognizant of that and frozen is not saying much from this boost and they would be right to
Assume a possibility of a boost into the window really interesting engagement on a ramp though. You have rain there your
Rops pushed up. However, the lurk of Kawas behind him. This is weird phase. I actually know everything that's happening on the map
Well, I was gonna say you'll never expect that position from Karrigan, but good clear from big user a frozen
It's got to get aggressive now
Now they've found the lurk and FaZe is getting pulled everywhere on the map.
Now they've spotted Frozen who can't get into the engagement and if you're FaZe you're
thinking save.
This round just felt very uncomfortable from beginning to end for FaZe.
I actually thought FaZe was in pretty decent positions to handle it but you're right
it was confusing and chaotic but they seemed to have a good feel of where the weakness
was.
Nice work from Kha'az.
That's brilliant.
Damn.
That's it all picked up at the end of the round. That's guns taken away
That means phase won't be able to force up or buy anything around saved weapons in the next round. That's perfect faith pain
They're getting to the end of this map
10 to 6 and phase with a safe and four and no money to work with yeah drained of cash
And this is allowing pain further and further
Down the path on the way to nuke
Time what taking him for pain there's second use so far
Really nice shot from Biggis Aura.
I even kind of like the position from Carrigan.
It's a weird round and you don't entirely know what's safe. They could have been in B Halls still.
That clear from Biggis Aura is just huge.
It did feel like Carrigan was set for one or two of that.
But Biggis Aura peeks into him and annihilates him in an instant.
Round 17.
Payne's T-side starting to pick up steam.
Three or four rounds to open this second half.
And complete monetary control
But they're going at the hero m4 and they go in aggressive
Let's see if this works out. Carrigan's gonna fall them frozen
This is the m4 and this is the hero frozen with two
Installed them out. He's got a smoke to drop in front of him as well
That's actually huge. That's so big the double kill the smoke on top of it as well now pain have to go elsewhere
Faze is going to realize that soon too.
Well, that's why you have to push from Reina as well in Palace.
This is cool, just jiggle peeking towards T spawn.
He can come back if they realize the A bomb site is lost.
A new position that they have to be worried about.
Robson is going to salvage a weapon and likely push up after that smoke fades,
or just re-smoke it.
Well, if that AK was just a little closer and have a free AK
and a little bit more time to play with,
but Payne are going in towards this A bomb site now
and Broke still only has a USP.
The same for rain as he's at ramp. Yeah, but this like it I mean despite the fact that he only has a USP
They'll expect that flank right you know there was be aggression. You don't know they resmoked at a second time
You might be thinking in your head. Yeah, they've probably pushed into spawn. I should check that so
phase
Despite the good early start provided by frozen
Couldn't really put this round together. However some free weapons is always nice. Yes
It's quite a nice way to walk out of the round considering you had barely anything going into it, but 11-6 scoreline.
Payne have done a very good job getting back into this series.
You did mention they want both pistol rounds. That obviously helps a lot.
But this is looking fantastic for them at the moment.
There's going to be another comeback for FaZe Clan while we know they're capable of a comeback.
Yeah, I mean, they can be so difficult to put away.
They can just be so stubborn when it feels like you have every advantage.
Good round from Rosen, er, Rosen, excuse me, Rosen.
Good round from Rosen.
I think I got Rosenberg.
Hilled upon it.
Well, guys, money, get out of here!
Come on, boy!
Rosenberg.
Rosenberg.
I don't even know where that came from.
I got nothing for you.
It just happens.
I like it.
Happy little accident.
Sproki making himself very useful.
You'll take NQZ through mid, flashes good and rops better.
I think that's around that pain.
I don't want to say not focused, but certainly not focused on the potential for that aggression.
Maybe just so focused on what they called.
That's just FaZe hitting him with a very surprising push.
But if you're pain, you can't consider this round entirely lost.
Obviously, 3v5s can be converted, but more than anything, money.
Do damage.
Get a couple kills here and there, you know the money's low, despite some saved weapons, so continue to lean on that.
Spoken to the window, and one top-con.
Pain with 50 seconds to try and recover a 3v5, and it is a very difficult round.
Of course, if you're here for pain, it'll get more difficult with that kill from Brokey, so it's a round that just won't happen.
Yeah, I mean now there's no reason to go for it.
I almost can't believe in a five on three broke. He just walked through the smoke like that fair play
He did look at the ground so his barrel wouldn't show but still seems a little crazy
Let's bro key, you know
If it was one player to do it, it would be him
How much you reckon this apartment would cost if it was in London, you know, all right in London thousands a month
Okay, rent. Yeah, not even not even coming with a kitchenette. Yeah, no no in unit washer and dryer
Nope, just a TV a couple of selfies and a beautiful carpet probably like 3000 probably yeah
Lot of windows now to as an old-school TV. I
Looked a I when I was like a good at for that vintage furniture. Yeah, you could and the carpet man those carpets. They're expensive
I didn't that was one thing I realized when I became an adult rugs and carpets
They're ridiculously expensive Jason. They yeah, they think I'm pretty penny. I don't know why but they really do
And that one doesn't even look good.
That one looks like crap.
Yeah, that's like an Ikea bathroom rug right there.
Okay.
Here we go.
Popped towards the A bomb site.
Nice nade on towards ramps.
Smoked going to be up in their face.
Broke him on the angle.
He was too quick for his own good, really.
Yeah, that's an awkward little slide shoulder peek.
Now, when this 4-1 happened on Dust 2,
it was Biggie Zara at the Xbox,
four of them ready to pop the B bomb site.
And when Biggie Zara went down at Xbox,
they were just like,
have a plan B we're all here we're just gonna go with it. Looking like a similar thing's
gonna happen right now. Or once this smoke fades they hit the execute. They're gonna
hit it at some point. Here it is, smoke's coming out, releasing from their hands and
Brokey looking to release their souls from their bodies as the AWP is pinned on the
ramp. Awaiting their exit. Talos has got that headshot on rain and a missed shot
Not again from Brokey, not his best day, not his best day, not his best map and snow ready
to attack.
He's got rops out of there frozen to follow up a second kill through the smoke from frozen.
Huge work from frozen.
That gets face back in this, but a miss shot right in front of him from Brokey.
He needs it eventually and we'll sink it through the ticket box.
Time to make up for it against NQC, climbing up on top of triple, but Brokey cannot make
it happen.
The Glock will drop him and it's map point for Payne.
Those misses have been happening all throughout this map for Brokey.
That's got to be really frustrating as an AWPer just not able to land the kind of simple
hold the angle, let him run into your crosshair.
And every time he missed they got a little bit closer.
And the real bummer about it too is his team frozen does everything he can to make
this still doable.
The double kill through the smoke buys Brokey more time.
There's one up towards Palace, that's a player who's going to eventually peek on towards Brokey with the AWP, but man, he could just never find comfort with his shot.
Robs up top third.
He needs to be careful because they're making noise.
Eventually, they're gonna think about the fights going down on the B bomb site as well, because this could be the moment that finishes it.
Face are up, two players make it three, and it's unlikely now that Payne closed at this point.
And you see he's got himself one kill, but it's all in snow, one of the four, and he stopped.
So, clean round from Faze, pretty solid and comfortable.
Yeah, I need four more though, this is the biggest problem right now.
Pain got rounds to play with, they've got not a lot of funds.
Everyone's huddled around 1,600 bucks left in the bank, 2,000 on cowweas.
I think if you're paying, you just, you don't even need to call time out here,
just take the low econ round, save up and make sure you get as many strong gun rounds.
Now as I say that they do invest everything they've got so let's rock and roll. Yeah, I like it. Oh, baby
Have some fire have some confidence. I mean look on one hand
It's good to have confidence in a ring in your ability to win rounds like this
I think forcing this kind of a buy at 12 to 8
It's probably the wrong decision in the long term if you play it out
What if it works, but what if it works that is the question?
I won't find out
And very well could but let's say it doesn't let's say it's 12 9 and then you have to save because you're out of money
And that is the most likely outcome isn't it really?
Sometimes playing with your heart the motivating the motivating factor is the one round losing bonus
So they feel like they wouldn't get enough money in the next rounds
Would have had a skill anyway additional 1900
Oh frozen. It's been a master of the smokes in the last couple of rounds here
He's coming through it at Salt Mid.
Looking to get in behind.
The TEs are applied pressure now to Broke you.
Misses a shot from Frozen.
Cleaning up the rest.
Great work from Frozen.
He's like, sorry about that, but I got the kills, you know.
Just needed a little bit more time to make that play before you guys went down.
Op can be dropped over to Broke.
By any number of players.
And now we'll have Pain sitting back with Glocks.
Yeah, now I'm starting to see your point, Jason. It's starting to look really rough here for Paid.
If they don't win the next round, FaZe are back into it.
And you know, we were talking about the fact that FaZe are a team that can be so difficult to put away.
And if you give them more opportunities, they are going to take them.
This round should take a little bit of time, as if you're paying you have no motivation to run into the meat grinder.
me grinder so this is this is around where you just kind of have a chat probably
about the weather maybe about what food you want to eat later tonight and you
know I'll ask you those questions Jason whether it's lovely weather we're
having today right yeah it's a little windy it's lovely on the way to the to
the studio yeah I don't really know what it looks like now and we have some
Brazilian barbecue we did last night that was delicious a lot of meat a lot
of cheese I was a big fan so always gonna end at a bee pop they're just
hoping to get some kind of a rotation maybe a lucky kill from one of these
players so Karrigan with the org and Frozen with the M4 over on Catwalk and
Broke you with the off-chiming in.
Lux dead and a 12 to 10 scoreline rings out. I was really feeling great about
pain I was I was feeling like we're going to nuke yeah but now I'm starting to
feel a little uneasy. I'm starting to get that little face plan.
Emotionally volatile Jason that's what that's what they say.
Alright, well, here we go. Round 23.
Full buy for pain. Overtime.
Possibilities here for FaZe, if they can pull two rounds in a row from this point onwards.
Last few rounds from FaZe, they've done a good job finding opening kills with some aggression in middle.
A pick here there from Broke.
Frozen and Robs have both pushed mid at different points. They're gonna do it again.
Oop!
Not good for Robs. Not the start they're hoping for here, FaZe.
Lux bashes him through the smoke and frozen, unable to get an opportunity to trade it out.
He just pre-fires the angle through the smoke just in case someone's there, and boy does he get rewarded.
Transferring over his Kerrigan to look for this jump up into window, it's frozen, it takes the engagement.
Good win!
Ooh, and the fight goes down at connector. It's raining, come on, on top of it.
And once again, phase back into the powerful position, back into the advantageous spot.
it leaves pain with three players against four
from that bomb is positioned outside of the apartments and Karrigan's coming back to watch.
Yeah, pain wasn't in any kind of position to take advantage of at least the information that they had
of the aggression in middle of the two players pushed up in Khan, of the player pushed up on Catwalks.
Now, FaZe has been able to have the time as Payne tries to catch up
to move players around the map.
Rain defending Khan and Brokey's AWP.
For all the misses we've seen out of him today on Mirage,
It's gonna have a really important role to play in this final engagement.
So hopefully he's recalibrated.
Oh, Rank, that's the first, couldn't get the second.
At the bottom of the connector.
25 seconds, Carrigan coming back to cover off Snow.
The fight begins. Carrigan spots him.
Information given at least that Snow isn't jungle, but here is Brokey's AWP.
It gets primed, it gets ready.
With 15 seconds left, he could get the Liver Drown here for face,
and he rips the face off Snow.
P250 pulled Cowas in the site.
Nine seconds, Brokey down, but is this comfortable for Cowell as the answer is no, it is impossible.
Eleven rounds, Brokey hits his shot and fays one round away from OT.
Yeah, only needed the one, that was the critical one, Flash goes a little bit deep so Snow doesn't have the window of opportunity thought he might have had.
And final time out called by Payne right at the end of regulation, heading into round 24.
One final conversation to figure out how exactly to pull this off, it was 12-7 at one point.
But it's been all phased since then.
Last time-out.
I don't think Pan would have found, expected to find themselves here.
22 kills unfrozen in this map with 2600 damage.
And I feel like a lot of those multi-kill rounds came out recently over the last few
that we've seen.
He's been a beast.
He's been a beast for phased these last three months, their best performing player.
Continuing it here to start at IEM Rio.
And this is what they have to work with.
The pain gaming have three Mac 10s, a Galeon and an AK, one single AK, Jason, left in regulation.
Yeah, but those Mac 10s, baby.
They can work.
They can do something.
But you have to try and stop Faze from getting into overtime into their comfort zone.
Frozen Koi robs, covers him off.
Frozen won't go down.
Pain removed from the player.
And Big Azera and Snow fight back to gain the advantage again.
There's a lot of time here for the T's, and a little upgrade there for Big Azera.
The man face has been so committed to that aggression at the end of regulation,
at the end of the CT side, and Payne finally catches onto it.
They're prepared for everything, able to upgrade to another AK-47 as well.
So it's Kerrigan with an M4 and no utility inside the B bomb site.
He's got to be the sole defender for the moment, first is his.
But now he's bought time for Rops to shift over.
Drops. Nice headshot. Snow goes down. Is there anything else here for drops?
Do we damage the big of Zara? And finishing him off.
And Coway's left with a 1v2 on the Mach 10.
Bomb down in the B site. Broke looking for this flank.
And it's overtime looming unless Coway's can do the unthinkable.
He'll crawl out through the murder hall, but Broke surely got him.
A choice can end up in overtime. It's gonna end up in the bonus rounds
And this is exactly where face clan want them. I want a nasty sequence from rops that first kill
He gets just clothes lines and as he tries to swing into the bomb so that bomb makes it such a tough round for phase
But rops dependable in this kind of a situation
Delete snow
And big you Zara can't pass the chances now for her pain gave me obviously shrink
drastically
First flight goes down it's snow to win it against rain the positive here for it for the side of pain is at least they've got all the
Money back right they're able to get a solid purchase out again and over time
They didn't have that luxury of the last year rounds of regulation
But this timing of the rounds is where it feels like pain is really really struggled and fallen apart towards the end of
Phases comeback is is when that opening engagement has gone out and then you're kind of setting up
You know the second step of what you want to run
That's where phase has been able to find the ability to slide into good positions to find equalizing kills to figure out
What's happening on the map with information and once again?
I think phase have done it three players slipping over and defending this a bomb site as long as Kerrigan doesn't go down
well
Difficult angle to deal with that for big as error Kerrigan does not go down and if anything that kill forces pain more into the A plate
Put their pieces of utility out the top con
smoke, they're smoking to the window to try and signal a lot more presence than there actually is coming through mid, but here comes the fight from pain into the A site. Good shot!
On towards Robs from Cowes, the Brokey connects his from CT spawn and he's got eyes on Palace with 25 seconds left, that flash comes in, forces Brokey away, he's got spotted, he's got spotted, he's got spotted and he gets cleared by NQZ who now reveals a chance,
An opportunity to put that bomb down and get it planted suddenly it falls apart for phase in a blink of an eye
And it is Karrigan to come back in at the bottom of the stairs where it's Lux and the flash worked against him from his own teammates
Lux is down Karrigan gets the kill, but there's still two more to collect and he does not have a smoke
He does not have a Molotov that would have been really helpful at this point for Karrigan
He's just gonna pull them into the open and they see he's off it
NQZ just buying time and closing with the peek.
Beautiful round from NQZ. That little shoulder peek to clear frozen.
Frozen never saw him. Frozen never realized he'd been spotted.
He was still thinking he would just get at least one easy kill,
maybe able to double up because Frozen's normally been playing towards jungle.
They wouldn't have expected him inside the site.
And just a perfect clear from NQZ.
I think really, that round is firmly in control of FaZe.
I think rops might have been he pulled out of his position over towards the cubby by the mid utility thought
Maybe they were going elsewhere starting to get a jump and think about shifting and locked into a fight in palace that he really didn't want to take
Pain playing for their tournament life here in overtime
Rops to take locks out cow is his move towards CT brokey shadow
Oh, I thought it was about to portray him
But brokey is fast on the trigger and snow is put under pressure so much pressure. He's got a deal with
He goes back into the open, he actually made it out of that, broke his landing shots,
robs walking through the smoke, giving Snow an easy kill, but Karrigan, to make out for it,
I think Isara is now the only remaining player, and he's a long way off, he got a fight that he wanted against Brokey,
but couldn't finish him off, and Brokey's back, three kills picked up in this round.
Yeah, I mean it's funny, I feel, I almost feel a little bit bad, the context that we've had conversations with him is
some of the misses that he's had in rounds that normally they can nail those shots, otherwise he's still having a great game.
Despite some of the struggles that we've seen 23 and 15
If you hit those shots earlier, he's having a magnificent gain. He's just had a great level here
Still found so much impact and crucial rounds here for Faze
Rain jumping. I'm just trying to spot anybody out on the ramp
Renee does the brunt to the damage onto snow pretty quiet on the map so Faze goes investigating
Big Azera put into a position where you can become a late game piece of the puzzle of his own design.
Minute five seconds frozen under the wood, getting cleared and here comes the play now from Payne.
Lux getting into connector, Rayne spots it out.
Big Azera now moves forward, takes and rops down.
Rayne has to step up but he gets annihilated by Snow and Payne finds life again.
Yeah, Snow was not ever slowing down or hesitating in that engagement.
Kerrigan moving up on Catwalk, Big Euzera spotted over in Conn,
Nozze's on the right side, actually three players in a similar position.
Utility comes over the top and Kerrigan just gets blind as the peek comes in.
So 14 to 13 in the favor of Payne.
Well, there's no way to go for Brokey, and 14-13 at is a brilliant score line for Payne.
Considering it felt like they got stalled out at the end of regulation,
And it felt like all that momentum had shifted completely in favour of FaZe.
But FaZe able to put up a fight in overtime.
Well if we think back to the first half,
PaZe did a really good job of controlling mid when they had plenty of money and plenty of resources.
When FaZe was eventually able to take that away from them, mid was very susceptible.
A lot of catwalk plays, a lot of fast con plays from FaZe.
And I bring that up because in overtime obviously everyone's got money, everyone's got the resources they need.
And if they can lock down mid just as effectively here, it could fill a lot of trouble for FaZe.
Charging. Heets up a little bit for him.
A split being set up here for FaZe.
And Payne really, really honoring some of the ways in which FaZe was able to win easy rounds in the first half of just marching themselves into the air bomb site.
Good shot from MQZ over in middle. Three defenders here at this bomb site. Kawa steps up, snows over and cubby.
cubby. Let's see if Snow is required. Oh, Cowice, he goes down. Snow now has to
deliver a multi-kill, realistically, if there's gonna be enough of a whole
different thing, because the initial attack didn't do too much, but Big Azara
gets it double, and he actually gets away. So it leaves it all on Brokey with a 1v3,
and 35 seconds remaining for Brokey to make this happen. It's gonna be tough.
First opportunity was presented off the top of the stairs, but the second is
NQZ's bullet ringing through his skull! That point again for Payne. It's time to
try and close it. This time for Nuke. Faze have got to go again if they want another
overtime they're gonna win two rounds in a row here. I know we touched on it
earlier on Mirage, but we got to give some more credit to him. You got to say
what a great time for Snow. This young prospects that everyone in Brazil has
been after for years to step up in a must-win game. 23 kills from Snow.
Leading the charge for his team.
Oh, nice shot from NQC.
First blow to FaZe Clan.
Carrigan down, and a minute thirty to play with for FaZe.
Can you think about the contacts?
Oh no, missed smoke.
NQC's gonna have a chance to fight with that,
but Rane stands and warning shots in.
Don't even think about peeking in.
And then Rane's like, oh god, that's a very missed smoke.
Again, I do not want to be here on the mid ramp.
Over to the B bomb site. The final play for FaZe.
All four players. Nobody lurking mid, nobody looking catwalk and now that they've been spotted the hit is on.
Gonna beat them all it's on. Frozen can't provide the opening needed
and the rest of FaZe held back. Well they're charging in. Their last stand.
Their final attack. Bomb down in the apartments. They've got to go and get it.
But this just looks too difficult even for FaZe to pull off.
Pain are not dead yet in Brazil. They fight forward
led by their young man Snow, they're still alive and this goes to map 3.
Hey Future Pros, taking outside with no smokes can be daunting,
so let's look at the bent elbow smoke wall which you can achieve from one smoke.
To throw the smoke wall, line up with this floor marking.
Bag your teammates to drop a couple of smokes at your feet,
then aim in the middle of this lamp and jump through your smoke.
For the next, use the same lineup and W jumped through the smoke.
You can do this without a bind but I highly recommend making a W jump through a bind.
There is plenty of information on this out there. For the last smoke, aim below the
lamp about halfway from it and the wire below. Then W jump through also. Just
like that you will have a wall that will cover off main along with the
warehouse. Don't cross to secret wide as heaven will still be able to spot
you but for taking space these smokes are fantastic.
You wouldn't pay attention just a little bit everybody you're gonna notice that it is not phase coming in here sweeping this series and staying alive in Rio
No, in fact, it's the opposite. Portuguese speaking Brazilian players ready to appear here. And what is the pharmacy or anything?
Anyway, nonetheless, yeah, it's pain-taking map to we go to overtime. We do that the distance on Mirage
We got new to settle the score and also we've got some more news for Brazilian counter strike
We're gonna be getting into just a little bit later in the segment
So gentlemen, how on earth did this get so close, Josh?
Well, I think one of the things that we shouldn't really skip over is the fact that the last
head-to-head that these two teams had did include a very close game where it went to
overtime, Payne took it, and FaZe won the other two maps 13th to 5th.
So, you know, we're kind of on the same track in this regard where Payne, they start
off explosive, they get those, the pistol rounds in each half, and then after
for the first six rounds of each half,
that's when they start to teeter off a little bit
where FaZe start to bring it back
and then the game gets close and then it goes over time
and then pain eventually wins in the end
because of the lead that they had
and the issues that FaZe have when it gets to situations
like on their T sides, you contrast Mirage versus Dust 2
and it seems like it's very open-ended,
players are scattered around, no utility for a concise
ending but on Dust 2 it's elaborate,
you have the plans, the layers to everything.
Yeah, that's almost my issue, because you spot on, you know, it does feel like whenever
Faze is playing with slightly more structure, they look like a better team.
That maybe makes an awful lot of sense to most teams that you have more structure,
you look better as a team.
But for Faze, that hasn't really been the case throughout the history.
I agree with you, Mirage, a lot of walking around, poking around, you know, winning,
losing duels.
It was almost like it was played on the terms of pain gaming.
I agree with you, very explosive coming in, winning the duels that they needed
to win early on, winning the pistols, converting.
So everything really went the way of pain.
I thought when we went into overtime though, that's when FaZe usually kicks in and they get the job done.
But as it sets you coming into this game, it's not the same FaZe as of six months ago or 12 months ago.
They lost that magic, they lost that inner edge and it's a FaZe run out that is struggling.
I mean, this is a FaZe that we always put in the forefront, Josh.
I mean, they put themselves in the forefront, I should say, by a numerous amount of LAN finals that they've attended.
They've had a legendary run, but I don't see a world where it's here, right?
It shouldn't. And I mean, it's a best of three for a reason.
Okay, Pain lost their map pick, then Phase lost theirs. It goes to a map of Nuke.
We haven't really been seeing a lot of Phase on this map in so much that they've been straying away
from picking it, at the very least. And it's a map where you don't get Robs activated, really.
On the T side, he's kind of like stuck in that lobby area while the rest of his team's outside,
and it really comes down to what value can Rain get on that yard opening. Does he get that
opening kill? Does Kerrigan die through a smoke, or mistime something? And then that
That dictates whether or not Robs is going to have a chance to play the game.
Yeah, and just to go back on the line we were speaking about, you know, Nugiz a map that
requires a bit more structure in order to be successful.
You can't really walk around, poke around and hope to win the game.
So I think we're entering another state now where face should feel somewhat comfortable,
where players like Frozen can express themselves.
I do feel for paying, you know, just taking a map off face is already a win in itself.
You know, pushing this series into a third map, well, you know, going just one
One win away from potentially eliminating faces is a massive win.
That massive win came on the back of the snow, you know, he had a horrible first map, couldn't
get anything going from an individual standpoint.
And now on Mirage, he was the big difference maker, again, overtime right here in a very
vital position, coming in with that good mood, you know, yelling, screaming like he
normally does.
And he's showing glimpses of that potential that we spoke about coming into this matchup.
Yeah, and him picking up a couple there in the pistol definitely helps, doesn't
it?
Yeah, and he had also some touches going in from that Dust 2 game as well.
So, you know, some of that OG sort of CS player from back in the day yelling at people, vibes
and then the youthful innocence as well, just in that package.
But I mean, just going back to what Moses is pointing out on, I think it was round 21
when they chose to do a force buy on the side of pain, there were only a few more
rounds left in that game, and you could either stretch out how many buy rounds you
got, you could do, it's either you can do like two and a half, or you could
do like one and a half by rounds. And basically those types of decisions where if you don't
min max properly, then you're not setting yourself up for success. And a team like
pain that is the underdog that needs to be able to do this consistently to take down
phase. If they make poor decisions like this, this is where phase having that experience,
having that just so many, I mean, you brought it up.
The aura.
Sure, the aura.
The aura.
that just feel where they can strike
and just know like these guys aren't ready for us.
So let's talk a little bit about that phase, right?
So we've gone from them in every landfinal,
this, that, or the other, to where they are now.
So is there any way we can hone in on that, Jacob?
Is there something that, you know,
immediately jumps off the page,
really, yeah, this phase, to put?
I'm not sure if the world is ready for that conversation,
but I do think that the man on the screen right here
frozen being brought in as a replacement for Twist
from an individual standpoint,
he's been living up to the expectations,
he's been delivering.
He's by far the highest rated player within face the past six months
And he's a great signing and was one of the few players in the world who will
Realistically could replace twist, but they lack some sort of energy
You know would twist out of the lineup also the double-up set up
They used to be so you know prone back in days
But twist would pick up the secondary up on some CT sides to really lock down certain maps
I've seen it on a new bus. I've seen it on a map like Mirage
I've seen it on new before as well
They don't really have that double-up set up being used that much anymore rough
Sometimes tries to do it not to the same extent
So I feel like the whole roster change with Twist leaving face part of that DNA also left that team at that point
And I don't look at that. Yeah, and I feel like that's part of the reason why they're not as good as they were
It's still a good team, but it's not a world championship winning team anymore
So Josh, you look at this lineup of this team you look at that timeline, right?
So Twist is out do you agree with what Jacob's saying to a degree not completely like I don't buy into the whole story of it
I think it's just like it happened coincidentally as opposed to its causation
So yeah, they lost twists and frozen came in and you know, you can't replace players one to one exactly
And you're losing something but you're gaining something else. I think in that whole process
I think that CS 2 I think that's my issue
You know because I don't think frozen adds anything the twist couldn't do but Trist had that double upset of in him
So I I agree, you know in the sense to twist and frozen who's the better player who casted does somewhat similar
But they lost a bit of that identity or the ability to pull off a double upset
Yeah, but we're also comparing phase to like the start of CS2 phase versus the end of CSGO phase versus current day phase.
I feel like there are three different phases, and yeah, TWIS was only gone for that last stage of it, where Frozen came in.
But really, it could we just chalk it up to phase was maybe over, maybe, you know, doing better than we expected,
or maybe other teams caught up with how CS2 mechanics work and with the breaking the spokes and changing the meta a tiny bit.
And phase had a head start, fell off a little bit.
And I think that as to the conversation as well with Robs, you know, how much did Phosen come into phase, impact Robs and his positions when in the game.
There were certain, you know, role classes where people felt that Phosen and Robs would kind of go toe-to-toe or share certain positions.
I don't think that's been that evident, but as I said, I feel like it's not Phosen being a radically different team.
I buy into that argument as well. It's more so some of the players, you know, not playing up to par.
Robs used to be the most exciting rifle coming out in the beginning of CS2.
He was streaming 24-7. He was coming up with new ways of approaching the game.
in the game. Ropsis is just a decent player now. He's not a world-class player anymore. And for me,
that's the biggest difference faced six months ago and faced today. I love the dive into that some
more before we go anywhere. Josh, just give me pretty simple yes or no. We don't need a whole
lot of things here. Does the road in for phase in Rio on day one? No. Perfect. That's exactly
what I was looking for. Thank you very much, gentlemen. That's right, because I did tell
you we did have some more Brazilian Counter Strike news. And that's because Furia had just
just beat him out. Let's hear from Yuri.
Yuri, first of all, massive congratulations,
qualifying for the playoffs of the
Intel Extreme Masters Rio de Janeiro.
We got to see the emotions on camera.
Can you put into words how much it means to you?
I'm a specialist.
We are home, so it's very good for us.
Falling, he was saying for us before the game,
he won so much to play on my stage.
So, I think everyone played very well the game, both Mets against FaZe and now.
So, I'm so proud of the team, I don't know what to say.
So, I'm just proud of the team.
And you had some great individual form throughout the series as well.
Talk to me about us too, because that was really decisive for you guys.
Yeah, we didn't play this map before on FURA.
So, for me, we got surrounded by a lot of stuff to play.
But now, following he has a good mentality about the map, so he's cheating us.
So, yeah, now we have a good map to play.
And we are playing an OOPS now as well, so we're improving more and more.
So, yeah, it's very nice when we have a map like that, like that's true.
And an OOPS, so yeah, we have a good map now.
Obviously, you have one more game to see whether you're going through
to quarterfinals or semi-finals.
But either way, you're definitely going to the playoffs.
What's going to be the game plan for you guys going forward and meeting the crowd here in Brazil?
I don't know. Actually, I think we need to do what we did in these games.
We had like two weeks of preparation, so I think we need to do what we did in POMPRAX.
And I think we can win more and more.
So I don't know who you'll play against, but I think it's Navi, I don't know, I don't remember, Liquid.
So I have a shirt that will be a good game for us and for them and for the crowd, so it's nice.
Anything you want to say to the crowd that's going to be coming here, maybe the people at home that aren't able to come to the arena and see you guys?
Guys, thanks for watching. Today was really cool. I think everyone played really well.
It was really exciting when you won, like, not a good 10p in the last championships.
In reality, we are reaching the playoffs, but we are really happy to be at home
and to be able to play with you guys, so we are at home. Thank you very much.
Congrats. Thank you for your time.
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Future pros.
Back on Nuke this time with the classic fast hut molly.
Great for committing or a way to have the CTs positions disrupted.
To throw this molly, climb up the ladder and stand on the raised lip to the right.
aim along this line below the center of this window. Keep running forward and running jump
throw almost immediately. Just like that the top of hut will be Molly. However, Molly
spread is never an absolute guarantee. Always care for a CT finding that little spot where
the flames refuse to touch.
Welcome back to Rio. We're here for the Group A lower bracket match elimination
on the line between Payne and FaZe Clan. Two teams that don't want to go home
today, obviously, but we're down to map 3, Jason. We've got Nuke. What are we thinking
about Payne's chances here on this third and final map versus FaZe Clan?
I don't know. It's actually pretty crazy to be in this position. I mentioned that I thought
FaZe, regardless of what kind of form they're in and what their kind of results are, Nuke
is always a map where it feels like they're going to be dangerous. But Payne has just
played this so many times. The last three months, they've played it 26 times. They've
got a 20 and 6 record on it. I'll say in the past six matches, they've played
in the past week on this map. It's all it's been against Brazilian teams like just not the level of
competition that phases up consistently but phases recent results aren't good either. This is this
actually feels like it could just very much be a 50-50 game. What kind of a performance are we
going to come into? Who's going to have the hot hand early? Who's going to win those clutch swing
rounds? Because Zarat smoked out at man. He's going to come out with a P2000.
Walter questions about to get answered. NQZ.
for the first of the round frozen making sure that it's a quick trade and he'll
continue outside on the unbreakable and then you see broken at the back of the
garage cow is will hide at heaven still a minute 10 seconds left in this round for
phase as Lux now takes his steps up secret to keep your out frozen at range
where the drill bread is they're potent but not really that far away no but
it's actually a mate it's awesome that he spotted the information that one's
over at the air conditioning unit who looks they turn their back again they
I thought he disappeared, missed shots, he had those dualies not accurate at this point.
Frozen's gonna be starting to wrap around, Kalez, what kill is his, traded off by Brokey.
Frozen has the high ground, and it turns into a two on two as this bomb gets planted.
The bomb now being confirmed, and up of the ladder, Snow will go and down, it will go very quickly after.
It is Lux on 1v2 with Jules Barrettis, hasn't been able to make them work just yet, but
is there some life in the double sidearm?
He'll wrap her on the back of Pro-G, he'll get his chance, but Pro-G sinks him with a P250.
Phase, win the pistol, first round is theirs, and for Payne, we'll see if they decide to
go for the four-spy here, or if they just go for the full eco.
I think one of the scary trends too of Payne, pacing off against teams that are in the
top 10, top 12, top 15, when they're kind of the underdog, this has all played out
very similar to their previous losses they've had against teams this high in the
rankings which is you lose you lose a map your your second map the one that you
win in the series is very close and overtime and the rest are kind of like
blowouts. Dust 2 not a blowout in numbers but certainly a blowout in
opportunity there was never really a chance for paint to win this map.
We have gone for the investment here and QZ leaving a little bit of extra
cash obviously as the offer but everybody else throwing everything
they've got into this phase could be off to the idyllic start here on the
T side they are able to dispatch of this force there is always a risk of
dealing with the player boosted up that and they don't want to have to find out
if there's anybody else out the hard way so they just respecting that smoke at
the moment in fact they're gonna just back off yeah they're not a huge fan of
that smoke over in ramp room whatsoever it's causing them to relocate all
the way across the map they were gonna send massive bodies towards ramp
room now they slide everyone outside leave alert leave rops to hold on
towards Lobby. There's one smoke thrown out. Rain has another one that he's just deployed.
And if FaZe can't get something in terms of control, in terms of knocking on the door of a
bomb site, in terms of some kills, those are the last smokes they have. So their ability to move
around this map on Hinder is going to start decreasing. And that certainly helps Payne's
chances. NQZ with a kill on Frozen. Let's over to a secret. Now, here comes the second
chance. Bigazera will grab it. Although he's dead, Snow and Bigazera both dead now,
and a 3v3 established with 19 seconds left Lux is in the van, Lux gets cleared, second player spotted by Rops
He knows NQZ's in there and he'll climb up
He loves those fights, saw that second player. He's like yeah, come on, come on up
I'll take this because he didn't re-pick I guess NQZ thought maybe he didn't see me. Yeah. Well
That's about it
Two opening kills for pain with those five sevens
But the quick response from phases rifles
I'll start scavenging what they can't from the ground.
So tune it up for FaZe and Kawaez saves the Deagle Armor.
Oh he did now obviously see the Fury have qualified for the playoffs, Jason.
That's great news for Brazilian fans obviously who have become used to seeing Fury qualify in Rio.
Haven't they done it? Have we seen it?
Not a whole lot else otherwise though.
Yeah that's true, but you know, at least they get to see them in person.
True.
No, it's very cool for Furia, especially considering the way that this team has kind of come together and saw some initial positive signs of Fallen's leadership coming in, of Skulls being added to the team.
You saw things heading it would feel like in the right direction, so it's cool to see them get rewarded and obviously really cool to see in case Serato have a big game today.
Yeah, that's fantastic. The last few events, he's had a couple of great maps here and there, but I don't think we've seen these consistent good events in case Serato yet under Fallen and hopefully that can start to change.
Well, speaking of good events, because we can touch on FaZe, we kind of painted this
of like, you know, it's going to be pretty heartbreaking for Payne if they're to get
eliminated in this series and not make it to the arena, not get to play in front of their
friends and fans back in their home country.
I think if you look at the other side of the coin towards FaZe, this would be a pretty
devastating way to go out of IAM Rio, you know, in last place on day one.
I mean, this is the team we were talking about, how many finals they're making,
how many events they're winning.
How much were they starting?
The start of CS2 was like eight finals in a row or something like that, seven
finals in a row, they were just like a gimmie to be locked into Grand Finals.
Here's some of the recent event finishes in the last three months, it was third to fourth
place at Blastfall Final, 13th to 16th at ESL Pro League Season 20, that one really
stings, it's kind of an ugly group of numbers on the page, fifth to sixth that I am Cologne,
which would be a quarter-finals, and fifth to eighth at the Esports World Cup.
Yeah, and when you were talking about Cologne especially, I mean they lost
to soar famously and that's got to be a team that phase will feel like they
should have beaten on the day yeah this would just be I mean those aren't like
the worst finishes in the world obviously is so pro league kind of is but
I mean when you have the caliber of phase and championships are the goal and
have achieved those championships with players on this roster oh that's a
nice little sequence from QZ very cool yeah but when yeah I just this this
This would be a devastating low for FaZe to hit.
Yeah, it probably is. They lost to complexity in the end and saw it cologne.
So the two tournaments they've been knocked out of by teams that famously that FaZe wouldn't
usually lose to, right?
Marked by upsets.
Yeah, exactly. So we're now seeing an obvious drop in FaZe's performance and this would
be a new low going out last.
Biguzera. Bangs out rain.
Am I insane? Or did his P2K seem like it was in the center of the screen and his
Deagle seems like it's wider on the screen on his view model?
Biguzera? Yeah. I just think his view model is disgusting.
I do too, but I'm saying I think the Deagle's off-center a little bit, but that P2K in the
Pistoron was like that quake-style shit. Like old school.
I don't know. Maybe we gotta keep eyes on that one for sure.
The most important piece of information that all of you need to take?
Look at that, we're gonna stay updated with that one, I think.
Ooh, yeah, that was a cool sequence.
That was nice, yeah.
Mission impossible.
Very cool.
Now he's got an AK-47.
He's passing off to Biguzera.
Alright, let's go, Payne.
This is the time to show us something.
NQZ on the AWP.
Everybody's got a rifle, including an AK.
In the hands of Biguzera.
NQZ's AWP was very solid on Mirage.
NQZ missing, the first shot, the first opportunity.
Aaaaaaaand, not good! NQZ tucks his head down, first kill.
His rop's falling out of the top of the vent.
Yeah, trying to throw a different timing into it.
Catch the defense, snoozing, obviously does not pan out.
Bomb has also dropped way back at Lobby, so Kerrigan's gonna be the one to have to go fall back and pick that up.
Rain has snuck in downstairs, so while Payne clears Lobby,
Rain has a really, really good foundation that FaZe can find a way to rotate into downstairs.
Although Frozen, Broke and Kerrigan haven't crossed, and now Kerrigan's been blind.
Oh, Lux.
Oh, this is going to be nice.
The bomb.
But he hasn't been able to take his champion.
He's just seen the second player, so he's going to keep creeping in behind him.
Oh, it's never a fun fight.
It's never a fun fight, but eventually he sprints forward, he catches Frozen.
He didn't stop the bomb from getting down, and that could be a key difference here.
4 seconds as Rain and Carrigan alongside Brokey try to fight their way through to a round
wind here. They aren't down to play or still but the bomb is now planted and so the pressure
is on Pain to retake. Yeah but as long as Secret is in control of FaZe, Rain can stand
pat. If someone dies and goes down he's going to have to get aggressive. Well Carrigan
waits, smoke is up and he's got eyes on the peak because they're walking into him
and they almost line up but he knows exactly where Snow is, can't deal with him and
So Rain is tasked with that but he gets no scoped and it leaves Prokey to break him.
Oh big shot down onto the head of Lux.
But he's got a lot more to do here and that deepfuse is happening around the corner.
Miss shot from Prokey, rifle picked up and he can't get there.
NQZ stops him the 10 seconds, sticking the end for Snow, it looks like.
And that's going to be huge.
And first round for Payne and a real brawl on the B-Bomb site.
Yeah massive round for Payne.
And FaZe couldn't find anything comfortable in the post plant positions to get into.
Kerrigan and Rain both stuck behind this smoke on the ramp with nowhere else to go.
Ice attempt from Brokey.
But FaZe is going to be, I mean they're going to be okay with that, right?
Three kills bomb plant, you get extra money, you know the money's low.
So right back into a buy, we've got AK-47's Techmine on Brokey as well.
Oh, nice shot from NQZ.
Pins, Kerrigan, big as ours, got a second.
Cowizz fails to hold the ramp for him.
You may still apply a rot, but FaZe have some real estate to play with at least.
Some high-risk, high-reward plays to try and find openings if you're FaZe, Rain and Kerrigan both just kind of walking through smoke and flipping a coin if someone's going to be on the other side.
Both of them lose that coin toss, so once again a desperate scenario to try and get the bomb planted in safely.
Snow just creeping up the top of the stairway through that control room window, knocks Robs down, follows up with a kill, and now Broke is stuck again in a clutch.
This would be a 1v4.
He can go up. He's got the bomb.
Because now I could come into the vent. This could be another free kill for Brokie!
And he's got it! And he came now! And instead of going up, he goes down.
And this might confuse them because NQZ...is he going to come down to lower?
Looks like he was on his way. And Snow covers off Decon regardless.
So Brokie with a nice try.
But Snow with a big round.
Yeah, very well done. And Pain holding on, sustaining in these two gun rounds
where they're challenged downstairs, but yeah, this is, uh, you know, lose that coin toss, rain lost his.
And despite having pretty good job all things considered, FaZe are trying to recover from a 3v5,
always gonna be a difficult affair. Round six, and it's, uh, just pistols.
Deagle on Brokey. That's about it.
Sounds like we're getting a little reset of the round.
Restart 10. Damage done.
Got to see, uh, yesterday as well, uh, Dreamhack, uh, or, sorry, rather, ESL Challenger at length, closed.
Yeah, and we get to see fly quest with Jason. I know it was a little surprising
But I mean, you know, it isn't a way and it isn't and in other ways
You know like one thing I feel like I can always count on these days is every time I start feeling like bigs doing something cool
Like there's just there's gonna be a disappointment event there for you. Yeah, and there was nothing's changed
There we go. What was the name always the pessimist Jason? No, I was I was more trying to go
It was exciting the Australians are winning something. Yeah, it know it is it is great
It's really it is good to see that team as well who've obviously had to take some some heavy beatings
You know in other competitions with the Europeans and everything in the tier one competition
So dropping down and finding that they can still play ball on the lower level is very cool
Gotta feel good no matter how big the event is lifting that trophy. So congratulations to fly quests. Yep
There you go. You happy? Yeah, I'm very happy. I'm happy about that. Oh, yeah, big you better step it up
Here we go, though. We've got the issues sorted and everything's ready to go again. Isn't that great?
Although, not great for Faze. In terms of money, as you mentioned, it is a deagle for Brokey and everybody else on a measly little clock.
So I'd imagine this round is gonna be a sweet finish and a tight score like three to three.
Now let's all have denied.
Looking through the results today, I mean there's, Miles had a close opening game versus
Payne and then obviously a loss to Fury of Miles, another team similar to FaZe who had
a bit of a drop-off recently.
I think what's scary about Miles is no matter how much it felt like they kind of struggled
at a certain level, they were always the guys that you could count on to just kind
of steamroll through the group stage without any real complications and now we've seen
a few events back to back to back where that that kind of stage moniker has
slipped away we remove we were vote the stage God status to just being a team and
now it is starting to fall apart wait where did Ropska that Zeus kill that
was in front of me say he's a master he dropped down is he like Batman with it
coming pretty cool that I always remember it kind of eats that started
year they make the Zeus change where it recharges and Robs is just using it all
the time. Just kidding so many kills of it. Sweet. Alright that's that round over
and done with. We're all happy about that. That round is over. And it's three to three
score lines tied up and this is it. He works that man. Yeah that's sweet. Good for you Robs.
Yeah whatever you said. Yeah. Unless it's bad then I can don't condone or
cosine that. In which case I do not agree with it. Three to three going
around seven. Faze got the pistol, the two ensuing after that, but it's been three straight
rounds for Payne. Nine ensue on NQZ, the AWPer. Looking good, and Coway's might want to get
frisky with the cover of the AWP deep towards radio. He'll be in support. And it looks
like Payne is lined up for a really strong lobby crunch. If this AWPer rings out,
The snow peak hut.
Oh.
Oh, indeed.
Miss shot, snow.
He's in hut, and he gets away with that kill on Karrigan.
NQZ goes back again and misses the follow-up.
Snow's got out of hut.
He gets towards door.
Kawa is descending down into the bomb site.
Oh, there's Rain's patience, and it pays off as Kawa walks right into him.
Could have been a second there for Rain.
He was damn close to it.
Now NQZ better hits him shots now for pain.
It's another miss one. He can't get away now. He's committed to this and he's running out of ammo
He's run out of life and as broke he takes him down with a bullet through the head
It's a 3v3 and Lux at the window as they smash open in front of him
He's gonna get some kills here and he's got himself one couldn't quite muster a second
But that could be enough with 35 seconds left for pain to make something of this
It's buying time to get everyone here and phase know it. They don't have the resources
They don't the smoke to block off these doors gonna have to take a risk
It's a rain plant safe for control side
and both will play up on the rafters.
You can tell Ranges, he's like, this is the best place I can get.
Silo protects me from single door, but I'm exposed everywhere else.
Zera coming down and clearing Broke off of the rafters, leaving rain into 1v2.
He's got a prick pain and he can't do it. Biggo Zera comes in, a swift double at the end.
And pain headed into the lead.
It's been a theme of all these retakes we've seen from pain at this lower bomb site.
His phase is getting in late in the round when they don't really have utility to plant the bomb safely
and then there's no time for them to actually get out of the bomb site either into something more comfortable.
Payne's doing a really, really good job of even when they're losing that site being there so fast
that the retake is underway pretty much immediately.
Famously, one of the worst results for Faze's history was the IEM Rio major in 2022,
where they lost to BNE and went out last in their stage of the major, right?
And so that was a huge disaster for face and it could be another early exit area these near two years on
Yeah, maybe not biggest fans of the city that we have on really not going too well for
Maybe we should change the calendar a little bit
one round lead
Plants gonna help massively for face. They've got money on a few players
They're just starting to go down into a tech mine by Deagle utility
Get some production and start chipping away at the CT side economy. That is yet to really balloon into anything uncontrollable, but Payne's going to be contempt with rattling off four in a row and taking the lead.
The best place thing in Rio is 9th to 12th, and Rain taking off the top over the box outside.
Rob's making quick work of luck, so that Tech 9 close quarter.
Broke he now sprinting, not alone, he's got frozen with him and they're going to get down secret.
Yeah, and they have a chance to connect the two prongs of this attack.
Kalez up against the wall.
All wrong moment to slide in.
Wrong moment to try and make the run.
And FaZe might have just pulled one out with weaker weapons.
There's no avenue to get downstairs.
Oh, the risk?
The risk? It's paid off!
NQC just walks through the smoke.
His rope turns his back.
But does this pull him in?
Does this pull him into the retake?
Is that the moment that makes them think they can go for this?
Is that the opportunity that presents?
Dude, they better.
They've got two smokes.
They've got a Molotov, they've got three players with Kits, this is a very, very doable round.
Are they getting in position now?
Snow crossing over, Frozen not spotting him, Snow can get closer,
Karrigan's only got a Tech 9 out to the right side.
Here comes to Pete, Broke, he's won that first fight, Karrigan gets clear,
now Snow can help, and it's all on Frozen, stuck at Deacon.
Utility goes down, but the time it is limited,
they're gonna get to the Deep Fuse, has he got enough of time?
It's so close, buddy! He's just about got it!
What a round from Payne!
NQZ walks through the smoke,
Rops turns his back,
and that is the moment that gets them right back into it.
And I can imagine exactly what Rops is saying.
He's like, why is this idiot pushing the smoke?
Why is he coming through this?
That's something that should never happen.
What a risk to have Pay off as well.
Just the perfect timing.
And a snow clutch again.
That is close as you can get it.
This is gonna start getting really frustrating for FaZe.
You've gotten into that lower side a number of times, you're just not able to hold out.
Oh what a flick!
Just saw the top of his head.
And Payne's starting to build some momentum here in this map.
Yeah, they're gonna start feeling some fire in them as well.
Facing elimination, backs against the ropes, but they're ahead against FaZe, not allowing
them anything.
It's very chill after that single kill on Rain.
Robs lurking lobby, frozen Karrigan and Brokey were hoping and praying for a repeat that
was never going to come.
Deep utility, NQZ's forced to back off and play around his own smoke at the stairs.
Five rounds in a row from Pain.
FaZe looked to try and break the streak and if they...
I think they have to save?
I don't know what you do here.
You've got swollen flashbangs and a Molotov.
And you have gained no ground outside.
You haven't even challenged Ray or Ramp Room.
I'm going to join Rops, and it does look like they're setting up for what is going
to be an A attempt that we'll be able to get past NQC.
Well that is answered immediately.
Rops is here to play, and that is sick from Rops.
Oh, but we're just like that, face back into the round.
Well not yet.
Hold the phone, because there's players ready to go for this.
If Kawa's can get a kill that activates Big Yuzera, it's everything.
He's going to come out, squeaky door, which means both defenders will be coming from this
same position.
I've only got one piece of utility.
I was wondering how they're going to clear Frozen out, but he just walks into the open.
Kalez takes his chance, rups on the rotate, around the back side, but Kalez turns, and
rups, can't get it.
Broke, he's left on 2 HP, and this defuse is happening around the corner.
Broke, he goes into the open, Kalez downs in, and that defuse comes in.
FaZe can't catch a break.
Six rounds in a row from Payne.
Three kills on Kalez in the retake.
2v3, he gets all of them.
Four diffuses, four bombsite retakes that lead into round wins in the 6th round streak
that Payne's on.
All four of them end up with just two players from Payne surviving.
Faze is getting so close, but uncharacteristically do not have the finishing touch.
It means they keep getting bomb plants at least, right?
So they're getting these buys, they're giving these AKs out.
And it means the money's so low for Payne.
Like, one of these wins goes to the favor of Faze, and you can catapult yourselves
right back into this. Now you force him down a half by scenario at least. Such is the luxury
of winning the T side pistol on Nuke as well, that this half is not lost yet. If A's only
need to win one, maybe a second gun round would be ideal obviously. But that three
rounds you got from the pistol on the two and suing. I can approve the paramount.
Yeah, I've kept you right there despite the fact that you've lost six in a row.
Outside wall, erected. No one has to budge though from the pain side of things.
Snow's already downstairs, he's playing secret out of the gate.
Rain will challenge him.
Not much of a challenge because Snow is just jump-spotted.
Just there for information.
And to maintain that position, control of the single door, if they do eventually come down here,
doesn't need to commit to any fights, just needs to back away and let them come to him if that's what they want.
The open frozen will watch, and I shot!
As Cowboys goes down, big as that red snow, they're falling as well, and it is clean up from phase.
This is around the...
Will knock him close.
Damn.
Challenges very well coordinated by phase snow gets forced back into the bomb site
He's calling out that he needs help they're aggressing on his position
Cowez makes a play to drop down to go help him and just as he's sliding into ramp room the two players peek through the smoke
That's a knockout punch from phase and that was very very clean
Now on for an important to see what the money is for pain
Phase just kept from so low throughout this entire half, and look at the result.
You win six rounds straight, and you just can't invest here.
Can't even invest anything into an upgraded pistol into utility just because the losing
bonus isn't there.
And now Phase are gonna make a pretty good T side out of this, you know, five rounds
on the board, very comfortable position to find yourself in, and you could even
get six to six at the half and considering the huge streak of pain went on, that's got
to feel rather disappointing if the Brazilians finish on that.
We're exciting if you look at it from the face perspective.
Yeah true, there you go, now I'm being pessimistic Jason, yeah you're right.
That glass is half full baby.
We're keeping each other in check today.
We have to.
You can refill the glass.
You can.
Or you can get a sippy cup.
When was the last time you drank from a sippy cup?
a child so yeah that's cool I might get one this is starting to get a little
slow yeah I mean this is just pain doing everything they can they would love to
grab an AK that loved to grab an op obviously if they were able to have that
there we go okay p2000 not quite in the center but more towards the center
the eagle right and the D eagle but maybe it's because it's the the recoil of
eagle right because you care you gotta have it more in your shoulder maybe Jason
you know to deal with the blast back of the Desert Eagle when we were when we
were doing a E-League back in the day we went to a shooting range a bunch of us
of the town Anders was there oh yeah you get the fire a eagle the first thing
the guy said if you ever want to shoot something through an engine block here's
a Desert Eagle and it's just like great I'm Danish yeah so yeah he's like yeah
Yeah, it doesn't matter. It's a guy, cool.
Alright. Danish people can also fire Desert Eagles.
Not in their own country though.
No.
Alright, last round of this half coming up.
Phase Clan, looking to tie the scoreline 6-6
and for pain gaming, I mean, if you've got yourself six rounds in a row, you might as well just get one extra right.
Get a nice little 7-5 scoreline.
Yeah, piece of cake. And then a positive note, you know?
How good this half is going for you, with how dominant you were in the retakes.
It'd be great to have something positive to finish on.
You've earned it.
You really have. Go out there and get it, Payne.
And here comes the execute.
Face, break open the first. It's luck's going down and Karrigan's had enough.
He wants a tight scoreline.
That's Snow, little kiss of deck, inside of the smoke with rups.
And Karrigan's low, but his teammate's still fragging.
And Karrigan forcing the open taken down by Snow, who works in tandem with Fire.
He's now a 3 versus 2. Brokey with the backstab,
Rain with a final shot and a scoreline that is all tied up in this elimination game at ESL Extreme Masters Rio 2024.
Elimination awaits for one of these sides and it is closer than ever.
6-6 scoreline between FaZe Clan and PayGaming. Both teams have a lot of work to do
and yet to be seen who will be going home empty-handed here in Rio.
For both teams there's reasons as to why it would be heartbreaking. We've set them up multiple times days
But now it's all about the counter strike here in the second half
And snow is starting it by charging out the door and straight into the top side carrying him with the first headshot off the pistol
But he's brought down by NQZ set out frozen instead who gets cleared out and it's an absolute bloodbath inside of the A bomb site
But it's looking like pain they're gonna fall down to the pistols of Bokey and FaZe will come out on top of the first
And Kerrigan glats out a battle cry, extended battle cry as well.
Nice pistol round from FaZe.
That's Kerrigan as well, just fighting to his death.
He knows he's got a teammate coming up to take his position.
And the fast play towards the upper bombsite gets stopped.
Mostly by Kerrigan.
This shot right here.
That's the most dangerous player.
That first one is if he's able to swing wide and get along that wall and pressure
the bombsite, it's so hard to deal with.
And eventually FaZe just overwhelm them.
And as much as pain and joint winnyag exactly, he held that.
We get to hear it again!
Sounds different from Frozen's POV.
It's impressive, great lung capacity.
Now, remember, map 2, Mirage.
Phases pick, that pain won, they won both pistol rounds on that.
And how important was that in a match that goes into overtime?
Now you have Phase and the 3rd and deciding map winning both pistols.
And, and Brokey just pushing up and getting in your face.
He's like, well, I'm just gonna hang out here.
Nope, Brokey, he's found you already. He's found you hiding spot.
And uh, well, Rain was going to get another one that I was like give it to Brokey. That's the offer
Oh, no, not allowed
A little smirk a little side smile from rain, but let's go. This is where the going gets tough
You know we get the a case out for pain gaming and when the going gets tough think oh you get tough gets going
That's what they say
Not confusing whatsoever
It's Billy Ocean. What a legend.
Three MP9s for the phase defense.
So if you're pain, very cognizant of the fact that the SMGs are on the board and that you might have
look for some aggressive plays, look for some aggressive angles from those SMGs, but otherwise you're thinking
we have some superiority if we can get into the right fights.
Three MP9s. Little Phelous Raptors ready
to damage pain. Oh, what a shot for Biggie Zara.
Nice. From the in-game leader of Pain, Cowice, to fall at the hand of Robs.
Who is just making sure that garage is clear.
It's a pretty risky move for Robs outside.
You expose yourself to quite a bit, but here's Karagin.
Inside of Hut. Oh, God. You can't really do much about that, can you?
It's not going to be taken out by Frozen at least, but there's no follow-up from Frozen.
He's down to Lux in return, and, in fact, he's treading from Pain, but this is so rough for Brokey.
The fact that Biguzera attracts him into the vents and catches him just as he hops up on the ladder.
Not only is Robson now in a 1v3 that he can't win, so he'll back away.
I can't help but feel like Biguzera was the one Robson was looking for with that move in towards
Biggarage, right? You're looking for that secret player to fall back and lurk towards Mini as well,
and it just turns out that it's so much wasted time where Robson's out of position and in no way
able to help the phase defense of that upper bomb site. So Payne do eventually find a way at the
end, take it on Kerrigan and Hutt, frozen over at Squeak Door, exposing those MP9s.
Not an easy situation for Frozen to deliver multiple kills in, and the gap slides back
to just one.
You'd want a battle, a brutal battle right to the end from both sides.
You don't want to see anybody just pull away with it and close it when at this stage of
the tournament.
That first gun run though, it's a nice sign if you're rooting for pain to outlast
phase in this series.
It's good to see Biggie's arrow sliding out and just finding that opening duel
against rain who's such a specialist on this map in this position for years.
C&B Xerra go toe to toe to him in the first engagement, first gun round, but it's very
well.
And if he can continue to have success outside, that is one of the main win conditions of
this pain offense on Nuke.
Xerra has lost a lot of his health though, and he's made it down secret, and he's
got cowers with him.
Impairizing the utility for FaZe.
Running very very low and if this goes into a retake scenario, not having that utility could be critical, also only one kit, that's on the hands of Rain.
PikaZara, edges his way, makes some fake steps towards the Dekon door and then climbs back into the vent.
They're just gonna go back up. There's no attempt to split through Ramp Room which is what FaZe is thinking at this point.
Well, climb up the vent could be very effective here for Big Azera, as the utility rains in from his teammates,
he's put in place, Karrigan's got the first, but Snow to Trady, and Rain off the top of the hide, has not been checked yet,
hasn't given away his position and now strikes. The bomb isn't hot and never came out, never came out,
but the tip of the barrel now spotted, Rain knows there's a player in there,
and he spots out the vent player, gets the dink off, and Robs comes out, just gets away before he gets spotted out from hot and taken out.
You know, because into the open and Cowards is ready for that repeat, putting it all on frozen.
Frozen who is coming in from heaven, but that flash has just about missed
I'm frozen has got the opportunity to take NQC out of play you'll descend down into the bomb site
Now remember there's no kid on the back of frozen and there's no chance because cow is just domes him given the opportunity
And that's a player that rain would have called out dinked from the vent. Oh
Man, that's a hard one to swallow if your face. That's the money gone. What around from pain
I mean, turn that into a couple of hits and Snow creeps out.
Rain could never find him.
The fact that Snow gets that second kill right at the end is so massive.
Another huge round for Pay.
And this one shatters the money for FaZe.
There's a Hero M4 and it's in the hands of Rain and he's boosted up on the back
of Credit.
He's going to go for a peek and he uses it very well because he's out to get
out first.
Yeah, really good kill.
And he's going to keep up the aggression as well.
He wants to look around the edge of this first smoke.
Lux will he expect it?
Second one's coming in.
has the time to step in front, but from up above, NQZ picks him off and that's the only rifle that FaZe had
hidden in the dirt.
And now their chance is pretty much shrink to zero without that M4.
Yeah, it deals that way. There is the StackTorps ramp room, so I'll hold the phone.
They got three players here. If you can get a beneficial, like, really quick first kill,
that 5-7 on Robs can swing out a little bit wide.
Yeah.
This could get weird.
This is the best chance.
But you need Brokie to get some damage.
That's always good. That's how it's frozen for being able to come back and help.
Let's see what Broke can do.
He needs to pull the distraction and get some damage. He does get a dink off, but...
It's all about frozen and rops now together.
Frozen's gonna peek and try and act as that second player,
and then hope that they forget that rops is here or don't even think about the possibility that he is.
So, that's worked out so well, and they've got the bomb in their possession now.
Lux and NQZ have to pull this back.
And they're gonna spot it. Robs just checks down lower, and this is a classic phase BS round.
They have pistols in the ramp room and they just unravel a pain gun round
Feel like pain gave a lot of respect over to those pistols broke into the corner now
They know NQZ he's got a commit if he wants the bomb and frozen's got him and out of nothing
Face steal around away
Cal forward to drop those on the road to success
If you're pain gaming and and the hard thing is as much as you try and shove something like that to the back
Of your mind if you're pain like that's what you're thinking right now
You're like that's that's a round that we just can't lose like we just see we just tied things up
Especially because they have the money being here so many times right the storyline
We always talk about pain is you know you come close you nearly beat these top-sized
But there's always those little rounds that you miss so those details that go against you
They're gonna know from experience that that is one of those rounds
And the worst part is they don't even have a goodbye like just come back in and try and reset off
But you have to take a hit you have to go to the eco
Nice nade, nice second kill from Robson, he's so well protected by that smoke.
AK has been recovered, oh he's doing so much damage through this, eventually goes down
but it's fine, you got Broke here, ready to step up and into his position, cleans up
two, Lux coming in late, now let's go, oh he's only got 11 HP, yeah if he had a little
bit more health, but he has got them separated in one of the one fights because Frozen
has gone down B. Carrigan's angle.
I was going to say, you don't have the HP to swing into this angle whatsoever.
He's hoping for the mistake of someone creeping out a little bit wide and trying to close
the gap, and Carrigan's just ready and waiting for him to fall back.
Damn, it's just not going to work out for him.
Carrigan has every chance, it's just a lander bullet, and Faze will take their
opportunity off the back of the pistol round that they won previously to win the follow-up.
And now 10-2-8 is the scoreline.
client getting closer and closer to eliminating pain here in I am real sweet
shot from Lux though it's this trade but this one's a banger
would you believe me if I told you it's the first time I'll pay any views yeah
yeah I mean look I mean they they spent that remember they spent that whole
first half running away with it right six rounds in a row that's true it was
It was 6-3 at one point.
Really proves how important good starts in the half-saw, especially in the M1-12, doesn't it?
The fact that you can have a really...
It's a pretty poor half, you know, not amazing, but average from phase.
But have the first three rounds picked up and then it ends up being...
Well, that's it. Very good.
Also, it shows you how important the pistol round is with the M1-12.
You also have that little bit of a cushion to be able to only need, you know, a couple rounds at the end of the day.
That's true.
Let's see if Paine can bounce back.
It's got to be a very, very tough situation, losing that eco a couple rounds back.
Yeah, having to go to attack 9 and they're all over here.
It feels like this is the moment that if they drop the ball, it does feel like FaZe can pull away.
Well, set piece towards the upper bomb site.
And now this can all be thrown into disarray by this push from Broke.
Not only that, but Robs is going to slide in a little bit late.
And with the cover of the AWP, he could have two free kills.
This feels like it's just going to be beautiful.
Robs goes in first, he comes in on the second.
Robs has just unraveled their round before it even started.
It is disastrous for paying gaming here, finally dealing with Robs,
but he's already put them in the bin.
And that's all the utility they just dumped into that execute is like,
you can't do anything with it.
Frozen, here's the sound cues of Big Eezera dropping down,
so he's calling out ones outside.
Big Eezera's just gonna sneak away.
See if he can freeze Rain outside, keeping his eyes peeled
long enough to make any hit elsewhere effective.
Over to Ramp Room we go and Broke's got an AWP. One shot, drop down to the lower bomb site.
Oh, move in. Flash is coming up as well. Broke's going to go to the left side of the smoke. It is more of a risky position as the AWPer because now we don't have that fallback plan.
You have given them just the space to work with. Yeah, but would you expect an AWPer here? Would you expect them to be able to wrap around you so quickly with all this noise?
noise. No one else has descended downstairs just yet. FaZe, letting them commit themselves
to the bomb site. Now they're close.
Okay, Brokey, goes for the no scope. Carragans with him. And Snow left alone. Stop by Brokey.
Great work. Kits him on the smoke and appears behind them at the inopportune moment for
Pay.
I love the decision by Brokey to try and push around the edge of that smoke. I think
it's very cool and very fitting for Brokey and his playstyle. And I love even more
the decision when that flashbang comes in and he realized he never found the edge of the smoke to just back away and not try and force the play
I also love the decision to just go to no scope
That's also a fence broke like yeah
Phase just gave paint everything they wanted in that round in that four on three
And then ripped it all away from him at the end second time out from pain
They have not won a round since losing to pistols at eight to eight
Yeah, I mean you brought up that street that we had in the first half from pain
that was six rounds collected in the first half they only have eight rounds at the
moment so the tides have completely shifted in favor of FaZe Clan and it
looks to be a tidal wave over paying gaming to knock them out. Plenty of tech
nines in a P250 actually that's a Glock excuse me an NQZ fast towards the
upper bomb site right out sweet door we go frozen gonna challenge for it and
And Calas can't even take his second step.
There's Kerrigan from up top.
All right, well, that was quick.
And FaZe now have four rounds to close out this series.
I mean, if you look at Payne's run today,
it's a tough one, right?
You're playing at a very stacked tournament.
You've got pretty much all of the best of the teams
in the world in attendance.
You play Miles the Opener right,
and then you have FaZe.
So two pretty tough games for Payne.
But there aren't many easy ones.
No, I don't, yeah, that's the thing, especially in terms of seeding, like, you know, name another team that, realistically, they could have played that, that I think would have been better.
Still on the verge of this team who can be dangerous in best of threes in terms of taking a map off you, but really...
unable to go super deep into the map pool to close them out against the best teams in the world, and now Brokey's got some swagger to him.
They know. There's a player pinned in behind the walls.
Peeked from silo being watched. Brokey now has eyes on it.
It's nice to get back into the garage.
Kraninko's far and takes some damage off NQZ and Kawas.
Here's another of those 1-4s that Payne likes to bust out with Biggie Zera on the lurk.
Rop spots a shoulder before the peek.
One by one we come right at Rop's NQZ trades.
So Avener to the lower bomb site is open, but Frozen's already dropped out and there
is the lurk caught out.
Frozen ready for the final attack of three players for Payne.
His eight licks to battle for their tournament life here in Brazil.
NQC has got himself a headshot on Frozen 2v3, bomb plant being locked in for NQC, but the
player that has to do the most is the youngest, it's Snow, he'll peek into the opening, he's
got the health to work with and now he's got Brokey, but no longer does he have that health,
but he's got a chance against Kerrigan in the 1v1 but he can't stop him.
Kerrigan will knock out Pain Gaming in Realtation Hero, the Brazilians hearts will break,
But for FaZe, their dreams of redemption in Rio at least live on, Jason.
Yeah, for the moment they can see how far they can go into this one up and down day
But I think as you hear from FaZe plenty of times is all the matters is making it to the next one
To see what happens from there. For Pain, yeah
This third map is gonna sting that that eco loss at 8 to 8, never able to bounce back from it
That's gonna be really painful
But I think if you want to take some positives away from Pain, think of the opening map of this series just to snow
two kills on it or you know in the first half one nice clutch that was about it
Mirage knew Q was a force you saw a lot of potential out of your young rising
star we definitely did see that Jason but unfortunately for the side of pain
gaming this is the end of the road rather as quick as they got here they
are on their way out as one of our first teams eliminated if the hands of
phase nonetheless there was an upset potential there was a couple moments in
here where it really looked like it could swing back in their way but
that is not the case that is not what we got today Jerry now I think it
It was a decent showing for Payne Gaming. Realistically speaking, for them to face in that lower bracket elimination game on day one was always going to be tough for them.
They didn't end up winning a very competitive, very close mirage. They came in here in Nuke and as Jason said, at the scoreline 8-8, we thought that there was a potential for a big upset.
Again, in face claim they show they still have a bit of class for Payne. Obviously it sucks to lose on home turf, but I don't think they did too bad.
Yeah, I agree. I mean it was respectful showing they have phase phase going down early on just really messes up the rest of the
Schedule for all the other teams. Yeah, whatever you have big teams like that going down early
But I mean it's also a little bit like it's phase kind of playing down and up to the level of their opponents that they have
And here they're playing down a little bit because as Moses was talking about
There was a real chance that pain could have even taken it either in the third map
The first map didn't get to Adam Henn as well as the 13-9, so there were opportunities that
Pain could have actually taken a series either 2-0 or 2-1 where a phase, it's their experience
from the end that gets them over the finish line. Yeah, and you know this is one of those
tough moments. We're going to catch up with the side of Pain, obviously giving all the
context that we've given you at home. Because, Era. Hello, hello. Hey man. How are you doing?
It's all right, man. How are you doing? How are you feeling right now?
Right now, I'm so... I think first trade the word. I really want to play in front of the home crowd, you know.
So, I'm from here, Rio, so...
Okay, yeah.
Yeah, I'm from Niterai. It's the closed city here.
Just right down the road.
Yeah, you know, we have a bridge that's separate, but it's closed.
Well, let's talk about this matchup today. And I guess Nuke being the closest one on your mind.
your mind. Let's talk about 8-8 at the score line. What happens?
And on Nuke, I think we have a good start. Actually, we lost the pistol, but in full
rounds, full body, we did a good job, I think, in the start. But I think we lost one
round that they were secret and have to double look and we could not lose that round so our
economy was down and everything was like.
It starts falling apart.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We spoke about obviously playing face in the elimination game on day one is always
going to be tough so coming into that matchup did you feel that you had a realistic
shot at winning the game or were you surprised by a phase you know even
dropping down to the lower break? Actually we know about them we know they are
super good team maybe it's not the best phase that we ever see but it's still the
phase so it was a tough game everyone knew about that so yeah I send it
obviously you're disappointed you would have loved to stay alive in the
tournament but we just spoke about it before you come here that it was a
a relatively competitive game and you gave them a good fight. Do you agree, despite it being
the socks to lose, you still gave them a good fight in this one?
Yeah, yeah, I think even if they are a good thing, I think we are like, all the time we are
getting close in the tournament, so we have a Cologne that we play well and have a Bat-Boom
We were in 4th and I think now we got two very, very difficult openings, but we could beat them both, you know, so it was close and that's it.
You started the series on Dust2. It was the second time you played Dust2 today and it was your map pick against FaZe, but you ended up losing 13-9, I believe.
Was there anything that FaZe was doing a little bit different than Maus that was more difficult for you guys to kind of overcome?
Yeah, on those two, I think they were playing more...
I think they were playing in a different, how can I say, in a different time, you know, so against Maus,
I said for the boys, when they go short, they just explode in one minute and 20, 50, something
like that.
And with FaZe it was, surprise me, because it was a little bit more slow, because when
we play against FaZe, FaZe is always playing fast, we call FaZe a fury from Europe.
Fury from Europe?
Yeah, yeah.
Well, look man, we're gonna get you out of here, but for the pain fans, you know,
for the people that are watching around the world, for everyone that's like young
snow, let's see what young snow can do.
You wanna speak to them in Portuguese?
Yeah, yeah, can I?
Absolutely, look for that one, yeah.
Ok, that's good.
Obrigado a todo mundo que torceu pela gente, infelizmente a gente tentou nosso
máximo dessa vez não deu pra jogar na frente da plateia, não vai ser agora que vocês
We will hear the noise from the snow nearby, so thank you very much for all the support that you always give us, and that's it.
Let's go to the next one, head to the place, and now focus on the RMR in China. Let's go.
learned that the guy that Jacob was specifically talking about.
Yeah, what's that about?
Yeah, I'm glad he played well.
Rob's coming into this series and finding some of that old form.
As I said, I feel for Faze, they kind of rely a lot on him.
We know what we get from Frozen.
We kind of know what we get from Brokie from time to time.
As of late, Brokie's been in a great shape.
The one big question mark we always have when Faze are playing,
it's Rob's.
And today, in particular, this series, he was doing much, much better.
And hopefully for him and hopefully for Faze,
can keep this up because then there is a shot for them still to make the playoff.
I think part of this whole Robs conversation as well, I'm going to bring it back to the map
conversation. Sure. And we said like maps like Nuke, why can't he not find that value? It's because
you know the lurks, it relies on your everyone else being able to make openings. But then you
go on the CT side and if they keep coming ramp at you, you're going to have a chance to play
the game, especially when they do it when you're on they're on eco. So I mean Robs really
having a chance to actually shoot back this game. When we talk about his performance in these
other maps he's literally just like oh the rest of my team is dead I have to
save there's just actually no opportunity for him yeah there's there's
really not but don't worry we're gonna be seeing more of phase that much I can
tell you for sure they just survived here against pain but we still got a
whole more a lot of counter strike coming your way we're looking at knobby
versus liquid when we return because you are watching the Intelliq Street
Masters RIO 2024
in the same place as it will just jump in casually into the site. Wait, what was that?
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Now you can do a liquid recently released very candid documentary talking a bit about
you, your life outside the game, your life inside the game as well, you were quite vulnerable
in it. You opened up about being in a period of struggle. Why was that important for you
to share? Because it's not something we often see players doing.
I mean, I feel like this kind of period of time where it's a long period of time where
I could not kind of find my form back. It cannot really. And I think it was important
kind of to share with fans, because fans are the ones who got made you, the person
who you are and obviously it was not easy to talk about the struggles, it was not easy
to open up and express my own opinion and I think Team Liquid and Alienware did a great
job of kind of like reflect that into that movie or the video.
I think it's something that's so important and so underrated because you know a lot
of times people talk about how they've come out of that struggle after it's happened
but you're talking about it during the process of you getting out of it.
Has there been anything that Liquid has done to help you get out of that period of instability?
I mean, Liquid is the best organ of the planet, that's what I can say.
They support me, they give me everything I need.
And it's only on my end to come back with results, come back with better gameplay.
You talked about the process of trying to find stability as well.
How stable do you feel currently in this roster?
I mean, I'm fully confident with the roster.
I think we have showed great potential
and we had some great games against top tier teams.
And we are consistently winning maps
even against higher opposition.
And I think we finally met our kind of first struggles
in a way, like maybe a month ago or whatever.
So it's been a little bit rockier than at the very start.
But we have strong mentally strong individuals that don't have a problem about talking about problems and talking about fixes.
And I think we're here and of course, we don't know how this event is going to be.
But we're here with already a mindset of like we have we we talked about it.
Let's let's do this the right way.
I imagine twist is somebody that kind of epitomizes exactly what you're talking about.
And, you know, you've been under a fair few in game leaders.
You've been in a game to yourself.
How does Twist differ to other in-game leaders that you've played with?
I think he's a lot more...
I don't want to say it, because that's the only word that comes into my head,
but it's like soft in a good way, right?
He's not that kind of a leader that's going to critique you for a mistake,
or he's harsh when he needs to be harsh,
but most of the time he's like a mentor for you.
And I think he's a natural leader that's going to have great success.
And obviously you can see, you can notice definitely the experience he has and the love for the game he has by how he speaks to his teammates and how he speaks about the game.
Cintill Extreme Masters back into Rio de Janeiro, that is south of the equator in case you have no idea where you are, we're going to tell you exactly where you are.
That's the Cintill Extreme Masters. I've already told you. I don't want to have to tell you again.
right Josh? Right. Right. So let's move on swiftly to the things that matter. That'll
be our last best of three of the day featuring that of Navi versus Team Liquid.
Now one of these teams is not like the other. Now you can do with that what
you will Josh. You can you can start the conversation anywhere you will
around that. However I'm just gonna go out on one here and say it's Navi. Did
it's not like Liquid? Navi are the better team. No? Navi seem like they
are the better team. They've won tournaments recently. They've got a
top two with the last like six events they've been to. So it is a different beast and when you
compare it to a team like Liquid that they have twist coming in as a new IGL and we even heard
it from Ykindre here. I wasn't hearing so much about any of the tactical side from twist. There's
more about the leadership style, the mentor style and the experience that he has, but nothing
so much about like, Hey, how is he helping you guys like level up and how is he helping you
with your gameplay and specifically you highlight Ykinder, who is that point man that's going
in first. Where's that support structure around you and how is twist enabling you to do what
you want to do to find success here? I didn't hear any of that and when I see them playing
in the server, I don't see that. Contrast it to Navi, who looked exceptionally good when
it comes to the teamwork, the utility to set each other up.
Yeah, I think a way of phrasing that is that Navi right now is everything liquid
wants to be in the future and I think that's a fair bar to set right now.
the way Navi is playing, you said to yourself, you know, there's a lot of cohesion in between the members,
the roles makes perfect sense as well, all the players feel comfortable, all the players know
that on certain maps they can be the star player, etc. And I think if you're Team Liquid, you kind of
want to imitate that, you kind of want to be in a position where you can put your players into
the same amount of roles. For my money, you know, when you look at Navi, it's been the same
conversation over and over, you said to yourself, consistency, you know, five finals in a row,
you have players like Emma, wonderful, JL for that matter as well, you have a bit,
All of them can be the star player.
All of them can be the best player of the tournament.
All of them can win an MVP.
And there's very few teams right now
where four players with that sort of potential.
So I think in terms of facing this matchup,
Liquid right now are playing against the team
they would like to be themselves in the future.
That's an interesting way to put it.
And that's because we do live in a timeline
of international teams, Josh.
It is a timeline of international teams.
This is very different than, you know,
our playing days, both me and Pimp here.
We had our little secluded.
that I was on the North American teams,
he was on the Danish teams.
And now you have a little bit of everything
and part of where I guess Liquid wants to go,
I don't exactly see that identity yet
that they're trying to go for.
And it couldn't very well be that Navi-esque style.
But I mean, you highlight Navi, what do they do well?
And a lot of it comes down to the protocols
that they have, but you highlight the individual players.
And it feels like they do have a really good core
of riflers, you have wonderful on top of that.
and they're able to do so much and interchangeably
be able to take game into their own hands.
Well, let's grab on to what you're saying right there.
One of the individuals that we're going to hear,
he's gonna have to take things into his own hands here shortly.
We're gonna catch up with JL.
Now JL has been a very intense few weeks for you,
back-to-back Grand Finals.
Can you tell me where Navi's energy is at at the moment?
I think we're back a little bit.
I feel like we had less energy in the Blastfall final.
We had three or four days between tournaments,
even though we used the 75% of it in practice.
But regardless, I feel like we needed some time at home.
Because coming from Malta,
we came to Copenhagen to play Blast.
We had no time with the family, no time with the friends.
And I think it's a crucial part of our job
and our life to have this time off.
So I think we're more back here than we're back at Blast.
How much time did you have between Blast and now
to actually go home and get a bit of relaxation time in?
We had four days including the travel day, so we took one travel day, one day off, and two practices, so
yeah, I don't have the travel day as the day off, so yeah.
I think that's totally fair. Reflecting upon that best of five versus G2 in Copenhagen,
was there anything that you guys learned, you know, having had some time to reflect upon it?
Yeah, that our best of five is not at the best possible state it could be,
but we do have to understand that best of five is a different kind of grand final. It's
It's not a best of free. You cannot put a lot of effort into all the maps.
You have to kind of split your attention to some sort of maps,
but it's hard. We still didn't figure it out yet.
Hope Rio is going to be a good practice first if you do make it to the grand final.
And yeah, just learning.
You just have to learn, improve and keep working hard.
Now, Liquid, your next opponent here,
if you take down them, obviously you make it to playoffs.
It's an interesting opponent because when Liquid are coming out
of the player break with their new roster, you face them twice,
You lost to them twice.
Obviously, there's been a lot of matches going on since then.
But do you have any start-up memories of maybe what you think
went wrong in those games?
I feel like we didn't know how they played
because they were fresh rosters.
So we didn't have a lot of information about them.
But now we do.
We have a lot of information about them, how they play,
how they react to certain situations.
So I think it's going to be easier in that sense.
And yeah, we've got someone finished business to do.
And right now we're playing for a trophy.
It's not just a qualification to a tournament.
So it's gonna be a little bit different.
Okay, interesting. If you could describe Liquid.
Maybe describe Liquid in one word. What would you say and why?
One word.
One word is hard. Can I say two?
Yeah, yeah. Two frames.
Late game.
They're a late game team. They like to finish runs late.
Of course, they do not get entries in the early stage,
but yeah, they like to finish the game late.
We're looking forward to see how it gets done. That's a luck jail.
A couple more than two words, but you know, the idea is there, I suppose.
Jacob, what did you discern from that?
I mean, to be fair, he kind of highlighted one of the things that we already know about Navi,
that it is a team that relies a lot on the prep, you know.
Blade is a very sufficient code in that area, always comes in well-prepared to tournaments.
So, one of the reasons why Navi was struggling against Liquid in the beginning
when Liquid were a new team and Navi didn't have a lot of tape on Liquid
was probably the lack of preparation.
So, I fully buy into what JL is saying right here.
You're now playing for qualification into the playoffs, you're playing for a trophy.
Trophy is no longer just a group stage game
with no meaning to it, so to speak,
and there's a lot of tape on Team Liquid right now.
So I think it's significantly easier now for Navi
coming into this matchup.
Yeah, and Josh, I'm looking at a day of play, right?
This is gonna be their second matchup today.
We're looking at Navi that pretty much trounced
on Imperial earlier than you looked.
But the other side where Liquid
did some similar motion there to complexity.
Neither of these teams have been tested here today.
They haven't been tested yet,
and it's always nice to play
when you're a little bit warmed up for that second match,
you're already in the winners' match,
so you're already feeling good about situation.
It's not like, oh, we're down the lowers,
we shouldn't have lost that game,
and feeling all sad about the entire situation and everything.
But it's interesting to see people say Navi
is like a prep heavy team,
which I don't necessarily disagree with,
but when I look at Navi,
it's not like they change so much up based on the matchups.
They do the same thing against whatever team,
and the reason why they are so good
is because the foundation that they've built upon
is good, and they always have that to fall back on,
and then they can have that individual freedom
within those kinds of boundaries.
Yeah, within those parameters, so to say.
Yeah.
Hey man, and obviously we switched the page.
We talk about Navi, everyone's talking about Navi,
and it makes sense because they are absolutely
owning a lot of people.
When you look at liquid, you look at rolling from pollen,
we talk about what is the ultimate form of liquid,
and what are we gonna get today?
It's a good question, and as just said before,
I'm not sure Liquid themselves know just yet.
We do know Ultimate is a very interesting player.
A player scouted, you know,
a player brought into Team Liquid
and a player that early stages, you know,
I think he's left a great impression so far.
So when we look at the, I guess the stats here,
the impact rating is actually pretty decent.
1.25 is pretty high,
almost like in par with a lot of these other
like top level oppers,
but looking at the off kill and the rifle kill split
in terms of how many kills they have,
what percentage of that is an off kill.
It's kind of on par with Monezzi for example,
maybe even, there's like another flow as well.
So, and they're going up against a wonderful.
And I do look at this, like one of two ways.
And one of the ways I look at it is,
sometimes it feels like whenever I watch Liquid play,
they're always doing these four spies with MP9s
and not really giving Ultimate a chance to get that off.
And I wonder what that actually would look like
if he was able to get an off in his hands more frequently.
What would change to his impact rating?
What would change that distribution of AWP versus Rifle kill distribution?
Because we're not looking at a thing where a player is versatile, Jacob.
I mean, we're talking about what they're bringing in server on those given days.
Yeah, I very much agree with that.
I think Liquid is currently at a stage where they're figuring out, you know,
what are some of our strengths and what are some of the players that we need to cater to?
And one way of catering to an AWP player is allowing him to buy the AWP as much as possible
without forcing him to play with MP9, without forcing the rifle upon him.
So I'm curious to see that development as well.
I will say for Ultimate, he's a player that dictates the game.
He's a player that goes for a lot of opening, especially in Copenhagen, one of the highest entry rates in the entire tournament.
So he's a player that is trying to make an impact on the game.
And the more you give him the op, the more impact he will have.
So, Kirstis, yeah, that's going to involve us a lot.
And we're going to see a lot of that, especially on the Dust2 map.
You know, Op'er is paradise, but Inferno, there's also a lot of opportunity for it.
But maybe not so much on the T side.
And that's where, you know, rushing with those AKs or forcing up those AKs makes sense instead of, you know, getting that op in the slow
playing it although top middle lots of opportunities there opportunities you call
them hey Jake I'm gonna cut you off right there I want to know who you've got
one in this game I got another one in this game and I think they should be able
to do it in a true O-Fession and if not then ancient being the third is
definitely the final nail in the coffin for that wow all right I take
Naby as well and probably 2-0 just the way that they've been playing pretty
well but not liquids been like yeah so you're saying there might be a chance
if rolling from Poland can really make them make it closer true they could
definitely do that gentlemen thank you very much for your time I do believe we
are ready to get in the game to my knowledge inferno dust to ancient should
we need it we're looking at knobby liquid both ready to put their toes into
the playoffs we do this one with our commentators who are Moses and Dinko so
let's do the damn thing shall we thank you very much trace yes knobby
versus liquid one of them heading to straight to the playoffs this is a big
day on day one of Intel Extreme Masters Real. This is a really excited match up
to get this early in a tournament, Jason. Absolutely, especially when you consider
the last two, the last time these teams faced was in the last Fall Groups, which
is essentially when this Liquid lineup was brand spanking new and still took
Navi down in two series at that event. So we get a good test. A few months down
the road, a little bit more time for Twists to develop the map pool with
the team. How's Liquid looking going up against, in my opinion, the best team
in the world in Navi? Bit, Ema, and wonderful to start at the 8 Bombset.
Alexi and J.L. playing over in Banana. They're gonna be challenged by J.K.S. and Yikinder.
J.L. off first, trying to take everybody down in Banana, but unable to land a single shot
until this point as Yikinder will fall around the corner. J.L.'s got a second.
And J.L. is not looking to stop anytime soon. There isn't a fight going down in the apartments
and it's between bit and twists. Two of the most mechanically gifted players on
the planet. And Twist will win that fight with the Gloft.
Ooh, it even actually moves out a little bit as well. I thought maybe the sound
CQC trying pressure him defenses split he was gonna have to peek down middle
There's one more over lane and they both win their fights. Ema and a wonderful step up to the plate as liquid
Try and call an audible in the mid rounds and they get stuffed
Yeah, most of these fights just there's no competition that team liquid losing four members very quickly
The only play getting anything done is twisted in the apartments
But most of the lovely shots coming in from Navi. Yeah, but if I was a little bit ugly
I'm not gonna lie to you there
It was real, like just kind of spamming that USP, not even really aiming it, you know, back behind the board.
But eventually got some nice shots.
Eventually settled down and hit him, but the fact that he was able to kind of do that, you know, is also a little, a little worrying.
Alright, NAF has got another one here on him, huh?
Well, yeah, you're going to call this is something that you want to get into.
You're going to, you're going to try to send him out of the cast, okay?
Not quite yet, not quite yet.
No, you take it away, Dinko.
Alright, I will.
NAF's going to, going to give us time.
I'm just gonna walk through all mid and up the stairs over into the halls, 20 seconds
left.
Is there a world in which Navi says, oh look, nobody's here, let's walk down mid.
Okay, I am gonna cast this one, Jason, because he's got an MTA side of the moment, so they
could get a bomb plant here and nothing else, and they actually are gonna give him
a bomb plant.
Oh god, alright.
Nav's got a plant, but getting off of the plant, well, what if we're gonna shut
him...
No, they thought it was B.
They thought it was B.
They thought it was being a headshot comes in wonderful dives down knife out
They were going to the B bomb site Alexi P and JL are coming back and naff now with a one versus two
He's sitting inside of the site just waiting for these two remaining Navi players to finally appear and because they had so long to run
They're making so much noise coming in through short and naff the Canadian looks to stand tall, but JL flies through the sky to close it
Wow that really did turn into something as if as if that's the way it ends as well after all that it's JL
a jumping reaction shot swings that glock around in midair and that was a
messy pistol yeah I mean you have to say Navi's gonna be bummed that they let
the the plant go down obviously but the fact they come out with that with a
victory there's probably a certain sigh of relief going on down the line in
the Navi camp. They thought it was B as well, she's brilliant. Wonderful just
dives out. Root surprise, his naff is just staring right at him. But they'll
celebrate it I might be a short-lived celebration there's an AK-47 picked up
on NAF there's a glill on ultimate mac 10s tech 9 and utility under the three
players so liquids coming into this with some strength behind the buy and
already bits calling it out they have weapons on the bomb charge into the
balcony and it's JKS straight into the site bit was completely blinded
unable to really get involved that's this is the realm I don't I think you
to save if you're Navi. Too many smokes up, too far away. Jail wins the fight at range against
your Kindor, but yeah. I mean, look, you're gonna take it if you're liquid. You'd obviously like
to have a few more kills to force some rebies, but you know, next round is gonna be essentially the
same buy up against each other head to head. But Navi got the feeling that a lot of that pressure
was, I think when Bit peaked out mid, he saw two players, one deep, one tech nine, or
back 10 close up along the bench and they never had any information that that
Hall's play was coming in so fast back and forth to kick off this map once a
one already and yeah I'm enjoying the entertainment value we're getting out
of the first two rounds at least sure I want to see a bit bit caught a flashbang
as well as he jumped back into the box it was a lot of long-time jks and all
the time in the world yeah just pop right above the halls bid had no
chance good utility for me a kinder so one to one and you know what losing the
second round sucks it doesn't suck nearly as much when you're able to save
four weapons in the way that Navi did true you just come right back and do it
again it's a funny juxtaposition just hearing from JL in the pregame
interview you know when they ask him for a word that describes liquid and he
said they finished late watching these rounds and instantly and then it's
Just a full blown rush out halls.
And now right up mid and wonderful going to sink back.
So Brackets control over to Team Liquid
with a minute and 20 seconds left on the clock.
Navi will have expectations of making that best of five
final here in Rio.
Narjaila talking about it and obviously a big step towards that
if you get through this game into the playoffs,
should I?
Liquid's lined up like they wanted
to turn this into a mid to B split.
But that next smoke, they never took the step
around the corner.
So that next smoke actually delays things.
And it might just turn it into a standard B hit.
with a lurk. JL does get spotted. He's in for a Bazon as he drops back and Ima coming over to help him.
Yeah, no smoke, no Molotov. Same on Ima, just the one flashbang.
Oh, that's not a lot of utility to defend what is going to be a team liquid hit.
Now smoke goes down. I'll hold them back for now.
Couple pieces litter the floor and they're picked up by Ima, but now it's flashes.
If this is clean from liquid, it'll be another save from Navi.
They won't even attempt it. Smoke going to be broken open.
There's the god flash coming in. You can't reply.
stopped in his tracks but through the smoke they spam one down that little
mp9 that could Alexi's got another tons of damage and your kid who's got a
back away he's got four health yeah and he realized he was in danger the second
he turned that corner yeah good decision to come back if it continued
going forward Alexi almost surely would have got that kill but a 3v3 damage
your kindot and Navi are thinking about going for this one they're staying
committed for the time being but they have no utility no kits and surely now
they start to back away if they don't get any opportunities from Team Liquid
players. It turns into a 2-1 score line for the T side of Team Liquid.
The winning play might have actually been a U-Kinder just calling it off and falling back.
They get that kill on him with 4 HP, then they're going for a 3 on 2 for sure.
So Liquid trading their way into the B bomb site, even though it got a little sketchy,
they make things work. It's 2-1 as they grab a lead, but still weapons to fight
with on the Navi side and still cash to get some weapons on Ema and JL beside
them as well.
We've just been getting more and more confident and excited around the prospect of ultimate as an offer in this team liquid squad
I think so many years there's been a problem with a team liquid of just not having an actual role offer
There's they can stand with the rest of the world. They really have a yeah exactly
So now there's the ultimate we're really excited about the prospect of this organization finally having an offer
From the most unlikely of places as well. Yeah the guy
Now we knew nothing about versus OC who had showed potential in Tier 2, Yokuza who had shown potential, simple being brought in, JDM long time offer.
But he was in the Pasha gaming camp in the mountains.
That's where it comes from.
He's a man full of testosterone and off-pingability.
We have got a bit of a week around here for Nalfi, but he can often be secretly potent.
Yep, map calling out right now. One's pushed towards stairs, at least one.
Signals to JKS and twist they can take a deeper angle in middle
Resources probably aren't there to stop them
Navi's gonna continue forward on this timing and just clear everything out doesn't look like anyone's aware of the possibility oh
That time means that's something yeah, but this flank takes so long to like come into fruition that
For now. Oh, we could just go through the underpass and get in behind them. Good. Me
That is a possibility and great call from Navi as well
They just smoked off the B bomb so that's bit making his play and Alexi saying alright
We play the stall game we we stall them out for a little bit
Oh twist coming back making a lot of noise bit could just take twist down here
It's him up go down first bit to trade out on twists and now they know bits positioning
Yeah, but he saw a twist running up middle and they got a kill up middle
So they don't realize the endgame is at the B bombsite
They don't have that information the stack has been broken up and liquid get a waltz in for free
They've somehow made it work and now bits even known in the flank yet again NAFRA is going to go commit himself to the B bomb site
Comes back
Fight doesn't go his way to start but he's got some relative safety
Bit picking up information actually worked against Navi to an extent but with that headshot from Alex it'd be an ultimate
It is now a numbers game with Navi ahead on it
But Jail still only go to USP, but he gets him behind he creeps him behind
But he kind of turns and survives on two HP it falls in banana and it is a third round for liquid
These mountains are all over the place. The team liquid coming up trumps and really tense
Navi didn't buy up around those three saved weapons at the previous as well
So they've got a really strong buy across all five players coming into this one. It's gonna be a very nice investment for the CT side
And around got a little awkward
Nafin you can't be able to close it out first time out is used by Navi as they talk things over
Haven't enjoyed how things have gone since the pistol round and realistically they probably didn't enjoy the pistol round too much either
Yeah, not a whole lot to enjoy at the moment for a Navi and so Blade won't get on the mic
It was very interesting to hear a point brought up on the desk from Josh steel who was saying
No, it'd be great to see if liquid got the AWP into
Ultimate's hands a lot more right it didn't let him onto the let him get onto the MP9
Let him get the AWP as often as possible and see how that would change the game for Team Liquid
Yeah, yeah, I mean obviously it'd be great
Especially knowing how much impact ultimate has I would think in today's counter strike. That's
Not always the easiest thing to do you have to buy you have to be able to win some low buys
You have to take those risks at different points
He had the op heading into this round and sold it back to pick up an AK-47
And obviously as we know as well plenty of offers choose to kind of go away from the weapon on the T side of in front of
That can be quite uncomfortable
Set of circumstances.
You can dart. Oh, not enjoying that.
Yeah, that smoke wasn't even blown open. That was just bailed in the headshot.
Yeah, also some feelers through.
Poor you can dart.
Good timing though because now Navi get a fall back.
Yima's gonna be here to show up this defense third player
and he's gonna be in position to help slow down this whole set.
Flash goes up, wonderful, ready to take twists out
and it's worked out very well here so far from Navi.
Eventually the first kill of the round comes back for Team Liquid as JKS to grab it.
Yeah, the bombs in middle. Bombs in middle and JKS can't hold on.
So ultimate with that bomb is gonna come in very, very late with nothing to do.
It'll come close to it short, but just so many targets.
And they'll all be fixated upon him in the second.
One bullet leaves that AK.
You'd have to fight bit in the pit.
He just can't get past the first obstacle.
So it ends up being the second round for Navi.
Finally able to get a decent purchase out across every player and they take the round victory.
Yeah, and a very clean win as well, which is gonna be great. Upgrade to an AK-47. Four players survive.
This is how it started. Yeah, he was just doing a little testing shot.
They didn't go deep enough, but other than that, Navi handles business. Out of the time,
Arcblade's got another W after he pauses the action.
Pick getting into the apartments early, he's going for a second mid-peak, but JKS is standing there ready to just shred him.
Pick is the info, but just loses his life. JL's turning banana.
Well now we get to see how Navi actually worked this in a disadvantaged situation in the 5 on 5.
In the 5 on 5 previously we've seen him take control of banana, get a little piece of aggression,
have control, have information and rotate an extra player back. They've just done that now.
Well, they might have to cheat it back to the B bomb site.
Got the slightest provocation from Team Liquid later in the round.
Over a minute still left on the clock.
I miss smoke.
Yep.
That's a good one to play on that one.
Although if you're lex you're like, oh shit guys, they got a brand new waterfall
smoke.
Yeah, true.
He's pinned behind it.
He's like, is this intentional?
What are they going to do?
How do they peek this?
A whole lot of mind games involved in that.
45 seconds.
Oh, Ima...
Getting taken down by NAF, whose target now becomes wonderful.
They still gotta worry about long, and here comes the likes of B out of the archway.
JKS getting caught, wonderful, getting aggressive, NAF with a second of his round.
And with 30 seconds remaining on this clock, the bomb is going back B.
And this puts the fight down onto JL.
Yeah, but they think you would have evacuated at this point, right?
They don't think they'll be here.
It's gonna get smoked off.
How does JL wanna play this steps in front?
Oh, bam, it's away. Now they know the position.
I think that's the sign that JL is just gonna plan on saving if this smoke break doesn't pad out and oh boy it does
I feel like there's a world in which Twists is lined up
Why not doesn't happen for JL and so this round won't for a Lexi B
So confident in the round that he's back at T spawn
And Twists his peace out takes a Lexi down so no save even for the fin full rounds for team liquid on the T side
Starting to build something quite beautiful here at the start of this map for team liquid. I
I think importantly too, they're keeping so much of pressure right now on Navi in terms
of the economic aspect of the game, losing that second round, saving guns, buying a weaker
gun to supplement the ones you saved, doing that a couple of times, and now having to
descend to pistols because you still can't really manage to get the strongest buy you'd
like and at some point, you know, we're seven rounds in.
Yeah, and then no.
And if you're Navi, you want that next one to be perfect.
And look what, no, what they're up against.
Ultimate you know it's been said nobody's teammates have said that he likes to buy a Mac 10 and just send himself up banana
And that's what he's capable of he just sprints up he gets two entries wasn't participating the third and ends up going down
Eventually, but team liquid breakthrough dude. I wonder if twist heard that interview from jail and was just like oh you think
We finish late. I'll show you finish it early. We're gonna rush a halls. We're gonna rush banana
So most people's specialty and it's just yeah, this is this is Navi's really struggling to get a grip
I don't think blades gonna want to use a second time out this early in the map at all
But you hope there's some conversation. Yeah, this is a fun game as a coach you can tell
Mythors like oh, everyone's laughing to my jokes. Yeah, opening kills are coming our ways. It's beautiful. Oh, yeah
Also blades like and y'all better work your way out of this mess
Just death staring everybody. I got you a win out of a timeout before this one's on you
Well, Ultima's got an AWP, and Nap is gonna teach his MagTank.
Let's see how this round shapes up for Team Liquid.
Wonderful has an AWP on the CT side also.
Lexi and JL relegated to MP9 so they can get utility for Banana.
A little bit of frustration, I'm sure, for Navi to kick things off,
and now even more, but wonderful punishes Ultima for sticking around.
And it is going to work out pretty well for the 1 for 1,
but here comes the MagTank, and it's flying.
It's down in the pit already, and wonderful has to get into the bomb site.
to get into the bomb site to defend himself against NAF's aggression.
Really smart play from NAF to apply that pressure knowing the right
flirt already gone down. He's found his way in towards pit, liquid,
trying to come out on top and it's twist over the top to find a wonderful
Yikinder, okay just spots that, has the information and he can come in
for a late flank.
Yeah well NAF isn't seeing anybody come up short so you have to be aware
that Imma could have landed the apartments instead.
There's no utopia for this. There's one kit on Alexi
and only an A.
And he goes back to the ankle. Imma goes down in the apartments.
smoke up in their faces, twists, repositioning out towards the criff yard, and you peek into what likes to be who goes down, and it's just JL
who dives his way into the bomb site, and they know where he is, they know, and he's trying to stick around these smokes
and it isn't going to work out too well here for JL in terms of getting the round win, but he wants some damage on the way out here, and he's doing a pretty good job
he's got himself all three in an AWP to pick up on the way out
and will he get away? That is the question, and halfway down the middle, too much damage done to him, so he is dead
Six rounds, though, for Team Liquid.
Mithra's like, yeah, we'll keep a smile on the face for that one,
but I didn't like anything I saw there at the end of that 3v1.
It would have been nice to- I mean, that's also an op that Ultimate can't afford to rebuy that they've lost there.
That worked out. This.
But this is all that.
Look at how much pressure you apply when you get a Mach 10 out in that position.
He's like, okay, the rifle's gone down, wonderful one for an aggressive peek.
He's gonna fall back, he just smoked.
I have a chance to get out in the smoke,
and once that player is out in pit,
Alper is just so uncomfortable, no matter where he goes.
Really good improvised play from Naph and Team Liquid.
You're kind of running around the side of the half wall. JL peeking out from behind the Sandbikes is going to work out pretty well for JL to kick things off.
You're kind of down first. And you need a lot more out of that one rifle.
Yeah, this is the other side of the coin. If you're gonna keep up this kind of fast-paced the way you're taking control of different parts of the map, banana, mid, holes, with the very fast early on in the round, Navi can be set up knowing, okay, we gotta be ready with the play at, you know, 15, 20 seconds in.
And Alexi's already got a flashbang prime to activate JL from behind sandbags.
JKS applying pressure into wood's top middle, but as soon as he looks away to check that left side
Bit comes out from boiler and peaks him with a CZ. Now. He's got an upgrade Navi are up two players
Five versus three team liquid. Do not want to let this one slip and it looks like it's a real possibility at this point
JL now has an AK. He's tossed that M4 over to his teammate. Alexi B. Who's up on the boost?
I'm able to make much from that boost. I don't mind that. Yeah, that's gonna be- OHHHHHH!
Twist! That flick down is so ridiculous.
I was gonna say, Navi goes for this five on three.
You can let him in and let him get the bomb planted
and play the numbers, but man, Twist had other ideas
and he builds on top.
How precise can you be?
And almost a fourth.
Jail's got it back away.
Twist is on for the ace at the moment.
This is all him, finally gone down,
but he delivered a seventh round to Team Liquid.
I mean, if you're missing, you know,
you're loving that.
You're definitely loving that.
Watching that unfold that is so mechanically ridiculously sick from twists. I
Wanted him to get more to be honest. Oh, I felt him like building up in for that. Azee gets that kill on jail
He's hunting down that number five
So you can which five round lead and that's a three versus five converted for team liquid
Yes, it was a hero M4. However an AK-47 and the salvage
This was the thing of beauty. Open space fight.
Well then.
Second time out used by Navi. This is starting to get on their nerves.
Looks like I have a lot to play with and this continues.
It's a sheer domination and done with a lovely pace to it as well.
It seemed like we were coming in with a quick punch, knocking these Navi players down.
And it's interesting. I'll throw back to that interview with J.L. ahead of time.
I thought it was a lovely question that Fred asked in terms of how much time you have off,
how much time do you have to prepare, and obviously from his answers we could tell they've
been basically back to back to back events without a whole lot of time to practice.
What time they did have was used to get a little bit of rest and see the family.
And when you start going on that kind of a grind as a team, it's these sorts of
matches where I think you can really notice kind of that mental edge not being there,
because you can get easily frustrated instead of working on what the solution is and
what we need to change and adapt to stop this from Team Liquid.
We're just getting more and more frustrated that what you normally do isn't working.
Or you assume that it's going to be a mistake and not the other teams play.
Another likely stern timeout from Blade.
We'll be headed to the 10th round.
Let's see if this is a turning point for Navi.
Miss communication on which flash was being thrown so JKS stares right into the light.
Fortunately no one from Navi was there to punish.
Look at those nades.
Two smokes, a flash and an HE grenade is all that's left.
Toledy being thrown out by Alexi B.
And the trajectory of that grenade,
Navi are hoping to make sure that they don't think about Ima's position in the cubby.
It could give away the game though, right? That's a flash you throw if you want to activate that guy for a peek.
So that one little flashbang,
Liquid might be able to get a read off of that.
So Alexi's going to step in front of the smoke to provide support over to Ima.
Now this is more of a lit finish from Team Liquid.
Into the final 30 seconds, and Ima just goes out for a dry peek.
He likes to be a support network is down in the month. He must fight alone. Flash goes out JKS gets rid of him and now JL
From the archway
Eradicated by you kind of bit on the balcony is Navi's last hope and he looks to deliver
He gets one until taken out by naff and wonderful is too far away on that B bomb site
It is an eighth round for team liquid as this T side does not stop
It just keeps building liquids not to Navi off kilter
They've knocked this defense off balance entirely the pace changes the fast towards middle fast towards holes in round two fast up banana
Now you go slow now you take control quickly and you pause and you wait for the late stage the run
Navi does not have a good grip on the timings that team liquid is working with at the moment
It's eight rounds for liquids offense on T side inferno
money is
obviously a problem for Navi to consider and try and figure out but
You got an AWP save for 1 to 4. You don't have enough to get full rifles at all, so you
can probably just see some upgraded pistols and Kevlar here around this AWP.
JKS doesn't have a whole lot of kills in this game, but he's had some pretty impactful
rounds. This one obviously did one of them. Two kills on wrap side. But also you think
back to that second round, he was the player leading the way to rush up in halls to
get out into the A bomb site. He's got some good work in this half so far. Double
smoke towards wrap side of A.
Up through banana. Team Liquid will walk. Kindar, the spearhead of the attack.
I did start with three players positioned a little bit further towards B, but can't keep that forever.
So they send the Deagle in. JL gets a lot of body shot damage, but no kill.
Ultimate survives on 14, and now it is just a Leixi B left in the B bomb side, with Ima making a B lie back to him.
Smoke blows open, and Lexi B revealed on the other side of it, disastrous again for Navi.
A save call needed, nine rounds on the board for Team Liquid as we head into the last round of this first half.
It has been domination from Team Liquid.
And right now as that bomb gets planted, the conversation from Liquid needs to be, let's go hunt this op-down.
Let's go get it. You have so much money. You've got $11,000 on NAF.
You've got, you know, $5,000 on your Tinder. A couple of the players a little bit busted, but you've got plenty of it.
and JL there, you can just see the frustration.
And I think, again, it's part of how this entire half
has been built upon it for Team Liquid strategically.
All those fast paces into the slow pace changes,
this round they opened up,
throwing pretty quick smokes towards CT Archway,
towards Library, showing that if they want to be fast,
the utility's in place.
And I think Navi's just really struggling
to get a grip on where they're targeting on the map.
And Wonderful at least gets away
With the most important weapon the AWP, but it's not like it's done anything
I mean, there's really been nothing done that in this half of Navi
No, but again not to just you know be the dead horse, but the
To hit it home over time the fast-paced if you're wonderful
You will also on the other side of the map to a lot of these hits coming right like go go take a pic somewhere
Go take an angle you hit it you miss relocate change your position
That's when the op gets deadly on this map and he's not had the freedom or the time
Yeah, hasn't been given that play style and team liquid are looking to round out this half with double figures on the T side now
We have an update for you guys at home and unfortunate one right at the the end of this first half
Steam has gone down. So that usually does spell quite a long time out
Uh, tech issue, so hopefully we will get that one resolved as quickly as possible, not really in our hands.
Yeah, but it is a nice way to just say, hey guys, if you were thinking of making some popcorn, peanut butter and jelly sandwich,
glass of water, now's the time.
Yeah, that would be great.
Well, you know, give me your method for making a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
My method for a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich?
Like, down to the bread, you know, the bread choice.
What kind of bread are we looking for? We're looking thick bread, soft bread, white bread set, you know.
What are we looking at?
I'm personally not too particular about the bread. Okay. Okay, but yeah, you take one side of the bread and
You layer some peanut butter on that dinko. How much peanut butter we talking?
Teaspoon you know, I don't measure it after after 30 some years of making PB&Js
I have like a really good internal measuring system. All right, you know
You know, is it crunchy peanut butter? It's crunchy peanut butter. It's always crunchy peanut butter
And then I throw some red raspberry preserves on there. Is that like what we call a jam for example?
Yeah, but we do we yeah, I think we have different terminology in our parts because we have jam jelly
Preserves. Yeah, I know we have preserves to it's like a stronger more concentrated jam. Yeah, and it lasts forever
Yeah, then I throw some of that bad boy on top and then I close the sandwich and go to town now
If you want to get really frisky with it
You can you can throw in a frying pan like a grilled cheese lovely grilled PB and J is pretty solid
Just be careful that peanut butter does get hot. All right be careful that and also hard issues
Hard issues.
Yeah, you know, with the peanut butter, the fried cheese, the grilled cheese, you know.
I've never had hard issues, Tinker.
Yeah, I know, but I did a lot of them.
You know, like Elvis levels.
Sure.
You know, but you know it's great.
You know, the Elvis sandwich was a little bit different, though.
Don't pin the Elvis on me.
Hey, here we are anyway.
Last round of this first half, and it actually got solved really quick.
So server's back up, and we're heading to the last round of this half.
Remember, Team Liquid are in search of a tenth round.
The best case scenario here for Navi is 3.
Which is not very good as you will ever think though.
It's not very good at all Jason, I'll tell you that.
Especially considering you won the pistol.
It's not a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
It is not.
There's the smoke towards wrap side 1 mist I believe, so it's a little bit more out
in the open.
The kinder's going to break the smoke, bottom of banana but blinded at the worst
moment so he couldn't see what was on the other side.
A little bit of spam comes back down through, little luck tap.
The kinder, you know, he knows it's part of the job, he's going to get
battered he's gonna get bruised at the start of these rounds I could want to
force back the B defense before they do anything else we're on the map your
kinder clears things out Molotov to cover his advance to the half wall good
nade it goes too deep we are back in the B bombsite they're not actively
gathering information about top middle top banana rather wonderful around the
corner at short ultimate has his sniper from the last start of this first
half. Twist just goes into the open, wonderful goes back but he can't stop ultimate. The
Sniper trades him out, Ima steps up and it's bitten Ima, who stands together to try and
hold on for a third round of this half for Navi. They're going to do very well and take
down this Team Liquid attack leaving JustNav in a 1 vs 4. It was an incredible T side
showing from Team Liquid and it allows them to leave this half with their heads
held high and a scoreline of nine to three. A lot of work to do for Navi, it's
got to begin with the first step and that comes up in the second half.
Absolute domination from Team Liquid. So much for Navi to do here in the
second half. It was just visions of them getting increasingly frustrated
despite attempting so many different things after the timeouts. None of it
None of it clicked for Navi, Jason.
On the reverse side of things, everything worked for Liquid.
FastPace really worked well to open things up,
and it kind of primed Navi to be susceptible to the slow late-round plays
that JL had said they expected coming into this matchup.
Liquid just worked through every single obstacle.
9-3 lead. It begins with a pistol round for Navi,
just to buy themselves some breathing space.
A lot of utility here for likes. It'd be wonderful as a smoke.
It's your idea that Navi have to cook here.
JKS is going to make his way down mid, he's not alone, he's got twists with him and they
are going to silently sneak with ultimate just peeking for them and spotting out on
T-stars keeping them pinned back and they get real deep down middle.
Now JKS strikes, in behind, twist gives the second, it goes down to JL and a fight in
banana, he will not win but Emma has taken out three players on his own.
He has gotten off, he's somehow into a 2v2.
Oh, I swear to God these mid pushes, I feel like no matter how much success you have they're always just so so tenuous and
Alexi
Gush and kill and liquid's got to be scratching their heads. How are we in this situation?
After such great opening kills from liquid, they suddenly find themselves in a 2v1
And it's NAF about to get peeking from behind as well. Alexi B coming up, but NAF gets around the corner
That's actually so insane he gets around that corner. Alexi's coming up for him anyways
Yeah, matter where he goes. He's not safe
Am I clearing mid just wondering what a hell is naff?
Emma might have just won this round for Navi the three kills already
Naff and boiler there's this spot. Oh, he needs to get aggressive on that kill
He needs to get aggressive on it and now he spotted both. He wants him up
He wants him so bad, but oh
Get one more through the smoke. He must so very low and naff putting this clutch together
Oh, he's nose. He knows he's gonna go back B. He knows so he's running that way
NAF is sprinting through the archway to try and get back in time. Emma thinks he's gonna fly through banana
But NAF is already here. He spots the cross. He sees him I get towards the site and that bomb plant is in
He must now look towards CT, but he's so low and NAF with a 1v2
I can't believe he pulled that one off that shot and Alexi down middle is pure filth
And then he's able to close it on Emma on the rotate over
Math's got to be the best clutcher that North America's ever produced.
This dude is a freak and that's a very long extended clutch in which he's playing with
essentially no information whatsoever.
That's going to be so frustrating for Alexi.
It's like, yeah, smokes up.
I'm going to jump out.
Nope.
So as he jumps, his head just gets ripped off.
I'm amazed, Math, put that clutch together.
10-3.
And that's just a good example.
He mentioned everything going wrong for Navi, I mentioned everything going right for Liquid, and it just happens again.
You gotta give some credit to Imma being able to pull it back into a winnable scenario, a favorable scenario for Navi, but it wasn't even enough.
And JL, he's gone into Banana, he's come out with 10 health left, and Imma about to put some pressure on Taubi, but he's eradicated and they line up.
Ultimate's MP9 takes two Navi players out instantly, and they get nothing!
Oh good kill and here's poor JL coming up after the Molotov and Nade combo and banana earlier
No HP you kinder get a finish what he started
11 to 3
It's pretty easy to have the officer myth or isn't it just hanging out
hanging around
Yeah
Get to watch some great counter-sharp being played right in front of his face enjoy him
There's not many of those as a coach. Yeah, you got to have fun with their last on the team liquid Jersey
me. Hey, hey, don't be doing that now. Don't be doing that now. It's a little too early
for that. Come on out, Deco. No, just old Deeks here for Navi. Deco. I mean, they've
fused their timeouts. They've had their chances and blades get under my multiple
times and Navi just haven't been able to turn it around at all at any point. There's
not being a patch of form. Push off a bit. Don't do it. Let's not beat it.
Okay, there's the swing. Ultimate's brought low, but has a kill.
Bomb is spotted in alt-mid for the moment.
But Navi's starting to move to punish this push from Yikinder.
Frozen in space, and he wants nothing to do with it any longer.
Backs off just as Emo pops up.
M4 has been recovered on Alexi.
Oh, lovely lineup.
Na'F will take that.
Emo, suddenly the only player left with the one before, and he's stuck at the stairs.
We'll let it go, NAV will close that round and we're now at map point on Inferno for Team Liquid.
Yeah, happened oh so quickly.
Dust2 up next. Nine chances.
Map pick of NAV coming up next on Dust2.
But with the way that Team Liquid are playing and the shots that they're hitting, you know, Dust2 feels like it could be a little dangerous too.
Absolutely. Might be the only gun around NAV you get to play in the second half.
Ultimate boosts it up over the smoke asking for it again sees the jump back and now yeah
That's gonna be frustrating because you just couldn't get on the boost and you knew it
You know if you did you would have probably had a kill
You came dark he goes down low
Yeah, it's worth it though to get the space and to get the smoke down at the half wall as well
It's taking control of top banana
Hit a nap working in tandem
And ultimate still investigating the map willing to take risks. He's always thinking about a peek
Navi content to slow play this for the moment.
Smoke and Molly on NAF and they're holding it for as long as humanly possible.
And a third player Twizz has just arrived to deploy his own smoke to stall this out.
CT spawn wonderful, we'll call out that trajectory.
Does that give Navi enough information to go elsewhere?
They will not expect this follow up smoke from NAF.
Three players set up for Team Liquid, designed to break apart Navi's attempts at getting through the defences in 20 seconds.
That's all they've got to do it.
You kindar, get the first kill, wonderfuls down, twist kill, and second oranges, impactful on his peak.
He might be doing well, but he's running out of ammo. Those are the pistol instead and now has to plant.
Now has to get that bomb down, and Ultimates on the chase down, Bits running back up through Banana.
He'll get away, he'll get around the corner in front of the half wall.
And his ultimate gonna be ready for this.
The tough angle.
It definitely is for the AWPer. He hugs the right wall.
He gets around the corner, but BIT takes his head off.
And with JKS at bottom mid, it's just a lot of ground to make up here and he knows but it's got banana covered so
And he wants that AWP though. He wants that AWP so he's gonna stick around wait for the bomb explosion
Maybe the bomb blows the AWP out after his feet. Maybe he's able to eliminate bit
Who's running away from the blast and pick up the AWP in that way
Tough round for Navi to convert
But they obviously do manage it
I thought Liquid had done enough. Ooh, Nade to get some of the damage as the bomb explodes
Sopens him up, there's the first and the second, nicely done from JKS.
Even at a loss that's a beautiful sequence, money is really really gross for Navi out of
a victory.
Yeah, that sucks for Navi.
Fantastic for Liquid.
But Imma, once again, just crazy multi-kill for Imma.
Obviously had the element of distraction being set up, but yeah, good double.
You can do a round out of ammunition as well.
But I mean, when it comes in between, there's a couple weird things with utility.
That smoke that NAF throws right at the end is really hard for Na'Vi to get through.
NAF throws the follow-up Molotov, tries to get up behind it so they run through the smoke
into the flames, misses it, and it gets extinguished immediately.
Na'Vi themselves try and throw a Molotov back towards Newboxes to flush one player
out, and that misses in the fall short.
Like, with all those mistakes back and forth, I'm just surprised that Na'Vi
was able to break through the three-man stack.
As you mentioned, it's all Ema in those trades.
It's a lot of chip damage being dished out by Team Liquid, just at this most basic banana control.
I'm gonna be too happy about the timing on that.
Okay, JL, that is so sick. He's gonna wanna get away with that.
Wonderful dies through the wood, though. Ultimate.
So accurate.
Good for a re-peak as well. He wanted more.
He knows JL's close.
Can he hit the flick on the jump?
does jail even risk-jumping
naps carter recovered he just will banged him jacy i did he just wall banged jail
well that gets and even i think lost track of exactly where he was let half of
his body get exposed to arch there's the flash for the peak from that he gets
blinded but equally dissuades was followed flash going into his neck
well that he's got a fight
into the pit and he loses life
to jk s now naft is still stabbing a library looks to silence them
And Naph will certainly do that, all towards Ima.
Like CPE, the last remaining player left and there's no time for this.
15 seconds, he'll do what he can to sprint on over.
But even if he has enough time to get into the site, Ultimate's ready to stop the cross.
And yeah, it's just not gonna happen.
13-4, what an opening map from Team Liquid.
They come to Rio with attitude.
And they take down the world number one.
13-4 on map 1 of this series.
Nice.
That's B.
Nice!
That is fucking nice!
You're a pickle bitch.
It was...
We got a pickle bitch.
Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on.
Just rotate, just rotate, just rotate.
You guys keep going, you guys keep going.
Come on, come on, come on.
Just one clear balcony.
That's the way.
Nice
I think
Okay, okay
Sick, guys
Short, short, short
I'm on this one
One guy was banana, we can pick
One guy is late
Nice, last one late, should kill
Can be long?
Yes, could be
One, two, three, go
Nice, let's go
EZ
Navi are certainly not fighting dragons in this iteration of Counter-Strike
But I can tell you that they were fighting their demons over here on inferno
That's right because the score line is not deceptive
There is no deception going on here
It is liquid washing away Navi on the first map of the series being inferno liquid's pick
Exactly what they wanted to get out. I gotta give it to liquid, you know
They found a weakness within Navi
This is the the six-time Navi have played inferno in the past three months and they lost five of those
You know so I'm seemingly a bit of a weakness in a very strong map pool
The way they were playing as well, they were targeting a lot of fast paced counters on the T-side,
a lot of pops coming out of apartments, a lot of focus towards Bit in that pit area,
and normally Bit is up for the task, normally he's feeling comfortable on a map like Inferno,
he used to be the different maker as well, we remember what happened during the major final,
we've seen some pop-offs from Bit, this time around there was nowhere to be found,
and we and I would just have the conversation here, is it is it Liquid playing exceptionally well on the T-side
or is it Navi dropping the ball? I tend to sense and tend to come to the conclusion, it's a bit of both.
Yeah, it is a little bit of both and being the pessimist that I am I do have to highlight the fact that
You you get to see here, especially in the comms part of the rounds where I'd not be talking about okay
Let's double peek now or wait for the flash. Okay, we're doing it together
And then you also hear the liquid side of things of they're going up middle
They get one kill and then not saying let's go be go be go be but then someone else is like no no
We can go we can go and like you can there's running up late arch side like the long
Lane and then one's going back to be and then one person's like wait
would I go you see the highs and lows of both the teams and really it was like
with that kind of just sees the day here they step on you know Navi it was
liquids map pick they looked really good in the process of it but you have to
look at Navi and look at like even the T side pistol they can't even close out
a 2-1-1 because I'm absolutely take them out so yeah you get a little bit of both
worlds with doolies nonetheless with doolies choice that a great game you
You know, that's one way to phrase it, because I agree with you, it wasn't the most clean T-side or C-T-side of the whole Twists.
They're one and the same, you know.
They used to be teammates even.
They used to be teammates, due to share some of the same positions.
I do want to give a fair bit of credit to Twists, because as much as I agree with you, it's maybe also a bit too soon to expect Liquid to be on the same page in all these stressful scenarios.
They have only been together for a couple of months, and you know that as an in-game leader as well, that it takes an awful lot of time to get all the players in synergy.
in synergy when pressure is at its highest. So I want to give them a little leeway and I think you
know one way to to medicate for that sometimes is by having individuals and having an in-game leader
as well that is leading by example and Twist did that in this game so you can mask for some of those
issues by having individual output on the server and he very much did that here in general.
Yeah and well with Inferno basically done right as it started right there's what it seemed like
it does lead us into the discussion around Dust2 that being a Navi pick and the idea that
that Navi could possibly be so flat in a showing in the second map of the series.
Yeah, I mean you wouldn't expect it. We both said 2-0 probably for Navi. If it goes three
maps, you said Ancient is probably going to go with the way of Navi. Do we expect it
to be this one-sided in favor of Liquid? No. Do we expect the T side of Liquid to
be this good? I personally didn't think so. Dust 2, there's still chances for things
to go a certain way. And I think Navi definitely have the ability to rebound
from this, but Liquid are looking pretty strong right now.
You talk about things going a certain way.
What is this score line telling you here, Jacob?
Because we're seeing Vartigo, we're
seeing complexity having one map up in the series.
But what the hell is going on?
Smells a bit like overtime over there, Imperial putting
up a good fight against complexity's Vertigo.
And I think that's the first time
we see Vertigo in more than 20 matchups
between some of the best teams in the world.
So finally, they get to play the map.
Finally, they get to pick it.
And my dear, if they were to lose it, then I think
that's a sign.
It's like they were playing Vertigo.
Ice a little bit, right?
They never get to play.
Well, actually, they do get to play.
them one not that they know that they can actually win against most of the other teams. So losing it here is not going to be good. But I mean both these teams ended up pretty much in the same area on EPL season 20 right?
Once they had just a little bit more but yeah they were about a little bit there. Nonetheless that is going on in the B stream in case you're just joining us as complexity and imperial for us. We try to figure out if the series ends with Navi and Dust2.
And I'm not sure that we live in that world, Jacob.
Neither do I. I think Navi is still somewhat comfortable coming into Dust 2.
I agree with you. The sentiment was that Navi would win this series quite easily.
I think that's changed a little bit now.
I think with the way Ligue 1 are playing, and maybe with some of that momentum and that confidence, they just build up in Inferno.
We can perhaps get a close game on Dust 2, but I think Navi is still one of the best teams in the world on that specific map.
I think wonderful showed us in Copenhagen that he has these pop-off moments where his AWP is becoming super, super inferential.
and she'll same could be said for Emma as well very much in the mix of things on the rifle side
So I do believe Navi are still favorites to win the entire series given that we're looking at dust to an ancient
But as you said with the way liquid are playing it's probably way more competitive that we initially would have thought I agree
It's hard to like really go against that right now if we're looking at form from just today
Liquid look like they're on form and Navi are looking more reminiscent of how they lost at EPL finals
or it's just sorry not EPL files at blast at last week
If they just looked like they were not a team at all and the way that they can go from looking so well
Then like the number one team of the world to looking like a team that might be in the top 30
It's like at the flick of a switch and they need to figure out a way to just stay more consistent
I mean does that just happen some days when you just wake up like this?
Like you just woke up like this and I'm gonna play shit counter strike. They played earlier today
Today, they had the warm-up, this was supposed to be both teams playing at 100%.
I have no idea what's going on in their camps, the comms sounded good, they were talking about peeking together,
but then when you look at some of the isolated situations, they should be closing out those rounds,
and they just, I don't know, peek at the wrong time, or they don't get the kill that they're supposed to get,
or they're just walking into an angle that they're not expecting and enemy to be holding.
I don't know, it's just weird.
If anything for me, I think it's more a question of the map being inferno, you know, as I said,
they lost five out of the last six times they played the map and for Navi being
actually the best team in the world right now the most consistent team in the
world and played five finals in a row so have a weakness like Inferno in your
map pool is pretty scary especially when you consider that the goal for them is
to go into the best of five finals so I learned something today you know I
learned that Navi and Inferno is not a good mix right now. Yeah I think you
are on to something and for Liquid you could also learn that they're
undefeated on Inferno at least in Rio. We will go to a quick break so
we can come back and maybe tie up some loose ends here between complexity excuse me not
complexity the liquid in Navi I mean I'd say they're interchangeable but that'd be a big
fat lie wouldn't it so we come back dust to Navi's pick you're watching the Intellecturing
Masters Rio 24 what was that never miss a play again finally let's face it watch you're
in control switch between player POVs live and see the game through the eyes of any
pro never miss a moment with replays really the highlights on demand from full angle
Watch it, control it, face it.
My name is Roland Altmetomkovic and I'm playing for Team Liquid.
I was a full-time professional player for about two years or so.
Team Liquid approached me one month and a half from now.
It was kind of a surprise to say.
I didn't expect it at all.
They just watched my demos, my official games,
but I didn't have a regular trial period.
I didn't know that they were watching me during these games.
I don't think it would put pressure if I knew that they were watching me.
I think I'm managing the pressure very well, so that's not an issue for me.
Talked to Twists and Stick in the same time on the first call about the basics of the game,
how I see the game, how they see the game, is it clashing too much.
One thing that we had in common for sure, it was like,
They were looking for an aggressive oper and I'm an aggressive oper so that sounded good.
I feel like my unique skill set is about making impact instead of caring about ratings, about kills.
I just want to make impact on the game, that's all I care about.
Everyone is so nice, we just get along very well.
It's like the best environment I could ask for.
They especially wanted me to stay the way I was before they picked me up.
They know that the pressure that is getting to the rookies is very high and they changed because of that,
so they did everything they could to just make me the same as I was before.
My personal goal for this at the end of the season is just to stabilize my position on this level of competition on tier one,
make sure that I play as I'm supposed to play, get along with the players to try to learn as much as I can.
That's basically it for this season.
Navi vs Team Liquid in a match that will send one of these squads straight to the playoffs
here on day one of the Intel Xtreme Masters Rio. Make sure you don't fall. Mr. Graham Pitt,
he's all good. He's all good. Got a nice wide stance. Post-center of gravity.
A little bit of slip and slide and a lot of slipping from Navi over on Inferno.
Only a couple rounds picked up forward to be exact. And not a lot to talk about.
to talk about. So now it's just got to focus, come into Dust2 and hope it's going to be a
different story, Jason.
Yeah, I think it's kind of a weird problem they have, although Ylva's going to be starting
on the CT side. But for me, if you're a Novi, you've got to be wondering, you came into
this with a philosophy you heard JL say in the interview, Liquid liked the end rounds
late. They liked to slow play some of these rounds and finish late in them. Well, Inferno
was anything but that. They got destroyed. They got rushed. They got pushed. They
got challenged.
And they even had a couple of late finishes in that too.
that mixed in and later but that's kind of what you come into this map with as
Navi is how's it look we can open it is it gonna be the style that we expected
where it's slower here on Dust2 or is it gonna be some of the faster stuff that
we have to contend with so I think for Navi step one has got to be obviously
you know put put liquid in their place a little bit to where they have to kind
of respect it and they can't just be calling those fast rounds over and
over again and also get yourself situated get your get your own feet
planted you know that the first five six rounds of Inferno was it was
Na'Vi really struggling to find their economy beneath them.
That's something on Dust2 you don't want to have happen.
So you can see Blade
sucking in close each player into the middle of the last shot.
Yeah, this is a big good call.
Sun's on you, young man, young offer.
We're going to need it.
Don't get me started with you, JL.
Let's go.
Winner to the playoffs, Krupe, Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024.
Na'Vi vs Team Liquid, a delicious treat we're being given here on day one.
Dust2.
That's where we go for the second map of play.
Na'Vi on the T side, they got plenty of utility.
JL, Alexi, and 1-4 all wielding some.
And Na'Vi's crashed, so I'm not sure if we're gonna get another go.
Come on, dawg.
Yeah, man, it's all his fault.
We were just getting into it.
I bet his toes hit the power button on the PC or something.
We had to build up, we had all the excitement, the tension was there.
We can do it again.
Can we do it again?
We can repackage it and ship it out again.
Perfect.
Just like, you know, a lot of movies.
After the movies?
Yeah, movies are a big thing, man.
Well, that's the end of that song.
Fortunately, we probably can restart that song, too.
There we go.
Sounds great on loop.
It slips right on.
You don't even notice.
Yeah.
This is a perfect song for when you need extended periods of time.
That is for sure.
But last tech issue, we talked about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Let us know on social media whether or not you made one.
And send a picture to Jason, because he would love to review it.
I am a PB and J aficionado.
I consider myself an expert on the subject matter.
Yeah, he's consumed millions of them.
And we are now just a moment away.
We get a nap back in.
Alright, through the server.
And with 19 seconds left until we begin this, it is once again Team Liquid versus Na'Vi.
Day one, winner to the playoffs here at the Intel Extreme Masters Rio.
Two of the best teams in the world.
Ten of the best players in the world, Jason.
And it's just two of the best Counter-Strike maps ever created.
ever created strong finish. Niko, you nailed the timing. Absolutely perfect. We've got
Julie's ultimate. We've got smoke flash across math and twists for team liquids.
Defensive side of things. Wonderful. Takes a bullet to the forehead right out of
the gate and another one to the kneecap. So he's down at 6 HP. He's like, can we
restart one more time? Can we do it again? One more, please. But no.
Damage is done now. He took an arrow to the knee. He once was an adventure, but no longer.
And I mean, the bummer is he just kind of has to turn into a little lurt.
You're not going to want to get involved in any action.
He's going to have to try and win a fight with his brain, find a good timing.
Nap-tapping through the smoke, that lurt smoke makes him nervous.
Nothing coming through it just yet.
Here's the utility, but it's a fake.
And it's causing a shift.
It's causing a slide from Ultimate.
He gets caught out in the open, still comes out on top with the dualies.
He's got backup on Catwalk, but it's not there in time.
And JKS, you're going to get double-gushed.
And these USPs are not landing the headshots they need, and Navi have found an avenue up
catwalk into the A-bomb site.
Twasnath, think about coming through the double doors, and they think about it, but there's
no more thoughts as their heads no longer exist as JL gets a double, and that is a
much more convincing start from Navi.
Yeah, nice fake.
I don't think it actually caused a whole lot of problems.
You could see it started to shift, but nobody seemed out of position.
It might have made it a little chaotic for liquid players when they got into
fight they did not expect at this point because they were believing it was going to be a B exec.
Regardless, the fake does just enough to give Navi the advantage. Another pistol on victory. Now
this happened on Inferno and they lost the second, so need to be extremely cautious here in round
two of Dust 2. Nades a little bit late so no damage done. And Bid has control of Long A.
Liquid do not have information on numbers. Oh, I'm just not going to be too happy about
about the start of this round and ultimate getting a tie-off, but unfortunately
unable to capitalize and get a kill. Yeah, it's a bummer that's the fight that
Twistin ultimately wanted to get a couple tags through that door crack through
the door itself, clean each other's tags up as we go along, but both of them
caught out in the open with nowhere to fall back to. So you kinder, JKS, NAF
save these weapons and it's 2-0 for Navi. None of the shenanigans we had
on Inferno, you know, none of the pistol antics that went down with
the nap clutch and all the craziness that was involved in that just nice normal
rounds of counter strike and now if you finally get some room to breathe
well looks like they're gonna hunt this down
try to get rid of those D's and camp lauren and it's gonna work out
to remove nap now okay yep
that's one way to do it I suppose Ima but ends up getting done by you can die
and then finished off so
they do give it everything so liquid have nothing to play with in the next
They do lose an AK-47 in Navi, and he's gonna have to rebuy that.
Yeah, he has a little chuckle to himself, as he knows the shot he just hit was a little...
Yeah, a little silly.
Well, Wonderful's gone to a scout, really could be very effective against these unarmed opponents, and...
You can finish them off with that Mk-10 if you want, but...
So, great chance here to build some money.
A stable start for Navi.
And they come in, okay.
He's not laughing now is he? No, definitely not laughing. He has no face.
Kinder, what's another crack at it?
Wonderful's trying to get the AK for a second and realizes, uh, nope.
Not gonna be too easy, but eventually gets the AK into his hands.
Bit's gonna be beside him at top mid.
And the flash plate.
Could have been a very effective, but Bit able to take JKSL.
Yeah, flash was perfect, but unfortunately,
not only so much you could do, it's just USPs.
So now we got to be marching to a third round victory a little late crunch here in the middle
Utility and AKs protect Navi just fine
Well the ultimate challenge is the Zeus killer, but not gonna happen
JL will clear him out of the corner and they'll end up being a three zero start here for Navi money finally in the bank enough
for team look
I am fucking perfect!
Hello!
That was a perfect round, Jason.
And then the next round, he gave a nice shot over to your kinder.
Yeah, he did.
He domed him all the way from mid-double doors.
Blasted him.
Hello!
AWP for ultimate.
He didn't have to see a whole lot of it, because he was not wanting to use it on the T side of Inferno,
and then he didn't get many CT rounds from Team Liquid.
So the pressure in there once this B bomb size is going to be twist to stop Ima and that while he's not
He just got a grenade to the face as well and eventually the candy will burn or he stands now ultimately has landed that shot
It's not enough damage to bring down pit, but he's waiting for that double dip
Eventually bit should round the corner, but not going to be so ultimate just a patient really well done already from team liquid
just to stop that very fast paced B hit.
That could have easily caught them off guard.
Good kill from Twist to buy NAF some time
to get him back in the action.
And JKS gonna start shrinking the map a little bit,
peeking out the double doors,
seeing it's clear gonna make his move.
Alexi, oh, and it's not alone
because he's got this play coming in
as well down the B ramp,
but JKS now coming around the back side
has just seen them walk through those mid doors.
That's so much information being picked up.
and that's gonna be a beautiful headshot wonderful taken out and Alexi now alone
Jk season knows he's got him pinned yeah but it's actually pretty important that
Jk doesn't die. Nice kill get yourself an AK-47 for your troubles a little
extra utility it's three to one and Liquid get through that first gun
on with only one player falling they even picked up a double upset up which
which we see from time to time
twist is uh... proficient with the weapon
naph as well
solid offer
nothing special but you know you know he can hit some shots
he's gonna give you some good kills
that's what twist can do with it that wonderful he wishes he had it all
team look would have two of them and he only has a scout and one of them says
that's depressing
oh what
must have just moved his head it's the right time now rima
So much as the bullet.
It did look like he was passing out a haircut there.
Yeah.
Well they don't get the kill
up middle from that peak of ultimate, but they do get Yukinder clearing out up or dark at the moment.
So a decision to make for NAF,
instead of pushing forward to join with Yukinder,
he's gonna go all the way back towards middle.
So Liquid's gonna have a very nice stack, they know everything that's happening on this map.
We're seeing that smoke become more and more popular.
Okay, committed to the sprays, Jake.
Casca damage onto Ema, but going down is not going to make you happy.
There's the cross smoke put up from Navi.
Plenty of counter utility for the team liquid side.
Problem is this double off.
Oddly enough, at this point, it does feel like it becomes a bit of an issue.
The burden.
But perhaps NAF.
He never saw the close. He never saw the players close.
Well, that flash, make sure they can't see him, but he gets blinded.
He's close back into the corner of Goose, but he is the Goose snack, and he is breaking Navi completely.
It's two kills from NAF.
His teammate ultimate goes down in the site and the Lyxie B, that is an essential kill to find.
NAF removed, twists at Gandalf with his staff.
They need to be a BAP ready to strike.
No one peeking, no one showing.
The ball will go down.
The Lyxie B and JL looking to round out this 2v2 as your Kindar gets ever closer.
He's going to deal with the threat of JL from Kar as well.
And now twist, this just looks too difficult with the ult.
Yeah, he needs a back out and save it.
Drop down towards CT and just run.
Well that's exactly what he's done, well minus the running bit.
Oh he did just break his ankle on that drop.
Yeah that's true, well he's healed up nicely, he's got those deadpool jeans.
And he will attempt to save the AWP.
Man, liquid's gonna be really bomb, they lost that round.
They had all the information, they had everything they knew was coming.
And still couldn't contain things.
Four defenders at that A bomb site.
Yeah, JKS takes the peek and goes down early, thought he had a kill on EMA.
MAP's the only one who's able to produce anything with his double kill from Goose.
Well, at least Team Liquid still have a very good buy, right?
They'll have the all-power one this time, rather than the double, and two kits.
Take note of who has those, JK has some twists.
They could start the round here from wonderful damage being dealt out to Nath, who's down
to 27 as he attempts to cross.
He also doesn't have one smoke, so he's trying to hold onto it.
Timing is everything when he decides to pop up, could have two free kills.
There's the first on EMA, and JL trying to keep him pinned down, but that's
an awkward fight.
Shot missed, JL's won his battle, ultimate under so much pressure, can't go forward, can't go backward, so he calls JKS in for some help.
Oh, it's a double in mid!
A so sick JL though, nice relocation of the crosshair to the head, of ultimate on the right side.
JKS is so low, he wishes JL was a little low, that grenade would have been perfect.
That JL still has over half of his health left, Navi have the bomb down on his B site.
And we know how difficult it can be to retake this B bomb side the best of time.
So let's see what JKS and Ykindar can muster in this situation.
Yeah, do you go for it?
I almost thought they would pick up an AWP and just bail out.
Ykindar can drop.
Seem to sell out their eyes.
I sat on this with a flash, getting set up from JKS at range.
Ykindar is the player with health, so he would have to send himself to the window
and they just don't get the opportunity.
So grab the AWP, retreat to safety,
and this will end up being a fifth round for Navi.
5-1 start for Navi, considering the only one 4 rounds in Inferno, it's just feeling a different vibe completely.
Yeah, it does. There's better reset between the maps for sure. You can feel it inside the server.
You gotta give credit to JL too. That fight against NAF, that must have been a banger of a shot as NAF popped his head up
because JL's frozen out in the open, yeah, right here.
Yeah, just a one tap as well. Filthy.
We saw the first gun round, they tried like a really, really quick pop into the B bomb site really early in the round.
Here, they're more than happy to challenge with two people.
Ema and JL just kind of walking through tunnels and taking the risk,
showing that they're willing to apply pressure to that B-bomb site very early on,
where teams sometimes just have one player there,
sometimes they just throw the utility and back off.
Navi's saying, if you're going to do that,
we're going to be willing to test and see what's on the other side of it.
Just keep getting buys here, team.
Look at at least something.
Ema charging out, attempting to be the first.
And he was the first to die.
You can die next through the bit.
the second and it's a great start of the rounds here. He's going through. Oh my god. Oh and here's
all the footsteps as well. I love it. The Kinders just outplayed them entirely. Two kills.
He's got an early wraparound. He's going to get at least one more. I love this from the Kindar.
He's got that extra guile. Well I know that feeling. I've lined up a headshot here. And oh
Yes, well you can do this killing everybody. It's just JL left alone
Okay, well this was rounded it quickly. Yeah
Swirl those rounds that really never started for no he
And JL will cower in the corner
Because they have a losing bonus that's built up to its full capacity for team liquid and because the rounds they win
Ace they hope that's a beautiful ace from you kinder. Yeah, well done the rounds that liquid have won
I've been with four players surviving, so all day enough like money hasn't been a huge problem for them despite the fact that they've been losing so much.
It's been stopping all these who and all these bringing into it, that's an obvious statement.
But it's just liquid, your problems aren't like not having the resources to fight with at the moment, it's not the outplaying you.
Let's see if that win, if that ace from your kinder gets him fired up, starts to reverse their fortunes.
You want more of that smoke bit? I don't think so.
Just gonna hide behind it long and asserts
Down the pistols are Navi in an instant. They'll
See if they left over cash for the next and that is a blistering Deagle headshot from Ima
Okay, Nadine towards lower dark as well as information that liquids defense is playing up on catwalk
I'm underneath your kindar's gaze and
Damage to this deal. It's another one from Emma Jks cleaning up his team though
But Emma's Deagle doesn't stop third kill off the round AK picked up, but now it's all Emma with one minute left
He's got the bomb and he's got an open pathway to the B bomb site AK 47 in hand
But he's got no armor to speak of
So let's watch for that aim punch twist is shifting over just now hustling to get over to the B bomb site
Ema headshot angle slight gap had a chance at it and twist is gonna play things safe goes to the window
He's straight away and Twist is quick to the headshot on Emma.
Decent work though from Emma, three kills on the deagle.
Credit to JKS as well, he's the one that really settles that round into Liquid's favor.
Triple kill on Catwalk as they try and turn the corner, the ugly engagement from Emma and Yaquinder.
With JKS is there to mow down some of those unarmored opposition.
Just like he lined it up.
You cannot aggressive up middle this round.
Ultimate into the lower tunnel or he misses the shot and he gets blasted away by him and that now puts you kind of on a very difficult spot
Yeah, ultimate. I think I've distracted thought his fight was gonna come from a little bit higher
Change the angle of the scope and had a really hard time adjusting back
It's early man advantage for Navi
And they're already crossing long
Do you think he's gonna have such a bad time when he realizes?
Yeah, he's gonna... oh no.
They're in the ace, they're just behind us.
Well, he goes back to check and bits over the all the way up.
Twist looks to try to address that problem and did damage to bit.
Just didn't take him out and they're just not getting the kills here in Liquid to make
this round doable.
Twist with a nice one, goes to the side arm and it's gonna take a lot more than
that to bring down JL.
I just could not land that shot.
Oh, a good peek from Jhel slides into a yukinder.
No clue what was coming.
Six to three.
I mean, just like Inferno, it feels like Navi.
Just like Liquid did to Navi on Inferno.
It feels like Navi in this T side so far has just been like...
We know everything. We know everything you're doing.
You're not playing long this round. You're playing a lot of catwalk.
Alright, we're just going to walk two players across long with no utility, no cross smoke.
Third map in the series, it's required as ancients.
Very good map for Navi to have as the decider.
I think Pimp on the desk called it the safety net.
Yeah, probably Jacob. He says intelligent things sometimes.
Sometimes, yeah. I might be making that up. He said something to the effect. I'm paraphrasing.
You know? Second time I use my team liquid.
Chance to talk things over.
Not having as good of a time this time, if there is a...
No, that's why I said you got to enjoy a wall. I got to enjoy waiting for him
It seemed like he maximized his enjoyment of the map and now he's got to go to work now the pain in self-suffering begins
I wonder if the coaches get like a timer in there. You're like, hey five seconds. Oh
You're coming off or if it just cuts off
You know, what if he's just like it's like when you have the old pay phones. Yeah, it's like you run out of time and
That's it. Your call has ended. Oh, it's pretty funny. I'd like that
Alright, double-op setup back in action for Team Liquid.
Ultimate's op has been ineffective. They're gonna park him at the B bomb site,
let some of the other weapons be a little more mobile.
Actually, it's both ops and B and mid, and now both in the B bomb site.
Ultimate's gonna look to step in front of that smoke, a risky play,
but his hand is kind of forced.
NAF awaits the arrival of the Navi players through short, and they now arrive.
Oh, today deployed Emma in front of it. A lot of damage done from that grenade to the Navi players.
It's softened him up. Nath looks to finish them off, but he only gets one.
Been wonderful doing great work here for Navi, clearing out the rest of the team liquid defense.
JKS was the last pillar and he will fall.
Double Molly onto the ramp. There was no real estate for Team Liquid to work with.
Nice execute from Navi, despite that nade chucking down all five players.
And I guarantee you, Liquid's like, man, it would have been cool to have an AWP over at car or something.
You have two of them.
I know.
I'm just, you know, going to put them in different spots and come out with a different result,
but not to be.
It's going to be seven rounds now for Navi, just continuing their domination on the T-side.
And reminder, if you are just tuning in, the context of this matchup, it is a group
stage advancement match, so the winning team will get themselves into the playoffs
immediately.
It is not, in fact, elimination for the loser.
They just, they just have to play some more matches.
Could they play tomorrow the loser of this game, Dinger?
Well, the loser of this matchup, Jason,
will play the faceclap.
Ooh.
That's a spicy prospect.
See, they don't actually enjoy that one, do you?
You don't want to lose this game at all.
I think it's a... Well, no.
I mean, in general, you try to avoid losing as many games as possible.
Yeah, I know, but you really don't want to lose it.
There's not really any games you go into and say,
this is an okay game to lose.
That's crazy. This tournament is so stacked.
A lot of good teams here.
It would be kind of interesting to see the team liquid phase match again.
There we go. Ultimate finds it with the AWP. That's an AK-47 that can be picked up by Naph as he takes the risk.
He's got a big flank that he can work with Routy spawn. Second AWP pops out. That's Twizz.
Digo was always going to be a tough affair out towards Long, but the bomb is now isolated on Catwalk.
Walk into wonderful back away, but you got NAF coming in NAF is just arriving now
That's a very bold sound cue to make from NAF who I feel like otherwise in these situations pretty spotless, but it's given Alexi the heads up
That there's a rat in this part of the map
Well, he's looking for NAF, but look at that time. Okay, it wasn't exactly the best peak from NAF
Didn't have his gun out ready to go. This is still recoverable for for Navi two versus three
You have an AK on Twist, an AWP on Ultimate who's very very low and likely Ultimate's gonna choose to save if the situation is ever called for it
There's a nice pick. That's the AK. Rebuttal from Ultimate and now your kinder can make himself small. Hide behind the boxes
You know Alexi has to commit to the bomb site and get this planted
Timing as well as Ultimate just moves into position
He'll close it with a kill on Alexi B and Team Liquid force a fourth
He got tagged on the cross and got a triple kill in the round, picking off JL being aggressive in upper.
Three kills in that round puts him at four total. He's at a very quiet half and the first time out is burned by Navi.
Last round of the half, his team would look to try and increase their CT scoreline to five.
Considering the start to this half, that would be very impressive.
Navi obviously on the other side of things, looking to squeeze out eight rounds.
Both teams have good buys during the last round of the first half.
That's the Alpers of Ultimate, wonderful. Having their choice of weapon and Team Liquid. There's no sighting that double-op. His rifle's on four.
Don't think that's where he wanted that smoke to go.
Ultimate's gone beyond this lurk smoke.
This is like a third or fourth time he's done this. He spotted JL and got him into previous round, but for the most part, he's like, I can just at least tell us it's clear.
And now you have NAF pushing with him so he can activate on that G.
Now JL's going back.
Yeah.
Oh, and now?
Good kill.
Good kill.
Immediate dink and clean up.
Yeah, now that's information to Navi.
They've lost the tunnels.
Wonderful.
Here comes the fight against the Kindar.
And oh, bless his head off.
Close quarter.
Combat second is even better on twist.
And wonderful.
Just destroys them assured.
Navi back into the position where they have the extra
player.
One minute left on this clock.
And the bomb is going back towards B.
Yeah, Navi having B tactically.
You'll never expect of the rotate back into where you
just pushed to get that kill.
All Alexi has to do is have the presence that he's done.
He can back away now.
Job's complete.
They're in the bomb site.
You don't have to risk anything.
You can even wait and drop into a lurk and CT spawn.
Liquid completely out of position in this round
is way far out of their grasp.
They must go for it.
Last round of the first half.
As they cross over, wonderful.
We'll get an extra kill.
Emma closes on ultimate.
And it's just Naph left in a 1v3.
Navi tactically outplayed Team Liquid.
In the last round of the first half of Dust2, they will exit this half with an 8-4 scoreline,
Navi back in control, back in the game, and they have dreams of a third map in this series of Ancient.
After Team Liquid dominated Navi on the opening map of Inferno, Navi had a job to do.
They had to bounce back coming into Dust2, and they have done exactly that.
They had an impressive first half, and they're absolutely back in this game now, Jason.
now Jason. Yeah, they seem to switch on in a way that they never looked on Inferno on
the first map of the series. Let's see if they can continue that into the second half CT side.
One thing that I always think about with Navi, ever since ESL Pro League season 20,
is that that BD offensive Jail and EMA is a lockdown or some Jail and Bit, I believe
it is? Yeah, Bit, not EMA. Well, keep our eyes on that throughout the second half
that something to get excited about perhaps not for Team Liquid. JL, the jiggling early
spotting into the tunnels. There's three players at Long for Team Liquid, two in the tunnels
and there's a lot of presence around the corner from Navi here at Long and Emma alongside
Bitt. On the other side I've just destroyed what Team Liquid were throwing at them.
That's a sick timing on that flash swing as well from Navi, just absolutely perfect.
Again, just like Inferno, just in the other direction, it feels like everything's going right for Navi.
The timings are all there, the plans, the setups are all there.
Everything's working in their favor.
If you're JKS in Ultimate, you have no hope of actually winning the round.
It's kind of like, let's go out, see if we can find a kill and build something from there,
but you always knew that round was lost once the bomb drops.
Yeah, Energy's back for Navi too. They're just smiles on their faces again.
Smiles!
We didn't see any smiles on Inverno.
But this is a great double as well right at the end here for JL.
Round's already gone quite, it's just impressive that he was able to get away with both.
Didn't prolong play at all and a convincing flawless round in the end for Navi.
So Team Liquid down to Glocks, not going to be force binding at a bomb plant, not
worth it.
And at this point they're going to get the guns out as early as possible which
will allow Navi to go up to double figures in an instant.
There's going to be a couple of things that are going to have to happen if Liquid want
to get back into this map and have a chance to close out the series here on Dust2.
First and foremost, you need Ultimate to come alive in a way that he did not whatsoever in
the first half.
He was a non-factor outside of one round.
This might actually have a lot of aggressive moves.
That's going to be a big thing for them, is Ultimate getting going and then right
out of this first buy, this going on right here, these next like two, three rounds
from Liquid, I feel like have to be excellent to the degree that they break Navi's
economy within you know there's gonna be this round if they win it Navi have
their last buy you need to break them you need to break them in those two so
that you can start building back into this and close the gap see if they can
make it happen ultimate spots one jumping back and forth you kinder blinded and
sees that mullets off decides to call off whatever idea he had out towards
long defense is gonna reconvene towards catwalk for Navi much as liquids
attack is heading here.
And they're up. Good start to the round.
Yukindar had to trade it. Does so!
The second's even better from Yukindar!
Eventually taken out by Alexi P.
But number is even because of Yukindar's efforts.
And the bomb will drop on top of Xbox.
And Wyss looks to cross into lower tunnels with it.
Naph now. They get a solo push out of the P tunnels in towards JL.
And the front of the back of the site.
This is such an important fight for the fate of the round.
Utilities gonna start becoming a factor but also bit who just barrels this way through the doors and team liquid
They got out of that they climbed up on Xbox and they're going it towards the A play
Oh, Alexi missed the jump so we lost the timing on that flank and I think he'd also be concerned about the sound cue
But NAF making that play in the B bombsite even though he doesn't get a kill it
Let's them know that two players were in B. So now they found some safety
Catwalk is gonna be defended smoke to protect themselves from CT spawn retake. It's all about long and twist
It's a bold play and oh lord. That is one hell of a shot that's stellar. Yeah, that's what twist has in his locker
Anybody was wondering
Let's see if he's got more jail down below him
Nope, not able to deal with that
Is one hell of a shot from jail as well second kill locked in and time they get to it
And not enough of it because they don't have the kit in a possession jail
I think actually I think you've run over the top of it on the way out. So yeah, that's a bit on for shit
16 and 5 for jail
Look at him locked in. Yeah
There's your kinders nice kills off catwalks just can't convert the third to us a beautiful shot
Probably wish he found some safety a little bit earlier. Yeah, we see if I want to get comes out
Ain't no reason we can't come back from a 10 for
Yeah, I like that
Let's see if it's true. I've done the first bid. He's won the first round. It's 10-5 now.
So no coming back from that. Yeah, that showed him a click.
Some speculative shots. I don't even I guess if you're liquid gunning first of all you have to go recover the bomb
But looking at the utility they have two smokes two flashes and a molotov
You don't really have time to work a position on the map or you don't really have the resources to do it
This might just be eventually call a mid to B split see what happens. Maybe a hit up catwalk
You can maybe spend a flashbang to kind of clear things out to give someone a look into the bomb site.
So it'll be the Cat Smoke to make Navi feel the pressure.
And it will be an attempt at a mid to B.
You kinder will be solo in middle.
So Smoke will come out towards CT spawn. You kinder likely just to be a lurk, but this is what I mentioned when this second half went live.
Is this JL and BIT combo at the B bomb site.
I'll put it the window, stop Shikindar from making his way anywhere near that peep-op
site and Jail's got it on lock and you're right that is a marvelous hold from the two
Navi players.
Yeah, that's a really difficult combination to stumble back into and try and deal with.
And Navi's incomplete control of this map, gonna fizzle out as both teams trade dominant
performances on their own map picks.
13-4 for Liquid and a victory on Inferno to open up the map.
Navi's looking to end Dust2 on a very similar scoreline.
Wonderful.
Good opener.
You can, Darko's down this time.
I mean, you're just gonna shoot these pistols.
They're like fishing a barrel.
You know, 12 rounds.
Almost guaranteed to be locked in for Navi.
And there we go.
Into Ancient.
I think that's gonna be a great final map.
You hope so, right? You hope so.
I mean, look, I think...
Inferno is a fun map for its own reason. Dust2 has been a cool map for its own reasons, and while I've been fast and dominant, it's been exciting levels of dominant.
Just hoping Ancient is maybe that exciting close back and forth affair to close out the series.
That'll be great. That'll be real nice.
Liquid's actually doing a decent job of fighting back. It's just with the positioning of JL now with only one AK-40.
Okay, hold the phone. JKS has got him back into this. Two kills for JKS so far.
You'll know one is the B Defender, he in mid for Bit, and you know Alexi
plays out towards Long and Catwalk. Molotov there on top of the AWP that JKS
isn't going to see as he crosses over. Now Naph is making his play out long, there's 22 seconds.
Like I guess you have to sprint at this point and you have no smoke for the cross.
So JKS is going to have to fight and keep this clear for you. On Catwalk though Bit,
That's...fantastic.
I really got no other word.
Yeah, that's...just unstoppable really.
Total 5, last round of this map, very likely.
Unless Team Liquid do, in fact, start to pull the comeback.
Alright guys, there's no reason we can't come back from 5-12.
Haha, that's the speech you gotta have, right?
Even if you believe it or not.
But Navi in full control.
Cruise control at the moment.
Here comes a flash smoke combo, out long, ultimate, getting into the smoke.
Team Blink would at least have some space to play with that long here.
Yeah, but it'll be interesting to see what Navi does.
If you think back to the finals of Pro League as well, one of the things that Navi did when they sensed that such a long take was happening from their opposition,
it was so heavy based off how many flashbangs are thrown, they would quickly take over and clear out mid
and open up the avenue to flank up towards Catwalk and get the defenders involved. They're doing much of the same right now.
Dima and Bid just cleared up middle. Bid's gonna continue to clear up upper dark so that the three's up JL.
And by the time Liquid is actually progressing to cross long,
there's potential for Navi to have four defenders here.
My shot. Another one for Bid. Just to add to the tally, he's up to 12.
NAV to do what he can, JKS stepping up, and Team Liquid have turned this back into a 3v3.
Yeah, but NAF can't do anything to stall out their play up towards Catwalk for Na'Vi.
And once again they're gonna have to cross.
NAF has the only smoke he had to come back.
It's thrown now, good shot once again.
It's JKS, his name rings out.
Good shooting, massive gap in the improvised smoke.
And Liquid's in a bit of trouble.
Flames at their feet as they try and fight Catwalk, Flashbang as well.
And it's BIT all day long.
NAF now alone to face against BIT and JL.
He's got 15 seconds and this combo are unstoppable.
The Navi bounce back on Dust2, they do it in style, 13-5.
Not a lot of rounds in the first two maps to play.
We gotta hope Ancient's a little different.
The winner of Ancient's heading to the playoffs in Rio.
Yes, Juggie.
Perfect.
I'm framing it with empty seats, right?
We need to make sure that he's on his own.
Really want to emphasize that.
All right, all right.
What do you think of a copy, mate?
JTS arriving three hours early to get into the zone.
Not bad.
First one in, last one out.
My boy at JKS has a point to prove.
I can see why I hired you.
Oh, thanks by the way for not doing
the team building parody.
I know it was a free view.
Nah, easy mate, easy mate.
I think we found a solution.
All right, next, let's go.
Gonna have some interesting DMs after this one.
JKS, only feet next?
Yeah, I think Chad said 2026 after Irritate.
You know, I think we go mobile phone on this one.
I think it's just more organic.
Okay.
Well, you've read the brief combo smile on three.
Three, two, one, smile.
Those damn smiles.
What's going on here?
Ah, just PR, bro.
Shouldn't be long.
He are?
Looks like you guys are doing great at bait.
Smart one you've got here.
You reckon maybe I can be a part of this?
Sure.
You got your VP jersey with you?
No.
Not a miracle worker, mate.
Well, now that you got tired of being spanked around
on the first map of this series,
You know what? Maybe I'll return the favor.
And guess what? They did just that.
Navi firmly in control of what was the second map of the series.
That's Dust2 done and Dust did, even, because Navi's pick did go their way.
I welcome you back to the Intel Extreme Masters alongside of Pimp and Steele.
And what now looks like we have a real ballgame on it?
Ballgame indeed. And I guess this is the side of Navi we were expecting to see show up on the Inferno.
As you pointed out five out of six inferno games didn't go their way and that just trend continues
But that's two on the other hand looks like it's red really in their ballpark
I don't know why we're going for these baseball references right now though. I don't know man
It's just like something with the CS. I'm born this way. I can't really
Baseball baseball no one watches baseball or I guess they do but we're watching counter-trigger here
Cuz I don't really care about baseball in this moment
Jacob I want to talk about some of the minutiae that we saw here some of the little things it really made
Na'Vi pop on this map versus map one?
Well, it wasn't small things or little things.
I think it was just a different looking Na'Vi, as she said.
They felt very weak on Inferno.
Coming into Dust 2, you could see that all the players were activated.
All the players were feeling comfortable in their roles.
Again, you had some of the individuals showing up
that we were lacking on Inferno as well.
Jail, great example.
You know, the MVP of Pro League, the MVP of the Major back in the day,
had a good tournament as well in Copenhagen
and now showed up in Spacia, starting off with the pistol.
You know, having a nice multi-kill.
coming in with the AK-47 finding impact pretty much all over the map whether it
was in post-plant scenarios if it was in the beginning of the rounds as an entry
fracker as a closer JL was all over the map and that's what we like to see from
JL that's what we like to see from Navi so I agree we are we're back to a
scenario where normality has been restored and Navi you know as the
heavy favorites actually looking like heavy favorites on the server.
Heavy favorites Josh now that is what they walked in here today as but the
The difference between map 1 and map 2 is so stark, like it's just so obvious.
It is like you're looking at a different team and I don't want to continue going on this
point because I feel like we've said it to death.
JL obviously had a good game there, obviously was very active, we saw him moving around
the map a lot.
That's how he plays his playstyle is always about kind of like feeling out where the
enemy is going and trying to get ahead of them, always trying to take those types
of duels and fights and sometimes they come to him, like when he's sitting at
the back of Dust2 platform and he gets to spray down this narrow hallway basically and
just get free kills. You love to see that, but yeah, also on the postpense you're talking
about how he is also closing, he loves to get active and get kind of like really just
stuff the enemy from being able to go and approach that, that retake. He's just going
to sit there and lock them in at the choke point or pressure them before they can even
get to that choke point.
To that fatal funnel, which is something that we see a lot of in our next map
in the series, you talk about ancient and what to kind of expect, what to kind of look
into, obviously with both teams now ready and rearing to get into a third map, so are we.
So let's kind of talk about maybe dissect some of the things to expect.
Yeah, I think there's a lot of, you know, different choke points on a map like Ancient
that's fun to talk about.
And one, you know, area of the map we always refer to is the midsection of the
map and we're going to have players like Emma, you know, thrive in that scenario.
And I think if I were to look at it from a Na'Vi point of view, you have Emma
in that position, he loves to be proactive, he loves to be aggressive, he loves
to go for the fights in middle and I'm curious to whether or not the Liquid players will sort
of go for those fights in the midsection.
You can allow yourself sometimes to flash a play out there from the beginning.
You can put a smoke up here towards the mid area.
You can put a smoke in towards the donut and by then take the fight towards middle.
That's a question of whether or not Liquid have the temperament to do so.
You can also just not waste your utility, play the slow game and let him stand
out there and just fire him for a little bit while he's pumping in smoke towards
middle, left, right and center.
So in terms of how the pacing is going to be for the T side, in terms of the mid area,
it's going to be interesting to me.
And then just of course, as well, this area over here towards lane, it's always a point
of conversation because you see utility being dropped in there left, right and center.
And you know, almost a couple of thousand of bucks being thrown in there were in the
first 10 seconds of every round.
Every round.
So when you're talking about kind of like, do they have a temperament for it?
I look at the side of, I look at your kinder, he definitely has a temperament for
it.
he says, and I think for all the teams on ancient,
the teams that do the best on their T sides
are teams that are able to go for those aggressive midfights.
And it is about getting the flashes out,
making sure that you smoke off this choke point.
But another way that teams do it
is they use the smoke to either block off this cheetah angle
or they do the one that kind of extends out
a little bit as well.
And they try to do the connection
where they go up the lane first,
and then when that first smoke is clearing at middle,
they go out these two spots together,
and then they pinch any of the CTs
that are kind of like sitting out in the middle of the open at middle, they get completely crunch from both sides and they get completely eviscerated.
So this is when a team that needs to know when they need to fall back on the CT sides, when is Emma going to fall back and they go, you know, into here, JL is going to be, you know, somewhere back there maybe.
And then they also have wonderfuls usually hanging around this A site sitting here with his AWP looking at A main, but he's also able to move into donut easily.
Yeah, and I guess the counter to that, because I agree with you.
You see a lot of players, you don't want to use lane towards to get into middle.
You risk taking a lot of utility damage.
And we see that time and time again, that all the teams are willing to waste an awful lot of nades
and awful lot of utility in this area.
What I'm more curious to see is whoever is willing to reacquire that mid portion of the map from the CT side.
You can come out from Donut, you can come out from middle, and you can come out from lane as well if you have the control.
And we do see teams more often than not nowadays in the middle of the rounds with 40 seconds left, 50 seconds left.
Try to retake the mid area, because worst case scenario, you get an awful lot of information now saying that if there's no one out here in this area and you're pushing in from there,
you now know it's going to be a side hit and you can then set up for it.
So again, it's all about temperament.
It's all about being proactive on the server and gaining that information,
whether it's early in the beginning of the rounds or late into the later section, so to speak.
So Jacob, if I just do this real quick right here, right?
Would you say that this area of the map specifically loves utility as well, especially early rounds, because this is a hot point in contention, right?
You see a lot of CTs, or excuse me, T's come out here and they'll drop that Molotov so that you can't just jump up.
Nonetheless, thank you so much, Josh, and you absolutely nailed that.
Yeah, I would agree with that. You know, the mid-portion of the map, a lot of utility gets thrown in there.
Even this classic smoke that we see from CT spawn being thrown in here, we see more and more teams fail that smoke because of the jump find.
And I know it's, you know, maybe like a practice, maybe people have to get used to it.
But during code making at Blast, we saw a lot of teams failing that smoke.
And whatever that is being failed, do you have the temperament?
Do you have the balls to go for it?
Yeah. And you know, Josh, I have to ask, is that user error?
Is that just negligence?
What causes someone at this level to miss a smoke?
Well, part of it, well, missing that type of smoke, that one is a difficult one.
I'll give it anyone a pass to miss that smoke.
And what we see instead is people using the double mollies instead,
because the mollies aren't as big anymore.
You know this patch that came out. I don't know like six months ago now or maybe it was me just came out
It was like three months. I don't know but the the incendiaries from the CT side are a lot smaller
So doing that smoke to elbow plus the Molly doesn't even catch the into the corner of the cubby there
so the T's like to like get out and edge the smoke or get into the corner where they're not getting burned and
Yeah, to address your point though, please. Well, I don't think I had a point there. Okay
It is like when you're missing mirage window smokes. That's like dude. What's going on?
You can't be missing these in 2024 jump by no jump by this is an easy one to land if you miss this
This should be an instant fine instant fine instant fine straight to the gulag is that what it is my goodness
Hey Jacob before we get out of here before we head into a break. We can get this final map on our way ancient
Who do you got one in this series? Navi is by far the better team of the two one agent
Okay, well, we'll leave it at that Josh. I'm gonna assume that you agree good. Yeah, sure. All right. There it is
No, that's what we like to see
I don't know if Josh disagrees or if you disagree at home, but you can let us know okay using the hashtag I am because I am
Excited for this next map of play ancient the final one here between Navi and team liquid
You're watching until X-ray masters. Oh really?
So chief
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How are things going, Mr. Surrantist?
Things could be better Hugo.
Things could be a whole lot better.
I sure hope it's nothing serious.
No, nothing serious.
Just a little problem with the old keyboard upstairs.
Nothing that I can't handle though, Hugo.
Thanks for asking.
Snaptop. Can't live without it?
Can't live without it.
Words of wisdom, Hugo. Words of wisdom.
I didn't enable it. God damn it. I didn't.
I wouldn't use it on official servers.
I wouldn't risk my pace at ranking.
I'd do anything for you, Low Hugo.
Any fucking thing for it.
That damn song as I lived shall never let me forget what happened.
I did use it once, okay?
It was an accident. Completely inattention.
It could have happened to anybody.
And it was on the day of the valve ruling.
This little...
This little fucker was taunting me.
Making fun of my entries.
All I was trying to do was help the team.
A muscular coordination.
I mean, just a little help from the keyboard, Hugh. Just a little help.
Trace! Trace!
Thank God you're here.
Tessus, you snap-tap. It's Pro League.
ESL overturned their map.
Tessus, you snap-tap?
Did ESL Pro League?
The fuck was he thinking?
MC, I'm scared. It's just like Mr. Richardson said. It's like Bogdan's law. It isn't real.
Team Liquid and Navi take this show to a third. They take it to Ancient, the third
and final map. And the winner of this goes on to the playoffs of the Intel Stream Masters
Rio 2024. Two of the best teams in the world competing right now, Jason. And both
Both of these first maps have been very one-sided.
Yeah, very one-sided on their own map pick, and a lot of it done, a lot of the work being
done on the T side.
CT sides have had a struggle today trying to figure things out, both teams tactically
kind of steamrolling each other.
So as we kind of mentioned, we're hoping this third map provides the close, grind it
out, brawly affair that we've been looking for.
That being said, I mean some really cool performances today.
Obviously, on the previous map we just said JL going absolutely nuts, wonderful's
off, was doing work, but it was...
It was solid with some of the shots to help close out Dust2.
I think the thing that we have to mention coming into this map,
ultimate, very quiet on Dust2.
Really hoping that doesn't happen, two maps in a row.
Yeah, I mean, there hasn't been times in his career
that we have seen him have a quiet map in the middle of a series
and then deliver lights out third.
We have seen it before and that is what we're hoping for today.
And we'll see it again, I'm sure.
Definitely we'll, at some point, whether it be now, who knows,
but let's get into this pistol.
Alright, well four players for Team Liquid over towards the B bomb site taking control of lane.
They might clash here with Ema and wonderful pushing in towards Jaguar, Dually's spot on, even for a second.
That's the bomb as well, so Liquid have to keep coming into this to attempt to recover it, and that ain't happening.
Looks to be a pretty similar pistol victory that Navi were able to inflict upon Liquid on Dust2.
Just dominating them.
He can die on twists unable to really get too much going here, twist goes down at red
and you can die as the only player left, capable of conflicting damage upon Naveed.
Actually, that's not true because it's wonderful to shot him up.
It's now you can die to go down, a wonderful, clear amount and Tim LaCouche did not get a single kill.
It's a shake of his head.
I want to know, was he just so blind that he killed him?
I told him.
Did he assume he was going to swing?
I didn't think the flashbang would be that effective.
Oh, I don't even get to see it.
Give me that team kill. Bring me the team kill. Bring me the team kill. Nope. Okay.
Here we go. Nope. Not that one either. Well...
Let's go with yes. He was blind. Couldn't see what he was doing. I like it. I like that theory. Let's ship it.
But, you know, Team Liquid never even close to a kill and never mind a bomb plant.
So they're down to the old eco
Not really the start you would have wanted if your team liquid after getting kind of manhandled on dust to wait
It's got to pick yourself up when it comes to the gun rounds, which will come a little bit sooner
Team look because they're in they did not buy here
They've only won one pistol round so far in the series now the caveat to that is
The first pistol they lost they won the ensuing second round
I still pistol rounds not been kind to team liquid and the pistol. They did win right enough naff was the one they'd clutched it
Right, that was the the pistol round that they want
Now for a pistol. That's right. Yeah. Yeah, so it's not like they were in a position to necessarily win that one either true
That's a good point way to make it sound even worse. Yeah, well, you know, you know, it's brought that to a whole new level
Well, Mithra's looking focus as the first gun round comes underway round three here on ancient third and deciding map between these
two teams one of them is going to the playoffs after this. Well a couple of
predictions are thrown the way of Navi today to win this 2-0. Now obviously that
has not happened and they might be certainly comfortable to kick off the
start of this gun round. They've got three kills locked in between one another
and NAF nearly gets a lineup of two but just ends up getting annihilated. So it's
just AS left alone. This is a disaster. This entire round is a complete
disaster. AK-47 is going to be salvaged for the Navi side of things.
Plenty of weapons gonna be picked up that came into this for the few SMGs that I'll get upgraded for free
They leave with three AK so far JKS is one as well. They could pick up
Good kill from JL and that's a statement winning the first gun round for Navi. They're in the driver seat
Economically speaking they've shut down liquid in these first three rounds only's only zero kills for team liquid in the first three
Only and you get and you get free upgrades. It's it's all gone horribly wrong
Half investment from Liquid, Tech 9s, P250, they have three Molotovs though so they got a plan.
Alexei might just start to unravel their plan though as she kind of goes down first.
Utility being set up to attack into this B bomb site.
But there's a dangerous setup here. Got Bit within the site itself.
He can go in between cave now because Alexei B has got that locked in.
Team Liquid know they have to address that problem.
So, Bitten, Alexei actually exchanged positions and Alexei is also very low on health.
I'm just curious what they would want of Molotov. So, this isn't going to get a use-hiz.
That's a very nice trade for JKS onto Bitt. Still one Molly in the way of ultimate.
It's also picked up on NAF.
Maybe you get the lineup to the post-plan, Jason.
Yeah, but I mean, you know, you come into the round with just three Molotovs and no smoke.
Like, I don't know if you're exactly supremely confident that Navi is just going to be letting you into the bomb site.
So you're going to molly out towards the long, the peek behind it just negates any of the flames, and poor little naff.
The little Canadian that could.
Couldn't.
And it's 4-0 for Navi. They have really turned this ship around completely. They have set sail on Dust2
and they have now arrived at their final destination of ancient.
Very comfortable start. Team Liquid's initial gun round was obviously a disaster. They really just got melted.
So you'd imagine it can't get worse than that. So AK's are going to pull you out and this is going to be the turning point for them
Instant red smoke dished out donut smoke too and twist is looking to try and meet Emma head-on
You know twist does get some of that space to play with but look at Navi's response
They've they've pushed through a main they've got bit and wonderful all the way through a main
Yeah, and the longer now now you can just play the stall game over at the B bomb site
Twist is going to check for this coming out of the smoke, but that's a really hard clear and now if you're the rest of team liquid
It's like let's just follow you kinder up
It's all we've really got at this point deep ball on top deep utility Alexi still alive to hold on towards Jaguar and cave
JL playing retake at the box side as well good fine great fine from ultimate and maybe a little bit of a chance
As he builds upon it, that's your kinder from behind
Good combo from your kinder on ultimate with three kills picked up. It's now being wonderful left
And this is a huge turnaround considering the all of the space that they lost initially
The fact that they're able to get into the round team
Like the fun is walking up the B ramp and playing off the back if you can darn all today is huge
That's why I mentioned. I thought that not be there would be like the delay tactics, right?
Okay, we got this flank. We just killed twist on the flank falling back from middle
We've pushed a main B players dump your smoke top ramp dump them all it's off
Make sure they can't they can't seize this moment at this point
They actually killed the smoke, but they just walked beyond it before it landed.
I think the kinder had beat it, so they just followed it up behind it.
Alright, the kinder trying to get the boys hyped up.
That was a nice shot from Ultimate.
Except it was even better.
Let's go guys, let's go!
So, end of the flawless streak from Na'Vi. They won't collect their 5 in a row.
It's another flawless streak here in this matchup.
Team Liquid have never lost a map of ancient. They have 6-0 on it. 100% win rate.
Well, we'll touch back on that in a moment to see if I could get broken today, but JKS
is already up in B, middle of the site nap with him, and a lot of damage being done.
JL threw the smoke, it's burned away though, and Elixir B sends that grenade in, it blasts
down from out of there, and Elixir B just spams him down, and this is wild, it's chaotic,
but it's Navi coming out on top of the majority of these fights.
Team Liquid just can't find any safety to plant that bomb, or even feel comfortable
to stand inside of the site.
Kindar loses almost all of his health in that first fight against Alexi and gets finished off by Yma
It's all on JKS and he'll even make it past so team liquid get into the bomb site, but
It's not easy to go get the bomb down eat your heart out vertigo ancient. Can I have a span battle? True?
What are some of the teams that that liquid have been playing man? What's the cast of rosters that go up against them?
Okay, well they beat Vertis Pro
At ESL Pro League season 20 they also beat Virtus.Pro way way back at Blast Premier Fall Groups
They beat complexity at Cologne
Okay, they beat the legacy
At the Rio qualifier and then they have two very solid wins against Fluffy Amers. Okay. Yeah, it's quite a track record
Yes, yes it is
complexity is the best team on that list
now
Now they beat Na'Vi
Then we start talking, but here we go, twice on the double, you can't not able to come on in
And we're looking at 3v2 with Team Liquid somehow
We don't know if this is going to be close at the end of the day, but these last few rounds have been certainly
Brawley kind of play that we were looking for, yeah
It is quite a battle trying to get out mid in this round
Oh, but this play from J.L.
Hmm
Ok, it depends on how far NAF decides to go into the B bomb site at this point
Because they don't see him in the site yet, so they're kind of aware of the possibility, but how well now twist knows he's gonna clear
Flabbered eventually wonderful here with the op though. All right, let's see what he can do a wonderful
Snipes down and NAF now twist decides. I don't want any of that
So let's go back and what if it's got the right read read him like a book
And you'll close that book instantly with a shot through the chest of twists
Yeah, a little pump of the fist from blade
He's loving what he's seeing myth or on the other hand is thinking back to the fun times of Inferno with all the laughs they had
Always have Inferno
Dusty was a struggle here on ancient. It's opened up in a very bad way
So he's gonna try and get the boys back on track five round deficit as the first time out is called
Yeah, twist has the the tough job of
dealing with the imabit combo in middle and sometimes present and very good job
in the last round of clearing it out but wonderful with a 1v2
she's got a smile as well
yep that's fucking yeah that's how you play round 8
bit of great movement he's already down the ledge I don't think you can
be ready for this whatsoever bit was so fast in the position and twice can't
deal with him at this time. They have lost two members in an instant for Team Liquid and
oh it could get worse. It is about to get a whole lot worse because BIC gets another one
locked in. A headshot machine living up to his name and it's now JKS and NAF left in
a 2v5 and NAF has had a really rough start to this game. He has 0 and 6 at the moment.
Man obviously this has already kind of spiraled out of control to a certain degree but
it's going to get worse before it gets better if you're Team Liquid.
If you can't challenge middle and you can't establish lane control,
Navi's going to be pushing down so many different flashes that they can throw,
so many different utility sets they can bust out to harass.
And they're overwhelming Team Liquid at the very first step of basic map control.
And they don't have a lot of money here either for Team Liquid to get a full buy out again,
so you're likely looking at just another Tech 9 round here with some Kevlar in behind it.
This is just sheer speed for big one thing liquid haven't tried to do yet in this half on this side is maybe try and expose the a
Ball site how many times do we see teams with a fast you know you have to have it in your back pocket so you notice if a
Team is only parking one person a you're starting with nobody at a and loading up on middle and be
You can get that early rush at least get in and get the bomb plant and play the post plant
I'm surely not be at some point are expecting that to right there like okay
Well, they've tried to go be they tried to commit. I mean it honestly might even be now
They just put wonderful there with the AWP to open up the rounds which lets all those rifles have some fun over in middle
There have been there's been one bomb plant in this half
And it's the round that team liquid one other than that Navi's not even letting them into the bomb site
Little utility spent at the B bomb site to try and force out counter utility
It succeeded bits only got a flash jail's got nothing so the re exec comes in and it's all up to these tech nines
Execute is deployed
The execution is loaded up as jail
Takes the head off the top of ultimate. It's bit on the double and this is just unbreakable.
The defensive naffy impenetrable.
And you cannot do what he can with the tech knife.
And oh god!
Well that helps! That definitely helps!
Oh it's done, it's cut to be a lot.
The AK peaked up and still won't get out of hand but...
Yep.
It's the way you saw it coming in the X-ray.
You just saw the panic.
That's a second team kill from Wonderful.
It's gonna get banned. He's gonna get seven day back.
Thank God they're up by seven rounds.
All right, you can't get the bash, Mikey.
It's all down.
Jails is like, what?
It couldn't have more perfectly landed on him.
It blades like, all right,
when y'all shut up and stop laughing,
I don't find it funny.
Yeah, we got playoffs to make here.
Alright guys, focus up.
8-1.
Don't let Liquid come back into this.
Don't let them get 8-4-1-2.
Wait, did you just accuse him?
Yeah, me, Fizz.
No, Ego is impossible. I don't understand.
You'll never understand.
Did Ema just... well done.
Did Ema just accuse him of his Ego?
Killing all those teammates in this game.
That's all good.
What else are we having fun?
All still friends at the end of the day.
Emma all the way down in towards elbow.
I think that's a design cap in that because he was very sure-footed about his paving.
He was going to get in that corner.
Okay, you cannot whisk a fight against Emma.
Tough position for Emma to find himself when he's looking up into spots.
You can not coming out at him.
Alexi B was unable to stop you, can not.
And unable to get the trade kill.
Despite doing a lot of damage to be fair.
Got you.
Let's go to the floor with the idea.
Ooh.
Tag from Wonderful.
Much better start of this round from Team Liquid.
They actually have some space to play with.
They have some kills.
It's got to feel for the first time comfortable for Team Liquid.
Perhaps this is where NAV gets his first kill of the map.
I don't know. You slow down like this.
Oh no, no, he's not going to get it.
Bit clears him out in the corner.
And you're...
Oh, good shot from you, Kinder.
Low HP, Wonderful can't get an off shot off.
So now they know the position of BIT over towards B.
Ramp over to the A bomb site we go.
Alexi is going to be playing in Temple. Half HP could find from Bit on the other side of the map.
So Alexi can be patient and he's kind of required to with the Molotov in his face.
Uh-oh.
Uh-oh, indeed. You can't really be missing those.
And it's a little uncomfortable now as Bit gets under the scope of Ultimate.
Perhaps he'll get under his skin soon because he's very close to getting this kill.
Are they aware of the possibility that Alexi was in Temple?
Oh, no scope as well. Alexi's sticking it. Alexi's on it.
He's on it! Oh my God! He's nearly got it!
Last second! Take it!
Yeah, saves the day.
I don't know what Liquid would have done if they lost that round.
I was gonna say, man, like, are they aware that this possibility,
that this window was open to him, nobody actually cleared out Temple?
Well, actually couldn't stop the plant as Smoke was down,
but a really nice attempt at a Ninja.
That was very close.
A Ninja.
Ninja.
Well, that's gotta be the round.
That's gotta be the impetus for Team Liquid.
You've gotta put these last two rounds together,
bring this to eight four. Oh, oh you can die. That sucks. Yeah. But he's used to this, you
know, this is his life. Doesn't make it suck any less. That's true. But I'll let you cope
with it better. Yeah, he's just used to this stuff. I like to be a little bit damaged to
nap as he tries to run away. He's having a nightmare half at the moment. I think
all of liquid's kind of having a nightmare half at the moment. They haven't really
been able to get anything going. Haven't really been able to play a whole lot of
healthy mid rounds and now the push through knobby's own smoke naf ready for it
off to zero
the mid is going to be the point of attack as twist and ultimate jks with the
bomb on his back slide up the stairs slide up the stairs step up the stairs
well it depends you know it's here's to at the start you would slide up the
stairs through that's that's about the only way you could have taken that one
but the animations they've been fixed they've been tweaked
I try to throw a little utility at the B bomb site to force a rotation to
bring somebody into ultimates crosshair, but Ema is standing pat for the moment, picked off.
And that's a bad feeling if you're Navi, that's the sinking feeling in your stomach where you're like,
oh, there's an AWP in the middle of the map preventing us to access the other bomb site,
and you're forced to push into your kinder.
And that would be the round. Wonderful. Going to save the AWP. Plenty of cash to drop some of his teammates.
I think they actually kind of need the cash.
Do what you kinder can do with just a little bit of health.
True.
Impressive stuff.
Stand poised.
It's all went wrong for Navi ever since wonderful blew up JL
Yeah, they I mean they did win that round, but look at what it's cost them
All the laughing and having fun to allow team liquid back into this
So be their third round on the board and wonderful to save that beautiful lightning strike
In spawn in the swamp. It's very old school, isn't it? It is. It's very low quality picture like on the side of the gun as well
Well, it's like 240p.
Skins have come a long way.
I like it, though.
I like the grainy image.
Yeah.
It just makes you think of simpler times.
Exactly.
The good old days, we call them.
Where were we before skins?
Just a big green gun, Dingo.
Yeah, I never play Counter-Strike without skins.
That's okay, so I've never been in town even like the early days ago. No because
When did I come out 2012?
No, I didn't really I was 11. I didn't have a star and play switch also yet. Okay. That's right
I've only known skins Jason. You've only known the world with skin
Here we go you're testing it. Oh, and he's just so committed wonderful drop didn't expect the second peek
Good job from Ema to close the gap
And Team Liquid was posturing to head over in that direction to follow up on Yikinder's success, but they changed their mind in a hurry.
However, you could see they're all a little bit confused looking around, like, who's going where?
How do we spread back out?
We'll have to figure out in the last few moments of this first half.
NAF, alongside of Ultimate, about to come out of the B doors, and we'll have a nasty surprise because the player watching that is bit-
and no timing, he looks away.
Just to clear the cubby, nap, then walks out of the door
and bit goes down.
Ultimate good patience, that pays off
as J.O. walks right into him.
Team Liquid are going to get themselves
an eight to four score line, unless,
Alexa being able to have one of the biggest
step-ups we've seen all day.
Well, Ema swaps out for the M4.
Liquid's done a really good job
in the later stages of this half.
I mean, it helps now that they've been
finding some opening kills,
but they're doing a really good job
of punishing Navi's information plays.
He was gonna try and do something miraculous at that stage,
so he's forced him to do an awkward fight
out of desperation, and this should be Liquid getting four.
So despite the fact that this half,
for most of it was just a grouchous,
Liquid do figure out the recipe right at the end.
The question becomes, is it enough
to get them into the playoffs?
Nave versus Team Liquid rages on on map three of ancient,
Rages on on map 3 of ancient and at the end of the day
It's a great recovery from team with her to make this half competitive because it looked like Navi were in full control
And we're just steam rolling straight into the playoffs. Yeah, but it might be too little too late
I think team liquid figured it out and it got some effectiveness in their openings a little bit too late in the game
Most of that was then being dominated so
Let's see they've got a little bit of room to work with that was kind of the last three rounds
They picked up carving out some space to open up the second half with some struggles
But one thing we mentioned in the first half pistol rounds today for team liquid have not been kind to them
Even the single pistol they've won in this series was out of their reach took a spectacular clutch from math
Other than that it's been all Navi in these pistols
The kinders pushing a kinder has pushed a he's all the way in the likes it be has detected him though
When 99 damage done with one shot
He'll finish him off on the second attempt and now Navi start to make their way through red eyes are on this fight twice
He's not alone
He's got plenty of teammates in behind him try and stop Navi from crossing safely through the red room and they decide to get a
Bail out. Yeah, but where did they go?
Ultimates here and all this information. Oh, good shot from Ema
He's gonna move right in towards Dona bombs out of to the B bombsite though
Navi have Team Liquid completely on a string in this round. They can pull them wherever they want
Well, the bomb is going to go down on B, at least confirming at a minimum of really solid force by the next round from Na'vi,
but it just feels like they're gonna be able to pick this one up.
Yeah, and they've got such deep positioning as well at cube JL, Bitt can swing off that contact.
He doesn't even have to wait if he doesn't want to, there's no way Liquid's getting back into this.
Yeah, but it's just gonna wet it down there, so they're actually trapped in the front room now as well.
Nice shot from JKS, able to pin Bitt to the wall and JL goes in, not a double.
And now Alexi bees alone did I say no way? Yeah, well, I think you did
Now I like to be is in the site. You're right. You know, no way not a single way
No, I wasn't really worried. I was just saying that
94 now exactly traumatic effect
Not looking too good for the team liquid now on pistols against another one going the way if not
I know but at this scoreline to like you just really can't yeah
The pistols is don't be set liquids gonna have to have a conversation about I'm sure that I'll be a talking point
in any kind of losing interview they may or may not do.
And here I think the right call for liquid
is just sit back with pistols,
don't invest the whole lot, just get the guns out.
Just the old pistols here, wonderful.
Picking up a couple.
Man it's nice and clean, Navi, make no issue of it.
It will be 10 rounds, double figures collected
here on ancients.
You mentioned before we even came here
around a previous map and you know,
look at ancient it is a very comfortable finisher nafi and i think you
said jacob cold at the safety net
and uh... certainly feels like they've
fallen into their safety net that they caught them from free fall
yeah well so i think you can just tell there's a different nafi that showed up
on dust two and ancient three verses the nafi that was there on inferno
also different liquid get very different
this is why
the i considered
the best
just a difficult team to put away
to see their performances
across the series.
Kindar, there's some question on the CT side, is he able to get rid of bit?
I like the ego there for me, Kindar.
The push on the pistol round, even though you went down, you come back to it.
Okay, good trades.
Ultimate Peaks, because he knows he's got JKS coming in behind him.
One for one in mid.
JKS wants a little bit more.
Oh, he kindar wants more too, but he looks into the corner
just as he likes to beat him around, and so
he loses his life.
Two players left here for Team Liquid suddenly.
And now you've lost A and you've lost B. JL has a really deep position at the B bomb site.
Obviously you don't really know what Alexi he can do whatever he wants at the A bomb site.
The only X factor right now is this cross of wonderful with the bomb.
Oh, I'll try KS to eradicate Alexi B.
Bomb is planted. Wonderful.
Could you have stopped that?
Yeah, it felt like we could have stepped in the open a little bit.
But then he may be worried about getting exposed and getting taken down by someone watching the plant, so trying to play this 2v2 with his teammate, I suppose, and at least Wonderful left it a 1v2, because JL goes down, and now Twist playing his life has worked out very well.
So they'll smoke actually cave out, and this, in opinion, perhaps Wonderful could come around that side, but the smoke on the D-Fuse and Twist bullet in the brain, Wonderful will not get anyone near stopping this, and Team Liquid able to pick it up.
They're not out of it in any way, but that's a good first step for Team Liquid to start clawing this one back
And see if you can make a map here on ancient five rounds away
Navi's already hit double digits. Plant's gonna help Navi get back into another solid buy
Liquid just have to keep building upon it
The round where JKS is able to find a pack between liquid
Trade and ride and then important kill coming back on the retake first time I used from blade
Yeah, seize the opportunity here for them to nip this in the bud before rail comeback begins.
Alexi just absorbing it. Knottling along that partnership, Alexi and Blade has created a
powerhouse in Navi with this roster. Loser of this game goes on to Lyon's phase. Not a team
you really want to run into, but... We're not in a lower bracket, that's for sure,
But if there was ever a time to run into them, it might be now.
Yep, they are looking weaker than usual.
He cannot not able to deal with the power of Emma, who nearly gets away with a triple kill.
But JKS defends his in-game leader.
I think there's so many flashes thrown over mid by Na'Vi at the start,
that the mid portion of that could never get involved.
You kinder's probably like, why are my mid players not swinging with me and fighting with me?
And the reality is, every time they turn to make that play, they're just blinded completely.
Let's make sure a bit can get out of the doors.
Yeah, listen in for some spam, and then you hustle.
I don't know, what a tough decision you have to make if you're JKS and TWIS right now.
It doesn't look like they're even considering going for it.
No.
But you probably feel like you kind of have to, and then on the same side you're like,
TWIS has no HP.
We don't really have a lot of utility.
We have no one even close to the B bomb site to keep track of where Navi is.
I'm just realizing you have to back off.
JKS can drop an M4 in the next round for a teammate.
But Liquid's not got a whole lot of runway left to work with.
That runway is starting to run out.
At this point, as Navi get ever closer to closing out this
advancement match, how do we come into this tournament?
We talk about how stacked it is, how many of the world
best teams we have in attendance.
Just to give you an idea at home.
Something like 12 of the top 15 teams are here,
something along those lines.
There we've got number one, two, three, five, six, seven, eight, ten, eleven.
By A-ranking, yeah, they are here in attendance, so you know, this is a very stacked tournament.
All teams pretty much within the top twenty.
Bit to take out Ultimate.
Good start to the rounds here.
From the side of Navi, does that look a little worse for that kill from Nekendar?
And even worse with that, Frank from JKS.
Jail's about to walk through smoke. Oh, he looked away.
Naph saved his ass. And now it's going to be wonderful left to one before he can't win this.
What a weird piece of timing that is. Yeah, that was very peculiar.
Very awkward. I mean, you kind of are looking away just as Jail steps through,
and then obviously when Jail's about to take a free kill, Naph pops up out of nowhere.
From the top rope, 6-11.
Once again just five rounds back, but the problem is you just you don't have it
You don't have you don't have the rounds to give up these trades back and forth. Nobby win one liquid win one
You're gonna lose that out liquid need to go on a run
And this might be the perfect opportunity for it because
Nabi's working through some money issues
Yeah, that is a desk slammy moment though to be fair. Yeah, well, you know after after Nika's desk slam
I feel like we're gonna have to have a new I have a new
No, I just have a new definition of desk slamming. Oh, yeah, you're not must bring up the table
I don't want to see it. You're not gonna split your skin start bleeding for the cause
It's not a real desk slam. That was pretty impressive. That was great. That was a great moment. Yeah, it was power in any one of the tournament
Lost the clutch though. Lost the clutch and that is always going to sting
We take that trade like the trophy for a clutch though
All right fast towards the B bomb site from Navi no one in middle no one even investigating
So here we go, a little bit of a rush.
NAF to defend, you've got the kinder here as well.
Good damage, good opening kills.
And that's the sting of this hit taken away.
Alexi goes down next and Liquid have no problems.
99 problems and B-A-N-1 to get rid of him.
It's gonna end up being a seventh added
to the Talia Team Liquid.
He did 99 damage, I thought you were gonna go that route.
Yeah.
Jake has done one.
That could have been really good.
That could have been good.
Why didn't you do that?
Well, because you were taking the moment.
Yeah. Wish I seen that. Wish I was observant like you, Jason.
Well, as I mentioned, that was the moment for Liquid to really get started and really make this comeback believable.
They take out the two rifles and the TEC-9 by, now they get a round against unarmored Glocks,
and you go into the next round within striking distance of Na'vi.
Well, this is one of those rounds where you do just kind of twiddle your knife in your hands and...
You know that it's not going to go well for you, but you must try and attempt to get a
bomb plant here.
Ah, it gets worse for one.
Oh, it gets terrible for Wonderful.
Yeah, he was just trying to spin his knife and relax, you know.
He was enjoying the ASMR of the knife spinning motion.
Alexi is being very vocal back at T spawn.
So taking this as almost an IGL's time out to make sure the next round, the next
gun round, they're all on the same page understanding what's happening, understanding
the reactions. And I'll happily just let Team Liquid burn utility. Here we go.
Well, that actually quickly ended real quick. At the end of the day. Quad kill for Ultimate.
You'll like that. Some stats being increased. Alright, Alexi looking down the line. Is that
a guy? No, none of you all forgot what I just said.
I told him to do it
Speaking to each other like this, let's relax one round and pay
All right, that's more of an inside than I was expecting. Yes
Stress mounting in the Navi camp stop. He's like he's like the really like the father of the kids is like stop saying
Nasty things your brother well Jks fighting down at elbow. It's gonna be in my to fall down and then open feel for team liquid
I don't know that's changed my whole perspective on this game now
It's like maybe the comeback actually is so much more wide open that it feels like if
Navi's gonna start tilting I mentioned it back in the first map of Inferno that with you know with the schedule that Navi's had this is
When you get a little bit tired you get a little bit
Exhausted from the grind of events that you've been on and it turns really easy
Point the finger at teammates rather than finding a solution
And Alexi obviously trying to keep a firm grip on the emotional state of this team as
as liquid come clawing back.
Well, Chell gets caught in the open.
NAF able to take him out without problem.
Now, wonderful. Moving in with Alixie.
They're gonna deal with NAF. They're gonna deal with this threat.
And finally, they will.
Ultimate comes over, fighting from short bullets.
Renane, including Molotov.
So that plant can't happen.
It can't be a possibility because Toys has broken.
Wonderful. And follows up with a kill on Alixie B.
Bit was last detected towards A.
They'll consider the flank, but he's coming up through the B ramp
39 seconds left to get this round under his belt. Yeah, but don't give him a freebie
Don't give him a slight ultimate. It's not worth the risk now. You know his position
And now you let him move all the way into the bomb site before you spring this trap smoke down and hit like just back away
Ultimate brought very low 20 seconds and Bits got no shot at winning it
So 11 to 9
Two rounds away now for team liquid
Yeah, it's completely changed my whole perspective of this game.
Yeah, exactly! I don't have like, oh god!
I was like, oh no, they'll be fine.
Now, let's listen in. Well, how was it going?
Oh, they're all fighting.
I thought we were gonna get like a little ex-causé on whatever tactic Alexi was talking
about in T-Spawn and-
No, they're just fighting.
Yeah, she's like, nah dude, I told him to do that. Don't be mad at him for doing
it. That was me. Chill.
Let's see if Navi can get it back under control.
I believe Blade still has two timeouts remaining if he wants to, if he feels like a
The stunner hand is needed.
He's like, he steps in.
It's like, one more exchange like that, and daddy's calling a timeout.
Oh, it just starts, brings out the notes.
Oh, it's gonna be a bit on an AK at least.
Yeah.
Oh, he's not gonna hit health.
At least.
No longer does he have that AK.
Jail, now the man to carry it.
Lurksmok though, Ultimates aware of the possibility they can slide through.
Gotta be careful Liquid as well, they don't really have any information in Jaguar and Cave, and now Ultimates gotta back off, stuck in the open.
It feels like he was stuck between two different lines of how to play it.
Alexid is great work with that tech 9, an opening kill and a dink.
Ooh, bomb plant is confirmed this time, and Wonderful is able to get away.
So left onto a cheat P, but still standing and goes for a dink as well.
On twist finished off by Emma on the body shot of the eagle me and stopping said he does the tech nine
He goes into the open
But now he's make sure these days alive because the bullet went over the top and now it's just bit left one be three and he
Falls to the hand of JKS
It will not be a 12-round found for Navi in this round
In fact, it is 10 for liquid this comeback is here
It has arrived and they are one round went away from tying things up and it looked like that timeout was
Was cold press there. Yes, it's it
Alright. Blade gets on the mic, everyone shuts up.
11-10.
A chance for Blade to have great impact with this time out,
talking about the T side, what's gone wrong,
what do you think they can exploit?
Team Liquid for perhaps the first time is this map.
It's starting to get the feeling
that they can actually do this.
They can actually reverse this.
I feel like we haven't seen Ultimate with an AWP
on the CT side in quite some time.
Yeah, it doesn't feel like it.
He's got $11,000, I have to imagine an 11-10 he's buying.
Your kidder has no monitor.
Oh.
When did that get moved?
He must have knocked it off with his nose back.
I mean, 17 kills is pretty solid.
He sniffed it off, it was too close.
Here's the exchange.
All right, this is pretty sick, you know.
We got a pit stop for a monitor.
It's not quite at pro league levels.
We got in halfway through the pit stop, but here we are.
I don't think I've seen that before.
Just like a monitor switch. It's like all right. Let's get the monitor out get a new monitor and it did happen at pro league
I was on the other string. Yeah, you run the other stream
And then watch you guys. Yeah, it's okay
Just I mean, I'm fine with it. The other guys might be a little pissed. Yeah, that's fine
You're having too much fun. Look in like a more serious angle to this
There was the timeout and obviously this tech pause
So there's gonna be no talking until the freeze time resumes
But I'm into all the settings as well after after the the listen and we heard with Navi and how frustrated and stress
That sounded this little time out and pause in the action might be really good for all those players to just take a moment to themselves
And try and get things back under control
Yeah, I don't look like happy happy players still at the moment, I knew it they were the first half
They were having a great time small we're gone
something something clicked for liquid man towards the end of that first half
those last few rounds they scraped together three in a row they figured
something out individuals came alive at the opening of rounds started getting
some initial kills letting twist call and work a mid round on the T side to
give themselves a chance and then guns came out on this CT side and it's been
five straight for liquids defense 17 kills on you kinder putting up a big
game for liquid, it's EMA leading the way for Navi with 19 frags.
It's just a sense of, I mean, Navi just getting right to the brink, they just want to get
this over and done with it, and obviously that, whatever's happened in the second half
will be addressed in the team talk, but...
Well, I think, I think too, to, on a certain extent, I think they might have thought,
let's just get this over with maybe four rounds ago, now that it's this close,
it's like that mindset has to shift a little bit, like, Liquid's already sending
the signal this is not going to be an easy easy one for you to put away well
there was a timeout before the tech issue called by blade see if Navi can get
back to winning ways our team liquid continue this look how much damage is
done it through the through this smoke but he threw it very late to get in
towards Jaguar and obviously it's missed its mark as well so that kind of
messes maybe with the timing how they want to open up this round but no
critical damage no deaths taken due to the mistake but it feels like
things unraveling a little bit in the Navi camp down the stretch of this third
map. Hold on a minute left. Emma starting to make his way out of elbow. Slowly but
surely he's not alone either he's got his teammate in behind him it's Bid who likes
to be. Only takes the fight against you. Kindar doesn't win it but JL certainly
will be effective in his trade but twist out from Red Room at range dropping Bid.
Now JL thinking about going into Jax you have to deal with Naph in the
corner and it hasn't worked out. Bomb is down. Navi lose possession of the bomb and Moli
goes down as well. 30 seconds. That's all that Navi have left. It's Ima and Wanda for
the two players that took damage earlier in this round with an almost impossible situation
lying in front of them. I mean all you can do is throw that smoke and hope you can just
wander into it and that the vision isn't going to be there for NAF but it is liquid.
Total collapse for Navi. Yeah, they've tied things up now. Six in a row. Ima coming
and really late in the flank, nothing to do.
It's fallen apart completely.
Six in a row, seven of the last eight rounds
in the favor of Team Liquid.
This defense has been rock solid
and you can tell looking down the line of Navi
that none of them know what to do.
Another timeout.
And that's, I feel always a bad sign.
The back to back timeouts and back to back rounds
from your coach, something's gone wrong.
Again, with those frustrations that we listened to,
You have to imagine comms are a little bit busted. You add in the mistake from bit the late smoke
He forgets to throw the smoke out of the gate throws it late misses it
That's gonna add to frustration levels across the board especially for that man Alexi
And they don't have any time to figure it out
Round 23
And he's got to get it going right now immediately out of this and it doesn't does not seem likely so team liquid are in
pole position there in the driver's seat right now this map and this series and
this will qualify them into the playoffs of the Intel Xtreme masters Rio
2024 and that streak of ancient victories will continue for Team Liquid
they will add their most difficult opponent on ancient so far to that
list the Kindar looking at jewel with wonderful I don't know man I bet
liquid learn some things from fluffy
couple of things i'm sure
was uh... this north american qualifier is always always given a little bit of uh...
fight on a little bit of a problem or two to deal with online or because no
joke
uh... maybe
sometimes players and wake up in time for the game
you can do is anchoring this be bomb site all is lonesome
he's out of uh... out of the utility in terms of mollies and smokes to
kill him on the middle of the map
and NAF can't get the trade.
Wonderful, lost half of his health,
but look at this play from Bit.
He senses a gap on A,
and he is starting to move into that space now
to play with this, and no one's even thinking about it.
Ultimate turns around, but it's too late.
Too little, too late, and Bit, he sees his next opponent.
He knows JKS is in the donut,
and the fire has forced him into the open.
JKS needed a double and couldn't quite muster it.
It's all on your Kindar,
on the other side of the map,
and Navi are not gonna let him even near this.
It is a 12th round for Navi.
They finally figure it out.
up to map and series point.
Team Liquid will have to fight for overtime.
Got to be a little bit frustrating,
but no time to be frustrated for Team Liquid.
Making this comeback happen all the way
and not giving yourself a chance to win it out.
And for Navi, it's, you know what?
We've limped in the second half.
It's been ugly.
Things are falling apart.
Let's get through it.
Let's talk about those issues later.
One more round.
Everyone focus up.
Timeout is called by Liquid,
It gives blade another chance to hop on the mic as well as he's had to burn three timeouts just to get this twelfth round
We asked for the close finish Jason. We're getting it true
It's coming down to some of these small details that realization from ultimate that the a bombsite was wide open that nobody had eyes or
Information on that move seems to click eventually. Yeah
Six rounds in a row for two liquid is being brought to an end to be fair as well remember
You know there was a lot of pressure being put in mid.
Emo was at the stairs towards red room.
He got one kill.
He was engaged with NAF.
So if you're those two donut players, you're kind of worried about some sort of fight coming
in towards donut.
And trying to divide your attention just misses the timing.
12-11.
I mentioned we hadn't seen ultimates off a whole lot.
He got it in this round.
He had it a couple rounds back, but he got his face ripped off without a kill to
J.
I made they haven't seen him finally they clocked it. He's in the corner, but he's already done his damage
Jks is dead emo tries to follow up but twist with one of the most important kill to be bomb site
It's completely open. Yeah that that play from emo the kill and sliding out cost so much chaos probably so much panic in the
Coms of team liquid they've blown a rotation
Completely adjusted and moved out of the be bomb site and now it's a retake scenario
But look at the Molotovs Navi's got two more mollies when these smokes disappear. How do you retake against this?
Oh, Team Liquid, they brought it back.
They bring it to the brink.
But Navi might have just broken them right at the end.
Wonderful, and JL stepping up here for Navi.
Team Liquid bring it so close.
But it is yet so far.
Navi will get through.
They will make it into the playoffs
of the Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2024.
There was moments of collapse, emotional despair.
But eventually, Navi do break through Liquid.
Yeah, I think that's a big thing for Navi again.
The best teams in the world always find a way to win matches on their off days
And that's exactly what Navi did it hit a critical point another time out from blade a final time out and it whipped them back
Into shape to close this out with the final two rounds. That's championship quality and for liquid they come so close
But for them, I think the struggles are the T side those first eight nine rounds that were played
Liquid had no business being inside the server with Navi. They couldn't find openings. They couldn't get to the mid rounds clean
I mean, Navi worked them up until they found a solution right at the end, but it was way,
way too late.
So Navi moved on to the playoffs, Liquid's going to drop down and have that game against
FaZe, which has started to become quite a sexy little rivalry.
Yeah, it is.
It really, really is.
Twist going up against his former squad, and once again, challenging his new in-game
leading skills against Carrigan.
We'll see how that goes down, but before all of that, we have the desk.
You most certainly do, Dinko.
Thank you very much, gentlemen.
Yes tit for tat all the way through here on this third map starch differences to what we got in the first two of this series
I would have been in front of dust too, but it was ancient that delivered a competitive series after all
So here with pimp I got steel in the middle
We are gonna catch up with a a knobby player here shortly, but in the meantime, let's talk about this game
Let's talk about what made ancient competitive
We weren't wrong. We weren't right about
Series is gonna play out
It looked like a very strong first half for the side of Navi like they were gonna crush and keep that momentum all the way through
Yeah, and then you blink and you miss it liquids back is like 10-10. You're like, oh, okay
What's going on now? You see that first off coming up for ultimate around like I don't know 23
But I could be wrong about that by a few rounds
So yeah, it's just always keeping you on your feet keeping on your toes making sure that you can never really predict
What's actually gonna happen? Are you all right man? Hold on. Hold on Jacob. You okay? I'm okay
Yes, at the whole, I'm okay.
Oh, I get that, what's up, Jacob?
No, I mean, it was a good performance from Liquid.
I agree with Josh.
You know, we couldn't really predict it in the sense
that I thought after the first half,
Navi was just gonna close it out
and Liquid would be left with a feeling of, you know,
close but yet so far.
I think the comeback they made in the second half
of this map, you know,
allowed me to think that there's some progress
to be shown, you know.
What we saw in Copenhagen a week ago
wasn't necessarily too impressive from Liquid
this time around, though.
They allowed themselves to push LXB and Navi
all the way to the bring-off.
Potential defeat, you know it got very closer than like that. Yeah, when he gets his headset on I'm gonna say something like
First of all welcome. It's been a long time. I haven't seen you around
But hold on hold on a second run it keep talking keep talking so you're there. There it is
Yeah, we saw you in the elevator. We saw you in this elevator rematch ups and downs
But why why was it important that you guys thought like TK?
would be a part of the game plan today like we couple nades in there or just
wonderful okay just wonderful fun yeah just wonderful let's take a look at some
of those highlights it would have been so funny he actually almost killed JL here
JL was the only JL here, he had minus 60 to him on the pistol as well and now he
finished him in moments like that I mean right you just kind of you have to
laugh it off this was definitely not as close of a game than either but what
was you all saying in the situation here afterwards where he's like
reluctantly giving the fist bump type of thing.
He hurt Nate Baus, and then when he realized his death,
he said like, wait, and then he got it.
Like, no!
No!
At the same time.
Yeah, OK.
So, Jacob, what do you got for the man?
No, I mean, we just spoke about it.
You know, a close series, a close game,
especially on Ancient, were you surprised that Liquid
were able to push it this far?
No, because of how we acted, I think.
Today was a really long day for us,
And we got a bit too frustrated against each other on the end of T-Side and I told Valera to pack his things, we're going to brawl outside.
So you're on your way there now is what you're saying?
Yeah, I hope he's getting ready.
But the thing is that, I don't know, we kind of let them come back to this game, we were just inside our own heads.
I'm really glad we ended up getting the last two rounds, the most important rounds.
But at the end of the day we kind of threw on Ancient.
We even on the CT side, the last three rounds we lost.
Two of them we completely threw.
Like we forgot something or we didn't help each other.
We felt like we let them come back to this game.
But at the same time, they completely outplayed us on the first map so.
Yeah and speaking of that first map, you know, I think we spoke about Rp on the desk.
Did you guys are showing a bit of weakness on Inferno?
I think you lost five out of the last six times you played it.
What is it that makes Inferno a tough map for you guys to play right now?
I mean...
I don't want to say all the stuff, but the thing is that we still like to play the map, or individuals like the map.
We've been getting some unfortunate starts and just...
I mean, not being there, I think today as well.
We don't really know what happened. We just went to the first map.
Suddenly we're outside having a talk like, let's go to the next map now.
But it just felt like we weren't there as a team at all and checked in yet
No, not checking at all. But yeah, we waited for three hours for our game to start. It was a bit
Bit long of a wait even having a best of one on the morning as well
But sometimes it's like that we went to dust 2 and kind of showed that this was our map and then this other was close
So typical CS. Yeah, when I look at you guys playing on that dust 2 map
For example, I look at the height that you guys can play,
the high floor, and an even higher ceiling.
But then I look at that first map of Inferno,
and then I look at that last bit of Ancient there,
where it was like a struggle to close it out.
It almost feels like I'm watching
two different teams playing.
Is there anything happening differently in the comms,
or just the emotions of the team
that kind of lead to those types of moments,
or is it something else?
Yeah, as I said, I think we let the emotions come into play
during the end of Ancient.
But still we managed to close it out on...
Like when the opponent is making a comeback to 11-11
and then you win the last two to close out the map, I think that's amazing.
Because they ended up making a huge comeback and you're kind of like back against the wall.
So I'm really glad of that.
But at the same time we know what we need to improve for playoffs.
That if we play like this we might let the game slip, so...
So my question is going to sit around the idea of playing this Liquid today.
Tell me what you think about this Liquid at face value.
I think they're very good.
I think they're doing some really good preparations, I feel like.
They have a lot of set rounds on Inferno, they kept changing up the pace,
they kept rushing A on the second round, won the anti-force,
then they rushed B one time against us.
We were kind of sloppy on spawn late on B.
They just kept getting us caught and just felt like the way they play with pace is very nice.
They play fast, they play slow, they have everything they have and they're a new team.
So it's a team to watch out for for sure, but I'm happy we won because we lost against them two times.
Would you describe yourself or your team as like a prep heavy team that requires a lot of prep for whichever opponent you're going up against?
I do think so, but I do think at the same time now, after having played together for such a long time, we have a deep playbook.
We can play a lot of different rounds, but I do think that preparation always helps us because we tend to do it a lot.
Yeah, and you know what Jacob preparation you done you cool. I'm cool
Okay, hey, we'll get you out of here. Alex me appreciate your time man. Just goes
I know like sometimes mentally you might still be thinking about that office game or excuse me that that Italy game from the other day
But yeah, I understand why you get lost in those emotions. Thank you very much to a Lexi B
That brings us to our United States Air Force aim high player of the match
That's gonna be JL having done more than his part as you can see by these numbers Jacob. Yeah, good to see JL
Jail, step in and check into the tournament, of course a player that has had a fantastic
year so far MVP of the Major, MVP of the Pro League and usually plays at a very high level.
First map Inferno, he was nowhere to be found on Dust2, he was the difference maker on
ANG, he had a couple of good moments as well.
So only fair that we highlight Jail for once again having a very impactful night on
the server.
It's a big night!
Isn't that right?
That is absolutely right and honestly, I mean this is the opening day, right?
It's not the Grand Finals, that's a factoid even.
That's a factoid.
Factoid would mean that it's not real.
So factoid is just, it's not, it's a lie.
It's a lie, it's an alternative fact.
Yes, interesting that.
Well there's no alternative facts here when it comes to the bracket itself.
Navi with that victory secured themselves a date with Furia to determine where,
each of these two teams want to place themselves in a playoff bracket.
But this is Group A, Jacob.
And to be fair, that's the biggest surprise all day long.
The fact that Furia find themselves not only in the playoffs,
but with a chance of booking a spot straight into the semi-final.
No joke taken down face clan 13-7.
No joke winning a best of three against Maus.
And all of a sudden, we are guaranteed
at the very least one Brazilian team inside this arena.
Yeah, and if you're Furia, you've done it the legit way.
Like, you got yourself right on into the playoffs,
regardless of where you end up in that seeding matchup.
But yeah, having taken down a phase and a Maus on the way there
on day one Josh you love to see that it's pretty good feeling you get to go and
book your your spot in front of the fans and those matches are going to get a
little bit wild and crazy and fun and all the good stuff
but then all the good stuff all this was the good stuff then
um this is this is the runner-up stuff wait hold on the lower bracket
eternal fire g2 vp this was not what the forms told me
what happened my kind of vp was suspected to be done now they do suck you
know let's be completely honest they haven't really found a footing
I mean G2 in front of the turnfires is going to be a little bit crazy there.
That seems like it's a matchup where these teams just a couple of weeks ago were, you know,
going the distance at the pro league as well.
And now we're going to see them down here.
Yep, they're going to keep going.
Don't worry. I got you, Josh. Check this out.
This is the A stream on Tuesday.
That'll be tomorrow. We could see you next Tuesday, but we'll already be out of here.
Nonetheless, Vitality Mongols will start that day off internal fire there in that
middle spot against the G2.
and then you look at Liquid phase clan.
Staying alive, isn't it?
Yeah, we'll see who's gonna stay alive.
We also do have a B stream, 9C taking on VP.
I think that's a 50-50 for my money.
VP have shown absolutely nothing so far.
Astralis Heroic, you know, a grudge patch.
You have the old core of Heroic in Astralis
playing the, I guess, new core of Heroic
in Tessus and Shoes on the other side.
So that should be quite interesting.
So it's not like the new old core, okay.
No, okay.
Yeah, there's a lot of mathematics
that one. But Jacob if you want us to watch that matchup we will. Not maybe me per se or
you or maybe even you if you're here. What I can tell you though is that the matchups
are done for today which means that we have more for you tomorrow. Best of threes all the
way going forwards. The Intel Extreme Masters and Rio 2024 and we are just getting started.
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